Black Flag Army

Chapter 122 Fengtian Army Attacks

Wu Chunfeng pushed his wheelchair onto the podium of the auditorium of the Justice Party building. Cha Jingfeng sat in the wheelchair. The audience was packed with hundreds of people. Di Xiong took the medal from the tray held by Yang Lushuang and pinned the glittering medal on Cha Jingfeng's chest. Wu Zhong, who was sitting on the podium, began to applaud, and hundreds of people below applauded together.

Di Xiong was wearing a black dress today, looking solemn and dignified. After pinning on his medal, he shouted, "Salute to the hero of the Justice Party, the heroine Cha Jingfeng!"

He was the first to salute Cha Jingfeng with a clenched fist, and hundreds of people on and off the stage raised their right fists to salute. The Justice Party members' salute is somewhat similar to the military salute, except that they clench their fists instead of extending their palms.

Cha Jingfeng's eyes turned red and tears fell. She sobbed, "Di Juzi has given me such a high honor. From now on, even if I die for the Justice Party, I am willing to do so."

Di Xiong said: "I will ask the best doctor to cure your leg injury, no matter how much it costs." At the same time, he announced that Cha Jingfeng would be nominated as the Mohist candidate, and the other candidate was Bian Zhimei. At the next Justice Party high-level meeting, one of them would be selected as the Mohist.

The hundreds of people attending the meeting were all middle-level and some grassroots officials of the Justice Party, while the senior officials were all sitting on the stage. As the population in the western part of Outer Mongolia continued to increase, the number of Justice Party members also increased from a few hundred to more than ten thousand, and the number of officials increased to more than one thousand.

After the commendation meeting, when Di Xiong walked out of the door of the auditorium, he saw a woman with tattered clothes and messy hair kneeling on the steps outside the door. The woman was holding a child in her arms. The child was obviously seriously ill and his face was pale.

Before Di Xiong could speak, the vigilant Huo Qingtong asked, "Who are you? What are you kneeling for?"

The woman was about 20 years old, pale and thin. She said with a sad face: "I'm looking for Mr. Di, the chairman of Beihai Group!"

Huo Qingtong stood in front of Di Xiong, holding the handle of his gun and asked, "What do you want from him?"

The woman said, "Please ask him to save the child for the sake of my late husband, Hong Tianlie!"

Di Xiong's heart sank, and he asked hurriedly: "My late husband Hong Tianlie? Could it be that Hong Tianlie has passed away? I am Di Xiong!"

The woman wept and said, "He was killed by the Beijing Police Department two years ago. He had fled Beijing during the mass arrest and hid in a small town under Langfang County. But one time when he was buying something, he had an argument with a vendor and was recognized by the traitor Jiang Tabi. He went to the police department to report the news and claim the reward. The police chief Dong Huailiang sent patrol captain Yuan Chengfu to arrest him. Yuan Chengfu brought dozens of policemen, and he only had Li Manniu and Sha Mazi under his command. He hurriedly wrote a letter asking me to take the children and flee to Suiyuan. While I was escaping, I saw with my own eyes that the three of them were shot several times in a gunfight and fell in a pool of blood."

Di Xiong asked, "Is this Hong Tianlie's son?"

The woman said: "Yes, this is his only flesh and blood. Please, Chairman, save him."

Di Xiong said to Liu Zhennan: "Drive the car over here and take the child to the hospital immediately."

Liu Zhennan drove the white car over quickly, and Di Xiong and the woman with the child got into the car. Huo Qingtong also drove another black car, and the two cars rushed to the hospital together. In order to prevent assassins, Di Xiong always drove two cars every time he went out.

At the hospital, the chief pediatrician Yuan Qingmei examined the child and told Di Xiong that the child had eaten something unclean and had many roundworms in his stomach. He needed to take medicine to kill the worms immediately. Once the worms were killed, everything would be fine. The woman had been to the hospital before, but because she had no money, she couldn't even pay the registration fee, so of course no one would treat the child.

Di Xiong said to the woman, "I haven't asked for your sister-in-law's name yet. When did you arrive in Bei Tang?"

The woman said, "My name is Hu Caihua. I am a vegetable farmer in the countryside of Beijing. My mother died early. Three years ago, my father unfortunately got addicted to gambling. After losing all his money, he borrowed high-interest loans. He couldn't pay it back, so he was beaten to death by the loan sharks. They also took me to pay off the debt and tied me up for auction in the casino. Hong Tianlie happened to win money that day, so he spent ten dollars to buy me. I became his woman. A year later, I gave birth to a son for him. Hong Tianlie named him Hong Beiling. After I fled to Suiyuan with my child, I found that there were chaotic soldiers and horse bandits everywhere. They killed and burned people at will. It was impossible to stay there. So I fled to Outer Mongolia with many refugees. Along the way, I was able to survive with the food you provided me to Dalhan County under Beitang City. I arrived in Beitang a year ago."

Di Xiong asked, "Since you came to Bei Tang a year ago, why didn't you come to see me?"

