Chapter 40: Accidentally Boarding the Deputy Car

  Tan Xiao had made all the preparations to welcome Chiang Kai-shek's arrival and was about to go have lunch with Yang Yongtai, Lin Wei and others when a staff officer suddenly came in holding an ultra-secret telegram. This kind of ultra-secret telegram could only be deciphered by designated personnel using their own codebooks, and the person reading it had to translate it themselves. Tan Xiao didn't dare to delay, so he quickly translated it himself. The telegram was from Rong Hui and consisted of just one sentence: Huang Lin's two heroes will bring top-secret information and arrive at Lingling by plane at 1 o'clock this afternoon!

  It turns out that the two great masters, Huang Xiaoxia and Lin Yintang, need to be escorted! What kind of top-secret information is this? Tan Xiao was shocked, could it be that India has changed its mind?! He didn't even eat his meal, and brought his guards to head to the airport. Just as they reached the entrance, Yang Chengfu and Lin Yaoguang were there, Lin Yaoguang had just arrived after resigning from the Guangdong Army, and Yang Chengfu personally came to greet them at the door. When they heard that they were going to pick up Huang Xiaoxia and Lin Yintang, they also followed along.

  Ye Xing saw Tan Xiao's bodyguard leave the door, so he walked over and said to one of the drivers of Ye's motorcade: "Master Ye didn't even eat lunch, and now you're leaving again? Aren't you afraid of exhausting yourself..."

  "Hey, there must be some big shot arriving at the airport, right?"

  Five minutes later, Ye Qing put a pot of dwarf morning glory on the windowsill to bask in the sun. On the opposite mountain, there was already a artillery observation mirror waiting...

  Because there are two airports in Lingling now, one in the south and one in the north, Tanaka Hisashirō didn't know which airport to set up an ambush for, so he had no choice but to wait until Tamaki passed by and then make his move on the way back. Now, Tamaki is heading towards the new military airport in the south.

  "Chiang Kai-shek is cunning, actually using this simple new airport. But no matter how cunning he is, he still can't outsmart the espionage elite of the Great Japanese Empire!" Tanaka Hisashirō, disguised as an old farmer, muttered to himself on the mountain, quite pleased with himself.

  "Kumamura, please!" Tanaka Hisashi disliked ninjas, especially those from the Shanghai organization. So he assigned Kumamura Koji as a sniper to provide long-range support. He had high praise for Kumamura: decisive and cautious; like in the small rental district shootout, he knew he was exposed when he saw "M" dodging, didn't even take his gun, slipped down the roof, and calmly passed through the road checks, becoming the only surviving assassin in the raid. This time, he hoped Kumamura would have a chance to fire.

  Tan Xiao rushed to the airfield, he calculated that if he picked up the person at one o'clock and then returned to the base before going to pick up Chiang Kai-shek, he would still make it. However, he miscalculated one thing: flight delays. It seemed that in this time and space, the situation was not much different from the civilian airliners that people of later generations took, which were rarely on schedule. Just as Tan Xiao was getting impatient and thinking of going to another airport, the French military transport plane that had flown over from Vietnam finally arrived.

  Huang Xiaoxia and Lin Yintang this time, a total of eight people came, four of whom were their disciples who made a living in Nanyang. They all had a special skill. One of them, named Ren Pingwei, had even served as a bodyguard for the former Governor of Hong Kong, Jin Wentai. After Jin Wentai became the governor of the Strait Colony, he didn't like the life there and happened to contact Huang Xiaoxia to learn about the situation in the First Division, and was willing to come to the First Division; they met in Vietnam and came together.

  As for the other two, they were brothers. The elder brother was named Hu Haosen and the younger brother was named Hu Haocun. They used to be bodyguards for a wealthy man in Hong Kong and were acquaintances of Ren Pingwei. By chance, they obtained some important secrets. After learning that Ren Pingwei was going to Ye Yi Shi and understanding the character of Ye Yi Shi's leader Tan Xiao, they took the secret with them to Vietnam and met Rong Hui.

  The secret is: the two southern warlords, Li Zongren and Chen Jitang, are going to join hands with Japan to attack Chiang Kai-shek from both north and south! The materials brought back include detailed documents of their cooperation and photos secretly taken of Tōjō Hideki personally sneaking down to Hong Kong to meet with Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Hu Hanmin, and Chen Jitang multiple times.

