Black Flag Army

Chapter 111 Tangnu Uriankhai

Chen Yi said to the accompanying secretary Huang Chengbin, "Don't you have a relative doing business in Beitang City? It's a good opportunity for us to go and take a look, and learn about the situation in Beitang City from him."

Huang Chengbin's cousin Tie Zongwei opened a grain and oil shop on West Street. The special envoys took the large van provided by the Beitang Municipal Government. When they arrived at West Street, they did not find a grain and oil shop, but only a Tieji Fruit and Vegetable Store. Standing at the door was Tie Zongwei. After Huang Chengbin got off the car and met Tie Zongwei, he asked curiously, "Didn't you say in the letter that you were opening a grain and oil shop? How did it become a fruit shop?"

Tie Zongwei is a tall and thin man with a dark face and rough skin, like an ordinary farmer. He used to be a farmer, but he came to the city to find a job because he couldn't make a living in his hometown.

Tie Zongwei sighed, "This year, there was a bumper harvest in western Outer Mongolia, and the price of grain and oil plummeted. I transported grain and oil from Suiyuan, but not only did I not make any money, I even lost money. I was so anxious that I wanted to jump into the river. Fortunately, Beihai Bank took the initiative to contact me and lent me a loan. I rented more than ten acres of orchards and vegetable gardens outside the city, harvested and sold them myself, and stopped trafficking. Only then did I make back my capital."

Chen Yi asked: "Are the taxes collected by the government here heavy? How many types of taxes are there?"

Tie Zongwei said, "As long as you believe in Mo Men, join the Jian Dao Society when you are over 18 years old, and join the Zheng Qing Society when you are under 18 years old, you don't have to pay a penny of tax. It's not like the Beiyang government, which has a lot of messy taxes. My wife and I both joined the Jian Dao Society, and my son, who is only twelve years old, joined the Zheng Qing Society."

He produced a blue Knife Club membership card with a pattern of two crossed knives on it.

Chen Yi knew that the Sharp Knife Society and the Zhengqing Society were peripheral organizations of the Justice Party, and he was secretly surprised: The Justice Party was willing to sacrifice taxes to catch everyone in Beitang City! In this way, the interests of everyone in various industries were closely tied to the Justice Party. Once a war or other changes occurred, everyone would fight for the Justice Party.

Huang Chengbin asked: "Do you know what the Mo Men Sect and the Sharp Knife Society do?"

Tie Zongwei said: "We are both illiterate, how can we understand! We only know that we have joined the association and don't have to pay taxes. My son Tie Jintang is studying at Zhengqing School, he knows a little bit."

At this time, a dark-faced young man emerged from the store and shouted, "The purpose of the Mohist sect is to promote the benefits of the world and eliminate the harm of the world. That is, everyone has food to eat, clothes to wear, a house to live in, and gets paid on time when working, and has time to rest. If the boss does not pay wages and does not allow rest, then he is a harmful person and must be eliminated."

Huang Chengbin said, "Is this your son Tie Jintang? He has grown so tall now, knows a lot, and can talk about things in a very coherent way. He is better than you were when you were a child!"

Tie Zongwei said to the black-faced boy, "You little bastard, why didn't you call anyone when your cousin came?"

The black-faced young man Tie Jintang shouted, "Hello, cousin!"

Chen Yi said to Hu Lin: "Your Justice Party's ideological education is very powerful! This child will definitely be a loyal member of the Justice Party when he grows up."

Hu Lin said: "This is the credit of the Justice Party Propaganda Department. Everyone calls Director Xian the leader of the Mo Men Sect. She knows the contents of the Mo Men Sect by heart."

Xian Yuji said: "What Mo Men Sect leader? That's just a joke. If we don't promote Mo Men Sect, the people here will believe in the White Lotus Sect, the Tianli Sect and the Maitreya Sect. The position of religious belief is very important and we must occupy it."

Chen Yi looked at Xian Yuji, then said to Huang Chengbin, "Di Congmo is so lucky to have such a capable assistant like Director Xian!"

Huang Chengbin asked Hu Lin: "If you don't collect taxes, how will the government cover its expenses? How will the officials be paid?"

Hu Lin said: "We have more than 100 factories, farms and shops under the Beihai Group. The profits generated every month are very high. The city government only needs to allocate one twentieth of it."

The Selenge River originates at the foot of the Hangai Mountains in Outer Mongolia, spans Mongolia and Russia, and is 1,480 kilometers long. Like the Khuvsgul River, its water eventually flows into the Beihai Lake. Due to the high terrain of the Mongolian Plateau, although there is a shortage of water, the only rivers still flow into the low-lying territory of Tsarist Russia.

