Black Flag Army

The next morning, the gunfire completely subsided. At around 10 a.m., the pursuing troops returned to the city. The officers happily reported the results of the battle to Di Xiong. A large number of weapons and ammunition and hundreds of tons of food and other supplies were seized. What made Di Xiong most happy was that 30 heavy artillery pieces were seized, including three Krupp heavy artillery pieces. This was a timely help for the Baotou Guard Brigade, which was seriously lacking in heavy artillery. Although there were some casualties, it was worth it. The Beiyang Army, which posed the greatest threat to the Beihai Group, was defeated.

In the evening, the Justice Party Intelligence Department received an urgent letter from the Guisui intelligence officer. Wu Chunfeng hurriedly took the letter to the Beihai Company's Baotou office and reported to Di Xiong: "The Guisui side reported that Pan Juying led several thousand Beiyang troops into Guisui City. Before Pan Juying entered the city, Zhang Peisong, who controlled Guisui City, abandoned his post and left Guisui with his confidants and family. After Pan Juying entered the city, he sent troops to search and confiscate a large number of wealthy merchants, and used the seized money to pay the soldiers."

Beihai Company also had an office in Baotou City. In order to stabilize the morale of the troops, Di Xiong stayed in Baotou City during the Battle of Baotou.

Lan Jinchun, who was beside Di Xiong, sighed, "What a pity! Pan Juying only led a group of defeated soldiers, but Zhang Peisong didn't dare to resist and just left. Guisui City was taken away by Pan Juying for nothing."

Di Xiong said: "Zhang Peisong's approach is correct. Pan Juying lost only more than 2,000 people in Baotou. Together with the two regiments of the Third Brigade that escaped, there are no more than 5,000 people in total. There should be more than 8,000 people left. These are all regular Beiyang troops. Zhang Peisong only has a few hundred policemen under his command. They can't resist."

Di Xiong said to his secretary Ai Yun, "Notify all the company executives to come to the meeting. We have to deal with the Ma family army in Ningxia. We can't let them swallow up the goods for nothing."

Ai Yun said: "President Li and Section Chief Wu were injured yesterday and may come later." At the critical moment of the battle between Baotou City and the Beiyang Army the day before, Li Fei and Wu Chunfeng both went up to the top of the city to help in the battle. Unfortunately, they were injured by the Beiyang Army's artillery shells and are still in Beihai Hospital for treatment and dressing.

After a while, Wu Zhong, Lan Jinping, Leng Hanbing, Tian Mengxue, Bai Xiuling and others gathered in the conference room of Beihai Company again to continue discussing the issue of the Ma family army that had not been completed last time.

This time, Lan Jinping spoke first: "My idea is the same as last time. We can't control the robbery of the Ma family army at the moment. Don't consider their scope of activities when doing business. Their cavalry is quite powerful, and the number of cavalry is not comparable to ours. I heard that the Ma family army in Ningxia has more than 10,000 people. They are all brutal and cruel people who kill without blinking an eye. Their combat effectiveness is also better than Pan Juying's army. We suffered considerable losses in the battle with the Beiyang Army, let alone them".

Wu Chunfeng, who had just arrived, immediately retorted: "Sister Lan, if we just swallow our anger, wouldn't we be afraid of the Ma family army? This will only make them more rampant. Moreover, since they are cavalry, their range of activities is quite wide. Even if we want to hide from them, there is no guarantee that we will meet them one day. In my opinion, why don't we just go directly to Yinchuan and take the goods back?"

Leng Hanbing then laughed and said, "Chief Wu, have you been with Hong Tianlie for too long that you have started to have wild ideas? Our troops in Baotou now total less than three thousand people, and most of them are infantry. With such a small number of people, they want to capture Yinchuan, which is defended by so many cavalry. This is pure dreaming and it is simply unrealistic."

Li Fei said: "It is naturally impossible for us to attack Yinchuan with our current strength, but we should be able to destroy small enemy forces. Don't we still have planes? I think we should let the planes find some smaller Ma family soldiers, and try to find an opportunity to launch an ambush, capture some senior cadres of the Ma family army, and use them as bargaining chips to exchange for our goods. After all, those goods are related to our credibility, and we can't just let the enemy swallow them up like this."

Tian Mengxue said, "The goods do need to be taken back, but it would be better not to send out planes. Planes have been dispatched too frequently recently, and they are too conspicuous. They are always targeted by all kinds of people, and the planes have had various problems recently. The people at the aircraft factory were still busy repairing them today. Mr. Feng has been working overtime all night these days. It is very hard. He has lost a lot of weight and his temper has become worse. He always complains that we are too dependent on his planes, and I am beginning to feel annoyed by his noise. In addition, Ningxia is still quite far away from us, and the range of the planes is not enough, right? Currently, our newest plane has a range of only 300 kilometers."

