Chapter 28: What is called "Ba Bu"

  The German delegation began working on detailed contracts with the Chinese side in the afternoon of the same day after watching the Chinese army's ambush exercise, with an efficiency that surpassed that of the French. The entire staff was busy: just one Krupp had eighty-two contracts for investment, cooperation, and multi-party cooperation! Other heavyweights such as Rheinmetall, Mercedes, Loyna Chemicals, Mauser, and Erma Ordnance Factory, as well as financial institutions like Deutsche Bank, threw out a total of 343 large and small contracts! It would take several days just to read them all, let alone sign them. This kept the interpreter who accompanied the German delegation and the only person here who understood some German, Rong Hui, extremely busy.

  The German delegation was constantly sending telegrams back to Berlin, Frankfurt... while not a single telegram had been sent between Suining and Chongqing! Tan Xiao suddenly realized that if such a large-scale cooperation were to be made public, it would likely cause an international sensation the next day. There were too many people around Chiang Kai-shek who might leak secrets! Not to mention the Japanese and others who wanted to sabotage Sino-German cooperation, even domestic interest groups who wanted a share of the pie would stretch out their hands, and these cooperations might be ruined! Therefore, he immediately ordered all personnel involved in the General Staff Department not to leave the office building! All telegrams and phone calls for external communication were monitored! At the same time, he also communicated with the German delegation, and in order to prevent substantive cooperation from being disrupted by countries such as Britain, France, and Japan, a "B plan" was made. This "B plan" would be intentionally spread abroad and submitted to Kang Hui's anti-German organization for reporting to Britain and France! At the same time, the data that the personnel of the General Staff Department came into contact with were only the data of the "B plan", and only Tan Xiao and Kang Hui knew the true data!

  Just then, a phone call came from the Xiangxiang Building: Song Ziwen has arrived! He wants to see Kong Xiangxi.

  "Let him in! Don't let him out, I'll be right there!" Tan Xiao hung up the phone and said to Rong Hui: "Keep an eye on the contract, I have something to take care of outside!" Then he instructed He Shao Tang: "This is a big deal, if anyone needs to be notified, send Tang Fan to inform their family that they can't go home due to overtime. The department will arrange for their living arrangements, don't worry. If any family members come, don't let them meet, just keep him here once he enters this building!" Then he went to the elite training camp and picked a team of guards - since the gunfight incident, Tan Xiao had also started paying attention to his own safety. The two cars, one big and one small, sped towards Xiangxiang Hall.

  Song Ziwen and his party arrived at noon, and through the local Revival Society, they learned about Kong Xiangxi's whereabouts. Knowing that Kong Xiangxi was not in danger of losing his life, he put down half of his heart - the Lingling gun battle had already become the headline of newspapers all over the country! He never thought that Tan Xiao would be so bold as to put the Deputy Minister of the Administrative Yuan under house arrest, but only felt that Tan Xiao probably thought Kong Xiangxi was seriously injured and made up for it by strengthening his defense; therefore, he and Kong Lingkan sneaked away from reporters who came from all over the country in the afternoon before leaving for the Xiangxiang Pavilion.

  When he finally got permission to enter, he saw Kong Xiangxi and learned the inside story. Guo Xu was shocked and heartbroken: this big deal also involved Song Ziwen! In that era, China's major sources of wealth, imports and exports, and national projects were controlled by the Soong and Kong families, while local finances were largely in the hands of the Chen family (Chen Guofu and Chen Lifu). As for Chiang Kai-shek himself, as long as these three families gave him enough money to maintain his military power, he turned a blind eye to their wealth accumulation. This was both a helpless situation and a compromise between the three families. Now, Tan Xiao's actions had undoubtedly disrupted the original balance, but it was hard to say whether Chiang Kai-shek would start reclaiming the lucrative domains or if Tan Xiao was acting on his own initiative. Song Ziwen did not react as impulsively as Kong Xiangxi, instead analyzing the possibility of his brother-in-law manipulating things behind the scenes.

  He thought for half a day and decided it was pointless thinking about it anymore, so he went to see Tan Xiao.

  "Come on, let's go see how arrogant that Sesame Official is!" Song Ziwen made up his mind and, disregarding the injured Caishenye who was having trouble moving, pulled Kong Xiangxi, who had broken ribs, to head out. Unexpectedly, just as they reached the staircase entrance, they were blocked by a guard: "Sorry, gentlemen, the Master has an order, please wait for a moment, he will come over to meet you."

