Qing · General and Warlord

Liu Yongfu 劉永福

Attested AD 1873 - AD 1894

Passages: 55
Chapters: 4
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Liu Yongfu as a general, military officer, and warlord. This record brings together 55 passages from 4 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Liu Yongfu	劉永福	Liu Yongfu
Title	first-class baron	一等男
Surname	Liu	劉	Liu
Personal name	Liu Yongfu	劉永福	Liu Yongfu
Personal	Liu Yongfu	劉永福
Personal	Liu Yongfu	劉永福	Liu YongFu
Changed	Yi	義	Yi
Title	Yibode'en Batulu	依博德恩巴圖魯
Alternate	Yongfu	永福
Given	Yongfu	永福	YongFu
Courtesy	Yuanting	淵亭	YuanTing

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0122, qingshigao:458:s0008
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:437:s0117, qingshigao:463:s0002

Roles

General
Military Officer
Warlord

Life and dates

Death

Place: at home / 家
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0119

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 光緒九年 · Regnal Year: 9 · Western Year: AD 1883
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:458:s0008, qingshigao:458:s0009, qingshigao:458:s0022
Source Date: Text: 九年 · Western Year: AD 1883
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0089
Source Date: Text: 二十年 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0110
Source Date: Text: 光緒七年 · Western Year: AD 1881
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0078
Source Date: Text: 光緒十年 · Western Year: AD 1884
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0122
Source Date: Text: 十一年 · Western Year: AD 1885
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0104
Source Date: Text: 十年 · Western Year: AD 1884
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0090
Source Date: Text: 同治末 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1873 · End: AD 1874
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:463:s0071
Source Date: Text: 越將劉永福 · Western Year: AD 1884
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:437:s0117, qingshigao:437:s0120, qingshigao:437:s0121

Origins and identity

Ethnicity: Chinese / 中國人
Explicit · qingshigao:437:s0117

Career and standing

Label: commander of Nan'ao garrison / 南澳鎮總兵 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0109
Label: deputy commander of the Three Xuan / 三宣副提督 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0074
Label: guerrilla colonel / 游擊 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0083
Office: Vietnamese Commander / 越官 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒九年 · Regnal Year: 9 · Western Year: AD 1883
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0008
Label: assistant (bangban) / 幫辦 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 台北陷 · Western Year: AD 1895
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0112
Label: provincial commander / 提督 · Action: promoted
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0097
Label: peacock feather / 花翎 · Action: awarded
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0097
Label: Yibode'en Batulu / 依博德恩巴圖魯 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0106
Title: first-class baron / 一等男 · Action: enfeoffed
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0084

Places and affiliations

Label: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0083, qingshigao:463:s0097
Label: Vietnam / 越 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0072, qingshigao:463:s0074
Polity: Vietnam · Relation: active-in
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0008
Place: Shangsi, Guangxi / 廣西上思
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0068
Place: Baosheng / 保勝 · Relation: based-at
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0069, qingshigao:463:s0074
Place: Qinzhou border / 欽州邊境 · Relation: posted-to
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0118
Place: Shangsi / 上思 · Relation: native-of
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0068
Organization: Black Flag Army / 黑旗軍 · Relation: commander-of
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0070

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Tang Jingsong (唐景崧)
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0082

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: ambushed-and-killed · Other Person Id: An Ye (安鄴) · Place: Hanoi / 河內 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 同治末 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1873 · End: AD 1874
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0072
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated the French at Paper Bridge · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒九年 · Regnal Year: 9 · Western Year: AD 1883 · Place: Paper Bridge, Hoa Duc prefecture / 懷德府紙橋
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0008
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defended · Place: Tainan / 台南 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二十年 · Western Year: AD 1895
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0111, qingshigao:463:s0115, qingshigao:463:s0117
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: killed-in-battle · Other Person Id: Li Weili (李威利) · Place: Paper Bridge / 紙橋
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0084
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: sank-warship · Place: Anping / 安平
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0113
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: stationed at Son Tay and was urged toward Hanoi · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒九年 · Regnal Year: 9 · Western Year: AD 1883
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0009, qingshigao:458:s0022

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: courageous; prized faithfulness and loved his officers · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0120
Assessment: name shook China and abroad; by Taiwan campaign already in decline · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0125, qingshigao:463:s0126
Kind: physical-description · Statement: gaunt as a dry stick
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0120

Source notes

From: Yi / 義 · To: Yongfu / 永福
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0068

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 436Volume 436 Biographies 223: Shen Guifen, Li Hongzao, Weng Tonghe, Sun Yuwen · 1 passage

又言劉永福不足恃，非增重兵出關不可。 He also argued that Liu Yongfu could not be relied upon and that substantial reinforcements must be sent beyond the frontier passes.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 437Volume 437 Biographies 224: Rong Lu, Wang Wenshao, Zhang Zhidong, Qu Hongji · 3 passages

越將劉永福者，故中國人，素驍勇，與法抗。 The Vietnamese commander Liu Yongfu was originally Chinese, renowned for valor, and fought the French.

