Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Commander Nie smiled slightly.

Commander Nie was a political cadre and was very fond of promoting and making use of political cadres.

Just look at the cadre composition of Jinchayi: Yang Quanwu, commander of the First Division, Zhao Lu, former commander of the Second Division, Chen Manyuan, former commander of the Third Division, and Deng Guo, former commander of the Fifth Division, all came from political work backgrounds.

There is also Xiong Tao, the former commander of the Fourth District, who served as both a military cadre and a political cadre during the Red Army period.

Now when Commander Nie looks at Wei Hongjun, he likes him.

Because Wei Hongjun always thinks about things faster than others.

When most of the Eighth Route Army were just considering switching from guerrilla warfare to large-scale troop operations, Wei Hongjun had already begun to think about what to do after occupying Zhangjiakou.

Even Wei Hongjun began to consider how to manage major cities across the country after the victory of the revolution.

This consideration is no longer within the vision of ordinary upper-level generals of the Eighth Route Army.

"Have you ever considered what to do if you can't take down Huai'an and Xuanhua?"

"We have thought about it. We dare not guarantee that we will win any battle. But even if the siege fails, we will not be disappointed or lose confidence. We can sum up the lessons. After all, we will have many siege battles in the future. One failure will allow us to avoid more failures in the future. And we will not attack the city blindly, we will make all preparations. We plan to attack Xuanhua first, concentrating the Chadong Detachment, the Chanan Detachment and the column artillery. By then, we will be able to take out more than 50 infantry guns, as well as flat-fire guns, rapid-fire guns, and mortars. We will try to use heavy firepower to cooperate with the siege troops. Using these siege battles, we plan to form a corps with strong offensive capabilities in the Eighth Column.

This was discussed by Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun.

On the basis of the current several detachments, some troops will be drawn to form a powerful fist force. As the mobile force and fist force of the column, it is capable of fighting large and tough battles.

"When do you want to attack the city?"

"Complete the siege before March. It just so happens that the North China Front Army has two divisions being withdrawn south, and the Japanese have suffered heavy casualties in the past few months, so they don't have the strength to withdraw troops to interfere with us. If we wait any longer, the North China Front Army will inevitably receive new recruits, which will affect our siege."

"Okay, I understand. I'll give you a reply as soon as I can think it over.

Although the military sub-districts under the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region have great power.

General combat decisions could be made independently, but for battles like concentrating the main force to attack a city, they still had to report to the military region and obtain its approval.

Although Commander Nie had already agreed in his heart, he still had to discuss it with other people in the military region.

Chapter 397: Preparation for Difficulties

The meeting in Jin-Cha-Ji lasted for five consecutive days.

The meeting was originally scheduled to last three days, but due to Wei Hongjun's situation, the proceedings took a sudden turn, and much of the original agenda was cut.

This meeting will mainly discuss two issues in the next few days.

One is how to deal with the Japanese mopping-up campaign in 1942. Although everyone believes that the Japanese army should concentrate its forces to mop up the Jizhong Military Region, this is just everyone's judgment. Maybe Ningci Gangcun chose not to mop up the Yizhong Military Region, but to mop up the Beiyue Region instead?

However, if we sweep the Beiyue area, everyone will feel more at ease.

Because the Beiyue District already had enough experience in countering mopping-up operations and sufficient combat power, they were not afraid of Gangcun Ningci's mopping-up operations. However, if the Japanese and puppet troops were to focus on mopping up the Jizhong Military Region, then this would be a serious matter.

Therefore, the final plan was that the Jizhong Military Region would be prepared for the worst after returning, even preparing for the possibility that the entire Jizhong Military Region would be overrun by the Japanese and puppet troops. To prevent this from happening, the Jizhong Military Region, from the main force to the local forces, as well as the local government and village militia, would be prepared for a brutal counter-mopping-up operation. For this counter-mopping-up operation, the Jizhong Military Region's troops needed to intensify their training.

In addition to the main force, local troops should strengthen their study and training in tactics such as tunnel warfare, mine warfare, village warfare, and sparrow warfare. Every village in the Hebei-Central Military Region should become a fortress during the counter-mopping-up operation. Local troops should rely on these villages to resist the Japanese attack.

