Black Flag Army

Chapter 163 Battle of Kurchu

Di Xiong finally prepared four dishes and served them up: sour fish, stir-fried shredded pork with garlic, beef with potatoes, and braised lion's head.

Zhu Yuqiong said excitedly, "Wow! Just by smelling this tempting aroma, I can conclude that these dishes must be extremely delicious! I am so blessed today to be able to taste such delicious food. I am really grateful. Thank you, Di Juzi!" As she spoke, she rubbed her hands impatiently, her eyes fixed on the plates of delicious food on the table that exuded bursts of rich fragrance, as if she could already feel the wonderful taste melting in her mouth.

The sixteen-year-old girl Zhu Yuqiong has skin as white as snow, and her face is as smooth as cream. Her two curved eyebrows are as beautiful as the distant mountains. Her eyes are clear and bright, like two shining gems. She has a black and shiny ponytail tied high on her head, which swings left and right with her light movements, full of youthful vitality. She is wearing a bright red leather jacket, which makes her look more heroic and bright. Among the students around her, she is like a shining star, particularly eye-catching.

Lan Jinping said with a smile: "Before you even take a bite, you start to flatter me. I wonder how many men you will deceive with your clever mouth in the future."

Di Xiongxiong gently took off his apron, straightened his messy clothes, and smiled gently but firmly at Zhu Yuqiong, saying, "Actually, I never thought I would achieve what I have today. I used to be just an ordinary restaurant owner, and occasionally worked as a chef to make delicious food for the guests. But those hateful Beijing gangs and Japanese refused to let me do business in peace. They always tried their best to cause trouble for me, making it impossible for me to run my business normally."

Having said this, Di Xiongxiong's eyes became sharper, as if they could penetrate all obstacles.

"So, I had to take some measures to protect my employees and friends. So I started looking for foreign companies to buy various weapons and organized a guard team of my own. Through continuous training and practice, our team gradually grew stronger and stronger. But only in this way can we fight against those evil forces! After all, if you are not strong enough, the only way waiting for you is destruction..."

Zhu Yuqiong sighed deeply and said with deep emotion: "For those of us who run restaurants, who doesn't dream of having a strong backer to back us up? However, the reality is so cruel that most people can only sigh in despair. After all, it is not easy to rely on one's own strength to build such a rock-solid, unrivaled strong backing! But there is such a person who has done it, and that is you, Di Juzi!"

Zhu Yuqiong's eyes showed admiration and envy, as if she saw Di Juzi's glorious journey of climbing to the top step by step after going through countless hardships. She couldn't help but secretly thought that if she could be as brave and fearless as Di Juzi, perhaps she could create a world of her own.

Lan Jinchun said: "Everyone, eat and talk while eating. Tie Jintang! Now that you have graduated, what are your next plans?"

Tiejin Tang said: "I want to apply for the Army Academy and contribute to the defense of the country's borders!"

Lan Jinchun said: "Good! You have great ambitions. Let's toast to Tie Jintang's future as an army officer! Liu Changtu, what is your ambition?"

Liu Changtu, who had been silent, immediately stood up and said, "Principal! I want to apply to the Air Force Academy to become a pilot. I read in the newspaper that the Air Force is very important in the battle to retake Outer Northeast China. With air superiority, we can attack the enemy's air force as well as the enemy's army and navy. We have lost too many pilots and need to be replenished urgently."

Lan Jinchun said to Di Xiong: "Liu Changtu is also only sixteen years old, and he has a very far-sighted view of things!"

Di Xiong nodded and said, "I believe he will become an excellent pilot."

Then Lan Jinchun asked Leng Hanrui and Su Jinhe. Leng Hanrui wanted to apply to the Naval Academy, and Su Jinhe wanted to apply to the Law School. The last person he asked was Zhu Yuqiong.

Zhu Yuqiong smiled and said, "I want to apply to the intelligence school, and become a female agent who goes deep behind enemy lines, assassinates enemy leaders, and makes great achievements."

Lan Jinchun's face darkened and he said sternly, "Nonsense! Those women who applied to the intelligence school all suffered great misfortune and had no choice but to make this choice. You've read too many novels and stories, change one!"

Zhu Yuqiong was startled, and looked at Di Xiong with a bitter face and said, "Di Juzi! Why can't I apply for the Intelligence Officer School?"

Di Xiong sighed and said, "Because you don't know much about the situation at the Intelligence Officer School, I suggest you learn more about it before making a decision."

He then said to Lan Jinchun: "Everyone has the right to choose. You can't force her to change. You should explain it to her clearly."

Lan Jinchun said seriously: "I am her teacher, she is my most admired female student, I can't watch her jump into the fire pit. Is the Intelligence Officer School a place where normal women can go?"

Zhu Yuqiong said: "Director Xian, Director Bian and Director Cha, who used to be intelligence officers, are now prominent officials! They have even become Mozhe."

Lan Jinchun said: "You can't just envy their prestige as officials, you know? Bian Zhimei and Cha Jingfeng are already thirty years old, and the youngest Xian Yuji is twenty-five years old. They are not married, and they don't even have a boyfriend. Do you know why?"

