Black Flag Army

Chapter 118 Feng Jishan Attacks

Zhang Xun's queue army was in high spirits. As soon as they arrived in Beijing, they demanded that Li Yuanhong dissolve the National Assembly. Li Yuanhong did not expect that Zhang Xun would bring so many troops to mediate and ask him to dissolve the National Assembly. He immediately realized that he was inviting a wolf into the house. After sending people to negotiate many times without success, Li Yuanhong was forced to dissolve the National Assembly and he fled to the Japanese Concession in Tianjin.

After Zhang Xun gained a firm foothold in Beijing, he immediately began to prepare for the restoration. He first met with the deposed emperor Puyi, and then summoned conservative ministers such as Kang Youwei, Gu Hongming, and Chen Baochen to discuss the restoration. In the early morning of July 1, under the auspices of a group of conservatives, Zhang Xun officially held a restoration ceremony in the Forbidden City. Puyi put on his dragon robe again and sat in the hall, which seemed to indicate that the restoration had been successful.

That evening, at the Justice Party headquarters, Di Xiong convened a meeting of the Justice Party's top leaders. As the Justice Party grew larger, for the sake of confidentiality, it no longer shared a building with the Beihai Company, but built a separate building. At the high-level meeting, Di Xiong asked the intelligence director Tian Mengxue to report the latest situation in China and Tsarist Russia, and then discussed the next response method.

Li Fei was a little surprised and said, "Zhang Xun became the general leader of the thirteen provinces. So when he manipulated Puyi to become the emperor, didn't he have the support of the armies of the thirteen provinces?"

Wu Chunfeng said, "Thirteen provinces bullshit, those were all persuaded by Xu Shuzheng and others to deceive Zhang Xun. They called him the chief leader to his face, but called him Zhang the Fool behind his back. After Zhang Xun entered the Forbidden City, the twelve provincial governors who promised to send troops to support him did not send a single soldier, but instead sent telegrams to oppose the monarchy."

Di Xiong said: "This is just Duan Hefei's trick of using a knife to kill someone. He used Zhang Xun as a knife to drive Li Yuanhong out of power, and then summoned his old subordinates to eliminate Zhang Xun. Zhang Xun will be finished soon. We don't need to do anything. We just need to publish an article in the name of the Mengxi garrison in the Justice Daily to oppose the monarchy. The key now is the funding issue of the water diversion project and the recovery of lost territory in the north."

After half a year of hard work, the water diversion project was mostly completed. The waterway of Beihai Lake was less than 100 kilometers away from Beitang City, but the funds were running out. Although Beihai Group was profitable, the number of refugees introduced from the south had exceeded one million. The various resettlement costs of the refugees were huge, and the expenses of the water diversion project in the north were astronomical. Di Xiong and his team had to tighten their belts again. In order to raise funds, Wu Chunfeng proposed to open casinos, brothels and opium dens, on the grounds that the world's most economically developed countries, such as the United States, Britain, and France, all had these highly profitable industries, which collected a lot of taxes for the government. In Japan, the most powerful economy in Asia, taxes from the prostitution industry and gambling industry accounted for the majority of government taxes. Since Beitang had already opened lottery and horse racing, it would be better to completely open up the gambling industry.

Wu Chunfeng said: "The Beihai Lake water diversion project will benefit the present and future generations. We can't just give up halfway because of a lack of funds. Although opening these businesses has a bad reputation, in order to complete this great cause, what does it matter if my personal reputation is a little bad?"

Bai Xiuling firmly objected: "Isn't this a bad name? How many families have been ruined by casinos? The cruelty of brothels to women is outrageous. For you men, it is of course a very pleasant thing. Opium dens have destroyed the bodies of hundreds of millions of Chinese people. We must not do this."

