Two hours later, Kong Jie received the second telegram from Shen Quan.
The situation was worse than his and Huang Yu's initial analysis.
Li Wensheng glanced at ten lines. After reading the telegram, he showed a dumbfounded and shocked expression. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "Captain, Yoshio Shinozuka is trying to trap us here!"
"They actually copied the no-man's land where the Kwantung Army used to deal with the common people to northwestern Shanxi, and built a ring of no-man's land around our base area... How cunning!"
"A blockade alone is enough for us, and with a no-man's land of more than 20 kilometers wide surrounding us, it becomes even more difficult for the base area to contact the outside world!"
Huang Yu then read the telegram and pointed at the map for analysis: "Chief of Staff, this is not the most deadly threat!"
"The circular no-man's land surrounding our base is 20 kilometers wide. There are 400,000 people living in this area! If Yoshio Shinozuka forces them all close to the base, they will be able to eat all our military rations in one month at most. Light!"
"The people in the base area don't have much food left in their hands...it's basically impossible to allocate excess food to feed the 400,000 people!"
"Without food, not only the troops will be hungry, but also 400,000 ordinary people..."
"If you are not careful, these people will grab food in the base area just for a bite to eat, turn into bandits, and mess up our base area!"
"I can't leave these people alone!"
"As Deputy Chief of Staff Shen said... Our Eighth Route Army is an army of ordinary people. We would rather starve ourselves than watch the villagers starve to death in front of us..."
"Not only did it violate the policy, but I couldn't get over it psychologically!"
Kong Jie took it seriously and said: "Yoshio Shinozuka has arranged a dead end for us!"
"But no matter how great the difficulty is, we can't defeat our Eighth Route Army..."
"The worst case scenario is that we will fight against the Japanese and puppet troops. We will concentrate our superior troops and firepower to destroy the enemy's blockade and reconnect the base area with the outside world!"
Huang Yu shook his head and analyzed Kong Jie's words.
"Captain, I think this is the worst possible outcome. We will never use it lightly unless absolutely necessary!"
"If there is only one blockade around the base area, we can establish contact with the outside world by breaking the blockade!"
"In addition to the blockade, there is also a 20-kilometer-wide circular no-man's land outside. Even if we break the blockade, ordinary people will not dare to cross this no-man's land at will. Food and salt from outside will still be unable to flow into the base area. !”
"The Japanese blockade is not that easy to break. There are gun towers and bunkers everywhere... There are also many important fortresses built with steel bars and cement. Heavy artillery may not be useful!"
"If we decide to attack the blockade, we will definitely face a tough battle. If we are not careful, we will end up with a lose-lose outcome!"
The small war room fell silent again. Everyone was shocked by Huang Yu's analysis. Their faces became more and more solemn. They frowned, stared at the map, and thought about ways to break the situation.
Kong Jie suddenly thought of something and picked up the second telegram sent by Shen Quan. After reading it, he stared at Huang Yu and said: "The crux of the problem lies in the 400,000 people who have been driven into our base area by the little devils!"
"Limited military rations because they can only last a month!"
"If the base area runs out of food in a month, 400,000 people will immediately become a hidden danger that disrupts the base area!"
"Whether it's to rescue them or to ensure the peace of the base area, we must stabilize these 400,000 people!"
"It's best to take full control of them and let them integrate into the base and be used by me!"
Huang Yu followed Kong Jie's words and suggested: "Commander, if I just control these hundreds of thousands of people without considering the food problem, and let them be used for my use, I have a good idea!"
"Aren't we going to expand the army? The new recruits for the expanded army will all be selected from 400,000 ordinary people. We will first recruit the most capable young adults to join the army and become one of us!"
"If we recruit three thousand troops, it means that three thousand households will support us. If we include the relatives of these recruits, at least tens of thousands of households will support us!"
"Gather the remaining young men together and build water conservancy projects in the base area, dig wells, clear wasteland, build their own houses, work for relief, and exchange their own labor for rations for their families!"
"All civilians who enter the base area are to be separated!"
"One hundred households form a team and are assigned to a place. The local government will divide the area to resettle them. The nearest guerrilla group will help manage the young people in the village, organize them to work, and distribute food to them!"
"The guerrilla forces in each village in the base area are basically the same squad. A dozen guerrillas can manage more than a hundred young men. It should be easy!"
