What Yang Mingzhi didn't know was that Sarinchkin and Lyudbalev were discussing the possibility of establishing new settlements when a large number of refugees moved south.
In the end, the Soviet army still chose to expand the settlements on the right bank of the Pripet River. The construction work should have been in full swing. However, they continued to be threatened by the German army's southward trend and Kovpak's western attack. The two did not do more on the issue of new settlements.
consider.
As the two persons in charge of the national economy and people's livelihood of the guerrilla republic, their first task was to provide the troops with a stable rear when they were fighting on the front lines or setting up defenses. The first thing they did was to count the incoming refugees and forcefully recruit Soviet citizens among them who could fight.
As for the resettlement work, first find a makeshift place for them, feed them a fixed amount of potatoes every day, and mobilize them to take action if there are labor tasks.
After a week of vigilance, and through intelligence from superiors and distant guerrillas, it was confirmed that the strength of the German army in southern Belarus was significantly reduced. The German 100th Army moved north, and no new German troops were stationed. In this case, the German army continued to move south.
The possibility is definitely zero! Their most likely possibility is to send sporadic troops for infiltration and reconnaissance.
In fact, even if this meeting is not held, considering that the post-war summary meeting will be held soon, it is appropriate to mention these things at the meeting.
Unexpectedly, Commander Yang Mingzhi was impatient. There were still five thousand civilians walking on the winding road leading to Catfish Village. Blacksmith Village began to solve the resettlement problem of all civilians in a package.
Therefore, before Yang Mingzhi spoke, Salinchkin dared to assert that the commander must have many things that were not well thought out, and this matter needed some discussion.
Yang Mingzhi’s opinion is as follows:
First: Expand the Homnich Military Station. The number of civilians living here should not be less than 2,000, and the garrison should have a regiment.
Second: Continue to expand the settlement on the right bank of the Pripet River. The number of civilians living here should not be less than 2,000, and the garrison should have two regiments.
Third: Add four military depots. Build a military depot at the ruins of Dubrovica village in the north of Homnich, and the garrison should have a battalion. Build a military depot at the ruins of Loev, and the garrison should have a regiment. Build a military depot at Misi Ferry.
The military depot should consist of one regiment, and the number of civilians should not be less than 1,000. A military depot should be established at the ruins of Slavtich on the left bank of the Dnieper River, and the garrison should consist of one regiment.
Fourth: Add two outposts. Establish an outpost at the stone bridge near the mouth of the Slovechna River, with no less than one company of troops stationed. Establish an outpost at the ruins of Nalovla town in the northwest, with no less than one company of troops stationed.
Fifth: Establish new residential settlements south of Catfish Village and in the areas surrounding the mine. Regarding the location selection of the new settlements, the new residential area will be built based on the two other flat lands that were selected when building the fertilizer plant.
The above five major contents are Yang Mingzhi’s large-scale expansion plan.
For the guerrilla republic, his plan is a big deal!
As Yang Mingzhi spoke, he used a pencil to mark the approximate locations of military stations, outposts and settlements to be expanded or added on the map, making it clear to the viewer at a glance.
"You...your plan is really huge. Now I'm a little worried about whether we can implement it immediately!" Salinchkin said worriedly.
"It seems you have tentatively agreed?"
"Yes, I agree with the general direction. Of course we need to further discuss some details. I wonder what other comrades have other opinions." After saying this, Salinchkin looked at the others.
Except for Yang Mingzhi, five of the twelve people are actually living here! When these foreign guerrilla troops complete their rest and recuperation, they will return to their respective guerrilla areas with their more than 10,000 troops.
No one objects to measures such as the expansion of military stations such as Homnich and the construction of new outposts further north. This is because if the enemy launches a new southward offensive in the future, the forward outposts will detect them earlier.
The guerrilla republic will have at least one full day to carry out nationwide mobilization. It can be said that this measure is related to people's lives.
In the first four points of Yang Mingzhi's plan, the additional military stations and outposts will be rebuilt on the ruins of the original towns or villages. There are already a lot of building materials there, and since the area has been developed, the speed of restoration and reconstruction will be
Very fast.
The problem is that in Yang Mingzhi’s fifth item, expand to the south of Catfish Village!
Salinchkin asked: "I am also building new settlements in the south, but the difficulties in this area are greater. Compared with ours, only mines and fertilizer plants have been developed there, as well as a complete and often muddy forest.
A dirt road. The environment on both sides is either a large forest or a pile of mud ponds and small puddles. Are you sure we want to establish a new settlement in such an environment."
Yang Mingzhi nodded: "From the current point of view, that is the safest place in the entire guerrilla republic. Because it is inaccessible and a large area is undeveloped, it will be extremely difficult for the German army to penetrate from the south. So for us,
The natural barrier of this swamp must be used to relocate a large number of civilians there."
Suddenly, the upright village chief Kavitsky felt that his blacksmith village had received some threats: "Comrade Commander, are you planning to divert some of the collective farm members from the blacksmith village to reclaim wasteland near the mine?"
"This...I feel like what are you worried about?"
