Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Because this kind of thing has never happened on the Eighth Route Army's side.

However, they were all generals with many years of experience in the battlefield. Although they were a little surprised at first, they quickly calmed down. They had seen so many things on the battlefield. Wei Hongjun continued: "This incident may seem isolated, but we cannot ignore it. Because the quality of the Japanese army's manpower is so poor, and the combat effectiveness of the troops is declining so rapidly. Who knows when Japan will suddenly give up and declare surrender. By then, there will be so many Japanese troops and so many Japanese expatriates in the Eighth Route Army area. Including our troops entering the Northeast and establishing a base in the Northeast. There will be even more Japanese troops and Japanese expatriates in the Northeast. How will we deal with so many Japanese troops and Japanese expatriates at that time? If we can't formulate a plan in advance, many cadres on the front line will be helpless, not knowing how to deal with so many surrendered Japanese troops and Japanese expatriates. If we are not careful, this kind of thing will happen again. Some puppet troops followed the Japanese and did all kinds of evil things. Once the Japanese surrender, they will inevitably kill Japanese troops and Japanese expatriates to prove their loyalty. Only if we have a policy in place in advance and resettle those surrendered Japanese troops and Japanese expatriates can we prevent such things from happening again."

"Go on, how are we going to accommodate so many Japanese?"

"Comrades, this is why I'm submitting this report today. We can't expect so many Japanese to support them for nothing. We don't mistreat prisoners; we treat them well. But we can't say we're starving them while supporting so many Japanese. I've heard there are millions of Japanese in China; how can we afford to support them? So my suggestion is, aren't those Japanese pioneers here to farm our land? Let them farm, let them open up wasteland. Let them do it themselves, grow their own crops and feed themselves.

There are now more and more Japanese expatriates on the Eighth Route Army side.

Areas like Suiyuan, Chahar, and Rehe had large numbers of Japanese expatriates. The Eighth Route Army themselves were struggling, so how could they afford to feed them? But leaving them to fend for themselves wasn't an option.

What if these Japanese expatriates become bandits?

Once you push anyone into a desperate situation, they will do anything.

Or what if Chinese people saw Japanese expatriates and robbed them, or even robbed Japanese women? What would happen then? Once a person robs something and gets a taste of the sweetness, it's hard to stop.

Wei Hongjun did not want the simple people in the base area to taste the sweetness of robbing things and women and turn into bandits in the future. If that happened, there would be chaos in the base area and even a corrupt atmosphere.

So these Japanese expatriates must be managed.

What can be done?

Of course, they should be allowed to reclaim wasteland. They should be allocated a piece of land and allowed to cultivate it. They should be able to grow food and support themselves. When they are later repatriated, the land they have reclaimed will belong to the state.

In addition to clearing wasteland, they can also be asked to build roads, or if that doesn't work, they can also mine. As long as they can support themselves, that's fine.

"What about the back?"

"The following is where I want to focus. After the Chifeng incident, while processing the files of Japanese expatriates, I discovered a significant number of skilled personnel. Some were doctors and nurses, others were mining technicians. Leaders, after our revolutionary victory, the next step is national construction. National construction requires a large number of skilled personnel. However, our country is an agricultural nation with a predominantly peasant population and widespread illiteracy. How can we find so many skilled personnel? Even if we did have a certain number of skilled personnel, compared to national construction, they would still be very few. Let alone after the victory of the revolution, what would we do if we went to war with Chiang Kai-shek? Currently, most skilled personnel are on Chiang's side. Our base area is developing its own industry, and skilled personnel are even more scarce. The Japanese invaded our country and plundered our resources. To do so, they established numerous factories, staffed by Japanese personnel themselves. Of course, we must retain these skilled personnel and let them work for us. Our workers can learn from them, working alongside them. One way is to train two, two train four, and four train eight.

Within a few years, we will have a considerable number of our own technical personnel. Therefore, I hope that the military region can set up a department to identify Japanese expatriates and verify their identities. If there are technical personnel among them who we need, we should keep them here.

