Lao Jiang knew something about the shortcomings of catching strong men, but he didn't expect the situation to be so bad.

In Chang Kaishen's view, it is normal for the mortality rate of strong men to be less than 10%, and it is even more normal for impostors to be impersonated. But if more than 500 of the 1,000 strong men died, it would be terrible, and the rest were all weak and sickly.

How does this make the recruitment process going? How can you fight a war without enough soldiers to replenish it?

Zhou Hexuan mentioned a total of five issues in the report——

First, grassroots officials have used the lottery to accumulate wealth and have engaged in various illegal operations, resulting in the ruin of some families. Lao Jiang doesn't want to take care of this problem, and he can't manage it, it is a phenomenon that cannot be eliminated at all.

Second, in the name of conscription, the local snake extorted money from the people, seriously damaging the image of the government and the enthusiasm of the people to join the army. Lao Jiang also didn't want to deal with this problem, at most he issued a document for the county magistrates and mayors to pay more attention to and seriously investigate and deal with it, but the result would definitely be over.

Third, the conscription agencies and the receiving troops withheld money and food, causing a large number of deaths and weakness of the strong men, and arrested outsiders as strong men along the way. In this case, Lao Jiang is very angry, Yu Gong, seriously undermined the speed and quality of the replenishment of soldiers, Yu private, Lao Tzu finally got the money to recruit soldiers, and you all only care about stuffing them into your own pockets!

Fourth, the conscription agencies used the strong men as porters to do business, and even secretly engaged in smuggling. Most of these smuggled goods are opium, and Lao Jiang can turn a blind eye, but such contraband as tungsten ore and mercury, Lao Jiang plans to kill the heads of a group of people!

Fifth, many clerks who are responsible for delivering strong men do not regard strong men as human beings at all. For example, small things such as boiling water and hot meals do not cost money at all, and they can be done by lighting a fire in the wilderness. But these people were too lazy to bother, and because they were afraid that the strong man would escape, they were not allowed to collect firewood and make a fire by himself. As a result, the strong man could only drink raw water and eat cold food, which caused unnecessary death.

In addition, Zhou Hexuan also mentioned some individual phenomena.

For example, a certain township chief has his eyes on the farmer's land, so he draws the family every year, sometimes two or three times a year, and the farmer cannot bear it, and the township chief takes the opportunity to annex the other party's land.

In addition, the government's heavy taxation and poverty policy have led to the fact that some peasants have land but cannot afford to cultivate it, resulting in small-scale abandonment of arable land. This phenomenon of abandonment has become more and more intense, and if it continues at this rate, it is very likely that the area of abandonment will quadruple or triple in another year, causing incalculable agricultural losses. If there is another natural disaster, it will inevitably lead to a catastrophe - the Henan disaster in 1942, as well as the thousands of miles from Guangdong to Guizhou reflected in Jiang Menglin's memoirs, are the bitter fruits of this reason.

Chang Kaishen held back the anger in his heart and patiently read the 30,000-word report. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Are all these situations obtained by reporters investigating and interviewing?" ”

Zhou Hexuan nodded and said: "The reporters of Ta Kung Pao, Li Pao and Shen Bao spent nearly two months visiting seven provinces, and I guarantee that every data and case in it is true and reliable. ”

When Chang Kaishen heard that "Ta Kung Pao" and "Declaration" were involved, his facial muscles twitched a few times, and asked, "Didn't you publish in the newspaper?" ”

Zhou Hexuan replied: "The stakes are very high, and it is easy to cause instability in the morale of the military and the people, so I pressed them not to publish the news." ”

"Very good," Chang Kaishen breathed a sigh of relief and said with relief, "Mingcheng is always serious, this matter is very good, and relevant news must not be reported in the newspapers." Now that the national crisis is at hand, everything is focused on resisting Japan, and there can be no unfavorable remarks. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "But the problem of Zhuangding is indeed full of ills, and I hope that President Jiang can seriously investigate and deal with it." ”

Chang Kaishen nodded and said, "You don't have to worry about this." ”

Zhou Hexuan got up and said, "Then I'll wait for good news and say goodbye!" ”

Chang Kaishen personally sent Zhou Hexuan out of the living room, and then his face became extremely gloomy, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Call He Yingqin for me, immediately!" ”

Two hours later.