Therefore, the local troops of the Jizhong Military Region need to seriously train how to fight village warfare. Once the anti-mopping-up operation begins, the main force, local troops, and even militia units of the Jizhong Military Region must go up.

At that time, the local forces will have a heavy task.

To bolster the combat effectiveness of the Jizhong Military Region's local forces, Marshal Nie prepared to transfer a group of grassroots commanders from the Beiyue District to reinforce the Jizhong Military Region. Because the main forces of the Jizhong Military Region lacked experienced cadres, the local forces were even more short of them. In contrast, many of the local forces in the Beiyue District were grassroots commanders transferred from the main forces.

This time, Marshal Nie planned to transfer cadres to local troops in the Hebei-Central Military Region to improve the combat effectiveness of the local troops.

Marshal Nie then began to take stock of the ammunition reserves in the Beiyue area.

Marshal Nie knew the troops in the Jizhong Military Region were short of ammunition. They lacked everything except ammunition. Because the Jizhong Military Region's ambushes in the plains were far less effective than those in the Beiyue District, their captured ammunition was limited. However, the Beiyue District's current ammunition reserves were not sufficient. Therefore, Marshal Nie ultimately transferred 15 rounds of ammunition from the First, Third, Eleventh, and Twelfth Divisions to support the Jizhong Military Region troops.

Of course, these are all preparations in terms of training and supplies.

Marshal Nie was more concerned about the morale of the troops.

Therefore, it was required that the base area not allow any paralysis caused by underestimating the enemy due to the outbreak of the Pacific War. After returning, the Hebei-Central Military Region must hold a meeting to unify thoughts and have sufficient understanding of the difficulties ahead.

The troops and local governments of the Central Hebei Military Region should be mentally prepared. They should realize that the outbreak of the Pacific War was an opportunity for the Eighth Route Army, but it was also a severe test.

And we must dare to fight the Japanese army.

When the Japanese army launches a sweep, we must boldly concentrate our forces to break through the Japanese blockade and escape the Japanese encirclement. If the Japanese army attacks, the Eighth Route Army in Hebei Province must also attack, boldly adopting the strategy of "advance as the enemy advances." The North China Front Army is undermanned, and if it concentrates its forces to sweep the Hebei base area, the Japanese rear will be depleted. The troops of the Yizhong Military Region must boldly advance into the heart of the Japanese army, strike the Japanese army from behind, force them to return for reinforcements, and complete the counter-sweep operation.

Then there is the deployment in the Beiyue area of ​​Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei.

If the Japanese army concentrated heavy forces to sweep the Hebei-Central Military Region, the Jin-Cha-Ji Bei-Yue District would have to attack and support the Hebei-Central Military Region's counter-mopping-up operation. It was even decided at the meeting that if necessary, the Jin-Cha-Ji Bei-Yue District would concentrate heavy forces to attack the Japanese blockade line, daring to fight a decisive battle and mentally prepared for a large and difficult battle. This would support the Yi-Central Military Region's counter-mopping-up operation.

In fact, this is mainly for one partition and three partitions.

Because the First and Third Divisions were close to the Hebei-Central Military Region, the Japanese army mainly blocked the traffic routes in this area in order to sweep the Hebei-Central Military Region, cutting off the connection between the Hebei-Central Military Region and the First and Third Divisions.

Furthermore, within the Jin-Cha-Ji Beiyue region, aside from the 8th Column, only the First and Third Divisions possessed the strength to muster heavy forces and storm the Japanese positions. Needless to say, the First Division had also experienced rapid growth in recent years since Huang Yong assumed command. If necessary, the Third Division could deploy a dozen or so main regiments to participate in the battle. Furthermore, a new requirement was placed on Yang Quanwu and Huang Yong.

We need troops that dare to attack and storm the Japanese positions.

