Lin Zhiqiang's words made the cadre he was talking about blush all over his face. Seeing the dirty gun in the chief of staff's hand, no matter how thick-skinned he is, he probably won't remain indifferent. This cadre is so dirty with his gun. In this situation, it seems a bit embarrassing. After all, it was my own gun that was so dirty. It was strange that it was exposed at a meeting of all brigade cadres and soldiers.
But to everyone's surprise, Lin Zhiqiang did not look at the cadre, nor did he criticize him in any way. Instead, he took his own towel and wiped it carefully until the gun was as clean as new. After assembling the gun that had been dismantled into parts, Lin Zhiqiang returned the shell gun to its original owner.
After looking back at the brigade commander and political commissar behind him who looked somewhat disapproving of his actions, Lin Zhiqiang shook his head slightly before turning to the cadres and soldiers in front of him and said: "This is the standard. You must meet this when cleaning your gun." Standard, each unit has only one task tonight, apart from the necessary guard units, which is to clean their guns."
"The barrels and bolts of all light weapons, whether they are light and heavy machine guns, rifles, pistols, or submachine guns, must be cleaned. Even if they are not as clean as new, if there is so much mud in the barrel, I'm sorry. Just call out your weapons. A person who doesn't cherish his weapons is not worthy of owning them."
"You cadres at all levels are all veterans. You should know that the cleanliness of your guns is a very important issue that is directly related to whether the troops can reduce our casualties on the battlefield. If you don't take good care of your weapons, you will have to pay for it when the time comes. It’s the price of your life, as well as the blood and lives of your comrades.”
"In the Anti-Japanese War, it is required that after every day's training, no matter how tired or tired you are, you must wipe your weapons that day. Every time you have a break in battle, you must also seize the time to maintain your weapons. If the gun cleaning fails, All violations will be dealt with disciplinary measures.
"Although in the eyes of many people, doing this is a bit troublesome, but only in this way can you ensure that the gun in your hand will not cause malfunctions that should not occur because it is too dirty, let alone because it has been carefully maintained. Avoid malfunctions that may affect the outcome of the battle."
At this point, Lin Zhiqiang raised three fingers and said: "In three days, if we can't correct our sloppy way of wiping the gun, or even muddle along, and don't wipe it if we can, I will apply to the superiors for our brigade." We will serve as a reserve force for the entire army during this battle. When the gun cleaning reaches a certain standard, we will go to the battlefield again."
"I am not the chief of staff of the entire army, nor the chief of staff of the column. I have no control over whether other troops can meet the standards I require. But as long as I serve as the chief of staff of this brigade for a day, the maintenance and cleaning of weapons will , you have to follow my standards, there’s nothing to say about it.”
"I will personally inspect this matter. Moreover, I will not hold the soldier responsible. The battalion failed to perform well. I will hold you responsible as the battalion commander and instructor. The regiment failed to perform well. I will hold you accountable. The responsibility of the regiment leader and political commissar of the regiment, wherever the problem lies, I will hold the person responsible."
"Cadres at all levels are not allowed to let correspondents and guards clean their guns. All guns must be wiped by themselves, and not only must they be able to wipe them, but they must also be able to skillfully disassemble and disassemble the guns in their hands. The weapons in your hands, It’s your second life. If you don’t know how to disassemble and assemble it, how can you do it?”
Lin Zhiqiang's extremely harsh words shocked the cadres and soldiers below. No one thought that such a big thing as wiping a gun would make the Chief of Staff so moved. But seeing the Brigadier and Brigadier behind the Chief of Staff, With the serious expression on the political commissar's face, no one, especially cadres at all levels, dared to express any opinions.
After the meeting was over and the troops were brought back, the brigade commander shook his head and said: "Old Lin, are you a little too serious? It's just a matter of cleaning the gun, and it's not a matter of principle. There is no need to make such a fuss. Yes, whether the weapons are wiped clean or not is a very serious issue, but we just need to ask cadres at all levels to check frequently. Our original plan will not be delayed because of this matter, and we will not delay our original plan because of this matter. , delaying us for three days here."
After hearing the brigade commander's words, Lin Zhiqiang shook his head and said: "Brigadier Commander, you are right. This matter is indeed not big in terms of our overall mission, and I will not seize on such small things to find fault and sort out various issues. level cadre, in fact I just used this incident as a leverage point to let the troops experience what formalization means in advance and get rid of the original problems developed by scattered guerrillas as soon as possible."
"Brigadier Commander, you are indeed responsible for the failure in the last battle, but the three regiment commanders themselves have no responsibility. The troops have been reorganized, but why did you not report it but act alone after getting the information that can temporarily alleviate the troops' urgent needs? , if they report intelligence in time and the brigade headquarters coordinates and directs it uniformly, even if we can't win this battle, we won't lose so miserably."
