Chapter 617 Heartfelt words

The conference room was quiet, and the cadres were waiting for the No. 1 leader to explain what to do next.

Liu Yimin first analyzed the current situation of the enemy and us, and then said earnestly: "Since the end of the Jiaoji Road Battle, the Japanese army has gathered in three places: Dexian, Lunan and Qingdao. On the surface, the front is temporarily consolidated, but in fact the undercurrent is turbulent. There are two main reasons why the Japanese army did not move: First, it could not find out the position and intention of our main force, and it was afraid of another defeat, so it temporarily contracted its defense and waited for the opportunity. Second, after the Battle of Wuhan, the main force of the Japanese army suffered heavy losses and needed a period of replenishment and recuperation. It was for these two reasons that there was a temporary lull in the Shandong battlefield. ”

Liu Yimin continued: "This is the case with the Japanese army, and the situation of our army also needs everyone to have a clear understanding. After the Battle of Jiaoji Road, why didn't our army take advantage of the victory to attack? There are considerations in this.... One is that the main forces of the Japanese army in the north and south have been put in place. In particular, the Japanese army on the northern front transferred three elite divisions from the Kwantung Army, and once our army attacked the Japanese army on the northern front, it was bound to fight a tough battle if the Japanese army was prepared. The three divisions of the Kwantung Army are not those garrison divisions and special divisions, they are indeed well-equipped, well-trained, and powerful, not to mention the four Japanese garrison divisions and the North China Security Army that cooperate with these three divisions and regiments in combat. What's more, once they are in a stalemate with them and the position of our army's main force is exposed, the Kwantung Army is likely to pour out of the nest and go south to join the battle, not to mention that there will be Japanese troops on the southern front to cooperate in the attack. At that time, it will inevitably be a crushing defeat on both the northern and southern fronts of our army. If the battle is fought in that situation, our instructor will not be left with one out of ten, and the commander who gave the order to launch the attack will also be the sinner of our army. Second, there was indeed an opportunity to capture Qingdao at that time, and it was impossible to stop our army from attacking the city with the dilapidated Qingdao garrison and a small number of marines. However, if our army occupies Qingdao for the second time, it is likely to provoke a frenzied retaliation by the Japanese army, and the Japanese will turn Qingdao into a scorched earth. Moreover, the 5th Division, which the Japanese army is preparing to land in Qingdao, will also change the landing site, land in the place where our army's garrison is weak, and carry out crazy retaliation against the base area, then the loss will be great. If our army does not attack Qingdao, it can turn the Fifth Division, which has strong combat effectiveness, into a Qingdao garrison and put the tigers in cages. If nothing else, the Japanese army has to think of transporting grain to Qingdao, right? You have to think about arranging for the factory in Qingdao to start, right? These two points alone will make the Japanese cabinet and the Japanese army base camp quarrel. It was precisely on the basis of this consideration that our army gave up attacking Qingdao and instead had the Eighth Brigade responsible for monitoring and besieging Qingdao. The third, and most important one, is that our army needs time to digest the fruits of victory, consolidate our base areas, and make use of Shandong's abundant human resources to establish and restore our political power at all levels and local armed forces. In layman's terms, it is to sit firmly on the butt. Only by firmly establishing the base areas can the main force launch offensive operations without containment and defeat the heavy encirclement and suppression of the Japanese army. ”

