Black Flag Army

Chapter 117 Zhang Xun's Restoration

The sunlight at noon is very strong, especially in the vast desert. There are no mountains or trees to block the sunlight, and there are yellow sand and sand dunes everywhere.

A caravan of camels and horse-drawn carriages was moving hard in the desert. Wang Baichuan, general manager of Outer Mongolia Da Kui Sheng, had a cloth tied around his head and his face to block the strong sunlight and sand. Wang Baichuan said to the commander of the escort team, Shi Guoliang, "We are about to reach Honggel County, which is the closest place to the lair of the one-eyed dog in Mobei. You escort team must be especially careful. Several caravans were robbed by them last month."

Shi Guoliang is a descendant of Shi Daxue, one of the three founders of Dakuisheng. He used to be a soldier in the 20th Regiment of the Beiyang Army and was once a company commander. But after Zhang Shaozeng was driven out of the 20th Regiment, he, like Zhang Zhenyang, was also purged as a direct descendant of Zhang Shaozeng. He had no choice but to return to Dakuisheng to make a living. When Wang Baichuan formed the Dakuisheng Guard, because he had military ability and was one of his own, he made him the commander of the guard. The guard had five battalions with 1,500 people. Every time a caravan was escorted, at least half of the team had to be mobilized. This time, because the caravan had a lot of goods, Shi Guoliang dispatched four battalions with 1,200 people, three of which were cavalry.

Shi Guoliang said: "We are allies of the Beihai Group. Does he dare to attack us? Isn't he afraid of retaliation from the Black Flag Army?"

Wang Baichuan said, "It's hard to say. One-eyed dog is a lunatic. When he gets mad, he even dares to rob the Russians. Moreover, they are mobile cavalrymen, so they can run away at any time. Last time when the Black Flag Army sent out its main force to suppress the bandits, he abandoned his lair and fled to the vast desert without saying a word. We couldn't find him no matter how hard we tried, so we had to give up. The Black Flag Army offered a reward of one thousand dollars, but they haven't caught him yet. I heard that he recently set up a lair in Lager Ridge."

Deputy Commander Jia Ting of the guards laughed and said, "I hope the one-eyed dog will come and attack the caravan. Then we can kill him, get the thousand dollars, and avenge those merchants who died."

Jia Ting, whose courtesy name was Huokun, was originally the commander of the 15th Mixed Brigade under Shaanxi Governor Lu Jianzhang. He and Feng Jishen were known as two famous generals under Lu Jianzhang. However, like Feng Jishen, he could not stand Lu Jianzhang's extortion and oppression of the people. He repeatedly tried to persuade him, but was eventually sent to Hanzhong by Lu Jianzhang to suppress bandits. When Chen Shufan started the rebellion, Lu Jianzhang discovered that the two famous generals were not around, so he hurriedly sent people to ask for help. Feng Jishen was too far away in Sichuan and was too late. Jia Ting did make it in time, but he didn't want to save Lu Jianzhang at all, so he deliberately delayed. After Lu Jianzhang stepped down, Chen Shufan became the governor of Shaanxi. He was worried about Jia Ting in Hanzhong, fearing that he would avenge Lu Jianzhang, so he sent four brigades and a heavy artillery regiment to surround the 15th Mixed Brigade. In order to prevent his subordinates from dying in vain, Jia Ting negotiated with Chen Shufan's envoy, and finally gave up resistance, resigned and left Shaanxi. He stayed in Suiyuan for a few months, and then, with the recommendation of Duan Luzhuang, became the deputy commander of the Da Kuisheng Guard.

Wang Baichuan said: "This thousand dollars is not easy to take. Mobei One-Eyed Dog is as cruel as a wolf and as cunning as a fox. Many people want to kill him, but they all fail."

At this time, a shrill whistle sounded in the distance. Shi Guoliang said, "Not good! This is an emergency signal from the scout post. A large group of horse bandits is coming. It seems that the one-eyed dog from Mobei has set his sights on our goods. Stop advancing immediately and set up a defensive formation."

