In the division command center located deep in the Taihang Mountains, the communications officer hurriedly found the political commissar and handed him the secret telegram that the national rescue army had just sent.

As soon as the translation was finished, the political commissar smiled: "Teacher Commander, Comrade Zhou Cheng has already obtained the county magistrates of Xiyang and Pingding County. Let us send people to reinforce quickly..."

Although the division commander wanted to know how Zhou Cheng made the war zone compromise, the main business was important and immediately asked: "Are all the people supporting Zhou Cheng ready?"

The political commissar nodded: "I have drawn ten people from the division headquarters and base areas, six local cadres, four workers and technicians dug from the Shanxi Arsenal. Seven of them have arrived at the division headquarters, and three others have rushed over before dark."

The division commander nodded: "A platoon was drawn from the guard battalion to protect them to Xiyang. You must explain them before departure. After arriving in Xiyang, you must not reveal your identity as the Eighth Route Army, and you must unconditionally obey Zhou Cheng's command."

"Our guerrillas in Xiyang must also obey Zhou Cheng's command unconditionally. If he wants to disband the guerrillas, the people below cannot say a word of nonsense, they must obey..."

"From now on, let's leave Xiyang and Pingding to Comrade Zhou Cheng to take care of it, and see how much surprise he can bring to us in a year!"

The political commissar thought for a while and agreed: "Don't doubt people, but don't doubt people. Since we choose to believe in Zhou Cheng, we will give him all the rights we should give. We must not let him be held back and cannot display his talents."

The commander of the Laiyuan Japanese Military Brigade Command was very angry.

Because the reinforcements sent to the Eighth Route Army base in the north of the city were not as powerful as he imagined, and they destroyed the mysterious troops that suddenly appeared there in a short time.

Instead, a whole infantry squadron was lost under the continuous attack of this mysterious unit.

More importantly, the three strongholds he used to block the Eighth Route Army were all broken, the entire garrison was destroyed, and the strongholds were razed to the ground.

Without the obstruction of these strongholds, the Eighth Route Army, which was huddled in the mountains, launched a quick attack, attacking the Imperial Army everywhere in squads and platoons, gathering teams, and establishing bases...

In just two days, the situation in Laiyuan deteriorated to the point where it began to be out of control.

The phone in the war room almost never stopped. After receiving a call, just put down the microphone, the urgent phone ringing rang again. There was an attack in all places and needed help...

The war room also became chaotic, with staff officers, messengers, guards, coming and going, everyone was very busy, making everyone nervous...

The brigade commander doesn't like this atmosphere very much. As the brigade commander, the subordinates in front of him must remain calm and calm no matter what the situation they encounter. This is a necessary quality for becoming a senior officer.

He decided to hit everyone well, and snorted coldly and started to curse.

"Stop it, calm me down. Isn't it just that the Eighth Route Army broke through our blockade line and made trouble in our occupied area? What's the point of panic?"

"They have poor equipment and insufficient ammunition, so what destructive power they can have."

"Order the troops stationed in all the strongholds in the occupied areas to remain unmoved and defend their positions to the death."

"The reinforcements immediately divided the troops and swept the entire defense zone with the reinforcement squadron as a unit, and killed all the Eighth Route Army active in the defense zone!"

The Chief of Staff felt that this was a bit inappropriate. The mysterious troops suddenly emerged from the occupied areas were too powerful and had the strength to swallow a reinforced squadron in one bite.

If they are moving around the reinforcements, wouldn’t the reinforcements be divided now give them a chance to defeat them?

Thinking of this, the Chief of Staff quickly expressed his concerns.

The brigade commander's brow suddenly frowned.

He was so angry that he was just so determined that he wanted to destroy the Eighth Route Army as soon as possible, so he ignored the mysterious unit.

Fortunately, the Chief of Staff promptly reminded him that otherwise the troops would definitely suffer a great loss after they were really divided.

But if the troops were not divided into divisions to deal with these Eighth Route Army and the troops would attack in a concentrated manner, they would be unable to wipe them out.

These Eighth Route Army were too cunning, and they divided their troops into squads and platoons, and they slipped away when they saw that the situation was not good. If they did not form a net around them, surrounded them in advance, and then gathered and annihilated them, relying on only one unit to attack, and when the troops reached the Eighth Route Army's activity area, they would have run out of sight.

For a moment, the brigade commander could not think of a good way to deal with them, so he could only compromise the order to divide the troops and encircle them: "The reinforcement troops should divide the troops into groups to wipe out the Eighth Route Army in the defense zone by using the reinforcement squadron, but the distance between the three reinforcement squadrons cannot exceed five kilometers. If one unit is attacked by the enemy's heavy troops, the other two units must immediately kill the reinforcements, and must kill all the Eighth Route Army in the occupied area..."

When the Japanese army had to gather heavy troops to encircle the Eighth Route Army that suddenly rose behind them, because the gap in the garrison was not yet filled and the troops were seriously insufficient, the blockade line against the National Salvation Army was directly useless, and there were gaps everywhere.

