Canteen System Assistance Notes

The May Day Exhibition is nominally a large exhibition to commemorate May Day, International Labor Day. However, in the rapidly changing border areas, it is more of a display of the results of production, research and development, and improvements over the past year, allowing hard-working workers to see the fruits of their labor, and allowing farmers facing the loess to see the hope of a new life, so that they can face the various challenges of the coming year with a better mental state.

However, given the current domestic situation, this kind of exhibition will have another wonderful function - a trade fair.

After tying up the horses and locking the carriage, Huang Jingzhai and Staff Officer Zuo took Liu Helian to the "May Day Exhibition" venue. As soon as they arrived at the entrance, someone asked the three of them whether they were representatives sent by a village committee or an organization such as the Factory and Mine Academy to visit, or whether they were ordinary people from the border area, or "business people" from the Kuomintang-controlled area.

After Staff Officer Zuo took out his pass, the security guards present saluted him and handed the three of them a piece of cardboard - on which was printed a brief map of the venue, marking the exhibition areas for various products, as well as the locations of public toilets and office areas.

Liu Helian pondered the card for a moment and immediately realized that it was an honorary product of the university printing house attached to the cafeteria. This kind of stiff dark-patterned cardboard card would mostly be used for making greeting cards and promotional business cards in the future, and it was unlikely to be used as a map card for distribution in this time and space.

"You have to keep this card. We both voted yesterday. Later, when we finish our rounds, at the end, you can put this card in the box representing a certain exhibit as your favorite. Ha, if that factory or production company can be named the 'most popular' award, it would be a great honor!"

After getting to know each other, Huang Jingzhai's style became like that of an older brother who could chat with you over skewers and bottles at a roadside barbecue stall. This former deputy chief of staff, who had experienced the Xinhai Revolution and the Northern Expedition and even studied in France, often had a big brother-like warmth when doing management work.

"Comrade Xiao Liu, even if I hadn't introduced them to you, you could tell at a glance who in the meeting room was from our border region and who was from the Kuomintang-controlled area."

The venue of the meeting was a leveled cargo yard. On May 2nd, in the Fushi River Valley, the places where the sun shone directly were already quite warm. Liu Helian looked around and, just as Huang Jingzhai said, he could instinctively tell who was from the border area and who was from the Kuomintang-controlled area: those who wore long coats, jackets or thin coats, and those who came with assistants wearing suits with their shirt collars unbuttoned, mostly those who wore gray, blue and black, must have come from outside the border area.

Those standing behind the platform, walking in groups of three or five, carrying bags and baskets, with conservative but joyful smiles, are mostly from the border areas - perhaps this is not a clear enough distinction - the clothes worn by people from the border areas are mostly bright colors such as blue, red, and bright yellow.

Liu Helian even saw many people wearing outerwear with a gradient color scheme of beaches, seagulls, and coconut trees printed on it underneath their ragged jackets, exuding a bright tropical beach vibe. Half of their shorts in the same color scheme were also visible around their waists. Paired with a ukulele, they could easily be performing a tune on a Hawaiian beach!

"Left Staff Officer,"

Liu Helian suppressed his strong desire to complain and whispered to Staff Officer Zuo, "Isn't this the beach suit over there? Why are you selling it here too?"

Staff Officer Zuo was completely unconcerned. "What's the big deal? A baggy jacket with five buttons and two pockets, plus a pair of large shorts. All together, they cost you 15 yuan—which, converted into resold millet, only weighs about two kilograms. The key is that these beachwear are sturdy and durable, and won't deteriorate easily even after frequent washings. And the colors are so vibrant, any young man or woman would be stunned to see them."

"In short, as long as the people like it, that's good!"

At that time, most farmers did not have a decent set of clothes. In recent years, life has improved, and some families have gritted their teeth and set aside part of the Guanghua coupons given by the border government when collecting grain to buy a set of these beautiful "flowery clothes" to wear when watching operas, attending happy events, or going to the market like today.

According to Director Huang Jingzhai, the next goal for the border region is to ensure that every household has two sets of clothes—one for working in the fields, and one for going for a stroll. The popularity of cheap "beachwear" in the cafeteria supermarket is, in a sense, unsurprising.