Zhu Yuqiong shook her head, and Lan Jinchun explained to her for a long time. Zhu Yuqiong's eyes turned red and she sighed: "So the three aunts are so pitiful!"

After dinner, when the students said goodbye, Lan Jinchun said: "You are not members of the Justice Party yet, so you don't have to call him Big Brother, just call him Uncle!"

The five students said in unison: "Goodbye Uncle Di!"

After the students left, Di Xiong sighed in front of the mirror: "Unconsciously, I have reached the age of being an uncle to the teenagers. There are too many things to do, and time is running out for me!"

Ini Town, Tangnu Uriankhai, is the closest town to the Zaisan Lake area in Beihai Province. Now the Black Flag Army has more than 100,000 troops stationed here. In the headquarters tent, Wu Chunlei sat at the conference table and watched several senior officers who came in one after another. They were Liu Zhendong, deputy commander of the First Army, Zhang Shusheng, chief of staff, Liu Ruming, deputy commander of the Second Army, Subuda, deputy commander of the Third Army, and Feng Yi, deputy commander of the Air Force. There was also Li Fei, the Mohist staff and special agent regiment leader who was specially authorized to attend the meeting.

Since the Second Army and the Third Army only had three divisions each, the commander and chief of staff did not come, only the deputy commander came.

Wu Chunlei waited for everyone to sit down before pointing to the map on the wall and said, "The territory of Xila Kingdom is more than 200,000 square kilometers, mainly in the Zaisan Lake area. The capital is Kuerqiu City. Although there are 80,000 troops in the country, 50,000 troops are stationed in the south to defend against the black hat army of Haohan Kingdom. The remaining 30,000 troops are stationed in Kuerqiu City, Zaisan City and Alek City. Each city has 10,000 defenders. This gives us the opportunity to defeat them one by one. We will first concentrate our forces to recapture these three cities and eliminate the 30,000 white hat troops. Then, we will use the terrain advantage to wait for them to tire themselves out and eliminate the 50,000 white hat troops that come to support us."

Liu Ruming asked: "How is the fighting capacity of the White Hat Army? What is the commander's name?"

Zhang Shusheng, Chief of Staff of the First Army, said: "According to intelligence, the commander-in-chief of the White Hat Army is called Sangkun, who is the actual ruler of the Hira Kingdom. The King of Hira Kingdom, Bukhara, is just a nominal king, supported by Sangkun, so Sangkun has a nickname called King Zaisan. The combat effectiveness of the White Hat Army is equivalent to that of our second-line troops. We only need to send out three divisions to destroy these 30,000 troops. What we are more worried about is that in order to fight against the Black Hat Army, the Hira Kingdom once formed an alliance with the Southwest Commander of the White Guard Army, Denikin. If we attack the Hira Kingdom, Denikin's troops, which are supported by the British and have airplanes and artillery, may reinforce the White Hat Army."

Wu Chunlei said: "I don't think we need to worry. Since we want to recover the outer northwest, we will have to fight with Denikin's troops. It's just a matter of whether to fight early or late. Although Denikin's troops are strong, they are still a little inferior to Kolchak's hundreds of thousands of troops. Since I have defeated Kolchak's hundreds of thousands of troops, why should I be afraid of Denikin's troops? Moreover, Denikin's main force is fighting fiercely with the Bolshevik army near Moscow. The army left on the Kazakh steppe is less than 50,000, which is not a threat."

Next, Wu Chunlei assigned tasks. Division Commander Zhu Anbang led the First Division to attack the capital city of Kuerqiu. At Li Fei's strong request, Li Fei's special forces regiment cooperated with the First Division to attack, and the Air Force also dispatched a squadron of bombers to cooperate. Division Commander Zhang Zhongzhi led the Second Division to attack Zaisan City, and Division Commander Wu Guozhu led the Seventh Division to attack Alek City. Although three cities were attacked at the same time, the focus of this battle was naturally the capital city of Kuerqiu. The King of Xila and Commander-in-Chief Sangkun were both in Kuerqiu, and Wu Chunlei personally served as the front-line commander of the Kuerqiu battle.

Cui Yuxiang, an old subordinate of Wu Chunlei who had been promoted to the commander of the 12th Division, led the 12th Division to fight against reinforcements and block the possible emergence of Dengnikin's troops. A squadron of bombers cooperated with them.

On the morning of February 25, 1919, the battle to recapture the outer northwest officially began. The Black Flag Army first sent out bombers to bomb the defenses of Kurchu. After three rounds of bombing by twelve planes, they used heavy artillery to bomb three more rounds. When the infantry charged through the gap, they thought there was not much resistance, but an accident happened. The defenders resisted very tenaciously. There were not only White Hats, but also defenders in uniform of the White Guards. The number of people was obviously more than 10,000. The intelligence was obviously wrong. The Black Flag Army was repelled three times in a row, with heavy casualties. The Service Regiment led by Li Fei, because of its excellent equipment and training, did enter the city through the gap, but the follow-up troops were cut off by artillery fire. They were besieged in a building and fell into a bitter battle, with increasing casualties.

