Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But Wei Hongjun couldn't guarantee whether Chu Yan had any connection to the Kuomintang or the Japanese. After all, these things needed to be investigated. In this era, a person's identity and history could easily be questioned.

No one can easily guarantee someone they don't know.

This kind of thing has happened in history. For example, the commander of the Sixth Division of the Yizhong Military Region graduated from the Baoding Military Academy and served in the Northeast Army and the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army in his early years. He made military achievements in the Great Wall War of Resistance and was awarded the Blue Sky and White Sun Badge. After the July 7 Incident, he led two regiments to break away from the National Army and join the Eighth Route Army. Later, he served as the commander of the Security Brigade and the commander of the Sixth Division. Although he had no experience in the Red Army, he joined the Eighth Route Army with two regiments. And with his performance in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, he would have no problem being promoted to a major general at the very least, and even a lieutenant general with his rank was not impossible. Among the cadres who worked with him in the Security Brigade, two lieutenant generals emerged.

But in the end he only got the rank of colonel.

what is the reason.

After the liberation, a former Nationalist army subordinate approached him. He told him he was struggling and needed a job. Recalling their past, he introduced him to a factory. Unexpectedly, the subordinate turned out to be a Nationalist spy, who was eventually arrested and implicated him. As a result, he only achieved the rank of colonel. This is the result of blindly trusting others.

Wei Hongjun had a pretty good first impression of Chu Yan.

And considering the whole thing, I don't think he's a spy. But in this kind of situation, it's taboo to judge based on feelings; we should judge based on evidence.

Of course, Wei Hongjun is not thinking about Chu Yan's problem now. Compared with Chu Yan's matter, Wei Hongjun is most concerned about the matter of Weichang County.

No matter what Chu Yan's identity is, what he said should not be false.

If this weren't fake, then this matter would be even more serious. The KMT spy case pales in comparison to this.

If the Kuomintang spies were to sabotage, they could be arrested. However, if this matter was not handled properly, it would shake the foundation of the Eighth Route Army.

The grain collection was double the stipulated amount, yet such a terrible thing happened. Wei Hongjun wanted to know: even though so much grain was collected, the amount submitted was in compliance with regulations. Was the excess due to collective corruption in Weichang County, or was there something else going on?

Anyway, so much public grain is gone, where did it go?

Chapter 590 The seriousness of the problem

Although the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region and the Hebei-Central troops are currently conducting the final general offensive.

However, Wei Hongjun, the political commissar of the military region, was currently stationed in Weichang County. After weighing the pros and cons, Wei Hongjun concluded that matters in Weichang County were more important. Although it was wartime, all necessary preparations for this general offensive had been made. The annihilation of the Japanese and puppet forces in Rehe was only a matter of time.

The gap between the strong and the weak is already huge.

But this is not a small problem in Weichang County.

In Wei Hongjun's view, the real big problem is in Weichang County.

It is a major matter concerning the future of the Eighth Route Army.

After Wei Hongjun took charge of Weichang County, he dispatched numerous work teams there. He wanted to understand the situation in Weichang County and why these problems had arisen.

Wei Hongjun stayed in Weichang County, which even became the working place of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Border Region District Committee.

"how is the situation?"

"Political Commissar, this time we investigated all nine districts in Weichang County. The results showed that the situation in two districts was relatively serious, with the proportion of public grain collection exceeding 20%. Although the other districts were not as serious as these two districts, they also had varying degrees of overcollection. The resistance to public grain was all in the third district of Weichang County, and it occurred in not three villages, but a full seven villages. If the Weichang County government had not sent the county brigade and the public security department to suppress the situation, it would not have been seventeen villages. The public grain collection rate in the third district has been very high in recent years, and has never dropped below 25%. The person investigating the public grain collection issue is Li Shaocheng, a member of the Border Region District Committee.

Previously, he was responsible for rent and interest reduction work in the base area.

Wei Hongjun called him back from Chifeng.

Wei Hongjun saw that he was hesitant and said, "Just say whatever you want to say.

“This third district is Weitai Township, where the rent and interest reduction efforts were not fully implemented due to collusion with large landowners.

