In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the decadent Qing government faced tremendous pressure from britain, France, Japan and other powers. With the outbreak of the two Opium Wars, the Sino-French War, the Sino-Japanese War and other cruel wars, China gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, while the Qing government became a puppet supported by the great powers in order to control China and plunder China.
Although the Qing government was faint and incompetent, there was no shortage of talented and courageous people who raised the banner of resistance against the invaders, such as the famous "Black Flag Army", which was originally a local armed force that was originally designed to resist the Qing court and later changed to cooperate with the Qing court to resist the invaders. As the founder and leader of the Black Flag Army, Liu Yongfu can be described as a famous general at that time, he participated in the War of Resistance Against France and Aid to Vietnam, and also led the Taiwanese military and people in the struggle against Taiwan. It is worth mentioning that Huang Feihong, a martial arts master who is now active in film and television works, has historically served under his command to assist him in training soldiers.
On September 11, 1837, the seventeenth year of Daoguang (1837), Liu Yongfu was born in Qinzhou, Guangdong, which now belongs to Guangxi. According to research, Liu Yongfu's ancestral home was originally in Shanghang County, the capital of Tingzhou, Fujian, and it was only during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty that he moved to the Liangguang area. Unlike many of the great figures from famous or official eunuch families in the late Qing Dynasty, Liu Yongfu's family was poor, and his father Liu had been selling wine for a living, and it was not until middle age that he barely saved enough money to marry and have children. By the time Liu Yongfu was born, Liu had been a year of confusion.
At the age of eight, Liu Yongfu moved with his parents to Shangsi, Guangxi, and from the age of thirteen he began to earn a living as a boatman on the nearby Pingfu River. Liu Yongfu, who has been running around for his livelihood since childhood, although he did not enjoy a happy childhood, he had a good physique. In addition, under the influence of the booming martial arts activities at that time, Liu Yongfu began to learn martial arts after daily work.
In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), Liu Yongfu's mother, father and uncle died one after another, and he even went to Vietnam to work in an even more difficult life. Four years later, the Taiping Rebellion broke out, and Liu Yongfu went along with the trend and joined the rebel army led by Zheng San, a native of Qinzhou, but he was unable to engage the Qing army for three years. From the xianfeng decade (1860), Liu Yongfu successively switched to Wang Shilin, Huang Sihong and other rebel leaders until he met Wu Kun.
Also known as Wu Azhong and Wu Yazhong, Wu Lingyun's father Wu Lingyun established the Yanling state in response to the Taiping Rebellion, and gradually developed it into the most powerful anti-Qing force in southern Guangxi. Under Wu Kun, Liu Yongfu's abilities were recognized, and he was allowed to establish a "Black Flag Army" on his own, and was named a left-wing vanguard. In the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867), Liu Yongfu led his subordinates to break away from Wu Kun and went to Vietnam to seek a foothold.
After entering Vietnam, Liu Yongfu quickly defeated Pan Van Yi, who was entrenched in Lu'an Prefecture, and then captured the important town of Baosheng, and was rewarded by Nguyễn Phuc the King of Yue. In the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870), Liu Yongfu was ordered by the Yue King to join forces with the Qing general Feng Zicai to recruit Huang Chongying, who was also from the Yanling State. After this battle, Feng Zicai rewarded Liu Yongfu with a piece of the Four Pins of Blue Ling Gong Tablet, which recognized its existence on behalf of the Qing court.
In the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873), the French invaders planned to use Vietnam as a springboard to plot against Yunnan, Guangxi and other places in China, so they sent the admiral An Ye to invade northern Vietnam. Just two months later, An Ye occupied Hanoi, Hai Duong and other places. In a hurry, the Yue King sent Liu Yongfu to fight against the French army, and Liu Yongfu soon set up an ambush after reaching the outside of Hanoi, which not only defeated the French army, but also killed An Ye on the spot. By virtue of this victory, France signed the Treaty of Peace and Alliance with the Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty the following year, recognizing Vietnam's independence.
In the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), France sent troops to attack northern Vietnam, and this time the Qing court also realized the importance of resisting France and aiding Vietnam, so it sent Tang Jingsong to assist Liu Yongfu in resisting the French. Accompanying Tang Jingsong came the promise of the imperial court to recognize his nationality: "The Heavenly Dynasty is lenient, and all my Chinese descendants, but those who can insult foreign countries and defend the frontiers, are all good people of the Qing Dynasty." In May, Liu Yongfu led an army to a major battle against the French army, killing and wounding not only more than 200 French troops, but also killing the French general Li Weili.
After this battle, the Nguyen Dynasty made Liu Yongfu the Viceroy of San xuan and a first-class righteous man, and by virtue of his outstanding performance in the subsequent Sino-French war, the Qing government also rewarded him with the title of "named admiral". However, with the sino-French armistice, the Qing court, which thought that everything was all right, soon issued nine edicts in a row, threatening and luring Liu Yongfu back to China, and successively reducing his 3,000 Black Flag army to a mere 300 people.
In the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War broke out, Liu Yongfu was ordered to go to Taiwan to garrison, in order to prevent the Japanese invaders from attacking, he recruited soldiers in the local area, and expanded the Black Flag Army to eight battalions. The following year, after losing the war, the Qing court signed the Treaty of Maguan with Japan, which not only agreed to compensate 200 million taels of silver, but also ceded the islands of Taiwan and the Penghu Archipelago.
When the news reached the island, the Taiwanese military and people unanimously expressed their opposition to the cession of land, so under the leadership of diplomat Chen Jitong, they announced the establishment of a democratic state in Taiwan in accordance with the provisions of the "International Law" and elected Tang Jingsong, who had assisted Liu Yongfu in resisting the law and was then acting as the governor of Taiwan, as president. However, although Tang Jingsong had the intention of resisting Japan, after the fall of Keelung, he fled back to the mainland in a hurry. Subsequently, Liu Yongfu was elected president, but he resolutely refused and still led the anti-Taiwan struggle as a Qing Dynasty official.
In October, the Japanese army captured Tainan, and all of Taiwan fell into Japanese hands, while Liu Yongfu returned to the mainland after the general trend had gone. In the twenty-third year of Guangxu (1897), Liu Yongfu, who was completely disappointed in the Qing court, chose to return to his hometown of Qinzhou to live in seclusion, but at the same time, he had been secretly supporting the activities of revolutionaries. After the Xinhai Revolution, he was also invited to serve as the chief of the Guangdong Provincial Militia League for several months.
In 1917, Liu Yongfu died in his hometown of Qinzhou at the age of eighty. As a famous general at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang commented that he was "truly superior to others, and the commanders were beyond their reach", while Zhang Zhidong praised him for "breathing for thousands of years of China". It is conceivable that when the Qing Dynasty was repeatedly bullied by the great powers, Liu Yongfu, who led the army to defeat the French army and attacked the Japanese army, played an important role in boosting the people's spirit. In a sense, compared with Huang Feihong, the "big hero" who served as the head coach of martial arts under his command, Liu Yongfu is more of a "hero".