Black Flag Army

At night in Kulun City, in the shabby pot-mending shop, under the dim light of the oil lamp, a few yellow faces were reflected. There were four people sitting around a square table with an oil lamp in the center of the table.

The first to speak was Sun Xiaotie, deputy head of the Kulun Intelligence Group. Sun Xiaotie said, "Today we received an urgent letter from Beitang City. Beitang City is the former Erdenet City. Mr. Di personally ordered us to delay the departure of the two Mongolian regiments at all costs, because our army has just arrived in Beitang City and is very tired and needs time to rest."

During the most powerful period in the history of the Tang Dynasty, Erdenet City was the northern frontier of the Tang Dynasty, so Di Xiong renamed it Beitang City. This will be the headquarters of the Justice Party and Beihai Company, so naturally it cannot use the Mongolian name anymore.

The other three members of the intelligence team were blacksmith Gao Dachui, carpenter Tian Dabao, and medical practitioner Qiu Xinglin.

Qiu Xinglin said, "There are two regiment leaders who are about to attack Beitang City. One is called Tucha, who likes gambling and often goes to the casino. However, he recently lost all his money and stopped going. The other is called Dulu, who likes to go to the famous brothel Xiangyuyuan and wants to redeem the top prostitute Bai Lan, but he has no money and Bai Lan doesn't like him. If we want to keep these two people, we have to bribe the people in the casino and brothel, which costs a lot of money. What should we do if we don't have money?"

Sun Xiaotie said: "Before leaving Baotou, Mr. Di gave Team Leader Bian a seal, which allowed him to withdraw 1,000 yuan from the Da Kui Sheng Bank in Kulun City. Team Leader Bian gave me the seal before entering the Prime Minister's Office, so funding is not a problem."

Qiu Xinglin replied: "That's easy. Just give me the seal quickly and I will go to Da Kuisheng to get the money now. It's better to complete Mr. Di's order as soon as possible."

Sun Xiaotie had no objection, so Qiu Xinglin took the seal and ran to Da Kuisheng Money House.

Seeing Qiu Xinglin leave, carpenter Tian Dabao asked again: "Team Leader Sun, are you sure that just keeping these two Mongolian regiment commanders can solve the problem? The itinerary of a troop may not be entirely determined by one of their superiors. I think we still need to make more preparations."

Sun Xiaotie thought for a while and said, "Brother Tian, ​​you are wrong. Most of the Outer Mongolian troops are controlled by their generals. Officers below the regiment commander are all the commander's confidants. A new commander will not be able to command them unless all the officers are replaced, which will delay the time. Of course, if there is a chance, it is not impossible to directly plot against the Tsarist Russian."

Gao Dachui said: "The Tsarist Russians have always had strict defense. In the past, a Mongolian herdsman's wife was raped by the Tsarist Russians. He went to assassinate her but failed and was hanged on a tree trunk."

On the evening of the second day, in a large tent of the Kulun army, the regiment commander Dulu was drinking alone. He was quite depressed these days and had been thinking about the local famous prostitute Bai Lan. Unfortunately, he was turned away several times. The bodyguards of the brothel were big and strong, and they were all strong and muscular. This forced him to give up the idea of ​​forcing his way in. Moreover, the brothel was protected by the Minister of Defense Danbijian. He did not dare to intimidate the other party with the name of a soldier. Unfortunately, his army had not been paid in full for a long time, and he, the regiment commander, was also very poor. Now, according to the military training time set by the Tsarist Russians, it is still the time for military training, but Dulu is very lazy and has no intention of issuing orders at all. A few days ago, he also received an order from his superior, asking his troops to intensify training and set off for Erdenet tomorrow. He ignored the order as he did not want to go to a barren place like Erdenet. Thinking of this, Dulu complained in his heart about his superior Song Muyan. If he had not offended Danbijian some time ago, how could the order to attack fall on him.

Dulu seemed quite negative about going to Erdenet, but he also knew that he couldn't shirk it. If he didn't leave in the next two days, he would not be able to continue his job as the regiment commander, so he planned to drink two more bowls and then go to gather the troops. At this time, a soldier walked into his tent. Dulu recognized that it was Meng En, the trusted battalion commander he promoted, so he asked: "What do you want to talk to me about? Don't ask about the military pay anymore. It is estimated that only half of it will be paid this month. By the way, hurry up and gather your troops. We are leaving for Erdenet today."

