Film and Television World Life Record

There was a recliner under me; I had just been lying there taking a nap.

At this moment, his memories finally came together. He was still called Li Mu, and he looked the same as in the real world. He was born in the first year of the Republic of China and was twenty-five years old this year. He was now the head of the Nanyang Regional Security Corps.

Li Mu has a rich and varied life. He came from a well-off family in his youth, but later his family fell into poverty due to unforeseen circumstances. He began to wander around at the age of sixteen or seventeen. During this time, he served in the army for half a year, participating in two minor conflicts. However, he felt that being a soldier was too dangerous, so he ran away with his bucket.

Then, he went to Shanghai. At that time, gangs were prevalent in Shanghai. He felt that joining a gang was a promising career path and was thinking of becoming a member of the Green Gang when he suddenly heard that a foreign firm was recruiting people, saying that they would take them to America to make a fortune.

Li Mu was only nineteen years old at the time, an age when he was easily swayed and full of enthusiasm. Without thinking too much, he immediately signed up.

Unexpectedly, he was tricked into becoming a Chinese laborer. Fortunately, Li Mu had an English course when he was in school and studied English for several years. Although he stumbled and stammered, he could still communicate in English.

Among this group of Chinese laborers, he was one of the few who knew a little English, and he became a minor leader among them, living a relatively comfortable life.

However, Li Mu was clearly not one to sit still. After spending more than a year here, he became fluent in English, able to write and read, and gradually became familiar with the local customs and lifestyle. He even saved some money.

So, he picked up the bucket and ran away again.

For the next few years, Li Mu wandered around, not only in the United States but also in Europe. Discrimination was everywhere these days.

Li Mu, with a restless heart, felt he had nowhere to settle down and ultimately decided to return to China.

However, returning home is not as simple as just buying a ship ticket and going back. If he did that, all those years he spent abroad would have been for nothing.

Over the years, he had sneaked into some universities to audit classes and also disguised himself as an international student to communicate with international students in China.

These days, international students are highly sought after in China.

I can't go back to China empty-handed; I must return as an overseas student to secure a good future.

In this regard, Li Mu didn't actually put much effort into it. There were plenty of wealthy young men from China studying abroad, but many of them couldn't even speak English fluently, let alone get a diploma.

What to do? Where there's demand, there's supply.

In recent years, a corresponding industry chain has been formed overseas. If you want an overseas diploma, no problem, and it's not a fake diploma. Some diplomas have very prestigious names, but they are just diploma mills.

So, aside from keeping enough for a boat ticket, Li Mu spent all his savings and finally managed to get two diplomas.

Moreover, he has two diplomas, one academic and one military, one from an American university, much like Fang Hongjian in the novel *Fortress Besieged*.

One was a military academy in a small European country, but it was only a military academy in name only; in reality, it was at most a military skills training class.

However, to sound more prestigious, its Chinese name is European Army Military School.

Of course, I chose the name myself. Since it's a foreign school name, I can translate it however I want as long as no one cares.

And so, a little over a year ago, Li Mu used his last remaining money to buy a ship ticket and hurriedly returned to China.

After disembarking in Shanghai, Li Mu was still full of ambition, thinking that with his diploma and status as an overseas student, he could make a name for himself in Shanghai and enjoy high society.

Therefore, he was very ambitious and took his American diploma directly to apply for jobs at some large trading companies or large commercial firms.

As it turned out, they were proven wrong.

At that time, Shanghai, as the largest metropolis in the Far East, was not an inland region.

With a diploma like his, any big trading company or merchant firm would just wave him away.

Li Mu thought about it and then went to Wuhan. He figured that the inland areas were not as well-informed as Shanghai, so he applied for jobs at those big foreign firms and large trading companies, but he still didn't get any offers.

Just when he had spent the last penny in his pocket and was about to sleep on the streets, thinking he would just find any job to make ends meet, he suddenly saw a job posting in the newspaper.

In the Nanyang region, due to the serious problem of bandits, the small number of local troops, and the ineffective suppression, it was decided to form a militia, also known as a local security force.

