Black Flag Army

At five o'clock in the morning, before daybreak, the company commander of the new recruit company, Chen Wanqing, summoned all the soldiers to do exercises and jogging. He started by calling the roll. Deputy company commander Ding Hanmin called out, "Wang Dashan!"

A skinny man with a dark face below quickly agreed: "Here!"

Ding Hanmin called out again: "Li Yinshi!"

A fat yellow-faced man answered loudly: "Here!"

Ding Hanmin called out again: "Di Qiu!"

Di Qiu, who was only sixteen years old, answered in a childish voice: "Here!"

Wang Dashan, who was standing next to him, whispered to Di Qiu, "Why do you have the same last name as Commander Di? Are you a relative?"

Wang Dashan was born into a refugee family and really hopes to have some connections there.

Di Qiu remembered his brother Di Chun's advice before he joined the army, and quickly replied: "We are not relatives, it's just a coincidence."

Li Yinshi on the other side said, "Coincidence? No way? The surname Di is a very rare surname. There are only two famous people in history, Di Renjie and Di Qing. Go home and ask your parents. If you can find a relative with Commander Di, you will be rich!"

Company commander Chen Wanqing shouted, "Who's talking down there? Military judge! Drag them out and give each of them ten military sticks!"

Military judge Zhan Erqing said: "Captain! Justice Army regulations do not allow beatings with sticks! You can punish them by reciting books or putting them in solitary confinement!"

Chen Wanqing was stunned. He used to be in the 16th Mixed Brigade, one of the three company commanders under Wu Chunlei. Feng Jishan's 16th Mixed Brigade allowed people to be beaten with military sticks, and they beat them often. After arriving at the Justice Army, although the military judge also explained the military regulations of the Justice Army to him, he did not take it seriously at all. He only knew that Commander Di and Brigade Commander Feng were sworn brothers, so the military regulations should be similar. He did not expect to make a mistake. Fortunately, the military judge gave him face and spoke softly, so no one heard it except the deputy company commander Ding Hanmin.

Chen Wanqing changed his words and said, "Since you three are first-time offenders, I won't punish you with the military sticks. You will be put in solitary confinement for a day after the run!"

Then he began to lecture: "Brothers! My name is Chen Wanqing! I used to be in the 16th Mixed Brigade, and now I am your company commander. This big guy is called Ding Hanmin, he used to be in the 16th Mixed Brigade, and he is the deputy company commander. The skinny guy is called Zhan Erqing, he is the military judge and inspector. From today on, we will eat from the same pot. I will train you strictly according to military regulations. Don't blame me for the strict training, because we will go to the battlefield after all. Only those who have undergone rigorous training and passed the test can have the greatest chance of surviving on the battlefield. I was trained in the same way when I was in the 16th Mixed Brigade."

After the training, they started doing exercises. Zhan Erqing was responsible for shouting the exercises. Because this was the military gymnastics of later generations, it was different from the gymnastics of the Beiyang Army. Chen Wanqing and Ding Hanmin didn't know how to do it. After finishing the exercises, they started running. Chen Wanqing ran at the front of the team. After running, everyone went back to the dormitory to get their lunch boxes and lined up in the canteen for food. Breakfast was four steamed buns, a bowl of mutton soup, and a serving of pickled radish.

Chen Wanqing and Zhan Erqing were having dinner together. Chen Wanqing said, "Brother Zhan, I just arrived at your army and I am not very clear about many rules. I need you to remind me more! I almost made a fool of myself today."

Zhan Erqing said: "We are in the same company, of course we have to remind each other!"

Chen Wanqing said, "In the Beiyang Army, gambling, whoring, and smoking opium are not prohibited, but the 16th Mixed Brigade strictly prohibits these three things, so many officers can't stand it and leave the 16th Mixed Brigade. I wonder if the Justice Army prohibits these three things?"

Zhan Erqing said, "We in the Justice Army also strictly prohibit these three things, but Commander Di said that managing military discipline is like Dayu controlling floods, which requires both blocking and dredging. After banning these three things, the army is allowed to hold various sports competitions when they are not training, such as football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, as well as Go, chess, military chess, and bridge competitions. If you can get a good result in the top three, Commander Di will personally give out trophies and generous bonuses. With so many types of competitions, soldiers will always like one of them. If they fall in love with the competition, they will not think about gambling, whoring, and smoking opium."

Ding Hanmin said: "Commander Di is very thoughtful, but will the officers and soldiers use the chess and cards as gambling tools to gamble secretly?"

Zhan Erqing said, "We investigated this when we were doing an experiment in a regiment. No one did this because those who were good at chess and cards could win prizes. If they were caught gambling, not only would their pay be deducted and they would be put in solitary confinement, but they would also be banned from participating in any competitions in the camp forever. People who were bad at chess and cards didn't dare to gamble because they were not good enough and would most likely lose if they gambled."