奏請主事唐景崧募健卒出關，與永福相犄角。 He asked that Secretary Tang Jingsong recruit troops and advance beyond the frontier to coordinate with Liu Yongfu in a pincer.

朝旨因就加永福提督、景崧五品卿銜，炯、延旭亦皆已至巡撫，當前敵，被劾得罪去，並坐舉者。 The court then made Liu Yongfu a provincial commander and gave Tang Jingsong fifth-rank noble rank; Tang Jiong and Xu Yanxu, already governors, were impeached after failures at the front and removed, and those who had recommended them were punished too.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 458Volume 458 Biographies 245: Xu Yanxu, Tang Jiong, He Jing, Zhang Zhaodong · 3 passages

會南定陷，朝命出鎮南關，與提督黃桂蘭、道員趙沃籌防，未行，越官劉永福戰勝懷德府紙橋，狀其績以上。 When Nam Dinh fell, the court ordered him to take command at Zhennan Pass and work out defenses with Brigadier Huang Guilan and Circuit Intendant Zhao Wo. Before he marched, the Vietnamese commander Liu Yongfu defeated the enemy at Paper Bridge in Hoa Duc prefecture and sent up a report of his victory.

九年，出關，至北寧而還，頓龍州，被命為巡撫，敕趣永福規河內。 In the ninth year he crossed the border, advanced as far as Bac Ninh, then withdrew and encamped at Longzhou. He was appointed governor and instructed to press Liu Yongfu to move against Hanoi.

劉永福現駐山西，法人擬益師往攻，請毋撤兵，用警戎備。」 Liu Yongfu was then at Son Tay, and the French were preparing reinforcements for an attack. He asked that our troops not be withdrawn, so that defenses might stay on alert.'

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 463Volume 463 Biographies 250: Tang Jingsong, Liu Yongfu · 48 passages

唐景崧劉永福唐景崧，字維卿，廣西灌陽人。 Tang Jingsong and Liu Yongfu. Tang Jingsong, whose courtesy name was Weiqing, came from Guanyang in Guangxi.

光緒八年，法越事起，自請出關招致劉永福，廷旨交岑毓英差序。 When the Franco-Vietnamese conflict broke out in the eighth year of Guangxu, he volunteered to go beyond the border to recruit Liu Yongfu, and the court entrusted the assignment to Cen Yuying.

明年，抵保勝，見永福，為陳三策，謂：「據保勝十州，傳檄而定諸省，請命中國，假以名號，事成則王，此上策也； The following year he reached Baosheng and met Yongfu, presenting three strategies: "Seize the ten districts around Baosheng, proclaim your authority to bring the provinces into line, and ask China for a formal title—success would make you king. That is the best course;

永福從中策。 Yongfu chose the middle course.

永福意猶豫，景崧曰：「子能存亡繼絕，即所以報故主也。 Yongfu still hesitated. Jingsong told him: "If you can save a dying state and restore a broken line, that is how you repay your former sovereign.

永福意稍動，於是廣招戎幕謀大舉。 Yongfu was somewhat swayed, and he then recruited military advisers on a broad scale to plan a major offensive.

十年，駐興化，會北寧告急，毓英令景崧導永福往援。 In the tenth year he was stationed at Xinghua. When Bac Ninh sent word of an emergency, Yuying ordered Jingsong to guide Yongfu to the relief.

初，桂軍黃桂蘭等方守北寧，劉團被困山西，坐視不救，永福憾之深。 Earlier, Huang Guilan and other Guangxi commanders were holding Bac Ninh while Liu's Black Flag regiment was trapped at Son Tay; they looked on without helping, and Yongfu deeply resented it.

至是景崧力解之，始往； Now Jingsong worked hard to reconcile them, and only then did Yongfu go;

適扶良警，請還犒劉軍，行至郎甲，湧球陷，阻弗達。 Just then word came of trouble at Phu Lang Thuong, and he asked to return and reward Liu's army. At Lang Giap, Yong Cau had already fallen and he could not get through.

