Chapter 39: The Treacherous Waves and Dark Clouds

  Tan Xiao and Sun Liren's fight quickly reached Chiang Kai-shek's ears. The chairman, who was secretly delighted in his heart, shook his head and sighed to the attendants: "This Tan Fengsheng is too straightforward! Let's get ready, we'll go to Lingling the day after tomorrow..."

  "General, what you are good at is strategy. Now that the two armies are in close combat, it's not something you can do to alleviate your worries, why don't I go to Lingling first?" Yang Yongtai suggested to Chiang Kai-shek.

  Chiang Kai-shek hesitated for a moment: "Alright, you and Lin Wei set off early!" Chiang Kai-shek was also afraid that the Military Commission would make a big fuss, after all, this Tan Xiao was loyal to him, but sometimes his courage was too great, he dared to fight anyone, which might offend the Huangpu generals too deeply, and it would be difficult for himself to mediate. Letting Yang Yongtai and Lin Wei go would be the same as taking action to help Tan Xiao suppress the situation, anyway, the prestige of the Chairman would still be maintained.

  In fact, Chiang Kai-shek's attitude towards Tan Xiao was as expected: this man is loyal and has a high level of military expertise, far surpassing his subordinates. If such a person were to be used, he would have to be isolated and used alone; if one day he were no longer useful, he would be left with nothing. So when the news of the successful negotiations arrived, the attendants in the waiting room all cheered "General!" Chiang Kai-shek really did add Tan Xiao's name to the list of twenty-two second-class generals who had been promoted.

  In fact, Chiang Kai-shek's intention was not just a temporary excitement, but a deep and far-reaching plan: in the future, Tan Xiang would be used to divide He Jian's power and deter the Guangxi clique. So, it would be better to promote Tan Xiang, He Jian, and Bai Chongxi to the rank of second-class general, making them equal in status. As for the establishment of the First Route Army with Tan Xiang as its commander, there were many clever moves: on the surface, the First Route Army was still part of the Hunan clique, but this way, the central government could indirectly take away half of Hunan's military power. Among the units incorporated into the First Route Army, the 128th Division from western Hunan, led by Wang Chen and Gu Zhen, were sworn enemies of He Jian; the 23rd Division, led by Li Biwen, was not part of He Jian's clique but was relatively obedient to him, so putting it under Tan Xiang's command would weaken He Jian. The 63rd Division, led by Chen Guangzhong, was a local warlord who only cared about his own territory; Tan Xiang's control over him meant that the central government could take away some of his power. The temporary Fifth Division, originally a security brigade, was given to Tan Xiang to expand his territorial control, which was part of the strategy to encircle cities with rural areas. The Taxation Police Corps was a truly powerful force, and giving it to Tan Xiang meant stripping Song Ziwen of his military power while increasing central pressure on the Guangxi clique. In this environment, there were few people who could ensure that the commander of the taxation police corps would not collude with Song Ziwen, except for Tan Xiang.

  Tan Xiao's Wild First Army has greatly increased its strength, but the struggle it faces will also be very complex: Firstly, the equipment of the troops needs to be spent on part of the 20 million yuan extorted from Kong Song; He Jian is the provincial governor and controls the supply of the Wild First Army, he will definitely shortchange them; Adding to this, the Wild First Army's super-large consumption training method requires Tan Xiao to dig into his own pocket. This way, it can prevent Tan Xiao from having too much money while increasing the contradictions between Tan and He. Although Tan Xiao is good at using troops, it is difficult for him to become strong sandwiched between He Jian and the Gui system. As for the internal situation of the Wild First Army itself, a situation will be formed where Tan Xiao joins hands with Chen Quzhen to counterbalance He Jian, but Chen Quzhen will also join hands with Li Bishan and Chen Guangzhong to oppose Tan Xiao. The Taxation Police Corps is internally divided, the remnants of the Song system and Tan Xiao cannot get along, but the Central system within it will help Tan Xiao counterbalance, and after obtaining the true strength of the Temporary Fifth Regiment, Tan Xiao has the ability to control these complex struggles on a large scale.

