Black Flag Army

Chapter 161: Marching into Zaisan Lake

After a careful search, Min Kailong stood at the gate of Fan Yaonan's mansion and reported to Leng Hanbing with a serious face: "Commander! I have led my men to search the entire mansion, but only found eleven abducted women. According to the captured men of Fan Yaonan, some women suffered inhumane torture and eventually died; others chose to commit suicide by hitting their heads against the wall because they could not bear the humiliation; even worse, some were sold to human traffickers after being played with tired of them. Now it may be extremely difficult to find them." There was a hint of helplessness and grief in his voice.

Leng Hanbing is now the Director of the Supervision Department and the Commander of the Cheetah Column, so Min Kailong is used to calling him the Commander. At this time, a squadron leader of the Cheetah Column came to report that they had killed Zhang Chunxi outside the gate of Zhang Chunxi's mansion, and now the city's guards and security forces have all been dispatched and rushed over, so they must retreat immediately.

Before Leng Hanbing led the Cheetah Column to attack Fan Yaonan's mansion, he secretly thought that if Zhang Chunxi got the news, he might take the opportunity to escape. So, after careful consideration, he decided to send a squadron of 30 elites to wait near Zhang Chunxi's mansion and closely monitor every move in the mansion.

When bursts of gunfire and deafening explosions were heard from Fan Yaonan's mansion, just as Leng Hanbing expected, Zhang Chunxi led his guards to flee the mansion in a panic and ran towards the military camp. However, all this did not escape the eyes of the Cheetah Squadron.

Seeing that Zhang Chunxi was surrounded by many guards, it was almost impossible for the Cheetah Squadron of only 30 people to capture him alive. Faced with such a difficult situation, the smart and courageous squadron leader made a prompt decision and issued an order: Use a sniper rifle to kill him!

With a clear gunshot, Zhang Chunxi was shot and fell to the ground, dead on the spot. Then, the squadron leader quickly directed the team members to take photos of Zhang Chunxi's body as evidence. After confirming that the mission was completed, they quietly left.

Facing the densely packed Altay garrison and fully armed security forces that were surging like a tide and had many machine guns, Leng Hanbing calmly commanded his men: "Don't panic! Keep in formation! Take turns to cover your retreat to the aircraft parking area outside the city..." His voice was calm, firm and powerful.

Under Leng Hanbing's effective command, they successfully repelled wave after wave of enemy attacks and gradually approached the outside of the city. However, the enemy obviously did not intend to let them go easily, and held on tightly, trying to trap them to death in the city, but the commanders fell one after another under the sniper rifle, causing chaos among the enemy again and again.

Finally, Leng Hanbing and his team arrived at the aircraft parking area outside the city. At this time, the team members were exhausted, but they did not hesitate at all and quickly boarded the plane to take off and escape from this dangerous place.

Although they lost several teammates in this operation, fortunately, the rocket launchers and sniper rifles they carried played a huge role - causing even more heavy casualties to the enemy. Looking at the enemy camp that was beaten to pieces, Leng Hanbing secretly felt lucky: Fortunately, we were prepared!

As the roar of the plane engine sounded, Leng Hanbing led the remaining team members into the air and disappeared into the vast sky...

On the plane, Leng Hanbing saw Wang Zhuer and Min Kailong sitting together and chatting happily. So he asked, "Miss Wang, do you still know the way home? When we get to Uvsu, we will take you home."

Upon hearing this, the smile on Wang Zhuer's face disappeared. She shook her head sadly and said, "I can't go back. I am too ashamed to go home. Even if my husband can forgive me, the neighbors, relatives and friends will blame me and say that the shameless bitch actually came back to be a housewife again. How shameless! They are not as beautiful as me, and they have always been very jealous and hateful of me. Now that they have caught me, they will not let me go. My husband and children will never be able to hold their heads up for the rest of their lives. In the end, I will be forced to commit suicide."

Min Kailong was surprised and asked, "Don't you have any feelings for your husband and children? You finally escaped, and you just give up and go home?"

Wang Zhuer's eyes gradually became moist, and big tears rolled down her pale cheeks. She trembled her lips and sobbed with a choked voice: "It is because I love them deeply that I can't go back to the past. After all, I have suffered such tragic abuse and harm, and I am no longer the pure and innocent self. There is a kind of love called giving up, and there is a kind of love called fulfillment, and this is the only choice I can make now. Although my heart is filled with endless pain and reluctance, I know clearly that if I continue to insist, it will only bring them more troubles and misfortunes. Therefore, I would rather bear this pain alone than let them suffer the slightest harm. I can only choose to give up silently and let time heal all the wounds..."

