The War of Resistance Against Japan: Starting with a Calm View of Life and Death

Minister Li and Wang Yuan were giving praise and self-praise at the front.

Zhou Jindong stood aside, his mind racing.

Looking at the pile of rifles and machine guns on the ground, which clearly outnumbered the current guerrilla force by a large margin, along with the two grenade launchers, the idea that had been nagging at him for a while resurfaced and became clearer and clearer.

Now the opportunity is perfect, the leader is right in front of us, and his attitude is very supportive.

He took a small step forward, a slightly embarrassed look on his face, rubbed his hands together, and looked at Minister Li: "Minister Li, now that you mention it, I've remembered something, but I'm not sure if I should say it."

Minister Li, in high spirits, waved his hand readily: "Speak! What difficulties or ideas do you have? Just say them! You've won such a great victory; as long as conditions permit, the organization will definitely provide strong support!"

Zhou Jindong took a breath, glanced at Wang Yuan who was listening intently beside him, and then looked back at Minister Li, speaking more slowly: "It's like this, Minister Li, as you can see, the number of weapons we seized this time is indeed quite large."

With Type 38 rifles, Type 99 light machine guns, and some older rifles and Hanyang rifles, we have about sixty or seventy usable long and short guns. But our guerrilla force, at most, only has about thirty men capable of fighting with guns.

He paused, observing Minister Li's expression. Seeing that the other was listening attentively, he continued, "We have more guns than men, and it's a waste to let our equipment rust. The Japanese suffered a great loss this time, and they might retaliate at any time. If they come in larger numbers and are more ferocious, with so few men, we're afraid... we'll be stretched thin."

I was thinking, could we... take advantage of the large spoils and high morale this time, and appropriately expand our guerrilla force and recruit more people?

"Make use of all the idle weapons, expand the ranks, and with stronger forces, we can better defend our Dongzhai Town and fight more Japanese devils."

He deliberately didn't reveal the exact number he was thinking of when he said this.

According to his original calculations, this victory, which wiped out a small Japanese squad, was such a great achievement that it wouldn't be unreasonable to take the opportunity to make demands and ask for a formal company-level organization.

A company of over a hundred men, equipped with these weapons, is only considered to be somewhat presentable.

Wang Yuan listened from the side, his eyes lighting up.

He was naturally happy to expand the ranks and recruit more soldiers; with a larger team, he would feel even more motivated to be the captain.

He quickly chimed in, "Minister Li, Dongzi is right! Too many guns are useless if no one uses them! We should recruit more reliable young men, build up our ranks, and then we'll be more resilient in our fight against the Japanese!"

Minister Li listened, and the smile on his face did not diminish, but rather deepened.

The joy of being a talent scout is in helping those you admire and encourage them to improve!

Now that I'm going back, I'll have something to brag about to my old comrades.

He glanced at Zhou Jindong, then at Wang Yuan, and nodded to himself.

These two young men, one is daring and resourceful, the other is steady, reliable, and authoritative—they are indeed promising talents.

Expanding the military and recruiting new soldiers is a logical step; once the troops have equipment, they naturally want to grow.

In his mind, a guerrilla force at the town level, no matter how much it recruits, would only grow to a size of fifty or sixty people at most, limited by population and resources, which would be nothing more than the skeleton of a reinforced platoon.

Thinking about this, he felt he should be more generous and supportive, so as to further motivate these promising grassroots commanders.

So he waved his hand and, in a loud voice, unconsciously adopted a generous and encouraging tone, saying to his subordinates to get things done: "I thought it was something difficult! This? Absolutely no problem! Comrade Zhou Jindong, Comrade Wang Yuan, your ideas are excellent and perfectly suited to the needs of the current struggle!"

He took a step forward, patted Zhou Jindong on the shoulder, looked at Wang Yuan, and said in a resolute tone: "I can give you a clear answer right now!"

As long as your Dongzhai guerrilla force can develop on its own and not ask its superiors for manpower, food, or pay.

Under the premise of independence and self-reliance, the higher authorities will assign you the corresponding organizational structure based on how many soldiers you can recruit and how large a team you can build!

Everything should be based on your actual capabilities!

When Zhou Jindong heard the first half of the sentence, he was slightly pleased and thought there was hope. But when Minister Li said the second half, "We will give you the corresponding number of soldiers you can recruit," he was stunned at first, and then a huge joy rushed to his head, and his heart pounded twice.

He originally only wanted to tentatively ask for a company-level position, but he didn't expect Minister Li to be so ambitious and give him a "no upper limit" promise!

He suppressed the urge to immediately press for answers, maintaining the slightly shy expression on his face. He realized that this leader enjoyed watching this kind of thing.

He turned his head slightly and, in a tone of confirmation, cautiously inquired, "Minister Li, what exactly do you mean by that? For example, if we could recruit... a platoon of soldiers?"

Seeing the young man's earnest inquiry, Minister Li thought he was quite honest. He smiled and waved his hand, his tone as relaxed as if he were talking about a trivial matter: "Then your Dongzhai guerrilla unit will be organized at the platoon level! You can decide the positions for platoon leader and deputy platoon leader yourselves!"

Zhou Jindong's breathing quickened slightly, and he immediately pressed on, speaking faster: "Then... what if we could recruit a whole company of men?"

Minister Li found his relentless pursuit amusing, chuckled, and waved his hand, half-encouraging and half-jokingly saying, "You can find a whole company? Then you're a company-level organization! Company commander, political instructor, anything goes!"

Let me tell you, Comrade Zhou Jindong, it's not just about company level; even if you're truly capable and can muster a regiment or a brigade, as long as Dongzhai Town can recruit and support them, the higher-ups will dare to give you the corresponding regimental or brigade-level designation, or even an army-level designation!

He said this with a smile on his face, like an elder encouraging a younger person, but he didn't really take it seriously.

In a township with a limited population, especially young adults, and after accounting for those who farm or take care of their families, it would be a remarkable achievement to recruit an additional twenty or thirty people to form a team of fifty or sixty.

To form a platoon?

In his view, it was impossible, utterly impossible.

However, he was willing to put it more elegantly, to make it seem as if he, as a superior leader, was strongly supporting the development of the grassroots troops, and to maximize the enthusiasm of the brave and resourceful young man in front of him.

After saying that, he added, "Comrade Zhou Jindong, work hard and keep a long-term vision! I believe in your abilities! Keep up the good work and strive to build our Dongzhai guerrilla force into a strong armed force that strikes fear into the hearts of the enemy! Make it bigger and stronger, and create new glories!"

Little did he know that his current arrogance would later become his greatest...