The first thousand two hundred and fifty-two chapters for food
The bandits near Xiaoqingshan were spying on the finances of the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps, and under the instigation of Wang Laohu, the head of Hutou Village, they prepared to temporarily join forces to do something big.
As the saying goes, people die for wealth and birds die for food. In this war-torn era, the bandits have no family and country in mind, but focus more on their personal interests.
The Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps is affiliated to the Sulu War Zone, but these bandits who are so obsessed with money can't care so much. At worst, they will fly away after doing this. Chongqing is now struggling to deal with the little devils, let alone send troops.
People are coming to deal with them.
After the meeting, the bandit leaders left Hutou Village and returned to their respective residences, where they made dry food, distributed ammunition and weapons, and began to prepare for the upcoming battle.
While these bandits were secretly planning to attack the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps that had retreated to Xiaoqingshan, the people from the intelligence office sent by Zhang Liechen also made inquiries from many sources and found out the situation of the surrounding bandits and other forces.
Zhang Liechen and the others have just entered the mountains and have not yet established a foothold, and there are very few officers and soldiers who can fight, so Zhang Liechen does not want to conflict with these bandits, at least until Yang Ling comes back, he will not conflict with these bandits.
In order to stabilize these bandits and prevent them from causing harm to the people under the command of the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps, Zhang Liechen also prepared many gifts and sent people to deliver them to various mountain villages.
Firstly, it was to spy on the reaction of the bandits, and secondly, it was to express an attitude. They are all Chinese and should fight foreign wars with the same guns. The Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps is not willing to be their enemy.
The things delivered to the door were not free of charge, and the bandits in each village happily accepted them, and then patted their chests and said that if they needed anything, just give them an order, and each village would help.
Of course, the people sent to deliver the gifts saw that the bandits were so talkative and did not become suspicious. However, they did not know that the bandits were preparing to fight them.
"It seems these bandits still have some conscience."
When the people sent to deliver the gifts reported that the bandits had no unusual reactions and accepted the gifts happily, Zhang Liechen was completely relieved.
"Since we don't need to worry about safety for the time being, our food will not last long. The first priority now is to seize the time to open up wasteland and plant the seeds as soon as possible. Otherwise, in a few months, we will be hungry.
."
Zhang Liechen was also foresighted, knowing that if they wanted to establish a foothold in this mountain, they could not just build some houses and settle down, but more importantly, food. If they could not produce food by themselves, they would probably fall apart by then.
"But sir, we sent people to search many places and found that the water resources here are scarce and the land is dry. The rice seeds we brought from Huaiyin cannot be planted here."
Zhang Liechen and the others did not know much about the situation in the mountains except for the mountainous area in southern Shandong. They thought they could build terraces modeled on the mountainous areas in the south and use mountain spring water for irrigation.
But who would have thought that the brothers who were sent out searched for several days and found that there was a small stream with a small flow of water around Xiaoqingshan. The drinking water was enough, but if it was used for irrigation, there would be no harvest.
Zhang Liechen had never thought of this problem. Only after hearing the reports from his subordinates did he realize the seriousness of the problem.
The rice and other seeds brought here cannot be planted in the mountainous area of southern Shandong, which means that spring farming will be unsustainable, and I am afraid that I will really be hungry by then.
"Is there any solution?" Zhang Liechen asked solemnly.
"Yes, yes. Even if you grow drought-tolerant crops in dry land, such as sorghum and peanuts, if you take care of them well, the harvest should be good, but..."
This brother said half of what he said, and then he stopped talking.
"But what? Finish your words." Zhang Liechen ordered.
"But we don't have enough seeds. Now the outside of the mountain has been blocked by puppet troops and Japanese soldiers. We can't buy them even if we want to go out." This brother said helplessly.
"How about I take some brothers out into the mountains and buy some."
Seeing everyone's sad faces, the battalion commander Zheng Gang suggested.
"Now we don't have enough manpower to protect Xiaoqingshan. If we take away some more, the defense will be weak. Moreover, there are puppet troops and Japanese soldiers everywhere outside. The risk is too great. I can't let you take this risk.
"But we don't have enough drought-resistant seeds, so we won't be able to do spring plowing..." Everyone was worried.
"Why don't we go to the local villagers to ask for some, and then return it to them when the harvest comes." Someone soon suggested.
"This method is good. The local villagers must have left seeds at home, and they are more suitable for local land cultivation than what we are looking for!"
Battalion Commander Zheng Gang immediately slapped his head and cursed himself for not thinking of it.
"The food saved by the local villagers now is life-saving food. If we borrow it and use it as seeds and then return it after the harvest, they may be hungry during this period, so I have a small suggestion, that is, use the food that we cannot cultivate.
Go and trade with them..."
"That makes sense. We must think carefully and not let the local villagers go hungry."
After everyone discussed it, they finally decided to take the food they brought into the mountains to local villagers' homes in exchange for food seeds suitable for local cultivation, and this task fell directly on the head of the Director of Military Supplies, Sun Chong.
Sun Zhong, the director of the munitions department, is now the director of the munitions department, but the munitions department also has ammunition storage, procurement and other departments, so he is like a hands-off shopkeeper. If anything is done, he will directly leave it to the people below him.
It was very important to go to the local village to coordinate the exchange of food, so Zhang Liechen asked Sun Zhong, who always handled matters safely, to go there.
Sun Zhong was in charge of the military supplies of the entire Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps, and had never made any mistakes. After receiving the mission, he did not dare to neglect it. He immediately took two guards and went straight to the nearest Qingshan Village.
Qingshan Village is located at the foothills of Xiaoqingshan. Although it is close to the bandit Black Wolf Village, they turn in food and other supplies on time every year. Heilang Village follows the principle that rabbits do not eat grass beside their nests, so they do not do much to Qingshan Village.
Disaster.
There are only a few dozen households in Qingshan Village. The wooden houses are scattered among the trees, and some reclaimed land is around their houses.
Now the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps has left two private units near Heilang Village. The people have built residences not far from Qingshan Village and are reclaiming wasteland to grow food.
After the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps arrived at Xiaoqingshan, the military discipline was strict and no offense was committed. It did not have much impact on the local villagers. Even the people who were reclaiming wasteland were looking for unclaimed land to reclaim.
When Sun Zhong appeared in Qingshan Village with two guards, the simple villagers of Qingshan Village were shocked, and the village elder hurriedly welcomed him out.