The Independent Regiment tried its best to provide great manpower and material support to the people in the disaster area. However, the strength of the Independent Regiment alone was still too small after all. The disaster relief area it could cover was only limited to a few counties around Damei Mountain. However,
Even the surrounding counties have already overwhelmed the independent regiment.
The only good thing is that the Dameishan base area was not affected by the flood.
This is also caused by the special topography of the Meihe Plain, because the Meihe Plain is not only higher than the Wanzhong Plain, but also surrounded by mountains, making it impossible for floods to enter.
Because of this, Dameishan base area has become the best shelter for disaster victims.
After the floods receded slightly, the refugees in various temporary resettlement sites were transferred to Meizhen, except for those who had returned home.
When Xu Rui led the Langya Squadron, the Guard Company and the Veteran Commandos back to Meizhen, the entire Meizhen was already overcrowded. The ruins destroyed by the fire in Meizhen had been cleared out, many new houses had been built, and a large number of buildings had been erected.
tents, but these houses and tents are already full of people.
Not only Meizhen, but also surrounding villages have resettled a large number of disaster victims.
Xu Rui had just crossed the sand bridge when Wang Husheng and Xiao Yanyue came up to him with the autumn wind.
"Old Xu, you are finally back." Wang Husheng said with a bitter smile, "If you don't come back, I will jump into the river."
During the half month of Xu Rui's absence, Wang Husheng was really exhausted. The resettlement of refugees, the distribution of rations, disputes between refugees and local residents, and the infiltration of enemy agents, etc., were all complicated. Wang Husheng
I am very busy, and this is not the most difficult thing. The most difficult thing is how to arrange the follow-up arrangements for these refugees?
Without Xu Rui, the entire base area lacks a backbone, and nothing can be advanced.
Xu Rui handed Doudou on his back to Leng Tiefeng, who held Doudou and went to the side to talk to Xiao Yanyue.
Xu Rui turned back and asked Wang Husheng: "Old Wang, what is the situation in the base area now? How many victims have been accommodated in total?"
Wang Husheng said: “We don’t know the exact number, and there is no way to count it, because in addition to those we took in, there are also people who fled on their own. However, even the most conservative estimate shows that there are more than 500,000 victims who have poured into our base area.
People! These 500,000 victims have already caused a huge burden on the base area."
Feeding half a million people is indeed a huge burden.
According to the minimum standard, each person needs half a catty of food rations per day, which means 250,000 catties of food for 500,000 people, and 3.75 million catties of food in half a month! If Xu Rui hadn't specifically told Wang Husheng to increase his food purchase
, just relying on the two million kilograms of grain stored in the base area before, it is already an empty city strategy.
Moreover, this is not the most difficult problem.
The most difficult problem is the continued influx of refugees.
Xu Rui nodded and asked: "Are the emotions of the victims still stable?"
Since ancient times, once a large-scale flood disaster occurs, the most feared thing is that the victims will cause trouble.
Wang Husheng nodded and said: "The mood of the victims is generally good, but minor disputes with the local people have not stopped. Basically, there are more than a hundred cases every day. Either the victims have stolen the corn and sweet potatoes from this family, or the local villagers have stolen the victims.
There were fights, and sometimes there were large-scale fights, but we kept them under control."
Qiufeng added: "However, judging from the development trend, the number of conflicts between disaster victims and local people is increasing. At the beginning, there were only a dozen or so conflicts every day, but now it has increased to more than a hundred. And it can be felt that the local people's feelings towards the victims are increasing.
The dissatisfaction is increasing, and if this continues, I am worried that the situation will get out of control."
Xu Rui nodded subconsciously. The resettlement of refugees has been a thorny problem since ancient times. The biggest difficulty is how to live in harmony with the indigenous people. Fortunately, there are a lot of successful experiences in history to learn from. The most successful experience is the
Work-for-relief, arranging appropriate work for the victims to do.
Now that the victims have jobs, they no longer have the heart to cause trouble.
Thinking of this, Xu Rui had a good plan.
At that moment, Xu Rui said to Wang Husheng: "Old Wang, it has been half a month since the equipment from the arsenal was shipped back to the base, and it has been almost a month since the equipment from the power plant was shipped back. How are the preparations for these two factories going?"
"Factory?" Wang Husheng shook his head repeatedly and said with a wry smile, "I'm already too busy with disaster relief, so how can I think about the factory? Besides, it's busy farming time now, and I can't allocate manpower."
Xu Rui said: "You are still engaged in political work, guarding a population of 500,000, and you actually say you can't spare manpower?"
Wang Husheng was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then suddenly said: "Old Xu, do you mean to recruit disaster victims to build factories?"
"That's right, if you don't recruit disaster victims, who will be recruited?" Xu Rui said, "If you don't arrange work for them and let them have nothing to do except eat every day, it would be strange if they don't cause trouble. If you arrange heavy physical labor for them, let them
After work, they just want to sleep when they get home, and they don’t have the energy even if they want to make trouble.”