"Yes! I'm very worried about those people. They have lived in Blacksmith Village for a long time. The grassroots labor group model is very well established, and many people have even become militiamen. If..."
"Ah! Are you worried that if I split up your staff, it will cause trouble in management? Don't worry, there are also the village chiefs of Heitu Village and Catfish Village. I don't plan to split the residents from the three collective farms.
Go south to open up wasteland. New settlements have been built, and there are new civilians living there!"
In this way, the three village chiefs took a big reassurance.
How is it possible for people to have no selfish motives? The three collective farms have been village heads since before the outbreak of the war, which can even be traced back to the Tsarist Russia. The young people in the village have become soldiers, and many people have died in the war. The remaining women and children have been staying here.
In their respective villages, they have become the backbone of various labor groups. Who would be willing to let these people leave their homes and go to the south to build houses for themselves to live in, while leaving their good houses to others?
In fact, Yang Mingzhi did not consider this at all. He did not realize the root cause of the concerns of the three collective farm village chiefs.
Yang Mingzhi had his own thoughts on this. He was concerned that increasing or decreasing the existing collective farm staff would bring chaos to future management. Even in line with the principle of maintaining stability, the original three farm populations could not be moved.
However, their personnel do not need to be relocated, and it is natural to provide some material help for the expansion plan, such as some axes for cutting trees.
"The newly arrived refugees, some of them will be sent to Homnich, Missi Ferry and the right bank of the Pripet River, and the rest will be sent to the swamp south of Catfish Village. Of course, you three collective farms will have to provide
Some handcarts, saws, axes and other tools to help the refugees cut down trees to build houses and reclaim new land. Do you have any opinions?”
"I have no objection!" Kavitsky agreed. Seeing this, the other two also expressed support.
"Very good! When we expand to the south, we are actually establishing new collective farms! For this reason, we must also take the lead in establishing the operational framework that collective farms should have." Yang Mingzhi said and looked at Salinchkin: "Comrade,
You have trained many grassroots political commissars, and these people should hold important positions in the newly established collective farms."
"This...this is no problem at all. I can send people, but the premise is that you have to build the farm! Besides, you asked the wrong person about this question. We should all listen to Comrade Lyudbalev's opinion.
After all, he is the legal first secretary of Gomel City and has sufficient administrative experience."
Lyudbalev laughed for a while: "Comrade Salinchkin, you are exaggerating."
Professional issues must be handled by professionals. If the expansion and new military depot north of Blacksmith Village are all based on military considerations, no one has any objection to Yang Mingzhi’s decision. However, what is to be built south of Catfish Village is pure civilian residence.
, there are almost no military facilities there. How to enable the people to live a stable life after opening new settlements on the road is Ludbalev's strength.
Therefore, Yang Mingzhi, who was very knowledgeable about current affairs, invited the fifty-year-old man to the master's seat, bowed and looked humble: "Come! You are experienced, you will handle this matter."
"Alright alright!"
Lyudbarev was under the spotlight. He had long been accustomed to this feeling, so he did not feel uncomfortable at all, but the things he had to face were indeed troublesome.
"Well, Comrade Commander asked me to make a decision. I won't talk nonsense. Just listen carefully!
Hey! Hey!
First of all, to establish a residential settlement, three things must be ensured: convenient transportation, sufficient drinking water, and qualified land. Our water source is always the most abundant here, so it is difficult to find solid land.
So how should we build new settlements? What the commander just said, using the two alternative locations when building a fertilizer plant, I think is not the optimal solution.
We should build settlements along the original roads so that transportation and water sources can be guaranteed. As for the land issue, through foundation reconstruction, we can overcome these minor difficulties..."
Lyudbalev is worthy of being a twenty-year-old mayor. Gomel has developed rapidly in the twenty years after the intervention war, and he has contributed a lot.
After listening to some of his impromptu speeches, Yang Mingzhi boasted that he had benefited a lot. Residential settlements were naturally formed around rivers or transportation lines for no other reason than to facilitate the transportation of materials.
People like to get together. Besides, this is a time of war and people need to be able to mobilize urgently. Instead, they live outside the transportation lines, which defeats the original intention of rapid mobilization.
"According to our statistics, there are as many as 9,500 refugees from the north, totaling 25,500 people. Some have been drafted into the militia, and some war orphans have been assigned to the three major collective farms.
families, excluding these nearly 7,000 people, there are still 18,000 people who need to be distributed urgently. As far as I know, Comrade Kovpak also rescued more than 5,000 refugees."
"That's right!" After listening to the words of a few of them, Kovpak realized that he finally had a chance to speak, but he had to show off well.
He said: "We rescued about 5,500 people. It is a pity that some refugees died during the retreat. Even so, I can guarantee that there will be 5,000 people who will enter the guerrilla republic. Among these refugees, at least 4,000
The people escaped from the town of Lilchurch! The Germans miraculously drove them away, so after we accepted enough civilians, we simply stopped attacking that town."
People such as Yang Mingzhi, Yevlov and others already knew the reason why Kovpak did not fight Lirchuch. It was a strategy. On this issue, Salinchkin was a little unhappy.
