Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But he is not in a good condition now.

After the Ji-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army entered eastern Hebei, serious disagreements arose over the reorganization of the troops and how to develop the base areas of Rehe and eastern Hebei. Cai Debao, known for his bad temper, directly criticized the superiors' strategy during meetings. He even criticized certain Ji-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army leaders for their incompetence, embarrassing many of the Ji-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army leaders. This included Xiao Zijing, the commander of the Ji-Rehe-Liaoning Advance Army, and Li Fangqi, a local leader in eastern Hebei, both of whom were mocked by Cai Debao for their incompetence. Furthermore, he strongly supported his old leader, Deng Guo.

As a result, when the Jidong troops were reorganized, he didn't even get the position of commander of the three main regiments, the 13th, 14th and 15th Regiments, which were reorganized based on the st, nd and rd Detachments.

Cai Debao has a bad temper.

He had made such great contributions in Jidong. After the Third Detachment, which he had built, was reorganized into the 15th Regiment, the commander of which was a cadre brought in by Xiao Zijing, the commander of the Ji-Re-Cha Advance Army. He was appointed as the deputy commander of the 15th Regiment.

Cai Debao could not tolerate this, so he had a fierce fight with the leaders of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Advance Army.

As a result, his situation in Jidong was not very good.

Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun weren't exactly familiar with him, but they knew him. After all, they were both from the First Division. Cai Debao was a straightforward man, always speaking his mind. But he was definitely a fierce general, a natural born warrior. He was adept at charging into battle, and he had a knack for fighting.

Various small tactics are used with ease.

When the Fourth Column left, although they said they had left him a company, he actually only had about fifty men under his command. Yet, relying on those fifty men, he managed to expand his force to two thousand men in such a difficult situation. It can be said that before the Ji-Re-Liao Advancing Army entered eastern Hebei, most of the battles in eastern Hebei were related to Cai Debao.

Either he was in direct command, or he was fighting together with other troops.

Yang Quanwu was also thinking about this.

It would be a waste for such an outstanding general to continue to languish in Jidong. He is now a regimental-level cadre of the Jireliao Advance Army, but he has offended all the important leaders of the Jireliao Advance Army. These leaders of the Jireliao Advance Army are very annoyed with him. According to the current situation, the leaders are unlikely to use you, and there is basically no chance for you to stay there. So he nodded slowly and said, "I will talk to Comrade Deng Guo about this matter. There shouldn't be any problem.

"Thank you, Commander."

Chapter 284: Commendation Movement

Yang Quanwu is very efficient in his work.

Two days after his conversation with Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun, Xu Luomin's case was resolved. Yang Quanwu went to the military region that same day to see Commander Nie. Of course, another reason for the swift resolution was that the Ji-Re-Liao Advance Army was not entirely happy with Xu Luomin's previous appointment as Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of the Operations and Training Department, and had been slow to respond.

Of course, another reason was that the military district had transferred a main force regiment from the 8th Column. That was a main force regiment of over 2,000 men, and such a regiment could easily support a small military sub-district. But now it was being transferred to the 5th Sub-district.

Besides, the Eighth Column had won battles, but the military district had never given it a formal rank. Even the Eighth Column's current situation was such that it could be upgraded to a military sub-district, but it had not yet resolved this issue.

So Marshal Nie felt that he owed the Eighth Column.

Since the Eighth Column wanted Xu Luomin, Commander Nie agreed with a stroke of his pen. The military district appointed Xu Luomin as the Eighth Column's deputy commander and chief of staff, and at the same time assigned Xu Luomin's entire team of more than 20 people to the Eighth Column.

As for Cai Debao's matter, it still needs to be coordinated.

After all, this wasn't an internal matter within the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. The Yi-Re-Liaoning Advance Army and the Ji-Central Military Region, while both subordinate to the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, generally operated independently. They didn't need the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region's approval to conduct normal operations. Even personnel matters were independent.

In addition, the two sides had not been in a pleasant mood because of the issue of the 11th Regiment.

It is certainly not an easy task to recruit cadres for the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Advance Army now.

"Commander, Political Commissar, Xu Luomin reporting." Xu Luomin saluted.

