Black Flag Army

Chapter 126 The Northern Expedition Begins

At night, Ono Ryunosuke sat in the private room of the Hakusakura Restaurant, drinking sake, eating sashimi and sushi, with the beautiful waitress in his arms. The Hakusakura Restaurant was the largest Japanese brothel in Kulun. The Intelligence Department of the Japanese Embassy set up an intelligence station here, and the stationmaster was the restaurant's female owner, Iijima Na. Ono Ryunosuke was the chief adviser sent here by the Tianjin Garrison Army.

Iijima Na is already in her thirties, but after putting on makeup, she looks like she is in her twenties. She walked into the box and said to Ono Ryunosuke: "You are so happy. The front has been defeated, almost all the troops have been annihilated, and Maeda Toru is dead, did you know that?"

Ono Ryunosuke said: "I was not optimistic about this battle from the beginning. The black bandits are very strong. Even if we send the warriors of the Empire of Japan, it will take a division. How can the Chinese army, with more than 16,000 people, win? I advised Maeda not to go, but he didn't listen to me, and I had no choice."

Iijima said: "It is reasonable that the ground forces failed, but how could the air battle fail as well? Except for a few Fengtian Army pilots, most of the pilots dispatched were Imperial Warriors! Is the Black Flag Air Force so powerful?"

Ono Ryunosuke said, "I was also very surprised. Although the black bandits also have a so-called pilot school in Beitang and have invited a group of foreign instructors, it is definitely not as good as the flight school of the Empire of Japan. We can only say that the other side's aircraft performance is better, and the pilots are fearless and brave, which makes up for the technical gap. In fact, in the two air battles of Darkhan and Orkhon, the aircraft losses of both sides were similar. It was mainly because when attacking Daranza, they were hit by too many anti-aircraft guns from the other side, resulting in the loss of dozens more aircraft than the black bandits."

Iijima said, "It's fine that the Feng-Mongol coalition suffered a crushing defeat, but how come a brigade dispatched by Chahar was also completely annihilated? That was the real elite of the Beiyang Army! The opponent was just the Mongolian Cavalry Division of the Black Flag Army, and the division commander Subuda was also a Mongolian. How come the Mongolians became so powerful in the hands of the Black Flag Army?"

Ono Ryunosuke said: "According to intelligence, although the commander of the cavalry division is a rough Mongolian man, the bandit leader has assigned him a deputy commander named Liu Ruming. Liu Ruming used to be a soldier in the 16th Mixed Brigade. He started as a soldier and was promoted to deputy commander. The 16th Mixed Brigade was the most elite brigade in the Beiyang Army. Liu Ruming was able to become the deputy commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade. His ability is extraordinary. It was this Liu Ruming who used the tactics of luring the enemy deep into the territory and encircling them from all sides to defeat one of Tanaka Yu's brigades."

Iijima said, "So, when the Great Japanese Empire and the Chinese army go to war in the future, they should not only be on guard against the Black Flag Army, but also against the 16th Mixed Brigade?"

Ono Ryunosuke shook his head and said, "That's not to worry about. The commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade, Feng Jishan, has a weird personality and is not good at flattering his superiors. Both his former and current superiors don't like him. The 16th Mixed Brigade often owes military pay, weapons and ammunition, and the army is extremely poor. By the time the Empire of Japan and the Chinese army go to war, this army may no longer exist."

A dozen days after the battle between the Black Flag Army and the Five Provinces Allied Forces ended, on December 15, 1917, the Justice Party held a meeting to discuss the issue of the commanders of the five newly formed recruit divisions and the issue of recovering Outer Manchuria.

Di Xiong said: "Because the main river channel of the Beihai Lake water diversion project has been completed, the remaining ones are tributary rivers in the western part of Mengxi. So many workers are no longer needed, so the recruitment of new soldiers must also become a daily routine. The more than 50,000 new soldiers recruited a few days ago to deal with the five-province coalition army do not need to be disbanded. After training, the excellent soldiers will be incorporated into the new recruit divisions, and the poor soldiers will be incorporated into the security regiments and rural militia battalions of each county. Then a group of excellent officers and soldiers will be selected from the security regiments of each county to enter the new recruit divisions. The new recruits are temporarily divided into five divisions."

Since the main channel of the Beihai Lake water diversion project has been completed, the financial pressure has been greatly reduced. In addition, with the income from casinos and brothels, Mengxi's finances have been much looser. Wu Zhong no longer opposes the expansion of the army. He said: "Liu Ruming, the deputy commander of the Cavalry Division, made great contributions in the battle to annihilate a brigade of the Beiyang Army in the south of Daranza County. I suggest that he be promoted to the commander of the recruit division!"