Leng Hanbing couldn't help but say, "Your husband and children must be waiting for you to come home!"

Wang Zhuer wiped her tears and said, "I will ask the other sisters who were rescued to send a message to my family, saying that I am dead. My husband is a gold and silver jewelry dealer. Our family is rich and he will marry another woman soon."

Wu Chunfeng sighed and said, "You are making things too hard for yourself. Can't you and your family just move away from those neighbors?"

Wang Zhuer asked, "We can cut off contact with our neighbors, but can we cut off contact with all our relatives and friends? Even if we move, can we guarantee that we won't run into them by chance?"

Everyone was speechless after hearing this, and they all knew that this was impossible.

Min Kailong said: "Since you can't go home, where are you going next?"

Wang Zhuer said, "I want to go to Beitang City and take the recruitment exam for the Intelligence Officer School. I heard that if you become an intelligence officer, you can change your name and surname, and you can also use disguise to change your appearance. I want to live a different life from before."

Leng Hanbing said, "After you were captured, you were able to endure humiliation and gain Fan Yaonan's trust, and then turned the tables at a critical moment to help us capture Fan Yaonan. With your looks and wit, you should be suitable to be an intelligence officer. But I don't have the final say. That white-faced guy is the deputy director of the Intelligence Department. You have to ask him."

Seeing Wang Zhuer looking at him, Wu Chunfeng had no choice but to speak: "The recruitment for the third intelligence officer school ended last month, but I can talk to Director Tian to see if you can join the class. She is the principal. Leng Hanbing is right. You are a good candidate to be an intelligence officer."

Wang Zhuer said excitedly: "Thank you, God has mercy on me. After all the suffering I have endured, I was able to meet you two noble people!"

The next afternoon after returning to Wuvsu City, the Wuvsu City Court tried and sentenced Fan Yaonan to death, and the sentence was immediate! At Wang Zhuer's repeated request, Leng Hanbing asked Wang Zhuer to be the executioner. Wang Zhuer fired five shots before killing Fan Yaonan. The first three shots missed the target, causing Fan Yaonan to suffer more.

After the establishment of Beihai Province, courts were established in all cities and counties according to the requirements of the Beiyang government. However, there were no judges, and the courts were just empty shells. For example, the president of the Wuvsu City Court was concurrently the head of the Wuvsu City Supervision Group. The Beihai Provincial Judges College has been established, but judges will not appear until the students graduate in three years. Last year, Beihai Province established not only the Judges College, but also the Air Force College and the Army College, and the Naval College is also in preparation.

Yang Zengxin, the governor of Xinjiang, was very angry when he learned that the Black Flag Army crossed the border and attacked Altay City, killing many people, including two brigade commanders. He complained to the Beiyang government in Beijing and held a press conference to denounce the Black Flag Army's banditry of killing innocent people. He announced the suspension of trade with Beihai Province. The Dihua Daily also cooperated with Governor Yang and published an article to denounce the Black Flag Army. The Justice Party in Beitang City would certainly not swallow their anger and also held a press conference to explain the reasons. The Justice Daily detailed the Altay Guard Army's attack on Uvs pretending to be the White Hat Army, and was accompanied by photos of the victims and the confession of the captured Fan Yaonan, as well as the testimony of eyewitnesses.

After Leng Hanbing and Wu Chunfeng returned to Beitang City, they were notified to attend the high-level meeting of the Justice Party. At the meeting, Di Xiong first asked Leng Hanbing and Wu Chunfeng to give a detailed account of the investigation and revenge in Wubusu. Then he said, "Xinjiang Governor Yang does not believe our testimony and wants to sue us. We don't need to pay attention to him. Although Xinjiang has 100,000 troops, most of them are local security forces and guard forces, all of which belong to the second and third line troops. There are only two real field troops. He dare not attack Beihai Province with this amount of troops. After all, crazy people like Fan Yaonan are a minority."

Lan Jinping said: "If Yang Zengxin dares to take action, we will take Dihua and support a Xinjiang governor who is pro-Beihai Province. This will also make it easier to recover the outer northwest."

Di Xiong pointed to the map of the Outer Northwest and said, "The Outer Northwest has more than one million square kilometers of land. We have to eat one bite at a time. Our first step is to recover the Zaisan Lake area. There are five large lakes in the Outer Northwest. Lake Balkash is of course the largest lake. Zaisan Lake is the third largest lake, with a water area of ​​1,800 square kilometers. Including the surrounding areas, there are 200,000 square kilometers. It is currently controlled by the White Hat Army of the Shira State. Most of the Outer Northwest is desert, and the population is far less than that of the Outer Northeast. They mainly live in the areas around the five great lakes. As long as we control the water sources of the five great lakes, we will control the Outer Northwest."