After receiving the order from the military district, Xu Luomin did not waste any time and immediately brought his men to the 8th Column.

Xu Luomin admires Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun very much.

When the 115th Division won the Pingxingguan victory, all three were in the 115th Division, with the same rank, all company-level cadres. However, in terms of seniority and rank during the Red Army period, Xu Luomin was even higher than the other two.

After that, Xu Luomin fought in several battles with the 115th Division. After the 115th Division was separated, he went to the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University as an instructor and team leader.

However, Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun, who were only company-level cadres at the time, fought with their bare hands to build the 8th Column, the main column of the Jin-Cha-Yi Military Region, and captured bases in more than a dozen counties. This was a miracle for the entire Eighth Route Army system.

He was very much looking forward to advancing to Jireliao.

After all, Rehe and East Hebei boast a population of tens of millions. If that region were developed successfully, it could easily become another Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, a major military region under the Eighth Route Army headquarters. Its development prospects are truly promising.

However, he wasn't particularly welcome there, so the military district ultimately chose to assign him to the 8th Column. While the 8th Column was several levels lower than the Ji-Re-Liaoning Advance Army, its development prospects weren't bad. In fact, with the 8th Column's current strength, upgrading to a military sub-district was only a matter of time. Currently, the 8th Column was performing almost identical functions to a military sub-district. Furthermore, Marshal Nie and his men were consciously allowing the 8th Column to continue its independent development and operations, effectively laying the foundation for its future as a military sub-district.

So Xu Luomin was not opposed to coming to the Eighth Column.

After all, Xu Luomin was a general who led troops to fight in wars, and staying in the military academy was not what he wanted to do. He had always hoped to go to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War.

"Comrade Xu Luomin, welcome, welcome to our Eighth Column.

Although Xu Luomin has a lot of experience, he is actually very young, just like Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun. He is only 25 years old this year.

Wang Qiuyun was the happiest.

The Eighth Column has few cadres, especially military cadres.

Although the 8th Column was short on political cadres, it accepted a large number of students, allowing it to train its own political cadres. Wei Hongjun arranged for these students to study at the Cha'nan Cadre School and train them in the Political Department. Furthermore, the 8th Column's rapid development provided ample opportunities for troop reorganization. Whenever a troop was reorganized, it would undergo a military reorganization campaign, providing opportunities for the political cadres to train.

After a period of training, they will become qualified political cadres.

But military cadres are different.

Military cadres' training opportunities lie in combat. No matter how much you learn in school, you ultimately must prove yourself on the battlefield. However, if military cadres fail to fight well, the result is the loss of the lives of many commanders and fighters.

Just like the 34th Regiment's commander, Gui Jiu, who became the commander due to special historical circumstances, ended up losing a thousand men during the battle. This kind of thing was common during wartime.

Insufficient military cadre capabilities or a wrong decision can result in the sacrifice of a large number of officers and soldiers.

Therefore, Wang Qiuyun is very much looking forward to the joining of military cadres.

After Chen Zhonghe went to the 34th Regiment, the headquarters needed someone to take charge. Now that Xu Luomin has arrived, there is someone to take charge of the headquarters of the th Column.

"Comrade Xu Luomin, you've arrived just in time. The column is preparing to hold a meeting, and as the deputy commander and chief of staff, you must attend."

This is Wei Hongjun convening a column meeting.

Originally, Xu Luomin was not there, but Xu Luomin arrived quickly and was able to attend the meeting.

The small meeting was attended by six people in total: Commander of the 8th Column Wang Qiuyun, Political Commissar Wei Hongjun, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff Xu Luomin, Deputy Commander Li Shiping, Deputy Political Commissar Chu He, and Director of the Political Department Han Weiguo.

The meeting convened by Wei Hongjun was also proposed by Wei Hongjun.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun said: "Not long ago, the Chadong Detachment reported that the Japanese army had begun to repair and adjust the bunkers on the Pingsui Road. This time, many of the Japanese bunkers were made of stone and cement, which were difficult to break through with the flat-fire artillery used before. However, our commanders and fighters, whether they were the main force or the local forces, have come up with many ways to remove these bunkers.

