Black Flag Army

Chapter 131 Xu Shuzheng is here

Di Xiong said, "I plan to assign you three more deputy general managers, and re-establish Weili Group Company, transfer more than 20 factories including Beihai Bank, Simon Cannon Foundry and Meat Processing Plant, and Lan Jinping will be the general manager."

Wu Zhong said: "Then I have to thank you very much, boss."

At this time, Deputy Director of the Supervision Department Bian Zhimei and Chief of the Counterintelligence Section Gu Xingzhi came together to report that after Su Jinxu reported that Gu Xingzhi was too strong last time, Di Xiong assigned a Deputy Director Bian Zhimei to the Supervision Department because Bian Zhimei had repeatedly told Di Xiong that she did not want to do intelligence work anymore. Bian Zhimei has a gentle personality and charming beauty. After she went to the Supervision Department, she immediately had a large number of suitors. When she and Gu Xingzhi had a conflict of opinion, the suitors immediately attacked Gu Xingzhi. After Gu Xingzhi suffered a few times, he had to soften in front of Bian Zhimei.

Bian Zhimei said, "Di Juzi! The counterintelligence department has already found out Pan Yuyin's identity. She is an agent of the Japanese Tianjin Garrison Special Service. She and two of her accomplices were also arrested. They admitted during the interrogation that the Japanese Tianjin Garrison Special Service sent them to create chaos."

Di Xiong asked, "Why didn't you find out about it before?"

Gu Xingzhi lowered his head and said, "This is the fault of the Counterintelligence Department, which has caused great losses to the Justice Party. I, as the section chief, bear the greatest responsibility. Please, Master, remove me from my position."

Di Xiong sighed and said, "I know your ability. I have caught many Japanese spies in the past. This time, the Japanese spy was very cunning. She did not choose the top and middle-level members of our Justice Party, but approached an ordinary manager of a gun factory. As long as she does not take any action, it will be difficult to find her. I can't forgive you because of your mistake. You should make up for your crime and make meritorious service!"

Gu Xingzhi's eyes turned red, and he said, "Thank you, Master, for understanding our difficulties."

On March 3, 1918, the Tsarist Bolshevik Party signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, ceding more than one million square kilometers of land to Germany, shocking the world. After the news came out, there was opposition in Russia, and many neutral troops defected to the Kolchak and Denikin armies of the White Army. Kolchak's strength increased greatly, and he was said to have a million troops under his command. Denikin, Yudenich, Miguel, Ungern and other warlords called Kolchak the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces. In just a few months, the White Army seized most of the land of Tsarist Russia.

The news that the Black Flag Army in western Mongolia had increased to ten divisions also reached Kulun, and the news that they had defeated the Russian army and captured Nerchinsk made the Kulun government panic. Due to financial difficulties and internal strife, their army had been reduced to less than 30,000 people. The Kulun government headed by Hang Daduo finally accepted Chen Yi's conditions and allowed the Beiyang government to send troops into Outer Mongolia. In another time and space, they did not agree to this condition until 1919, and also made many unreasonable demands. In this time and space, they faced strong pressure from the Black Flag Army and did not make any demands. They just hoped that the Beiyang Army could come to protect them earlier.

At this time, the Beiyang government was still in the midst of fierce internal strife. On March 20, Duan Qirui, with the help of Cao Kun and local military governors, defeated Wang Shizhen and became prime minister again. He appointed Xu Shuzheng as the Northwest Frontier Envoy and Commander-in-Chief of the Outer Mongolian Army.

On March 25, at the urging of Outer Mongolian envoy Chen Yi, the commander-in-chief of the Outer Mongolian Army, Xu Shuzheng, finally arrived with a cavalry brigade and an artillery regiment of the Beiyang Army. The Beiyang Army had always had poor military discipline, and it did not get better after arriving in Outer Mongolia. Looting and trampling on women often occurred. Chen Yi reported to Xu Shuzheng and asked him to restrain his subordinates. At first, Xu Shuzheng severely reprimanded the brigade commander Chu Qixiang and the artillery commander Gao Zaitian, but after the two subordinates presented Xu Shuzheng with a box of gold bars and two Mongolian beauties, Xu Shuzheng stopped talking. Instead, he thought Chen Yi, who often came to report problems, was too long-winded, so he issued a handwritten order to transfer him back to Beijing.

Hang Dado and Wu Tai also lost a lot of property. Wu Tai said to Hang Dado: "I should have surrendered to the Black Flag Army. I heard that the Black Flag Army has very strict military discipline! It is much better for Kulun to fall into the hands of the Black Flag Army than to fall into the hands of the Beiyang Army."

Xu Shuzheng sent someone to deliver a letter to Di Xiong, asking him to accept the amnesty. The condition of the amnesty was to donate the aircraft manufacturing plant and the Beihai Gun Factory to the Outer Mongolian Army Command under the Beiyang Government, which was actually to Xu Shuzheng himself.

