Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Chapter 652 Disarmament

At the end of 1945 and the beginning of 1946, Wei Hongjun was mainly responsible for three things.

One is to get married as soon as possible.

In the revolutionary era, everything was done with great vigor and decisiveness, including marriage.

It's impossible to compare it to the new millennium. Back then, dating could last for years, but marriages took forever. But now, if you take that long, people think you're crazy. At that time, people were getting married almost every day in Jinchayi.

After all, after eight years of war, there's now a glimmer of peace, and everyone is more relaxed. Of course, we should take advantage of this opportunity to get married.

All they did was to take quick action and make quick decisions.

The organization introduces the couple and they chat. If they get along well, they chat a few more times and then file a marriage application.

This is the marriage procedure in this era.

From matchmaker introduction to marriage, the fastest time is a month, the slowest two or three months. This is exactly what happened with Wei Hongjun. What is love? As long as there's no resistance between the two parties and no fundamental conflicts, then marriage registration is acceptable.

What matters is efficiency.

Another one is to reorganize the army.

This is the most important task for Wei Hongjun at present. Although Jin-Cha-Ji was the first to switch from guerrilla warfare to large-scale military operations, many units of the Jin-Cha-Ji Third Field Army still have serious guerrilla habits.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun conducted large-scale military training for the entire Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Third Field Army.

At the same time, in order to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, strong support was given to the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University and the North China Military and Political University. Wei Hongjun, now in charge of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region and the Jin-Cha-Yi Field Army, had much more resources at his disposal than before. Therefore, Wei Hongjun was able to provide even greater support to the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University and the North China Military and Political University.

This allowed them to more confidently and boldly expand the number of students. Short-term training courses, in particular, saw a staggering number of students. Since they couldn't make many overt moves, Wei Hongjun could only use this short-term training model to train more grassroots commanders for Jin-Cha-Ji who were suited to regular warfare.

This not only takes into account his own Third Field Army, but also the troops on the sides of Yang Quanwu and Guo Tianmin.

Furthermore, in preparation for the upcoming battles, Wei Hongjun consolidated all logistics units within the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region and placed Zhao Lu in charge. Although Zhao Lu had begun to oversee logistics units during the previous battle against Fu Zuoyi, this had not been fully completed. Now, taking advantage of the break, Wei Hongjun was determined to thoroughly resolve this issue within the Jin-Cha-Ji military region. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, each unit operated independently, with its own logistics department.

These are the purse strings of each department.

No one is willing to give up.

Marshal Nie's historical failure to resolutely deal with these issues led to the heavy burden placed on the North China Field Army. This is understandable, however, as the Jincha region's development model was unique. Each military sub-district operated independently, each becoming a local lord.

Although Marshal Nie was in charge of the Jin-Cha-Ji region, he generally did not directly interfere in the affairs of the military sub-districts. Consequently, several of the more developed military sub-districts, when they were first established in 1937, had the same commanders and political commissars as in 1944. Having been entrenched in the region for so long, many of the top leaders of these sub-districts in Jin-Cha-Ji had enormous power. By the time of the Liberation War, Marshal Nie had found it difficult to intervene.

Wei Hongjun has been running around these days, chatting with the cadres below him, hoping that they will support the orders of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Third Field Army.

Hand over all the jars and cans in your hands.

Wei Hongjun used both reason and emotion, though he also criticized and educated some of the more stubborn cadres. Later, during the integration of these departments, some cadres defied orders from the military region and field army headquarters, and Wei Hongjun was unyielding. When persuading them, Wei Hongjun primarily sought to appease them and reason with them.

If they expressed dissatisfaction or even opposition directly, Wei Hongjun could understand; after all, no one wanted to give up the treasure chest they held. However, after reaching an agreement, Wei Hongjun would punish and transfer any cadres who dared to defy orders. It took three months to finally complete the formation of the logistics department of the Third Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army.

After completing this work, Wei Hongjun finally felt relieved.

Because the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Third Field Army could fight without any burden at all.

