Black Flag Army
The disproportionate sacrifices made by the Black Flag Army at Sơn Tây had important consequences. Liu Yongfu felt that he had been deliberately left to bear the brunt of the fighting by his Chinese and Vietnamese allies, and determined never again to expose his troops so openly. After the fall of Sơn Tây, Liu retreated with the Black Flag Army to Bắc Ninh, but made little attempt to coordinate the movements of the Black Flag Army with those of the Chinese forces at Bắc Ninh. The absence of the Black Flags from the battlefield was an important factor in the defeat of China's Guangxi Army in the Bắc Ninh campaign in March 1884.