Black Flag Army

Chapter 107 Meeting Mrs. Wei at the Noodle Shop

When Liu Zhennan saw Di Xiong stand up, he also stood up. He was burly and had a ferocious look. When the big man with a crooked mouth saw him, a sense of foreboding flashed through his mind and he couldn't help but take a step back.

Di Xiong said to the crooked-mouthed man, "Hu Lin is indeed the mayor of Beitang City. I know him, but I've never heard that he has a cousin like you! Are you pretending to be him?"

The other bald man actually rushed towards Di Xiong with his fists, cursing: "Who do you think you are? How dare you say that my eldest brother is an imposter?"

Liu Zhennan was about to attack, but Yang Lushuang stretched out her leg first, tripping the punching man to the ground, and making him fall flat on his face. Liu Zhennan stomped hard on his back, making him scream in pain like a pig being slaughtered. The remaining two bald men rushed forward together, and Huo Qingtong swept one of them with a flying kick, knocking down the other one, and Liu Zhennan knocked the other to the ground with a punch.

At this time, except for the man with a crooked mouth, all the other bald men had fallen to the ground and could not get up.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the man with the crooked mouth turned around and tried to run away. Di Xiong waved his hand, and two female guards quickly blocked his retreat. When Liu Zhennan walked towards the man with the crooked mouth, he saw that his face was pale, and he suddenly knelt down and kowtowed, looking pitiful. It turned out that gangsters were very flexible.

Lan Jinping praised: "Boss Di, your guards are too powerful. They only use one move to beat people. No wonder the Japanese never dared to attack you."

Di Xiong sighed, "These scoundrels shouldn't have appeared in the noodle shop in Beitang City. Not only did they appear, but they also asked my guards to take action. This is the sadness of the rulers. The public security in Beitang City needs to be improved!"

Lan Jinping said: "Li Fei and his gang can't really be blamed for this. They just arrested a group of gang members in a crackdown last month. These bald guys might have mixed in with the newly arrived refugees."

Liu Zhennan asked the crooked-mouthed man, "When did you arrive in Bei Tang City?"

The crooked-mouthed man smiled and apologized, "I just came into the city yesterday morning. I haven't had a drink in a few days. I wanted to get some money for a drink."

Liu Zhennan asked, "How did you get the pass? Show it to me."

The big man with the crooked mouth obediently took out his pass and handed it to Liu Zhennan. His pass was different from Zhou Shaoxing's, it was gray.

Liu Zhennan opened it and read: "Hu Tafang! Chef! Your last name is really Hu. Are you really a chef? Your parents are so uneducated that they named their son Hu Tafang. Can you still live in a collapsed house?"

Yang Lushuang and Huo Qingtong both covered their mouths and laughed after hearing this.

The big man with the crooked mouth said, "My name is not Hu Ta Fang, but Hu Da Fang. The officer who registered me heard it wrong and wrote it as Hu Ta Fang. I wanted to ask him to rewrite it, but the people in the queue behind me pushed me out of the queue. If I want to correct it, I have to queue up in a long queue again, so I had to give up. I have indeed been a chef. The officer who registered me asked me a few details about cooking, and I answered them all, so he gave me the pass."

Liu Zhennan said, "I saw several restaurants recruiting chefs yesterday. Why don't you become a chef and earn some hard-earned money? Instead, you shaved your head and pretended to be a gangster to extort money?"

Hu Tafang smiled apologetically and said, "I saw that it was easy for gangsters to make money in my hometown, so I..."

Before he could finish his words, Liu Zhennan kicked him to the ground and he screamed in pain. Liu Zhennan said, "You should be a bad person instead of a good person. Today I will let you know the consequences of being a bad person."

Di Xiong said, "Liu Zhennan, don't get entangled with this kind of people. Call the police and hand them over to the patrol team for processing."

Mrs. Wei said to Di Xiong, "Sir, can you please not call the police?"

Liu Zhennan had already walked to the window of the restaurant and rang the alarm that every store was equipped with. The sound of the alarm was very sharp and could be heard from far away. A few minutes later, the patrol team arrived. There were more than a dozen people. The leading captain saw Di Xiong and Lan Jinping, two Justice Party leaders, sitting here, and hurriedly saluted with his chest puffed. After Di Xiong briefly explained the situation, the four bald men were handcuffed and dragged away by the patrol team.

Di Xiong asked Mrs. Wei: "Mrs. Wei! Why did you object to me calling the police just now?"

Mrs. Wei said, "I'm worried that after being detained at the police station for a few days, they will be released again and retaliate against the hotel!"

Di Xiong sighed, "It is precisely because there are too many cowardly people like you who give in to the gangs that the gang members become more arrogant and encourage more people to join the gangs. For example, the crooked-mouthed Hu Tafang just now could have been a chef, but he became a gang boss."