  Oh my god! Tan Xiao was shocked by the news and almost fainted! Could it be that his high-pressure policy had pushed Liangguang to rebel against him?! Tan Xiao had always thought that Li Zongren, who commanded the Battle of Taierzhuang, was a patriotic general no matter what, and would not become a traitor. So he only wanted to force him into an arms race to strengthen the Guangxi army. He never expected that Li Zongren would actually join hands with Japan! As for that flapping butterfly wing, Tan Xiao was getting more and more afraid of it!

  Actually, as a traverser, Tan Xiao overestimated his own strength. He didn't know that what was happening now was exactly the same as what had happened in the original timeline! As early as the beginning of the year, Tōjō Hideki personally went south and reached an agreement with Hu and Chen of Guangdong, Li and Bai of Guangxi: Japan would send troops to northern China to distract, while the warlords of Guangdong and Guangxi would rise up together against Chiang Kai-shek. After the Guangdong-Guangxi alliance army seized power, they would recognize Japan's occupation of Northeast China and Manchukuo as independent. Moreover, they tacitly allowed Japan to actually occupy the entire region north of the Yellow River!

  But Tan Xiao didn't learn enough about the history before crossing over, so he didn't know all this. From the materials he read, he only knew that the Guangxi Army fought against Japan quite stubbornly, and also that Chen Jitang was one of the warlords who donated the most money and goods to the resistance after his retirement. He couldn't have imagined that these warlords who had made great efforts in the resistance would have such a despicable experience when maintaining their own rule! Now he is filled with self-reproach, thinking that all this is caused by him. In his confusion, he didn't even think about who the Hu brothers were working as bodyguards for and how they could get so much information!

  "General Tan, in fact, the private communication between the Guangxi warlords and Japan had begun long ago. In the 17th year of the Republic of China, after the Guangxi warlords' rebellion against Chiang Kai-shek failed, Bai Chongxi was rescued by the Japanese consul general in Shanghai. The Guangxi warlord Li Zongren had a very close relationship with Japan's Kansai region. Last year, the Guangxi warlords sent two batches of air force personnel to study in Japan and purchased a large amount of military equipment and supplies, including nine fighter planes, through Liu Shidi, the head of military education in Guangxi. Later, Japan continued to send military advisors to train troops for the Guangxi warlords. Many of these activities were carried out through a wealthy Hong Kong businessman as an intermediary, and my brother happened to be his bodyguard at that time. Although we brothers are in the underworld, we dare not forget that we are Chinese!" Hu Haosheng said with dignity: "We have been collecting relevant evidence and information all along, hoping that one day we can expose the true face of these warlords who shout anti-Japanese slogans every day. It's just that there has never been a channel to make this intelligence public to the nation until I learned about General Tan's determination to resist Japan from my brother, which is why I came to join him!"

  Tan Xiao hastily praised and encouraged the two Hu brothers, but his mind was still on those intelligence reports. At this time, he already had a new plan: to conquer the two Guangs!

  At this time, a personal bodyguard came to report that the North Airport had sent a telegram asking about the general's whereabouts and said that the delegate should arrive soon...

  Tan Xiao was shocked and suddenly remembered that today's important task was to pick up Old Jiang. But if he rushed there now, unless he had the highways of later generations plus a Porsche, it would be impossible to arrive within half an hour. He couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, someone on his staff was quick-witted: "Don't we have airplanes? Why not take a plane?"

  Five minutes later, Tan Xiao threw down the crowd and boarded the old Toby-driven DH10 flight to North Airport.

  On the way to the base from the southern airport, four Japanese killers had already buried a powerful remote-controlled bomb on the road and began to hide separately. These incredibly good hiding ninjas quickly disappeared on both sides of the mountain road, and Hirotsugu Kimura witnessed all this at the top of the slope, secretly shocked: these four people just disappeared in his line of sight!

  Luckily it was them, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to evade the search party's guards along the way. Mura Mototsugu thought to himself. Unlike Tanaka Hisashirō, as a member of the action department who often served as an assassin, he still had some respect for samurai and ninjas.