What does the current reality look like? Liu Yimin analyzed: "Now both Japan and Japan are gathering strength and gathering momentum. On the Japanese side, it is very likely that they will use this time to form a puppet regime and a puppet army in Central China, maintain a high-pressure posture against the main force, complete the allocation of troops, and draw out the main divisions and regiments to join the North China battlefield, to be precise, for the Shandong operation. The Japanese army in North China will quickly readjust the structure of various garrison divisions and regiments, upgrading some of the 12,000-strong garrison divisions that have been trained on the battlefield to three-unit field divisions of about 18,000 troops, and at the same time transferring some of the garrison divisions to central or northeast China, freeing up the elite divisions there for fighting against us. After the Japanese army completes its replenishment, recuperation, and troop deployment, it will inevitably launch an earth-shattering blow against us. There will be no mistake in this judgment, because little Japan is known as the number one power in Asia, and it cannot afford to lose its people in Shandong, so they have to carry out another heavy encirclement and suppression. Of course, this time, they will not be able to draw up such a large number of troops as they were in the last heavy encirclement and suppression, and the combat objectives may also be appropriately adjusted. The most ideal is naturally to completely annihilate the main force of our instructors, and the goal of retreating to the next best thing should be to recapture Jinan and open up Jiaoji Road and Jinpu Road. At the worst of all, the Japanese army will also use offensive operations to strengthen the defense of the North China Plain, the Pingjin region, and the Suzhou-Anhui region, and confine our army to Shandong. ”

And what about our army? Liu Yimin said: "The most ideal goal of our army is to completely drive the Japanese army out of Shandong in World War I, force the Japanese army to Central China and the Pingjin region, and make Shandong truly a solid anti-Japanese base area. If this point cannot be realized, the second best thing to do is to retreat to the northern front, drive the Japanese army from Dexian to the front line of Cangxian, cooperate with our army in southern Hebei, restore and consolidate the base area in southern Hebei, and open up the connection with the Taihang Mountain base area; On the southern front, the Japanese army was driven out of Lunan and the enemy was pressed to retreat to the Longhai line. On the Eastern Front, the Japanese army in Qingdao was completely besieged. The third goal is to ensure that the main force is not defeated, withdraw from Jinan, Jiaoji Road, and Jinpu Road, and return to the situation of Japanese-occupied transportation lines and large cities, and our occupation of rural and mountainous areas. Persist in the protracted war of resistance, maneuver with the enemy, further accumulate strength, consume the Japanese army, and wait for fighters. ”

When he said this, seeing that the cadres in the audience were a little excited and raised their hands to ask to speak, Liu Yimin stopped and asked the comrades to express their opinions by name.

Gao Yuan, commander of the 1st Brigade, reported that since the division commander had analyzed the enemy's situation so thoroughly, our army should immediately launch an offensive operation, take advantage of the fact that the devils have not completed their deployment, inflict heavy losses on their roads, and win a good momentum for the next operation. According to the current deployment of the Japanese army, it is proposed that the 8th Jiao Brigade command the Qinghe Garrison Brigade, the Jiaodong Garrison Brigade, and the formation and training detachment to besiege the Japanese army in Qingdao, hold the east bank of the Yellow River with part of the troops, blow up the iron bridge of the Yellow River if necessary, and block the reinforcement of the enemy's northern front group. Concentrate all the main forces to go south, seek and annihilate the enemy's 14th Division, completely defeat the Japanese army on the southern front, and force the enemy to retreat to northern Jiangsu.

Liu Jianli, commander of the 2nd Jiao Brigade, reported that in addition to attacking the Japanese troops on the southern front in the south, it was also possible to make a detour through Luxi and southern Hebei and attack the Pingjin area in the north, transfer the Japanese army's northern line group to Pingjin, and annihilate the enemy in the movement. If it is defeated, the Japanese army will inevitably be shaken, and the offensive will be self-defeating.

Li Qing, commander of the 3rd Jiao Brigade, reported that after the end of the Jiaoji Road Campaign, our army captured a large amount of weapons and ammunition, and the main force was quickly replenished, and it was fully capable of continuous combat. Under such circumstances, the Shandong base area must no longer be allowed to be captured by the Japanese army. To defend Shandong is to defend the source of troops, food and wages, and strategic maneuver space. Therefore, our army should be more bold in its operational guiding ideology, and do not be afraid that the Japanese army may turn Qingdao into a scorched earth, and we will build it again after the battle is completed. The Japanese 5th Division was alone in Qingdao, and although it had naval support, it was impossible for the navy to join the street fighting. As long as our army enters the city, it can digest the mechanized superiority of the Fifth Division. This battle is bound to be successful, as long as the Fifth Division is completely wiped out, and the entire hinterland of Shandong is under our possession, our army's strategic mobility will be greatly enhanced, and the passive situation of being pinned down by the Japanese army's third line will be completely reversed. That way, the butt can really sit firmly.

