Chapter 23: Ultimate Chaos

  Tan Xiao really wants to kill Kong Xiangxi: it turns out that the mole in the negotiations with Germany is him! Not killing him would not be enough to calm public outrage!

  He thought that the existence of someone who couldn't even be touched by Chiang Kai-shek, let alone his corrupt officials, was really detrimental to the war effort. This time, it was clear that Chiang wanted him to take care of it, so why not solve it once and for all? Should he pick people from Peng Hanbo's elite troops or the special training camp? Or should he just send those mountain bandits directly? He thought for a moment, then decided to go consult with Rong Hui. Although he was now a powerful figure trusted by Chiang Kai-shek, this was only because he was a time-traveler. In reality, his mind was still immature, and when faced with uncertainty, he wanted to discuss it with the person closest to him.

  Then Tan Xiao drove alone and arrived at Rong Hui's house amidst a city full of people who wanted to kill him.

  Rong Hui was extremely delighted that Tan Xiao had arrived at this time - facing three powerful men alone wasn't a comfortable thing to do. So, she warmly and unreservedly... She wanted to declare, to Bai Deng: It's already over!

  Tan Xiao was naturally very pleased - the way Rong Hui had behaved in front of Bei made him feel like a hero! He also wanted to declare, to declare to Bei: she is mine, and will be from now on!

  "These two are my friends, Mike from the UK and Wit. Mike..." "Mr. Bean" smiled wryly: "Very honored!" He has countless names, to the point where it doesn't matter what he was originally called, his greatest skill is that when he takes on a new identity, he immediately becomes that person, if needed, he can even change his catchphrases and habitual actions!

  "This is my French friend, Charles de Gaulle..."

  What! Charles... de Gaulle? Tan Xiao really wanted to dig his ears. He measured the other side: Hmm, height matches, appearance... Tan Xiao didn't have much impression originally, but he still determined that he saw the future President of France. Because he remembered that time when he got the French approval plan in one night. Rong Hui actually knew de Gaulle! In fact, if not counting his position in this organization, the current de Gaulle was just a mid-level officer in the General Staff of the Ministry of National Defense.

  "Oh, de Gaulle... I think I've heard that name before, hmm, either in a book or in the newspaper..." Tan Xiao felt like he had blown his cover and desperately tried to recover.

  "Really? You often read European military papers?" De Gaulle was delighted. He had been publishing new military papers, but they were not recognized by the Ministry of Defense.

  "Oh, it seems like I've seen it in a paper about new-type troops and new combat modes?" Tan Xiao slowly learned to be cunning - besides these two aspects, what else would become the new military papers of Europe?

  "I've long heard that her boyfriend is an excellent soldier!" De Gaulle had a very good impression of Tan Xiao, he believed that Tan Xiao had indeed read his paper on building a French army adapted to the new mode of warfare. So, he warmly gave Tan Xiao a hug. Although he thought he was the future President of France, Tan Xiao did not feel honored: being wrapped up like a child in front of his loved one by a 1.95-meter-tall giant didn't feel good! Tan Xiao was only 1.72 meters tall, four centimeters shorter than before he crossed over!

  Tan Xiao came to discuss with Rong Hui about killing Kong Xiangxi, but now nothing can be said. However, he clearly felt that the two new "friends" were very interested in him and had no intention of leaving, so he could only continue to drag out time.

  "What? That counter-revolutionary warlord has arrived at that fake foreign devil's house? Alright, let's take action!" The opinions of the Eliminating Traitors Group were unanimous. Moreover, they had become so excited that they began to check their firearms.