Chen Wanqing asked: "Will this cause the soldiers to lose their ambition and become addicted to chess and cards and not want to train?"

Zhan Erqing said, "No! Because there are more prizes for competitions related to military training, such as running, mountain climbing, and shooting. The prize for shooting is the highest, up to one thousand yuan."

Chen Wanqing sighed, "Commander Di is really willing to spend money to train soldiers! No wonder when we were in the 16th Mixed Brigade, Commander Wu always talked about how good the welfare of the Justice Army was. The 16th Mixed Brigade is really too poor, and is always deducted by the higher-ups. Often, they can't even pay the soldiers, let alone hold this kind of competition. We followed Commander Wu to the Justice Army, and it was the right decision."

In the 16th Mixed Brigade, Wu Chunlei was the battalion commander, and Chen Wanqing, Zhang Lingyun, and Cui Yuxiang were all company commanders under him. When they arrived at the Justice Army, the three of them were still company commanders, and Wu Chunlei was promoted several levels in a row and became a deputy division commander. The three of them were not jealous because they knew that Wu Chunlei was the sworn brother of Commander Di. They felt that with an old superior who was a deputy division commander as a backer, they would have a greater chance of promotion in the future.

Di Qiu finally made it to the holiday, dragging his tired body back home, and saw his gray-haired parents eating breakfast in the living room, inviting him to sit down and eat with them. His parents originally ran a grocery store, but after Zhengqing Commercial Bank opened, everyone went to Zhengqing Commercial Bank to buy things, so his father Di Fu had to switch to a car repair shop, repairing tires of cars and tricycles. For this, Di Xiong even went to Di Fu's house to apologize and asked Beihai Bank to provide a loan for the car repair shop. Breakfast was sorghum porridge and scallion pancakes, and Di Qiu ate it very happily.

Di Qiu's mother asked, "Second son! Is it hard to train in the army? How is the food?"

Di Qiu said: "Of course the training was hard. My elder brother really made me suffer a lot. But the food was not bad. I had meat every day. I also made two friends, Wang Dashan and Li Yinshi."

Di Qiu's mother complained to Di Fu, "I asked you to ask your cousin who is a boss to get a guard job for your second son, but you refused to go and insisted on letting him suffer as a soldier."

Di Fu said, "How can Erzi compare with Dachun? Dachun is a master who has received formal training in Bajiquan. Erzi's mediocre skills will make people laugh. I am too embarrassed to say this. You can't bear to let him suffer in Bajiquan, and he can't continue studying in school, so he can only join the army. In this world, you have to suffer in any industry. If you can't bear this hardship, you will have to suffer that hardship."

Di Qiu's mother said, "I think your cousin who is a boss is not miserable. He goes out with four bodyguards and two cars. He is very impressive. His wife is also a stunning beauty. He enjoys all the splendor and wealth."

Defoe said, "You only see the surface. In fact, he has suffered more than anyone else. He was imprisoned in the Beijing Police Department Prison and beaten half to death. He almost lost his life. Now he has to worry about the living expenses and life safety of hundreds of thousands of people in Mengxi. How can it be so easy? Others as rich as him have a lot of concubines and goddaughters, but he only has one wife and not even a concubine."

Di Qiu's mother said, "I don't believe it! When a man gets rich, he will cheat on his wife. He must have other women, but you just don't know."

At 5:30 in the evening, it was time to get off work in the Beihai Group building. Everyone packed up and went home. Di Xiong also walked out of the chairman's office. His four guards thought he was going home after get off work, so they all left the guard room. However, Di Xiong waved his hand and said, "I'm going to the data room to check information. I won't be home until an hour later. You don't have to follow me."

Upon hearing this, the guards had no choice but to return to the guard room. The data room was in the basement on the first floor. This was Di Xiong's data warehouse. Only he had the key, and no one else could enter. There were a lot of manuscripts written by Di Xiong when he first crossed over. He was worried that he would forget them after a long time, so he wrote them all down, including the production of many products, the formula of medicines, and the major events that happened in which year of the Republic of China. This was Di Xiong's biggest advantage in defeating many opponents.

After Di Xiong entered the data room today, he did not look up any information. Instead, he moved a ladder, climbed up to the ceiling, and opened a door on the ceiling. Immediately, a woman fell down and landed right in Di Xiong's arms. She hugged Di Xiong's neck tightly, stared at him with her beautiful phoenix eyes, and said, "Why are you late today? You made me wait so anxiously!"

