Black Flag Army

On the morning of June 1, 1914, in the meeting room of the Prime Minister Prince Handado's palace in Kulun, the capital of the pseudo-Mongolian state, a maid named Bian Zhimei in a white dress came in with four cups of hot milk tea on a tray and placed one cup in front of Handado and three guests. Bian Zhimei, who had now adopted a Mongolian woman's name, Qiqige, heard a red-faced guest getting angry: "This Huter is too outrageous. He invited in more than 7,000 Han people without even saying hello to us, including more than 3,000 armed personnel. What if these people rebel? Who made this guy a prince in the first place?"

Bian Zhimei recognized the red-faced guest as the Minister of Defense Danbijian, a staunch anti-Han faction. It was he who strongly encouraged the Mongolian puppet emperor to issue the order to expel the Han people.

Finance Minister Damu said: "Before Huter invited Beihai Group, he did consult the emperor and got the emperor's approval, and he also got the documents approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current finances are indeed too poor to support five divisions of troops. Huter is also sharing the country's worries. Beihai Group has a strong ability to make money in Suiyuan. If they can provide us with 50,000 oceans in taxes every month after they arrive in Erdenet as Huter said, it will greatly ease the financial tension. I just didn't expect them to bring so many armed personnel."

Finance Minister Damu was a thin man with gray hair. He had always been worried about the lack of money in the treasury, so he naturally supported Huter's approach. Huter invited Beihai Group because he had repeatedly persuaded the Mongolian pseudo-emperor to agree after receiving money. But of course he did not admit it at this time and put all the blame on the Mongolian pseudo-emperor.

The third guest was the Mongolian Army's Chief Advisor, the bearded Ivanov. Ivanov was originally only an advisor to the Haishan Division, but the original chief advisor was suddenly transferred back to his country, so he was promoted to the Chief Advisor of the Mongolian Army.

Ivanov had been staring at Bian Zhimei until she lowered her head. He then said, "Mr. Defense Minister is worried that the local forces in Huter are too strong. I have a solution. Let Zagalov, the adviser of the old Prince Erdenet, be the brigade commander of this palace guard brigade. The regiment commander and battalion commander can also use Zagalov's men. Isn't it okay?"

Danbijian and Damu both thought it was a good idea, and Prime Minister Hangdato also agreed. Prime Minister Hangdato was in his fifties, with a slightly fat face and a pair of goldfish eyes.

Ivanov then asked Hondado, "Are all the maids in the Prime Minister's Mansion so beautiful? Can you give me this maid in white?"

When Bian Zhimei heard this, her face turned pale.

Hang Daduo shook his head and said, "You can choose any other maid, but Qiqige is not suitable. She is the most beautiful in the mansion. My three sons want to take her as a concubine. They are fighting over her head and blood. If I give her to you, my three sons will fight me to the death."

Danbijian was also a lecher. He said to Ivanov, "There are dozens of maids in the Prime Minister's Mansion, and there are a few pretty ones, but compared with this Qiqige, they are like weeds and flowers. Qiqige means flower in Mongolian. She really lives up to her name. I don't know where she came from, but the Prime Minister got a bargain with her."

Hang Daduo said, "Stop talking nonsense! Send an official document to Erdenet to appoint Zagalov as the brigade commander. We can't delay and it must be done this afternoon."

Danbijian smiled and said, "Okay! Okay! Prime Minister, don't be angry, I will do as you say. I have disliked that kid Huter for a long time. If the old prince was not seriously ill and his two sons had not killed each other, the position of prince would have been taken by such a waste. Of course, if he had been a useless prince peacefully, no one would have cared too much about him. Now he is so bold and presumptuous that he has attracted so many Han people to come to our Mongolian territory to make trouble. I don't think he wants the position of prince anymore. This time when Lord Zagalov goes to Erdenet to take up the post, he must make sure to rectify the atmosphere there and not let the Han people's idea of ​​annexing Mongolia revive."