Wu Zhong seemed to have thought of something at this time. He stood up and said, "Everyone, I think we still have to send people to ambush the Ma family army, and we have to ambush them in Shaanxi. As for the movements of the Ma family army, it is better to let the intelligence department investigate. To take back the goods, we still need to capture the senior members of the Ma family army, and the people captured must be worth 150,000 oceans. Such people can only be the family members of the other leader. Judging from the activities of the Ma family army, only the brothers Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongcai can be captured. They are the two most powerful sons of the family of Ma Fuxiang, the current governor of Ningxia. Both of them hold high positions in the army and control a lot of troops. The last robbery was also done by Ma Hongkui. It would be best if we could catch him."

Bai Xiuling suddenly asked: "Wu Juzi, most of our troops are infantry, right? The last intelligence said that Ma Hongkui's troops are all cavalry, at least more than a thousand people. Is it really advantageous to use infantry to ambush cavalry? Can we really win and capture the enemy's leader? Even if we can't win, the enemy can easily escape."

Di Xiong responded at this time: "The infantry is not completely helpless against the cavalry. We can find a place with steep terrain to limit the advantage of the cavalry. At the same time, tools such as tripwires and barbed wire can also be used to deal with the enemy's cavalry. We are not without a chance of winning. Old Wu's idea is still feasible, but to ambush Ma Hongkui, we need enough bait. We can send a group of people pretending to be a caravan to Shaanxi to transport goods again, thereby luring Ma Hongkui into falling for it. Of course, the prerequisite for doing this is to figure out the route of their cavalry's actions, so the investigation work of the intelligence department is also very important."

Di Xiong took out three egg-sized objects from his bag, one green, one black, and one yellow. Seeing that everyone was looking at him in confusion, he smiled and said, "These are pocket mines. Although they are small, they are powerful weapons against cavalry. You don't need to spend time burying them. When the enemy cavalry rushes over, just scatter them on the ground quickly. Sprinkle black mines on black soil, yellow mines on yellow soil, and green mines on green grass. The cavalry can't see them and can't avoid them. They will explode when they step on them. One mine can at least blow off a horse's leg, and that's enough."

Everyone was very happy after watching it. Wu Chunfeng said, "The boss has a brilliant idea, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people. The end of the Ma family army has come."

Lan Jinping then said: "Boss, even if we really want to ambush the Ma family army, it will probably take some time. The continuous fighting with the Beiyang Army has made the army quite exhausted. Moreover, two regiments of our guard brigade were not fully staffed. After the Battle of Baotou, they lost a lot of people, and they still need new recruits, especially Liu Zhendong's regiment. His troops suffered the heaviest casualties this time. In addition, the aircraft factory is too eye-catching, and the relocation of the aircraft factory can no longer be delayed. It is better to relocate it as soon as possible."

Di Xiong replied: "That's for sure. Brigade Commander Zhang will be holding his wedding with Ji Fang this month, so he definitely has no time to formulate a battle plan recently. We have only determined the policy on how to deal with the Ma family army. This month, at most we will just send out an intelligence team. As for specific actions, I'm afraid they will not be implemented until next month."

Zhang Zhenyang, a bachelor in his thirties, suddenly wanted to get married. He had his eyes on Ji Fang, a fellow villager from Jinan. Ji Fang was also in her thirties and a widow with two five-year-old twins. Ji Fang's previous husband was a mechanic in a spinning mill run by the Japanese in Yanshan Town. He had to work more than ten hours a day. Her husband was so tired that he was sick but was not allowed to take leave. In the end, he died of exhaustion on the workbench. After Ji Fang took her children to Weili Textile Factory, she was soon promoted to workshop director by the factory director Hu Lin because of her serious work and superb skills. After Li Jincai resigned as deputy factory director, she became the deputy factory director. After arriving in Suiyuan, the factory director Hu Lin became the deputy general manager. Di Xiong personally appointed Ji Fang to replace Hu Lin as the director of the textile factory. As the commander of the security brigade, Zhang Zhenyang did not dislike her being a widow. Of course, Ji Fang did not dislike Zhang Zhenyang for missing a leg, although he had a prosthesis and it was generally not visible.

