Chapter 44: Secret War (Part 2)

  After a brief three-hour sleep, Tan Xiao got up early to see Chiang Kai-shek. After a night of consideration, he decided to report rather than seek Chiang's opinion; he wanted to join the Blue Shirts Society.

  The full name of the Blue Shirts Society is the Chinese National Rejuvenation Society, which was initiated by He Yingqin and with Chiang Kai-shek as its leader. It has become a major force in politics, on par with the CC Clique and the Political Study Group; moreover, the Blue Shirts Society has something that the two major competing factions do not have - an army. The core members of the Blue Shirts Society are basically generals from the Whampoa clique, which means it has had control over the military since its inception.

  When Tan Xiao proposed joining the Blue Shirts Society, Chiang Kai-shek was naturally welcoming, as he had intended to recruit Tan into the society all along. Therefore, upon learning of Tan's desire to join the Blue Shirts Society, Chiang ordered his attendants to summon the core members of the Blue Shirts Society who were currently in Lingling, effectively convening a high-level meeting of the Blue Shirts Society.

  At the meeting, although Tan Xiang himself declined with the excuse of not being in Nanjing, he was still unanimously elected as a standing director of the Central General Chamber of Commerce; and immediately became the president of the Hunan branch. Because he is younger than the original Blue Shirt Society core members, so in this space-time, there is a saying "Thirteen Taibao and one Taizi".

  As for becoming the head of the Hunan branch, Tan Xiao was delighted. After all, he had now incorporated all the Revival Society agents in Hunan into his own ranks. This would be greatly beneficial to his plan to eliminate the Japanese from Hunan.

  The Blue Shirts Society's main tasks are now in four areas: First, anti-Japanese preparations for war; Second, intelligence work to reduce the power of local warlords; Third, undermining or uniting various military groups; Fourth, anti-Soviet propaganda. As a newly appointed standing director, Tan Xiao must make suggestions on these four tasks.

  Tan Xiao thought for a long time and started to speak from the fourth item, reversing his previous views. In his argument, he made anti-Sovietism the focus and put forward the view that as long as the Soviet Union was defeated, everything else would be taken care of; of course, he himself was secretly laughing, thinking that even if the Soviet Union collapsed, China would still be fine. Then, he listed the weakness of the Soviet Union's power in the Far East and its inability to cope with future world wars, and proposed that China should launch a military attack on the Soviet Union at an appropriate time. Although everyone had heard about his "grand blueprint", when Tan Xiao put forward specific timelines for the attack and what preparations should be made by when, everyone was still shocked: Tan Xiao really wanted to fight the Soviet Union!

  "But before we deal with the Soviet Union, we must first take care of Japan!" Tan Xiao turned the topic back to anti-Japanese: "When we have weakened the warlord forces to a certain extent, I think the Japanese will take action. Therefore, before dealing with the Soviet Union, we need to prepare for a war against Japan! Just one year later, in the summer and autumn of next year, we must actively create an opportunity for war, and with lightning speed, eliminate the majority of Japan's military strength in North China!" His words were shocking! Tan Xiao's speech again sparked a wave of whispers. Everyone was preparing for anti-Japanese resistance, everyone had heard of Tan Xiao's theory of taking the initiative to start a war, but even setting up a battlefield for the war was unprecedented, including Chiang Kai-shek. As for the goal of annihilating the majority of Japan's military strength in North China in one battle, it was something that no one dared to think about.

  "Only when we have defeated the Japanese in North China can we make them withdraw their claws. At the same time, only when we have demonstrated the power of our Central Army in North China can we thoroughly deal with that old fox in Shanxi! Tan Xiao said: "At that time, as long as we dare to go to war with Japan, the entire Western society, including Germany and its enemies, will stand on our side! The Japanese, who have suffered greatly in China, will not dare to turn against the Western countries at this time, so they will withdraw their claws! We will then turn around and deal with Yan Xishan and the remaining forces of the Northwestern Army! To subdue external threats, we must first stabilize internal affairs. Any local forces that despise Central authority; any warlords who have opposed the Center through military means; any political groups that have opposed the leader, including intra-party political groups like the reactionary cliques of Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei; must all be severely struck down!" Tan Xiao clenched his fist and gave a fierce shout.

