The harvest last autumn was good, and the people had more or less surplus food at home. In addition, the Japanese did not come to harass us after their defeat, so this Spring Festival everyone happily had a peaceful new year.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, although the Japanese were very close, the people still happily put up lanterns and dragon lanterns to celebrate the Lantern Festival. Since the beginning of winter last year, it has not snowed much in northern Henan. The land is very dry, and even the air is dry and cold. The dragon lanterns were flying in the hands of the men. The exquisite dragon body and superb dragon dancing skills made the yellow dragon come to life, but the dust from the feet of the men dancing lanterns also choked the onlookers to cough.
"Cough cough cough! Damn it, it hasn't snowed for so long, it's killing me!" A farmer cursed.
"It's snowing, but it's too little. I went to the fields yesterday to see that it didn't snow heavily all winter. The moisture in the fields is very bad." An old man said, covering his nose.
"Yes, yes, I went to the fields during the first month and saw that the soil was dry and hardened. If it doesn't rain or snow in the past few days, even the seeds may not be able to grow after spring starts." Another one The man agreed.
Li Qinglin was standing in the crowd. Hearing the conversation of these farmers, he couldn't help but frown.
Farmers rely on farming for food, and farming depends on God for food. This has been the case for thousands of years. There were only a few light snowfalls last winter, and the moisture in the ground was definitely insufficient. If there is no rain or snow during this period, I really don¡¯t know if the seedlings will survive after planting the seeds in spring. Fortunately, there was a bumper harvest locally last year, and Li Qinglin ordered Luo Dafu to purchase a lot of grain. The ninth detachment currently has nothing to worry about in terms of grain.
Since the failure of the sweep last winter, the Japanese seem to have become much more honest. On the surface, they have not shown any signs of sending troops recently, but they have not been idle either. They have been doing one thing in recent times, and that is to send out large numbers of troops. Build bunkers, gun towers, and strongholds.
The Japanese have no intention of launching an attack for the time being, so the soldiers of the ninth detachment naturally welcome them. But Li Qinglin was worried.
Since the Japanese troops retreated, they have recruited large numbers of coolies to build fortifications. The Japanese not only rebuilt the bunker strongholds destroyed in Liu Zhenghong's earlier flinching tactics, but also added some strong bunkers and gun towers on the edge of the war zone. In addition to building strong fortresses, they also set up telephone lines at various strongholds. Once a certain point was attacked, nearby Japanese and puppet troops who received a call for help immediately dispatched. Under the powerful firepower of the enemy, small-scale It is difficult to achieve success in a point-based battle.
In addition, along the railway line. Along the important highways, outside the gun tower strongholds, and in some important flat lands, the Japanese forced the people to cut down trees and dig a large number of deep and wide trenches. The purpose of cutting down trees is to clear sight obstructions for shooting, and the purpose of digging ditches is to increase the difficulty of marching and prevent Chinese troops from flowing into battle.
The Japanese have not only worked hard on fortifications, but also in other aspects. In the villages in the Japanese-occupied areas, the Japs implemented the law of sitting together. If any anti-Japanese elements appeared in the village. Villagers must report immediately. If they fail to report, the villagers in this village will be implicated. If these people were beaten by the Japanese and puppet troops, it would be considered a light punishment. If they were sent to the gendarmerie by the traitors, they would be punished. That is the fate of never surviving.
These villagers must also assume the responsibility of night patrol. Every night, villagers holding gongs and clappers patrol along trenches, railways, and highways. If they find any anti-Japanese tongguo elements, they must call the police immediately. If there are any, they must not report them. Then the only fate for this villager is death.
After many failures, the Japanese and puppet intelligence agencies also took some new measures. In addition to continuing to use traitors, detective teams and propaganda squads to collect intelligence on the anti-Japanese army. They also adopted some new methods.
Northern Henan has always been very poor, and some people are lucky enough to have enough to eat. The traitors brought some soap, cloth, salt, matches and other daily necessities from the Japanese merchants, and they targeted some rural women who went to the market. These traitors generally have some kind of relationship with these village women. They give these daily necessities to them in the name of taking care of their relatives, and then get information about the stationing and mobilization of anti-Japanese troops from these women's mouths.
This is a fortress blockade and cage tactic. This tactic is not new. At least it was used by Chairman Chiang Kai-shek during the encirclement and suppression campaign in Jiangxi. This tactic of building a large number of fortresses for siege, using trenches to reduce the opponent's mobile combat capability, and ultimately forcing the opponent to a decisive battle with the regular army, although costly and slow, is also the most effective tactic. At least it played a certain role in the Jiangxi encirclement and suppression campaign. The role of.
Both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party realized the power of this tactic, and they unanimously thought of breaking the cage tactic. The only way to break this tactic is to pull out a solid fortress. If a solid turret or bunker is destroyed or dismantled,These siege lines will be torn into one or several large holes, and the siege will naturally collapse. There are currently problems with ammunition supply in the northern Henan region. In addition, each team does not have the artillery and other powerful firepower necessary to attack the fortress. There are not even a few mortar shells left. If you only use the rifles and machine guns in your hands, , grenades to carry out tough battles, the difficulty can be imagined.
