Black Flag Army

It was already very cold in Suiyuan in November. The withered yellow leaves on the maple trees on both sides of the road fell to the center of the road. More than 10,000 infantry and cavalry of the 20th Beiyang Division were marching on the road from Tokto County to Baotou.

When Pan Juying's messenger Qian Dashan rushed to Pan Juying, he had already left Tokto County. After receiving Di Xiong's reply, the newly appointed Pan Dutong was furious. He tore the letter to pieces and shouted, "Who is Di trying to fool? The Japanese set fire to the aircraft factory. They don't take me seriously!"

Upon hearing the news, the staff officers and councilors of the 20th Division gathered around and expressed their opinions. Since General Pan had accepted a large number of relatives and friends to be placed in the army, there were dozens of alternate councilors in the army alone. All of these people were preparing to serve as officials in Suiyuan, and had already divided up the positions of directors of various departments and bureaus in Suiyuan in advance.

A councillor named Lu said, "This guy relied on his few filthy riches to get a few useless planes. He doesn't take the Marshal seriously. We can destroy him by sending a brigade. By then, not only the aircraft factory, but also the entire Beihai Company will be yours. Other businesses will not dare not pay. This is called killing a chicken to scare the monkeys."

Senator Lu is already over 40 years old. He has been in Beijing for several years but has never been promoted to an official position. Now that he has finally got the upper hand over the Suiyuan Governor-General, he is naturally very enthusiastic.

The envoy Qian Dashan was also a staff officer of Pan Dutong. He quickly retorted: "You can't do that. When I came back, there was an air battle over Baotou. All 24 of Yan Xishan's planes were destroyed or damaged and forced to land. The Beihai Company only lost three planes. I saw it with my own eyes."

Another councillor surnamed Liu said, "It's just a few planes. How many people can they kill? We have more than 10,000 troops and a heavy artillery regiment. We can just sweep them. Di will have no choice but to surrender."

Qian Dashan said: "Don't underestimate the lethality of airplanes. A few months ago, Di Congmo only sent three airplanes to defeat the elite of two brigades of the Jin army. If airplanes were not very effective, how could a stingy guy like Yan Laoxi spend 500,000 yuan to buy airplanes?"

Pan Dutong thought what he said made sense and hesitated for a moment.

At this time, Di Xiong received another bad news. A batch of goods being transported to Yulin, Shaanxi for sale was attacked by horse bandits. Goods worth 150,000 oceans were robbed, and more than half of the 300-member escort team were killed or injured.

The captain of the escort team was Liu Bao, the son of Liu Chengliang. Liu Chengliang brought not only his adopted son Wu Guozhu but also his wife and two biological sons from Qinzhou to Suiyuan. Liu Bao was the eldest son, only 19 years old. He survived by chance. Di Xiong summoned him immediately. Liu Bao was now in ragged clothes, his face was covered with dust, he was leaning on a cane, he walked with a limp, and there were traces of two bullet holes on his hat, he looked very embarrassed. Liu Bao said to Di Xiong incoherently: "Commander Di, the people who attacked us this time were obviously premeditated, and their combat effectiveness was not comparable to that of ordinary horse bandits. All the goods were robbed, and we were almost wiped out. In fact, those people were not horse bandits, and their identities have actually been figured out."

Di Xiong felt a little puzzled by the illogical words. He handed him a cup of tea and said, "Captain Liu, calm down first. Please tell us from the beginning how you were attacked."

The guard team led by Liu Bao was composed of three parties: a cavalry company from the Baotou Security Brigade, a squadron of 60 people from the Jiandaohui Security Brigade, and bodyguards from merchants who teamed up with the Beihai Company to sell goods. The three parties jointly nominated the security company commander Liu Bao as the captain of the guard.

After taking a sip of tea, Liu Bao began to speak slowly, "That day, our team was walking on a country road in Shenmu County in northern Shaanxi. It was almost evening and the weather was getting cold. We were all very tired after walking for so long during the day, so I got off my horse and was about to arrange for everyone to rest when suddenly there was a loud sound of artillery fire on both sides of the road. Several shells instantly fell near us, catching us off guard. I reacted quickly and quickly found a mound to lie down, but the others were not so lucky. Several merchants and more than a dozen members of the escort team were blown to pieces, and it was clear that they would not survive. Before I could react, a burst of gunfire rang out from all directions. Densely packed unfamiliar cavalry appeared on the surrounding hillsides. Bullets flew over like raindrops, and more than 20 members of the escort team were knocked down. My hat was also pierced by a bullet, and I was just a little bit away from having my head exploded. I finally climbed up, rode on my horse, organized the remaining infantry to find a hiding place, and the cavalry formed a formation, intending to counterattack the unknown enemy.

