When Commander Chen looked at several of his subordinates this time, none of them dodged.

Facing the commander's gaze, he was eager to try.

The temptation of the cavalry was too great for them, and before Commander Chen could speak, the commander of the first regiment couldn't help but speak: "Commander, we have five people in a regiment, but the headquarters wants to give us a hundred war horses, and I want to use these war horses to form a cavalry company." ”

"There are also five people in the four regiments!" Not to be outdone, the fourth regiment commander replied.

Commander Chen didn't answer immediately, he was thinking about how to distribute the five hundred war horses that Li Hao promised.

A minute later, a decision was made: "Each of your three main regiments has five people, two deputy company commanders, and three platoon commanders." ”

"In order to compensate you, I will give you ninety war horses for each regiment to form a cavalry company."

"This cavalry company is directly under the headquarters of your three regiments, and it is also under the control of the three military divisions."

"There are five people left to go out of the headquarters, and the remaining more than two hundred war horses are used to form a cavalry battalion directly under the headquarters."

"You guys go and transfer people now, and send them to the headquarters in an hour."

"What kind of cadres does Regiment Commander Li need, the specific requirements have been said just now, if I find out that you are discounted and the people transferred over cannot meet the requirements, then I am sorry, all the ninety war horses have been recovered."

The commander of the first regiment immediately said: "Don't worry, chief, I promise to transfer the best cadres out to reinforce the garrison regiment, so as not to embarrass our base area." ”

The next night, Li Hao set off with twenty cadres supported by Commander Chen.

Only three thousand rounds of heavy mortar shells were carried, anti-aircraft machine gun bullets were carried thirty thousand, and half of the equipment and all heavy artillery shells were carried.

All the remaining ammunition and equipment were left in the Taiyue base area, and after deducting the ammunition and equipment that had been sent back to the base area, the garrison regiment's load was directly reduced by more than two-thirds.

After walking day and night, he finally returned to the base area after half a month.

At this time, the base area had entered a cold winter, and the biting cold wind blew on the face, like a knife cut, and it was very painful.

The ongoing drought has not been affected by its arrival.

The water volume of the rivers encountered along the way has decreased significantly, and many small rivers have begun to stop flowing.

The land on both sides of the road was all hard and cracked, and when a hoe was scraped down, it was all dry dirt without a trace of moisture.

In this case, there will be no way to spring plough in the base area after a few months.

"Commander, you're finally back!" At the headquarters of the garrison regiment, seeing Li Hao, who dared to come back in a hurry, Wang Hong breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Hao couldn't take a break, and asked straight to the point: "How is the drought situation in the base area?" ”

"And the state of the villagers, the situation of the main force and the local troops, tell me again."

"It's more serious than I thought, and there are so many things waiting for you to come back and make decisions." Wang Hong replied with a solemn face.

"A third of the rivers in the base area have been cut off, and some villages have dried up wells, so villagers have to fetch water from miles away."

"If the drought continues, this year only the land near the river in the entire base area can be ploughed in the spring, and it will not even be one-tenth of the total amount of land in the base area."

"Even so, these cultivated fields have to be harvested by the villagers to carry water and water the land."

"If there is no water, you can't grow food, and everyone will be hungry after the food is eaten, and the villagers are anxious in their eyes, and the state cannot be good."

"In order to survive, many villagers go to the Land Temple every day to ask for rain."

"The most hateful thing is the little devils, taking advantage of the fire to rob and let the spies spread rumors in the base area, saying that all this was caused by our Eighth Route Army, and instigating the common people to drive away our Eighth Route Army."

"Fortunately, the villagers are still sensible and have not been bewitched."

"But because of the drought, the villagers are only thinking about the rain and not going hungry in the coming year, and the support for us is obviously not as strong as before."

Li Hao's face became more and more heavy, and he continued to ask: "Are there any ordinary people who have run out of food?" ”

"This time of year is the hardest time for the villagers, and many people are starving to death because of lack of food. Now that we, the Eighth Route Army, are here, we say that nothing can happen again. ”

Wang Hong nodded in affirmation: "I'm already doing this." ”

"Lingqiu, Hunyuan, these old base areas are okay, through reclamation and rent reduction, every household has a lot of grain in stock, and it will definitely be no problem to survive until the autumn harvest."

"The new base areas in Laiyuan are no longer good, they have not yet enjoyed the benefits of land reclamation and rent reduction, and every household has almost no grain in stock, and it is certain that they will be hungry."

"I have ordered the local government and the guerrillas to count the amount of grain in the hands of the villagers, and then use the grain we have stockpiled for disaster relief."

"In addition, because of the severe drought, grain prices are soaring everywhere, and the Jin Sui army, which has been trading with us with grain, no longer pulls grain over, and the Japanese puppet army blockade has cut off all the grain inflow channels in the base areas."

"If there are no new channels to buy food, we will have to eat the old money."

Li Hao's face became more and more heavy.

Only he knows that the current drought will last for at least a year.

If you start eating the old book now, those stored grain will not be enough for half a year.

This means that after half a year, the base areas will be completely starved of food.

Not only did the villagers have no food to eat, but the troops would also go hungry.

As the old saying goes, soldiers and horses go first before they move food and grass, and if a unit can't even eat enough, its combat effectiveness will definitely be very poor, and morale will be low.

It was only at this time that Li Hao understood why the Eighth Route Army in later generations wanted to streamline the administration on a large scale, and pull the troops that were supposed to fight into the mountains to grow food and be self-sufficient.

If you don't grow food and be self-sufficient, the soldiers will go hungry, and when the time comes, you won't have to attack with little devils, and you will collapse yourself.

Thinking of this, Li Hao made a decisive decision: "The line of the Jin Suijun cannot be broken." ”

"Tell Yan Youjin that we can make them profit again and let them make more money, but we must continue to send grain to the base area."

"We have a blockade by the Japanese puppet army, and we can't get food, and we can't buy it if we want to."

"They are different, they are connected to the northwest, even if they have a drought there, there is no local grain, they can go to the northwest to buy it, there is more grain there."

"Yan Youjin is a man who sees money, as long as the profit is large enough, I believe he will definitely continue to send us food."

"As for disaster relief in the base areas, I don't think food can be given directly to the villagers, so we should use the old method of work for relief."

"Mobilize the villagers to work in the base area in exchange for food."

"God doesn't rain, just begging for rain can't do it, we have to find a way to ask God for water!"

"The well is dry not because it is out of water, but because the well is too shallow."

"As long as we continue to dig deeper, if five meters is not enough, we will dig 10 meters, and if 10 meters is not enough, we will dig 15 meters, and finally we will definitely be able to get water."

"Political commissar, inform the governments at all levels in the base areas, the local troops, and the guerrillas to immediately organize the villagers to deepen the wells in each village, and ensure that everyone has water to eat."

"Specifically, how to use work for relief, how much food to give to the blind dates participating in labor every day, and how long the base can store grain in the city, you first discuss a plan, and then start implementing it after it is approved by the party committee."

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