  Although Tan Xiao was not the first to address him as "Leader" in front of Chiang Kai-shek, this time, under such an atmosphere, when the Huangpu generals gathered, his one voice "Leader" was obviously louder than "Principal". As for directly calling the Premier of the Republic of China a reactionary group, this great creation did not cause Chiang Kai-shek's displeasure, but rather, because all those present were his trusted subordinates, he thought Tan Xiao's speech was very good! Of course, Chiang Kai-shek still had to do some surface work: "Fengsheng, isn't Wang Jingwei still the Premier of the National Government...?"

  This time, Tan Xiang was no longer suppressed by Chiang Kai-shek's casual remark. He said: "Mr. President, Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei have repeatedly colluded with the Japanese to harm our Central Government. They have completely betrayed the Premier's nationalist doctrine and are traitors of the Three Principles of the People revolution. They are political conspirators! I implore you, Mr. President, not to tolerate them again due to concerns about national political turmoil; there is only one way to deal with them - eliminate them! Only through a second revolution, eliminating the defeated class, can we wholeheartedly resist foreign aggression!"

  Tan Xiao's current performance is reminiscent of the early days of Huangpu Military Academy, where young people from two parties argued endlessly and even fought for their ideals and the country's future! Although some were immature and radical; but this kind of radicalism was exactly what Chiang Kai-shek needed! The purpose of establishing the Chinese National Revival Society was for Chiang to use more radical forces to eliminate the old factions he had in mind. What Tan Xiao is saying and doing now are all what he hopes to see.

  He remained silent, a tacit consent, consenting to Tang's and Wang's affronts on the Hu-Wang issue.

  The high-ranking officials of the Blue Shirts Society also fell silent, they understood Chiang Kai-shek's meaning.

  Overthrow Hu and Wang? But overthrowing will not stop at just Hu and Wang! If they really take action within the party, then the old men who will be overthrown will be in batches; it also means that the new generation will truly step onto and dominate China's political stage!

  Yes, the Soviet Union is too far away, and provoking Japan on its own initiative... just watch; however, no matter what, using the name of anti-Japanese to carry out another large-scale purge within the party would be beneficial for everyone present!

  This Tan Xiao is really eager for war! Chiang Kai-shek thought. According to Tan Xiao's plan, by the end of this year or early next year at the latest, he would conquer Guangdong and Guangxi; then, after half a year of preparation, he would attack Japan; it was estimated that in two years' time, he would sweep away all the warlord forces across the country... The risk of attacking Japan is great, and needs to be carefully considered, but who says it's impossible? Go ahead! Let him prepare first, if at that time there are indeed conditions for opening war and winning, then attack!

  Other high-ranking officials of the Blue Shirts Society also wanted to fight, anyway, as long as the war started, the weight of the words of the commanders would be greater; and the political status of the Whampoa faction would be even higher!

  So, soon everyone had a decision, and Tan Xiao, Gui Yongqing, Guan Linzheng, and Dai Li secretly formed a special advisory group to develop a series of plans for the war against Japan, including material preparation, troop deployment, intelligence gathering, shifting attention, and battlefield setup. At this time, every person in the meeting room had a sense of sacred mission, and they even felt that there was a halo on their heads! They were preparing for something that no one had dared to think about in the past few decades: taking the initiative to go to war with Japan!

  The meeting lasted a bit long, so the second day of the whole army conference started an hour late. No one knew what Chiang Kai-shek and others had discussed before the meeting, but everyone's eyes were on Tan Xiao, the only qualified new general to attend!

  Because of the meeting with Blue Shirt Society beforehand, everyone's speech at today's military work conference was not very enthusiastic; they all thought that many plans had already been settled, and they were just going through the motions. So basically, each discussion case was passed in the first vote. After half a day of meetings, except for Hitler's military performance plan which has not been released yet, other matters have been decided; in the afternoon, everyone went their separate ways.