The three of them wandered down the aisle, continuing their own exhibition. Today was May 2nd, and while the exhibition was reportedly not as bustling as it had been on the 1st, it was still quite crowded. The booths were mostly filled with shouting exhibitors. Compared to the more reserved agricultural cooperatives, the booths staffed by universities, factories, and mines were often more proactive, stepping out of their booths and engaging passersby to showcase their products and achievements.

Liu Helian was just wondering where to go when he was stopped by a bald man in his fifties. Wearing a shiny beachwear and holding a golden corn cob, he approached and enthusiastically greeted the group: "Hello, comrades! Come and see the corn thresher at our Second Machinery Plant! And be sure to vote for us!"

In history, Comrade Liu Shaoxuan promoted the Golden Queen corn brought by American missionaries. Compared with the dismal grain yield per mu in the border areas and base areas at that time, it was only by using compost that

Its corn yield per mu can reach 200% of the original yield; and now

Fertilizer production has been established in the border areas. With the renovation of water conservancy facilities and the promotion of scientific farming methods, the yield of the excellent variety of Golden Queen in the Huinong area can even reach 500 kg per mu.

But Liu Helian's focus was not here. His mind was full of things:

Laughing bald head, hand-held, corn on the cob.

A strange sense of déjà vu suddenly emerged, and just as he was stunned, Liu Helian was half-pulled and half-dragged to the side of the booth.

Without waiting for the three to say anything, the bald man who was leading the group began introducing the machine: "This is a hand-cranked corn sheller designed by our Fushi Second Machinery Factory! Apart from the wooden handle, it's made entirely of iron, refined iron! Even the crank bolts and springs are made in-house, so the quality is absolutely guaranteed!"

Like a savvy marketing manager from the 80s, he immediately peeled the dried, crispy coating off the corn cob and stuffed it into the machine on the table. Then, holding the base with one hand and the crank with the other, he began to twist. "Look, comrade," he said, "this rake with iron teeth automatically rips the kernels off the cob and drops them from the bottom of the machine. The spring-loaded housing can hold cobs of all sizes. It's so convenient!"

As he operated, the corn cob that had been dried for almost a year was eaten by the machine, and the yellow and white dry corn kernels fell into the iron box on the table with a clatter. Looking at the box that was already half full of corn kernels, it was clear that this bald old man had given many demonstrations to people.

"Look! Comrade, our machine is also designed with a mouth for removing the corn cobs. After the corn cobs are shredded, the cores can be automatically removed from the side. Hey, let me tell you,

Other machines on the market will break the corn core when threshing.

Son, we won’t!”

He pinched the bare corn cob and showed it off: "Corn cobs can not only be used as firewood, but the Zifanggou Chemical Plant and the Huinong Chemical Plant in our border area purchase them as raw materials. However, they only want whole corn cobs. Look, in a few months, this year's Golden Queen corn will be ready. Why not try the thresher from our Second Machinery Plant? Not only will everyone's work be easier, but the cooperative will also earn more, right?"

Stop, stop, Liu Helian stopped the confusion in his mind. He felt that his brain had received a serious shock:

In this scene, who is the one who traveled through time?

Chapter 185: People Seeking a Way Out

Li Guowei, the eldest son-in-law of the famous "Rong Family" during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, is also at the entrance of the May Day Exhibition.

As one of the successors to the family business, he must demonstrate sufficient skills and create sufficient achievements to break through the crisis surrounded by powerful opponents and seize the initiative. However, with his inherent shortcomings, he actually thought of... ahem, rest assured, this book has not become an urban novel.

As a former civil engineer and former engineer, and current chairman of Rongjia Vjixin Co., Ltd., Li Guorong completed the relocation of Fuxin Fifth Flour Mill and Shenxin Fourth Spinning Mill in 38. He worked extremely hard and not only had to fight with shareholders who wanted to stay in Shanghai and continue production and make money with the protection of foreigners, but also had to persuade family members who were afraid that the relocation of the factory would lead to losses.

