Chapter 883: Great hunger, people cannibalize each other
15. The brigade headquarters is located at Cishengji at the junction of Zhecheng and Juxian. Zhecheng is on the highway south of Shangqiu, but its importance is far less than that of Taikang, which is a transportation hub on its southwest side. However, Taikang is now abandoned.
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The midday sun was a bit harsh. Tian Zhouhua, the combat staff officer of the brigade headquarters, entered the yard. When he got into the house, he found no figure of Ding Wei. When he came out, he found that Ding Wei was leaning on a deck chair and hiding in the shade in the corner.
Tian Zhouhua's voice became louder and louder, and finally he woke up Ding Wei, who was taking a nap. Ding Wei's eyes were half-squinted, and the expression on his face seemed a little dissatisfied. He opened and closed his mouth several times but made no sound.
"Brigadier, good news, the 10 million kilograms of grain allocated from the base area have arrived in Bo County, northern Anhui. If we hurry up, we will arrive in Luyi tomorrow!"
After hearing Tian Zhouhua's words, Ding Wei finally came to his senses: "Help me up!"
With Tian Zhouhua's help, Ding Wei stood up from the recliner, but his slightly swollen feet could not put on shoes, so he could only pull on a pair of cloth shoes.
During this period, the 15th Brigade had a difficult time. After arriving in eastern Henan, it first opened up the situation in Luyi, close to northern Anhui. Then the 7th and 8th Regiments of the 15th Brigade continued to move closer to the west, successively attacking Zhecheng and Juxian.
activities and quickly gained a foothold, but the actual situation was very bad.
The activities of the 15th Brigade are affected by the Yellow Flood Area. Tongxu, Taikang, and Suiyang are the first lines close to the New Yellow River. They follow the New Yellow River from the northwest to the southeast. The second line is Chenliu and Qixian in the southeast of Kaifeng.
Juxian, Zhecheng and Luyi can also be regarded as a line from northwest to southeast, and further north is the east-west Longhai Railway from Kaifeng to Shangqiu.
In order to gain strategic depth, the Eighth Route Army base areas generally formed a cluster with horns around each other. However, the situation in eastern Henan was special. The south suffered from the yellow flood zone, and the north was easily suppressed by the Longhai Railway of the Japanese and puppet troops.
The 15th Brigade can only choose to develop base areas in the second line area. The farther to the southeast, the further away from the Longhai Railway, so the 15th Brigade gives priority to developing the southeastern area. Chenliu and Qixian in the northwest were abandoned because they were close to Kaifeng.
Even so, the Luyi, Zhecheng, and Juxian areas where the 15th Brigade is currently active are still in a long snake formation. Once the Japanese army launches an attack, it will be easily broken through by the Japanese army, and the head and tail cannot look at each other.
"Brigadier, what are you doing?"
Ding Wei held his waist with one hand and put the other hand on Tian Zhouhua's shoulder and said: "You must come from a wealthy family. You have never been hungry, right? You have been hungry for several days and you still look like this!"
It stands to reason that as a brigade commander, Ding Wei would never have fallen into this situation, but he never expected that five years had passed since the Huayuankou embankment burst, and there were still many homeless people in the Yellow Flood Area.
Disaster victims.
Henan is located in the Central Plains and has a dense population. It was originally a major grain-producing province. Unexpectedly, the originally fertile fields turned into a yellow flood zone. The Nationalist government blew up the Huayuankou embankment, which indeed slowed down the Japanese army's march south to a certain extent.
In addition, the good grain land turned into a yellow flood zone in the hands of the Japanese army. In Lao Chiang's view, it was not a weakening of the Japanese army, but a suffering for the local people.
The victims on the south side of the Xinhuang River poured into the Kuomintang-controlled area. A few of the victims on the north side had access to the Kuomintang-controlled area. Most of the rest fled north. Among them, nearly two million old, weak and children were driven to the Hebei, Shandong and Henan base areas. The remaining
Some were deported back to their place of origin.
The local Japanese and puppet troops did not take proper resettlement measures at all. Instead, they ordered the maintenance committee to organize joint security in each township, and the villages below also organized joint defense teams to protect the victims.