  Although they went out to see Tan Xiao, the three of them were actually blocked at the stairs and not allowed to go down! Song Ziwen couldn't take this insult, he kicked the guard with his foot and called those attendants who were left downstairs. The guard had a good temper and didn't dodge, but instead took Song Ziwen's kick. However, Song Ziwen himself couldn't withstand it, was knocked back, lost his balance, and sat down on the ground, hitting the back of his head hard against the wooden wall, feeling dizzy and painful, wailing loudly!

  The attendants downstairs were originally dissatisfied when they were disarmed at the entrance, and they had already clashed with the soldiers on guard when they heard Song Ziwen's call. Now, hearing the movement upstairs, they thought Song Ziwen was beaten, which was unbearable! They immediately started fighting with the soldiers. This group of attendants was not short of masters, and the soldiers couldn't hold them back, but were kicked and injured two of them instead.

  "Bang!" The gun went off! Originally intentionally avoiding it, now hearing the report that both sides had started a conflict, Peng Hanbai hastily arrived and saw that things were not going well. He pulled out his gun and fired a shot into the air!

  The attendants of Soong Tzu-wen were also startled when they saw the garrison dare to open fire, and then rushed up to the second floor to join forces with Soong and his two companions. This caused a great commotion on the scene, resulting in a standoff between the upper and lower floors, with both sides at an impasse! Soong Tzu-wen did not expect things to develop into this situation, and he was also afraid that the soldiers' guns would go off accidentally, so he just called for the opposing commander to speak.

  Peng Hanbo's face turned blue, who are Soong Tzu-wen and Kong Xiangxi?! Those are figures in the sky! The latter has an excuse to "protect" because of his injuries, but the former is a lively and active person, now he has fired the gun, the consequences...

  Although Peng Hanbo was not afraid of death on the battlefield, he was also panicked in this situation. However, if he had to push things onto Tan Xiao's body, he couldn't do it, so he had to grit his teeth and go forward to negotiate, trying to drag out time.

  Tan Xiao arrived just in time, and when the gunshot rang out, he had already driven his car into the small bamboo forest in front of Xiangxiang Hall. So, he didn't need Peng Hanbo to stall for much longer. Upon hearing the gunshot, Tan Xiao knew that today's matter wouldn't be easily resolved. What to do? Things had escalated to a confrontation with gunfire, and that Song Ziwen would definitely not let things slide. Would he have his subordinates punished? Those loyal and daring subordinates who fired shots in front of Song Ziwen, those future anti-Japanese elites? No way! Not only did he not have the heart for it, but considering the military's prestige in the future, he couldn't do that either! He could only take on the responsibility himself, but could he bear it? ... Since things had already come to this point, it would be difficult for everyone to walk together again. Then let's just disperse and go our separate ways! Tan Xiao thought viciously.

  Originally, Tan Xiao didn't think Song Ziwen was that great: although he unified China's currency, the later devaluation of the legal tender, as well as the chaotic issuance of gold and silver certificates, made people miserable; after the victory in the War of Resistance, the hundreds of millions of foreign exchange on the Central Government's account went missing; before the war, he and his sister Song Meiling took donations from the public to buy planes and used them for usury; they also misappropriated public funds to arm their private tax police team... He was just a lawless guy! With so many evil deeds, who knows how much more he embezzled while soliciting donations and aid in the US later on?! Not to mention other things, but just the fact that his group reported an exorbitant price during the most difficult period of the War of Resistance and reduced the number of heavy strategic bomber bases originally planned by the US was proof of their extreme greed! Although Song Ziwen's reputation wasn't too bad in most later comments, in Tan Xiao's eyes, he was just a corrupt official who betrayed his country, only being slightly more firm and tough in his attitude towards Japan.

  Do you have the capital to call Song Ziwen's bluff? The answer is: Yes! As long as you can successfully take down the Sino-German cooperation plan, even if the sky falls, Old Chiang will support you! Tan Xiao discovered that Old Chiang likes three types of people: First, those who listen to him, like the incompetent and greedy Tang Enbo; Second, those who are extremely honest, like Chen Cheng and Hu Zongnan, who are indecisive and make mistakes on the battlefield; Third, those who do not form cliques or offend others, like Yang Yongtai and Zhang Lingfu. Now Tan Xiao's loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek has reached a deep level, as for honesty, he even uses his own opium profits to buy military equipment and train artillery for the country, isn't that honest?! Even White Chongxi and He Jian are not well-behaved, Tan Xiao is not forming cliques, right? His ability to offend people is also impressive, and he will soon offer it up! Only the people he offends are slightly more heavyweight...

