NCCnovel Chapter 181 The Great Famine
Chapter 181 The Great Famine
The teaching of various colleges of Pingshun National Defense University is being accelerated, especially the Artillery College, which is striving to complete its courses ahead of schedule and provide talents to various units.
Armored vehicle driving training classes are also offered on a rolling basis, and two batches of students have already graduated.
The steel mills and arsenals of the military-industrial fortress were also operating at full capacity, manufacturing rifles, machine guns, and various bullets and artillery shells.
According to Wang Meng's plan, two more production lines must be put into operation this year to fully realize the independent production of light weapons.
The military fortress’s science academy is almost ready and will be unveiled in ten days.
In Pingshun County and Changzhi, under the governance of Jia Guier, the highest administrative chief of the two places, more and more businessmen came to invest and start businesses, and both industry and agriculture began to gain vitality.
There are dozens of mines, large and small, throughout the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia base area, which provide Pingshun with a steady supply of power.
The most important thing is the Qingyang petrochemical base and the downstream factories introduced by Mr. Li Siguang, which have also been built one after another, and it has become the most lively area in the northwest.
The training of the armored divisions and subordinate units did not stop either, because according to the plan, at the end of 1942, once the students of the Tank Academy, Artillery Academy, Infantry Academy and Military Medical College graduated, the nd Armored Division and the rd Armored Division would be immediately formed.
Therefore, Zhang Dabiao and Shen Quan also put in their best efforts to practice tactics and ideology on their own, and shamelessly took battalion and company-level officers to the First Armored Division to learn from them.
Just as the independent column was moving in the right direction, a crisis was slowly approaching.
The source of this crisis is not the Japanese devils, but the millions of Chinese people.
Ever since Chiang Kai-shek blew up the Huayuankou like a psychopath, a large area downstream has become a flood zone, and coupled with drastic climate changes, drought has occurred.
Coupled with the locust plague, the disaster rate in 110 counties in Henan Province reached %.
In addition, after the Japanese occupied more than half of Henan Province, they began to frantically plunder all kinds of resources, making the people live in misery.
Although there was no persecution from the Japanese devils in the area under the jurisdiction of the Chongqing government, there were hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in Henan Province and corrupt officials at all levels who exploited the people.
The people in these areas lived a life similar to that in the areas occupied by the Japanese.
In addition, the officials of Henan Province first concealed the disaster and then embezzled the relief funds, and the famine became more and more serious.
Due to various reasons, people could no longer make ends meet and began to flee. Most of the victims chose to head west and enter Shaanxi.
At the headquarters of the Independent Column of the Pingshun County Military Fortress, Li Yunlong looked at Jia Guier, whose face was filled with sorrow, and sighed.
"Commander, many disaster victims are now fleeing to Pingshun. Do you think we should open the gate to let them in, or set up a disaster relief resettlement area on the outskirts?"
Li Yunlong was also unsure. After all, as long as the gate was opened, those disaster victims whose lives were hanging by a thread would definitely rush to Pingshun regardless of everything. At that time, the food they would eat would not be tens of thousands of kilograms, but millions of kilograms!
"Mengzi, Political Commissar, what do you think?"
Zhao Gang frowned. Being a kind-hearted man, he definitely wanted to open the door and welcome his compatriots in, but he also had to consider the actual situation of the base.
Once millions of disaster victims pour in, even if Pingshun and Changzhi cannot be overwhelmed, Jia Guier will be bankrupt.
"Lao Li, Mengzi, what I mean is to save as many disaster victims as possible. Even if we have to live a hard life, we can't let them starve to death!"
Seeing that Zhang Meng didn't say anything, Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang's expressions became more serious.
After all, Zhang Meng is their God of Wealth.
"Mengzi, I, Old Li, would like to ask you to help contact our friends overseas and see if we can get some food back. The people in our base have just recovered. We cannot ask them to hand over food to us!"
"That's right, Mengzi. Even if the soldiers and civilians in our base tighten their belts, it will only be a drop in the bucket and won't solve the big problem. For the sake of being Chinese compatriots, please help me ask again!"
Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang have placed all their hopes on Wang Meng.
Wang Meng took a deep breath and sorted out his messy mind.
"Commander, Political Commissar, give me ten minutes to think of a countermeasure. Also, help me get Lin Shubing here."
Wang Meng and Lin Shubing met in the small conference room. They looked at each other, feeling a little heavy-hearted, but not surprised at all.
How could they forget the great famine in Henan Province in 1942?
After all, the release of "1942" caused a huge uproar in China, and he remembered it vividly.
A month ago, Wang Meng made up his mind to deal with the Japanese invaders in Yuncheng and Changzhi. There was a deeper reason for this, which was to earn points by killing the Japanese invaders and to open up the transportation line between Henan Province and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia base area to facilitate the resettlement of the people.
In this battle, about 10,000 Japanese soldiers were killed, and together with the profits brought by it, a total of more than 20,000 points were earned.
Adding the more than 30,000 points that were carried over from before, the total now is [points].
According to the system's latest exchange rate, 1 point can be exchanged for one ton of rice or flour, and an average person needs 50 kilograms of rice or flour to fill his stomach in a year.
Finally, Wang Meng decided to immediately exchange for another steel production line, two firearms production lines, two ammunition production lines, and one fertilizer production line, spending [points].
Then spend [3000 points] to redeem 60 F6F Hellcat fighters to ensure airspace safety.
There are [points] remaining.
"Shu Bing, this is what I think of the remaining points. The points can be exchanged for 2 tons of food, which can ensure that 200 million people will not starve to death for three months. The remaining [points] are for reserve."
Lin Shubing calculated that if the standard was lowered to just maintaining life, it would indeed be possible to ensure that 200 million people could live for three months, or even longer.
"Well, just now you said you wanted to exchange for 6 production lines. Are you trying to find a job for the people? And then further expand our strength?"
Wang Meng nodded. It is true that the victims could not be allowed to eat without working, as this would only make them dependent.
Besides, there are many stories about Mr. Nan Guo and the snake.
Wang Meng’s plan was to assign a task to every disaster victim who entered the base.
If you are young, go to school, study hard, pass the exams, and have food to eat. If you really can't learn, go to work in a factory.
There is no doubt about the young and middle-aged people. They either pass the assessment and join the army, or work in the springing up civilian factories or military industrial fortresses, or even in more distant petrochemical bases.
Those who have little education and cannot work in factories will be sent to more distant places such as Gansu and Ningxia to open up wasteland and farm.
As for the elderly, there are no requirements. Those who can do some work should eat more, and those who can't do any work should eat less.
In short, everyone must exert all their strength to overcome the difficulties together.
"Mengzi, although we have opened a lot of private factories and the military fortress has added several production lines, we don't need so many workers, right?"