A member of the Chadong Detachment's district squad used wind direction to smoke out the Japanese and puppet troops from their bunkers. As a result, their district squad managed to breach a small Japanese bunker and seize over twenty rifles and a light machine gun.

“The creativity of the people is limitless.”

Wang Qiuyun burst into praise.

When Xu Luomin heard what Wei Hongjun said, he immediately said, "This kind of local militia is not alone in using unusual methods to attack the enemy. When I was in the military district, I heard that in the Jizhong Military District, they were very successful in using mine warfare to attack the Japanese army. Many militias have come up with various ways to deploy mines. I heard that there was a district squad in the Jizhong Military District who obtained six mines from the main force. They set up a mine array on the Japanese army's marching route, killing and injuring 18 Japanese and puppet troops at once.

Unfortunately, our arsenal is limited in the number of mines it can produce, and we simply don't have any extra to hand over to the district squad and the militia. Otherwise, with their skills, I wonder how many methods they would have."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many heroic stories emerged.

There have also been many outstanding inventions.

Many of these were invented by ordinary soldiers: how to more effectively attack bunkers, how to more effectively injure the enemy. They even modified existing weapons or used them in a different way.

Anyway, there are too many different inventions.

Under difficult conditions, they racked their brains to think of how to attack the Japanese and puppet troops.

"The CCP says it wants to encourage frontline commanders to exercise their subjective initiative. In fact, we should also encourage our grassroots commanders and fighters, as well as those in local units, to exercise their subjective initiative. So my suggestion is to launch a "merit-making campaign" in the military. Carry out a "revolutionary heroism campaign, a campaign to gain merit by killing the enemy."

"Political Commissar, we, the Communist Party of China, and the Eighth Route Army, fought to defend our country and for the benefit of the poor. If we were to launch such a widespread campaign to reward meritorious service, wouldn't that be inappropriate?"

Deputy Political Commissar Chu He put forward some different opinions.

Wei Hongjun shook his head and said, "We, the Eighth Route Army, are defending our country and fighting for the people of the country. But precisely because of this, we must let history remember their contributions. We all know that only by defeating Japanese imperialism can we live a good life. But everyone here understands that many people in our army may not see the day of victory. The same is true for some of us. We may die on the battlefield in some anti-mopping-up war.

This is a very cruel reality, but it is also an objective fact. In this case, while they are still alive, it is a good idea to commend their achievements and let them feel honored. It will inspire the enthusiasm of the officers and soldiers to kill the enemy and serve the country.

"Heroic examples are endless. We should set up some who kill the enemy and serve the country to inspire officers and soldiers. Since ancient times, clear rewards and punishments have been the most fundamental principle of military management."

Wang Qiuyun was very supportive.

The Eighth Route Army was very poor, and material rewards were virtually nonexistent. Furthermore, no one joined the Eighth Route Army for promotion or wealth. Those who joined the Eighth Route Army in that era had ideals and convictions. Otherwise, they wouldn't have chosen such a poor force.

Therefore, spiritual rewards are very valuable.

Xu Luomin was very interested in the commendation campaign proposed by Wei Hongjun. Since opening up the Shengxian base, Wei Hongjun had proposed many things that were praised not only by the military region but also by Yan'an and the headquarters.

In particular, the new military reorganization campaign initiated by Wei Hongjun in the Eighth Column was promoted. Starting from the Eighth Column, it was first promoted in the First Division, then in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and finally, with the support of Yan'an and headquarters, it was promoted throughout the Eighth Route Army base area. Some New Fourth Army units also began to carry out the new reorganization.

The effect is very good.

The Eighth Route Army reorganized civilian armed forces, absorbed puppet troops, and even reorganized the National Army troops behind enemy lines. The results were amazing. The 120th Division, the 129th Division, the Shandong Eighth Route Army, and even the New Fourth Army all spoke highly of this new military reorganization movement.

So Xu Luomin really wanted to know what this commendation campaign was like.

He asked, "Political Commissar, how do we calculate this meritorious service?"

