Rise From Eight Hundred Chapter 803

Chapter 803 Prodigal Consumption!

January 27, 1938!

The group of four arrived at a small town on the outskirts of Zhengzhou.

Gong Shaoxun led the first cavalry company to Zhengzhou two days in advance to negotiate with the Zhengzhou City Defense Headquarters.

Even though Henan Province seems to be stable at present, the First Theater Zone, which was reorganized just half a month ago and is responsible for defending the expansion area along the Ping-Han Line, is actually more turbulent than the Fifth Theater Zone, which has begun fighting the Japanese army.

In order to complete the strategy of opening up the Jinpu Road, and then move west along the Longhai Line, cut off the Pinghan Line, and occupy Jiangxia, the Japanese army in North China not only invested heavily in Xuzhou to cooperate with the central China dispatched troops to launch a north-south pincer attack on Xuzhou, but also in the defense of the first theater The area also began to attack frequently, and it was possible to break through the defense line on the Yellow River in Henan Province.

The entire first theater of war was also highly tense. Although the Four Troops were not heavily armed, they were still a long line of packhorses and carts. From a distance, they looked like thousands of people. If they did not say hello in advance, all the troops in the first theater of war would It would be strange if the generals were not angry.

The military order stamped with the seal of the 43rd Army Headquarters and the pass issued by the Fifth Theater Command were still somewhat effective. Coupled with the blessing of the 200-yang New Year gift brought by Gong Shaoxun, Gong Shaoxun and his party did not sit at the Zhengzhou City Defense Headquarters for long. He quickly approved the location that the Four Elements Group wanted to stay in these days.

As soon as the entire group of four groups arrived, the whole town was decorated with lanterns and colorful lights and lined with people to welcome them.

This is not to say that this quiet town that has not yet been invaded by the Japanese army has many supporters of the army. The people of Henan Province are very simple but also very practical.

In fact, the Military Supplies Department of the Fourth Army Regiment, which was the first to arrive in the town, was full of rich people. After arriving, they posted a notice to purchase a large amount of rice, noodles, chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, eggs, vegetables and other living supplies. The purchase prices were compared with the current The market price increased by 10%.

Chief of Staff Zhuang, who was in charge of the logistics department of the Si Xing Regiment, was almost heartbroken!

At several regiment meetings, he almost blushed and scolded Commander Tang for spending money like a prodigal! But Tang Dao used the veto power of the supreme chief to resolutely implement his decision.

　Just buying some things is not enough, there are still many needs for the Four Lines Group!

This made the farmers around the town very happy.

The whole province of Yu is basically a plain, and it is the center of China. As long as the weather is good, it is definitely qualified to become one of China's granaries. Otherwise, there will be no saying that the one who conquers the Central Plains will conquer the world.

In wars throughout the ages, Yu Province has been the must-take place from the north to the plains of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Although war broke out in North China and East China in 1937, the Henan Province that had not yet been affected had a great grain harvest. This was also the last opportunity for the people of Henan Province to recuperate since the nearly complete grain harvest caused by the terrible Jianghuai flood in 1931. .

Ever since he set foot on the land of Henan Province, Tang Dao's heart may not have been completely peaceful, because he, who is familiar with history, knows very well that if the most brutal killings by the Japanese army during the Anti-Japanese War were in Jiangnan, the people in Jiangnan were suffering, but compared to natural disasters The people of Henan Province, who have suffered all kinds of man-made disasters, are really not the ones suffering the most.

The suffering of the people in Henan Province actually started six years ago and will reach its peak three years later. It is definitely the most unbearable scene in Chinese history.

Four months later, in June 1938, the Japanese army came to Zhengzhou with a torrent of steel and was about to advance into Jiangxia, hundreds of kilometers away. The Yellow River burst its banks.

Only this time, it's not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster!

The Huayuankou levee was blasted under the order of that person, and the rolling floods engulfed more than 40 counties in Henan Province. The Japanese tanks and artillery were stuck in the mud and marched slowly, but this was the result of the destruction of large tracts of farmland and the death of 800,000 people.

The people of Henan Province, who had just escaped from the last disaster, fell to the bottom again.

But for the people of Henan Province at this time, just like the capital market in the future, when you think it is the bottom, no, there is a basement below the valley, and there is **** below the basement.

Three years later, the Anti-Japanese War had entered a white-hot stage. In order for the soldiers fighting on the front line to have sufficient supplies of military rations, the principal made another stupid move and forcibly requisitioned food.

