"Old village chief, thank you. If it weren't for your help, the publicity wouldn't have gone so smoothly.”
Seeing the villagers leave, Iron Bull thanked them.
Iron Bull knew that the reason why the villagers were able to listen to him and believe in him had a lot to do with the old village chief.
If it wasn't for the old village chief, the villagers wouldn't have trusted Iron Bull.
In the eyes of the villagers, Iron Bull was still a stranger and could not be trusted easily.
"Little comrade, you don't have to thank me. If you want to thank someone, it should be us thanking the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army. If it weren't for the new policies of the Eighth Route Army, we might still have to worry about land reclamation.”
The old village chief waved his hand and said with a smile.
The old village chief knew very well that the reason why the villagers were willing to listen was partly because of him.
It was also because the Eighth Route Army could really bring benefits to the villagers. Otherwise, it would be useless to have him around.
As the village chief, the old village chief had always wanted to help the villagers improve their lives, but he had never had any good ideas.
Now that he could do something for the village and let the villagers obtain certain benefits, the old village chief was still very happy.
"Oh right, little comrade, I still don't know your name.”The old village chief said.
Iron Bull also reacted. That's right. After chatting with the old village chief for so long, he had yet to formally introduce himself.
"Old Village Chief, I am the Company Commander of the new Artillery Company, Iron Bull. I am responsible for the reclamation of wasteland and the cooperation with the villagers. If you have any problems, you can find me at the Artillery Company.”
"Yo, little comrade, you're a company commander? If I had a grandson, he would be about your age.”
The old village chief was a little depressed. He was the only one in the house, so he felt a little lonely.
Iron Bull was a little confused as he looked at the old village chief." Old village chief, are you alone? Where's your family?"
"Sigh, I originally had three sons. A few years ago, the national army came to recruit soldiers and forcefully took away two of my sons.”
"Three years ago, the Japanese came to Shanxi. My youngest son chose to join the army to fight the Japanese. In such a chaotic world, there's no news. He might have died on the battlefield..."
"This old man is not capable. Otherwise, I would have gone to fight the Japanese. Unfortunately, with this old man's body, I won't have the chance to fight the Japanese. I'm afraid I won't have many days to live.”
"We still need to rely on you young people and the Eighth Route Army to fight the Japanese.”The old village chief sighed.
Iron Bull looked at the old village chief, not knowing what to say or how to comfort him.
"Old Village Chief, don't worry. Our Eighth Route Army will definitely fight the Japanese well and will work hard to drive the Japanese out of China as soon as possible!”After a moment of silence, Iron Bull spoke in a deep voice.
The old village chief smiled." Alright, I believe you. I believe in the Eighth Route Army!"”
On the way back to the artillery company, Iron Bull was thinking about the reclamation of wasteland.
He hoped that this matter could be acknowledged by the headquarters as soon as possible, so that the soldiers could participate.
Currently, only the Artillery Company of the new regiment was responsible for the reclamation of wasteland. It was impossible for the soldiers of the Artillery Company to reclaim too much wasteland in a short period of time.
Only by getting all the warriors of the new regiment to participate could they reclaim enough wasteland.
He turned around and walked towards the regiment headquarters. Iron Bull wanted to ask Ding Wei if the headquarters had made any decisions.
Arriving at the regiment headquarters, Tie Niu did not see Ding Wei.
After asking the people in the regiment headquarters, they found out that Ding Wei had gone to the 1st Battalion.
He gave up on the idea of going to the 1st Battalion to find Ding Wei. The CEOs at the headquarters might need some time to think about it, so they probably wouldn't make a decision so quickly.
Iron Bull calmed down after not seeing Ding Wei. He couldn't be too anxious.
Back at the artillery company, the soldiers were resting. Iron Bull could see many soldiers wiping the sweat off their foreheads.
The weather in March was very cool. There was still a thin layer of snow on the ground, but even in such weather, the soldiers were still sweating.
Noticing this, Iron Bull chose not to say anything.
Knowing that the soldiers were not slacking off, he was satisfied. As for continuing the training of the soldiers, he would not do so.
After knowing that the physical fitness of the soldiers could not be compared to that of the later generations, Iron Bull did not think of using the training standards of the later generations to demand these soldiers to prevent the soldiers from being exhausted due to training.
However, the soldiers were quite self-aware. Even without the company commander, Iron Bull, they would still train hard under the leadership of the first squad leader.
Looking at the time, it was almost noon. Iron Bull did not let the soldiers continue training.
Taking out some pig bones, Iron Bull and the soldiers started to stew bone soup with some wild vegetables.
There weren't many wild vegetables. It was only March, and the wild vegetables were still young. This was also the reason why soldiers rarely saw vegetables when they ate.
Even the cabbage could only be provided once a week.
There were quite a few pickled vegetables, but if they were to be provided to the entire regiment, they would probably be finished in less than a week.
The soldiers held their bowls and smelled the fragrance of the bone soup. Many of them drooled.
Bone soup was nothing in the future, but in such a difficult era, it was a rare delicacy.
It was only in the artillery company that the soldiers could see some meat from time to time.
Before coming to the artillery company, the soldiers could only eat meat once a month.
Seeing that the bone soup was a little diluted and that there was not much change after adding some wild vegetables, Iron Bull asked the soldiers to take out some cornbread and put it into the bone soup to stew.
The cornbread was very hard and usually hurt his throat. Now that he was stewing the cornbread in the bone soup, he felt much more comfortable eating it.
After he asked the soldiers to go to the kitchen to get some sweet potato vermicelli and add them into the big pot, Iron Bull and the soldiers waited patiently.
Since he had nothing to do, Iron Bull started chatting with the soldiers. They talked about the reason why the soldiers joined the army and their families.
When the bone soup was ready, Iron Bull had a better understanding of the soldiers of the artillery company.
Most of the soldiers who joined the army did not have enough to eat at home, so they chose to join the army because they wanted to eat military rations.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese entered Shanxi. Because of the Japanese army's crazy looting, food production suffered unprecedented damage.
Moreover, due to various natural disasters happening year after year, the people's ability to resist disasters was weak, resulting in a decrease in food production.
This also made it difficult for ordinary people to have a full meal.
As for selling grain, the purchase price of grain in the past two years could be said to be quite low. Selling grain would only make him lose more money.
Many of the villages where the soldiers lived had been destroyed by the Japanese, not to mention the various evil deeds that the Japanese had done.
Many soldiers gnashed their teeth at the mention of the Japanese.
When the 8th Route Army started recruiting, they decisively chose to join the new regiment so that they could kill some Japanese.
"Comrades, our lives are very difficult now, but the hardship is short-lived. I believe that with everyone's continuous efforts, our lives will get better and better, and we will definitely be able to chase the Japanese back to their hometown!”Iron Bull encouraged loudly.
The soldiers nodded vigorously in agreement.
Under the leadership of Tie Niu, the commander of the artillery company, their lives had become much better. They were willing to believe in this young commander.
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