Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

So Chen Yun was very careful.

"There is still something to be aware of regarding the bandit problem. The current puppet army is looking for a way out, and some have even begun to contact us. But my opinion is that after we enter the Northeast, we cannot recruit anyone just to expand our army, especially the puppet Manchukuo army reorganized by these bandits. We must not recruit them. We must maintain the purity of our troops. My suggestion is that when we expand our army, we should mainly select those workers and peasants with clean backgrounds, rather than those puppet Manchukuo soldiers and puppet police.

"Maintain the purity of the troops?"

"Yes."

Wei Hongjun said directly: "When we were developing in Jin-Cha-Ji, we also reorganized a large number of civilian armed forces. Among them, the bandit units with the worst military discipline had the most problems after reorganization. These units were the least disciplined and the most likely to revolt when the troops were in trouble. Bandit units are the most difficult to reorganize. Our best source of soldiers has always been the simplest farmers. After joining the army, they are not afraid of hardship or fatigue. After education and training, they are the best source of soldiers. The bandits in Northeast China are more difficult to reform than the bandits in Jin-Cha-Ji, because many of them have been bandits for generations."

Chen Yun nodded.

Chen Yun had thought about this before.

Now the puppet Manchukuo troops are all looking for a way out. If the Eighth Route Army is willing to give them a chance, perhaps many puppet Manchukuo troops will surrender, which will be of great help to the expansion of the Northeast Military Region.

But after hearing what Wei Hongjun said, Chen Yun was a little hesitant.

"The last question is about the Japanese pioneer groups in Northeast China. There are many Japanese pioneer groups in Northeast China, and I don't know the exact number. But according to our intelligence, there are at least hundreds of thousands of Japanese pioneer groups in Northeast China, occupying a large amount of arable land in Northeast China. After we enter Northeast China, we must quickly count and analyze the arable land in the hands of these pioneer groups. At the same time, we must formulate early plans for how to deal with the Japanese in these pioneer groups. Otherwise, faced with so many Japanese pioneer groups and so much arable land with complicated historical issues, it will be difficult for the cadres below to grasp the policy.

Only by having a policy standard in place in advance can our work team move forward."

"The pioneer group?"

Chen Yun understood the difficulties of the pioneer group's problem.

Because much of the farmland in Northeast China was seized by the Japanese pioneers through force and trickery. They either drove the Chinese farmers away or forced them to sell their land at low prices. But after the Eighth Route Army entered Northeast China, what should they do with this farmland?

Is it directly confiscated?

Or return it to the original owner of the farmland.

This requires the introduction of a policy, otherwise the cadres below will be at a loss as to what to do.

"Do you have any information about the Japanese pioneer group?"

"Yes, but it's incomplete. I'll sort it out and hand it over to the chief soon."

"it is good."

Chen Yun likes cadres like Wei Hongjun who are fully prepared for everything they do.

Wei Hongjun concluded, "The situation in rural Northeast China has its difficulties, but also its positives. Northeast China has been occupied for so many years, and many of its landlords are traitors. There's also so much land in the hands of Japanese settlers. After our work teams entered the Northeast, some places didn't even need to implement rent and interest reductions; they could just go straight into land reform. This was a huge advantage for us in gaining the support of Northeast farmers. So, we have to be flexible in this regard. In places where land reform is feasible, we should just go ahead and do it. There's no need to be bound by policies that mandate rent and interest reductions."

Chen Yun nodded.

Chen Yun was still very satisfied with his visit to the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region this time.

Although the issues of cadre and troop transfers had not yet been discussed, the strategy proposed by Wei Hongjun and these issues alone were already invaluable to the newly established Northeast Bureau.

Chen Yundu had an idea.

That is to take Wei Hongjun away and bring him to the Northeast. Unlike now, Wei Hongjun only has a nominal position as the deputy secretary of the Northeast Army, but is still under the jurisdiction of Jin-Cha-Ji.

However, Chen Yun quickly dismissed the idea. Although he was the Secretary of the Northeast Bureau, he lacked the authority to transfer a cadre of Wei Hongjun's rank to a cross-regional position. If he reported this to the Central Committee, perhaps there would be a chance. The Northeast was truly important, and the Central Committee supported Wei Hongjun's transfer to the Northeast for its development. But Chen Yun would not do such a foolish thing. Right now, he still needed the support of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region.

