When Qiao Youhua returned to the base camp in Pingshan County, it was already dark, and Li Yansan and Wan Yinger were ordered to rest.

Qiao Youhua, accompanied by Guo Meng, the former political commissar and now the head of the logistics department, rode a military motorcycle and hurried to the arsenal dozens of miles away, because General Zuo Quan was already waiting for them there.

The motorcycle traveled all the way and quickly arrived at the arsenal, and the guards on the periphery immediately removed the obstacles and saluted and let them go, Qiao Youhua and Guo Meng traveled all the way unhindered, and soon arrived at the core factory area of the arsenal.

When General Zuo Quan received the news, he had already walked out of a workshop of the tank factory he was inspecting, accompanied by Johnson, director of the arsenal, and others.

When Qiao Youhua saw General Zuo Quan, who he hadn't seen for many days, he immediately jumped off the motorcycle excitedly, and strode towards him with Guo Meng, and General Zuo Quan also walked over.

As soon as the three met, they saluted each other.

"Chief, I haven't seen you for many days." Qiao Youhua smiled and took the lead in speaking.

"Comrade Youhua, I've said it all, don't call me the chief." General Zuo Quan smiled and said, "It's really hard to let you rush all the way back." ”

"Haha, the chief has an order, Youhua and I will naturally rush back as soon as possible, that little hard work is nothing at all." Qiao Youhua said with a smile.

General Zuo Quan nodded approvingly and asked, "How is it, how far has the Western Expeditionary Force progressed now?" The result? ”

Qiao Youhua said: "Three days ago, the main force of the Japanese puppet army in Wucheng and other places has been eliminated, and most areas such as Wucheng have been recovered, and the troops advancing westward have also successfully recovered Ulanqab, Hohhot and Baotou and other places. ”

Zuo Quan was overjoyed when he heard this: "Okay, that's good, as long as the victory of the Western Expedition is over, we will have no worries, and then we can consider using troops against Pingjin and recovering all the lost territory within Shanhaiguan in one fell swoop." ”

"Well, that's inevitable, but before that, our troops need to take a good rest, and by the way, solve the problem of the difficulty in supplying weapons and equipment to our Eighth Route Army." Qiao Youhua said.

"That's right, I'm in a hurry to find you back this time to discuss, to see how to expand the arsenal of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters that helped me." Zuo Quan is straight to the point.

Qiao Youhua just wanted to talk about his thoughts, Guo Meng on the side smiled and said, "Two chiefs, this is not suitable for you to discuss official business, I think it is better to go to Mr. Johnson's office." ”

Johnson, who was already familiar with the Chinese language, said in a mouthful of Scottish Chinese: "Yes, yes, yes, go to my office, drink tea and talk slowly." ”

Qiao Youhua and Zuo Quan glanced at each other, smiled and said, "Chief, please." ”

General Zuo Quan also smiled: "Then I might as well be respectful, haha." ”

The group of Qiao Youhua and General Zuo Quan walked side by side, and the others followed behind, walking towards Johnson's factory director's office.

After entering the office, Johnson took the first step, beckoning Qiao Youhua, Zuo Quan, and Guo Meng to take their seats, and at the same time went to get a thermos to pour them tea.

After sitting down, Qiao Youhua said to General Zuo Quan: "Chief of Staff, I can't hide it, I already have an idea on the way here." ”

"Oh? Let's hear it. General Zuo Quan said with great interest.

Qiao Youhua said: "Our base arsenal has now been replaced with a production line of German-style weapons, and the production line of British weapons that was originally purchased and imported is now idle, so I decided to send the production line of British weapons to our headquarters arsenal."

In addition, we will be based in the local arsenal and will undertake one battalion of army weapons and equipment for our Eighth Route Army every month in the future, including German-style manual rifles, general-purpose machine guns, grenades, artillery, mortar grenadiers and other military supplies. ”

After a pause, Qiao Youhua continued: "This is only the current supply scale of the arsenal at this stage of productivity, as the production capacity of the arsenal continues to increase in the future, the number of weapons and ammunition we can supply will definitely increase."

Moreover, now that Suiyuan and Inner Mongolia are about to be recovered by us, we can not only open up the connection with the big brother of the Soviet Union, but also have the tax and financial resources of most of the provinces in North China, so that we can continue to purchase and introduce German-style and Soviet-style weapons and equipment production lines and technologies in the future.

I believe that through our joint efforts and development, we will be able to establish a military industrial foundation that meets the needs of our Eighth Route Army and even other anti-Japanese friendly forces in the future, and make concerted efforts to drive the Japanese aggressors out of China. ”

After listening to Qiao Youhua's ideas, General Zuo Quan pondered for a while, and nodded happily: "Well, yes, since you already have a plan, then do as you say, and you and I will jointly report to Chairman Mao of the Party Central Committee and the heads of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, once they approve, we can implement it." ”

"Okay." Qiao Youhua said with a smile.

"By the way, has the ownership of Taiyuan been decided?" Qiao Youhua asked.

Before General Zuo Quan could answer, Guo Meng couldn't help but interject: "Didn't Taiyuan come down from our Eighth Route Army?" Why do you have to give it to the Jin Sui Army and the Central Army? ”

Qiao Youhua said with a smile: "Director Guo, don't forget, Taiyuan is the nest of Yan Xishan's Jin Sui army, Yan Xishan and Chairman Jiang definitely don't want us to occupy such a large provincial capital, now is the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, from the political level and strategic level, we can't tear our faces with Yan Xishan's Jin Sui army, after all, it will only benefit the Japanese."

In order to avoid disputes, it is possible to cede Taiyuan, but this will depend on the decision of the central leaders. ”、

General Zuo Quan glanced at Qiao Youhua approvingly, nodded and said: "Comrade Youhua is right, Chairman Mao of the Party Central Committee and Zhou Gong and other leaders have discussed and decided to peacefully hand over the defense of Taiyuan, Xinzhou, Yangquan, Jinzhong, and Datong to the large and medium-sized cities of Shanxi with the Central Army of the Jin Sui Army.

One qiē focuses on the overall situation of anti-Japanese resistance, and does not care about the gains and losses of one city and one place for the time being! ”

"Ah, you have to give up so much territory?" Guo Meng was a little angry when he heard this, after all, these places were recovered by countless Eighth Route officers and soldiers who fought bloodily.

"The gains and losses of one city and one place, from the perspective of the overall strategic situation, are nothing, if we do not give up these cities, the Jin Sui Army and the Central Army of Chairman Chiang will definitely not give up, then we are bound to leave a large number of troops to garrison the above-mentioned cities, which is equivalent to dragging a heavy burden.

At that time, I am afraid that even the strength of a regiment will not be able to be transferred to Shanxi, let alone to recover Shandong and the whole of North China. Therefore, instead of passively wanting the city, it is better to abandon the city and take the initiative and throw the burden to the Jin Sui army and the central army.

Our troops can be flexible and mobile and active in the vast number of remote counties and rural areas, and if we want to use troops in the Japanese theater outside Shanxi, we can also gather enough troops. Qiao Youhua talked eloquently.

General Zuo Quan was in awe when he said this, and couldn't help but give Qiao Youhua a thumbs up, because this coincided with Chairman Mao's guerrilla warfare theory, and this strategic vision and mind were enough to be proud of many famous Chinese and foreign generals in the world. ”