Black Flag Army

Chapter 132 Recapture of Blagoveshchensk

Di Xiong walked into the office of Weili Group and saw Lan Jinping sitting behind the desk, picking up a wine bottle and pouring wine into a tall glass.

Weili Group Company was established more than two months ago. At that time, the riot at the Beihai Gun Factory was quelled. In order to relieve the pressure on Wuzhong, 25 factories and banks were separated to establish Weili Group Company. Lan Jinping was appointed as the general manager, Chen Xianglian as the deputy general manager, and of course Di Xiong was still the chairman.

Di Xiong said: "Manager Lan! How can you drink at work?"

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "I am now the general manager. I have the final say on all company regulations. What's wrong with me drinking a little in my office? This is wine, and you won't get drunk. Even if you get drunk, don't we still have the deputy general manager, Chen Xianglian? She is more capable than me, and she is my confidant whom I trust absolutely. I don't have to worry about her at all."

Di Xiong laughed and said, "It seems that it was a mistake to let you be the general manager. You just enjoy the power and don't want to fulfill your obligations. If I had known earlier, I would have let Chen Xianglian be the general manager directly."

Lan Jinping said angrily, "How dare you! I have been a powerless director of Beihai Group for many years. I have watched you and Wu Zhong hold great power and act so majestically. It was not easy for you to become the general manager. It has only been more than two months. You will not let me step down, will you? I am your eldest aunt, and I should be the person you trust most besides Jinchun. If you don't give this position to me, who else can you give it to?"

Di Xiong said, "You'd better not mention the word aunt. I hate nepotism the most. When you say that, it seems like I am a nepotist. In fact, you got to this position based on your ability. When the Justice Party was first established, you were already the secretary general of the third person. We didn't have any relatives at that time. You couldn't have been the secretary general without your ability."

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "Then let's not mention it. I'll just take it as a compliment. Want a drink?"

She took another goblet and poured a glass of wine for Di Xiong. Di Xiong took a sip of the wine and heard Lan Jinping sighing. He then asked, "Sister Lan, what's bothering you?"

Lan Jinping said, "It was the riot at the gun factory last time. Many people talked about me behind my back and even said that I was the culprit of this incident."

Di Xiong said: "The culprit is Fang Haisheng who has been killed in the explosion. What does it have to do with you?"

Lan Jinping said, "They said Fang Haisheng was mentally abnormal because he failed in his pursuit of me, so he took the risk and started the riot. If I had agreed to his proposal, he would definitely not have organized the riot. He said I was a beauty who brought disaster. Do you think I was wronged?"

Di Xiong said, "Of course you are wronged, but throughout history, there are many women who have been wronged like you, such as Mei Xi of Xia, Da Ji of Shang, and Bao Si of Zhou. As a single, stunning beauty, you refused to accept the pursuit of a single man, so everyone thought you were wrong. You are almost thirty years old. If you don't want people to talk about you, you'd better find a man to marry and find a father for Li Hansheng. Li Hansheng grew up in a single-parent family without a father, which is not conducive to his healthy growth."

Lan Jinping asked, "Who should I marry? Recommend one to me."

Di Xiong said: "I dare not be a matchmaker. If you are not happy in the future, you will hate me to death. Besides, with your current identity and status, it is really difficult to find a suitable one. Many men pursue you just because they are attracted by your status, wealth and beauty, and want to be a gigolo."

Lan Jinping said: "In my opinion, among the barely suitable people, only Li Laoshi is still single, so marry Li Laoshi!"

Di Xiong was shocked and said, "Li Laoshi is already over fifty years old. It is very likely that you will be less than fifty when he dies. Doesn't that mean you will be a widow?"

Lan Jinping said, "Am I not also a widow now? Li Laoshi is a loyal and honest man, and he is also the brother of my ex-boyfriend Li Laosheng! He will definitely treat Li Hansheng as his own son. As for the widowhood you are worried about, it will be decades later. As the third person in the Justice Party, I am the target of many hostile forces. I don’t know how many years I can live. Besides, isn’t Wu Zhong’s wife nearly 20 years younger than Wu Zhong?"

Di Xiong said: "What you said makes sense! I respect your choice. Li Laoshi will be so happy that he will go crazy now."

Lan Jinping asked, "The battle to retake Hailanpao should have begun now, right? Why aren't you in a hurry to become the commander-in-chief this time?"

Di Xiong said, "After the riot at the gun factory, how can I dare to leave without eliminating all the hidden dangers in the rear? I will visit and investigate more than a dozen factories, including Beihai Bank and Beihai Hospital. These are key units and absolutely cannot have any accidents. Jiang Hongyu is the commander-in-chief at the front line, and Wu Chunlei, Leng Hanbing, and Liu Zhendong are helping him. I am still very relieved. I will go after we recover Vladivostok and Sakhalin Island."

