At the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, the continuation of the drought has put everyone in the Eighth Route Army feeling tremendous pressure, and the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army is no exception.
In order to reduce the logistical pressure in the base area, the food standards at the headquarters have been reduced again and again. Until now, there are only two steamed buns, a bowl of pickles, and a bowl of millet porridge with enough rice grains left at noon every day.
"Boss, this is what I just calculated: Even if all base areas of the army are streamlined and streamlined, and they grow grain on a large scale to become self-sufficient, the main army's food gap will still exceed 50 million kilograms."
"This does not include the food shortage of ordinary people."
"There is a severe drought in the base area. The rivers in many places have stopped flowing. People can't even get enough water to drink, let alone grow food."
"If the drought continues, there will definitely be no harvest in these places this autumn."
"The common people are the foundation of our Eighth Route Army. We must not just watch them starve to death. Therefore, the army must find ways to allocate food for disaster relief. Even if the army rations are reduced, we must ensure that no common people in the base area starve to death!"
The deputy commander had a sad look on his face and put the wowotou he had just brought to his mouth back.
If this problem is not solved, he will not have the appetite to eat even if delicacies are placed in front of him.
"Chief, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base is forwarding the encrypted telegram from the Lingqiu garrison!" The communications staff officer suddenly came over with a serious look on his face, and then handed a telegram full of numbers to the deputy chief of staff.
Unless something big happens, they will never send an encrypted telegram. This was the subconscious first reaction of the two people.
The deputy chief of staff did not dare to delay, so he quickly took out his code book and translated it himself.
Halfway through, the scowl on the deputy chief of staff's face had disappeared, and his tense nerves had relaxed.
The deputy commander-in-chief kept staring at his partner, thinking that something big happened in the garrison. As soon as the deputy chief of staff put down his pencil, he hurriedly asked: "What happened? Even encrypted telegrams were used."
"Don't worry, boss, it's good news."
"Comrade Li Hao sent a telegram: He has a way to get us food, but he needs support from the headquarters."
The deputy commander-in-chief was almost dying of food worry during this period, and immediately replied: "As long as he can get as much as he can, as long as the Eighth Route Army can tide over this difficulty, I will give him power if he wants, and I will help him get money if he wants, absolutely unconditionally."
support him."
The deputy chief of staff shook his head and replied: "He doesn't want money or power."
"Speaking of money, our Eighth Route Army headquarters' combined total budget is probably not as much as the two of them."
"Even if we give this little money together, he won't look down on it, so it's better not to give it away and use the money on more needed blades."
The deputy commander was anxious: "I don't want money, I don't want power, so what does he want?"
"He needs authorization from the Eighth Route Army headquarters." The deputy chief of staff answered directly: "Use the twelve heavy artillery pieces and 600 rounds of heavy artillery shells equipped by the garrison as bargaining chips to negotiate with the Jinsui Army in the World War II area and join forces to make a deal.
The northwest, Sichuan, Chongqing and other places purchase grain and send it to North China to alleviate our food gap."
"Exchanging heavy artillery for food?" The deputy commander's eyes immediately widened, and then he showed a shocked expression.
The deputy chief of staff explained: "This is what the telegram said: The garrison has a total of twenty-eight heavy artillery pieces, all of which were captured by the Japanese army."
"Twelve 50% new heavy artillery and 600 rounds of heavy artillery shells were transferred to the Jinsui Army on a half-sale, half-free basis. The condition is that the Jinsui Army cooperates with us in purchasing grain from the Northwest, Sichuan, Chongqing and other places, and transporting it
Return to the base area to relieve our food pressure."
"How sure is he?" the deputy commander continued to ask.
"More than 80%!" the deputy chief of staff replied.
"This is Comrade Li Hao's conservative estimate in the telegram. If the headquarters can give him the authority to handle this matter with full authority, there is at least a 90% chance of success."
The deputy commander was moved and wanted to agree.
But I couldn't bear to part with those twelve heavy cannons.
This is no ordinary artillery. Even if Chongqing has relatively complete military production capabilities, it does not have the ability to produce such large-caliber artillery.
Looking at the entire Eighth Route Army, only the 28 heavy artillery pieces captured by the garrison regiment were captured.
Once sent out, the twenty-eight gates will become sixteen gates, almost reduced by half.
What's more important is that the target of these heavy artillery, half given away and half sold, is the Jinsui Army. Maybe one day they will use these heavy artillery to attack the Eighth Route Army.
But without food, the situation faced by the Eighth Route Army would definitely be even worse.
The main force's morale is unstable due to lack of food, its combat effectiveness is weakened, and it is possible that the battlefield may collapse directly.
If the army suffers heavy losses due to lack of food during this severe drought, severely shrinks its land area, and loses popular support and military morale, even if it has twenty-eight heavy artillery pieces, it will be impossible to turn defeat into victory and reverse the situation.
Thinking of this, the hesitant expression on the deputy commander's face was slowly replaced by determination.
"In the future, if the artillery is gone, we can still seize it from the Japanese and re-expand the heavy artillery battalion into a heavy artillery regiment or even a heavy artillery division."
"If the army collapses due to lack of food, and military morale and public morale are lost, then our Eighth Route Army will not even have a chance to turn around."
"Food is the most important thing for the people, so I decided to get food first. Once there is food and the soldiers are fed and drunk, we will have the opportunity to consider other things."
"Immediately call Comrade Li Hao back: the headquarters agrees to his request and has full authority to handle this matter. The more food we can buy, the better."
The call back from the garrison regiment and headquarters was much faster than Li Hao expected.
After seeing the word "agree" in the telegram, everyone became excited and immediately shouted: "Notify the artillery battalion commander Yuan Qingfeng to come to the regiment headquarters immediately. Hurry."
Five days later, Yan Youjin appeared at the garrison headquarters.
When he saw Li Hao, he showed an obviously embarrassed and embarrassed expression.
The military rank on his shoulders, the growing wealth in his family, and the growing authority in his hands were all brought to him by Li Hao.
Due to both emotions and reasons, I should help Li Hao and continue to deliver food to the garrison, and earn more money by the way.
But the arm cannot twist the thigh, and the superior's order must be carried out unless he no longer wants to wear the official hat on his head.
When he came to the garrison this time, Yan Youjin was already prepared for heavy bleeding.
As long as Li Hao doesn't mention food, even if the purchase price is increased, he will agree to it and treat it as compensation for the garrison.
"Captain Li, long time no see. Brother, I'm sorry for the food problem, but my arm can't twist my thigh. I have to carry out the orders from my superiors. I'm really sorry." Yan Youjin said with embarrassment.
Li Hao waved his hand: "I don't blame you."
"I hurriedly called you here because I have a bigger deal to discuss with you. No, to be precise, it should be with your Chief Yan. You are responsible for pulling the strings. If the negotiation is successful, I guarantee that Brother Yan will gain both fame and fortune.
And you can also take the opportunity to become Commander Yan’s true confidant..."
"Let's go, I'll take you to a place first and I'll give you a shock."
