Black Flag Army

Chapter 171 Banquet for Liu Xikui

Fu Liangzuo's face turned ugly when he heard this. He said coldly: "This is a resolution passed by Congress and a document issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Why does Commander-in-Chief Di want to take another test? You are deliberately making things difficult for me!"

Di Xiong laughed and said, "Don't use the Congress to scare people. The current members of the Congress are all controlled by the Anfu Society, and Duan Gongzheng is the chairman behind the scenes of the Anfu Society. This is an open secret. The resolutions of the Congress are all decided by Duan Gong, Xu Shuzheng and you three."

Fu Liangzuo said: "The talents appointed by our Congress are all very outstanding and do not need to take any more exams."

Xian Yuji on the side could not help but say: "At the beginning, the Congress appointed Anhui warlord Zhang Jingyao as the governor of Hunan. As a result, after Zhang Jingyao took the 7th Division of the Beiyang Army to Hunan, he imposed heavy taxes and looted soldiers, which was even more cruel than bandits. In less than a year, he plundered more than 100 million yuan in property. The people of Hunan could not survive and fled to other provinces, or joined bandits and the Southern Army. Changsha, Hengyang, Yueyang and other cities constantly broke out in demonstrations and riots. Bandits and chaos broke out in the villages outside the city. Bones were exposed in the wild, and no roosters crowed for thousands of miles. Hunan Province was depressed in all industries. Is this the outstanding talent appointed by Congress?"

Di Xiong also said indignantly: "In fact, it was Wu Peifu who fought hard to capture this piece of land in Hunan! According to common sense and implicit rules, Wu Peifu should have become the new governor. But what happened? You let Zhang Jingyao become the governor! It's because he is a warlord of the Anhui clique and a fellow Anhui native! He also gave you three Anhui clique bosses a heavy gift. Since he took office, he directly arranged his three younger brothers - Zhang Jingshun, Zhang Jingyu and Zhang Jingtang to be high officials in Hunan. These four brothers are simply a group of demons, oppressing the people, doing all kinds of evil, and each one is more ferocious and cruel than the other! There is even a folk song circulating in Hunan: 'Yao, Shun, Yu and Tang, poisoned the whole of Hunan. If you can kill them, I am willing to die with them.' From this folk song, we can see how much the people hate them!"

Fu Liangzuo said with a gloomy face: "So Commander-in-Chief Di doesn't give face to the Congress and Lord Duan?"

Di Xiong said solemnly, "Face is not given by others, but earned by oneself. Since Duan Hefei came to power, what contributions has he made to the country and the nation? In addition to infighting and civil war in the officialdom, he also reused his confidants and Anhui fellows, and of course treated them differently. I have a sworn brother named Feng Jishan, who is also from Anhui. However, because he never gave gifts to you three Anhui bosses, he has been a brigade commander since 1914. It has been five years since then, and he is still a brigade commander. He was even dismissed by Xu Shuzheng once. The soldiers he trained are the most capable soldiers in the world. Two of the three army group commanders under my command were once his soldiers, and there are even more division commanders and brigade commanders. Duan Hefei is nepotistic and excludes the real famous generals. Based on this point, he does not deserve my face."

Fu Liangzuo said seriously, "I finally understand now, but I still have to remind you that you have completely angered Lord Duan this time! You know, Lord Duan is not someone you can easily mess with. With his status and power in the court, if he really wants to deal with someone, it would be a piece of cake! So, you have made a big mess this time! And this mess may not be ordinary! If you are not careful, it may bring you a lot of unnecessary trouble or even danger! I advise you to quickly find a way to make up for your relationship with Lord Duan... Otherwise, once Lord Duan gets angry, it will be too late even if you want to regret it!"

Di Xiong laughed and said, "Are you threatening me? I also offended President Yuan in the past, and President Yuan issued a bounty for my assassination! President Yuan was much stronger than Duan Hefei, and I was much weaker then than I am now, but I am still alive today. Would I be afraid of your threats?"

Fu Liangzuo clasped his hands together and said, "In that case, I'll take my leave!"

Xian Yujie's face suddenly changed and her voice became sharp: "Stop right there! You, an ignorant guy, actually dare to threaten Di Juzi. Do you still think you can walk out of our Beihai Province safely? Someone come!" As her shout sounded, the originally closed door of the office was suddenly pushed open, and two guards under Xian Yujie and four guards under Di Xiong rushed into the room like tigers descending from the mountains.

