Chapter 46: Desperate Counterattack (Part 1)

  The next morning, reporters from various newspapers in Lingling City received a notice under the name of "Bandit Suppression Army Reorganization Command" that an important press conference would be held at noon to announce important news. The reporters were busy, and since the "Lingling Gun Battle Case", this ancient city had been crowded with reporters; when the reorganization began, there were even more people. However, there has been no major news so far, except for the chairman's personal inspection and guidance of the reorganization work, nothing else. Recently, these reporters have focused on the soaring prices in Lingling, starting to write articles about it to meet the deadline of their newspaper companies. Some newspapers from Shanghai had already reported that the reorganization led to price increases as part of their coverage of this reorganization news.

  Now, finally, a military command has come out to hold a press conference, and we don't have to fill the pages with trivial news anymore.

  This meeting will be presided over by Tan Xiao, it's Chiang Kai-shek's intention. After receiving Dai Li's suggestion last night, Chiang Kai-shek was so happy that he wanted to jump up! He really didn't want to see Song Kong beating Tan Xiao down, and last night he had already given orders to the various troops stationed in the training camp to requisition military rations from their respective units. But he didn't expect Dai Li to have such a plan, this is a wonderful move that will directly eliminate the problem at its inception! As for sacrificing Wu Sheng... what does Wu Sheng look like?

  In order to directly inform Song Kong, "Tan Xiao is already a conservative", this attitude, Chiang Kai-shek made this arrangement for him: the meeting was presided over by Tan Xiao, and he personally announced the news of Wu Sheng's arrest! Chiang Kai-shek simply wanted to use this opportunity to mold Tan Xiao into a model general who would sacrifice his family for the country and the people.

  Wu Sheng remained silent for half a day after receiving the news overnight. He understood that his political career had reached its peak, but he could still accept it calmly, as long as Tan Xiao was still in power, the old Tan faction's backing would remain stable! So he just arranged some specific work for the supplementary teacher, especially the selection of the deputy head of the department after his departure and made arrangements for discussions with the old Tan faction. Then, it was a overnight move, moving away all his beloved antiques and valuable things, of course, leaving behind about 500,000 yuan for Tan Xiao to "confiscate". He even sent someone to arrange in advance at the Lingling prison, having grown accustomed to a life of luxury!

  "Hmph, I'm also tired of living in this old house!" Wu Sheng gazed at the courtyard with deep affection: "If I say that after I leave, I'll buy it back, it's easy to become a laughing stock!... When the time comes, whichever old brother buys it will be fine, and when I have time, I'll come back to take a look at those flowers and grasses, all of which were planted by my own hands..."

  Tan Xiao listened to the side, feeling extremely sour and bitter, but also didn't know how to open his mouth to comfort him. After being silent for half a day, he suddenly blurted out: "Damn it, Song Ziwen, Kong Xiangxi, I'll make you see blood!" As soon as this was said, the old Tan system people present were shocked and everyone rushed over to persuade Tan Xiao to endure and not make things bigger...

  After a night of sorting out his emotions, Tan Xiao continued to give lessons to the officers of the training guidance team as if nothing had happened. Looking at his watch, it was almost time, so Tan Xiao tidied up his general's uniform and rushed to the press conference surrounded by his guards.

  Today's press conference is scheduled for noon, which is followed by a luncheon reception. Tan Xuguang will have close contact with journalists after the information release and make more exchanges with everyone at the luncheon reception.

  At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek's family banquet also began, entertaining Soong Tzu-wen and Kung Hsiang-hsi's family. Except for Soong May-ling, this time because it was a visit to his injured father, all four children of the Kung family came: eldest sister Kung Ling-i, second brother Kung Ling-k'an, second sister Kung Ling-chun, and youngest brother Kung Ling-chieh. Therefore, today's family banquet had a strong family atmosphere, and Chiang Kai-shek did not discuss official business in front of the children. Until everyone finished eating, the young masters and misses of the Kung family tactfully went to find their fun themselves.

  "Mr. Wei's students are formidable! This railway plan, we've calculated it before, if we can't do it, let General Tan handle it!" Song Meiling herself came forward to take the lead.

