Black Flag Army

On an early morning in August, in Baotou city, two middle-aged men and women in ragged clothes were walking on the city streets with their luggage on their backs. Most of the shops on both sides of the street were closed and in dilapidated condition, and there were few pedestrians on the street.

The pale and skinny woman said to the man next to her: "Didn't you say in your article that Baotou is a paradise and how prosperous the market is? Why is it so bleak? It's not even as good as Zhangjiakou."

The middle-aged man sighed, "Baotou was prosperous under Mr. Di's rule. Now that Mr. Di is gone, Baotou has been looted by three warlords in turn. Eighty percent of the merchants have been looted. Of course it has become like this."

The woman asked, "Is it Mr. Di who invited you to Beitang City to be the president of the newspaper? Is he really a business genius?"

The middle-aged man said, "To this day, there are still people in Nankou Town who miss the glory of the past. Wherever Mr. Di went, he could develop the local economy. Once he left, the place became what it was before, and no one can continue his glory."

The woman said, "Then Beitang City in Mobei should be an economically developed city?"

The middle-aged man said: "That's for sure, even though Beitang City is far away in the desolate land of Mobei."

The middle-aged man was called Lin Yishui. He was originally a reporter for a Beijing newspaper. Two years ago, he was fired from the newspaper for speaking out for Di Xiong during the Nankou Town massacre. Other newspapers did not dare to hire him either. He had no choice but to set up a stall on the street to sell calligraphy and paintings to make a living. There were too many people selling calligraphy and paintings in Beijing, and it was very difficult to make money. The money he earned every day was not enough to feed himself. His wife worked as a laundry worker and earned little money, so she starved with him.

When he received the invitation letter from Beihai Company in Baotou, he could not believe his eyes and showed it to his wife with great surprise. His wife Ping Yue'e was worried that he was cheated and wanted to come with him. Lin Yishui was also worried that his wife would starve to death if she stayed in Beijing, so he brought her to Baotou.

At this time, a shabby grocery store at the end of the street opened its door, and a middle-aged man in his forties wearing a top hat walked out and said to the couple, "Excuse me, are you Mr. and Mrs. Lin Yishui? I'm Li Laoshi, and I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Lin Yishui said: "I am Lin Yishui. Are you Mr. Di's subordinate?"

Li Laoshi said: "That's right. I am escorting you to Beitang City on the orders of Mr. Di. Please follow me."

Afterwards, Lin Yishui and his wife followed Li Laoshi to a flat ground behind a big mountain outside the city, where a very large plane was parked. At this time, Lin Yishui noticed that a man in a major officer uniform was also near the plane. Before he could say anything, the soldier walked up to him and spoke first: "Hello, Mr. Lin, my name is Wu Chunlei, the battalion commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade, and also Mr. Di's subordinate. I am currently serving in the army. This time I took the time to return to Beitang City. We are going the same way. I heard that Mr. Lin once spoke up for justice and said a lot of good things about our Justice Party. I admire you very much."

Lin Yishui smiled and said, "You're too kind, young man. I'm just stating the facts and trying to let the people hear the truth. I don't mean to praise Mr. Di too much. How can my words compare to the help Mr. Di gave to the people of Nankou Town back then?"

Then he suddenly sighed and said with some melancholy: "It's a pity that the current Beiyang government is so confused about right and wrong. Mr. Di was arrested at the instigation of the Japanese, and now the Japanese are using the world war as an excuse to make further demands. Recently, Japan has a tendency to occupy Qingdao, China, and the Beiyang government's attitude is still very weak, even worse than that of the Qing government. It is really shameful to make all kinds of compromises with the Japanese."

Wu Chunlei replied: "This is not the first time such a thing has happened. It is not surprising. Without the support of foreign powers, Yuan Shikai would have been unable to serve as president long ago. Now that a world war has broken out in Europe, Germany's main opponents are Britain, France and Russia. They have no intention of managing their colonies in China. Japan is very close to China, so it is convenient for them to send troops to threaten China directly. Naturally, the Beiyang government is more afraid of the Japanese."

Hearing this, Lin Yishui suddenly thought of something and said, "Although Yuan Shikai is very cowardly towards foreigners, he has promulgated a series of messed up policies in the country. In February, Yuan Shikai issued an order to all provinces to worship Confucius, and to perform the ceremony of worshiping Confucius in spring and autumn. Recently, he has been promoting the restoration of the names of government positions, abolishing the governors of various provinces and changing them to generals. A few days ago, Yuan Shikai promulgated the Civil Service Rank Order, which divided officials into nine levels: ministers, officials, and scholars. Obviously, there was already a prime minister, but he let Xu Shichang be the secretary of state. Many official positions were duplicated and it was chaotic. Yuan Shikai's high-profile restoration movement made many people wonder if he wanted to be the emperor."