"That's right." Wang Husheng praised, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Xu Rui said: "It's not too late to start now. Quickly organize the victims and arrange work for them. From now on, there will be no free lunch. If the victims want to get rations, they must work. Of course, for those who do not have prime labor,
Families of orphaned victims still need to be treated differently."
"But, it doesn't seem possible." Wang Husheng was excited for only two seconds before his face suddenly fell again and he said, "How many laborers can be accommodated to build two factories? Our power plant and arsenal are not large in scale, with 10,000 people.
If the sky is broken, how should we deal with the remaining victims?"
"Ten thousand people?" Xu Rui said, "far from enough."
"Ten thousand people are not enough?" Wang Husheng said, "Old Xu, don't bully me because I don't understand infrastructure. Although I have never gone to college or seriously studied infrastructure, I still know how to build two small schools.
The factory doesn’t need many people, so I’ll hire more than 10,000 people. In a normal year, 500 people would be enough.”
Xu Rui said: "It depends on the standard. According to your standard, five hundred people is indeed enough, but according to my design standards, even 50,000 people may not be enough!"
"Your standards?" Wang Husheng said, "What standards?"
Xu Rui said: "According to my standards, first of all, this factory is not an ordinary factory."
"Isn't it an ordinary factory?" Wang Husheng said, "Tell me, why is it not an ordinary factory?"
Xu Rui said: "Other people's factories are built on the surface, but my factory is built in the heart of the mountain! Lao Wang, you can imagine that you have to hollow out a mountain and build a power generation plant in the middle of the mountain.
A factory, an engineering arsenal factory, how much labor does it cost? How can five hundred people be enough? Fifty thousand people seems barely enough."
Wang Husheng exclaimed: "Old Xu, you want to build the factory in the middle of the mountain?"
Xu Rui said: "There is nothing you can do about it. Otherwise, if you build the factory on the Meihe Plain, and the Japanese attack planes come and bomb you every two days, will you still be able to produce? If you build it in the middle of the mountain, you won't be able to produce."
That’s troublesome, even if the kid drops a few 800kg heavy-weight aerial bombs, it won’t delay the matter.”
"That's true." Wang Husheng was convinced, and then added, "However, it's still not enough to arrange."
Xu Rui said: "It's still not enough, so I'll try my best to find things for them to do. I've only heard that it's hard to find labor, and I've never heard that the work isn't enough. For example, you can go to the factory in Meizhen because of the roads."
You can build a road in time. For another example, you can build several reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Meihe River. You can dig a few canals and build an irrigation system in the Meihe Plain. The Meihe Plain is such a large area of fertile soil, but the food harvest has failed year after year. Isn’t it because of the lack of food?
An irrigation system? It just so happens that we can solve all these problems now that we have a lot of manpower, and we will no longer have to worry about running out of food in our base area from now on."
Wang Husheng's eyes suddenly lit up and he said, "Old Xu, what's wrong with your brain? It would be a shame to not let you become the county magistrate."
Xu Rui said: "Okay, I'll be the county magistrate of Meixian County, and you can be the leader of the independent group. I don't want to take on this responsibility a long time ago."
"It's a joke. I'm just joking. Old Xu, please don't take it seriously." Wang Husheng laughed and said, "Anyone can be missing in the Independent Group, but you are the only one who can't be missing."
Of course Xu Rui knew that Wang Husheng was joking, so how could he take it seriously?
At that moment, Xu Rui said again: "Old Wang, how long can the food reserve last?"
Wang Husheng said: "After what you said last time, I arranged for people to go to central Jiangsu and buy almost five million kilograms of grain from northern Jiangsu. In addition, based on the output of the fields, we should not be able to survive until autumn."
The problem is that in autumn, the newly reclaimed wasteland by the victims will almost be able to produce a harvest, and the pressure on the government will be much less."
Xu Rui said: "The only way to avoid trouble is to be prepared. We should continue to buy food."
Wang Husheng said: "Grain is no longer available in central and northern Jiangsu. If you want to buy grain again, you have to go to southern Jiangsu. But that is a Japanese-occupied area, and there will inevitably be risks when transporting it back."
Xu Rui said: "You have to buy even if there are risks, and you have to increase your efforts!"
Others don't know it, but Xu Rui, as a time traveler, knows that in the next few years, his team will face a double strangulation by the Japanese and the National Government, and supplies will become extremely scarce. Therefore, while food prices are still high,
It is very necessary to stock up on food when the price is not too high.
Wang Husheng smiled bitterly and said, "Old Xu, I'm afraid you have to talk to Yanzi about this."
Xu Rui understood and knew that it must be Xiao Yanyue who was having trouble with the funding issue.
At that moment, Xu Rui called Xiao Yanyue over and said, "Yanzi, immediately withdraw 500,000 yuan from the political commissar."
"Five million oceans?" Xiao Yanyue pushed the beans she was holding into Leng Tiefeng's hands and shouted, "Captain, you'd better sell me and see if you can get fifty yuan back."
