Black Flag Army

Zhang Ade's residence is located on Houhai Street in Dongcheng District, very close to the Dongjiaominxiang District. It is a mansion with five courtyards. The living room is very spacious. There are a full set of rosewood chairs on the north and south sides, and a marble table and stools in the middle of the south. A portrait of Li Lianying hangs on the south wall. There is a glass cabinet in the middle of the east wall, which displays various antiques made of jade, agate, coral, and strange stones. There are bookshelves on both sides of the cabinet. On the west side is a long sofa imported from Britain.

A blue-clothed servant from the Zhang residence led Wu Chunfeng into the living room. When Wu Chunfeng passed the front yard, he found that there were more than a dozen armed servants patrolling the front yard, and he was secretly surprised.

Zhang's housekeeper Wang met Wu Chunfeng in the living room. Wang was a thin man in his forties, wearing a long green gown. He smiled and said, "I heard that you want to sell your ancestral jade? Take it out and show it to me."

Wu Chunfeng took out a red silk bag from his bosom and opened it. Inside was a pair of crystal clear jade horses. He smiled at Steward Wang and said, "These are the jade horses left by my grandfather. He was reluctant to sell them even when someone offered him 1,000 yuan. Now my family is really short of money. I heard that Mr. Zhang in your mansion is an expert in antiques, so of course he wants to sell them to a connoisseur, so I sent them to you."

Of course, this pair of jade horses were not inherited from ancestors, but were seized from the eradication of the Flying Eagle Gang. Steward Wang took the jade horses, looked at them and said, "Wait here, I'll show them to the master."

Ten minutes later, Butler Wang came back angrily and said to Wu Chunfeng in a stern voice, "You are such a liar despite your young age. You used this rubbish to deceive our master and said it was worth a thousand dollars. I don't think it's worth even a penny."

He threw the red silk bag on the table and said, "Take it back and get out of here!"

Wu Chunfeng was stunned when he opened the red silk bag: the jade horse inside had turned into two white stones. Although they were also carved into the shape of a horse, the workmanship was extremely crude and indeed worthless. Steward Wang winked at the servants, and two strong servants with guns grasped the wooden sticks hanging around their waists and quickly walked behind Wu Chunfeng.

Wu Chunfeng shouted excitedly, "I didn't give you this stone. Did Butler Wang make a mistake?"

Before he could finish his words, he was knocked to the ground by a fat servant, who then kicked him several times. The fat servant raised a wooden stick and said viciously, "Who do you think you are? How dare you slander Steward Wang? If you don't get out of here, I'll break your dog legs."

Another servant put down his stick, grasped the butt of his pistol, and looked at Wu Chunfeng vigilantly.

The obese Zhang Ade, wearing a purple silk robe and holding a snuff bottle in his hand, stood at the second-floor window and watched Wu Chunfeng stumble out of the Zhang Mansion. He asked the butler Wang beside him, "Didn't this kid say anything?"

Steward Wang laughed and said, "He's just a kid. If you beat him up and then say a few harsh words to scare him, how can he dare to say anything?"

Zhang Ade did not laugh. Instead, he said in a cold tone, "Young people are more likely to be impulsive, but he is able to keep his composure. This is a bit strange. Send someone to find out his background. Also, transport the three machine guns that we bought from the German company last time to the house now."

At Di Xiong's house, Wu Chunfeng spread a freshly drawn map on the table in the living room. Di Xiong, Leng Hanbing, Hong Tianlie and others gathered around to look at it.

Wu Chunfeng still had Yu Qing's face from being beaten. He pointed at the map and said, "There are five major courtyards in Zhang's mansion. There are more than a dozen armed servants in the first courtyard. According to this calculation, there should be more than 50 servants in the mansion. Together with the bodyguards hired at a high price, there are about 60 gunmen in total. There are four corner towers in the front and back yards. There is a small attic on the gate tower with a secret sentry inside. If you enter from the main gate, you must first kill the secret sentry."

Di Xiong said, "We only have more than 20 people in our action team. We have to leave people behind to guard the restaurant and the textile factory, so we can only mobilize 20 people at most to participate in the action. Before the action tomorrow night, Hong Tianlie will take two brothers to the Zhang's antique shop to cause trouble. That is Zhang Ade's largest shop, and he will definitely send some of his servants to the antique shop. Then we will take action."

Each member of the action team was equipped with a pistol, and those who were good at shooting were also equipped with a rifle. In addition to the captured guns, there was also a batch of Mauser rifles purchased from a German trading company, which were purchased by a British man named Sean.

Wu Chunfeng said: "We must act quickly, and it is best to resolve it within half an hour. The heads of the police station and the gendarmerie in Houhai District have strong connections with Zhang Ade. They will come to rescue after half an hour after receiving the alarm, unless the phone line is cut off."

Wu Chunfeng told Di Xiong about Zhang Ade's use of the "switch trick" to steal the jade horse. Di Xiong sneered, "This greedy guy, who is so rich but still cheats people, is obviously a veteran fraudster. We really made the right choice by picking him. I will make him lose both his money and his life."

Zhang Heimian asked, "Boss Di! Why did we choose Zhang Ade as our target? He is neither a running dog of the Japanese nor a minion of the Russians."

Di Xiong said: "Because if Li Lianying's inheritance falls into his hands, it will only become the funds for the restoration of the royalist party. If it falls into our hands, it will be used to benefit the people, and the country and the nation will become stronger and more glorious!"

