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 complete negotiations with the Zhengzhou City Defense Headquarters.
Even though Yu Province seems to be stable at the moment, 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 even more troubled than the Fifth Theater Zone, which has begun fighting the Japanese army.
In order to complete the strategy of opening the Jinpu Road, 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 central China's 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 took a cold shoulder and quickly approved the location that the Si Xing Group wanted to stay in these days.
As soon as the four-pronged group arrived, the whole town was decorated with lights and colorful decorations and lined with people to welcome them.
This is not to say that this quiet town that has not 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 wealthy people. After arriving, they posted a notice asking for large quantities of rice, noodles, chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, eggs, vegetables and other daily necessities. The purchase prices were compared with the current
The market price increased by 10%.
Chief of Staff Zhuang, who was in charge of logistics of the Four Elements Regiment, was almost heartbroken!
At several regiment meetings, he almost blushed and scolded Commander Tang Dao for spending money like a prodigal! But Tang Dao used the veto power of the highest officer to resolutely implement his decision.
Just buying some things is not enough, there are still many needs for the Four Elements 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, Henan 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.
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Ever since he set foot on the land of Henan Province, Tang Dao's heart may not have been completely peaceful, because he is very familiar with history and knows 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 disasters caused by man-made things, are really not the ones who suffer the most.
The suffering of the people in Henan Province actually began six years ago and reached its peak three years later. It was 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 blown up 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 areas 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 future capital market, when you think it is the bottom, no, there is a basement below the bottom, and there is hell below the basement.
Three years later, when the Anti-Japanese War had entered a feverish stage, the principal made another foolish move and forced food supplies in order for the soldiers fighting on the front lines to have enough food supplies.
According to statistics, in that year alone, the authorities collected 340 million kilograms of wheat, not including other crops.
This has once again increased the burden on the people, and the people of Henan Province cannot afford a cent of food.
And this is just the real beginning of the 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 didn't rain even 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 knelt before him, he still could not change his decision.
The commander of the Tang Army stationed in Henan Province has transformed into Commander 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 Henan Province encountered at this time were natural and man-made disasters, caused by their own people.
However, the people of Henan Province are used to suffering, and they thought it would be better to wait for the food to be harvested. It finally lasted until July, and seeing that the fields were not as good as 20% of the usual food, the people of Henan Province had not had time to be happy, and the locusts
here we go again.
Overwhelming locusts swept across the entire Henan Province, gnawing away all the food that was scarce in the first place.
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 look up when we look down.
But when people are hungry to a certain extent, they still care about benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom and trust, and what is 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 there is no chance 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 asked to rob the army with their bare hands, they would not be able to do it.
Ever since, 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 even wild vegetables and grass roots be supplied to the tens of millions of people in Henan Province?
There was no other way, so people turned their attention to the trees along the way.
In the beginning, people were just eating the leaves, but I don’t know when it came out that someone discovered that the bark could also be eaten, and everyone began to nibble on the bark.
Although this did allow some people to survive successfully, it should be noted that not all tree 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.
But the extremely hungry people could no longer care about so many trees and swarmed them when they saw them.
They gnawed wherever they fled, and all the trees along the way were stripped of their bark.
But soon, people discovered that even 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 delicate, it will not scratch the stomach after being eaten.
After hearing the news, many people looked 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 pulled out.
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 there was a good harvest in Henan Province and there was still a lot of surplus grain.
Wherever there is any surplus grain, 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 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 Political Participation Meeting 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 starved to death, which 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 and went around central Henan. In fact, he had a purpose. He wanted to meet a very important person. He hoped that he could do what he could for Henan Province, which would suffer a lot in the future. Even if it was still
Being crushed by the rut of history, Tang Dao must also give it a try.
When they came to this small town, the Four Lines Group could not do more. They could only purchase a wave of supplies and exchange the food that the local villagers would not be able to take away with them in four months into easy-to-carry oceans.
The farmers around the town are of course happy. There is plenty of food, and they don't feel panic if they buy it now. What's more, it's 10% higher than the market price in Zhengzhou.
An unknown amount of white flour and the materials needed by the Four Lines Regiment were gathered in the town. The Military Supplies Department purchased 50,000 kilograms of white flour alone. Including chickens, ducks, and fish, the Four Lines Regiment paid out nearly ten thousand 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 was short, only four days, the rent for one room was an ocean. The price of a single pair of cotton shoes was more than twice the price of daily cotton shoes, and the order was huge.