"Boom boom boom..." Amidst loud noises, flames shot up into the sky and thick smoke billowed. A squadron of twelve bombers flew along both sides of the Selenga River, dropping a bomb every one kilometer. The horse bandits Engen, lurking in the town of Uilege on the east bank of the Selenga River, watched the planes approaching step by step. Many people panicked. When there was an explosion, which finally blew away several cavalrymen, the cavalrymen who were ordered to lie on the ground could not help but start running. One person ran away, and the others followed him. Although Engen and Gregory shouted at everyone not to run, and shot and killed the first person to escape, all of the more than 10,000 cavalrymen fell into chaos and were out of control.

During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the lurking volunteer soldiers would rather be blown to death or burned to death than say a word in order not to expose their troops. However, this army composed of Russian and Mongolian horse bandits obviously could not do so. Although only a few people died, more than 10,000 people began to run wildly, some running to the nearby forest, and some running to the valley to avoid the attacks of aircraft.

After receiving the notification from the Air Force, Liu Ruming's First Guard Brigade immediately ordered the entire army to move out. The artillery battalion also advanced towards Uileg Town with infantry guns and mortars. On their left wing, Subuda's independent cavalry brigade of five regiments and more than 6,000 cavalry also began to attack Uileg Town. After receiving the reports from the scouts on both sides, Enqin looked at his chaotic subordinates, sighed, ordered a retreat, and then took the lead in riding a horse to escape to the northern Russian border.

In Beitang City, in the operations room of the Justice Army Headquarters, Di Xiong had just received the good news that the Enqinma bandits had retreated to Russian territory. Before he could be happy, bad news from Suwu City came. The Justice Army and the Tsarist Russian Army broke out in the second air battle. More than 10,000 Tsarist Russian infantry also launched an attack on Suwu City from the east and north. They once attacked the top of the city and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Zhang Zhenyang ordered the heavy artillery regiment to open fire, which repelled the offensive of the Tsarist Russian Army. But at this time, 20 fighter jets of the Tsarist Russian Army in the west suddenly joined the air battle. The Justice Army Air Force over Suwu City was caught off guard and attacked from both sides. The planes were shot down one after another and suffered heavy losses. Only seven fighter jets were left. The Tsarist Russian bombers took the opportunity to bomb the artillery positions of the Justice Army. The commander, deputy commander and more than 100 gunners of the heavy artillery regiment were killed, and twelve heavy artillery were destroyed.

After the Beitang City Air Force Brigade received an urgent call for help, Deputy Brigade Commander Feng Yi personally led 36 fighter jets from the White Eagle Squadron to Suwu City, and only then did they use the superior number of aircraft to defeat the Tsarist Russian Air Force.

After the battle, the loss of fighter planes on both sides was counted. The Justice Army lost 22 planes, plus the 7 in the first air battle, a total of 29 planes, more than the 25 planes of the Tsarist Russian Army. Di Xiong looked at the loss report with an ugly face and did not speak for a long time.

Feng Anbang held up a piece of intelligence he had just received and said to Di Xiong: "The fighter pilots coming from the west are all veteran pilots transferred from Moscow. They are very experienced and have caused us great losses. We did not know this news in advance."

Zhang Zhongzhi said: "Last night, Liu Zhendong and Leng Hanbing led two special forces battalions to launch a night attack and killed the commander of the Tsarist Russian Army, Tomgov. However, the deputy commander of the Tsarist Russian Army quickly took over the command and was not affected."

Di Xiong said: "The battle there should have come to an end. I should go meet that Special Envoy Chen. Commander Feng is here to help me watch. Call me immediately if there is any situation!"

After Feng Anbang saluted and obeyed, Di Xiong left the headquarters with four guards and went straight to the Beihai Group's meeting room, where Wu Zhong was talking with Chen Yi. Seeing Di Xiong coming in, he said to Chen Yi: "This is Di Xiong, the chairman of our company, and the commander-in-chief of the Black Flag Army!"

Di Xiong took the initiative to shake hands with Chen Yi and said, "I'm so sorry! I was stuck at the headquarters just now and kept Special Envoy Chen waiting for a long time!"

Chen Yi smiled and said, "We didn't have to wait long. Director Xian took us to visit many places, even to Zhengqing Commercial Company. The number of commodities there dazzled us. We couldn't help but want to spend money to buy something, but we were told that we had to queue up at the bank to exchange for vouchers before we could buy. Fortunately, the smart Director Xian had prepared in advance. She brought us a thousand-yuan voucher to exchange, which saved us from queuing at the bank. The war on the front line is urgent, and Commander-in-Chief Di is of course focusing on the war, not our business! Judging from Commander-in-Chief Di's expression, the war seems to be over?"

Di Xiong said: "It can only be said that it is temporarily over. The Enqin horse bandits were repelled, but they were cavalry and ran very fast. We only killed less than 2,000 of them. In Suwu City, the Russian army also stopped the attack because of heavy casualties."

Chen Yi asked, "Commander-in-Chief Di, do you have a map of Outer Mongolia?"