During this period, Wei Hongjun had been communicating with the First and Second Field Armies. After all, Wei Hongjun presided over the work of the military region and the field army headquarters, so he urged the First and Second Field Armies to initiate logistical reforms, separating combat units from non-combat units. Wei Hongjun couldn't issue direct orders, so he repeatedly discussed the issue of regularizing the field armies with Yang Quanwu, Guo Tianmin, and others.

Finally, Wei Hongjun reached an agreement with them. After reporting to Marshal Nie, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region held a meeting and appointed Zhao Lu as the Director of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region's Logistics Department, removing him from his position as Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Jin-Cha-Ji Third Field Army. He was given full responsibility for the logistics organization of Jin-Cha-Ji.

Of course, Wei Hongjun's reorganization of the army was not limited to this. After the three military sub-districts were established under the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region, Wei Hongjun immediately gave them the organization of six independent divisions in the three military sub-districts.

Since the organization was already there, Wei Hongjun did not waste it. Although it was an empty number, he used the empty number as an excuse to transfer some cadres from the main force to the local forces for training.

Even the militia used the winter as a time to receive some training.

At the same time, Wei Hongjun began to form 12 columns, so that the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Third Field Army had a total of four columns: the th Column, the th Column, the th Column, and the th Column.

Of course, the 12th Column was formed in name, but in fact it was still an empty shell.

Wei Hongjun needs to prepare for the subsequent disarmament work.

The last one is the rural work conference.

After more than 20 days of meetings, Wei Hongjun finally produced a "Minutes of the Land Work Conference in the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Border Region".

Wei Hongjun was very satisfied.

Although this work record was somewhat different from how Wei Hongjun had imagined land reform, he was most pleased that he had used this time to gradually unify everyone's thinking. The officers who attended the meeting were all responsible for rural work in the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region. After returning home, each of them would at least be responsible for rural work in the county.

By unifying their thoughts, everyone has reached a certain consensus on policies.

In this way, when Wei Hongjun carries out soldier reform work in the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region in the future, everyone can follow Wei Hongjun's ideas.

While Wei Hongjun was busy with these things, the United States sent Marshall over.

Former US Ambassador to China Hurley was dismissed.

Hurley was rather unlucky. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Hurley always supported Chiang Kai-shek, especially helping to transport the Nationalist troops, allowing them to get to their desired destination as quickly as possible.

Although the Nationalist army quickly took over those major cities with the help of American aircraft and warships, it did not gain any advantage after the conflict with the Eighth Route Army.

Du Yuming had organized his troops to attack Shanhaiguan twice but failed, and was currently preparing for a third attack on Shanhaiguan. Then, Yan Xishan lost half of his troops in southern Shanxi, and Fu Zuoyi lost 30,000 men in the Battle of Zhuozi.

All of this made the national army lose face.

The United States is also not satisfied.

The mainstream after World War II was peace. If the United States had won a civil war in China, no one would have said anything. But it was beaten so badly by the Eighth Route Army that Britain and France in Europe laughed them to death. Then Marshall arrived.

After he came to China, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party quickly came up with a new military reorganization plan and signed a ceasefire agreement.

At the same time, the establishment of the Peking Military Mediation Department was announced.

In February 1946, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a "Central Directive on the Current Situation and Tasks" to the entire party, optimistically announcing: As the country enters a new stage of peaceful and democratic construction, we must believe that the party's army can also break away from the party's direct leadership.

However, on the following military issues, the central government's instructions needed to be understood by the generals below: "In order to ensure domestic peace, all localities should take advantage of the current opportunity to conduct large-scale military training for three months... and must prepare to reorganize the army and streamline the government during this period. In this regard, you should first make mental preparations, consider it carefully, and be ready for implementation."

It is difficult for the central government to say anything directly about the current public opinion.

So the content is very subtle.

The soldiers are required to train for three months, prepare themselves mentally, and observe the situation first.

So, the so-called disarmament in various base areas was actually about eliminating the old and weak and building up elite troops. Some military regions even continued to recruit soldiers while disarming. Only the Jin-Cha-Ji region was truly doing this.

After the central government issued the document, Marshal Nie immediately convened a meeting.

Members of the Jin-Cha-Ji Central Committee, cadres of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and frontline officers of the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army all attended the meeting. Because there was no fighting at the moment, Yang Quanwu, Wang Zhi, Geng Biao, and Li Zhimin, all of whom were in Hebei, also attended.