  Tan Xiaoxin made up his mind: since he had to offend him, he would make a big deal out of it and do it with great righteousness!

  Tan Xiao appeared with a fierce aura, just as Song Ziwen was scolding loudly! Song Ziwen suddenly saw a young major general coming in, knowing it was Tan Xiao, and immediately rushed down to reason...

  "Slap!" A loud slap landed on Song Ziwen's face! Tan Xiao came up and gave Song Ziwen a big slap in the face! The slap was fierce enough to leave fingerprints, directly knocking Song Ziwen to the ground!

  "People say that when you beat a dog, you should look at its master. Well...!" Tan Xiao sneered and glared around the room: "If I'm going to beat a dog, I'll start by beating its master first!"

  He spoke as he unfastened his belt, turning it into a whip. "Crack!" Another lash! He whipped even harder, directly tearing Song Ziwen's suit to shreds! Although Song Ziwen dared to fight with Chiang Kai-shek, that was just a family feud. Now, seeing Tan Xiao, who looked like a living Yama, he was so scared he couldn't speak. --- He, Song Ziwen, had always been pampered and spoiled, when had he ever really seen a cruel person?

  Kong Xiangxi and his son saw Tan laughing, and as soon as they met, they gave Song Ziwen a slap in the face, followed by a belt whip, which scared him pale. However, Caishenye still relied on his official position, covering his wounds and struggling to mediate. As for Song Ziwen's followers, they also rushed down like a swarm of bees...

  Tan Xiao didn't waste any words, and with his other hand, he pulled out a handgun. "Bang bang bang..." Seven shots rang out in succession, emptying the clip and sending Song Ziwen's bodyguards tumbling to the ground! The soldiers under Tan saw their commander open fire and didn't hold back - drawing from their experience of shooting at Shan Xiajingwu earlier, if they didn't take action now, they'd definitely be punished with a military stick! In one round of gunfire, they sent all of Song Ziwen's attendants tumbling to the ground! Although they were only shot in the legs and feet, and no one died, it was enough to scare Song, Kong, and the others into a state of utter terror!

  "I let you be corrupt! I let you betray the country!..." Tan Xiao cursed and whipped, a leather belt struck Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi father and son in the face with a burst of violent whipping!

  There were not only soldiers laughing downstairs, but also people like the revival society's agents and Kong Xiangxi's followers who came to see Kong Xiangxi later. They were all locked up downstairs. At this time, they were arranged by Tan Xiao to be released and watch from the sidelines! The three people who were beaten had never experienced such a thing in their lives, crying and shouting as they crawled and rolled around everywhere, even wetting their pants. Tan Xiao chased after them like a mad dog, whipping them all over the house, scaring the onlookers into petrification on the spot!

  "There are strong enemies outside the country and internal rebellion, you bunch of losers are still insatiably greedy! The German devils have exposed everything! You bunch of bastards! A few cannons dare to swallow a division's military expenses, what big guts and appetite! Tan Xiao cursed while smoking: "If Old Man Song were still here, he would also be driven to death by you bunch of beasts! Today I, Tan, will discipline you on his behalf!" Tan Xiao took the opportunity to scold them for embezzling military funds: "I'm telling you three bastards! The Germans have confessed everything! Today I'll hold a press conference and expose it all, then execute you bunch of national losers...!"

  My god! Press conference! These three are now really frightened pale! The corruption of military procurement is the handwriting of Kong Xiangxi, but Song Ziwen also has some credit. Now hearing Tan Xiao say this, it's really frightening to be paralyzed on the ground! After all, no matter how big the official is or how hard the backstage is, they still have to account for the people; if Tan Xiao, as a division commander and the main negotiator of this meeting with the German delegation, holds a press conference to expose this matter, then who can protect them?! At this time, saying that Tan Xiao wants to execute them by firing squad, they really believe it!

  "Speak, how much have you all embezzled!? Come clean! Do you want me to bring that German monkey here for a confrontation?!..." Tan Xiao's harsh words brought out the entire characteristic of the person who had been talking about kickbacks with Germany and Kong Xiangxi, and it fell into Kong Xiangxi's ears. Now Caishenye believes that the Germans really sold him out...

