Black Flag Army

On the morning of December 1, 1912, in the extremely cold city of Baotou, Feng Ru, Zhu Zhuquan and three other assistants arrived at the city gate of Baotou by horse-drawn carriage and found that Tian Mengxue, Liu Zhendong and their group were already waiting for them at the city gate. Standing with them was a young man with three wounds on his face. This young man was obviously of higher status than the others, because Tian Mengxue and Liu Zhendong could only stand next to him.

Feng Ru said to Tian Mengxue and Liu Zhendong, "We didn't expect you to come to the city gate to pick us up. We were worried about how to find you."

Tian Mengxue smiled and said, "You underestimated our company's intelligence personnel. We knew about it as soon as your ship docked in Tianjin. You have worked hard, especially on the way from Zhangjiakou to Baotou. There is no train, so you can only take a horse carriage."

Tian Mengxue then introduced them to a young man with three wounds on his face. It was their boss Di Xiong. Feng Ru and the other four were shocked. They didn't expect the boss to come to greet them personally, and the wounds on his face had not healed yet. They couldn't help but be very moved. Thinking of their own experiences in Guangzhou, it was like ice and fire.

Di Xiong just noticed a detail. When the two parties met and shook hands, Feng Ru held Tian Mengxue's hands with both hands and was reluctant to let go. Tian Mengxue pulled hard several times before she pulled her red hands free.

Di Xiong said: "On behalf of Beihai Group, I welcome Mr. Feng and his party to Baotou."

Feng Ru was surprised and asked, "Beihai Group? I remember Manager Tian said your company is called Weili Company."

Di Xiong said calmly, "The Weili Company was taken over by someone, but we used the method of escaping from the shell to transfer most of the assets. Now we can only call it Beihai Group Company. But don't worry, the 100,000 yuan investment promised at the beginning will remain unchanged."

Di Xiong took out a check for one hundred thousand yuan from his pocket and handed it to Feng Ru.

Zhu Zhuquan said: "When I was in Guangzhou, I read the newspaper and thought you had already..., it seems to be just a rumor."

Di Xiong said, "Two months ago in Beijing, there was indeed a man named Di Xiong who was publicly executed by the Beiyang government. So my name can only be Di Congmo now. I can only change it back when I go to Outer Mongolia in the future."

Another assistant of Feng Ru, Zhu Zhaohuai, said somewhat dissatisfiedly: "Compared with Guangzhou and Beijing, this place is too desolate and not suitable for setting up an aircraft factory. Setting up an aircraft factory requires skilled workers, equipment, funds, and ironware factories, timber factories, and paint factories to supply various materials. The workers need to live here, and they also need canteens, hospitals, and tap water. These difficulties cannot be solved with money alone."

Zhu Zhuquan said: "Not only are there these difficulties, but I heard that horse bandits and Mongolian bandits often attack Baotou. How can Mr. Di guarantee our safety?"

Di Xiong said: "Beijing's conditions are certainly better than Baotou's, but if the aircraft factory is set up in Beijing, I'm afraid that as soon as the first aircraft is produced, it will be swallowed up by foreign powers and the Beiyang government without leaving anything behind."

Liu Zhendong said, "You don't have to worry about safety. This place is under the jurisdiction of General Zhang Shaozeng of Suiyuan. General Zhang is the old boss of Mr. Di's sworn brother Feng Jishan. Horse bandits and Mongolian bandits have invaded several times, and General Zhang has sent troops to reinforce us. We have joined forces to defeat several horse bandits and Mongolian bandits. We already have more than a thousand armed forces. General Zhang gave us the number of a patrol regiment. This patrol regiment has a cavalry company and three infantry battalions. The regiment also directly controls an artillery company."

Tian Mengxue smiled and said, "Mr. Zhu Zhaohuai is worrying about materials and life, but that's unnecessary. Mr. Di has already thought of it before you. The ironware factory, timber factory, and paint factory have all been built. They are all assets under the name of Beihai Group Company. They will be very convenient to use. We also have canteens, hospitals, and tap water. We have built canteens and tap water in Nankou Town, Beijing, and now we are more skilled at it. As for the hospital, we already have a pharmaceutical factory, and we are not short of Chinese and Western medicines. We only need to recruit a group of doctors and nurses to open the hospital."

Feng Ru and his assistants could hardly believe it. It had only been less than three months, and Beihai Group had built so many factories. Where did they get so much money? So Di Xiong took them to visit the Beihai Group Industrial Park in Hongliu Town, north of Baotou. The Beihai Group Industrial Park covers an area of ​​more than 500 acres, with dozens of buildings and bungalows. Seeing those neat factories, tall office buildings, roaring machines and hard-working workers, they had to believe it.

