Black Flag Army

Wu Chunlei said to Di Xiong, "Brother! I am incompetent! Of the eighteen people on the list you gave me, I only brought Liu Ruming and Feng Anbang. I didn't even bring Feng Zhian."

Four years ago, when Wu Chunlei joined the army, Di Xiong gave him a list of the Five Tiger Generals of the Northwest Army and the Thirteen Guardians with slight changes. Now this piece of paper has turned yellow, but he still keeps it. Among the Thirteen Guardians, there is Feng Zhian's name. Feng Zhian has been Wu Chunlei's subordinate for a long time. Wu Chunlei thought it was a sure thing to bring him here. Who knew that when Feng Jishan took office in the patrol brigade, Feng Zhian's name was also in a guard company he led. As a result, Feng Zhian would rather follow Feng Jishan as a guard than follow Wu Chunlei to Beitang to be an officer. Cao Fulin and Tong Lingge, who used to be Wu Chunlei's subordinates, also went to other places. As for Sun Lianzhong, he was still the company commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade, because the purge carried out by Yang Guitang only involved officers above the deputy battalion commander, and officers below the company commander were not moved. But there were still many low-level officers who followed Wu Chunlei. In the battalion where he was, all three company commanders came, seven of the nine platoon leaders came, and more than a hundred squad leaders and soldiers came. It can be seen that Wu Chunlei's prestige in the army is still good.

Di Xiong said, "Outer Mongolia was called Mobei during the Han and Tang dynasties. In the eyes of many people, it is a bitter and cold place covered with deserts. It is normal that Feng Zhian and his men are unwilling to come. It is not easy for you to bring Liu Ruming and Feng Anbang here. However, the biggest surprise is Jiang Hongyu. It is definitely a great achievement for you to bring this person here."

Although Jiang Hongyu was not on the list of eighteen people, his military talent and training ability were no less than any of them. He was a talent wasted by Feng Jishan. In the officialdom, there are two types of people who will not be reused by their superiors, one is too smart, and the other is too stupid. Jiang Hongyu is the former. Not only is he too smart, but he also does not flatter. He graduated from a regular military academy, and his ability in some aspects even exceeds that of Feng Jishan. He thought of the military problems that Feng Shenshan did not think of, and solved them in advance. When he was lecturing in the military school, his rich military knowledge was fully utilized. Some officers and soldiers admired him more than Feng Jishan, which caused Feng Jishan's dissatisfaction. In addition, Han Fu?, Shi Yousan and other villains instigated him, and he was eventually abandoned and held an idle position until he died without timely treatment after a car accident. When Feng Jishan lacked talents around him, he regretted not reusing him.

At the Justice Party meeting, Di Xiong said, "Wu Chunlei is back, and he brought back a group of very outstanding officers, making up for the shortage of officers in the Justice Army. Liu Zhendong and Li Fei brought back a large sum of money and property. The expansion of our Justice Army must be put on the agenda. After all, the territory we control now is hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, which is dozens of times larger than when we first arrived. It is not enough to rely on just four brigades. Although there are third- and fourth-line troops such as the County Security Corps and the Rural Self-Defense Force, they are only good for guarding county towns and townships, and cannot be used as combat troops."

Wu Zhong asked: "I wonder how the boss plans to expand the army?"

Ever since Liu Zhendong and Li Fei brought back a large sum of money, Wu Zhong, who had always been worried about money, no longer mentioned resigning, and no longer opposed Di Xiong's spending on refugee resettlement and military expansion.

Di Xiong said: "I plan to establish the First Division of the Justice Army. Zhang Zhenyang will be promoted from brigade commander to division commander. The First and Second Brigades of the Justice Army will be assigned to it, and a new Third Brigade will be expanded. Subuda's Mongolian Security Brigade will be renamed the Independent Cavalry Brigade of the Justice Army, and it will be expanded into five cavalry regiments. Liu Chengliang's Security Brigade will be expanded into a Security Division, with only two brigades. In this way, there will be six brigades, of which the Cavalry Brigade will be a reinforced brigade. The total strength will exceed 20,000 people, which is enough for the time being."

Lan Jinping asked, "After the expansion of the army, will the next step be to attack Beihai Lake?"

Di Xiong said: "I want to correct your statement. It is not about attacking Beihai Lake, but about recovering Beihai Lake. Beihai Lake originally belonged to China, but it was ceded during the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty. You must remember that the first traitorous treaty signed by the Qing Dynasty was not the Treaty of Nanjing, but the Treaty of Nerchinsk. This treaty gave up Beihai Lake, and it was signed after the victory of the Battle of Yalu River. No matter how much Kang Mazi is praised in history books, the fact that he is a traitor cannot be denied. Outer Mongolia and Beihai Lake are a whole. Without Beihai Lake, most of Outer Mongolia can only be desert."

