Black Flag Army

Feng Jishan smiled and said, "These things are exactly what our army needs. This is the second time you have helped me in my time of need. Thank you so much. Drive the carriage in!"

A sentry said, "Captain! The things on the carriage haven't been checked yet!"

Feng Jishan was stunned, then said to Di Xiong: "I'm sorry! This is the rule of our military camp. Any goods entering the camp must be checked for contraband. I can't break this rule, so let them check it!"

Di Xiong smiled and said, "This is as it should be. Big brother is really strict in managing the army and never acts out of favoritism. Only an army trained under such military discipline can become the strongest army in the world."

The sentry carefully checked the three carriages before letting them pass. After Di Xiong, Wu Chunfeng and others entered the military camp, they saw soldiers training on the playground. Although their clothes were worn out and their faces were pale, their morale was high, their movements were neat and coordinated, and they were obviously elite soldiers. The reception room of the camp was very simple, with only a few worn-out tables and chairs. A guard poured three cups of tea and handed them to three people. It was called tea, but it was actually boiled water without even a trace of tea leaves.

Feng Jishan invited Di Xiong and Wu Chunfeng to sit down, took a sip of tea and said, "I heard that you are the boss of the company. You even persuaded General Lu's seventh concubine to invest in the company. There are also British shareholders in the company?"

Di Xiong said, "There is an Englishman named Sean in the company. He is said to be a shareholder and general manager, but he is actually just a handyman. He is paid ten dollars a month. As soon as the company was established, many government departments asked us for money. The tax police set us too high a tax. If we pay the money honestly, the company will go bankrupt immediately, and thousands of employees will be left without food. So we had to hire a British tramp as a fake general manager. In this way, it can be considered a joint venture company. Sean can negotiate and argue, and we don't have to pay a lot of money, and the tax is also much less. This was the idea of ​​General Lu's seventh concubine. There is no other way. For the sake of the hundreds of people in the company, we can only do this."

Sean used to be a western medicine dealer, selling medicines from the UK to China. However, he was cheated by several British colleagues in Tianjin, lost all his money and goods, and was in debt. Unable to return to his hometown, he became a vagrant. One day, he fainted from hunger at the door of Weili Hotel and was rescued by Wang Shitou. After eating a hearty meal, he became a handyman in Weili Company.

Feng Jishan said: "I have always had a very bad impression of the British, not to mention the burning, killing and looting by the British and French Allied Forces and the Eight-Power Allied Forces in China. Two months ago, when Song Zheyuan and I took a train to Jingxian to recruit soldiers, we were searched by British soldiers at Fengtai Station. They refused to let us get on the train because we were carrying guns. They were aggressive, as if this was British territory. After repeated negotiations by the interpreter, they let us pass. Later I learned that due to the military rebellion in the first month of the lunar year, the British garrison expanded the protection zone to Fengtai Station on the grounds of protecting overseas Chinese, and they also took away most of the ticket revenue, and they refused to withdraw. The government authorities only care about internal fighting and dare not fight against foreigners. It is really incompetent."

Di Xiong said: "I have no choice but to employ the British. If he dares to mess around or the company becomes stronger, I will send him away immediately. As for Fengtai Station, I believe that one day, Big Brother will take it back."

Di Xiong knew from the history books he had read in his previous life that Fengtai Station was recovered by Feng Jishan. After Feng Jishan launched the "Capital Revolution" in 1924, while expelling Puyi, he sent Zhang Zizhong to recapture Fengtai Station by force. After more than 100 Indian soldiers were killed and injured, the British army retreated to the Minxiang District in the eastern suburbs without even daring to fart. Feng Jishan thus became the first Chinese soldier to fight the British army during the Republic of China period. Even the Guangdong Revolutionary Government could not compare to him in this respect. When the British soldiers committed the "Sha-Key Massacre" in Guangdong, the Guangdong government headed by Chiang Kai-shek could only swallow their anger, although they shouted "Down with the powers" every day.

It was lunchtime during the conversation. Feng Jishan invited them to have lunch and also called Wu Chunlei to accompany them. Wu Chunfeng was very surprised to see his brother, and the two brothers talked endlessly. Lunch consisted of two dishes and one soup: cabbage stewed with tofu, stewed mutton, and vegetable soup. There was no wine, and each person had a bowl of brown rice. The mutton was brought by Di Xiong, and the fat pig had not been killed yet. It seemed that Wu Chunlei was right, and life in the military camp was indeed very hard. There were three guests. In addition to Wu Chunlei, there were two officers that Di Xiong did not know. Feng Jishan introduced them to each other: one was Song Zheyuan and the other was Li Mingzhong, both of whom were currently captains and company commanders. Di Xiong was surprised and happy to hear that these two would be among the five future generals of the Northwest Army!

Wu Chunlei looked thinner than before, but stronger. One month of training had really paid off. Di Xiong said to Feng Yuxiang, "My brother Wu Chunlei is causing trouble for me here. He didn't do anything wrong, did he? If he violated military regulations, you can teach him a lesson!"

Feng Jishan said, "Wu Chunlei is a good guy because he has practiced martial arts since he was a child and has solid basic skills. He doesn't have the bad habit of gambling that most new recruits have, nor does he smoke or drink. He can get along well with other soldiers. He became the squad leader based on his ability. I didn't take special care of him. His various military skills are among the best in the battalion. Song Zheyuan is his company commander and knows him best."

