"Captain, the Logistics Department has counted. All the food we seized from this attack is added up to last until the autumn harvest. This is the case when the Second Battalion has not been built and the troops are not fully equipped!" Zhong Chenggong frowned and introduced.

"Once the troops are fully organized and the Second Battalion is built, the total force of the entire regiment will reach 3,000."

"In the absence of battle, each soldier needs one and a half pounds of grain, which adds up to nearly 150,000 pounds per month. When encountering such continuous battles that have just ended, the food consumption will increase significantly, which means that after the autumn harvest, we must store nearly 2 million pounds of grain to meet the needs of the troops in one year!"

"However, after statistics, the total population of the two towns we control is only more than 60,000. After the autumn harvest, even a piece of grain will not be stolen by the Japanese. We can only collect at most 800,000 kilograms of public grain, less than half of the total!"

"Our standard for allocating public grain is too low. For the people who only have food fields, it is less than 5%. As for the original government troops and Japanese devils, there is always a ratio of 30% of public grain distribution, or even 50%!"

"But even so, I guess I'd be very lucky to have 400,000 to 500,000 kilograms of public grain that ended up falling into our hands!"

"After all, the Japanese are not vegetarians. They will definitely not watch the food fall into our hands. After the autumn harvest, they will definitely send troops to our base to rob grain in an armed manner. At that time, the base will definitely lose a lot of food!"

Wang Ping frowned and didn't say anything. He waited until Zhong Chenggong finished speaking, and the expression on his face showed a slight fluctuation.

"We wiped out the remnants of the Japanese and puppet troops in the base area and seemed to have harvested a lot of fertile land. Although we promised to distribute the land to the people without land for free, the food belongs to us!"

"If I remember correctly, the two towns have a total of more than 16,000 acres of land. Even if the average yield per mu is only 100 kilograms, the total total is more than 1.6 million kilograms. Adding public grain is enough for our annual consumption!"

Zhong Chenggong replied with a wry smile: "Captain, you only count the total output, not the part you allocated to the tenants."

"According to the agreement, those tenants want to share about 50% of the food, and the food that can end up falling into our hands will definitely be less than 800,000 kilograms. Together, they are only 150,600,000 kilograms, and there is still a gap of 400,000 kilograms!"

"Also, this is the weather and there is no reduction in production this year. If we encounter drought in the future, we will definitely receive less public grain. So, in order to prevent business accidents, the best way is to take advantage of the bumper harvest this year and stock up on more grain. However, we can't get enough food for the year we will connect for the whole year, let alone stock up on more grain?"

A word awakens the dreamer!

Wang Ping suddenly thought that starting next year, the entire North China would experience a major drought that lasted for three years.

During these three days, due to the reduction in grain output and the blockade of the Japanese and puppet troops, almost all bases controlled by the Eighth Route Army were in the most difficult time. In the end, a series of measures such as simplifying military and simplifying administration and self-sufficiency had to be implemented to overcome this difficulty.

At that moment, a very bold idea came to Wang Ping's mind.

Immediately report my prophecy to the Eighth Route Army headquarters, and now I will prepare for the next three-year drought to minimize the losses of the Eighth Route Army.

However, as soon as this idea appeared, it was rejected by myself.

Although he knew the deputy commander-in-chief, he suddenly told him such a big thing and something he had never had. The other party would definitely regard himself as a lunatic, or even arrest him, saying that he could disrupt the morale of the army.

After thinking about it, Wang Ping decided to hide this idea in his heart.

However, I just did nothing and watched the drought cause unprecedented losses to the Eighth Route Army and the people in the base areas, and I was unwilling to accept it.

After some painful hesitation and decision, Wang Ping decided to do his best to minimize the losses of the Eighth Route Army.

Seeing Wang Ping's face changing constantly, Zhong Chenggong thought something had happened to Wang Ping, and immediately asked: "Captain, have you thought of something?"

Wang Ping no longer hesitated and decided directly: "Chief of Staff, you just said that we must take advantage of this autumn to collect at least two million kilograms of grain to be enough for our needs in the next year. Now I tell you that two million kilograms are too small, and we must raise at least ten million kilograms, or more."

"Impossible!" Zhong Chenggong denied it without thinking.

"Even if the entire Linfen is our base, all the public grains will be collected less than three million kilograms of grain. Unless we forcefully collect grain from the people according to the proportion of grain distributed by the Japanese, it is impossible to raise 10 million kilograms!"

Wang Ping was unmoved and continued: "Ten million pounds is my minimum requirement, and 20 million pounds is my goal. In the next half year, our new troop's task is to make grain. If we can't collect all the public grain, we will buy it. If we can't buy it, we will grab it from the Japanese!"

"Why, Commander!" Zhong Chenggong asked back with a frown.

"We only have three thousand people. Even if we are close to eat, 10 million kilograms of food is enough for us to eat for four or five years. Moreover, even if we get so much food, there is no place to put it!"

Wang Ping did not explain and continued to insist: "There is no reason, ten million kilograms of grain, this is my minimum requirement, and even a kilogram cannot be lost!"

"Also, your words just now reminded me that even if we have collected so much grain, there is no grain warehouse. Now there is still more than half a month before the autumn harvest. We seem to have many prisoners in our hands. Let the guard company take them into the mountains, and dig caves away to serve as our grain warehouse to hoard grain!"

"Let the engineer platoon cooperate with the past. They know where to dig caves and where to dry, and store grains without rotting!"

"The most important thing is that the grain warehouse must be hidden!"

Wang Ping's determination made the Chief of Staff, who was still ready to continue persuading him, shut his mouth obediently.

Then hesitated for a moment and asked, "I will arrange the matter of digging holes and repairing grain warehouses in a short time. However, the leader of the group, 10 million kilograms of grain is not a small amount. We cannot increase the burden on the people. You must give me a brief explanation of how to get it all, otherwise I will not be at ease!"

"Take it in three steps!" Wang Ping answered directly.

"The first step is public grain, which can be taken care of by the logistics department!"

"The second step is to buy it. This year's grain harvest is bumper, and the grain prices are definitely not high. Those landlords and gentry must have hoarded a lot of food. We directly use real money and silver to buy as much as we can. We can also buy grain from surrounding areas through grain merchants. If possible, we can also buy military food from the Shanxi-Sui Army or even government troops. As for the money issue, I will solve it, and this will also be left to the logistics department to do it!"

"The third step is to grab it, snatch it from the Japanese!"

"There are more than 10,000 Japanese and puppet troops in Linfen, and they need to consume a lot of food every day, and these foods are our target of robbery!"

"There is also the Tongpu Railway, which is a fat and oily railway. In the past, our Xinyi Group had no strength and could not move. But now it is different. If we can't get food if we guard such a railway, then we will have such a good position in vain!"
Chapter completed!