Rebirth from the Ashes: Rebuilding the Red Soviet Area

Everyone was confused by Li Yan. The sky was cloudy one moment and then turned sunny the next.

Li Yan didn't explain and gave the order directly: "Su Shan, take good care of them. If they get even a little scratched, I'll hold you accountable."

"Also, make preparations for a meeting at Meishan headquarters tonight."

After saying that, he waved his hand and quickly left Shuangyang Town with Leopard and his men.

Before leaving, he patted Chu Ming, Huang Siwen and others on the shoulders and left with a big laugh.

When Li Yan returned to Meishan, he set up layers of checkpoints inside.

We also saw some newly built villages and militias patrolling and training nearby.

The villagers all had smiles on their faces, and the children were playing and fighting everywhere.

Li Yan was extremely happy. He would stop from time to time, walk around, look around, and sometimes even give people a cigarette and ask about their living conditions.

By the time we reached the entrance of the cave, it was already dark.

Li Yan and his companions saw the old squad leader, Lu Zhiguo, Zhao Wu, Gao Xuan, Zhang Dong, Su Shan, the Taoist priest and a group of people standing at the entrance, holding torches to greet them.

Li Yan and his companions got off their horses excitedly and rushed towards the crowd.

Both sides burst into warm cheers

The old squad leader held Li Yan's hand tightly and said excitedly: "Su Shan said you are back, but I didn't believe it."

“Who knows if it’s true?”

Su Shan came over and said, "Captain, if you don't come back, the old squad leader and the others will punish me."

Gao Xuan walked over carelessly, put his arm around Su Shan's shoulders and said, "Old Su, you still have the nerve to say that. Didn't you say that the captain and his men returned to Meishan from Shuangyang Town this morning?"

"Captain, why did they arrive only now? You are lying about military intelligence."

"Hey, let me see how you explain it."

Without waiting for Su Shan to explain, a "pop" sounded.

Li Yan kicked Gao Xuan's butt and said, "Old Gao, we've been gone for so long, why are you still the same?"

Gao Xuan quickly said aggrievedly: "Captain, why did you kick me when you came back?"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes and said, "You are the regiment commander now. How can you let the soldiers see you with your arms around each other? What's the point?"

Gao Xuan immediately withdrew his hand from Su Shan's shoulder. Seeing Su Shan winking at him, he didn't care and said in a flattering manner, "Captain's kick makes me feel refreshed. It's been so long, and I still miss it a little bit."

Everyone felt a chill all over their body and unconsciously took a step back, leaving Gao Xuan.

Li Yan was also somewhat helpless towards the scoundrel: "Everyone go to the command room and report on your recent work."

Wait for everyone to be seated in the conference room

Zhao Wu spoke first: "We have more than a thousand soldiers in our regiment. The new recruits have completed three stages of training and have fully met the training standards."

"At the same time, we developed towards Yong'an as planned and took over Xiaotao Town and Hongtian Town."

"The first battalion and its headquarters are now stationed in Gutian Town, while the second battalion and its artillery company are stationed in Hongtian Town."

"The Third Battalion was divided into two parts. One part was stationed in Xiaotao Town, and the other part went to Guanzhi Mountain to open up a new base."

"Overall, the group is developing well, but we still rely on the support of Meishan headquarters."

Li Yan knew that the group was located between Nanmei Mountain and Beiguanzhi Mountain Range, and was blocked by Liancheng and Yongan to the east and west.

Population and economy are indeed difficult to develop

So he nodded and signaled the Second Regiment Gao Xuan to report

Gao Xuan reported somewhat unsatisfactorily: "After we take over Pengkou Town..."

"The enemy's 45th, 36th, and 3rd Divisions are stationed in several towns near us, each with a regiment."

"If the old squad leader and the chief of staff hadn't sent an artillery battalion, we might not have been able to hold Pengkou Town."

Li Yan looked at the sand table in the command room and said, "At the beginning, your four regiments were divided into four different directions."

"One of the purposes is to attract the enemy to split their forces. As long as the enemy splits their forces, they will not be able to completely blockade Meishan."

“We have the opportunity to reach out and expand.”

"Your Second Regiment almost tied down an entire enemy division. Well done!"

Gao Xuan swept away his previous dejection and took the opportunity to say, "Captain, since you are praising our Second Regiment, can you give us more weapons?"

Li Yan frowned and asked Lu Zhiguo: "Chief of Staff, are our weapons insufficient?"