Wu Chunlei said: "Now all the members of Congress are his people, and even his own party has been purged. Whether he becomes the emperor or not, it cannot change the fact that he is actually the emperor."

At this time, Li Laoshi suddenly interrupted their conversation and said, "German and British guests are here, the plane is ready to leave, please get on the plane and take your seats." Lin Yishui looked in the direction of his finger and found a group of European-looking people walking towards this side, led by Sean from the UK and Baker from Germany. Wu Chunlei had known Sean and Baker for a long time and introduced them to Lin Yishui.

Seeing such a scene, Lin Yishui felt a little surprised, because as far as he knew, the World War was going on, the coalition forces composed of Britain and France were fighting with the German army, and the three parties had become mortal enemies. These people whose motherlands had become enemies of each other actually walked over shoulder to shoulder, and according to Li Laoshi's meaning, these Europeans also wanted to go to Beitang City, which made Lin Yishui even more difficult to understand.

Seeing Lin Yishui's strange expression, Li Laoshi explained: "Although Mr. Sean is British, he basically does pharmaceutical business in the United States. He has not returned to his homeland for a long time. He doesn't care about the Anglo-German War. He thinks that Britain participated in this war for the benefit of the royal family and big consortiums, and has nothing to do with him as a small businessman. Mr. Baker is just an arms dealer. It is said that he once sold weapons to the British and French forces. Obviously, he is also a profit-seeking businessman. In addition, among the friends he brought, there is a member of the Krupp family named Simon. He is a top student at the University of Berlin. It is said that he was born to the mistress of the Krupp patriarch, so he suffered discrimination in the family and could not display his talents. However, he has mastered a lot of technology in the family, and Mr. Di is also very interested in him..."

Before he could finish his words, Li Laoshi saw that the foreigners had already entered the plane. He did not dare to neglect them and immediately called his men to receive them. He said to Lin Yishui in a panic: "You three should hurry up and get on the plane. Our plane to Beitang City is about to take off."

After saying that, he hurriedly ran towards the plane. Seeing this, Lin Yishui and his wife and Wu Chunlei didn't think much about it and followed him on the plane.

Wu Chunlei asked Li Laoshi: "I heard from Chen Xianglian in the letter that our plane can only fly 200 kilometers. Can it fly to Beitang City?"

Li Lao Shi said: "Two hundred kilometers is a thing of the past. Today's planes can fly more than 500 kilometers. Although they can't go directly to Bei Tang City, it's no problem to refuel along the way."

Soon, the plane took off from Baotou, and its target was Beitang City, which was originally Erdenet. This plane was a passenger plane that Feng Ru had converted from several old fighter planes not long ago. This plane was extremely large and weighed much more than ordinary fighter planes. Of course, the seats of passenger planes in this era were quite simple. Not only were they made of wood, they could not be moved, and there was no flight service. If you wanted to eat, you had to stop the plane. In addition, the operation of this passenger plane was quite complicated. Feng Ru arranged four people for the pilot alone, as well as maintenance personnel. The staff on the plane was equivalent to one-third of the number of guests. The gasoline of this plane was still not enough to fly directly to Beitang City, so Di Xiong set up several gas stations on the road. These gas stations were arranged in remote villages and towns in Mongolia, and at least a platoon of soldiers were arranged to guard them. The local tyrants who controlled these Mongolian villages and towns were also bought off early, and they would not have many opinions about a small gas station.

On the plane, Lin Yishui and his wife looked into the distance with some curiosity. This was their first time to take a plane. Although the Beiyang government had established the Aviation Bureau as early as February, and three planes from Beijing Nanyuan Aviation School made China's first long-distance flight in March, they were still foreign planes and were not popular, so it was still a rarity for people at the bottom like them. Lin Yishui looked at the black eagles flying in the distance, and silently sighed at the continuous development of Chinese science and technology. On the mountain road below the plane, a group of refugees were crossing the border from Suiyuan every day, crossing mountains and ridges, and heading towards Beitang City, because someone told them that there was a paradise without hunger and cold.

Since Mongolia has no air force, Beihai Company's transport planes can fly freely in the air.