  Tan Xiao's ability to supervise railway engineering is unknown to Chiang Kai-shek. However, at this time, Song Kong suddenly didn't even bother to haggle over the price and directly withdrew, making it clear that he was betting on Tan Xiao being ruined by the grain incident and unable to participate in the railway plan again! Chiang Kai-shek was truly furious: This is a joke about national affairs and people's livelihoods!

  "Since that's the case, let Tan Xiang take over and do it then." Chiang Kai-shek can only force a smile now. Although Tan Xiang had previously mentioned his ideas for getting the Germans to work on it, whether or not they would succeed was still uncertain. But if he were to turn back now and ask Song Kong to take over the railway project, Chiang Kai-shek would lose all face! He can only let Tan Xiang do it! Whether he is capable of doing it or not, he has to do it anyway!

  "This railway can't be repaired, at most it will be scolded by people!" Chiang Kai-shek's face turned blue and said: "But if these ordinary people have nothing to eat, they will rebel! If these peasants who sell their stored grain cut off the unripe rice to fill their hunger, next year China will be a great famine!"

  After throwing out these words, Chiang Kai-shek no longer paid attention to Song Xianzhi and the other two, and instead went outside to tease his young nephew Kong Lingjie.

  Soong Ai-ling, Soong Tse-veng and Kong Xiangxi stared at each other in dismay! They didn't care about farming, thinking that after they finished speculating, the summer harvest would begin, and they never expected the consequences of the famine victims cutting down unripe wheat! Now it's hard to get off the tiger's back, with half of the warehouse already built. Under this year's favorable weather conditions, unless we maliciously manipulate the market, the closer we get to the summer harvest, the grain price will plummet, and the loss will be huge! Moreover, Zhang Xue-ming brought in funds that promised a 5% guaranteed dividend, which is 7.5 million!

  Song Ailing's face, which was usually calm and composed, also turned red: "There is no way out, we can only follow the plan to stir up the price! The grain merchants now are definitely bearish on grain, so we will wait until they have absorbed enough inventory, then push it up with all our might and burst their warehouse! We must be quick and fierce! This way, we can recover our capital and interest, and it won't have much impact on the people's livelihood!" Song Ailing decided: "As for those coordinated messages, we will still release them, but we need to immediately transfer grain over here, we can't really let the starving people cut unripe rice to fill their hunger! ... We'll issue it under the name of government relief, but we have to wait another half a month later, until the farmers' food is almost consumed before issuing!"

  The announcement of the press conference has been released, and Tan Xiao personally announced that Wu Sheng, the deputy commander of the Youyi Military Replenishment Division and the head of the Lingling Security Brigade, who embezzled grain under the pretext of requisitioning grain, had been arrested and his house searched. All the excess grain will be returned to the farmers, which is enough for all the farmers to eat until the end of the year! As for those unscrupulous merchants who took advantage of the situation to hoard grain and drive up prices, they will also be severely punished. Any merchant who has been found to have hoarded more than 500 stones of grain in the past ten days without selling out more than 50 stones of grain within three days will be fined and confiscated; and according to the severity of the case, they will be subject to heavy fines or even imprisonment!

  Finally, Tan Xiao specially apologized to society because the mastermind of this corruption case was his future father-in-law!

  "Righteousness exterminates kin!" This was the headline with the highest reporting rate that day. The whole country knew that Hunan had produced an iron-faced general, Tan Xiao, who had confiscated his father-in-law's property! At the same time, a situation of rice merchants dumping at low prices appeared throughout Hunan - the First Army blocked all commercial roads, and grain was not allowed to be transported out within five days! Prices plummeted accordingly!

  In Chiang Kai-shek's palace, Song and others were unaware of the outside situation. They only knew that Chiang had received a telegram from Nanjing: Wang Jingwei and his wife were going to Vietnam for an inspection tour. Soong May-ling showed a hint of complacency, glancing at the men in her family; she knew what Wang Jingwei and his wife were going to do in Vietnam: Rong Hui was in Vietnam.

