In the next few days, accompanied by Han Yunhua, the central working group inspected the ticket numbers of the major shops in Guisui, so that the chairman and others had an intuitive feeling about the economy within the jurisdiction of the Inner Mongolia Military Region. At the same time, the chairman and others are extremely concerned about the agricultural production industry in the defense area, compared with the handicraft industry, the most important thing at this time is agriculture, the grain in the war years is comparable to the existence of gold, sometimes you may not be able to buy grain with gold in your hand.

On the one hand, because the soil quality of Saibei is not suitable for agricultural production, and the weather is extremely arid, coupled with the constant wars and frequent disasters, the production of cattle and sheep on the grassland in Saibei this year is not bad, but the grain production is much worse than in previous years. Fortunately, at the beginning of spring, Han Yunhua instructed the cadres in charge of agricultural planning, and asked him to clearly instruct the cadres in all counties and townships to keep an eye on it, and this year all the land in the defense area of the Inner Mongolia Military Region will be planted with corn, potatoes, and other high-yielding and drought-tolerant crops. Therefore, despite the great drought year, the harvest is barely enough to fill the stomach. It's just that these things are all coarse grains, and they taste very bad.

But it's good to think about it the other way around, what kind of taste is still important in this era, and it's good to have food. After all, the 400,000 troops of the Inner Mongolia Military Region all need to eat and drink, and if there is no stable rear to continuously provide them with nourishment, it will be difficult to feed such a huge army by capturing alone, and it will be even more difficult to ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops.

However, Han Yunhua was not worried about this at all, and he knew very well that it was not agricultural production but the speed and level of economic development that restricted the development of the Inner Mongolia Military Region. As for grain production, it is true that it is a problem, but as long as there is no large-scale extinction of production and harvest, as long as the masses of the people in the area under their jurisdiction can be self-sufficient, they will not have to worry about the supply of the troops in three or two years anyway.

However, Han Yunhua was very worried about the situation of all the base areas of the entire Eighth Route Army at this time, and he still had some understanding of what would happen in the next two to three years. In 1941, the economic development of the border region fell into a predicament, and as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression entered the most difficult period, the political axe of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border region also faced a grim financial situation. In order to solve the financial difficulties, the central government and the border regions have adopted a series of measures to increase the fiscal revenue of the political axe. These include measures such as adjusting fiscal policy, vigorously developing the economy in the border areas, increasing tax revenue, and issuing public bonds.

Although these measures have alleviated the difficulties of the political axe in the border areas and the entire [***] and the Eighth Route Army, they have had a very serious impact, and because they have greatly increased the burden on the peasants, they have seriously dampened the productive enthusiasm of the masses in the border areas, affected the relations between the masses of the people and the masses of the people, and even caused incidents in which the masses of the people have wantonly cursed the leaders of the [***].

It was the afternoon of June 3, 1941, and the political axe of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region was holding a joint meeting of county magistrates, mainly to discuss the issue of grain requisition. Outside, it was raining thundershowers. Suddenly, with a thunderclap, lightning struck a pillar in the auditorium of the venue, and Li Caiyun, the acting magistrate of Yanchuan County, who was sitting next to the pillar, was unfortunately electrocuted and killed, and seven other people were injured. In addition, a farmer's donkey tethered to the side of the auditorium was also struck by lightning and killed. The peasant took this opportunity to vent his dissatisfaction and said, "If God doesn't open his eyes, why don't you kill [***]?" "When the security authorities heard this, they were shocked and arrested the peasant, and they wanted to investigate the incident as a counter-revolutionary incident. After knowing this, he hurriedly stopped it and demanded that the people be released, believing that there must be other reasons for the peasants' dissatisfaction and that they should be investigated. The results of the investigation were that due to the excessive amount of public grain levied on the peasants and the fact that the agricultural harvest was not good due to successive natural disasters, the peasants could not bear the burden, and their hearts naturally became dissatisfied.