Wu Zhong asked: "Why do we have to attack the Zaisan Lake area first?"

Di Xiong said: "First, the Zaisan Lake area is the closest to us. For example, if we attack Lake Balkash, we must bypass the Zaisan Lake area. There is no need. Second, the White Hat Army in the Zaisan Lake area has only 80,000 people. It is the weakest of the three forces in the Outer Northwest. Of course, we will choose the softest one first. Third, unlike the loss of the Outer Northeast, when the Outer Northwest was lost, the local troops of the Qing Dynasty in the Outer Northwest resisted. Among them, the most tenacious resistance was the defenders of the Zaisan Lake area. They fought from 1862 to 1864, persisted for three full years, and caused heavy casualties to the Russian invasion army. The older generation of people in Xinjiang have a strong desire to take back the Zaisan Lake area!"

Wu Chunfeng said: "I always thought that Outer Northwest was ceded by the incompetent Qing Dynasty, but I didn't expect it took three full years of fighting to lose it."

Wu Zhong said: "Although the Qing rulers were incompetent, they were not fools. If the army could win, who would be willing to cede land? At that time, there was the Taiping Rebellion in the south, the Nian Rebellion in the north, and the Muslim rebellion supported by the Russians in Xinjiang. Even the capital Dihua was captured by the rebels. Under internal and external troubles, the Russians took advantage of the situation and sent out 100,000 troops to defeat the outer northwest defenders."

Lan Jinping asked: "Which army should be dispatched to recapture the Zaisan Lake area? The First Army or the Second Army?"

Di Xiong said: "After the First Army added the new recruit division, it now has nine divisions, about 110,000 people, but the three armies of the other side have more than 300,000 troops added together, which is definitely not enough. The Second Army and the Third Army will each send out three divisions, making a total of 15 divisions, about 180,000 troops, which should be enough. The remaining four divisions of the Second Army will guard Beiling Province, and the remaining three divisions of the Third Army will guard Beihai Province."

Leng Hanbing asked: "Who is the commander-in-chief? Is it still the chief of staff?"

Di Xiong said: "The Chief of Staff is also serving as the governor of Beiling Province. It's too tiring. He won't have to work hard this time. He will no longer serve as the commander of the Second Army Group. Feng Anbang will take over. The commander-in-chief this time will be Wu Chunlei, the commander of the First Army Group. Do you agree?"

Everyone agreed that the next agenda was to by-elect a Mohist. After Zhang Zhenyang passed away, the Justice Party lost a Mohist and needed to hold a by-election. There were four candidates in total, including Feng Anbang, commander of the Second Army Group, Tuo Qingyun, general manager of Beihai Group, Chen Xianglian, general manager of Weili Group, and Lan Jinchun, principal of Zhengqing School. Di Xiong did not know in advance that Lan Jinchun would become a candidate. He thought that Lan Jinping was behind it, so he voted against it. However, out of a total of fourteen senior executives, thirteen voted in favor of Lan Jinchun, and only Di Xiong voted against it. In the end, Lan Jinchun was elected as the Mohist.

After Wang Zhuer arrived in Beitang City, accompanied by Min Kailong, captain of the Cheetah Column, she went to the Intelligence Department of the Justice Party Building to find Wu Chunfeng. Wu Chunfeng then accompanied her to find Tian Mengxue. After listening to Wu Chunfeng's introduction of her situation, Tian Mengxue also expressed sympathy. After the assessment, she agreed to let her enter the Intelligence Officer School as a transfer student. Whether she could graduate would depend on her test results. Tian Mengxue said that she would never give her a break just because she had studied for a shorter time than others. Wang Zhuer also expressed her understanding.

Someone reported to Leng Hanbing that Wang Zhuer and Min Kailong were together and they even went to a hotel to get a room. Leng Hanbing was very surprised. After a careful investigation, he found out that Wang Zhuer came to Beitang City where she was unfamiliar with the place and wanted to find a man to rely on. She did not dare to seduce Leng Hanbing and Wu Chunfeng who were powerful and married, so she seduced Min Kailong, a bachelor. Min Kailong was a young man with blood and energy. Facing the seduction of a beautiful woman, of course he could not resist. So when the dry wood met the fire, they did it. Afterwards, Min Kailong wanted to marry her, but Wang Zhuer refused and only wanted to be his mistress.

Leng Hanbing knew that Wang Zhuer had given up, and because of the previous examples of Xian Yuji and Bian Zhimei, he was not surprised, and did not punish Wang Zhuer and Min Kailong. He just sighed: "Fan Yaonan, this beast, ruined a good wife and mother."