As time passed, the atmosphere at the Japanese military brigade command became more and more tense.

It was almost an hour before the brigade commander issued a reinforcement order, and the footsteps of the communications staff finally rang out at the door of the war room.

The brigade commander stared at the door, trying to see from his subordinates whether he was good or bad news.

Disappointed, the expression on the communications officer's face was even more solemn than when he saw him an hour ago. He walked quickly to the brigade commander and hesitated for a long time before he mustered up the courage to report.

"General, the two reinforcements all arrived at the battlefield on time, but when they arrived at Xuejia Village, the battle was over, the entire village was razed to the ground during the battle, and the bodies of soldiers were everywhere in the ruins, which was very tragic..."

"The reinforcements also reported that they found more than 240 imperial troops on the battlefield, so the troops guarding Xuejia Village were completely destroyed. They themselves suffered heavy losses in the battle to break through the Eighth Route Army's blocking positions, and nearly 200 soldiers were killed directly..."

"The entire reinforcement brigade only has one offensive troops intact, and more than half of the offensive troops remained in the two offensive troops. They asked the troops whether to continue attacking, compress the space for the Eighth Route Army to squeeze them out of Laiyuan!"

The brigade commander pinched his fists tightly, and his eyes turned red because of anger, gritted his teeth and wanted to scold people.

But in the end I endured it. As a qualified commander, no matter how angry I was, I could not show it, which affected my thinking and judgment ability.

Moreover, there are hundreds of troops on the front line waiting for their orders, so you must be even more rational.

After taking a deep breath, I ordered: "All the remaining troops of the offensive troops gathered together, and then stopped on standby. I will send all the intelligence personnel and reconnaissance troops of the brigade command to find the Eighth Route Army that had just eaten our attacking troops!"

"They just experienced a big battle and the losses must be huge. If they can be found in time, our troops will march and kill them in a hurry, and they may be revenge on the troops killed in Xuejiazhuang!"

"Chief of Staff, please contact the military headquarters immediately and urge them to send the supplementary troops and reinforcements assigned to us by the military headquarters as soon as possible, the faster the better!"

"All the investigation troops were dispatched to search closely for all villages, ravines, and forests within 20 kilometers of Xuejia Village... Be sure to find the Eighth Route Army that attacked us."

"The intelligence department cooperated with the operation and then continued to find out where the heavy weapons and ammunition in the hands of the Eighth Route Army in Laiyuan North came from."

The National Salvation Army, deputy commander Tang Yufeng and two deputy county magistrates walked in with smiles. You don’t need to ask to know that they brought good news to themselves.

Sure enough, before Zhou Cheng could speak, Tang Yufeng, who was walking in front, reported excitedly: "Captain, you have asked us to open a breakthrough from the recruits to claim livestock. In less than a day, all the goats and fat pigs we bought were separated by the villagers. Many villagers who had not received livestock took the initiative to find us, hoping that we could get another batch of livestock back and share them with them."

When he decided three days ago how to make the people believe in the National Salvation Army and take the initiative to claim these livestock, Tang Yufeng and the two deputy county magistrates had their opinions from door to door to do ideological work for the villagers, so that everyone could actively sign up to claim them.

Zhou Cheng felt that this was too slow and he would not be able to claim all the thousands of goats in half a month.

He thought of the 1,500 new recruits who had just joined the National Salvation Army.

Although the training time for the new recruits for half a month is not long, most of the new recruits have recognized the National Rescue Army from the bottom of their hearts and believed in the National Rescue Army.

Compared with the ideological work of ordinary people, the ideological work of new recruits will definitely be better done.

In order to distribute thousands of livestock to the villagers as soon as possible, Zhou Cheng specially gave the recruits a day off for the recruits, and asked Deputy Commander Tang and several local cadres to settle accounts with the recruits the night before, one by one, so that each recruit knew how much profit they could bring to their families. He also told everyone that because the number of livestock was limited, the first batch of people involved in raising pigs and raising sheep could only be the families of the recruits. As a benefit for everyone to join the National Salvation Army, it would be the other people in the defense zone next year.

People have a competitive mentality. When they heard that raising sheep is a benefit only for new recruits, only the families of the soldiers of the national rescue army are qualified to claim livestock. And helping the government raise sheep does have considerable benefits. Many new recruits were tempted and rushed to register to claim pigs and sheep.

But Zhou Cheng didn't expect that everyone's enthusiasm would be so high. In just one day, thousands of livestock concentrated in captivity outside the city were claimed.

Deputy County Magistrate Yi Wenshu of Xiyang continued to report: "At noon today, all the 100 pigs we sent to each town were claimed, and then a large number of new soldiers were registered with us. If new livestock arrive, they should be notified immediately to claim them."

"I received a registration list at 3:00 p.m., and the families of the new soldiers wanted to claim at least 500 pigs."

"After I got the news, some ordinary people also found us to claim the livestock. I registered all of them. There were more than 2,300 sheep and more than 1,100 pigs registered alone!"

Zhou Cheng thought for a while and asked: "Except for these ordinary people who have completed the registration, what do other ordinary people think about this?"

"Some people doubted our motives for doing this, and some people sneered, saying that our national rescue army was cheating everyone. When everyone fattened the pigs and raised the goats, they would take them away directly. They would not give everyone any compensation. It was a total loss-making business!"

