Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But now the three-division zone is starting to take effect.

The same is true for the Eighth Column.

July was the most difficult and weakest time. After July, the Eighth Column's base began to recover. Within a month, about 2000 lightly wounded soldiers had returned to the army.

These wounded are all treasures.

Those who survived such brutal counter-mopping-up operations were all top-tier veterans. Furthermore, within that month, the 4000th Column's Shengxian base recruited nearly new soldiers. The people of Shengxian supported the Eighth Route Army's anti-Japanese efforts in this way.

The same is true in the Xuanzhuohuai base.

Within one month, more than 4600 new recruits were recruited.

The troops that suffered heavy casualties during the anti-mopping-up operation have now basically returned to their original organization and personnel. Many local troops have also been organized. The only difference is that compared to before the anti-mopping-up operation, there are now many more recruits.

So the troops are very much looking forward to the return of the wounded.

There are still 6,000 to 7,000 wounded soldiers waiting to return. Once most of them can return, the Eighth Column will be able to fully recover.

The same is true for a partition.

Just like the Eighth Column, the casualties were staggering. Around 5000 were killed and over 400 wounded. Now, some of the lightly wounded are slowly returning to the troops, greatly alleviating the pressure on the troops. The First Division's advantage over the Eighth Column is that its base area has a larger population. The current population of the First Division's base area exceeds three million. If the Japanese army hadn't lost many base areas during their raids, the population of the First Division's base area would have reached four million. The combined population of the Eighth Column's base area is less than two million.

Just when everyone was trying to recover, the military region suddenly announced the establishment of the Jin-Cha-Ji Fifth Military Sub-district.

The location is in Yanbei.

The bases are Huairen County, Ying County and Hunyuan County.

The order came suddenly.

Of course, the establishment of the Fifth Military Sub-district has nothing to do with the Eighth Column.

The 8th Column, Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, was also a headache. The 8th Column boasted formidable combat capabilities, a vast base area, and impressive military achievements, all while maintaining a history of independent operations. This time, they had once again defeated two Japanese major generals, earning them nationwide acclaim. Chiang Kai-shek even issued a commendation to the 8th Column, so you can imagine the sensation. Based on the 8th Column's achievements, it could easily have been upgraded to an independent military sub-district.

But there is also considerable opposition.

Not only within Jin-Cha-Ji, but also at the Eighth Route Army headquarters, there were many voices of opposition.

But these are not unstoppable.

Marshal Nie had another crucial reason for his inability to make a decision. Once a military sub-district was established, the placement of its cadre would become a major issue. The problem with the 8th Column was that not only were Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun inexperienced, but because their military and political commanders were both inexperienced, the entire 8th Column's cadre system was inexperienced.

Zhang Zihua and Xiao Yongshi, deputy commanders of the Eighth Column, were never more than regimental-level officers during the Red Army era, and those were relatively insignificant positions. Another deputy commander, Li Shiping, was a low-ranking county cadre in charge of the Shengxian student movement during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. If it weren't for the Zhangjiagou guerrillas being the earliest component of the Eighth Column, Li Shiping's current position would be impossible.

Others, such as Gao Wei, commander of the Chaxi Detachment, were company-level cadres during their Red Army days, while Zhang Dahu, commander of the Chadong Detachment, was a former 37th Army officer who defected to the Eighth Route Army in 29. Furthermore, Xia Houwen, political commissar of the Chadong Detachment, and Huang Hao, political commissar of the Chaxi Detachment, held low ranks before the Anti-Japanese War. Lu Weisheng and Zhang Chao, two of the Red Army's most prominent figures in the th Column's political work system, were also typical "-style" cadres who defected to the Eighth Route Army after the Anti-Japanese War.

The Eighth Column has not yet reached a specific level, so these are not a problem.

However, once it is upgraded to a military sub-district, it will no longer be like the Eighth Column, where there are no specific ranks. How many people will then be vying for cadre positions within this military sub-district? Given Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun's achievements, Marshal Nie can guarantee their positions. It can be said that Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun are now fully capable of securing the positions of military sub-district commander and political commissar.