However, the reason no one reported this for so long was because grain collection in Weitai Township appeared normal. Each year, the grain submitted to the county government followed the percentage set by the Border Region Party Committee. This time, after a thorough investigation, we discovered that the grain collection percentage in District 25 had always been this high. This percentage had been set by the work team since the first rent and interest reduction program. Therefore, local farmers had been paying grain according to this percentage. The lowest percentage here was %.

At its highest point, the proportion of public grain reached about 27%.

"27%?"

Wei Hongjun took a deep breath.

They collected so much public grain just because the rent was reduced by a certain amount due to the rent and interest reduction work.

This 27% is 27% of farmers’ annual income.

Don't underestimate this 27%, as rural grain production is currently extremely low. After paying rent, farmers barely have enough left to make ends meet. Therefore, the public grain ratio in Jin-Cha-Ji never exceeded 15% at its peak. In normal years, when Jin-Cha-Ji had no shortage of food, the public grain ratio was around 10%. Marshal Nie established very clear policies on this aspect during his management of the base area.

He would rather collect less than arbitrarily increase the proportion of public grain. The stability of the base area could not be affected by the public grain issue. Marshal Nie understood that the most taboo in base area construction was to exhaust all resources. The richer the base area, the stronger the support for the Eighth Route Army.

If the tax is 27%, then one third of the farmers’ annual income will have to be paid as public grain.

The burden is very heavy.

Li Shaocheng hesitated, mainly because he had already dealt with the Weitai Township issue last time. In fact, this problem already existed at that time, but they only dealt with the issue of collusion between the rural work team and the landlords, but did not discover this problem, or did not pay enough attention to the excessively high proportion of public grain here.

The last time the problem occurred, Wei Hongjun was personally responsible for handling it.

This means that Wei Hongjun made some mistakes in his handling of the issue at the time. Seriously speaking, Wei Hongjun's work was not solid.

Wei Hongjun waved his hand and said, "Whose problem is it, whose responsibility is it, and who should be held accountable? These are all matters for the future. If I was the one who made the mistake, then I must accept the criticism and the punishment from the organization. There's no need to cover it up. Nor should we cover up the problems for this or that reason. So what? Did the cadres sent over later never consider correcting themselves?"

"Yes."

Li Shaocheng nodded.

He said: "I have talked to the local cadres. The cadres sent to Weitai Township at that time were initially responsible for promoting the work of rent and interest reduction. When the public grain was collected in the autumn, they found that there was a problem with the public grain ratio. After a simple investigation, they also knew that the public grain ratio set by the previous land reform work team was incorrect. But after discovering it, they did not choose to adjust it. Seeing that the local people were unaware of this and still paid the public grain honestly, they chose to continue to collect according to the original ratio. The amount of public grain they collected was far higher than the regulations of the military region.

"Damn.

Wei Hongjun couldn't help but curse.

This group of people is simply talking nonsense. This is not what a Party cadre should do. Once the predecessor's mistakes are discovered, they should be corrected swiftly. These people are simply continuing to make mistakes.

"go on."

"Later, Chu Yan, who was teaching at a middle school, returned home just in time for the payment of this year's public grain. After calculating, he found that the amount of public grain was wrong, so he went to the village work team to report it. But they told Chu Yan that the public grain collection ratio was like this, and it had been the same since the establishment of the Weichang County base. So Chu Yan specifically found his classmates at Chanan Normal School and asked about this matter. After getting the answer, he returned to the village again. He reported the situation to the village work team, and the two sides started arguing, and the news reached the ears of the local people. When they heard that the public grain paid outside was half of theirs, everyone became dissatisfied.

The news spread quickly, from ten to a hundred, and eventually all the villages in the area heard about it. Three villages resisted paying their grain. Their grain had originally been delivered to the district government, but they wanted to take it back. This led to a conflict between the district government and the villagers. The district government arrested Chu Yan and other leaders on charges of resisting paying grain. This escalated into a major incident, spreading to seven villages. Finally, the district government reported it to the county government, saying that Kuomintang spies were inciting farmers to resist paying grain. Comrade Li Fuming and the county cadres felt something serious had happened. They immediately dispatched the county brigade and the public security department to handle the matter. Over forty people were arrested at once, and the case was determined to be a heinous case of Kuomintang spies inciting the people to resist paying grain.

