Although the Eighth Route Army achieved victory in the second stage, none of the cadres present had joy on their faces. On the contrary, they all frowned and looked sad.
Wang Xuexin attended this meeting as usual, and he has become a "frequent guest" in tactical meetings.
Just like Li Yunlong said: "Damn it, the purpose of our group leader going to the meeting is to guide Xiao Dongbei. One day, if I don't take him there, the leader will definitely point at my nose and scold: 'Xiao Dongbei'
If you didn’t come, what are you doing here, you prick?'"
The situation is really a bit like what Li Yunlong said.
The more Wang Xuexin came, the more he became familiar with the cadres of each regiment. When he arrived at the conference room, more people greeted Wang Xuexin, but Li Yunlong, the regiment leader, was ignored.
The cadres of each regiment actually intended to show off to Li Yunlong. Li Yunlong's temperament meant that he was willing to win but not lose. No regiment that came into contact with him had ever suffered a loss at his hands. Of course, as time went by, they felt a little unhappy.
Among them, Zhang Wanhe, in particular, asked questions about Wang Xuexin as soon as he saw him, but he didn't give a straight face to Li Yunlong.
Li Yunlong knew in his heart what was going on, so he pretended not to see it and sat there by himself talking nonsense to a few people:
"Oh, isn't it? There's no rice left for the pot!"
“I can’t even drink the sweet potato porridge.”
"Isn't this? I came hungry!"
…
In fact, the situation of the Independent Regiment is not bad, because the recent battles have been very fruitful: they seized a batch of grain when they started the counterattack, then they stopped the train, and they just attacked Yucun, and they handed over several carts of grain every time.
, although it is not much, but together it is quite a lot.
Then there is the addition of salting the edges...
The price of salt has dropped. In fact, it is not that the price of salt has dropped, but that the shortage of food has increased too fast, and the price of salt cannot rise as the price of food.
However, one load of salt can be exchanged for 100 kilograms of rice, which is not a small amount.
It is indeed not as good as usual, but a few hundred loads of salt can be exchanged for tens of thousands of kilograms of grain, and it can continue to be even more in the future. In this difficult period when everyone is hungry, Li Yunlong is in a situation like this.
Got rich.
Therefore, let alone being hungry, the independent group had too much food to eat. Although they could not drink Fenjiu, Li Yunlong drank several bowls of sweet potatoes to get over his addiction before coming.
Li Yunlong would say he was hungry, but he was not showing off his wealth because he was worried that others would be jealous!
But Li Yunlong's lies were quickly exposed.
Because as soon as the chief came in, he shouted to Li Yunlong: "Li Yunlong, I heard that you came back from Dingbian with more than 300 loads of salt? Are you living a good life?"
Li Yunlong was stunned for a while, then replied with a complacent smile: "Chief, isn't that...a bit of luck? I just thought of the front!"
When Kong Jie and his party heard this, they realized that they had been fooled. They rolled their eyes and cursed: "Virtue!"
Li Yunlong secretly thought, "The chief is eyeing these hundreds of bags of salt. He can't even take half of it even if he says so."
If the brigade commander opens his mouth again, he will have to go half way. Isn't this a fool's errand?
Unexpectedly, the chief immediately gave Li Yunlong a reassurance.
"That's great!" the chief said: "What you earn from doing business is different from what is captured on the battlefield. Whoever earns it should get it! Don't be jealous of any of us. If I ask for it from you, I will be making a mistake."
Bandits!"
"Yes, yes!" Li Yunlong nodded quickly: "What the chief said makes sense, and I mean the same!"
In fact, the chief discussed this issue with the chief of staff before coming here.
"Chief, what should Li Yunlong do with the salt he brought back?" the chief of staff asked.
"What should we do?" the chief asked.
"Chief!" said the Chief of Staff: "At the current price, those three hundred packs of salt are equivalent to tens of thousands of kilograms of grain. Other troops are starving, and his independent regiment can't finish it..."
"Hey, you can't say that!" The chief interrupted the chief of staff: "What we are talking about now is 'do it yourself to have enough food and clothing'. Isn't the Independent Group responding to this call? People have done it themselves to have enough food and clothing. We can do it with our own hands."
Why did you pay for his food?"
This sentence made the chief of staff speechless.
"Besides!" the leader continued: "If we hand over the independent regiment's food in just one sentence, wouldn't that be getting something for nothing? Even if we distribute the food to other troops, then the other troops will also get something for nothing. What's more, we are getting something for nothing today.
If you pay the independent group and let him work in vain, won't it dampen people's enthusiasm? Who will dare to break salt next time? Who will dare to 'do it yourself'? Can't we all just wait here to pay?"
The chief of staff understood it when he said this: "So, not only can Li Yunlong not pay the salt, but he must also ensure that others cannot pay it. Whoever wants to be jealous...earn it yourself!"
The chief nodded: "That's the reason!"
That's why the commander made these remarks at the meeting. His purpose was to use the independent regiment as an example to stimulate other troops to "make enough food and clothing by themselves."
"Comrades!" When the leader waited for the venue to quiet down, he said earnestly: "The current situation is very serious! The enemy has stepped up the blockade of the base area, especially the stubborn troops..."
Speaking of this, the chief frowned and his eyes were filled with anger:
"Not only did they impose a blockade on us, they also directly and indirectly sent people into the base area to seize food, destroy and plunder."
"The direct method is to enter our base area and plunder, which can be found everywhere."
"In Guanzhong alone, the stubborn troops rushed into the border area and stole 18 cattle, burned 17 piles of wheat, stole and ruined 150 dan of grain, and extorted hundreds of dollars from silver."
"There were only 53 households in two villages in Niuwu District. They were looted. More than 9,000 kilograms of grain, more than 10,000 kilograms of vegetables, as well as a large number of farm tools, jute and other daily necessities were taken away!"
(Note: These are real data, taken from the memoirs of a certain chief)
The chief of staff continued: "Indirectly, the recalcitrant army funded and even regular soldiers disguised as bandits came to our base area to do evil, burning, killing, looting, and causing serious losses to us!"
Wang Xuexin was a little surprised.
He originally thought that the economic blockade would be to surround it with bunkers and turrets to prevent the flow of supplies, but he didn't expect that it could be done like this!
But when I think about it, I think it’s true.
This did not directly launch a military attack. It could suppress the Eighth Route Army without giving any excuse to undermine "cooperation". Why not?
At the same time, there are quite a few people on the stubborn army side who were born and raised in the base area and are very familiar with the terrain. It is not easy to catch them as bandits.
The chief of staff continued: "On the Japanese side, the strong men were left behind to build fortifications for them, while the old, weak, sick and disabled rushed into the base area. Coupled with the hailstorms in the past few days, our situation has further deteriorated. It can be expected that the situation will be quite serious in the future.