Tian Mengxue said: "Before we recover Beihai Lake, we must also eliminate the horse bandits in western Outer Mongolia. They have caused too much harm to the refugees. In some refugee settlements, everyone was killed. Currently, there are three most rampant horse bandits in the west: the Tigers of Hangai Mountain, the Black Wolves of Wubusu, and the One-eyed Dog of Mobei. Among them, the One-eyed Dog of Mobei is Gou Zongwei, the fish that escaped the net that year."

Leng Hanbing said: "The refugee passage in the south must also be opened. General Pan used mines and barbed wire to prevent the refugees from going north. The refugees had no choice but to join the local bandits. Once a person becomes a bandit, he will become cruel and lawless. It is very difficult to return to being a good citizen."

Wu Chunfeng said: "We sent people from the Baotou Intelligence Station to give him gold bars and dollars, hoping that he would open the passage. The despicable Pan Ying took the money but did not open the passage. The envoy went to question him. We just received news that he actually killed our envoy!"

The meeting was immediately filled with outrage, and a resolution was unanimously passed to dispatch bombers and action teams to kill Pan Ying. At the same time, the chief of the Beijing Intelligence Station, Yin Quan, was ordered to contact Xu Shichang and Zhang Shaozeng, who had good relations with the Beiyang government, and try to replace him with someone who had a friendly relationship with Beitang as the governor of Suiyuan.

Because Yin Quan made great contributions in the operation to anger Yuan Shikai to death, he was promoted from team leader to station chief, and the Beijing Intelligence Group was also promoted to an intelligence station.

Di Xiong said: "On the European battlefield, the first battle of the Somme River has been fought. Because the German army used trenches and bunkers for defense, the British and French coalition forces lost 60,000 people in the first battle, and suffered heavy losses. While they mobilized troops to prepare for the second battle, they strongly requested their ally, Tsarist Russia, to send troops to attack the German army from the north. The Tsar was forced to recruit another 5 million soldiers, and even the Mongolian natives in the territory were conscripted. Many villages and towns around the North Sea Lake don't even have a young and strong man, only women, the elderly and children. This is a good opportunity for us to recapture the North Sea Lake."

Wu Zhongdao: "If Tsarist Russia wins the war in Europe and sends millions of troops back to attack us, how can we stop them?"

Di Xiong said: "Please believe me, Mr. Wu. They will not win, and they will not all come back. Even if some troops come back, they will be busy with the civil war. This world war will lead to the demise of the Russian Empire, and they will be caught in a war of warlord separatism for several years in a row."

Wu Zhong said: "But the Tsarist Russia has not yet perished. In order to avoid overly stimulating them, I suggest that we only recover the southern part of Beihai Lake. As long as we can divert the lake water to Outer Mongolia, we can recover the entire Beihai Lake area when the Tsarist Russia is in complete chaos."

Di Xiong said: "What you said makes sense, then we should be patient and take the southern region first."

The meeting finally decided that Liu Zhendong would lead the special forces battalion to Suiyuan by plane to carry out the decapitation operation. Although Di Xiong did not want to participate in the civil war, he could not tolerate the killing of the Justice Party messenger. The Justice Army had four brigades, three of which were sent to suppress the bandits in western Mengxi, leaving one brigade to recruit and train new soldiers.

The last time we went to Zhengzhou to attack Liu Zhenhua’s mansion, the special forces battalion suffered casualties, losing a quarter of its troops. The deputy battalion commander and two company commanders were all killed. This was mainly because they were sniped by the enemy while transporting property, so only more than 200 people could go this time.

After the meeting, Lan Jinping saw that everyone else had left, so he whispered to Di Xiong, "What are you going to do with the two women Liu Zhendong brought back last time? You're not going to take them as concubines, are you?"

Di Xiong said, "Of course not! Chi Baimei is a middle school student, she can teach at the primary school of Zhengqing School. Le Hongmei is an actress, she can join a drama troupe. We once invited Mei Lanfang and Liu Xikui to come to Beitang to perform, but unfortunately they both refused. We can only start a troupe ourselves. Fortunately, there are many refugees who can perform. Of course, this requires their own opinions."

Lan Jinping said, "They will definitely not refuse. Their husbands are dead and have been robbed by warlords many times. Even if their parents are still alive, they are too embarrassed to go home. Staying in Beitang City is their best choice. If I find a good man for each of them to be their husband, it will be even more perfect."

Di Xiong laughed and said, "When did you change your career to become a matchmaker?"

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "If I don't marry them off quickly, what if they are taken over by powerful bad guys? There are many bad guys like you in Beitang City."

