Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

How could the Eighth Route Army ignore such a displaced armed force behind enemy lines? They had already sent a large number of cadres to this unit, primarily to win over the students. Division One was currently working to win over this unit.

We've almost finished the discussion.

If this deal is concluded, there will be two more main groups in one division.

"Ok, deal."

Commander Nie made the final decision.

Chapter 180 Yang Quanwu's Discovery

Luo Renfa looked at Yang Quanwu nervously.

The military district ordered the First Division to hand over its cavalry battalion and artillery battery. As compensation, the military district gave the 21st Regiment from the Third Division to the First Division. Luo Renfa was somewhat dissatisfied.

The military district would transfer troops from a division at any time.

Previously, it was the Third Regiment, then the Second Regiment, and now it's the Cavalry Battalion, Artillery, and Company. The First Division's troops weren't exaggerated; they were all real. For example, the First Division's Cavalry Battalion, though it was formed later, boasted 500 warhorses alone.

The current Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region has one cavalry battalion directly under the region, one under the Third Division, and three under the First Division, for a total of three. The region's cavalry battalion and the Third Division's cavalry battalion were developed from the 115th Division's original cavalry battalion. However, neither of these cavalry battalions has developed as well as the First Division's cavalry battalion.

There is also a divisional artillery company.

Although it was just an artillery company, it actually possessed six infantry guns. They were the treasures of the entire division. Under normal circumstances, the artillery company would not be deployed.

These are the main forces that the First Division has built up over the past year.

But there is no way.

The order has been given, leaving you no room for bargaining.

As for the 21st Regiment in the third division, Luo Renfa looked down on it.

The 21st Regiment was formerly the 12th Battalion of the 3rd Division. While it bore the name of the 21st Regiment, it was essentially a mere designation, similar to the 10th Battalion that preceded it. Back then, the military district assigned each of its sub-districts a structure of three main regiments. Because they lacked the necessary numbers to form a main regiment, each sub-district established three battalions.

The First Division developed the fastest, and the three battalions established there quickly became the main force, the First, Second, and Third Regiments. However, the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Battalions of the Third Division did not develop smoothly, and could only be called battalions. Among these three battalions, the Tenth Battalion had a good cadre configuration and strong combat effectiveness, and was the first-class main force of the Third Division. Later, the Tenth Battalion of the Third Division and the Second Regiment of the First Division exchanged positions. The Third Division also had a temper, so the Twelfth Battalion was changed to the Twenty-first Regiment. But to put it bluntly, it was just a name change, and nothing else changed. The 21st Regiment was the Twelfth Battalion, and in terms of cadre configuration and troop combat effectiveness, it was even far inferior to the Tenth Battalion that was previously transferred to the First Division.

Currently, the entire 21st Regiment has less than a thousand people.

Is there a shortage of troops in the first division?

The First Division was not short of troops at all. Currently, the First Division occupied more than half of the troops in the Jin-Cha-Ji Beiyue area.

How great it is to have a cavalry battalion and an artillery company.

"Commander, Commander."

"Oh? You called me, something?"

"This." Luo Renfa pointed to the telegram.

Yang Quan, the armed police officer, glanced at him and said, "You're talking about this? The commander has already said so, so we have no choice but to give it to him. How can we object? The cavalry unit is more useful in the Third District than here. We have more mountainous areas here, so cavalry doesn't play that big a role. As for the artillery company? Will we be short of artillery in the future? Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun, those two guys, have forty or fifty cannons in their hands now. Giving the military district an artillery company is nothing. I'm going to form an artillery battalion. Since the commander wants an artillery company, I'll give it to him."

Yang Quanwu was very generous.

There were only six infantry guns, though they were captured with great difficulty by the First Division. But was the First Division still short of artillery? The Eighth Column had completely annihilated the artillery unit of the Second Independent Mixed Brigade, including the infantry guns of the subordinate battalions. They now had over fifty artillery pieces.

"Artillery Battalion? Division Commander, those two guys, Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun, are probably going to curse at me."

"They dare."

Yang Quanwu laughed out loud.

He said, "I didn't ask for them for nothing. The 21st Regiment was given to us, and we wanted this designation as the first division. I will transfer the 21st Regiment as a whole to the 8th Column, and we won't interfere with how they use it. The regimental and deputy regimental cadres will all stay. Some of them have more experience. If they go to the 8th Column, it will cause trouble."

The 21st Regiment is the main force regiment with regular numbers.

Although they are the same troops, they are different from the previous ten teams.

The current regimental-level cadres of the main force have similar experience to Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun, or even more. If Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun hadn't built the Eighth Column, they would have been at this level at best, no matter how well they developed. If they hadn't developed normally, they would have been battalion-level cadres in the main force of the Eighth Route Army.

Yang Quanwu could suppress them, but that might not be the case when he reached the Eighth Column.

Therefore, Yang Quanwu retained all the deputy regimental and regimental-level cadres from the 21st Regiment. Since the First Division was also short of cadres, keeping them would allow the First Division to use them for its own purposes. There was no need to worry about affecting the Eighth Column.