  Tan Xiang will continue to give lectures to the instructors of various troops this afternoon; Dai Li will preside over a crash course in spy training - a special training class for personnel that Tan Xiang wants to send to Southeast Asia, taught by Dai Li! As for Chiang Kai-shek, he has important business to attend to: summoning Soong Tzu-wen and Kong Xiangxi.

  Song Ziwen wanted to repair the railway, which was no longer a new message for Chiang Kai-shek. As early as the beginning of the Jiangxi Soviet encirclement and suppression campaign, Song Ziwen had conflicts with Chiang Kai-shek over the conflict between railway construction funds and military expenses. Now that the central government has money, he wants to repair the railway, which is not surprising. However, this plan made Chiang Kai-shek very surprised: This time, the railway construction was almost all concentrated in Hunan, on Tan Xiaofu's turf!

  What puzzled Chiang Kai-shek was that this construction plan, compared to previous plans, emphasized the construction of branch lines rather than the length of main trunk lines. In addition to the original Guangzhou-Hankou Railway from Zhuzhou to Shaoguan, which had been under construction intermittently, three railways centered on Hunan were built: Xianggui, Xianggui and Xiangqian. These railways all had more small branch lines attached to them. If they were completed, the entire South China region's transportation landscape would be transformed. It was a very good railway plan, but why was it centered on Hunan? Why did this plan have an astonishing number of branch lines?

  Chiang Kai-shek was indeed at a loss, and what shocked him even more was the supplementary plan for the construction of the railway. This complex plan, which included land expropriation, labor mobilization, and bidding for work, actually suggested that the military be responsible for supervision, with martial law being implemented along the entire length of the railway!

  Chiang Kai-shek's first thought was the relationship between Soong Tzu-wen and Tan Xiang: wasn't it that Soong Tzu-wen had been caught by Tan Xiang with some handle, forcing him to make this plan?! Then he thought of the reorganization plan of the First Route Army this time. Tan Xiang not only surprisingly didn't disband the Taxation Police Corps but also reused the original Song system personnel, and even asked for Wen Yingxing to be recalled as the army's chief of staff; had Song and Tan made up? This was impossible! Chiang Kai-shek immediately denied this idea himself. However, this was obviously a plan that would allow Tan Xiang to quickly control all of Hunan Province. With this plan, Tan Xiang could easily take control of most of the province's governance. Why did Soong Tzu-wen do this? He really couldn't understand it.

  He handed over the plan to Yang Yongtai and began talking with Soong Tzu-wen, asking him directly for explanations on points he did not understand.

  "It is clear that this time our cooperation with the Germans, mainly focuses on mineral sand trade. These mines are relatively concentrated in the Hunan-Guizhou-Sichuan region, and building a railway network centered on Hunan can further promote trade between the two countries." Song Ziwen's response was watertight and very reasonable: "The contradictions between me and Tan Xiao cannot become an obstacle for me to consider the overall situation of the country!"

  If these words were spoken by Tan Xiang, Chiang Kai-shek would have believed 90% of it; but coming from Soong Tse-ven's mouth, he couldn't help but think thrice: Is his own brother-in-law really a person with such broad-mindedness? To be fair, among the central officials, Soong Tse-ven is indeed one of the more open-minded ones, but it seems unlikely that he could forget that brutal beating in such a short period of time.

  Chiang Kai-shek fell into deep thought, and Yang Yongtai, after the initial excitement, was also pondering similar questions. The difference was that Yang Yongtai intended to push through this plan despite its drawbacks, as it aligned with his long-held views and would genuinely support his younger brother. Why not? Chiang Kai-shek quickly grasped the crux of the matter: this railway construction plan exceeding one billion would immediately drain the government's finances!

  It is clear that in this conflict between Song and Tan, he stood on the side of Tan Xiang, and Soong Tse-ven would also be aware. Then, draining the central government and forcing Chiang Kai-shek to start relying heavily on the Jiangsu-Zhejiang financial group again would be a good move for Soong Tse-ven to regain the initiative! Moreover, Chiang Kai-shek was well aware of how much the Jiangsu-Zhejiang financial group could gain from such a large plan.