  The guests in the house did not expect that Tan Xiao would know early and perform a good show of great righteousness, directly sealing off all of Song Meiling's backhands! What's even more ruthless is that those who were ordered to block the road were all from Ye Yi's military department. Without thinking, it's clear how they will strictly check the roads, and they absolutely won't buy into Kong Xiangxi or Song Ziwen's accounts! In this way, the grain that the Song and Kong families had bought at high prices in the Hunan region would all have to be sold at a low price! At least 20 million yuan in losses!

  The road was closed for five days, which is a short period of time, and supplies will resume afterwards, so it won't have too much impact on the areas that rely on Hunan's grain. However, within these five days, they will be going from door to door to search! The First Route Army originally had a large number of security teams made up of local bandits, you outsiders think you can hide but there is nowhere to hide! Moreover, this time the people in the Old Tan system all know the reason, under their and Chen Guoquan's mobilization and personal supervision, those original Hunan security team members are digging three feet underground, they will not give anyone any face. This closure was so detailed that it even included small paths for single-wheeled carts! And those big grain merchants found out that they were being watched by the First Route Army's supplementary division every day, and their inventory was counted every day, which means they are waiting for the three-day selling period to pass before taking action to seal them off.

  At this time, the Military Intelligence Department of the First Army led by Chen Ye Liu and the Special Affairs Department of the Hunan Revival Society were distinguishing between the materials, which ones were law-abiding grain merchants who had been operating for a long time, and which ones were external grain merchants who had sneaked in to take advantage of this incident. The latter did not need to be investigated, it was certain that they were the subordinates sent by Song Kong Yi system to make trouble; For these people, Tan Xiao adopted a uniform penalty of confiscation and imprisonment. As for the former, Chen Ye Liu's Military Intelligence Department issued special certificates to guarantee their legitimate business activities, even if they exceeded the standard, they would only be temporarily detained, and all would be returned after the incident was over.

  "Force me to throw my father-in-law into prison!? I'll throw all of your people in too! The fines will be so heavy that both of your families will spit blood!" Tan Xiao evilly instructed Yang Qing, the person in charge of this operation: "As long as it's confirmed that they're from the Song or Kong families, before throwing them in jail, make sure to give the prison head a heads up, and have those prisoners cripple them for me!... Even if it's just a small fry, not one will be released without a ransom of 10,000! As for the big shots, I'll set an astronomical price! I want the Songs and Kongs to tremble with fear when they hear my name! I won't let their businesses take a single step into Hunan!"

  The warm sunshine of the afternoon filled the courtyard, Chiang Kai-shek was playing with his 14-year-old nephew Kong Lingjie, and they were having a great time. The three people in the house were getting anxious - Chiang Kai-shek told them that dinner would also be eaten here, and someone else was coming, Tan Xiao. Soong May-ling wanted to go back and arrange work, but Chiang Kai-shek kept her as a guest and she couldn't leave, so she thought, "Fine, I'll waste half a day anyway, after all, Tan Xiao can't escape!" However, it seemed that Chiang Kai-shek was trying to be a peacemaker... Hum, is it that easy? Those who have offended the Song and Kong families, except for Du Yuesheng who shook hands and made peace in the end, no one else has such qualifications! She thought, "Chiang Kai-shek is making a fool of himself this time!"

  Tan Xiao slowly calmed down after blowing up: If it weren't for Chiang Kai-shek's support this time, if it weren't for Dai Li's strategy, he would have been in big trouble! The group of martial artists around him were really not a match for others when it came to playing tricks. If Song Kong hadn't played too big this time and threatened national security, would Chiang Kai-shek completely stand on his side? If it weren't for Dai Li's clever idea this time, where would Chiang Kai-shek start from to help him? Now, he needs to reflect carefully, if there are no capable people around him who can play tricks, he will eventually suffer greatly. Where can these people be found?

  Lin Wei came when he was deep in thought.

  Lin Wei came to inform him of two things: one was that Song Kong had decided to withdraw from the railway construction project bidding, and the other was that Chiang Kai-shek would be hosting a dinner party at his home tonight and invited Tan Xiao to attend.

