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

"Why!"

Deputy Division Commander Xu sighed, "There's nothing we can do about it!"

"Our base is located in the mountains, and supplies are extremely scarce!"

"Moreover, our Eighth Route Army didn't have many supplies in the past, so we had to use our own money to purchase them."

"We don't have much money, but we need a lot of cooking oil, so we can only use the cheapest cottonseed oil. Without oil, the soldiers won't have the strength to fight."

"Who would buy this cottonseed oil to eat unless absolutely necessary?"

At this point, he glanced at the cooking oil in the plastic buckets in the room and said with great emotion, "Fortunately, we have your support. With the soybean oil you brought, our Eighth Route Army no longer has to eat that toxic cottonseed oil!"

"Comrade Xia, on behalf of all the Eighth Route Army soldiers, I thank you and Comrade Hongwei, and salute you!"

As he spoke, Deputy Division Commander Xu gave Xia Weiwei a solemn military salute.

"Sir, you flatter me!"

Xia Weiwei quickly shook her head and said, "If it weren't for the gold bars and silver dollars you gave us, we wouldn't have had enough money to buy these supplies!"

"Commander! Commander!"

Just then, bodyguard Zhang Xixuan called out from outside, "Political Commissar Luo, Deputy Division Commander Xiao, and Chief of Staff Tang are here!"

"Oh?"

Commander Liu asked, "Where are they?"

"Old Liu, we're at the door!"

The voice of Deputy Division Commander Xiao could be heard from outside.

"Come in quickly!"

Commander Liu shouted outside.

Soon, Political Commissar Luo, Deputy Division Commander Xiao, and Chief of Staff Tang entered the building.

"Whoa!"

As soon as he entered, Deputy Division Commander Xiao's gaze fell on the open box.

"Is all of this cooking oil?"

Deputy Division Commander Xiao asked curiously, "I wonder how many there are?"

"Yes, it's all soybean oil!"

Deputy Division Commander Xu said with a smile, "This time, Comrade Xia transported a full 30 tons for us!"

"You have 30 tons of soybean oil?"

Upon hearing this, Deputy Division Commander Xiao's eyes widened immediately.

30 tons of soybean oil, which translates to 60000 jin (30,000 catties).

You should know that the standard for the Eighth Route Army was five qian of oil per person per day, which is equivalent to half a liang of oil.

According to the Republic of China era, one jin (斤) was 16 liang (两), and half a liang (半两) of oil was only 15.625 grams of oil.

This is the supply for one day.

Even in a month, an Eighth Route Army soldier could only consume less than a pound of oil.

30 tons of soybean oil is enough to feed 64000 Eighth Route Army soldiers for a month.

If supplied year-round, it would be enough to feed 5333 soldiers for a year.

In more difficult years, the daily ration for each person would be reduced to 3 qian (a unit of weight), which was enough to feed nearly 9000 soldiers for a whole year.

Chief of Staff Tang said, "It seems we can have soybean oil on hand for the next month or so!"

"Commendations, sirs!"

Hearing the leaders' words, Xia Weiwei couldn't help but say, "As the space expands and we can transport more supplies, I think we should let the soldiers eat more cooking oil!"

She remembered Ma Hongwei saying that the soldiers of later generations consumed 50-70 grams of pure vegetable oil each day.

This is equivalent to more than three or even four times the number of the Eighth Route Army during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the number would be even higher if animal fat is included.

"Hmm, we can add a little more."

Commander Liu agreed, saying, "With more oil and fat in the food, the soldiers will have more energy to fight."

"This time, Comrade Xia brought 30 tons of soybean oil and 30 tons of snowflake salt."

Deputy Division Commander Xu exclaimed, "Adding to what we brought last time, that's a full 60 tons of snowflake salt!"

"My goodness, so many?"

Deputy Division Commander Xiao couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "And it's snowflake salt!"

The Eighth Route Army soldiers are now supplied with 2-3 qian of salt per day, which is about 6.25-9.4 grams.

60 tons of snowflake salt is enough for 213333 people to use for a month, or for 17534 people to use for a year.

They usually eat coarse salt, and occasionally they might capture a small amount of snowflake salt, but they wouldn't eat it themselves.

Generally, they are supplied to hospitals.

For example, it can be used to clean and disinfect wounds with high-concentration saline solution; relieve diarrhea, heatstroke and dehydration; replenish fluids for injured people who have lost blood; and provide postpartum care.

Deputy Division Commander Xu added, "Also, the 12000 cotton-padded coats that Comrade Xia brought back this time all have wool linings, so they're very warm!"

"A cotton coat with a wool lining?"

Chief of Staff Tang couldn't help but exclaim, "These are uniforms that only a select few high-ranking officers in the Northeast Army possess!"

"Chief of Staff Tang!"

Upon seeing Chief of Staff Tang of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, Xia Weiwei couldn't help but speak up, "I have some extremely urgent and important information to inform you!"

"Um?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's eyes fell on Xia Weiwei.

Because this was the first time they had ever heard Xia Weiwei utter the words "extremely urgent and critical information".

Chief of Staff Tang's expression turned serious, and he quickly asked, "Comrade Xia, what's the matter?"

Xia Weiwei took a deep breath and said something startling: "Reporting to Chief of Staff Tang, according to the accurate information we have received, the Japanese are assembling troops and plan to send 20,000 troops in eight routes to encircle and annihilate the newly established Jin-Cha-Ji base area."

"What?"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed.

Chief of Staff Tang's expression changed drastically as he asked, "Comrade Xia, is this really true?"

That's 20,000 Japanese soldiers!

Their base is expanding rapidly, but they still have less than nine thousand regular troops.

And not everyone in these regular troops has access to firearms.

"Absolutely true!"

Xia Weiwei nodded.

Commander Liu, who knew the truth, nodded in agreement: "Comrade Xia's information should not be false!"

Chief of Staff Tang immediately turned his gaze to Division Commander Liu, Political Commissar Luo, and Deputy Division Commander Xiao, pleading, "Three commanders, we hope you can send troops to help our Jin-Cha-Ji base area!"

"Old Tang, don't worry. Your Jin-Cha-Ji Anti-Japanese Base Area was separated from our 115th Division, so we will definitely help you!"

Political Commissar Luo pondered for a moment and said, "Let's report the information to the Eighth Route Army headquarters first, and then discuss a solution."

Commander Liu then asked Xia Weiwei, "Comrade Xia, do you know the exact time of the Japanese attack?"

"Commander, all I know is that it happened half a month after the establishment of the Jin-Cha-Ji Anti-Japanese Base Area."

Xia Weiwei shook her head and said, "Because the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region was established later in this timeline, the timing of the Japanese army's encirclement and suppression also changed."

"I see."

Commander Liu waved his hand and said, "Let's go, let's go to the division headquarters first, there's a map there."