Black Flag Army

Nankou Town is one of the four major towns under the jurisdiction of Changping County, so a patrol battalion was stationed there. Although it was called a battalion, it actually had only a hundred old, weak and disabled soldiers, most of whom were heavy smokers and had been without pay for several months. Di Xiong asked Li Jinfa, the owner of the spinning mill, to come forward and give 500 silver dollars to the governor of Changping County and the patrol commander. The battalion commander of the patrol battalion was replaced by Leng Hanbing, who was under Di Xiong, and Di Xiong also served as the deputy mayor of Nankou Town. Di Xiong paid the military pay for the old, weak and disabled soldiers out of his own pocket, and spent a sum of severance pay to send them away. Then he selected strong men from the villagers of the villages under Nankou Town and recruited new soldiers. The recruitment notice claimed that the military pay was the same as that of the security brigade. The villagers signed up enthusiastically and soon recruited more than 300 people and handed them over to Leng Hanbing for training. Leng Hanbing transferred more than a dozen outstanding members from the security brigade to the patrol battalion as company and platoon leaders.

"Chairman! This is a pedal tricycle made according to your requirements! Can it really replace rickshaws?" In the ironware factory workshop, the factory director Guo Zhiming said respectfully. Guo Zhiming is in his forties. He used to be a repairman in the arsenal under the Ordnance Bureau. Because he studied in Germany and graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Berlin, he is the best repairman in the Ordnance Bureau. But because he is not good at flattery and gifts, he does the most work among the repairmen in the arsenal, but his salary is the lowest. He couldn't stand the factory director's nepotism and arbitrarily deducting workers' wages, so he deliberately destroyed four machines in the arsenal and refused the factory director's order to repair them. As a result, he was fired from the factory. Other repairmen also said that they couldn't repair them, which made it cheaper for Di Xiong. The four machines were sold to Di Xiong at the price of scrap iron, saving Di Xiong more than 50,000 silver dollars. When Di Xiong found Guo Zhiming's home under the guidance of intelligence officer Yao Tiechui, he had not eaten for three days and his eyes were green with hunger. Di Xiong handed him a bowl of fragrant egg noodles, fifty silver dollars, and a contract for the position of director of the ironware factory. Guo Zhiming was stunned and could not believe his eyes. After becoming the factory director, the first thing Guo Zhiming did was to repair the four machines.

Di Xiong said, "A tricycle is a rideable vehicle, which is more time-saving and labor-saving than a rickshaw. The income of a tricycle driver is higher than that of a rickshaw driver. Of course, it can replace rickshaws. There are no less than 3,000 rickshaws in Beijing. This is a huge market. Once we produce 2,000 rickshaws, we will put them on the market. It will not only provide convenience to drivers and customers, but also bring us a profit."

Guo Zhiming said: "This will cause thousands of rickshaw drivers to lose their jobs. They will cause trouble. The interests of the 13 rickshaw dealers in Beijing will be damaged and they will retaliate. Their backers are the Ghost Shadow Gang and the Japanese!"

Di Xiong said, "They are just a few Japanese businessmen. What is there to be afraid of? If I were a timid person, I would not have opened an arsenal privately. According to the laws of the Republic of China, this is a serious crime punishable by death! As for the rickshaw drivers, it is impossible for them to cause trouble. Except for a few drivers who bought their own rickshaws, most of them rented them. I can also rent or sell tricycles to them, and they will not suffer any loss. The only ones who suffered losses are the thirteen rickshaw companies and the Japanese Mitsui Rickshaw Company. Of course, they will cause trouble and retaliate. Since I have even resisted the revenge of Ichiro Yokota, why should I be afraid of them? Last month, I asked Hong Tianlie to form a death squad of more than 50 people from the Sharp Knife Society. Each person is equipped with a pistol, a broadsword and a dismantling javelin, just to deal with their revenge."

Although the Sharp Knife Society nominally has more than 2,000 members, most of them are workers of low-profit companies. They have to go to work and it is impossible for them to follow Hong Tianlie to fight on the streets every day. Hong Tianlie can only recruit a group of unemployed vagrants and gang members who have practiced martial arts to form a death squad and promise them huge profits.

At this time, the phone rang. It was Li Fei calling from the company headquarters. He said, "Changping County Police Chief Yuan Baimao led 20 mounted police officers to the Huangcaoling Pass and wanted to enter Nankou Town to meet the chairman. Captain Zhang of the security team guarding the pass asked: Should we let them pass?"

Di Xiong said: "Let him in!"

Before the demise of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing had telephones. Now there is a telephone bureau that specializes in installing telephones, but the cost is very high. The installation fee is more than 10,000 oceans, and the call charges are several hundred oceans per month. As telephones become more popular, the price will become lower and lower. Although Di Xiong can afford the cost, he is unwilling to waste this money. So he bought several telephones and a bundle of communication lines from a German company through Baker, a German friend of the British Sean, and installed an internal telephone himself. The switchboard was located at the company headquarters, and there was an extension for each of the three factories and the Huangfengling mountain pass outpost. The hotel was too far away, so he had to give up. The phone can only be used for internal calls and is useless for external calls.

When Di Xiong left the ironware factory, his two bodyguards, Zhang Kuwa and Wang Shitou, followed him closely, paying vigilant attention to everything around them. It was Wu Zhong who proposed to assign bodyguards to Di Xiong at the board meeting. Except for Di Xiong's objection, the other directors unanimously approved it. These two bodyguards were selected by Leng Hanbing. They were somewhat similar in character to Leng Hanbing. They were usually taciturn, quick and ruthless in their attacks, and had no bad habits.

