"How to solve it?" Wang Hong showed a suspicious expression of disbelief!
Looking at Li Hao, he analyzed: "Captain, I admit that you are very good at fighting, but getting food is not fighting, and the food we need is not just a tiny bit!"
"The total number of people in the three counties is nearly 300,000. Even if we have nearly 400,000 people who are short of food before the autumn harvest, of course, the actual number of people will definitely be higher than this!"
"There are still five months until the autumn harvest, so I will calculate it based on the minimum standard of one hundred days without food!"
"In order to ensure that the people do not starve to death and have the physical strength to plow in the spring, harvest in the autumn, and serve the crops, half a catty of food per person per day is the minimum!"
"One hundred thousand people in one day will eat at least five million kilograms of grain!"
"This only counts the common people!"
"After we have completely captured the three counties, we need to establish base areas and form local troops and guerrillas!"
"The total number of local cadres, local troops, and main forces in a county must exceed 2,000 people. These people also need to eat!"
"Especially the combat troops who are fully off-duty, in order to ensure their combat effectiveness, they still need to eat enough!"
"There must be 6,000 people in the three counties combined. Calculating the minimum standard of one kilogram of grain per person per day, to last until the autumn harvest for five months, at least one million kilograms of grain will be needed!"
"The two plus two add up to six million kilograms of grain. Subtracting the one million kilograms we transferred from Lingqiu and the two million kilograms captured by the troops locally, we are still short of a full three million kilograms!"
“I can’t think of any other way besides using the food we hoarded from last autumn’s harvest!”
Li Hao was noncommittal: "With so much food, we can't digest it by ourselves right next to our base area!"
"But someone can help us figure this out!"
"Who!" Wang Hong immediately asked!
If people starve to death as soon as the base areas are established in the three counties, it will definitely be a slap in the face to the garrison!
The popular sentiment that the troops have finally built up at great cost will also suffer a huge blow!
As the political commissar and the person directly responsible for establishing the base area, no one is more anxious than him!
"Little devil!" Li Hao replied!
"All the food in the occupied areas has been robbed by the little devils. Not to mention three million catties of food, but even thirty million catties, they can take it out!"
"Since we don't have food in our hands, let's ask the little devils for it. Let the food be taken from the people and used by the people!"
Wang Hong was confused for a moment, but he quickly reacted and stared at Li Hao to remind him!
"Captain, please don't mess around!"
"The base area has finally ushered in a period of peace, allowing the people to take a breath and recuperate. This peace must not be broken!"
"Also, spring plowing is about to begin in the base area. If something happens now and the enemy and we start fighting and the war spreads to the base area, it will definitely affect the spring plowing!"
"If spring plowing is not done well, there will be problems with the autumn harvest. The people will be short of food next year, the troops will be hungry, and the development of the base area will be affected in the next year!"
"There are also troops who have just experienced a big battle. Not only did they suffer heavy losses, they are also very tired!"
"The total strength of many troops is less than 30% of what they were before the battle, and the worst-case scenario has more than half of the casualties. How can we fight!"
"I think they need to recuperate more than the common people!"
"Not to mention anything else, just recruiting new soldiers and replenishing all the main troops to full strength will take at least a month!"
Seeing that the political commissar was getting more and more anxious as he spoke, and he was afraid that he would make an impulsive decision, Li Hao quickly spoke to comfort him: "Don't worry, political commissar, I'm not confused yet!"
"I know the importance of spring plowing to our base area even if you don't tell me!"
"The troops and horses have not moved yet, but the food and grass go first!"
"Without food, no matter how strong the combat effectiveness of the army is, no matter how good the political and ideological work is, it will eventually collapse!"
"I just said that if we don't have food, we can ask for it from the little devils, but not now!"
"The two million catties of grain seized plus the one million catties transferred from Lingqiu can last for two to three months without any problem!"
"So even if we take action, it will be three months later!"
"Our top priority now is to build a base area, recruit new soldiers to supplement the main force, form local troops, and organize the people to do spring plowing!"
"The most important thing here is to recruit new soldiers, replenish the main force to full strength, and then start training as soon as possible to form combat effectiveness!"
"The troops are the basis for our base area. Without a strong army to protect us, no matter how well we build our base area, it will only serve as a wedding dress for the little devil!"
"Now that we have captured Laiyuan, Guangling, and Hunyuan and decided to build them into base areas, we must hold on to them and never let the little devils take them back!"
Wang Hong nodded and affirmed: "I also agree to make recruiting soldiers the first priority for our base area!"
"Then it's settled!" Li Hao made a decisive decision!
Then he turned his attention to the map and analyzed it seriously!
"Political Commissar, let me tell you my thoughts first, and then you will check for any gaps and fill them. If there are no problems, they will be sent directly to the units!"
"After the First Battalion captured Hunyuan, we became neighbors with the Jinsui Army in Datong, and the little Japs in Hunyuan City became a lone army!"
"My idea is that the first battalion will be divided into two groups, and part of the troops will keep vigilance against the Shanxi-Sui Army in the direction of Datong to ensure that they do not cross the border!"
"But one thing must be remembered clearly. The Jinsui Army is not a devil or a puppet army. They are our friendly forces!"
"When we are neighbors with them, we must adhere to principles: we do not take the initiative to stir up trouble, but we are not afraid of trouble. No matter what we do, we must be justified!"
Seeing Wang Hong nodding his head in approval, Li Hao continued his analysis!