  Tan Xiao was tired from laughing and sat down on a wooden chair, letting Song, Kong, and the others kneel in front of him with tears streaming down their faces. He held up Kong Xiangxi's confession about embezzling military funds through collaboration with the Germans: "This is one piece of evidence, plus the Germans' testimony, the Chairman will not let you off lightly!... Is there anything else to say?" In reality, he didn't want to and didn't dare to really hand this matter over to Chiang Kai-shek for official processing. After all, that would make things too difficult for Chiang. If the truth were to come out, Tan Xiao wouldn't be able to gain any benefits from it.

  The three of them seemed to have a change of heart and hastily expressed their desire to reform their past mistakes, asking Tan Xiao not to report to the committee chairman.

  Actually, Song and Kong are not afraid that Tan Xiao will really report to Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek won't do anything to them, and it's possible that he'll even help cover up the truth for their sake, which would make Tan Xiao look like a fool. However, this incident has ruined the tacit understanding between them and Chiang Kai-shek, and may have a significant impact on their future prospects. Moreover, this is also a huge loss of face - if it gets out that the Vice Premier and the Emperor's son-in-law were beaten up by a division commander like dogs, they'll be laughed at for the rest of their lives, even if they manage to get rid of Tan Xiao in the end!

  Song Ziwen begged with a face full of shame: "Tan Shifu... Tan General, please spare me, don't hold that press conference, I know my mistake... I'm willing to accept punishment..." What they really feared was Tan Xiaokai holding a press conference! Public opinion in this era is quite free, although some media outlets attacking the government would be sabotaged by special agents or have their personnel assassinated, but under circumstances where central government orders were not being carried out, their scandals simply couldn't be suppressed!

  Seeing them yield, Tan Xiao also took the opportunity to step down. After severely educating Song Kong and others for a while, he opened his mouth and fined two people 10 million each! And he declared that if the money was not paid into his account within a week, he would hold a press conference! Then, he let Kong Lingkan go out to raise money, but continued to detain the two financial gods of the Republic of China. This time he was not polite and directly ordered his soldiers in front of everyone, not allowing the two to take a step down the stairs!

  Those revival society thugs witnessed this scene, each and every one of them was terrified. Later on, if someone asked who sent them to provoke Tan Xiao, they would rather roll up their bedding and leave! The officers and soldiers of the First Regiment were naturally deeply impressed by the regimental commander. They also learned that: no matter how big a thing is, as long as the commander is in charge, even the king of heaven dares not to fight!

  "This is what they call a knockout punch! Whoever it is, the emperor is far away but my fist is close at hand. I'll beat them first and talk later! I don't believe in superstition, I can handle these royal relatives!

  Tan laughed and forgot about his earlier anxiety on the road, proudly starting to educate his subordinates: "You see, these two scoundrels, their faces aren't clean, I guarantee they won't even dare to meet with the governor!... Haha, I was worried about not having enough military funds, but now it's great, first we'll get 6 million as a meeting gift, and then another 20 million as the main course!

  And tomorrow, Han Bai, you go tell that imperial uncle, from now on, which tax card dares to inspect our Wild One Brigade's cargo?... And you guys, last time it was the Japanese, this time it's a few yellow jackets, how did you end up at a disadvantage?! I'm telling you, if you lose face again in the future, don't be my soldiers! Even if someone gets killed, as long as they deserved to die, I can protect you!"

  The most educated Peng Hanbo was so embarrassed that he almost didn't dare to carry it at the critical moment... As for those little soldiers, they all treated their instructor as if he were a god: even the Premier and the Emperor's uncle dared to beat him, and after beating him, there was still money to be collected... Wow, what can't Instructor do?!

  As for hearing the end of Tan Xiao's phone call, he felt that something was not quite right. After hastily handing over his work to He Shaotang, he now had all sorts of feelings about this brother: absurd! Madman! Extremely bold!... And also: awesome! Too awesome!! Since the Republic of China, the entire National Army system has never produced such an extremely awesome person!

