Black Flag Army

On the morning of the fifth day of the first lunar month (January 23rd in the Gregorian calendar) in the first year of the Republic of China (1912), the weather was cold, with small snowflakes floating in the air. There were few pedestrians on Xiheyan Street outside Qianmen in Beijing. Many vendors did not set up stalls because they were afraid of the cold. The street seemed very wide, and there were many scraps of firecrackers on the ground. A young man wearing a black hat and a gray short coat was walking on the street.

The young man was in his twenties, with a burly figure, a thin face, a pale yellow complexion, a pair of bright eyes, and a red mole on his left forehead. He stopped at the door of the Gaosheng Inn, a third-class inn that was very shabby. The plaque on the door had turned black due to dirtiness.

"Sir, are you staying at our hotel? Please come in!" The waiter at the door wearing a tattered felt hat bowed and nodded to the young man.

"I'm not staying at the hotel. I'm here to look for someone. Excuse me, is there a guest named Feng Jishan staying here?"

When he heard that the guest was not staying at the hotel, the waiter lost his smile and said coldly, "There are many guests staying at the hotel. Who can remember their names?"

The young man walked into the store and said to the shopkeeper, "Sir! I would like to see the guest list of your hotel and check for a person named Feng Jishan."

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man in his forties with a round face. He said solemnly, "The guest list of our store cannot be shown to anyone casually. Who are you?"

The young man quickly took out his police ID from his pocket and handed it to the shopkeeper, saying with a smile, "I'm a detective from the Xicheng District Police Department. Can I check it?"

The round-faced shopkeeper saw that the red official seal on the police ID was real, and there were the words "Detective Di Xiong". He quickly put on a smile, but there was a little more fear in his eyes. He returned the police ID to Di Xiong and said, "So it's Officer Di. Why didn't you tell me earlier? Of course you can check. I'll get you the list right away."

It was normal for the shopkeeper to be afraid of the detective. Ever since Yuan Shikai used the southern revolution to force the Qing emperor to abdicate, the detective police from various police stations, gendarmerie and military and political law enforcement departments in Beijing not only continued to hunt down revolutionaries, but also blackmailed former Qing princes, ministers, gentry and wealthy merchants in the name of hunting down royalists. A detective named Yuan Baimao blackmailed 100,000 taels of silver from Prince Su's mansion by sending letters to frame him. Other detectives heard about it and blackmailed Prince Su and other princes and ministers. Prince Su Shanqi could not bear it and ran to the door of Yuan Shikai's mansion to kneel and beg for death to avoid living in punishment. Even the princes were like this, not to mention the victims of the common people.

Di Xiong took the list from the shopkeeper and was about to check it when he heard the clerk at the door say, "Mr. Officer, there is no need to look. There is a customer named Feng Jishan in the store, but he left early in the morning. He already owes two days' rent. We still need to look for him."

Opposite Gaosheng Inn was a pawnshop called "He Ji". A tall man in his thirties walked into the pawnshop. He had a square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a straight nose and a square mouth. He wore an old thin jacket made of coarse cloth and a sheepskin waistcoat.

The tall man passed a bundle across the counter and said, "Pawn it as clothes!"

The yellow counter was very high, and because of the long time, many paints had peeled off, revealing ugly marks. The court official, who was about fifty years old and had a goatee and a melon-shaped hat on his head, put down his hookah, took the bundle and opened it. Inside was three sets of underwear that were 80% new, cleanly washed and neatly folded.

Goatee said to the waiter, "Write this down: three pieces of worn-out underwear for six coppers!"

Six copper coins are six copper coins, and one copper coin is worth ten copper coins. However, prices rose rapidly during the turbulent times, and one copper coin could no longer buy anything.

The tall man was surprised and said, "Sir! I bought it for sixty copper coins, and I have only worn it a few times!"

The goatee sneered, "According to the rules of He Ji, it is only worth six copper coins. If you don't deserve it, take it back!"

The tall man showed a trace of pain on his face, gritted his teeth and said, "I will do it!"

The waiter handed the six dark yellow copper coins and the pawn ticket to the tall man, who took them and went straight to the Li Ji snack bar next door. The steaming hot snack bar sold all kinds of breakfast, including steamed buns, steamed buns, scallion pancakes and noodles, but the cheapest was coarse flour steamed bread, two steamed breads for one copper coin. The tall man hadn't eaten for two meals, so he bought six steamed breads and wolfed them down, and then asked for a bowl of free boiled water to drink, and then he felt full.

The tall man returned to the Gaosheng Inn and was stopped by the waiter at the door. The waiter said, "Mr. Feng Jishan! You have to pay the rent, a total of 20 copper coins. The rent of our inn is paid every two days."

Feng Jishan blushed, hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm sorry! I don't have any money right now. I'll go to the pawn shop and pawn my sheepskin vest. I'll come back and give you the money right away."

"Wait a moment!"

Di Xiong, who was sitting on a chair near the door, stood up and called out, "Mr. Feng Jishan! It's so cold, and it's snowing outside. You've pawned your waistcoat, aren't you afraid of catching a cold? Let me pay the rent for you!"

Di Xiong took out a white silver dollar from his arms and threw it on the counter. The silver dollar hit the counter surface, making a crisp sound.

The shopkeeper quickly smiled and said, "So Mr. Feng is Officer Di's friend. Why didn't you tell me earlier? With Officer Di's face, it doesn't matter whether you pay the rent or not." Although he said this, he reached out and took the silver dollar into the counter.

