And now I don't know what kind of surprise Yang Zhen, who has no surprise for himself in a month later, is still a headache for the replenishment of the soldiers of the Advance Army. In fact, if Yang Zhen really wanted to incorporate all the advance troops into the Anti-Japanese Federation, he would naturally not have a headache about this problem.

By joining the Advance Army into the operational sequence of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, not only did he not have to worry about how to replenish the troops, but he could also reduce the number of recruits mobilized in the new area. But he just thinks that it is not very appropriate to be incorporated into the Anti-Japanese Federation. That's why he has been having a headache in order to replenish the battle damage of the advance army. Although there is not much shortage of recruits in the army, it is still a gap.

To be honest, he didn't worry about the amount of equipment needed for the advance army. What the troops captured in this battle was precisely the problem of replenishing troops, which became his biggest headache. The number of self-replenished troops is insufficient, and the pace of mobilization in the new districts has been very slow.

Even if the mobilization is completed, it is still uncertain whether it will be able to meet its own needs according to the regulations of the anti-union conscription. The number of at least 200,000 conscripts necessary to prepare for the next stage of the battle and to supplement the casualties of this battle is enough to put it anywhere.

You must know that the population density of some areas in the new area, such as the puppet Manchurian island province in the East Manchurian region, is not as dense as that in some places in West Manchuria. The total population of the newly liberated areas is only more than 2 million. Even if a tenth of them could be mobilized, it would be only 200,000.

At present, the entire base area is not counted as a new area, and all of them together are only a population of more than 10 million. Excluding the elderly, weak, women and children, as well as those who had to go on to higher education, the workers who were left behind for the construction of factories, and the retention of the necessary rural labor, the remaining population that could be conscripted was quite limited.

In terms of recruitment, we should not fish in the dry waters and burn forests for hunting, because that would ruin the situation that we have painstakingly managed. In particular, with the exception of the Production and Construction Corps, the vast majority of agricultural production in the entire base area must be dominated by manpower and animal power. This is necessarily necessary in the countryside, and it is also necessary to maintain a large labor force.

If the number of conscripts is too large, it will greatly affect agricultural production. This will not be of much benefit to the future development of the base area, and it will even have some damage. After all, agriculture is the most important thing compared to industrial development.

According to the current population status of the base area, not counting the new area, Yang Zhen estimates that he can recruit up to 50,000 young and middle-aged people to enlist in the army, which is already the limit. Unless the population over the age of thirty and under the age of eighteen is mobilized to join the army. Otherwise, no matter how many young and middle-aged people in the age group of 18 to 20 are mobilized, the vitality of the entire base area will be damaged.

At present, the original cadres and fighters who were born as laborers in the army now account for only one-sixth of the total strength of the troops after more than two years of bloody casualties and have been transferred to various technical arms units. The number of liberation fighters who came from the puppet Manchu national army is even smaller, less than 50,000, excluding unqualified candidates.

At present, the main force of the Anti-Japanese Federation, local troops, and the independent battalions under the Ministry of Social Affairs are responsible for the supervision of prisoner of war camps, the garrison of important targets, and the border defense and suppression of bandits. Together with the local troops, the existing main combat forces are still mainly the troops mobilized in the base areas from the beginning of last year to the first half of this year.

At present, the total strength of the Anti-Japanese Federation, including the local troops and the units under the Ministry of Society, plus antiaircraft guns, engineers, and railway troops, is already about 500,000 people. According to this figure, the number of troops mobilized in the base area can be imagined.

In addition, the introduction of a series of large factories required to seize the time to train workers, as well as the large number of workers needed to build local infrastructure. In the entire North Manchurian base area, no less than one million people have been mobilized for industrial infrastructure construction and conscription alone. This requires the number of people, especially young adults. For the population base of the entire base area, the pressure can be imagined.

You must know that a considerable part of the more than 10 million people in the old base area are stored on paper. In fact, among the more than 9 million people, not all of them are young and middle-aged people who are eligible for conscription. Among them, the elderly, the weak, women and children should account for at least about one-third of the number. That is, at least nearly four million people are women, old people and children, as well as teenagers, who are not suitable for conscription.

Of the remaining 6 million young and middle-aged people, one-third of the population over 30 years old, under 18 years old, and over 15 years old will be removed, about 2 million people. In addition to these two million people, the most remaining people who can be mobilized into the army are about four million.

And these four million people seem to be a lot of people, but this also includes the number of people who must go to school according to the regulations of the Northeast Bureau and the Anti-Japanese Federation, as well as the population who are engaged in irreplaceable jobs in the city. In other words, there are more than 3 million young and middle-aged people left for conscription by the Anti-Japanese Union.

But among the remaining three million people, they still have to follow Yang Zhen's requirements of one drag two, or even one drag three. Excluding the minimum number of more than 300,000 workers for each factory, as well as the necessary population engaged in construction, commerce, handicrafts, etc. The most important thing is that in the absence of a large number of agricultural machinery and equipment, it is necessary to retain a large agricultural population.

Retaining enough young and middle-aged people as an agricultural population is the most basic bottom line that has a bearing on the future grain output of the base areas, and even whether the base areas are stable. The people take food as their sky, and if there is not enough food, not to mention whether the common people rebel or not, even the troops will not be able to stabilize their dìng, and even keep marching and fighting.