Chapter 285 Merit Movement 2

"My initial idea is to have many different ways to earn merit. Just like bravely killing the enemy on the battlefield is a merit. Coming up with a good way to deal with the enemy is also a merit. As I just said, coming up with a good way to breach Japanese bunkers is also a merit. Coming up with mine tactics suitable for the base area is also a merit. When grassroots officers and soldiers improve our current tactics to make killing the enemy more effective, that's also a merit. These are all military matters. In the base area, if someone can find a way to increase food production there, that's a merit. Ultimately, anyone who contributes to the army's victory and the development of the base area can be recognized. This method allows all officers and soldiers, including local troops and the people in the base area, to participate. Of course, what I'm considering now are only the most preliminary and simple ideas. These still need to be gradually refined through practice."

The new-style military reorganization during the War of Liberation included a lot of content.

And it wasn't the same unit that showed up.

It was summarized and eventually promoted by many units. Some came from the Fourth Field Army, some from the First Field Army, and some from the Third Field Army. Finally, it was gathered by the Military Commission and became part of the PLA's new-style military consolidation campaign.

The Grievance Campaign was only one component of the new military reorganization; another was the Merit Commendation Campaign. The Grievance Campaign was designed to unite the troops, clarify the reasons for the war, and enhance their cohesion. It was particularly useful during troop reorganization and the training of new recruits. The Merit Commendation Campaign, on the other hand, boosted the morale of the lower ranks. Previously, while soldiers understood the reasons for the war, they primarily focused on fulfilling orders from their superiors and demonstrating bravery on the battlefield. Their own initiative was not often exercised.

However, as the commendation campaign took hold, even the rank-and-file soldiers began to think critically. As a result, they not only fought bravely but also put their minds to the task. During battle, they considered how to minimize casualties and more effectively defeat the enemy. When not in combat, they considered how to improve training, weaponry, and tactics. Previously, these tasks were the sole domain of commanders, but after the widespread implementation of the commendation campaign, even ordinary soldiers began to engage in these areas. As a result, the PLA continuously developed a wide variety of tactics to defeat the enemy. As the saying goes, "Three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang." The creativity of the people is boundless.

Wei Hongjun is now preparing to launch a commendation campaign.

Inspire the vitality of the entire Eighth Column.

"Political Commissar, a comrade in our logistics department made a straw cake, which is very suitable as dry rations during marches and battles. Do you think this can be considered a meritorious service?"

Li Shiping asked.

"Of course it counts."

Wei Hongjun gave an affirmative answer, saying: "Our commendation is not specifically for a certain person or a certain thing. Anyone who helps the anti-Japanese war can participate in the commendation. Even if someone can find a way to make the chickens in our logistics department grow faster and lay more eggs, that is also a contribution to the anti-Japanese war and can be commended. We must let all Eighth Route Army soldiers and all the soldiers and civilians in the base areas understand that it is glorious and proud to make contributions to the country, the nation, and the people. We must make our Eighth Route Army soldiers and all the soldiers and civilians in the base areas want to make contributions and everyone strives to make contributions. As long as everyone's enthusiasm is mobilized, then we will definitely be able to defeat Japanese imperialism.

Xu Luomin, who had just arrived at the 8th Column, nodded repeatedly.

Since he followed the Second Branch of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University to the Jin-Cha-Ji base area, he had some understanding of the rise of the Eighth Column. The rise of the Eighth Column was a miracle in Jin-Cha-Ji, and it was also a miracle in the entire Eighth Route Army system.

The Eighth Route Army had no shortage of military regions that expanded rapidly in a short period of time. However, the Eighth Column was undoubtedly the best at maintaining its combat effectiveness and rapidly expanding its base areas after expanding its forces.

The Eighth Column fought well and did even better political work.

Even as Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army headquarters were still considering policies for base area construction, the Eighth Column had already begun developing bases behind enemy lines. The 8th Column's initial decision to recruit Party members on a large scale put it ahead of all other Eighth Route Army bases, even faster than the Eighth Route Army headquarters.

The effect is also very obvious.

While other Eighth Route Army bases were still hesitating, the Eighth Column began to actively recruit members. As a result, the number of party members in the Eighth Column's bases expanded rapidly. Especially after recruiting a large number of students, the Eighth Column's bases became increasingly stable.