"Most of the people are waiting and watching and dare not claim it easily."

"Most of the people who took the initiative to find us to register are relatives of the soldiers of the national rescue army, and they believe in us relatively more!"

Zhou Cheng nodded and quickly turned his eyes to He Yong, deputy county magistrate of Pingding County.

"Deputy County Magistrate He, the enthusiasm for pacifying the people should be higher than that of Xiyang?"

He Yong nodded immediately: "It's much taller. Our National Salvation Army has a mass base in pacifying. The people believe in us. Just one day yesterday, the 1,000 sheep and 500 pigs distributed to us in the regiment were claimed, and even the number of registered villagers behind them could not be counted!"

"When I came to Xiyang, I had already registered about 3,000 households, and at least 6,000 sheep and 3,000 pigs. There are still a large number of people waiting to register in the following year."

"According to your request, the first batch of 1,000 sheep and 500 pigs will be given only to the families of our soldiers who have already died. We will give priority to the families of the soldiers who have already died. Registration will be to register them first, and then it will be the other people's turn."

Zhou Cheng's face was already full of joy and shouted excitedly: "Old Tang, this is all about the morale of the army and the people!"

"The two towns have a population of only 4,500 households in total. The pig-like people have already claimed the total of about 4,000 households, and there are still people who will register again later, which is equivalent to the people in the two towns coming.

"If they don't trust our National Salvation Army, they will definitely not be so crazy to ask us for pigs and sheep. I hope that one day the people of Xiyang can support us like the people who have pacified them!"

"County Magistrate Yi and County Magistrate He, next we will find a way to buy some pigs and sheep from outside for you. You must strictly follow the strategies formulated by the regiment, first satisfy the families of all the soldiers of the National Savior Army, and then share them with other ordinary people."

"After you really can't buy livestock, you can only wait until the defense zone produces a large number of lambs and piglets next year before letting ordinary people claim it."

"I want to completely change the impression of the people in the defense zone about our soldiers through this incident."

"Joining our Eighth Route Army is not only to avoid hunger, but also to fight the Japanese to defend their country. It can bring honor and a lot of benefits to our family and further inspire everyone's enthusiasm to join the National Salvation Army."

He Yong and Yi Wenshu nodded quickly: "Don't worry, leader, we will let the people claim the livestock according to the regulations of the regiment."

After saying that, Yi Wenshu continued to report: "We have already calculated the land controlled by the traitors. There are a total of 4,300 mu of fertile land and 12,600 mu of sloping land. All the fertile land is millet, 11,000 mu of sloping land is corn, more than 800 mu of soybeans planted on the slope, and more than 800 mu of sweet potatoes planted on the slope."

"Those crops are growing very well. If we subtract the grain distributed to the tenants, we can harvest at least 600,000 kilograms of millet, 1.5 million kilograms of grain, 10,000 kilograms of soybeans, and 50,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes..."

"But I have an idea: those tenants are too poor, nearly 80% of them have no acre of land at home. If the family has a large population, the little food we allocated them will not last even half a year."

"I want to take out 30% of the grain rent and share it with them so that they can last until next year's autumn harvest. Please allow the group leader to approve it."

"In addition, I want to share the more than 10,000 acres of land seized from the traitors directly to them to give them some family background, and then encourage them to continue to reclaim land in the surrounding mountains and forests and plant more land next year."

Zhou Cheng thought about it for a while and replied: "Your county government will formulate its own plan based on the actual situation. I only have one requirement. From now on, there will be no ordinary person in our national defense zone to starve to death..."

It is a big problem to not starve people to death during the war, but the two deputy county magistrates were very confident.

They already knew the basic strategy of the regiment commander to develop defense zones, and they were excited at that time because if the regiment commander continues to develop according to the regiment commander's plan, if everything goes well, Xiyang will be able to become a large granary for the National Salvation Army for up to two years. The various grains and livestock produced can not only meet the needs of the National Salvation Army, but also provide a large number of reinforcements to the surrounding Eighth Route Army troops.

More importantly, in addition to the harvest of nearly 20,000 acres of land seized by the traitor, there was also a regiment headquarters standing behind them, with millions of kilograms of grain purchased from outside as a foundation. If there were still ordinary people in the jurisdiction, it would be that the two deputy county magistrates did not take good care of it.

He answered confidently in response to Zhou Cheng's gaze: "Please rest assured that the team leader, we guarantee to complete the task."

Zhou Cheng then turned his attention to Tang Yufeng: "Old Tang, the problem of claiming livestock has been solved, and the next land reclamation will definitely be even better. With the family members of the new soldiers taking the lead, other ordinary people will definitely rush to do it when they see the benefits."

"But if the defense zone is self-sufficient in the shortest time and gradually become a large granary for our national rescue army, it is not enough to rely solely on self-rescue. We also need to buy more livestock and food from outside the defense zone."

"I arranged several soldiers from blacksmiths and carpenters for Master Kong of the Mechanical Repairing Center. Our Mechanical Repairing Center has already gotten on track. There are special people responsible for dismantling guns and special people responsible for loading guns. On average, almost thirty guns can be repaired every day, including twenty 38 large covers, ten Hanyang-made and old sleeves."

"In addition to the 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-large 38-

"So you should work harder and continue to contact the surrounding Eighth Route Army and ask them to help us raise food and livestock."
Chapter completed!