Black Flag Army

Di Xiong sighed heavily, his voice full of helplessness and worry: "Such a civil war is really heartbreaking! We are fighting each other here, fighting to the death, but in the end it is our own Chinese compatriots who are sacrificed. This will only make those foreigners laugh at us, and laugh at us Chinese who always like to fight among ourselves instead of uniting to face the outside world."

Wang Chengbin felt guilty after hearing Di Xiong's words. He said respectfully, "Commander-in-Chief Di, you are really far-sighted and have extraordinary insight. In comparison, I feel very ashamed. You are right. We should put the interests of the country and the nation first and stop this meaningless internal friction. Only by uniting as one can we jointly resist foreign enemies and defend our country."

Di Xiong nodded slightly, indicating his approval of Wang Chengbin's words. He knew that it was not easy to change the status quo, but he was willing to work hard for it. He said firmly: "We must awaken the people and let them know that internal strife will only weaken our own strength, and unity is the way to a strong country. As long as we work together, we will be able to overcome difficulties and achieve national prosperity."

Wang Chengbin agreed.

Di Xiong said, "I heard that General Wang and Feng Jishan are close friends, so he must know a lot about how he conducts himself. I wonder what the general thinks of him?"

Wang Chengbin frowned slightly, and after a moment's silence, he replied: "General Feng can be said to be an outlier in the Zhili Army. He is honest and upright, and is unique in the officialdom, so he is not tolerated by other officials. Everyone jokingly calls him 'Feng Monster' and 'Feng Fool', but in my opinion, this is an act of great wisdom. Moreover, the army trained by General Feng has strict military discipline and strong combat effectiveness. It is indeed the best in the Zhili Army. If he had not taken charge this time, we would never have been defeated so badly. Marshal Cao has talent but does not use it, which is a waste!" After speaking, Wang Chengbin couldn't help but sigh, with a look of regret on his face.

At this time, Wu Chunlei came to ask: "Commander-in-Chief! How to deal with more than 30,000 prisoners?"

Di Xiong said: "Register and question them one by one. Those who are willing to stay and serve as soldiers and have no bad habits will stay. They will receive education, training, and assessment. After passing the assessment, they can enter the military camp. Those who are unwilling to stay or who are unqualified will be given travel expenses to go home."

Wu Chunlei glanced at Wang Chengbin and said, "Does it also include the deputy commander-in-chief Wang Chengbin?"

Di Xiong looked at Wang Chengbin sincerely and said, "General Wang! The country is in crisis right now. The Japanese pirates and the Russians are wreaking havoc on our land, and the people are living in dire straits. I know that you are a capable and courageous general. If you can stay and fight alongside me to fight against foreign enemies together, these invaders will definitely pay a heavy price!"

Wang Chengbin was moved after hearing what Di Xiong said, but he still hesitated for a moment, then slowly replied: "Commander-in-Chief Di, I appreciate your kindness. But my parents and family are all in Beijing. They are old and in poor health, and I am really worried. Commander-in-Chief Di has many talented people and famous generals under his command. Moreover, I just lost the battle and became a prisoner. I feel that I have no face to stay in your army anymore..."

Di Xiong waved his hand and interrupted Wang Chengbin. "General Wang, victory and defeat are common in the military. Who can guarantee that they will never lose a battle in their lifetime? Besides, I believe that your failure this time is not due to your lack of ability, but due to various objective reasons. As long as you still have confidence and fighting spirit, you will be able to stand up again and become an excellent general again! Of course, if you must leave, I will never stop you."

Wang Chengbin felt a warm current in his heart after hearing what Di Xiong said. He raised his head, looked at Di Xiong gratefully, and said, "Commander-in-Chief Di, I am ashamed that you trust me so much, but I still want to go home."

Wu Chunlei said seriously, "Commander-in-Chief! I have been in the Beiyang Army for several years, and I know the situation in the Zhili Army very well. Do you know that General Wang Chengbin's fighting ability is quite amazing? He is definitely ranked third in the Zhili Army! This strength should not be underestimated, and is only second to Generals Feng Jishan and Wu Ziyu. Because of this, we must not let him go easily, otherwise it would be like letting a tiger go back to the mountain. In this way, the consequences will be disastrous! Now, even if he is not shot, he must be locked up. Wait until the Zhili Army is completely collapsed before considering whether to let him go."

When Wang Chengbin heard this, his face turned pale as paper, and his body trembled involuntarily. At this moment, he knew that he was just a prisoner, and his fate depended entirely on the other party's thoughts.

