Wu Zijian ended his thoughts and looked at the pair of brothers and sisters who were chatting hotly. When the commander of his second battalion talked about the bloody scene of a company of the Eighth Route Army desperately blocking the Japanese puppet reinforcements on the unobstructed wasteland, Liu Wumei's face showed obvious admiration and admiration.

After patiently listening to Wei Xin's speech, Wu Zijian grabbed the words of the female bandit leader's heartfelt praise, and took the opportunity to interject: "Big boss, you also think that our Eighth Route Army is a hero of the Anti-Japanese War, and now that the national crisis is at hand, why don't you lead your subordinates to join our Eighth Route team and fight devils together?" Drive the Japanese out of Shanxi and all of China! ”

When Wei Xin, the commander of the second battalion, told his righteous sister about the battle of the night attack on Tongpu Road, he had already laid down the topic and was ready to persuade the other party to agree to the incorporation, and at this time, he saw that his detachment leader took the lead in picking it out, and immediately followed up and said: "I went up the mountain this time, just to persuade my righteous sister to lead his brothers to join the Eighth Road as soon as possible, the Wu detachment commander has promised, as long as you vote over, immediately assign the number of the independent brigade of the Xu Brigade detachment, and you, the big boss of the grass, will become the captain of the regular army, and the military rank is equal to my battalion commander!" His brothers also became officers and soldiers who ate official rations. ”

Liu Wumei was overjoyed when she heard this, and hurriedly glanced at Chief Wu on the side with her eyes, Wu Zijian nodded with a smile: "That's right, what Battalion Commander Wei means is what I mean, the Eighth Route Army is true to its word, and it will do what it says." It depends on how the big boss makes decisions! ”

"The little woman thanks Chief Wu for his support!" Liu Wumei hugged her fist at Wu Zijian with great sincerity: "If the brothers can become officials and soldiers who eat the emperor's grain from now on, this is a good thing to change the evil and return to the right and glorify the ancestors, naturally they don't say anything!" Dare to ask Chief Wu, if my independent brigade is really pulled up, how much can I pay every month? ”

Wu Zijian and Wei Xin were stunned at the same time, but they immediately understood the essence of what the female bandit leader said, and the two looked at each other a few times, and they couldn't answer each other's questions for a while.

They have unspeakable grievances.

Last year, when the Red Army had just been reorganized by the Nationalist Government, a written regulation was promulgated to set the relevant funding standards, that is, the Eighth Route Army could receive a total of 550,000 yuan in legal currency and 50,000 rounds of ammunition from the Nationalist Government every month. However, the above funds were only awarded to the three operational divisions of Lin, He, and Xu, as well as to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army (18th Group Army); That is, it was issued only to the units of the Eighth Route Army that fought on the anti-Japanese front.

However, the actual situation at that time was that there were also huge organs, academies, and garrisons of the CPC Central Committee that remained in Yan'an, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border region, and because they did not participate in the war against the Japanese army, they were not entitled to receive funds issued by the Nationalist Government. Therefore, Yan'an decided to withdraw half of the 550,000 yuan of legal currency received by the Eighth Route Army every month, and the remaining half was distributed to the three divisions on the front line.

In this way, each of the three combat divisions of the Eighth Route Army can only receive 40,000 to 60,000 yuan of legal currency per month, which includes meals, clothing, and even medical expenses.

Moreover, this one yuan per person is only the level of last year's distribution, and as the Eighth Route Army began to reorganize and expand its ranks, it is currently difficult to continue to distribute one yuan per person.

Taking the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade of the former Lin Division and the Guanmenshan Detachment of the Xu Brigade today as examples, since they left the Wutai area in northern Shanxi at the beginning of this year and moved to the Guanmenshan area in central Jinzhong, they have lost their supply relationship with the division headquarters, brigade headquarters, and even the regiment headquarters, and there is no follow-up funding except for a batch of oceans they carried with them when they set out. Therefore, both the former battalion commander Feng Changzhi and the later deputy battalion commander and today's detachment commander Wu Zijian have all set up a rule to temporarily suspend the distribution of pocket money to all officers and men, and then issue it at their discretion when the Guanmenshan Base Area develops and grows in the future.

Lin Shi is an old army with fine traditions, and it is strictly disciplined, and this temporary rule has not caused too many negative emotions among the officers and soldiers. However, at this moment, Wu Zijian and Wei Xin are facing an armed group of bandits who rob homes and houses, are extravagant and extravagant, and they only want to integrate this group of poorly equipped stragglers as soon as possible, but completely ignore the "salary" issue raised by the female bandit leader.

Not only that, Wu Zijian even unilaterally came up with the idea of the Black Stone Cliff bandit gang stockpiling gold, silver, grain and grass, imagining that once the other party was absorbed, he could use the fine soft that he had hidden a lot to expand the army.

Witnessing the embarrassed expressions of the two Eighth Route Army commanders, the excitement on the female bandit leader's face gradually faded, and then revealed suspicion: "Chief Wu, Brother Wei, is there any difficulty that is inconvenient to talk about?" ”

Wu Zijian's eyes flickered, and he gestured to Wei Xin to explain, but the latter had no choice but to open his mouth helplessly, pointing out that the current Xu Brigade Detachment is short of funds, and the troops have stopped distributing their already meager pocket money, not to mention "paying salaries".

Hearing the words of Brother Jieyi, Liu Wumei's eager heart suddenly became cold.

