Black Flag Army

During the meal, Dai Chunfeng lowered his voice mysteriously and said to Hu Shoushan: "If you meet Commander-in-Chief Di and he asks about our identities and origins, remember not to reveal that we are Chiang Kai-shek's subordinates. Just tell him that we are Wang Jiuguang's sworn brothers! This is very important and must not be wrong. Do you understand?"

Hu Shoushan asked curiously, "Is there any reason for this? Chiang Kai-shek is an important figure in the White Star Party, and his status should be much higher than that of Wang Jiuguang, the gangster boss!" Dai Chunfeng explained, "This is because we are sworn brothers with Wang Jiuguang, and Commander-in-Chief Di has a close relationship with Wang Jiuguang. He not only generously donated a large number of weapons and ammunition, but also dispatched special forces to help him fight for territory. The Justice Daily vigorously promoted Wang Jiuguang's heroic deeds of opposing the Qing Dynasty, opposing Yuan Shikai, and doing justice, and portrayed him as a heroic existence. In contrast, although Chiang Kai-shek is also a senior figure in the White Star Party and has participated in the anti-Yuan uprising, the Justice Daily did not mention him at all. It can be seen that Commander-in-Chief Di did not leave any deep impression on Chiang Kai-shek, and it is obvious that he is not Commander-in-Chief Di's friend."

Dai Chunfeng obviously made a wrong judgment. From 1912 to 1949, the history of the Republic of China lasted a total of 37 years, and Chiang Kai-shek was the supreme ruler for 22 years. How could Di Xiong, who was familiar with the history of the Republic of China, not know him? Of course, he made one correct judgment, that is, Di Xiong did not regard Chiang Kai-shek as a friend, but as the biggest enemy in the future. The newspaper did not mention this person because he did not want to alert Chiang Kai-shek too early.

After hearing this, Li Delin asked quickly, "Brothers, you two want to see Commander-in-Chief Di! To be honest, my brother Jiansheng and I also want to see Commander-in-Chief Di. Do you have any way to do this?"

Hu Shoushan was about to speak when Dai Chunfeng spoke first: "There is no way. We will go to Beitang City, but we will pay a visit according to the procedure. If we can see him, we will see him. If we can't, there is nothing we can do."

Bai Jiansheng looked at Hu and Dai coldly, with a flash of disdain and anger in his eyes, but he did not speak. It was not until the two of them paid the bill and left that he turned to look at Li Delin and said in a cold tone: "Brother! Even if they have a way, they won't tell us. Zhejiang people are the most shrewd in doing business. They won't help if there is no benefit."

After hearing this, Li Delin sighed helplessly, his face heavy. He knew that Bai Jiansheng was telling the truth, but he still felt a little unwilling. After a moment of silence, he asked Bai Jiansheng again: "What should we do? Commander-in-Chief Di is so busy at work. If we apply according to the procedure, I don't know when it will be our turn. Do you have any good ideas?"

Li Delin thought of the scene where he had to queue up in a long line to visit Premier Duan at the Prime Minister's Office. He was once sent by Lu Rongting to Beijing to do something for the Premier and had to queue up for many days. The thought of it made him scared.

Bai Jiansheng smiled and said, "My nickname is Little Zhuge. Of course there is a way. We will first pay a visit to the exiled president Xu Juren, send some gifts in the name of Lu Rongting's envoy, and then ask him to write a letter of recommendation so that we have the opportunity to pay a visit to Commander-in-Chief Di. Isn't that enough?"

Li Delin asked, "Can we meet President Xu?"

Bai Jiansheng said: "Who would care about a president without power? He must be very lonely. When he heard that the Guangdong-Guangxi Inspector General sent an envoy to see him, he was naturally very happy to meet him."

The next night, Li Delin and Bai Jiansheng took the train to Beitang City. After leaving the train station, they called a tricycle and asked the driver to take them to Xu Juren's residence.

By the time the two arrived at Xu Ju's house, half an hour had passed. Li Delin and Bai Jiansheng got out of the car, paid the fare, and stood at the door of Xu Ju's house to observe.

This is a courtyard house, which looks very grand. The two discussed what to bring in, but they felt that it would be inappropriate to bring anything too expensive, so they finally decided to buy some fruit. So, the two went to a nearby fruit store to buy some fresh fruit, and then returned to Xu Ju's house.