After that, Danbijian picked up his pen and started writing official documents. The discussion about Erdenet by others was not over yet. At this time, Ivanov continued, "Zagalov is also my capable general. With him in charge of Erdenet, those Chinese people will not cause any trouble even if they are more numerous. However, according to what you said, nearly half of the more than 7,000 Chinese are soldiers. It would be very dangerous if they rebelled in Mongolia, so we still have to be careful about this. Let me say something unpleasant. The strength of your Mongolian army is not even as good as the bandits of our Tsarist Russia. Look at your army. What era is it? There are still people who use bows and arrows as their main weapon. I was I went to Haishan to inspect a while ago and found that one of his regiments didn't even have a new rifle. Only half of the people had old-fashioned muskets, and the others had scimitars and bows and arrows. This is simply a joke. And those so-called Mongolian elite cavalry, they are dressed like beggars, can't even stand steadily in a military posture, and they are out of breath after running a few steps. The quality of the army is so poor, can you still expect them to defeat the Chinese? Although the Beiyang government's army is not very good, at least its equipment is better than yours. No matter how capable Zagarov is, if he leads an army that is worse than beggars, he may fail. I don't want your army to drag him down."

In fact, Ivanov did not know the composition of Di Xiong's army, so he directly mistook the Baotou Guard Brigade for the Beiyang Army.

Hearing Ivanov humiliating the Mongolian army, Hangdaduo was naturally furious, but the Tsarist Russians were not people like them who dared to offend, so they dared not speak out. Damu, who was sitting on the other side, complained in his heart: You are also responsible for the poor military supplies of our Mongolia. You are so shameless here, saying that we should exchange silver for guns and ammunition. As a result, the silver was given as early as last year, but only half of the guns and ammunition were given. Are we willing to take bows and arrows? As for military uniforms, food and the like, they refused to give them no matter how much we asked. How can soldiers have the mind to fight when they can't even eat enough? The situation of the army must be a mess. Not only that, some of our few supplies have to be supplied to you Tsarist Russians first. Your army has no worries about food and clothing, but now you are blaming us. It's simply a reversal of right and wrong. However, Damu could only think about these words in his heart. He didn't dare to say a word to oppose Ivanov's accusation.

After listening to Ivanov's complaints, Handado said, "What you mean, sir, is that our Mongolian army cannot defeat those Han people? Are you planning to transfer troops from your country to Lord Zagalov for command?"

After talking for a long time, Ivanov took a sip of milk tea and then said, "That's right. You are not so stupid after all. Isn't our Russian main force going to occupy Tannu Uriankhai with your Kulun Army this month? The Mongolian army over there has been basically disbanded. The top leaders of our country have already said that the region does not need independence, so it will directly become the territory of our Tsarist Russia. Things have basically settled down, and I don't think we will need too many troops. I will ask my superiors to transfer a regiment of Cossack cavalry to Erdenet and hand it over to Zagarov for command. With our Russian cavalry stationed there, you should feel relieved. In addition, you can't be lazy on your side. Immediately transfer two regiments from the Kulun Army to Zagarov. I can trust Erdenet's army. Who knows what that useless prince is thinking. This matter must be done within these two days. Do you understand?"

As Handado listened to Ivanov's constant orders, he felt more and more that he had no face as prime minister, but he did not dare to object at all, and said tremblingly: "The chief adviser is right, Danbijian, did you hear me? Hurry up and add what the chief adviser said to the official documents you wrote, especially the matter of the Kulun army transferring troops to Erdenet."

Danbijian, who was still writing official documents, suddenly stopped writing when he heard this and asked Hangdaduo: "Mr. Prime Minister, if we mobilize so many troops to Erdenet, will it alarm the Huter and those Han armed forces? If they are frightened and rebel in advance, it will be a great threat to Mongolia."