  Song Kong quit? Tan Xiao was really headache! He really didn't know how to repair the railway! After thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered that Little Krupp had mentioned that when opening a mine in China, it's necessary to consider building good transportation... Ah, hurry up and send him a telegram to see if there's another way out! So, he rushed to the German delegation's residence, where although there were not many big shots left, but the remaining staff and liaison personnel still had a batch, plus Guderian would often come back from the tank base in Dong'an, should still be able to find a way out.

  Goodrian was at the residence because he knew that Tan Xiao would be very busy for the next few days, so he usually stayed in Dong'an. The reason he came today was that one of Tan Xiao's German friends asked him to inform Tan Xiao that under the direct intervention of the head of state, he had become the master of the family business, and this lucky person was Alfred Krupp!

  Today we're talking about railways, but Tan Xiao is still very happy that the first little Nazi who was willing to help China's strong military became the head of the world-renowned Krupp company! He said he would personally send a congratulatory telegram to Little Krupp...

  "Railway? General, you want to go and repair the railway yourself?" Goodrian was shocked.

  "Yes, that thing is not as fun as a tank, but I have to get it done. Otherwise, when can China repay the favor to German brothers... You know, now many mines are still using horse-drawn carts to transport minerals, and many ores are transported to ports by cars, horses, or even human labor. So, I applied for building several railways. They all center on Hunan and extend to Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Guizhou, which are the main mineral-producing areas!"

  "I think you've found the right person, Germany's railways are the best in the world. Have you heard of the 'Rail Zeppelin'? ... The 'Count Zeppelin' was our first airship to fly around the world, so you can imagine how great a train called the 'Rail Zeppelin' is! That thing we call an airplane car ran at 230.2 kilometers per hour! It's the fastest train in the world! Tan, think about it, where would the fastest train in the world run? Of course, on the best railway! ... You're looking for someone to build a railway, you've come to the right German brother! Hmm, last time there were officials from the Imperial Railway Bureau, but at that time everyone didn't mention the big transportation railway construction issue, just talked about small mine railways... No problem! I'll send them a telegram now..."

  In Germany, the issue of China's poor transportation lines has become a topic: although China has many good minerals, how to solve the transportation after mining? Everyone feels that an important link was missed in the last negotiation. The German Imperial Railway Bureau is a national industry, which is Hitler's industry, and his personal decision can be the final decision of the railway plan. And Hitler's decision is to make up for this important link immediately!

  So, after receiving the telegram from Goodrich, a reply that didn't require convening a meeting came immediately - the Germans were about to propose building railways in China! In the six provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan, which are rich in non-ferrous metals, build railways! The plan proposed by Germany was a Sino-German joint venture, but if the Chinese side did not have sufficient funds, they could borrow from the German Bank with shares of the railway as collateral! Because Germany had just repaid a war indemnity and the Americans had given them a loan of $1.1 billion, they had more money than they knew what to do with!

  In fact, the Germans, with their excellent diplomatic skills, made Americans and British unwilling to let France rise rapidly after the war, so the reparations of the Treaty of Versailles were simply a game: according to the Dawes Plan, money came out of Germany as war reparations into the Allied accounts, then flowed into the Bank of England in the name of war debt, continued to flow into the US Federal Reserve in the name of war debt, and finally returned to Germany in the form of loans, with a much larger amount! In this way, although the Germans had to bear the interest on the loan, their funds were actually more abundant than any European country! If Chinese diplomats had such skills at that time, the Boxer Indemnity would have brought China a leap forward! When Tan Xiao received Germany's response to railway construction from Goodrich and learned about the huge loan cycle of the US to Germany, he couldn't help but sigh with envy!

  Song and Kong's families were unaware of the press conference when Tan Xiao arrived, so when they saw Tan Xiao rushing over with a dusty face, they all put on an air of Western aristocratic haughtiness and elegance!

  "General Tan, I'm delighted that you've won the bid for the railway construction!" Song Ziwen said with great elegance: "As a business competitor, I'd be more than happy to see you complete these railways. I'll be waiting to take the maiden voyage and enjoy the view!"