Liu Zhennan, who was standing behind Di Xiong, was quick to act. Without waiting for Di Xiong to speak, he took out the map and placed it in front of Chen Yi. Chen Yi pointed to a place and said to Di Xiong, "This place was occupied by the Russians two years ago. It covers an area of ​​160,000 square kilometers. Has Commander-in-Chief Di ever thought about taking it back?"

When Di Xiong saw that the place he was pointing at was Tangnu Uriankhai, he replied: "Tangnu Uriankhai belongs to China, of course we must take it back. I even wanted to take back Beihai Lake that was lost during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, let alone Tangnu Uriankhai?"

Chen Yi said: "When does Commander-in-Chief Di plan to recapture Tangnu Uriankhai?"

Di Xiong looked at Chen Yi's expression and said, "Isn't this a secret order from President Li?"

Chen Yi said: "This is the military order I took the initiative to sign in front of President Li! The Beiyang government has a very bad reputation for incompetence. We, as officials of the Beiyang government, feel deeply ashamed. Therefore, I would like to join forces with Mr. Di to recapture Tangnu Uriankhai, and then plant the Beiyang government's five-color flag in Kezil, the capital of Tangnu Uriankhai. If Commander-in-Chief Di can help us with this, you will be exempted from all charges and be stationed here legitimately. The Beiyang government will give you a position as the garrison commander of western Mongolia."

Xian Yuji laughed and said, "Join forces to recapture Tangnu Uriankhai? How do we join forces? With just the dozen guards you brought with you?"

Chen Yi blushed and said nothing.

In another time and space, Chen Yi recovered Tannu Uriankhai in 1918. At that time, the president had been replaced by Xu Shichang, the Russian Tsar had abdicated, and the country was completely divided. Chen Yi made an impassioned speech in front of President Xu, saying that he would seize the opportunity to recover Tannu Uriankhai. President Xu was very supportive of him, but the troops under President Xu were too few and he could only give him one company. Chen Yi relied on this one company, plus more than 200 militiamen recruited from Kulun, a total of more than 300 people, to recover Tannu Uriankhai. Fortunately, there were only more than 100 Tsarist Russian defenders in Tannu Uriankhai. Chen Yi captured the capital Kizil and recovered Tannu Uriankhai. This news was on the front page of the "Beijing News" at the time, giving a shot of chicken blood to the notorious Beiyang government.

During this time and space, he discovered that there was an army mainly composed of Han people in the western part of Outer Mongolia. They were always shouting the slogan of "recovering lost territory" and were particularly good at fighting. So he wanted to recover Tangnu Uriankhai in advance.

Di Xiong said, "Special Envoy Chen's intention is that we recover Tangnu Uriankhai and then give the credit to your Beiyang government. In exchange, you recruit us and appoint me as the governor of western Mongolia?"

Chen Yi said, "That's exactly what I mean. I wonder if Commander-in-Chief Di can agree to this. After all, most of you are from the mainland, and you still have many family members in the mainland. Blood is thicker than water. If you always go against the Beiyang government, you won't be able to go back."

Di Xiong said, "I will definitely take back Tangnu Uriankhai, but whether or not to accept the amnesty from your Beiyang government needs to be decided by the Justice Party in a meeting and vote. After all, your Beiyang government has a bad reputation. We have had armed conflicts with them many times, and killed the governor of Suiyuan. We also angered the former president to death. Who knows if you will settle the score later? There was a man named Song Jiang in the Song Dynasty. His fate after the amnesty was clearly described in the Water Margin."

Chen Yi said, "President Yuan was very ill at the time. Even without that newspaper, he would not have survived for a few days. As for General Pan, he imposed heavy taxes and levied bribes in Suiyuan, which caused great public outrage. President Li was ready to deal with him after he came to power, but Commander-in-Chief Di got rid of him first. He was doing it to get rid of harm for the people! How can you be blamed? "Water Margin" is just a novel, and many of the contents are fictional. Commander-in-Chief Di must not take it seriously. The real Song Jiang rebelled again after being recruited by the court, and was then suppressed by the court."

Di Xiong said, "We in the Justice Party believe in democracy. Such a big thing must be decided by voting at a high-level meeting. If the result of the vote is contrary to Special Envoy Chen's wishes, I can only apologize to you. However, I am still very grateful for the goodwill brought by Special Envoy Chen."

Xian Yuji said, "Special Envoy Chen! Let me tell you first, I will definitely vote against it, because your Beiyang government has a terrible reputation. If we accept your offer of amnesty, we will ruin the reputation we have worked so hard to build. Others will think we are in the same group with you, and many of the bad things you have done will be blamed on us."

Chen Yi said anxiously, "Just now I heard Director Xian say that Commander Di can make the final decision on the Justice Party's affairs. Why did it become a vote now?"

Di Xiong said: "Under special circumstances, I can indeed make the final decision, but since I have to respect the opinions of other high-ranking members of the Justice Party, I must use this power with caution. If I have the final say on everything, then what are the other high-ranking members for? Wouldn't that make me a dictator like Yuan Shikai?"