Wang Qiuyun is now a nationally renowned anti-Japanese general. Because he was the commander of the Eighth Route Army, his national reputation is far greater than that of Wei Hongjun, the political commissar. Most people don't understand the Eighth Route Army's military system or the duties of a political commissar. They only know Wang Qiuyun as the commander, a rising star across China. Therefore, when a new military sub-district is established, neither Yan'an nor the headquarters will oppose Wang Qiuyun's appointment; his appointment as commander is a sure thing. However, within the Party and the Eighth Route Army, Wei Hongjun is held in higher regard than Wang Qiuyun. Everyone in the Party knows that Wei Hongjun is a rising star, highly regarded by both Yan'an and the headquarters. Therefore, Wei Hongjun's position is secure.

The biggest problem in upgrading the 8th Column to a military sub-district is the arrangement of other cadres.

The Eighth Column is currently developing very well. If it is upgraded to a military sub-district, a large number of cadres may flock to the 8th Column. What if the coordination between the new and old cadres of the 8th Column is not good and the development of the 8th Column is affected?

There are also local cadres in the base areas.

Their qualifications were also severely inadequate. For example, Xia Houwen was both a military cadre and the secretary of the Longyanchi County Party Committee. However, if the district was upgraded to a military sub-district, would they be able to maintain their positions?

This is what is giving Marshal Nie a headache.

Marshal Nie did not want other things to affect the development of the 8th Column and the Chahar base.

Marshal Nie had been considering the most prudent approach, while coordinating with Yan'an, the Northern Bureau, and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters. He hoped they would support maintaining the 8th Column's current independence. This wasn't just about Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun's positions; Marshal Nie hoped to ensure the smooth upgrading of the 8th Column to a military sub-district.

However, it is still in the negotiation stage. The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region has first established the Fifth Division. In fact, many of the Fifth Divisions established this time are the territories of the First Division.

The strength of Division 1 in the Yanbei area is still quite strong.

During the counter-mopping-up campaign, there were troops from the Second Division and the 120th Division, but the main force was still the troops from the First Division. Now the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region has established the Fifth Division here, and its territory is the territory of the First Division.

Originally, this was just a matter of the military district, and neither Wang Qiuyun nor Wei Hongjun took it seriously.

But soon the incident of the Eighth Column came up.

"Commander, the Fifth Military Sub-district has been established. Why are we transferring our 19th Regiment?"

When the Fifth Military Sub-district of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region was established, the Eighth Column was indeed not involved at first. However, the Military Region soon transferred the 19th Regiment of the Eighth Column to the command of the Fifth Sub-district, and the 19th Regiment was subsequently removed from the Eighth Column.

Wang Qiuyun was very dissatisfied.

When the First Division was about to take the 17th Regiment, at least it was given to the th Brigade in exchange. Although the th Brigade was small, with only about a thousand men, it had many cadres, many of whom have now become important cadres in the th Column.

Like Chen Zhonghe who just took over as the commander of the 34th Regiment, Guo Lin, the commander of the 18th Regiment, Qiao Yu, the political commissar of the 25th Regiment, Qi Guangwu, the political commissar of the first battalion of the Chaxi Detachment, Xu Jin, the political commissar of the second battalion, and Chu Qingzhong, the deputy commander of the 19th Regiment, and Chen Qizhong, the political commissar.

These cadres were originally from the Tenth Brigade of the Third District.

The arrival of the Tenth Battalion in the Eighth Column had greatly made up for its cadre shortage. However, now that the military district was transferring the 19th Regiment, there were no replacements at all. So Wang Qiuyun complained directly to Yang Quanwu.

It's impossible not to complain.

The 19th Regiment had always been stationed at the southern gate of the 12th Column. It was a large regiment with 2400 infantry companies and a total strength of 19 men. During the previous anti-mopping-up operation in the Yanbei area, the 19th Regiment had suffered heavy casualties. The column had drawn troops from the district squad to supplement the 19th Regiment, and with the addition of some wounded soldiers who had returned, the th Regiment was fully manned.

But just as he recovered his strength, he wanted to take away the 5th zone.

"Commander, what is Sector 5? Why did a Sector 5 suddenly appear?"

The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region previously had 5th and 6th Divisions.

However, these were given to the Hebei civilian anti-Japanese armed forces at the time. Because of their strong military strength, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region absorbed them and assigned them to the Fifth and Sixth Divisions. However, these armed forces were soon reorganized into the First Division, and the military region abolished these divisions.