"Commander, the Central Committee has just issued instructions. Why should we rush in? Let's see how the situation develops first.

Guo Tianmin was very dissatisfied with Marshal Nie's proposal to disarm.

According to Marshal Nie's proposal, the military cuts would be too much.

Seeing Guo Tianmin's words, Tang Jie, who had been the Chief of Staff of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region and was now the Deputy Commander of the 11th Column, spoke up, "Commander, I also think this disarmament plan is too risky. Can we slow down the pace of disarmament a bit?"

"Commander, let's first see how the situation develops, and then decide how to reduce our forces to the best advantage of our Jincha Wing.

Zhao Lu couldn't help but persuade Marshal Nie.

Wei Hongjun was secretly delighted when he saw the meeting situation.

In fact, Wei Hongjun had been looking for an opportunity to talk to Marshal Nie about disarmament during this period. However, he did not expect that Marshal Nie would convene a meeting to discuss disarmament as soon as the central document was issued.

This caught Wei Hongjun off guard.

Fortunately, the frontline generals of Jin-Cha-Ji were not blinded by the so-called peace. When everyone heard that Jin-Cha-Ji wanted to disarm, and especially after seeing Marshal Nie's disarmament plan, they all opposed it. Now that so many people have spoken out, and they are all important cadres in Jin-Cha-Ji, Marshal Nie will definitely reconsider the disarmament plan.

Yang Quanwu immediately agreed: "Commander, you can send someone to check the situation in Hebei. The Beiping Military Mediation Office has been established and is located in Beiping.

However, the Nationalist troops in Peking are openly recruiting and expanding their forces. Li Zongren, Sun Lianzhong, and Pang Bingxun already have over 400,000 troops in Hebei, and the Nationalist troops are still pouring in. In a month or two, the Nationalist troops in Hebei are expected to exceed 500,000. If we reduce our forces here at this time, how will we respond if Chiang Kai-shek turns against us?

"Yes. In order to fight us, Yan Xishan reorganized the Japanese and puppet troops in Taiyuan and Datong. Now they are expanding their forces, and we are discussing disarmament, which will put us in a passive position.

Liu Daosheng, political commissar of the Second Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army, echoed Yang Quanwu.

Other front-line cadres also expressed their dissatisfaction.

Marshal Nie was very surprised.

He had originally thought that everyone would be very happy with his disarmament plan. After all, everyone had fought for so many years, and there had always been a war-weariness within the army. Beyond the army, there was also a war-weariness within the localities, and everyone hoped to avoid war and live in peace. Many leaders in the central government now supported "peaceful nation-building," and Jin-Cha-Ji, being close to Yan'an, was also influenced by this theory. Marshal Nie believed that since the central government believed in "peaceful nation-building," then "peaceful nation-building" should be very promising. Furthermore, the eyes of both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were currently on Jin-Cha-Ji, so Jin-Cha-Ji should certainly follow suit. Since the central government issued the document, local cadres like Liu Huafu believed that this was a good opportunity to strive for peace.

Marshal Nie also believed that this opportunity was a rare one. Since the Xinhai Revolution, China has been at war for years and needs peace and recuperation. Unexpectedly, his disarmament plan was opposed by the entire front-line generals as soon as it was proposed. Marshal Nie said with a somewhat ugly face: "Peace is already the general trend. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the military and civilians of Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei suffered too much. Now that there is peace, we should consider reducing the burden on the people of Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei. How can we have so many troops in Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei in peacetime? The people of Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei should enjoy a peaceful life. We have so many troops in Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei, and the burden on the base is too heavy."

"Correct."

Liu Huafu said: "The Central Government and the National Government have reached a peace agreement. What we need to do now is to show our sincerity for peace in accordance with the peace agreement.

"Shit."

Yang Quanwu's luck started to pick up.