Tian Mengxue disagreed. She said, "In order to ban opium, the governor of the Qing Dynasty, Lin Zexu, offended the British and was dismissed from all his posts by Emperor Daoguang. Are we not as good as the officials of the Qing Dynasty? Opening opium dens is a shameless act. If we open opium dens, do we still have the face to call ourselves the Justice Party? The purpose of the Justice Party is to uphold justice and eradicate evil. As high-ranking officials of the Justice Party, are we going to become evil people who should be eradicated?"

Wu Chunfeng said, "How about this? Let me start these businesses and make some money first. When the public outrage is too great, you can arrest me, put me in jail, and put all the blame on me to appease the public outrage. This way, the reputation of the Justice Party won't be damaged."

Di Xiong said, "Nonsense, do you think this little trick can fool others? Without my consent, can you open these businesses casually?"

Wu Zhong said: "If we don't open these three industries, how will we get the funds? And to recover the lost territory in the north, we also need a lot of military expenditure. How can we recover the lost territory in the north without money?"

Four months ago, the February Revolution broke out in Tsarist Russia. The Russian Socialist Party, the Menzies and the Poor Party formed an alliance and invaded Moscow. The Tsar was forced to abdicate. Lvov of the Socialist Party became the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, and Karen became the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Most of the cabinet members were members of the Socialist Party and the Menzies, which caused dissatisfaction among the Poor Party. The two sides split and conflicted. Many governors and military district commanders under Moscow did not recognize this provisional government at all. They acted independently and became the boss of their own place. There were constant conflicts between provinces for various interests. This was originally a good opportunity for the Justice Army to regain lost territory, but they were unable to go out due to lack of military funds.

Leng Hanbing said, "If I can get enough military funds, can we stop the project first? Recover Outer Northeast first, and then restart the project. Anyway, the waterway over Beihai Lake has been connected to Darhan County in Outer Mongolia, so we can start the project at any time."

Lan Jinping asked, "How can you get the military funds? This is not a small amount. Outer Northeast has more than one million square kilometers of land and hundreds of thousands of Russian troops are stationed there. The military funds will cost at least 10 million dollars."

Leng Hanbing said, "When we were short of funds in Suiyuan, Brigade Commander Liu Zhendong once led an action team to attack the Prince Qing's mansion and earned several million dollars. Now we have transport planes and can carry out long-range attacks. I want to repeat the same trick."

Di Xiong shook his head and said, "It's too late. You can think of a way, don't you think others can't think of it? After Yuan Shikai's death, the Qing Prince's Mansion lost its backer and immediately became a big fat piece of meat in the eyes of various warlords. All kinds of tricks and robberies came one after another, and soon the property left by the Qing Prince after his death was divided up."

Leng Hanbing was very disappointed when he heard this. He said, "There are so many rich people in Beijing, don't they have other targets?"

Di Xiong said, "Zhili Governor Cao Kun has a lot of wealth because he made a fortune by robbing during the Beijing mutiny. But he has tens of thousands of troops under his command, and even a sinister and ruthless general like Wu Peifu can't afford to take advantage of him. In addition, Zhang Zuolin and Yan Xishan are also wealthy men, but they have more troops, each with hundreds of thousands of troops."

Leng Hanbing sighed and stopped talking.

Di Xiong said: "Even if the military expenditure is sufficient, we cannot send troops for the time being, because we have too few troops. At present, we only have three divisions in the field army, plus a security division in the second-line army, with a total of no more than 40,000 people. Going to attack hundreds of thousands of Russian troops is to die. We need at least 100,000 field troops. But expanding the army requires money, and we can only select soldiers from the refugees. The water diversion project needs these refugees, and we can't withdraw people until the project is completed!"