They have done so many bad things in China, and reform through labor is the best way for them to atone for their sins."

New China needs industrial development.

Industrial development requires technical talents.

China currently has very few skilled technicians. When the People's Republic of China was founded, there were only about 100,000 college students nationwide. And of those 100,000, the majority were liberal arts students.

It can be said that the industrial development of New China is extremely short of talent. Not only is there a lack of industrial talent among the cadre team, but there is also a severe shortage of skilled workers in the factories. In today's China, the only place that can quickly produce a large number of technical talents is the Japanese expatriate community.

When the Japanese entered China, they took over many of the country's existing factories and established many of their own, including a large hydroelectric power plant in Northeast China. These large-scale projects required a large number of technicians and engineers to build these factories.

The Americans could snatch scientists from Nazi Germany, and even bring back people from Japanese Communist Party experiments. China could identify some Japanese engineers and technicians for its own use.

Wei Hongjun also valued the fact that these Japanese technicians could help train Chinese technicians. National liberation was still several years away. If these few years were utilized effectively, Jin-Cha-Ji might have added thousands or even tens of thousands of skilled personnel to the new China by the time it was founded. Don't underestimate the small accumulations; over time, these small accumulations will snowball into something much bigger.

"There are also Japanese doctors and nurses. When we were still in the 8th Column, the column established the Chanan Medical School. However, the number of doctors trained over the years was very small, and their level was also relatively limited. But it's different here in Japan. Whether it's the Japanese army's own hospitals, the hospitals requisitioned by the Japanese army in the local area, or even the hospitals that specialize in treating Japanese expatriates, there are a large number of Japanese doctors and nurses. These people should be intercepted and let them work for us. Before we train our own talents, it is in our best interest to keep them.

"Ah."

Marshal Nie nodded.

In fact, the Eighth Route Army had already intercepted some technical talents.

But I just stay with them when I meet them.

There was no plan to intercept these talents. Now that Wei Hongjun said this, it became a special task to specifically identify technical talents among Japanese expatriates. This military region really had no plan.

But after listening to Wei Hongjun's analysis, this matter should indeed be put on the agenda.

If we could identify a few thousand skilled personnel, a few thousand doctors and nurses, or even tens of thousands of them, from among the millions of Japanese soldiers and expatriates, that would be even better. If the Eighth Route Army could train these personnel on its own, who knows how many years it would take.

Wei Hongjun continued, "In addition to these, there are also some talented people in the Japanese army. We should also consider retaining their pilots and artillery talents. In the future, we will form our own aircraft units and our own artillery units. But we don't have such talents ourselves. The only way we can get such talents in a short period of time is to start from the Japanese army. Not only these, but also technical arms such as motor soldiers in the Japanese army can be retained to train us motor soldiers. It should be said that as long as it is a technical branch, we should try our best to retain it. Because our Eighth Route Army lacks any technical branches, and our country lacks them all."

For the current Eighth Route Army, as long as they are technical soldiers, they must stay.

Like a car soldier.

Today's car soldiers are not the same as the drivers of fifty or sixty years later.

At that time, if you wanted to drive, you only needed to learn for a while and you could drive. If your car broke down, you just had to call someone to tow it away and repair it.

But it's different now.

If you drive a car now, you must learn how to repair it.

This was true not only today but even within the first few decades after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Driving a car meant learning how to repair it, and one had to fix minor problems on their own. Therefore, at this time, car soldiers were a very important technical branch of the military.

In the future war of liberation, the People's Liberation Army will need tens of thousands of motor vehicle soldiers. After liberation, there will be an even greater need for countless people who can drive.

"We understand all this. Go back and prepare for tomorrow's meeting."

"Yes."

After Wei Hongjun left, Marshal Nie asked, "What do you think?"