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 the houses, the residents of the town 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.
Moreover, the Military Supplies Department of the Si Xing Regiment came with Xian Da Yang, and the materials sent by the villagers were all settled in cash on the spot. Facing such a local tycoon-level army, the mayor and the residents of the town did not even raise their hands and feet.
welcome?
In order to make it easier for the Four Elements Group to stay, the mayor of the town also specially suggested that the entire family temporarily move out and live in other homes 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.
Divide equally.
This is naturally what the Four Elements Group wishes for.
A house and cotton shoes are really what the Four Elements Group needs most at the moment.
The most expensive thing when marching in the Four Rows Regiment is shoes, especially since there are a large number of Sichuan troops in the Four Rows Regiment. When they were incorporated into the Four Rows Regiment, they were all still wearing straw sandals in the dead of winter.
It wasn't that they wiped out more than 2,000 Japanese troops in the Battle of Laojinkeng and easily stripped off the cowhide shoes worn by the Japanese troops. 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.
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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. When marching, they wore their own straw sandals, and the cold in the winter caused their feet to crack.
One by one.
It was really distressing to see, and as a last resort, Tang Dao even issued a military order that everyone must wear cotton shoes when marching.
But during long-distance marches and heavy loads, these shoes were really overwhelmed. A pair of new 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.
It looks both funny and sad from a distance!
Therefore, you must buy these shoes, and buy them in large quantities. A soldier's feet 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 Elements Group. They have been sleeping in the open air for three consecutive months. Some people who like to be clean even find time to take a shower, but what do most of the rough guys think about it? Even though it is winter, some people have that smell.
Son, Tang Dao once went to the company for inspection, and on a whim, he had dinner with the soldiers in the infantry company.
What have I never seen or smelled before? The smell of sewers, the smell of decaying organisms, the smell of blood on the battlefield, and the pungent 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 the body even if Tang Dao left, not to mention the hammer that Tang Dao 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've been in abalone dens for a long time without smelling the smell, but 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 throw away our members of the Four Elements 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 were not good, let alone taking a bath once a week! You must also wash once every two weeks, wash your face and brush your teeth once a day unless it is wartime.
Normally, the military orders of the commander of the Tang Dynasty are passed smoothly, but this military order cannot be carried out. 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 raised objections.
A dirty body won't kill anyone, but typhoid fever can really kill someone. 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 medicine! No matter whether it is a wound infection or a cold, one shot will be effective, especially for people in this era who have never used antibiotics at all. At that moment, Tang Dao never treated this lowest level
I have been craving penicillin so much for the long-lasting and strong sauce-like body odor of the soldiers who haven’t taken a shower in three months.
But Tang Dao knew that although penicillin had been discovered 10 years ago, it was not until two years later that a breakthrough was made, and clinical application had to wait another year.
However, Tang Dao has been busy with battles some time ago and has no time to work on this precious thing. When he arrives at his destination, Tang Dao will have plenty of time to work on this.
It’s not that those who don’t know how to use penicillin are not good time travellers, but this baby is definitely an epoch-making drug. Since the emergence of penicillin, the mortality rate due to wound infection has dropped by a full 90%.
And how valuable would this thing be if it were produced? Tang Dao remembered a document that recorded that even after World War II, a shot of penicillin in China was worth one or two gold.
That means that if penicillin is developed, it will be like opening a gold mine. If you give it to those Westerners who are still in the research and development stage, let alone machine guns and cannons, if you want, aircraft carriers can exchange it for you.
This was considered the first business that Tang Dao came up with while on the road. The only difficulty was that although the principle of penicillin was simple, it was 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.
If you can't take a bath or practice personal hygiene in the wilderness to avoid injury, then 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 had worn should also be boiled and washed in boiling water, and all of them should be put on new military uniforms.
Moreover, everyone must shave their hair short before the Chinese New Year, either with a buzz cut or baldness!
When the troops of the Fourth Army Regiment 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 two thousand heads need to be cut and shaved!
Cut off ten heads for one yuan, and go to the military supplies office of the Fourth Army Regiment to collect the money according to the signature of the officers and soldiers!
