On the outskirts of Chengdu, Zhuangding Resettlement Center.

What Zhou Hexuan saw was a group of strong men who were not even as good as beggars, they were ragged, yellow and thin, and most of them were blind, like walking corpses. Even, some are so weak that they can't even stand up, and when a gust of wind blows, they are expected to fall.

Such soldiers are used to fight?

Since He Yingqin's secretary personally spoke, the unit in charge of receiving the troops directly sent a regimental deputy, and he smiled in a flattering tone: "Mr. Zhou, I am ......"

"I don't care who you are!" Zhou Hexuan interrupted directly, "What about my people?" ”

The deputy of the regiment immediately said: "Mr. Zhou, this is none of our business, I have not officially accepted these strong men, they are now managed by the strong men resettlement center." ”

Zhou Hexuan asked sharply: "Where are the people from the regimental management area?" ”

The deputy said: "Over there, there are a few people playing cards." ”

Zhou Hexuan looked up, and sure enough, he saw a group of people gambling. They sat around the ground shouting and shouting, next to them were hundreds of strong men who had been rejected by the troops, and some people shouted while playing cards: "Boss, we have delivered the strong men, hurry up and sign the paintings, delay everyone's time in vain." ”

The deputy of the regiment scolded: "You bastards, even Mr. Zhou's people dare to arrest them, do you know how to write dead characters?" ”

The other party was not afraid at all, and someone replied: "It's just a few peasants, making a big fuss." ”

Zhou Hexuan walked over and sneered: "You are the regimental management area of Guizhou, what qualifications do you have to catch strong men in Sichuan?" ”

The leader of the other party stood up: "Guizhou people, Sichuan people, are all Chinese." As President Jiang said, there is no distinction between north and south in this war of resistance, and I am really carrying out President Jiang's order. ”

Zhou Hexuan laughed angrily: "Talk one by one, have you ever read a book?" ”

The other party said, "I went to elementary school for a few years. ”

Zhou Hexuan asked, "What about my people?" ”

The other party lazily said to Zhuang Ding: "Everyone who joins Sichuan has come forward." ”

As soon as these words came out, more than 200 people suddenly stood up and shouted: "I am from Sichuan, I am from Sichuan!" ”

The leader of the sending troops suddenly became anxious: "Fart, Lao Tzu caught dozens of them in Sichuan, don't want to fish in troubled waters." ”

"I'm really from Sichuan, and I can speak Sichuan. Listen, turtle son, you ancestors are on board! ”

"By the way, I'm also from Sichuan."

"We are all from Sichuan, this gentleman, you save us!"

“……”

The strong men immediately made a fuss.

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Why did you go to Sichuan to arrest Zhuangding?" ”

The leader of the troops said: "Make up the number, do you still have to ask?" ”

A strong man shouted: "Sir, there were more than 900 people when we left Guizhou, and when we arrived in Sichuan, there were only more than 300 left." These dogs don't give us food, sometimes only one meal in two days. I don't have any clothes to wear when it's cold, and my brother is sick and dies of cold! ”

The leader of the soldiers retorted: "There is only so much money and food sent to me, I will conjure it up for you!" ”

Needless to say, the conscription fee must have been deducted by the commander of the local regimental district, and most of it was blackened, resulting in the inability of those who sent the troops to provide sufficient rations. What should I do if a strong man starves to death and dies of illness too much? Then I have to catch it again along the way, and I can catch as much as I can.

Zhou Hexuan did not reason with the other party, but said: "The strong men in Yibin have all stood up, and there are also those from the Zhou family farm in other places!" ”

This time, only more than a dozen people came forward, and one of them cried: "Mr. Zhou, you have to call the shots for us." These turtle sons are not people, we walked from Yibin to Chengdu, and in less than half a month, we died of illness and exhaustion! Brother Yang next door to me didn't die before he had a high fever, so they left it on the side of the road! ”

The leader of the soldiers said angrily: "What do I care? What do you think I do? I'm going to pay him to see a doctor! ”

"Well said, you are very reasonable," Zhou Hexuan sneered, and suddenly shouted, "Arrest Lao Tzu and let the commander of their regimental management area personally come to lead people!" ”

Nobody did it because they didn't know who was going to do it.

Zhou Hexuan pointed to the regimental deputy who was in charge of receiving the troops and said, "What are you still doing in a daze?" It's a burning stick in his hand! ”

The deputy of the group was embarrassed: "Mr. Zhou, I don't have the right to arrest people. ”

Zhou Hexuan said angrily: "Arrest people, immediately!" I'm responsible for what happened. ”

"That ......" deputy still didn't dare to do it.

