It was freezing cold in early winter, but the guerrilla recruitment points in each village were packed with people as if they were celebrating a festival, with people enthusiastically signing up to join the army.
The young men in each village were able to actively respond to the call to join the guerrillas. In addition to the experience of being humiliated, the actions of the guerrillas won the support of the people.
"Join the guerrillas to protect your loved ones, your crops, and your own property!"
"If you join the guerrillas, you won't be bullied!"
"Stand up and fight bravely, don't be a coward!"
...
The newly formed propaganda team of the guerrillas also took active action, painting slogans and unfurling banners in each village, performing anti-Japanese performances to kill Japanese invaders, and actively mobilizing people to join the guerrillas.
The propaganda slogans put out by Yang Ling and others are not so empty, but are easy to understand and easy for the people to understand, and have won unanimous praise.
Wang Huzi and Wu Changqing's two combat companies still took turns to attack the Japanese artillery towers, checkpoints and strongholds near Qinghe Town.
The main force of the Japanese Japs in the county has been deployed to the northern region to encircle and suppress the guerrillas. Although the guard squadron leader Sadao Kasai sent several telegrams requesting reinforcements, they all ended in vain.
In desperation, Kasai Sadao, the captain of the Japanese guard squadron stationed in Qinghe Town, could only order to shrink the defense, abandon some peripheral strongholds, and shrink his troops to the surrounding villages of Qinghe Town.
As a result, most of the more than 20 villages under the jurisdiction of Qinghe Town were recaptured by the Third Guerrilla Detachment, and Yang Ling and the others had completely established a foothold in this area.
Of course, Yang Ling also knew that the little devils were now stretched thin, which was why they had allowed them to recover so many villages. If the main force of the little devils was freed up, they would definitely turn around and deal with them.
Therefore, he did not dare to be careless. On the one hand, he sent intelligence personnel to actively pay attention to the movements of the Japs, and on the other hand, he actively expanded the military and prepared for war to enhance the strength of the Third Guerrilla Detachment.
Now the headquarters of the Third Guerrilla Detachment has all been moved to Xiaowangzhuang, and the plaque on the Liu Family Courtyard has been taken down and replaced with the signboard of the Third Guerrilla Detachment Headquarters.
The original Yangjiawan camp has now been transformed into a secret training camp, ready to be used for military training.
The guard platoon under the detachment was also transferred to Xiaowangzhuang to take charge of security guard work. Wang Dongming, the former guard platoon leader, was promoted to the chief instructor of the recruit training camp, and the platoon leader was replaced by Hu Zi.
Hu Zi first served as Yang Ling's orderly, and later became squad leader and platoon leader. He was also very familiar with the guard platoon.
It's just that the last time the guerrilla detachment was short of troops, he was demoted to the rank of guard squad leader when the team was downsized. Now that he is back in charge of the guard platoon, it can be regarded as his official reinstatement.
Huzi attaches great importance to the security work of the guerrilla detachment. Under his personal arrangement, the entire headquarters is heavily guarded with five steps, one sentry, three steps and one post. It can be said that it is difficult for even a fly to fly in.
"Report!"
Wang Dongming, the chief instructor of the recruit training camp, finally arrived at the door of Yang Ling's office after passing the various checkpoints of the security platoon officers and soldiers.
"Come in."
After Yang Ling scared off the Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Brigade, he also listed military expansion and war preparations as his top priority and personally guided the advancement of various tasks.
"Seat down!" After Wang Dongming entered the room, he stood at attention and saluted Yang Ling.
As the saying goes, people are in high spirits when happy events happen. Now that he has been promoted to the chief instructor of the recruit training camp, Wang Dongming is also in an especially good mood.
"How is the recruitment situation going?" Yang Ling asked while gesturing Wang Dongming to sit down.
Wang Dongming had been a veteran of Yang Ling for a long time, so he was naturally uninhibited and grabbed a bench and sat down.
"Regiment, so far, we have recruited 815 new recruits, and there is still an endless stream of people signing up from each village. It is expected to recruit more than a thousand people." Wang Dongming reported excitedly.
The original establishment of their third guerrilla detachment was two battalions, but most of them were lost in the battle of Qinghe Town, so that after Yang Ling arrived, they had to downsize to optimize combat effectiveness.
"So many?" Yang Ling was surprised to hear that so many people from several villages had signed up to join the guerrillas.
Wang Dongming said with a smile: "Thanks to the vigorous propaganda of the military propaganda team, many recruits were inspired by the propaganda. They said that joining the guerrillas was to protect their homes and crops, so they all came."
Wang Dongming initially felt that Yang Ling's newly established publicity team was unnecessary, but he did not expect that it would have such a great effect, and he admired Yang Ling immensely.
"They did a good job in promoting their work. It seems that I have to praise them." Yang Ling also laughed and joked.
Yang Ling knew very well that in addition to the efforts of the propaganda team, the image they had recently established of strict military discipline and genuine fighting against Japanese invaders had played a very good role.
If they are a team with loose discipline and horizontality in the countryside, I am afraid that no matter how powerful the propaganda team is, the people will still not come to join them, so a good image is very important.
"In this way, when you go back, you will stop recruiting new soldiers, reorganize them and take them back to Yangjiawan to start training." Yang Ling thought for a moment and then ordered Wang Dongming.
"Tuan Zuo, didn't you say the more the merrier? Why don't you recruit more?" Wang Dongming was also puzzled by Yang Ling's order.
Yang Ling explained with a smile: "At first I thought that if we could recruit three to four hundred people, it would be enough. The more, the better. But now it will be close to a thousand people. If there are more, our weapons, ammunition and food will not be enough."
Although Yang Ling and the others had seized a batch of weapons and ammunition from the Japanese and puppet troops, the two combat companies had been out fighting these days and consumed a lot of bullets.
The seized guns are still in the warehouse, but rifles without bullets are no different from fire sticks. We can't let the recruits fight with empty guns.
The most important thing is that these recruits are all recruited from nearby villages, and the recruits are young and strong laborers from various households.
All these recruitments into the army will inevitably lead to a shortage of labor force in each village. So whether it is tending crops or working in the fields, it will not work without young and strong labor force.
It is precisely based on the above reasons that Yang Ling decided to suspend the recruitment of new recruits and let the first batch of recruits complete military training to increase their combat effectiveness.
As the saying goes, it is easier to recruit than to raise an army. After recruiting nearly a thousand new soldiers, a day's work would consume a lot of food. Now that they are behind enemy lines, they don't have that much supplies, so they can only stop in moderation.
Wang Dongming didn't understand why Yang Ling stopped recruiting new soldiers at first, but now he suddenly understood after hearing this explanation.
"Regiment leader, then I'm going to tell you to suspend the recruitment of new recruits." Wang Dongming said as he stood up and walked out.
"Don't worry, wait until I finish speaking." Yang Ling smiled bitterly when he saw Wang Dongming being so impatient and stopped him.