Di Xiong said, "The numbers of the new recruit divisions are the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th divisions. Let Liu Ruming be the commander of the 3rd division, and General Liu Chengliang be the commander of the 5th division. General Liu has always been reluctant to be the commander of the second-line garrison division. He said he would rather be a brigade commander in the front-line troops."

When Wu Chunlei saw that Liu Ruming had become the division commander, he immediately recommended his former partner Feng Anbang, saying, "Feng Anbang also made great contributions in the Battle of Lagerling. It was he who came up with the method of piling up mountains and setting up artillery, which ended the Battle of Lagerling. He is fully capable of serving as the division commander of the regular army, and cannot always stay in the second-line troops."

Di Xiong said, "Then let Feng Anbang be the commander of the Seventh Division! The commander of the Security Division will be temporarily replaced by Chief Inspector Li Laoshi."

Lan Jinping said, "Li Laoshi used to be the chief of the intelligence station. He has only been the inspector general of the security division for a few months. Can he be the acting division commander? I think it would be more appropriate for Gu Mingliang, the commander of the first brigade of the security division, to be the acting division commander."

When Di Xiong heard that the person recommended by Lan Jinping was named Gu, his heart skipped a beat and he immediately thought of Gu Xingzhi. He suspected that this Gu Mingliang was related to Gu Xingzhi, so he immediately denied it and said, "Li Laoshi is an intelligence officer I brought up myself. I have confidence in his ability. He can learn from what he doesn't understand. I just need to assign him an excellent chief of staff. Gu Mingliang should be his brigade commander."

Leng Hanbing said to Di Xiong, "Boss! Since even Li Laoshi can be a division commander, it's okay for me to be one, right? Can I be the commander of the Eighth Division?"

Di Xiong said, "No! You are just like Liu Zhendong, and you are better at commanding special forces operations. If you can be a division commander, then Liu Zhendong has been in the army longer than you, so he should be the division commander. But he is still a deputy division commander now, and I don't plan to promote him. So you should stay in the position of Inspector General. This is for your own good!"

Leng Hanbing sighed and said, "The boss is still so ruthless and impartial. He hasn't changed at all after so many years."

In the end, the brigade commander of the Second Division, Zhang Zhongzhi, became the commander of the Eighth Division, and another brigade commander, Zhang Shusheng, became the commander of the Ninth Division.

Di Xiong said: "Now the First Division of Suwu City has increased from the newly established two brigades to three brigades, plus a heavy artillery regiment. It is much stronger than the local Russian army. Zhang Zhenyang has repeatedly proposed to recover the entire area of ​​Beihai Lake. I sent a telegram to him today and agreed to his request. They will start to attack the Shaksha army in the north of Beihai Lake from tomorrow. Shaksha's men are all native Buryat people. Their combat capabilities are not strong, so it is not a big problem to capture them. Since the battle to recover Beihai Lake has already started, we can't sit idle. The slogan of the Northern Expedition to recover Outer Northeast has been shouted for several years. Now it is finally time to act. The recovery of Outer Northeast must be divided into three steps, otherwise it will be exhausted. The first step is to recover Nerchinsk City, and then use Nerchinsk City as a base to recover Hailanpao. This is the second step. The second step must wait until the five recruit divisions are trained and can go to the battlefield before they can act, otherwise there will be insufficient troops. The third step is to recover the entire Outer Northeast, including Sakhalin Island."

Wu Chunlei asked: "Who is our main opponent?"

Di Xiong said: "After the February Revolution in Tsarist Russia, the Outer Northeast region was divided into dozens of warlords of different sizes. After a period of internecine fighting and annexation, three powerful warlords gradually formed. Other small warlords were either eaten by them or took the initiative to join them, and the territory was basically divided up by them. These three warlords are our old friends: Wild Wolf Ivanov, Bloody Baron Ungern, and another one called Kolchak. Kolchak is the strongest, with an army of more than 100,000. Ivanov and Ungern also have 50,000 to 60,000 troops each, so we have to deal with an army of more than 200,000 people. This is a very arduous task."

Lan Jinping asked, "Can we first provoke these three families to fight each other, and then we can reap the benefits?"

Di Xiong said, "No! If we start a war between them, it is very likely that Kolchak, the strongest one, will destroy the other two. He will be even stronger, and we will have a harder time fighting and suffer greater casualties."

Wu Chunlei asked: "Which warlord is currently occupying Nerchinsk?"

Di Xiong said: "It was Ivanov who was the weakest, with more than 50,000 men. He defeated the poor party army in Chita and occupied Chita. If we want to recapture Nerchinsk, we must first capture Chita, otherwise we won't be able to get through at all."