Wang Baichuan quickly gave orders, and the caravans of several thousand people were arranged into several large circles. The outer edges of the circles were the cargo boxes and camels on the carriages. The escort team used the cargo boxes as a barrier and set up machine guns and rifles. Shi Guoliang ordered several captains: "Immediately send out the mine throwers to throw egg mines, and the stake drivers to drive stakes and pull barbed wire. Move quickly!"

With a sharp whistle, more than a dozen bandits on fast horses rushed to the front of the caravan. Jia Ting raised a rifle and aimed, firing five shots in a row. Four bandits fell off their horses, and only one shot missed. The machine gunner on the cargo box also opened fire, and the flames from the machine gun knocked down the remaining bandits. Seizing this opportunity, the stake driver quickly drove wooden stakes into the sand, pulled up a wire mesh, and fixed it with wooden stakes. The mine sprinkler carried a basket and threw yellow pocket mines.

On the sand dunes one kilometer away, Gou Zongwei, wearing a bearskin coat, a bearskin hat, and riding a yellow horse, was looking at the caravan opposite with a telescope. Cao Shangfei and several other leaders followed behind him, and Nakajima Yunko and Yoshida Ryozo also followed on horseback.

Gou Zongwei put down the telescope and sneered, "Three-color mines, barbed wire, and machine gun arrays, these are the three major weapons of the Black Flag Army against cavalry. I knew it in Suiyuan. Da Kuisheng is worthy of being Di Xiong's ally. Di Xiong actually gave them these three major weapons."

Cao Shangfei said, "Brother! Da Kuisheng has these three killer weapons. Aren't we going to suffer a great loss today? Should we retreat?"

Nakajima Yunko and Yoshida Ryozo also looked at Gou Zongwei with stern expressions. Gou Zongwei said, "You don't have to worry. I dared to bring more than 5,000 people here today, and I am ready to break these three killing weapons. If I can't even defeat Da Kuisheng, how can I face the more powerful Black Flag Army in the future?"

Gou Zongwei waved his hand, and the bandit cavalrymen behind him split to both sides. A group of bison were driven towards the minefield and barbed wire. The tails of the bison were on fire. Gou Zongwei said to Cao Shangfei: "Order the snipers to aim at the enemy's mine spreaders and shoot. Don't let them spread mines anymore, otherwise all the bison will die and the mines will not be destroyed. Order the mortar gunners to fire and blow up the enemy's machine guns. The cavalrymen rushed forward along the path the bison herd had waded through."

The herd of buffaloes rushed towards the Da Kuisheng caravan frantically. Some buffaloes were knocked to the ground by the bombs, while others continued to charge forward. The barbed wire was knocked down by the violent impact of the buffaloes. The bandits' dozen mortars also opened fire one after another. The caravan's machine gunners were knocked down one by one along with their machine guns. After the caravan's mine throwers were shot and fell to the ground one after another, the rest of them quickly hid behind the cargo boxes.

Yoshida Ryozo was pleasantly surprised and said, "The leader of Gou Village is indeed amazing. The ancient fire bull formation, mortars and snipers quickly destroyed the three major weapons of the Black Flag Army. We, the Great Japanese Empire, did not choose the wrong person."

Gou Zongwei laughed triumphantly and ordered his cavalry to seize the opportunity to attack the Da Kuisheng caravan. However, the Da Kuisheng caravan did not give up resistance. The guards had no machine guns, so they used rifles to shoot. Rifles were far less lethal than machine guns, and the cavalry was fast. Some horse bandits had already broken through the obstacles and slashed the caravan mates and drivers in the circle with knives. The Da Kuisheng caravan suffered heavy casualties. The commander of the guard, Shi Guoliang, and the deputy commander, Jia Ting, became the targets of the enemy's snipers and fell to the ground one after another.

Gou Zongwei ordered a bandit to shout with a loud speaker: "Surrender! Lay down your weapons and you can live!"

General Manager Wang Baichuan fired his gun himself while shouting, "Don't be afraid, everyone. We have sent a telegram to the nearest Black Flag Army for help. They will definitely come to rescue us. We must not surrender to the bandits!"

Shi Guoliang was shot in the leg, bleeding profusely. He said to Wang Baichuan, "Brother! Ride the fastest horse and leave! You are the general manager! Da Kuisheng can't do without you! I am injured and can't leave anyway, I will cover you, remember to avenge us!"

