Black Flag Army

Although the white-faced young man was wearing shabby clothes, he had a handsome face and said to Wu Zhong politely, "Old man! Is there a Mr. Di Xiong living here?"

Just as Di Fu was about to answer, Bai Xiuling in the yard answered first: "Is it Wu Chunfeng who is talking?" She walked to the door with her cane and saw the three young men. She shouted happily. Of course she recognized them. They were Leng Hanbing, Wu Chunfeng and Hong Tianlie. Like Wu Chunlei, they were her best friends in the Flying Eagle Gang. She said to Di Fu: "Uncle Fu! They are all my friends. Let them in."

Di Fu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly invited the three teenagers in. The three teenagers saw that Bai Xiuling was walking a little lame and was watering several chrysanthemums in the yard. They looked very free and were very surprised. They looked at each other and went in. Bai Xiuling took them to the room to sit down. Di Fu brought each of them a cup of tea and left the room.

In Di Xiong's room, after listening to Bai Xiuling's story, the purple-faced young man Hong Tianlie said dejectedly: "I thought there would be a bloody battle, but nothing happened. Since you are fine, come back with us!"

Bai Xiuling said, "Why should we go back? I don't want to live a life worse than pigs and dogs anymore. I have an idea. Let's join forces with Di Xiong and get rid of all four big guys. Then we can make Di Xiong the boss. Di Xiong is a skilled martial artist, accurate marksman, righteous, and well-educated. He is the best candidate to be the boss. If he becomes the boss, our lives will change dramatically, and life will definitely be much better than before."

Leng Hanbing said coldly: "You have only known him for two days, and you praise him so much. It's a bit too much. Do you really know him? He is a policeman. Maybe he is pretending to be nice to you, and then he will get the details and catch us all in one fell swoop."

Leng Hanbing is mature beyond his years and among these people, his analysis of problems is often very insightful.

Wu Chunfeng looked around and said, "Sister Bai! You are the oldest among the five of us. We should obey your words. However, Brother Chunlei was beaten so badly that he almost died. You asked us to worship him as the boss. This is too unreasonable! How sad Brother Chunlei would be if he knew!"

Hong Tianlie said to Leng Hanbing: "I think she is possessed by evil spirits. Di Xiong is a man of evil magic."

Bai Xiuling said anxiously, "He is not that kind of person. When I was captured, Wu Chunlei pulled out a knife to kill him, but he didn't know Wu Chunlei, so of course he would show no mercy. In order to save me, he beat Liang Mazi severely. I saw it with my own eyes. For this, he offended the chief of the police station and lost his job. By the way, how is Chunlei now?"

Hong Tianlie said: "He was seriously injured. Didn't Chunfeng already say that?"

Bai Xiuling said: "Then send him to the hospital quickly!"

Wu Chunfeng said, "How can we send him off if we don't have money? The hospitalization fee alone costs two dollars. After Fourth Master Fei was admitted, the medical expenses have already cost eight dollars!"

Bai Xiuling took out a stack of silver dollars and said, "This is twenty dollars, all of Di Xiong's family fortune. He asked me to give it to Chunlei for treatment. He said he must cure Wu Chunlei's injury. Hanbing! Take it and use it to treat Chunlei's injury!"

Leng Hanbing looked at the white silver dollars and was silent for a while before saying, "From the furnishings in this yard, he is not a rich man, but he can take out twenty dollars at once. This Di Xiong is really generous. Our hard days in the Flying Eagle Gang should be over. Since he is no longer a policeman, I agree to join hands with him to kill the gang leader and the three elders, but the matter of nominating him as the boss should be decided after we really get to know him. What do you think?"

Wu Chunfeng and Hong Tianlie both agreed. They had wanted to rebel for a long time, but they just didn't have a leader. Bai Xiuling breathed a sigh of relief. Although she was not completely satisfied, it was not easy to convince them to join forces with Di Xiong. She hated Boss Zhang the most because she had suffered much more in the Flying Eagle Gang than Leng Hanbing and the others.

At noon, Di Xiong personally prepared a table of dishes for Leng Hanbing, Hong Tianlie and Wu Chunfeng to eat, and Bai Xiuling was the guest. There were famous dishes such as braised lion's head and diced chicken in a pot. Hong Tianlie and others had never eaten such a sumptuous banquet before, and they devoured it one by one.

Di Xiong said very seriously: "I heard from Xiuling that you are all orphans, and I have no parents either. However, if a few orphans get together and form a family, they are no longer orphans. I am a few years older than you, so I have the nerve to be your eldest brother. I will treat you as my own brothers and sisters, and from now on, we will share happiness and hardship, and we will stand together through thick and thin, honor and disgrace. I can guarantee it! If you all follow me, within a year, you will all become wealthy people with tens of thousands of dollars in your pockets!"

When Hong Tianlie and Wu Chunfeng heard this, they were excited. "A rich man with tens of thousands of dollars!" These words were too tempting for them, but Leng Hanbing remained calm and kept a cold face. Bai Xiuling's face was full of worry. She knew very well that Di Xiong didn't have much money and thought he was bragging.