"In a word, the long-term dispersion of guerrillas has developed the habit of making one's own decisions. As I said at the headquarters cadre meeting, the greatest advantage of our troops is that they can disperse and gather together, but sometimes dispersed activities for a long time The habit of fighting independently has resulted in a lack of cooperation with each other, and even disregard for the unified deployment of superiors."
"When the guerrillas were dispersed before, the disadvantages of this habit were not obvious, and the harm could not be seen for a while. But now the troops have concentrated their actions and become an effective whole. If we do not get rid of this problem, we will go to the small To put it bluntly, the days of defeat are still to come. To put it more seriously, we may disrupt the entire deployment of the central government. What will be the consequences of a dispersion on the battlefield? You, the brigade commander, and the political commissar are better than me. It needs to be clearer.”
"The current situation is very different from when our army crossed the Yellow River eastward in 1937. At that time, the Japanese army was busy conquering cities and territories and focused its main energy on the frontal battlefield. For the time being, it was flawless to take care of the battlefield behind enemy lines. The Japanese and puppet troops The military's power is mainly concentrated in large cities and on both sides of major transportation lines."
"In the vast countryside, the Japanese and puppet forces are basically blank. This is why our army can take root on the battlefield behind enemy lines and develop and grow even though its troops and equipment are at a disadvantage. The main reason is that Rehe, which has been ruled by the Japanese army for nearly ten years and has complete puppet organizations at all levels, is not the North China that was actually in chaos back then."
"The tightness of the Japanese army's rule here is not comparable to that in North China. In addition to the regular Kwantung Army garrison, there are also a large number of puppet Manchukuo military police, enemy and puppet constitutional special forces, and other various armed forces trained by the Japanese. The construction of the puppet regime at the top level is also quite strict and sound."
"Furthermore, this place is located in a transitional zone between agriculture and animal husbandry. The grain output and population base are far less than those in North China. The long-term Japanese and puppet rule and the deformed agricultural economy dominated by opium cultivation have, let alone anything else, a grain The output will be difficult to meet the needs of our army."
"Our troops are dispersed here, and it is difficult to find suitable soil for their survival like in the pass. If the troops are not used intensively, they can only be divided and eaten by the Japanese and puppet troops. You must know that we do not have any masses here. Basically, everything is completely blank to us, and the Japanese and puppet forces have far greater control over the countryside than we imagined."
"For the current plan, we can only gather the troops, clenched into one fist to defeat the local puppet regime, and eliminate the Japanese and puppet military and police officers. Even if we cannot completely eliminate the main force of the Japanese army and completely occupy the entire territory of Rehe, we can still We must also break off their claws and control the rural areas in our hands, and in turn trap the Japanese and puppet troops in the city, so that the people have confidence in us, so that we can truly gain a foothold here."
"Developing a good habit of maintaining weapons is actually not a small matter, but on the whole it is just an introduction to let them know what orders and prohibitions are, and let them know that if an army wants to be truly strong, it must become An efficient whole, and definitely not an introduction to a piece of loose sand.”
"Three days are definitely not enough to completely solve this problem, but within these three days, the troops must at least solve the problem of fighting on their own, because I feel that a big war may not be far away from us. , maybe within three days, our troops will really face a strong enemy."
As soon as Lin Zhiqiang finished speaking, the brigade commander and political commissar on the side disagreed: "Old Lin, are you a little unfounded? According to your suggestions and ideas at the army conference, various units have now begun to penetrate into the Japanese occupation. Once they complete their deployment, judging from the number of Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe, it is very likely that they will not be able to take care of themselves."
"Where can we still have the energy to mobilize a large number of troops to come and cause trouble for us, the only unit in the army that is still in place and has fallen behind other brother units? Lao Lin, according to your plan, the entire army will carry out After three days of training, we have become the most backward unit in the entire army."
"With so many troops covering the front, we can still encounter a large number of Japanese and puppet troops there. If all the main forces of our army penetrate into the hinterland of Rehe, the Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe will probably not have much energy and strength to come to us. It’s troublesome, the limited strength in their hands may be devoted to clearing out its hinterland to stabilize the occupied area.”
"Although the environment inside and outside the pass is different, and the enemy and puppet forces here are much stronger than inside the pass, you, Lao Lin, are also very aware of the capabilities of our troops. With regiments as our organizational activities, I am afraid that the areas occupied by the Japs will be turned upside down. I I don’t believe that those little devils can watch their grassroots pseudo-regimes being destroyed by our army one by one, and each group and tribe being destroyed by us, without doing anything."
"With the strength of the Rehe Little Devils, no matter how strong the combat effectiveness of the puppet Manchukuo army is, if it is placed in the vast area of the twelve counties in Rehe, even if the pepper noodles are sprinkled into the river, there will be nothing. At that time, the Japanese and puppet troops who have lost sight of the other will still have the energy and strength to come after us."