At the Justice Party meeting, Di Xiong read Xu Shuzheng's letter, and everyone burst into laughter. Lan Jinping said, "This Xu Shuzheng is so ignorant that he wants to take away our two most important factories right away, relying on his cavalry brigade and artillery regiment? He thinks that recruiting us is a great honor, but in fact, we don't care at all. Such a person is actually Duan Qirui's think tank, which is incomprehensible."

Wu Chunfeng said: "I remember the last person who wanted an aircraft manufacturing plant was Pan Ying. The grass on his grave should be three feet high now. This Xu Shuzheng wants to follow in his footsteps!"

Wu Zhong said to Di Xiong: "I am old, and I didn't hear clearly just now. What official position did Xu Shuzheng give you?"

Di Xiong said, "Just like last time, the post of the Western Mongolian Garrison Commander has also been added. Is the commander of the Beiyang Army so worthless? Can a Northwest Border Commissioner of Outer Mongolia be appointed casually?"

Tian Mengxue said: "Xu Shuzheng's wishful thinking is very good. He wants to exchange two empty names for two factories. This is a typical case of getting something for nothing! He treats others as fools!"

Di Xiong smiled and said, "He said he is the commander-in-chief of the Outer Mongolian Army and we must listen to him. If we don't agree, he will send troops to attack us."

Li Fei said: "Who is he trying to scare? The five recruit divisions have completed their training. Although three divisions have gone to Nerchinsk, there are still two divisions left in western Mongolia, plus the guard division that has returned for rotation! There is also the Mongolian Cavalry Division! They are not afraid of him at all!"

Xian Yuji said, "Di Juzi! What's the matter with this Tsarist Russian Bolshevik Party? Why did they cede land to Germany? Isn't this like the Qing Dynasty in my country, which signed a traitorous treaty? Will the people of Tsarist Russia still support them? You are the most knowledgeable person in the Justice Party, can you explain it to us?"

Di Xiong said: "This is the strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones in the Thirty-Six Strategies. The Burmese army was surrounded by the White Guards and attacked by the German army in the west. In order to divide and win over the enemy, they signed such a contract. This contract cannot be implemented from the day it was signed. Because these lands are not in the hands of the Burmese party at all. If the Burmese party fails, there is no need to fulfill the contract. If they win and become stronger, they will take back these lands and announce the breaking of the peace treaty, which will be even more impossible to fulfill. You must remember that in front of a powerful army, any peace treaty is meant to be torn up and then a new one is signed. The Qing government signed a traitorous treaty and had to implement it because their army was not strong enough."

After the meeting, Di Xiong wrote a reply letter and asked Liu Zhennan to give it to Xu Shuzheng's messenger, then hurried to Weili Group Company.

The messenger sent by Xu Shuzheng was called Duan Dahong, Xu Shuzheng's secretary and student, a fair-faced young man. Liu Zhennan handed the reply letter to Duan Dahong and said, "This is the reply letter from our boss to your commander-in-chief. You can leave now."

Duan Dahong asked, "Can I meet Mr. Di? I haven't given him the letter of appointment I brought with me yet!"

Liu Zhennan sneered, "Our boss said that we don't need them anymore. You can take them back and return them to your commander-in-chief! You are dreaming about exchanging two letters of appointment for a factory!"

After Duan Dahong returned to Kulun and met Xu Shuzheng, he told him about his mission and then handed the reply letter to Xu Shuzheng. Xu Shuzheng was 38 years old this year, fair and fat, with a shaved head. Xu Shuzheng opened the letter and saw that the reply letter only had a few words, expressing gratitude for Commander-in-Chief Xu's kindness, but that he would not accept the amnesty, let alone give him the aircraft manufacturing plant and Beihai Cannon Factory.

Xu Shuzheng was furious and immediately called the brigade commander Chu Qixiang and the artillery commander Gao Zaitian, as well as the new envoy to Outer Montenegro, Yan Shichao. Yan Shichao was originally Chen Yi's deputy. After Xu Shuzheng arrived, he tried his best to flatter Xu Shuzheng and finally became a special envoy.

Xu Shuzheng said to the three people, "That Di guy in Mengxi doesn't know what's good for him. I am now the commander-in-chief of the Outer Mongolian Army. He has set up more than a hundred factories in my territory, Outer Mongolia Province, to make money. I asked him to give up two factories, but he refused. I am going to send troops to attack this gang of bandits and take over all of their more than a hundred factories."

Chu Qixiang was very happy when he heard this and said, "I've heard that Mengxi is very rich, with warehouses full of grain and money, and more beauties in brothels than here. It's nothing like Kulun, which is so poor!"

Gao Zaitian was also very excited and said that the artillery regiment could take the lead.

Yan Shichao said: "Commander-in-Chief! Excuse me, with our current strength, I'm afraid we can't touch them yet!"

