Black Flag Army

The Second Regiment of the Baotou Guard Brigade, which was ambushed in the woods outside Hongliu Town, received the news that the Third Regiment was destroyed. The officers and soldiers were worried about the safety of their families in Baotou and fell into chaos. Some people began to escape quietly. Deputy Brigade Commander Wang Dashun had a dispute with the regiment commander. One wanted to return to Baotou, and the other wanted to wait for the new order of Commander Wang Jing'an. After delaying the war for half an hour, Wang Dashun was furious and shot and killed the disobedient regiment commander. He led the cavalry regiment back to counterattack Baotou City. At this time, Zhang Zhenyang had handed over the city defense to the Sharp Knife Society and the company security brigade. After receiving the intelligence, he led the entire battalion of troops to the north gate of the city and confronted the cavalry regiment. The artillery company had not had time to leave the city, and began to pull infantry artillery towards the city.

As people kept escaping, the Second Guard Regiment had lost one third of its members. The improvised ladders could not reach the top of the city wall. A few grenades were thrown from the top of the city wall, which blew up the ladders. Dozens of people were killed and injured by the Maxim machine gun fire. The Guard Regiment immediately retreated. After the setback in the siege, the morale plummeted. Di Xiong personally led two patrol battalions to attack from behind. The commanders of the two battalions were Liu Chengliang and Zhu Anbang. After learning that the front had won a victory, the morale of the officers and soldiers of the two battalions was high, and they launched an attack on the Guard Regiment.

At this time, Wang Dashun mustered up his courage, stood up and shouted to his men: "Don't be afraid, they only have a few hundred people, and they are all infantry. We have more than a thousand people, all cavalry. Go up to them, defeat them, and then go and capture the city."

Under Wang Dashun's instigation, some cavalrymen ignored the gunfire and rushed forward with sabers, causing dozens of casualties to the patrol regiment. Even Liu Chengliang was stabbed, but fortunately the injury was not serious. All of these brave cavalrymen fell at the mouth of the gun.

Di Xiong used a telescope to see Wang Dashun, who was shouting orders in the enemy group, and ordered his guard Di Chun to bring him a sniper rifle. Di Xiong always brought a sniper rifle with him when he went to the battlefield, but it was always carried by the guards. Di Xiong took the sniper rifle from Di Chun, loaded the bullet, opened the bolt, and aimed the gun at Wang Dashun.

With a "bang" of a gunshot, Wang Dashun fell off his horse. Di Xiong turned his head and saw that it was Leng Hanbing who had fired the first shot, also using a sniper rifle.

Di Xiong sighed, returned the gun to Di Chun and said, "Leng Hanbing is such an annoying guy. He actually stole my credit. He shoots too fast. I will stay away from him in the future."

Leng Hanbing said: "You are already the boss, what do you need credit for? Who will give you a bonus?"

Di Chun laughed and said, "It's bad enough for the enemy general to encounter one sharpshooter, but to encounter two of you, he is doomed to fail!"

After Wang Dashun was killed by a sniper rifle at a long range, the regiment was destroyed. Most of the survivors surrendered, and a few fled in all directions.

Wang Jing'an, the security commander nicknamed "Wang Jinmao", did not wait for Zhang Shaozeng's reinforcements, but instead received the shocking news that Baotou City had fallen and two regiments had been wiped out. He was stunned for a long time, not knowing what to do.

Yan Erfu, the chief of staff of the security brigade who came with him to set up the ambush, said, "Commander Wang! Please tell me what we should do next?"

Seeing Wang Jing'an's grim expression, the others did not dare to ask him. Only Chief of Staff Yan Erfu was Governor Yan's nephew, so naturally they did not have to be afraid of him.

"I thought Beihai Company was a sheep that could be slaughtered at will, but I didn't expect it to be a wolf in sheep's clothing!" Wang Jing'an sighed.

Yan Erfu said anxiously: "Commander Wang, now is not the time to sigh. We have already lost two regiments. If we don't act quickly, we will be surrounded and killed when Zhang Shaozeng's support troops arrive!"

Wang Jing'an replied: "Retreat! Of course we must retreat quickly! Leave all the heavy supplies behind, march lightly, and immediately retreat eastward to Guisui"!

The First Regiment of the Guard Brigade received an order from their superiors to leave behind all the heavy materials, including the property and dry food they had brought from Baotou, but the entire regiment was slow to act. Most of these people were born as bandits and were greedy. It would be more painful for them to abandon their property than to kill them. Many of them had family members in Baotou and did not want to go to Guisui at all. After more than an hour of hesitation, they still had not set out. Liu Chengliang had already rushed over with the First Battalion of the Patrol Regiment.

Unlike the other two battalions of the patrol camp, the flag of the first battalion is the Big Dipper flag with a black background. This was specially authorized by Di Xiong, so it is also called the Black Flag Battalion.

