Black Flag Army

The next morning, the fire and explosion in the camp of Songmuyan Brigade in the northeast corner of Kulun City alarmed the whole city, even waking up the pseudo-emperor Ezhen Khan who was sleeping in the palace. Commander Utai had obviously broken his promise to Zagalov to wait for three days, because the ammunition depot exploded, killing most of the officers and soldiers of the two regiments, and even the two new regimental commanders who had just been replaced were killed.

Sun Xiaotie and his assistants sat in a restaurant not far from the military camp, watching the raging fire from the window, very happy. Qiu Xinglin said: "The plan that Team Leader Sun came up with is really brilliant. We left the military camp easily without any losses, but the Mongolian army suffered heavy casualties. The mission assigned by Beitang City has been successfully completed."

Sun Xiaotie said: "This is not something I came up with. It was Team Leader Bian who came up with it. I just conveyed Team Leader Bian's order."

Tian Dabao asked, "Isn't Team Leader Bian locked up in the Prime Minister's Office and not allowed to come out? How did the information get out?"

Sun Xiaotie said: "In the Prime Minister's Mansion, there was a maid named Xiaocao who made a mistake and was punished by not being allowed to eat. She was so hungry that she went to the kitchen to steal food. She was caught by the cook and sent to the housekeeper, who ordered her to be beaten to death. Team Leader Bian stood up to plead for her. The housekeeper knew that Team Leader Bian was favored by the Prime Minister's Third Young Master, who was the Prime Minister's favorite son, so he naturally gave face to Team Leader Bian. After Xiaocao was rescued, she became Team Leader Bian's confidant and best friend. She was responsible for emptying the toilet in the mansion, and had the opportunity to go out of the mansion to empty the toilet every day. As long as I bribed the driver of the manure collection cart, I could receive intelligence. If I want to send intelligence, I can also pass it through Xiaocao."

Qiu Xinglin smiled and said, "It seems that the success of our mission is also due to the incompetence of the Mongolian Prime Minister. The management of his own mansion is so chaotic, his sons are greedy and lustful, and the treatment of servants is also uneven. This will certainly give Team Leader Bian an opportunity. Of course, on the other hand, the incompetence of these Mongolians is a good thing for us."

Sun Xiaotie echoed him, saying, "Brother Qiu is right. The Mongolian Prime Minister himself is a tool of the Tsarist Russians. He has no opinions of his own when doing things. How good can the people under him be? It's just hard for the Han people here. Now they are not only bullied by the Mongols, but also oppressed by the Tsarist Russians."

Tian Dabao then asked: "So many Mongolian soldiers were burned to death and bombed to death this time. Will they not take action again?"

Sun Xiaotie replied: "It's hard to say. The Mongolian army is more than just this many. If he mobilizes other troops, he will continue to attack Beitang City. But even if we send troops, it will probably take several more days. Our mission has indeed been completed, but the changes in Kulun in the future are beyond our prediction."

At this moment, Gao Dachui, who had been silent before, seemed to be thinking about something, and suddenly said: "Team Leader Sun, our move in Kulun is so big this time. Is there any danger of being noticed by the Mongols or the Tsarist Russians? I think it is better to get rid of some of the people who have been bribed and contacted. We can't repeat the mistakes of the Beijing Intelligence Station"!

Tian Dabao disagreed and said with some disdain: "Brother Gao, you worry too much. I heard about what happened in Beijing from people from Beitang City. The problem lies with those guys from the Qinglong Society. In the final analysis, it was Beijing's own fault for choosing the wrong people. We are all elites in the intelligence department, and we are much more thorough in doing things than them. How could there be a problem?"

Sun Xiaotie sighed at this time and said to Gao Dachui: "I can understand Brother Gao's worries. Those Mongols can betray their masters now, so there is no guarantee that they will not betray us one day. However, people like us who work in intelligence are already in danger of death. It is difficult to be comprehensive in all the details and it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no leaks. But even so, I was ready to sacrifice when I got here. Everyone, those who do this job must be prepared to die. If any of you feel it is dangerous and want to regret it, I can arrange for you to return to Bei Tang City immediately."

Everyone said that they were not afraid of death, and Sun Xiaotie continued: "Let's continue with the previous topic. We have delayed the Mongolian army for at least a week this time. We will immediately send a telegram to Beitang City and let them deal with the Tsarist Russian army without worry. In addition, what Brother Gao said just now makes sense. Let's find an opportunity to get rid of the messenger and the coachman. Xiaocao is now Team Leader Bian's confidant, but we can no longer relax our vigilance against her. If she has any problems in the future, even if we provoke Team Leader Bian, we will get rid of her. I will take the responsibility, you don't have to worry."

