Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Despite the tense situation outside, the Eighth Route Army did not forget to fight against the Japanese! On July 43, 7, the Eighth Route Army's Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region launched the Wei (He) Nan Campaign. After 30 days of fighting, they annihilated more than 20 Japanese puppet troops under Du Shu's command and completely recovered the areas occupied by the Japanese puppets in Wei Nan.

On August 8, the head of the Japanese headquarters' reporting department, Tani Oginaka, published a talk to Chiang Kai-shek to induce him to surrender, saying that if he agreed to stop resisting and join the anti-US and British front, Japan would withdraw from China and recognize China's independence. On September 1, according to the Japanese "Kido Diary", in mid-September, Tojo reported to the Emperor that Chongqing had asked Wang Jingwei to mediate the peace talks between China and Japan.

Ha, isn't it magical? Yes, it is magical! But why they didn't surrender or negotiate peace in the end, we don't know...

Things outside did not affect the Beishan base, which made the Beishan base more prosperous! Yes, it was prosperous, because the taxes in the accounts of the Beishan detachment were increasing every month.

These taxes were only collected by Ping'an County, which also included the tolls of some caravans. Even though the taxes collected by the Eighth Route Army were not much, the number of passengers gradually increased, and the business became more and more prosperous!
Where is Ping'an County? It's on the edge of Yangquan. To the north is the railway line, and it's also the northern section of the Pingliao Highway. It's definitely a transportation hub! Didn't the devils in Liao County and Heshun sneak away in May? The Eighth Route Army would naturally not miss the opportunity to liberate the county! So, the devils ran away, the county was liberated, and the entire Pingliao Highway was unblocked!

If you want to get rich, you must first build roads. If the roads are smooth, some commodities will have channels for circulation! The key is that this is the place occupied by the Eighth Route Army. Whether you are a business gang or a single person, you no longer have to worry about safety issues! Originally, the Japanese puppet army was stationed here. If you wanted to pass through, you would have to peel off several layers of skin. And you also have to face the Japanese slaughter at any time!

Now that the Eighth Route Army is stationed here, merchants can travel day and night without having to worry about being massacred by the devils or puppet troops, or being taxed at every level. They only have to pay a toll, called a transaction tax, and they can do business safely!

Different people do different things! The Eighth Route Army may not know what kind of goods can make money, but these businessmen know it very well! For the greatest profit, the businessmen dare to go to Changzhi, south of the Changliao Highway, and resell supplies to the Eighth Route Army from the Japanese! Of course, there are also people who serve as secret sentries for the Japanese and pass on the news of the Eighth Route Army...

In short, under the pressure of war, driven by the Beishan base, and driven by four county towns and a highway, the economic situation here has indeed improved.

Well, it’s not just the businessmen who benefited, in fact the arsenal also got a lot of benefits!

Where did the benefits come from? First of all, it was the arrangement of the headquarters arsenal. Its forging, smelting and other factory areas were actually on the west side of Zuohuishan Pass, near Xianwang Village and Liugou Iron Factory.

When the Japanese occupied the Liaoxian line, if the headquarters arsenal wanted to transport supplies to the north, they had to go through the Qingzhang River Valley on the Matan side, and then through various valleys and mountains all the way to the Beishan Detachment. Although the ditches and bumps along the road were passable by cars, it was very inconvenient to take a long detour and take dangerous routes.

Now it’s all right. First of all, some iron parts don’t need to pass Zuohui Mountain. You can go directly west from Xianwang Village to Changliao Highway, then go north along Changliao Highway to Liao County, and then have a smooth journey to Ping’an County!

The savings in manpower, material resources and animal power are not a little bit! The more crucial point is that after the liberation of these four counties, there will be no more Japanese stabs in the base area of ​​the entire Taihang area! Now, in addition to the Baijin Highway (railway) that also affects the traffic between Taihang and Taiyue areas, the base area of ​​the entire southeastern Shanxi has been connected geographically!

Judging from the strength and military power displayed by the Japanese devils, as long as the Kuomintang army and the Shanxi Suiyuan Army do not come to pick peaches, the entire southeastern Shanxi will be the territory of our Eighth Route Army! With a place, a foundation, and food output, we can support more troops and eliminate more Japanese devils... This is a positive cycle, and it will only get better and better!
On September 43, 9, at Zhangzhuang, the main regiment’s base between Ping’an County and Xiyang, 15 new recruits stood in the scorching sun, wearing newly issued camouflage uniforms, cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles and tires as soles, and gray two-button Eighth Route Army hats, standing upright on the training ground. “Comrades…” Lu Xiaoran’s voice spread throughout the venue with the help of a dry-cell powered electric speaker: “Comrades, after three months of rigorous training, you have grown from ordinary people who have just joined the army to an Eighth Route Army soldier! Now, based on your training and the needs of our Beishan Detachment’s various units, we will assign you new combat units!”

"Based on the principle of proximity, let Shu, the political commissar of the main regiment, come and take away your new recruits..." After saying that, Lu Xiaoran left the scene and handed the loudspeaker to Shu Youtuan, asking him to select the recruits.

Shu Youtuan was not polite either. According to the list that had been agreed upon long ago, he called out people one by one, and called the needed recruits out of the queue. Then they were assigned to their respective companies by the company commanders waiting here.

The main group was selected, the first brigade came on stage, followed by the second brigade, the third brigade, and finally the "unwanted" ones were all assigned to the insignificant security group. Well, Lu Xiaoran was still the head of the group...

While the new recruits were being assigned to their companies, at the foot of the hillside west of Liangjia Village, Li Yuexuan and his comrades from the arsenal were facing representatives sent by various troops.

"Okay, comrades, after our continuous efforts, we have met the needs of the troops! Today is the day when the 60 mortar training team returns to the team after completing their training, and it is also the day when we hand over the new 60 mortars! Now, representatives of the special operations team come over, take your three mortars and your students away... the quick reaction company... the main force regiment..."

Li Yuexuan called for representatives from all units to come out and sign. Then he saw the trainees from his own unit carrying parts of 60 mortars out of the team, and there were logistics personnel pushing carts behind them. No need to guess, the parts on the soldiers were combined into a complete mortar, and the carts were filled with boxes of shells.

As representatives from each infantry company signed, the onlookers discovered a problem - it turned out that each company took away 4 mortars and 400 rounds of shells!

"Well, captain, have we achieved our goal in one step?" Comrades from the Second Battalion asked Guo Liandong in the crowd.

"Well, it's done in one step! Don't you think about it? We used to be able to produce 40 120mm mortars a month, and now we have converted them into 60 mortars. How can the output be lower?" Guo Liandong said with a smile.

"Then... we won't lack the support firepower of the company and platoon in the future, right? That is, Captain, you have to fight for it. We have to go out and fight. How long has it been since we last fought a war?"

Listening to the soldiers' complaints, Guo Liandong's face suddenly fell. "You think I don't want to go out and fight the devils? I want to go out and fight the devils more than anyone else!" (End of this chapter)