"I think it makes sense. There should be a lot of talent among the Japanese military and Japanese expatriates. We should set up a department specifically to identify these talented Japanese. We are short of talent right now, and it would be a good idea to fill some important technical positions with these Japanese technical talents. If we don't prepare now, we will probably be in a mess later.

"Ah."

Marshal Nie nodded.

He said to Luo Qirong, "Lao Luo, this matter still needs to be led by your Political Department. To set up a screening department, we need to send people who are politically strong and also have some knowledge of this kind of work.

"it is good."

Luo Qirong agreed with Marshal Nie's idea.

But he quickly said, "Commander, this isn't just our Jin-Cha-Ji region; other military regions are facing this problem. Do you think we should convene a meeting of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Bureau and submit this matter to the Central Committee for review?"

"That's right. This isn't just our Jin-Cha-Ji issue."

Chapter 563: Persuading Yang Quanwu

After Wei Hongjun left Marshal Nie, he first returned to the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region.

Many senior officers from the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region are here. A rough operational plan will be developed and submitted to the military region for review tomorrow. This is in accordance with the military region's orders to formulate a plan for annihilating the Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe. Wei Hongjun participated in the formulation of the plan. In fact, the plan for the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar region is relatively simple.

After the Chifeng Campaign, the Jirecha Military Region and the Jireliao Military Region had cut off the passage between Rehe and the Northeast. Without the support of the Northeast Japanese Army, the Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe were already rootless and drifting.

Everything is missing.

Lack of logistical supplies, weapons and ammunition. The Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe were already weak in combat, and now they had no chance.

So it is relatively easy to make a plan.

In fact, both the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region and the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region already had plans. They are just being refined now to meet the Central Committee's requirements for a comprehensive transition to a strategic counter-offensive.

After the general plan was finalized, Wei Hongjun took the time to go find Yang Quanwu. Yang Quanwu was surprised to see Wei Hongjun, but he was also very happy. After all, Wei Hongjun's military and Party rank had risen. Having such a figure under his command was something worth boasting about.

"Red Army, what's going on?"

"Old Chief, what you said today has a very bad impact."

"I'm just saying it casually."

Yang Quanwu waved his hand.

Don't care.

Seeing Yang Quanwu like this, Wei Hongjun couldn't help but say, "Didn't you see Commander Nie got angry today? If Deputy Political Commissar Luo hadn't stepped in, this matter wouldn't have been so easy to resolve."

"I just spoke too quickly."

"Old Chief, you didn't go to Yan'an, so you don't know what happened. It's a good thing you didn't go to Yan'an, otherwise you would have been a target at the meeting."

"Some people just like to make things up. You did a good job in Yan'an, so you can't be polite to those people. Some people actually want to accuse us of having a wrong line, which is also ridiculous. They don't even look at the state of the base areas they developed, and they dare to say that we in Jin-Cha-Ji have a wrong line. If we in Jin-Cha-Ji had a wrong line, we wouldn't have achieved the development we have now. Don't pay attention to the malicious slander of some villains."

When Yang Quanwu heard Wei Hongjun talk about what happened in Yan'an, he became very angry.

Especially the route error.

Yang Quanwu was a top-tier general in the Jin-Cha-Ji region, conquering half of the territory held by the First Division. Besides the commander, Yang Quanwu was the most iconic general in the Jin-Cha-Ji region. If Marshal Nie were accused of misguided policy, it would mean the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region was developing along the wrong lines. Then, what mistakes would those cadres who followed Marshal Nie in conquering the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region have made?

Once you put on this kind of hat, it will be inconvenient to do anything.

The entire Jin-Cha-Ji cadre had to bear the historical responsibility of imprisonment. It can be said that when the events in Yan'an reached Jin-Cha-Ji, the cadres in Jin-Cha-Ji were all indignant.

Therefore, Yang Quanwu is very supportive of Wei Hongjun.

Because Wei Hongjun vigorously defended Marshal Nie in Yan'an and defended the Jin-Cha-Ji region, even clashing with some higher-ranking officials over Nie. In Yang Quanwu's view, this was the way it should be.

