Bright Sword: Infinite Logistics

November 1939, 11, Halloween.

Meng Zhige has been a man for two generations, but he has never celebrated this Western ghost festival. In his memory, Halloween is part of the description in English textbooks: children knocking on the door from house to house, shouting "Trick or Treat".

This custom, which only emerged in the United States in the 1950s, naturally cannot appear in the East today - most people do not have candy to hand out to their children, and the person who knocks on the door and asks for something is most likely not a cute child. , but the ferocious "military master" and the Japanese who are worse than animals.

But the strange thing is that in the Eighth Route Army base area, there are no people knocking on the door to ask for things, but there are people knocking on the door to deliver things.

"Village chief, open the door, the army is bringing something!"

The village chief of Tan Village opened the door and saw a squad of Eighth Route Army soldiers outside, each carrying a huge package. The leader was the local district chief, a familiar and trustworthy face.

"What? Give something? Give something?" The village chief opened the door with confusion on his face and watched the Eighth Route Army soldiers filing in under the command of the district chief, placing all the things they brought against the courtyard wall.

"Winter is coming soon. The army has abundant supplies this year, so we decided to distribute cotton-padded clothes to poor households in villages in the base area to keep out the cold. In addition, the families of anti-Japanese soldiers will also receive an extra quilt. There are many people in your Tan village participating in the team, so go and count them. , so I can get a quilt,” the district chief replied with a smile.

The Eighth Route Army implemented a voluntary military service system and would never forcibly recruit strong men, which to a certain extent led to difficulties in recruiting soldiers. In order to ensure a stable supply of troops, the Eighth Route Army naturally thought of many ways.

The most basic method is to post slogans and shout slogans, clearly explain the principles of "resisting Japan and saving the nation" and "united front", and then talk about military life and classic battle cases, so that the masses can understand the army, and then the masses will feel free to join.

But reasoning is the weakest thing. It is impossible for ordinary people to send their men to the battlefield just because of a few correct slogans. Therefore, in conjunction with the propaganda, there are also policies to support the military and give preferential treatment to their families, and to reduce rents and interest rates. A farewell ceremony will be held for every person who joins the army.

Providing sufficient economic benefits and improving social status will make people willing to let their families join the army. The policy of preferential treatment was clear, so that the soldiers who joined the team had no worries (the strong men captured by the government were also anti-Japanese forces and had the same benefits). By 41, the volunteer military system even developed the "three no's and four essentials", namely: no coercion, no deception, and no bribery. The body must be in good health, the origin must be clear, the ingredients must be good, and the age must be young.

Under such a system, the anti-Japanese enthusiasm varied from place to place, and the number of conscripts naturally varied accordingly. Half of the female relatives in Tan Village were abducted by the Japanese, and a respected elder was sacrificed in the raids a few days ago. Hatred has tightly connected the villagers of Tan Village with the Japanese.

As one of the villages near Yushe County with the highest anti-Japanese enthusiasm, after the sweep was completed and the county government resumed operations, Tan Village quickly organized a militia team to protect the village. They practiced fighting skills every day and dug tunnels in their spare time. The deputy and the Japanese were in conflict with each other. The remaining men, one by one, have all joined the Eighth Route Army and are currently training in the rear military area. If nothing unexpected happens, they will be added to the front-line troops with the new recruit company in the future.

Therefore, during this welfare distribution, Tan Village received a lot of quilts: more than ten kilograms of quilts, plus a few cotton coats from poor households, it was really hard for a class of soldiers to carry them. Not easy.

"Are these cotton clothes and quilts?" The village chief pointed to the large package leaning against the courtyard wall. A soldier breathed a sigh of relief: "Yes, they are all high-quality cotton, absolutely warm. The village can have a good year this year!"

"Nonsense! What does our village need these quilts for? You are all frozen. How can the few broken guns of the village militia stop the Japs? You should use the good stuff first!" The village chief waved his hands repeatedly: "Take these. Take the quilt back, live a good life, and be more ruthless with the Japanese. If you put it in the village, the Japanese might rob it and burn it."

Finally, the village chief added: "It would be better for you to give it to the new recruits in our village than to give it here."

"Don't worry about us. Look, the camouflage uniform I'm wearing is thicker than the two military uniforms from last year combined. It won't freeze." The soldier who spoke patted his camouflage uniform: " And I heard from the instructor that when it snows, there is also a winter camouflage, which is white. If you lie down in the snow, the enemy will become blind!"

"Really?" The village chief had seen the Eighth Route Army soldiers wearing single clothes in winter. He dubiously pinched the camouflage uniform on the soldier before he believed it.

The district chief looked at the village chief's appearance and smiled unconsciously: "Of course it's true, don't worry, the days will get better and better in the future."

This scene is not an isolated one. At this moment, in the base area of ​​southeastern Shanxi, each regiment's defense area has one or two teams specifically responsible for this, delivering cotton clothes and quilts to one village after another.

After receiving a large amount of ammunition assistance and the situation improving, the headquarters turned its attention to the fields of politics and people's livelihood. Seeing that the cold winter was approaching, Meng Zhige was willing to provide a large amount of military uniforms and white cotton. The headquarters put forward the slogan "No one, whether military or civilian, should freeze to death in the base area."

According to the plan set by the brigade commander and Meng Zhige, in addition to supplying 150,000 sets of winter camouflage to the troops, the rear clothing factories and supply offices of each brigade, and even the local Women's Rescue Association, will also supply the troops with 150,000 winter camouflage sets in the next three months. Received one thousand tons of white cotton. This batch of cotton will be used to make cotton-padded clothes and quilts, and will eventually be distributed to the people through various methods.

Relieving poor households and distributing funds to resistant families are the top priorities. After a period of time, the army will distribute the remaining cotton-padded clothes to the people in the form of labor remuneration to stimulate the enthusiasm of the base area - the authentic tactics given by Meng Zhige are so complete that the headquarters can't wait to test them with Japanese soldiers. .

The current batch of cotton has reached 200 tons, and Tancun received the first batch of finished products.

Of course, this does not mean that the Eighth Route Army will huddle in the base area and spend the winter peacefully. After finishing the plan for cotton-padded clothes and quilts, the headquarters was already planning how to deal with the Japanese in the winter.

In previous years, the troops were short of food and clothing. Of all the seasons, winter was the most difficult. The Japanese are naturally aware of this situation, so they often organize raids in winter, making the already bad situation of the Eighth Route Army worse. This year should be no exception. The Japs will definitely come out for a walk in the winter. Now that we have strong troops and horses, it is the best time to fight back against the Japanese.

But the plan always failed to keep up with the changes. Just when the headquarters was thinking about how to give the Japanese some color, something they had foreseen but did not want happened happened. (End of chapter)