Lu Zhiguo took out a form, sighed and said, "Meishan is not only short of weapons and ammunition, but also has only enough food to last for three months."

Li Yan asked in surprise, "Before I left, wasn't there enough food to last more than a year? Besides, weren't we storing food?"

Lu Zhiguo replied: "Captain, I don't know what's going on recently, many places in Fujian are in chaos."

"Many people have flocked to Meishan, and the price of food outside is rising every day."

"The food we get in exchange for our production is simply not enough, so we can only use up our existing stored grain."

“It’s still winter and we can’t grow crops.”

Li Yan then remembered that Fujian was in chaos. It was he who gave the idea to Lu Yun and the 19th Route Army.

I didn't expect that this time I would shoot myself in the foot

Li Yan did not explain and continued to ask: "What about the weapons and ammunition? Don't we have an arsenal?

Lu Zhiguo looked at Li Yan and hesitated.

Seeing that Lu Zhiguo was embarrassed to speak, the old squad leader twitched his lips and took over Lu Zhiguo's words and said, "It's still because of you..."

Li Yan pointed at himself and said doubtfully: "I"

The old squad leader said again with certainty: "It's you"

"Haven't you always emphasized that the training of new recruits must be based on actual combat?"

At this point, the old squad leader pointed at Zhao Wu and the others angrily and said, "These prodigal sons took advantage of me when I wasn't paying attention..."

"Using your words, we tricked the Chief of Staff into giving us a lot of weapons and ammunition. Half of the ammunition in the two caves was emptied."

"By the time I found out, they were almost done with their training."

Gao Xuan muttered softly, "Didn't the captain say we need to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible?"

After saying this, the good-tempered old squad leader immediately exploded, stood up, pointed at Gao Xuan's nose and cursed: "Little bastard!"

"Don't think I don't know, they were all instigated."

"See if I dare you to put you in solitary confinement"

Gao Xuan quickly shrank his neck

Li Yan glared at Gao Xuan fiercely, then pulled the old squad leader to his side and said soothingly, "Old squad leader, don't be angry. I'll show you how I'll deal with him later."

The old squad leader knew that the ammunition was used in the right place. Besides, the ammunition had been used up, so getting angry would be useless.

I calmed down and sat down

Lu Zhiguo continued, "The subsequent attacks on Pengkou Town and Wan'an Town, coupled with the expansion of the troops and the strengthening of the defenses within Meishan, also consumed a lot of ammunition and weapons, and about one-third of them were lost."

"Due to insufficient technical capabilities, the arsenal was unable to produce qualified steel, and the production of new weapons was delayed."

"In addition, the equipment is aging, and the efficiency of mining raw materials and manufacturing weapons and ammunition is not keeping up."

"In order to ensure the operation of the front-line troops, two-fifths of the new recruits who joined later still had guns to use."

Li Yan nodded. This situation was also mentioned at the last Meishan Branch Party Committee meeting, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

This problem could not be solved in a short time, so Li Yan continued: "I also understand the situation of Su Shan and others in the Fourth Regiment."

"Zhang Dong, how are your three regiments doing in Wan'an Town?"

Zhang Dong said, "Our third regiment is pretty good."

"Shortly after you arrived in Zhangzhou, many of the enemy troops in Longyan and Zhangping were transferred away."

"We took the opportunity to establish a firm foothold in Tiangong Mountain. I also sent a platoon to bypass Zhangping and establish a guerrilla unit in the area of ​​Futian Township, southwest of Zhangping."

"By the way, Captain, didn't you ask the Minxi Military Sub-district to help find the little beggar, the fisherman, and Tong Zhong a month ago?"

"It just so happened that the three of them were encountered by the guerrillas in Futian Township a few days ago."

"I haven't sent you this message yet, who knew you would come back?"

Li Yan hurriedly asked, "Where are the fisherman and the others? Is the fisherman's injury healed?"

Zhang Dong understood Li Yan's feelings, smiled and said: "Captain, you look anxious."

“They are all fine.”

"At that time, they stayed in Yanxi Town. The little beggar took great pains to find a country doctor."

"It was said that the fisherman's internal organs were dislocated. He received several acupuncture treatments and rested for a few days before he gradually recovered."

"Originally, they wanted to go to Guanjiang Town to look for you, but they saw a lot of troops gathering in Zhangzhou along the way, so they changed their minds temporarily."

"Walking towards Meishan, I didn't dare to take the main road, so I had to follow the mountain path."

"By the time they met us, they were already too weak to survive."

"They are temporarily staying in Futian Township for recuperation."