Lei Ming, commander of the Fourth Brigade, reported that in a war, we must not be afraid of sacrifices, and although our army has always won a big victory with small sacrifices, in the face of the heavy siege of the Japanese army, the division commander should put the fear of excessive casualties of the troops in a secondary position when considering the deployment of the campaign. Compared with winning the whole of Shandong, no matter how great the sacrifice of our army is, it is worth it. Now that we control most of Shandong, it is easy to replenish the supply of troops, and we can even mobilize our fellow villagers to support the front on a large scale. In this case, a decisive battle with the Japanese army was supposed to be. Whether attacking the southern, northern, or eastern fronts, we should have the determination to fight to the death and completely annihilate a group of Japanese troops. Only in this way can we truly improve the situation of the War of Resistance in North China.

Luo Ronghuan reminded Liu Yimin that all these can be discussed at the operational meeting, and the time is not early, so hurry up and talk about it, so that the comrades can also take a rest.

Only then did Liu Yimin wave his hand to stop the comrades who had asked to speak, and continued: "Just now a few comrades gave their views on the next step of the operation, and these opinions are very good, which shows that our cadres have passed the test of blood and fire, have strategic thinking, and have the quality of standing alone. This is the most gratifying. The specific operations will be made after the joint meeting of the Shandong Bureau and the Military Region, and the arrangements will not be discussed in detail here. But I can give you a general explanation to the comrades, that is, the general strategy of our army in my mind, that is, to use Shandong as the basis to defeat the heavy encirclement and suppression of the Japanese army. Then he waved his troops south, crisscrossing the Jianghuai River and Han, cooperating with the Central Plains Bureau and the New Fourth Army, and completely smashed the rear political system of the Japanese army. Later, he returned to North China, fought a decisive battle with the Japanese army in North China, and recovered the whole of North China. Then he waved his troops north to fight the Japanese army in the northeast, completely destroying the foundation of the Japanese army's war of aggression against China. By this time, the invading Japanese army was about to surrender. ”

Hearing Liu Yimin say this, all the cadres in the audience stood up and applauded warmly again.

After waving his hand to let the cadres sit down, Liu Yimin drank the tank of water, moistened his throat, and said loudly: "This goal is very exciting, and I am very excited when I think about it." However, to accomplish this goal, it is necessary to shed blood and sacrifice, to overcome all difficulties to fight tenaciously, to unite all the military and people in Shandong to work together, and to conscientiously implement the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee, to be down-to-earth, and to accelerate development. Comrades, do you have faith? ”

The cadres shouted in unison like a tsunami: "Yes"

Liu Yimin continued: "In order to achieve this goal, we also need comrades to calm down, not take risks, not flinch, and do every job well; It is necessary for comrades to have a clear understanding of the disparity in the balance of forces between the enemy and us, to wake up from the victories in the Luzhong Campaign and the Jiaoji Road Campaign, and to understand that the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is a protracted war, and it is impossible to win the entire War of Resistance by virtue of one or two major victories, nor can it be achieved overnight. We understand that compared with other armies in China, our Eighth Route Army's advantages lie in the support of the people, in the single-mindedness of the officers and men, in the correctness of the central strategy, and in the flexibility and mobility of the tactics of various troops. In that case, it will lead to pride and impatience, which will then affect the operational deployment, and the Japanese army will be anxious to fight a decisive battle with our main force. ”

The people on and off the stage were silent, silently chewing on the meaning of Liu Yimin's words.