On the other hand, the situation of the Kulun government is now quite bad. After Zagalov reported to the chief adviser Ivanov, Prince Utai was reprimanded by Ivanov. This time, the other party was very angry and whipped Utai's face several times with a horse whip. Poor Utai is still a prince, but he dared not complain in the face of Ivanov's arrogance. As a result, Utai gave gold bars and promised to send a batch of supplies to the Tsarist Russians, which made the other party calm down. Of course, the matter of sending troops cannot be left unresolved. This time, Utai gave an order to the division commander Haishan to send two regiments from his hands to Erdenet. Haishan's army is seven days away from Kulun. At this time, Zagalov was a little restless because he had lost contact with his Tsarist Russian army. For some reason, none of the communicators he had sent out before came back. Due to various changes in Kulun, Zagalov's plan to send troops has deviated from the original direction, and he is now unclear about where his troops are.

On June 22, the Kulun side was still dragging its feet, while the Russian cavalry regiment had already arrived at Hutagh, not far from Erdenet, and was preparing to cross the Selenga River. In fact, the cavalry regiment had arrived at Hutagh yesterday, but the scouts noticed that several pontoon bridges in the river had been damaged, so they had to recruit nearby Mongolian people to come and repair the bridges. This Russian cavalry regiment invaded Tannu Uriankhai with the main force in early June, and soon received an order to cooperate with Zagalov to occupy Erdenet. The commander of the troop was named Sergekhov, a typical Cossack soldier, who fought bravely but had a very cruel temper. It was said that his wife had cheated on him when he was out, and he beat his wife into a cripple without saying a word after hearing about it. At the same time, he was also an alcoholic with a terrible alcohol tolerance. At this time, he also had a bottle of vodka in his hand.

At this time, Sergeikhov had been staring at the direction of the pontoon bridge, and he was a little anxious because Zagalov had not contacted him for several days. He did not know the other party's situation, but he did not dare to take the troops back. He could only follow the original instructions and prepare to cross the river to the north of Erdenet, where Zagalov had instructed the meeting point. Soon, Andrei, the battalion commander in charge of building the bridge, rode his horse to Sergeikhov and said, "Sir, the pontoon bridge has finally been completed after the unremitting efforts of our officers and soldiers. I hope to lead the way with my troops in order to quickly cross here."

Sergeikhov agreed, and the entire cavalry regiment began a mighty crossing of the river. Battalion Commander Andrei seemed quite happy. Yesterday, he led his men to plunder a Mongolian village and seized several bags of opium. He was a heavy smoker, so he was particularly happy. At this time, he rode his horse across the river with a cigarette in his mouth. His troops also seemed quite relaxed at the moment. Some of them were in high spirits and sang Russian folk songs, and others followed suit. It seemed that this was not an army, but more like a relaxed and happy military band.

However, the tranquility of these Russians was suddenly broken by a burst of explosions. Several cavalrymen who had already crossed the river were suddenly blown away. Then, some sharp-eyed people noticed that several shells fell on the pontoon bridge, which was immediately shaken by the explosion. Then, noisy gunshots were heard not far away. Rifle and machine gun bullets all fired at the vanguard of the Tsarist cavalry, and more than 20 cavalrymen were turned into a hornet's nest on the spot.

Seeing this, Andrei slapped himself immediately. He knew that he was careless. There was obviously an enemy ambush on the other side of the river. He forgot to send scouts to check. Now his troops were in a very awkward position. More than 200 people had crossed the river, and dozens of people were in the middle of the river. Looking back, other troops had not had time to get on the bridge. He immediately ordered the entire battalion to cross the river quickly, and the vanguard immediately deployed to fight. But the Russian army was still quite passive. The Mongolian men were lazy when they built this floating bridge, which led to several places being shaky under the bombing. Now, Russians kept falling into the river, and the situation seemed chaotic.

On the other side of the river, Sergeikhov's follow-up troops were also bombed. Two planes flew over their heads and dropped several bombs. At the same time, the heavy artillery shells on the opposite side also exploded, causing dozens of casualties to the Russian army. Sergeikhov had to disperse the entire army to prevent the casualties from increasing rapidly. At the same time, he ordered the troops to set up the few mortars and bombard the opposite firepower points. This time, the Tsarist Russian troops did not carry any heavy weapons on the march, because Zagalov's previous order stated that those weapons were carried by them. This made Sergeikhov curse his boss in his heart.