  As the guerrilla fighters were checking their guns, others were also inspecting theirs. Their mission was to guard and would shoot without hesitation at anyone who posed a threat to their superiors. They were Bai Chongxi's bodyguards because Bai Chongxi wanted to see how well Tan Xiao's troops, who were said to be good at military discipline, were doing, so he arrived in Lingling a day early and went out incognito. Now, they were tired from walking and were leisurely enjoying coffee at a British-owned café near the headquarters of the First Division, which was where Tan Xiao and Rong Hui had torn off the paper cover. The six bodyguards were all skilled fighters from the Guangxi army and were very responsible. Bai Chongxi heard from the waiter that there was a "small concession" along the street - locals thought concessions were fashionable places, so they called the few houses where foreigners lived "small concessions". Bai Chongxi found it interesting and planned to go take a look after finishing his coffee. His bodyguards had their hands on their guns because they saw four people who were obviously carrying guns walking by.

  Those four people are Wu Sheng's guards. Since Tan Xiao and Rong Hui got together, Wu Sheng sent someone to keep an eye on Rong Hui's house. There was no ill intention, just wanting to know how many times Tan Xiao had been there in the past. These four people had eaten dinner early and went to take over the shift.

  The Japanese also moved, and there were their people in that traitor group: the dwarf, who was originally arranged under the Mitsui Commercial Corporation's manganese mine to monitor those miners as a low-level agent. Because he encountered underground party propaganda for revolution, he was ordered to mix in. Since he successfully obtained explosives for the underground party multiple times, he quickly entered the leadership core group. He notified the Japanese monitoring them with a pre-arranged signal, so when the traitor group moved, the Japanese also moved. Five people: Kimura Kōji was responsible for sniping, and there were four others who assisted with gunfire from both sides, two on each side, one of whom was a woman who had originally been sent to contact Hamano Sakiko but this time participated in the assassination action.

  Kong Xiangxi had originally hoped that Tan Xiao would come to him in the afternoon, but he was disappointed. Tan Xiao had disappeared and was not at the headquarters. So Kong Xiangxi sent someone to the base to bring Tan Xiao back, but they couldn't find him either. As a result, he could only use another kind of power - the power of the Revival Society's Special Affairs Department.

  When the subordinates reported on Tan Xiao's whereabouts and everyone's speculation about Tan Xiao and Rong Hui's relationship, Kong Xiangxi smiled: It turns out that Tan Xiao is not invincible, he wants to leave the business to his woman! Good, let's talk business with the businesswoman. He decided to visit Rong Hui's mansion, right in front of Tan Xiao. So, he informed the bodyguards and sent two people with him on a trip.

  Before Kong Xiangxi set off, the person in charge of Fuxing Society in Lingling already knew about it. Therefore, Fuxing Society took a step ahead and sent eight special agents to rush to Rong Hui's residence! Moreover, all the remaining personnel were put on guard along the way.

  While the city was secretly surging, there was a small surprise on the side of the training base: because the Germans changed planes instead of trains to come, they arrived ahead of schedule under the relay of planes. The staff received the notice that He Jian's guard team had sent people to protect them on their way to Lingling.

  "Commander's seat, the instructor's seat is not in the command center, it has been said that he went out for a long time..." The deputy officer reported.

  After He Shaotang arrived, Ji Ping was rarely in the base or the city's division headquarters. Instead, he spent more time drinking tea and chatting with old friends at the Security Regiment. As a result, the staff department got used to reporting to He Shaotang whenever there were matters to attend to.

  This guy, oh! The power of love, how great you are! He Shao Tang sighed in his heart. He didn't want too many people to know that he was running to his lover's house all day, so he decided to go by himself. Just take a walk and clear his mind - the work at the headquarters was too busy. In order to exercise their combat planning ability, Tan Xiao let the headquarters do a large number of Japanese invasion simulations, starting from Beiping, and now they had just simulated the National Army changing the battlefield and igniting the flames of war in Shanghai.

  Seeing Tang Fan's car was gone, He Shao Tang threw the car key over: "Go, and come with me to find Master Zuo!" Incidentally, he picked up a submachine gun - the Steyr-Solothurn MP34 left by the German arms dealer Gurtz. He thought this gun was great, much better than those MP18s, so he asked Tan Xiao for it - non-combat soldiers loved playing with guns.