If he were to take action at this time, transferring Wei Hongjun, a high-ranking general from the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, would directly offend the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. Wei Hongjun was a favorite of Marshal Nie, and Chen Yun knew this. What if Marshal Nie got angry if he transferred Wei Hongjun? Future coordination would be difficult.

Chen Yun put down his notebook and asked, "When I was in Yan'an, I read a document submitted by the Jin-Cha-Yi Central Bureau. It was about classifying and examining the Japanese. You were the first to propose it. I'd like to hear you explain it in more detail. You also know that there are many Japanese in Northeast China."

Chapter 583: Gathering Technical Talents

Wei Hongjun's report on the classification of Japanese was reported to the Central Committee through the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Central Bureau.

There are also considerable differences among the central leadership.

But most people still support it.

Chen Yun was particularly interested in this. He was in charge of the finances of the entire Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia base area and was well-versed in the region's industrial development. The Eighth Route Army, the Eighth Route Army, Yan'an was truly impoverished. While the Eighth Route Army had a strong desire to develop industry, it was useless, no matter how strong one's subjective desires were. The technological level was low, and machinery and equipment were insufficient. Therefore, much of Yan'an's current industry relied on homegrown methods.

After reading the report, Chen Yun kept thinking about whether he would have the chance to talk to Wei Hongjun in person.

But one is in Yan'an and the other is in Rehe.

There was no chance at all in the short term. Fortunately, the Central Committee established the Provisional Northeast Bureau, and Chen Yun had the opportunity to talk face to face with Wei Hongjun.

So he asked the question directly.

"Commander, I'm considering this from two perspectives. First, there's the issue of wartime. Wartime is all about fighting. Right now, most of our troops are still engaged in guerrilla warfare, but as our strength grows, we'll inevitably need to adopt a large-scale, regular combat model. To conduct large-scale, regular combat, we'll need a large number of artillery units. However, given our army's current situation, we're actually quite lacking in artillery. Just like when we attacked Xuanhua, our artillery was inadequate, so we opted for the very risky tactic of 'bayonet-on-cannon.' It was a choice forced upon us. If our artillery could accurately hit its target, there wouldn't be any need for such a risk. We were very close to the Xuanhua city walls at the time, and if we were discovered by the Japanese and puppet troops, our artillery would suffer heavy losses. In the future, when we engage in large-scale combat, a single engagement might require hundreds or even thousands of cannons. We can't resort to the 'bayonet-on-cannon' tactic. We must improve the combat effectiveness of our artillery. But do we have the talent in our army for this task? Even if we do, it's scarce, and we simply don't have enough time to train an entire army of artillerymen."

"So you're targeting the Japanese?"

"Commander, think about it. Currently, the most powerful country in Asia is Japan. They are the only industrialized country in Asia and the only Asian country capable of mass-producing cannons and possessing a large-scale, organized artillery force. The Japanese army is currently at a disadvantage on every battlefield, and Japan's surrender will be within the next two years. By then, we will capture a large number of Japanese soldiers. After screening, we will select a certain number of artillerymen and artillery officers from among them. Let them train us enough artillerymen and artillery commanders. This is the best way to improve the artillery level of our troops in a short period of time.

"Well, keep talking."

Chen Yun nodded.

Face-to-face communication allowed for a more direct and detailed understanding of Wei Hongjun's thoughts. Wei Hongjun continued, "Also, in future large-scale military operations, logistics will be paramount. Where there are railways, we can use them, but where there aren't, we'll definitely have to use trucks on a large scale. But do we have enough truck drivers ourselves? No. Training truck drivers is difficult these days. Even Chongqing lacks enough truck drivers, which is why so many young people from Southeast Asia are returning to China to work as truck drivers. The Japanese army, on the other hand, has a large number of truck drivers."

We want to train a large number of truck drivers in a short period of time. The best way is to select truck drivers from the Japanese army and have them train our truck drivers.

"Besides, our current forces are purely ground forces. But won't we develop tank forces, navy, and air force in the future? Where can we find talent in these areas? We train our own, so who will serve as instructors for us? In Asia, the instructors we can find are all with the Japanese army."

