Chapter 54: Kill the Chicken to Warn the Monkey

  Provisions are the greatest of all logistical problems in an army, and the larger the army the more serious this problem becomes.

  "After the "Divine Eagle" captured Quzhou, they seized 20,000 kilograms of grain from the Japanese devils and distributed nearly half to the surrounding civilians. The remaining half was used for recruiting soldiers. However, more than 10,000 kilograms of grain were not enough, no matter what. Especially after incorporating over a thousand security troops, the food problem became imminent."

  Collecting grain from the common people? Are you kidding me? It's spring now, where do the common people have extra grain to spare? Unless it's a big landlord, even small landlords are struggling.

  The largest landlord in Quanjiao County is Zhang Wei Qing, and it's not an exaggeration to say that his family has a wealth of tens of thousands of taels of silver and granaries full of grain. However, this Landlord Zhang is a stubborn and unyielding man who relies on the fact that he has relatives working in the National Government, so no one dares to cross him. No one can get even half a grain of food from his hands.

  Moreover, Li Xiangtao and others who were responsible for going to various towns to carry out rent reduction work came back to report that the rent reduction work was progressing very slowly. The reason was that Zhang Weiqing simply did not cooperate. When he was in a good mood, he would explain a few sentences, saying that paying rent for farming land was a matter of course, why should it be reduced? If the rent is reduced, his whole family will have to go hungry and so on.

  The rest of the landlords, upon hearing that Zhang Weiqing was being taken advantage of, also pretended to be deaf and dumb, dragging out the reduction of rent and interest as long as possible, and if they couldn't drag it out any longer, they would just renege on their promises. As long as Zhang Weiqing didn't give in, the other landlords were happy to watch from the sidelines.

  Chen Jifan personally went to the county to find Wang Jicai, the newly appointed director of the Mobilization Committee, wanting to get a clear understanding of what was going on from his mouth. As fellow landlords, why is there such a big difference in how they treat people?

  Wang Jicai was also at a loss, the task of collecting one million catties of grain for the troops had not even reached one thousand catties, and he couldn't save face.

  "Director Chen," Wang Jicai habitually addressed Chen Jifan in this manner, "I am incompetent and feel ashamed of your recommendation."

  "What did Mr. Wang say? I'm not here to ask for punishment today." Chen Jifan hastily said with courtesy.

  "Director Chen, you also know that now in this chaotic world, ordinary civilians don't have any extra grain. Only households like mine might have some stored away. But no matter how hard we try, they just won't give up even a single grain." Wang Jicai said with a helpless shake of his head.

  "I heard that now your biggest obstacle at work comes from Zhang Weiqing, I wonder if Mr. Wang has a way to persuade him?"

  Wang Jicai smiled bitterly and said: "I don't have much of a relationship with him, besides even if we did, when it comes to issues involving interests, sentiment can't be considered."

  "Mr. Wang, our previous working method had a problem."

  "Oh?" Wang Jicai was suddenly attracted.

  "For a citizen of the Republic of China, supporting anti-Japanese efforts is not an optional duty, but a real responsibility! I don't care about other places, but in Quzhou, whether or not to support anti-Japanese efforts cannot be left to individual conscience, it must be enforced by the county government through a series of regulations requiring large households to comply." Chen Jifan said coldly.

  Wang Jicai thought to himself, "If the things issued by the Dynamic Committee are useful to them, would I still be frowning and worrying here?" He continued to say anxiously: "Zhang Weiqing has someone backing him up, and his family also has a lot of servants and guards, if he refuses to accept our rules, there's nothing we can do."

  "Don't worry about this, there are troops here, no one can turn the sky upside down," Chen Jifang continued to say. "Mr. Wang, please draft a regulation in the name of the Quanjiao County Anti-Japanese Mobilization Committee immediately. The name is 'National Government Anhui Province Enemy Rear Resistance and National Salvation Regulations'. Write down rent reduction, interest reduction, military grain donation and so on. Of course, if it's not implemented, we can add treason or suspected enemy collaboration in the regulations. I'll take care of the rest."

  After returning from Wang Jicai, Chen Jifan found Zhong Dingcheng to discuss this matter. Zhong Dingcheng was very interested in the idea put forward by the team leader, and said: "Yes! The troops are fighting according to law, and the landlords are also paying grain taxes according to law. Hmm, from now on, the logistics support of the troops will no longer be like water without a source, good idea."