According to statistics, in that year alone, the authorities collected 340 million catties of wheat, not including other crops.

This has once again increased the burden on the people, and the people in Henan Province cannot afford a cent of food.

And this is just the real beginning of that catastrophe.

In the spring of the second year after the military rations were imposed, Henan Province suffered an unprecedented severe drought. This drought lasted for half a year, and sometimes it did not rain for a month.

Even so, the military representative stationed in Henan Province at the time still chose to carry out the order and forcefully requisition food. Even though many local officials had knelt before him, he still could not change his decision.

And the commander of the Tang Army stationed in Henan Province has transformed into the commander of Tang. Not only did he forcefully requisition food with the support of military representatives, he also took away many young and strong laborers for forced labor on the grounds of the tense war.

It can be said that what the people of Yu Province encountered at this time were natural and man-made disasters, caused by their own people.

However, the people in Yu Province are used to hardship, so they thought it would be better to wait for the food to be harvested. It was finally July, but the fields were still less than 20% of the usual crop. Before the people of Henan Province could be happy, the locusts came again.

The overwhelming locusts swept across the entire Henan Province and ate up all the food that was scarce.

The new grain that they had been waiting for for half a year was gone, and the original grain reserves had been collected long ago. This completely cut off people's hope of survival.

An unprecedented mass exodus officially began in July of the fifth year after the war began.

At the beginning, people may have been more restrained. After all, we are all neighbors, and we don't see each other when we look up or when we look down.

But when people are hungry to a certain extent, they still care about benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom and trust, and they still care about propriety, justice and integrity, and various riots occur one after another.

The darkest hour has arrived.

When I see the package, I want to grab it. Even though I know that there is no possibility of food, I still want to see it with my own eyes.

But gradually, people came to their senses. All the food was taken away by the army, and no one had any food in the hands of the people.

But if they were allowed to rob the army with their bare hands, they would not be able to do it.

As a result, people began to think of ways to save themselves.

The first method that comes to mind is to eat wild vegetables and dig grass roots.

At first, people only searched around the village, but gradually, they found that these could no longer satisfy the needs of the whole village, so they had to flee.

However, under successive years of drought, how can we supply tens of millions of people in Henan Province, no matter how many wild vegetables and grass roots there are.

There is no other way, people turn their attention to the trees along the way.

At the beginning, people were only eating leaves, but I don't know when it was spread that someone discovered that tree bark could also be eaten, and everyone began to nibble on tree bark.

Although this did allow some people to survive successfully, it should be noted that not all bark can be eaten.

Some barks are not easy to digest after being eaten, and accumulation in the stomach can easily cause blockage. Many people starve to death in this way.

It's just that the extremely hungry people could no longer care about so many trees and swarmed them when they saw the trees.

They gnawed wherever they fled, and the trees along the way were stripped of their bark.

But soon, people found that even the trees were not enough to eat.

At this time, the so-called "Guanyin soil" appears.

This is a kind of white clay. Because it is fine, it will not scratch the stomach after being eaten.

After hearing the news, many people searched for it like crazy. When they got home, they steamed it with wild vegetables. After eating it, their stomachs felt warm and full. But this kind of soil has a characteristic, which is that it solidifies when it encounters water.

As a result, all the Guanyin soil accumulates in the intestines and stomach and cannot be removed.

It may not have any effect in a short period of time, but eating too much will cause the abdomen to become hard and bloated to death.

However, natural disasters are not fatal, the most deadly thing is the human heart.

The person who was the chairman of Henan Province at the time was a close confidant of the principal. For the sake of his official position, he even concealed the disaster in his report to the country. He even said that the Henan Province had a good harvest and there was a lot of surplus grain.

Where is there any surplus food? Even if there is, it is in the hands of these officials.

At the end of the autumn of that year, Guo Zhonghuai, a member of the National People's Government, saw disaster victims everywhere on his way to the mountain city. Many people sold their children and daughters just to get a bite of food. Tears flowed from his eyes. At the National People's Political Consultative Conference in October of that year, he spoke righteously and for The people of Henan Province petitioned for help, and the whole country learned that the disaster in Henan Province was serious.

But before the so-called disaster relief funds were allocated, 3 million people in Henan Province had already starved to death. That is definitely a frightening astronomical figure.

We need to know the population of the entire Henan Province. During the entire Anti-Japanese War, the recorded casualties on the frontline battlefields were only more than 3 million. However, in Henan Province, 800,000 people died in a flood and 3 million people died in a famine.

