Because the Songpu division was under siege, Shunroku Hata's mood was very bad, but Xu Rui's mood was very good, because as he expected, the devil puppet army in Pucheng really didn't dare to provoke their independent regiment, even if the transport team passed through Yang Village, which was less than twenty miles away from the county seat, the devil puppet army was still cowering in the county town and did not dare to come out.

In the evening, the transport team returned to Meizhen smoothly, and also transported more than 100 pieces of equipment of the ash factory back to the base.

In the open space behind the Mei family ancestral hall, several rows of bungalows have been built at this moment, and there are more than a dozen in each row.

Wang Husheng pointed to these rows of bungalows, and said proudly: "How about it, Lao Xu, let's move fast enough, right?" It's been less than half a month since you went out, and we've already built so many houses, but the idea you came up with last time was really good, guarding these hundreds of thousands of labor, no matter what you do, just one word, fast! ”

Xu Rui smiled and said: "Yes, it seems that our independent regiment will be able to move into the new barracks soon." ”

"New barracks?" Wang Husheng scolded with a smile, "Beautiful you, this is the office space of the county government." ”

"What do you say?" Xu Rui said in surprise, "The county government has so many people who can use so many houses?" ”

Wang Husheng sighed, pouted and said, "When are you talking about the old yellow calendar?" At present, there are more than 300 staff members of the anti-Japanese democratic government in Meixian County, and there are more than a dozen departments alone, let me count them with you, the Ministry of Armed Forces, the Ministry of Enemy Industry, the Ministry of ******, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Women, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Logistics, and the Administrative Section. ”

"Twelve departments plus one department." Xu Rui said, "Okay, Lao Wang, the shotgun has been replaced." ”

Wang Husheng was a little nervous: "Lao Xu, don't think that our stall is too big, don't look at the fact that the anti-Japanese democratic government of Meixian County now has more than 300 people in 13 departments, but in actual work, there is a serious shortage of manpower, almost every comrade in every department is working day and night, and several comrades are tired and collapsed on their posts. ”

Although Wang Husheng had previously served as the secretary of the CPC Southern Jiangsu Prefectural Committee, he was only a nominal secretary, and in fact had no actual jurisdiction over the southern Jiangsu region, nor had he been in contact with real administrative work.

But now it's different, and now that we have to start building a base area, the administrative work will become more onerous.

In less than half a month, the number of staff members of the anti-Japanese democratic government in Meixian County has increased from a dozen to more than 300, and judging from the current situation, the number of personnel must be increased, otherwise comrades in various departments will die of exhaustion.

Wang Husheng felt that he had to assign Liu Jinbiao a secretary, because Liu Jinbiao was mainly handling government administrative affairs, and his ******** was only part-time, and the focus of his work was still the political and ideological work of the Independent League.

Xu Rui waved his hand and said, "Lao Wang, you think too much, how can I think that there are too many people in the government?" ”

Xu Rui's attitude made Wang Husheng a little surprised, in fact, when he first met by the Yangtze River, he wanted to talk to Xu Rui, and he was worried that Xu Rui would have resistance in his heart, so he wanted Xu Rui to see the construction process of the base area, and then told Xu Rui, but he didn't expect Xu Rui to have no resistance at all, but he was very understanding.

Xu Rui continued: "At present, the situation in our base area is much more complicated, and the government's work is no longer the same as rent reduction and interest reduction and united front work, and a large number of specific affairs have been added, especially the population of the base area has increased significantly. ”

Wang Husheng immediately replied: "According to the statistics of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there were originally more than 40,000 households and a population of more than 110,000 people, but after the influx of refugees, the number of households has increased to more than 210,000, and the population has exceeded 600,000. ”

Xu Rui nodded and said, "The population of the base area is more than 600,000, and there are fewer than 300 government workers, so add 300 people, 600 people is at least." ”

Xu Rui is telling the truth, for example, in later generations, the ratio of government workers to citizens in Japan reached 1:28, while the ratio in the United States was even as high as 1:12, and 600 people managed 600,000 people, which could not be less.

Wang Husheng hurriedly shook his head and said, "Six hundred people is too many, and one hundred more people is enough." ”

While the two were talking, they walked to one of the bungalows in the first row, and the sign hanging at the door was the Ministry of Industry.

As soon as he entered the door, Xu Rui saw an acquaintance, Wu Qian, a top student from the Department of Chemistry of Yenching University, but at this time, Wu Qian was surrounded by a middle-aged man with glasses and two other young people, meeting his head against a chemical equation, studying something, and did not notice that Wang Husheng and Xu Rui had walked in.