Later, [***] also learned that although the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region, as the central seat of the region, has only more than 1.4 million people, a large number of party, government, military, and academic personnel are stationed, and in addition to the barren land and poor people in the border region, and the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, the food problem has become the primary problem that needs to be solved urgently. After 1940, due to the severance of foreign aid, the political axe of the border areas no longer had enough financial resources to purchase grain, so they could only rely on requisitioning grain from local peasants. As a result, the peasants' burden of public grain increased rapidly from 50,000 quintals in 1939 to 90,000 quintals (100 catties per quintal) in 1940. Nevertheless, by March 1941, there was a shortage of food in some areas. In order to ensure the supply of grain in 1942 and to return the grain borrowed in 1941, the central government and the political axes of the border regions decided to levy 200,000 quintals of grain in 1941, more than double that of 1940. As a result, the broad masses of the people feel overburdened and dissatisfied. That's why the slogan of "do it yourself, have enough food and clothing" was put forward for a few people who now seem to be necessary, which triggered a vigorous large-scale production movement.

Now that the economy of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region has shown signs of such bad results, Han Yunhua believes that it is necessary to make a suggestion to the central authorities, otherwise it will seriously affect the course of China's war of resistance against Japanese aggression. Think about it, in the two or three years after 41 years, all units of the Eighth Route Army focused a large part of their energy on material production, and the dispersion of energy also gave Yue Zi, who was also unhappy, a chance to breathe.

If the Party Central Committee had realized this problem earlier and found a way to solve it earlier, it would not have been as passive as it was in history.

Today is the seventh day that the central working group has been stationed in the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and in the past week, the party Central Committee has been extremely satisfied with the Inner Mongolia Military Region in all aspects after conducting inspections and visits in various directions, and has also learned about the strength of the Inner Mongolia Military Region from a comprehensive level. This unit directly under the central authorities has completely grown into a behemoth, and now the Inner Mongolia Military Region wants troops to have troops, territory, materials, and equipment. It was a small kingdom that was completely self-sufficient and self-produced and self-sold, which was much stronger than the situation of the Eighth Route Army, which was scattered in all directions.

However, the Party Central Committee also has some worries, this worry is even more prominent after inspecting the Baotou Arsenal and the stations of various troops, Han Yunhua's prestige in the Inner Mongolia Military Region is too high, especially among those Mongolian soldiers and the puppet army that has just been recruited, in the eyes of these people, there is no one else except Han Yunhua, and there are many people who don't even know the Party Central Committee, let alone others.

The cult of personality is undisguised in the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and even Zuo Quan and Shen Yuquan have to admit that as long as it is Han Yunhua's order, even if all of them oppose it, it can be well implemented. Even if Han Yunhua is not in the Inner Mongolia Military Region, as long as he commands remotely, the entire military region can burst out with powerful combat effectiveness.

However, the chairman and others also understood that Han Yunhua was the soul of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and the Inner Mongolia Military Region that had lost its soul was definitely not the real Inner Mongolia Military Region, so after seeing Han Yunhua's lofty personal prestige, many of the measures that had been thought of before had to be changed. The chairman and others are also anxious, Han Yunhua himself is indeed important to the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region, but this also lays a lot of hidden dangers for the party's purpose of commanding the gun, as long as Han Yunhua has any crooked thoughts, the consequences will be catastrophic, so the chairman and others think that it is necessary to talk openly and honestly with Han Yunhua, because the central government cannot take this risk.

Han Yunhua also knew that the time for the chairman to finally talk to him was approaching, and he knew very well how eye-catching the performance of the entire Inner Mongolia Military Region during this period of time was, and the central authorities would absolutely not allow the Inner Mongolia Military Region to develop like this, and if it continued to develop in this way, it would not be cultivating troops but creating warlords.