  Tan Xiao, who still didn't know he had been circling in front of the Ghost Gate, was in that old-fashioned machine that made people dizzy, with waves of emotions rising and falling: In such a vast China, so many factions were armed, Li Zongren, Chen Jitang, Yan Xishan, Han Fuqu... all of them were openly or secretly fighting each other for personal gain, even exchanging the interests of the country and nation with the Japanese. Who really had the concept of resisting Japan in their heart? Who was really preparing to resist Japan? Among the leaders of political groups, it was actually only Chiang Kai-shek, who was later evaluated as "passively resisting Japan"!

  Recalling the night talks in Guiyang, riding horses by the Lianmen River... Chiang Kai-shek, who almost never rested, suddenly felt a pang of acid in his heart. Should he inform Chiang Kai-shek about the news that the Guangxi clique was collaborating with Japan or not? How should he tell him? ...How could he eliminate Hu, Chen, Li and Bai without harming the Guangdong and Guangxi armies? As Tan Xiao was still immersed in thought, the plane had already arrived at the North Airport.

  Just as Tan Xiao and everyone were reunited without saying two words, a transport plane carrying Chiang Kai-shek appeared on the horizon...

  "Haha, this car is actually pretty good. I've been a bodyguard for others in Hong Kong and have sat in nice cars before, but sitting in the backseat handling important matters is a first for me." Hu Hao said with a smile.

  "This kind of big shot's car, not just anyone can sit in it. Do you still remember the incident in Guangzhou in 1925? The bodyguard sitting in the chairman's car was beaten to a pulp... Ah, why did the chairman's car just happen to break down and need to be replaced at that time?" Hu Haocun was referring to the "Dongpo Building Assassination of Chiang" incident by Guangdong warlord Yang Jinlong in 1925.

  "This is fate!" Hu Hao sighed, that year Chiang Kai-shek had narrowly escaped three assassination attempts, and afterwards he eliminated all his political enemies to become the sole ruler of the Nanjing government.

  "Come to think of it, wasn't that car a Citroen back then too..."

  Two brothers chatted idly with each other, occasionally exchanging a couple of jokes with the driver. Their true identities were **Hong Kong underground party members!**

  Because Hong Kong was a lawless place for the National Government, underground party activities were very active at this time. The connection between the Guangdong-Guangxi warlord and the Japanese had always been under the surveillance of the underground party. Now, due to the heavy losses suffered by the Red Army in the Yunnan-Guizhou region while fighting against various pursuing armies, the underground party was thinking of ways to alleviate the pressure on the Central Red Army. By chance, they learned that a familiar figure in the bodyguard circle, Ren Pingwei, had connections with Huang Xiaoxiang and wanted to join the Wild One Regiment, so they began to think: using the intelligence about the Guangdong-Guangxi warlord's collusion with the Japanese as a stepping stone, infiltrate the reactionary Wild One Regiment!

  The Hu brothers' mission had two goals: first, to take the opportunity to stir up a struggle between the Nanjing government and the Gui system, in order to reduce pressure on the Central Red Army; second, to infiltrate into the Wild One Brigade and lie in wait, best utilizing their experience as bodyguards to get close to Tan Xiao.

  Because Yang Chengfu, who weighed over 200 pounds, refused to sit in the small car that couldn't stretch his legs when arranging to return to the base at the airport earlier, the other three grandmasters also accompanied him on the large military vehicle. Out of politeness and as a reward for the Hu brothers' provision of intelligence on the Guangdong warlords, they were arranged to ride in Tan Xiao's car back.

  Chiang Kai-shek appeared at the cabin door with a full spirit, deliberately stopping for a moment to enjoy everyone's warm applause. In high spirits, he didn't show any signs of fatigue after the plane journey - recently, the front-line battles had gone smoothly, and the Yunnan army's defense line had held off the Red Army's offensive at Huangnihe, and each unit had started a new round of encirclement; it was only natural that he felt triumphant as he inspected the troops awaiting reorganization.

  On the way to the meeting, Chiang Kai-shek deliberately arranged for Tan Xiao and a military officer to share a special train. This was both to support Tan Xiao and to provoke jealousy among the old Huangpu faction towards him. As he stepped into the carriage, he seemed to feel the strange gaze of the crowd outside, and smiled complacently in his heart...