He Yingqin hurried over after receiving the order, and asked Chang Kaishen's guard adjutant in a low voice: "Brother Yiqiao, what is the matter with the general seat calling me?" ”

Ju Yiqiao led He Yingqin inside, and said as he walked: "Minister He, the general seat is very angry, you have to deal with it carefully." ”

"What the hell is going on?" He Yingqin asked.

Ju Yiqiao said: "I don't know, you can find out when you go in." ”

"Boss, Minister He is here!"

"Let him in."

Ju Yiqiao smiled sideways, opened the door and said, "Minister He, please." ”

He Yingqin was apprehensive, stood up and saluted: "Boss, it's too late to be humble!" ”

Chang Kaishen sat on the sofa, with a sneer on his gloomy face, and tapped the report and said, "Take a look for yourself." ”

He Yingqin picked up the report suspiciously, and soon felt cold all over, and said with a dry mouth: "Humble duty, humble position......

"Finish it!" Chang Kaishen shouted in a low voice.

"Yes!" He Yingqin could only bite the bullet and continue to look down.

In fact, although He Yingqin was in charge of the conscription work, he did not know anything about the arrest of strong men, and Cheng Zerun, the director of the Military Service Administration, was in charge of the specifics.

In the summer of 1943, He Yingqin summoned more than 170 conscription cadres from various provinces to Chongqing to hold a meeting with the Guanzhong Training Corps.

Cheng Zerun invited merit to show off when making a report: "From the implementation of the new military service law in 1939 to May 1943, nearly 12 million strong men were arrested in the country, of which 2.2 million were arrested in Sichuan, 1.5 million in Henan and Hunan, 1 million or hundreds of thousands in other provinces, and more than 100,000 in Gansu and Ningxia due to their small populations. ”

He Yingqin was so angry that he asked on the spot: "The national army, including the police, is only 7 million, and the total casualties of the combat troops do not exceed 2.4 million. You have captured 12 million strong men, but the commanders of the various units have sent telegrams every day calling for new recruits. Where are all the strong men you have caught? ”

yes, where did all the strong men go?

Millions of strong men have disappeared in four years, and it is extremely scary to think about it.

Conscription commanders at all levels complained one after another: "There are too many deserters, and all the strong men who have been captured have fled." ”

There are definitely escapes, but in four years, millions of strong men have escaped, which is either ridiculous or incompetent.

He Yingqin was already sweating like rain after reading the report, and swallowed his saliva and said: "General seat, the humble position must be dealt with seriously!" ”

Chang Kaishen asked: "This report shows that last year, Longchang, Xindu and other five counties in Sichuan broke out in large-scale civil uprisings due to fraud. Why haven't I heard of this? You never report back to me! ”

This question is a bit heart-wrenching, Lao Jiang has sprinkled so many spies in Sichuan, and it will never be He Yingqin's turn to report on the civil uprising.

He Yingqin could only answer stubbornly: "As far as I know, the civil uprising is caused by the ignorance of the people, who do not want to serve the country and refuse to serve in the military. ”

Chang Kaishen sneered: "Is this really the case? ”

He Yingqin buried his head and admitted his mistake: "It was the humble position that was deceived by the people below, please take the seat and punish him." ”

Chang Kaishen said expressionlessly: "Don't care about anything else for the time being, those officers who smuggled mercury in Henan will all be sent to a military court for punishment!" ”

He Yingqin was embarrassed: "If you kill too many people, I'm afraid that the conscription work will not be easy to do." ”

"You can do it yourself!" Chang Kaishen walked away.

He Yingqin smiled bitterly and was stunned on the spot, the people who wanted to kill were all his people. Cheng Zerun, director of the Military Service Administration, is one of the four King Kongs under He Yingqin, and the military service commanders in various places are also arranged by Cheng Zerun.