Xian Yuji stared at Fu Liangzuo with cold eyes, pointed her finger at him, and turned to the two guards she brought with her and ordered: "This man just dared to threaten Di Juzi, immediately escort him to the interrogation room of the Supervisory Department, let him learn what it means to be unable to live or die!"

Before he finished speaking, the two guards rushed towards Fu Liangzuo and pinned him down in the blink of an eye. At this moment, Fu Liangzuo was like being clamped by two huge iron pliers, unable to move at all. Fu Liangzuo's face turned pale, and he begged: "Commander-in-Chief Di, spare me! Director Xian, spare me! I was confused and said the wrong thing just now. I am not a human, I am a beast. Please spare my life!"

He had obviously heard of the terrifying reputation of the Inspectorate's torture chamber.

Di Xiong sighed, "Old officials in the bureaucracy! They are all chameleons indeed. What the Russian writer Chekhov wrote is absolutely correct! Just let him go!"

As soon as the two guards loosened their grip, Fu Liangzuo collapsed to the ground. He crawled for a long time before he got up and walked away.

Xian Yuji said: "This is too cheap for him."

Di Xiong said: "He is powerless, just a dog of Duan Hefei. There is no point in torturing such a person."

That night, Di Xiong accompanied his wife Lan Jinchun to Beihai Grand Theater to watch three Peking operas performed by Liu Xikui, including "The Oil Seller Exclusively Possesses the Courtesan". Liu Xikui has performed many Peking operas, but "The Oil Seller Exclusively Possesses the Courtesan" has always been the most popular, because the protagonist in this play is a grassroots character, which can resonate with the middle and lower class people. She has performed it so many times that she has been nicknamed "Liu Hua Kui". Liu Xikui came to Beihai Province for a charity performance this time, and she did not bring just one play, but also arranged two other plays. One is about the story of Subuda's death in the war to recover the Outer Northwest, called "Blood and Loyalty Cast Loyal Soul", and the other is called "The Eternal Hero Liu Chengliang", which is naturally about the story of Liu Chengliang's sacrifice in the battle to recover the Outer Northeast. When these two plays were tried out in Beijing, they caused a huge sensation, and the audience was trampled to fight for a ticket.

As fans of Liu Xikui, Wu Zhong, Lan Jinping, Bai Xiuling and Wu Chunfeng all went to see the play.

After the performance, Di Xiong hosted Liu Xikui and others at the Lanji Hotel. Wu Zhong, Lan Jinping and others accompanied them. Liu Xikui had performed three plays and was very tired after removing her makeup. However, when she heard that it was the three leaders of the Justice Party who invited her, she was very surprised and agreed. When Liu Xikui walked into the hotel lobby, her beauty immediately attracted everyone's attention. Di Xiong was also amazed in his heart. It was no wonder that she was pursued by five presidents of the Republic of China.

After Le Hongmei, the head of the Beitang Drama Troupe, introduced the two parties, Di Xiong clasped his fists towards Liu Xikui and said, "I know that Liu Bantou has been performing for a whole day and is very tired. I am sorry for disturbing you. I didn't expect that Liu Bantou would give me face and come. I feel very honored!"

Liu Xikui laughed and said, "The commander-in-chief has it the other way around. It's me who feels honored. I'm just an actor. The commander-in-chief is a national hero who is famous all over the world and will be remembered forever! How can I not give you face when you invite me to a banquet? That would be too ungrateful."

The table was filled with more than a dozen dishes. Ai Yun, the general manager of Lan Ji Hotel, personally poured wine for everyone. Hearing that the three tycoons were entertaining Liu Xikui at the hotel, Ai Yun did not dare to neglect them and personally served as the waiter for the table, serving dishes and pouring wine.

Liu Xikui saw that the wine was poured into the cup, frowned and said to Di Xiong: "I am not good at drinking white wine. I get drunk after half a cup. I wonder if I can..."

Ai Yun's face was filled with shock. She lowered her voice and said to Liu Xikui, "Di Juzi personally invited you to drink. This is a huge honor! You actually refused to drink the liquor without hesitation. Aren't you too arrogant and ungrateful?" Her eyes revealed disbelief and disappointment, as if she felt that Liu Xikui had made a very serious mistake.