Feng Jishan looked at Di Xiong warily and said, "Are you a policeman? I don't know you, why are you helping me pay for the room?"

Di Xiong said seriously: "Although you don't know me, I know you. My name is Di Xiong, and I'm Wang Jinming's brother-in-law. You should know Wang Jinming, right?"

Feng Jishan was surprised and asked: "Wang Jinming? Could it be Luanzhou..."

Di Xiong stopped him from talking with a gesture and whispered, "This is not the place to talk. Let's go to the teahouse across the street to discuss in detail."

The shopkeeper handed nine silver coins to Di Xiong and said, "Officer Di! Here is your nine dimes."

At this time, Yuan Datou had not yet been minted, and an ordinary Guangxu Tongbao silver dollar was worth two hundred copper coins.

Di Xiong waved his hand and said, "Just keep it in the cabinet. It will be considered as Mr. Feng's advance payment for the room."

Opposite was a two-story teahouse. Di Xiong asked for a private room on the second floor and sat down with Feng Jishan. The waiter brought a pot of the best Longjing tea and four snacks, and then left the private room. In the lobby of the teahouse, there were only four or five guests sitting and drinking tea. A gray-haired storyteller was shaking his head and saying the opening words: "In troubled times, human life is as cheap as a dog, robbers and thieves are everywhere in the streets, and there are many changes in dynasties, but only foreigners are unwilling to leave."

Di Xiong said, "You guessed right. The Wang Jinming I was talking about is the martyr who was killed in the failed Luanzhou Uprising. Now that the Qing Dynasty has been overthrown and the Republic of China has been established, I'm afraid that few people remember him except you, Mr. Feng."

Feng Jishan stared at Di Xiong and said, "Are you really Wang Jinming's brother-in-law? When Wang Jinming died, it seemed that he had not yet married."

Di Xiong opened his eyes wide and said, "You don't believe me? Look what this is?" He took out a black wooden plaque from his arms. On it were a few small words written in white paint: "The spirit tablet of my brother-in-law Wang Jinming."

Di Xiong said angrily, "My sister and Wang Jinming had been engaged for a long time, but my brother-in-law insisted that they could only get married after the Tartars were driven out. As a result, the marriage was delayed again and again, leaving a lifelong regret. My sister was also delayed. She was originally seriously ill, and she died from this blow."

Feng Jishan looked at Wang Jinming's spirit tablet, his eyes reddened and tears flashed in his eyes. He knelt down and kowtowed three times in front of the spirit tablet, and said with a sad expression: "I am sorry, Brother Wang! At that time in Haiyang Town, I heard that Brother Wang and Shi Congyun were arrested, but I was unable to rescue him, and he was killed by Wang Huaiqing."

Di Xiong saw that he had obviously believed in his identity, so he comforted him, "You can't be blamed for this. At that time, your brother-in-law and Brother Shi rashly launched an uprising without informing you, and announced you as the Chief of Staff. As a result, you were arrested by General Fan Guozhang. After all, they lacked experience and actually believed Wang Huaiqing's peace negotiation scam. As a result, they fell into his trap and paid the price with their lives. You were in prison at the time, so of course you couldn't save them."

Di Xiong took a sip of tea and continued, "Before my brother-in-law died, I went to see him. He told me to come to you. He said that if Feng Jishan had not died, he would have done something spectacular. If I follow you, I will have a bright future."

Feng Jishan smiled bitterly and said, "Since I was dismissed from the army, I have been poor and destitute. I can't even support my wife and children. I had no choice but to come to Beijing to find a job to make a living, but I couldn't find one and couldn't even pay the rent. Brother Wang actually let you go to an incompetent person like me. He really made a mistake in choosing you."

Di Xiong said, "Heroes always have difficulties. Your current difficulties are temporary. Liu Bang failed more than fifty times in his life, but he still became the emperor in the end. Zhu Yuanzhang was once a beggar, even worse than you are now. I heard that your uncle-in-law, General Lu Jianzhang, is the staff officer and director of the military and political law enforcement department of the City Defense Camp Affairs Office. Didn't you go to him for help?"

Feng Jishan said: "I went to see him the day before yesterday. He asked me to wait at Gaosheng Inn and said he would let me know when he had a chance. But there is no news so far."

Di Xiong said: "General Lu is currently busy with his own job transfer and cannot take care of you for the time being. Among the ten great veterans of the Beiyang Army, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and others have become chiefs or governors, and their military ranks are all generals, but General Lu is only a major general staff officer. When you were a sentry leader (platoon leader) before, he was an assistant commander (brigade commander). He has not been promoted yet, so of course he needs to move around. From the current point of view, with only more than 100,000 troops of the Beiyang Army, it is obviously not enough to unify the south and guard the northern border. It is inevitable to train a new army. Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang are self-reliant and are feared by Yuan Shikai. He will consider Lei Zhenchun, Hong Zicheng and General Lu as the commander of the new army. If General Lu can become the commander of the new army, your chance will come. After all, you have been a battalion commander in Luanzhou, and your battalion was rated as the best battalion among the twenty towns. General Lu is clear about your training ability. So don't be anxious, wait patiently for good news!"

Feng Jishan was surprised and said, "I can't believe you are so young, but you know so many things and analyze them so clearly."

Feng Jishan certainly didn't know that Di Xiong was a time traveler, so he knew so much. He also knew about Feng Jishan's later glorious history, so he came to find him. If it were someone else, it would be impossible for them to find Feng Jishan, who was now unknown.