Starting at Huangpu

In 1924, Lin Tiechui opens his eyes and finds himself a new student in the third class at Whampoa Military Academy, with a physique even tougher than a special forces soldier's.

He slams the desk in class and overturns the theory of positional warfare, takes down every instructor on the training ground, and earns Chiang Kai-shek's verdict: “A great talent, but far too arrogant.”

During the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition, he specializes in demolitions. He buries a ton of explosives beneath Huizhou's walls, blasting a thirty-meter breach, and is the first to charge into the Presidential Palace during the street fighting in Nanjing.

After shooting looting soldiers, he is “exiled” to Germany, where he studies under Guderian and draws a map of Burma's terrain.

In 1942, during the expedition to Burma, he designs a “death maze” at Toungoo and leads a forced march of 80 kilometers in a single day to rescue 7,000 British troops at Yenangyaung.

While rallying stragglers in the Hukawng Valley, he says, “If you want to live, follow me!” And so the Nanyang Iron-Blooded Army is born.

After Japan surrenders, the British fleet tries to “take over the colonies.” He wipes out an entire British brigade and captures a major general, broadcasting the scene live around the world:

“Take a good look. This is what happens to colonizers!”

The United States and the Soviet Union compete to win him over, so he drives a hard bargain with both: he uses American aid to buy Soviet tanks, “making the two superpowers work for me.”

On New Year's Day, 1946, 100,000 troops stand in formation in Myitkyina Square as 108 artillery guns fire live rounds.

“Today, there are no flowers or formal uniforms. I have just one thing to say: the Nanyang Federation is founded! If anyone objects, come and fight!”

During the Korean War, he secretly opens the “Yunnan-Burma Railway,” sending 100,000 sets of padded clothing to the front.

At the Bandung Conference, he slams the table and tears into Nasser: “Which country here wasn't won with guns?!”

When the CIA engineers a coup, he broadcasts the execution of American agents worldwide: “This is what happens when you interfere in another country's internal affairs!”