"The road here is very flat. It seemed to be a muddy road before. How come it has become a concrete road? This must have cost a lot of money, right? Many streets in Beijing are not even concrete roads." Yuan Baimao rode his horse on the street of Nankou Town and said to Inspector Hong beside him.

Inspector Hong said, "I heard that Di Xiong spent more than 10,000 yuan to pave this cement road. In addition, he also installed free water pipes for every household in Nankou Town, which cost him another 10,000 yuan."

Yuan Baimao laughed and said, "He has money but he doesn't know how to eat, drink and have fun. He just does these useless things. This guy is really a fool. When I was in the West City Police Station, I nicknamed him 'Di Shazi', and it was right. It seems that we have caught a fat sheep today. We can extort at least 50,000 yuan."

Yuan Baimao was also a detective at the Xicheng Police Station, and was an old acquaintance of Di Xiong and Li Fei. Because of the extortion of 100,000 taels of silver from Prince Su, President Yuan ordered the police to remove him from his post and investigate him. He was imprisoned for a few days, but because he was a distant relative of Yuan Shikai and had a very good relationship with Yuan's eldest son, he was fined once the news died down. He also used the extortion money to bribe people and became the police chief of Changping County.

At the gate of Weili Company, a young woman in a gray uniform was scrubbing the steps with a mop. She had a fair face and a slim figure. When Yuan Baimao saw her, his eyes lit up. But when the young woman saw him, she looked as if she had seen a ghost, with a terrified look in her eyes and her whole body trembling.

Di Xiong and Li Fei were sitting in the company's reception room waiting for Yuan Baimao. When they saw Yuan Baimao, they hurried forward to greet him. Yuan Baimao was very angry that they did not greet him outside the gate, and thought that these two guys did not take him seriously.

"Di Shazi! I heard that you became a big boss and wore a suit and tie. You really look like a real boss. Do you know how to tie a tie?" Yuan Baimao sneered.

Di Xiong was smiling and was about to shake hands with him, but when he heard this, the smile on his face froze. Zhang Kuwawa and Wang Shitou showed murderous intent on their faces. They reached to their waists, grasped the gun handles, and waited for Di Xiong's order.

Li Fei said sternly, "Yuan Baimao! Speak politely! Don't think that you can talk nonsense just because you are the director."

Yuan Baimao said, "I'm talking to your boss, why are you interrupting? Who do you think you are? You're just a dog under Di Shazi. Don't think you're great just because you make some dirty money. If I want to kill you, it's as easy as crushing an ant."

Li Fei was furious and pointed his gun at Yuan Baimao. The twenty policemen under Yuan Baimao also pointed their guns at Di Xiong and Li Fei. Seeing that the situation was not good, the security guards outside the door rushed in with their guns drawn.

Di Xiong held down Li Fei's hand that was about to draw his gun, ordered the security team to withdraw, and then asked calmly, "Director Yuan, what brings you here today?"

Yuan Baimao shouted, "I'm under orders to investigate! Someone reported that your Weili Company privately manufactured guns and ammunition with the intention of treason! This is a serious crime that will lead to the extermination of the family!"

Di Xiong said: "To convict someone, you need evidence. You can't just make up stories out of thin air!"

Yuan Baimao said proudly, "I know you are a Sino-British joint venture company with foreigners backing you. Would I dare to come here without evidence? The location of the arsenal is under the iron factory. You can see it by digging a hole in the ground with a shovel. Do you want to try?"

Di Xiong and Li Fei were stunned when they heard this. Inspector Hong saw the murderous intent in Di Xiong's eyes, and his heart sank. He quickly interrupted and said, "The world is in chaos now, and you are not the only one who makes guns privately. Director Yuan is not here to arrest anyone today. After all, you had a friendship before, but..."

Di Xiong smiled and said, "I understand. Director Yuan, just name a price!"

Yuan Baimao smiled and said, "That's very straightforward of Di Shazi! I don't want much, just 100,000 yuan as a confidentiality fee!"

Li Fei gasped and said, "One hundred thousand dollars! What a big mouth! You think our boss is Prince Su."

Yuan Baimao said, "This is your life-saving money! Compared with your lives, it is not much. You, Di Shazi, have always been generous. It cost more than 20,000 yuan to build roads and install water pipes. One hundred thousand yuan is not much for you."

Di Xiong sneered and said, "I can only take out 50,000 yuan at most!"

Yuan Baimao said sternly, "One hundred thousand dollars! Not a penny less!"

Li Fei sneered, "Yuan Baimao! Don't be so arrogant. Our company not only has British shareholders, but also General Lu, the commander of the Left Route Reserve Army, is a shareholder! If you offend General Lu, you will suffer the consequences!"

Hong Shenchang touched Yuan Baimao with his arm, meaning that he should stop when it was time to stop. Yuan Baimao glanced at the girl in gray cleaning the windows at the door, pointed at her and said with a smile: "If you give this Miss Bian to me to play with, I can save 50,000 yuan!"

The girl in gray was startled, looked up, her face suddenly turned pale, and the rag in her hand fell to the ground.

Di Xiong said, "Miss Bian Zhimei is a cleaner in the company. Our company is not a brothel. How can we give her away casually? Since Director Yuan is unwilling to give in, I will give you 100,000 yuan."

Li Fei, Wang Shitou and Zhang Kuwa looked at Di Xiong in surprise, thinking that such a weak approach was not Di Xiong's character at all. However, Di Xiong sat down and wrote a check for 100,000 yuan, stamped it with a big red seal, and handed it to Yuan Baimao, saying, "This is a cash check from HSBC Bank in Beijing. Take it."

Yuan Baimao took the check with some surprise and said with a smile, "For a woman, he is willing to spend an extra 50,000 yuan. What a fool."