Once the Japanese blocked the transportation lines, some important places would inevitably become heavily defended Japanese strongholds, and the Japanese and puppet troops would definitely not be less. And if the Division and the Third Division were to storm such strongholds, it would not be a small-scale battle as before, but a real battle of conquest.

After discussing the anti-mopping-up campaign for the next year, the next topic of discussion was the current drought in North China, which had been afflicting the country since 1941 and was severely impacting grain production.

Fortunately, after Wei Hongjun proposed the slogan "Work hard to earn enough food and clothing," he received strong support from Yang Quanwu, commander of the First Division. Later, he received support from Commander Nie of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. When this report was submitted to Yan'an and Eighth Route Army headquarters, it received strong support. Yan'an immediately promoted this slogan, requiring all Eighth Route Army units to use it. All military units, local governments, schools, factories, and other institutions were required to reclaim wasteland and store grain.

Therefore, in 1941, the Eighth Route Army troops did not have much shortage of food.

However, some speculated that drought would continue in North China in 1942, meaning that food production in the base areas would still be a problem. Although each base area had food reserves, a further decline in grain production in 1942 would undoubtedly have a serious impact on the base area's economy.

Finally it affected the Eighth Route Army.

Some bases that had been actively reclaiming wasteland and stockpiling grain since 1938 were not worried. However, those that had only done superficial work or had not put much effort into it were already feeling anxious. Although they had survived 1941, if the drought continued in 1942, their food reserves would be insufficient.

Therefore, this has become one of the most important tasks of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region at present.

After all, eating is the biggest problem in the world.

Even Yan'an, in early 1941, mobilized the 120th Brigade of the 359th Division to reclaim Nanniwan to increase food supplies. Considering that this was the main force of the 120th Division, being drafted into farming, one can only imagine the situation in Yan'an. Historically, Nanniwan reclaimed over 400 mu (approximately 359 hectares) of wasteland within three years, yielding nearly million jin (approximately kg) of fine grain. Furthermore, the th Brigade not only reclaimed wasteland in Nanniwan but also cultivated vegetables and developed animal husbandry.

A large number of livestock are raised in Nanniwan.

And also built a large number of factories.

A textile mill was built, producing over 9000 bolts of homespun cloth, nearly 2000 blankets, and over 3.7 dozen towels annually; a garment factory with an annual output of 3.7 sets of unlined and cotton-padded clothing; and a shoe factory with an annual output of pairs of unlined and cotton-padded shoes. A soap factory, oil press, woodworking, ironworks, leather workshop, and paper mill were also built.

This is the case in Yan'an, while other bases are currently trying to save themselves in order to ensure food security.

The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region had so many troops and so many logistics agencies, with hundreds of thousands of people on the government payroll. If proper arrangements weren't made, even food would be a problem.

So this was also the main task of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region in 1942.

To reduce the burden on the base areas, the military regions, in accordance with the spirit of Yan'an, also began to streamline their military and administrative systems. Many institutions were to be abolished, and personnel were to be relocated to local areas. All of this required the military regions to come up with a comprehensive plan.

In this regard, the 8th Column, which should have been in the most difficult situation, was full of confidence.

Logically speaking, the Eighth Column's base was the poorest and had the fewest supplies among the bases of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. However, the Eighth Column was surprisingly well-prepared. The Wei Red Army had been preparing for this situation since 1938.

During these four years, Wei Hongjun advocated the principle of "self-reliance for adequate food and clothing," requiring all military units, local governments, government agencies, factories, and schools to cultivate wasteland. Even if they couldn't maintain it meticulously and the yields weren't as high as elsewhere, they should still harvest as much as they could. Wei Hongjun not only stored food within the column but also required each unit and government agency to maintain its own reserves. And unlike other bases, Wei Hongjun personally oversaw these tasks.

So, on the 8th Column side, whether they understood it or not, everyone would take this matter seriously. After all, as the top leader of the party, government, and military, Wei Hongjun had dealt with many people who disobeyed orders.

It's not just that.

Wei Hongjun also strongly advocated for private wasteland reclamation. To support this, he introduced a series of preferential policies. When there was an abundance of grain in rural areas, Wei Hongjun would purchase some to stockpile.