  As for the higher level of balance, it is to thoroughly alienate Tan Xiao, a nominal student of Huangpu, and the traditional faction of Huangpu with a pleasant-sounding secondary lieutenant general title: Which old Huangpu who fought in the Eastern Expedition and Northern Expedition can swallow this tone? This would eliminate the possibility of the old Huangpu and the genius Little Huangpu forming an alliance. With external troubles and internal strife, being attacked from all sides, who else could Tan Xiao rely on except for his position as principal? Only then would Chiang Kai-shek dare to use Tan Xiao, a military genius who can completely defeat German soldiers!

  In short, everything should be within a controllable range to achieve a balance of power among all parties, and that's harmony! This is Chiang Kai-shek's way of governing!

  As for Chiang Kai-shek's thoughts, He Yingqin was guessing correctly, and Yang Yongtai also guessed it. Yang Yongtai had a good impression of Tan Xiao since their gathering in Guiyang; because he had been an isolated faction for a long time, it was rare for him to appreciate someone, so when he looked at Tan Xiao with different eyes, he felt that Chiang Kai-shek's hand on Tan Xiao was too heavy. Tan Xiao said that he was only a military super genius, but also just a 23-year-old kid. He was afraid that if Tan Xiao made a slight mistake, his future would be ruined, so he had been thinking of finding an opportunity to remind Tan Xiao, and this time he proposed arriving in Lingling a day earlier; it was just to help Tan Xiao straighten out his thoughts.

  Tan Xiao thought he had his own way: in the reorganization of the Taxation Police Corps, not only did he not fight with the residual Song system, but also reused Sun Liren and tried to recruit Wen Yingxing; as for those local snakes, just one anti-military exercise assessment, hand over all military power to me; learn from the old Tan system's group of old people, hide aside and enjoy a peaceful life, and another is to take on the function of the armed forces department in the future, go and do reserve training! As for He Jian, this guy who has never been on good terms with him, Tan Xiao didn't put him in his eyes. I'm not afraid of even Kong Song, let alone you? Everyone gets along with me, I won't bother you, if you dare to wear small shoes for the Wild One Army, find an opportunity to take you down directly! The Gui system? It's just to force you to compete with me in military equipment! Tan Xiao didn't think about his relationship with the old Huangpu at all. He didn't think that the rank of lieutenant general would be a trouble, but rather thought it was beneficial for him to prepare for anti-Japanese resistance! He felt that since Guan Linzheng, Gui Yongqing, and He Shaozhou had already gotten along well, other old Huangpu wouldn't be difficult to get along with, and he himself was also from the Huangpu system!

  Sometimes simplifying problems is a kind of happiness; Tan Xiao is now lecturing without any worries to all the commanders and instructors of the participating troops on the subject of infantry formation! Guan Linzheng had previously told other commanders that if one day Tan Xiao was willing to teach military courses, he would be willing to return to military school as a student! So when Tan Xiao proposed to give some special training lectures for each instructor team in order to better understand the training goals and future national army basic tactics, all the commanders of the Central Army were very interested in listening; they wanted to hear what this young prodigy, who was regarded as a military god by Guan, Gui, and He, had to say, and they all automatically joined the ranks of students.

  Tan Xiao's lecture was held at the open-air training ground, and his opening speech was an analysis of who China's future enemy would be. Almost everyone knew he was a strong anti-Japanese faction, but people were still surprised by his theory that China would inevitably go to war with Japan - his reasoning was more comprehensive and persuasive than most discussions in society today, but the content was not much different; what really attracted attention was his belief that China should seize every opportunity to prepare for war, and it would be best if China could take the initiative to launch a war rather than passively waiting for death!

  When the military course really unfolds, everyone understands why he chose to have class here: Tan Xiao's explanation of infantry formation is combined with single soldier, small group and platoon tactics drills. Each formation weapon has soldiers cooperating with the explanation to perform live demonstrations!

  For example, when Tan Xiao explained why he planned to let infantrymen universally equip a small assault grenade instead of the familiar Type 24 German-style long-handled grenade, he showed everyone the actual objects: "Now soldiers equipping four Type 24 long-handled grenades is too heavy, with the same weight, equipping assault grenades can carry twelve! Moreover, the Type 24 long-handled grenade has too much power, only suitable for hiding in trenches to blow up attacking enemies, and the probability of blowing oneself up when attacking is really too high; The new tactics of the National Army are mainly mobile, raiding, ambushing, and attacking, and the weight of the Type 24 is already affecting the soldiers' tactical movements!……" In a short interval between his explanations, there would be soldiers equipping two types of grenades to compare various tactics... "So, in future equipment, this familiar grenade will only be kept by logistics troops during peacetime, and main combat troops will only have a small number equipped as temporary defensive weapons for the battlefield. Large-scale use will only occur when defending positions, and then they will be distributed in trenches..."