He visited Jiang Mingsan, the then-chief in charge of Chencang, and after much negotiation, he finally purchased the land and borrowed cement and steel bars to build the factory. He also devised a way to ensure that shareholders holding shares in the old factory could make stable profits by leasing equipment from the old factory and dispatching labor. Although this left the newly established Qingxin Company with a lot of debt, he finally found a solution that satisfied all parties.

When the Qingxin Spinning Mill and Flour Mill were officially completed in Chencang, Li Guowei originally thought that because the industry in the southwest was not as developed as that in Shanghai and Jiangcheng, and the population was moving inland,

Will make the sales of flour and gauze quite high.

While the flour mill could still manage to break even, the Qingxin Spinning Mill suffered a huge loss: among the "northern goods" from the Eighth Route Army in the north, the huge amount of cheap ready-made clothes and trousers were rushed down the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway in the hands of a group of skilled compradors, and the high-quality "20-count fine cloth" of the Qingxin Spinning Mill directly became expensive and rotten broom goods.

"I originally thought the Eighth Route Army was flooding the market with foreign goods, and since I thought they were reasonable, I was planning to ask them to consider national interests, support domestic enterprises, and use more domestic products. But now it seems that they are indeed producing northern goods themselves, so there's nothing much to say..."

In the center of the venue stood a horizontal steam engine, spewing smoke, which was slowly driving a series of belts and motors, showing visitors the principles and mechanisms of its operation.

He felt very sad.

"When Qingxin was founded, the two factories didn't even have a steam engine like this. They ended up borrowing a scrapped locomotive from the Railway Bureau and converting it into a power plant. Looking at the banner, it says the Eighth Route Army can now produce its own steam engines. While they're certainly not as powerful as locomotives, they should be enough to power some of the smaller factories' machine tools. I wonder how the Eighth Route Army will use this power: axles and belts, or electric?"

As he was thinking, Li Guowei actually felt hungry. This was because he was stopped by too many checkpoints on the way from Chencang to Fushe, and because of the time-consuming negotiations, when he arrived in Fushe, it was already May 2nd, and he missed the first day of the event.

Li Guowei was afraid of missing out on this "trade fair," so after making some inquiries, he headed straight to the venue, skipping even breakfast. "Boss, I'm back, and I brought you some food! If you don't mind, you can make do with this for now..."

Just as he was thinking about it, Zhang Jianhui, the director of the spinning mill who came with him, came back. He hadn't had breakfast yet and had just gone to the small vendors gathered outside the venue. This time, he came back with a mouth full of oil and also brought a paper bag of food for his boss.

"Okay, let's go in and take a look."

-----――-

Picking up wooden sticks and chewing on the tornado potatoes and fried ham in the paper bag, the two walked towards the venue. After discussing with Zhang Jianhui, Li Guowei decided to split up with the mill director to take a look at the various products launched by the Eighth Route Army and find a way to help the Qingxin Mill and Flour Mill escape from their predicament.

If he really couldn't find the enemy, Li Guowei thought that he could ask someone to intercede for him and ask the Eighth Route Army to stop outside a certain area and let him go, because he had a friendship with Mr. Rewi Alley, an old friend of the Eighth Route Army.

"Last year, Wang Zuomin took advantage of my family's advice and said that if we could protect Qingxin's goods in Guanzhong, at least they would be safe—but then he turned around and started a northern goods business. He also wants to take 20% of Qingxin's profits every year, regardless of profit or loss. How hateful!" He reluctantly took a bite of the potato chips in his mouth and became worried again. "What if the Eighth Route Army still doesn't agree?"

Probably not.

After finding out the power behind the "Northern Goods", Li Guowei did some research, asked a lot of people, and even read the newspapers published by the Eighth Route Army. Unfortunately, he found that all his connections in the preserved fruit industry were useless. However, he thought that the Eighth Route Army, which was praised by Mr. Qingling, should be reasonable. As long as he did not do anything harmful to the world and had made contributions to the war of resistance, he should not be too embarrassed.

He boasted that this civil engineering graduate of Tangshan Road and Mining School should be a member of the Eighth Route Army: he insisted on moving the factory inland and did not choose to live under the rule of the Japanese invaders. He was a practical man who ran a factory to fight against the Japanese invaders. He actually abolished the foreman system, built staff dormitories, and guaranteed basic treatment for workers. He was not a black-hearted businessman.

