Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Based on the PLA's grievance campaign, Wei Hongjun compiled a plan for the Eighth Route Army's current restructuring. This plan aimed to make the soldiers aware of the problem. After the grievance campaign concluded, the army's political workers would review the issue.

Why does this problem occur?

Theoretical issues are no longer about targeting a particular event or a particular landlord, but rather analyzing the root causes of these problems.

The Eighth Route Army aimed to change this situation.

The Eighth Route Army must implement a rent and interest reduction campaign within the base area.

While some people previously supported the idea simply because they thought it was a good idea, now that political cadres have unraveled the issue and summarized it theoretically, the rent and interest reductions have had a completely different effect.

It received warm support from the soldiers.

"I have something to say."

Listening to the soldiers' complaints, Kang Shui thought of his parents and brothers and sisters, and suddenly burst into tears. He also wanted to say something, wanted to know something urgently.

"Captain Kang, please speak."

"My family is a wealthy family in the area, with over a hundred acres of land. Why did our family also suffer the loss of our family members? I can only go up the mountain and become a bandit."

Kang Shui was very confused.

So the question was very direct. Many of the soldiers just now came from poor peasant families, with some being self-employed farmers, but their financial resources were limited. The best off were rich or middle peasants with only ten or so acres of land. They all spoke of oppression suffered by local landlords. But Kangshui was different. His family had once been one of the major landowners, owning over a hundred acres of land.

In the rural area of ​​Longguan, more than 100 mu of land is not a small amount. In the local rural area, he is definitely a big landowner.

Then why did their family also fail?

The officials leading this grievance campaign had no idea of ​​Kang Shui's situation. They only knew he was a cadre sent by the New Third Regiment, and that his troops had come to Beilingzhuang for training. As for Kang Shui's specific situation, they were unaware. Unsure of what to say, they turned to Wei Hongjun.

Wei Hongjun stood up and said, "You may not be familiar with Captain Kang's experience. Let me give you a brief introduction. Captain Kang's grandfather took his family to the west and settled in Longguan. His grandfather worked diligently with his children to open up wasteland in Longguan. Decades later, the Kang family became a landlord with hundreds of acres of land in Longguan. Later, a local landlord named Xu colluded with local officials to seize the Kang family's land and forced Captain Kang's father to death. In the name of debt, they also robbed the Kang family's house, which led to Captain Kang's mother's suicide. That's why Captain Kang went up the mountain."

"Captain Kang just asked why their family, which also belonged to the local landlords, was also destroyed. Captain Kang's grandfather was once a landless farmer. In order to survive, he brought his family to Longguan to open up wasteland. Because he had suffered, he knew that the people who went west had difficult lives. Therefore, he was very friendly to those farmers who came from the west, and his land rent and loan interest were lower than those of other landlords, and much lower. Originally, everyone's land rent and loan interest were high, but your family's land had low rent and low interest, which affected other landlords' ability to make money. That's why they wanted to attack the Kang family. This is not the fault of the Xu family alone, but the joint efforts of the big landlords in Longguan. Because they all hate the Kang family. They hate that the Kang family doesn't know the rules."

Chapter 168: Sense of Belonging to the Troops 2

"Our Party categorizes rural landlords into many types. Two of the most typical are local tyrants and evil gentry like the Xu family, and enlightened landlords like the Kang family. The policy of our Eighth Route Army is to combat local tyrants and evil gentry and unite with the enlightened landlords. However, the current situation in rural China is that the enlightened landlords are being oppressed and oppressed by the local tyrants and evil gentry, their families being torn apart. In the eyes of the local tyrants and evil gentry, the existence of enlightened landlords is an obstacle to their ability to make money, or to make a lot of money. Years of warlord warfare, the Japanese invasion, and widespread banditry have all increased the power of the local tyrants and evil gentry. In rural areas, the local tyrants and evil gentry control local government power, collude with warlords and bandits, and maintain their own armed forces, becoming local tyrants. Many enlightened landlords, oppressed by the local tyrants and evil gentry, are gradually losing their foothold in the countryside. Enlightened landlords either become accomplices with the local tyrants and evil gentry, exploiting the peasants together with them, or they are eliminated by them.