After being silent for a long time, Liu Wumei cautiously opened her mouth first: "Big brother, Chief Wu, the little girl has already understood what you mean, it is said that if I can change my evil and return to the proper Shangguan Army, I should be very satisfied." But you have also seen that there are more than 100 people in my cottage, and in the past, they relied on robbing houses and houses, and the brothers turned their backs on their ancestors to eat this bowl of black-hearted rice, which is just a person who has food, drink and money to spend. I can tell them that the cottage will become an independent brigade of the official army from today onwards, but if this independent brigade is not paid silver, I am afraid that more than half of the brothers will not agree. ”

The commander of the Eighth Route Army looked at the female bandit leader in front of him and talked eloquently, as if he had knocked over a five-flavor bottle in his heart, and he couldn't tell what it tasted like. It seems that as a military commander of a unit, he still lacks a variety of experience in dealing with local affairs, and he even neglected the material desires of the bandit armament - how can he ask these bandits to obey discipline and ignore treatment like revolutionary fighters!? ——At this time, Wu Zijian deeply regretted that Meng Lang, who came to visit this time, not only failed to realize the desired vision, but also lost face in front of this female bandit leader!

Wei Xin, the commander of the second battalion, also felt a little ashamed: Fortunately, only his righteous sister was present in the cottage now, if he said in front of the bandits that the Eighth Route Army was shy, but he wanted to absorb the other party in vain, he would undoubtedly be laughed off by the bandits.

"Sister, the main task of our Xu Brigade Detachment now is to create a base area and fight against the local Japanese puppet army, and the money we have on hand has to be used on the blade, so it is difficult to come up with money to pay your brothers for a while; But sooner or later, we will open up the situation, as long as we gain a firm foothold in Guanmen Mountain, the problem of funding the troops will be solved-"

"-That's good! Big brother, don't worry, I won't let the brothers be too greedy, as long as there is a salary and a silver pass, I promise to take them to the Eighth Road! The shrewd female bandit leader simply cut off the words of her righteous eldest brother to prevent him from continuing to lobby herself.

Wu Zijian's bystander Qing had already seen Liu Wumei's determination to absolutely refuse to give in on this issue, and although her approach was reasonable, it still aroused the disgust of the head of the Eighth Route Army. So, he threw another killer trick out of his way:

"Very good, I am willing to believe in the sincerity of the big boss, but at the same time, I also remind the big boss once again that he must strictly restrain his subordinates and not go out of the mountains to attack and harass the people, otherwise, even if the Xu Brigade Detachment of the Eighth Route Army does not care, if it encounters an officer like the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, it will inevitably kill the killer!"

After saying that, Wu Zijian got up from the table, and at the same time motioned to his second battalion commander to follow with his eyes: "The military situation outside the mountain is urgent, we will leave, and there will be a period in the future!" ”

When Wu Zijian mentioned the words "12th Brigade of the Jin Army", the pretty face of the female bandit leader had already changed color - after gossiping for a long time, she actually forgot the imminent crisis of the cottage - Seeing the two commanders of the Eighth Route Army making a gesture of resignation, Liu Wumei suddenly became anxious, and couldn't help but reach out and hold Wei Xin's thick arm: "Big brother, please stay, Chief Wu, please stay, the cottage brother was detained by the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, and I hope that your army will lend a hand to help us!" The little woman had no choice but to plead with the two chiefs! ”

Wu Zijian wants this effect. Ever since he entered the Juyi Hall to clarify the encounter between the bandits and the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, and learned that Liu Wumei's men had suffered heavy losses and that a large number of guns had been captured and seized by the 12th Brigade of the Independent Army, he had been secretly thinking about the pros and cons of this sudden incident on the integration of the bandits in Black Stone Cliff.

The 12th Brigade of Independence? Isn't it the second-line troops of the Jin Army who abandoned the city and fled from the Fengdian and Wencheng defense areas one after another? It is said that the second battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Lin Division had just arrived in the area of central and southern Jin, and ambushed a Japanese cavalry in the Little Elm Mountain, and it was the 12th Brigade of the Du that was pursued and killed by the Japanese cavalry that was rescued at that time, and the resourceful staff officer Xiao of the Jin Army was also "transferred" from that battle. Moreover, just a few days ago, the commander of his cavalry company went out to Pingquan County with his men and horses and established contact with the main force of the 12th Independent Brigade stationed there. At present, the Xu Brigade detachment can be regarded as a friendly force with the second-line troops of the Jin Army. The female bandit leader happened to be in the hands of the 12th Brigade of the Du, which can be regarded as a providence!

The stakes were very high, and Wei Xin, the commander of the second battalion, who was held back by Liu Wumei, did not dare to express his attitude at the first time. Finally, Wu Zijian half-turned around, looked at the female bandit leader with blank eyes, and said word by word:

"It's not that the Eighth Route Army won't help you out of this. First of all, your people killed people in Maicun, and they should have died if they hit the hands of the officials and soldiers; Secondly, even if the Xu Brigade Detachment is willing to come forward to make peace for you, how can we explain the relationship between you and me to the people of the 12th Independent Brigade? The dignified national army detachment actually wants to help the bandit arm to speak, what do you let the people of the 12th Brigade think of me, the detachment leader?! ”

Liu Wumei was choked and speechless for a while.

Wei Xin quickly heard the words of the detachment leader, and immediately said to his sister: "Unless you agree to be incorporated now, in this case, our detachment leader can tell the 12th Brigade that you are already subordinate to the Independent Brigade of the Xu Brigade Detachment, and the crimes committed in Maicun can be handed over to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army." In this way, there is no guarantee that the brothers you have been held in custody will return. ”

While talking, he also looked at his detachment leader from time to time.

Wu Zijian stood in place expressionlessly and nodded slowly.