Luo Renfa nodded.

He said, "The Eighth Column is short of cadres and is even exchanging weapons, ammunition, and food with the Pingxi Prefectural Committee for cadres. We can hand over a regiment of cadres to them at once and ask for the artillery of an artillery battalion from them, and there will be no problem."

"But the cadres of the 21st Regiment, as a whole, were inferior to those of the 10th Brigade. The 10th Brigade, at that time, gathered the best cadres from the 3rd Division. But let's not consider that. I was just thinking about the 19th Regiment."

"The 19th Regiment? They performed very well this time."

Luo Renfa was a little confused.

This time, the First Division concentrated four main regiments and won successive victories in the Yanbei area.

Four county towns were captured.

Among them, the performance of the Ninth Regiment was still very good.

So he said, "The 19th Regiment was formed not long ago. It's composed of the 7th Battalion, reorganized from the former 2nd Regiment of the National Salvation Army, and the 4th Battalion, reorganized from the former 1st Battalion of new recruits from the 8th Column. I originally thought that the combat effectiveness would be questionable. Unexpectedly, the troops fought very bravely and had strong tactical capabilities. I think they are no worse than the 20th and 25th Regiments we formed. I was also shocked."

Luo Renfa was very satisfied with the performance of the 19th Regiment.

I didn't expect that the main force regiment just formed by the Eighth Column would have such a strong combat capability. Moreover, compared with its combat capability, the morale of the troops was very high and their fighting will was very strong.

"That's the problem. The 19th Regiment is only a newly formed main force regiment. How could it possibly be more combat-effective than our 20th and 25th Regiments?

"Perhaps the Nineteenth Regiment is better equipped. The First Battalion Commander, Song Zhiyuan, is a veteran Northeast Army commander, and the instructor, Chen Qizhong, is a veteran underground Party member. After the July 7 Incident, he formed an anti-Japanese guerrilla unit of about 500 people and joined the Third District. The Second Battalion Commander, Chu Qingzhong, is a veteran Red Army soldier who joined the Red Army at the age of thirteen and participated in the Long March. The Second Battalion Instructor, Zhang Chao, is a Peking University student and is said to be a cadre that Wei Hongjun admires and values ​​very much. If it weren't for his lack of experience, Wei Hongjun would have planned to make him the regiment's political commissar. Even Cao Lei, the current commander of the Nineteenth Regiment, although he has never joined the Party, is an officer of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army with rich combat experience. With such a configuration, it is understandable that the Nineteenth Regiment has combat effectiveness.

“No, that’s not the main reason.”

Yang Quanwu shook his head.

"Any unit that fights so bravely has a reason. Soldiers are not machines. They will not go through fire and water at the command of an officer. This is impossible. Either they are promised promotions and titles, or they are promised that the troops can plunder at will. But we are the Eighth Route Army, very poor and with strict discipline. These are impossible. The soldiers of the 19th Regiment are composed of soldiers from the old units and new recruits mainly from farmers.

But why do they seem braver than our 20th and 25th Regiments and have such high morale on the battlefield? Is it because our 20th and 25th Regiments lack sufficient cadre strength?

"No. The 20th and 25th Regiments are fully staffed and better equipped than the 19th."

"Correct."

Yang Quanwu nodded and smiled, "But why did the 19th Regiment perform so well? I've never been able to figure it out. I even suspected there was something wrong with my leadership. I also put a lot of effort into the 20th and 25th Regiments, but why were they outperformed by the 19th? So I kept an eye on the th Regiment. Until we captured Dingbei and rescued two thousand civilians, didn't we? That's when I suddenly understood."

"how?"

Luo Renfa was also interested.

Yang Quanwu asked, "Do you know what the 19th Regiment is doing among those civilians?"

"I know that. They seem to be recruiting soldiers, taking away more than 19 civilians. I even heard some of our cadres complain that the th Regiment's ability to recruit troops is too strong. They took away a third of the people in a short time."

"Then do you know how they recruit soldiers?"

“I haven’t.”

Yang Quanwu smiled and said, "Wei Hongjun is definitely a natural for being a political cadre. Their 19th Regiment sent some political cadres to deliver food to the laborers and chat with them. As they chatted, some of the laborers began to complain and talk about their family situations. One person started talking about his family's experience, and it resonated with them. Many laborers also started to talk about their own stories. They talked about how they were bullied by landlords and bullies in their hometowns, as well as corrupt officials, bandits, and now the Japanese traitors.

These civilians were all conscripted men captured by the Japanese, and they had suffered many grievances. Then, the officers of the 19th Regiment began to speak. I heard them speak in person, and they spoke beautifully. They explained to the civilians why they suffered these hardships and what they could do to escape them. The civilians listened with tears in their eyes. Within a few hours, over civilians had been mobilized to join the army. Later, I quietly asked Zhang Chao, the instructor of the nd Battalion of the th Regiment, who was in charge of recruiting. He said that this was a new military reorganization plan devised by Wei Hongjun, called the "Grievance Movement." It had been tested in the th Regiment with great success. Look at how brave the officers and soldiers of the th Regiment were. They fought continuously without complaining.