踰月，法人攻劉軍吳鳳典營，景崧率談敬德馳救，大捷。 After more than a month the French attacked Wu Fengdian's camp in Liu's army; Jingsong led Tan Jingde in a forced march to the rescue and won a great victory.

永福分鎮南澳。 Yongfu was posted to defend Nan'ao.

景崧自與永福共事，積不相能，乃徙永福軍台南，而自任守台北，未幾而李文奎變作。 Jingsong and Yongfu had served together for years but could not get along; he moved Yongfu's army to Tainan while keeping Taipei for himself. Before long Li Wenkui's mutiny broke out.

劉永福，字淵亭，廣西上思人，本名義。 Liu Yongfu, whose courtesy name was Yuanting, came from Shangsi in Guangxi; his original name was Yi.

越王諭永福來歸，永福遂繞馳河內，與法人抗，設伏以誘斬安鄴，覆其全軍。 The king of Vietnam ordered Yongfu to return; Yongfu circled to Hanoi, resisted the French, set an ambush to lure and kill An Ye (Francis Garnier), and destroyed his whole army.

法人大舉入寇，永福軍頻挫。 The French invaded on a large scale, and Yongfu's army suffered repeated defeats.

越人懼，乃行成，而授永福為三宣副提督，轄宣光、興化、山西三省，設局保勝，榷釐稅助餉。 The Vietnamese were afraid and made peace, appointing Yongfu deputy commander of the Three Xuan with jurisdiction over Tuyen Quang, Xinghua, and Son Tay, establishing an office at Baosheng and levying transit duties to help pay the army.

永福數著戰功，匿不聞，永福銜之。 Yongfu won many battles, but Zuoyan concealed the reports and did not pass them on; Yongfu bore a grudge against him.

越難深，國王責令佐炎發兵，六調永福不至，然越王始終思用之。 Vietnam's troubles deepened; the king ordered Zuoyan to send troops and summoned Yongfu six times, but he did not come; yet the king always wished to use him.

光緒七年，法人藉詞前約互市紅河，脅越王逐永福。 In the seventh year of Guangxu the French used an earlier treaty on Red River trade as a pretext to coerce the king of Vietnam to expel Yongfu.

越王佯調解，而陰令勿徙。 The king of Vietnam pretended to mediate while secretly ordering Yongfu not to move.

永福憤，請戰，出駐山西，迳諒山，謁提督黃桂蘭，乞援助。 Yongfu was indignant, asked to fight, garrisoned Son Tay, went straight to Lang Son, called on the provincial commander Huang Guilan, and begged for aid.

會唐景崧至，面陳三策，永福曰：「微力不足當上策，中策勉為之！」 Tang Jingsong arrived and set forth the three plans in person; Yongfu said: "My slight strength is insufficient for the best plan; I will do my best with the middle plan!"

朝旨賞十萬金犒軍，永福入貲為游擊。 The court ordered a reward of one hundred thousand in gold for the army; Yongfu contributed funds and was made a guerrilla colonel.

戰懷德紙橋，陣斬法將李威利，越王封一等男。 They fought at Paper Bridge; the French general Rivière was killed in battle; the king of Vietnam enfeoffed him as a first-class baron.

敵大創，乃浮艦攻越都，懸萬金購永福，越乞降。 The enemy suffered heavy losses, then sent warships against the Vietnamese capital, posted ten thousand in gold for Yongfu's head, and Vietnam begged to surrender.

永福欲退保勝，黑旗軍皆憤懣，守忠自請以全師守山西，功不居，罪自坐，永福乃不復言退。 Yongfu wished to withdraw to Baosheng; the Black Flag Army was indignant; Shouzhong volunteered to hold Son Tay with the whole force, claiming merit for none and guilt for himself; Yongfu then spoke no more of retreat.

九年，法人要議越事，岑毓英力言土寇可驅，永福斷不宜逐，上韙之，命永福相機規河內，並濟以餉。 In the ninth year the French demanded negotiations on Vietnam; Cen Yuying argued strongly that local bandits could be driven off and Yongfu must by no means be expelled; the emperor approved and ordered Yongfu to seize the opportunity to plan against Hanoi while supplying his rations.

十年，毓英次嘉喻關，永福往謁，毓英極優禮之，編其軍為十二營。 In the tenth year Yuying was stationed at Jiayuguan; Yongfu went to call on him; Yuying treated him with the utmost courtesy and organized his army into twelve battalions.