Zhu Anbang was extremely anxious and captured an officer of the White Hat Army. After interrogation, he found out the reason. It turned out that the Black Flag Army was discovered by Japanese agents when they were gathering in Ini Town. They learned that the Black Flag Army was going to attack the city of Kurchu and immediately reported to Carter, the British adviser of Kurchu. Carter persuaded the commander-in-chief Sangkun to transfer most of the defenders of Zaisan City and Alek City to Kurchu City, leaving only one brigade to defend these two cities. Carter also borrowed a division from Dennikin to defend Kurchu City. Commander-in-chief Sangkun also organized the people in the city to dig many underground air-raid shelters. When the Black Flag Army attacked, they faced more than 30,000 White Hat Army and White Guard Army who were well prepared. When the planes and heavy artillery bombed, the defenders stayed in the air-raid shelters and suffered few casualties.

After Zhu Anbang reported to Wu Chunlei, Wu Chunlei said angrily: "Too few of these Japanese spies have been killed by the Supervisory Office. Pass my order to stop the attack immediately. One division is attacking more than 30,000 people. Isn't this a suicide mission? Send out bombers to cover the retreat of Li Fei's special forces regiment. Transfer three divisions from the rear and concentrate four divisions to attack tomorrow."

Halimu, the head of the intelligence group of Kurchu City, urgently asked to see Wu Chunlei because the intelligence was wrong, which caused more than 3,000 casualties to the Black Flag Army. Halimu apologized to Wu Chunlei repeatedly and told Wu Chunlei that a White Hat Army brigade commander named Hassan was willing to abandon darkness and join the light, and lead his troops to cooperate inside and outside to help the Black Flag Army take over Kurchu City.

Wu Chunlei was worried that it was a trap, so he asked Halim, "Are you sure Hassan is really joining us?"

Halim swore that it was true, and told about a case in Kurchu City last year. At that time, Sangkun was not the commander-in-chief, but just a powerful villain in Kurchu. He saw the beauty of his neighbor's wife Sana and wanted to take her for himself, but no matter whether it was the temptation of money or the threat of violence, he was sternly rejected by Sana. So he thought of a vicious plan. Sana's husband was a driver and was away from home for a long time. Sana couldn't finish the dishes she cooked at noon, so she put them in the cupboard when she went to work, and heated them up after get off work in the evening. Sangkun pried open her door in the afternoon when Sana was not at home, and put drugs in her dishes. After Sana came home from get off work, she ate the drugged dishes and fell unconscious. Sangkun pried open the door again, raped her body, and asked his accomplices to take photos and take them to the court to report Sana for rape. In Islamic countries, rape is a serious crime, because it cannot be seen from the photos that Sana was raped after she was unconscious, Sana was arrested by the police, and she was tortured to force her to hand over the identity of the man who raped her, because Sangkun's face was avoided in the photos. Poor Shana had no idea who the man who abused her was. She was beaten to death, and her husband divorced her immediately after hearing that she had committed adultery.

Sangkun took the opportunity to visit her in prison and said that the president of the court was his uncle and that he would ask his uncle to release Sana if she agreed to marry him, otherwise she would be stoned to death. In order to avoid suffering in prison and to survive, Sana had to agree to marry him.

Hassan is Sana's younger brother. After Sana learned the truth from the drunk Sangkun, she was heartbroken. She never imagined that there would be such a cruel and shameless person in the world. She told her brother about this and asked him to take revenge. Then Sana committed suicide by taking poison.

Halimu said: "This case caused a sensation in the whole city at that time. I am a local of Kuerqiu City, so I also know about this matter."

Wu Chunlei said: "If it is true, then contact Hassan and launch a general attack tomorrow!"

The next morning, the sun shone on the earth, bringing a ray of light to this land full of war and gunpowder smoke. Wu Chunlei stood on a high place, holding a telescope tightly in his hand, his eyes firm and resolute. Behind him, the Black Flag Army was ready for battle, with high morale.

At Wu Chunlei's command, the Black Flag Army rushed towards the enemy's position like a tiger descending from a mountain. They bravely advanced and fought fiercely with the White Hat Army without fear. At this time, the Hassan Brigade also launched a surprise attack in accordance with the prior agreement with the cooperation of the insiders, catching the White Hat Army off guard.

The battlefield was filled with shouts of killing and blood flowing like a river. The Black Flag Army and the Hassan Brigade worked closely together and echoed each other, breaking through the White Hat Army's defense line step by step. Zhu Anbang, Li Fei and others led the charge and killed countless enemies. Their bravery inspired the soldiers to fight bravely and keep moving forward.

After several hours of fierce fighting, the Black Flag Army finally broke through the enemy's headquarters in Kurchu City. The White Hat Army in the city panicked and fled everywhere. Wu Chunlei led his troops to pursue the victory and defeated the enemy in one fell swoop. Commander-in-Chief Sang Kun was also killed in the melee.