"A New Military Reorganization Movement?"

"Ah."

Yang Quanwu is now the commander, but he used to work in political work and was a legitimate political commissar.

He is a cadre with excellent military and political abilities.

Therefore, after seeing the 19th Regiment's grievance campaign, I immediately understood its purpose. It helped the soldiers understand the tragic fate of so many others. If they wanted their descendants not to suffer the same fate, they had to make changes. And only the Eighth Route Army could change this. It made these soldiers feel a sense of belonging to the Eighth Route Army and dedicate themselves to its goals. Because these previously muddleheaded soldiers began to pursue their goals, to have ideals, and to have faith.

Even if you tell those illiterate people a lot of revolutionary principles, they won’t understand.

Therefore, using the simplest language and using the things around us to educate them is the best way. Once a person has a goal, he will become brave. The First Division is currently expanding its military at a very rapid rate, and the composition of the troops is becoming increasingly complex. Some are from the old army, some are from bandits, some are from landlords, some are students, and the majority are farmers.

How to educate them has always been a big problem.

The 19th Regiment gave Yang Quanwu a good inspiration. If the new military training campaign could be used to quickly improve the ideological level of the soldiers, then the combat effectiveness of the troops would surely rise.

"Since they've already conducted experiments with the 19th Regiment, they must have a lot of experience to draw on. I suggest sending a telegram to the 8th Column asking them to submit the details of the new military reorganization campaign to the division. We'll give it a try first, and if the results are good, we'll definitely submit it to the military region."

"That's exactly what I think. I really want to promote this guy to be the director of the political department of our district."

"A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. He lacks the experience."

"Ah."

Yang Quanwu nodded and said, "Besides this reason, I'm more concerned about the fact that this guy is a talented person with both literary and military skills, capable of standing on his own. Keeping him here with me would somewhat restrict his potential. Having him establish a base would be more suitable for his development. Wang Qiuyun is a capable fighter, but not someone who can develop an army or manage a base. Having Wei Hongjun as his partner would best enable him to play his role. Northern Shanxi, Northern Hebei, and Chahar are vast areas, and this is the stage for him to display his talents."

Yang Quanwu thought about transferring Wei Hongjun to the military sub-district to help him.

If Yang Quanwu was very much in line with Marshal Nie's standards for employing people, then Wei Hongjun was also very much in line with Yang Quanwu's standards for employing people. Born in western Fujian, a long-time subordinate, a political cadre, and having fought in the war, he was considered a cadre with both civil and military skills.

But Yang Quanwu sees further.

The better the Eighth Column developed in Chahar, the better it would be for the First Division. So he decided to let Wei Hongjun open up a base in Chahar.

"Division Commander, urgent telegram from the military district."

Division Chief of Staff Lu Shengtian walked in.

"whats the matter?"

"Headquarters requires us to send troops to support the retreat of the Fourth Column and the Jidong troops."

Chapter 181: Supporting Jidong Troops

The urgent telegram from the military region was actually an urgent telegram from Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters.

After the Fourth Column joined forces with the troops involved in the Jidong uprising, they gained considerable influence in the region. At one point, these troops controlled over twenty counties in the region. Over two hundred thousand people participated in and supported the uprising.

People from all walks of life in the Jidong region participated in the riot.

In the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it was definitely the first and only time that an uprising of such a scale suddenly broke out in Jidong.

This great uprising in eastern Hebei was a truly charismatic act, with those with money contributing money and those with strength contributing strength. There were armed forces led by the underground Party, as well as those led by Kuomintang organizations. There were armed forces led by local gentry, and there were also armed forces led by university professors and their students. Of course, there were also bandit armed forces. These armed forces included workers, peasants, teachers, students, puppet police, puppet soldiers, local security groups, bandits, and in short, people from all walks of life.

That's why there was the Jidong Uprising that shocked the whole country.

Their original goal was to establish a base in eastern Hebei. Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army headquarters organized the Fourth Column of the Eighth Route Army and sent it into eastern Hebei to train the troops. This would regularize the rebellious troops in eastern Hebei, improve their combat effectiveness, and ultimately establish a base in eastern Hebei. Of course, the Fourth Column's mission was also to remain in eastern Hebei, establish a base, and lead the anti-Japanese resistance there. This was because, compared to the impoverished Pingxi region, eastern Hebei had a larger population and greater wealth.

However, after a meeting between the military leaders of the Fourth Column, the Hebei Provincial Committee, the Jire Border Region Special Committee, and the leaders of the Jidong Anti-Japanese United Army who led the Jidong Uprising, differences of opinion emerged.

Some believed that the troops should follow the orders from Yan'an and the headquarters and establish a base in eastern Hebei. However, others believed that the Japanese army was still too strong and that establishing a base in eastern Hebei would be too difficult.

They believed that Jidong was not a good place to establish a base.

After all, Jidong is a key area connecting North China and Northeast China, and will be swept by both the North China Front Army and the Kwantung Army. It is impossible to establish a base here, especially a large base.