永福馳援，迳永祥金，英、法教民梗阻，擊卻之。 Yongfu hurried to the relief, went straight through Yongxiangjin, drove off British and French missionary converts who blocked the way.

比至，粵軍已大潰，永福奪還扶朗、猛球砲台。 By the time he arrived the Guangdong army had already been routed; Yongfu recaptured the batteries at Phu Lang Thuong and Mong Cau.

毓英奏言：「永福為越官守越地，分所應為，若畀以職，將來邊徼海澨，皆可驅策。」 Yuying memorialized: "As a Vietnamese official Yongfu guards Vietnamese territory—this is his proper duty; if he is given office, in future the borderlands and seacoasts can all be driven by him."

已，和局中變，上令永福軍先進。 Soon the peace negotiations broke down; the emperor ordered Yongfu's army to advance first.

法人擾宣光，永福窖地雷待之，連日隱卒以誘敵，不敢出。 The French harassed Tuyen Quang; Yongfu buried land mines to await them, for days concealed his troops to lure the enemy, and they did not dare come out.

敵援至，毓英遣水師溯河而上，永福夾流截擊，奪其船二十馀艘，斬馘數十級，法人愕走。 When enemy reinforcements arrived, Yuying sent the river fleet upstream; Yongfu struck from both sides of the stream, captured more than twenty boats, beheaded dozens of the enemy, and the French fled in astonishment.

踰月，法艦入同章，毓英遣將分伏河東西，永福居中策應，兩岸轟擊，敗之，復以全力扼河道。 After more than a month French warships entered Tongzhang; Yuying sent generals to ambush both banks while Yongfu coordinated from the center; both shores opened fire and defeated them, then sealed the river channel with full force.

十一年，法軍攻左域，守忠失同章不守，諸軍敗挫，永福退浪泊。 In the eleventh year the French attacked Zuoyu; Shouzhong lost Tongzhang and could not hold it; the allied armies were beaten back, and Yongfu withdrew to Langbo.

論勝宣、臨功，賜號依博德恩巴圖魯。 For victories at Tuyen Quang and Lin Tao he was granted the title Yibode'en Batulu.

張之洞令永福駐思欽，不肯行。 Zhang Zhidong ordered Yongfu to garrison Sixin, but he refused to go.

景崧署巡撫，徙其軍駐台南。 Jingsong served as acting governor and moved Yongfu's army to garrison Tainan.

及台北陷，景崧走，台民以總統印綬上永福，永福不受，仍稱幫辦。 When Taipei fell and Jingsong fled, the people of Taiwan offered the presidential seal and sash to Yongfu; he refused them and still styled himself assistant.

攻新竹，相持月馀，兵疲糧絕，永福使使如廈門告急，並電緣海督撫乞助餉，無應者。 At Hsinchu they faced each other for more than a month until the troops were weary and provisions exhausted; Yongfu sent envoys to Xiamen for urgent help and telegraphed the coastal governors begging for supplies, but no one responded.

而台南土寇為內間，引日軍深入，破新化，陷雲林，掇苗栗，轟嘉義，孤城危棘，永福猶死守。 But native bandits in southern Taiwan served as inside agents and led the Japanese deep inland; they overran Xinhua, took Yunlin, seized Miaoli, and bombarded Chiayi; the isolated city stood in peril, yet Yongfu still held on desperately.

日台灣總督樺山資紀貽書永福勸其去，峻拒之。 The Japanese governor-general of Taiwan, Kabayama Sukenori, sent Yongfu a letter urging him to leave; he sternly refused.

日軍乃大攻城，城陷，永福亡匿德國商輪，日軍大搜不獲。 The Japanese then assaulted the city on a large scale; when it fell, Yongfu hid aboard a German merchant steamer, and though the Japanese searched extensively they could not find him.

永福骨瘦柴立，而膽氣過人，重信愛士，故所部皆盡死力雲。 Yongfu was gaunt as a dry stick, yet his courage surpassed others; he prized faithfulness and loved his officers, so his men are said to have fought to the death for him.

景崧初說永福王越，乃自為之，竟不可以終日，雖有知慧，不如乘勢，豈不然哉？ Jingsong had first urged Yongfu to be king of Vietnam, then took the role himself, yet could not hold out even a day; though he had wit, he was not as good at riding the tide—is this not so?

永福戰越，名震中外，談黑旗軍，輒為之變色。 Yongfu fought in Vietnam until his name shook China and abroad; at mention of the Black Flag Army, men's faces would change color.