  But this was indeed a good plan in terms of railway planning; so he hesitated.

  What he thought of, Yang Yongtai also thought of. 100 million marks, which is equivalent to less than 50 million taels at that time. The proceeds from this friendly loan are actually just enough for the National Government to get through its current financial difficulties and the plan to reorganize the country's 60 divisions. If such a large amount of railway construction costs were added, there would be more financial difficulties. Soong Tzu-wen wanted to regain his initiative in the struggle between Soong and Tang through financial power in Chiang Kai-shek's heart!

  However, this is a good opportunity to promote his own ideas and help Tan Xiao get better opportunities. So he decided to support; moreover, he thought it was a good chance for Tan Xiao to show off again. Since he knew that Tan Xiao had joined the highest decision-making level of the Revival Society, he felt that Tan Xiao should have passed the last hurdle of Chiang Kai-shek's suspicion, and he himself did not doubt Tan Xiao's loyalty, so he thought Tan Xiao could let go again.

  The two men had different ideas, and both saw through Song Ziwen's intentions. However, they both took a consistent attitude: think about it again, discuss it again! Moreover, they both had an idea: let Tan Xiao speak for himself.

  Tan Xiao did not expect that after finishing the military lesson for the generals, he was called to the study by Chiang Kai-shek again, and it was to discuss a plan submitted by Soong Tzu-wen.

  Because Rong Hui had warned him before going to India that Soong Tzu-wen might regain the initiative in finance, he understood the meaning behind this plan as soon as he read it. However, this plan is too great! In his later years, after several troop deployments and drills, he walked along several main railway lines and found that the layout of this plan was infinitely close to the future! Thinking back to the original timeline, when the Sichuan army marched out to resist Japan, they spent three months on the road, exhausted and arriving at the battlefield. He understood: the railroad must be built! Even if it's a trap, you have to jump!

  But now Tan Xiao also learned to think thrice before acting, and he didn't immediately express his own opinion. The whole room fell into a state of contemplation. Chiang Kai-shek was observing the expressions of Song and Kong, guessing their relationship; Yang Yongtai was thinking about the most beneficial plan for Tan Xiao; while Tan Xiao was thinking more about how to make this excellent railway construction plan feasible without becoming a money-making channel for Song and Kong. As for Song Ziwen, he was doing just the opposite, calculating how to reap over 200 million from the railroad and how to squeeze dry the central government's finances!

  "I think this plan is feasible, but there are some specific issues that need to be explored. Tan Xiao broke the silence: "Firstly, regarding the implementation of military control in the regions along the line, I think the function of the army is for military affairs. I will do my best to help coordinate the construction of the railway, but implementing full military control over all local governance seems a bit too much for me personally. I think the personnel who have come out of the political and academic training classes in recent years are doing quite well, why not let more students gain experience in practice? I think it's entirely possible to make use of more of these cadres to carry out local governance."

  Everyone was shocked by Tan Xiao's suggestion, he voluntarily gave up the opportunity to dominate Hunan!

  Chiang Kai-shek was deeply moved by this: Tan Xiang is absolutely loyal! He is a great minister who has no private thoughts, and wholeheartedly considers the Central Government and his leader. He even feels a little guilty for having always thought of ways to balance Tan's development.

  Yang Yongtai did not expect Tan Xiao to take away the fragrant pastry that was presented before him. Using people from the Political Science Department, Yang Yongtai had thought about it, but all along, he was the one who opened the way for the military, and the political department followed. However, this time's railway plan was different: like in Jiangxi, where the Red Army had already fought to a standstill, assigning new officials was simple, except for some friction with the Central Party Department, everything else was easy to handle; especially at the grassroots level, the nobles from the Central Party Department were not willing to work in small places, unlike the people from the Political Science Department who could endure hardships. But Hunan was different, this place where one familiar face can dominate the world, the original administrative power was deeply rooted, and the Central Party Department and He Jian's faction had fought fiercely, it was unlikely that a group of bookworms from the Political Science Department could suppress them. So he really believed that only a military leader who had done a good job in governing the land like Tan Xiao could truly coordinate the situation; not that he hadn't thought about directly using people from the Political Science Department at all. Now Tan Xiao returned this precious place, it wasn't easy to accept!

