Chapter 1: Laozi's "Hero" Good Fellow

  Laozi's "hero" is a good man

  The soul traversed such an old-fashioned thing, for Tan Xiao who had seen no less than twenty sets of traversals, there was nothing unacceptable, especially the new identity was also called Tan Xiao, only with an extra word: Feng Sheng.

  Tan Xiao, also known as Feng Sheng, 22 years old, the only son of Tan Dechang, the commander of Baoning in Lingling, Hunan. He graduated from the 9th term of the Whampoa Military Academy's Wuhan branch and was the captain of the 3rd battalion of the security guard. He is Tan Xiao who traveled back to the 21st century - a squad leader at a certain military training base of the People's Liberation Army, now in his new identity in 1934.

  Tan Xiao was very satisfied with the Tan Xiao who had occupied his body, because the 1934 Tan Xiao had preserved his memories almost perfectly, so he didn't have to pretend to be amnesiac and slowly understand the relationships between people around him. The second thing that made him happy was that this identity still left him a fortune: an army unit and about 20 million yuan in family wealth. The 20 million yuan was his estimate during the three-day recovery period, based on Tan Xiao's memories and common sense in 1934, the total value of the Tan family's good fields, houses, shops, and the dollars, gold bars, silver ingots buried underground were about this amount, and he, Tan Xiao, was the sole holder of these assets. At the moment of crossing over, Tan Xiao's cheap old dad, Tan Dechang, had died; to be precise, it was a case of father and son returning to heaven together, but the 21st-century Tan Xiao happened to cross over into the body of the current Tan Xiao in 1934.

  Tan family father and son were killed in action while leading their troops and the Red Army's vanguard to force a crossing of the Xiang River.

  Once this news spreads, it will surely cause a stir among the Xiang Army's familiar faces. Why? Take a look at Tan Dechang's military career and you'll understand:

  Tan Dechang was a bandit in the Guangdong province during the Qing dynasty. He later fled to Hunan and joined the revolutionary forces during the Xinhai Revolution. After Tan Yankei became the top leader of Hunan, Tan Dechang saw an opportunity and claimed to be from Chaling, making himself a member of Tan's faction. He followed Tan's troops in battles against Zhao Hengti and went to Guangzhou to support Sun Yat-sen against Chen Jiongming. During the Northern Expedition, he returned to Hunan with the army and ended up in He Jian's 8th Army, 2nd Division...

  The old man first made a name for himself in a prisoner-of-war operation, when Tan Dechang, who belonged to the Second Army, led a platoon of soldiers and captured dozens of Beiyang Army prisoners. They encountered a cavalry reconnaissance squad from He Jian's Eighth Army, which was also capturing prisoners, so his entire platoon, along with over a hundred prisoners, became captives of the Eighth Army...

  The second time he became famous was during an encounter battle with Wu Peifu's troops: Tan Dechang, who had already defected to the Eighth Army and been promoted to company commander, fled without firing a shot as soon as he saw the enemy, leading his men in a chaotic retreat through several dozen miles of mountain roads. Despite being unfamiliar with the terrain, they managed to reunite with the main force of the Eighth Army without losing a single man. This enraged He Jian, who wanted to execute Tan on the spot, but Tang Shengzhi, the commander of the Eighth Army, intervened, saying: "Although this unit is as timid as a mouse, its ability to navigate mountain roads is surprisingly no worse than that of ordinary units on flat terrain... perhaps there's still some potential to be tapped..." This saved Tan from certain death.

  The third time he became famous was during the fourth siege of the Soviet Union by the National Army: in the four major battles, countless fights, regardless of victory or defeat, Tan Lao's troops were the only regimental unit that had not lost a single person. He Jian was stunned, but considering that Tan Lao was also quite old, he didn't want to make things difficult for him, so he took advantage of the central government's troop reduction and kicked him to western Hunan as a security team leader - you wanted peace and quiet, right?

  It turned out that Tan Dechang, the head of the security team, had become famous for the fourth time: He Long, the commander of the Xiangxi Red Army, came and went like a whirlwind, causing a stir in various places, but Tan Dechang's jurisdiction was never affected. This confused He Jian: Could it be that He Long was actually afraid of Tan Dechang? Later, after investigating, it turned out that Tan Dechang had indeed met with He Long once before, and after the entire army surrendered, he was released and didn't fight again. Instead, both sides started doing business together. As long as He Long wanted something, no matter how rare or expensive it was, such as scarce medicines, Tan Dechang would find a way to get it and sell it to He Long's troops at a high price. He Jian, who was extremely anti-communist, naturally wanted to convict Tan Dechang of being a communist sympathizer, but after weighing the pros and cons, he decided that sparing his life could win people over, and besides, Tan Dechang's behavior of smuggling opium, visiting prostitutes, and accumulating wealth everywhere made it impossible for him to be a communist. Moreover, Tan Dechang was still useful in some ways: when recruiting soldiers, others would go and the strong young men would all hide, but whenever Tan Dechang went to recruit, he could easily find as many people as he wanted. Even ordinary people knew that fighting with Tan Dechang wouldn't result in death!