  A company commander of the 87th Division's training regiment raised his hand and asked, "Instructor, what do we use to deal with tanks? This bundle of grenades is an important means for us to deal with tanks!"

  "This issue is simple, cluster hand grenades to deal with tanks will no longer be our main means of dealing with tanks. In addition to the various specialized weapons equipped by our anti-tank troops, our infantry will also be equipped with specialized anti-tank grenades, rifle grenades and so on..." Tan Xiao made a gesture, and someone brought up a large batch of various single-soldier anti-tank weapons.

  "This I will explain in a later anti-tank course, now we return to the infantry single soldier basic equipment..."

  More and more new tactics based on the performance and usage characteristics of new weapons are emerging, shocking everyone! Suddenly, they all had a real feeling of returning to military school: not only new weapons, but also existing ones, Tan Xiao's methods were vastly different. For example, submachine guns, in the minds of most commanders, were defensive weapons that enhanced close-range firepower density, generally assigned to squad leaders and platoon leaders for use. However, under Tan Xiao's explanation and demonstration, submachine guns were more often used as mobile cover fire for advancing troops, even as a decoy to lure enemy suppressive fire away from machine gunners approaching from the side! The tactics of submachine gunners in Tan Xiao's explanation were surprisingly an independent small unit tactic! Everyone clearly felt that the role of traditional main firepower rifles in the national army had been reduced to its lowest point, and the new national army's light firepower mainly consisted of machine guns and grenade launchers! As for the usage methods of machine guns, they were even more varied.

  "When attacking an enemy company, even with the basic equipment of a wild division like yours now, it's hard to kill or wound more than 30% of the enemy in one charge against a well-trained enemy. However, if the enemy is retreating and you occupy a favorable position on their flank and rear to pursue and attack with firepower, three to five machine guns can wipe out over a hundred Japanese soldiers! Between advancing and retreating, we can turn defensive battles into battles of annihilation! So, it's been our practice all along to retreat after repelling the enemy due to lack of ammunition, which has become a bad habit. Now we want everyone to develop the habit of inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy during their retreat and train special combat skills! I hope you don't learn from those British gentlemen who didn't shoot at the enemy's back, they missed the chance to kill Washington! I want you to learn to enjoy attacking the enemy from behind!"

  The application and concept of tactics, in Tan Xiao's explanation, make people feel that this is a mature theoretical system, not some original tactics that were suddenly realized on the battlefield without any system... The reasons for the deployment of each type of weapon, the techniques for using them, and the details of executing various tactics are all explained in meticulous detail, and after demonstrating to the soldiers, it's as if they have had an epiphany... Genius! Born war god! Guan Linzheng's definition of this junior who has only read three months of Huangpu military officer crash course is accurate. Only a genius can make such a performance! Only a war god can have such insight!

  After a simple battlefield lunch, the training session continued, moving on to infantry squad tactics. There were too many new concepts, and many people couldn't digest them all at once. Everyone was busy taking notes. However, it seemed like each person understood something, and in their unclear minds, they could affirm that every tactic Tan Xiaoguang explained to everyone was extremely effective! They even felt that if they really did it, the Japanese army, which had originally looked very powerful, wasn't that impressive after all...

  While Tan Xiao was enthusiastically explaining and not participating in the demonstration guidance, four people quietly joined behind the large crowd of listeners: Yang Yongtai, Lin Wei, He Shaotang and Yang Qing.

  Yang Yongtai signaled to everyone not to disturb Tan Xiao, and he also listened carefully at the back of the crowd. This scene was too stunning: originally, after receiving the news that Tan Xiao and Sun Liren had a big fight, Yang Yongtai thought he would see a situation where everyone disobeyed and Tan Xiao exerted his authority through coercion in Zero Ling. However, what he saw was all senior generals and instructors from various departments listening attentively and with great respect to Tan Xiao's lecture! Among them were Guo Yongqing, the commander of the Central Instruction Corps and the director of the military officer training class at the Central Military Academy, Guan Linzheng, who was famous for his fighting skills, and Sun Liren, one of the main characters in the arm-wrestling incident...