Liu Yimin was very satisfied with this effect, he nodded, and said: "As you know, since the beginning of autumn, the rainfall in Shandong has plummeted and entered a dry period. If the snowfall continues to decrease in winter, there will be a severe drought in the spring of next year, and in addition to the damage caused by the war and the disrepair of water conservancy facilities, this will inevitably lead to a large-scale reduction in grain production and the failure of the harvest in some areas. If not, there will be several years of drought in a row. If such a situation occurs, the livelihood of the people in the base areas will become a problem, and the combat operations of our army will inevitably be affected. Think about it, when the grain is eaten, the wild vegetables are dug up, and the bark is gnawed, can our warriors still fight with the little devils with bayonets? Our army is okay to say, no matter how hard and tired it is, it will think of persistence and get through the difficulties. But when those miscellaneous troops encounter this situation and starve to death every day, will they not be able to support it? When I talk about this, I want to tell comrades that we must not be blindly optimistic. We must not only see that we have more than a dozen artillery regiments with 200,000 elites, but also think about how to solve the ammunition problem of our army if we fight continuously. How to solve the problem with medicine? How to solve the problem of food? I can tell you with certainty that we are not in the period of the Red Eighteenth Regiment now, when there were few people, and they ate and drank spicy food and spicy food just by seizing it. Not now, we have such a big base, we have to do education, right? You have to do medical care, right? Traffic, right? The common people not only had to eat, light lamps, and dress themselves, but also had money to watch plays, marry daughters-in-law, and treat diseases. It is absolutely impossible to rely on seizure alone, and it is necessary to develop the economy and various undertakings in the base areas. Otherwise, the people may not support us. ”

The meeting room was even more silent, and the cadres were all in thought.

Liu Yimin smiled: "Of course, don't be intimidated by difficulties. As long as we are not arrogant and work hard, there is no difficulty that cannot be overcome. There are always more solutions than difficulties. As long as we want to solve the problem, we will be able to solve it. At present, there are several things that we need to do well the most: First, we should speed up the building of political power and local armed forces, and turn our base areas into impregnable walls, so that even if the main forces jump out of the outer line to fight, they will not be able to stand, live, eat, or sleep well when the little devils come. Everywhere there were militia and local armed mine arrays, tunnel warfare and cold running of guns, as well as ambushes and surprise attacks. This point has been deployed, and Deputy Political Commissar Tan Zheng is organizing and implementing it. I demand that all main forces conscientiously implement the requirements of the division headquarters, understand that the building of the armed forces in the base areas and localities has a bearing on the life and death of our army, and fulfill the task of building the local political power and the armed forces in two counties with one regiment. It is necessary to be willing to bring out the backbone cadres and the veteran Red Army cadres, first pull up the county brigades, and on this basis, quickly build up the district squads and militia units, and put them into training as soon as possible. The little devils won't give us too long, and this must be grasped tightly. Second, we should pay close attention to the implementation of land reform and rent reduction and interest reduction during the Second Five-Year Plan. All the old base areas should carry out land reform, and the measures should be implemented with reference to the Shaanxi base areas, so they should be more flexible. It is necessary to ensure that the peasants have land to grow seeds, but it is also necessary to chill the hearts of the landlords who supported the War of Resistance and push them to the hostile side. As long as this issue is properly handled, comrades, I tell you that with a strong grassroots political power in the countryside and the peasants who defend the fruits of victory, we will be able to truly gain a firm foothold in Shandong, and no one will be able to take Shandong away from us, whether it is a little devil or anyone else. Third, it is necessary to vigorously develop production and strengthen economic strength. In agriculture, it is necessary to set up a special agricultural department and an agricultural bureau, a special agricultural science and technology research institute, and an agriculture, forestry, and water school to make overall plans for the management of Shandong's agricultural production. The pressing task at present is to make use of the winter leisure time to organize the masses to dredge up canals, dig water reservoirs, and carry out large-scale water conservancy construction on farmland on the basis of continuing to publicize and popularize the two-cropping method and planting drought-tolerant and high-yield crops. We are guarding the Yellow River, the Yishui River and the Wen River, and we cannot let this water flow in vain. Comrade Li Yu, you have to promise me that you must water the farmland in places that can be watered during the winter and spring droughts. In areas where water cannot be met, troops and peasants should be mobilized to join hands to carry water to fight drought. We will ensure that next year's summer grain production will not be reduced or reduced, and that the soldiers who have shed their blood and died will be able to eat. We must regard this matter as a major matter of whether we can gain a foothold in Shandong. Looking back, I and the political committee did a spot check. If you find that you can't complete the task, you have to criticize. ”

