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

"Weiwei, what's going on?"

Ma Hongwei stared in shock at the letter of appointment and asked Xia Weiwei for details.

He couldn't understand why he had suddenly become a cadre of the Eighth Route Army.

Could it be... that Xia Weiwei got this for herself?

Logically speaking, Xia Weiwei, a college student, shouldn't be the kind of person who abuses her power for personal gain!

If that were the case, she wouldn't have chosen to leave her comfortable capitalist family and travel thousands of miles to northern Shaanxi to participate in the revolution.

"This is an order from the Soviet Area leadership!"

Xia Weiwei explained, "Not only do you have one, I also have one, which appoints me as the deputy leader of the Special Operations Group."

As she spoke, she took out another letter of appointment.

"Whoa!"

Ma Hongwei glanced at it and couldn't help but laugh, saying, "So, Weiwei, you'll be my boss from now on?"

The deputy regimental commander is a deputy regimental-level cadre, the third-highest leader in the entire regiment, and can even act as the regimental commander, directly commanding the battalions.

In contrast, chiefs of staff are generally only battalion-level officers, reporting to the regimental commander, political commissar, and deputy regimental commander. They are the heads of the staff department, but because they do not have the legal authority to directly manage the battalions, they must obtain the regimental commander's approval before issuing combat orders.

Xia Weiwei pinched Ma Hongwei's cheeks with both hands and said, "Now that I'm your boss, you have to listen to me from now on!"

"Yes, sir!"

Ma Hongwei stands upright.

"Pfft!"

Upon seeing this, Xia Weiwei burst out laughing.

She said to Ma Hongwei, "It's a bit hot. I'll go change my clothes first, and then I'll tell you about the orders from the leaders."

Soon, Xia Weiwei, having changed her clothes, came to the sofa and sat down next to Ma Hongwei.

Ma Hongwei reached out and put his arm around the woman's slender waist, asking, "What are your orders, Commander?"

Xia Weiwei said, "Commander Liu told me that the Kuomintang and Yan Xishan only gave the Eighth Route Army cotton-padded clothes and trousers, but not cotton-padded shoes. Now, the vast majority of Eighth Route Army soldiers are still wearing single-layer shoes and straw sandals."

"Therefore, Commander Liu hopes that you can purchase another batch of wool and leather boots, and it would be best if I could send them over when I go there again this time."

"At that time, we can transport it back together with night vision goggles and bulletproof plates."

"What?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Hongwei angrily exclaimed, "The Kuomintang and Yan Xishan didn't even provide us with cotton shoes? That's outrageous!"

Everyone was united in resisting Japan, but the Kuomintang only cared about their own Central Army and ignored the demands of other "miscellaneous" troops.

During battles, they prioritized sending those "ragtag" troops to the front lines as cannon fodder.

Whether it was Shanghai, Xuzhou, Xinkou, or Taierzhuang, the tough battles and holding positions to the death were all tasks assigned to the miscellaneous troops, who were given orders that were impossible for them to complete.

In this way, if they won, it would belong to the Central Army; if they lost, the blame could be directly placed on the miscellaneous troops.

Despite having the worst equipment and lacking food and ammunition, the Sichuan Army was still assigned to the most brutal battlefields.

When supplies were needed, only the elite Central Army had sufficient firearms, ammunition, cotton-padded clothing, military pay, medical care, and so on.

As for the miscellaneous troops, their food and pay would all be embezzled by the Kuomintang, and their ammunition would also be rationed.

Not only were they not given any heavy weapons, but they couldn't even provide winter clothing, and they even delayed paying compensation for those who died in action. They were simply inhuman.

This is precisely why those "miscellaneous troops" were disheartened and surrendered to the People's Liberation Army in large numbers during the Liberation War.

There were even three soldiers who captured thousands of Kuomintang troops.

Their inhumane actions caused them to completely lose the support of the people and the military.

Yan Laoxi was also inhuman.

The Eighth Route Army helped him maintain the situation on several occasions in Shanxi, and the leaders of the Eighth Route Army also offered many effective suggestions.

However, Yan Xishan was stubborn and did not listen to those suggestions, which led to a major defeat in the Battle of Xinkou and the capture of Taiyuan by the Japanese army.

Later on, Yan Xishan colluded with the Japanese, secretly negotiating with them and allowing the Japanese army to sweep away the enemy's rear base areas established by the Eighth Route Army.

They even launched the December Incident in 39, launching a large-scale attack on the New Army and the Sacrifice League in Shanxi Province, thus undermining the anti-Japanese resistance in North China.

If the Pacific War hadn't broken out, causing the Japanese army to begin to withdraw its forces and be unable to fulfill its promise to aid Yan Xishan, he would have long since become a traitor.

"If they won't give it to us, they won't give it to us. We'll buy it ourselves!"

Ma Hongwei said, "Fortunately, I had previously worried that the Eighth Route Army was expanding too quickly, so I ordered another batch of leather cotton boots, cotton military caps, cotton overcoats, and thermal underwear, all in quantities of 30,000!"

"Hongwei, we can't just buy shoes and forget about socks!"

Xia Weiwei said, "We should also buy more warm socks."

"Can."

Ma Hongwei nodded and said, "Socks take up little space, so let's just buy 20 pairs. Each soldier needs four or five pairs of cotton socks."

"Since we've already bought them, let's buy the whole set, including 10 pairs of cotton gloves, and those fingerless gloves too."

"Those gloves are relatively thin and light, so even wearing them won't hinder firing a gun or engaging in bayonet fighting!"

As he was talking, he suddenly slapped his forehead and said, "I just remembered something else, a hand warmer!"

"Hand warmers? What are those?"

This was the first time Xia Weiwei had ever heard this name.

"A hand warmer is a heat-generating patch that generates heat when applied to the body."

Ma Hongwei explained, "It mainly relies on the oxidation of iron powder to generate heat. This small heating patch can maintain its heat for 10-12 hours!"

"But you can't put it directly on your skin, and you can't wear it while sleeping, otherwise you'll get a low-temperature burn."

After saying that, he explained, "Once I buy it, I'll show it to you, and you'll understand."

So, Ma Hongwei started searching online for manufacturers of heating patches.

These heating patches are not expensive; in bulk wholesale, a single patch costs only five cents to ten cents.

However, this type of heat usually occurs on short hair, and the heat lasts only for 5 hours, which is a bit short, and it is also easy for the powder to leak out.

Therefore, Ma Hongwei plans to purchase individual sealed packaging and non-woven fabric leak-proof layers, which will cost one yuan per piece.

While searching, Ma Hongwei also found special foot warmers, which are placed under insoles to warm the feet.

With these heat patches and foot heat patches, the Eighth Route Army soldiers no longer had to worry about freezing to death while lying in ambush against the Japanese in the freezing cold.

Otherwise, even with thick cotton-padded clothes, the Eighth Route Army soldiers would still not be very warm after lying in the snow for a long time.

Ma Hongwei ordered 100 million pieces each of direct-heat patches and foot heat patches.

Anyway, it's very thin and light, and doesn't take up much space.

Including the volume of the box, it's about 70 cubic meters.