Yang Quanwu was particularly furious when he heard Liu Huafu say he wanted to show his sincerity for peace. He asked directly, "What? Comrade Liu Huafu, have you forgotten that during the Great Revolution, even after our armed workers and peasants surrendered their weapons, they were still massacred by Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei? Are you asking us to surrender our weapons a second time? We should disarm ourselves. If Chiang Kai-shek goes back on his word and raises his butcher knife again, how will we defend the fruits of our revolution? You want us to stick our necks out and let the Kuomintang reactionaries kill us? You are a capitulator."

Liu Huafu's face flushed.

He looked at Yang Quanwu and suddenly became furious. He didn't like Yang Quanwu because of his personality. After all, he was the deputy secretary of the Central Bureau of Jin-Cha-Ji, the second-in-command of Jin-Cha-Ji.

But in such an open meeting, Yang Quanwu actually pointed at his nose and called him a capitulator. These military cadres in Jinchaji were really too rebellious.

Marshal Nie immediately said, "Comrade Yang Quanwu, this is a meeting, no personal attacks.

But Yang Quanwu was still angry at this time. He continued, "Commander, we want peace, but Chiang Kai-shek didn't want peace. I've already said that you can go to Hebei and see that the number of Nationalist troops in Hebei is increasing day by day. It's already a headache for our First Field Army in the Shanxi-Chahar-Island region to deal with them alone. And in order to enter the Northeast, the Nationalist troops in eastern Hebei are even more numerous. They are all elite Nationalist troops, all equipped with American or semi-American weapons, landing in batches from Qinhuangdao and fighting our Ji-Re-Liaoning Military Region troops at Shanhaiguan. If we reduce the army, how will we deal with so many Nationalist troops in Hebei in the future? And we all agree to reduce the burden on the people in the base area. But we cannot accept such a large reduction in the army at one time and only retaining a small number of field army troops.

Yang Quanwu expressed his dissatisfaction directly.

Cutting the army by one-third would have left Jin-Cha-Ji with a shattered state. Unbeknownst to Yang Quanwu, Marshal Nie had originally intended to cut the army by one-third. However, Jin-Cha-Ji soon decided to cut another third on top of the previous cuts. The 200,000-man field army was reduced to 50,000, with many veterans returning to active service and a significant number of field army units becoming local forces.

Field Army units become local units. While they remain troops, their combat effectiveness will decline rapidly. There are also a large number of veterans who have recovered, and their spirits are completely different after recovery. Even if you ask them to return, they will not be able to regain their original spirit in a short period of time.

Yang Quanwu fired at full force, shouting at his superiors. Marshal Nie was furious when he saw his beloved general Yang Quanwu like this. He couldn't help but slam the table and said, "You have also read the Central Committee's documents. Peace is the general trend. Our Jin-Cha-Ji region is a model base area. Moreover, the Beiping Military Mediation Office is targeting our Jin-Cha-Ji region. They are also sending people to observe our disarmament. At this time, we must obey the overall situation and set an example. We in Jin-Cha-Ji region must reduce one-third of our troops.

One month later, the military district's supplies will be allocated to the various field army units according to the one-third reduction."

Yang Quanwu was furious when he heard what Marshal Nie said.

Although Nie Shuai and Yang Quanwu had worked together for many years and had a special relationship, Yang Quanwu was really reckless when he got angry. He stood up and tried to refute Nie Shuai. Seeing Yang Quanwu like this, Wang Zhi immediately pulled Yang Quanwu away.

During the time Wang Zhi worked with Yang Quanwu, he understood that although Yang Quanwu was not a hot-tempered person like Huang Yong, once he set his mind to something, no one could change his mind.

So quickly pull Yang Quanwu down.

Marshal Nie and Yang Quanwu were core cadres of the Jin-Cha-Ji region, and a conflict in a public meeting would have a disastrous impact. Yang Quanwu's personality could easily embarrass Marshal Nie in public. So, after restraining Yang Quanwu, Wang Zhi immediately signaled to Wei Hongjun nearby.

Wei Hongjun was also very nervous. His original idea was that as long as Marshal Nie mentioned the issue of disarmament during the meeting, everyone would rush to oppose Marshal Nie's disarmament plan.

Faced with so much opposition, Marshal Nie would probably have to reconsider. As long as disarmament wasn't confirmed at this meeting, everyone could discuss the matter privately with Marshal Nie afterward.