On the morning of March 10, 1918, the battle to recapture Hailanpao officially began. The Black Flag Army dispatched the Second Division, the Third Division, the Fifth Division, the Seventh Division, and a brigade of the First Division. Except for the Second Division, the other three divisions were all recruit divisions, but they all went through three months of recruit training, and those who were unqualified were eliminated. The middle and lower-level officers were all veterans. The commander of the Third Division was Liu Ruming, and the commander of the Seventh Division was Feng Anbang. The commander of the Fifth Division was originally Liu Chengliang. After Liu Chengliang died unexpectedly, his adopted son, the brigade commander Wu Guozhu, took over the position of commander. Leng Hanbing and Liu Zhendong took the special forces battalion to the Hailanpao front line by plane from Beitang City before the battle began.

Before attacking Hailanpao, the Black Flag Army had already fought a battle with the invading Ungern's army in Nerchinsk. At that time, at the pleading of Ivanov, Ungern sent his general Semenov to lead 15,000 troops to form a White Guard coalition of about 30,000 with more than 10,000 troops from Ivanov to attack Nerchinsk in an attempt to recapture Nerchinsk. This was exactly what Jiang Hongyu wanted. He boldly used the tactics of luring the enemy deep into the territory and encircling them on all sides, and wiped out nearly 20,000 White Guards in one fell swoop. Semenov, the general of Engern's army, lost about 10,000 people and only led 5,000 people to escape back to Hailanpao, cursing Ivanov as a pig teammate all the way.

Hailanpao was the base of Ungern's army. It originally had more than 60,000 people, but 10,000 were killed, leaving only more than 50,000 people. More than 10,000 of them were looting outside, and only 40,000 people guarded Hailanpao. It was several hundred kilometers from Nerchinsk to Hailanpao, and there were more than a dozen towns along the way. These were all Ungern's territories. If Engern sent troops to guard them, Hailanpao's garrison would be reduced to 30,000 people. Ungern listened to the advice of military advisor Ping Fugui and withdrew the garrisons in these areas, and all of them guarded Hailanpao. The garrison in Hailanpao increased to 40,000 people, and he also appointed Zhang Zongchang, a Chinese he recommended, as the division commander.

In the downtown building of Harbin, at the headquarters of the White Guards of Enqin, Commander Enqin, Deputy Commander Gregory, and Chief of Staff Shalenk were all sitting in the conference room looking at the map. Ping Fugui pointed to the map and said, "We share the same weakness as Ivanov, that we both don't have an air force. The Black Flag Army had only two divisions when they attacked Ivanov, but they had four divisions when they attacked us, plus an elite brigade of the First Division, four heavy artillery regiments to assist, and an unknown number of aircraft, with a total force of more than 50,000. Our advantage is that we have more bunkers, trenches, and barbed wire than Ivanov, and our combat effectiveness is also stronger than Ivanov. There are steel plates on the top of the bunkers to protect against bombers. So we can resist for a longer time. If the Black Flag Army suffers too many casualties, they will choose to retreat."

Deputy Commander Gregory said, "There are still many Chinese merchants and lumberjacks in Hailanpao. Will they cause trouble when we are fighting the most fiercely? Should we drive them away or kill them all?"

Enqin said, "You don't have to worry about this. Ping Fugui has already thought of it ahead of you. He asked the new division commander Zhang Zongchang to forcibly conscript the young and strong Chinese as civilian men. Of course, you don't have to worry about the old and weak women."

Just as Gregory was speaking, there was a loud bang. Ungern said, "The Black Flag Army's offensive has begun!"

After three rounds of bombing, many houses in Hailanpao were on fire and thick smoke billowed. On the west street of the city, there was a Baiji Tavern that was lucky enough not to be bombed. The waiter Xiao Shunzi looked up at the sky and said, "Boss Bai! Could the plane have bombed the tavern by mistake? If it killed us too, it would be too unfair."

The female boss who was counting the bills at the counter said, "No! There's a mark on the roof! Stop talking nonsense and move the weapons and ammunition to the basement. Gao Huzi and the others will be here to get the weapons and ammunition soon."

The female boss is only in her twenties, with a beautiful face, oval face, red lips and white teeth. She is Bai Yulian, the leader of the Justice Party's Hailanpao Intelligence Group. Gao Huzi and Xiao Shunzi are both her subordinates. Gao Huzi was forced to be a civilian laborer because of his tall stature to transport the wounded and food. Xiao Shunzi escaped because of his young age, but Gao Huzi also attracted a group of people who were ready to rebel among the civilians. These people had long wanted to rebel and kill the old Russians, but they had no weapons. Gao Huzi secretly came back to tell Bai Yulian, and Bai Yulian agreed to use the weapons stored in the basement. Bai Yulian's luck was not as good as Hong Yezi's, and she was snatched away by the commander. All she can do now is to arm the civilians to riot, cooperate internally and externally, and help the Black Flag Army capture Hailanpao City.