However, Di Xiong turned to Wu Chunlei without hesitation and said sternly: "Since I have already promised to release these prisoners, how can I go back on my word and break my promise?"

Di Xiong's voice was as loud as a bell, shocking everyone present. His firm and unquestionable tone fully demonstrated the responsibility and credibility that a real man should have, which made people stand in awe. At this moment, Wang Chengbin was moved and admired indescribably - it turned out that there are such people who keep their promises in the world! At the same time, he was secretly glad that he met such an upright and kind general.

Wu Chunlei sighed and stopped persuading him.

He said to Liu Zhennan behind him: "Get a bag of dry food, a pot of water, two dollars, and a horse, and give them to General Wang, and let him go!"

Liu Zhennan agreed and went to get these things.

Wang Chengbin said: "Thank you, Commander-in-Chief Di, for your generosity! I can promise that I will never be an enemy of the Black Flag Army again."

Di Xiong asked in confusion: "Just now I heard you call Feng Jishan "General Feng". Does that mean he has become the General of Shaanxi?"

Wang Chengbin nodded and replied, "Yes, the original governor of Shaanxi was Yan Xiangwen, but the Zhili government sent 800 candidate officials at once, forcing him to arrange their positions. He really couldn't place so many people, and he didn't dare to offend Cao Zhongshan. When he was in a dilemma, he chose to swallow opium paste and commit suicide. So Feng Jishan took over the position of governor of Shaanxi. He was very courageous. He gave some travel expenses to each of the 800 candidate officials and then drove them all away. I admire his courage."

Wang Chengbin took the warhorse and other things from Liu Zhennan and said goodbye and left.

Di Xiong looked at Wang Chengbin's departing back and said to Wu Chunlei, "My sworn brother is the most capable of making trouble. When he becomes the governor of Shaanxi, he will definitely implement the policy of banning smoking, gambling, and prostitution. He will also crack down on the wealthy businessmen, factory owners, and rural tyrants in the city. The rich will leave his territory one after another."

Wu Chunlei asked, "Will he close down all the casinos, brothels, and opium dens in the province?"

Di Xiong said, "That's impossible. Although he is the governor of Shaanxi, his army only has two divisions. He has not unified the entire province of Shaanxi, nor does he have the ability to do so. He certainly cannot stop Hu Jingyi in northern Shaanxi and Liu Zhenhua in southern Shaanxi. His territory is only in Xi'an and central Shaanxi. After all the casinos, brothels, and opium dens in Xi'an and central Shaanxi are closed, most of the lower-class people will be grateful to him, but the upper-class rich and officials will hate him. The rich will go to Liu Zhenhua's territory or Shanxi and Henan to resume the tobacco, gambling, and prostitution industries. Without the rich, his territory will become poor, and in the end he won't even be able to pay the military salaries."

Wu Chunlei said: "According to you, he was wrong to ban smoking, gambling and prostitution?"

Di Xiong said, "That's not wrong. Developing the local economy is a very complicated matter. We need to proceed step by step and only ban it when there is a certain economic strength, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Were we not forced to open casinos and brothels for the Beihai Lake water diversion project? Although we were criticized, the success of the project benefited tens of millions of refugees. When governing a place, policies must be flexible. When he was the governor of Changde, Hunan, I wrote to persuade him, but he didn't listen to me and ended up becoming the poorest governor in Hunan Province."

Wu Chunlei shook his head and said, "I don't understand, and I don't want to understand. I'd better leave the local civil affairs to Governor Wu and Hu Lin to deal with!"

After the Battle of Saynshand, Di Xiong was going to go to Daranza again, but the Chief of Staff Jiang Hongyu sent a telegram to tell him that the battle there was over. The commander-in-chief of this Zhili Army was Wang Huaiqing, and the deputy commander-in-chief was his old rival Fan Guozhang. The total force was seven divisions, about 80,000 people. Because they marched too slowly, Jiang Hongyu suspected that they were feinting. Later, Jiang Hongyu couldn't wait any longer, so he discussed with Zhang Zhongzhi, the deputy commander of the Second Army Group, and boldly advanced. Zhang Zhongzhi led two divisions to go around the back of the Zhili Army, and Jiang Hongyu led three divisions to attack head-on. Under the two-sided attack, this Zhili Army collapsed in less than half an hour. When the commander-in-chief Wang Huaiqing was riding a tall white horse to escape, he was caught up by a bomber because he attracted attention and was killed by an onboard machine gun. Only Fan Guozhang escaped. The Black Flag Army killed more than 10,000 Zhili Army soldiers and captured more than 20,000 people.