At this point, Liu Bao drank the tea in one gulp and continued, "However, the enemy's riding skills were superb. Two of our three machine guns were blown up, and we set up the only one to fire wildly at the enemy, killing many enemies. But there were too many enemies, and they had obviously ambushed us and had formed their battle formation early. Then they launched a fierce charge towards our team. After a round of exchange of fire, the enemy cavalry had rushed to a distance of ten steps away from us. They drew their sabers and slashed at us, so we had to draw our swords to fight. However, the difference in numbers was too obvious. There were only more than a hundred cavalrymen in the escort team, and there were at least three hundred cavalrymen who rushed up from the other side. After I killed two enemies with a knife in succession, my horse's head was chopped in the chaos, and I was thrown away by the injured and jumping horse, and rolled into the weeds and fainted, with one leg broken. . When I woke up in a daze, I found that I had difficulty moving, and the battle was over. According to the later headcount, more than 50 wounded soldiers in the escort were captured and brutally killed by the enemy. Among the rest of the escort, more than 70 cavalrymen and more than 100 infantrymen were killed. Many people were hacked to death by the enemy's sabers when they fled. The survivors were scattered. What is chilling is that this group of enemies is quite brutal. Not only did they kill many people in the escort, but they also did not spare the unarmed merchants and clerks. The merchants and clerks who acted with us were hacked to death. The horse bandits rarely did such a thing when they robbed. My face was covered in blood, and there were corpses of my companions all around me. They probably thought I was dead and didn't notice me. Then, they loaded the goods from the blown-up carriage into the carriage they had prepared, and gradually evacuated the area."

At this point, Liu Bao seemed quite depressed. He added: "If the enemy had not been careless during their retreat and had not dealt with the bodies, we might really not have known who they were. When night fell, I broke a wooden stick and slowly stood up. More than 30 people from the previously scattered guard team also ran back. I quickly asked them to count their own number while looking for survivors among the enemy's pile of bodies. As a result, they actually caught a wounded soldier who was not dead. Under our interrogation, the soldier said that he was from the Ma family army in Ningxia. The leader of this attack was their young master, named Ma Hongkui. A total of more than 1,500 cavalrymen came. We didn't know much about the Ma family army, and our defenses against them were indeed insufficient. There were only more than 30 people left in the guard team, and it was impossible to snatch the goods back. We had to escort the Ma family soldier back. The responsibility for the robbery this time is mine, and I will accept any punishment."

After listening to Liu Bao's report, Di Xiong's heart ached as if it was bleeding, but he still said calmly: "Captain Liu, the responsibility for encountering so many Ma family cavalry attacks is not entirely on you. I also have an unshirkable responsibility. I will not punish you for this matter. You can rest on a chair in the corridor first and don't run around. I have already called the dean. The doctor from Beihai Hospital will bring a wheelchair soon and take you to the hospital for treatment. The expenses will be borne by the company. Just hand over the prisoner to the Supervision Department."

After Liu Bao left, Di Xiong also fell into a long period of thinking. He felt that he had more and more enemies recently. Yan Xishan and Pan Juying could not be dealt with yet, and the Ma family army also got involved. This was indeed beyond his expectations. The reason why he had to send people to Shaanxi to sell goods was that Suiyuan was sparsely populated and the market was too small, so it was difficult to expand the business locally. Beihai Company produced a large amount of cloth, farm tools, and medicines that needed to be sold. The various forces here were also complicated. Zhang Yunshan, the warlord of Yulin, Shaanxi, had a good relationship with the Baotou merchants, but he did not expect that the caravan would encounter an enemy more fierce than the Mongols when it went to Shaanxi. Di Xiong actually had some impression of the name of the Ma family army. This was a group of northwestern warlords that had existed for a long time.

