Chu Xiong originally thought that it would be easy to recruit 500 new soldiers in Liuzhen and a dozen nearby villages, but reality taught him a lesson.

As shown on TV, there was no touching scene where the Eighth Route Army raised its arms and there were so many civilian applicants.

Things were better in the town. At least there were a few workers who heard the propaganda and came to apply. The recruitment teams sent to the villages generally ran into trouble and almost no one signed up.

Due to historical reasons, there is a saying commonly circulated among the people:

"A good man should not be a soldier, and a good man should not be hammered into nails!"

Being a soldier means you will die! And a man of working age is almost always the breadwinner of a family. If he joins the army, the family will lose a breadwinner.

It is impossible for a country to be without soldiers for a day, so it can only recruit soldiers through the system. There are two main types commonly used, one is the recruitment system and the other is the conscription system. The others are almost derivatives of these two systems, such as after the Northern Zhou Dynasty

The emerging military force system is an upgraded version of the conscription system.

The core of the military recruitment system is to spend money to raise soldiers, professionalize the army, and use military pay to support soldiers. Regimes such as the Southern Song Dynasty, Northern Song Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty implemented the military recruitment system.

In ancient times, for countries or ethnic groups based on agriculture, joining the army was often a forced or semi-forced choice. Under certain conditions, if citizens had the necessity and obligation to engage in military service, the system was conscription.

It can be seen that the conscription system is a compulsory military service system. After the Five Dynasties, it was upgraded to a more operational military service system. The military household system in the Ming Dynasty was also a military service system. The most important feature of this system is the military-peasant cooperative system.

one.

The soldiers of the government work for farmers who cultivate the land in peacetime, train during farm breaks, and join the army to fight in wartime.

Fu soldiers must prepare their own weapons and horses when participating in battle. There are Zhechong prefectures across the country that are responsible for the selection and training of Fu soldiers.

It can be seen that the conscription system is a compulsory method of the country or the political power. Farming in peacetime and conscription in wartime. Those who do not comply with the conscription may be jailed or beheaded in the most serious case, and the common people have to become soldiers.

The implementation of the conscription system requires a strong political power. For example, in the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty conquered the Xiongnu in the north. With a single order, half a million troops could be mobilized within the specified time. There was no need to worry that no one would dare to come.

The government military system is even more so, as can be seen from "Mulan Poetry":

I saw the military notice last night, and the Khan ordered his troops. There were twelve volumes of military books, each with his name on it.

My grandfather has no eldest son, and Mulan has no elder brother. I am willing to saddle the horse for the city, and from now on I will fight for my grandfather.

Buy horses in the east market, buy saddles and bridles in the west market, buy bridles in the south market, and buy whips in the north market.

The Khan's army posted a notice, and the soldiers of the government had to prepare their own horses and weapons in a hurry to report at the specified time. If they did not meet the specified time, they would be beheaded.

It is precisely because of this compulsory conscription system that powerful emperors in ancient times sent hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops at any time.

The Republic of China obviously did not have the characteristics of a strong political power. The country only achieved formal unity, and in fact new and old warlords ruled everywhere.

There is no fixed military service system. All new and old warlords recruit soldiers based on military salary, that is, recruiting soldiers.

However, military pay is very low, and it is common for officers to withhold military pay, beat and scold soldiers, and do not take soldiers seriously. This has led to a mentality among ordinary people that they are unwilling to serve as soldiers as long as they live.

This gave rise to a new way of recruiting soldiers - catching strong men!

During the entire period of the Anti-Japanese War, the government captured no more than 10 million young men, and a large number of young men died during the escort. This will inevitably cause a vicious circle, and the people will become even more disgusted with serving as soldiers.

Many people even choose to self-mutilate in order to avoid military service. It is better to be disabled than to die!

On the other hand, our opponent, the Japanese, had a complete military service system in their country. Before the July 7th Incident, the Japanese had only 17 permanent divisions. Once the war broke out, they added another 20 divisions in a short period of time, and their military strength increased by 10%.

twice as much.

As the war expanded, the Japanese mobilized several times, and at their peak they had more than seven million troops.

Their population base is less than one-third of the national capital.

On the other hand, the national government, even with arrests and coercion, can only maintain the size of its army at less than three million.

The Eighth Route Army had neither military pay nor coercion to recruit troops, and the north did not have the mass base of the Great Revolution, so it was very difficult to recruit troops in the early stages.

There are two main reasons why there was a surge of people joining the army later. One was that the Japanese people were burning, killing, looting and enslaving, and the common people could no longer survive;

The other is "awakening". Through policy propaganda and guidance, the general public can see clearly the true nature of the Japanese. In the face of the Japanese aggression, they must either resist or die!

Even after death, people will point to the bones and say: "Look, this is a slave!"

Of course, there are many policy things to support it, such as the movement to reduce rents and interest rates, strict military discipline, uniformity between officers and soldiers, the system of integrating soldiers and civilians, extensive mobilization, etc. This is a whole system, interlocking, not like

On TV, it’s as simple as just shouting and being answered by a cloud of people.

Chu Xiong knew in his heart that for the Seventh Company to truly develop and grow, it was not enough to just transform the puppet army, bandits, and old army. It was necessary to awaken the broadest masses of the people!

Mobilize the masses, rely on the masses, seek the interests of the masses, protect the lives and property safety of the masses, give the masses dignity and status, and let the masses and the Eighth Route Army become one family. Only in this way will the Seventh Company develop and grow and have inexhaustible resources.

Use inexhaustible soldiers and supplies to defeat the extremely powerful invaders.

"Comrades, the road to awakening the people is long and tortuous! We must be patient, and we must take root among the masses just like we did in Hubei, Henan, and Anhui, seek benefits for the masses, do practical things for the masses, mobilize the masses, and rely on the masses

…”

In order to mobilize the masses, Chu Xiong selected some old comrades from the Fourth Front Army and some new comrades with a certain cultural foundation to form more than a dozen working groups.

Putting aside the matter of conscription for the moment, their task is to go deep into the masses and let the masses know and understand the Eighth Route Army first.

Then let the masses know the Japanese and expose the true face of the Japanese invaders

The last step is to mobilize the masses and carry out the most extensive movement to reduce rents and interest rates, a large-scale production movement, and a popular liberation movement...

"Company Commander, what if those landlords, old wealthy people and old country squires obstruct us?"

The comrades of the working group raised a realistic and sharp question to Chu Xiong.

"Comrades, we still have to fight when it is time to fight, but we must grasp the scale, unite the majority of enlightened people, and attack the few die-hards. We can neither copy the Hubei-Henan-Anhui period, nor let it go, find a few key elements, and find ways to take advantage of them.

There is irrefutable evidence that they are colluding with the Japanese and puppets!"

"It is not allowed to fight landlords, but it is still allowed to punish a few traitors and lackeys! If you need to be ruthless, you will be ruthless, and kill the chicken to scare the monkeys!"

There was a strong murderous intent in Chu Xiong's words. Many of these die-hards had dirty arses. Cooperation was fine, but if they didn't, we couldn't blame him for being ruthless.
Chapter completed!