This was said so eloquently that everyone was speechless.

At ten o'clock the next night, Wang received a call and learned that there was a disturbance in the antique shop and many precious porcelains were smashed. He quickly reported it to Zhang Ade. Zhang Ade was so anxious that he quickly asked the bodyguard captain Tong Dazhong to bring a dozen servants to the Chaoyang Street antique shop to settle the matter. Tong Dazhong and his brother Tong Erzhong were known as the "Yanjing Double Quick Guns". The three killers of the Flying Knife Gang died under his gun.

Less than ten minutes after Tong Dazhong and his party left Zhang's house, the sentry on the gate tower saw a man in black running towards the gate. He quickly picked up his rifle and was about to aim and shout. Suddenly, a cold light flashed and a crossbow arrow was on his throat. The arrowhead was coated with a deadly poison. The sentry wanted to shout, but he couldn't shout anymore and fell down limply. Leng Hanbing, who was wearing black and masked, threw out the Flying Tiger Claw and climbed up the courtyard wall first. Du Magan, Zhang Kuwa and nine other people also climbed up. When they entered the front yard, they suddenly encountered a patrol team of five servants. Leng Hanbing and others quickly drew their guns and fired. The barrels were equipped with silencers, but the ten shots only knocked down the three people in front. The two people behind were blocked by the people in front. They quickly lay down and fought back, and shouted loudly, "Bang bang bang..." The crisp gunshots startled everyone in the mansion. Under Zhang Ade's order, Tong Erzhong summoned more than 30 bodyguards and servants from the other four courtyards to reinforce the front yard. When housekeeper Wang called the police, he found that the phone line was broken.

Zhang Ade's wives and concubines all screamed in fear. Only Zhang Ade said calmly, "Don't panic! This house has been attacked by bandits before, but it has never been breached. With machine guns, the bandits will never return. Steward Wang will go out through the side door and ask for help from the Qinglong Society."

Butler Wang agreed and ran out from the right door.

Di Xiong, Zhang Hei Lian, and Wang Shitou waited until gunshots were heard in the front yard before entering through the backyard door. Zhang Hei Lian climbed over the wall first, killed a sentry with a knife, opened the backyard door, and let Di Xiong and his team in. The several houses in the backyard were filled with only some worthless sundries, and each room had more than a dozen old beds, which were probably where the servants and family members slept. Several women and children in tattered clothes huddled in the corner and trembled with fear. Di Xiong sent Wang Shitou to guard the backyard door, while Zhang Hei Lian led several members to attack the fourth courtyard, but they encountered fierce resistance. One member was shot and wounded. After Zhang Hei Lian shot and knocked down two servants, a machine gun suddenly appeared on the courtyard wall and fired from a high position. Zhang Hei Lian and three team members were caught off guard and fell to the ground on the spot.

Di Xiong aimed his rifle and knocked down the machine gunner with one shot. While the other side was changing the machine gunner, he led the other team members to rescue Zhang Heimian and the others and brought them back to the backyard. They found that one of the team members had died, and Zhang Heimian had been hit by several bullets in the chest, bleeding like a fountain, and was about to die.

Di Xiong, hoping for a lucky break, took out gauze from the first aid kit and wrapped it around Zhang Heimian. Zhang Heimian said to Di Xiong in a weak voice, "Boss! It's a pity that I can't go with you to recover the northern border! Please kill a few more Russians for me!" After that, he died.

Because Di Xiong used brainwashing education when teaching, Zhang Hei Lian had already regarded Di Xiong's dream as his own goal. Seeing the loyal and righteous young man he had worked so hard to train die like this, Di Xiong couldn't help but shed tears and said: "Hei Lian! You could have become a general, but I underestimated the enemy and harmed you."

At this time, there was an explosion outside the backyard door, and the sound of machine guns rang out from the fourth courtyard wall. This time, there were two machine guns. Wang Shitou said to Di Xiong, "There are a large number of Qinglonghui gunmen outside the back door to support Zhang's house. We blew them back with grenades. If we don't retreat now, our retreat will be blocked."

Di Xiong said calmly, "The operation has failed. Take the bodies of the two fallen brothers and retreat westward. Leave behind the Japanese swords you brought. I will go to the east to lead them away."

Leng Hanbing and his team exchanged fire with more than 30 bodyguards and servants led by Tong Erzhong, and also suffered heavy casualties. Tong Erzhong's shooting skills were extremely accurate. Three members of the action team fell under his gun in succession, and one of them was hit in the vitals and died on the spot. Leng Hanbing's team was originally to cover Di Xiong and his team. Seeing that the servants had been attracted, he ordered a retreat. Tong Erzhong pursued them relentlessly, and another member was shot in the back during the pursuit. Leng Hanbing was furious. He suddenly turned in the air and flew towards Tong Erzhong, scaring Tong Erzhong. When shooting, he lost his aim, and the two fired three shots at each other. Tong Erzhong, known as one of the "Yanjing Double Fast Guns", had his head blown and died. When the pursuers saw that even such a powerful gunman as Tong Erzhong was killed, they immediately retreated back to Zhang's house in fear. Leng Hanbing was also hit by two bullets, but neither was in the vitals.

Leng Hanbing was born into a hunter family in Northeast China. He had mastered the art of shooting since childhood. In the Xihe Club, he was the best shooter and he finally showed his superior skills at the critical moment.