The high-ranking officials of the Ma family army were all Hui people. Their ancestors rose up in the Hui uprising in the late Qing Dynasty. During the Tongzhi period, the Hui people in Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu launched uprisings one after another. The most famous of them was a man named Ma Zhan'ao, who led the Hui army to defeat the Hunan Army that attacked them many times. Later, the Qing Dynasty changed its attitude towards them from extermination to amnesty. Ma Zhan'ao and his brothers accepted the amnesty of the Qing court on the premise of retaining their own territory and army, and helped the Qing court suppress other uprisings, becoming the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp known for its fierceness, but Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia were still under their control, thus gradually forming the power of the Ma family army. During the Republic of China period, Ma Zhan'ao's descendants had gradually withdrawn from the stage of history, but the sons of his brothers were still quite powerful, and now they are warlords in the northwest that cannot be ignored. Qinghai and Gansu are currently controlled by the brothers Ma Qi and Ma Lin, while Ningxia is in the hands of the brothers Ma Fuxiang and Ma Fushou. The Ma family army in Ningxia attacked the Di Xiong transport team, and that Ma Hongkui was the son of Ningxia General Ma Fuxiang. Di Xiong found it difficult to make an immediate decision on whether to retaliate against the Ma family army and force them to hand over the goods, so he planned to hold a high-level meeting tomorrow to discuss the matter.

The next morning, in the meeting room of Beihai Company, Di Xiong, Leng Hanbing, Wu Zhong, Wu Chunfeng, Lan Jinping, Bai Xiuling and others were sitting here to discuss the attack by the Ma family army. Wu Chunfeng spoke first: "Boss, I think we still have to deal with this group of enemies. No matter whether it is the Ma family army or the Donkey family army, if they dare to steal our Justice Party's things, we must hit them hard, otherwise our business will not be able to do business in Suiyuan."

Lan Jinping retorted: "Doesn't our company have enough enemies now? We just repelled Yan Xishan yesterday, and in a few days, Pan Juying will probably come to cause trouble. Do we have time to deal with the Ma family army? I heard from Lu Jianzhang that this group of forces is not as well-equipped as the Beiyang, but their soldiers are notoriously cruel and vicious in battle, and they are a desperado-like army. In addition, the Ma family army is mainly composed of cavalry. They come and go like the wind, and they are numerous. The cavalry's riding skills and combat qualities have surpassed the current Mongolian army. Our cavalry is obviously not as many as theirs, and right now, we have no spare energy to deal with them."

Wu Zhong said at this time: "What Lan Juzi said does make sense, but our Beihai Group's business is also very important. If we swallow our anger this time, the Ma family army will become more rampant, and the businessmen who cooperate with us will no longer trust us. This will also be a heavy blow to the development prospects of our company. It is true that we do have a lot of enemies now, but this is also due to our weak strength. If we can teach these enemies a lesson and use it to deter them, then the troubles in the future will be much smaller."

As soon as Wu Zhong finished speaking, there was a knock at the door of the conference room. Di Xiong let the person in and took a closer look. It turned out to be Di Chun. Di Chun said to Di Xiong: "Boss, the intelligence officer has delivered important information. I have to interrupt you. Pan Juying led the 20th Beiyang Division to attack. Three brigades and a heavy artillery regiment have all been dispatched. They are only tens of kilometers away from Baotou!"

When everyone heard this, they all became nervous and started discussing regardless of the meeting rules. Di Chun handed the information to Di Xiong and left immediately.

Di Xiong said to Wu Zhong, "The situation is extremely urgent now. Mr. Wu has always been resourceful. I wonder if you can come up with a solution."

Wu Zhong sighed and said, "The difference in strength between the enemy and us is too great. We can only shrink our forces and defend Baotou City and Hongliu Town where Beihai Company is located first. We have to give up other places first. However, Zhang Shaozeng said that Pan Juying is greedy and rude. He is unpopular in the 20th Division. Then there must be some officers who oppose him among the officers of the 20th Division. If we can bribe the officers who oppose him and let them fight back, there may be hope of winning. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the 20th Division."

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "This is not difficult. Brigadier General Zhang Zhenyang and Regimental Commander Zhang Shusheng were both from the 20th Regiment of Beiyang, the predecessor of the 20th Division. They must be very familiar with the internal affairs of the 20th Division. Wouldn't it be easier to find out if we invite them here and ask them?"

Although Zhang Zhenyang was the brigade commander, he was not a great man or a Mohist, so he could not attend today's meeting. Zhang Shusheng had not even joined the Justice Party. Di Xiong quickly sent someone to invite them, and at the same time ordered all troops to withdraw to Baotou City and Hongliu Town and build fortifications.