At this moment, the ten people who were superiors who reinforced him easily crossed the blockade line and entered Xiyang.

Before they set out, the political commissar specifically explained that after entering the National Salvation Army defense zone, they could not disclose their identity as the Eighth Route Army, and they had to unconditionally implement the orders of Zhou Cheng, the commander of the National Salvation Army.

But Zhou Cheng, who was standing in front of them, was too young.

Although he is very good at fighting, managing local governments and fighting are two completely different concepts. The political commissar asked everyone to obey Zhou Cheng's command unconditionally. What if he has no experience in managing local governments and commands blindly?

Several cadres who came to manage the local area all showed a worried expression, fearing that Zhou Cheng would take everyone to detours and make a fool of himself!

Zhou Cheng didn't know what they were thinking, but he knew it himself.

I have almost zero local management experience, and I can't be a good county magistrate even if I drive a duck to the shelves.

But he has decades of knowledge than others. Although he can't manage the local area, he can be a good leader. He leads everyone to adapt to local conditions and increase the grain output in the defense zone, and build Xiyang into a logistics base for the National Salvation Army.

That's why he asked the division headquarters for people, hoping that someone would help him manage specific things, and he just needed to master the general direction of Xiyang's development.

After listening to the self-introductions of several people, Zhou Cheng was very happy.

In this era of lack of talents, the division department actually sent two college students to itself.

Although these two college students did not graduate from Peking University, they have served as deputy county magistrates in the Taihang base area and have certain administrative management experience.

If they were asked to take over Xi Yanghe Pingding, they would definitely be able to start working soon.

I was very satisfied with the order when I looked at one of the young people: "Your name is Yi Wenshu. You have been to university and have been the deputy county magistrate for half a year. From today on, you are the deputy county magistrate of Xiyang County. I will temporarily serve as the county magistrate. After all, this is an order from the war zone, but I will not take care of Xiyang's specific government affairs, so you have to do everything that should belong to the county magistrate under the name of the deputy county magistrate."

"I just told the outside that you are a college student I found from outside..."

Yi Wenshu was very happy because their concerns did not happen.

Although Zhou Cheng could command them unconditionally, he did not do the stupid thing of an outsider commanding an insider, but gave them unconditionally power and did the work of a county magistrate as a deputy county magistrate.

Although their reputation is not very good, they are all aspiring party members and don't care about these things at all, otherwise they wouldn't risk their lives to go deep behind enemy lines.

He quickly answered: "President Zhou please rest assured, I will definitely take care of Xiyang for you."

Zhou Cheng continued to order: "You can choose two assistants from the several cadres you came with, strive to take office today, and find out within three days how many villages and population in Yi County are, how much grain can be produced this autumn harvest, and whether it is enough for the villagers' food for a year. The more detailed the data, the better..."

After saying that, without waiting for Yi Wenshu to speak, he immediately turned his attention to another young man: "Your name is He Yong. You have been to university like Yi Wenshu, but you have only been the deputy county magistrate for more than a month. Your administrative management experience is slightly insufficient!"

He Yong saw that he was a cheerful person. After hearing Zhou Cheng’s evaluation of him, he not only did not feel embarrassed, but instead admitted generously without any embarrassment: "Yes, Captain Zhou... Compared with County Mayor Yi, I have less experience."

Zhou Cheng especially likes such straightforward people and immediately ordered: "It doesn't matter if you don't have experience, we can learn slowly!"

"From now on, you will be the deputy county magistrate of Pingding, responsible for all government affairs. Like County Magistrate Yi, you can choose two people as assistants."

"We only control three towns for the current pacification, two of which border the Japanese occupied areas and may fight at any time. However, pacification is more suitable for growing grain than Xiyang and has more land. Almost all the military rations before the National Salvation Army came from these three towns, with a population equivalent to half of Xiyang County, so its importance is no worse than Xiyang."

"I ask you to take office at the latest tomorrow. The county government's headquarters is temporarily set in Donghui Town. You can change the original National Salvation Army of Donghui Town to work by changing the brand."

"Complete all the tasks I assigned to County Mayor Yi within three days!"

He Yong did not take the order immediately, but stared at Zhou Cheng and asked: "Captain, we can definitely complete the task within three days, but there is a problem you must help us solve, otherwise we will not be able to complete the task even if the gods descend to earth."

Zhou Cheng was not surprised that they made requests to him. He had received such a heavy task as soon as he took office and was not familiar with the place he wanted to manage. If he didn't make requests, he would still be worried.

Looking at He Yong, he asked readily: "Tell me..."

"We need manpower!" He Yong answered immediately.

"According to the order you just now, including ourselves, there are only three people in a county. Even if you run off your legs, you will not be able to collect all the information you need within three days."

Zhou Cheng smiled: "Don't worry, everyone has prepared for you, and you are satisfied with it."

"The original Xiyang guerrillas are no longer suitable for continuing to exist, and they will be disbanded secretly today. At that time, all the team members who want to continue to join the army to fight the Japanese will join the National Salvation Army. Those who do not want to join the army can go home and assist you in managing the local area. You will follow me to pick people."
Chapter completed!