"I have never seen refugees from Lilchuch. Comrade Kovpak, can you describe them?" Lyudbalev continued to ask.
"Refugees? Oh, it's really terrible. It was a refugee team that almost consisted of women and children! You will never believe it. What we saw along the way was the atrocities of the German army. They massacred all the residents of many towns.
, including children. As for the town of Lierchuch, many men were forced to defend the city by the German army, women, children and the elderly were expelled. All those who did not want to leave were killed! Those who escaped from the city were all of the same caliber, small
Children also claimed they saw the killings. It was... so tragic."
Listening to this, Lyudbarev was so depressed that he could not speak. He looked at the others, and they all had livid faces. Yes, when Kovpak talked about this, it was really heartbreaking.
"We... we also captured a hundred German prisoners of war. These people were young laborers, and we did not execute them."
"You did a great job!" Yevlov slammed the table and stood up angrily, "They have killed so many people. Simply shooting them is too cheap! In my opinion, all these butchers were sent to the sulfur mines.
Go, when we win the war, will they be allowed to come out of the sulfur steam."
"Calm down!" Yang Mingzhi pressed down the angry Yevlov and said with a smile: "Don't be surprised, our deputy commander is always so irritable. His words are correct, and Comrade Kovpak's measures are also very good.
Yes, we must make full use of the cheap labor of prisoners of war and let them work and repent."
"Let's discuss the matter of prisoners of war later!" Lyudbalev knocked on the table and motioned for Kovpak to sit down.
"Now, if we add the refugees from the west, since most of them are women and children, we probably won't be able to recruit many qualified soldiers. So the refugee population that we urgently need to allocate will reach 22,000 people. In my opinion,
According to the standard of one farm for more than 3,000 people, we have established seven collective farms in the south!"
"What? Seven farms? So many?" Yang Mingzhi, who had just smiled to comfort Yevlov, now looked at Lyudbalev with wide eyes.
"What? Do you think I divided it too finely?"
"No! No! I...I'm a little worried...Yes, I'm just worried that if you divide it into such details, it will cause a lot of trouble to your work."
"You don't have to worry at all. It's my job to manage the collective farms!" Lyudbalev said with a smile. "Comrade Berekov, after Lechicha broke through the city, the organization of the city Soviet
Most of the comrades in the framework have gone underground to work! Many comrades followed me and came here safely. We are going to build seven collective farms. These people will be responsible for the organizational framework of each collective farm Soviet. I can guarantee that,
Once the farm is established on the first day, it will be able to operate smoothly the next day.”
"Okay!" Yang Mingzhi suddenly felt comfortable.
Since we have decided to build seven farms, we must first decide on the names of the farms.
How to name collective farms is actually a troublesome task. During the collective farm movement in the Soviet Union, a considerable number of new farms were built with names such as "Lenin", "Red October", "Red Flag", "Big Red Star" and so on.
Named with a noun of commemorative significance.
This kind of name sounds exciting, but it turns out that there are farms with this kind of ranking all over the league!
Even Salinchkin is not immune to such clichés.
"The seven farms are composed of Lenin, Stalin, Red Flag, Sickle, Hammer, Red October and... and something else."
Looking at his hesitation, Yang Mingzhi couldn't help but pull up his old face and said with a wry smile: "Comrade, there must be several of these names in Gomel Oblast alone! It is too common, I think we should be more pragmatic."
"Pragmatic? What kind of pragmatic approach?"
"Isn't this simple? The mud ponds in Catfish Village are overrun with catfish, hence the farm's name. The Blacksmith Village produces a large number of iron smelters, hence its name. As for Black Soil Village, the area around the village is full of peat.
We are going to build a new collective farm, and we will name the special things around the farm after it! If there are many pine trees in the area, it will be called a pine farm. If there are many birches, it will be called a birch farm. If there are many mushrooms, it will be called a mushroom farm."
Yang Mingzhi made these interesting enumerations, which have made some people laugh.
"What if there are a lot of mosquitoes?" Salinchkin suddenly asked jokingly, "We can't call it a mosquito farm!"
After saying that, many people already laughed out loud.
"You are trying to make a point." Yang Mingzhi shrugged, "There are many mosquitoes? Then it is called a frog village. Because frogs eat mosquitoes."
"Are you kidding me?" Yevlov couldn't help but said, "Fortunately, the director of the arsenal is not meeting here. His last name comes from a frog."
Suddenly, the entire office burst into wild laughter.
With the arrival of lunch, the morning meeting had to be interrupted. At least the meeting determined the construction work of those military stations and outposts in the north. To be honest, these tasks can best be implemented as soon as possible.
As for the construction of seven new farms in the south at once, looking at Liu Debalev's eagerness to try, Yang Mingzhi is very willing to believe that he can do this well. However, before taking action, everyone must come up with at least seven reliable ones.
At the same time, people had to be sent south to select seven areas along the transportation lines that were suitable for large-scale house building.
These issues still need to be discussed in the afternoon. (To be continued)