Chapter 47: Crazy Expansion (Part 2)

  "Does everyone have any other opinions on the reorganization of the troops? If you do, speak up!" Chen Feng said.

  After listening to Chen Feng's plan, the atmosphere in the entire conference room suddenly became high-spirited. It's no wonder these military officers were excited - their troops had just been formed for a short time, and they had all become political commissars at the division level after joining the army for only a short time. How could they not be thrilled?

  If placed in other troops, these people would at most be company-level officers, and many are even just new recruits, the gap is not ordinary.

  Chief of Staff Yang Yi said with a bit of worry: "Commander, we used to have only three infantry regiments and two cavalry regiments. Now we've expanded to fifteen regiments all at once, isn't that a bit too fast? Moreover, the National Government has only given us the establishment and numbering for four regiments. If we expand our forces so much at once, won't the higher-ups blame us?"

  "The pace of expansion is indeed a bit too big, but this is also forced by the situation. If we were still the old security regiment number, it wouldn't be a big deal, and the little devils wouldn't take us seriously. A small security regiment, even if they came to attack again, would at most send a brigade, and absolutely wouldn't dispatch an army-level unit to surround and annihilate us, because it would be too embarrassing for them. But now, after Chairman Mao and General Yan's big fuss, we've been put on the stove, and no matter how many troops we actually have, externally we're already considered an infantry division. The little devils suffered a huge loss in Tianzhen this time, and with their vengeful nature, next time they come to attack it will be earth-shattering. Who knows, maybe next time we'll face the Japanese army's complete field division! Can we not expand our forces?"

  "As for the Nanjing side being held accountable or not, it doesn't matter to us. We're fighting against the Japanese devils, not for that Chiang certain person. This army was raised by me, Chen Feng, and every penny spent is from my family's money, so what does it have to do with the National Government? Therefore, whether we expand our military or how much we expand it, I'm the one who decides. Besides, the matter of the Security Brigade is only known within our ranks and not publicly announced, so externally, we only have two brigades, and Nanjing won't have any opinions on that."

  "Commander, the troops have expanded so suddenly by such a large number, the equipment and rations needed are astronomical figures, can our logistics keep up?" Li Wensheng asked.

  "We are not short of weapons and equipment, even if the Nanjing and Taiyuan sides' promised supplies have not been fulfilled for the time being. Our stockpiled weapons and equipment, as well as those captured from the Japanese army, are enough to arm an entire division. Moreover, our ordnance factory has now entered a regular production phase, and rifles and ammunition can basically be self-sufficient. The only shortage is in artillery, especially large-caliber artillery. Food and pay are temporarily sufficient, but manpower is a problem. Xinghe is just so big, even if we add the two counties of Jining and Fengzhen, it's impossible to recruit so many soldiers in a short period of time. In addition, there is also a huge shortage of officers and doctors." Chen Feng said.

  "Commander, according to your expansion plan, our 222nd Division will have nearly 45,000 people in total. However, we currently only have around 12,000 people, not counting the wounded. The shortage is indeed significant. But didn't the security regiments from Jining, Shangdu and Fengzhen originally belong to us? These two security regiments should be able to merge into one infantry regiment. Moreover, didn't General Yan promise to give us eight new recruit companies, which would add up to over 1,000 people? So, the shortage of troops should be around 30,000 people." Yang Yi said.

  "It's far from just 30,000 people. Apart from the troops needing personnel, our ordnance factories, uniform factories, steel mills and mines all need people. Due to a lack of people and raw materials, our steel mill can only reach one-tenth of its designed production capacity, and our ordnance factory cannot produce at full capacity either. So we need at least 50,000 people, 30,000 troops and 20,000 workers." Chen Feng said with furrowed eyebrows.

  "Sir, I've collected some information about Fenzhou, Jining and Shangdu over the past few days. Among these three counties, Jining is relatively better off, with the Pingui Railway passing through it, and a population of around 2.5 million. Fenzhou and Shangdu are similar to Xinghe in terms of poverty, with people even dying from starvation two years ago. The combined population of these two counties is less than 2 million, which means that our jurisdiction has a total population of less than 5 million. It's impossible to mobilize 500,000 able-bodied laborers. If we forcibly recruit soldiers, on the one hand, it will provoke resistance from the people, and on the other hand, there will be no one to cultivate the land in our jurisdiction, and the army's grain supply will also fall into difficulties."

  "The shortage of 50,000 people doesn't necessarily have to be young men, young women can also work, for example in textile mills and ammunition factories. These places are most suitable for women to work in. Textile mills don't need to be mentioned, operating sewing machines is a woman's specialty. Ammunition factories have most of their work done by machines, both men and women can handle it. Moreover, we don't necessarily have to recruit soldiers within our own territory. This world is chaotic, chaos produces refugees, what are refugees? Refugees are people who can't make a living, these people are the easiest to be absorbed into the army. Some of the officers present were once refugees themselves, so we can't just limit our vision to our own little corner." Chen Feng said.