On the afternoon of August 1, 1916, the weather was very hot. In Guisui City, Suiyuan General Pan Ying returned home with an ugly face. He was in a very irritable mood. Due to the large number of refugees in Suiyuan, the refugees continued to riot, robbed everywhere, and then joined the bandit group. The number of bandits continued to grow, and the weapons in their hands became better and better. Not only did they have many machine guns, but they also had mortars. The Beiyang Army that came to suppress them suffered heavy casualties. Fan Guozhang and several other brigade commanders complained that General Pan should not have killed the envoys of Beitang City, which led to Beitang City's revenge and supporting the bandits with weapons and ammunition. Pan Ying was furious and scolded several brigade commanders, saying that they had forgotten the hatred of many brothers killed by Di Congmo, and then suppressed their complaints. Pan Ying and several brigade commanders did not know that the revenge of the Black Flag Army had not yet begun.

After returning home, his wife told him that his favorite hunting dog suddenly died and was suspected to have been poisoned. Pan Ying immediately called the police chief Qian Dashan and scolded him, and gave him three days to solve the case and find the murderer who poisoned the hunting dog. Qian Dashan was forced to find a death row prisoner in prison and promised to give his family a sum of money to make him admit that he poisoned the hunting dog. Qian Dashan ran to Pan Ying's house again to report to Pan Ying. When he walked into the gate, he suddenly saw a flash on the hill in the distance, like the reflection of a telescope. He was stunned for a moment, and looked at the hill again, but it disappeared again. When he walked into the yard, he vaguely heard the roar of an airplane.

Pan Ying saw Qian Dashan coming again and asked, "What are you doing here? Has the case been solved?"

Qian Dashan smiled and said, "Thanks to the governor's blessing and good luck, we arrested a few suspicious people and put them on trial. One of them admitted that he poisoned the governor's dog."

Before he finished speaking, he heard someone outside shouting, "Run! Planes are dropping bombs, planes from Bei Tang City!"

Then there was a loud "bang" and Qian Dashan, who was standing at the door, flew into the air, his body torn into pieces in the air, blood splattered everywhere. Pan Ying also had one leg blown off and fell to the ground screaming. At this time, fierce gunfire broke out at the gate of the courtyard, and the guards of the Dutong Mansion who rushed over after hearing the news were knocked to the ground by machine guns one after another.

Pan Ying, who was lying on the ground, shouted to his wife, "Hurry up and call Fan Guozhang and ask him to bring reinforcements. This is the revenge of the Black Flag Army!"

Shi Zhu, who had been promoted to deputy commander of the special forces battalion, had rushed into the yard and fired repeatedly with two guns. Pan Ying was hit by several bullets and died on the spot. A company commander of the special forces battalion carefully observed Pan Ying's body and took out a camera to take a photo. Only then did Shi Zhu lead the team to retreat.

On a hill not far away, Li Laoshi, holding a telescope, said to Liu Zhendong beside him: "The target has been cleared. To deal with Pan Ying, you don't need to come. One company of the special forces battalion is enough."

Liu Zhendong said, "Without the cooperation of your intelligence station, it would be difficult to accurately kill the target. When I go back this time, I must ask for credit for you in front of Mr. Di. You have been in Suiyuan for three years! You are almost fifty years old, and it is time for you to return to Beitang City to enjoy your life."

Li Laoshi was touched and said, "Thank you very much, Brigade Commander Liu, for speaking well of me in front of Juzi. If I hadn't gone back, everyone might have forgotten me."

Di Xiong had just received a telegram from the Baotou Intelligence Station that Pan Ying had been shot dead. Before he had time to be happy, he received another bad news. Police Chief Li Fei called and said that Leng Hanbing had been assassinated and shot in the chest. He was seriously injured. His two guards, Leng Yue and Tang Liang, were all shot dead.

Di Xiong hurried to the Internal Medicine Department of Beihai Hospital and saw many people standing outside the operating room. Wu Chunlei, Wu Chunfeng, Gu Xingzhi and Lan Jinping were all there, and of course Bai Xiuling, who had just become a mother. Bai Xiuling's eyes were swollen from crying, and Lan Jinping was comforting her. After Wu Chunlei returned to Beitang City, he became the deputy commander of the First Division and was currently in charge of recruiting new soldiers.

Li Fei came forward and said, "Dean Yuan is currently performing surgery to remove the bullet from him, so he cannot enter for the time being."

Di Xiong asked, "Has the murderer been caught?"

Li Fei shook his head and said, "There were five murderers. Four of them were killed on the spot, and one escaped. We are searching for him all over the city. He should not have escaped from the city. The preliminary judgment is that it was done by Japanese agents."

Gu Xingzhi came over and said, "A few days ago, our Supervisory Office just executed a group of Japanese agents, including Fang Xiaoyue. The Japanese may be desperate and take revenge."

Di Xiong was relieved after hearing this. What he was most worried about was that Leng Hanbing was assassinated by his own people, which would inevitably trigger a major internal purge.