About a few minutes later, Andrei's troops finally crossed the river, but the pontoon bridge was also blown off in several places by continuous artillery shells, and dozens of cavalrymen at the back fell into the river. The follow-up troops of the Tsarist Russia no longer had the courage to cross the river, so they had to provide fire support by shooting on the other side. Andrei's troops finally crossed the river, and noticed the green mines in the grass. Many people were blown up by these indistinguishable mines. At the critical moment, Andrei raised the telescope and observed the firepower points on the opposite side. At this time, many Tsarist Russian cavalrymen also stood firm and began to fight back against the hidden ambushes. Many people noticed the surrounding fortifications and set up their own machine guns. They began to shoot at the enemy's positions, and the firepower of both sides gradually intertwined.

But the Russian cavalry was too big a target after all, and the enemy was obviously hiding in the dark. At this time, Andrei, after continuous observation, felt that the place with the most dense enemy firepower had the least mines, so he drew his saber and led the already small number of cavalry to attack the position with the most dense machine guns.

The troops ambushed here were led by the regiment commander Zhu Anbang. He seemed quite depressed at this time because his artillery had a lot of problems. Since many soldiers died on the way to Erdenet, the army had many new soldiers. As a result, the new artillery fired too early, causing the opponent's only battalion to fall into trouble. He looked into the distance with a telescope, and he noticed that Sergeikhov on the other side of the river had begun to retreat with the remaining troops. The cavalry unit that crossed the river was obviously abandoned. He wanted to notify Zhang Shusheng to pursue, but the pontoon bridge had been His own artillery was blown up, which made him feel a little amused and helpless. Just as Zhu Anbang was watching with a telescope, the guard next to him suddenly pushed him away. Then there was a "bang" of a gunshot, and Zhu Anbang's guard was shot dead on the spot. The shooter was Andrei on the opposite side, who was also one of the few sharpshooters in the cavalry regiment. At this time, he was shooting continuously with a sniper rifle. He had killed two machine gunners before. Although the number of Tsarist Russians charging was getting fewer and fewer, the charge still did not stop. In terms of willpower, the Tsarist Russians were still much stronger than the Beiyang Army.

Soon, with a few cannon shots, Andrei was blown off his horse by a shell and one of his legs was broken. Andrei, who was bleeding all over, was filled with regret. His troops basically fell on the way to the charge, and they didn't even have a chance for hand-to-hand combat. This made him feel that his carelessness had harmed his subordinates. With his eyes blurred, he saw a large number of enemy cavalry rushing up, so he tremblingly picked up his pistol and chose to commit suicide. So far, Andrei's troops were basically wiped out, and even the surviving prisoners were less than 30 people. However, the hundreds of Mongolian workers who had originally built the bridge had already raised the white flag early.

In order to ambush the Cossack Cavalry Regiment this time, the Justice Army dispatched two regiments, one cavalry regiment and one infantry regiment, leaving only one regiment to guard Beitang City. The brigade commander Zhang Zhenyang commanded the attack personally, and finally only destroyed one battalion of the Cossack Cavalry Regiment. By the time the large army crossed the Selenge River using small boats and bamboo rafts, the Cossack Cavalry Regiment, which came and went like the wind, had already fled far away. Zhang Zhenyang ordered to stop the pursuit, clean up the battlefield, and then withdraw his troops.

On June 28, 1914, the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by the Serbs, and the fuse of the First World War was lit. Di Xiong looked at the telegram sent by the Tianjin Intelligence Station and breathed a sigh of relief. He no longer had to worry about the Tsarist Russians launching a retaliation, because after the European war broke out, the Tsarist Russian army would be transferred to the west in large numbers, and the eastern border would become very empty, and Outer Mongolia would not be taken into account.

Since Beitang City and Baotou are separated by more than 1,000 kilometers, and there are the Altai Mountains in between, it is very inconvenient to communicate by eagle mail. First, the news comes too slowly, and second, the eagles often die in sandstorms and blizzards. Di Xiong made up his mind and agreed that the Tianjin Intelligence Station bought three wireless telegraph machines from a foreign company at a high price. One in Tianjin, one in Baotou, and one in Beitang. In this way, communication is much more convenient.

Because all the Beijing intelligence stations were destroyed, the Tianjin Intelligence Group was upgraded to an intelligence station and an intelligence group was sent to Beijing. Cha Jingfeng served as the director of the Tianjin Intelligence Station and the head of the Beijing Intelligence Group.