Sword: Heart of Iron

Chapter 111 Collusion
The reply from the theater command was quickly transmitted to the Jinpu South Line.

After Wang Feng learned the news, he immediately began to study the strategy.

He originally thought that Li Zongren would sit high in Xuzhou and command the battle remotely.

Unexpectedly, the theater commander directly delegated power to himself.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand.

Among the four armies in Huaibei, the 31st Army and the 51st Army suffered heavy losses.

Neither Liu Shiyi nor Yu Xuezhen was the commander-in-chief of the front line, but they were not able to convince the people.

Zhang Zizhong was still a criminal, and he had no past military achievements to show for it.

After choosing and choosing, I found that I am the only one who is suitable for this position.

Zhao Fangyuan pushed aside the door curtain, stepped closer, and exhaled: "Sir, the telegram has been sent. At two o'clock tonight, the commanders of the various armies will come to our position to discuss combat matters."

Wang Feng responded and reminded: "We must do a good job of defense at night. The Japanese are a little strange today."

"It's not just our side. The Japanese troops in the 31st Army's direction have also begun to shrink their offensive."

Zhao Fangyuan nodded: "I also found that the Japanese army is re-building their positions on the other side of the river, as if they are going to set up a battle formation and fight a protracted war with us."

Wang Feng's attention was focused on the map, and he responded intermittently: "No matter what he does, the initiative on the battlefield will soon be in our hands."

Zhao Fangyuan: "Sir, the first batch of rifles shipped from southeastern Shanxi has arrived at our camp. Do you want to go take a look?"

Hearing this, Wang Feng straightened up and stretched his muscles: "Let's go and take a look."

After saying that, he tightened his fur-collared coat and slowly walked out of the command post.

On the way, Zhao Fangyuan mentioned another matter: "Sir, Song Wenjie just sent a telegram saying that our funds in the rear don't seem to be enough."

“Fiat currency reserves have fallen sharply.”

"The Changzhi Administrative Office has just stabilized its fiscal revenue and expenditure, but has not yet allocated military funds."

Wang Feng's heart skipped a beat.

After hearing that it was a shortage of legal currency, my mood gradually calmed down.

Okay
Fiat currency is something that is destined to depreciate. The sooner you spend it, the more purchasing power it has.

In addition to the legal currency, Wang Feng also had a batch of silver dollars.

Although it is not an official currency issued by the National Government, it has always been circulated privately among the people.

Compared to legal tender, this thing is the real hard currency.

Under certain circumstances, things that are outdated may not necessarily be bad things.

A silver dollar contains more than 90% silver, and its ability to maintain value is incredibly strong.

Although he could still rest easy for now, Wang Feng's brows were almost twisted together.

I have been so busy marching and fighting these days that I have forgotten about this matter.

When the cannon is fired, there is a thousand taels of gold.

Maintaining an army is very expensive.

Relying on the influence of his ancestors, he and his troops got through the most difficult early period.

Later on, they had to rely on funding and aid from various war zones and warlords.

I have never been short of money.

Now that we have finally established a stable base, we are almost exhausting our resources just by expanding the military and developing industrial zones before we can generate any income.

Zhao Fangyuan was also a little worried: "Only spending without earning is definitely not a long-term solution!"

It is not advisable to live off the resources.
Wang Feng pondered secretly in his heart.

We can't rely entirely on Huang Shaohong for this matter.

The entire Changzhi area's industry and mining industry are controlled by the military.

Only the primary and tertiary industries are truly under the jurisdiction of the administrative office.

Since modern times, agriculture is no longer the main pillar industry.

Land is limited. If a large number of cash crops are planted in order to improve economic efficiency, it means a decrease in food crops, and the people and soldiers will go hungry.

If you don't grow cash crops, your annual income will be limited. It's hard to increase it, but it's easy to decrease it.

One natural disaster is enough.

We can't afford to support the army at all.

As for commerce and service industries, in the absence of industry, Huang Shaohong could only engage in resale trade.

Act as a middleman and earn the difference.

Unfortunately, most of Shanxi fell and the North China Plain was also in danger.

The commodity economy, especially the depression of resale trade, is an inevitable trend.

Even if Huang Shaohong racked his brains, he couldn't find any other way to make money.

We can only rely on the army to be self-sufficient.

"Send a reply, notify the industrial zone to independently develop a civilian industrial production line, and order the establishment of a trading company to obtain the required funds through the sale of civilian products." Wang Feng thought for a moment and gave the order.

"Also, go to major banks and exchange all remaining French currency for gold."

“Only a small amount of legal currency is left as working capital.”

Zhao Fangyuan nodded, but was confused about the last question: "Sir, why is this?"

"Fiat currency is convenient to spend, isn't it much better than gold?"

Wang Feng shook his head: "There is more than one means of war. We are also competing with Japan in economics and finance!"