Li Yu, who was sitting on the rostrum, hurriedly stood up and reported: "Resolutely implement the instructions of No. 1 and resolutely complete the task"

Liu Yimin motioned for Li Yu to sit down and continued: "Commercially, it is necessary to strictly implement the regulations on the protection of national industry and commerce, unify the tax rate, encourage and protect commercial development, and revitalize the economy of the base areas. Encourage businessmen to do business in enemy-occupied areas, and sell non-strategic materials produced in the base areas in enemy-occupied areas in exchange for the strategic materials we urgently need. Those who can get back strategic materials should be rewarded. However, there is one point, that is, it is forbidden to bring counterfeit tickets such as joint coupons into the base area. It is necessary to expand the coverage of the renminbi and enhance the credibility of the renminbi. Let the people of the entire North China know that the RMB is safe and reliable, and you can buy everything you want with the RMB. Industrially, I have a new feeling about this problem recently, and I got it from Xi'an. As everyone knows, Xi'an was the focus of the Japanese army's bombing, and it was once bombed by the Japanese army. But the townspeople learned how to deal with the bombing during the bombing, dug dug dugouts, set up air-raid posts, and knew how to camouflage and cover important targets. When I arrived in Xi'an, I saw that most of the citizens had returned to the city and started a normal life. I asked the chairman to eat hot pot and kebabs, and the ingredients were bought from the market. This shows that the people of Xi'an have adapted to the Japanese air raids and have not been intimidated by the air raids. The Air Defense Command should conscientiously study this point and organize all cities in the base areas to study it. In the past, there were two misunderstandings in my understanding, one of which was that when building steel plants, power plants, and arsenals, we emphasized the advanced nature and used machines imported from the United States. Of course, this is good, the weapons and ammunition produced are the best. But now, as long as a large-scale factory is built, no matter how well it is concealed, it may be detected by Japanese planes and then destroyed by Japanese planes. However, we can't do it without building factories and engaging in military production. What to do? I think that we can only adopt the method of combining local and foreign countries and organize scientific and technological personnel to tackle key technical problems. As a simple example, if a large ironworks and steelworks cannot be built, aren't the ironmaking furnaces of the people still running as usual? Little devils generally don't waste valuable aerial bombs to bomb these small workshops. This gives us the opportunity to make more small factories that are suitable for concealment if we can make use of these iron-making furnaces, and to build more small-scale factories that are suitable for concealment, if we can make use of these iron-making furnaces. Pig iron and crude steel are refined and suitable for cutting, and artillery shells and bullets can be produced in large quantities. In particular, we still have some good steel seized from Tianjin and Qingdao, and we have also brought back some good steel from the United States, which will ensure our production of bazooka launchers and Bayi automatic rifles. Although the number may not be too many, something is better than nothing. Especially rocket copper, as long as the design and process are improved, the range can be increased. A bazooka group, if the concealment is good, there is no problem at all in taking out a few tanks. Comrade Wu Zheng and Comrade Zhicheng are here, and after the meeting, you will go back and explain my thoughts to the technicians. After that, I will spare special time to go to the logistics headquarters to study and solve difficult problems with my comrades. ”

Yang Zhicheng, political commissar of the logistics command, is a member of the Shandong Bureau, but Wu Zheng, the commander, is not, and this has formed a strange phenomenon, that is, the political commissar sits on the rostrum and the commander sits under the rostrum. As soon as Liu Yimin's voice fell, Yang Zhicheng on the rostrum and Wu Zheng in the audience stood up at the same time, shouted a report at the same time, and expressed their promise to complete the task.

In an instant, a strange thought flashed through Liu Yimin's mind, feeling that Wu Zheng should also sit on the rostrum. However, the thought quickly passed. The use of cadres still has to be based on qualifications, and the old seniority during the war years symbolizes that they have more experience in the struggle against the enemy and make greater contributions to the enemy. It's something that no one can do.

