Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 176 Ding Wei's Old Unit Arrives

Three minutes later, troops from the outer perimeter were brought in and brought the situation under control.

When the miners dispersed, the puppet soldiers who had been ganged up on were revealed inside.

At this time, the prisoners of war were covered in wounds. Those who had committed more atrocities were more seriously injured, while those who had committed less atrocities were less seriously injured.

After the soldiers transferred all the puppet army prisoners away, they began to organize the transfer of the miners.

As for dealing with the leaders among the miners, that's out of the question.

Anyway, when asked, several miners who thought they also looked like they didn't have much time left stepped forward and said that they were the ones who fought against the more than two hundred puppet soldiers and that they were the ones who led the attack.

These miners had long suffered abuse from puppet troops and Japanese soldiers, and coupled with their own illnesses, they might not even have a few days left to live.

In this situation, how could the soldiers possibly deal with them? So it became a mess.

Before dawn, Chen Ming organized the transfer of more than 20,000 rescued miners.

This mining area is too close to Datong, only ten kilometers away. The Japanese could launch a surprise attack in this direction at any time.

That is, it was still dark, and the Japanese did not know the specific situation of the mining area, nor did they know how many Eighth Route Army soldiers were around the mining area.

In addition, the troops stationed in Mongolia were badly hurt by the Independent Detachment and dared not easily take action again.

In the past, the Japanese would always target and pursue the Eighth Route Army. Wherever there were Eighth Route Army soldiers, they would chase after them.

While organizing the relocation of miners, Chen Ming also reported on the situation in the mining area.

Headquarters.

When the telegram from the Independent Detachment was received, all the commanders were alarmed.

"Goodness, no wonder my left eyelid kept twitching. It turns out Chen Ming made such a big commotion for me. He actually managed to get more than 20,000 miners working."

"Yes, there are more than 20,000 miners. It's not easy to move so many people. No wonder Chen Ming asked us for help."

"No matter what, we must rescue these people. Immediately notify all the units we can contact and call them according to Plan Two!"

"That's right. Whether it's commendation or resettlement, we have to get the people out of trouble first."

The headquarters' orders were relayed to all units that could be contacted via radio.

In an instant, the Eighth Route Army forces throughout northern Shanxi, northwestern Shanxi, eastern Shanxi, and northern and central Hebei mobilized and launched attacks on various facilities of the Japanese and puppet troops according to the pre-arranged plan.

The attack on the Datong mining area and the rescue of the miners were naturally planned by headquarters.

Chen Ming wasn't the kind of general who was so engrossed in the fighting on the front lines that headquarters was completely baffled; reporting before a major battle was essential.

In this operation, in addition to the troops of the Independent Detachment, headquarters also coordinated with other units to cooperate with the Independent Detachment.

After the independent detachment completed its offensive shift, the cooperating troops took over the position to continue deceiving the Japanese.

Otherwise, even if the soldiers of the Independent Detachment had iron feet, they wouldn't have been able to complete the transfer before the Japanese discovered them.

The Japanese aren't stupid; if their independent detachment unit on the opposite side disappeared, they would definitely notice.

In other words, in addition to the main force of the independent detachment, the troops participating in this operation also included four other regiments of brother units working together.

"Reporting to the commander, Hu Youwei, commander of the 28th Regiment of the Jizhong Army, is reporting for duty."

During the transfer, Chen Ming maintained contact with the brother units that were cooperating with him.

This regiment was transferred from central Hebei to assist in the combat operations.

“28th Regiment, I remember Ding Wei from my Independent Detachment, wasn’t he your regimental commander before?” Chen Ming said with a smile.

Chen Ming recalled that before Ding Wei was intercepted by the commander and transferred to the new First Regiment as its commander, he was originally the commander of the 28th Regiment.

He was even selected to study at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. If Li Yunlong hadn't disobeyed orders on the battlefield, Ding Wei would have returned from his studies long ago.

