Black Flag Army

Chapter 140: Beihai Provincial Governor

At this time, Carl began to roar loudly again and spoke a lot of English quickly. Di Xiong could not understand, but knew it was definitely not a good thing. He gestured to the two guards, and one of them took out a nozzle and sprayed Carl. Carl immediately fainted and fell down. He was dragged to the room upstairs by the two guards. Only then did the hall become quiet.

Di Xiong said to Zhang Shaozeng: "Let's talk business. I wonder what conditions General Zhang brought with him this time to recruit him? He won't exchange two empty letters of appointment for two factories like Xu Shuzheng did, will he?"

Zhang Shaozeng said: "President Xu is not Xu Shuzheng, he would not do such a stupid thing. President Xu thought that Outer Mongolia Province was too large and difficult to manage, so it was divided into two provinces, Outer Mongolia West Province and Outer Mongolia East Province. Outer Mongolia West Province includes the Beihai Lake area, a total of one million square kilometers, and Brother Di will be the governor, and the governor will also be recommended by you."

Di Xiong said: "Outer Mongolia West Province is not a good name. The word "foreign" will make the locals feel as if they are outsiders, which will lead to dissatisfaction with the central government and cause many independence incidents. Now there are 3 million people here, 70% of them are Han Chinese, so it is not appropriate to call it Mongolia West Province anymore."

Zhang Shaozeng asked, "In your opinion, brother Di, what should it be called?"

Di Xiong said: "Since the western part of Outer Mongolia and Beihai Lake have been integrated, and most of the fertile land in the western part of Outer Mongolia is irrigated by Beihai Lake, then let's call it Beihai Province!"

Zhang Shaozeng thought about it for a while and agreed. At Zhang Shaozeng's suggestion, Wang Fangting took out a blank letter of appointment and filled it out. Zhang Shaozeng asked again: "Who do you want to be the governor of Beihai Province?"

Di Xiong said: "My deputy Wu Zhong has extensive experience in governing. He manages large companies with hundreds of thousands of employees very well. Let him be the governor."

Wang Fangting had already filled out Di Xiong's letter of appointment, and took out another blank letter of appointment and filled in Wu Zhong's name on it. The letter of appointment had already been stamped with the seals of Xu Shichang and Duan Qirui.

Di Xiong was very surprised and said, "The change of Outer Mongolia to Beihai Province is a big deal, and there are also appointments of military governors and provincial governors. Can they just write it casually on the letter of appointment? Without the approval of the Presidential Office, the Prime Minister's Office and the National Assembly?"

Zhang Shaozeng said: "Before coming to Outer Mongolia, President Xu has authorized me. I can still do this. President Xu has also talked to Premier Duan in advance. Premier Duan regrets that he listened to the Japanese's slander. Therefore, he did not oppose you to be the governor. He just hopes that you can support a few planes to the Beiyang Central Government. Although there are dozens of planes imported from foreign countries, the quality is too poor. There are always accidents during flight. Later, we found out that they were old planes that were eliminated by others. Your Beihai Aircraft Manufacturing Plant is currently the only factory in China that can produce aircraft by itself. As for the Congress, it is currently controlled by the Anhui faction. Premier Duan does not object, and they certainly will not object. Of course, the process still needs to be followed, but it is just a formality. About a month later, the Congress will recognize your status as the governor and governor through a vote."

Wang Fangting filled out two copies of the letter of authorization and gave one to Di Xiong for signature. After Di Xiong signed, he took it back for filing and gave the other copy to Di Xiong, asking Di Xiong to find someone to call Wu Zhong to sign.

Di Xiong said, "How about this! I will send someone to deliver ten planes to President Xu in a few days, five transport planes and five fighter planes. Although they are not the latest models, they are much better than those at Nanyuan Airport. When you return in a few days, you can take the planes of our Beihai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory. In addition to this, do you have any other requests?"

Zhang Shaozeng said, "The Beiyang Army is currently at war with the South. It has been fighting for several years. The weapons and ammunition depots of the Beijing Arsenal and the Gongxian Arsenal in Henan have been emptied. Production cannot keep up with consumption. If you have any surplus weapons and ammunition, can you sell some to us?"

Di Xiong said: "As long as you are willing to pay, of course there is no problem, but we are expanding the army and increasing training, and there are not many weapons and ammunition left, but we still have equipment to supply you two or three divisions."

Zhang Shaozeng said: "The equipment for two or three divisions is enough. Thank you for your generosity, brother Di."

Di Xiong said: "We sell our weapons even to foreigners, so of course we want to sell them to Chinese people even more, and we even offer preferential prices."