"We should not slowly identify the Japanese troops, but rather identify these people from among the Japanese prisoners as soon as possible. Then we should select those we can use and use them as soon as possible. We should quickly establish our own aviation schools, artillery schools, automobile schools, and tank schools in the Northeast to quickly train talents for our special forces."

Chen Yun was taking notes when he paused after hearing Wei Hongjun's words.

Then he asked, "Aviation School? Artillery School? Tank School?"

"Commander, we must prepare for a rainy day. We need to consider not only the present, but also what will happen after the victory of the revolution. When the revolution is victorious, our forces will definitely need to develop the air force, navy, artillery, and tank forces. Although we don't know when the revolution will be victorious and when we can establish a new China, we can definitely train a group of our own talents first. When the revolution is victorious and we develop these specialized arms, we will have no shortage of talent."

Chen Yun nodded.

Write it down in a small notebook.

Wei Hongjun continued, "After we captured Xuanhua, the main engineers in those factories in Xuanhua were all from Japan. Japan built so many factories in China, and there were many Japanese technicians among the technical personnel. These people must be identified and not lumped in with ordinary Japanese expatriates. Because these people are technical talents, we need them to resume factory production. We can also use them to train our own technicians. After the revolution is victorious, we will develop our own industry, and the technicians we need will be in the tens of thousands.

But we don't have that many technicians, and it would take too long to train them ourselves. Therefore, we should cultivate these technical talents while fighting the war. Since there are so many technicians among the Japanese, we should certainly utilize them. Northeast China has many factories, so there must be many Japanese technicians as well. Therefore, we can open industrial schools in Northeast China and train our own industrial talents."

"After the victory of the revolution."

"Yes, Chief."

Wei Hongjun said, "I've also learned some general things about industry. After the revolution is victorious, New China will need to develop industry. The most basic industries are mining, steel, oil, power plants, and so on. my country doesn't have many skilled workers in this area because it's an agricultural country. The few industries it has are either left behind by the great powers or built by the Japanese. It should be said that across Asia, there aren't many skilled workers in this area. These workers are concentrated in Japan. We can't snatch away the skilled workers in Japan, but we must keep those in China. We can't let them escape. We must let them build New China and atone for the crimes they committed in China. But will these people serve us willingly? They will certainly try every possible means to hide their identities and blend in with the Japanese expatriates. So we must be quicker than they are and identify them before they can hide their identities."

Japan has tens of thousands of technical talents in China.

Most of them are in the Northeast.

Wei Hongjun’s idea was very simple: he must not let them run away.

Historically, the Northeast Field Army left behind approximately 7000 Japanese soldiers. Among them, there were over military doctors and nurses, and Japanese doctors and nurses from other health systems, totaling over doctors and nurses.

There were also arsenals in Northeast China. The military district arsenal alone left behind more than 2000 technicians, and together with the Japanese technicians from other arsenals, there were a total of to people. There were also railway technicians, transportation technicians, and so on. There were also several thousand people in total, but in fact, this was only a part of the Japanese technicians.

The number of Japanese technicians in Northeast China was astonishing. Many of them mixed in with ordinary Japanese expatriates when the Japanese army surrendered, and then returned to Japan with the returning Japanese expatriates.

Wei Hongjun doesn't want these people to leave China.

Even if they have to leave, they must finish their work in China before leaving. Those technical talents, including factory technicians, doctors and nurses, various military personnel, and special forces, must stay behind, at least 100,000 people.

But to screen so many people and keep them, there must be a special department, and the work must be done quickly.

"I know that Jin-Cha-Ji has set up a screening department."

"Yes."

After Wei Hongjun made the suggestion, the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau decided to set up a special screening department.

It was formed by drawing personnel from the Jin-Cha-Ji Public Security System and the Political Department of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.

"But the Japanese in Jin-Cha-Ji are mainly concentrated around Zhangjiakou, so the establishment of a screening department is a supplementary measure. But after our troops enter the Northeast, things will be different. The number of Japanese troops and Japanese in the Northeast is dozens of times that of those in Chahar. The large number of people makes screening difficult. And no one knows what will happen next, so we must be quick and identify these people as soon as possible. This requires us to establish a large screening agency to carry out this work from the moment we enter the Northeast."