A few days later, they arrived outside Beitang City. What caught Lin Yishui and his wife's attention was the farmers sowing seeds in the fields. Some farmers were planting anti-sand trees beside the fields. The situation in Mongolia has been quite bad, and desertification is also very serious. After Di Xiong came to Erdenet, he has been working hard to improve the local environment. However, Sean, Baker and others still looked unhappy. In their opinion, the current environment in Mongolia is almost as bad as that in Africa.

Fortunately, Wang Shitou and Wang Dachun from the Sharp Knife Society drove to their vicinity. Several translators got off the car and invited them to rest in the hotel. Soon, these foreigners got on the car and left. When Lin Yishui and his wife were invited, they were politely declined. Lin Yishui hoped to see the local customs and people with his own eyes and planned to write another report based on his personal experience. So, Lin Yishui and his wife walked on the streets of Beitang City and saw many shops on both sides of the street, mainly food, clothing, medicine shops, and farm tools. The goods were very rich and there were many people purchasing goods. Mongolians and Han people came and went in the city, greeting each other and chatting. They were very friendly. There were many cars, bicycles, and tricycles. The number of cars was almost catching up with that of Beijing. The scale of the number of people here was beyond his expectations. It was not like a remote town in Mongolia at all. At this time, Lin Yishui suddenly remembered something and looked around. He found that Wu Chunlei, who had been following them before, was missing.

Lin Yishui asked his companion Li Laoshi: "Why are there so many cars in Beitang City? I heard that the price of imported cars is very high. Even a Ford car, which has been greatly reduced in price, still costs tens of thousands of dollars. There are so many cars in Beijing because there are many rich people."

Li smiled honestly and said, "Mr. Lin may not have noticed that although there are hundreds of cars on the streets of Beitang City, none of them are imported. They are all produced by our Beihai Automobile Factory. Mr. Situ, Mr. Feng Ru's deputy, was originally an engineer at the automobile factory. Mr. Di asked the Tianjin Intelligence Station to buy a Ford sedan, disassemble it and send it to Beitang City. Mr. Situ studied the disassembled sedan carefully for three days and drew a blueprint. With the help of several American engineers found by Sean, the car was produced. Now Mr. Situ is the director of Beihai Automobile Factory. Mr. Lin is the president of the newspaper and will also be equipped with a car."

Lin Yishui said: "With so many cars, can we supply enough gasoline? I heard that gasoline also needs to be imported!"

Li Lao Shi said: "Among the six counties under Beitang City, there is a Bayan County where an oil field has been discovered. Although the oil production is not high, the gasoline refined is enough for airplanes and cars."

At this time, Wu Chunlei was running in a remote alley. He had asked Li Laoshi and learned that Chen Xianglian was the manager of the newly opened Lanji Restaurant. He was eager to see his long-lost fiancée. Suddenly, a hand was placed on his shoulder. He subconsciously wanted to punch back, but heard a voice saying, "Brother, we haven't seen each other for so long. Is this how you greet your brothers?" Wu Chunlei felt that the voice sounded familiar. He turned around and saw that it was his younger brother Wu Chunfeng.

Seeing that he almost attacked his brother, Wu Chunlei smiled awkwardly and said: "Don't scare me suddenly when we meet. The world is in chaos now. I can encounter robbers and thieves on the road. I have to be more prepared. And after all, weren't our Flying Eagle Gang originally made up of petty thieves?"

Wu Chunfeng said: "Now Li Fei is the chief of the Beitang City Police Department. With this killer in Nankou Town, thieves have long been extinct here."

Wu Chunlei said, "I heard that you have made many achievements in Outer Mongolia recently. You even killed Fei Bao. It's been a long time since we last met. Are you doing well now?"

Wu Chunfeng looked a little unhappy and said, "Brother, I'm in trouble. I got a woman named Xu Meixi pregnant. Now she's relying on me and I can't get rid of her. She even went to Brother Di to complain. Brother Di was furious and wanted to punish me. You must help me plead for me at the next high-level meeting."

Just as Wu Chunlei was about to ask, Wu Chunfeng said, "Sister-in-law is here. We won't delay your meeting. See you tomorrow!"

After saying this, Wu Chunfeng turned around and left.

Wu Chunlei raised his head and looked ahead, only to see Chen Xianglian running out of the Lan Ji Restaurant quickly. She had obviously seen him, and her expression was very excited. She opened her arms from a distance and rushed over to him, bumping into his arms and almost knocking Wu Chunlei to the ground. Wu Chunlei quickly hugged her tightly in his arms.

Chen Xianglian shed tears and punched him hard several times, saying, "You cruel thief, I thought you had forgotten me."

Wu Chunlei was also very excited and said: "No matter who I forget, I can't forget you!"