Without the firepower to attack the enemy, the only way to fight is to use the human wave tactic. However, once the troops were mobilized, this information was unknowingly transmitted to the Japanese and puppets by villagers and village women. When the Japanese judged that the anti-Japanese army had signs of military action, they urgently mobilized troops into sensitive areas to prevent the Japanese invaders from attacking. response. The Eighth Route Army and the Ninth Detachment concentrated their forces several times to conduct point battles, but in the end they failed inexplicably because the enemy was heavily defended.
Liang Xixian is currently presiding over Liu Zhenghong¡¯s exchange of reloaded bullets. Although he was reluctant, the exchange of bullets was successful.
The First Army Division of the Eighth Route Army in Northern Henan suffered heavy losses this time. Although the main force led by Yuan Dabeard was basically preserved, the recruits led by Liu Zhenghong were basically wiped out. In addition to fighting in the base area, the Japanese also brutally implemented the "Three Guangs Policy". A large number of private houses were burned down by the Japanese. In the severe cold winter, if there is no house to shelter from the wind and rain, it means death. In addition to reorganizing his armed forces, Liu Zhenghong also spent most of his energy on solving the survival problems of the people in the base area.
The base area was not a grain-producing area to begin with, but now that the Japanese have destroyed it, many families have difficulty eating. Liang Xixian's arrival just gave Liu Zhenghong hope. Not only did he agree to Liang Xixian's request to exchange broken guns for reloaded bullets, he even proposed to exchange grain for bullets. In order to ensure that the reloaded bullets in the rear base area could be delivered safely, Liu Zhenghong even sent an elite main force back to the base area for armed escort.
Sun Mazi is a scoundrel in his own right, but he is still smart enough to "dance on three eggs." Although the ninth detachment helped him a lot this time, he was always reluctant to provide arms. Forced to the last resort by the negotiators of the Ninth Detachment, he even said, "We did not ask for your support, it was your friendly forces who volunteered to take action."
Purchasing ammunition from arms dealers is not very smooth. Since the Japanese adopted cage tactics, arms traffickers have also been greatly affected. Not only have their transportation been blocked, but the prices of arms are astonishingly expensive. In many cases, they are even available but not available. .
In order to ensure that the combat effectiveness of the troops was not affected, Li Qinglin and the others requested supplies from the war zone through Tongguo Radio every day. However, apart from some light words of encouragement in the telegrams, the war zone did not even see a trace of food, ammunition, or personnel replenishment. Because there were so many requests for help, the war zone later refused to reply to the telegrams from the Ninth Detachment requesting supplies.
In order to maintain combat effectiveness, the number of live-fire firings of the Ninth Detachment during training dropped sharply. Many recruits basically used empty guns to sign on the training ground; and because there was no supply of uniforms, the distribution of winter cotton military uniforms became tense. , some veterans' military uniforms were torn, and the team did not replace them with new ones, but asked them to sew them up themselves and continue to wear them.
Naturally, the embarrassment of the troops could not escape the eyes of the veterans, and the low mood continued to spread among the soldiers. Although Li Qinglin and others tried many ways to boost morale, the reality was there, and excessive cover-up had the opposite effect.
Zhou Yougen, who was recuperating at Jin Erleng's house, was borrowed by Liu Zhenghong. A bullet from San Ba ??Gai penetrated Zhou Yougen's waist. After medical treatment and enhanced nutrition, Zhou Yougen's injury condition improved day by day. He no longer needs to stay in bed. No, I can hold the stick and wander around the yard by myself.
The First Military Division of Northern Henan Province of the Eighth Route Army highly praised Jin Erleng's sacrifice of his life to rescue the wounded of the Eighth Route Army. Although there was a lot of post-war reconstruction work, the political department of the Eighth Route Army prepared to issue a big ticket to Jin Erleng after special discussions. Certificates of commendation as encouragement. Because many people helped the Eighth Route Army in this anti-mopping operation, the Political Department of the Military Division planned to count all the meritorious personnel and then issue certificates in a centralized manner.
The leader of the village militia team was naturally happy that such a figure who was officially commended by the Eighth Route Army appeared in his village. After returning from the meeting, the team leader immediately went to Jin Erleng's house to announce the good news.
"You fool, the Eighth Route Army is going to give you a certificate of merit!" the team leader shouted as he opened the door.
Jin Er was cooking in the kitchen at this time. When he heard someone talking in the front room, he quickly came out and said, "What are you talking about? The Eighth Route Army gave me a certificate? What is the certificate?"
Jin Er was stunned and didn¡¯t know a word of Chinese characters, so he naturally had no idea about certificates of merit.
"A certificate is a big red piece of paper with your name written on it and a commendation for what good things you have done."The team leader also didn¡¯t know much about awards, so he explained it this way.
Jin Er's eyes rolled in confusion, and he asked: "Can this certificate be sold for money?"
He Ping happened to come out of the back room, and she couldn't help but smile when Jin Erleng, the idiot, asked this question.
"Jin Er Leng, who is she?" The militia team leader still had a high concept of enemy relations. When he saw a strange woman at Jin Er Leng's house, he asked sharply. (To be continued)