Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

As for the 115th Division, the 115nd Independent Mixed Brigade had already been completely annihilated. The so-called expansion of the nd Independent Mixed Brigade was actually just the reorganization of the th Division in Japan.

Therefore, after adjusting the organization, the Japanese army began to recruit new soldiers in a vigorous manner.

But it didn't go well.

Because this time the Japanese army needed to recruit too many new soldiers. More importantly, these new soldiers landed in Tianjin and then needed to be assigned to various units. Unfortunately, the entire Hebei Province was now full of Eighth Route Army troops.

The railway lines used by the new recruits were often broken. Even the local units of the Eighth Route Army, due to the rapid expansion of the main force, had no good supplies to give them. Therefore, the local units were forced to fend for themselves, especially those operating near the railways, who relied on seizing weapons and ammunition from trains. Only when they were equipped with sufficient weapons and equipment could the local units be upgraded to the main force.

They work on the railway every day.

Especially Zhengtai Road.

It's really scary now that the Japanese trains are running on Zhengtai Road.

Because the Japanese army had too few troops, the forts originally built on the Zhengtai Road were basically destroyed by the Shanxi-Chahar troops and the 129th Division.

So now there is no need for the main force of the Eighth Route Army, even the local troops can find the right opportunity to raid the Japanese trains.

Railways are dangerous, and roads are even more dangerous.

The Eighth Route Army in Hebei was too strong, and recruits were sometimes attacked by the Eighth Route Army when recruiting troops in Hebei. There was even an incident where a Japanese army unit recruiting new soldiers was ambushed by the Eighth Route Army in eastern Hebei on its way to reinforce the 69th Division, resulting in thousands of casualties.

This was the case in Hebei, and entering Shanxi was even more difficult. This was because the Pingsui Railway, the key railway line into Shanxi, was completely cut off, and the Zhengtai Railway was also prone to attacks by the Eighth Route Army. However, if they wanted to enter Shanxi from Laiyuan, the main force of the First Division was there.

In the end, the Japanese army had no choice but to enter Shanxi from southern Hebei.

But the current Ji'nan Military Region is no longer the difficult Ji'nan Military Region it once was. The Ji'nan Military Region will not miss such a good opportunity. These newly recruited troops have poor combat effectiveness, but they have all the necessary good things.

Ambush them to get a lot of goodies.

As a result, by the end of 1942, the entire North China region was ablaze with gunfire. Okabe Naozaburo simply wanted to recruit new soldiers for all his units, but he hadn't anticipated the difficulty. Countless men died simply trying to recruit them.

The Japanese military headquarters was furious about this incident.

Chapter 503: Cadres Escaped from the Coal Mine

There are battles everywhere in North China.

Okabe Naosaburo wanted to quickly recruit new soldiers and then refit for a while. Once the army was ready for combat, he would consider how to deal with the current situation in North China. However, his idea was a good one. In reality, the Japanese army's recruitment process was very difficult.

And from these things, Okabe Naosaburo discovered that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army was really declining sharply.

The new recruits all have weapons in their hands.

But the result?

Many were also killed by local Eighth Route Army troops.

Okabe Naosaburo was very skeptical. Could such new recruits fight in the war?

If you were killed by the main force of the Eighth Route Army, Okabe Naosaburo could understand it. But how could you be beaten so badly by the local troops of the Eighth Route Army?

Among the new recruits, Okabe Naozaburo saw many soldiers in their thirties, and even quite a few in their forties. He understood that Japan was slowly beginning to run out of soldiers. Not only were children enlisting, but even these older men were enlisting.

However, Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun were both in Rehe at this time.

Rehe is a good place to establish a base.

Because Rehe is full of mountains, it was ideal for the Eighth Route Army's mountain guerrilla warfare. Furthermore, after occupying Zhangjiakou, Wei Hongjun ordered the troops to fully utilize their production of uniforms. Although the weather began to turn cold at the end of 1942, the troops were able to wear winter clothing without worrying about the cold.

Rehe was occupied by the Japanese army for many years.

Traitors are everywhere.

As for the people here, they organized them into groups and tribes.

If we were to send a working group or a small unit to establish a base, it would be extremely difficult. Because there were so many traitors, the small unit would encounter obstacles at every turn. But once a large force arrived, the situation would be completely different. We would destroy the traitorous Japanese regime here and break up the Japanese and puppet army's cliques and tribes.

As a result, the towns and villages in the Rehe area are now firmly in the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

Most of the powerful local forces in Rehe were traitors, so after the Eighth Route Army punished the traitors, the situation in Rehe's rural areas was actually better than in other places. Because Rehe's rural areas were now completely blank.