"Our currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar, with a fixed exchange rate, and can be exchanged for foreign currencies in unlimited quantities. The Japanese have been envious for a long time."

"No one can say for sure whether they will print counterfeit money and disrupt China's financial market." Zhao Fangyuan scratched his head: "But I heard that our legal currency is printed by Britain and the United States. How could the Japanese counterfeit it?"

Wang Feng sneered: "Once the war starts, anything is possible. Our temple is small and cannot withstand strong winds. We should be more prepared!"

Zhao Fangyuan responded.

As the two talked, they quickly reached the nearest post-production supply station.

Zhang Hu was also present.

"Sir!"

Wang Feng nodded slightly and said, "Where are the guns shipped from southeastern Shanxi?"

Zhang Hu turned sideways and pointed at the box on the ground: "Sir, it's here!"

Wang Feng strode forward and opened the lock on the wooden box, revealing five rifles neatly placed inside.

He reached out and took one out.

The brown-red paint surface feels cool to the touch.

Wang Feng carefully examined the rifle he designed: "Have they all been distributed? Have the brothers used them?"

Zhang Hu's face was filled with joy: "It was distributed, and I even went up and fired two shots."

"The magazine is big enough, and it's much more comfortable to use than the Type 38 rifle!"

Wang Feng nodded, feeling very satisfied.

"Give orders to be careful when using it. The long-term reliability of this gun needs to be tested."

The design and production cycle of a mature military rifle takes at least two to three years.

The drawings are ready-made, which can indeed greatly shorten the time, but it can only be so fast.

Due to the intense fighting situation on the front line, only basic testing was done before the machine left the factory.

The number of shots in long-term testing must be at least one thousand, and it can only be carried out on the battlefield.

But there shouldn't be any big problems.

Don't worry about some minor nitpicking issues. You can just make some adjustments when designing derivative models based on the battlefield situation later.

"Add one more sentence to the telegram. No matter how short of money we are, military production cannot be stopped. All factories must step up production!" Wang Feng added before leaving.

There is one obvious benefit to implementing military control over industrial and mining enterprises.

That is, the military controls the upstream and downstream industrial chains, and to a certain extent, can achieve a system similar to the planned economic system, where raw materials are obtained from mines for free, factories produce weapons, and supply them to the military for free.

It doesn’t cost any money.

The only expense is the workers' salaries.

2 month 5 day.

Two o'clock in the morning.

Inside the command post.

Under the dim lights, generals shone brightly and commanders from various departments gathered together.

Wang Feng sat in the first seat with a folder beside him.

It is the specific plan for this combat operation.

In the dull atmosphere, Wang Feng spoke first: "The situation is urgent. This is our first meeting, so I won't say polite words. This is the specific battle plan I drafted. Please circulate it around."

The command post was filled with smoke.

It is very common for soldiers to smoke.

On Wang Feng’s left was Zhang Zizhong, commander of the 59th Army. He casually flipped through a few pages and then handed it to Yu Xuezhong beside him.

"I don't think there's any problem. We can't drive the Japanese out of China just by relying on defense."

"It is necessary to actively seek opportunities for annihilation."

Zhang Zizhong was too eager for victory. Only in this way could he wash away the stigma on his body and change the impression of the Chinese people on him.

Yu Xuezhong read it in more detail and closed the document: "I think it's okay too. Beat up those little Japanese sons of bitches!"

He has the same mentality as Zhang Zizhong.

The difference is that Zhang Zizhong's stigma was imposed on an individual, while Yu Xuezhong was burdened with society's criticism of the entire Northeast Army.

If we dig deeper into the reasons why there was no resistance on September 18th, there are too many to name.

But as for the direct cause, no matter what, the Northeast Army can be blamed.

As for Liu Shiyi, as a general of the Guangxi clique, he firmly obeyed Li Zongren's orders.

Moreover, in the battle of Chihe, he and Wang Feng cooperated well with each other, and he also had a good impression of this man.

Since the theater commander had no objection, he also agreed: "We have to win a battle to boost morale!"

Yu Xuezhong took a deep puff of his cigarette and broke the dull atmosphere: "You two guys, in the battle of Chihe, were the first to fire, which was a good start for the entire Fifth War Zone."

"We all have to continue this second battle!"

"If we win this again, the next battles will be easier to fight."

Wang Feng cleared his throat and stood up.

Zhao Fangyuan was tactful and pushed it over from the map rack and handed over a baton.

Wang Feng took a deep breath, the smell of secondhand smoke made him clear his mind a little: "Everyone, north of the Huai River, there are several main tributaries, and they run roughly the same direction."

"We can rely on these rivers to defend and trap the Japanese army in the Huaibei depression!"

Zhang Zizhong nodded: "The Japanese are best at outflanking and encircling. They defended by the river and directly lost their tank units. This is great!"

The other two army commanders also nodded and reconsidered the matter.

(End of this chapter)