Hu Caihua said, "Because Hong Tianlie said before he died that he should not come to you for help unless it was absolutely necessary."

Di Xiong sighed, "Hong Tianlie, ah, Hong Tianlie! You are so stubborn even when you are about to die!"

Hu Caihua took out the letter that Hong Tianlie wrote before his death and handed it to Di Xiong. The old envelope had been worn and turned black, and there were a few blurry words on it: "To Brother Di."

Di Xiong opened the letter and burst into tears after reading it. It was a letter of confession in which he confessed his shortcomings and mistakes and stated that if there was an afterlife, he would continue to be his subordinate and never leave.

Hu Caihua went into the ward to visit the child. Yang Lushuang asked, "Is this woman really Hong Tianlie's wife? Could she be a Japanese pretending to be her?"

Di Xiong said: "Impossible! I know Hong Tianlie's handwriting!"

Huo Qingtong said: "It is possible that if the Japanese agents approached her, got her details, killed her, took the letter and impersonated her."

Di Xiong said, "But the person pretending to be someone else certainly doesn't know why Hong Tianlie's son is named Hong Beiling. Back then, Leng Hanbing, Hong Tianlie and I were drinking together, and we talked about what name to give to the province after we recovered Outer Northeast. Outer Northeast Province and Outer Xing'an Mountains Province definitely wouldn't work, as they clearly treat the locals as outsiders and are likely to encourage independence sentiment. In the end, we decided to take the word "Ling" from the Outer Xing'an Mountains and name it Beiling Province. At the time, Hong Tianlie said that this was a good name, and that when he had a son in the future, he would name him Hong Beiling. If our generation couldn't recover Outer Northeast, we would let the next generation continue to do this."

Yang Lushuang said, "Mr. Di means that as long as we ask Hu Caihua about the origin of her son's name at the right opportunity, we can prove its authenticity?"

Di Xiong said: "Yes! The Supervisory Department will handle this matter, so you don't have to worry about it."

When he returned to the Beihai Group office, he saw the intelligence director Tian Mengxue waiting for him. She looked serious, and it was obvious that something big had happened. Before he could speak, Tian Mengxue said, "The latest news from the Fengtian Intelligence Group is that Zhang Zuolin, under the strong instigation of the Japanese, decided to send three divisions of troops to retaliate against us. The Japanese promised that the Guandong Garrison Army would send 50 aircraft to help. At the last meeting, Wu Zhong's worries unfortunately came true."

Di Xiong said: "I am the garrison commander of Mengxi appointed by the Beiyang government. If they launch an attack on us, don't they need to inform Beijing?"

Tian Mengxue said, "So there is another bad news for you. At the strong request of the Japanese envoy, the Prime Minister Duan Qirui has dismissed you from your post as the garrison commander of Western Mengxi and ordered General Fan Guozhang of Suiyuan and General Tian Zhongyu of Chahar to cooperate with the Fengtian Army to attack us. The Japanese Tianjin Garrison will definitely not stand idly by."

At noon, the sun was scorching. In a desert, a troop of several thousand people was marching. They were dressed in tattered clothes. Many people's uniforms were covered with mud, and it was not uncommon for their pants to have holes. Many people's caps were missing. Judging from their clothes, this was just an army of beggars. These people were in a state of distraction and seemed to have no will to fight. If you didn't look at their clothes carefully, it would be hard to tell that they were from the Fengtian clique of the Beiyang warlords. They were the ones sent by the Northeast King Zhang Zuolin to fight against Di Xiong. The commander-in-chief and division commander was his confidant Wu Junsheng. At this moment, Wu Junsheng was lying on a horse and sleeping. He seemed quite tired. When he was leisurely, someone patted him on the back. Wu Junsheng looked back and found that it was his brigade commander Zhang Jinghui.

Zhang Jinghui said, "Commander, the weather here is too bad. More than a dozen soldiers fell ill on the road. If this continues, half of our people will be gone before we even see the shadow of the enemy."

Wu Junsheng said listlessly: "You have said this many times, my ears are almost calloused. Don't worry too much about the lives of those people. Most of the troops in this army are old and weak, and now they have to travel a long distance. You expect them to defeat that warlord named Di, you are dreaming! Originally, this war was just for the Japanese to see. If those Japanese advisers were not waiting for us in front, I would not even want to come. Who is the idiot who came up with such a stupid battle plan and made our Fengtian Army run so far away? Fighting, isn't this just asking us to die? Fortunately, Marshal Zhang is also smart. He sent some rabble to us. Most of these soldiers are useless or captured. Even if they all die, Marshal Zhang will not cry for them. We just need to save our own lives. Sick men like this can just be thrown away anywhere. If someone else is sick, don't bother me. As soon as he finished speaking, Wu Junsheng fell asleep on his horse again. Seeing this, Zhang Jinghui had to return to the army in disappointment.