When they arrived at Xu Ju's house, they found several cars parked in front of it. Apparently, this place was not as deserted as Bai Jiansheng had said before, and there were still many people visiting! When the two were about to walk to the guard at the door to explain their purpose, they suddenly saw the door slowly open and a person walked out.

This person was none other than Xu Juren's housekeeper, Xu Lu. Li Delin recognized him at a glance, and immediately walked up to him with a smile, greeting him warmly: "Housekeeper Xu, long time no see!"

Xu Lu looked up at Li Delin, a hint of surprise on his face, but he quickly regained his composure, "So it's General Li and Mr. Bai, why are you here?"

Li Delin quickly replied: "We came here specially from Guangxi to visit President Xu on behalf of General Lu Rongting."

Xu Lu smiled slightly, "General Lu is really thoughtful. However, President Xu is not feeling well today and cannot meet with guests. You two should go back."

Li Delin glanced at Bai Jiansheng, feeling somewhat disappointed. But they couldn't force him to meet, so they could only nod, "In that case, we won't bother you anymore. Please ask the butler to pass these fruits to President Xu to express our gratitude."

Xu Lu thanked him and was about to take the fruit.

Bai Jiansheng was quick to take out two golden bars from his pocket and put them into Xu Lu's hand. However, Xu Lu suddenly pulled his hand back as if he was burned by fire, and the gold bars fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Bai Jiansheng looked at Xu Lu in astonishment, wondering what was going on. You know, when he was in Beijing, he accepted gold bars without hesitation every time someone gave them to him. Now that Xu Juren had stepped down, Xu Lu should have been even more unscrupulous, but why didn't he dare to accept them now?

Xu Lu lowered his voice and said, "This is not Beijing, but Beihai Province. Here, the supervisory department's eyes and ears are everywhere, and they have great power. You must not send gold or silver or anything like that."

Bai Jiansheng laughed and said, "Why would the supervisory department arrest you when they arrest people from Beihai Province? What are you afraid of?"

Xu Lu frowned and said, "Who said he wasn't arrested? The night before yesterday, Lao Huang, who was in charge of purchasing grain in our mansion, was arrested!" He paused and continued, "A grain dealer secretly gave him ten dollars and asked him to buy a batch of stale grain, which was then delivered to our mansion as new grain. As a result, the grain dealer was caught by the inspection team, and they tortured him to extract a confession. In the end, the grain dealer couldn't stand it anymore and gave Lao Huang away."

Xu Lu sighed and continued, "After Old Huang was arrested, our master personally went to General Di to plead for him, but it was useless. General Di said something like 'no one should interfere with judicial justice' and refused to release Old Huang. If it were in the past, this would not be a big deal. Old Huang had worked for the family for twenty years! He went to jail for ten dollars, and Old Huang's wife cried her eyes out."

Li Delin looked at what was happening in front of him, and a strong feeling of emotion and admiration surged in his heart. He couldn't help but sigh: "Is this the legendary Justice Party? It really lives up to its reputation! They enforce the law impartially and selflessly, and never bend the law for personal gain. No wonder they are so deeply loved and supported by the people of the North!"

He thought of the heroic performance of the Black Flag Army on the battlefield, and knew in his heart that without the firm leadership of the Justice Party, how could these soldiers be so tenacious and fearless on the battlefield? Dare to confront the two powerful countries of Japan and Russia, this kind of courage and determination is simply amazing.

Li Delin knew that other warlords in the country could never do this. They were often driven by interests, scheming and unscrupulous. In contrast, the noble qualities and firm beliefs shown by the Justice Party were truly admirable.

Xu Lu said, "Since the master came to Bei Tang City, no one has given gifts. You are the first. Although I cannot accept gold bars, I accept the favor. Although the master cannot see you, if you need his help, I may be able to ask the master to do it."

Li Delin said, "We want to meet Commander-in-Chief Di and ask President Xu to write a letter of recommendation."

Xu Lu said: "I can do this. Although the master is sick in bed, he can still write a few words."

At almost the same time, a high-level meeting was being held in the conference room of the Justice Party Building to discuss how to deal with the Japanese attack and the Russian threat. Tian Mengxue said, "Bai Yulian sent the latest news from Tianjin. The commander-in-chief of the Japanese expeditionary army is Kamio Mitsuomi, and the commander-in-chief of the navy is Kato Masayoshi, who was the commander-in-chief of the army and navy that attacked Qingdao that year."

