Liang Jian: Lao Li, I'm really not a military expert

Chapter 321: Unless the three major crises are resolved, I, Zhao Gang, will absolutely not agree to

Ding Wei's face changed, and he said solemnly, "College student, you are really too bold. No wonder you said that in two months, the Zhangjiazhuang market will probably not be able to open anymore. I would say that is not a possibility, but a certainty. The Japanese were hit so hard in the face by us, how could they not retaliate?"

"It is already mid-October, and there is only one and a half months left for you to take action. Time is already very tight. This means that many of our previous plans will be disrupted. The Japanese blockade plan against us will definitely not last only half a year, it may even last for one or two years. We must be prepared for a long-term siege."

"Next, we have to work hard to improve our internal strength and repair the fortifications of our base. The fortifications we built before were simply unable to withstand the large-scale attacks of the Japanese. Now that our base has expanded, the area has become much larger and can accommodate more people, and we can also cultivate more land."

"It will be much more difficult to defend. Especially after the Japanese learn that we have carried out air strikes on their homeland, they will definitely find a way to mobilize their air forces to launch a large-scale bombing operation on the base. We must immediately start building defensive fortifications."

"Fortunately, we are not short of manpower. We can arrange for the newly received disaster victims to build roads and air-raid shelters. We must prepare for the worst."

Kong Jie agreed with a dark face, "Regarding the reception of disaster victims, we must make major adjustments and use our current transportation capacity to the limit to place the disaster victims in the base in advance. The third batch of disaster victims will arrive in two days. The vanguard team has reached 15 people this time. The total number should be around in the end. This means that our previous preparations were not sufficient. We must speed up the construction of houses, otherwise once the cold winter comes, there will be large-scale casualties."

"According to my estimate, our base should be able to receive more than 12 disaster victims before December. This means that there is a huge gap in the amount of food we calculated before. We must find a way to fill this gap immediately, otherwise we will not be able to make it to next year's summer harvest. Not to mention whether next year's summer harvest will be a good harvest. It is an uncertain thing. After all, the Japanese will keep a close eye on us for a long time to come. We must be prepared for not being able to buy food in the future."

Zhao Gang also said with a melancholy face: "Our base is now facing three major crises, namely the food crisis, the fuel crisis and the raw material crisis. If these three crises are not resolved, I do not agree with the college students' risky action. Otherwise, the base will be brought into an abyss of no return."

"We can't just think about the next six months, we also have to think about the future. Once the devils take more stringent blockade actions, we won't be able to get enough food from the outside world. With the food production capacity of our base, we simply can't feed hundreds of thousands of people. Food is the most important thing in the world. If we can't even have food, it's useless to talk or sing. The first thing people think about is to survive. If they can't survive, it will cause civil unrest in the base."

"No matter how much we deny it, people cannot survive without food. If we can't solve the food crisis, all our plans will be in vain!"

Lin Zhenhua had expected Zhao Gang's objection. He took a sip of the tea on the table and replied in a gloomy tone, "What Old Zhao said makes sense. No problem is bigger than food. After all, the emperor has plenty of hungry soldiers. It's time to solve the food problem."

"We only planned to store eight months' worth of food before, but now it seems that it may not be enough. So let's use one year as a benchmark and store a year's worth of food. This way, even if the Japanese blockade us, we can hold out for more than a year."

"There are three main sources of food at present. The first is the food grown in the base area. The independent regiment has cultivated 1000 mu of land. The grain harvest on these lands is fixed. In the end, we can harvest 1000 million catties. There is absolutely no problem. Fortunately, we have planted a large number of sweet potatoes before. The yield of sweet potatoes is very high, reaching more than catties. There is absolutely no problem."

Zhao Gang added, "We have planted 8000 mu of sweet potatoes, 1000 mu of potatoes, 200 mu of corn, and 800 mu of black beans and soybeans. According to the yields of previous years, the yield of autumn sweet potatoes is about 100 kilograms, the yield of potatoes is about 1000 kilograms, the yield of corn can reach kilograms, and the yield of black beans and soybeans is only more than kilograms. It is no problem for us to obtain million kilograms of food."

Lin Zhenhua knew that what Zhao Gang said was the truth. In that era, organic fertilizer was used, and the seeds were not high-yielding, so such a yield was more in line with reality. As for the claim that sweet potatoes could produce tens of thousands of kilograms per mu, that was simply nonsense. Even if the management was good in later generations, the yield would only be four or five thousand kilograms. In addition, many of the places where they were planted were mountainous, so it was not easy to achieve such a yield.

