Double-Cut During the War of Resistance: My Wife Came from 1937

"What's wrong?"

Deputy Division Commander Xu asked in a low voice, "What about Lao Luo's health?"

Commander Liu then cautioned, "This isn't the place to talk. Let's discuss this later!"

Then, Commander Liu pointed to three other people and introduced them to Ma Hongwei: "This is Deputy Commander Xiao of the 120th Division!"

"This is Chief of Staff Zhou of the 115th Division!"

"This is Chief of Staff Tang from the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region!"

"Greetings, three leaders!"

Ma Hongwei shook hands with the three of them again.

Both Deputy Division Commander Xiao and Chief of Staff Tang will become generals after the founding of the nation, but Chief of Staff Zhou is not a good person.

The other party will defect next year, taking with them more than 60000 yuan of military pay from the 115th Division.

I must remind Commander Liu and Political Commissar Luo.

After all, in this timeline, Chief of Staff Zhou, though unaware of his true background (having traveled through time), only knew that he was a patriotic and wealthy businessman.

However, if the situation of the Eighth Route Army were leaked, it would be extremely serious.

However, Ma Hongwei did not show it; he still smiled and shook hands with the other party.

"Come on, let's go inside and talk!"

Commander Liu extended the invitation with a smile.

Then, the group headed towards the headquarters.

"Commander Liu, how about Weiwei and I don't bother you old comrades catching up?"

On the way to headquarters, Ma Hongwei quietly winked at Division Commander Liu and said, "By the way, Division Commander Liu, you left something with us earlier, why don't you go and pick it up?"

"Okay!"

Although Commander Liu did not understand why Ma Hongwei had suddenly changed his mind, he still decided to agree with him.

In his view, the other party must have had their own reasons for doing so.

Division Commander Liu said to Deputy Division Commander Xu, "Old Xu, you take Old Luo and Old Xiao over there first. I'm going to get something."

"OK!"

Deputy Division Commander Xu didn't think much of it.

He thought Ma Hongwei was going to have Commander Liu fetch some good wine and food!

And so they split into two groups.

The group consisted of Ma Hongwei, Xia Weiwei, and Commander Liu, who walked towards that courtyard.

Deputy Division Commander Xu led the others to the headquarters.

Upon entering the room, Ma Hongwei closed the door and said to Commander Liu, "Commander, please have a seat!"

Commander Liu asked somewhat impatiently, "Comrade Hongwei, what brings you here?"

He knew, of course, that he hadn't left anything behind.

"Sir, I have something important to report!"

Ma Hongwei's expression turned serious as he spoke in a deep voice.

"Oh?"

Commander Liu couldn't help but ask, "What important matter is it?"

He was a little puzzled.

The other party did not inform me when we were in the house.

Why did something suddenly happen after I went out?

Ma Hongwei made a startling statement: "Commander, that Chief of Staff Zhou is not a good person; he will defect in the future!"

"What did you say?"

Upon hearing this, Commander Liu's expression changed drastically.

He found it hard to believe.

This Chief of Staff Zhou was a veteran revolutionary.

He began mobilizing workers and peasants to carry out revolutions as early as 24, and even participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 27.

During the Sanwan Reorganization, he became a backbone of the Red Army, and was later repeatedly given important positions, becoming a corps commander and participating in the Long March.

Could such a veteran revolutionary really betray us?

It wasn't that he didn't trust Ma Hongwei; it was just that the information was too abrupt.

Division Commander Liu's expression was grave as he asked again, "Comrade Hongwei, is he really Chief of Staff Zhou?"

"If there hadn't been a second chief of staff named Zhou Kun, there would have been no mistake!"

Ma Hongwei sighed, "He is indeed a capable and valiant cadre, but he has serious ideological problems. Please allow me to explain in detail!"

"In January of next year (1938), the National Government Military Commission will convene in Wuhan. All chiefs of staff at the division level and above across the country will be required to attend and report on the lessons learned and remedial measures proposed in the war effort in each war zone."

"The Eighth Route Army belongs to the Eighteenth Group Army, so it naturally needs to send people to participate. Chief of Staff Zhou was one of the four members."

"During the meeting, Chief of Staff Zhou witnessed the corrupt and decadent lives of Kuomintang officers, and upon returning, he expressed his strong dissatisfaction to Chief of Staff Zuo."

He said he had lost face on this trip, saying that other party chiefs of staff had their own mansions, cars, and several young and beautiful concubines, while he, also a chief of staff, looked like a poor beggar.

"Moreover, the Eighth Route Army's office in Wuhan was extremely stingy, unwilling to even give extra pocket money to its rickshaw drivers, always complaining that it didn't have enough money to spend."

"This kind of unhealthy thinking naturally drew serious criticism from Deputy General Peng and Chief of Staff Zuo."

Vice President Peng sternly criticized: "The life you envy now is precisely our fundamental stance. If we, like the Kuomintang, only know corruption and pleasure, then we are no longer glorious, but no different from the corrupt and decadent Kuomintang!"

"He was naturally unconvinced by such criticism and held a grudge against it. He then handed a leather bag to his guard containing 3 yuan in legal tender, and disappeared without a trace with another 3 yuan in legal tender."

Upon hearing Ma Hongwei's words, Commander Liu immediately fell silent.

According to the agreement between the Eighth Route Army and the Nationalist government, the Nationalist government should have issued them 507 million yuan in legal tender.

However, in reality, in the less than five months since the Japanese invasion of China, they have only received 100 million yuan in legal tender.

When it was time to receive the money each month, the Nationalist government would deliberately evade, delay, and split the payments.

In other words, each of their three main divisions only received around 20 yuan in legal tender per month.

On average, each division received only a little over 3 yuan.

For a Kuomintang division commander, 30,000 yuan was equivalent to three years' income on the surface.

But for the Eighth Route Army, it represented a month's worth of military expenses and various costs for half a division of soldiers.

"Why!"

Commander Liu couldn't help but sigh: "This old revolutionary didn't fall on the battlefield of blood and fire, but because of his own desires and comparisons, he lost the fine traditions of the Red Army. Indeed, we must never forget ideological construction!"

He said to Ma Hongwei, "Comrade Hongwei, thank you for reminding me. I will tell Political Commissar Luo about this separately. He is in charge of ideological work, and he will handle this matter."

"Oh, right!"

Ma Hongwei suddenly added, "Besides Chief of Staff Zhou, there's another person connected to you who will also betray us!"

"What?"

Commander Liu frowned and asked, "Could it be that someone in our division is also planning to defect?"

Ma Hongwei said mysteriously, "What unit was the 129th Division originally from? Who was the leader of that unit? The person I'm talking about is him!"

"He will take the initiative to suggest going to the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum to pay homage to his ancestors next year, and then secretly take a car to escape."

"Given his understanding of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Soviet Area and the Red Army's cadre system, the Kuomintang must have sent many spies to infiltrate the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army."