"To put it simply, the current situation in the countryside is that the local tyrants and evil gentry force the enlightened landlords to either destroy their families and their homes, or become villains like them, turning people into ghosts. What our party and our Eighth Route Army have to do is to change this situation. We, the Eighth Route Army, support the enlightened landlords and crack down on the local tyrants and evil gentry. We must change the system that turns people into ghosts and turn ghosts into people again. We promote rent and interest reductions, establish bases, and promulgate base laws, not only to ensure that the vast majority of farmers can have enough food to eat and not starve to death, but also to prevent enlightened landlords like the Kang family from suffering such a situation.

"Captain Kang, the situation your family is experiencing is not unique in rural China today; it's very common. So what's the problem? As I just said, high rents and high interest rates in rural areas are the most important ways for rural landlords to make money. This is the current rural rule. If an enlightened landlord violates this rule, he will be suppressed by other landlords. This is the root of the problem. So the work we do, whether it's the policies of the Eighth Route Army or the policies of the base areas, is to solve this fundamental problem. Only when this fundamental problem is solved can we prevent such incidents from happening again."

"Captain Kang, what do you think?"

Kangshui is not one of those illiterate bandits who can't read or write.

On the contrary, he had received a good education since childhood. So he understood what Wei Hongjun meant. Many things that he had not understood before and felt vague about suddenly became clear to him.

It’s not that there’s something wrong with my father, and it’s not that my family is wrong.

In the past, he only hated the Xu family and these big landlords. But now he suddenly understood where the root of the problem lay.

My family's tragedy wasn't caused by the ruthlessness of the landlord surnamed Xu. Rather, it was the current rural rules that made these local tyrants and evil gentry even more ruthless. Even if they weren't ruthless themselves, they would be devoured by other local tyrants and evil gentry. Under these rural conditions, even some previously enlightened landlords had no choice but to go along with the corrupt practices. Those who refused to go along and dared to break the rural rules would be severely punished.

My father just maintained the most basic conscience and did not really break the rural land rules, but this invisibly challenged the rural rules.

The result was the destruction of the family.

Kang Shui couldn't help crying. His father was an honest man, a man who had only known hard work all his life. In Longguan, his grandfather and father had worked hard for decades to cultivate the land, enduring all kinds of hardships.

Because he had experienced hardship himself, he sympathized with the peasants who had followed him westward. But this tiny bit of sympathy brought him disaster, including his own death and the destruction of his family.

Kang Shui's resentment towards the landlord surnamed Xu suddenly faded a lot.

Perhaps the landlord surnamed Xu was nothing more than a ghost spawned by this system. This ghost was hateful, but what was truly hateful was the rules and system that turned people into ghosts.

Kang Shui didn't know what was going on.

Suddenly, he felt enlightened, as if he understood a lot of things. Things that he hadn't been able to understand before, he suddenly understood them completely. So he couldn't help but ask, "Political Commissar, can rent and interest reductions break this bad rule?"

"Reducing rent and interest rates can effectively alleviate this problem."

"Then why not eradicate this rule completely?"

"Captain Kang, how about we discuss this issue in private?"

"Yes, Commissar."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Then he said to the soldiers: "What is your purpose in joining the Eighth Route Army? To fight the devils? Yes and no. We are going to fight the devils, but in addition to fighting the devils, we must also change this rule that turns people into ghosts. We want our parents, relatives, and our future children to no longer turn into ghosts, but to live upright lives.

Not only do we not have to starve, but we can also have human dignity, human happiness, and truly live like a human being. Don’t you agree?

"Yes."

"Long live the Eighth Route Army!"

"Long live the Eighth Route Army!!!"

"Support rent and interest reduction!"

"Support the rent and interest reduction work!!!" Wei Hongjun only came to attend the meeting as a political commissar.

But Wei Hongjun pushed this grievance meeting to a new climax.