If that still doesn't work... Thinking about the fact that there's basically no way to "unblock" the Eighth Route Army, Li Weiguo thought about it and came to a conclusion: "If it really doesn't work, doing business with the Eighth Route Army is also a way out."

As he was thinking this, he walked towards the steam engine in the center of the venue: Now, the power of Qingxin Cotton Mill and Flour Mill is all provided by the scrapped train locomotive, plus they need to defend against air raids from time to time, so the power is really insufficient and it is difficult to support continuous operation.

Li Guowei approached the steam-belching machine, pushing through the crowd outside to get inside. He was surprised to discover that the steam engine was mounted on a four-wheeled carriage with intimidatingly large wheels. It was a mobile power source, perhaps a tractor. It was currently using steel cables to slowly pull a rotating shaft in the venue, driving several machines on the other side. Even more surprising was the fact that the steam engine was being driven by several young women.

"Grandpa, who is the boss in charge here?"

"Hey, old lady..."

He asked around, only to receive cautious looks. Most of the farmers, dressed in floral beachwear, ignored his suit and shirt, but simply dispersed. Finally, a small circle formed around him. Li Guowei felt like he was being scrutinized by dozens of eyes, like a bone being picked apart, and felt uneasy.

He had no choice but to look up at the three women working on their tractor. This heavy steam tractor had a winch mechanism underneath, making it incredibly tall. Including the chimney, it was over three meters tall. "Excuse me, ma'am, how much is this steam engine?"

"Ah? Hahahahahaha!"

The girls on the steam engine laughed so loudly that they could be heard even next to the rumbling flywheel. One of them wiped her skin with a towel and nudged the girl in the driver's seat: "Liu Jie'er, did you hear that? He called you Big Sister!" "What Big Sister? I'm only 24!"

The leader appeared to be Liu Jie'er. She wore large leather gloves and a short-sleeved shirt, revealing half of her wheat-colored arms. She adjusted her straw hat, lowered her head to look at the fair-skinned Li Guowei, and said confidently:

"Sir, you are not from the border area!" "Huh?"

"This steam engine is the treasure of our cooperative, but no matter how much you offer, we won't sell it!"

"Then..." Li Guowei didn't expect to be rejected. The other party was frighteningly young, but he didn't show any shyness or embarrassment towards the elderly and the superior. "But I really want to buy it.

what do I do?"

This machine has 35 horsepower, weighs 10,000 pounds, and can pull a 2,000-pound heavy-row plow! There aren't many of these in the entire Northwest, let alone our border region. It's not like you can just buy it! "Sister Liu shook her head, pointing to a shed in the distance. "If you really want one, why not ask the office over there?"

Li Guowei turned his head and saw a string of strange characters through the dense crowd of people:

"Eighth Route Army Investment Promotion Office? Hmm?"

Chapter 186 Japanese Solution

Representatives of cooperatives in the border region were viewing the exhibition, foreign businessmen were discussing business, and the mysterious review team of the newly established Industrial Committee of the Communist Party of China was inspecting the results of the military industry in the "professional exhibition area" of the May Day exhibition with comrades from the Eighth Route Army's equipment acceptance department.

This kind of "balanced, scientific, small steps and fast progress" development situation has not only appeared in the border areas, but also in base areas such as northwest Shanxi, Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei, Shanxi-Shandong-Henan and the entire Shandong Province. It has even begun to spread along the Tongzhong Channel of the Yangtze River to the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area.

Various new weapons and equipment, improved production equipment, and efficient agricultural and transportation tools were distributed to various bases in the form of standardized process documents by the "Industrialization and Standardization Bureau" under the Industrial Committee. Production was organized according to local conditions to strengthen the strength of each Eighth Route Army.

Furthermore, the summer crops in various bases are growing very well this year, and the weather in North China in 39 has been relatively favorable. Barring any unexpected events, the bases will usher in a major wave of development. Yes, barring any "unexpected events."

The North China Front Army has had a hard time recently.

