January 17th.

Heyuan County.

This year's winter is particularly cold, the cold wind is howling, the snow has already covered the entire northwest of Shanxi, and the eaves are full of ice.

But now Heyuan County is in full swing.

The eastern area, that is, near the direction of Zhao Jiayu, leads to Zhao Jiayu with a six-lane mountain road, a standard gauge railway, more than a dozen factories, dozens of warehouses, and three mines are in full swing, although the main construction is carried out by the construction brigade, but still recruits more than 50,000 ordinary workers to assist.

At the same time, there is also a 100,000-mu land reclamation plan in Heyuan County, a construction plan for 38 large and small reservoirs in 10 canals, and the widening and reinforcement of the surrounding road network, turning the original dirt single-lane road into a wide and hard stone road.

If you want to get rich, build roads first!

Cash-for-work.

These two words heard from Boss Chen were vividly played by Zhao Gang.

He directly advanced a number of projects at the same time, speeding up the construction of the project, and by the way, solving the surname of the fleeing boss in the Yongyong base area.

However, it seems that some of the force is too strong, in just one month, it has swallowed up the entire labor force of the entire Heyuan County, and even attracted the surrounding population to gather in Heyuan County, but there is still a serious shortage of labor.

For this reason, Zhao Gang had to transfer a group of people from other base areas to alleviate the problem of labor shortage.

Sufficient material resources, as well as the hard-pass attribute of food stamps, allow him to unscrupulously mobilize labor, and since the establishment of the construction brigade for so long, a large number of management talents have been trained.

As for the problems in the process of the project and the corresponding treatment, he directly copied the experience of foreign countries, and localized and improved them in the process to adapt to the national conditions of the Republic of China.

"What a change."

At this time, in Heyuan County, the four 'merchants' looked at the county seat in front of them and marveled.

In Heyuan County in front of you, new buildings have risen one after another, most of which are brick and stone structures, but many of them are reinforced concrete buildings, which are full of vitality.

Even the coastal areas before the war were not so lively.

It is hard to imagine that this is a county town in the northwest of Shanxi Province located in the Japanese-occupied area.

These four people are the elite investigation team sent by Boss Dai, who is specifically responsible for investigating the situation in the base area of the independent group, and three of them appeared near Ping'an County more than half a month ago, and after collecting a large amount of information, they have now come to Heyuan County.

There was only one other person, a newly appointed investigator, a major with a higher rank.

"How can they recruit so many migrant workers?"

The new Major Investigator spoke in a puzzled tone.

He is an old man in the military command, with rich qualifications, and has participated in the construction of the Yunnan-Burma Highway.

Even if the country is in danger due to the official recruitment, but in the southwest, where there is generally no food and clothing, it is not an easy task to mobilize migrant workers, and 200,000 migrant workers brought their own dry food and hoes to participate in road construction, as well as flesh and blood paving roads***

At that time, the counties were not able to provide wages or even supplies for migrant workers.

At present, he sees no less than 50,000 people working around Heyuan County, digging ditches, and repairing reservoirs, and the total number of those who build roads is even more.

Can so many migrant workers be recruited in just one county?

Moreover, these people are very efficient, active and enthusiastic, and they are all strong laborers who participate in the construction, which is incredible.

"According to rough estimates, there are about 130,000 laborers in this Heyuan county, and they will pay everyone their wages."

One of the other three took out a food stamp:

"It's this food stamp, one to two per day, weekly, or semi-monthly, never in arrears, calculated according to work efficiency."

"130,000, for everyone?"

Looking at the food stamps in front of him, the corner of the major investigator's eyes jumped.

To give a total of 130,000 laborers, shouldn't it be said that they are workers, and they are paid? And is it this food stamp? As an intelligence officer with a high status, he naturally knew about this kind of food stamps, and even had some in his pocket.

Although the current food stamps are small units, according to the value of the coupons, the grain exchanged for this one is enough for a family of three to eat for a day.

That is to say, three people, including himself, who can be supported by an ordinary laborer, can take two tickets with extra strength, and they can still have a lot of surplus to eat well.

"Yes, everyone."

The speaker nodded in affirmation.

"Incredible."

The captain was a little incredulous.

"Can this food stamp really buy enough supplies anytime and anywhere?"

He couldn't help but ask.

He knew that this food stamp was very hard, after all, all merchants accepted it, but paid wages to 120,000 people, at least one per day, and two more for refueling, and it was said that there were more laborers in the base area with Zhao Jiayu as the core, with a total scale of no less than 500,000.

At least 4,000 tons of grain must be produced every day.

The whole of Chongqing can't bear it.

This is the fundamental reason why today's fiat currency is depreciating rapidly every day... One.

"Here, as long as you have food stamps, you can buy anything."

Not bothering to explain in detail, an intelligence agent pointed to a newly built reinforced concrete room in the center of the city in the distance and said:

"There's their point of sale over there."