But Wei Hongjun is the political commissar of the column after all, and he has a lot of things to deal with. The grievance movement has developed to the point where Wei Hongjun no longer needs to be specifically involved. These grievance movements of the troops can be handed over to the political cadres under his command to handle. So after a few words, Wei Hongjun left and talked to Kang Shui. Wei Hongjun saw that Kang Shui had been confused over the years, so Wei Hongjun said frankly: "If you want to solve the problem of high rent and high interest in rural China, the only way is to solve the problem of land annexation and carry out land reform. But now is the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. We, the Eighth Route Army, need to unite more people, so we are implementing rent and interest reduction. As for what kind of land reform, I can show you some of our previous land policy documents in the Soviet area, you can take a look. You are a well-educated person, and you will definitely be able to understand these issues quickly."

"Commissar, I'll watch carefully."

"Captain Kang, your Secretary Xiahou was worried about what I thought of you, so he wrote me a letter. He said that although you appear to be careless, you are actually a very loyal person with a strong sense of patriotism."

"The leader is mainly worried that I will get into trouble here."

Kangshui was very grateful to Xiahou Wen.

Unexpectedly, Xia Houwen even wrote a letter to Wei Hongjun specifically about this matter. However, Wei Hongjun said, "I wrote back to Comrade Xia Houwen and severely criticized him."

"Political Commissar, this is." Kang Shui was shocked.

After arriving at Beilingzhuang, Kang Shui also had a good impression of Wei Hongjun.

Wei Hongjun was young, but his speech was clear and gentle. He showed no prejudice against him because of his bandit background. The training of the special forces team was going smoothly, and he was also learning military knowledge at the Cha'nan Cadre School of the Eighth Column.

Many of them are things I have never thought about.

I'd used some of these tactics before, but I hadn't developed a theoretical understanding of them. But here, I was able to systematically learn how to fight and why. The lecturers were all leaders from the 8th Column.

Normally, Wang Qiuyun, Wei Hongjun, Xiao Yongshi and other column cadres would go to class whenever they had time.

The most basic squad-level infantry tactics, though seemingly the simplest, were the most effective. This was because the biggest problem for newly reorganized forces like the Special Forces was these squad-level infantry tactics.

Not only did Kang Shui learn a lot, but the commanders of the special forces also learned so many fighting skills for the first time. In the past, when they fought, they would rush in and retreat in a swarm.

Have you ever thought that there are tactics for attack and tactics for retreat?

But this time they were all eye-opening.

The special forces also began to experience for the first time how regular troops were trained. It can be said that in just a few days of training at Beiling Village, the troops' strength in all aspects has been steadily improving.

Wei Hongjun was not only good to himself, but also to the officers and soldiers of the special forces team.

At the beginning of the training, Wei Hongjun personally chatted with the officers and soldiers of the special forces. There was no lofty theory, just daily life. The officers and soldiers of the special forces liked Wei Hongjun very much.

He believed that Wei Hongjun was not arrogant at all. So Kang Shui did not expect Wei Hongjun to criticize Xia Houwen for this matter. So Kang Shui wanted to defend Xia Houwen. In this regard, Kang Shui was very loyal. However, Wei Hongjun waved his hand and said, "Comrade Xia Houwen has problems. If there are problems, they should be criticized, not avoided.

Avoiding problems will never solve them, so within our Party and within the Eighth Route Army, criticism is not a bad thing. Of course, you have problems too."

"Commissar, me."

"Comrade Kang Shui, listen to me. You're educated. Have you ever heard of the saying 'Love your own children as well as the children of others, and love your own elders as well as the elders of others?'"

"Learned."

"Then let me ask you something. Your family has suffered misfortune, but yours is not the only family in the world to suffer misfortune. Why does this misfortune continue? It's because of the current feudal land system.

We in the Eighth Route Army are determined to put an end to such incidents and prevent such tragedies from happening again. Now that you have joined the Eighth Route Army, do you want to work together towards this goal? Do you want to ensure that tragedies like your family's never happen again in rural areas?"

"think."

Kang Shui said with certainty: "Political Commissar, I didn't understand before why our family had never done anything bad, but had to suffer such a thing. I went to the mountains when I was seventeen years old, and after that, I only wanted revenge, to kill those local tyrants, evil gentry, and corrupt officials. Even after joining the New Third Regiment, I only wanted to kill the devils and repay the trust of the regiment commander. But recently, during the training in Beiling Village, I have learned a lot of truths. I also listened to what the political commissar said just now. Now I feel suddenly enlightened, and I have figured out the things that I couldn't understand before. So my idea is to change the countryside and not let my family's tragedy happen again in other villages.