There will be no resistance to the implementation of any policy.

Moreover, the common people who were rescued from the group tribes had a very good impression of the Eighth Route Army and had a deep hatred for the Japanese army. Many people wanted to join the Eighth Route Army to fight the Japanese.

If it weren't for the food problem, the Eighth Route Army would have no problem expanding its forces in Rehe by tens of thousands of troops.

Even so, the Eighth Route Army's expansion in Rehe was rapid. Both the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region and the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region were sending troops to Rehe. The Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region established the Fifth and Sixth Special Agent Regiments, while the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region also established the First and Second Security Regiments. Wang Qiuyun and Xu Luomin used this opportunity to discuss and refine tactics for large-scale operations.

At the same time, it is also training grassroots commanders and new recruits.

Wei Hongjun was busy with the base affairs.

In order to open up the Rehe base, the Wei Red Army transferred a number of local cadres from the old bases of Shengxian, Xuanhua, Zhuolu, and Huailai, and also selected some activists from Rehe for training.

There's just some time.

Wei Hongjun personally lectured them. While the people of Rehe harbored a deep hatred for the Japanese army and were enthusiastic about resisting the Japanese, this was all sentimental, focused solely on defeating Japanese imperialism. They didn't understand the many interrelated aspects of the struggle.

Wei Hongjun had to play the role of explaining the Eighth Route Army's policies in detail to them.

Tell them what revolution is and how to accomplish it. Tell them why the Japanese were able to invade, and tell them how to prevent the emergence of another Japanese army. Let them accept the revolutionary ideals from the heart.

After all, these local cadres are needed to open up and build a base in Rehe.

Just when Wei Hongjun was busy with the base affairs and training local cadres and military political cadres, Han Weiguo came to find Wei Hongjun.

"Escaped from the Northeast? Are you sure you're from our Jin-Cha-Ji region?"

"It should be. I have already sent a telegram to the Jizhong Military Region to investigate their identities."

"Come on, let's go over and take a look."

Local militia captured more than a dozen people.

They originally thought they were refugees from somewhere, but their identities surprised the militia, so they reported it to the Military Region Security Bureau, and the matter was passed on to Han Weiguo, the director of the Political Department.

After Han Weiguo verified it, he immediately came to find Wei Hongjun.

Wei Hongjun followed Han Weiguo and saw a man in the room. He was about thirty years old, with a scruffy beard and dirty clothes. His face and hands were frostbitten and peeling.

He is drinking porridge.

When he saw Wei Hongjun and Han Weiguo coming in, he stood up immediately.

"Reporting in is Yan Rui, head of the propaganda section of the Third Anti-Japanese Regiment."

"Comrade Yan Rui, please sit down. I am Wei Hongjun, deputy political commissar of the newly established Jirecha Military Region in the Jin-Cha-Ji region. This is Comrade Han Weiguo, director of the Political Department of the Jirecha Military Region."

"Wei Hongjun? The commander is the former political commissar of the 8th Column.

"Yes, it's me. Comrade Yan Rui, we have already sent a telegram to the Jizhong Military Region to verify your identity. Can you tell us when you were captured and how you escaped back from the Northeast?"

"Yes."

Yan Rui knew Wei Hongjun.

It's safe to say everyone in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region knew the legendary Wei Hongjun. Yan Rui, without a trace of reservation, said, "Last December, when the Japanese army swept through the Ji-Nan Military Region, our Third Anti-Japanese Regiment was fighting alongside the troops there. I was knocked unconscious by a Japanese artillery fire. When I regained consciousness, I had lost contact with the main force and was captured by the puppet army. I was taken to Shimen (Shijiazhuang). This past February, I was sent to Fuxin, where I now work in the coal mines."

"After arriving at the Fuxin Coal Mine, we were all assigned to a special worker team, a key target for the Japanese and puppet troops. They further divided us special workers into 'counseling workers' and 'protection workers'. 'Counseling workers' were captured members of the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, some Nationalist troops, and some civilian anti-Japanese armed forces. 'Protection workers' were anti-Japanese civilians captured by the Japanese and puppet troops in our base area.