While Di Xiong was having a meeting, Pan Juying was also reorganizing his troops. Due to the rebellion of his subordinates and the attack on his division headquarters, not only did the 20th Division's attack on Baotou fail, but he also suffered heavy losses. Fan Guozhang's troops suffered nearly one-third of casualties. The worst-hit Third Regiment had less than a hundred people left, and they were scattered and ran back. Xiao Guangchuan was slightly better, but he also suffered more than 800 casualties. Of course, what hurt Pan Juying the most was his cavalry brigade. He always felt that his failure was caused by the rebellion of the cavalry brigade, and he believed that the traitor was Pan Erxi himself, because none of the officers above the cavalry brigade level returned, and only more than 600 unorganized cavalry troops ran back.

Pan Juying, who was furious, immediately sent a telegram to President Yuan, hoping that he would send troops to support him immediately. However, he received a reply soon. The telegram was not sent by Yuan Shikai, but by Xu Shuzheng, the deputy minister of the Army. He told Pan Juying that these two days were the days when Yuan Shikai was officially elected as the president. He was not in the mood to take care of Suiyuan's affairs now, so he asked Pan Juying to figure it out himself. Pan Juying, who was frustrated, had to temporarily give up the plan to attack Baotou again. He turned to vent his anger on other people in Guisui. He asked his subordinates to arrest Zhang Peisong's so-called accomplices in the name of the former police chief Zhang Peisong colluding with the Mongolian bandits, and took the opportunity to extort money. In addition, Fan Guozhang and Xiao Guangchuan also sent troops to collect various exorbitant taxes, which made Guisui City restless, and the people fled Guisui one after another.

October 6, 1913, Beijing was very lively. There were gongs and drums everywhere, and the streets were full of military and police. Liu Dasha and Li Manniu wanted to lead a group of brothers to attack the pawnshop of Prince Qing's mansion to get some money, but they were stopped by Hong Tianlie and asked to behave themselves. Li Manniu asked, "Boss, what day is today? Why can't we move?"

Hong Tianlie shook his head and said, "Today is the day when Yuan Shikai is elected as the official president. He used to be the provisional president. He takes this very seriously. The streets are full of soldiers. Even many people who look like ordinary people are Yuan Shikai's army in disguise. You still want to cause trouble today. Don't you want to live?"

Li Manniu said: "Hasn't Yuan been the one who has the final say in Beijing for a long time? Does he, the president, need to be elected again? Those high-ranking officials participating in the election are basically his people."

Hong Tianlie sneered: "These upper-class people just love to go through the motions. They value this, and others dare not point fingers. But this is a big event after all, so there are a lot of Beiyang soldiers. It is quite dangerous to be caught on such a day, so you guys better be honest."

In fact, what Li Manniu said was not entirely correct. In addition to the Progressive Party and the Civic Party who supported Yuan Shikai, the largest party, the White Star Party, also had quite a few people participating in today's election. Although the Guangdong doctor and the Changsha gentleman had long since gone into exile overseas, there were still many people in the White Star Party who had illusions. They felt that they could rely on the constitution to restrict Yuan Shikai, so quite a few people in the White Star Party were already planning to vote for Yuan Shikai. Some of the congressmen who opposed Yuan Shikai's election had already abstained and went south, and some of the congressmen were bribed and joined Yuan Shikai.

No one expected that before the election, Yuan Shikai actually sent military police to surround the parliament building. Those military police claimed that they would not be allowed to come out unless Yuan Shikai was elected president. This shameless practice aroused the disgust of the parliamentarians. As a result, Yuan Shikai failed to be elected in the first and second elections because there were too many people who opposed and abstained. It was not until the third election in the evening that under the threat of water deprivation, hunger strike, and imprisonment, the parliamentarians were forced to elect Yuan Shikai as the official president.

On October 10, Yuan Shikai officially took office as President, and Xiong Bingsan of the Progressive Party became Prime Minister.

In Baotou City, Suiyuan, Di Xiong put down the newspaper and sneered: "Using the army to force the parliament to elect him as president, what is the difference between this and the emperor? This so-called democratically elected president is a joke."

Lan Jinchun asked: "Now that Yuan Shikai has become the official president, will he be free to deal with us?"

Di Xiong shook his head and said, "No, his fight with the White Star Party has just begun. The White Star Party will not be content to be his puppet. There are many ways to trip them up. Sooner or later, they will force him to get angry and dissolve the parliament and declare the White Star Party an illegal organization. So they will not deal with us for the time being. We must solve the Ma family army issue as soon as possible and then enter Outer Mongolia. After we reach Outer Mongolia, Yuan Shikai will have no way to deal with us."