  Yang Yongtai immediately understood that these people had all been conquered by Tan Xiao! There was no discordant note in their cooperation at all! But he also started to worry about another thing for Tan Xiao...

  Since the night talk in Guiyang, Tan Xiao has always had a sincere respect for Yang Yongtai, and it was his attitude that made Yang Yongtai want to help him.

  Yang Yongtai was a loner in Chiang Kai-shek's inner circle, loyal only to Chiang and offending many people. Even the old Huangpu faction generals who were loyal to Chiang did not like him. So after the banquet, everyone quickly made excuses to leave, preferring to deal with Lin Wei, they pulled Lin away too. Now, only Tan Xiao and Yang Yongtai were left chatting over their cups.

  "Feng Sheng, younger brother, this time the commander has entrusted you with a heavier responsibility than ever before! I want to remind Tan Xiao, but Yang Yongtai would never speak ill of Chiang Kai-shek: 'This time, in organizing the First Route Army, the commander's intention is for you to simultaneously take charge of consolidating Hunan's local governance on behalf of the Central Government, absorbing the armed forces that are wandering outside of the Central Military System, and keeping a close eye on the Guangxi clique and its allies... The difficulties are not small... This time, older brother came over and saw that you and the Huangpu generals were getting along harmoniously, which made him very happy. However, don't forget the commander's entrustment to you - to maintain a distance from the Central Government. Right now, this distance is a bit too close...'"

  "Mr. Ambassador's words, Feng Sheng will definitely remember, it's just that keeping a distance is really hard to do. The things I'm doing now are directly responsible to the Premier, once I show signs of not cooperating with the Central Government, the impression on foreign countries would be..."

  "Yes, it's also hard for you... I remember you said that resisting the Japanese is not one person's job, and all Chinese people need to work together to succeed. Sometimes, I think you're too tired, doing too much. Why don't you give some responsibilities to others? Everyone needs a stage to perform on, why not let others have more opportunities to shine?... The opportunity to perform actually includes giving the commander-in-chief a chance, for example, last time in Guiyang, when you suggested launching an attack, why did the commander-in-chief really go and chase that group? Yang Yongtai saw Tan Xiaoruo deep in thought, and continued: "The commander-in-chief has spent his whole life on horseback, of course he knows that if he leads your troops to pursue them for two nights, even if they catch up, there will be big losses. So he just advanced at a leisurely pace, like taking a stroll. Actually, the commander-in-chief's pursuit was just an act, he had to perform for the pursuing troops and also for you!"

  "What?......" Tan Xiao knew that Yang Yongtai wouldn't talk nonsense for half a day, he must have something to express, but still didn't understand.

  "Yes, he wants his trusted love to know that he believes in his judgment! Believes in his ability!" Yang Yongtai continued: "So the delegate must catch up! This is a kind of performance!" Yang Yongtai paused for a moment, looking at Tan Xiao who seemed still confused, and became somewhat anxious: This old brother was usually quite clever, how come he becomes so dull on official occasions?!

  "Brother, you really made a big splash in this military reorganization! Today, Wei Wen was shocked to see you lecturing the Huangpu generals. This group of first batch students has always been arrogant, except for Commander-in-Chief, who else have they ever listened to?..."

  As soon as this was said, Tan Xiao suddenly realized that he had stolen Chiang Kai-shek's thunder!

  "Master taught me, a young man only has one mind to do things, not thinking of anything else, and neglecting it!" Tan Xiao Zhen was a bit anxious, although everyone didn't say it explicitly, but now he knew what Yang Yong Tai reminded him of, and Yang Yong Tai also knew that he understood.

  Yang Yongtai chuckled and said, "Haha, it's been a while since we've seen each other, let's not talk about work all the time... by the way, I read your article at the Northern Expedition Museum, your vernacular writing is quite good..." He saw Tan Xiang thinking of responding and immediately continued, "When I was young, I wasn't daring to say I was a genius, but compared to my classmates, I was slightly better. Once, our teacher gave us a couplet to work on, asking us to hand it in the next day. But I came up with an answer right there on the spot. The teacher had no choice but to give us another one... unexpectedly, I came up with an upper and lower couplet off the top of my head. In the end, the teacher couldn't do anything about it and didn't even assign homework that day. He praised me in front of everyone, saying I was a prodigy... at that time, I was overjoyed! Two days later, when I got home from school, my father gave me a good scolding. It turned out the teacher had told him that I wasn't humble and thought I knew it all just because I understood some superficial things... afterwards, I realized that sometimes, when others think something is difficult for you to do, you should just make it 'difficult' to complete..."