Hangdaduo immediately shouted: "You coward, we have the elite cavalry of the Russian Lord, and you are still afraid that Huter and those Han people will cause trouble. As for the problem of too many troops, just make up an excuse, just...just say that Prince Utai is going to hold a grand military parade, and requires all places to transfer their troops to Kulun to participate in the parade. Doesn't that give you a reason to transfer Erdenet's local troops? As for those Han people, just say that there are bandits making trouble in Hulunbuir, and you hope to mobilize their troops to eliminate those bandits. There are plenty of reasons to transfer them away. If they dare to resist, they will surrender once the Russian Lord's troops arrive, right?" After saying that, Hangdaduo laughed, and several of his confidants also laughed along. The whole meeting room seemed to be filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Of course, Danbijian didn't dare to say anything more, and immediately picked up the pen to continue writing the official document. At this time, Bian Zhimei, who was serving tea, was worried. According to the decisions of the meeting, Erdenet might have a conflict ahead of time. She knew very well that according to Di Xiong's character, he would never abandon his army, so a battle with the Kulun army was inevitable, but she also knew that Di Xiong's army had been traveling all the way, and they must be exhausted when they arrived in Erdenet. If they were suddenly attacked by the enemy, it would be hard to say who would win. Moreover, the enemy this time might not only be the Mongolian army, but also the Tsarist Russian cavalry. This made Bian Zhimei even more afraid. She had been in Kulun for some time, and she had seen a lot of local Tsarist Russian troops. Although these Russians had very poor military discipline and often robbed local people and bullied women, they fought very hard. According to the intelligence collected by Bian Zhimei, in terms of the level of horseback riding and hand-to-hand combat, the Baotou Guard Brigade was not as good as them. For this reason, Bian Zhimei was more convinced that she should quickly send someone to notify Xian Yujie in Erdenet.

Hang Daduo invited the guests to lunch at noon, and they drank a lot of wine together. Seeing that they were drunk and fell asleep in the living room, Bian Zhimei quietly left the living room and walked to the front yard. Several maids in green clothes who were carrying things came towards her. When they saw her, they quickly stepped aside to make way for her. The maids in the Prime Minister's Mansion were divided into three levels. The third-level maids wore blue clothes, the second-level maids wore green clothes, and the first-level maids could wear white clothes. The maids in the Prime Minister's Mansion were clearly divided into different levels. The lower-level maids not only had to make way for the higher-level maids, but also had to obey their orders.

When Bian Zhimei first entered the Prime Minister's Mansion, she was just a third-class blue-clothed maid and had to endure the orders and bullying of the first- and second-class maids. However, she only worked as a third-class maid for one day before she was noticed by the lustful eldest son of Hangdado, who dragged her into the room and raped her. The next day, Bian Zhimei was promoted to a second-class green-clothed maid by the eldest son. On the third day, when the eldest son went out hunting, she was raped directly in the maid's dormitory by the second son. There were other maids watching in the dormitory at the time. Bian Zhimei resisted, and several maids in the dormitory, under the orders of the second son, held her limbs until the second son was done, and then let her go. After the second son left, the maids actually ridiculed Bian Zhimei for not knowing how to abide by the unspoken rules and said that she was going to be in trouble. The unspoken rule of the Prime Minister's Mansion is that maids cannot resist when they are bullied by their masters.

Bian Zhimei cried to Prime Minister Hang Daduo about the beastly behavior of the two young masters, claiming that she was a married woman. Prime Minister Hang Daduo called her husband, the tinker, into the mansion. The tinker was Sun Xiaotie. Hang Daduo gave the tinker 20 silver dollars as compensation, and then asked the tinker to sign a divorce letter to cancel his engagement with Ye Zhimei. The tinker refused to sign, and was whipped by the guards of the Prime Minister's Mansion, so he had to sign. The compensation for Bian Zhimei was to promote her to a first-class white maid. When the eldest young master came back from hunting, he learned that the woman he had just got was ruined by the second young master. He was very angry, so he fought with the second young master and broke one of his legs. He also had a cut on his head by the second young master, and his face was covered with blood. This incident alarmed everyone in the mansion. The eldest young master was punished by Hang Daduo to kneel for two hours, and the second young master was not punished because he could not get out of bed due to a broken leg. The third young master, who had been smoking opium in his room, came out to watch the fun upon hearing the news. He saw the beautiful Bian Zhimei. He asked his mother to ask his father for Bian Zhimei to be his bedchamber slave. His mother was Hang Dado's favorite concubine, so Hang Dado agreed. Bian Zhimei, a first-class maid in white, also served as the third young master's bedchamber slave.

"Qiqige! Where are you going?" asked the third young master.

When Bian Zhimei was about to push open the gate, she was discovered by the third young master. The third young master was called Ye He, 24 years old, a tall and thin man with a pale complexion. He looked weak because he liked to smoke opium.

Qiqige said, "I'm going to my ex-husband's house to get some clothes and medicine. Although he broke off the engagement with me, he still hasn't taken some items."