Why do many people think that Marshal Nie is more like his ancestor Yang Quanwu?

It was because Yang Quanwu was an expert at swallowing up other people's troops. He swallowed up the civilian anti-Japanese armed forces that the military district reorganized without the military district giving any orders.

Yang Quanwu had annexed the troops from the Fifth and Sixth Divisions previously assigned by the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. He even took over the cadres that the military region had sent to reorganize these troops.

This naturally made other military sub-districts jealous.

Why did you swallow them up without any orders from the military district?

Yang Quanwu annexed these troops, adding nearly 10,000 troops out of thin air. Naturally, he swallowed up so many cadres, and naturally, some people complained. Ultimately, Marshal Nie turned a blind eye. When Marshal Nie passed away, Yang Quanwu cried the most heartbreakingly. Without Marshal Nie's tolerance, Yang Quanwu's achievements during the War of Resistance Against Japan would have been impossible.

Since Yang Quanwu swallowed up the troops of the Fifth and Sixth Divisions, no new military sub-districts have been established in the Jin-Cha-Ji Beiyue District.

Why do we suddenly have to add a fifth zone?

Wei Hongjun was also a little confused. During the recent anti-mopping-up operation, the First Division, Second Division, and the 120th Division had coordinated very well in the Yanbei area. Over the past two years, the First Division's development in the Yanbei area had been quite good.

Suddenly, a fifth division was created, and the bases are basically the bases of the first division in Yanbei. I don’t know what the military district is doing.

Chapter 282 The Fifth Military Division 2

"Comrade Deng Guo is returning to Yan'an to study. Commander Nie has kept him here, intending to assign him a position in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region."

"Political Commissar Deng is going back to Yan'an to study?"

Wang Qiuyun was stunned.

It’s really unimaginable.

The war of resistance had now entered a crucial phase, or rather, a crucial stage. How could Deng Guo be safely returned to Yan'an at this time? He was a high-ranking official in the Eighth Route Army, both civil and military. The Eighth Route Army bases were short of cadres, so how could such an official be allowed to return?

Some grassroots cadres of the Eighth Route Army went to Yan'an to study, hoping for promotion. However, a cadre of Deng Guo's rank would only return to Yan'an to study if they had made a serious mistake, unless they were seeking promotion. The war was so difficult, and the front lines were most in need of generals like Deng Guo.

"The 11th Regiment has been developing very well in Rehe recently. It's said that they've established bases in four or five counties in Rehe, and their troops have grown to over 11 men. The anti-Japanese sentiment in Rehe is growing stronger. Now that Political Commissar Deng has left, what will happen to the th Regiment?"

Wei Hongjun was worried about the anti-Japanese war situation in Rehe.

Since the 11th Regiment entered Rehe, the anti-Japanese situation there has been steadily improving. Deng Guo's leadership of the 11th Regiment in Rehe has truly been a success. This is a rare opportunity, especially given that the Kwantung Army is unable to withdraw troops and the North China Front Army is short on manpower. This is a golden opportunity, and we should strongly support the 11th Regiment's development in Rehe. If the Yire Liao Advance Army truly wants to expand, it should send troops into Rehe to support the 11th Regiment's development there.

But why would the top leader be transferred back at this time?

"I don't know the details. The leadership of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army had a heated argument over the reorganization of the troops and the development of the base areas in Rehe and eastern Hebei. A recent meeting not only failed to resolve the issue, but something even more serious occurred. I don't know what exactly went wrong, but Gao Zhiyuan, the former commander of the Hebei-Eastern Anti-Japanese United Army, was shot. The charge was that Gao Zhiyuan had ties to the former Beiyang warlord Wu Peifu and was planning treason. Because of this, a major conflict broke out at a meeting of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military and Political Committee. Comrades Deng Guo and Song Shilun are both returning to Yan'an, but Comrade Deng Guo has been left behind in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei by the commander."

Wei Hongjun frowned.

Sure enough, it’s the same as history.

Some things really cannot be changed.

In fact, the current situation of the Ji-Re-Liao advance army is much better than in history. Because of the unexpected rise of the Eighth Column, the strength of the First Division has also expanded, and the Jin-Cha-Yi Military Region is much stronger than in history.

what's the result?