  Then, He Jian transferred Tan Dechang to the area of Lingling on the east bank of Xiangjiang River and promoted him one level: Security Commander, with a division under his jurisdiction. As long as you can collect strong young men according to requirements, your task is completed. In this regard, Tan Dechang was quite capable: the places along the Xiangjiang River were rich and no one wanted to be a soldier, so he had the skill to distribute "dingli" (a kind of tax) to every household, then bribe the heads of the Yao ethnic group, get many Yao soldiers to hand over, and take advantage of the golden waterway of Xiangjiang River and the location of the four provinces' transportation golden triangle, join hands with the Guangxi Army, Guangdong Army, and Guizhou Army stationed troops to sell opium on a large scale, continue to get rich.

  A security commander notorious for being greedy and afraid of death would rather die on the battlefield, that's a shocking turn of events.

  But now, Tan Dechang has died in battle, a fact as solid as a nail on a board.

  Tan Dechang's death in battle was purely accidental. Before the war, Tan Dechang had already planned to make a fortune by borrowing from the war. He analyzed that this time, the Central Red Army would definitely bring a large amount of treasure and valuable items obtained from fighting local tyrants, so he made an effort to organize a 5,000-strong brigade to participate in the battle, from Xiangdong to Guiedong, maintaining the tradition of not losing a single man. They collected and even stole war materials left behind by various parties, including machine tools for producing Red Army weapons, mountain cannons from the Central Army, steel helmets, bullets, military uniforms... It was a huge fortune: even old Hanyang rifles, equipped with 100 rounds of ammunition, could be sold for over 100 taels of silver per gun in remote minority areas.

  Before the Red Army crossed the Xiangjiang River, Tan Dechang estimated that the Red Army would have difficulty breaking through the defensive lines of various Nationalist troops, and he hid in the back - he was not going to fight a bloody battle. When he learned that the Guangxi army had recalled its troops and left a gap between Quanzhou and Xing'an, he was overjoyed: only by giving the Red Army a breakthrough could they leave behind a trail of loot for others to pursue. So he volunteered to lead his troops to block the gap in Quanzhou, but actually chose a strategic location near the expected battlefield that the Red Army would not pass through, and dispersed his forces to wait for the two armies to pass by and pick up the spoils.

  With Tan Dechang's many years of combat experience, he accurately calculated the possible landing sites and expansion range of the Red Army after landing, even the breakthrough route. Therefore, his troops were deployed in batches near these key battlefields, hidden at a level that was enough to be proud of the whole army - even the friendly forces Liu Jianxu's unit couldn't find them, only unable to contact!

  However, after all the calculations, one item was overlooked: the bullet went astray!

  In a hidden mountain ditch near the battlefield, Tan Dechang and his son were still counting how much money they had made from this battle and estimating how much more they would make after the Red Army crossed the river. Suddenly, an unidentified shell, either from the Red Army or the Nationalist Army, exploded nearby, blowing the old man to pieces and knocking his only son, Tan Xiao, unconscious... The record of the Tan family army never losing a man in battle was ended by Tan Dechang himself.

  Three days later, Tan Xiang woke up. The various departments that had been scattered and hidden in various places to pick up the spoils also returned one after another. Everyone's harvest was indeed very rich: thousands of rifles, hundreds of light and heavy machine guns, mortars, mountain cannons, ammunition... gold bars, silver ingots, cash... uniforms, mechanical equipment, food... everything was available. But now everyone is very depressed: Tan Dechang, such a good leader, is gone, and everyone is really heartbroken! Especially those twenty-nine old comrades who had been following Tan Dechang since the Northern Expedition from Guangzhou, and were now holding important positions in the Public Security Command Department, with the least wealthy having nearly ten million yuan. When they learned that their leader was gone, they were truly heartbroken, and for a time, the sound of crying shook the sky...

  "I'm telling you, uncles, this isn't the time for crying. We need to plan for the future..." Tan Xiao said weakly, half-dead: "Father is gone, but we still have to move forward, don't we? What are we going to do from now on?"

  More than 500 officers crowded in front of the sickbed, looking at each other, no one dared to speak up.

  Good fellow, although there are now 5,000 people in a trip, but usually this team is just around 800 people, and there are more than 500 officers. It's still the old man who reads the old: the old subordinates with some experience have all become officials, the chief of staff has been set to the company level, and the platoon leader has been assigned a deputy officer. The National Army is a great team! But when it comes to making decisions, they are all useless... Tan Xiao's belly is full of sneers.