"Even if there are Japanese and puppet army spies hidden among these ordinary people, the guerrillas in each village can keep a close eye on them and they will be discovered if they reveal even the slightest flaw!"
As soon as Kong Jie heard this, he turned his attention to Li Wensheng: "Xiao Huang, this is a good idea!"
"There is strength in numbers... Let's disperse all the people who enter the base area... If there is an accident in the future, these people will be scattered and will not be able to disrupt our base area!"
"The guerrillas in each village are local people, and they want local stability more than anyone else. They will definitely do their best to keep an eye on the people who enter the base area to prevent them from disturbing their peaceful life!"
Li Wensheng answered the call while recording: "I will arrange this matter..."
"We will make a plan soon and have each main battalion allocate a company of troops to do this!"
"Make sure you miss a common person who enters our base area!"
After he finished speaking, he changed the topic and continued: "But our food gap is still not solved!"
"Without food, no matter how well we arrange the arrangements for hundreds of thousands of people, they will still go hungry!"
"If there are hungry people who are robbing food and causing sabotage in the base area... we can't just use guns to attack them!"
The brows that Kong Jie and Huang Yu had just relaxed wrinkled again.
Especially Kong Jie, as an old revolutionary, had eaten grass roots and gnawed tree bark when crossing the grassland, and he had truly experienced the feeling of being hungry.
I know that once a person is hungry, he can do anything.
After thinking for a while, he made a decision: "This crisis is not only related to the life and death of the independent regiment, but also related to the safety of the entire base area. All military and civilians should work together to solve this difficulty!"
"In the name of the independent regiment, we asked the people in the base area to borrow food..."
"One pound is not much, ten pounds is not much..."
"If every citizen in the base area lends us ten kilograms of grain, we will have more than twenty million kilograms of grain in hand!"
"Sparing a little on food can help 400,000 people survive for four more months..."
Li Wensheng thought about it and replied: "Let the villagers dig more wild vegetables in the local area to eat. It shouldn't be a big problem to save ten kilograms of food per person..."
"But will the folks lend it to us?"
"To put it another way, even if we borrow food, there will still be two months until the autumn harvest. What else can we eat by then?"
Kong Jie replied: "Everyone is profit-seeking. As long as it is beneficial, everyone will definitely be willing to lend us food!"
"This is what I think. If you lend us ten kilograms of grain now, when the autumn harvest comes, our independent group will pay back eleven kilograms... and so on..."
"Everyone should keep the grain borrowing voucher. After the autumn harvest, it can be used directly to deduct public grain. The standard of borrowing ten kilograms and deducting eleven kilograms will still be implemented!"
Huang Yu suddenly interrupted: "I will solve the remaining two months of food shortage in the base!"
"There are still four to five months in between. I don't believe we can't even get millions of kilograms of food back!"
"Even if I really can't get the food back, I can still get other food for everyone to eat..."
"If the regiment believes in me, I will take over this important task now!"
Dingjiazhuang assaulted the battalion headquarters. When Huang Yu returned here, he told the task of raising food.
Zhong Chengjun thought Huang Yu had brought back some good news, and was looking at him expectantly.
As soon as he finished listening, the expectant expression on his face was replaced by solemnity, and he replied helplessly: "Batalion Commander... if you ask us to collect food at this time, it would be better to kill us!"
"There is only so much food in the base area, and there are hundreds of thousands more mouths at once. No matter how much we save on food, it won't be enough!"
"There will definitely not be a single grain raised internally!"
"Although there is food outside, it is useless if it cannot be transported back... I think you should be prepared in advance for failure to complete the task!"
Huang Yu knew how difficult this task was, otherwise the regiment commander and chief of staff wouldn't have racked their brains to think of a way to solve the problem.
If they don't open their mouth to accept this important task, they won't be able to sleep peacefully from tonight on.
He answered bravely: "No matter how difficult this task is, we must complete it..."
"Otherwise, the small fortune that the Independent Group managed to win in northwest Shanxi will be finished!"
"I think we can think about the problem in a different way!"
"Food not only includes the white flour, millet, cereals, sweet potatoes that we usually eat... but also all kinds of meat. Can we think about it from this aspect!"
“Eating meat fills your stomach more than eating grains, and it’s also more nutritious!”
"Under normal circumstances, one pound of meat can at least be worth two to three pounds of grain..."
Zhong Chengjun felt that he had heard a big joke, and said with a look of disbelief on his face: "There is not enough food to eat, how can there be meat!"