As a result, the North China Front Army deployed large numbers of troops to continuously sweep the Jin-Cha-Ji base area over the past year. However, precisely because of this withdrawal, and the excessive number of troops deployed to sweep the Jin-Cha-Ji base area, the Japanese army's control over Rehe and eastern Hebei was significantly weakened. Historically, the Kwantung Army and the North China Front Army deployed small sweeps of the eastern Hebei base area over a three-day period and large sweeps over a five-day period.

In comparison, the Japanese and puppet troops' current raids in eastern Hebei and Rehe are much smaller in scale and frequency.

This provides a very favorable opportunity for the Jireliao Advance Army to grow and develop.

Historically, the Rehe-Chahar Advance Army's strength had been constantly shrinking, and it was unable to expand. However, the current situation is that after two regiments of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army entered Yidong, its forces have rapidly expanded. Currently, the Yi-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army has 10,000 troops in Hebei and 10,000 in Rehe. This rate of development has never been seen before in history.

As long as the current Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army doesn't encounter any major problems, it might become a major military region like the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region in the future. The combined population of Rehe and Jidong exceeds 10 million. If they could extend their influence into Liaoning, the base area's population would be even greater.

Even if it cannot become a military region as powerful as the Jin-Cha-Ji region, it can still become a powerful military region. If the Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army can really develop to such a scale, then in the future it can really break away from the Jin-Cha-Ji region and become an independent military region.

But with such a good situation, why are there still internal problems?

Of course Wei Hongjun also understood.

A major problem with the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning advance was that the troops were too mixed.

There were troops from the 115th Division's Independent Regiment, troops from the 120th Division's 716th Regiment, and even troops from the Jidong Uprising. The troops from the Jidong Uprising also had many different situations.

There were armed forces directly controlled by the CCP, those that supported the Eighth Route Army and were willing to follow its orders, and those that leaned towards the Eighth Route Army and were willing to follow it. The composition of these armed forces was even more complex.

How to unite these armed forces is a very complicated task.

It is obvious that the problem with the Ji-Re-Liao advance army lies in the reorganization of the Yidong troops.

The leaders of the Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army did not consider how to unite these troops, but only wanted to reorganize them. Simply sending cadres to the troops and asking them to obey orders was not an easy task.

The Jidong troops were already quite close-knit due to their hometown ties. If you didn't unite the Jidong cadres, but instead forcibly sent them there and forced the troops to follow your orders, it would naturally resent the Jidong cadres.

The seeds of trouble had been sown when Xiao Zijing arrived at the Ji-Re-Liao Advance Army and established its Military and Political Committee. The Ji-Re-Liao Advance Army was composed of three fronts, and both Song Shilun and Deng Guo were appointed to the Military and Political Committee. As the commander-in-chief of the Jidong uprising and a representative figure of the Jidong forces, Gao Zhiyuan was logically a member of the Military and Political Committee. Even if he was disliked, in order to unite the Jidong cadres, Gao Zhiyuan needed to be appointed to the Military and Political Committee.

This is the normal arrangement.

Yang Quanwu has a bad temper and is the boss of the First Division. But even so, when annexing those civilian anti-Japanese armed forces, even if some cadres are not capable enough, in order to unite the cadres inside, they will be given relatively high positions. Even if it is just for the sake of appearances, you will be given a position. Only in this way can these people be united. Before, when they were in the Fourth Column, Song Shilun and Deng Guo both respected Gao Zhiyuan very much and discussed everything with Gao Zhiyuan. The relationship between the three forces was handled very harmoniously. But after the establishment of the Yire Liao Advance Army, Gao Zhiyuan, the representative cadre of the Yidong Uprising, was not even included in the Military and Political Committee. Under such circumstances, the Jidong cadres were of course dissatisfied.

It is believed that Xiao Zijing looks down on Yidong cadres and suppresses them.

The root of the disaster was planted early, and as expected, trouble still occurred.

Gao Zhiyuan, commander of the Jidong Anti-Japanese Allied Forces and the reorganized 31st Regiment, certainly had his share of problems. But Xiao Zijing's handling of the situation was also problematic. Simply executing him, and on charges of treason, was not a solution. This left the already disgruntled Jidong cadres in a state of disbelief.