Ensuring the number of people needed for agriculture and meeting the food production needs in the future is also the most important reason why the anti-United Nations forces are unable to let go of conscription. In addition, the exclusion of people who are unable to enlist in the army due to political reasons, as well as those who have tuberculosis, syphilis, venereal diseases, and disabilities.

Without affecting the stability of the base area and the subsequent development in the future, the number of people left to be conscripted at present has very little choice. It can be said that if you guarantee this, you can't guarantee that. Industrial and agricultural production was guaranteed, and the number of conscripts was strictly limited. It is true that the new area can solve some of the problems, but on the basis of satisfying the resistance to the United Nations, it is no longer able to meet the needs of the advance army to replenish troops.

Anti-** can't bring all the young and middle-aged people to be soldiers, and don't care about anything else. Without commerce, the base area is a backwater, and it will also have a big impact on the financial revenue of the Northeast Bureau. Without agriculture, tens of millions of people in the entire base area would fall into famine. Without the necessary workers, Yang Zhen's entire industrial development plan would simply not have been realized.

According to the estimates of the Northeast Bureau, not counting the new reclamation of wasteland and the increase in grain production, just to ensure the current grain output, it is necessary to ensure at least 3 million or more agricultural population, of which at least 60 percent must be young and middle-aged. If we want to increase the current grain production by 50 percent, we need to add 500,000 people to this base.

At present, not to mention the reclamation of a large amount of wasteland suitable for agriculture, the increase of cultivated land, and the increase of grain production, it is necessary to ensure at least 3 million or more agricultural population, of whom at least 60 percent are young and middle-aged. If we want to increase our current food production by 50 percent, we need to add 1 million people to this base.

Although there was no environmental awareness at this time, North Manchurian was not like later generations, and the areas that could and could not be developed had been fully developed. In addition to the Sanjiang Plain, there is still a large amount of undeveloped wasteland, and the area of wasteland that can be developed in the Nenjiang River Basin is still quite large. At least five times the amount of arable land currently being reclaimed, it will not cause much damage to the environment.

At this time, most of the banks of the Nenjiang River are still barren and inhabited, at least there is no problem in cultivating tens of millions of acres of fertile land. Even Yang Zhen repeatedly demanded that when the wasteland was being cleared, it was strictly forbidden to reclaim the primeval forest on the west bank of the Nenjiang River, from the Daxing'an Mountains to the Nenjiang River. But the vast area west of the southern foothills of the Xiaoxing'an Mountains to the east bank of the Nenjiang River alone is enough to meet this figure.

There are large tracts of arable land to be developed, and there is no problem in adding tens of millions of acres of arable land. The Northeast Bureau and the Northeast People's Government have also been encouraging all rural people to open up wasteland. It has even formulated a series of incentive policies to encourage whoever clears the wasteland to belong to whomever it opens, and rewards a ploughing cow for clearing more than 100 acres of wasteland. In addition to the fact that no clearing is allowed in the mountains, the more land is cleared in the plains, the better.

But if you encourage land reclamation, someone has to do it. You can't expect a person in his fifties or sixties to go and cultivate a large area of wasteland. Agriculture is a thing that doesn't have a lot of mechanization to use. In addition to the need for a large amount of animal power, what is more needed is young adults who can undertake heavy agricultural work. But your reward is high, what's the use of no one to work?

How to ensure the development of industry, as well as the soldiers needed for the operation of the troops. Ensuring a sufficient agricultural population and ensuring sufficient grain production has become a top priority for the Northeast Bureau. In order to guarantee this minimum line, at least half of the population in the base areas is actually in number, and it is practically impossible to divert it for other purposes.

If we add to this the fact that oil extraction is now underway, and the large number of workers required for the increased extraction of coal, iron ore and copper in Duobaoshan will require an industrial population of more than four or five hundred thousand, which is still a conservative number. If the scale of industry is likely to expand, the number of workers will be doubled.

The industries currently under construction in the base areas are not handicrafts, but they are not labor-intensive. But the necessary number of workers still needs to be guaranteed. A large factory, with logistical support, is still needed for at least 10,000 workers. Coupled with the supporting factories, the number of workers required is even higher.

In the case of mines with lower mechanization, a larger number of workers is needed if they are to meet the needs of the future. If the current production capacity of the Duobaoshan copper mine needs to be doubled, then the number of workers needs to be doubled. to barely be enough. This is not counting the large number of mines such as coal mines and iron ore mines that need to increase production capacity to meet the needs.

Once these large-scale factories are all built, not counting other mineral resources, the demand for coal alone will be at least several times or even dozens of times that of the current one. There is not enough coal, especially for industrial use. Chemical plants that make explosives and gunpowder raw materials, steel plants, non-ferrous metal smelters, and a large number of power plants that were being built at the same time had to stop production.

In order to meet the demand for a large amount of coal, the number of workers must also be greatly increased in the absence of mechanized coal mining equipment. Although the presence of prisoners of war and Japanese expatriates can meet some of the needs of these workers, there is still a large gap in meeting the needs at the moment.

This is without adding to the existing number of nearly 100,000 workers in the various arsenals already in operation. The Northeast Bureau has always been quite nervous about the beads on the population abacus. Demographic factors have become the biggest factor restricting the development of the entire base area.