When Liu Xikui heard this, he was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat.

Di Xiong immediately said to Ai Yun, "Take away the liquor and replace it with drinks! Liu Bantou can't drink liquor, so how can we embarrass her?"

After the drinks were served, Liu Xikui breathed a sigh of relief and quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead. She smiled and looked at Di Xiong sincerely and said, "Commander-in-Chief, you are indeed a man with a broad mind and tolerance! You are so considerate and considerate of others, which is really admirable. I think that after you take the post of governor of Beihai Province, you will be able to deeply understand the hardships and difficulties of the grassroots people's lives. Now, the people of Beihai Province will definitely live a very happy and fulfilling life!"

Lan Jinping raised the corner of his mouth slightly, chuckled and said, "Haha, you are right about this. He is always worried that the officials under him will not do their job well, so from time to time he will disguise himself and sneak out to understand the people's sentiments. Not only that, he also specially prepared items such as bamboo sticks, straw sandals and straw raincoats, and every time he asked us to suffer with him, which really hurt us." At this point, Lan Jinping couldn't help shaking his head, as if he remembered some unfortunate experience.

Wu Zhong also laughed and said, "The people of Beihai Province are indeed happier than those in other places, but we officials suffer. I am already over 50 years old, and I am still forced to make secret visits to the countryside frequently."

Liu Xikui said in astonishment: "Is this the action that only the legendary honest officials would do? I always thought that this kind of thing only happened on the stage! After all, who can do this in real life! But I never expected that you, Commander-in-Chief, would actually do this! It's a pity that you are not the President of the Republic of China. If you were, our country would definitely become better and better!" Her eyes were full of admiration and regret.

Di Xiong raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a humble smile, and said softly: "I am just a small warlord. How can I be qualified to be compared with those wise and powerful presidents who are feared by the world? They are like bright stars hanging in the sky, while I am as humble and insignificant as an ant." There was a hint of self-mockery and helplessness in his voice, but there was a firm light in his eyes.

Liu Xikui said, "Commander-in-Chief, you are saying the opposite again. It is obvious that those presidents are not as good as you. The Republic of China has had four presidents, and which one can compare to you? The first President Yuan, the Qingdao Incident and the Twenty-One Demands alone made him a sinner for all time. The second President Li gave in to the foreigners step by step, and could only fight with Premier Duan, but he was defeated by Premier Duan, who used a knife to kill him and drove him out of Beijing. The third President Feng, who was known as the president who understood military affairs the most, never fought a war for the country, and never recovered an inch of territory. Now this President Xu, although he has not been in power for a long time, has no way to deal with the fighting between the Anhui and Zhili warlords. He also allowed a bandit like Zhang Jingyao to be the governor of Hunan, which made Hunan angry and resented by the people, but he did not dare to dismiss him. I guess his ability is very limited."

Di Xiong showed an admiring smile on his face, and he said softly: "I never thought that you, Liu Bantou, are not only superb in performance, but also so familiar with the evaluation and comments of the four presidents, just like the back of your hand! Moreover, your views are unique, profound, and of high standard, which makes people impressed. I believe you must have put a lot of effort in this regard, right? It is really beneficial for me to hear your insights!"

Lan Jinping, who always liked to gossip, asked, "Boss Liu! I heard that these four presidents have pursued you! Is it true?"

After listening to this, Liu Xikui's face suddenly turned gloomy. She sighed deeply and said, "Yes, they did pursue me passionately and wanted to take me as a concubine, but I rejected them without hesitation. In the eyes of outsiders, being pursued by four presidents may be an extremely glorious and enviable thing. However, only when I was in the situation, I could truly understand the hardship and difficulty.

You know, these four people are the core figures who hold the supreme power of the entire country! When facing such powerful people, how much courage does it take to say "no"? And the retaliation that may be caused after refusing is even more terrifying and chilling. Every time I think about this, I feel terrified. Now I can still live in this world safely, which is really a miracle!"

After saying these words, Liu Xikui's eyes revealed a trace of fatigue and helplessness that could not be concealed. It was as if the past years had come back to her mind, bringing her endless pressure and burden.

Liu Xikui added, "In fact, there are more than four presidents who want to take me over. There are all kinds of people from all walks of life. Once you become famous, a lot of trouble will come to you. I have been kidnapped three times and drugged seven times. I can't believe that I can escape from danger again and again."