Mrs. Wei said, "Master, you are a powerful person, so you don't have to be afraid of them, but have you ever thought about the difficulties we small business owners face?"

Di Xiong said: "I can guarantee that these four bald guys will never come back to retaliate against you."

The little girl Zhu Yuqiong asked: "Why should we believe you?"

Di Xiong replied very stubbornly: "Because my name is Di Xiong!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the other guests in the restaurant were shocked and saluted to Di Xiong. Some clasped their fists, some bowed, and some knelt. With the repeated propaganda of the "Justice Daily" and Mo Menjiao (the propaganda department of the Justice Party), 90% of the people in Bei Tang City knew the famous name of Di Xiong, the ruler of Bei Tang City.

Mrs. Wei was also startled. She pulled Zhu Yuqiong back a few steps and said, "I'm sorry! Commander-in-Chief Di! We didn't mean to offend you."

Compared with the chairman of the Beihai Group and the Justice Party boss, the identity of the commander-in-chief of the Black Flag Army is even more intimidating.

Di Xiong said, "Sister Wei, do you really not recognize me? Four years ago, I bought your restaurant on Heyan Street in the west of Beijing. At that time, you sold it to me at a loss of fifty dollars, which was worth two hundred dollars. I got a great bargain. When I was too tight on money and really couldn't afford the two hundred dollars, I shamelessly accepted it. Now I think about it and feel so ashamed of you!"

Mrs. Wei said, "I remember now. You were still a detective at the police station at that time. I took the initiative to lower the price, and you didn't lower the price. How can I blame you? Now you have arrested those four gangsters, and I haven't thanked you yet."

Zhu Yuqiong said happily: "When I was studying at Zhengqing Middle School, I saw your portrait hanging in the middle of the classroom. At that time, I thought it looked like Officer Di from the past. I didn't expect it to be you! So if we get into trouble in the future, can we ask you for help?"

Di Xiong said: "Of course there is no problem!"

He said to the three guards, "If this young lady Zhu Yuqiong comes to me for something in the future, you must not stop her!"

The three guards quickly agreed. Mrs. Wei said, "Children are ignorant and talking nonsense. Commander-in-Chief Di, please don't take it to heart. You are so busy with work, how can you have time to take care of children's affairs?"

Di Xiong said, "Mrs. Wei, it's too polite to say that. We are old acquaintances, and it's only natural for me to help you."

After finishing the noodles, when it was time to pay, Mrs. Wei refused to accept the money. After a long period of pushing and shoving, Di Xiong still insisted on paying the bill, and then he and Lan Jinping left the noodle shop together. Di Xiong sighed, "I didn't expect that I would run into gangsters just eating noodles in a noodle shop. This is still in Beitang City. If it was in the counties, towns and villages below, wouldn't the problem be even more serious? It seems that our Justice Party's bigwigs and Mohists need to establish a rotation system of unannounced visits to the grassroots to understand the people's conditions and alleviate the suffering of the people as much as possible."

Lan Jinping said, "Driving to the countryside? The roads in the countryside are not easy to travel."

Di Xiong said: "You are not allowed to drive to the countryside, and you are not allowed to wear even suits or leather shoes. You can only wear coarse cloth shirts, cloth shoes or straw sandals. You are not allowed to use umbrellas when it rains, and you can only wear straw raincoats. Otherwise, it is not called a secret visit."

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "A bamboo stick and straw sandals are lighter than a horse, and a raincoat will protect you from the rain and mist throughout your life. It turns out that these two lines of Su Dongpo's poem were prepared for you, the latecomer."

Di Xiong said: "More than two thousand years ago, Mozi and Qin Huali walked in the countryside with bamboo sticks, straw sandals and straw raincoats, doing justice and fighting for justice. As the successors of Mozi, we must not forget the traditions of our predecessors. The Beiyang government lost the support of the people because it was too incompetent. We must not learn from them. For these refugees, Beitang City may not be a paradise, but it will definitely not be another Beiyang government."

When Di Xiong returned to the office, he saw Wu Chunfeng talking to Wu Zhong in the office. When he saw Di Xiong coming, he quickly stood up and handed over a report: "Brother! The latest intelligence from Baotou City is that Jiang Yanxing, the new governor of Suiyuan appointed by the Beiyang government, officially took office today."

Di Xiong carefully read the intelligence and asked, "What kind of person is this Jiang Yanxing? Does Old Wu know his background?"

Wu Zhong said, "I really know. We were classmates in private school. After graduation, I became a retainer of Duan Hefei, and he became a counselor of Feng Huafu. He was doing better than me. When I was kicked out of Duan's house, he became Feng Huafu's chief counselor. He had a good relationship with Xu Shichang. This time, it was Xu Shichang who recommended him to President Li. President Li and Prime Minister Duan have been fighting for power recently. In order to win over another rival of Prime Minister Duan, Vice President Feng Huafu, he appointed Feng Huafu's counselor Jiang Yanxing as the governor of Suiyuan."

