Anti-Japanese War: When I get promoted, the system will explode with soldiers

Chapter 1186 Establishing the Militia

After hearing Zhang Haiguang's words, and with their own understanding of war, many of the men below finally understood why they had to withdraw. Most importantly, the very next morning, Zhang Haiguang immediately summoned the commanders of the security regiments from the 17 nearby counties for a meeting.

Many soldiers belatedly realized why our Fourth Division had withdrawn so quickly. It turned out that the local security regiments had suffered heavy losses. During our rapid advance, some idle Japanese soldiers had been left to their care. While things seemed fine at first glance, after a prolonged battle, the security regiments were also heavily wounded.

Therefore, while our regular troops are stationed here, each security regiment must quickly rebuild. Moreover, according to the materials sent from headquarters, in addition to one security regiment per county, one security team per town and one militia per village.

Building a comprehensive, multi-dimensional anti-Japanese organization is far more complex than a simple matter. Li Shaoyi proposed this because he knew the devastating power of people's war; only by arming all the people could the Japanese truly find it impossible to advance in this region.

After the regular army withdraws, the security regiments will be the main force, the security teams will be the auxiliary force, and the militia will be the reserve force. With each of them strengthened, the overall defense of the region will not be weak.

Take a county in southern Shandong as an example. A security regiment has about 1500 people, covering 12 townships. Each security team has about 100 people, which adds up to more than 1200 people. If these people are to be trained according to the standards of a security regiment, 2700 people are enough for a county.

As for the militia of over ten thousand in each village, their training standards don't need to be so high, and their weapons and equipment don't need to be so good either; most of it will be some single-shot equipment captured on the battlefield. Their main task is to gather intelligence and control various areas; the actual combat will be left to the security regiments and security teams.

The local militia only need to provide support. Of course, if they capture new equipment on the battlefield, they also need to equip those enemies with it.

Regarding the selection of militia captains, Zhang Haiguang understood the higher-ups' intentions. "We have many brothers who were wounded and discharged in various places; they are the best militia captains. Each militia captain receives the same treatment as a regular army soldier. Each militia captain can then find a dozen or so key members, whose treatment is half that of a security regiment soldier. As for ordinary militia members, they receive 10 jin of wheat flour each month."

From an outsider's perspective, this would place a heavy burden on the entire 72nd Group Army. But for Li Shaoyi, it didn't matter; these things were provided by the system, and he was merely a deliveryman. With these benefits, local militia systems could be quickly established. You can't keep ordering people around for training, only to end up not even able to provide a meal—who would want to work for you?

Of course, we also need to strengthen their ideological education, letting them know that militia training isn't just our job, but specifically for protecting their hometown. Before, when the Japanese came, you couldn't protect anything; you could only watch helplessly as they ravaged our people. Now that you have weapons, and after a period of training, even if you wanted to fight the Japanese, you'd have something to use, wouldn't you?

During the meeting, Zhang Haiguang held systematic discussions with the regimental commanders. These men firmly supported the headquarters' plan. While the Japanese hadn't yet arrived in southern Shandong, everyone was already aware of the situation in northern Jiangsu. Recently, a large number of people had fled famine, and through their conversations, the local population had fallen into a state of mild panic. Now was the perfect time to promote our militia.

Everyone knows these Japanese devils aren't human, but we're just farmers with nothing but farm tools. If we were to actually fight them, we'd only be slaughtered. But now, the 72nd Army is willing to train us and give us the same weapons and equipment as the Japanese. And we only have two days of training per week; the rest of the time we can continue farming. Those two days can give us a good amount of flour a month, which is much better than going out to work.

Of course, the most important thing isn't the economic cost, but the security cost. When the Japanese come, each of our villages can find a dozen or so key members and dozens of armed men. These men are familiar with the terrain, and once they've fought the Japanese, they'll immediately know what to do next. If we can't win, the militia from the surrounding villages can also be mobilized, and a large-scale battle against the Japanese might not be out of the question.

The same thing was being done in Ma Leizi's area, since the security regiments around the provincial capital had suffered even greater losses. Initially, Ma Leizi hadn't mobilized regular troops; they had relied entirely on the security regiments to protect the area surrounding the provincial capital.

Now, according to Li Shaoyi's orders, the security regiments in various places must be restored quickly, and security brigades should even be set up in important areas, making them even more powerful than before.

As for the Nationalist government, sending them a letter will suffice. Whether they approve it or not, we've already reported it; it's not like we're expanding the army without their consent. Besides, our area is practically a semi-enemy zone; any expansion of our army is for fighting the Japanese.

At this moment, Liu Xiaoshan finally understood the helplessness of diplomats. The military meeting had just ended when Zhang Haiguang submitted a report proposing the establishment of a security system in the Lunan region—a system unlike anything seen before, which involved distributing guns to the civilians.

For some in the Nationalist government, the threat to their own people outweighed the threat to the Japanese. In their view, if these people were armed, they would soon become warlords, obstacles to the central government's rule over various regions. Therefore, they absolutely could not be given guns, even if the Japanese were about to invade.

But now Zhang Haiguang is going to do just that—arm people all over the country. Zhang Haiguang is a big name in the Nationalist government; he just annihilated the 9th Division. While such a feat might not seem like much in the 72nd Army, it would put him among the top figures in the entire Nationalist government. Can you really challenge him?