After a large deficit in the autumn grain collection in 1938, the entire North China Front Army suffered a "spring famine" in the spring of 39. If the Japanese troops in various places maintained their original deployment frequency, their grain reserves would begin to flash red alarm. Although the Japanese army had plundered for many years in China and had accumulated a lot of food, this "food famine" would not cause people to starve to death, but if they wanted to maintain a high intensity of deployment to fight against the "scourge of public security",

(Route, then it is necessary to distribute those "combat rations" that exceed the usual "quota payment" and then let the soldiers gather and go out to clear the countryside and counter guerrilla warfare - such "combat rations" can be used once or twice. If the frequency of the Eighth Route Army's deployment is

Then the Japanese army in North China would have to go bankrupt.

Not to mention now, even if you take a machine gun out, a squad of Japanese soldiers will still experience strange evaporation and sublimation near the villages in North China and disappear without a trace.

This situation further reduced the possibility of the Japanese army living a good life.

The only consolation was that the Japanese could occasionally cause trouble for the Nationalist guerrillas and local armed forces, robbing them to make ends meet and have a snack. However, this situation began to become increasingly difficult in the spring of 39 - there was no other way, the Nationalist guerrillas were also limited, and they could not resist such harassment!

Since then, the Japanese army, who always picked the weak ones, finally reluctantly turned their attention to the overly active Eighth Route Army. How to deal with such Eighth Route Army?

If Okamura Yasuji of this time and space were to answer this question, his answer would definitely be the so-called "iron wall encirclement, tight blockade, and three-light campaigns to clean up the countryside," which would destroy the existence of our army among the masses, cut off the base's channels for obtaining external resources, and cause our army to "suffocate and wither."

However, on the one hand, this conclusion was the result of Okamura Yasuji's research in 1941 based on the Japanese army's experience in confronting our army's guerrilla tactics over the years; on the other hand, the blockade line composed of a large number of blockade ditches, bamboo fences, and earthen artillery towers was very effective against guerrillas who were not even equipped with guns. However, when dealing with the "guerrillas" who were equipped with turtle fists and mortars in the county brigade and mines and explosive packs in the district squad, it could only be said to be superficial and could not serve as a barrier.

So, if we put this question to Sugiyama Hajime, then commander-in-chief of the North China Front Army, in 1939, what would this old man from Fukuoka Prefecture, known as "Dumb Hajime," say? "Rectify public security!" (Very loudly).

Although the tactics of going to the countryside to clear out the rebels were ineffective, and the "village merging" copied from the Kwantung Army suffered a major defeat in North China; although the Japanese army was now in another economic crisis in the 1930s, resulting in the military budget formulated by the Army Headquarters being rejected by the Ministry of Finance; even though the "three-month solution to the ZN Incident" boasted by the stupid marshal and the emperor had long been ruined, and the army had been dragged down by the battlefield in China and had to increase the budget for the second time: Sugiyama Gen still came up with his own way to solve the current deteriorating war situation in North China and the continued deterioration of public security in May 199.

He suggested that since the Eighth Route Red Army was the main threat to public security in North China, wouldn't it be enough to completely eliminate it? Although it was a little difficult to eliminate the entire North China Red Army at the moment, as long as we worked together, there would be no problem. If it was difficult to eliminate them all at once, we could just do it piece by piece, and we would eventually solve it all!

When our army obtained this intelligence through North China and the puppet regime, it was directly shocked by the nonsensical slogans and Japanese logic. It was like saying that as long as all the Japanese troops were eliminated, the anti-Japanese problem could be solved. This was completely correct nonsense.

In other words, the Japanese military staff team was not completely useless. After all, they refined the strategic plan that was hanging in the air into a set of action plans that were at least feasible on the surface: since a full-scale attack on the Red Army area was no longer feasible, then at least focus on attacking and destroying a certain area where the Red Army was entrenched, and strive to complete the clearance of this area before the summer of 1939, so that the Imperial Army's grain collection in 39 would achieve a qualitative improvement.

Led by North China Front Army Chief of Staff Tomoyuki Yamashita, the staff team reviewed numerous battle reports from 37 and repeatedly searched the map of North China, finally finding a relatively feasible target. They needed to launch a concentrated attack on the "Taihang Mountain Region" where the Red Army was entrenched!

