Black Flag Army

On the morning of December 20, 1912, Suiyuan Garrison Commander Wang Jing'an entered Baotou City with dozens of mounted guards and arrived at the Baotou Garrison Brigade Headquarters, where he convened a meeting with Brigade Commander Yang Ai Zhong, Chief of Staff Yan Er Fu, Deputy Brigade Commander Wang Dashun and several regiment commanders.

Garrison commander Wang Jing'an had rare blond hair and a full beard, nicknamed "Wang Jinmao". He said loudly, "I am back to Taiyuan for a meeting this time. Governor Yan has ordered that Suiyuan is our territory and we must not allow other forces to gain a foothold here. We must find a way to squeeze them out, even if it means going to war. The Beiyang government is now fully busy with the general election. In the general election, they are trying to unite with the Republican Party and the Progressive Party to defeat the White Star Party, and will not take Suiyuan into consideration for the time being. Your mission is to fully control Baotou."

Yang Aizhong, who had a mouthful of buck teeth and was nicknamed "Yang Baoya", said: "To fully control Baotou, we have to defeat Zhang Shaozeng. But Zhang Shaozeng was a top student at the Japanese military academy and served as the commander of 20 towns. He was a famous general. Although he only had two regiments under his command, the regiment leaders Zhang Zhijiang and Shi Jingting were both fierce generals. They defeated tens of thousands of Outer Mongolian troops last time. This is a tough nut to crack!"

Wang Jingan asked, "Zhang Shaozeng's army only has one patrol regiment in Baotou City, and I heard that two battalions were transferred away?"

Yan Erfu said, "Not only were two battalions transferred away, but all of Zhang Zhijiang's patrol regiment 1 was transferred away, and a new patrol regiment 3 was transferred in. The regiment commander is Zhang Zhenyang. He only placed one battalion in the city where Zhang Zhijiang used to be stationed. The other two battalions were stationed in Hongliu Town in the north of the city. It is said that they are to protect the Beihai Group Industrial Park."

Wang Jingan asked, "Zhang Shaozeng has already increased the number of regiments to three? This is too fast. Where does he get so much money to pay the soldiers? Since this regiment is newly formed, its combat effectiveness should not be good, right?"

Yan Erfu said: "This regiment should not be Zhang Shaozeng's army, but is only nominally affiliated with Zhang Shaozeng because it is Boss Di of Beihai Group who pays them. The combat effectiveness of this regiment is still very strong. Last time, it defeated a horse bandit with more than a thousand riders. There are German instructors in the army, equipped with twelve infantry guns and four Maxim heavy machine guns. Boss Di is very rich and donated 100,000 yuan to Zhang Shaozeng at one time. Zhang Shaozeng's troops were about to disintegrate due to unpaid wages, but with this large sum of money, the morale of the army was stabilized."

Wang Jing'an said: "This Boss Di is so rich? Have you tried to win him over to support our army?"

Yan Erfu replied angrily, "Of course I tried. I once sent someone to the Beihai Group where he worked to tell Mr. Di the benefits of cooperating with us, hoping that he could donate one hundred thousand dollars. But this person was extremely arrogant. He said that our Jin army had poor discipline, often robbed civilians and bullied women, and that the officers and soldiers were quite corrupt. Donating money to us would only result in more losses than gains. He said that no matter how much money you give us, it would be like throwing it into the water, and that only when the military discipline is improved can you donate. He was clearly looking down on us. Is this bastard boss worthy of cooperating with us? We gave him face by not demolishing his company on the spot."

Yang Ai Zhong said, "It is true that he said that the military discipline is poor, but more than half of our brigade are surrendered bandits. How can military discipline be so easy to improve? Isn't this just asking too much?"

Wang Jing'an sighed: "It seems that Boss Di is determined to work with Zhang Shaozeng. If so, we have to eliminate him and the Baotou regiment together. After that, we can accuse them of colluding with Mongolian bandits and attempting to rob Baotou."

Deputy Brigade Commander Wang Dashun also echoed: "Isn't he just a businessman who made some filthy money? If he doesn't give us money, can't we rob him? As long as we take over the Beihai Group Industrial Park in the north of Baotou, all the money there will be ours. They are really rich! I heard that when it was time to pay wages, there were dozens of large boxes of silver dollars, thousands of young female workers in the textile factory, and a massage center full of stunning beauties."

After hearing what he said, everyone's saliva was flowing.

Yang Ai Zhong also said: "If we can really occupy the north of Baotou City and control the Beihai Company, I believe the weapons and equipment of our brigade can be upgraded to a higher level."

These people became more and more excited as they talked, and even started arguing about how to divide the money and women, as if Di Xiong's Beihai Company was already in their pocket.

The senior leaders of the security brigade were immersed in the wealth and beauties for a while. At this time, Yang Ai Zhong said: "Commander, since we want to fully control Baotou, we have to take the initiative. We have three regiments and we have the advantage in numbers. It is not difficult to take down the battalion in the north of the city. However, once that battalion is attacked, Zhang Shaozeng will definitely provide support. I wonder what solution the commander has?"

