Black Flag Army

On the night of September 5, 1912, at the East Asia Textile Factory, in Yokota Ichiro's bedroom, four days ago, the Black Dragon Society held a meeting and decided to launch a full-scale attack on Weili Company on September 6, that is, tomorrow night, because Lu Jianzhang will go out of town to attend a meeting tomorrow. They regard Lu Jianzhang as the biggest obstacle to eradicating Weili Company, because the Beiyang Reserve Army has been renamed the Guard Army, and Lu Jianzhang has changed from the commander of the Left Route Army to the deputy commander of the First Division of the Guard Army and the commander of the First Brigade. The First Brigade has the First and Second Regiments under its jurisdiction. The Second Regiment, headed by Feng Jishan, is the most elite unit in the entire army. But only Di Xiong and the top management of Weili Company know that Lu Jianzhang is not the backer of Weili Company at all, so he doesn't care about Weili Company's dead words. He only owns 5% of the shares, and it is still under the name of Lan Jinping.

After the meeting, Kawashima Naniwa asked Yokota Ichiro to execute Xian Yuji, because such a top-secret meeting should not allow a Chinese to participate, and since she participated, she must be dealt with. Yokota Ichiro did not dare to disobey Kawashima Naniwa's order. He agreed to kill her on the surface and pretended to drag her out. In fact, he hid her in the basement of the bedroom during the day and released her at night. Because Xian Yuji behaved very docilely in front of Yokota Ichiro and obeyed any of Yokota Ichiro's requests, Yokota Ichiro was reluctant to kill her.

Xian Yuji waited until Yokota Ichiro fell asleep, then quietly climbed out of bed, put on her clothes, and slowly opened the door. She saw two bodyguards on duty lying on the sofa in the living room. These two bodyguards were Japanese karate masters with strong martial arts skills. They were not supposed to sleep, but Xian Yuji put knockout drugs in their dinner. If the two bodyguards were awake, Xian Yuji would definitely not be able to leave the door.

But this was a rare opportunity. Xian Yuji took advantage of their sleep to sneak out, then rode the bodyguard's bicycle and rode towards the Weili Hotel. She heard the Japanese say that Di Xiong sometimes rested in the hotel and sometimes in Nankou Town. Although Nankou Town was not far from Yanshan Town, it was a long way to go. Therefore, she could only bet that Di Xiong should still be in the hotel. There were five or six people on duty at the entrance of the hotel. They were all from the Weili Company's security team, including Di Chun and Zhang Kuwa. They had been with Di Xiong for quite a while, but they were still young and not well educated. They were still studying, so the important tasks of the Justice Party had not yet been handed over to them.

Zhang Kuwawa had been standing for a long time and was about to stretch his muscles when he suddenly saw a woman with almond-shaped eyes riding a bicycle towards him, panting. After getting off the bicycle, she said to him, "I...I...have something important to discuss and I need to see your boss Di. It concerns the lives of many of you. It will be too late if we're late!"

Zhang Kuwawa had some doubts in his heart and said, "Who are you? What big deal is there that you want to talk to our boss about so late at night?"

Xian Yujie was already exhausted. She replied anxiously: "I am a female worker at the East Asia Textile Factory. I have heard of a conspiracy against your company. The matter is urgent. I can only tell your boss Di. Please let me see him as soon as possible!"

Although Zhang Kuwa still didn't quite believe this woman, he knew from her words that Weili Company did have many enemies, so he discussed it with Di Chun, asked Di Chun and others to keep an eye on her, and then ran to Di Xiong's office.

At the same time Xian Yuji went to Weili Hotel, Guan Qier, one of Di Xiong's informants, was also trying to find out the news of Qinglong Society. When he infiltrated Qinglong Society, he was just a peripheral member, not to mention the leader, not even a low-level thug. However, after the Qinglong Society experienced a fight with the Ghost Shadow Gang, the president was arrested and suffered heavy losses. Later, in order to compete for the position of the new president, the former president's daughter Guan Xue and the vice president Wang Mazi started another fight. Although Guan Xue won and became the president, and appointed his confidants as the hall masters and leaders of each district, the two consumptions had greatly damaged the strength of Qinglong Gang, so many low-level personnel were promoted, and Guan Qier was able to become a formal member of Qinglong Society. Today, the hall master and captains of Qinglong Society suddenly held a secret meeting in a building. Guan Qier also wanted to participate, but was driven out by the bodyguard guarding the door, saying that he was not qualified.

The head of the bodyguards guarding the gate was Guan Xue's confidant Lan Yan. Seeing that the other bodyguards were all gathered together smoking, and only Lan Yan was standing there, Guan Qier took out three silver dollars and quietly handed them to Lan Yan, saying, "Sister Lan! I'm very curious, can you let me in and listen? I'm now an official member of the Qinglong Society, and I'm loyal to the Qinglong Society and will never reveal any secrets."