Wei Hongjun is also very cautious about using reserved grain.

In 1941, the army began to face difficulties, but Wei Hongjun did not use much of his reserves because he knew that each unit, government agency, local government, factory, and school had its own small treasury of food.

Wei Hongjun asked them to use their own reserves to survive 1941.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun was not really worried about this. He was confident that the Eighth Column could survive 1942, and even 1943. And it was precisely because of this confidence that the Eighth Column dared to form a large corps.

If there is not enough food, what should be considered at this time is to reduce the size of the troops.

After the meeting held by Jin-Cha-Ji ended, Commander Nie sorted out the content of the meeting and reported it to Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters.

Chapter 398: Yan'an's Confession

"Well, Comrade Rong Zhen's report arrived just in time. It's a wake-up call for all of us. Boss, what do you think?"

"Have it."

The meeting minutes compiled by Commander Nie came into the hands of the central leadership.

The Chairman read it carefully several times.

The more I watch it, the more I like it.

Because this report comes at the right time.

The commander-in-chief replied: "Ever since the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States came out, the atmosphere in Yan'an has changed. Wherever I go, I can feel everyone's joy, and everyone is becoming more and more optimistic about the War of Resistance. I always felt that there was something wrong, but I didn't think about these things carefully because I was also very relaxed. But after reading Comrade Rong Zhen's report today, I realized where the problem lies. That is, many of us, including our leading cadres, are too optimistic. It seems that if Japan goes to war with Britain and the United States, our War of Resistance will be won. This is wrong and problematic. Although Japan has gone to war with Britain and the United States, the Japanese army still has a million troops in China. At present, our War of Resistance Against Japan is still at a disadvantage in terms of the general direction, and the War of Resistance is still in a strategic stalemate. At this time, our leading cadres are immersed in joy and their spirits begin to relax and become paralyzed. This is not conducive to the subsequent War of Resistance."

The commander-in-chief was also scared.

Because during this period of time, the commander-in-chief himself felt a little relaxed and numb.

It can be said that the outbreak of the Pacific War made the Chinese very excited. Even if they did not know how powerful the US military was, the strength of US industrial power was clear to the Chinese upper class.

What does industrial strength look like in this era?

Look at steel production.

Japan's steel production is 8000- million tons, which is already something China needs to look up to. But the United States' steel production has reached million tons. What a figure! Just looking at this steel production shows how powerful the American industry is.

Therefore, upon learning that war had broken out between Japan and the United States, many in China became excited and complacent. Even in Yan'an, this sentiment was prevalent. Many central leaders, including those in the leadership, breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the news, believing that the most difficult days of the War of Resistance were over. Japan would undoubtedly divert a large number of troops to fight the United States in the Pacific. This would make China's war of resistance much easier. However, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei report finally woke the commander-in-chief to his senses.

Yes.

The Japanese army was fighting the United States. But domestically, the Japanese army still had 700,000 to 800,000 troops, plus hundreds of thousands of puppet troops, hundreds of thousands of puppet guards, and puppet police. China's war of resistance was still at a stalemate, with the Japanese army still holding the upper hand in most areas.

"Yes. We were a little too excited before. Now that Japan is only at war with Britain and the United States, many of us are acting like we've won. This kind of thinking is wrong. Comrade Rong Zhen's report came just in time, otherwise we would have made a big mistake. I've also been a little excited these days.

The Chairman appreciated the report very much and also conducted self-examination.

Everyone was so happy.

The chairman was no exception. However, when he saw the report, he immediately calmed down.

The commander-in-chief said, "Old Mao, we must deal with this matter as soon as possible. Otherwise, if this kind of complacency continues to spread, it will affect the judgment and combat effectiveness of the troops. If we relax, we will inevitably suffer heavy losses. Because the comrades in Jin Cha Yi are right, the next target of the Japanese and puppet troops should be us.

The Eighth Route Army troops gained experience in every anti-mopping-up campaign.

I wish I could use all my skills.

Because the Japanese army was so powerful, the Eighth Route Army could not be careless in the slightest.