"Old village chief, thank you, if it weren't for your help, I wouldn't have gone so smoothly." Watching the villagers disperse, Liu Gen opened his mouth to thank him.

Liu Genke knew that the villagers could listen to him and believe in himself, and they all had a lot to do with the old village chief. If it weren't for the old village chief sitting here, the villagers wouldn't easily trust Liu Gen, in the eyes of the villagers, Liu Gen was still a stranger and couldn't be easily trusted.

"Little comrade, don't thank me, thank you, and we also thank the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army. If it weren't for the new policy of your Eighth Route Army, we might still need to worry about land reclamation. The old village chief waved his hand and said with a smile.

The old village chief knew very well in his heart that the villagers were willing to listen to it, and it was also because the Eighth Route Army could really bring them benefits, otherwise it would be useless to have him. As the head of the village, the old village chief has always wanted to help the villagers improve their lives, but he has never had a good way. Now he can do something for the village, so that the villagers can get certain benefits, the old village chief is still very happy.

"By the way, little comrade, you see I don't know your name yet." The old village chief spoke.

Liu Gen also reacted, yes, he has been chatting with the old village chief for so long, he has not officially introduced himself, "Old village chief, I am Liu Gen, the company commander of the new artillery company, I am responsible for reclaiming wasteland and cooperating with the villagers, if you have anything, you can go to the artillery company to find me." ”

"Huh? Little comrade, are you still a company commander? It's amazing, if I had a grandson, I would be about the same age as you. The old village chief was a little depressed, and he was alone at home, so he would be a little lonely.

Looking at the old village chief, Liu Gen was a little puzzled, "Old village chief, are you alone?" What about family? ”

"Hey, I originally had three sons, but a few years ago, the national army came to recruit and forcibly took away my two sons. Three years ago, the devil came to Shanxi, and my youngest son chose to join the army to fight the devil, but there is no news yet. In such troubled times, there is no news, maybe he died on the battlefield,"

"I'm an old man who has no ability, otherwise I'm going to fight devils, but unfortunately, with the old man's body, I don't have a chance to fight devils, and I'm afraid I won't have a few days to live. To fight devils, we still need to rely on you young people, and we need to rely on your Eighth Route Army. The old village chief said with a sigh.

Liu Gen looked at the old village chief, not knowing what to say, and not knowing how to comfort the old village chief.

"Old village chief, don't worry, our Eighth Route Army will definitely fight the devils well, and will work hard to drive the devils out of China as soon as possible." After a moment of silence, Liu Gen spoke in a deep voice.

The old village chief laughed, "Okay, I believe in you, I believe in your Eighth Route Army." ”

……

On the way back to the artillery company, Liu Gen was thinking about the matter of reclaiming wasteland, hoping that this matter could be affirmed by the headquarters as soon as possible, so that the soldiers could participate.

At present, only the artillery company of the new regiment is responsible for the reclaiming of wasteland, and it is impossible to reclaim too much wasteland in a short period of time by relying only on the soldiers of the artillery company. Turning around and walking towards the regiment headquarters, Liu Gen wanted to ask Ding Wei if there was any decision at the headquarters.

When he came to the regiment headquarters, Liu Gen was not able to see Ding Wei, and after asking the personnel of the regiment headquarters, he learned that Ding Wei had gone to the first battalion.

Giving up the idea of going to the first battalion to find Ding Wei, the bosses of the headquarters may need to think about it for a while, and they will not make a decision so soon. didn't see Ding Wei, Liu Gen also calmed down, he couldn't be too anxious.

Back in the artillery company, the soldiers were resting, and Liu Gen could see that many soldiers were constantly wiping the sweat on their foreheads. It was a cool day in March, and there was still a thin layer of snow on the ground, but the soldiers were still sweating like this. also noticed this, Liu Gencai did not choose to say something.

Knowing that the fighters were not lazy, he was satisfied, and as for continuing to let the fighters train, he would not do it. After clearly knowing that the physical fitness of the fighters could not be compared with that of later generations, Liu Gen would not think of using the training standards of later generations to demand these fighters, so as to avoid the soldiers being physically exhausted due to training.

However, the soldiers are quite conscious, and even if there is no company commander Liu Gen on weekdays, they will train hard under the leadership of the first squad leader.

Glancing at the time, it was almost noon, and Liu Gen did not let the fighters continue training. Taking out some pork bones, Liu Gen and the soldiers stewed bone broth, and put a lot of wild vegetables in it. The amount of wild vegetables is not very large, and it is only March now, and the wild vegetables are still small, which is why the soldiers rarely see green vegetables when they eat on weekdays.

Even the cabbage, the new regiment can only be supplied once a week, and there are a lot of pickled vegetables, but if you really want to supply the soldiers of the whole regiment to eat, I am afraid that it will be eaten in less than a week.

The warriors held bowls and smelled the aroma of bone broth, and many of them drooled.

Bone broth is nothing in later generations, but in such a difficult era, it is a rare delicacy. It was also in the artillery company that the soldiers could see some meat from time to time, and before they came to the artillery company, the soldiers could only eat meat once a month. Seeing that the bone broth was a little thin, and some wild vegetables had not changed much, Liu Gen asked the soldiers to take out some nests and put them in the bone broth to stew together.

Wowotou is very hard, and it hurts my throat to eat on weekdays, but now I put Wowotou in bone broth to stew, and it will be much more comfortable to eat. After asking the soldiers to go to the cooking class to get some sweet potato vermicelli and add them to the cauldron, Liu Gen and the soldiers waited patiently. When he had nothing to do, Liu Gen chatted with the soldiers, chatting about the reasons why the soldiers came to join the army, as well as their families.

After the bone broth was stewed, Liu Gen had a better understanding of the soldiers of the artillery company, and most of the soldiers came to join the army because they couldn't eat enough at home and wanted to eat military food. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the devils entered Shanxi, and due to the crazy plundering of the Japanese army, grain production suffered unprecedented destruction. In addition, due to the occurrence of various natural disasters year after year, the people's ability to resist disasters is weak, resulting in a decrease in grain production.

As for selling grain, the purchase price of grain in the past two years can be said to be quite low, and selling grain will only make you lose even more.

Many of the villages where the soldiers were located had been destroyed by the Japanese devils, not to mention the various evil deeds committed by the Japanese devils. Many soldiers mentioned devils, but they gritted their teeth, and as soon as the Eighth Route Army began to recruit troops, they decisively chose to join the new regiment, in order to be able to kill devils.

"Comrades, now our life is very hard, but the hardship is short-lived, I believe that with everyone's continuous efforts, our life will get better and better, and we will definitely be able to drive the devil back to his hometown!" Liu Gen shouted encouragement.

The soldiers all nodded vigorously, under the leadership of Liu Gen, the commander of the artillery company, their lives have been much better, and they are willing to believe Liu Gen, the young company commander!