We are seeking a military commander, specifically the head of the militia's security regiment.

The recruitment requirements are quite high. They either require actual experience in the military at the battalion level or above, or graduation from the Central Military Academy or an overseas military academy.

With trepidation, Li Mu took out his diploma from the European Military Academy and went to try it out. To his surprise, the other party immediately agreed.

Li Mu was overjoyed. Wuhan was not far from Nanyang. He could travel along the Yangtze River, the Han River, through Xiangyang, and then along the Tangbai River that runs through Nanyang.

We traveled by water and arrived in two days.

When Li Mu arrived at the destination, he was dumbfounded. What they called a security regiment was just a few places where a few hundred militiamen had been hastily gathered together, with less than two hundred guns.

Is this the security force?

Indeed, during the Republic of China era, some places had as few as a hundred people who dared to call themselves security regiments. In reality, they were semi-police, semi-military organizations, local armed forces, and had no jurisdiction over the central government.

Compared to other security groups in the country, his force of over three hundred men and two hundred guns is quite formidable.

Li Mu finally understood why the company had accepted his job so quickly. With those qualifications, who would hire someone with better qualifications?

I heard that he had tricked two other people into coming before him, but they left the same day.

Li Mu also wanted to just walk away. However, that was impossible. After all, he was the head of the security regiment, with more than 300 men and 200 guns. With his mediocre diploma, where else could he find such a good job if he left this place?

And so, Li Mu took up the position of head of the security regiment.

Having traveled to many countries and gained extensive knowledge, and having served as a soldier for half a year before going abroad, Li Mu also bought some military materials and textbooks from the bookstore.

And so, with many stumbles and setbacks, he managed to establish the security force, which turned out to be quite strong, of course, compared to bandits.

After training his troops for two months, Li Mu set up his base in Xinye County to suppress bandits. They fought more than ten battles and achieved good results. At his strong request, the security regiment was expanded, bringing the total number of personnel to more than 500 and more than 300 guns.

Everything was fine until a few months ago when things started to change.

There were indeed troops stationed in the Nanyang area, but they were not the bald man's direct troops; they were just a few miscellaneous troops, and their numbers were not large.

Naturally, the pay from above was not much.

Normally, the military pay for these troops comes from various sources, including allocations from higher authorities, donations from merchants, and local government funding.

With the security force in place, the source of funding for that aspect naturally decreased.

It's not fair to blame the merchants and local authorities. Bandits were rampant in the surrounding counties, and before the establishment of the security regiment, these garrison troops were perfunctory and had no intention of suppressing the bandits.

Merchants only go to the mountains when they need money.

With the security team in place, no merchants went looking for them anymore.

Seeing their income plummet and unable to even support the army, the other side became anxious. Even if they wanted to fight, the security regiment, trained by Li Mu, was not weak, and it would be a case of injuring the enemy a thousand while losing eight hundred of their own.

As a result, the other side also became more proactive, competing with the security forces and actively going into the mountains to suppress bandits.

Although not many bandits have been eliminated, in recent months, due to the active competition between the two sides, the bandit problem in several nearby counties has been greatly reduced, and not many bandits dare to come down the mountain to rob anymore.

With the bandit suppression efforts proving so effective, the garrison naturally began soliciting donations from local residents and merchants. After all, they were a regular army, armed with guns, and they couldn't afford not to offer some tokens of appreciation.

However, with such a large security force already in place, it would be unbearable for the businesses to also maintain a military presence here.

Unfortunately, they couldn't control the army, and the local bandit problem was getting smaller. Three months ago, they started discussing with Li Mu whether they could downsize the security regiment.

If the security force is reduced from its current size of over 500 men and 300 guns to 150 men and 100 guns, with donations from merchants and the sale of the extra 200 guns, the security force can continue to operate.

Li Mu was naturally unwilling. In such a chaotic world, who would downsize their army? But they clearly told him that they could only support a hundred or two hundred people at most. If Li Mu did not want to downsize, he would have to support them himself.