Meng En suddenly sighed, and then said slowly: "Captain, why go to Erdenet? Good news is coming! Xiangyuyuan sent someone to our military camp this morning, saying that Miss Bailan specifically asked you to visit her in the evening. I heard that she has been thinking about you all the time, and she had to argue with the madam many times before she agreed. How can you miss such a good opportunity? I came to report to you as soon as I got the news. You should dress up quickly and go to Xiangyuyuan."

When Du Lu heard the news, he sobered up immediately and knocked over a bottle of wine in excitement. He said with a smile: "You really didn't fool me. Bai Lan really invited me to Xiangyuyuan and I don't have to spend a penny?"

Meng En said: "It's free. The people from Xiangyuyuan specifically said that this is a special case and they will cover all the expenses. You just need to go. If you miss this opportunity, it will be difficult to see Miss Bai Lan in the future."

After hearing what he said, Dulu was so happy that he forgot himself and hurriedly prepared to find a new piece of clothes. But just as he was about to walk out of the tent, he became worried again and said to Meng En: "Tomorrow we have an important event. Our regiment has to set off for Erdenet tomorrow. If we stay in the brothel too late and can't get up tomorrow, I'm afraid the brigade commander will blame us. Neither you nor I can bear such a responsibility."

Meng En smiled and said: "What's the trouble? You write a warrant to the deputy regiment commander. If he can't get back in time tomorrow, he will lead the troops. Anyway, the Russian is the commander of the troops, so it doesn't matter whether you go or not, commander."

Hearing this, Du Lu smiled and said: "Good idea, I will write it right away. By the way, you come with me to the brothel. If the brigade commander pursues it later, you have to help me testify."

Meng En continued: "No problem, I didn't want to go to Erdenet in the first place, so this time I can take a break."

The regiment commander Du Lu was chatting and laughing with his subordinates at this time, and did not notice that his messenger took the warrant and did not give it to the deputy commander after leaving the house, but gave it to a strange yellow-faced young man. Although the yellow-faced young man was also wearing the uniform of a Mongolian officer, he was not a Mongolian officer, but the intelligence officer Gao Dachui. Gao Dachui gave the messenger five silver dollars.

Meanwhile, in another camp of the Kulun Army, the regiment commander Tucha was hunting in the wild with several of his subordinates. He was lucky today as he saw several wild antelopes appearing on the grassland, so he quickly took his subordinates to chase after them.

One of the Mongols drew his bow and shot an arrow towards an antelope, but the arrow did not seem to have enough force and soon fell to the ground. Tuca laughed and said, "You are almost losing our profession. With such strength, how can you still be considered a warrior of our Mongolian country? Watch me!"

Tuca galloped on his horse and soon caught up with the antelope group. Seeing that he was not far away from the antelope, he immediately pulled the bowstring and shot the arrow like lightning, accurately hitting an antelope. The other antelopes were frightened and immediately started to run away. Seeing this, the other Mongolian soldiers who were hunting quickly chased after them.

During the hunting process, the Mongolian soldiers showed superb horsemanship and archery skills. They changed their postures flexibly on horseback and kept adjusting the shooting angle to ensure that every bow shot was accurate and powerful. However, these Mongolians were not as good as their ancestors after all. Although they shot arrows when they were close to the prey, they still wasted a lot of arrows. One soldier failed to shoot an antelope. In a rage, he took out his pistol and shot directly at the antelope, but he still missed. His behavior caused everyone around him to laugh.

After the last prey escaped, Tuca returned to his tent with several preys he had shot, and saw several adjutants standing outside the tent, one of whom was holding a bag. One of the adjutants saw Tuca coming back and hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Captain, there is good news. The casino we went to before sent someone to come. They said that someone cheated in one of your bets a few days ago, so you lost. It was not discovered until today, so they sent someone to apologize during the day and returned your capital, a total of 100 yuan, and gave you a few more yuan. I hope you don't blame them."

Tucha saw this and laughed, "Is today my lucky day? Not only did I catch a lot of prey, but also someone sent me my money. It seems that I can't waste today. Brothers, let the chef slaughter these sheep. Let's have a good meal tonight. After the meal, come with me to the Hongyun Casino to gamble. I heard that it is a new casino and there shouldn't be as many cheating guys as in the old casino. Everyone, let's have a good gamble after the meal"!