On the evening of September 27, the whole day today was inspecting the troops, especially the mechanized brigade that had just returned from the front line, which left a deep impact on the chairman and others, and when the soldiers of the mechanized brigade looked at Han Yunhua's admiration and fanaticism, the members of the central working group more clearly understood Han Yunhua's personal energy, and at the same time, they were also very stupid and dangerous for the kind of unfavorable remarks against Han Yunhua in Yan'an some time ago. Fortunately, Han Yunhua is a real [***] person, and he happily implements the decisions of the Party Central Committee every time.

After dinner, the chairman said to Han Yunhua that he should come to his house after eight o'clock to find him. Han Yunhua knew very well what the chairman meant, so he agreed without thinking about it.

Han Yunhua knew that before the chairman talked to him, he had to talk to the comrades of the Central Working Group, especially Vice Chairman Zhou and Commander-in-Chief Zhu, listen to their opinions, and then talk to him.

At eight o'clock, Han Yunhua came to the chairman's room alone. In addition to the chairman, there were also Vice Chairman Zhou and Commander-in-Chief Zhu in the room, and when they saw Han Yunhua knocking on the door a little nervously and coming in, they all looked at each other and smiled, knowing that no matter how high Han Yunhua's position was, he was still the kind-hearted and obedient Han Yunhua before.

The chairman and others are not wrong about this, because the education that Han Yunhua has received over the years is to follow the party in all directions, so he has an innate sense of intimacy for [***] and [***], so he has always been 100% committed to the orders of the Party Central Committee and has never been discounted.

"Come and sit down, your kid is already a general who commands hundreds of thousands of troops, why are you still like a child who hasn't grown up?" The chairman quipped.

Commander-in-Chief Zhu also said: "Hehe, this kid can only be a general who commands hundreds of thousands of troops, and he has been promoted to become a father, ahhehehe!" ”

Han Yunhua hurriedly said: "The two chiefs don't make fun of me, I don't know how the leaders live these days, the conditions are simple, and I ask the leaders to bear more." ”

"Don't pretend to be a kid, to be honest, your conditions here are much stronger than our Yan'an, in terms of where you live, it's much stronger than the caves in Yan'an, and the food is not comparable to Yan'an, at least in Yan'an, I can't eat this braised pork every day, you kid is asking us for credit, right? Aha!! The chairman said with a smile.

Han Yunhua also laughed and said: "What about that, Yan'an and Saibei are indeed different, Yan'an's academic atmosphere is very heavy, but Saibei is more realistic, and the leaders don't find that the pace of life of people in Saibei is relatively fast?" ”

Vice Chairman Zhou said: "Indeed, I found out about this problem a few days ago, everyone here seems to be very busy, as if there is something to do, and everyone seems to know what they are doing. Almost all of the cadres here are running in the army, and the following things don't seem to have to be done, what kind of situation is this, you kid tell us about it? ”

"This is nothing, the situation in our military region is rather special, our military and political affairs are separated, the army is the army, the political axe is the political axe, the role of the army is to fight and train, and other things are generally not interfered with, and the county magistrate and the secretary of the county party committee are in charge of the affairs of the political axe, and the military region will not interfere in non-major matters, but the director of the political department of the military region will hold a joint meeting with the county magistrates on a regular basis, so it seems that we cadres only care about the affairs of the army and do not pay much attention to the work of the political axe." Han Yunhua explained carefully.

"Very good, your model is very good, the army should focus on fighting, as for the political axe level, it is better not to interfere too much. However, for the time being, your military region can reach this level, and other units do not have this condition for the time being, and if the troops do not deal well with the localities, they will have no basis for survival, and they will not be in a different environment from yours. The chairman said with emotion.