It's just that once people are hungry, they can do anything. After the grass roots and tree bark are eaten away, the green crops in the fields around the village become the new target, and many lives are lost among the victims of the disaster and the local people.
After the 15th Brigade approached eastern Henan, it did bring a lot of food. After opening up the situation in Luyi at the beginning, after the little devils learned about the actions of the Eighth Route Army, they drove the victims along the Yellow River northward, and many people starved to death halfway.
The food in the hands of the 15th Brigade was nothing more than a drop in the bucket for the victims, so Ding Wei came up with two methods. One was to seize the food from the local Japanese and puppet troops, and the other was to borrow food from local large households.
What's terrible is that the local Japanese and puppet troops also lacked food supplies and even levied a batch of grain for the summer harvest. The local big family simply gathered the whole village, old and young, in a circle and knelt down.
The meaning behind the words was clear. It was not that we did not support the Eighth Route Army, nor that we would not borrow food. It was just that once we borrowed food, the whole village, old and young, would starve to death.
Although Ding Wei has always been bold and unconventional, after the big landowners blackmailed the common people, he could not go out to grab food, so he could only ask the Wanbei base area to support a group of people, and on the other hand, he ordered to reduce the rations.
The commanders and soldiers responsible for garrisoning and guarding in the combat troops are given one pound of food per day, and the officers responsible for maintaining order among the victims are given half a pound of food per day. At the brigade headquarters, except for some staff officers responsible for uploading and issuing orders, other agencies and second-line personnel including Ding Wei are given priority.
Personnel receive four taels of rations per day.
Ding Wei relied on a piece of steamed bun slightly smaller than his fist to satisfy his hunger every day. When he was really hungry and couldn't bear it, he drank two mouthfuls of cold water and endured it for half a month.
Although Ding Wei was weak from hunger, his mind was still relatively clear: "Food cannot be transported all at once. The victims are hungry and anxious now. Once too much food is gathered and cannot be distributed in a short time, someone might rob the food.
I don’t know how many troubles will arise, and how many victims have gathered in Juxian, Zhecheng, and Luyi now!”
Tian Zhouhua was specifically responsible for this matter during this period, and he already knew the approximate number of people: "Brigade Commander, through contact with comrades in northern Anhui and northern Jiangsu, the number of people affected in the three places is more than 10 million, and the number of people affected in eastern Henan is more than 10 million.
Because it is close to Huayuankou, the damage is the most severe!"
"Fortunately, last year, the little devils successively drove more than two million victims in eastern Henan and northern Anhui to our Hebei, Shandong and Henan base areas, which slightly eased the situation in the two places. In the past month, our army has transported the victims to Anhui through car camps.
There are less than 70,000 people in the north, and the remaining number of victims is about 520,000. These are only those gathered in our base area in eastern Henan. There must be many victims in other areas!"
When Ding Wei heard the numbers reported by Tian Zhouhua, a sentence mentioned in the book suddenly came to his mind, "Big hunger, people eat each other." The horrors he saw when he first came to eastern Henan shocked Ding Wei. Although his hometown in Dabie Mountain is a poor mountain,
It's a remote place, but not to this extent.
The little devils drove more than two million old and weak children to the Hebei-Shandong-Henan base area, which can be regarded as a good deed with bad intentions, otherwise these old and weak children would be the first to suffer.
"The situation of the Japanese and puppet troops is no better than ours. Northern Henan has been encroached and penetrated by our army. Only Xinxiang and Yangwu are under control. Chenliu in eastern Henan is close to Kaifeng. Qixian is also in the yellow flood zone. In addition,
Our army occupied Juxian, Zhecheng, Luyi, and the Longhai Railway was cut off for three months. Except for a few counties that the railway line passes through, where can the little devils collect food!"
"To prevent the little devils from jumping over the wall in a hurry, let us inform you that all the commanders and soldiers will have a full meal today to keep their spirits high. The motor battalion will stop to evacuate the victims in northern Anhui and transport tens of thousands of kilograms of food first!"
The 15th Brigade approached eastern Henan before the summer harvest. It was originally here to grab food from the 35th Division. With Ju, Zhe, and Lu occupied by the 15th Brigade, the 35th Division's Japanese army's living space was once again compressed.