  So, Yang Yongtai honestly said out his reasons for thinking that military control was the best. Of course, he didn't mention the contradictions between the political science department and the central party department, but only said that the original forces in the local area were too strong.

  Chiang Kai-shek's view was that if he handed over the governance and military affairs to Tan Xiang, given that he was already the head of the Revival Society in Hunan, it would be equivalent to handing over the entire province to him. Although Chiang had no doubts about Tan's loyalty at present, he knew well that absolute power equals absolute corruption, having seen too many passionate young people fall under the temptation of fame and wealth. Therefore, he supported Tan's suggestion on this matter. In the end, everyone decided to adopt a compromise approach: all local officials along the line would have to undergo examination by the Shan Gang, with the examination work conducted by the training class of the Political Science Department; those who failed the examination would be appointed by the Political Science Department. The First Army would assist in carrying out short-term military control and rectification in some places with strong resistance sentiment, after which they would hand over to personnel responsible for the Political Science Department. This was a plan that everyone thought was acceptable, including Song Ziwen - in Song Meiling's plan, it was intended to promote an alliance between Tan Xiang and the Political Science Department! As long as this plan went through, Tan Xiang wouldn't be able to avoid being punished by CC!

  However, when Tan Xiao proposed the second opinion, Song Ziwen couldn't laugh anymore: Tan Xiao proposed to re-examine the budget, which was not unexpected by Song Ziwen; what he didn't expect was that Tan Xiao actually wanted to take control of all expenditures approved in the budget and grasp them in his own hands! He wasn't going to supervise expenditures according to the plan, but rather decide on expenditures!

  Chiang Kai-shek immediately knew that his speculation was correct: there was no inside story about Song and Kong joining hands! Tan Xiao was worried that the railway would become a new channel for Song and Kong's corruption! As for Tan Xiao's integrity, Chiang Kai-shek trusted him completely. In the settlement of the artillery training plan, Tan Xiao immediately took out the money he had actually made from selling opium without any hesitation or delay. This showed his integrity and dedication to duty!

  However, although he also does not want to see corruption, but this way, the balance between him and Song Kong will be completely broken! Originally, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang financial group supported him, and as a return, he handed over almost all major national projects to the Jiangsu-Zhejiang financial group, which was already an unspoken understanding. If this time, he hands over the financial power of railway network construction entirely to Tan Xiao, it would be a huge blow to the Jiangsu-Zhejiang financial group! So big that it will trigger a backlash!

  But now Tan Xiao has spoken out and judging from his tone, he seems determined to get it!

  Soong Tse-ven was the first to object, with sufficient reason: You are a military man, Tan Hsiang, and naturally the financial authority for building railways should be in the hands of the Ministry of Finance. The plan allows you to participate in supervision only to ensure honesty, but do you understand that you are responsible for expenditures?

  This is a good reason, and Chiang Kai-shek also wants to take the opportunity to settle; he thinks that as long as the budget is compressed a bit, Song and Kong will not be able to embezzle so much, it's already a very good result.

  But just as he was about to speak, Tan Xiao said: "Three railways, plus branch lines, 65 million! No additions, insufficient funds, pay out of your own pocket!" He provocatively rushed at Soong Tse-ven and said: "Take this as the standard, treat me as a contractor, participate in the bidding, whoever has a lower price gets it!"

  Soong Tse-ven was stunned on the spot! This price is his calculated bottom line! Below this price, there's no profit to be made!

  Chiang Kai-shek and Yang Yongtai were also stunned on the spot! They did not expect Tan Xiao to be so resolute on this issue!

  "The railway acceptance will be handled by German engineers!" Tan Xiao added a sentence, he was very firm on this issue today!

  The battlefield against Japan is not just in China, and the opponent of anti-Japanese warfare is not just the Japanese!