The harvest last fall was good, and the people had more or less surplus food at home. In addition, the Japanese did not come to harass each other again after the failure, so everyone happily had a safe New Year this year.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, although the Japanese were close at hand, the people still happily trolled lanterns, and the dragon lanterns were making Lantern Festival. Since the beginning of winter last year, it has not snowed much in northern Henan. The earth is very dry, and even the air is dry and cold. The dragon lanterns are flying in the hands of men. The exquisite dragon body and superb dragon dancing skills make this yellow dragon come to life, but the dust from the feet of the lantern dancing men chokes the onlookers cough.

"Ahem! God, it's not snowing for such a long time, so I'm choking to death!" a farmer cursed.

"It's snowing, but it's too little. I went to the field to see it yesterday. It didn't snow heavily all winter, and the moisture in the field was very bad." An old man covered his nose and said.

"Yes, yes, I also went to the field to take a look in the first month. The soil has dried up and turned into hard blocks. If it doesn't rain or snow these days, I might not even be able to seeds after spring." Another man echoed.

Li Qinglin was standing in the crowd. He couldn't help but frown when he heard the conversations of these farmers.

Farmers rely on farming to make a living, and farming depends on God’s food. This has been the case for thousands of years. There were only a few light snow last winter, and the soil moisture in the field was absolutely insufficient. If there was no rain or snow during this period, I really don’t know if the seeds can be alive after the spring starts. Fortunately, the local harvest last year was a bumper place, and Li Qinglin instructed Luo Dafu to purchase a lot of grain. The Ninth Detachment currently has no worries about grain.

Since the failure of the mobilization last winter, the Japanese seem to have become much more honest. On the surface, they have shown no signs of sending troops in recent times, but they are not idle either. In recent times, they have been doing one thing, that is, to build large numbers of bunkers, artillery towers, and strongholds.

The Japanese did not intend to launch an attack for the time being, so the soldiers of the Ninth Detachment were naturally welcomed. However, Li Qinglin was worried.

Since the Japanese withdrew their troops, they forced a large number of coolies to build fortifications. The Japanese not only rebuilt the bunker strongholds destroyed by Liu Zhenghong's flip tactics in the early stage, but also added some solid bunkers and artillery towers on the edge of the war zone. In addition to building solid fortresses, they also pulled up telephone lines at each stronghold. Once a certain point was attacked, the Japanese and puppet troops nearby who received calls for help were immediately dispatched. Under the strong enemy's firepower, it is difficult to succeed in a small-scale point-drawing battle.

In addition, along the railway, along important highways, outside the artillery strongholds, the Japanese forced the people to cut down trees and dug a large number of deep and wide trenches. The purpose of cutting trees was to clear the obstacles to sight of shooting, and the purpose of digging trenches was to increase the difficulty of marching and prevent the Chinese army from moving in mobile warfare.

The Japanese not only put a lot of effort into fortifications, but also in other aspects. In the villages occupied by Japan, the Japanese implemented the joint positioning method. If anti-Japanese elements appear in the village, the villagers must report it immediately. If they do not report it, the villagers in this village will be implicated. It is still light to be beaten by the Japanese and puppet troops. If they are sent to the gendarmerie by the traitors, it will be a fate that will never be alive.

These villagers also have to take on the responsibility of night patrol. Every night, the villagers patrol along trenches, railways and highways with gongs. If they find anti-Japanese elements, they must call the police immediately. If there is no police, they will not report it. Then the villagers' fate is only one word.

After many failures, the intelligence agencies of the Japanese and puppets also took some new measures. In addition to continuing to use traitors, detective teams and propaganda squads to collect intelligence from the anti-Japanese army. They also adopted some new methods.

The northern part of Henan has always been poor, and it is a blessing that some families can fill their stomachs. The traitors brought some soap, cloth, salt, matches and other daily necessities from the Japanese foreign companies. They focused on some rural women who went to the market. These traitors generally had a little kinship with these village women. They gave them these daily necessities in the name of taking care of their relatives, and then obtained the anti-Japanese team from the mouths of these women, and they were stationed and mobilized, etc.

This is a cage tactic for fortress blockade. This tactic is not new. At least Chairman Jiang used it when he was encircled and suppressed in Jiangxi. This tactic of building a large number of fortress sieges and using trenches to reduce the opponent's mobile combat capabilities, and ultimately forcing the opponent to a regular army to fight decisively. Although the cost and time are very high, it is also the most effective tactic. At least it played a certain role in the encirclement and suppression of Jiangxi.

Both sides of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party realized the power of this tactic. They all thought of cracking the cage tactics. To crack this tactic, they could only pull out the solid fortress. If the solid artillery tower or bunker was destroyed or demolished, the encirclement would be torn apart one or several large holes, and the encirclement would naturally be broken. There are problems with ammunition supply in northern Henan. In addition, the teams do not have the powerful firepower such as artillery necessary for attack, and there are not even a few mortar shells left. If you only use the rifles, machine guns, and grenades in your hands to fight, the difficulty can be imagined.