  "What the master said makes sense, from July onwards, refugees have been fleeing to our place one after another, and in recent months, there are even more people. Just last month alone, nearly 8,000 or 9,000 refugees fled to our place." Yang Yi said.

  "Alright, let me tell you about your next task. The 222nd Regiment will immediately move to defend Fengzhen, the 223rd Regiment will move to defend Jining, and the Guard Regiment will send one battalion to garrison Shangdu County. Your next task is to recruit soldiers and expand your strength. Within a month, I want to see three fully-equipped and manned infantry regiments, not just empty shells. As for where you go to recruit and how you do it, I don't care. But there's one thing you need to pay attention to: you can't conscript strong young men. Anyone who disobeys orders will be dismissed on the spot."

  "Besides, the little devils won't give us much time, at most half a month will have major action, your speed must be fast, equipment rations and all logistical guarantees I'll take care of, you just rack your brains to recruit people for this commander, do you all understand?" Chen Feng asked loudly.

  "Understood!" The officers replied in unison.

  After the meeting, Chen Feng took Yelena with Xu Hu to the Daqing Mountain base. At this time, the Daqing Mountain base had undergone earth-shaking changes compared to half a year ago. From the foot of the mountain, there were sentry posts everywhere, and at the entrance of the mountain, Chen Feng also found a large number of semi-underground concrete bunkers.

  The mountain road is still the same as before, with only one path, but this mountain road has been forcibly widened to about three meters, and the road surface is still not bad, although it's still impossible for cars to drive on it, horse-drawn carriages can now pass through.

  There are many wooden houses built on the mountain, densely packed and countless. In addition, there are also many giant caves on the mountain, bustling with people coming and going.

  "Houzi, how many people are there on the mountain now?" Chen Feng asked with a concentrated expression.

  Xu Hu thought for a moment and said: "Now there are more than 3,600 troops on the mountain, more than 6,000 workers, and more than 500 people in the field hospital, totaling over 10,000."

  "Is the house big enough to live in?"

  "Not enough, there are now five zones on the mountain: steel mills, mining areas, munitions factories, gunpowder factories, field hospitals and warehouses. Except for the field hospital which has fixed wooden houses, the rest are living in caves. Smaller caves house twenty or thirty people, larger ones house one or two hundred people. Each worker has a plank bed and a set of bedding, conditions are very harsh." Xu Hu replied.

  "Where are those Jews?" Chen Feng suddenly thought of the eight or nine hundred Jews sent by Delixi.

  "The master ordered to entertain those foreigners well, so they were concentrated in the wooden houses near the steel mill. Those without family lived four people in one room, and those with wives and children had a separate house for each family. In addition, each of the old men had a separate house."

  Chen Feng knew that the old man Xu Hu mentioned referred to those experts and professors, all of whom were high-level talents. As soon as they went up the mountain, Chen Feng reminded Xu Hu to take good care of these people and use only the best things.

  The conditions on the mountain were harsh, and all troops lived in tents, including Xu Hu, the old leader of the mountain garrison. After arriving at the military camp, Chen Feng asked Xu Hu to immediately notify the persons in charge of each factory and his own family's elderly to hold a meeting in the barracks.

  Half an hour later, all the people in charge of each factory had arrived, including those experts appointed by Chen Feng. The small tent was packed with people.

  The people in charge of these factories were partly appointed by Chen Feng, such as the director of the munitions factory Nan Gong, the director of the steel mill Xue Zhiping, and the director of the field hospital Hu Jishi. These people Chen Feng knew. However, there was also a part that was appointed by his own father after he went to the mountain, this part of the people Chen Feng was not very familiar with.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, today I have gathered everyone here to share three things. First, I would like to announce some good news: our security team has achieved brilliant results in the initial trial of their prowess. In the battle of Tianzhen, we annihilated over 14,000 Japanese puppet troops, completely wiping out a Japanese infantry regiment and two battalions. We also killed the commander of the Japanese Independent Mixed First Brigade, Lieutenant General Sakai Tōji. The outcome was glorious. As a result, the National Government has issued a commendation order, upgrading our security team to the 222nd Independent Division of the National Revolutionary Army, and I have been promoted to Major General and division commander. Our troops' achievements would not have been possible without the bloody battles fought by our soldiers on the front lines, nor without the quiet efforts of you heroes working behind the scenes. Therefore, as a special reward, I am granting 30,000 yuan to the workers and leaders at the base."

  As soon as Chen Feng's voice fell, the conference room erupted in warm applause. The troops had won a great victory, and everyone was very happy, especially since Chen Feng said that they had contributed to it. Moreover, there were only over 10,000 people in the base, excluding those who were soldiers, and the actual workers were only over 6,000 people. Three million dollars averaged out to $5 per person, which was almost equivalent to half a year's salary for them.