  At this time, Tan Xiao Zheng was chatting with three foreigners, no, two. The face of that Bai Deng had been bad for half a day. Their topic started from World War I and went all the way to the current situation in Europe and Asia.

  This guy is a military strategist! He absolutely deserves the title! This was Charles de Gaulle's evaluation of Tan Xiao, who was the most insightful person he had met so far in analyzing World War I. Even his war thinking is top-notch in Europe today!

  "Why do you think there will definitely be a war in Spain?" asked the taciturn "Mr. Bean".

  "It's simple, Germany needs to probe, to probe the tolerance of various countries towards them!" Tan Xiao, who had already understood that the Spanish Civil War had not yet broken out, replied: "Just like what the Japanese did in Northeast China, I hope you won't be like our young marshal!"

  Tan Xiao now believes that the entire responsibility for the loss of Northeast China lies with Zhang Xueliang, because he believes that what Zhang said to reporters a year before his death was a misjudgment, ordering not to resist, and has nothing to do with Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, he doesn't have a good impression of this young marshal.

  "Just to probe? Will the Germans fight a battle in Spain?" "M" was very interested in this question, and indeed all British military leaders were worried about the situation in Spain.

  "It's a probe, it's an experiment. As a defeated nation, Germany is not reconciled. I don't know how much money they will pay, for how long, fifty years? Eighty years?" Tan smiled and shrugged: "I heard that France was not affected by the last global stock market crash because it had a large amount of German marks to support it, right?"

  De Gaulle spread his hands: "Don't you think they should be compensated?"

  "The Germans think they shouldn't, they feel oppressed!" Tan Xiao looked at De Gaulle: "So, they will definitely make many new attempts tactically, I bet that the most advanced tactics of the global army are being practiced or explored in the German army now!" Tan Xiao did not flatter England and France, which made "Long Ren" and "Dou Zi" very happy - they were different from Eric. Bedan, they were not the kind of people who liked to be flattered with false words, they liked to hear the truth.

  Rong Hui listened with relish to the men's conversation beside her, feeling content and satisfied. So much so that she forgot it was time to prepare dinner.

  She was now leaning against Tan Xiao in a pose that could kill, her chin resting on his shoulder, and her soft and boneless posture inadvertently exuding temptation. She was very proud: her man was having an equal conversation with the highest-level upper-class people from England and France, and he was using English! Although it was a bit stiff at first, he was able to express himself clearly, which surprised Rong Hui. Because she had heard that Tan Xiao was a good-for-nothing who even chased away the tutors his family hired, of course, she didn't know that in the 21st century, the enlistment standards for soldiers in the People's Liberation Army were very high - Tan Xiao had passed the level six English proficiency test.

  Tan Xiao was still talking incessantly, unaware that a large net had already been laid out just outside the gate, waiting to kill him.

  The atmosphere in the house was very good, and de Gaulle had already secretly decided to bring over the next big guns as soon as possible: someone who had read his own works and was deeply sympathetic - perhaps even an admirer - should be a good friend. Moreover, he hated Germany, emotionally pro-France rather than pro-British! This was his feeling. The knowledge of this Chinese friend was astonishing, and he even suspected that he had graduated with the highest honors from one of the world's top military academies, not Whampoa - China's primary military officer training school. Maybe one day he would become the head of state - the oriental beauty by his side had a good eye for people. So let's support him!

  "M", that "bean" Mr., began to take Tan Xiao's views very seriously, because from the conversation in the afternoon, he felt that this Chinese was a very insightful person. Even his vision is more accurate and far-sighted than most of the country's politicians. If slightly supported, he would definitely be much stronger than Chen Jitang, and he could even rival the one in Nanjing! Perhaps Britain should change its representative, change to a more powerful one! "M" also sensitively discovered that the host did not intend to keep him for dinner, so he decided to take his leave, although he still wanted to hear Tan Xiao's further analysis of the Spanish situation.