At night, in the headquarters lounge, Di Xiong sat at the table and looked at the telegram in his hand. He was filled with emotion and couldn't help but think of the past. He said to Lan Jinping: "Thinking back to the days when we only had a few thousand troops!" Di Xiong sighed and continued: "At that time, in order to be able to compete with a division of the Beiyang Army, we really tried our best and tried every possible way! We even used the strategy of alienation. However, now the situation has changed. Facing the enemy's 17 mobilized divisions and a huge army of up to 200,000, our army only deployed one-fifth of its troops and easily defeated the enemy."

He knew that the troops he led were no longer what they used to be, and had made a qualitative leap in both combat effectiveness and strategic tactics. So even if the enemy was coming in a fierce and large scale, Di Xiong was confident that his team would be able to easily defeat them and win.

Lan Jinping said, "How can you compare the past with the present? Don't you realize it? You are now the largest warlord in the country, with a territory of four million square kilometers. The first, second, and third-line troops add up to a million troops. After severely damaging the Zhili Army this time, no warlord in the country will dare to offend you easily. Those who have offended you will live in fear all day long."

Di Xiong said: "The million-strong army I have trained with great effort is not used to fight the civil war, but to defend these four million square kilometers of land. Regardless of the invasion of foreign enemies or the division of internal enemies, I will resolutely eliminate them. As long as I am alive, I will not let these lands leave the country's territory."

Lan Jinping asked, "Don't you want to take over Beijing and unify the world?"

Di Xiong said: "It is easy to take Beijing, but it is difficult to unify the world. It will take at least three million troops and ten years. I know that Yuan Datou and Duan Hefei both dreamed of unifying the world. I don't have that ability, so I won't dream of that. I am satisfied to defend these places in my lifetime."

Di Xiong thought of the young marshal Zhang Hanqing in history. On September 18, 1930, in order to seize territory in the Central Plains War, Zhang Hanqing led 300,000 troops to the south and occupied Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, leaving the Northeast empty. A year later, on September 18, the Japanese army took advantage of the opportunity to occupy the three provinces in the Northeast. Zhang Hanqing regretted it for 70 years until he died at the age of 100. Di Xiong would never do such a stupid thing as Zhang Hanqing.

Lan Jinping poured a cup of steaming wine from the kettle on the stove, brought it to Di Xiong and said, "It's cold in March, I heated up the fruit wine for you to drink!"

This is a wine made from sea buckthorn fruit, with a sweet and sour aroma. Di Xiong took the wine, said thank you, and took a sip.

Lan Jinping said: "Since you have no intention of taking over the world, then among the current warlords, who will be able to take over the world in the future?"

Di Xiong laughed and said, "What's this? Drinking wine and talking about heroes?"

Lan Jinping said: "After the Zhili clique suffered a heavy blow, the strongest person in the north of the country is now the Northeast King Zhang Yuting. Can he unify the country?"

Di Xiong said: "Zhang Yuting is a horse bandit fostered by the Japanese. He has a bad reputation and has done many things that harmed his compatriots. He may be able to capture Beijing, but he cannot unify the country. He can't even stay in Beijing for long because there are too many people who oppose him. He is also suspicious by nature and likes assassinations. He doesn't trust his own people. How can such a person unify the country? In the eyes of the Japanese, this is just a dog they raised. If the dog doesn't obey one day, they will kill the dog."

Lan Jinping asked, "What about Lu Rongting, the inspector general of Guangdong and Guangxi in the south? His territory once reached five provinces. Can he conquer the world?"

Di Xiong said: "This man was a bandit when he was young. He participated in the Anti-French War in the late Qing Dynasty. He was a man. But after the establishment of the Republic of China, he was too good at changing his stance according to the situation. He swayed between the north and the south. When the Second Revolution failed, he was bribed by Yuan Shikai and led his troops to fight back, which led to the Revolutionary Party losing its base in Guangdong Province. Many veterans of the Revolutionary Party hated him. He couldn't even unify the south, let alone the whole country."

Lan Jinping asked, "What about Doctor Sun from Guangdong? He is a hero who fought against the Qing Dynasty and Yuan Shikai. He is very famous among the people, and many southern warlords also regard him as a spiritual leader. Can he unify the country?"

Di Xiong said: "I used to be optimistic about him, but later I found out that I was wrong. He has too close a relationship with the Japanese, which is a fatal weakness. The anti-Japanese sentiment of the people across the country is so high that they will not tolerate such a person as the supreme ruler. He is already over 50 years old and is weak and sickly. I guess he won't live to see the day of unification."