Black Flag Army

Wu Chunlei raised his gun, aimed, and fired, all in one go. With the crisp sound of the gun, the guy wearing the helmet fell to the ground and never moved again. The helmet fell off, revealing his bald head.

"Good fight!" Song Zheyuan shouted loudly, and his officers and soldiers also cheered, and morale was greatly boosted.

Song Zheyuan said to Wu Chunlei: "Just based on this one shot, you can be promoted to second lieutenant platoon leader."

The bandits saw that there seemed to be an extra eye on the forehead of Liang, the fallen leader, and blood spurted out quickly. Before the second round of charge was launched, they were defeated because of Liang's death. Sun Fengzi was furious. He ignored Lin Fang'er's persuasion and decided to lead the team to charge. He first ordered Zheng and Wang to lead 300 bandits each to attack Feng Jishan's camp from both wings to disperse the government troops.

The direction of the attack by Chief Zheng was the Second Company guarded by Li Mingzhong, but it was like attacking an iron plate. Under the command of Li Mingzhong, the well-trained Second Company of more than 100 soldiers fought back three consecutive charges, killing and wounding nearly 200 bandits. Chief Zheng was also shot through the chest, and the green bushes on the left wing of the camp fence were stained red with blood. Chief Wang attacked Yang Shaoxu's Third Company. Yang Shaoxu originally planned to escape, but when he saw Yang Guisheng being shot by Feng Jishan, he had to shrink back and resist. Due to insufficient training, the right wing was quickly broken through by the bandits led by Chief Wang. The bandits were very brave in the hand-to-hand combat, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Yang Shaoxu was also shot and wounded. Feng Jishan drew out his sword and personally led the supervision team and the fourth company to rush up, and only then defeated the bandits on the right wing. Chief Wang was unable to retreat and was beheaded by Han Fuju.

However, the most brutal battle took place on the front battlefield. When the bandit cavalry jumped over the wheat field and rushed over, Song Zheyuan commanded machine guns to fire and rifles to fire at the same time, knocking the cavalry off their horses. When Sun Fengzi led the charge, he ordered his men to fire four cannons at the same time. The accuracy of the cannons was very poor. One shell hit the gate of the village, and several soldiers behind the gate were blown up, with blood and flesh flying everywhere. Another shell hit the battalion headquarters, seriously injuring one of Feng Jishan's guests. The morale of the soldiers in the first company was frustrated. Sun Fengzi took the opportunity to lead his men to rush up in the rain of bullets, knocked down the fence, and rushed into the trenches. The two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The bandits were numerous and fearless, and the officers and soldiers were killed and retreated again and again.

Feng Jishan rushed over with the supervision team and shouted, "Big knife team! Follow me!" He took the lead in fighting with the bandits, and knocked down two bandits in a row. The morale of the officers and soldiers was boosted again. Wu Chunlei, a member of the big knife team, also drew his big knife and rushed into the enemy group. Sun Fengzi also knocked down several officers and soldiers. When he was looking for the battalion commander Feng Jishan, he was stopped by a red-faced officer and fought with him. He didn't know that the red-faced officer was Wu Chunlei, but he didn't hit him after several times of slashing. He thought this kid was very smart and extraordinary, not like an ordinary soldier. Sun Fengzi never thought that he would die in his hands. Wu Chunlei's martial arts were not as good as Sun Fengzi, but he came from the underworld and was taught by Di Xiong for several months, so he was good at using tricks. When he swung his knife at Sun Fengzi, Sun Fengzi only paid attention to his big knife, but didn't prevent a dagger from suddenly flying out of his left hand and piercing Sun Fengzi's thigh. Sun Fengzi bent over in pain. Wu Chunlei took the opportunity to chop down with his broadsword. With a flash of cold light, Crazy Sun's head fell to the ground.

"Crazy Sun is dead! Crazy Sun is dead!" Wu Chunlei held up Crazy Sun's bloody head and shouted. The morale of the bandits plummeted, and the team collapsed. Those refugees knelt down and surrendered. Feng Jishan took the opportunity to command the entire battalion to counterattack, completely defeating Crazy Sun's troops, killing and capturing more than 800 bandits, and Feng's battalion also suffered more than 100 casualties.

Lin Fang'er didn't expect Feng Jishan's camp to be so powerful. In this battle, despite the superiority in military strength, not only did all three leaders die, but even Sun Fengzi lost his life. When she saw Sun Fengzi's head being lifted up while riding on her horse, she couldn't help but burst into tears. A stray bullet hit her horse and she fell off. Fei Bao rode over, carried the unconscious Lin Fang'er onto his horse, and took Gou Zongwei and dozens of other subordinates to join another bandit leader, Du Yanlong.

After Feng Jishan interrogated the prisoners, he learned that Crazy Sun had brought all his main forces for this battle, and only a hundred old, weak and disabled soldiers were left to guard the Motianling nest. He then ordered Song Zheyuan to lead a company of troops to raid Crazy Sun's nest.

When Lu Jianzhang heard that the Armory was attacked by bandits and two battalions were scattered, he was horrified and hurriedly led the other two battalions to reinforce. However, the marching speed was very slow. When he arrived at the Armory, it was already dawn and the battle was over. Even Song Zheyuan had returned from Motianling and seized property worth 100,000 silver dollars. Feng Jishan handed all the property over to Lu Jianzhang without keeping a penny. After listening to the battle report, Lu Jianzhang praised Feng Jishan, scolded Lu Chengwu and Dong Shilu, and announced that Dong Shilu would be removed from his position as battalion commander and demoted to company commander. However, his son Lu Chengwu was not removed from his position and was only fined three months' salary. He took out 5,000 silver dollars from the property handed over by Feng Jishan to reward Feng Jishan and the brothers in the entire battalion, and handed over 3,000 yuan of property as spoils to the Ministry of the Army, and the rest went into his own pocket. Afterwards, officers from other battalions of the reserve army gave Feng Jishan a nickname: "Feng the Fool."