Everyone cheered loudly, and seeing the generosity of the head of the group, many people also wanted to try their luck in the casino. However, at this time, a staff officer suddenly said: "Head, we still have to go to Erdenet tomorrow. If we delay the trip, the Russians will probably blame us."

Tucha said somewhat disappointedly: "We still don't know where the Russian army is. It won't matter if we are a day or two late. Besides, it's not like I won't go. It's okay. I will take the blame if the Russians blame me. You all just come with me and have a good time for the whole night."

When everyone heard what the leader said, they stopped talking and prepared to kill sheep for dinner, while looking forward to the gambling game tonight.

At this time, in Sun Xiaotie's pot-mending shop, Tian Dabao hurried over. When Sun Xiaotie saw him, he said, "Have you found the location of that old Russian Zagarov?"

Tian Dabao said with a frustrated look on his face: "We did find him. He was in the Russian garrison camp. What Gao Dachui said was right. That old Russian was too cunning. When he came out, he brought four armed guards with him, all of them were Russians. There was even a company of Russian troops stationed there. There was no chance to get close to him at all. It was too difficult to plot against him. Moreover, they seemed to be very wary of the Mongols. They prepared their own food and drink, so we didn't even have a chance to take action against the food."

Sun Xiaotie sighed and said, "Forget about the lack of opportunities. Fortunately, the two regiment leaders have already fallen into the trap, so there is no need to take risks. But from now on, we must keep a close eye on Zagarov."

The next morning, at the residence of Outer Mongolian Army Commander Utai, Zagarov was about to break in angrily but was stopped by the guards at the door. Zagarov and his guards had a conflict with the guards. One of the guards was beaten by Zagarov and his head was bleeding. He screamed loudly.

Prince Utai was alarmed. He dressed and walked out of the bedroom. He rushed to the gate of the courtyard with a large number of guards and stopped both sides from fighting. Utai shouted, "Colonel Zagalov, although you are the new brigade commander, you can't come to my house and beat people up at will!"

Zagarov said angrily, "Prince Utai! What kind of officers did you assign to me? The commanders of the two regiments that were supposed to set out today are missing. After careful questioning, I found out that one of them went to the casino and the other went to a brothel last night and did not return all night. The army was in chaos without the commander. I ordered the army to set out, but no one listened to me. I whipped a few people and someone shot me. If I hadn't run fast, I would have been killed by your men. How can I not settle accounts with you?"

Prince Wutai said, "They are all Song Muyan's subordinates. After Song Muyan fell ill, his subordinates' military discipline was corrupted to such an extent. I did not expect this. Let me send an inspection team to rectify the military discipline immediately and severely punish those who violate the discipline. It will be rectified in three days at most."

Zagarov said angrily: "My God! We have to wait for three days? The military situation is urgent, you know? Can't you transfer other troops? As far as I know, you have five divisions and fifteen brigades under your command, and there are two brigades and six regiments in Kulun alone."

Prince Wutai said: "The fifteen brigades are distributed over more than one million square kilometers of land in the country. Most of them are used to defend the border and cannot be withdrawn. The farthest brigade takes three months to reach Kulun, and the closest one takes seven days. There are also some troops nearby who don't listen to me at all. Among the six regiments of the two brigades in Kulun City, four regiments are directly commanded by the Minister of Defense. To defend Kulun City, I can only mobilize these two mobile regiments."

Zagarov was stunned for a long time, then he said dejectedly: "Okay! I will wait for another three days. I hope I won't be disappointed again after three days."

Prince Wutai said: "In three days, I will not let you down."

At night, in the pot repair shop, Sun Xiaotie opened the map and said to his three assistants, "This is the base of the Songmuyan Brigade of the Mongolian Army. This is the fodder warehouse, and next to it is the ammunition warehouse. The Mongolian Army is going on an expedition and is short of fodder. They are transporting fodder to the warehouse these days. Tomorrow you will put on Mongolian military uniforms and enter the barracks. The messenger will take you to the fodder warehouse for inspection. After you go in, choose a dark corner and light a stick of incense. Stick half of it in the fodder sack, with the flame exposed outside. This way it won't cause a fire at the time. It will only cause a big fire more than half an hour after you leave. It would be even better if it detonates the ammunition depot next door."