"I was assigned to the Xinqiu Coal Mining Plant in Fuxin. We had secretly formed a party branch back when we were in Shimen. Comrade Li Zhenjun, the instructor of the Anti-Japanese Third Regiment, served as the branch secretary, Comrade Zhao Songtao, the company instructor of the Jizhong Military Region, served as the organization committee member, and Comrade Li Mangui, the chief instructor of the Political Department of the Anti-Japanese Third Regiment, served as the propaganda committee member. We have been organizing riots. In September of this year, we organized 292 'special workers' to launch a riot. However, when breaking through the blockade, we ran into the Japanese army's high-voltage power line network and were discovered by the puppet police. In the end, only about people broke out, but those Japanese military police and puppet police were chasing us all the time. We finally lay in ambush, and after the puppet police relaxed their siege, we decided to break out in different directions. I led about people towards Rehe.

Hiding during the day and moving at night, they avoided the blockade of the Japanese and puppet troops, and came here along the mountain road, where they were discovered by the militia.

Wei Hongjun listened quietly to what Yan Rui said.

I admire them very much in my heart.

I had heard that when the Eighth Route Army entered Northeast China after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, coal miners in Northeast China actively participated in the People's Liberation Army. The coal miners' troops were very tenacious in their fighting spirit.

And they were the first to welcome the Eighth Route Army.

Now, after listening to Yan Rui's words, Wei Hongjun began to understand why. Although captured by the Japanese, the prisoners of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army had not given up the struggle. Their spirit of facing death with equanimity must have moved the ordinary coal workers.

However, Wei Hongjun still had some doubts.

He asked, “You 292 people started a riot, and more than people escaped unarmed?

"Yes."

"How did you escape?"

No matter how Wei Hongjun thought about it, he felt there was something wrong.

This is Fuxin. After the Rehe War, it fell into the hands of the Japanese. Zhangwu, not far from Fuxin, was also controlled by the Japanese after the September 18th Incident. It can be said that Fuxin was controlled by the Japanese for a long time.

Besides, Fuxin is an important coal mining base in Northeast China.

Such an important place should have been taken very seriously by the Japanese and puppet troops. How could it be possible that less than 300 people rioted with bare hands, were discovered by the Japanese and puppet troops, and more than 60 people were able to escape?

Yan Rui understood that Wei Hongjun doubted his statement.

Therefore, he replied: "Commander, there are actually no main forces of the Japanese and puppet troops in Fuxin. The largest number of people in Fuxin are Japanese military police, secret agents, and puppet police.

As far as I know, this situation was common in many areas around Fuxin, where the puppet police were primarily responsible for local security. Regular Japanese and puppet troops were rarely seen around. I did hear of puppet Manchukuo troops around Fuxin in the past, but they haven't been seen for a long time.

"There are no regular Japanese and puppet troops?"

Wei Hongjun began to think about the situation in Northeast China.

The main force of the Kwantung Army was always in the Heilongjiang River and Mongolia area. The Kwantung Army's mission was to prevent a Soviet attack, so their main forces were here. There were only a few troops in other places.

Even if there were regular troops, they were all stationed in the big cities of Northeast China. There were quite a few big cities in Northeast China, with Harbin, Changchun, and Shenyang being the largest, followed by Qiqihar, Jilin, Siping, Andong, Tonghua, and other places, all of which required the main force of the Japanese army to be stationed.

With this in mind, it's understandable that the Japanese army rarely had main force units in areas that had always been relatively safe. For example, the 29th Division of the Kwantung Army was originally a reserve division. The job of a reserve division was to maintain public security in these areas.

But the situation in Rehe was not good, so the 29th Division was stationed in Rehe.

Unexpectedly, he suffered repeated defeats and needed the Kwantung Army to provide him with new soldiers.

There are also puppet Manchukuo troops.

The Japanese army previously maintained a puppet Manchukuo force of approximately 50,000 to 60,000 troops in Northeast China. Some of these troops were stationed alongside the Japanese army along the border, guarding against the Soviets. Furthermore, due to the unfavorable situation in Rehe and eastern Hebei, the Japanese army had recently mobilized a large number of puppet Manchukuo troops into these two regions.

But they were often annihilated in their entirety.

The Fourth and Fifth Brigades of the Puppet Manchukuo were completely annihilated. The Fifth Military District Security Division also formed part of the Puppet Manchukuo Army. Overall, half of the Puppet Manchukuo Army's forces are currently located in Rehe and Yidong. This suggests that there aren't many regular Manchukuo Army troops left in the entire Northeast.

“How many fake police officers are there in Fuxin?”

"I don't know. But there were definitely quite a few. The entire Fuxin area was rife with police stations. According to some people, the number of Japanese military police, spies, and puppet police in Fuxin was around three to four thousand."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

I have a general understanding of the current situation in Northeast China.