Faced with huge interests, Yan Youjin made a decision quickly.
"Captain Li, I'll do it. I just want to bring back 10,000 kilograms of sweet potato flour today, and then I'll contact my boss who usually purchases vegetables and pork, and promote sweet potato flour through them!"
Li Hao's eyes lit up and he almost jumped with joy.
But he did not lose his mind. He suppressed his inner excitement and answered as calmly as possible: "Okay, I will have someone prepare it for you now. Including what you bought yourself, the total is 20,000 jins. In addition, I will give you another 2,000 jins. The total is
Twenty-two thousand catties!”
In the next three months, Lingqiu ushered in the calmest three months since the Japanese army entered Lingqiu.
The Japanese and puppet troops were either huddled in the city or conducting training around the county seat. They would not go to villages more than five kilometers away from the county seat.
The Japanese garrison headquarters, several months of training and troop expansion allowed Major Watanabe to regain his morale.
The Imperial Association Army has a full strength of 2,500 men, and is personally commanded and trained by the Japanese. Its combat effectiveness is almost equal to that of an infantry brigade of the Imperial Army.
The garrison brigade is fully equipped with five garrison squadrons, a cavalry squadron, a mountain artillery squadron, a heavy machine gun squadron, a mortar squadron, and a gendarmerie squadron, plus the troops directly under the brigade, with a total strength of more than 1,700 people!
With strength in hand, the Japanese became more and more confident.
During this period, several officers who had suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Independent Battalion came to Watanabe to ask for a fight, hoping that Watanabe would send troops to raid the base of the Independent Battalion, kill the Independent Battalion, and take revenge!
"Sir, several squadron captains came over today to ask for battle and asked if we had any battle plan to send troops to attack the independent battalion!" the deputy captain lowered his head and reported.
"Reply them, please calm down and train your troops well. We don't have any battle plan for the next month!" Watanabe shook his head and replied.
"Hi!" the vice-captain replied quickly.
But he did not leave, but hesitated and asked: "Sir, I don't understand. Since the troops have already formed combat effectiveness, why not take advantage of the public anger and high morale to strike while the iron is hot and directly send troops to attack the independent battalion!"
"It's almost autumn harvest?"
Such an inexplicable sentence suddenly came out of Major Watanabe's mouth.
Seeing the confused look on the vice-captain's face, Watanabe explained directly.
"There is an order from superiors: starting from this year, all local garrison troops and the Imperial Association Army's food and salary will be raised by each locality. Not only that, we also need to raise two million kilograms of food and hand it over to the brigade headquarters to supply the front-line field troops!"
"Including the Imperial Alliance Army, our total strength exceeds 4,000 people, and the food alone requires 4 million jins, which adds up to 6 million jins of food."
"Lingqiu is so big. If there is a problem with the autumn harvest, where will we harvest six million catties of grain?"
"The Independent Battalion is our opponent, but it is undeniable that the Eighth Route Army is indeed better than us in organizing people to resume production!"
"According to intelligence, thanks to the efforts of the Independent Battalion, the current cultivated land in Lingqiu has exceeded 200,000 acres, which is nearly 30% more than when we first occupied Lingqiu!"
"As long as the grain harvest on these 200,000 acres of land is good, we can raise 6 million kilograms of grain!"
"In addition, there are so many troops stationed in the county. In addition to eating, they also need to eat vegetables and meat. These must be exchanged for food."
"My preliminary calculation is that after the autumn harvest we need to raise at least 10 million jins of grain to be self-sufficient and complete the task of two million jins of grain from our superiors!"
"So, we must ensure the stability of Lingqiu before the autumn harvest!"
"When all the food on Lingqiu's 200,000 acres of land is harvested, I will lead my troops to fight out even if you don't ask for a fight!"
"Not only do we want revenge, we also need to collect grain. Every common person must hand over 150 kilograms of grain to the imperial army!"
The vice-captain finally came to his senses and immediately replied: "This is not a well-considered position. Please be punished by your superior!"
Watanabe shook his head and replied: "There is no need for punishment. You immediately tell the squadron leaders exactly what I just said and ask them to continue to strengthen the training of the troops. After a month, I want to see the results of everyone's training!"
"Also, there is still one month until the autumn harvest."
"But our opponent, the Independent Battalion, is too cunning, so everyone must start preparing from now on!"
"According to intelligence, the total strength of the independent battalion has exceeded 1,500 people, and each main company has more than 200 people. It has also strengthened its mortars and heavy machine guns. In terms of firepower, it can definitely suppress us on the battlefield.
An infantry squadron fights!”
"I ask you to organize your staff immediately and formulate three combat plans based on the latest intelligence sent back by the special agent team!"
"A month later, I will review three combat plans at the same time, and then select the best one as our operational reference!"
The Japanese army was waiting for the autumn harvest, and so was the independent battalion.
When the base area was first established, the troops seized a lot of food.
According to the total strength of the Independent Battalion of 1,000 people at that time, there would be no problem at all until the autumn harvest.
However, the independent battalion expanded too quickly, doubling its number from 1,000 people.
If I didn't eat one or two meals of sweet potato flour every day, I would have finished eating that amount of food a month ago.
During this period, the troops took Dayang and bought almost the entire base area before buying 50,000 kilograms of grain. According to normal consumption, it could only last for half a month at most.
However, there are still more than twenty days until the autumn harvest. If the food cannot last until the autumn harvest, the soldiers will be hungry!
"Instructor, from now on, the training volume of all troops will be halved. Sweet potato flour will be eaten twice a day to save the consumption of staple food!" Faced with increasingly severe logistical pressure, Li Hao had to interrupt his training!
"I'll give the order in a moment!" Wang Hong replied.
Then he comforted him: "Battalion Commander, you don't have to worry too much. As long as the public grain is collected after the autumn harvest, the food problem of the army will be solved."
"Nearly five million kilograms of grain, if used as rations, would be enough for us to eat for two years!"
Li Hao shook his head. Not only was his face no longer pretty, but he was becoming more and more serious.
He took a deep breath and replied: "Instructor, we are thinking about the autumn harvest, and the little devils in Lingqiu City are also thinking about it!"
"They also need to eat. There is only so much food in Lingqiu. If we and the people are not hungry, the Japanese and puppet troops will be hungry!"
"If we and the Japanese and puppet troops don't go hungry, then the people will have nothing to eat!"
"Of course, our Eighth Route Army will definitely not allow this to happen. The one who will be hungry in the end will definitely be our independent battalion!"
Wang Hong reacted quickly and asked with a raised brow: "Battalion Commander, you mean that after the autumn harvest is over, the Japanese are likely to send troops to our base area to grab food!"
"It's not very possible, but it is certain. They also need to eat. There is no other way to get so much food except robbing!" Li Hao replied.
"According to intelligence, the training of the Japanese and puppet troops in Lingqiu City has been completed. Logically speaking, we should have sent troops to raid our base area long ago!"
"But they have been standing still, so I judge that Watanabe is waiting for the autumn harvest just like us!"
"Then the trouble will be big!" Wang Hong's face became more and more solemn!
"If all the food is taken away by the Japanese, then our independent camp will definitely go hungry, and maybe the common people will also go hungry too!"
"The Japanese and puppet troops don't care about everyone's life or death. As long as there is food, they will definitely steal it all!"
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