“Do you value technical talent?”

Chen Yun closed the book and asked Wei Hongjun.

Wei Hongjun nodded.

He said with certainty: "When the Eighth Column was developing, the biggest bottleneck was that there were too few cadres. In fact, it was because there were too few talents. We need talents to open up and build bases, we need military talents to fight, and we need political talents to build troops. So I think talent is the key to the key. The most important thing for China's future industrial construction is of course industrial talents. And industrial talents, I think, can be divided into two parts. One part is cadres who understand industry, and the other part is industrial technical talents. And these Japanese technicians are exactly the technical talents we need to develop our industry in the future. They can not only directly participate in the work, but also help us train students in school. Anyway, as long as they stay, how we use them will be beneficial to us."

"All principles in the world are interconnected. Warfare and industrial development also have something in common."

Chen Yun admired Wei Hongjun even more in his heart.

Wei Hongjun was no longer simply considering the issue from the perspective of a military officer. The thought that had just been suppressed resurfaced. Chen Yun really wanted to take Wei Hongjun with him to the Northeast.

But thinking about the current situation, I suppressed this idea again.

If he really took Wei Hongjun away, the Jin-Cha-Ji region would definitely be upset. After all, Wei Hongjun wasn't just an ordinary military district leader; he was a member of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Committee. There would be plenty of opportunities in the future.

Chen Yun brought the topic back to the Northeast and asked Wei Hongjun, "I want to establish the temporary West Manchuria Military Region and the South Manchuria Military Region in the Northeast. Regarding cadre arrangements for the West Manchuria Military Region, I'd still like to hear the recommendations from the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region."

Chapter 584: Northeast Bureau's Arrangements

"Chief, what do you mean?"

"At this stage, the troops developing the Northeast base area are being drawn from the Jireliao Military Region and the Jirecha Military Region, including the local cadres developing the base area, who also need to be drawn from your two military regions. This situation will not change in the short term. Therefore, the Northeast Bureau has established the West Manchuria Military Region and the South Manchuria Military Region. In the initial stages, of course, we need the support and cooperation of your two military regions. Therefore, my opinion is that the Northeast Bureau will not adjust the cadre composition of the West Manchuria Military Region and will initially follow the deployment of your two military regions.

Wei Hongjun was shocked.

I never thought that Chen Yun, a member of the Politburo and a big shot in the party, would make so many concessions.

Although this is only temporary.

But if a different cadre had come, this wouldn't have happened. They might have directly coordinated with the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau, requesting that the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region transfer a certain number of troops to the Northeast Military Region. Furthermore, the Northeast Bureau itself was responsible for cadre arrangements, having already begun preparing to assign the personnel it brought with it. But Chen Yun wasn't in the least bit anxious.

Not overbearing either.

On the contrary, it coordinated with various departments of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region, and the Hebei-Rehe-Cha Military Region.

Seeing Wei Hongjun's somewhat frightened expression, Chen Yun smiled.

Chen Yun had never intended to flex his political muscles when he arrived to establish a base in Northeast China. Although he held a very high position within the Jin-Cha-Ji region, he was a member of the Politburo and an alternate member of the Secretariat. His ranking within the Party was higher than that of Marshal Nie, a Politburo member. As for Wei Hongjun, he wasn't even an alternate member of the Central Committee, making the difference between him and Chen Yun even greater.

But Chen Yun understood one thing. Although he held a high rank within the Party, the people in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region had all been made on the battlefield and were considered "local lords" and the local powerhouses.

Those who came out of the battlefield cannot be said to have good tempers.

Arrogant and brave generals refer to those generals fighting on the front lines. These people have been fighting on the battlefield for many years and have the final say on many matters.

In the military, they won't completely trust you just because you have a high rank.

On the contrary, in the military, if you don’t have the ability, people will look down on you even if you have a high rank.

If you use your status to pressure them, it will only cause a backlash. Don't think that just because you have a high position, you can suppress these arrogant and powerful generals. If it were that easy, Xiao Zijing wouldn't have been so aggressive when he advanced on Yire Liao.

Including General Li.