Wang Baichuan shouted, "Brothers are bleeding! How can I escape alone? I am the general manager of Da Kui Sheng! How can I, the descendant of Wang Xiangqing, disgrace the reputation of my ancestors?"

At this time, the sound of buzzing airplanes was heard in the sky. The bandits retreated in fear without waiting for Gou Zongwei's order. The guards, waiters and drivers of the Da Kuisheng caravan all cheered.

Soon, more than a dozen bombers appeared in the distance.

Gou Zongwei sighed and said, "Di Xiong's aircraft support arrived too quickly, but unfortunately we are only one step away. Let's retreat!"

The bandits fled very quickly, and the bombers chased them and bombed them, but only killed a few hundred people. When they ran out of bombs, they had to return.

After Di Xiong sent a plane to rescue Wang Baichuan, he said to the commander of the security division, Liu Chengliang, "The cancer of the one-eyed dog must be eradicated. I'll leave it to your security division!"

On January 9, 1917, Liu Yongfu, the founder of the Black Flag Army, died of illness at the age of 80. Upon hearing the news, Di Xiong ordered all cities, counties, towns and townships in western Outer Mongolia to fly flags at half-mast to mourn, and the Black Flag Army also lowered its flag to mourn. After Liu Chengliang and Wu Guozhu finished the funeral, they returned to Outer Mongolia and continued to hold their old positions.

Liu Chengliang and Deputy Division Commander Feng Anbang led two brigades of the Security Division to surround Lager Ridge, with the cooperation of an Air Force bombing squadron. This time Gou Zongwei did not escape, but held on to the mountain bunker and put up a stubborn resistance. The Security Division suffered heavy casualties but failed to capture the bunker. The bunker was extremely strong, and even airplanes could not penetrate the steel plates on the top of the bunker. The battle ended in a long stalemate.

On July 1, the intelligence chief Tian Mengxue rushed to Di Xiong's office and said to him, "Something happened in Beijing. The president and the prime minister both stepped down, and the deposed emperor Puyi became emperor again."

Since the death of Yuan Shikai, the situation of the Beiyang government has changed a lot. First of all, the Beiyang government did not collapse because of the death of Yuan Shikai alone, and the National Protection Army that opposed the Beiyang government did not make it all the way to Beijing. Today, the newly appointed president of Beijing is Li Yuanhong, and the prime minister is Duan Qirui. Li Yuanhong was originally an old officer of the Qing Dynasty. He was elected as the governor by the revolutionaries during the Wuchang Uprising, but he was actually a conservative. He killed many revolutionaries before the uprising was successful. In the end, he became the nominal leader of the Hubei Revolutionary Army under the pressure of the revolutionaries, which was also a rather absurd thing. During the North-South peace talks, Li Yuanhong also became a speculator. When he saw that Yuan Shikai had a strong army, he quickly turned to Yuan Shikai and continued to kill revolutionaries in Hubei. He was nicknamed "Li the Butcher". As a result, after Yuan Shikai became the president, he was also invited to Beijing to become the vice president, and fully supported Yuan Shikai's series of actions with a positive attitude.

However, as Yuan Shikai's ambition to become emperor was gradually exposed, Li Yuanhong's attitude gradually became negative. He declined all of Yuan Shikai's offers to promote him and repeatedly asked Yuan Shikai for his resignation, intending to give up the position of vice president. However, Yuan Shikai was afraid of letting the tiger go back to the mountain, so he never agreed to his request. It was not until Yuan Shikai's death that Li Yuanhong became the second president of the Beiyang government with the support of Duan Qirui. However, he did not have his own army in Beijing, and he was not from a Beiyang warlord family. Those Beiyang political and military bigwigs would not take him too seriously.

As for Duan Qirui, he was one of the three Beiyang heroes, nicknamed "Tiger of Beiyang", and belonged to Yuan Shikai's direct line. He had been following Yuan Shikai since the military training in Xiaozhan. In the early days, he had always been Yuan Shikai's loyal lackey, fought many big battles for him, and also made a lot of efforts in suppressing the White Star Party. But Yuan Shikai's desire to become emperor also aroused Duan Qirui's disgust. He was forced to give up a series of his positions. At the same time, after persuading Yuan Shikai many times to no avail, he also became passive. Although he did not directly oppose it like his colleague Feng Guozhang, he did not participate in Yuan Shikai's activities to become emperor.