However, Ding Wei is not bad now either. Given his current situation, he was already one of the three mainstays of the Independent Detachment in 42. His future potential is no worse than if he had gone to study abroad.

After all, Chen Ming's reputation speaks for itself.

Upon hearing Chen Ming's words, Hu Youwei smiled and said, "That's right. Commander Ding was the commander of our 28th Regiment back then, and I was his second battalion commander."

"Haha, then our units have a very close relationship. But your old regimental commander is currently active outside the Great Wall, otherwise I would definitely let you catch up," Chen Ming said.

"I've heard about the old regimental commander's story too. They annihilated a cavalry division of the puppet Mongolian regime, making the Japanese and puppet troops run for their lives. It was so impressive," Hu Youwei said.

His tone was filled with envy and respect.

When Ding Wei led the 28th Regiment, he had already built a regiment of more than 3,000 people.

Now, even after changing locations and taking on a new leader, he is still able to demonstrate his talent, liberating several county towns and annihilating a cavalry division.

Although that cavalry division only had a little over a thousand men, it was still designated as a division.

The old commander is still shining brightly, and as his former subordinate, he is happy for him.

When dawn broke, Political Commissar Zhang Zhengze also arrived.

With so many miners needing to be relocated, as the political commissar of the independent detachment, he should share the pressure and tasks with Chen Ming.

"Old Chen, there are quite a lot of people this time. Can our base accommodate so many people?" Zhang Zhengze asked with some concern.

More than 20,000 people—it will be a huge problem to settle them down no matter where they are sent.

After all, there are so many people, and a considerable number of them are physically weak or suffering from illnesses.

The long hours and high intensity of mining work have taken a toll on their bodies, and many of them have developed occupational diseases.

Even if their weakened bodies can recover, occupational diseases will continue to torment them, and their lifespan will be greatly reduced.

"It's not a big problem. We have many empty houses in our base area, so we can settle these miners first."

"Let them rest and recover first, then we can assign them to the production and construction team to help with land reclamation and farming."

"There's no need to worry about food. The Japanese mining area has enough grain in its warehouses to feed more than 20,000 people for three months. Combined with the grain reserves in our base area, we should be able to last until the autumn harvest without much trouble," Chen Ming said.

Mining is a physically demanding job, so a good food supply is essential; otherwise, you won't have the strength to mine.

Although the Japanese didn't treat these miners as human beings, constantly beating and verbally abusing them, and killing them on the spot if they got sick, their food supply was still guaranteed, as it was unrealistic to have people mining on an empty stomach.

It wasn't good food, but it was edible and could keep you alive.

Now that the Independent Detachment has eliminated the Japanese soldiers in the mining area, all the grain and the large amount of ammunition reserves in the mining area have been seized by the Independent Detachment.

Otherwise, it would be quite a challenge for the independent detachment to resettle more than 20,000 miners.

"I'm not worried about food; I'm worried about the sick miners. Our base area doesn't have enough medicine, and coal miners' pneumoconiosis is difficult to treat. A considerable number of miners will not survive."

"Among them, the youngest was a miner who contracted pneumoconiosis at the age of fourteen, and his life was coming to an end at such a young age," Zhang Zhengze sighed.

Among these miners, the youngest were children as young as twelve, who were tricked and captured by the Japanese soldiers to work in the mines.

The intense labor that even adults would find difficult to endure was placed on these children; the Japanese devils didn't treat the Chinese people as human beings at all.

Upon hearing this, Chen Ming also sighed.

Pneumoconiosis is incurable in the 21st century; treatment can only control symptoms and slow disease progression.

In an era lacking medical supplies and technology, contracting pneumoconiosis was tantamount to declaring the end of life.

"Let's report to headquarters first and ask them to coordinate some herbs from other places."

P.S.: I'm taking a day off today, so there's only one chapter left. Sorry, ONR.
(End of this chapter)