Wei Hongjun didn't know what to say.

What does this have to do with anything?

How can this be a CCP cadre? He bullies his superiors and exploits his subordinates to profit from it.

Wei Hongjun looked at Yao Ziming and asked, "Have you checked Chu Yan?"

"I've checked. Their family was a small landowner in the area, owning about a hundred acres of land. Their social relationships were quite complex. One of Chu Yan's uncles had a son-in-law who was the puppet township head, so Chu Yan served as the chairman of the maintenance association. He took good care of their family, so their family was relatively safe in the years since the Japanese arrived. Chu Yan had been attending school in Weichang County, but in 39 he went to Chengde to attend school. He was traveling with the puppet army's logistics unit when he was ambushed by a special forces regiment and captured by us.

He then followed the captives to Chicheng, where he received education alongside fellow puppet army captives before being released. However, he never returned home and remained in our base area. Later, Chu Yan participated in Chicheng County's literacy campaign. At only nineteen years old at the time, he was quite active and achieved very good results. Because of his outstanding performance in the literacy campaign, Comrade Wu Pingshan, who was in charge of literacy education in the Chadong base area at the time, believed that Chu Yan was a young student with a strong sense of patriotism. He could be recruited into our revolutionary ranks through education. Therefore, he recommended Chu Yan to study at Chanan Normal School. By the time he graduated, we had already captured Weichang County. To address the enslaved education system there, a group of Chanan Normal School graduates were selected to teach in Weichang County. It was at this time that Chu Yan returned to Weichang County and became vice principal of Weichang County Middle School. He was considered a cadre we had sent there. Chu Yan had good abilities, performed well, and possessed a solid academic record. Therefore, the Party branch of Weichang County Middle School began considering accepting Chu Yan into the Party.

Yao Ziming introduced Chu Yan's situation to Wei Hongjun in detail.

As the territory of Jin-Cha-Ji expanded and the rear stabilized, the exchange of many files became much easier. It was easier to pass on information to each other.

Yao Ziming quickly obtained Chu Yan's files and sent people to Chu Yan's school, the county middle school where he worked, and Chu Yan's hometown to investigate his social situation.

Yao Ziming continued, "Based on the information we have now, he likely has no connection to the Kuomintang spies. We investigated, and the claim that he was a Kuomintang spy first came from the village work team. It was later accepted by the district government, and finally, after the Public Security Bureau arrested Chu Yan, they quickly confirmed that he was a Kuomintang spy."

Wei Hongjun frowned.

What the hell is a Kuomintang spy?

Isn't this a typical false accusation? The Public Security Bureau beat him up like that to force Chu Yan to admit that he was a Kuomintang spy.

However, Wei Hongjun was still cautious and asked, "What about his uncle? And his children's in-laws?"

"His uncle served as the chairman of the maintenance association, but he did not have much of a bad reputation in the local area. Even when collecting food for the Japanese, if the village was short of food, he would go to the Japanese to plead for mercy. If it didn't work, he would take some money from his own home to make up for it. So after our troops arrived here, when we punished traitors, many local people pleaded for him. We initially thought that he was using coercion and bribery to bribe the local people, but later after investigation we found that although this person was a good Han, he had no blood debts on his hands, and he had no bad reputation in the local area. So in the end, although he was identified as a traitor, he was not identified as a die-hard traitor, but a traitor who could be saved. In the end, we only criticized and educated him, and did not punish him as a die-hard Han. Later, we fought with the Japanese and puppet troops here, and many local landlords returned to the Japanese and puppet troops. But His uncle actively supported our Eighth Route Army. He donated food to the troops, and also sent some of the pistols he had hidden to the troops. So after we completely controlled Weichang County, our policies towards him have always been relatively considerate. However, the man who married his children was a die-hard traitor. In 41, he led the puppet security team to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the anti-Japanese base in Fengning County and was killed by the special forces on the battlefield. After he was killed by the special forces, his son chose not to continue to serve as the puppet township head. Instead, he returned to his hometown in the name of mourning for his father. He stayed in his hometown until we entered Weichang County. Their two families were quite sensible. When we implemented the rent and interest reduction work here, neither of them had any objection, including Chu Yan's family. They all cooperated with our rent and interest reduction work.