After Yuan Shikai's death, Duan Qirui actually wanted to become president, but was dissuaded by his subordinate Xu Shuzheng. Xu Shuzheng felt that the Republic of China was actually in a state of division. Zhang Zuolin, Feng Guozhang, Zhang Xun, and the National Protection Army were all powerful and none of them would submit to the other. The position of president would attract attention and it would be easy to be targeted. Li Yuanhong was just a commander without troops in Beijing, and Duan Qirui planned to manipulate him behind the scenes, and as a result, he made him president.

But the relationship between the two was obviously not as perfect as Duan Qirui had planned. First, a series of conflicts broke out between the two regarding the New and Old Testaments. Duan Qirui hoped that Li Yuanhong would be a stamping machine, but Li Yuanhong was unwilling to be a puppet president, so the famous dispute between the government and the parliament broke out. Due to a series of operations by Secretary-General Xu Shuzheng, the division of power between the Presidential Palace and the State Council was quite vague. Many trusted officials of the Anhui clique often did things in both places. Li Yuanhong was of course dissatisfied and pointed fingers at Xu Shuzheng many times. Of course, the complete outbreak of the conflict originated from a man named Sun Hongyi, who was promoted by Li Yuanhong as the Minister of the Interior. Xu Shuzheng's overstepping of authority had already aroused his dissatisfaction, and a series of conflicts broke out between the two. In the end, Sun Hongyi used his resignation to drag Duan and Xu into the water. Li Yuanhong had long been resentful of Duan Qirui, so he removed Duan Qirui from the position of Prime Minister.

Duan Qirui was naturally very angry when he learned that he was dismissed. He left Beijing with his confidants and went to Tianjin, where he organized his own army and planned to expel Li Yuanhong by force. Li Yuanhong's act of dismissing Duan Qirui naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of Duan Qirui's supporters. Many local warlords and governors declared independence and did not recognize Li Yuanhong's government. There were signs that they would form a coalition to attack Beijing. This made Li Yuanhong quite scared. At this time, he remembered that he had a good relationship with Zhang Xun in Xuzhou. In order to deal with Feng Guozhang in Nanjing some time ago, the other party had held many meetings and was now the leader of the thirteen provinces. These warlords who opposed Li Yuanhong were also in it. So Li Yuanhong called Zhang Xun and hoped that he would bring people to Beijing for mediation.

Speaking of Zhang Xun, he was also born in the Beiyang warlords, but his status and ability were far inferior to Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, and he had serious feudal ideas. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, he still kept his pigtails and still missed the Qing Dynasty. The same was true for his troops, who were called the "pigtail army". After the Second Revolution, Zhang Xun and Feng Guozhang had conflicts over interests. In order to deal with Feng Guozhang, Zhang Xun held many meetings and made himself the leader of the Thirteen Provinces, but the forces in other places did not have much good feelings for Zhang Xun, but just regarded him as a scapegoat. After Duan Qirui left Beijing, his confidants Ni Sicong, Xu Shuzheng and others came to Xuzhou and scolded Li Yuanhong in front of Zhang Xun, making Zhang Xun feel that these people could be used and planned to use their power to restore the monarchy, but Xu Shuzheng was not a fool. He pretended to be in alliance with Zhang Xun, but did not really express his attitude. After discussing for a long time, he just wanted to cooperate in dissolving Li Yuanhong's parliament and did not express his opinion on the restoration.

Later, Li Yuanhong called Zhang Xun to mediate, which made Zhang Xun feel that his chance had come. So he immediately summoned his 5,000-strong "pigtail army" and planned to restore the monarchy in the name of mediation. On June 7, 1917, he led his troops northward and headed straight for Beijing. In fact, there were quite a few Beiyang troops near Beijing, but most of them were Duan Qirui's troops, who had a grudge against Li Yuanhong, so they ignored Zhang Xun's behavior. The other Beiyang troops had no intention of getting involved in this matter, and chose to watch the fire from the other side of the river.