  "Uncle Chun, tell me..." Uncle Chun was called Ji Ping, styled Xianchun, and was the Chief of Staff of the Ba'an Commandery. It's said that he was a former Qing dynasty scholar, but whether or not this is true is unknown. However, among Tan Dechang's oldest group of brothers, he was indeed the one who knew the most characters.

  "Does... young master have any valuable opinions?"

  Tan Xiao was both angry and happy: he was angry that his troops were so cowardly, but happy that there was no one in charge, making it easy for him to take control. From the moment he crossed over, Tan Xiao had decided that his top priority would be to fight against Japan! What else could he do after crossing over to 1934? To fight against Japan, he needed an army, and now he had one, although it was a bit cowardly, but with some training, it could still be used. After all, in another time and space, Tan Xiao had spent three years on the military training ground, not as an instructor, but how could he not know what to do? Watching modernized troops train every day, Tan Xiao was confident that he could train a team that could defeat the invading Japanese army.

  "Does everyone remember how we transformed from a regular army to a security regiment?" Tan Xiao asked, and before anyone could respond, he continued: "Abandon the millstone after the donkey has died! After the Red Bandits are eliminated, more troops will be converted into security regiments. At that time, it's hard to say whether our Security Brigade can still hold on!"

  "Ah…..""This......"The originally silent officers started whispering to each other."Is it that serious......?""Really?""Hard to say, the provincial governor has never gotten along with us, now that Zhang Bo is not here, who knows......"

  "What's difficult to say? It's like this, think about it, why is everyone except the Central Army not making an effort to suppress the bandits? Very simple, once the Red Bandits are eliminated, it means demobilization, which means attacking local factions. So the Guangdong and Guangxi armies are just going through the motions, as long as the Red Bandits don't enter their territory, that's all that matters. Now look at this, after the battle of Xiangjiang, more than half of the Red Bandits were eliminated, next it will be impossible not to demobilize!" Tan Xiao continued: "Those who are directly disbanded are few, those who are converted into security forces are many, when the time comes, each faction will fight for their territory until the sky is dark!"

  "What shall we do then? Make some sacrifices?" Ji Ping asked.

  "It's worth it to shed some blood to keep our territory, but the key is whether we can keep it or not!" Tan Xiao said: "Now is the time for extraordinary measures in extraordinary times! I just ask everyone a question, are you willing to disperse now and retreat, or continue to stick together and fight for the sky, stick together and get rich?!"

  Tan Xiao's tone was high and mighty, and he unknowingly shook off the half-dead appearance he had put on!

  "Unite and conquer! Unite and get rich! ……", someone started shouting, and soon everyone joined in.

  Very cooperative! Tan Xiao thought.

  "That's right, that's the way it is. In these times, if you don't have a gun in your hand, all your wealth is useless. Everyone understands this principle, so during difficult times, we must unite even more, not dwell on personal gains and losses, and work together to advance or retreat! Tan Xiao suddenly sat up straight, looking very serious as he spoke: "Ladies and gentlemen present here, some of you are Uncle Fengsheng's uncles, some are his brothers. Father is no longer with us, I feel it's my responsibility to hold up the sky that Father left behind! Will everyone support me?"

  "Support! Support! ......"

  "Zhang Bo is gone, Tan Jiajun is still here! ......"

  "In the future, Feng Sheng will be our boss!"

  More than 500 people didn't see anyone opposing, after all, this group of people are used to having everything decided by Tan Dechang. Now that Tan Dechang is dead, Tan Xiao is taking over the family business, just like an emperor passing on the throne to his crown prince... Moreover, Tan Xiao's speech just now also won everyone's admiration: he has vision, just like the old Tan, with insight and charisma, a man who can take charge!

  After easily convincing everyone, Tan Xiao began to issue orders as the commander of the Tan family army: "Victory Uncle and Spring Uncle, first lead the main force to transport all the spoils of war back to the headquarters. Remember not to let anyone detect you on the way, just disguise yourselves as a logistics unit of the Central Army. It should take only one or two days to arrive, shouldn't be a problem, right?"

  "No problem!" they replied in unison. Sheng Shu called Wu Sheng, who was one of the old brothers of Lao Touzi, just like Ji Ping, and was currently the captain of the security team, also Tan Xiao's future father-in-law.

  "After you arrive, settle down as soon as possible. The soldiers will give some money to let everyone go home and report safety. Ten days later, return to the headquarters to report for duty. You will immediately rush to Lingling City to assemble. I have something to do here! By the way, this time when you go back, leave 500 people with me, but all the main officers stay behind!"

  "Master Qing, send someone to invite all the filial sons who have mourned their parents within a hundred miles. It will be useful!"

  "Ah, so anxious to hold a funeral for Lao Da? It's a bit hasty..." said Yang Qing, the captain of the second squad.

  Tan Xiao said calmly: "I want to carry a coffin and ask for life!"