  "Thank you, the train you mentioned will definitely depart, and I guarantee it will be a world-class train running on a first-class road!" Tan Xiao was not intimidated at all, with a hint of provocation hanging from the corners of his slightly raised mouth!

  Dead to the end and still unaware! Kong Xiangxi smiled secretly in his heart: "Really? I'm waiting for your good news!"

  Only Song Ailing showed a polite smile; she seemed to have read something from Tan Xiao's confident expression: Tan Xiao could build these railways! And it would be as he said - world-class!

  "May I ask if General Tan is preparing to bring us another surprise, isn't he?" Song Ailing wanted to get to the bottom of Tan Xiao's plan.

  Chiang Kai-shek was equally puzzled: whenever Tan Xiao showed such a confident expression, it was usually when he had absolute certainty! Would Tan Xiao really repair the railway?

  "I'd like to make some changes to that railway plan," said Tan Xiao. Seeing the surprised or amused expressions of everyone, he continued: "I want to build railways in six provinces simultaneously - Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan!"

  "What!" Everyone couldn't believe their ears! Tan Xiao had gone crazy! Where did he get so much money from?!

  "Of course, the plan, I mean the investment plan needs to be changed a bit." Tan Xiao looked at Chiang Kai-shek, ignoring all other onlookers: "I will set up a railway company, hmm, let's call it China Railway! Then, I will invite German experts to conduct surveys and estimate the engineering costs. Next, based on that as the investment standard, raise funds to build the railway, with the condition that all shares of the railway must be mortgaged to me!" He added finally: "Before the railway is completed, I don't want the country to spend a single penny!"

  He must have been fooled by the Germans again! Chiang Kai-shek's reaction was quick and accurate!

  Was Tan Xiao digging up a whole mountain of gold? Song Ziwen was very puzzled: Where did Tan Xiao get the money from?

  "Alright, if that's the condition, I can make a decision right now." Chiang Kai-shek looked at Song and Kong: "From now on, all railways, as long as they are within China, you can build wherever you want!"

  Dinner was conducted in a very festive atmosphere, as Chiang Kai-shek was overjoyed and even lifted the ban on wine, drinking a glass of champagne! As it approached the end, Chiang Kai-shek left his seat for personal reasons.

  Soong Tse-ven raised his glass with a pretentious gesture: "Come on, let's have a drink for our General Tan Yankai, whose future is boundless!"

  Tan Xiao didn't raise his cup, he suddenly asked in a cold and chilling voice: "Apart from driving up grain prices and using the newspaper to attack me for being poor and weak, harming the people, and artificially creating a famine, what other tricks do you have up your sleeves?"

  Everyone was shocked and lost their color!

  Tan Xiao used his self-hypnotic technique, and now he was facing a mortal enemy! And that person happened to fall into his hands, now he wanted to take a knife and cut the flesh off his body piece by piece... His eyes, filled with death and hatred, stared at Song Kong and others, looking at each of their faces one by one, including 14-year-old Kong Lingjie and 16-year-old Kong Lingjun! Song Meiling, the head of the Kong family who even made Chiang Kai-shek yield, suddenly felt a suffocating sense of death, and they were about to shout for the guards outside!

  Tan Xiao had already poked his chopsticks at Song Meiling's face, and Song Meiling finally couldn't hold on anymore. Her body went limp, leaning against Kong Xiangxi who was supporting her, her whole body covered in cold sweat: She really believed that Tan Xiao would pounce on them at any time and kill their entire family!

  "I'm a soldier, I don't play those pretentious tricks, I only know how to use guns! I'm also a savage, I don't like killing without seeing blood, I love the taste of blood! From today on, from the moment I walk out this door, it's either you or me - no quarter asked or given!"

  Tan Xiao, who had finished declaring war, stretched out his chopsticks to a plate of tomato scrambled eggs, picked up a piece and stuffed it into his mouth.

  Chiang Kai-shek is coming out from inside...

  I've calmed down a bit, I guess it's better to become a professional writer to support my pets... Forget it, no need to mention the unhappy things. This week, this book won't be strongly recommended, so please give more recommendations and collections if you think this book is okay, don't let it fall off the charts... It'll be hard to find later... Thanks in advance everyone!!!