After Feng Ru and his friends had a sumptuous lunch at the VIP canteen in the industrial park, they checked into the high-end guesthouse that Di Xiong had arranged for them. Feng Ru took a hot shower in the bathroom of the guesthouse, and when he returned to his room, a young and beautiful female technician actually knocked on the door and asked if they wanted a massage, and said that the company would pay for it. The four men were overjoyed when they heard this.

Seeing Feng Ru lying on the bed, contentedly enjoying the service of the female technician, Feng Ru's assistant Situ Biru said, "It seems that Brother Feng is planning to stay in Baotou?"

Feng Ru said: "The quality of life here is no different from that in big cities. It's much better than our miserable life in Guangzhou. Why don't we stay?"

Zhu Zhuquan sighed and said, "It's a pity that Brother Yuquan has passed away and can't enjoy such a good life."

Feng Ru said: "To live up to the memory of the late Zhu Yuquan, we must not waste time. We should draw up the engine parts blueprint tonight and hand it over to the ironworks tomorrow. If they can't make it, we will use their machines to make it ourselves and build the first plane as soon as possible."

Di Xiong's residence is in the staff apartment building in the industrial park. It is an ordinary two-bedroom, one-living-room house. Although this building is nominally called a staff apartment building, it is actually occupied by middle and senior management of the company. Grassroots employees can only live in dormitories with four people in a room.

Bai Xiuling was very happy to see Di Xiong coming back, but she was also a little annoyed and said, "Why did you come back just now? You should have changed the medicine a long time ago."

As the director of Beihai Company and the principal of Zhengqing School, Bai Xiuling also has a two-bedroom house on the floor above Di Xiong's dormitory. However, she seldom lives there and most of the time lives with Di Xiong. She also has a key to Di Xiong's house.

Di Xiong sat on the chair as Bai Xiuling requested. Bai Xiuling removed the gauze on his face, cleaned the wound with medicine, applied ointment, put new gauze on it, poured him a cup of hot water, and asked him to take two anti-inflammatory pills produced by the company's pharmaceutical factory.

Di Xiong said, "I also want to come back early, but the company has just moved to Baotou not long ago, and there are so many things to deal with. It gives me a headache just thinking about it."

Bai Xiuling said, "I heard from Shopkeeper Wu that the company has spent more than 1.8 million dollars in the past two months. Where did we get so much money? When we were in Nankou Town, our total assets were only a few hundred thousand dollars. We were robbed twice by the Beiyang Government Police Department and Lu Jianzhang, and lost at least 40% of our assets. Even if we add the money that Li Fei robbed from the East Asia Company, there should be less than 200,000 dollars left."

Di Xiong smiled and said, "You are a company director and a member of the Justice Party, how could you not know the reason? He must have dozed off during the meeting. Before I was arrested, I told Shopkeeper Wu to wait for Liu Zhendong to come back and lead an elite action team to rob the headquarters of the Azure Dragon Society and the Ghost Shadow Gang. These two gangs have just been severely damaged and must be in chaos, so it will be easy to succeed. If possible, we can also rob the Prince Qing's Mansion, which is a big piece of fat meat."

Bai Xiuling asked: "Why is Prince Qing's Mansion such a big piece of fat meat?"

Di Xiong said, "Because Prince Qing Yikuang is one of the biggest corrupt officials in the history of the Qing Dynasty, as famous as Heshen. His deposits in HSBC alone amount to more than 7 million British pounds, equivalent to more than 150 million oceans. He served as the Minister of Military Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister. While in office, he not only accepted bribes, but also sold official positions and titles at a fixed price. Half of the reason for the demise of the Qing Dynasty was due to him."

Bai Xiuling asked, "Did Liu Zhendong succeed in robbing Prince Qing's mansion?"

Di Xiong said, "It didn't work because he was Yuan Shikai's son-in-law. His mansion had hundreds of armed guards, light and heavy machine guns and mortars, and was heavily guarded, more than ten times stronger than Zhang Ade's mansion. Liu Zhendong had no chance to attack him, but he robbed a casino and a villa under his name and got more than two million dollars worth of property. He succeeded in robbing the headquarters of the Qinglong Society and the Ghost Shadow Gang, but only got a few hundred thousand dollars. The total was less than three million dollars, but it was enough for us."

Bai Xiuling said, "I've been very busy with Zhengqing School's affairs recently, and I'm afraid I don't have time to be your secretary. You'd better hire a new secretary. I think Lan Jinchun is quite suitable. She is a college student and has much more knowledge than me."