Di Xiong said: "According to what you said, this new governor should be friendly to us?"

Wu Zhong said: "That's for sure. As soon as he took office, he announced two things. First, he recruited the bandit Lu Zhankui. Second, he removed the barbed wire and landmines on the border and stopped blocking refugees from going north to Outer Mongolia."

Di Xiong said, "This is really good news for us. In 1916, it was another bumper year for our Beitang City. We had more food than we could eat. In addition to increasing the number of cattle, sheep, and horses, we also raised pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese. The food that we still couldn't eat was canned or brewed into wine. The scale of the cannery and winery has expanded several times. In addition to providing sufficient military rations for the front line, we can also feed more refugees. Since Jiang Yanxing has opened the refugee channel for us, you should write a letter to thank him and give him some gifts."

Wu Zhong said: "That's no problem! He and I are old friends. I can welcome him to visit Beitang in the letter, or I can visit him in Suiyuan to bring us closer together."

Di Xiong said, "It's fine for you to invite him to Beitang, but forget about sending him to Suiyuan. As the second leader of the Justice Party, you are still on the Beiyang government's bounty list. If Jiang Yanxing turns against you for the reward, it will be troublesome. So there's no need to take the risk."

Wu Zhong had no choice but to agree.

Di Xiong added: "We have taken over the southern part of Beihai Lake. Next we need to dig a river channel of several hundred kilometers to divert the water from Beihai Lake to Outer Mongolia. This is a huge project that requires a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources. Compared with material and financial resources, manpower is more difficult. At this time, it is very important to bring in refugees from Suiyuan and Chahar."

After the Justice Army recaptured Suwu City in the southern part of Beihai Lake, it not only shocked the Tsarist Russian government, but also alarmed the Japanese garrison in Tianjin. The new chief of the secret service department of the garrison headquarters, Taro Umezu, invited Kenji Doihara and Nami Kawashima, the presidents of the Black Dragon Society in Beijing and Tianjin, to have dinner at the Cha Kee Seafood Restaurant, and held a meeting to discuss the matter.

Umezu Taro said: "The Black Flag Army of Outer Mongolia showed strong combat effectiveness in the Irkutsk battle. We have fought against the Tsarist Russian Army in the Northeast before. The Tsarist Russian Army's combat effectiveness is very tenacious. This time, the Black Flag Army took Irkutsk in just one day and wiped out more than 3,000 Tsarist Russian troops, with only more than 800 casualties. The rear military requires us to attach importance to the collection of intelligence on the Black Flag Army. When we fight the Chinese army in the future, this army is likely to become our powerful opponent."

Kenji Doihara said coldly: "In fact, the Black Flag Army is now our opponent. We have fought with them several times in the air and underground. We won once in an air battle, but failed in several underground assassinations. This time the Black Flag Army attacked Irkutsk. We obtained intelligence in advance. I proposed to send planes to bomb Daranza City again. On the one hand, it can contain the Black Flag Army’s forces, and on the other hand, it can avenge the two murdered flight captains. However, the garrison army headquarters believed that the Tsarist Russians were also our opponents. We can use the Black Flag Army to weaken the Tsarist Russians’ strength. It is just the right time to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. They disagreed with us disrupting their fight. As a result, the Black Flag Army easily captured Irkutsk, and there was no situation where both sides suffered losses."

Umezu Taro said, "The garrison headquarters did make a mistake last time, and they have already reviewed it. The chief of staff who proposed it at the time has also been punished. I hope Doihara-kun will not be so fussy about it. For the sake of the empire, we need everyone's sincere cooperation."

Kawashima Nami said, "The key is to catch the Justice Party's underground organization in Tianjin. The failure of our action team last time was due to the intelligence provided by the other party's organization in Tianjin. I suspect that we have an informant from the Black Flag Army. The leader of the Black Flag Army, Di Congmo, attaches great importance to intelligence work. I heard that when he was in Beijing before, he only had a few dozen people under him, but he actually had an intelligence team."

As Kawashima Naoto's secretary, Cha Jingfeng also attended the meeting and was responsible for taking notes. Kawashima Naoto certainly could not have imagined that the person he wanted to catch was sitting next to him.

Umezu Taro said: "How can we catch the underground organization of the Black Flag Army? We arrested so many people last time, interrogated them for many days, used many torture instruments, but we still didn't catch the real Chinese Black Flag Army agents."

Doihara Kenji said, "I believe that the top brass of the Black Flag Army is not a monolithic group. We can send people with a large amount of money to Erdenet, the headquarters of the Black Flag Army, to alienate their top brass and bribe some of their greedy people. From them, we may be able to learn the names of the members of their intelligence organization in Tianjin."