  The two men decided to withdraw personnel from their troops to form a law enforcement team responsible for enforcing the "Regulations on Anti-Japanese Resistance in Enemy-Occupied Areas".

  After several revisions, a legal document for the implementation of anti-war in enemy-occupied areas was born in Chinese history. The "Anti-Japanese National Salvation Regulations" listed the responsibilities that the government and citizens should undertake respectively in resisting foreign invasion, as well as the penalties that must be imposed for failing to implement the provisions of this regulation.

  However, after the promulgation of this regulation, it did not cause much reaction. Chen Jifang again transferred Li Xiangtao and others who were good at propaganda to Quzhou to be responsible for publicizing and promoting this regulation to the whole society.

  Zhang Wei Qing, as a local rural gentry, naturally could not help but see the commotion in the county town. Although he had a residence in the county town, he mainly still lived in the countryside, where his ancestral property was located.

  When he heard that the Dongwei Committee had issued the "Regulations for Anti-Japanese National Salvation in Enemy-Occupied Areas", he didn't take it seriously. In these times, everything is fake, only visible and tangible money and food are real.

  The Executive Committee then formulated supplementary provisions according to the Regulations, stipulating that all citizens within the Quzhou area must donate a certain amount of anti-Japanese donations based on their land and property. Those who failed to do so after the deadline would be held accountable for violating the law. This provision had the greatest impact on merchants and landlords, causing panic throughout Quzhou at the time.

  Within the specified time, merchants in the county seat donated a certain amount of silver one after another. The preparatory committee regularly announced the names and numbers of donors according to Chen Jifang's suggestion and publicly displayed the use of these funds throughout the county seat. However, not a single landlord made a donation, and everyone was waiting to see what would happen.

  Chen Jifang decided to take Zhang Weiqing down after hearing the report from the Dynamic Committee, killing a chicken to scare the monkeys.

  The law enforcement team, formed by order, was composed of backbone members from the "Divine Eagle" Independent Regiment. After its formation, Chen Jifan also provided them with specialized business training. The combat effectiveness of the law enforcement team was naturally not something that the house guards of the landlord's family could handle, and soon the law enforcement team surrounded Zhang Weiqing's mansion under Chen Jifan's leadership.

  "Master, master, something terrible has happened! The National Army has surrounded the house!" The steward reported to Zhang Weiqing in a panic.

  "What?" Zhang Weiqing was so shocked that he knocked over his tea bowl. Since the establishment of the Republic, no government troops had ever surrounded his house.

  But Zhang Wei Qing quickly regained his composure, guessing that the other party just wanted to scare him.

  "What's the panic? Go! Open the door!" Zhang shouted in a clear and stern voice.

  After the door opened, Zhang Weiqing still came to greet at the gate, after all, the other party was from the county and was armed.

  "Sir, what's the meaning of this? My family has been law-abiding for generations, why are you surrounding our house with soldiers?" Zhang Wei Qing's tone was softer, but his voice still betrayed a hint of resentment.

  The team leader, Li Xiangtao, took out a piece of paper and read aloud: "Investigation into Zhang Weiqing, a local gentry in Quzhou County, who is suspected of hoarding strategic materials during the national crisis and maliciously resisting the 'Regulations for Resisting Japan and Saving the Country'. According to the National Government's 'Quzhou Anti-Japanese Resistance Regulations', Zhang Weiqing is hereby punished as follows: 1. Immediately make up for the unpaid taxes and donations stipulated in the regulations; 2. Administrative detention for seven days and a fine of 1000 yuan; 3. If similar incidents occur again, it will be considered malicious resistance to the National Government and sabotage of the war effort, and severe punishment will be imposed. This punishment takes effect from the date of announcement."

  Zhang was completely stunned after hearing the verdict, he didn't expect that the motion committee had the "Eagle" independent team backing them up, and they actually dared to go against him. However, he was an old hand after all, and had seen it all before, as long as these people were still flying the National Government flag, they wouldn't dare do anything to him.

  "This is outright extortion! The Zhang family has always been law-abiding and paid all the taxes we should, not a single penny or grain of rice short. Now you're making up excuses to seize my property in broad daylight and even detain me? This is truly brazen and outrageous. Don't you fear that I will report your arbitrary and oppressive behavior towards the common people?"