After much deliberation, Li Mu ultimately decided against downsizing the army, but he had found a way to make money from supporting it.

In Xinye County, where the security regiment was stationed, there is a river called Baihe River, formerly known as Yushui River, which is the mother river of Nanyang. It originates from Gongli Mountain in Baihe Town, Henan Province, flows through Song County, Nanzhao County, Fangcheng County, Wancheng County, and Xinye County, and enters Xiangyang County, Hubei Province at Zhaiwan. After converging with Tanghe River at Lianghekou, it is named Tangbai River, and flows south to Zhangjiawan to join Han River.

Historically, the Baihe River in Nanyang was bustling with boats and carriages, and the river port was teeming with people.

It can go directly down to Hubei, then follow the Han River into the Yangtze River, reaching Wuhan and Nanjing directly, making water transport very convenient.

With such a river connecting the Yangtze River and the sea, such a golden waterway, the commerce along the river naturally flourished, such as Wadian Port.

Wadian, nestled along the Baihe River, was known as "Little Chang'an" during the Han Dynasty and was the site of the Linshui Post Station during the Yuan Dynasty. Historically, it boasted well-developed water and land transportation and a thriving commercial sector. During the Republic of China period, hundreds of boats frequently docked at Wadian Wharf, shuttling between Nanyang and Xiangyang, as well as Laohekou.

Xindian Port is located in Xindianpu, Xinye County. Due to its location on the lower reaches of the Baihe River, the water level is relatively good, and the wharf is stable. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, wealthy merchants from Hankou, Xiangfan and other places often came here to make purchases, which promoted the prosperity of the port. Hundreds of ships were often moored in the port, and sometimes even as many as a thousand.

The area is surrounded by numerous businesses and has a thriving commercial sector, making it a great place to make money.

Coincidentally, Xindian Port is located in Xinye County, only a dozen miles away from the security regiment's station.

Living off the land and water, Li Mu saw the Baihe River as his new source of income.

The security force has been suppressing bandits and protecting the people and the river, ensuring the safety of merchants. Shouldn't they be entitled to some money?

Therefore, Li Mu arranged for the three battalions to be stationed on the banks of the Baihe River, and also acquired several boats. He then recruited dozens of men with good swimming skills into the army through a combination of threats and enticement.

They built a simple watchtower on the riverbank. The artillery security regiment didn't have any, but they found quite a few homemade cannons and installed two on each side.

Leaving aside its power and accuracy, we don't even know if it can fire shells at all; we've never tried it.

However, as long as it's there, it has a deterrent effect, and no one will risk their life to avoid paying a small toll.

Of course, in order to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities and to prevent resistance from merchants, the toll fees were extremely low.

To save time and effort, they naturally didn't care what goods they were transporting, and the pricing was based on the size of the boat.

Large boats cost one yuan, while small boats cost a few cents or one cent.

In a day, with hundreds of boats passing through, you can collect a hundred or two hundred dollars. In a month, you can make a little over three thousand dollars.

The security regiment also received a salary, only three silver dollars a month, which didn't seem like much. However, in the bald man's elite troops, a common soldier only received ten silver dollars a month, and after the outbreak of the war, they received a national crisis pay, which was reduced by 30%, to only seven silver dollars.

Although the security regiment received a smaller amount, it was still close to half that of Chiang Kai-shek's direct troops, which was actually quite good. Many miscellaneous troops, after being exploited and embezzled by their superiors and subordinates, couldn't even get this much.

After recruiting several dozen brothers who were good swimmers, the security regiment grew to six hundred men. In addition, officers were paid more than ordinary soldiers, so the monthly salary expenditure was about two thousand silver dollars.

The remaining thousand silver dollars, along with donations from the merchants, were enough to keep the security force running smoothly.

However, life was still very difficult. The brothers' salary of three silver dollars was barely enough to support their families and maintain a basic standard of living.

It was simply impossible for Li Mu to expand the size of the security force and increase the pay and benefits of his men.

Just when he was worrying about money, he suddenly realized that there seemed to be an opportunity in front of him, although it was a bit risky.