"I think the main purpose of the Japanese army is to try to seize the Lu'an Basin controlled by our army, that is, the Shangdang area."

Liu Helian stood in the conference room, compiling the relevant information and intelligence he had gathered onto a PowerPoint presentation, annotating the sources and expiration dates. This was a sweep and mop-up operation unprecedented in his history, and it commanded his full attention, mobilizing his analytical and thinking abilities.

"The Japanese army was continuously targeted by our army's anti-raid and anti-grain looting efforts. The grain they seized in 1938 was much less than in history."

He pulled up a picture. This data, sent in via Advanced Cooperation from various bases, had been compiled into a visually appealing chart: "The summer grain harvest is imminent. The Japanese army's main offensive areas should be grain-rich regions. I suspect they're concentrated in the Lu'an Basin in eastern Shanxi—one of Shanxi's grain-producing areas, with abundant water resources. This year's harvest has been excellent, and our 129th Division comrades have been promoting Golden Queen corn."

If the Japanese army successfully seized the Lu'an Basin, due to its easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain, they would consciously seize the opportunity to control the farmland and obtain food in this closed environment. This would be a great help in alleviating the Japanese army's food shortage.

"The central headquarters of our 129th Division is also here, and the 165th Division is a little further north, also in this area. The Japanese may also hope to directly find and annihilate our main force; or even directly kill central commanders such as General Liu, General Xu, and General Chen, and achieve their long-cherished goal of 'achieving success in one battle.'

"My Lords, I have finished speaking."

Perhaps the Chairman and his colleagues were trying to train him, but during this analysis meeting, Liu Helian was also asked to give a presentation. He left his seat in the conference room and stood up.

To be honest, facing the Chairman, Zhou Gong, General Zhu, and Xu Zijing,

When he saw Liu Mingzhao, Dong Shaozhong, and even Zhang Hao who was attending the meeting in the video, a group of bigwigs who became famous in later generations, giving reports, he was not just nervous, he was extremely nervous.

Several veteran generals nodded in agreement, clearly endorsing Liu Helian's analysis based on the available intelligence and data. However, the smoking chairman frowned, then smiled again. He turned and asked Zhou Gong to hand him the laser pointer.

"Your analysis is quite good, with solid evidence and rigorous logic. Comrade Liu, I think, while he won't be leading troops, he'll still be a capable staff officer!" The Chairman put down his cigarette and tapped the armrest of his chair. "However, I would like to offer some personal opinions..."

"The main purpose of the old bandits is probably not as clear as you think. Stealing food is indeed the most obvious and direct benefit." The chairman narrowed his eyes and said slowly,

"This reminds me of those days on the Red Snake River. Surrounded by powerful enemies, yet unable to make a decision easily, it was like an alarm clock ticking in my head. 'Jinsha City, should we attack or not?'"

Oh, Chairman, you mean the Japanese invaders are trying to break the deadlock?" Zhou Gong reacted. He was also an eyewitness to the debate at Daguxinchang. "Is the situation similar?"

"Because of our changes, the Japanese invaders entered a strategic stalemate phase ahead of schedule. However, our earlier victories over the Nationalist Army still gave them confidence in victory. Comrade Xiao Liu, you are accustomed to looking at things from a historical perspective. You don't have the problem of being 'in the thick of things'."

The chairman nodded and expressed his judgment:

"Whether they wanted to destroy our main force, find the 129th Division's headquarters, or seize the corn cobs planted by General Liu, even if the Japanese occupied the Lu'an Basin, it would not fundamentally change their strategic position in Shanxi Province. At the very least, they would have to simultaneously eliminate the Nationalist troops in Zhongtiao Mountain.

"The Japanese invaders are very eager to break this stalemate in their battle with us, even though this approach has no strategic value. In my opinion, even Sugiyama himself is not aware of this, but they already have a subconscious view.

"We will be stronger, and they will be weaker."

Chapter 187 Chinese Response Strategy

For Commander Chen Shukang, who was on the front line of the war, the Japanese army's actions had a tit-for-tat flavor.