After talking for a long time, Wu Qian finally found that there were two more people around him, and when he looked back, he found that it was Xu Rui and Wang Husheng, and then Wu Qian quickly stood up and said: "Regiment leader, Secretary Wang, when did you come?" ”

Wang Husheng smiled and said, "The head of the regiment and I have been standing in your office for a long time. ”

Wu Qian scratched his head a little embarrassed, and said, "I'll pour water for you." ”

"No need, let's just come in and have a look, don't bother." Xu Rui waved his hand, turned his gaze to the middle-aged man with glasses, and said to Wu Qian with a smile, "Wu Qian, don't you want to introduce us to us?" ”

"Look at my memory." Wu Qian patted his head and hurriedly introduced Xu Rui, "Leader, this is Professor Zheng Erqiang Zheng of our Yenching University, he is an authoritative scholar in the field of chemistry. ”

After finishing, he said to Zheng Erqiang: "Professor Zheng, this is our head of the regiment." ”

Zheng Erqiang hurriedly stretched out his hand to shake hands with Xu Rui, and said with emotion: "Commander Xu, I have listened to your radio several times, and I deeply feel that it is not easy for you soldiers to fight against the Japanese invaders on the front line. ”

Xu Rui hurriedly said: "Professor Zheng is too polite, a scholar like you is exactly what our base area urgently needs, on behalf of all the officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment, I welcome Professor Zheng's arrival." ”

Zheng Erqiang said with a smile: "Captain Xu is polite, and I will do my best." ”

After chatting a few words, Xu Rui and Wang Husheng said goodbye and left, and after going out, Wang Husheng said to Xu Rui: "This Zheng Erqiang returned from studying in France, he is not as good at promoting himself as some people, so he is not well-known in China, but his level in the field of chemistry is very high, and now he has a research group and is working on ********." ”

“********？ TNT? Xu Rui was overjoyed when he heard this, "Lao Wang, are they sure?" ”

Wang Husheng said: "Professor Zheng told me that he has a great grasp of it, but there are some problems with this raw material. ”

"Don't worry about raw materials." Xu Rui waved his hand and said domineeringly, "As long as they can make ******** and then get the production process right, I will be responsible for the raw materials." ”

"You're responsible?" Wang Husheng said, "What are you responsible for?" ”

"You don't have to worry about this." Xu Rui waved his hand, and saw Mei Jiuling coming out of a bungalow again.

Seeing Xu Rui, Mei Jiuling hurriedly stood upright, saluted, and then his face quickly collapsed, and said, "Regiment leader, you are back, hurry up and tell the political commissar to let me go back." ”

Xu Rui glanced at Wang Husheng and asked, "Old Wang, what's going on?" ”

Wang Husheng scratched his head and said embarrassedly: "This is not that the Ministry of Construction has just been formed, there is a shortage of people, there are more than 3,000 students in the Nine Vertical and Three Regiments, and there are not a few who study architecture, and even fewer who study bridges and tunnels. ”

Mei Jiuling said with a bitter face: "But political commissar, I don't want to make a hole, I want to lead the troops." ”

"What's wrong with the holes?" Wang Husheng immediately lowered his face and said, "This is a political task that must be completed." ”

Mei Jiuling looked at Xu Rui with a pleading look, Xu Rui could only turn his eyes away, pretending not to see it, Mei Jiuling turned around and left with a bitter face.

When Mei Jiuling walked away, Xu Ruicai said: "Lao Wang, this is not a way, Jiuling Zhi is not in the construction of the project, and this kid is also a good material for leading troops to fight, isn't it delaying people if it goes on like this?" ”

"I didn't know it wasn't going to go on like this." Wang Husheng said, "The key is that there is really no one to take the lead." ”

Xu Rui said: "If there is no one, then look for someone, can a living person suffocate urine?" He also asked, "Isn't there any of the students of the Ninth Vertical and Third Regiment who are studying engineering?" ”

"There were only two of them, and they were freshmen." Wang Husheng said.

Xu Rui said: "What's the matter, these two students can't do it, aren't there still their senior brothers?" Isn't there still a teacher if the senior brother can't do it anymore? It's really not possible to directly ask the head of the military department, let the head of the military department negotiate with the Ministry of Education, and ask them to send Dean Mao of Tangshan Institute of Engineering and Technology to our base to do a favor, heh. ”

In the end, Xu Rui suddenly sighed, thinking that this was really a good idea.

It is foreseeable that there will be a large number of engineering projects, and the quality of these engineering projects is particularly important, because they must withstand the bombing of heavy aerial bombs by the Japanese air force, so it is very important to invite a high-level engineering and technical expert to come over and help with the design.

Xu Rui even thought of another question, if Dean Mao was really invited, could he be asked to preside over the design and build the Shangxiasha Bridge into a military fortress?