The weather was cold and gloomy, and the commanders of various departments gathered in the conference room, rubbing their hands and stamping their feet.
The light in the conference room was very weak, which forced the guards to hang kerosene lamps in several corners. The black smoke emitted when the lamp wicks burned soon smoked the yellow mud wall above into a fan-shaped black spread, and there was smoke everywhere in the conference room.
There was a burning smell that made people feel breathless.
There were a lot of cadres coming to the meeting this time, and the entire conference room was crowded with people shoulder to shoulder. When Wang Xuexin rushed to the conference room, he stood at the door and was stunned for a moment. He looked at the packed room in front of him, which was like a stuffy boxcar, and he felt a little agitated.
I doubt I can squeeze in.
Moreover, it was filled with cadres of regimental commander and above, so I, the platoon leader, was a little embarrassed to squeeze in.
What's even worse is the smell coming out of the room. It's really hard to describe...
It was common for the Eighth Route Army to not take a shower for several months when they were busy fighting. To be precise, it was not the Eighth Route Army, but people in this era rarely took a shower.
On the one hand, this is because I live in poverty and have no time or energy to take care of personal hygiene. On the other hand, there is strong wind and sand in this area. Not long after taking a bath, the wind and sand blow, and my whole body is covered with gray and white.
That’s why there is a legend that people in Shaanxi used to only take baths three times in their lives: birth, marriage, and death.
Wang Xuexin usually doesn't feel that so many people are crowded together now, and the smell of sweat, foot odor, body odor, and kerosene are all mixed together... If the chief of staff hadn't called for Wang Xuexin to participate, Wang Xuexin would have really wanted to steal it.
Slip away.
How about we stand outside and listen?
Or holding a notebook and pretending to take notes?
Wang Xuexin touched his body and found that there was not even a piece of paper in his pocket, let alone a pen.
At this time, someone inside recognized Wang Xuexin.
"Isn't this Little Northeast? Come on, there's still land here!"
"It's cold outside, but it's warm inside!"
…
Wang Xuexin pretended to be polite and declined one by one.
Li Yunlong was also sitting inside. He turned around after hearing the voice and yelled at Wang Xuexin: "They are all grown men, why should they be so coy? Move quickly!"
In desperation, Wang Xuexin could only force his way in.
I kept thinking in my mind, how great it would be if I had a mask right now!
Soon the chief and the chief of staff came in through the front door. They looked very busy, and they were flipping through the documents in their hands and discussing something with each other as they walked.
As soon as they entered the door, the originally noisy conference room suddenly became quiet.
The chief of staff spoke first. He passed the document down and shouted: "Please pass on whatever you can't receive later. There are quite a few comrades attending the meeting today, and the content of the meeting is also quite large, so we will summarize it first."
A summary of the meeting, lest comrades miss it!"
Wang Xuexin also received one. He took the document and looked at it. It contained the difficulties faced by the base recently. The first one was the enemy's military and economic blockade, the second one was material plundering, and the third one.
Article 4...
Before Wang Xuexin had time to take a closer look, the chief of staff held up the document and said: "Comrades have all seen it. It should be said that they have experienced it personally. The enemy has adopted a strict military blockade and economic blockade against our army. While blocking it, he also used
The legal currency carried out crazy plunder on my base area. This method was very vicious, and we were unprepared and even caught off guard."
After a pause, the chief of staff continued: "Fortunately, we have adopted a series of measures to reduce losses. However, the enemy will not give up. They will continue to plunder our base area. At the same time, they are guerrillas
The team also made big moves.”
After saying that, he asked the guard to hang up a spider web-like terrain map, then pointed at the terrain map and said:
"This was drawn after we integrated the information obtained by our reconnaissance and intelligence personnel. The road recently built by the enemy is different from that in the past."
"First, they connected the bunkers with deep ditches and high fortresses, so that the bunkers could quickly reinforce each other."
"Second, the roads connecting the bunkers are 5 feet higher than the ground. The trenches on both sides are 8 feet to 1 feet deep, the trench bottom is 6 feet wide, and the trench surface is 16 feet. Such ditches and roads can be used directly as trenches."
"Third, the Japanese use such roads to divide the guerrilla areas into small isolated areas that cannot be reinforced by each other, so as to facilitate their successive search and suppression operations!"
"Fourth, in addition to these north-south barrier highways, the Japanese have also built many east-west highways. The purpose is to allow their cars to maneuver at high speeds on the highways to quickly reinforce the front line, thus making up for their lack of troops!"
The regiment leaders in the conference room were talking a lot, and some people still didn't understand the relationship between the last words of the chief of staff, which were "road mobility and insufficient troops."
Wang Xuexin knew what was going on.
On the surface, highway mobility seems to be a matter of maneuverability and reaction speed, but in fact it is more important to make up for the lack of troops.
For example, two areas of the Japanese Army, A and B, were attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and both areas needed reinforcements.
If there are no roads between the two places and the reinforcements are unable to reinforce the two places in time, it is equivalent to no reinforcements.
Or maybe there is only time to reinforce one place, which is equivalent to having only one reinforcement.
If roads extend in all directions, reinforcements can first reinforce area A and then quickly reinforce area B. This is equivalent to using one unit on the battlefield twice, playing twice the role, and having two supporting armies.
Therefore, road construction coupled with automobile maneuvers, in addition to reaction speed, is a force multiplier, which can enable the Japanese army's limited force to exert twice or even more combat effectiveness.
Obviously, after Okamura Ningji's attempt to seize the mountainous area and build fortifications on the highlands to block the Eighth Route Army with a small number of troops failed, he hoped to make full use of the advantages of the plains to maximize the combat effectiveness of the limited troops.
The chief took over at this time. He pointed to the terrain map and said: "We have analyzed this tactic and believe that its basic characteristics are to use railways as pillars, roads as chains, bunkers as locks, and then use ditches and walls as auxiliary operations.
They imposed a blockade on the guerrilla areas. At the same time, they also carried out a 'clearing the countryside movement' in the guerrilla areas to control schools and implement enslavement education!"
The leader turned around, faced the cadres present, and said: "The situation is much more complicated and serious than we imagined! If the enemy is allowed to build these roads, it will make it extremely difficult for the soldiers and civilians in the guerrilla zone to persist in fighting the enemy.
situation. If we allow the enemy to launch a 'rural clearing campaign' in the guerrilla areas, we will likely encounter misunderstanding and opposition from the fellow villagers in the near future. This is draining money from the bottom of the cauldron! We must never let the enemy's conspiracy succeed!"
At this time, Wang Xuexin realized that a battle against the Japanese to blockade and destroy their communication lines was about to begin.