  The four words "fish meat ordinary people" actually came out of a big landlord's mouth, Chen Jifan felt a burst of laughter. Li Xiangtao didn't listen to this set at all, he just coldly said: "We are just following orders, please don't interfere with our execution of official duties, take him away!"

  Zhang Wei Qing's family guards behind the house saw that they were really fighting and didn't care if they could win or not, they all pulled out their guns and pretended to be desperate.

  Li Xiangtao said to Zhang Weiqing: "According to the 'Regulations for Anti-Japanese Resistance in Enemy-Occupied Areas', you should pay 12,000 yuan to the Quanjiao County Anti-Japanese Mobilization Committee, plus a fine of 1,000 yuan and 8,000 catties of grain. The deadline is tomorrow; if not, you will be detained for a longer period or even charged with suspicion of collaborating with the enemy!"

  The law enforcement team immediately surrounded the household guards, and the law enforcement team was all battle-hardened veterans who had fought against the devils. From their temperament, they were superior to the household guards, who became timid in a short while and put down their weapons one after another.

  Dealing with Zhang Weiqing, Chen Jifan didn't plan to lecture him on grand principles from the start. If they really got entangled with these people, each and every one of them would be a handful, and it would take two or three months to make things clear. First, use iron-blooded tactics to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, then talk.

  The detention room had been cleaned up and was still quite clean. Chen Jifan's intention was not to let him go to the big prison, but to make him understand that the style of the dynamic committee could not be easily fooled.

  After Zhang Weiqing was brought in, Chen Jifan immediately ordered the Dynamic Delegation and the Law Enforcement Team to post a notice of handling Zhang Weiqing throughout the county. For a time, the streets and alleys were filled with heated discussions. Some timid landlords saw that even someone as prominent as Zhang Dasanren had been taken away, who dared to wait any longer?

  In the following days, everyone made an appointment as promised and came to the Dongwei Committee to pay off their owed donations.

  "Divine Eagle" Independent Brigade Headquarters.

  Li Xiangtao was expressing his inner confusion to Chen Jifang: "Captain, in extraordinary times I can understand what the troops have done to these landlords, but personally I have my own views on this matter."

  "Go on!" Chen Jifan hinted.

  Seeing the team leader without any discomfort, Li Xiangtao's courage grew, and he said: "We think Zhang Weiqing's approach is not open and honest enough, a bit like bandits holding hostages for ransom. The difference is that we have established a 'Regulations' as a basis, but this 'Regulations' can be denied by others, after all, it was not issued by the National Government."

  "So what should you do?"

  "In my opinion, in dealing with such stubborn and unrepentant big landlords who disregard the interests of the country and nation, we should mobilize the masses to struggle against them, and do it with reason and advantage."

  "Mobilize the masses? Which masses to mobilize? How to struggle against him? Based on which law to struggle against him? What is the purpose of the struggle?" Chen Jifang asked a string of questions, after all, he came from the 21st century and still had some basic legal concepts.

  Seeing Li Xiangtao not speaking, Chen Jifan then opened the way: "Indeed, Zhang Weiqing's wealth today is inseparable from the labor of exploiting tenants. However, we cannot simply rob the rich to help the poor because of this. As a resource input, land has the qualifications to participate in the distribution of labor results. What we need to do is to establish laws and regulations, such as setting upper limits for land rent and interest rates. Exceeding these limits will be considered illegal and not only will they not be protected but also be forcibly abolished. Any other person cannot deprive others of their property without a verdict, and the behavior of encouraging everyone to divide up other people's property is not rational. The result can only be to intensify contradictions, which is not conducive to the overall national war effort."

  Li Xiangtao was originally an excellent student in the law department of Wuhan University, and he could understand what Chen Jifan said, but he couldn't figure out how a military officer like the team leader could understand so much. These principles were the essence of Western rule-of-law society.

  "Alright," Chen Jifa didn't plan to discuss these things with him anymore, as there were many other matters waiting for his attention. "Currently, the main contradiction within our country is between the Chinese nation and Japanese invaders; all work should center around this. Later, when we have time, we can explore further. You are a young man with your own views, and I appreciate that."

  He was naturally delighted to be appreciated by the versatile team leader Li Xiangtao, and after taking his leave, he went to do his own work with great enthusiasm.

  The day when "Divine Eagle" will fight against Japanese army again is not far away.