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Chu Yan's family is quite complicated.

As for their active cooperation with the rent and interest reduction efforts, Wei Hongjun didn't see any problem with it. Both families were smart, able to become Hanren and escape unscathed. Especially Uncle Chu Yan's in-laws. After their father was killed by the Eighth Route Army, the sons saw the situation clearly and quickly returned to their hometown. They were absolutely astute. Later, when the Eighth Route Army completely controlled Weichang County, both families knew their own flaws and dared not interfere in the rent and interest reduction efforts.

They actively participated in the rent and interest reduction campaign, clearly to mitigate their own guilt and to curry favor with the Eighth Route Army, hoping that because they supported its policies, the Eighth Route Army would not punish them.

There were many such people in the Eighth Route Army base areas. Or, in other words, there were a lot of such people who wavered during the war.

After the base area expanded, a large number of people who had been traitors were caught in the base area. How to deal with them was not an easy task. Because they had to split them up, the Eighth Route Army would definitely not treat people like Uncle Chu Yan as die-hard traitors. Because dealing with them would mean dealing with a lot more people.

"In other words, there is currently no evidence that Chu Yan is a Kuomintang spy?"

"Yes."

"And did the Weichang County Public Security Bureau investigate? How did they conclude this was a case of sabotage by Kuomintang spies?

Why was Chu Yan tortured to extract a confession? What was their purpose?

"We've checked. Wu, the head of the Public Security Section in Weichang County, and Yin Weihua, the secretary of the Weitai Township Party Committee, are fellow townsmen and classmates. After the July 7 Incident, they both participated in the anti-Japanese work in the Pingxi base area, but Yin Weihua worked in the local area, while Wu Feng joined the Pingxi Anti-Japanese Guerrillas. They had a good personal relationship. This time, when Wu, as the head of the Public Security Section, went to Weitai Township, he didn't bother to understand the situation. He simply had a drink with Yin Weihua and then brought back the report from Weitai Township."

Wei Hongjun couldn't help but slam the table.

A public security officer is so irresponsible.

"Nothing else? Did Wu get money or food from Weichang County?"

"It hasn't been found yet."

"Li Fuming also worked at the Pingxi Prefectural Committee before. Did they work together before?

"Yes. When the Pingxi underground party organized the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Unit, Comrade Yin Weihua and Comrade Wu worked under Comrade Li Fuming."

Yao Ziming's investigation report shocked Wei Hongjun.

What was originally a simple matter was escalated into a counter-revolutionary incident involving alleged Kuomintang spies and affecting over a thousand people in seven villages. If this were labeled a counter-revolutionary incident, how many people would be affected? There's no telling how many people would need guns alone.

These people didn't show any fear at all.

Wei Hongjun turned around and asked Han Weiguo, "Director Han, where did they collect the grain? With so many villages in a district over the years, they must have collected a lot of grain over the years."

"It's quite a bit. The amount of grain collected in Weitai Township in just over a year was over 600,000 kilograms."

"What about the food?"

"Commissar, take a look."

Wei Hongjun took it and glanced at it.

I didn't know what to say, so I said, "Isn't this just one district? Why are there so many staff members? This is such a mess."

It’s such a small district government, but it has so many staff members.

What a joke with more than a hundred people.

Wei Hongjun continued to look around. Besides these district government employees, there were many others receiving government pay, such as medical staff, teachers, and so on. The district's staffing for these areas far exceeded the stipulated number of people.

And their district team has more than 200 people, just like the county teams in other places.

In fact, most counties in the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region no longer have district squads, and even the county brigades are much smaller. This is because most of the bases in the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region are currently very safe.

There is no longer a need to fight the Japanese and puppet troops as before.

The Third Special Brigade, currently commanded by Ding Sheng, was formed from the county brigades and district squads within the military region. After Ding Sheng plundered the county brigades and district squads within the military region, the local forces were very scarce.