Song Zheyuan said, "His marksmanship is very accurate, ranking first in my company. Currently, the army is short of firearms. There are more than 600 people in the battalion, excluding various conscripts, there are more than 400 regular soldiers, but only 200 obsolete guns are issued, of which only 80 are breech-loading rifles, and the rest are muzzle-loading rifles and smoothbore rifles. Some are damaged and cannot be repaired. We only have 30 usable rifles in our company. I still gave Squad Leader Wu a breech-loading rifle."

Feng Jishan said, "Speaking of the gun problem, I have already reported it to General Lu. He said that many machines in the arsenal under the Ordnance Bureau are damaged and the production capacity is insufficient. Soldiers who currently do not have guns will be given a sword at public expense by the battalion headquarters. Each soldier will be given a sword to use first. If Brother Di knows the owner of a blacksmith shop, please help inquire about the price. It would be even better if you can help me buy a batch."

Di Xiong said, "No problem. I'll take care of the amount you want. I'm about to open an ironware factory in Nankou Town and am recruiting workers and buying machines. But it's really ridiculous that the Beiyang reserve army lacks guns and can only use swords, especially for the elite troops trained by my eldest brother."

Li Mingzhong said, "Our battalion is considered good. We have General Lu's protection and at least 200 guns. Some battalions don't even have a gun and can only train with sticks. How can such an army fight bandits? I heard that the weapons of Sun Fengzi, the bandit in Motianling, are all new-style automatic rifles, which are much better than ours."

Feng Jishan said, "We are not the direct troops of Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, so it is normal that we lack guns and supplies. My battalion is not elite. The two companies of Song Zheyuan and Li Mingzhong are better, but the soldiers under the two company commanders Yang Guisheng and Yang Shaoxu are simply rubbish. These two guys, like the deputy battalion commander Yang Guitang, are Duan Zhigui's cronies who were forced in. General Lu couldn't save his face, so he wrote a note asking me to accept them as company commanders. They can't even yell drills, how can we train good soldiers? As soon as I punished them, they immediately went to General Lu to complain."

Feng Jishan probably had no one to vent his grievances to, so he poured out his grievances to Di Xiong at the dinner table. Di Xiong had no choice but to sigh with him. When Di Xiong was about to leave after dinner, Feng Jishan stopped him and said, "You haven't received the money for the things you sent, why are you leaving? And you haven't paid me back the two dollars I borrowed from you last time, tell me! How much is it in total?"

Di Xiong said, "Didn't I say I don't want money? It would be too polite if you say that again, big brother."

Feng Jishan frowned and said, "You must accept this money. I am very grateful for sending us the things we urgently need. However, these supplies are worth hundreds of dollars, which is not a small amount. Even if we are brothers, we must settle accounts clearly. I know that there are merchants in other battalions who send things, but that is because the officers resell military supplies to them and buy their things at high prices to get kickbacks. I never do this kind of thing. If you give me things for free, I will lose a lot. I don't want to be suspected of taking bribes. Just don't sell them at a high price. If you don't want to take the money, then take the things back."

Di Xiong sighed and said, "Brother is indeed an honest official who does not take bribes. In fact, the earmuffs and gloves are produced by our textile factory. Since you insist on giving them to me, I will give you two hundred dollars at the factory price."

Feng Jishan looked a little unhappy. He smiled bitterly and said, "It is indeed much cheaper than the market price, but I really can't come up with 200 yuan at the moment. My monthly salary is only 30 yuan now, and the public funds are 100 yuan. I will give you 130 yuan first, and I will write an IOU for the rest. Is that okay?"

Di Xiong said, "Of course there is no problem on my side. Big brother, you don't have to take the IOU too seriously. Pay it back when you have money. If you don't have money, just owe it to me. I will never come to ask for it."

When Di Xiong left, Feng Jishan and Song Zheyuan saw him off to the camp gate. Watching him leave, Song Zheyuan couldn't help but say to Feng Jishan, "The battalion commander gave all this month's salary to Boss Di. What about the sister-in-law and children in Kangge Village? You send them ten yuan from your salary every month for their living expenses. You are a good person in other aspects, but you are too noble. Boss Di originally gave it as a gift, why did you insist on giving him money? And you have no money, aren't you just pretending to be rich?"

Feng Jishan smiled bitterly and said, "If you hadn't mentioned the living expenses, I would have really forgotten about it. I have no choice but to borrow your living expenses for this month."

Wu Chunlei accompanied them all the way to a place five miles away. When they were about to part, Di Xiong asked, "What is your impression of Captain Feng?"

Wu Chunlei said, "He is a very good officer. He exercises with us every day. He is somewhat similar to my eldest brother. He does not smoke, drink, gamble, or whore. However, he is much stricter with his subordinates than my eldest brother. He requires his subordinates to strictly abstain from smoking, drinking, whoring, and gambling like him. The punishment for violating the rules is very severe: beating with sticks and whipping, confinement and fasting, and kneeling overnight. In the barracks, apart from training, we have to attend classes and study. Life is very boring, and the monthly allowance is only one dollar and fifty cents. I heard that the battalion of Captain Feng has the strictest military discipline among all the reserve troops. My eldest brother sent me here, which is really a disaster for me."