Chapter 127 The Moon of Yesteryear
It was already quite late when Xie Ning left the classroom. He rubbed his aching back; he had been standing for hours and still hadn't had a chance to rest. He still had to revise the weapon blueprints that night, mainly for warships.
Erniu had just dropped Xie Ning off at the yard when she grabbed a hoe and headed out. She had to clear the land to plant sweet potatoes and fetch water. Luckily, the irrigation ditch had been repaired early on, but even so, the harvest was poor due to the drought.
Since last year, everyone has had production tasks. Due to health reasons, Xie Ning's production tasks were helped by Er Niu and Xiao Yang, who were part of the guard squad. It can be said that even the top leader was cultivating vegetable fields to grow vegetables.
Xie Ning initially learned spinning and growing vegetables on her own, but later she collapsed and received special care. Although her health gradually improved under Zhao Le's care, she was still very different from before.
Xie Ning used to be able to train with Xiao Yang and the others, but now he has to walk slowly.
This production task dates back to the stalemate phase of the War of Resistance against Japan, when Chiang Kai-shek began to implement anti-work policies.
They not only stopped issuing the promised salaries, ammunition, and clothing to the Eighth Route Army, but also mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to impose a strict blockade on the border area, prohibiting the trade of necessities such as grain, cotton, iron, cloth, and salt.
Merchants who went to the border area to transport goods were detained and punished.
Faced with the Kuomintang's economic blockade, the border region also quickly took corresponding counter-blockade measures. Production tasks were one aspect, but the main focus was on self-help through production and ensuring supply. The army also engaged in land reclamation, which was the main task.
Xie Ning realized he couldn't handle a hoe anymore, so he focused on machinery, having the arsenal produce a lot of small agricultural machines, which greatly improved the production efficiency of both the military and civilians.
That day, just as Xie Ning finished his acupuncture treatment, someone came to ask him to attend a meeting.
Xie Ning, still feeling drowsy while lying on the bed, glanced at her watch before getting up, dressing, and mounting her horse. Although riding a horse would make her feel uncomfortable, the headquarters was quite a distance away, and she didn't have the stamina to walk there without riding a horse.
When Xie Ning arrived, not everyone was there yet. After all, not everyone has a wristwatch and knows the exact time. Some people arrived early, and some arrived late. They all arrived by guessing the time.
People tend to arrive more punctually when the sun is out.
Once most of the people had arrived, someone stood up to report: "Since last winter, the Japanese army has been implementing a 'cage policy' that uses railways as pillars, highways as chains, and bunkers as locks. After discussion, we have decided to cooperate with the 129th Division to break through the enemy's railway blockade."
If it weren't for the Kuomintang's anti-labor policies and its large-scale military offensive against the Shanxi New Army and the Eighth Route Army, they wouldn't be in such a predicament.
Then, the summary continued, “...Britain and France suffered serious defeats in the European war, and Japan took the opportunity to put pressure on Britain and France, threatening them to block the international transportation lines between China and Burma and China and Vietnam... Now the Sino-Vietnamese border is completely blocked, and there is an embargo on arms, ammunition, gasoline, heavy trucks and railway materials in Burma and Hong Kong... Economic blockade, military offensive and political inducement to surrender have added greater difficulties to the war of resistance, and some people in the Kuomintang have become more wavering, and the crisis of compromise and surrender is more serious than ever before.”
Therefore, we have decided to issue a declaration to unite the people of the whole country in resisting Japan, overcome difficulties, and put into practice the plan to break through the railway blockade, strike at the Japanese forces in North China, and reverse the national situation.
The next step was to discuss specific strategic plans, during which someone asked if there were any problems with Xie Ning's military equipment.
Xie Ning put down his pen, stood up, and said, "...The arsenal had previously improved light weapons and bombs based on tactics such as guerrilla warfare, tunnel warfare, mine warfare, raiding warfare, and naval guerrilla warfare to support the 'anti-mopping-up' operations. Among them, the specially made mortars are very suitable for this operation, and there are no problems with the other weapons."
Although the Kuomintang imposed an economic blockade on us, making it difficult to transport production materials in, I did my best to stockpile raw materials in the early stages of the war... In addition, with the materials we produced ourselves, the arsenal operated stably... The same was true for the arsenals in the Xing base area and the Jin military region. I made a preliminary calculation and the weapons equipment rate of the three armies could reach 60%.
...The headquarters has five G1 artillery pieces, and the other two districts each have two G1 artillery pieces, which can be used for long-range bombing support...The terrain along the railway is quite undulating, with narrow valleys, steep mountains, many curves and steep slopes. I suggest that in addition to providing short-term assault and road-breaking training for the participating troops, they should also be equipped with specialized demolition equipment. I will urge the arsenal to speed up production in this regard.
The problem is a severe shortage of lead, tin, and potassium chloride, essential for bullet manufacturing; this needs to be addressed.
Xie Ning sat down, and then everyone continued their discussion on strategic deployment.
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