Reporter Shao Fengping asked, "I wonder how many troops Commander-in-Chief Di has now?"

Di Xiong said: "The field army has 16 divisions, each with 12,000 men, about 200,000 troops, but half of them are new recruits."

Everyone was amazed when they heard this. They didn't expect the Black Flag Army to be so powerful and become an important force among the warlords. Hu Lin said, "As reporter Shao said, without a strong army to protect them, how can the Han people in Outer Mongolia live here peacefully? To protect a population of several million, 200,000 troops are not many."

Reporter Zhang Bingfu said: "I wonder how many planes Commander-in-Chief Di has in his air force now? I heard that the Black Flag Army was able to win battle after battle mainly because of the air force."

Di Xiong said: "The Air Force currently has only more than 200 aircraft. We could have produced more, but now aircraft are being updated too quickly and we dare not produce more. We have produced too many outdated aircraft, which is a huge waste. To be honest, our Air Force has also been defeated. We were ambushed by the Japanese and a squadron of twelve aircraft was completely destroyed."

Morrison asked, "So you hate the Japanese to the core? But your government has joined the Allied Powers and is now an ally of Japan. If you accept the offer, how will you resolve this conflict?"

Di Xiong smiled and said, "It's very simple to solve this contradiction. If no one offends me, I won't offend anyone. No matter if they are locals or foreigners, anyone who dares to go wild in the western part of Outer Mongolia will be punished!"

At this time, the wine and food had been served, and Di Xiong said, "Everyone, don't just talk, come on, let's talk while we eat."

Braised carp, braised lion's head, braised chicken, sweet and sour spareribs..., the dishes served are very rich. Zhang Shaozeng sighed: "No wonder so many people are willing to stay in Beitang City. The dishes in this restaurant alone are no worse than any other restaurant in Beijing. Lanji Hotel is very famous in Beijing."

When Wu Zhong was brought over by Liu Zhennan, he was stunned when he saw the letter of appointment. Then he said to Di Xiong with a bitter face: "Boss! Don't you know my level? How can I be the governor?"

Di Xiong laughed and said, "Many people want to be high officials so badly, but you actually pushed the position of governor away. I believe you can do a good job, so don't be too modest."

Wu Zhong said: "Then who will be given the position of General Manager of Beihai Group?"

Di Xiong said, "Give it to Deputy General Manager Tuo Qingyun! He has been your deputy for so long, he should be able to do a good job."

After eating and drinking, Di Xiong arranged for everyone to take a nap in the upstairs room, and agreed that at 2:30 in the afternoon, Xian Yujie and Hu Lin would accompany them to tour Bei Tang City.

After everyone had left and Xian Yuji was alone, Hu Lin whispered to her, "You said the wrong thing just now, do you know?"

Xian Yuji was startled and asked, "What did I say wrong?"

Hu Lin said, "Tell Carl that in Beitang City, Mr. Di's words represent the law. Carl is a reporter. If he publishes this in the newspaper, it will be very bad for Mr. Di's image! Others will think that Mr. Di is the local tyrant of Beitang City. He can do whatever he wants in Beitang City, and others will feel insecure when they come to Beitang City."

Xian Yuji said: "But Di Juzi does have such power!"

Hu Lin said, "Facts are facts, but you can't say them out loud. If you do, it will be wrong. Besides, I heard that Mr. Di is very democratic. Although I am not qualified to attend the high-level meetings of the Justice Party, I know that whenever there is a major matter, Mr. Di will discuss it with everyone and even vote on it. He will never be a dictator."

Xian Yuji said, "I also asked Di Juzi why he did this. He could have made the final decision by himself, but he still had to vote. If there were many people who opposed the vote, he still had to listen to them. He said that many hands make light work. The reason why the Justice Party is so strong is that everyone comes up with ideas together. If one person always makes the final decision and treats others as decoration, then why should others help you with ideas? When a person becomes a lonesome person, he is not far from destruction."

Hu Lin said: "Mr. Di would not use special administrative powers unless it was absolutely necessary, but you exaggerated his power that he would only use in an emergency and told it to foreigners who hate us."

Xian Yu said in horror: "What should I do? Have I gotten into big trouble?"

Di Xiong felt dizzy because he had drunk a lot of wine with Zhang Shaozeng, so he also booked a room in Lanji Hotel to sleep. When he woke up, he heard a familiar woman crying outside. He got up and opened the door to see Xian Yuji sitting on a bench in the corridor crying with tears streaming down her face. Yang Lushuang and Huo Qingtong were comforting her, but it was obvious that their comfort had no effect.

