Black Flag Army

When Wang Hanchao walked in, he had a flattering smile on his face and spoke in a humble tone, calling Di Xiong "Chairman" and Bai Xiuling "Madam". He obviously did not understand their true relationship. Bai Xiuling blushed when she heard this and hid in the room.

Di Xiong asked knowingly, "What's the matter with Captain Wang?"

Wang Hanchao said, "Lord Xu heard that your company's engineers are very capable and have even created a battlefield killer like an airplane. He also wants to build one to serve the country, and wants you to send a few engineers to help. He will cover all the expenses. He found Director Ma, and Director Ma couldn't refuse, so he sent me here."

Di Xiong said, "I'm afraid Captain Wang will be disappointed. I can't send an engineer over. Even after Xu retired and returned to his hometown, he still remembers serving the country. I admire him very much. However, he has no power. If he builds an airplane, it will probably be seized by others and given to foreigners as a gift. When he becomes president in the future, I will definitely send him a few airplanes so he doesn't have to spend money to build them."

Wang Hanchao was very disappointed when he heard this. He said, "I don't believe that Xu Ge Lao will become the president in the future. I think this is Di Xiong's excuse." He refused Di Xiong's invitation to dinner and left.

In June 1913, the Beiyang government in Beijing issued an official document and an order to successively dismiss the three governors in the south and replace them with Beiyang people. Those who were dismissed were Governor Hu of Guangdong, Governor Li of Jiangxi, and Governor Bai of Anhui. Governor Li declared Jiangxi independent, proclaimed himself the commander-in-chief of the anti-Yuan uprising army, and drove away Yuan's confidants. The six southern provinces responded one after another. The Beiyang government appointed Duan Zhigui and Feng Huafu as the commanders of the First and Second Beiyang Armies, respectively, with 60,000 troops, claiming to be an army of 100,000, to go south to "suppress the rebellion." On July 12, Duan Zhigui led the First Army to attack Jiujiang, Jiangxi, but was blocked by the Jiangxi Revolutionary Party troops. The "Second Revolution" war broke out.

On the morning of July 20, Di Xiong sat in the office of Beihai Company, carefully reading the newspapers sent by his secretary Ai Yun, including Chinese newspapers such as "Beijing News", "Shenbao", "Ta Kung Pao", and foreign newspapers such as "The Times" from Britain. Originally, because Suiyuan was too far from Beijing and there were bandits coming and going, there was no postal route, but Di Xiong took into account that most of the company's more than 10,000 employees were refugees from Zhili, Henan, and Shandong provinces who needed to communicate with their hometowns, so he specially sent a company of troops to force open the postal route and provide protection along the way. Of course, it was also good for Di Xiong, that is, he could see the newspapers that only Beijing people could see at the first time.

Lan Jinchun marked the important contents of the newspaper with red lines and handed it to Di Xiong, asking, "In this battle against Yuan Shikai in the South, seven provinces in the South have formed a coalition army. Jiangsu Province alone has eight divisions. They should be able to defeat Yuan Shikai, right?"

Because of Yuan Bozi's coercion, she really hoped that Yuan Datou would fail.

After Ai Yun became Di Xiong's secretary, it was her responsibility to add red lines to the important contents in the newspaper to reduce Di Xiong's reading workload. However, she read too little and did not do a good job. She either underlined some useless contents or missed some important contents. Di Xiong was very unhappy, but seeing her pitiful appearance, he could not bear to replace her. Lan Jinchun, who often visited Di Xiong, found out about this and asked Ying to take over the job. Her knowledge was much better than Ai Yun's, and she basically found the contents that Di Xiong needed.

Di Xiong shook his head and said, "Although the armies of the seven southern provinces were under the control of the anti-Yuan faction, the revolutionaries themselves were full of internal contradictions and could not form a united force. They were also short of food and money. After Song Changde was killed on March 20, the Guangdong doctor advocated launching an anti-Yuan revolution immediately, but everyone was busy fighting for power and profit, and no one listened to him. It was not until Yuan Datou borrowed 25 million pounds from the great powers, bought enough weapons and ammunition, paid enough military pay, and reorganized the army that they resisted hastily when the knife was put to their necks. How could they have time? Although Jiangsu had eight divisions, , but before the battle even started, internal conflicts arose. The governor of Jiangsu was Cheng Dequan, who was supposed to be the commander-in-chief, but the revolutionary leader Mr. Changsha brought a group of revolutionary backbones to Nanjing and seized his military power. Mr. Changsha called himself the commander-in-chief of the anti-Yuan army. Cheng Dequan went to the Shanghai Concession in anger. Most of the eight division commanders were Cheng Dequan's confidants, and Mr. Changsha had no control over their command. The officials of the Jiangsu Provincial Finance Department were also promoted by Cheng Dequan. Once Cheng Dequan left, they found all kinds of excuses and could not get the food and wages. The battle had not even started, but they had already lost half of it. "