  "Right, sir. Today, the Military Affairs Bureau and the Revival Society have investigated in detail and found out the identities of some of the attackers. It is estimated that both the Reds and the Japanese are involved!" He Shaotang said: "Among those who were killed, ten were using the 'long-short-fast-slow' shooting technique, which is likely to be the people from the Xiangxi Guerrilla Corps... In addition, two of them were found to be Japanese businessmen who have been under surveillance by the Revival Society all along and his accomplice..."

  Long and short, fast and slow guns? Indeed, this is the method of using a shotgun that Tan Xiao had heard from old comrades in the original time and space: among the guerrilla troops, there were no shortage of double-gunners. They generally used two shotguns with different barrel lengths. The longer one was usually for the first shot or for shooting at relatively distant targets, single-shot as the main method, requiring accuracy; the shorter gun was generally used for cover, directly sweeping... This kind of equipment was generally used by good hands in the guerrilla troops or personnel who executed important tasks!

  Tan Xiao couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat: He had never thought that the Xiangxi Guerrilla Troop would make him their target due to his own emotional reasons! Ah, one thousand and twelve lives, now he was an extremely evil reactionary warlord! His heart was secretly aching again.

  "How dare those Japanese be dishonest?!" He hastily shifted his target: "Go back and plan carefully, think of a way to deal with them properly! Those mountain bandits don't know what they're getting themselves into..."

  They probably just finished beating people and venting their anger, Tan Xiao and his teammates returned to the training base, but didn't go to the coaching department office building, they directly went to the elite training camp.

  This camp was originally prepared for the future training of special forces, and it's just right to use it to test the results. Tan Xiao and his team arrived at this remote camp, far away from the main force, in a mountain valley. However, they found that Yao Zhi of the Mountain Dog Regiment was there teaching everyone how to kill!

  In the troops, conducting small-scale killing training was an important secret task given to the half-human beasts of Shan Gou Lian by Tan Xiao after he returned from Chen Jia Wan, which even He Shao Tang did not know. So, when He Shao Tang suddenly saw a pile of "fragments" in front of him, despite having seen the terrifying scene at Chen Jia Wan, he was momentarily unadapted and vomited violently on the spot!

  "Reporting to you, sir, I taught them how to kill people quickly...” Yao Zhi spoke in his Cantonese-accented Mandarin. If it weren't for Tan Xiao growing up in this multi-ethnic region, a northerner would have been completely baffled. Tan Xiao couldn't help but smile wryly: No matter how skilled they are at killing or how high their combat level is, they still can't reach the level of special forces.

  Tan Xiao looked at the pile of "scraps" with a cold smile: it was clearly a corpse that had been dismembered in an orderly manner. The person who had done the dismembering was like a butcher selling pork, splitting open the skull and carefully scooping out the brain, cutting up each part of the body and categorizing them, some parts even having their skin flayed off; as for the internal organs, they were also separated into individual parts and arranged neatly... Now, Tan Xiao also felt like vomiting. He knew that the mountain dogs, this group of half-human beasts, had many guys who killed people like flies, but he hadn't thought they would actually "kill" people like this!

  "Who did it?" he asked, staring at Yao Zhi.

  "Everyone... has a share..." Yao Zhi may have killed many people, but he still felt apprehensive towards Tan Xiao.

  "Good!" Tan Xiao laughed loudly: "For the Japanese, no matter how cruel it is, it's not excessive! Well done, are you afraid?" He was asking the soldiers from the elite training camp.

  "Sir, there's nothing to be afraid of, it's just that at the beginning, I felt a bit nauseous, but now I'm used to it..." The reporter was a squad leader, from Guangxi Province, named Li Huan. He continued: "Recently everyone saw those photos of Japanese people massacring our Chinese people in Northeast China, and they're so angry they can't take it! As long as we kill Japanese people, getting our hands dirty doesn't matter!... Sir, when will you lead us to fiercely kill the Japanese?!"

  The materials about the atrocities committed by those Japanese people in Northeast China, brought back by He Shaotang on orders, have begun to take effect. The seeds of hatred have been sown, and even all the drills are aimed at the Japanese. Now, many people in Ye Yi's division unconsciously no longer regard the Japanese as human beings; subconsciously, this is the object of hunting!

  "Very soon! In just a few days, I'll make all the Japanese in Hunan smell blood!" Tan Xiao was very arrogant today!

  (The author: Before writing this chapter, I happened to read about the extreme greed of the three families and couldn't help but take them down a notch. For corrupt officials, you have to beat them hard! Find an opportunity to take down CC as well! Hehe)