The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

Chief of Staff Hu Jiu introduced:

"The other radio operators were quite rude and hostile towards our Red Army!"

"It seems that the enemy's reactionary propaganda is very effective, and we need to work on it patiently."

Xu Wenqing reminded him:

"This is very important. With radio, our army will have eyes and ears that can see and hear from afar!"

The next morning, Xu Wenqing, concerned about the wireless communication, decided to talk to the prisoner's radio operator in person. As soon as he stepped out of the room, he saw Zhong Shi talking to Ma Xiaoer with a very serious expression.

It turned out that Zhong Shi had been appointed as the company commander of the newly established division guard company two days ago, and Xu Wenqing proposed to transfer Ma Xiaoer, who had left a deep impression on him, to be a guard.

"Reporting to the division commander, the guard company commander, Zhong Shiqing, is instructing soldier Ma Xiaoer on things to pay attention to. Please give instructions!"

Company Commander Xin Zha gave a serious salute and reported.

"Well done, keep it up!"

Xu Wenqing patted the old guard on the shoulder with satisfaction, then turned to Ma Xiaoer and said:

"Little Ma, come out with me for a bit."

Seeing Xu Wenqing and his guards chatting and laughing as they came to visit him, Wang Zhongxin, the captured Jiangxi army radio operator, was surprised and deeply moved. He felt that the Red Army truly treated officers and soldiers equally.

Upon meeting Wang Zhongxin, Xu Wenqing grasped his hand tightly and began to inquire about his well-being. He explained the essential differences between the Red Army and the Kuomintang army, hoping that Wang would join the Red Army, use radio technology to serve the workers and peasants, and work hard to establish radio communications for the Red Army.

Wang Zhongxin lowered his head and considered for a long time before speaking:

“Through what I have seen and heard these past few days, I know that you are a new type of army with strict discipline and equality between officers and soldiers. Also, the money you sent to my family has relieved my worries, and now I want to join the Red Army.”

Xu Wenqing excitedly grabbed Wang Zhongxin's hand again and shook it vigorously:

"From now on, we are comrades. I hope you will cooperate with the veteran comrades of the radio team as soon as possible to get radio communication up and running!"

"But there are too few technical staff, and I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it all myself!"

Xu Wenqing looked at Wang Zhongxin and said:

"You get the work started first. If there's no one, we can train them, or we can mobilize other radio operators. The revolutionary cause has developed from nothing to something, from small to large."

Wang Zhongxin found every word fresh and new, leaving a deep impression on his mind.

The 19th Red Army Division decided to rapidly expand its existing radio squads into a radio communications team, appointing Wang Zhongxin as the team leader and Li Jianmin, the division's political director, as the political commissar. Wang Zhongxin was responsible for training and expanding the division's radio communications work.

Wang Zhongxin accepted the mission with full confidence and decided to immediately set up a training class to select and train radio operators and mechanics from among the Red Army soldiers. He also used his own experience to persuade two captured cipher clerks to join the Red Army.

Xu Wenqing spoke with Li Jianmin alone and made the following request:

"We must care for the new comrades in the radio communications team in their daily lives and be patient with them ideologically, striving to help them become our eyes and ears as soon as possible!"

Political Commissar Yao Hutou was discussing the organizational structure of the 19th Red Army Division with Division Commander Xu Wenqing and other leaders. Xu Wenqing first sent someone to fetch Director Chen of the Logistics Department, and then replied:

"Political Commissar, don't rush. Let's see how much wealth Director Chen has!"

"Including this latest spoils, our division now possesses a total of 3,521 rifles and pistols; 104 light and heavy machine guns; 370,000 rounds of ammunition; 13,000 hand grenades; six mountain guns; sixteen mortars of various types, with 1,400 artillery shells; and 170 semi-automatic machine guns."

As soon as Director Chen entered the room, upon hearing Xu Wenqing's question, he fluently recited the numbers that were firmly etched in his mind.

After hearing this, Xu Wenqing felt it was inconsistent with the data he had, and asked curiously:

"I remember the division had fourteen mortars, didn't it?"

"The two extra cannons were found in a small repair shop of the Zhejiang Army. They had just been repaired and the enemy hadn't had time to take them away before we captured them."

Director Chen chuckled as he spoke.

"Okay, we must take the repair shop with us. If that's not possible, we should at least take the repair personnel with us."

Xu Wenqing felt that he had been very lucky lately, as if a blessing had come from heaven. Many of his ideas could be realized, just like the anti-aircraft machine gun that he had previously failed to modify.

Seeing the strange looks from the group, Xu Wenqing explained:

"These technicians are very useful. In the future, we should do our best to mobilize telecommunications, doctors, drivers and maintenance personnel to join the Red Army."

Chief of Staff Hu Jiu now held Xu Wenqing in the highest esteem. This man often came up with seemingly unbelievable ideas, yet he always managed to achieve his goals with ease. This time, with the focus on the repair shop, he instinctively knew Xu Wenqing had another new plan. He eagerly asked:

"Commander, what good ideas do you have now?"

"I plan to convert the heavy machine gun into an anti-aircraft machine gun for air defense. I've tried it before, but it failed because I didn't have the technical personnel."

Xu Wenqing answered somewhat embarrassedly.

Everyone was so surprised that they dropped a bunch of glasses on the floor, especially if they were wearing glasses.

The meeting had just ended when Xu Wenqing excitedly pulled Director Chen to head to the repair shop. Suddenly, he noticed two slogans written in ink on a section of earthen wall by the roadside and couldn't help but read them aloud:

"Oppose the reactionary authorities selling out Northeast China and North China!"

"The Red Army was the main force in the people's war of resistance against Japan!"

"It's very well written, but we need to write more slogans."

Xu Wenqing turned to Director Chen and said.

Director Chen smiled and pointed ahead, answering:

"Commander, you've written quite a lot. The political department has sent people to fill up Taizhou Prefecture with writing."

Upon hearing this, Xu Wenqing immediately began to observe carefully. Along the way, he noticed that there were indeed many slogans written on the ground. He walked and looked at them with great interest, and before he knew it, he had arrived at the repair shop.

The repair shop was located in a school, and next to it, on the wall of an ancestral hall, were two huge slogans:

"Joining the Red Army is the only way out of the revolution!"

"Joining the Red Army guarantees land!"

Faced with the various expressions on the faces of the repair shop workers, Xu Wenqing began to do ideological work, hoping that they would join the Red Army. Finally, he said that it was fine if they did not join the Red Army, but they could follow the Red Army to repair weapons. The army would pay them double their current wages, but first they would have to see their skills.

Several craftsmen carefully examined the modification sketches of the anti-aircraft machine gun, discussing them from time to time. After figuring it out, they began processing the necessary parts on the machine. Xu Wenqing, who was itching to work, joined in and made some modifications to the elevator so that the machine gun could fire both horizontally and vertically. Two hours later, the parts were finished and carefully installed on the specially transported heavy machine gun. The group immediately went out of the city to the suburbs to test it. After several attempts, at nine o'clock in the evening, the modification was finally successful. Only then did Xu Wenqing drag his tired body back to the regimental headquarters and collapse into bed and fall asleep.