Tang Dao came to the north, why did he go around central Henan? He actually had a purpose. He wanted to meet a very important person. He hoped that he could do something within his ability for Henan Province, which will suffer a lot in the future. Even if it is still Being crushed by the rut of history, Tang Dao must give it a try.

When arriving in this small town, the Si Xing Group could not do more. They could only purchase a wave of supplies and exchange the food that local villagers could not take away with them in four months into easy-to-carry oceans.

Of course the farmers around the town are happy. There is plenty of food, and they don't feel panic if they can buy it now. What's more, the market price in Zhengzhou is 10% higher.

An unknown amount of white flour and the materials needed by the Si Xing Regiment were gathered in the town. The Military Supplies Department purchased 50,000 kilograms of white flour alone. Including chickens, ducks, fish and meat, the Si Xing Regiment paid out nearly 10,000 yuan.

Not only the farmers around the town benefited, but the residents of the town also received notice that the Four Banks needed 300 private houses for living and wanted to purchase 16,000 pairs of cotton shoes, with the unit price of each pair of shoes being 0.25 oceans.

Although the rental period is short, only four days, the rent for a room is an ocean. The price of a single pair of cotton shoes is more than double the price of daily cotton shoes, and the order is huge. Just based on the price in the small town, It is difficult for women to do this.

The mayor wisely spread the news to the outside world, hoping to help the local tycoon army assemble such a huge order of cotton shoes within four days.

As for houses, small town residents are completely able to digest them on their own.

The town is not that big, with less than 2,000 people. More than 300 families can basically get one room each. It means that a group of four people stayed in the town for four days and gave each family a piece of gold to celebrate the New Year. This is a big deal. Good thing.

Furthermore, the Military Supplies Department of the Sixth Army came with Xian Da Yang, and the supplies sent by the villagers were settled in cash on the spot. Faced with this kind of local tycoon-level army, why don't the mayor and town residents welcome them with both hands and feet?

In order to make it easier for the Four Elements Group to stay, the mayor of the town also specifically suggested that the entire family move out and stay with other families for a few days. The whole house will be reserved for the Four Elements Group, and the rent will be borne by the tenants and the renters. Evenly divided.

This is naturally what the Four Elements Group wishes for.

A house and cotton shoes are actually what the Four Elements Group needs most at the moment.

The most expensive thing when marching in the Four Lines Regiment is shoes, especially since there are a large number of Sichuan troops in the Four Lines Regiment. When they were incorporated into the Four Lines Regiment, they were all still wearing straw sandals in the cold winter months.

It wasn't that more than 2,000 Japanese troops were wiped out in the battle of Laojinkeng, and the cowhide shoes worn by the Japanese troops were stripped clean, the dress of the Si Xing Regiment was actually no different from that of beggars.

But there were only about 2,000 pairs, most of which were distributed to soldiers with outstanding performance, and a small amount was stored as military supplies.

To be honest, the Japanese cowhide shoes seem to be warm, durable and stab-proof, but they are okay on the battlefield. They are extremely heavy when marching. If it rains and gets muddy, they are not as good as straw sandals and cloth shoes. .

　　Many soldiers carry this thing in their backpacks, waiting to wear it on the battlefield. They still wear their own tattered cloth shoes and straw sandals when marching, even if they are very cold to the feet.

It was only when Tang Dao arrived in Xuzhou that he reluctantly provided two pairs of cotton shoes for each member of the regiment. However, many people were still reluctant to wear them. They wore their own straw sandals during the march, and the cold in the winter caused their feet to crack. Every hole.

It was really distressing to see. As a last resort, Tang Dao even issued a military order that everyone must wear cotton shoes and march.

But after long-distance marches and heavy loads, these shoes were really unbearable. A new pair of shoes would break down within a week. As a last resort, many people tied the soles and uppers of their shoes layer by layer with straw ropes.

From a distance it looks both funny and sad at the same time!

So, these shoes must be bought, and bought in large quantities. The feet of soldiers are the most important items in battle and must be protected.

As for a house, that is what the Four Elements Group is currently in great need of. The purpose is not to sleep in a house during the Chinese New Year, but for personal hygiene.

There are nearly 3,000 people in the Four Lines Group. They have been living in the open air for three consecutive months. Some of them who like to be clean even find time to take a shower, but what do most rough guys think? Although it was winter, some people had that smell. Tang Dao once went to the company to check, and on a whim, he had dinner with the soldiers in the infantry company.