Lan Yan pushed his hand away and said sternly, "Take your money. This is the rule of the Qinglong Society. Only the hall master and the captain can attend the meeting. You are not even a team leader. Wait until you become a captain in a few years. Hurry up and leave, otherwise I will tell your captain to deal with you."

Guan Qier didn't expect Lan Yan to be so stubborn, so he had to leave the gate.

But Guan Qier still didn't want to miss this opportunity to get intelligence, so he quietly climbed to the windows around the building to find a place to eavesdrop, and finally heard some of their conversations outside a second-floor window. Because the members of the meeting didn't speak very loudly, Guan Qier couldn't hear it very clearly, but when he heard the name Di Xiong, his expression began to get nervous. He heard Guan Xue say intermittently: "Tomorrow night... Qinglong Society... Yokota... attacked... the ironware factory of the surname Di... and robbed weapons..." Although he didn't hear it very clearly, Guan Qier was sure that Qinglong Society would definitely come to attack Weili Company's ironware factory tomorrow night. Qinglong Society has lost a lot of people recently, but the number is still more than the security team of the ironware factory. Thinking of this, Guan Qier slowly left the meeting place, found the tricycle hidden nearby, and started riding towards Weili Hotel.

At this time, Di Xiong had not yet fallen asleep. Recently, his three factories had entered an important period of development and encountered many problems. Since Lu Jianzhang was about to go to another place, the tax police chief of Changping County wanted to impose heavy taxes on him. Although Yuan Baimao had died long ago, there were many people as greedy as him. The new chief of the Changping County Police Department was also a running dog of the Japanese. In addition, the activities of the gangs were also quite frequent. Many spies from the Qinglong Society and the Beilang Gang were caught by the security team, but they did not get any important information, so they had to let them go in the end.

Just as Di Xiong was deep in thought, he suddenly heard a knock on the door, and then he heard Zhang Kuwawa's voice: "Boss, are you asleep? There is a woman at the door of the hotel who said she has something important to report to you alone. She said there is a big conspiracy against our company. Should I let her in?"

Hearing this, Di Xiong was a little confused. The only female intelligence officer under his command was Tian Mengxue, but she had gone to Guangzhou a long time ago and could not be here now. The woman outside was obviously not his acquaintance. Could she be an assassin? Di Xiong thought for a while, put the pistol on his waist, hid two daggers in his sleeves, and then said to Zhang Kuwawa: "Let that woman in, leave two people guarding the door, and the others search nearby for any suspicious people."

After Zhang Kuwa replied, he asked Xian Yujie to come up, and then left two people at the door and took the other security team members to patrol nearby. In fact, there were secret sentries hidden near the hotel, all on the rooftops of buildings near the hotel. Snipers were also one of the targets that Di Xiong had to guard against, and it was impossible to rely entirely on the bodyguards at the door for safety.

When Di Xiong saw the woman come in, he looked at her carefully. She was thin, sweaty, and dressed very thinly. She did not look like she was carrying any weapon. He only heard the woman say, "Mr. Di, my name is Xian Yujie. I was originally a female worker at the East Asia Textile Factory, but was spotted by Ichiro Yokota and became his mistress. The Japanese held a meeting today and said they wanted to destroy your company. Tomorrow night, the Qinglong Society, the Ghost Shadow Gang, the Beilang Gang, and the Japanese gangsters will attack all your company's industries at the same time. There are a lot of them, so you should quickly ask the police for help."

When Di Xiong heard the three words "Xian Yuji", he felt that they sounded familiar. He remembered that Bian Yumei once mentioned that Xian Yuji had saved her.

Di Xiong asked back: "Why did you come to tell me the news?"

Xian Yujie replied: "I have been abused by the Japanese for a long time. Since I entered the East Asia Textile Factory, I have been beaten, scolded and humiliated by them every day. In addition, I heard from other sisters in the textile factory that you are a good person. Many sisters no longer suffer after coming to your factory, so I don’t want you to die like this. After all, many of my sisters also work in your factory."

After hearing Xian Yuji's intelligence, Di Xiong couldn't help but feel a little nervous. After all, if several gangs united and suddenly launched an attack, his security team and patrol camp would not be able to stop them no matter what. He had to prepare in advance and arm thousands of workers. However, he couldn't be sure that the intelligence from this woman was true. If the intelligence was false, he would use a large number of people in the company to distribute weapons, which would easily cause a lot of chaos. So he thought for a while and said, "Miss Xian, thank you for your intelligence. If you didn't come to report it, Weili Company would be in big trouble."