  The big mansion of Rong Hui is where most foreigners in Lingling City live, and the people here are relatively wealthy, so they give more tips. As a result, those rickshaw drivers like to wait here when they don't have customers. But today there were indeed many more! In addition to the usual few who habitually waited here, there were Wu Sheng's four bodyguards, six from the Qiangjian group, four from the Fuxing Society, and two Japanese - a total of sixteen rickshaws! The real rickshaw drivers were quite disappointed: today's competition was too great! They would soon be even more disappointed: after receiving news that something was amiss, the Fuxing Society quickly organized people to rush over. For the same reason, Wu Sheng's bodyguards also sent more people, all disguised as rickshaw drivers!

  Should the action be cancelled? The people in the traitor group also felt that it was not quite right, but now no one is calling for a car. If they leave like this, they might be intercepted as soon as they leave the gate. They are all armed with two guns! So, they started looking around with their eyes for someone to pick them up on the periphery.

  At this time, the door of the big house opened!

  At the same time, three rickshaws stopped at the same time, and a slightly fat businessman with a smiling face and his two followers got off - Kong Caishen arrived!

  Just as Kong Caishen was hesitating whether to greet them or not - he hadn't expected so many people to come out of the door. First, three white men walked out without looking back, followed by two more white men who were politely bidding farewell to their host. Then he saw Tan Xiao and that woman standing next to him, who could instantly arouse a man's desire. At this moment, a gunshot rang out!

  The first to think of shooting was the dwarf from the sabotage group, the Japanese spy. He had already seen the secretary's signal to cancel the task and withdraw everyone. However, he also saw Tan Xiao, the target, the target of the sabotage group, but also the target of the Japanese. So he drew his gun. His status was lowly, but he was a brave warrior of the Great Japanese Empire, he didn't care about his own life, let alone those "comrades"?

  But the first to shoot was Bedan, Erik Bedan! He was a nobleman, an arms dealer and also a veteran of World War I. Given his status, he didn't want to walk around like a savage with a big gun, so he equipped himself with a small Browning that held only two bullets - one of those sleeve guns. The range of this gun was very short, the power of the ammunition was not great, but its advantage was that it could be used quickly at hand, especially for trained people. Bedan was trained, very strictly trained, so when he saw someone approaching and pulling out a gun, he immediately whipped out the Browning from his sleeve and hit him before the dwarf could shoot! Two shots in a row! Immediately afterwards, he himself was also shot and fell to the ground, and as he fell, he regretted not being more elegant, not making a polite farewell before leaving, and even walking ahead of two bodyguards!

  As soon as the shooting started, all the people who had been tense with nerves took action: the assassins of the Zhongtian Group and Japanese spies, Wu Sheng's bodyguards, the special agents of the Fuxing Society, the two anti-German organization members' bodyguards, Kong Xiangci's entourage, and Bai Chongxi's guards - they had just circled around the "Little Concession" with their superiors and were walking back when they ran into Kong Xiangci.

  "Bang, bang", "crack, crack" - the sound of gunfire blended into a symphony, echoing through the not-so-wide avenue!

  Who is the enemy? Who is a friend? Don't know! Anyone with a gun could be an enemy!

  Almost immediately after the shots rang out, Rong Hui's four bodyguards also rushed out of the building, but they were not holding handguns, they were holding "Chicago typewriters", Thompson submachine guns with a firing rate of up to 800 rounds per minute! Two each!!

  "Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat..." The submachine gun sprayed wildly, its tongues of flame licking at every moving target! Before their fury was spent, the opposite side of the street had no living thing left standing!