After the Battle of Suwucheng, the Justice Army began to expand its army. The First Brigade of Suwucheng was expanded into the First Division, which temporarily had only two brigades. Zhang Zhenyang was appointed as the division commander, Jiang Hongyu was appointed as the division chief of staff, and Liu Zhendong was appointed as the deputy division commander. The two brigades of Beitangcheng were expanded into the Second Division, which had three brigades. Wu Chunlei was appointed as the division commander and Zhang Shusheng was appointed as the deputy division commander. Di Xiong originally planned to let Jiang Hongyu be the division commander, but Jiang Hongyu resolutely refused, saying that he was only suitable to be the chief of staff, so he had to transfer Zhang Zhenyang to be the division commander. The Justice Army Independent Cavalry Brigade, which was mostly composed of Mongolians, was also upgraded to an Independent Cavalry Division, with Subuda as the division commander and Liu Ruming as the deputy division commander.

Lan Jinping said, "After all this talk, it's still about money, so casinos and brothels have to be opened. The opium dens have a bad reputation, but forget it. When I opened the Lanji Hotel in Beijing, there were brothels and casinos in the hotel, and I didn't think it was a big deal! This is also allowed by the laws of the Republic of China. There are brothels and casinos everywhere in big cities like Beijing and Tianjin. Of course, brothels cannot force women into prostitution, and casinos cannot lend money at high interest rates."

Di Xiong said, "Let's do this! Beihai Group will conduct a pilot project, with General Manager Wu in charge, to open a casino and a brothel in Beitang City. Other companies and individuals are allowed to open these businesses, but they must pay a windfall tax, because these two industries are highly profitable. Even if the boss is a member of the Sharp Knife Club, he must pay a windfall tax. Just as President Lan said, brothels must not force women into prostitution, and only those who are willing to do this can operate. At the same time, the health department must conduct mandatory physical examinations on time, and they must not operate with dirty diseases. Casinos cannot lend money at high interest rates, so as to minimize gamblers from borrowing money to gamble and getting deeper and deeper into trouble. Those who violate these two regulations will be sealed up by the police station, and the bosses will be arrested and their funds confiscated. Opium dens are strictly prohibited, and if one is found, it will be sealed up."

Wu Zhong smiled bitterly and said, "You're asking me to take the blame again! Whatever, it's not the first time I've taken the blame anyway."

Di Xiong sighed and said, "This is a makeshift measure that can only be used when there is no other way. Once we have enough money, we will immediately stop running these two businesses. I will take all the blame."

Di Xiong's proposal was supported by most of the senior executives. Seeing that things had come to this point, Bai Xiuling and Tian Mengxue didn't know what to say. After all, they couldn't think of any way to make a lot of money.

The day after the meeting, a message came from the Beijing Intelligence Station that Feng Jishen, who was living in seclusion in Tiantai Mountain west of Beijing due to illness, was preparing to send troops to attack Zhang Xun. Because the 16th Mixed Brigade had been in arrears of wages for a long time and had no military funds, he was anxious to mortgage his house deed to the pawnshop and raised 5,000 oceans as military funds. At the same time, he also had to contact his old subordinates to drive out the current brigade commander Yang Guitang.

Di Xiong said, "How can we let Brother Feng mortgage the house deed? Where will the whole family live without the house? Notify Yin Quan in Beijing and send Brother Feng 5,000 yuan to redeem the house."

After Feng Jishan was removed from the post of commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade, he was transferred to the 6th Patrol Brigade in Tianjin as the commander. Although he was still the commander of the brigade, the patrol brigade only had a few hundred heavy smokers and old soldiers, and it was impossible to train. Feng Jishan repeatedly reported to the superiors, asking to be transferred back to the 16th Brigade or to other troops, but they were all rejected by the superiors. In a fit of anger, he abandoned his post on the grounds of illness and lived in seclusion in Tiantai Mountain, reading every day. Seeing the dragon flag in Beijing City hung up again, he was very surprised. After asking around, he learned about Zhang Xun's restoration. He was very angry and immediately contacted his old subordinates. Feng Jishan's old subordinates above the deputy battalion commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade were purged by Yang Guitang. Only officers below the company commander were still his old subordinates. As a result, twelve company commanders headed by Sun Lianzhong launched a mutiny, drove away Yang Guitang and his confidants, and welcomed Feng Jishan's return. Senior officers such as Zhang Zhijiang and Li Mingzhong also returned after hearing the news. Duan Qirui's confidants Duan Zhigui and Fu Liangzuo also took the initiative to contact Feng Jishan, promising that as long as Zhang Xun was defeated, he would restore his position as the commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade. After Zhang Xun entered Beijing, he proclaimed himself the Prince of Loyalty and Bravery, and also conferred titles on himself to a large number of princes, dukes, and marquises, causing many brigade commanders and regiment commanders in Beijing to become his subordinates. Duan Qirui was worried that his army would not be able to defeat the stronger Zhang Xun, so he wanted Feng Jishen's strongest brigade to take the lead.