Without the firepower of attack, the people can only use the tactics of the sea of ​​people. However, once the troops were mobilized to concentrate, the information was unconsciously transmitted to the Japanese and puppets by the villagers and the villagers' women. When the Japanese judged that there were signs of military operations in the anti-Japanese army, they urgently mobilized the troops into sensitive areas to deal with it. The Eighth Route Army and the Ninth Detachment concentrated their troops several times to carry out the battle, but in the end they failed inexplicably because the enemy had heavy troops to defend.

Liang Xixian is now in charge of Liu Zhenghong's exchange of reloading bullets. Although he was reluctant, he successfully exchanged bullets.

The First Military Sub-district of the Eighth Route Army in northern Henan suffered heavy losses this time. Although the main force led by Yuan Dahuzi was basically preserved, the new recruits led by Liu Zhenghong were basically wiped out. In addition to fighting in the base area, the Japanese also cruelly implemented the "Three Lights Policy", and a large number of houses were burned out by the Japanese. In the cold winter, if there was no house to shelter from the wind and rain, it would mean death. In addition to reorganizing the armed forces, Liu Zhenghong also spent most of his energy to solve the survival problems of the people in the base area.

The base area was not a grain-producing area. Now, after the destruction of the Japanese, many people even had a problem with their meals. Liang Xixian's arrival happened to give Liu Zhenghong hope. He not only agreed to Liang Xixian's request to exchange for reloaded bullets with bad guns, but also proposed to exchange for bullets with grain. In order to ensure that the reloaded bullets in the rear base area can be safely transported, Liu Zhenghong even sent elite main forces back to the base area for armed escort.

Sun Damazi is a rogue himself, and he still acts smart and "dances on three eggs". Although the Ninth Detachment helped him a lot this time, he always hums and doesn't want to use arms. He is forced to the end by the negotiators of the Ninth Detachment, and he even says, "We did not ask for your support, but your friendly forces took action voluntarily."

It is not very smooth to buy ammunition from arms dealers. Since the Japanese adopted the cage tactic, arms traffickers have also been greatly affected. Not only are their transportation blocked, but the price of arms is astonishingly expensive, and often even have no price.

In order to ensure that the combat effectiveness of the troops were not affected, Li Qinglin and the Tongguo Radio station asked the war zone for supplies every day, but the war zone did not even see any shadows in the telegram, except for giving some light words of encouragement in the telegram, food, ammunition, and personnel replenishment. Because of the number of times of request for help, later, the war zone refused to reply to the telegram requested for supplies from the Ninth Detachment.

In order to maintain combat effectiveness, the number of live ammunition shootings in the Ninth Detachment dropped sharply during training, and many recruits basically used an empty gun to gesture on the training ground. Moreover, because the clothes were not replenished, the distribution of cotton military uniforms in winter began to become tense. Some veterans' uniforms were broken, and the team did not replace them with new ones, but asked them to mend themselves and then continue wearing them.

The embarrassment of the troops naturally could not escape the eyes of the veterans, and their depression continued to spread among the soldiers. Although Li Qinglin and the others thought of many ways to boost morale, the reality was there, and excessive cover-up played the opposite role.

Zhou Yougen, who was recovering from Jin Erlang's house, was borrowed by Liu Zhenghong. The bullets from the 38th large cover pierced Zhou Yougen's waist. After drug treatment and nutrition strengthening, Zhou Yougen's injuries were getting better and better day by day. He no longer had to be bedridden and could sway in the yard with a stick.

The First Military Sub-district of the Eighth Route Army in northern Henan was highly praised for the fact that Jin Erling sacrificed his life to rescue the wounded members of the Eighth Route Army. Although there were a lot of post-war reconstruction work, the Eighth Route Army political department still planned to send a big certificate to Jin Erling for encouragement after special discussion. Because there were many people who helped the Eighth Route Army this anti-sweeping campaign, the Political Department of the Military Sub-district was preparing to count all the meritorious personnel and then issue the certificates in a concentrated manner.

Such a person who was officially commended by the Eighth Route Army appeared in his own village. Naturally, the militia team leader in the village had a bright face. After returning from the meeting, the team leader immediately ran to Jin Erlang's house to report the good news.

"Erlangzi, the Eighth Route Army is preparing to issue a certificate to you!" the team leader opened the door and shouted.

Jin Erlang was cooking in the kitchen at this time. When he heard someone in the front room talking, he quickly came out: "What did you say? The Eighth Route Army issued me a certificate of award? What is the certificate of award?"

Jin Erling didn't know a big word, so he naturally had no idea about the certificate.

"The certificate is a big red paper with your name written on it and praise you for doing something good." The team leader also explained that the certificate was half-explanatory, so he explained.

Jin Erlang's eyes rolled around, and he asked, "Can this certificate be sold for money?"

He Ping happened to come out of the inner room. When she heard Jin Erlang ask this question, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Chapter completed!