"That's right."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Wei Hongjun really likes Kangshui.

Not only was he a natural at leading troops in battle, but he was also not conservative in his thinking. He was open to new ideas. More importantly, he could quickly figure things out. That's why Wei Hongjun wanted to train him well.

"Then tell me. Can we change the situation in the countryside by relying solely on your special forces?"

"No."

"Can you, the New Third Regiment, do it alone?"

"Neither."

"You have begun to consider things from the perspective of an Eighth Route Army cadre.

Our Eighth Route Army mission isn't just to fight the Japanese invaders and drive them out of China. More importantly, we must change the world and build a prosperous and strong New China, a New China where everyone is equal. But this requires the concerted efforts of many people. Your Special Forces Squad isn't enough, the New Third Regiment isn't enough, and even our Eighth Column isn't enough. We need to unite with many people who are willing to change the world, and only through collective effort can we succeed. You are currently the captain of the New Third Regiment's Special Forces Squad. In the future, you may become the commander of your own New Third Regiment, or even a leader in the Eighth Column. You'll have a lot to do. I want to ask you, as you lead even more troops, do you stand and sit like this every day in your unit? Do your veterans understand you? What about the other officers and soldiers? Will they understand? Will they think you're not a qualified leader and be unwilling to follow your orders? Perhaps many students will join our army in the future. When they see you acting like this, will they think all Eighth Route Army officers behave this way? Do you think those educated students will believe that Eighth Route Army officers like you can change these unreasonable rules? Do you think the people can trust an Eighth Route Army cadre like you, who is usually so careless, to lead them in the revolution? The moment they see you, they will have a very bad impression of us Eighth Route Army cadres. This will make them lose trust in the Eighth Route Army.

"This." Kang Shui didn't expect Wei Hongjun to consider so many issues.

Wei Hongjun patted Kang Shui on the shoulder and said, "I've observed you while teaching you. You're smart, well-read, and talented in military command. And now you have an even bigger dream: to prevent your parents' tragedy from happening to others."

But if you are not willing to correct even these faults of yours, how can others believe that you can realize your dream? The future revolution will be very difficult, and there will be countless difficulties waiting for us. If you don’t even have the will to change yourself, how can we believe that you can stick to your revolutionary ideals in times of difficulty. Comrade Xia Houwen is the one who led you into the Eighth Route Army, but he did not explain these principles to you properly. This is his mistake. We are revolutionary comrades. We should not think about how we are all good, but we should dare to correct each other’s mistakes and let them correct their faults. This is what it means to be a good comrade who is truly working together for the revolution. Think about it carefully. I hope you can become an excellent military and political cadre of our Eighth Route Army and do more for the people of the world. "

Chapter 169 Twenty-five Sieges

1938 was a very special year for China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

The Battle of Wuhan, the largest battle in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, attracted over one million troops from both China and Japan. While the millions of troops fought on the front lines, the Chinese and Japanese armies also engaged in a desperate struggle on the transportation lines and behind enemy lines.

In order to win the Battle of Wuhan, both China and Japan fought to the death.

It can be said that the Battle of Wuhan was an unprecedented decisive battle.

Why is the Battle of Wuhan considered the turning point from strategic offensive to strategic stalemate? This unprecedented decisive battle caused the Japanese army's casualties to increase rapidly. So much so that after the July 7 Incident, the Japanese army, which had been advancing rapidly across China, began to deeply feel the shortage of manpower.

They were already unable to launch battles on the scale of the Battle of Shanghai or the Battle of Wuhan. Even in a short period of time, it became extremely difficult for the Japanese army to mobilize more than 100,000 troops for a battle.

Because the Japanese army's manpower was really starting to be insufficient.

This was also a very important year for the Eighth Route Army. Compared to 1937, the Eighth Route Army in 1938 was even stronger, with its troops expanding more rapidly and its base area also expanding rapidly. When the Eighth Route Army crossed the Yellow River to the east, it numbered only .

But after a year of development, the Eighth Route Army has developed rapidly in Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Chahar, Suiyuan and other places, and currently has 200,000 troops.