Xu Shuzheng asked: "Why?"

Yan Shichao had been to Beitang City and was blocked outside the city. He had a very bad impression of the Justice Party and the Black Flag Army, but he would never underestimate the fighting power of the Black Flag Army. Yan Jichao said: "The fighting power of the black bandits is not ordinary! The total strength of the commander-in-chief is only more than 4,000 people. It is difficult to defeat the 100,000 black bandits."

Gao Zaitian said: "Although the black bandits have a large number of troops, they are just a mob of refugees. We have more than 4,000 people, all of whom are Beiyang elites, and we have dozens of cannons. When the time comes, the cannons will bombard and the cavalry will charge. No matter how many black bandits there are, they will be defeated!"

Yan Shichao said: "The bandits also have cannons and planes. Last year, more than 16,000 Feng-Meng coalition troops attacked western Mongolia. The Japanese dispatched more than 100 planes to assist, but they were all defeated by the bandits."

Yan Jichao found a few newspapers from his office, handed them to Xu Shuzheng and others, and said, "You can choose not to believe in the Zhengyi Daily and Shuntian Daily, but you should believe in the Shenbao in Shanghai and the Shehui Daily in Beijing, right?"

Xu Shuzheng said: "I have been busy helping Duan Gong out of seclusion recently. I was so busy that I really didn't pay attention to the news in this regard."

After reading the news carefully, he was stunned and sat weakly on the chair. After a long pause, he said, "I thought Beihai Company opened an aircraft manufacturing factory and a gun factory to make money, but I didn't expect it was for its own army. There are such stupid people in the world. What's the point of building such a powerful army in Outer Mongolia, a cold and desolate place? More than 200 planes and hundreds of cannons, how much money will it cost?"

Chu Qixiang also finished reading the newspaper and said angrily: "This Di Xiong must be mentally ill. He has money but doesn't know how to eat, drink and have fun. He has so many planes and cannons but won't sell them. This man is clearly planning a rebellion! If the bandits attack Beijing, the warlords in Beijing who are only concerned with internal fighting may really be unable to stop them."

Gao Zaitian said, "What do you mean by rebellion? They are rebels and bandits who refused to accept the amnesty. They clearly want to seize the world. They are so powerful that they even defeated the Japanese and the Russians. If our 4,000 people attack them, it will be like throwing meat at a dog. We will never come back. Fortunately, Special Envoy Yan reminded us."

Yan Shichao said: "They don't seem to be planning to fight for the world. With their strength, it would be easy for them to take over the eastern part of Outer Mongolia. Even if they can't capture Beijing, it wouldn't be a problem to take over Suiyuan and Chahar. But they never touched these three places. Instead, they went to Tsarist Russia and fought with the Russian army. Many people died. I heard that a division commander died. The black party's newspaper said that they were trying to recover the lost territory of the Qing Dynasty, and they acted like patriotic heroes."

Xu Shuzheng said: "The Russians are fighting a civil war, and the black bandits are taking advantage of the situation. But are the Russians easy to mess with? When they recover, a million troops will rush over and beat the black bandits to death. This is a good thing for us. The black bandits will destroy themselves, and we don't have to worry about it anymore. We can just wait until the black bandits are destroyed before taking over Mengxi."

Chu Qixiang said: "But now we only have more than 4,000 people. We are always worried in Kulun. What if the bandits suddenly go crazy and attack us? At that time, the Russians have not yet destroyed the bandits, but we will be destroyed first."

Xu Shuzheng said, "This is indeed a problem! But there is a solution. Lord Duan has declared war on Germany. He asked me to train a participating army. He organized three divisions in the name of the border defense army and let Qu Tongfeng, Chen Wenyun and Ma Liang be the division commanders. I asked them to bring the three new recruit divisions to Outer Mongolia to train the troops and guard against the black bandits. There are three divisions of troops here, plus the Mongolian army, there are 30,000 people. You don't have to worry about it now, right?"

Chu Qixiang said: "I'm not worried about safety, but how can such a poor place in eastern Outer Mongolia support so many troops all at once?"

Xu Shuzheng said: "You don't have to worry about this. Mr. Duan is now the Prime Minister and the Chief of the Army. It's no problem for me to report to him and ask for a sum of military pay and supplies. But you must also be vigilant. Before the three divisions come to Outer Mongolia, you can't let the horse bandits in the north and the black bandits in the west break in. Even if you can't stop them, you must retreat intact and don't let them make a fool of you."

Gao Zaitian said: "The commander-in-chief is right! As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood. However, the cavalry brigade is full of cavalry, and they run fast. Our artillery can do nothing. The cannons are too heavy. We have no choice but to abandon the cannons when running."

Before the battle even started, they were already prepared to escape and didn't even want the cannons. Yan Shichao sighed to himself when he heard this, feeling that they were far inferior to the Black Flag Army.