Wang Jing'an said: "Brigade Commander Yang, you just need to destroy the battalion at the north gate. After that, you can attack the two battalions in Hongliu Town. As for Zhang Shaozeng's other troops, General Zhao and I will find a way to deal with them."

Afterwards, these people began to deploy strategies. Wang Jing'an decided to personally lead the First Regiment to detour to the north of Baotou to block Zhang Shaozeng's support troops. At the same time, he sent Deputy Brigade Commander Wang Dashun to lead the Second Regiment to monitor the two battalions in Hongliu Town and cut off the connection between this force and the city. Brigade Commander Yang Ai Zhong led the Third Regiment to eliminate a battalion at the north gate of Baotou. Even if they could not be completely wiped out, they had to drive them out of Baotou, and then join forces with Wang Dashun's regiment to launch a general attack on Hongliu Town. Because of their absolute advantage in numbers, these people were full of confidence.

That night, several explosions were heard near the military camp in the north of Baotou, followed by quite sparse gunfire. It was the Third Regiment of the Baotou Guard Brigade that launched an attack on Zhang Zhenyang's troops. But after a burst of gunfire and grenades, Yang Ai Zhong felt something was wrong. He found that there was not a single corpse after the attack, and even the sentry was not killed, because the sentry post outside the camp gate had been empty for a long time. While he was wondering, there were several loud "boom" and "boom" noises from the military camp in front. Yang Ai Zhong recognized it as the sound of artillery fire, and he lay down while shouting, "Get down quickly!"

However, this Shanxi army was a motley crowd of horse bandits and Manchu surrendered soldiers with poor discipline. Everyone was huddled together in the chaos, and a few shells instantly caused large-scale casualties. Dozens of people were killed on the spot and more than a hundred were injured. A battalion commander and two company commanders of the guard regiment also died in this round of bombing. The army's formation fell into chaos. Yang Ai Zhong and the regiment commander quickly commanded their subordinates to readjust, forming a firepower network with grenades and machine guns, and re-attacked the military camp. The opposite machine guns and rifles also opened fire, and the two sides began to gradually move towards a tug-of-war.

The head of the Third Regiment, Yi Guangtou, said to Yang Aizhong, "Commander! Something is wrong. Someone in our group may have leaked the information. Otherwise, the other side would not have reacted so quickly. The firing points on the wall and the corner tower opened fire almost at the same time. It was very neat. Moreover, the wall of the other side has been built higher than before, and all the gaps that collapsed before have been repaired. It is too difficult to attack."

Yang Aizhong said: "We are now in a state of dire straits. We must fight no matter how difficult it is, otherwise we will not be able to explain to Commander Wang."

The sound of artillery fire in the military camp did not stop. The shells continued to cause casualties to the guard regiment. Several machine gunners of the guard regiment had been killed or injured, and several machine guns had been damaged. Yang Aizhong quickly adjusted the position of the firepower point. In fact, Yang Aizhong knew that there were infantry guns on the opposite side, but he did not expect that all twelve infantry guns were in this camp. Yang Aizhong judged this through the sound of artillery fire. He was shaken in his heart and was considering whether to withdraw, but thinking that he still had the advantage in numbers, he planned to fight a few more times and continued to organize the attack.

On the front battlefield of the military camp, the casualties of the Guard Regiment continued to increase. The two Maxim machine guns of the Patrol Regiment formed a dense firepower point, spitting out two deadly flames. Other light machine guns assisted, making it difficult for these people to enter the military camp. The charging team fell down in rows like cutting wheat, and more than a hundred people were lost in a blink of an eye. The Guard Regiment did not gain the upper hand in the rifle confrontation. The discipline and marksmanship of the two sides were far apart. The gunfire of the Guard Regiment was sparse, and it was difficult to cause effective casualties. Every charge would almost result in dozens of casualties. The battle had lasted for nearly half an hour. The Guard Regiment had suffered nearly half of its casualties, and more than a dozen officers had died, while the Patrol Battalion had only suffered more than twenty casualties, and none of its positions had been lost. The commander of the security regiment, Yi Guangtou, was eager to get rid of the Maxim machine gun, and ordered the commander of the first battalion to organize a suicide squad to blow up the firing point. However, the suicide squad was not "dare to die". Many of them were scared and ran back after rushing out a few steps, even leaving their explosives on the spot. The battalion commander quickly fired a shot to stop their dispersal, and the gunshot immediately exposed his position. In an instant, the battalion commander was killed by a sniper rifle. The deputy battalion commander took over the command and was soon blown into the sky by a shell.