Yan Erfu was anxious to return to Suiyuan. Seeing these soldiers being so lazy, he shouted, "Do you still want to live? You have to live if you want to enjoy yourself!"

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He pulled out his pistol and shot two soldiers who were dragging their feet. At this moment, a sentry in the distance shouted, "The patrol regiment is coming!"

Immediately afterwards, there was a sound of explosion outside, and several soldiers were blown away. Upon seeing this, Yan Erfu got on a horse and galloped eastward without saying a word.

Wang Jing'an knew the situation was not good, so he ordered the regiment commander to lead a battalion to block the pursuing patrol regiment soldiers, and then he rode a fast horse to command the remaining people to escape. The cavalry regiment was already in a panic, and the soldiers and officers were all thinking about how to escape. There was no organization or formation for retreat, and they were all forced to mount their horses. Many people were trampled to death by other people's horses before they could even get on their horses.

The two battalions of the cavalry regiment fled eastward in a mess. The remaining battalion had no intention of resisting and only fired randomly. The regiment commander saw Wang Jing'an walking away and immediately rode north, abandoning the troops. The chief of staff of the regiment was shocked and didn't know what to do. At this time, a burst of machine gun bullets swept over, shooting the chief of staff of the cavalry regiment into a sieve along with his horse. The remaining people in the battalion immediately formed a trend of disintegration, and began to flee in all directions without caring about the direction.

The second patrol battalion led by Di Xiong also rushed over, but there was only one cavalry company in the two battalions, and the rest were infantry. Facing the fleeing cavalry, there was not much they could do for a while. After capturing dozens of unmounted soldiers, Di Xiong ordered the artillery to bombard the two battalions where Wang Jing'an had fled. Di Xiong did not pay much attention to the already scattered blocking troops. At the same time, Di Xiong ordered the troops to chase and fight, trying to capture the other side's high-level officers alive.

However, it was still too difficult for two legs to chase four legs, not to mention that the other side was also intent on escaping. Within a few minutes, Wang Jing'an's two cavalry battalions gradually left Di Xiong's army behind. Although some people were killed by artillery shells, Wang Jing'an and several of his followers rode good horses, and it didn't take them long to run out of the range of the cannons and headed east.

The patrol battalion did have cavalry, but the number was too small, with only one company. After a pursuit, they only caused dozens of casualties on the other side. Seeing that they were getting farther and farther away from the artillery position, the patrol regiment's cavalry did not dare to pursue further, and the pursuit gradually turned into a stage of cleaning up the battlefield. This time, the attack on the first regiment of the security brigade did not yield as much as the previous two battles. After all, the enemy had basically no intention of fighting. The cavalry regiment suffered more than 150 casualties, most of whom were killed by artillery shells, and more than 100 were captured. Only a few people on the patrol battalion side were injured by stray bullets, but more than half of the enemies still managed to escape, and high-level officials such as Wang Jingan and Yan Erfu were not captured.

Di Xiong looked at the direction where the enemy fled and couldn't help thinking: If there were airplanes now, it would be great. If the air force was there, the enemy would never get away so easily. It seems that Feng Ru should quickly put the matter of building airplanes on the agenda. There are quite a lot of cavalry units in this area. Not only the Jin warlords, but also the local horse bandits, Outer Mongolians, and Tsarist Russians have large-scale cavalry. Even the Ma family army in Ningxia may get involved. It is a warlord based on cavalry. Speaking of the Ma family army in Ningxia, it is also a force that cannot be underestimated. They have been stationed in Ningxia for many years, with deep roots and a large number of family members. The current leaders are mainly Ma Fuxiang and Ma Fushou. The second generation Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongcai are also beginning to show their talents and are eyeing the Suiyuan area. If there is no air force or a cavalry unit of equal size, it is completely wishful thinking to take root here.

On the morning of the 21st, when Di Xiong was pursuing Wang Jing'an, Zhang Zhenyang, leading a battalion and Li Fei's Sharp Knife Society, had basically controlled the entire city of Baotou. Faced with Zhang Zhenyang's fully armed army, the local militia and police forces surrendered without resistance. The security team quickly took control of the city government warehouse and bank vault, and the patrol battalion easily occupied the armory and the tax police bureau. The Sharp Knife Society also began to maintain order on the streets and stabilize people's hearts. Wu Zhong, Zhang Zhenyang, Liu Zhendong, Li Fei, Zhang Zhongzhi and others had held a new round of meetings at the brigade headquarters where Wang Jing'an had originally held a meeting.

Because Wu Zhong was the deputy leader of the Justice Party, in the absence of Di Xiong, he sat in the main seat in the conference room, and the others sat in two rows.