This army actually only had more than 7,000 people, and more than 100 people had fallen on the way. Many people kept disappearing one after another. Therefore, the morale of the soldiers had already fallen to the bottom. Previously, Honjo Shigeru had made a wrong estimate of the strength of Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian Army. Now Zhang Zuolin's entire regular army did not have three divisions, and it was completely unrealistic for him to take out so many troops. Feeling embarrassed, Zhang Zuolin quickly sent people to give money to other Japanese high-level officials. After many meetings on the Japanese side, they finally agreed to Zhang Zuolin's request to send only one division. The other two divisions were to be transferred by Jilin and Heilongjiang. Regarding these two provinces, Zhang Zuolin had just occupied Heilongjiang Province this year. Although Jilin Province had been infiltrated a long time ago, it did not belong to him in name. Finally, under Zhang Zuolin's operation, the two provinces each sent out a security brigade of about 5,000 people, but they were all given division numbers. It was planned that the troops of the three divisions would gather at the designated location and then launch a general attack on Erdenet.

Of course, Zhang Zuolin himself was not optimistic about the prospects of this war. After all, this war was purely instigated by the Japanese, and the battle plan was completely random. The Japanese were not ignorant of fighting. Zhang Zuolin thought about it for a while and knew that it was the Japanese military that was fooling the Kwantung Governor's Office. Since the Japanese military was messing around, there was no need for him, Zhang Yuting, to take it seriously. So he used methods such as conscripting men and prisoners to forcibly put together a force of more than 7,000 people, and casually gave it the number of the 29th Division. In order not to embarrass the Japanese too much, he also sent his confidants Wu Junsheng and Zhang Jinghui and others to lead this ragtag division. At the same time, he continued to spend money to smooth over the Japanese military and make plans in advance for the annihilation of the entire army. He specifically instructed Wu Junsheng to retreat quickly if he felt there was danger, and to abandon the troops directly if they were surrounded. As long as a few confidants could come back alive, Zhang Zuolin would be satisfied. For this reason, he also obtained the Black Flag Army's uniform samples from the Japanese secret service in advance, copied more than a dozen pieces and gave them to Wu Junsheng, so that they could disguise themselves and escape when they were defeated.

Speaking of Zhang Zuolin, his life experience can be regarded as ups and downs. Zhang Zuolin in the late Qing Dynasty was born a bandit. After a series of power struggles and wars, his territory and troops continued to expand, which attracted the attention of hostile forces and suffered a great blow. Soon after, he accepted the Qing Dynasty's amnesty. During the Russo-Japanese War, Zhang Zuolin acted as a double-dealer, acting completely out of his own interests, and served Russia and Japan successively. When Xu Shichang was the governor of the three northeastern provinces, he appreciated Zhang Zuolin very much, so he was able to expand his army and thus enhance his voice in the Northeast.

During the Wuchang Uprising, Zhang Zuolin led his troops into Fengtian Province to suppress the revolutionaries. He drove away the revolutionary Lan Tianwei, and lured and killed the revolutionary Zhang Rong. He was highly appreciated by the Qing government and was soon promoted to commander-in-chief. He thus took over the military and political power of Fengtian Province. From this moment on, Zhang Zuolin officially became the boss who dominated the Northeast.

But the good times did not last long. In the early days of Yuan Shikai's rule, he sent Duan Zhigui to control the three northeastern provinces. Zhang Zuolin was suppressed by Duan Zhigui, so he created a public opinion of "Fengtian people governing Fengtian" and joined forces with Feng Delin, another division commander in the Northeast, to drive Duan Zhigui away. At that time, Yuan Shikai was already unable to take care of himself and had to let him do what he wanted. After Li Yuanhong became president, Zhang Zuolin officially became the governor of Fengtian Province, and in 1917, he annexed Heilongjiang and sent his children to be the new governors. Seeing that Zhang Zuolin's power in the Northeast was growing, the Japanese who had been entrenched here for a long time would naturally not let him go. After many attempts and frictions between the two sides, Zhang Zuolin also reached many cooperations with the Japanese very tactfully. Selling out the interests of the Northeast was not a big deal for him. However, no matter how much Zhang Zuolin wanted to sell out his country, he would not hand over the army to the Japanese. The idea of ​​expanding the army has always been growing in his ambition.

Zhang Zuolin was not optimistic about this expedition to western Mongolia, but what Wu Junsheng and others could not have imagined was that Zhang Zuolin did not care about the lives of his confidants, and the so-called disguised escape plan was just a show in front of outsiders. Less than a month after the "29th Division" left, Zhang Zuolin sent people to spread rumors that his army had been destroyed, and spread that the enemy had hundreds of thousands of troops, and that his Northeast Army brothers fought to the last man and fell, intending to use this as a bargaining chip to win the sympathy of the people in the Northeast.

Time passed quickly like a shuttle, and in the blink of an eye it was mid-October. The three Northeastern armies finally met in Kulun, but the conditions of the armies were very bad. There were only 15,000 people in total, which made the accompanying Japanese advisers shake their heads and start to wonder whether they should let them go to fight Erdenet.