The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

Political Commissar Yao shared the same sentiment and felt sorry for his oversight. Xu Wenqing smiled and said:

"No one is to blame. Our division is in a difficult period right now, and everyone is so busy that they don't even have time to nap. It's normal for things to be overlooked. So as long as we find a problem, we should seize the time to solve it."

Political Commissar Yao Hutou hurriedly inquired:

"Director Cheng, did we have any cloth or cotton in our spoils?"

"Yes, yes!"

As Cheng Piguang answered, he quickly pulled a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through it:

"We have won many battles and captured a lot of supplies these days. This time in Wenzhou City, we also seized a lot of cloth and cotton, but the cloth just happens to be missing the gray color!"

"What colors are they?"

The logistics director looked at the notebook and said, "Black and white each make up half."

Xu Wenqing pondered, racking his brains for a solution. Political Commissar Yao was also somewhat troubled. If they made them, the colors wouldn't be right; if they didn't, the soldiers would be dressed too lightly, and the colorful outfits wouldn't look good and would also affect morale. The more he thought about it, the more worried he became, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"Sigh, we were worried when we had no cloth, we were worried when we had no raw materials, and now that we have both, we're still worried!"

Amidst the political commissar's sigh, Xu Wenqing suddenly realized that while the uniforms of the Red Army across the country were generally uniform in style, the colors weren't all gray; for example, the uniforms of the Fourth Front Army were black. Thinking of this, he looked up at the political commissar and said:

"Political Commissar, there's no other way now. We can only cook whatever food we have. We can make black uniforms, as long as the five stars, collar insignia, armbands, and our hearts are red!"

Political Commissar Yao Hutou asked worriedly, "What if the soldiers don't accept it?"

"Hahaha!"

Xu Wenqing couldn't help but laugh:

“Tell the soldiers that we Red Army soldiers are still Red Army soldiers no matter what we wear! For now, wear black uniforms, and we will dye them all gray when conditions permit.”

The political commissar also thought this was an emergency measure and nodded in agreement.

Xu Wenqing was in high spirits at the moment. He turned around and sat down next to the octagonal table, announcing that he would redesign the uniforms of the 19th Red Army Division. As he spoke, he used a pencil to make simple modifications to the style of the uniforms.

Xu Wenqing's design for the Red Army uniform was basically the same as what the soldiers wore today. The jacket had four large pockets and five cloth buttons on the front, leggings, an octagonal cap, a white shirt, underpants, and red armbands, making it simple and dignified. However, the uniform was made of black cloth. The only change was the addition of buttons to the front of the trousers. For the past ten days or so, he had been feeling awkward because of the lack of buttons.

Political Commissar Yao Hutou and Logistics Director Cheng Piguang both felt that the division commander's changes were convenient and unanimously raised their hands in approval. Xu Wenqing ordered the Logistics Department to act immediately. If there wasn't enough cloth, they were to quickly buy some in Wenzhou City. If there was no red cloth, the word was "buy!" The uniforms had to be made in a day and a night.

This order caused a flurry of activity both inside and outside Wenzhou. Logistics Director Chen Piguang divided the supply battalion into more than a dozen detachments, buying up almost all the cloth in every shop in the city. He also sent people to mobilize women from house to house to make uniforms for the soldiers of the 19th Red Army Division.

Xu Wenqing's original idea was that they would give the processors a generous fee for each set of military uniforms they made, using money to compensate the people so that they wouldn't suffer losses and would encourage them to work harder and complete the task as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, the local people were very aware of the situation. As soon as the soldiers came to their homes to spread the word, many people called their neighbors and lined up to go to the quartermaster to get cloth to make military uniforms. Amid the greetings among the people, Xu Wenqing noticed that there were also some people from villages outside the city. Feeling puzzled, Xu Wenqing quickly sent his messenger to find out the reason.

After the 55th Regiment of the 19th Division of the Red Army took over the defense of Wenzhou City, it sent troops to the surrounding countryside to fight against local tyrants, distribute land, and burn land deeds. They attacked dozens of local tyrants and gentry, confiscating their money, grain, and clothing. Some of the confiscated items were used for military purposes, while the majority were distributed to poor farmers in urban and rural areas.

Citizens and ordinary people both inside and outside the city were elated and spread the news, praising the 19th Red Army Division as truly a force for the poor.

Upon hearing that the Red Army needed someone to make uniforms, they all voluntarily came to help and contribute their meager efforts to express their gratitude.

Xu Wenqing gazed at the surging crowd, tears welling in her eyes, and whispered instructions to Cheng Piguang:

"Director Chen, inform the soldiers that we must pay every civilian who returns our uniforms a processing fee according to the established regulations. The Red Army must never break its promises and must not lose sight of the bigger picture for the sake of small gains!"

After arranging his work, Xu Wenqing returned to his room. He didn't know if there were any enemy outposts in Shahe. In his previous life, he learned from the internet that Chiang Kai-shek had ordered the Central Army to avoid fighting during the campaign, while letting the Anhui and Jiangxi armies and the Red Army fight each other. He, on the other hand, sat on the sidelines and watched the tigers fight, hoping to achieve the goal of mutual destruction.

The Central Army, which was pursuing the Red Army, deliberately maintained a distance of more than ten miles from the Red Army and did not engage in combat. After the Battle of Tanjiaqiao began, except for the First Brigade which was ambushed, the rest of the Central Army continued to march slowly more than ten miles away, showing no intention of providing reinforcements.

Meanwhile, the other Central Army and Red Army maintained parallel marches and assembled in the Taizhou area, not far from Wenzhou. They arbitrarily found an excuse that the troops had been marching for a long time and were extremely exhausted and unable to fight anymore, and advanced to Shahe and then stopped. However, they set up a supply depot in the name of the Jiangxi Army. After the Red Army entered Chuzhou, the Central Army led its troops to Yongjia and Yueqing. Supplies transported from Taizhou used the Shahe supply depot as a transit point until the Zhejiang Army forcibly drove them out.

Xu Wenqing worried that his interference might have made the Zhejiang Army consider this possibility earlier. To ascertain the situation, he arranged for a reconnaissance battalion to investigate and also sent his chief of staff to interrogate prisoners from the enemy division headquarters. The 19th Red Army Division desperately needed weapons and ammunition; the captured rifles could only arm two regiments, leaving the rest of the soldiers armed with spears and broadswords. The mortars, in particular, were now useless due to a lack of ammunition.

Xu Wenqing made two preparations. If he acquired sufficient spoils, his troops would rest and then quickly advance westward, plunging deep into western Jiangxi to create a major disturbance and force the main force of the Jiangxi army to halt its pursuit and retreat to western Jiangxi, thus allowing him to complete the mission assigned by the legion. If, however, his memory failed and he didn't acquire any major spoils, then he would have to play the role of a small mouse, hiding and strengthening his forces first. In any case, he had already tied down the Zhejiang army, so the mission could be considered partially accomplished. Of course, based on his experience from two lifetimes, he wouldn't reveal this little scheme.

Having made up his mind, Xu Wenqing had no more worries and sat comfortably at the square table to rest. Because he hadn't had a good night's sleep for more than ten days in a row, he was now feeling sleepy as soon as he relaxed. Before long, he was fast asleep at the table, snoring loudly. The footsteps of the staff at the regimental headquarters became completely silent until the chief of staff hurriedly walked in, which woke Xu Wenqing up.