Then the chairman said: "Let's not talk about this, the main reason for calling you here tonight is to find out your views on the current situation of your military region, mainly the many problems that exist, after all, you are the founder of this army, and we must pay attention to your opinions." First of all, some things handled by the central government some time ago were indeed unfair, and you were wronged, and I hope that you, the commander, will not take it to heart. ”

Han Yunhua also knew that the inspection in the past few days had given the chairman and others a new understanding of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, so he would appreciate the reckless actions of the previous period, but as a member of the [***], Han Yunhua also knew that now [***] is also crossing the river by feeling the stones, and it is inevitable that there will be such and such problems, and he will not and cannot take it to heart, so he hurriedly said: "Chairman, what you said is serious, it is a fact that there are problems in our military region, and we must strictly implement the orders issued by the Party Central Committee. How can the central government be blamed. I also know what the leaders are worried about, but please rest assured, I, Han Yunhua, grew up in the army, from Jiangxi to Yan'an, although I am only twenty-five years old now, but I am also an old comrade who participated in the Long March, and the kind of consciousness of the old comrades is still there, I, Han Yunhuasheng, am a [***] person, and my heart is also red after death. As for the problems existing in the military region, I also have a solution, but I still need the help of the leaders. ”

The chairman and the others looked at each other, and then asked: "As long as it does not violate the principles of our [***] members and the purpose of the party, we will promise you, you can say it!" ”

Han Yunhua reasoned his thoughts and said: "There are two main problems in our military region, the first is that the cadres are younger, which has caused many cadres to be very immature politically, and their experience needs to be strengthened, which has made many comrades in the party have great opinions. The second is my personal problem, the cult of personality exists in our military region, and I do not deny this, and this is a challenge to our party's principle of commanding the gun. Some of the remaining issues are trivial and unimportant. I don't know if you agree with what I'm talking about? ”

Although what Han Yunhua said is very simple, it is very profound and comprehensive. So the chairman and others still recognized it very much, so the chairman looked at Vice Chairman Zhou and Commander-in-Chief Zhu and said: "Well, what you said is exactly what we are worried about, and I think you also know that our [***] principle is that the party commands the gun, and this point cannot be changed in any way, and this point has been determined as early as the reorganization of Sanwan, and it is much easier to solve the problem of younger cadres compared to this." ”

"Yunhua, now all the problems are actually concentrated on you, and your stay is really troublesome. In fact, according to our previous idea, we will transfer you out of the Inner Mongolia Military Region and let you serve in other places, or directly transfer you back to Yan'an to serve as a professor at Kang University. I think you can also see this, some time ago you went to Shandong for this purpose. However, after this inspection, we have also seen clearly that it is indeed unrealistic for you to leave the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and the Military Region is still inseparable from you. But if you don't talk about your transfer out of here, your personal prestige will definitely increase, and the problem will accumulate more and more, so your stay is the key to solving the current problem. Vice Chairman Zhou added.

Han Yunhua said: "Actually, I also thought about this, but to be honest, I really don't want the central government to transfer me out of the military region now." Now the situation in northern Cyprus is very good, and we are fully capable of turning the situation in northern China around in one to two years, and I do not want to give up this opportunity. As long as the military region undergoes a major reorganization of the troops, and during the reorganization, the military region will hand over the power to appoint the commanders of each unit to the central authorities, so that the problem of younger cadres can be greatly avoided, and at the same time, the newly appointed military and political cadres will certainly be very grateful for the promotion by the party Central Committee, and my personal prestige in the military region will also decline. At the same time, it is also possible to rotate the troops of the military region with the units of the Eighth Route Army, and of course this time we can no longer exchange the eggs of new recruits for the elite of our military region as we did last time. ”

The chairman thought about it for a while and felt that this method was not bad, so he said: "This is also a solution to the problem, but how to arrange the replaced cadres, you must know that with their high positions, the central government has no place to arrange them?" ”

"I have also thought about this point, in fact, no matter what the leaders think, but I have long been prepared to send some cadres from the military district to Yan'an to study for a period of time, and all the grassroots cadres will go to the Military Command College to study for three months, the intermediate cadres will study in Yan'an for half a year, and the senior cadres will study in Yan'an for one year. I think that in a year's time, the central authorities and our military region will certainly not worry about arranging for those cadres who have been replaced. Han Yunhua said seriously.

(To be continued)