"Let's go, let's see."

The major came in interest.

The four of them walked towards the sales point, and as the distance closed, the Major could see the building in front of him.

As expected, it is a point of sale, but it is more of a super-large warehouse.

The boxy building is made of concrete as a whole, which should be very new from the outside, and the concrete layer is also very thick, and the people who built it should be inexperienced, and there are even steel bars exposed in some places.

Of course, it may have been deliberate, after all, there is nothing stronger than steel.

This point of sale can also be used as a bunker fortification, or an anti-aircraft bunker when necessary, and the huge space inside must be able to accommodate many people.

At this time, the door of the sales point was opened, there were several guards with guns, and a machine gun was set up, and through the gate, you could see the mountains of various materials inside, and bags of grain were stacked on wooden racks, and there was no end in sight.

Next to the gate, there are dozens of sales windows, and from time to time people come to shop with food stamps in hand.

In just ten minutes, he saw all kinds of materials, rice, white flour, corn, millet, bacon, soybean oil, canned meat, as well as clothing, quilts, cotton, etc.

Food, clothing, and shelter are all available.

He even saw a team of people leading a carriage to buy supplies, and after just half an hour, he dragged away nearly 100 bags of grain, which was 20 kilograms per bag, which was two tons at a time.

There are no restrictions on the purchase of grain, which is simply unimaginable in wartime.

If you continue to walk, you will see the price code written on the wall.

"There's at least 10,000 tons of supplies in there."

The young principal sighed:

"No wonder."

With its huge and sturdy warehouses and sales points, the abundant supplies that can be seen through the gates, and the unlimited purchase of food supplies, it is no wonder that this county is so stable, and it is no wonder that food stamps are so stable.

In times of war, if sufficient food and daily necessities can be provided, there will be no chaos.

"Won't the little devils attack?"

The Major couldn't help but ask again.

This is Heyuan County, close to Taiyuan, and Ping'an County, both of which have a large number of devils stationed.

The major's voice was louder, and before the three colleagues around him answered, a few peasants on the side began to talk:

"The devil attacked, don't say it, it's pretty good-looking."

"Yes, it's much better than the New Year's fireworks, and I don't know when the devil will come next."

"It's a pity that you need to join the construction brigade to join the army first, and it is said that you also need to have cultural knowledge······"

Chatting and chatting, a few people stayed away, leaving only a confused major.

？

Devil attack?

Pretty good-looking?

The young man is confused, is the little devil here to perform?

Why are people here still looking forward to it?

"A month ago, Taiyuan's Yoshino United came to attack."

The intelligence officer on the side explained:

"But before the devil arrived in Heyuan County, he was beaten back, and the strength of the independent regiment here is very strong."

"Yoshino United?"

The young intelligence officer knew that this wing, the main force of the First Army, the field wing, was very strong, and he continued to ask:

"How strong?"

"That Yoshino United attacked all night."

The intelligence officer went on to explain:

"However, at most, they stopped at the edge of the long road pass thirteen kilometers away from the county seat of Heyuan County, and could not move forward any longer, and several attacks were bombarded back by the heavy artillery units of the Independent Regiment."

"On that day, the Independent Regiment dispatched eighteen 105 heavy guns and thirty-six 120-caliber mortars to bombard the Yoshino Wing, which was very lively, and the devils were hit by the artillery without advancing a single step."

"Eighteen 105 heavy guns, thirty-six large-caliber mortars?"

The Major had a picture in his mind.

105 heavy artillery, large-caliber mortars fired at night, shells streaked across the sky like meteors, muzzle wind like fireworks, shells landed like lightning.

Hiding in the rear of Heyuan County, watching the battle, watching the cannonballs in the sky like meteors, that scene ······

"Where is their barracks?"

As soon as the major asked, before anyone could answer, he saw a sudden creaking sound on the left side of the county seat, and then a half-track armored car dragging a cannon came out of the road and drove into the distance.

The long barrel allowed the well-informed major to directly confirm that these were all 105 guns, and the multiple diameter was greater than thirty.

The Major counted carefully, a total of seventy-two half-tracks, towing a total of thirty-six guns, and the remaining one was full of ammunition. Behind the convoy was a large number of infantry, including sturdy mules, large-caliber mortars on camels, and ammunition trucks towed by horse-drawn carts.

Hiss...

The Major couldn't help but gasp.

Thirty-six 105 guns, and the entire government imported forty 105 guns from Germany. And he also counted, and there were thirty-six 120 heavy mortars in the back.

This artillery fire is fiercer than one of the devil's divisions.

And.

All the soldiers here are wearing uniform new gray military uniforms and uniform rubber-soled shoes! Machine guns, rifles, grenades are also drawn out of a mold.

Their expeditionary force still wore straw sandals, and only some of them were issued rubber soles by the Americans.

Is this really the dirt road?