Liu Yimin quickly adjusted his mentality and said loudly: "The last question, which is also the one that everyone is most concerned about and the most important at present, is the expansion of the army. I won't talk about the specifics, and I'll wait for the Shandong Bureau to make a special study. But one thing I can tell you is that this time we are going to expand our army. Everyone realized the importance of ensuring the integrity of the Shandong base area, and you must know that when Han Fuqu ruled Shandong a few years ago, the salt tax alone had an annual income of 30 million yuan. Comrades, this is all capital for war, if you want to fight the Japanese army, how can you do it without a sufficient number of troops? If, as the comrades said, we fight the Japanese army head-to-head and fight a big war, it is difficult to say whether we can save 100,000 of the 200,000 troops we have. Is it necessary to fight a big battle? Can we afford to fight? The chairman told me in no uncertain terms that our army has never restricted the establishment of various units, and instructed me to rapidly increase the strength of our army in Shandong. Shandong has a population of 37 million, which provides a good foundation for us to expand our army. Therefore, I would like to tell my comrades that my determination is to expand the army quickly and in a big way. The initial target is not less than 500,000, and the long-term goal is to exceed 1 million, and it is necessary to build a militia force of 1 million to 2 million throughout Shandong, and carry out large-scale work to support the front. Even if we carry it on our shoulders, donkey packs, and carts, we must also send our supplies to the front line to support the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression."

This is over, the cadres on and off the stage are essentially soldiers, who doesn't want to expand the army? Who isn't happy? Listening to the words of the No. 1 leader, all the people on the stage and the audience stood up, and the audience applauded thunderously, wave after wave, and there was a great possibility of breaking through the roof

The goal of expanding the army by 500,000 in the short term and 1 million in the long term is not Liu Yimin's casual nonsense. Historically, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Shandong Eighth Route Army pulled up eight main divisions at once, as well as a large number of local troops. The 100,000 Eight Road entered the northeast, and the main force was the Shandong troops. ** It was also on this basis that it developed into a million-strong army in the Northeast, turning the Northeast Field Army into the most powerful strategic decisive force at that time.

When the 115th Division marched into Shandong, the main force was only two regiments, and it was only after the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee that it began to advance eastward. At that time, after more than a year of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Shandong not only had the Eighth Route Army organized by the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, a large number of armed forces behind enemy lines organized by the Kuomintang, as well as a large number of puppet armies, plus those local militias, self-defense forces and gang organizations that did not belong to the Eighth Route Army, **, or puppet army, which was equivalent to armed forces everywhere in Shandong. In addition, at that time, most of the people in Shandong believed that ** was orthodox, and the Eighth Route Army was a miscellaneous guerrilla army, which affected the development of our army. Those who joined the Eighth Route Army were all people with relatively progressive thinking.

Now the situation is different, the powerful instructor marched into Shandong, won successive battles, and played the prestige of our army. **The power and influence in Shandong are negligible, and the source of troops is very sufficient. In addition, the main force of instructors has grown to 200,000 and expanded to 500,000, which is only one and a half times the expansion, and compared with other Eighth Route Army units, the expansion is not particularly large.

When Liu Yimin considered this issue, his main consideration was not whether he could recruit so many soldiers, nor was it the issue of food. After all, Shandong has a vast territory, and this year's summer and autumn are good harvests, and there is no problem with the temporary timing of military rations. All he was worried about was the issue of weapons and ammunition, and he couldn't let the newly formed troops carry big swords and spears to the battlefield, right? Fortunately, there is now a solution to this problem, and since Liu Yimin wants to mass-produce weapons and ammunition by combining the local and foreign methods, he immediately wants to replace the Japanese-style equipment with the standard equipment of our army in later generations. If nothing else, the rifle must be replaced.

After the applause of the cadres finally subsided, Liu Yimin said: "Tonight's speech is all from my heart, and I will speak out and communicate with the comrades." After the meeting, the comrades were asked to seriously ponder what better suggestions could be studied at the meeting, or they could be put forward for reference in the decision-making of the division headquarters. Thank you."