The Zhengqing Society actually didn't have any big things to do. It was mainly responsible for managing the Zhengqing School. In the past, the Vice Principal Li Weiqing was in charge of the Zhengqing School. Bai Xiuling was a hands-off manager who only visited occasionally. However, Li Weiqing was seriously injured in a gunfight with gangsters in Nankou Town. Although he was rescued at the time, he did not fully recover. Later, on the way to Suiyuan, his injuries relapsed and he unfortunately passed away at the age of only 30. He was a teacher who had studied abroad and was recruited by Lan Jinping from the Imperial University of Peking. After Li Weiqing's death, all the affairs of the Zhengqing School fell to Bai Xiuling. Only then did she realize how tiring it was to be a principal and how busy she was.

The next morning, Di Xiong went to Beihai Hospital. The director of this newly opened hospital was Yuan Suifeng. He had offended the Japanese when he helped Weili Company rescue the wounded in Nankou Town. After Weili Company moved away, the Japanese retaliated. The new gang leader Duan Gang led the Ghost Shadow Gang to burn down Yuanji Medical Clinic. Yuan Suifeng fled to Baotou with his family to seek refuge with Di Xiong, and was appointed as the director by Di Xiong.

In the basement of Beihai Hospital, Guan Xue, who was already dying, was imprisoned. A once beautiful woman, her face and body were now covered with scars and herpes. Di Xiong pushed open the door of the basement, motioned for the two female guards to go out, and then said to Guan Xue: "Miss Guan! I'm sorry to inform you that I'm here to send you off today. You have been sentenced to death by the justice court for colluding with the Japanese mafia and killing innocent compatriots."

Guan Xue, who was lying on the bed, raised her head and glanced at Di Xiong, then lowered her head helplessly and whispered, "I have been tortured in your hands and am living a life worse than death. If you want to kill me, just do it. Why bother setting up some ridiculous justice court? Can I meet your boss Di Xiong?"

Di Xiong said, "I am Di Xiong! What do you want to talk to me about?"

Guan Xue said, "I want to sue your subordinate, 'Purple-faced Evil Ghost' Hong Tianlie. He is a gangster and thug. Since I fell into his hands, he has tortured me with all kinds of torture under the pretext of interrogation. I have clearly confessed everything I know, but he refused to stop. Hearing my screams, he actually laughed happily. He also abused my body, and when he got tired of it, he gave it to his subordinates to abuse again. In the end, he forced me to receive customers, which caused me to get a dirty disease and was in so much pain that I just wanted to die."

Di Xiong said: "I was also in jail at the time and didn't know about this. I'm sorry for Hong Tianlie's rude behavior. Later I found out and gave him a severe scolding."

Guan Xue said angrily: "Scolded him? He committed such a serious crime and you just scolded him? You are indeed in the same group."

Di Xiong said: "I know you want me to kill him, but this is impossible. You are a prisoner sentenced to death and have been deprived of all rights and dignity. As compensation, I can choose the most merciful way to end your life. After all, you are infected with syphilis, which cannot be cured by current medical technology. If I don't kill you now, you will die a more miserable death."

Guan Xue asked, "What do you mean by the most merciful approach? Hanging or suffocating?"

Di Xiong took out a bottle of medicine and placed it beside the bed, then said to Guan Xue, "This is a sleeping pill. Take it all, and you will die in your sleep without any pain."

Guan Xue said: "It is indeed the most merciful way to die. Should I say thank you?"

Di Xiong said, "You're welcome. This is what I should do. I also want to tell you that the two gang leaders, Yokota Yingzi and Ding Heigui, who attacked Weili Company with you, were shot dead at the time. You lived more than two months longer than them. You should feel lucky."

Guan Xue asked, "Before I die, can I see Ma Tiehan?"

Di Xiong said: "I know that Ma Tiehan has a good relationship with you, and your request is not excessive, but Ma Tiehan was killed in the battle of Nankou Town more than two months ago."

Guan Xue was stunned for a moment, then burst into tears, her cry sounding very desperate.

When Di Xiong left the hospital, Di Chun, who was following him, asked, "Boss! Where are we going now?"

Di Xiong boarded the carriage in front of the hospital and said, "Let's go to Guisui and pay our respects to General Suiyuan."

Liu Zhennan, who was sitting in the carriage driver's seat, whipped the two Mongolian horses and they ran fast. After Zhang Kuwa was killed, Di Xiong was short of a guard. With Liu Zhendong's strong recommendation, his cousin Liu Zhennan became the new guard. At this time, cities like Beijing and Tianjin already had imported cars from abroad, but the price was too high, costing tens of thousands of dollars. Wu Chunfeng suggested to Di Xiong that he buy a few cars for the company to use, which would improve efficiency, but Di Xiong disagreed because he thought the price was too high and insisted on going out in a carriage. He knew that Ford Motor Company in the United States would have a new production line next year, producing 15 million cars a year, and the price of cars would drop significantly. It would be too late to buy them then. Of course, it would be better to produce cars by yourself to avoid being controlled by others.