  Yang Yongtai said so much, Tan Xiao even if he was a fool understood, and for Yang Yongtai's kindness, he was extremely grateful: This is a person who is said to have no friends or party, and nobody gets along with him! How did he look at me differently?

  Sometimes people are just destined to be together, and the proud Yang Yongtai happens to appreciate the still innocent Tan Xiao.

  The next morning, Tan Xiao prepared a thick stack of reports and waited for the arrival of the committee chairman in Lingling. Those reports were all about the difficulties of rectifying the army, needing coordination here and there, and waiting for approval and instructions from the chairman. He believed that the chairman would not think he was incompetent because of these requests, but on the contrary, the chairman would be happy to help him solve all the problems. In addition, he also discussed with Gui Yongqing to ask Gui Yongqing to make a small report in front of the principal, saying that Tan Xiao was arrogant and self-willed, Gui Yongqing naturally agreed.

  To welcome the chairman, of course, it is also impossible to present the scene of giving lectures to the Huangpu generals in front of Chiang Kai-shek, so today's lesson will be postponed, and the whole organization will welcome him!

  Welcoming Chiang Kai-shek is a big deal, apart from Tan Xiao, someone else attaches great importance to it - the Japanese!

  Ye Xing doesn't like to talk, but she's a great listener. A beautiful woman who is willing to listen to others and won't gossip is easy to make friends with. Although she seems to be He Fuzhang's crush, there are still many young men in the military strategy department who always find excuses to talk to her for a bit. So, within just two days, she obtained quite a lot of information: For example, China and Germany's friendly relations have made great progress, it doesn't seem like what outsiders say that it's just about exchanging mining concessions for military aid... Tan Xiao's military level has completely conquered the Germans, even the German armored commander is willing to be his disciple... Tan Xiao and Kong Song don't get along, they had a fight with Song system general Sun Liren... The Wild First Division is going to be upgraded to the Wild First Army... The daily training exercises of the Wild First Division are against the Japanese army...

  However, Ye Qingsong was most concerned about two pieces of information: Firstly, according to her observation and analysis, the scale and intensity of this "bandit suppression" campaign in Lingling were unusually high, which seemed more like a German-style military reorganization, a long-standing concern of the Japanese, rather than just pursuing the Red Army in the southwest. Secondly, He Shaotang, who always kept a bouquet of fresh flowers, was very busy and mysterious today, emphasizing military discipline; finally, he revealed that Chiang Kai-shek would arrive in Lingling at 3 pm this afternoon!

  These intelligence have all been sent out by Ye Yingkui. Now they are already in the hands of Tanaka Hisashirō!

  Tanaka Hisashirō looked like a very dull person, but his dullness was a manifestation of perseverance and calmness in the eyes of Tōyama Kanken, the head of the Fentian Special Affairs Bureau. On the other hand, he also admired Director Tōyama very much, thinking that only by doing things as boldly as Director Tōyama could the value of Japanese spies be demonstrated. Therefore, he always wanted to do great things. He agreed with a point of view: China is currently a loose sand, and the only person who can change this situation is Chiang Kai-shek. So, as long as Chiang Kai-shek was killed, China would have at least ten years of chaos.

  Now, the opportunity is in front of him: knowing in advance that Chiang Kai-shek will fly to Lingling, and having almost three hours of preparation time, why not try it? Worried about being discovered as an assassin? Don't be ridiculous! Even if all the evidence in China was in their hands, could they reach Tokyo? There's nothing to worry about. Moreover, he is a person from the Fengtian Special Affairs Bureau, and now that Nanmubao Long in Shanghai has directly given him an order to kill Tan Xiao within a time limit, and even sent four people to help him, which makes him very unhappy.

  Tanaka Hisashi believed in the abilities of spies, but he detested those mysterious ninjas. He was a real, excellent spy who had received advanced training in Germany, not some absurd legend. If those ninjas were so formidable, let them deal with Chiang Kai-shek's guards!

  (I was writing this chapter and the inspiration came, but my family had something that needed my help... now I especially envy those big shots who can focus on writing all day without any distractions...)