Have you never seen anything like Tang Dao? What have you never smelled? The smell of sewers, the smell of decaying organisms, the smell of blood on the battlefield, the choking smell of gunpowder smoke

But Tang Dao was still suffocated by the body odor of his soldiers that could be called a meaningful sauce type. Really, if you cover your nose or hold your breath for an ordinary odor, it would not be the same. It's over.

But the odor factor after months of 'cellaring' and then 'fermentation' not only flushed the nose on the spot, but could still be attached to Tang Dao's body even if he left, not to mention Tang Dao's hammer that ran away after returning to the regiment headquarters. With a look of disgust on her face, even Tantai Mingyue sniffed involuntarily with a weird look on her face.

The soldiers around that guy have long been accustomed to it. Maybe it's not just that they can't smell the smell of abalone after being in the abalone house for a long time. It's that everyone is pretty much the same. Someone who hasn't bathed in a month has no right to laugh at him for two months. three months.

There are also those lice that can be seen jumping up and down on the soldiers' beards and hair, but the soldiers have long been accustomed to it. If they catch it, they can just crush it to death. Some people even like to listen to the "squeaking" sound. And euphemistically called it kabeng crisp.

Such a guy went to the north just to embarrass our members of the Fourth Group!

Tang Dao learned from the pain and issued a military order, requiring the entire regiment to pay attention to personal hygiene. The current conditions are not good, let alone take a bath once a week! You must also wash your face once every two weeks. You must wash your face and brush your teeth once a day unless it is time for war. .

The military orders of the commander of the Tang Dynasty usually go smoothly, but this military order is somewhat difficult to implement. In fact, the current conditions do not allow it at all.

The weather is in the coldest winter, and Henan Province is extremely close to the northern provinces. At night, the temperature drops to below zero, and the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army Regiment marching in the field have to cling to the bonfire and fall asleep in the leeward. Taking a bath at this time is important for everyone. Tuan was suffering from typhoid fever, and even a clean-minded woman like Tantai Mingyue objected.

Dirt on your body won't kill you, but typhoid fever can really kill you. Her medical team doesn't have that many medicines to treat typhoid fever!

It would be great if there was penicillin in this very good product! Whether it's a wound infection or a cold, one shot will be effective, especially for people who have never used antibiotics in this era. At that moment, Tang Dao had never been so eager for this lowest-grade penicillin, for the long-lasting and strong sauce-like body odor of the soldiers who had not bathed for three months.

But Tang Dao knew that although penicillin had been discovered 10 years ago, it took two years for a breakthrough, and clinical application had to wait another year.

However, Tang Dao has been busy fighting some time ago and has no time to work on this precious thing. When he arrives at the destination, Tang Dao will have a lot of time to work on this.

It's not that those who can't handle penicillin are not good time travellers, but this baby is definitely an epoch-making drug. Since the emergence of penicillin, the mortality rate caused by wound infection has dropped by a full 90%.

And how valuable would this thing be if it were built? Tang Dao remembered a document that recorded that even after World War II, in China, a shot of penicillin was worth one or two gold.

That means that if penicillin is developed, it will be like opening a gold mine. If it is given to those Westerners who are still in the research and development stage, let alone machine guns and cannons, aircraft carriers can be exchanged for you if you want.

This is the first business that Tang Dao came up with while on the road. The only difficulty is that although the principle of penicillin is simple, it is extremely difficult to purify, especially given the limitations of the technological level of this era.

However, there are always more solutions than difficulties. Tang Dao doesn't believe that he, a man from the future, can't lead a group of technology giants to come up with this. He knows that those talented people have studied chemistry and medicine.

In the wilderness, if you can't take a bath or practice personal hygiene to avoid injury, you can always rent a house!

Tang Dao ordered that each infantry squad be divided into one room, and a large amount of boiling water should be boiled. They would take turns to go into the room to take a bath. The military uniforms they wore should also be boiled and washed in boiling water, and all of them should be put on new military uniforms.

Furthermore, everyone must shave their hair short before the Chinese New Year, and either have a buzz cut or baldness!

When the troops of the Fourth Army arrived, the town was not only decorated with lights and colorful decorations, but the residents of the town lined the streets to welcome the officers and soldiers with their heads held high. The most excited ones were the barbers who had heard about it from Zhengzhou City.

After all, more than 2,000 heads need to be cut and shaved!

Ten heads are cut off for one yuan, and you can go to the Military Supplies Office of the Fourth Army Regiment to get the money according to the signature of the officers and soldiers!

Every head is shining with golden light!

(End of this chapter)

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