Di Xiong added, "I have a dream, which is to lead an army one day to recover the lost territories of the Qing Dynasty in the north, including Beihai Lake, Outer Northeast, Outer Northwest, and Taiwan. But it takes a lot of money to support an army, so I will first open a company. There will be many factories and shops under the company. The restaurant that Xiuling saw is the first shop of the company. Once I make enough money, I can recruit troops."

Leng Hanbing suddenly asked: "You are talking about Outer Northeast. Does it include Hailanpao?"

Di Xiong looked at him in surprise and said, "Of course it includes Harbin. From July 16 to 21, 1900, the Tsarist Russians killed more than 6,000 Chinese people in Harbin. This is a painful history that no Chinese should forget."

Leng Hanbing said: "The Russian Empire has millions of powerful troops. The Qing army was defeated by them. The Beiyang Army is known as a strong army. But they dare not touch them. What right do you have to recover Outer Northeast?"

Di Xiong said: "The Qing army can't beat them, only because the Qing army is too corrupt and incompetent. The army under my command will never be as corrupt and incompetent as the Qing army, and will be stronger than the Beiyang army. No country can be strong forever, and the same is true for Tsarist Russia. After their defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, their internal conflicts are getting worse. Once a civil war breaks out, it will be our best chance to recover Outer Northeast."

Hong Tianlie said: "If I can really get rich, I will eat delicious food and drink good wine every day, the kind of foreign wine, not the old liquor that Zhang Lao Da and his friends drink."

Bai Xiuling smiled and curled her lips and said, "Look at how little you have, all you know is drinking and eating meat."

She asked Wu Chunfeng: "What do you wish for after you become rich?"

Wu Chunfeng said, "I hope to invite Liu Xikui, a famous actor from the Beijing Grand Theater, to perform a play for me alone, and then marry two wives as beautiful as Liu Xikui."

Bai Xiuling shook her head and said, "Liu Xikui is a rare and beautiful woman in the world. Even the president wants her. You actually want to marry two of them. You are so greedy. I also like to watch Liu Xikui's plays, but I never expect her to sing for me alone. I am very satisfied to be able to watch her sing a play in the audience."

Liu Xikui was also considered a strange woman in the Republic of China. As an actress, she was pursued by five presidents of the Republic of China. Yuan Shikai was a loyal fan of her and had proposed to take her in as his "goddaughter". Liu Xikui knew what "goddaughter" meant and decisively refused. Later, the second and third sons of Yuan also took a fancy to her. The two had a conflict over her, but they gave up when they heard that their father was a fan of her. The third son of Yuan liked to make friends with gangsters and was a sworn brother with the leader of the Tianjin Green Gang. In order to show his filial piety, he asked the Green Gang brothers to kidnap Liu Xikui to Yuan's house and send her to his father's bed. Although Yuan Shikai was lustful, as a loyal fan of the drama, he was unwilling to use such a low-level method to possess his idol. He untied her, apologized, beat up the third son of Yuan, and sent guards to send her back. After being beaten, the third son of Yuan said: Whoever dares to marry Liu Xikui will have his limbs crippled. Liu Xikui had to break up with Mei Lanfang, who was in love with her, in tears. The words "There is a kind of love called giving up" were heard at this time.

The leader of the Feiying Gang, Zhang Zongqi, was a fat man in his forties. Due to excessive drinking and sex, his eyes were sunken and his face was old, making him look like he was in his fifties. He and Qian Laoer were having fun with their favorite prostitutes in a brothel when Lu Laosan and Wu Chunfeng hurried in.

The skinny Lu Lao San said in panic, "Brother! Lao Si and his men failed in Beijing Xicheng yesterday. Xiao Bai was caught by the police while 'cutting the goods'. Lao Si and Wu Chunlei were both severely injured."

When Qian Laoer, who had pockmarks all over his face, heard this, he jumped up and said, "Brother! If Xiaobai betrays us, we'll be finished. Why don't we go to the Tianjin Concession to avoid the storm?"

Zhang Lao Da said calmly, "Why are you panicking? We have people in the police station. If they want to arrest us, would they not report it? Lao San, tell me first. Where are Lao Si and Wu Chunlei now? Where did the police who arrested Xiao Bai come from?"

Lu Lao San said, "I sent Lao Si to the Xishiku Church Hospital. Wu Chunlei was in the cabin, but the police didn't go to arrest him. Later, Wu Chunfeng found out that the policeman was called Di Xiong, a detective from the Xicheng Police Station. However, he had offended his superiors and had been fired. He didn't send Xiao Bai to be locked up, but kept him at home. Wu Chunfeng had already found out his home address: No. 20, Lane , Xihe Street."

Wu Chunfeng added: "Besides Di Xiong, his family only has an old servant who is over fifty years old."

Boss Zhang laughed and said, "Since he is no longer a policeman, why should we be afraid of him? He is unwilling to hand Xiao Bai over, and he must want to keep her at home and eat her all by himself because she is beautiful. This guy actually dared to hurt my brother, so we will kill him tonight and get Xiao Bai out."

Wu Chunfeng was secretly delighted when he heard this, but on the surface he advised: "Boss! Di Xiong is very skilled in martial arts, can he succeed?"