Lan Jinchun was surprised and said, "Is Mr. Changsha such a selfish person? I don't quite believe it. I once heard my father say that Mr. Changsha was a great hero of the revolution. When the Qing Dynasty was still in existence, Guangdong doctors often had to go into exile abroad. Most of the anti-Qing uprisings in the country were led by Mr. Changsha. Among them, the most famous Guangzhou Uprising. I heard that Mr. Changsha led a small number of rebels and fought a bloody battle with the Qing army that outnumbered him by several times. In the end, only Mr. Changsha withdrew from the battle alive, with two fingers broken. Doesn't this prove Mr. Changsha's bravery and greatness?"

When Di Xiong heard this, he couldn't help but think: What this little girl said was what the revolutionary party's newspapers later propagated. In fact, the group of Qing troops that Mr. Changsha encountered when he broke two fingers during the Guangzhou Uprising were actually also uprising troops. Due to the lack of preparation for the uprising and the lack of contact marks, they could not recognize each other and killed each other. This is not a glorious thing. If you knew it, you probably wouldn't praise Mr. Changsha. Of course, Di Xiong didn't want to blame Mr. Changsha too much, so he said: "Mr. Changsha is indeed a hero, but everyone makes mistakes. After all, Nanjing is the base camp of the Southern Revolutionary Party. It is not so strange that Mr. Changsha clashed with local forces for the sake of the revolutionary interests. The main reason is that Jiangsu is now a piece of loose sand, and Mr. Changsha actually hopes to punish Yuan Datou through the law. He himself doesn't really want to fight."

Lan Jinchun then asked: "Even if Jiangsu falls into chaos, it is only a problem for one province. What about the people in other southern provinces? Guangdong doctors should have a lot of troops in other provinces. Can't they support Nanjing?"

Di Xiong thought to himself: If I say that Guangdong doctors don’t actually have an army, will you believe it? He continued to answer Lan Jinchun, “Although the South claims that many provinces have responded to Guangdong doctors, the only ones who actually listen to Guangdong doctors, except Jiangsu, are the three governors dismissed by Yuan Shikai. In other words, Guangdong doctors only have the strength of four provinces, among which Anhui and Guangdong are facing huge crises. I have talked to Tian Mengxue about the problems in Guangdong. Mr. Hu is just an empty-headed governor. Several division commanders under him are loyal to their own people. Once they are bribed, they will immediately turn to the Beiyang side. The one who was bribed this time was Long Jiguang, the powerful division commander of Guangdong. After he received the commission of Guangdong governor issued by Beiyang, he immediately turned to Guangzhou and launched an attack. Because Governor Hu had too few troops, Long Jiguang's army easily captured Guangzhou, and the leaders of the revolutionary party had to flee Guangzhou. Governor Bai of Anhui had a division commander named Zhang Xun, who was basically independent and a royalist. Zhang Xun and his troops retained the Manchu pigtails, so they were also known as the "pigtail army". Although they were not many in number, they were probably more than enough to defeat Governor Bai, who was weak in strength. Only Governor Li of Jiangxi had a good control over Jiangxi, but Jiangxi was a poor province, and his army lacked ammunition and military pay. Like Mr. Changsha, he did not want to fight. This war was destined to be a passive situation from the beginning."

When Lan Jinchun heard what Di Xiong said, he thought of his experiences in Beijing and felt a little depressed. He then said, "Brother Di, do you mean that the Guangdong doctor and Mr. Changsha will definitely fail in this war?"

Di Xiong replied: "I cannot be sure of the outcome of this war. I can only analyze it through various news in the newspapers. However, judging from the results of the analysis, the chances of the revolutionaries winning are very low. This is an undeniable fact. The most basic question of whether a country's regime can continue is whether there is an army to guarantee their existence. At least for now, I don't see such an army in the revolutionary party."

After listening to this, Lan Jinchun fell into silence. She seemed to have thought of something from Di Xiong's words and was thinking thoughtfully.

Di Xiong added: "We must learn from the lessons of the Southern Revolutionary Party. Relying on warlords to fight warlords will not succeed in the end. We must build our own armed forces. Even if the price we pay is high, it is worth it."

At this time, Tian Mengxue came in and reported: "Mr. Di! Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, the Intelligence Officer School will hold its first graduation ceremony. I hope you, as the principal, will attend."