The setting sun left a faint red glow on the horizon. At this time, Wu Chunfeng, Yao Tiechui and several others appeared on the Jingxi overpass.

There was an old storyteller named Sun Tiezui under the overpass in the west of Beijing. Every afternoon, he would set up a table in the open space under the overpass and tell stories, and let the listeners give a few copper coins for a bowl of rice. When Wu Chunfeng was in the Flying Eagle Gang, he often went to listen to him tell "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" when he was free, but he never gave him any money.

Today's business was very slow, with less than ten customers, most of whom were children. When the customers left, there was only one copper coin in the bowl on the broken table. One copper coin could only buy a steamed bun, not even enough for a meal. The thin Sun Tiezui sighed as he looked at the copper coin, and suddenly looked up to see several big men in black shirts coming over. One of them was a black-faced strong man with round eyes that Sun Tiezui recognized. It was Yao Tiechui who often came to collect protection fees. Sun Tiezui trembled with fear and quickly stood up straight.

"Uncle Yao San! My business has been bad recently! Can you extend the protection fee for a few days?" Sun Tiezui said in a trembling voice.

Yao Tiechui said with a smile: "Don't be nervous, old man Sun. I'm not here to collect protection fees. I no longer work for the Qinglong Society. Now I work for Feng Ye. Feng Ye is the department manager of Weili Company. He has something to ask you."

Since the leader of the Qinglong Society was arrested, the third and fourth brothers were also killed in street assassinations, leaving only the second brother Wang Mazi and the third lady Guan Xue, who ranked fifth. His followers were scattered, and many people joined other gangs, including Yao Tiechui. Sun Tiezui saw a young man in a white suit and a red tie standing next to him.

The young man smiled and said, "Mr. Sun, do you still recognize me? I used to come here often to listen to your stories."

Sun Tiezui shook his head. He used to be a skinny teenager dressed in rags, with a pale face, but now he is a young man with a ruddy face and dressed in a suit. Sun Tiezui certainly couldn't connect the two together.

The young man noticed a copper coin in the bowl and said with sympathy: "Do you know why your business is so bad? Because you always talk about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin. There is no new story. Everyone is tired of listening to it."

Sun Tiezui said: "Thank you for your advice, Master Feng, but I'm too stupid to come up with any new jokes."

The young man took out a mimeographed manuscript and handed it to him, saying, "My elder brother has written a new story for you. It's about what happened at the Ordnance Bureau a few days ago. Go back and memorize it carefully. Start telling new stories tomorrow, and your business will surely be good!"

Sun Tiezui thanked him repeatedly, took it and had a look. The title of the manuscript was: "Bandits attacked the Ordnance Bureau at night, Feng Jishen became famous in one battle!" He was about to look down when he suddenly heard a crisp "clatter" sound, and the young man threw two shiny white silver dollars into the bowl. Sun Tiezui was stunned. He had been telling stories for thirty years, and the best luck he had ever had was when a wealthy customer rewarded him with two silver dimes.

Sun Tiezui reminded, "Mr. Feng! This is dollars, not dimes." He thought the young man gave the wrong amount, and he didn't want to cause trouble, so he reminded him quickly.

The young man smiled and said, "As long as you tell a new joke, you can get a reward of two dollars every month."

After leaving Tianqiao, Wu Chunfeng, Yao Tiechui and their group went to several other storytelling venues in Beijing. Like Sun Tiezui, Zhang Dazui and Liu Xiazi also accepted the new storybook and two silver dollars. The next day, storytellers in several storytelling venues in Beijing began to tell new stories. Sun Tiezui's business was indeed much better than before. He could earn dozens of copper coins a day from his broken bowl. His son Sun Xiaotie also came to help maintain order.

Feng Jishan soon became a household name in Beijing, because the lives of ordinary people in those days were very boring and there was no other entertainment. Only a few powerful people could go to high-end entertainment venues such as the Eight Great Hutongs, and most people mainly watched plays and listened to stories. Even President Yuan Shikai knew that there was a good fighter Feng Jishan in the Left Route Reserve Army, because his recently favored goddaughter He Li liked to listen to storytelling. After the "Minfeng" newspaper learned about this, it also sent reporter Lin Yishui to the Ordnance Bureau to interview Feng Jishan. Although he was rejected, he succeeded in interviewing other officers. He wrote a detailed article of more than 5,000 words on the battle, which was published on the front page of the "Minfeng" newspaper. He also gave Feng Jishan a nickname "Sanjiadian Tiger" because the battlefield was fought in Sanjiadian.

Lu Jianzhang was very happy to know this, and said to his confidants: "I always thought Feng Jishan was too stupid, but I didn't expect him to do publicity for himself. Now I think it will be easier for him to get promoted."

How could Lu Jianzhang know that Feng Jishan had no idea about this at all and it was all made up by Di Xiong. In Lu Jianzhang's opinion, it was impossible for a person to help Feng Jishan with publicity for no reason, but Di Xiong happened to be such a person.