After Feng Jishan gave a brief speech at the 16th Mixed Brigade in Langfang, he led his troops to attack Wanzhuang Town where the Bianzi Army was stationed. At this time, Duan Qirui had just taken office as the commander-in-chief of the Anti-Rebellion Army in Machang Town and was arranging tasks when he heard from his subordinates that the battle of Wanzhuang Town had ended. Zhang Xun's three battalions in Wanzhuang Town were defeated by Feng Jishan and almost all of them were destroyed. Zhang Xiyuan's brigade and Chen Wenyun's brigade, which were affiliated with Zhang Xun, immediately declared their defection to Zhang.

Duan Qirui sighed: "The tiger of Sanjiadian is indeed worthy of its reputation. It destroyed three of Zhang Xun's direct battalions in half an hour and forced the surrender of two brigades. Youzheng's dismissal of Feng Jishan was a bad move."

Youzheng is Xu Shuzheng's pen name. Xu Shuzheng snorted coldly and said nothing. Duan Qirui immediately ordered his subordinates Li Changtai's Eighth Division and Cao Kun's Third Division of the Zhili Army to attack quickly, telling them that Feng Jishan had already captured Wanzhuang Town and was heading straight for Fengtai. If they delayed the rebellion, Feng Jishan would defeat them.

When Feng Jishen's troops attacked Huangcun, a regiment of the Huangcun garrison, which was Chen Wenyun's old subordinate, surrendered without a fight. The 16th Mixed Brigade attacked the vicinity of Fengtai Town and joined forces with Li Changtai's division to attack the Fengtai Town garrison. Li Kuiyuan's Brigade and Liu Peilan's Brigade stationed in Fengtai Town asked Zhang Xun for help. These two brigade commanders were not Zhang Xun's direct subordinates, but were lured by the title of duke to follow him.

When Zhang Xun received the emergency call from Fengtai, he hurriedly sent Wu Changzhi's brigade and Tian Youhao's regiment for reinforcement. Because these two people were not his direct subordinates, he sent his nephew Zhang Benneng to lead the two battalions of the Bian Zi Army to supervise the battle. On the way, Zhang Benneng complained that they were moving too slowly and started scolding them. Wu Changzhi was so angry that he drew his gun and shot Zhang Benneng dead. He announced his overthrow of Zhang and commanded his subordinates to fight with the two battalions of the Bian Zi Army. Tian Youhao also joined the ranks of attacking the two battalions of the Bian Zi Army, and the two battalions of the Bian Zi Army were quickly wiped out.

Li Kuiyuan's Brigade and Liu Peilan's Brigade stationed in Fengtai Town saw that no reinforcements had arrived and were frightened by the fierce offensive of the 16th Mixed Brigade. After discussing it, the two men raised the white flag and surrendered.

Zhang Xun sent another nephew, Zhang Benxiong, to lead the remaining five battalions to garrison the Temple of Heaven, preparing for a decisive battle with the anti-rebel army. However, the anti-rebel army sent two bombers to drop several bombs on the Temple of Heaven. After the bombing, Zhang Benxiong, who was frightened unconscious, immediately ordered to surrender.