"Chief of Staff, come next"

The division commander handed over the podium to his chief of staff.

Sitting in the audience, the chief of staff walked up to the podium, looked at the brigade commanders who looked a little nervous under the stand, smiled on his face, opened the brand-new American-made notebook in his hand, and began to speak.

"You don't have to worry, the transport brigade is mainly formed by drawing recruits from the guerrillas, and there are also recruits from various towns and villages, and a company is transferred from the independent cavalry battalion of the division to be responsible for the security of the transport brigade."

Hearing this, the commanders of the main regiments also breathed a sigh of relief, every time a new unit was formed, grassroots officers would be drawn from their troops, which was what they were most afraid of. In particular, each regiment has recently been greatly expanded, and although the battalion of the 29th Division has been partially replenished, there is still a serious shortage of grassroots officers.

The basic combat unit of the army is the squad, a full squad of the Eighth Route Army is 12 people, and the 119th Division, in order to ensure combat effectiveness, compresses the squad to 10 people, the main and deputy squad leaders, the machine gun crew of two people, plus six riflemen.

And in order to ensure that the combat effectiveness of the squad does not drop too much, the machine gunner and the squad leader must be a veteran or an excellent soldier with more than half a year's experience, so that each squad needs at least 3 veterans. And after the attrition of many battles, the veterans of each regiment are just enough, and there are really not enough personnel to be transferred.

The worst thing is the teaching regiment, which can only guarantee one veteran per squad.

"Of course, the plan is to have a 4,000 Rao transport brigade, but the food must be eaten in one bite, and the road must be built step by step, and the plan of the division headquarters is to complete the construction of the transport brigade within half a year."

The chief of staff continued.

"At present, the division headquarters can only draw out 800 mules and horses, and the rest must stay in the troops to carry weapons and equipment, and according to the future development plan, the transport brigade needs 5,000 mules to ensure sufficient transportation capacity."

"Moreover, the corresponding veterinarians, feed growers are far from ready"

"Therefore, after each regiment returns to the camp, it collects more mules and horses, and also pays more attention to veterinary talents, and the transport brigade does not have high requirements for the physical fitness of soldiers, but it requires the corresponding ability to control livestock, and you can also go to various towns and towns to buy mules and horses, and the funds can be collected from me."

"As for the financial problem, Luo Yun overseas Chinese have supported me for more than one million oceans, so you don't need to worry"

In the past, the division headquarters had no money, and the only little money scraped together was to give priority to the purchase of necessary materials such as grain and cotton, after all, survival was the primary task compared to development and growth. And now there is no shortage of food, cotton clothes, and funds in the troops, so they have spare strength to develop and strengthen the troops.

At this point, the chief of staff deliberately looked at Brigade Commander Chen of the 344th Brigade in the distance, and the information in his eyes was clear.

The brigade commander nodded suddenly, indicating his understanding.

He understood what the chief of staff meant, which meant to let him come forward to buy a batch of high-quality mules and horses, which was not difficult for him, and even a rather simple matter. His family was very well-connected in the business world, and they were also very supportive of the anti-Japanese resistance, as long as the funds were sufficient, the mules and horses wanted as much as they wanted.

However, the brigade commander was still quite surprised in his heart, he did not expect the division headquarters to be so determined to form a 4,000 rao transport brigade at one time, calculated by one person pulling a mule and horse, a good mule and horse can carry 150 kilograms of materials for every thirty kilometers walked, and 4,000 mules and horses can transport more than 600 tons of materials at one time, and since the transport brigade is established, then it is inevitable that the route of mules and horses will also be expanded, so as long as the situation allows, bring a board car, so that more than 1,000 tons of materials can be transported at one time.

From the material warehouse of the independent regiment to the division camp, the distance between this is actually only about 200 kilometers of mountain roads, and you can walk once in half a month, and this brigade can transport more than 2,000 tons of materials every month under safe conditions, even if the devil finds fault, the transportation brigade's mountain road can also ensure the transportation of 1,200 tons of materials per month.

So what can be done with more than 1,200 tons of supplies per month?

If it is all food, then this food is enough for 40,000 people to consume enough for a month, and if it is all weapons and ammunition, then at 60 mortar shells of 1.4 kg each, he is 840,000 shells. Converted into bullets, then he is more than 30 million bullets.

"It seems that the division commander's future plans are very big," the brigade commander sighed silently in his heart.

The information of the meeting was concise and clear, and after half an hour, the regimental commanders walked out of the conference room, leaving only the brigade commander and the chief of staff and division commander to discuss the specific details.

Outside the division headquarters, the regiment commanders formed groups in twos and threes, discussing privately.

"One brigade, 4,000 Rao transport troops, the division commander's hand is big enough"

"But is there really that much material on the side of the Independent Regiment? Need such a large transport fleet? Once this brigade is established, it will be able to transport tens of thousands of tons of supplies a year."

A team battle sighed, he was the head of the teaching regiment and was responsible for training recruits.

"Don't you know, according to the independent regiment, there are still more than 100,000 tons of grain waiting to be transported? It's just that they don't have enough transportation capacity, so they can only take their time," the other regiment commander said.

"More than 100,000 tons..."

The head of the teaching group was suddenly shocked, his mouth was open, and he didn't know what to do for a while. As a farmer-born man, he had never heard of such a large amount of grain in his life.

"More than 100,000 tons, our whole army can eat enough."

"What's more," interjected one of the regiment commanders who had previously worked in logistics.

"One of our soldiers consumes a thousand catties of grain a year, and more than 100,000 tons of grain can feed hundreds of thousands of people a year."

“····”

At this moment of the great expansion of the troops, the regimental commanders were very busy, and after a few hurried words at the entrance of the division department, they hurried back to their own regimental headquarters, and there was still a large amount of work waiting for them to do in the regiment.

········

Wangzhuang, here is a guerrilla base.

"Chen"

The partisan captain, who had just returned from the division headquarters, shouted at his guards.

"Your eldest brother is a veterinarian."

"Yes" Chen nodded, this news he was a high-speed captain a long time ago, and his eldest brother was injured a long time ago, and his legs and feet were not good, otherwise he would have come to join the army a long time ago.

"The division headquarters has recently formed a mule and horse transport team, you can and your brother, there is a need for a lot of veterinarians, if you can, you can go there, of course, the treatment is the same as other soldiers, three meals are full, and food is also distributed to the family" The guerrilla captain said, he knew that Chen's family was very miserable, and there were several children to feed at home.

After the division headquarters has enough food, everyone who joins the army will appropriately distribute a part of the food.

"My brother's leg is fine," Chen hesitated, his brother was very inconvenient to walk because of his leg injury.

"It's okay, the main thing is to take care of the mules and horses in the base area" The guerrilla captain waved his hand indifferently.

"Okay, my brother will be very happy when he hears it, he is like joining the Eighth Route Army very early" Chen suddenly replied with a high heart. Since the Eighth Route Army came, it has hit several bully landlords, and their families have divided some land, and now life is much better than in the past.

Outside the walls of their house, one ear was pressed against the wall, listening carefully to the sounds of the room, and muttering silently.

"A large number of veterinarians? Sending food? ”