"Take pork as an example. Without food, if you just feed it pig grass, it won't grow meat no matter how long you feed it!"
"Chickens are the same...if you don't give them food, they won't even be able to lay eggs, let alone grow meat!"
Huang Yu was not angry because of Zhong Chengjun's rebuttal, but instead said with bright eyes: "Old Zhong, you are my lucky star..."
"Just now I didn't know what kind of livestock could raise without consuming food and still provide us with meat!"
"You just reminded me that I had an idea!"
"Let's raise chickens!"
"Go to the group leader immediately and borrow five hundred yuan... use it all to buy eggs. The more the better, send them all to Dingjiazhuang!"
"I want to set up a chicken farm in Dingjiazhuang!"
"Tell this to the regiment leader and ask him to order all the soldiers in the regiment to dig up earthworms for me..."
"A company must dig up at least two thousand earthworms... They must be alive. Send them to Dingjiazhuang as quickly as possible. I will be of great use..."
"Borrow me the generator from the regiment headquarters and ask for more diesel. The faster the better..."
Seeing Zhong Chengjun hurriedly rush out of the war room, Huang Yu immediately turned his attention to Wei Dayong: "Dayong... you immediately gather all the sharpshooters from the assault camp to form a hunting team..."
"You lead the team yourself and go into the mountains to hunt immediately..."
"As long as you can eat it, no matter what the prey is, I will kill it for you!"
"But you must not leave the defense area of our assault camp!"
"The long iron pillar is responsible for fishing. There are two rivers passing through the assault camp defense area, and there are many fish in them!"
"I don't care whether you use a net or a dam, try to catch all the big fish in the river that are more than half a catty, and let go of the small fish that are less than half a catty!"
"I want to test how much food our commando battalion can save in a day with a steady stream of prey and fish substitutes for food!"
"If the number is large, I will immediately ask other battalions to form hunting and fishing teams!"
After receiving the mission, Wei Dayong and Zhang Tiezhu left the war room at the same time, leaving only Wang Minghua eagerly watching Huang Yu wait for the mission.
Seeing that Huang Yu kept staring at the map without speaking, Wang Minghua became more and more anxious as he waited. He couldn't help but remind him: "Battalion Commander, you can't favor one or the other... The soldiers from the Third Company are waiting for me at the station. If they know that I am empty-handed, But when we return, the first company and the second company both have missions, so I, as the company commander, can no longer be the captain!"
"Good steel is used on the blade, why are you anxious?" Huang Yu said, staring at the map on the table without even raising his head.
"Hunting and fishing can only respond to emergencies... With so many troops, no matter how many prey there are in the base area, they will all be eaten up!"
"If we want to solve the problem of food shortage in the base area once and for all, the best way is to master a transportation channel from the outside world to the base area and continuously supply the base area with food!"
The anxious look on Wang Minghua's face did not relax because of Huang Yu's words.
The latest situation between the enemy and ourselves is clearly marked on the map.
The Japanese and puppet troops blockaded the base area with artillery towers, strongholds, and bunkers... They were densely packed around the base area, even the inaccessible mountain roads were not spared. The entire blockade line could not be described as airtight.
If the commando battalion wants to establish a new transportation and supply line on this blockade line, it will definitely be more difficult than climbing to the sky.
Frowning, he analyzed: "Battal Commander... At the very least, the food supply lines must be able to use mules and horses... There are only six small and large roads in total, and they are all cut off by heavy Japanese and puppet troops..."
"No matter where we attack, the Japanese will know immediately and send more troops to compete with us for transportation lines!"
"You can only control a transportation line for a few hours at most. If you want to completely control it like before, the possibility is almost zero!"
"If it's not possible, let's create it ourselves!" Huang Yu insisted on his decision. After looking at it for another two minutes, he suddenly picked up a pencil and drew a circle on three of the strongholds!
Wang Minghua looked puzzled. Just as he was about to ask questions, Huang Yu had already begun to issue an order: "Send out all the three sudden companies, keep an eye on these three strongholds, and find out the situation of all the four puppet troops in the strongholds within ten days. The more detailed the better, especially They are the company commander, deputy company commander, and several platoon commanders of the puppet army..."
"We need to find out where our hometown is and how many people there are!"
"In a while, you go to the deputy battalion commander to approve three hundred yuan to buy intelligence!"
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