Xian Yuji breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Mr. Di! Do you believe what I said?"

Di Xiong said, "Your friend Bian Zhimei once mentioned you to me. You risked so much to tell me. If I still doubt you, wouldn't it be too disheartening?"

He asked Zhang Kuwawa to get one hundred silver dollars and two nozzles from the accounting office and gave them to Xian Yujie, saying: "You risked your life to come to us to give us the news. This money is a small token of my appreciation. The nozzles are for you to use for self-defense."

Xian Yuji refused and said, "I came here not for money, but to save those suffering sisters. They finally escaped from the fire pit, and it is very rare for them to meet a good company boss. If something happens to you again, they will be very desperate."

Although she didn't ask for the hundred silver dollars, she still accepted the nozzle, and Di Xiong taught her how to use it.

Di Xiong said: "You have been out for too long, Yokota Ichiro will be suspicious. In order not to arouse his suspicion, I have to send someone on a tricycle to take you back. I will pick you up again after I get rid of Yokota Ichiro." Xian Yuji nodded in agreement, and then Di Xiong called three security guards, one on a bicycle and two escorted, to send Xian Yuji back. Di Xiong specifically told them to come back as soon as they got outside Yanshan Town and not to stay.

After Xian Yuji left, Di Xiong began to pace back and forth in the office. He was still not sure whether the information was true or not, but this information was related to all his industries, so he was going to contact Guan Qier who was undercover in the Qinglong Society. At this time, Guan Qier and Zhang Kuwa pushed the door open. Guan Qier said to Di Xiong: "Boss, the ironware factory is in danger. The Qinglong Society will bring people to attack there tomorrow night!" It turned out that when Guan Qier came over on a tricycle, he happened to meet Zhang Kuwa who was patrolling.

After hearing Guan Qier's description of the situation in the Qinglong Society, Di Xiong was sure that Xian Yujie's report was correct, so he immediately said to the two of them: "Now go and call all the cadres including Wu Zhong, Leng Hanbing, Wu Chunfeng, Hong Tianlie and others to the company headquarters. No matter whether they are asleep or not, call them over immediately. Weili Company is now facing a moment of life and death"!

Di Xiong also rushed to the company's headquarters in Nankou Town. Half an hour later, in the company's headquarters conference room, after everyone listened to Di Xiong's account of what happened, Leng Hanbing asked first: "Boss! Are you sure what Xian Yuji said is true?"

Di Xiong said: "I have already asked Bian Zhimei. According to what Bian Zhimei said, it is indeed Xian Yuji herself. She risked her life to save Bian Zhimei before. I think she is trustworthy. Moreover, there is also the information from Guan Qier to prove it. Guan Qier will never lie to me."

Wu Zhong sighed and said, "We want to do some business and help those poor refugees. Why is it so difficult? Since the facts cannot be changed, we certainly can't just sit there and wait for death. Boss, give the order!"

Others also agreed, so Di Xiong began to assign tasks.

At 6:00 p.m. on September 6, workers at the textile factory, ironware factory, and pharmaceutical factory received company orders to cancel overtime work at night, not to go out, and to stay in the factory, waiting for the next order. Everyone was talking about it. Not having to work overtime was a good thing, but not being able to leave the factory made everyone nervous. The ironware factory had more than 500 people, the pharmaceutical factory had more than 300 people, and the textile factory had the largest number of people, more than 1,500 people. Most of them were female workers, accounting for 80%, but there were also some male workers, such as loaders and maintenance workers, which could only be done by men.

Today, the Weili Company had a rich meal, with chicken, duck, fish and meat, as if it were a festival. The workers were salivating at the aroma. At 6:30, after a sumptuous dinner in the cafeteria, the factory workshop directors and team leaders began to distribute weapons to the workers. They could choose from swords, spears, javelins and sticks. The few who could shoot were given rifles and bullets. This was clearly a war! The workers became even more nervous, and some timid young female workers had already started crying.

Chairman Di Xiong personally rushed to the textile factory and explained to everyone with an iron loudspeaker: "Don't be afraid, the company is not asking you to go to war. We have received news that gangsters are coming to attack us tonight. The patrol battalion and the security team are ready. This battle will be mainly fought by them, but in case a small number of enemies rush in, we can't let you be killed or injured in vain, so we issued weapons for self-defense. I hope you don't have to use them. I don't want to fight, but the gangsters are coming, and we must resist, otherwise the factory will be destroyed and you will lose your jobs."

A timid female worker said, "Can't we just beg them not to beat us?"

Di Xiong said coldly: "If a mad dog bites you, will it be of any use if you beg it?"