When Commander Chen looked at his subordinates this time, no one hid.
He met the commander's gaze with a look of eagerness to try.
The temptation of the cavalry was too great for them. Before Commander Chen could speak, the regiment commander couldn't help but said: "Commander, we have five men in one regiment, but the headquarters wants to allocate us a hundred horses. I want to use it."
These horses form a cavalry company."
"There are five men from the fourth regiment!" the commander of the fourth regiment replied not to be outdone.
Commander Chen did not answer immediately. He was thinking about how to distribute the five hundred horses promised by Li Hao.
A decision was made after a minute: "Each of your three main regiments will have five men, two deputy company commanders and three platoon commanders."
"To compensate you all, I will give each of your regiments ninety horses to form a cavalry company."
"This cavalry company is directly under the jurisdiction of your three regiments and three military divisions."
"The remaining five people will go out from the headquarters and use the remaining more than 200 horses to form a cavalry battalion directly under the headquarters."
"You go and transfer people now and they will be sent to the headquarters in an hour."
"What kind of cadres does Captain Li need? The specific requirements have just been mentioned. If I find that you have discounted and the transferred people do not meet the requirements, then I will be sorry and all ninety war horses will be taken back."
The head of the first regiment immediately expressed his position: "Don't worry, chief, I promise to mobilize the best cadres to reinforce the garrison and not embarrass our base area."
The next night, Li Hao set out with twenty cadres supported by Commander Chen.
It only carried 3,000 rounds of heavy mortar shells, 30,000 rounds of anti-aircraft machine gun ammunition, half of the equipment and all the heavy artillery shells.
All the remaining ammunition and equipment were left in the Taiyue base area, and excluding the ammunition and equipment that had been returned to the base area, the load of the garrison was reduced by more than two-thirds.
Traveling day and night, we finally returned to the base area after half a month.
At this time, the base area has entered the cold winter, and the biting cold wind blows on the face, which is like a knife and is very painful.
The ongoing drought has not been affected by its own arrival.
The water volume of the rivers encountered along the way has decreased significantly, and many small rivers have begun to dry up.
The land on both sides of the road was dry and hard, with cracks everywhere. When you dig it down with a hoe, you will find that it is all dry soil without any moisture.
In this case, there will be no way for spring plowing in the base area in a few months.
"Captain, you are finally back!" Wang Hong, from the garrison headquarters, was obviously relieved to see Li Hao who was so anxious that he dared to come back.
Li Hao didn't bother to rest and asked straight to the point: "How is the drought situation in the base area?"
"Tell me about the status of the villagers, the situation of the main force and the local troops."
"It's more serious than I thought. There are many things waiting for you to come back and make decisions." Wang Hong replied solemnly.
"One-third of the rivers within the base area have stopped flowing, and the wells in some villages have dried up. The villagers can only carry water from several miles away for food."
"If the drought continues, only the land near the river in the entire base area can be plowed this year, which is less than one-tenth of the total base area."
"Even so, these cultivated lands still have to rely on the villagers to carry water and irrigate them in order to be able to harvest anything."
"Without water, we can't grow food. When the stored food is used up, everyone will be hungry. The villagers see it and are anxious in their hearts, and the situation cannot be good."
"Many villagers go to Tutu Temple every day to pray for rain in order to survive."
"The most hateful thing is that the little devil took advantage of the situation and let the spies spread rumors in the base area, saying that all this was caused by our Eighth Route Army, and encouraged the people to drive away our Eighth Route Army."
"Fortunately, the villagers are still sensible and have not been deceived."
"But because of the drought, the villagers are only thinking about rain and not going hungry next year, so their support for us is obviously not as strong as before."
Li Hao's face became increasingly serious and he continued to ask: "Are any people running out of food?"
"This time of year is the most difficult for the villagers. Many people starve to death due to lack of food. Now our Eighth Route Army is here, saying that no starving to death should happen again."
Wang Hong nodded and affirmed: "I'm already doing this."
"The old base areas such as Lingqiu and Hunyuan are okay. Through land reclamation and rent reduction, every household has a lot of grain reserves. It will definitely be no problem to last until the autumn harvest."
"The new base areas in Laiyuan are not good enough. They have not yet enjoyed the benefits of land reclamation and rent reduction. Every household has almost no food storage, and starvation is certain."
"I have ordered the local government and guerrillas to count the amount of grain stored in the hands of the villagers, and then allocate the grain we have hoarded before for disaster relief."
"In addition, due to the severe drought, food prices in various places are soaring. The Jinsui Army, which has been trading with us for food, no longer brings food over. Coupled with the blockade by the Japanese and puppet troops, all food inflow channels in the base area have been interrupted."
"If there are no new channels to buy grain, we can only rest on our laurels."
Li Hao's face became increasingly serious.
Only he knew that the severe drought in front of us would last for at least another year.
If we start resting on our laurels now, the grain reserves will not be enough for the base area for half a year.
This means that the base area will be completely out of food in half a year.
Not only will the villagers have no food to eat, but the troops will also go hungry.
As the old saying goes, soldiers and horses must go before food is used. If an army cannot even eat enough, its combat effectiveness will definitely be very poor and its morale will be low.
Only then did Li Hao understand why the Eighth Route Army in later generations wanted to recruit troops and streamline administration on a large scale, dragging troops who were supposed to be fighting into the mountains to grow food and become self-sufficient.
If you don't grow food and be self-sufficient, the soldiers will be hungry and you will collapse without the little devils attacking you.
Thinking of this, Li Hao made a decisive decision: "The line of the Jin-Sui Army cannot be broken."
"Tell Yan Youjin that we can give them another 10% profit and make them more money, but we must continue to send food to the base area."
"We have a blockade by the Japanese and puppet troops. Food cannot come in. Even if we want to buy it, we can't buy it."
"They are different. They are connected to the northwest. Even if there is drought there and there is no food locally, they can go to the northwest to buy it, where there is more food."
"Yan Youjin is a man who loves money. As long as the profit for him is large enough, I believe he will continue to send us food."
"As for disaster relief in the base area, I think food cannot be given directly to the villagers. We should use the old method of providing work instead of relief."
"Mobilize villagers to work in the base area in exchange for food."
"If God doesn't rain, just asking for rain won't work. We have to find a way to ask God for water ourselves!"
"The wells are dry not because there is no water, but because the wells are too shallow."
"As long as we continue to dig deeper, if five meters is not enough, we will dig ten meters, and if ten meters are not enough, we will dig fifteen meters, and eventually water will come out."
"Political commissar, inform all levels of government, local troops, and guerrillas in the base area to immediately organize the villagers to deepen the wells in each village. We must ensure that everyone has water."
"Specifically how to provide work-relief, how much grain to give to the laboring blind people every day, and how long the grain can be stored in the base area, you first discuss a plan and start implementing it after it is approved by the party committee."