The guard regiment had lost two battalion commanders, and the morale of the army began to collapse. Many people began to flee despite orders. Yang Aizhong quickly asked the guard company to stop the army from disintegrating. Just as Yang Aizhong was shouting, Zhang Zhenyang was looking at him with a telescope on the artillery position in the distance. With the light of the explosion, he observed his colonel's epaulettes and asked the artillery company commander to convey the order to immediately adjust the position of the infantry artillery and fire at Yang Aizhong's location. The artillery company commander was concurrently held by German instructor Beck. At this time, Yang Aizhong was drowned by the shouting of the soldiers and did not notice that he had walked out of the bunker. As two shells fell, the brigade commander was immediately blown to pieces and dissipated in the sound of artillery fire. His Browning pistol was also picked up by a deserter.

"Yang Baoya is dead!" This news quickly spread throughout the regiment. Yang Ai Zhong was actually unpopular in the security regiment. Everyone was afraid of his brutal methods, so they had to fight.

With the death of Yang Ai Zhong, the security regiment instantly lost all its fighting spirit. The regiment commander Yi Guangtou and several staff officers took the lead in fleeing. The security regiment formed a swarm of rout. The patrol battalion also began to pursue under the leadership of battalion commander Zhang Zhongzhi. The battle situation instantly turned into a one-sided massacre. More and more deserters died under machine gun and artillery fire. Zhang Zhenyang ordered to stop firing and ordered the soldiers to shout "Surrender your weapons and you will not be killed!" The remnants of the security regiment surrendered one after another. In the end, the security regiment left behind more than 400 corpses and more than 400 prisoners. The remaining 200 people fled in disarray.

Zhang Zhenyang called Di Xiong to report the results of the battle and ask for the next order. There was a cheer from the other end of the phone. Apparently many people were waiting by the phone for news.

Di Xiong said: "Immediately send troops to occupy the entire city of Baotou, especially the city government warehouse, arsenal, tax police bureau and bank vault. Transfer the artillery company to Hongliu Town and cooperate with the two battalions here to eliminate the Second Guard Regiment."

Zhang Zhenyang said, "Boss! I only have 300 people in my battalion, which is not enough to fully occupy Baotou City. You even transferred the artillery company away. Isn't this embarrassing for me?"

Di Xiong smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if we are short of people. I will send Li Fei and Liu Zhendong to lead the Sharp Knife Society and the company's security team. They are not as good at fighting as the patrol battalion, but they can still maintain order. In addition, General Manager Wu will bring a few accountants to count the seized goods."

Zhang Zhenyang was relieved and agreed to obey the order.

Di Xiong put down the phone and said to everyone in the conference room, "This is the importance of intelligence. If it weren't for the intelligence officers lurking inside the security brigade who reported the news in time, this battle would not have been won so easily. We have to thank Baotou Intelligence Station Chief Li Laoshi for this. It was he who laid an intelligence line at the enemy brigade headquarters last month."

After hearing this, Li Laoshi's face turned red with excitement. This was the first time Di Xiong praised him.

Leng Hanbing said: "This is our first battle after entering Suiyuan. A battalion defeated a regiment and captured Baotou, the largest commercial city in Suiyuan. It is worth celebrating."

Wu Chunfeng said: "It's too early to say that. The Baotou Guard Brigade still has two cavalry regiments and they may counterattack at any time."

Tian Mengxue said: "This garrison commander Wang Jinmao is a fool. If we concentrate a brigade to fight Zhang Zhenyang's battalion, they really can't resist. He actually divided the troops to fight, giving us the opportunity to defeat them one by one."

After everyone left the meeting room, Di Xiong saw that Leng Hanbing had not left, so he asked, "What do you want?"

Leng Hanbing said: "We have more than a thousand soldiers in our army, and most of them are not members of the Justice Party or the Justice Youth Association. In order to ensure absolute control over the army, we need to set up supervisory personnel in the army. I suggest that we set up a supervisor at the company level, a supervisory group at the battalion level, and a supervisory team at the regiment level."

Di Xiong was stunned when he heard this, thinking, isn't this the later Soviet Union's political system? He hadn't thought of it yet, but Leng Hanbing had thought of it first. However, in the Soviet Union's political system, the government had too much power. Once the government was incompetent, the consequences would be very serious. For example, counter-espionage turned into a purge, and the government interfered with military command indiscriminately, leading to the destruction of the entire army. In the early days of the Soviet-German War, the Soviet army lost more than 7 million troops, which was related to the political system.

Seeing that Di Xiong didn't say anything, Leng Hanbing misunderstood and said, "If you think that doing this will lead to too much power in the Supervision Department, I can give up being the head of this department. I want to join the army anyway, even if I am just a soldier, I want to participate in the battle to retake Hailanpao."

Di Xiong said, "The company headquarters has two inspectors, one chief and one deputy, one open and one secret. The secret one enters the company as a soldier. If the company commander wants to rebel, the secret agent hidden in the army will have a chance to escape and report. The same is true for the battalion and regiment headquarters. Of course, the power of the inspectors must be strictly limited. Your suggestion is very timely. No one can replace you at the moment, so you have to continue to work as the chief inspector."