  In the distance, a black Citroen was seen sandwiched between two military vehicles, coming over without any advance search of the mountain roads by the guards! Mura Hirotsugu felt something was off, but if this was really Tan Xiao's negligence, it would be a heaven-sent opportunity! After all, this was Lingling, Tan Xiao's old turf, and being lax was normal. If he could take out both Chiang Kai-shek and Tan Xiao at the same time, the merit would be great! Mura Hirotsugu tried his best to dispel his own doubts, telling himself not to send a signal to cancel the operation.

  Dry! Or not dry!? Muromachi Hirotsugu hesitated, this high-end car has curtains, he can't see who is inside. It seems to be two people! No! Where are Chiang Kai-shek's attendants? Can they all squeeze into the two military vehicles? Impossible! The car had already entered the ambush circle! Muromachi Hirotsugu made up his mind, he quickly pulled the rope and tied it to a small tree, and the mountain flower responded with a hand signal! －－－－He finally sent out the signal to cancel the action.

  "If I have the chance to fight against the Japanese in the future, that would be enough to satisfy my life..." Lin Yaogui said. He returned to Guangzhou to resign from the Guangdong Army and unexpectedly ran into Hu Hanmin who was hosting several arrogant Japanese people, which made him feel disgusted.

  "Yes, my big knife, if it could drink the blood of the Japanese invaders every day, it would be even sharper and brighter!" Huang Xiaoxia said. He and Rong Hui went to India and then to Vietnam, and saw with their own eyes all the anti-Japanese work planned by Tan Xiao being carried out quickly and in an orderly manner, and in their hearts they increasingly looked forward to China firing that first shot of national self-strengthening.

  "Boom!" A loud noise! Accompanied by the shock of the earthquake, the shockwave actually shook their car to the side of the road!

  Just as Kimura Kōji was about to give the signal to withdraw, the surprise attack unit at the foot of the mountain also launched a surprise attack!

  That Citroen was blown up and flew into the air! The exploded parts and shattered glass fell like raindrops all around! Those bodyguards, who were taking turns from each squad of the Wild One Special Forces, remained calm and quickly fired at possible hiding places for attackers in both military vehicles, and many people had already jumped out of the cars to provide cover fire and rushed towards the slopes on both sides.

  Because they knew the master was not in the attacked car, there was no panic at all. Their reaction was swift and decisive, causing the four attackers who wanted to confirm the results of the attack to lose their chance to escape in the first place.

  A green-clad figure, like a heap of wild grass on the mountain, was revealed in the hail of bullets: this Iga ninja was also human. When he was hit by two 9mm bullets that shattered his left shoulder bone, the massive impact and pain made him jump out of disguise. His skill to create visual illusions through subtle body vibrations was useless now. He could only rush towards the enemy recklessly, drawing everyone's attention, creating an opportunity for his undisguised comrades to hide and escape.

  At this time, although he had received special agent training, the ninja's underlying weakness was exposed. Another fellow ninja did not take the opportunity to escape but instead hoped to cover his retreat! The ninja suddenly pounced out of nowhere, closer to the convoy, and opened fire with his submachine gun. Just as he knocked down a bodyguard, he was riddled with bullets from four different directions.

  Huang Xiao and others have also jumped out of the car, they are also equipped with pistols, at this time no one cares about their identity as martial arts masters, all of them took out their guns.

  The surrounding mountains and fields were quiet again, and Mura Mototsugu on the mountain once again showed his "decisive action" nature, rolling down to the other side of the slope before the Imperial Guard special troops rushed to the top, disappearing into the bushes.

  The special forces have sealed off all the surrounding hills, gullies and high ground where they could be effectively attacked with their eyes and gun muzzles.

  "It's a ninja! Japanese ninja!" Ren Pingwei suddenly shouted. Although he was slightly inferior to the four great masters in martial arts, he had been observing the disguises of the two people who were hit and immediately saw through their identities as a bodyguard for politicians for a long time!

  "Everyone, calm down! Don't move, there may be more enemies around!" Ren Pingwei and Yang Chengfu shouted loudly to remind everyone. As for the ninja, Yang Chengfu was not unfamiliar with them. Although he couldn't judge like Ren Pingwei, he had personally defeated two ninja who came to challenge him in Beiping!