"Other troops from the first battalion have set up defenses around Hunyuan City, and I have to keep an eye on the little Japs inside!"
"If any Japanese and puppet troops leave the city, we will fight back resolutely!"
"However, without orders from the regiment headquarters, they must not take the initiative to attack Hunyuan City, even if they have absolute superiority in troops and firepower in the future!"
"Hunyuan City must be like a nail, stuck between us and the Jinsui Army!"
Wang Hong reacted quickly and immediately saw Li Hao's little thoughts!
Then he said with admiration: "Captain, your move is too high. As long as the little devils in Hunyuan City exist for one day, in the eyes of the Jinsui Army, Hunyuan will still be in the hands of the Japanese army!"
"When they enter Laiyuan, it means taking the initiative to attack the Japanese, which violates their strategic policy of giving priority to defense and supplementing offense!"
"So as long as the Japanese troops in Hunyuan City are not killed by us, the Jinsui Army will not pursue Hunyuan's ideas, and we can avoid friction with them over territorial disputes and damage to the united front!"
Li Hao nodded and affirmed: "That's what it means!"
"Even if the Japanese army wants to abandon the isolated city of Hunyuan in the future, we will force them back and prevent them from giving up!"
"So the first battalion does not face many enemies, but the situation is definitely the most complex among several counties. The task is not light at all!"
"In order to ensure the security of the base area, the army must undergo large-scale expansion: a cavalry company is added to the main force of the first battalion, a guard platoon is expanded to a guard company, grenades are assigned to the firepower squad, mortars are assigned to the firepower platoon, and the artillery company directly under the company is equipped with two
Two direct-firing artillery pieces, three heavy mortars, and six flying thunder cannons!”
"In addition, form another garrison brigade with a total strength of 500 people!"
"Larger towns will also need to form district squadrons, with each squadron having a hundred people!"
"Considering the affordability of the people in each county, the total strength of the county brigade and district squadron cannot exceed one thousand people!"
"The main force, local troops, and any shortage of troops will be solved by recruiting troops in their own defense areas!"
"In addition, in addition to ensuring the full strength of the main force and local troops, the first battalion also supports the regiment headquarters' 300 new recruits!"
"The Second Battalion is stationed west of Guangling and is responsible for defending against the little Japanese there!"
"The Japanese and puppet troops below the size of a squadron must be eliminated before they enter the base area!"
"The Japanese and puppet troops above the size of a squadron and below the size of a brigade can be allowed to enter the base area and use the mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare we are good at to eliminate them, but they must not be allowed to enter Guangling City to increase the strength of the Guangling garrison!"
"The regiment headquarters will make unified arrangements to eliminate the Japanese and puppet troops at or above the brigade size!"
"They also need to expand, and the size will be the same as the first battalion!"
"In addition, we will form a county brigade and a district squadron of varying numbers. The total strength of the local troops cannot exceed one thousand people!"
"The missing troops can be recruited directly to the west of Guangling. They don't need to send new recruits to the regiment headquarters!"
"The third battalion is stationed north of Laiyuan to defend the Japanese there. The mission is the same as the second battalion, to protect the base area!"
"The size of the main force and local forces are the same as the second battalion. We will recruit our own troops in Laiyuan North!"
Wang Hong nodded in agreement at first, but soon his brows furrowed!
He pointed at Guangling City and Laiyuan City on the map and asked!
"What to do with these two places!"
"There are more than 2,000 Japanese and puppet troops in Laiyuan City!"
"According to the chief of staff's report, the remaining Japanese and puppet troops in Guangling City are about the same!"
"There must be troops watching, otherwise it will definitely threaten the backs of the second and third battalions, leaving them vulnerable to attacks from both sides!"
"Leave it to the Special Agent Battalion and the Independent Battalion!" Li Hao made the decision without thinking about it!
"The independent battalion is targeting Guangling City, and the special agent battalion is targeting Laiyuan City!"
"Not only do they want to target the little Japs in the two places for me, but they also want to find ways to kill them bit by bit, so that if they add up, they can completely capture Guangling and Laiyuan, and connect the base areas together.
!”
"The independent battalion is recruiting troops east of Guangling. In addition to ensuring that it has full strength, it also needs to form a district squadron in each town east of Guangling and provide another 200 recruits to the regiment headquarters!"
"The special agent battalion recruits troops south of Laiyuan, and its tasks are the same as those of the independent battalion!"
"The regiment headquarters, guard battalion, cavalry battalion, artillery battalion, and other directly affiliated troops are stationed in Lingqiu!"
"There is one last thing: we captured a large number of war horses in this battle. Excluding the cavalry companies formed by each battalion, there are still nearly 600 horses!"
"The cavalry battalion can no longer be expanded, so I decided to use these horses to form a mobile battalion!"
"Using war horses for transportation will increase the mobility speed of the troops and ensure that the troops can reach every place in the base within three hours!"
"The new battalion battalion commander Dong Xulin is transferred to the mobile battalion battalion commander. Except that there is no recruit company and cavalry company, the other establishment is the same as the main battalion, with a full strength of 600 people!"
"The backbone of the mobile battalion will be the backbone of the original recruit battalion. The veterans will be drawn directly from the severely wounded who recovered from the night combat hospital. The recruits will be drawn from the 700 people sent to the regiment headquarters from several battalions. The extra ones will supplement the artillery battalion and guard battalion!