Xian Yuji said, "I remember that the poor party bought two heavy artillery pieces from us and captured Chita. How come they lost it again?"

Lan Jinping said: "I know about this, because Ivanov is richer. He bought more than a dozen heavy artillery from us and defeated the poor party."

Xian Yuji was surprised and asked, "How can we sell heavy artillery to Ivanov? They are our enemies. These heavy artillery will enhance their strength and will cause us heavy casualties. Who came up with this bad idea?"

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "Of course it's Di Juzi. Who else would dare to give such an order?"

Di Xiong said: "Ivanov has occupied Chita and Nerchinsk now, so he is indeed our enemy. But if it is the Poor Party that occupies these two places, will they be our friends? If we want to recapture Chita and Nerchinsk, we will also have to fight a bloody battle with them. Since Vladimir has promulgated the policy of liberating serfs and land reform, more and more people will support the Poor Party. Once we go to war with the Poor Party, there will be endless troubles. So I would rather choose Ivanov as my opponent. Of course, now that we are their opponents, we will no longer sell guns and ammunition to them. When their shells are used up, their cannons will become scrap metal."

Leng Hanbing said: "Boss, you underestimate Ivanov. He has connections with the Japanese in Kulun, and he can buy guns and ammunition from the Japanese."

Di Xiong said, "Really? That was my mistake. I have to prepare for a tough battle. The Japanese are everywhere. If I have a chance in the future, I must go to Tokyo and take revenge on the Japanese."

Leng Hanbing said: "Revenge against the Japanese is a matter for the future. Which army should we send to attack Chita now? I think we should send the Second Division. Apart from the First Division in Suwu City, the Second Division is the strongest."

Di Xiong said, "I promised General Liu that I would let him lead the Guard Division in the next battle. Although he will be transferred to the New Recruit Division soon, he must finish the battle in Chita before leaving. Your Second Division will follow behind the Guard Division and be ready to support it at any time."

Leng Hanbing said: "I have an idea. Since we haven't torn our relationship with Ivanov yet, we can send out an elite force, pretending to sell weapons and ammunition to their caravan, and suddenly attack Chita City and take it down in one fell swoop."

Di Xiong's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said, "This is a good idea. Ivanov is just short of ammunition and has sent telegrams to urge us several times. But the first to attack is the Guard Division. Do they have such elite special forces?"

Leng Hanbing said: "I can lead the Second Division's Special Service Battalion and the Security Division to set off together. The credit will go to the Security Division at that time. General Liu will definitely not have any objection."

Others also thought that this method was good and could greatly reduce casualties from a strong attack, so they all agreed.

After the meeting, Di Xiong returned home. Lan Jinchun had already prepared food. Although they were all Di Xiong's favorite dishes, Di Xiong ate very slowly. He wanted to speak several times but held back.

Lan Jinchun said: "If you have anything to say, just say it. We have been married for several years, don't I know you well enough? If you don't say it, you won't be able to eat this meal."

Di Xiong said: "I will personally lead the troops to the north this time. Recovering lost territory is my lifelong wish. I can't give up this opportunity. I am worried that you will not agree, so I don't know how to tell you."

Lan Jinchun said calmly: "President Lin said that you are the supreme ruler of Mengxi and you can do whatever you want. Do you care whether I agree or not?"

Di Xiong said: "You are my wife, of course I care about your attitude."

Lan Jinchun said: "I am your wife, how could I hold you back? Of course I support you. If the wind was not so weak, I really want to go to Nerchinsk and Hailanpao with you to take back the land that belongs to us Chinese."

When Di Xiong heard this, he was very happy and hugged her excitedly, saying, "With a wife like this, what else could a husband ask for?"

Lan Jinchun said, "I remember that you wanted to go to the last battle to retake Suwu City, but you were stopped by other high-ranking officials at the Justice Party meeting. Why did everyone agree this time?"

Di Xiong said, "Of course there were people who opposed it at the beginning, and it took me a lot of effort to convince them. I made preparations to recover the lost territory six years ago, and now the real battle to recover the lost territory has begun. If I can't lead the army to recover the lost territory, then my six years of hard preparation and waiting will be in vain, right? It will leave a lifelong regret. I was very worried that you would disagree, but fortunately you support me, but it will be hard for you to raise the child alone."

Lan Jinchun said, "With a nanny, it's not hard to take care of a child. My sister doesn't have a husband, and she also takes care of the child by herself, doesn't she? She has it really hard. She doesn't even have anyone to talk to at night. I advised her to find a husband, but she didn't listen."