Chapter Fifteen: The Militia System
A third-rate national army unit of over 2,000 people (the Security Brigade has two regiments under its jurisdiction, one of which has been wiped out, leaving only the brigade headquarters and one regiment. The security brigade is severely understaffed, and there are less than 3,000 police officers in the city.) guarding a town without city walls, wanting to resist the attack of tens of thousands of enemy troops (in order to put pressure on the defending army, Hu Weidong brought all men over 12 years old). From common sense, it is impossible, and with Long Fei Bao and others loudly proclaiming the strength of the "bandits" in the city, the commander of the Security Brigade immediately lost his will to resist. The militia regiment had not yet begun to attack the city, and the pistol team had not made a big move, but this guy had already sent someone out to negotiate...
The security brigade commander originally made a lot of demands, such as requiring the militia to let him and the remaining security team in the city leave without disarming them. Hu Weidong was worried that this was an attempt by the other side to test his strength, so he immediately refused and ordered the entire army to prepare for a strong attack on the county seat. Unexpectedly, seeing the "bandit army" attitude so tough, the security brigade commander completely collapsed, and without waiting for the militia to start attacking the city, he took more than a dozen confidants and escaped from the militia's encirclement at night...
The enemy's strength seemed to be much stronger than our side, but the boss abandoned everyone at this time. The White Army defending the city immediately lost its last bit of courage to resist. As a result, as soon as the militia team launched an attack, the defenders of the county seat surrendered one after another, and Hu Weidong almost completely received Xingguo County City, Pingjiang Town...
Although he thought he was already quite optimistic, the magnitude of the spoils in Yunjiang Town still surprised Hu Weidong. It turned out that Xingguo County was actually one of the important transit points for supplies for Chiang Kai-shek's 200,000-strong Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi "bandit-suppressing" army, and the richness of the stored materials almost made Hu Weidong laugh his head off.
Not counting the spoils of war in the past, the militia regiment alone received more than 3,000 rifles, more than 500 pistols, more than 180 submachine guns, more than 50 light and heavy machine guns, and more than 20 mortars in Yunjiang Town. As for ammunition, it was even more astonishing, with more than 5 million rounds of various bullets, more than 80,000 hand grenades, and more than 5,000 mortar shells. With the current strength of the militia regiment, they can use them for several years without any problem...
In addition, bayonets, steel helmets, canteens, wired telephones, wireless radios and other military (or dual-use) equipment were also seized. Among them was a high-power radio that could almost cover half of China, which could theoretically be in contact with the Central Red Army far away in Yunnan and Guizhou, but the problem was that Hu Weidong did not know the communication password, so he could only put it aside for now......
As for medicine, although Hu Weidong was not very familiar with some of the old varieties, just by looking at the quantity, he knew it was enough for his subordinates to be seriously injured seven or eight times.
In addition, the militia also captured a large amount of gold and silver treasures and living materials, including several million catties of grain, more than 80,000 catties of salt, and over 300,000 yuan. The militia, who were originally as poor as beggars, suddenly became rich overnight. It turned out that there were so many supplies stored in the county town, and the commander of the security brigade was probably not aware of it; otherwise, he would not have dared to abandon the city and escape. Thinking of Chiang Kai-shek's treatment of Han Fuqu, Hu Weidong couldn't help but feel a little sorry for that unfortunate guy who had let him gain an advantage...
After occupying the county town, other towns in Xingguo and villages around the county town also fell under the control of the militia team. The total population exceeded 100,000 people, providing a basis for further expansion of the militia team. In addition, more than 2,000 prisoners could be converted into over 1,000 people, and the militia team rescued some Red Army soldiers, party members, and revolutionary masses who had not been killed in the county town's prison. Their joining not only directly increased the strength of the militia team but also improved the average quality of the officers and men. Especially more than 100 wounded old Red Army soldiers, as long as they recovered from their injuries, could at least become company or battalion-level officers in the new army of the militia team. With them as the backbone, the combat effectiveness of the militia team would necessarily be raised to a higher level.
The military strength increased and the equipment was not lacking, Hu Weidong naturally had the idea of expanding the army again. However, considering that Xingguo County's young and strong men were already severely insufficient, Hu Weidong only dared to control the recruitment ratio of the standing army at around 1% of the total population, which is about 1,000 mobilized soldiers. Adding the converted prisoners of war and the old Red Army who came to join continuously, the total military strength had more than 3,000 people. According to the "三三制" principle, they were organized into a main force regiment, with the regiment headquarters directly commanding a heavy machine gun company (18 heavy machine guns), a mortar company (12 82mm mortars and 24 60mm mortars), a special warfare company "Toxic Fang" which was upgraded from the original pistol team, and an assault company "Wolf's Tooth" (company level) equipped with submachine guns or assault pistols. This made the militia regiment's firepower exceed almost all National Army units at the regimental level before the War of Resistance...
With this powerful armed force, Hu Weidong was confident that as long as the National Army sent to "suppress bandits" did not exceed one brigade, he could handle it. Moreover, in addition to a regular army regiment, Hu Weidong also established an even more formidable armed force - the militia. In order to enable the people to protect themselves when the main force jumped out of line to fight, and at least have the ability to deal with those beastly bandits and returned home teams, Hu Weidong imitated the militia system of New China in the 1960s and 1970s, requiring all residents between the ages of 12 and 65 who were physically healthy to participate in military training during their spare time from work and study. Especially farmers, because they had the opportunity to be idle, should make use of it even more. Before long, Xingguo County, with a population of just over one million, had more than 30,000 militia members, organized into a three-level system of "county battalion - district company - village squad", transforming from a loose sand into an unstoppable force.
As for the more than 5,000 core militia members, Hu Weidong attached even greater importance to them and even issued several thousand rifles to them. They were not only the backbone of the militia but also a direct source of personnel replenishment for the main force troops. Moreover, when necessary, Hu Weidong would also mobilize them to boost morale and create an unexpected surprise, just like this time when they took the county seat without firing a shot.
It is worth mentioning that with the gradual increase of Communist Party members and Youth League members in the army, the main force troops have achieved "branch building on company", and even in the basic militia, at least a league branch has been established. With Hu Weidong's support, they gradually possessed the ability to develop themselves. Relying on the great prestige brought by continuous victories, Hu Weidong no longer needed the "special commissioner" tiger skin as a banner. Everyone knew that Hu Weidong had not joined the organization at all, but his subordinates and the masses did not leave him because of this. On the contrary, they were more grateful to Hu Weidong, because he risked his life to save everyone without any obligation to help them.