This was the kind of soldier he'd brought up. If Wei Hongjun had gone to Yan'an and been intimidated by the situation, and hadn't taken the blame for Marshal Nie, Yang Quanwu would have looked down on him. Fortunately, Wei Hongjun had the guts to stand up.

Therefore, I admire Wei Hongjun more than before.

Wei Hongjun saw that Yang Quanwu didn't listen to what he said, so he said, "Old Chief, this is not what I'm talking about. Our Jincha's development is obvious to all. It's not something that can be achieved by a few individuals trying to put a accusation on us. If someone insists on putting a accusation on us, none of us, the cadres of the Jincha wing, will agree. I'm talking about you. You may not know how many people were targeting you at the time. It seems nothing is wrong now, and Commander Nie is still covering for you, but have you considered what will happen in the future? If what you said at the meeting gets out, you will have another crime on your shoulders."

"Red Army, I know what you're going to say."

Yang Quanwu waved his hand.

He said nonchalantly, "Red Army, you and I both know what the situation was like when we crossed the Yellow River and entered Shanxi, just as we established our base. You and I both know how powerful the Japanese army was back then. We all lead troops in battle, and this is a matter of no carelessness. The slightest carelessness in leadership can be disastrous, costing the lives of our comrades. Those who can win battles and expand our base are the cadres we need when we advance behind enemy lines. If you can't do that, give up your position as soon as possible. This is not only tactful, but also a sign of responsibility to the revolution and to the lives of our comrades. If you don't have the ability, don't hold a position. Incompetent cadres will only lead to sacrifice. It was always like this, and it will be even more so in the future. The war is getting bigger and bigger, and holding a position without ability is a crime. You all tell me about your qualifications, and if you're not satisfied with the cadre assignment, you ask the organization for this and that. So what if you're a veteran revolutionary, so what if you're a veteran Red Army soldier? If you're not capable enough for me, then get out. It's just a few scoldings, and I'm not afraid."

Yang Quanwu is very open-minded about these things.

Yang Quanwu believed that leading troops in battle was not a big deal. If you were capable, you could go ahead. If you weren't, you could just be quiet. So what if you were a veteran revolutionary or a veteran of the Red Army? So what if you had extensive experience? If you weren't capable enough, you could just do what you could.

But the old revolutionaries and veteran Red Army soldiers didn’t understand.

Many of them wondered why Yang Quanwu said they lacked ability, and why those who joined the revolution later climbed the ranks faster than they did. So they expressed their dissatisfaction with Yang Quanwu.

But who is Yang Quanwu?

He was truly a "dictatorial" figure. He always had the final say in Division 1. The more you challenged Yang Quanwu, the less chance he gave you. In the end, these people went to Marshal Nie to complain. It was Marshal Nie who helped appease them.

However, no matter how much he tried to appease him, Marshal Nie would never really change Yang Quanwu's position for them.

Wei Hongjun really felt helpless.

Many of them lack the ability to shoulder greater responsibilities, but they are veteran revolutionaries and veterans of the Red Army. They have many leaders, comrades, and even former subordinates. Even if Yang Quanwu doesn't use them, he should at least appease them.

Instead of being too irritable and driving them away directly, Yang Quanwu offended so many people that his reputation was immediately ruined. Not only within the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, but even in other military regions of the Eighth Route Army, everyone knew that Yang Quanwu was a dictator and intolerant. Being intolerant and unable to unite people was not a good reputation for a senior cadre.

"Old Chief, when we go to war with Chiang Kai-shek, we will form a corps of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops to rival the Nationalist Army Group Army. Who do you think will be the commander of this corps?

Yang Quanwu immediately became excited when he heard this.

He said confidently, "Who do you think should be able to take on the role?"

Who made the greatest contribution in Jin-Cha-Ji?

Who has the qualifications and military achievements to take over this position?

It can be said that in Jin-Cha-Ji, there is no one else but Yang Quanwu.