"We have to calculate the population of the base as 60, and we need to feed these 60 people ourselves. If we calculate based on 500 kilograms of grain per person per year, we will need 300 million kilograms of grain. The gap is too big, and we can't make up for it with our current capabilities. Then we can only find a way to reduce the weight of rations, reducing it to kilograms per person per year, which will require million kilograms, which is still a considerable amount."

After finishing speaking, Lin Zhenhua looked at Zhao Gang. Facing everyone's gaze, Zhao Gang replied bitterly: "Today I will show you my family's assets. In recent days, we have purchased 200 million catties of wheat, 25 million catties of millet, catties of soybeans, catties of black beans, catties of mung beans, and catties of rice. In total, it is only million catties at most. After all, soybeans can still be used to save lives when it comes to a life-and-death moment."

"As for the food we seized and stored before, let me tell you the truth. We have seized a total of 200 million kilograms of various foods. Now we have consumed 30 kilograms, and only have 170 million kilograms of food left. As the number of our troops increases, this amount of food is not enough to consume. At most, it will be enough for two and a half months."

"Next, I want to focus on our compressed biscuits. We now have a total of 50 kilograms of compressed biscuits in stock. After processing, we have obtained a total of individual rations, which can only meet the needs of the troops for one and a half months at most. Now you know why I don't agree with this plan? The gap is too big. Even if you sell me, I can't get so much food!"

"I know you will think that I underestimated a little. The people in the base area can also provide us with a batch of food, but I have already calculated the amount of this food. At most, they can provide 2500 million catties of sweet potatoes, 400 million catties of potatoes, and 100 million catties of corn, which is only 3000 million catties. Even so, our food gap is million catties. The burden is too heavy. I really can't think of a solution!"

Everyone fell silent. With the strength of the base, they could only gather 1/3 of the food. It was really difficult to deal with. Even Li Yunlong did not speak. He was shocked by the number.

Lin Zhenhua cleared his throat, attracted everyone's attention, and said with a serious face: "Old Zhao has just talked about the difficulties, but in my opinion, we still have a solution. I looked at the accounts of Zhangjiazhuang Market. These days we can purchase 40 catties of grain every day. In the next 50 days, we can purchase 2000 million catties of grain. There will be absolutely no problem."

"In addition to purchasing staple food, we can send people to buy more sweet potatoes. In the name of making sweet potato cake, we should be able to buy a lot. In addition, the yield of sweet potatoes is very high. A good plot can directly reach more than 2000 kilograms. Many people have surplus at home. We can buy them back, dry them and cut them into slices for better preservation."

"Captain Ding should have established connections with many businessmen these days. You can give them the business of purchasing sweet potatoes. As long as they can make money, they will definitely be happy to help. You need to transport the sweet potatoes to the designated location, and we will be responsible for the subsequent transportation. As long as those merchants can transport the sweet potatoes past the Japanese and scarf checkpoints, we can use the trucks in the base to bring the rest back."

"Let's not think about fuel consumption at this time. We should try to get more food back. I think if we purchase food on a large scale, it will be no problem to collect 3000 million kilograms of sweet potatoes."

"Calculated this way, our deficit is only 8000 million catties. Don't forget that this includes next year's summer harvest. Our 60 people can cultivate more land. Even if the harvest is less, we can still get 6000 million catties of grain. Calculated this way, our real deficit is only 2000 million catties, or even less than 2000 million catties. At most, we only have a deficit of several million catties."

"We must see the achievements amidst the difficulties and not be frightened by the huge numbers. Don't forget that we still have an air transport line. We now have 17 transport planes, which can transport 30 tons of cargo each time. We have already transported back materials worth 60 oceans from the transfer station, and these are not included in the calculation. Calculated at 720 tons per day, that is catties, catties a month, and million catties a year, which is just enough to make up for our shortfall!"

Lin Zhenhua's analysis left Zhao Gang speechless. Seeing Zhao Gang's unconvinced look, he continued, "As for the fuel crisis, it is easier to solve. That is to install two more sets of coal-to-oil equipment. At the same time, I will continue to look for oil fields. As long as we can find a small oil field, we can meet the needs of our base."