Di Xiong did not answer, but closed the door on the ceiling carefully, then carefully came down the ladder holding the woman. There was a bed in the data room, which was originally the place where Di Xiong rested when he was tired of reading the data. Di Xiong put her on the bed. Above the data room was the office of the propaganda director of the Justice Party. This woman was of course Xian Yuji. At the beginning, Di Xiong persuaded Xian Yuji not to commit suicide. Xian Yuji asked Di Xiong to agree to her three conditions before giving up suicide. The third condition was to become Di Xiong's mistress. Di Xiong refused to agree at first. Xian Yuji threatened to commit suicide on the one hand, and took the initiative to make concessions on the other hand, only dating once a month, and promised not to tell anyone. Di Xiong had to agree.

Unexpectedly, after the two of them had a date in the information room, Xian Yujie used the seduction techniques that the Japanese forced her to learn to bewitch Di Xiong. He took the initiative to propose a date with him three times a month. Of course, Xian Yujie happily agreed.

After the clouds cleared and the rain stopped, Di Xiong lay on the bed and sighed, "My lifelong reputation has been ruined by you, a female demon."

Xian Yuji smiled and said, "If people knew about this, your reputation would be ruined. Now no one knows about it, so your reputation is still good."

Di Xiong asked, "Are you sure no one saw you when you came down?"

Xian Yuji said, "Every time I come down, I lock the office door from the inside and tell the guards in advance that no one is allowed to knock on the door, so no one knows I left the office. If you are really worried, just kill me and silence me. I won't blame you. Anyway, I was going to commit suicide. There is no difference between committing suicide and being killed by you."

Di Xiong said, "Don't talk nonsense. How could I kill you to silence you? Wouldn't that make me worse than an animal? I heard that Huter's condition worsened and he was dying. Didn't you go to see him?"

Xian Yuji nodded and said, "This guy has four concubines, too much sex, and is drinking all day. It would be strange if he didn't get seriously ill! My relationship with him ended after you arrived in Beitang City. When I was assassinated by the Japanese, he didn't come to the hospital to see me. Why should I go see him now?"

Di Xiong said, "The work of your propaganda department is very important. The refugees coming to Outer Mongolia are a mixed bag. They behaved very honestly when they first arrived, but now that life is a little better, religious sects and gangsters among the refugees have begun to emerge. The White Lotus Sect, the Three Purities Sect, the Hong Gang, the Green Gang, and the Gelaohui have all been swindling and collecting incense money and protection fees from the refugees. You must spread the knowledge of Mohism to the refugees. If the refugees believe in Mohism, they will not believe in other sects. As for gangsters collecting protection fees, if you discover them during your propaganda, you must work with the Supervision Department, the Police Department, and the Guard Brigade to crack down on them severely."

Xian Yuji smiled and said, "We fought against the gangs many times in Nankou Town. I didn't expect that we would have to deal with them again in Beitang City."

Di Xiong said: "Now that we are law enforcers, it is much easier to fight them than before. It will not be as difficult as in Nankou Town. The key is to find them."

After sending Xian Yuji back to the office through the door in the ceiling, Di Xiong left the data room and went to Lan Jinping's office. When Lan Jinping saw him coming in, she asked nervously, "What are you doing here?"

Di Xiong said, "The bad things you did were discovered by the Supervision Department. How do you think I should punish you?"

Lan Jinping was surprised and said, "I didn't do anything wrong, you can't wrongly accuse me!"

Di Xiong said, "You falsely accused the division commander Zhang Zhenyang! You hired someone to follow and secretly photograph Wu Chunfeng's privacy, destroyed Wu Chunfeng's relationship with his wife, and ruined Wu Chunfeng's reputation at the textile factory. Isn't this a bad thing? You have caused chaos within the Justice Party. Shouldn't you be punished?"

Lan Jinping said: "Zhang Zhenyang did accept the local specialties sent by his subordinates. As a member of the Justice Party, I know about this. Shouldn't I report it to the Supervisory Office? After the investigation, I found out that it did not meet the standard of bribery. I am not a supervisory staff, so how can I know the regulations here?"

Di Xiong said, "Even if you don't know the sentencing standards for Zhang Zhenyang's case, then what about Wu Chunfeng's case? How do you explain it? I've said long ago that if he has a lover outside, as long as both parties are willing and his wife doesn't object, it's not a crime at all. Why are you staring at him?"

Lan Jinping remained silent for a while before asking, "I admit I was wrong. How are you going to punish me?"

Di Xiong said: "The interrogation room of the Supervisory Department recently ordered an electric chair for interrogating prisoners, and the effect is very good..."

Before Di Xiong could finish, Lan Jinping burst into tears, "Don't ever make me sit on the electric chair! If you want to torture me with the electric chair, you might as well just kill me. I know that you have been holding a grudge against me for breaking up you and Bai Xiuling, so you are now using my mistakes to take revenge and torture me. You are the supreme leader of the Justice Party, and if you want to deal with me, I won't even have a place to cry out for justice. I will only die."