Zhou Hexuan sneered: "Do you want me to ask He Yingqin for advice, or go directly to Chang Kaishen for evaluation!" ”

The deputy of the regiment swallowed and said, these two great gods were brought out, he suddenly felt a lot of pressure, and he ordered: "Take them all away and escort them to Chongqing to be disposed of by Shangfeng!" ”

"I see which one dares to move, Lao Tzu didn't break the law!" The leader of the troops was also furious, and five or six of his men raised their rifles and arrested them by force.

Zhou Hexuan ignored it, these deflated three can't turn the sky. He said to Li Fengyuan and Niu Kaiyang beside him: "Bring people back to Yibin, and other Sichuan Zhuangding will also be sent back to their hometowns, I will come out with the money, do you hear?" ”

"I hear you." The two replied with their heads held high.

"Sir, help us!"

"I'll kneel for you!"

"Mr. ......"

The strong men in Guizhou knelt down with a large piece of brushwork, and Zhou Hexuan could only ignore it, and left quickly in his heart. Zhou Hexuan didn't dare to manage it, and he couldn't manage it, because the strong man from Guizhou belonged to normal conscription, and if he blocked it, it would be tantamount to sabotaging the anti-Japanese conscription work, and the lawsuit would not be reasonable to Lao Jiang.

Nan Huaijin followed Zhou Hexuan to the hotel in the city, and he asked, "Mr. Zhou, is there really no way to improve this situation?" ”

"Nope." Zhou Hexuan shook his head helplessly.

If we want to put an end to or improve the tragedy of arresting strong soldiers, we must establish an effective and feasible conscription system.

First of all, it is necessary to have complete household registration information. How many young people of school-age are there in a place, how much labor is needed to support local agriculture, and what is the specific situation of which family...... You need to know all of this in advance, otherwise there will be chaos.

And this is impossible in the Republic of China, even if the current household registration is compiled, it cannot be compiled until the end of the Anti-Japanese War, because there is a lack of reliable grassroots bureaucrats. The need for household workers to be able to write and do arithmetic is a big problem, and the illiteracy rate is too high to find so many statisticians who have studied. Even if the statisticians are in place, they still have to go door-to-door to investigate, and they have to be equipped with guides and armed guards, and they must strictly prevent the collusion between public servants and local snakes.

Secondly, even if there is household registration information, someone has to implement it seriously. How to mobilize, how to recruit troops, how to transport troops, how to ensure the food, clothing, shelter and transportation of soldiers...... All of this requires a new civil service system, which cannot be changed out of thin air, and there are too many other things involved in the formation of this system.

Even if all of the above is realized, it is still technically impossible to implement - because the imperial power is not lower than the county!

From the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China, the government was controlled at most at the county level, and even the taxation required local gentry, village elders, and petty officials to carry it out. It is tantamount to contracting the task of collecting taxes, and how to collect it, how much to collect, and to whom it is collected are all up to the head of the land, and the county magistrate only needs to see the money and grain collected.

During the Anti-Japanese War, the conscription was also like this, and the government issued orders to the county magistrate and mayor, and then contracted to the township head, town head, security chief, and A chief.

Collect taxes, and the snakes of the land will eat a layer from it; Conscription, the land snakes also have to eat a layer.

If you want to bypass the local snake and directly collect taxes and levy troops, you will be the enemy of the entire local forces, and I don't know how many "popular uprisings" will occur at that time.

There is only one feasible but impractical way to make a difference - to eliminate the landlord class!

Moreover, even if the landlord class is eliminated, it is necessary to purge the army and rectify those who send and receive troops. The vast majority of the strong men died because of those who drank the blood of the soldiers, and they regarded the continuous sending of troops and receiving soldiers as a means of collecting money, killing one batch and coming to the next batch, anyway, every dead strong man has a financial allocation.

Even if Zhou Hexuan is replaced as the head of state, he may not do better than Lao Jiang in the matter of recruitment. So he didn't want to advise, and he didn't bother to reflect the situation, because even if Lao Jiang gave him the greatest power and let him be responsible for handling this matter, Zhou Hexuan would be absolutely helpless.

Again, the national government has rotted to the roots.

However, although it is impossible to completely solve the problem, as a traverser, Zhou Hexuan is still unwilling. At the very least, he had to do something to make the bad situation a little less bad.