Wu Zhong said: "Baotou is a transit point on the Beijing-Inner Mongolia and China-Russia trade routes, and its economy is still very developed. The seizure this time is also very rich, with a total value of more than 300,000 oceans. Di Juzi means to use half of the money and materials to recruit soldiers. Our army is too small, so we will add a cavalry battalion and a fourth infantry battalion. The commander of the cavalry battalion will be concurrently served by Zhang Zhenyang, after all, he was a cavalryman before. The new commander of the infantry battalion will be Liu Zhendong. The security battalion will be abolished, and part of it will be incorporated into the new fourth infantry battalion, and the rest will be changed to the Sharp Knife Guard Battalion. In the future, the company's security will be the responsibility of the Sharp Knife Guard Battalion, which will avoid duplication and streamline personnel."

Zhang Zhenyang said: "Although we have accepted more than a thousand surrendered soldiers, we will not accept soldiers with poor discipline and veteran soldiers when recruiting new soldiers. We can let them engage in other industries, such as mining."

Wu Zhong said: "That's for sure. The review of the new recruits is under the full responsibility of Captain Zhang."

Li Fei said: "The Baotou Police Chief and other officials have almost all fled. We can't be responsible for public security for a long time!"

Wu Zhong said: "Di Juzi has already thought of this. Chairman Li Fei will concurrently serve as the chief of the Baotou Police Department because he used to be a patrolman and has experience in this area."

Li Fei was both surprised and delighted when he heard this. He was just an ordinary patrolman in the Xicheng Police Station in Beijing and was even fired for offending the director's brother-in-law. Unexpectedly, he suddenly became the director of the police station in Baotou.

Li Fei said, "Wu Juzi, I was just a patrolman before, I haven't even been a captain, and I'm worried that I won't be able to do a good job as a director all of a sudden! And Chairman Hong has gone to Beijing, what should I do if I can't handle the affairs of the Sharp Knife Society?"

Wu Zhong said: "No one is born to be an official. As long as you are humble and eager to learn, you will learn it quickly. You can give more tasks to the propaganda team leader Tuo Qingyun for the Sharp Knife Society. As for Wang Shitou, Di Juzi has transferred Wang Shitou from the security team to the Sharp Knife Society as the captain of the security team."

Guisui City was actually formed by the merger of Guihua City and Suiyuan City. Guihua City was also known as Sanniangzi City because it was built by Sanniangzi, the Tumed princess of the Ming Dynasty. The residence of Zhao Chengyuan, the governor of Suiyuan, was in Guihua City, while the residence of Zhang Shaozeng, the general of Suiyuan, was in Suiyuan City. Because the two cities had been merged into one, the wall between the two cities had been demolished. Zhang Shaozeng's troops controlled the northwest, and Zhao Chengyuan's troops controlled the southeast.

On the evening of December 20, Zhang Zhijiang reported to Zhang Shaozeng: "General Zhang! Something happened at the police department. A group of thugs gathered to cause trouble, saying that the police department had arrested good people without permission. They rushed into the police department, beat up the director Zhang Peisong, and set fire to the service hall. The thugs were armed with guns, and several policemen were killed or injured. In addition, the Suiyuan Security Brigade was fully dispatched, and it seems that they are going to fight us."

Although Zhang Peisong, the head of the Guisui Provincial Police Department, was appointed by Governor Yan, he admired Zhang Shaozeng's heroic deeds in fighting against the Mongolian bandits. When Zhao Chengyuan's men clashed with Zhang Shaozeng's soldiers, he repeatedly upheld justice and arrested Zhao Chengyuan's men. The Suiyuan Police Department was located at the junction of the two forces, where the city wall was demolished, and it had always been the focus of contention between the two forces.

Zhang Shaozeng ordered the two regiments of Zhang Zhijiang and Shi Jingting to immediately stop resting, get ready, set up firing points in the moat and on the walls, and prepare for battle. At the same time, he asked Zhang Zhijiang to send a special agent company to the police department to rescue Zhang Peisong.

Half an hour later, the secret agents returned with the injured Zhang Peisong, followed by several policemen loyal to Zhang Peisong. These policemen said that the thugs who occupied the police station were mostly soldiers in disguise from the security brigade. Zhang Peisong thanked Zhang Shaozeng repeatedly.

Zhang Shaozeng said, "You have helped us many times before, and I haven't thanked you yet. What's this little thing?"

At noon the next day, the aggressive security brigade suddenly withdrew, and the strange gang of thugs also disappeared. Zhang Shaozeng was puzzled, and only realized after receiving the telegram from Di Xiong: it turned out that the security brigade wanted to contain him and prevent him from reinforcing Di Xiong, but he didn't expect that Di Xiong didn't need reinforcements at all, and defeated the Baotou Security Brigade alone.

Zhang Shaozeng called Zhang Zhijiang and Shi Jingting to the conference room, handed them the telegram, and said, "Young people are formidable! Brother Di used only one regiment to wipe out an enemy brigade and capture Baotou City, helping us to kill a powerful enemy. From now on, we have a powerful ally in Suiyuan and will no longer fight alone."