Di Xiong always felt a headache when he saw a woman crying, so he walked over and asked, "Director Xian! Why are you crying again? Who bullied you this time? As the propaganda director of the Justice Party, why don't you pay attention to your image at all?"

Xian Yuji sobbed, "Brother! I've gotten into trouble. I shouldn't have said that in front of Karl. What you said represents the law in Beitang City. Hu Lin said that your great image has been ruined. What can I do? Please punish me!"

Di Xiong said, "You did say something wrong and damaged my image, but Karl is too arrogant. After I gave him a beating, he must hate me to the core. Even if you didn't say anything wrong, he would make up stories to discredit me in the newspaper. So whether you say it or not, it doesn't really matter. There's no need to blame yourself here."

Xian Yuji said, "Since you know that he will slander you in the newspapers after leaving Bei Tang City, you might as well kill him now. Use the nozzle to knock him unconscious again, drag him to the backyard, dig a hole and bury him alive."

Di Xiong laughed and said, "You are so cruel. Do you think you are still the chief of the intelligence station? I tell you, you can't do it. Carl is the nephew of the British envoy. Killing him will intensify the conflict between China and Britain and make General Zhang embarrassed. The Anhui warlords headed by Duan Qirui are already wavering. Once the conflict between China and Britain intensifies, they will quickly turn to the Japanese side, and the amnesty will fall through. Let Carl talk nonsense. As long as the contributions I have made to the country are real, the rest are minor details and not many people will care."

Xian Yuji wiped away her tears and said, "Then you really don't blame me! Big brother, you are so good to me!"

She seemed to be about to throw herself into Di Xiong's arms, but suddenly she realized that there were two female guards. She stretched out her hands and quickly hugged her head and said, "Oh no! I didn't take a nap, and I feel dizzy. I need to find a place to lie down quickly."

After Xian Yuji left, Di Xiong also left. Yang Lushuang said to Huo Qingtong, "Did you notice that Xian Yuji and Mr. Di were very affectionate when they talked, as if they were a couple."

Huo Qingtong said, "I discovered this during my last private visit to Huermen. Although Lan Juzi told us to keep a close eye on her, she was only flirting with him verbally and there was no physical contact. We couldn't tell Lan Juzi about this either! Besides, didn't she recognize Mr. Di as her sworn brother? There's nothing wrong with siblings being intimate with each other!"

Yang Lushuang said: "The easiest thing to go wrong between brothers and sisters is that they end up becoming lovers."

In the room, Morrison said to Zhang Shaozeng: "Special Envoy Zhang! As an advisor to the Presidential Palace, I must remind you that you have given too much power to Commander-in-Chief Di. He is already very powerful, and now with your support, he is even more powerful. Although Commander-in-Chief Di is only 28 years old, he is decisive and ruthless! If you fall out in the future, he will never show mercy to your men, so you are nurturing a tiger to cause trouble."

Zhang Shaozeng laughed and said, "Mr. Morrison is too worried. Brother Di is not such a person. What support have we given him? It's just two letters of appointment. Beihai Province is their territory, whether they recognize it or not. But we got ten new aircraft and equipment for at least two divisions."

Morrison said, "The equipment for those two divisions needs money, and it can be bought at the British Empire Foreign Bank. Special Envoy Zhang, please don't misunderstand."

Zhang Shaozeng laughed and said, "I heard it right! The problem is that we can't buy new weapons from the foreign company even if we have money. They are all second-hand weapons, but Brother Di is willing to provide new weapons."

Morrison sighed, knowing that he had failed again.

At 2:30 in the afternoon, Xian Yuji and Hu Lin took Zhang Shaozeng and his party out for a tour. Di Xiong returned to his office and received a piece of intelligence from Wu Chunfeng. This was intelligence from Tsarist Russia. Di Xiong was very surprised and asked Wu Chunfeng, "When did this happen?"

Wu Chunfeng said: "It happened on August 30th. Because we don't have an intelligence station in the western part of Tsarist Russia, the news came late. The assassin was a woman named Fani. She shot Vladimir three times and seriously injured him. Vladimir was giving a speech at the time."

Di Xiong knew that Su Gangtie was going to take the stage. Although Tolo Driver was ranked second and Su Gangtie was only tied for third, Tolo Driver could not defeat Su Gangtie. Just like in the Justice Party, if he had an accident, Wu Zhong, who was ranked second, would definitely not be able to defeat Lan Jinping, who was ranked third. The nickname "Female Guiguzi" was not for nothing.

Di Xiong thought that the battle to recover Outer Manchuria had to start ahead of schedule.