Although Tian Mengxue called him Brother Xiong in private, she called him Mr. Di in front of Lan Jinchun.

Di Xiong was stunned for a moment, then said, "Time flies! Half a year has passed in a blink of an eye, and the students of the Intelligence Officer School have graduated. As the principal, I have only been there a few times. I am really derelict in my duty! The school is run by you and the instructors like Li Laoshi. Thank you for your hard work."

Tian Mengxue looked much thinner than before. She smiled and said, "You can't say that. The school encountered many difficulties before. If it weren't for you, we couldn't solve them at all. Funds were allocated first, and other departments were terribly jealous of us."

Di Xiong asked: "Has the list of the top five students in the overall ranking come out? Who are they?"

Tian Mengxue said: "They came out. They are Hu Canglang, Tang Qianhu, Yuan Xiaobao, Guo Jincai, and Xian Yuji."

At the same time of the day, a conspiracy against Beihai Company was brewing in Beijing. In the headquarters of the Beijing branch of the Black Dragon Society of Japan, an old man with white hair and beard slowly walked towards the office of the president Yoshida Ryozo. The man had an old face, wore a pair of glasses, and looked about 60 years old. He leaned on a cane and knocked on Yoshida Ryozo's door. The door opened immediately. A group of Japanese ronin hurried forward to receive the old man and guided him to sit in the upper seat. Yoshida Ryozo also hurried forward, bowed respectfully to him, and said to the old man: "Mr. President, welcome to Beijing. We found an important intelligence in Beijing and have to report it to you." It turned out that the old man was the former president of the Black Dragon Society and the current general consultant, Toyama Man.

Although Toyama Mitsuru gave up the position of chairman to Uchida Ryohei, he still actually holds the power.

Toyama Mitsuru was silent for a while and asked, "Mr. Yoshida, is there something that requires you to call me to Beijing? Is it about the war between the Southern Chinese and the Beiyang government? It is not convenient for us to participate in this Chinese war, but if the Southern Chinese fail, they may come to us."

Yoshida Ryozo said: "The war in southern China is indeed a big deal, but what I am talking about is another thing. We discovered in northern China a place called Baotou that the North Sea Company there actually had aluminum aircraft. Now the aluminum aircraft in European countries are still in the experimental stage, but in China there have appeared actual combat aluminum aircraft. This is an unprecedented discovery."

Toyama Mitsuru opened his eyes wide and said in surprise, "We must not let the Chinese aircraft technology be stronger than that of the Empire of Japan. How did you know this news?"

Yoshida Ryozo said, "Our intelligence agent in Taiyuan leaked the information. Yan Xishan's army was defeated by Zhang Shaozeng's planes in Suiyuan, so he took the initiative to ask for Japanese planes. In the past, our aircraft dealers tried their best to sell them to him, but he refused to buy them. Now they want to buy 30 planes at once, and the aircraft dealers dare not sell them. They asked for my opinion. Although selling the planes can make our country a profit by selling second-hand planes, it also enhances the combat power of the Chinese army."

Tou Shanman said: "Americans have already had their third generation of aircraft. If you don't sell them, they will just buy old American aircraft. This is not important. What's important is, don't you have an intelligence agent in Baotou?"

Yoshida Ryozo smiled and said, "Originally there weren't any, but recently the clubhouse under the Ghost Shadow Gang was attacked, and more than a dozen geishas were captured by the gangsters of the Sharp Knife Society and sent to the Beihai Group Company in Baotou, Suiyuan. There are several intelligence officers in training, including Touzuki Junko. They are now working as technicians at the massage center under the Beihai Group Company. I will send someone to Baotou to establish contact with them."

Toyama Mitsuru said: "Send an elite action team to blow up the planes and kill all the technicians in the aircraft factory. We must nip the threat to the Empire of Japan in the bud."

Yoshida Ryozo said, "I thought so too, but after Shiraishi Hiroshi's death, the Beijing branch lacked action experts. I wanted to transfer a few experts from the Northeast Branch, such as Tachibana Daisuke and Ishii Taro. But as you know, the Northeast Branch Chairman Kenji Doihara and I don't get along, so I need a handwritten letter from you."

Toyama Mitsuru said, "That's no problem. I can write it now, but this matter must be done well. There must be no mistakes, otherwise I will ask Uchida Ryohei to remove you from your position. Last time, fifteen core members of the association were killed. Many people in the Tokyo General Association were dissatisfied with the Beijing branch, and Kawashima Naniwa also stepped down because of this."

Yoshida Ryozo said: "Please rest assured, I will do my best to complete this matter."