  Just as the gun was about to go off, the top-notch master among these people, "M", had already keenly sensed danger: his years of special agent career enabled him to observe the surroundings without others noticing, and he was also accustomed to quickly observing the surroundings when going out. He caught sight of someone with a rifle on the rooftop of a house about 200 meters away! So he suddenly dived behind the flowerbed beside the door, shouting "Enemy attack!"

  Tan Xiao had never been on a battlefield, but his two lives of training were very good, he was the second person to react - faster than Beidang! He flew over with one foot and kicked De Gaulle into the flower bed on the other side, and took advantage of the momentum to hug Rong Hui and roll into the hall! While there was a hail of bullets outside the house, they shared a deep kiss behind the sofa!

  Wu Sheng's eight bodyguards were quite lucky, four of them who were caught in the crossfire and the ones who came to relieve them were also quite lucky. They were discovered by Rong Hui's bodyguards as soon as they started tailing them, and were treated very kindly as if they were Tang Xiao's people, so the four black men recognized them and didn't take them as targets for assassination. Three of them were injured but all survived.

  The agents of the Revival Society suffered heavy losses, with all six in the center of the gun battle killed, and it was unclear which side they were on. The two on the periphery had joined forces with the hastily arriving reinforcements, who were now pointing guns at each other with Wu Sheng's approaching guards while verifying their identities...

  Bai Chongxi's guard was also not doing well, two were injured - they killed a Japanese man and woman who came to them with guns, but were hit by stray bullets.

  As for "M" and De Gaulle's bodyguard, Kong Xiangxi's entourage and those attackers, all were shot to pieces.

  The inexplicable He Shaotang also rushed up, and he and Tang Fan started a gun battle as soon as they arrived at the street corner. Their military vehicle and uniform helped him avoid being mistakenly injured by his own people. Then, he saw someone pointing a gun at him, and with a swift motion of his MP34, he shot down a Japanese spy who was trying to escape.

  The entire shootout lasted less than half a minute. As for the protagonists who were attacked, "M" was fine, he got up after the situation was brought under control, and then he saw De Gaulle in pain: this future President of France had been kicked into the flowerbed by Tanaka and thus escaped death in the hail of bullets, but his massive body could not be completely spared: his forehead was bruised and swollen from being hit by the flowerbed, and his thigh was shot. One of Rong Hui's black bodyguards was helping him up.

  Pétain, the hero who fired the first shot, was as gentle as a breeze - he was shot by a dwarf just before his death, and that bullet injured his spine! He didn't die, but spent the second half of his life in bed or in a wheelchair - he was paralyzed! Due to his paralysis, his uncle harbored great resentment towards his old subordinate, they became enemies and eventually took opposing sides politically, leading them to lead two different French governments during World War II.

  Kong's incredible luck saved him: his sly merchant appearance and his quick reaction to prostrate himself on the ground saved him! Although bullets were flying back and forth just above his head, no one would pay attention to a harmless heap of garbage or a corpse on the ground. But he wasn't out of danger yet: when he determined that the situation was under control, he got up and moved around, and just as he went to check on the status of his entourage, he was grabbed by one of Rong Hui's black bodyguards named Adam - the only surviving suspect in the shooting! His official uniform was too big, and no one recognized him at the scene: Tan Xiao was inside the house, Bai Chongxi was still being tightly wrapped up by guards on the other side, He Shaotang was directing Wu Sheng's guards to maintain order at the scene, and as for the Fuxing Society people, they were still negotiating with the police and security personnel who had rushed over. In the chaos, who would notice a blood-stained and controlled person?

  So by the time he was picked up and thrown in front of Tan Xiao by that tall black man, he had already been beaten into a pig's head by Adam for his disobedience and resistance, with two broken ribs!

  Author: Seeking help from book friends, I'm not good at managing book reviews and accidentally became a moderator. Can enthusiastic book friends please help me become an assistant moderator? It seems like there are points that can be given to people? Also, I see many people asking for votes, what are those votes used for? If someone understands, please leave a message to inform me, thank you very much...