Gao Huzi was a 30-year-old man who used to be a bandit in the Northeast, so everyone called him Gao Huzi. After a long time, his original name was forgotten. When the outer attack and defense battle lasted from morning to noon, Gao Huzi came back with more than 50 people. Xiao Shunzi saw that Gao Huzi's face and body were covered with blood, and he was shocked and asked, "Are you injured?"

Gao Huzi said, "No one was injured. We killed a Tsarist Russian soldier who was guarding us. This guy was too cruel. A civilian just accidentally knocked over a bag of grain, and he shot him to death. Everyone was very angry and rushed forward, killed the guard, and then fled in all directions. Those who came with me are brave men who are not afraid of death! We want to fight the Tsarist Russians to the end. Some of us have been soldiers, some have been bandits, and we all know how to use weapons. Hurry up and get your weapons!"

The weapons in the basement were dropped by planes a few nights ago. There were rifles, machine guns, grenades, and rocket launchers, which could arm more than a hundred people. Bai Yulian changed into a black tights, carried a rifle on her back, and held a rocket launcher. Shunzi saw it and asked quickly: "Boss Bai! You are not going to fight with them? You are the leader of the intelligence team!"

Bai Yulian said: "After we recapture Hailanpao, this intelligence group and contact point will be automatically cancelled. Although we cannot make great contributions like the Red Scorpion, we must also do our part to recapture Hailanpao."

She asked Gao Huzi: "What's the situation outside?"

Gao Huzi said: "Our army's offensive was very fierce. The Russian army thought they could defend the bunkers from plane bombing, but they could not defend against the close attack of rockets. A small bunker was destroyed with one rocket, and a large bunker only needed two or three rockets. It's just that the Russians dug the moat too deep, and our army suffered many casualties when filling the moat."

Bai Yulian asked, "Has the army entered the city?"

Gao Huzi said: "The enemy in the north has reached the city wall. Although the wall has collapsed, there are too many firing points and they cannot attack. They are stuck there."

Bai Yulian said, "If you can bring more than a hundred people back, I will lead you to directly raid the headquarters. If we kill the headquarters, they will be completely finished. But you only have more than fifty people now. The success rate of taking down the headquarters with such a small number of people is too low. I can only lead you to support the Justice Army in the north, raid from behind the defenders, take down the firepower point, and after joining the army outside the city, guide them to attack the headquarters."

Leng Hanbing led the special forces battalion to attack hastily, and they seemed to be alone in the deep. After they broke through the northern wall, they were caught in the crossfire of more than a dozen firepower points, and casualties increased rapidly. Although they used rocket launchers to destroy several firepower points, the rocket launchers were shot by machine guns at other firepower points and all died. The follow-up troops were cut off by the artillery fire of the Tsarist Russian army. Leng Hanbing regretted it a little, but it was too late. They were suppressed in an abandoned house and could not move. The Tsarist Russian army began to counterattack and surrounded them from all sides. Some soldiers ran out of bullets and could only engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Tsarist Russians who rushed in. The remnants of the special forces battalion were about to be surrounded by the enemy.

Just when Leng Hanbing was feeling desperate, there was suddenly fierce gunfire and rocket launcher explosions coming from behind the Tsarist Russian army. The Tsarist Russian White Guards who rushed over fell to the ground one after another. They were obviously knocked down from behind, and several firepower points were also destroyed. Leng Hanbing was overjoyed and quickly led the remnants of the special forces battalion to rush over and meet up with the intelligence team.

In a dilapidated building, Bai Yulian, whose face was covered in black ash but still beautiful, stretched out her hand to Leng Hanbing and said, "I am Bai Yulian, the leader of the Hailanpao Intelligence Team. Nice to meet you, Director Leng!"

Although Leng Hanbing is no longer the director of the Supervisory Department, others are still accustomed to calling him Director Leng.

Leng Hanbing quickly shook her hand and said, "Thank you, Team Leader Bai, for your timely rescue. Otherwise, we would have capsized in the gutter today. I led my men to charge too hard and were surrounded by the Russians."

Bai Yulian said: "We have heard about your life story, and we understand why you are doing this! The first achievement of retaking Hailanpao is of course yours, and no one will compete with you for it. So you don't need to fight so hastily, after all, the Tsarist Russians are not made of paper."