Lan Jinping said, "Great! When these two beasts led the Japanese army to attack Qingdao, which was defended by the Germans, the Japanese army frantically massacred Chinese people in Jimo and Laoshan near Qingdao due to the incompetence of the Beiyang government. The number of Chinese killed was several times more than that of Germans, causing the people of Shandong Province to flee. Now it is time to settle accounts with them."

Di Xiong said to Jiang Hongyu, "We have to be on guard against the Russians. The Chief of General Staff will stay in the Beihai Lake area to deal with the Russians. I will go to Sakhalin Island to fight with Kamio Mitsuomi, and then let Kato Masayoshi's warships have a taste of submarine torpedoes."

Jiang Hongyu smiled and said, "Commander-in-Chief! Sakhalin Island is being defended by the Second Army. I used to be the commander of the Second Army, so I am used to commanding. Why don't you let me go to Sakhalin Island? Commander-in-Chief, you go to Beihai Lake, which is guarded by the Third Army. You are the commander of the Third Army, so it will be more convenient for you to command."

The result of the argument between the two was to go to Sakhalin together. Di Xiong said that Jiang Hongyu would be the commander-in-chief and he would never interfere with Jiang Hongyu's command. He would only supervise the battle. The task of defending Beihai Lake was given to Deputy Commander-in-Chief Wu Chunlei and Deputy Chief of General Staff Lan Jinping. In addition, five divisions were added to Sakhalin Island and Beihai Lake.

After the meeting, Di Xiong returned to his office, and his secretary Huo Qingtong reported to him, "Boss, recently many outsiders want to see you. Their application forms have filled up the table, and some of them have brought letters of recommendation from President Xu."

Di Xiong looked at the documents in his hand and asked, "Oh? Who is so smart that he could get Xu Juren's recommendation letter?"

Huo Qingtong replied, "It's a man from Guilin, Guangxi, named Li Delin." Hearing this name, Di Xiong was suddenly surprised and said hurriedly, "Quickly show me his application form!"

Secretary Huo Qingtong found the application form and handed it to him. After reading it carefully, he knew that Li Delin was the later king of the Guangxi clique. After the Northern Expedition in 1927, four people became influential figures, namely Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Jishan, Li Delin, and Yan Baichuan, because they were the winners and new warlords. The old warlords Zhang Yuting, Sun Chuanfang, and Wu Ziyu were all defeated by them. The subsequent Central Plains War was also launched between them. The three warlords of Xi, Guangxi, and Shanxi joined forces, but they did not defeat Chiang Kai-shek. Instead, the Northwest Army, which should not have collapsed, collapsed, and the Guangxi and Shanxi cliques still retained their vitality.

Di Xiong frowned and thought for a while, then said, "I think it's necessary to meet this Li Delin to see if I can get some useful information from him. By the way, did he bring an assistant named Bai with him?"

Huo Qingtong smiled and replied, "You are really good at predicting things. He did bring an assistant named Bai Jiansheng with him. This person seems to be quite smart, but I don't know the specific situation."

Di Xiong nodded to show that he understood. Then he thought for a moment and said, "Well, in this case, I think Li Delin must have something to ask of me, and Bai Jiansheng is his adviser. Let's think about it... Why did Xu Juren write a letter of recommendation for them? There must be a reason. I bet that all this was Bai Jiansheng's idea."

Huo Qingtong couldn't help but sigh after hearing what Di Xiong said: "I didn't expect these people to be so cunning. But now that you already know their purpose, what should we do next?"

Di Xiong pondered for a moment, then answered confidently: "Don't worry, I have a plan in mind. When we meet tomorrow, I will naturally find a way to find out what they are planning."

He carefully looked through the application form and found two figures who were once famous in the Republic of China era. Of course, they were much less famous than Li Delin. One was Hu Shoushan, the number one general under Chiang Kai-shek, nicknamed "King of the Northwest". Of course, his King of the Northwest could not be compared with Feng Jishan. The other was Dai Chunfeng, nicknamed "King of Agents", the founder of the Military Control Commission, which made people shudder.

After thinking for a while, Di Xiong wondered whether to send his men to kill Hu and Dai directly. However, he quickly gave up the idea. After all, these two people did make contributions in the subsequent Anti-Japanese War. Especially the Military Control Commission, which eliminated many traitors. More importantly, if these two people were eliminated now, Chiang Kai-shek would probably find other replacements. Di Xiong was not familiar with these people, which would undoubtedly bring him more trouble. Therefore, Di Xiong decided to hold back and observe the situation.