  Suddenly, Yang Chengfu let out a loud "Hoo-ah!" towards a patch of grass, his voice thundering like a giant drum, he was practicing the Lion's Roar Technique!

  It's just that strange, the piercing gunfire and explosions wouldn't have any impact on the ninjas' hiding; but Yang Chengfu's sudden loud shout actually made a ninja who was hiding nearby feel distracted and unable to bear it! He jumped up, turned around and rushed towards the mountain, but was blocked by the submachine gun. In just an instant, Lin Yaoguang had already pounced on him; the fierce dragon-shaped fist was unleashed, and the ninja was helpless against it and could no longer cast his magic spell.

  Another ninja saw that the other party had someone with a Lion's Roar skill and knew he couldn't hide, so he also came out of his hiding place. He directly threw away his gun - all the others were submachine guns, what was the point of shooting back? He walked straight towards Yang, Huang, Lin, and Ren - these four people were obviously high-level martial artists at first glance, he would rather die at the hands of a master than be shot to pieces by submachine guns!

  Yang Chengfu thought to himself that he had experience dealing with ninjas, so naturally it was his turn. He welcomed the ninja who came at him like a ghost, but in an instant, the ninja suddenly changed direction and pounced on Lin Yingtang! With all his might, he struck Lin Yingtang's head with a palm strike!

  "Be careful!" Yang Chengfu shouted loudly, he saw the ninja suddenly slipping out a sharp thin blade from his sleeve! But Lin Yingtang was like Huang Xiaoyong fighting Japanese warriors, using her arm to meet it head-on!

  "Ah!......" Yang Cheng's heart was greatly shocked, and he had already rushed over like a big bird.

  "Ka Cha!" With a loud crack, the ninja's arm broke off! Lin Yinxin had twisted the ninja's arm into a useless position. The ninja's sharp blade only managed to slash a small cut on his sleeve.

  "Bang!" With a loud noise, the ninja was knocked flying by Yang Chengfu and fainted! The experienced Ren Pingwei quickly pounced forward, grabbed the ninja's chin and swiftly pulled out two special fake teeth from his mouth - those were poisonous pills for the ninja to commit suicide!

  Yang Chengpu looked at Lin Yintang's arm in surprise: Is there really such a thing as Iron Arm Skill!? That Huang Xiaoxiao's reputation is going to be ruined!

  Lin Yinxin smiled and rolled up her sleeves: on his arm stood several steel bars like a clip!

  They originally came back this time, borrowing the French military plane, because they didn't know in advance whether the French would allow them to bring weapons. It was a big deal, so they first used a common trick from the Guangdong Jianghu on their arms - sticking steel bars upright - this is a very practical move, using the arm to block the knife! Unexpectedly, it just happened to match up with this ninja. As a result, Lin Yinpeng countered and broke his opponent's hand in one move!

  The ninja who was desperately fighting Lin Yaogui on the other side saw that his own man had been captured and, without regard for anything, rushed over to try and silence him, even if it meant taking a punch from Lin Yaogui. But he didn't realize just how powerful Lin Yaogui's fist was - it could knock down even the heavyweight boxing champion of the Soviet Union! Could this little Japanese ninja withstand it?

  All of a sudden, there was a dull thud. Lin Yaoguang's fist, which had been struck with all his might, landed squarely on the ninja's back! The ninja, who had been relying on inertia to pounce on Huang Xiaoshan, who was rushing forward to intercept him, suddenly fell forward and spat out blood - he had been killed by Lin Yaoguang's single punch!

  This attack resulted in the deaths of Tan Xiao's new driver and the Hu brothers, as well as two special soldiers. Two other special soldiers were shot and injured. As for those special soldiers who were scratched by shrapnel, there were many more, but to them it was nothing. The Japanese assault team, except for "Slippery Master" Kimura Kōji, four ninja killers from the Shanghai Special Operations Agency were killed in a hail of gunfire and Chinese martial arts, with three dead and one captured! An attempt to assassinate both Chiang Kai-shek and Tan Xiao ended in failure due to various coincidences, mistakenly targeting the vice car.

  I managed the book reviews yesterday and gave out all the highest scores I could... there aren't many points left to give out now. Seeing how much you book friends care, I'm deeply grateful. Tonight and tomorrow night, I'll pull an all-nighter again to see if I can come up with another chapter this week...