Wang Xuexin originally thought that the supplementary troops this time would be guerrillas as before.
Although the quality of the guerrillas is not very good, they have a good spirit and high motivation. Most of them have a bloody feud with the Japanese. They stand firm and fight resolutely.
There is nothing to be picky about with such a source of soldiers, all they need is training and polishing.
However, Wang Xuexin soon discovered that he had thought too much.
The training camp where Wang Xuexin was located was the former station of the Independent Regiment. This hilltop was called "Oxhorn Mountain" by the soldiers because it was long and curved and resembled an ox's horn.
When the Independent Regiment moved in, dozens of wooden houses were built in this area, and they were now used as barracks by Wang Xuexin.
The weather was getting colder and colder. Since there was no kang in the wooden house, in order to resist the cold wind, the soldiers tried their best to fill the gaps between the wood with waste paper, rags and even weeds. The whole wooden house looked like
Full of patches, it looks like a beggar emerging from a garbage dump with many things hanging on it.
But even so, the soldiers were still shivering from the cold at night... The harsh cold wind penetrated every hole, getting through any gap that could come in, and then took away the body temperature of the soldiers bit by bit.
Wang Xuexin was lucky, he was only frozen for one night.
The feeling of being frozen was uncomfortable. I was half asleep and half awake all night. I was woken up by the cold while sleeping, and fell asleep again after being woken up by the cold. Sometimes I really wanted to not sleep at all and run a few laps to warm myself up.
Su Xin came the next day. She was wearing a round brimmed hat, a gray belted coat, and a large white scarf around her neck. She looked quite fashionable.
After entering the room, she put the washbasin and sack in her hand aside, and asked in a reproachful tone: "Classmate Xiao Wang, why didn't you say anything when you came?"
"Don't I have a mission?" Wang Xuexin stomped his feet while flipping through the training records, and replied without raising his head: "You are not as free as you, Director Su!"
Su Xin made a "cut" sound and said: "It's only two miles from here to the arsenal. If you have a mission, it won't take that long, right?"
Wang Xuexin didn't answer. In fact, his mind was full of training and he didn't even think about going to the arsenal.
Su Xin helped Wang Xuexin clean up the house and said, "If you don't go, I'm afraid you won't be able to see the arsenal!"
"What?" Wang Xuexin was stunned, raised his head and asked, "The arsenal is moving? The director didn't say anything. Where will it be moved?"
Su Xin smiled and said: "While we are still in Lujiagou, the factory director may think that there is nothing to say! Have you forgotten the tunnels that you built before? For safety reasons, the director moved the arsenal into tunnels and caves in batches.
Part of it has been moved now!”
Wang Xuexin said "Oh" and then curiously asked Su Xin, who was pouring something into the basin: "What are you doing?"
"Charcoal!" Su Xin casually picked up a few leaked strands back into the basin and replied: "The factory director asked for it. He said that you don't have a kang here. You can light the charcoal to make a fire during the day and stuff it under the bed at night.
It won’t be cold anymore!”
Wang Xuexin said "Oh" and secretly said that Zhang Wanhe was really thoughtful.
Later I found out that Zhang Wanhe didn't know about this at all, that Wang Xuexin had been deceived by Su Xin, and that Su Xin had saved all the charcoal for the winter.
When Wang Xuexin found out about this, he thought carelessly, isn't it just a pot of charcoal? It's not worth a lot of money, so why would he beat around the bush and say it was given by someone else?
However, this charcoal really works. After lighting it, the temperature in the room is much higher. When you put it aside, it feels warm, and you can sleep warm at night.
Inspired by this, Wang Xuexin asked the soldiers to go up the mountain to collect firewood, and then burn charcoal to keep warm... During this period, everything was in short supply, and no matter what, you had to do it yourself.
On this day, Wang Xuexin was watching the soldiers training when he saw a troop carrying rifles walking in neat formation from a distance.
Wang Xuexin didn't pay attention at first, thinking it was a friendly force passing by, but when he saw the chief of staff next to him, he felt something was wrong.
Is this unit just a replacement force?
Aren't you the promised recruits?
It looks like a trained army!
The chief of staff stepped forward and saluted Wang Xuexin, and then introduced the soldiers around him: "This is Comrade Xie Baolin, you should have met him!"
"Have you seen him before?" Wang Xuexin was stunned and looked at the soldier named Xie Baolin.
This was a smooth-looking, fair-skinned soldier with a bit of bookishness, who seemed unlike the Eighth Route Army soldiers he had seen before.
Looking at the soldiers behind Xie Baolin, Wang Xuexin understood... They were puppet troops, surrendered puppet troops.
Sure enough, the next second I saw Xie Baolin standing up and shouting: "Hello, sir, we met in Yucun! You are on the tank, and I am the captain who surrendered to you!"
Wang Xuexin:……
Damn it, not just the puppet army, but the puppet army that he captured with his own hands!
But it was dark at the time, and Xie Baolin was wearing a puppet army uniform, so I didn't recognize him for a while.
Seeing that Wang Xuexin looked wrong, the chief of staff took Wang Xuexin aside and asked: "Comrade Wang Xuexin, do you have any thoughts about Comrade Xie Baolin?"
"Chief of Staff!" Wang Xuexin said: "You can bring in some guerrillas or even fellow villagers who volunteer to join the army. How can you bring puppet troops?"
"Hey, they are not puppet troops now!" the chief of staff replied: "They surrendered in Yucun. Didn't you lead them back to the city wall to defeat the Japanese? They still have a share of the credit for Yucun being able to win.
!”
"But Chief of Staff!" Wang Xuexin said: "The situation was different at that time. They were trying to save their lives..."
"Comrade Wang Xuexin!" the chief of staff interrupted Wang Xuexin: "Everyone has this process. We don't investigate what happened in the past. As long as they are willing to change their ways, we should treat them equally and give them a chance. You are prejudiced against them.
, such an attitude is wrong!”
Wang Xuexin was speechless.
Wang Xuexin understands the truth. Regardless of the stubborn soldiers, puppet soldiers or bandits, the Eighth Route Army adopts an attitude of leniency and active struggle.
On the one hand, this is because the Eighth Route Army adheres to the policy of "uniting all forces that can be united"; on the other hand, it is to disintegrate the enemy's rustic and break through the enemy's psychological defense line.
Just imagine, if the Eighth Route Army could truly let go of enemies who surrendered and surrendered, wouldn't there be many puppet troops, and the stubborn troops would think when fighting the Eighth Route Army... Or forget it, surrender, it will be the Eighth Route Army, and I can start over.
!
As a result, the morale and will to fight quickly disintegrated, the battle became easier, and the chance of victory was greater.
Therefore, although everyone knows that the puppet army is not determined, today they may surrender to the Eighth Route Army because they are greedy for life and fear death, and tomorrow they may surrender to the stubborn army or even the Japanese because of fear of life and death.
Even the bandits are better than them in this regard.
At least Xie Baoqing and the others would rather die than surrender to the Japanese.
But even so, for strategic needs, one must still choose to believe in these puppet troops...
Well, they are not puppet soldiers, they are comrades!