inspire-indiana Chapter 596: Food is the most important issue. The emperor has plenty of hungry soldiers. We can’t b
Chapter 596: Food is the most important issue. The emperor has plenty of hungry soldiers. We can’t b
What no one expected was that this war of attrition lasted for a whole month. The long period of continuous fighting made both the enemy and us very tired. In addition, it was the hottest time of the year, so both sides had to enter a truce.
Lin Zhenhua looked at the calendar. Today was July 7th. It had not rained for almost a month. There was only a light rain at the end of June. The drought that he had predicted in advance was happening in the base, which had a huge impact on the lives and production of the residents in the base.
In order to solve the problem of water shortage, Lin Zhenhua thought of many ways, but some of them had little effect. Not to mention that there were more than 40 victims who had been waiting outside the base for half a month. The fuel consumed every day just for transporting daily necessities was a huge number.
The most hateful thing is that the Japanese went out to spread the news that as long as you go to the Zhaojiayu base, you will have a way to survive. Even the Japanese fighter planes did not use bombs to bomb the victims. The purpose was to increase the burden on the Zhaojiayu base and let it collapse on its own.
The Japanese's intentions were indeed very sinister. Many victims who came from the Central Plains were slowly heading towards the Zhaojiayu base under their deliberate guidance. Even the victims who could not survive in Shanxi Province joined the ranks. This made everyone who learned the news very worried.
"Everyone, the situation may be more serious than we thought. We had previously planned to accept one million victims, but according to the Japs' attitude, the number of victims we will eventually accept may exceed 100 million. Given the current situation in our base, we simply cannot feed so many people. We must think of a response plan in advance, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous!" Zhao Gang said with a serious face.
Li Yunlong also felt the huge pressure, and continued in a dull tone: "Old Zhao is right. The current situation is indeed extremely unfavorable to us. Solving the problem of food and accommodation for the disaster victims is our top priority. If this problem is not solved, our base may really be in chaos!"
Ding Wei put down the tea bowl in his hand, slammed the table with an unpleasant expression and said: "We all know that solving the problem of food and shelter for the disaster victims is very urgent, but the key is how do we solve it? Food will not fall from the sky. The food we have now is enough to feed 200 million people for more than three months. If the population of the base area really increases to 300 million, then the food we have will only be enough for two months, and can barely support until the autumn harvest!"
"But if the food harvested in autumn can only feed our 300 million people for a month, then what about the next six months? Are we all going to starve? We have been consciously increasing revenue and reducing expenditure to increase food reserves, but we haven't stockpiled much food until now. In addition, the international food prices have been rising again and again. The price of canned food and compressed biscuits we ordered from Chen Minggeng has doubled."
"Three million people need three million catties of grain a day, which means one billion catties a year. However, the arable land in our base is less than 300 mu. Assuming an average annual yield of 300 catties per mu, we can only produce 50 million catties of grain a year, which means a gap of 600 million catties of grain. Even if we use fertilizers on all our arable land and double the grain output, there will still be a gap of more than million catties of grain, which is not a small number."
"It means that we have to transport 100 million kilograms of food every day through the air transport line. Even if compressed biscuits and canned food are filling, and a big discount is given, we still have to transport 60 kilograms a day, which is equivalent to 300 tons. Our current air transport capacity is less than 60 tons, which is too far behind. Not to mention that there are also the Japanese secretly eyeing us. I, Ding Wei, really can't think of any way to solve our current predicament."
"If people want to live, they have to eat food. Otherwise, no matter how much we talk, it's meaningless. If we can't even get enough food, it's completely wishful thinking to expect the soldiers to fight the Japanese. The emperor doesn't need hungry soldiers. Are we more powerful than his emperor?"
Ding Wei's words were merciless. The situation had reached a critical point. If the Zhaojiayu base was not resolved, there would be civil unrest without the Japanese attacking.
Kong Jie had come into contact with the most disaster victims, and his feelings were the most profound. He gently patted the table with his hand, drawing everyone's attention to him, and said earnestly: "What Lao Ding just said is our current predicament. The food crisis will break out soon, and we must find a way to solve it immediately!"
"Let me give you a number so that you can feel how urgent the situation is. We have resettled 41.8 disaster victims and need to provide them with 30 kilograms of food, or 150 tons, every day. We need to use 600 three-wheeled motorcycles to meet the daily food consumption of the disaster victims."
"The base currently has 1328 tricycles, 1 of which are needed to transport food to the victims. In order to ensure the food supply for the victims, transportation cannot be stopped even if the weather is hot. The situation is so bad, not to mention that we have to use a large amount of medicine every day. One-third of the medicines previously stored in the base have been consumed. It is expected that when the large number of victims arrive, they will even face a crisis of drug shortage!"
"Old Ding made a bold prediction before, saying that we would receive 200 million disaster victims. In fact, the final number is likely to be far more than Old Ding's prediction. According to the news I heard from the disaster victims, now it is not only the disaster victims in the Central Plains who are rushing to us, but even the disaster victims in Shanxi Province are rushing to us. In order to ensure that these people have food to eat and clothes to wear, we must give up all fluke mentality, otherwise the consequences will be really disastrous!"
Xing Zhiguo, who usually likes to keep silent, did not keep silent this time. He said anxiously, "Everyone, we have been forced into a corner now. We must solve the three major crises we are facing as soon as possible. The first is the food crisis. If we don't solve the problem of food, something big will happen. No matter what the cost, we must ensure the food supply for 300 million people!"
"The second crisis is the fuel crisis. Only eight of our coal-to-oil equipment are still working. The rest have all been destroyed by the Japanese. We basically use as much as we produce. We don't have any fuel reserves. A fighter plane without fuel is just a pile of scrap metal. It is impossible for it to fly into the sky, let alone pose a threat to the Japanese."
"The third crisis is the shortage of troops. After a long period of fighting, our casualties have accumulated to a great extent. We only have a few soldiers who can actually be used for combat. We are no longer able to protect the safety of the base. We must expand our forces again."
"I think we should expand our military strength to about 50,000 this time to ensure the safety of our base. With our current stockpile of weapons and ammunition, there is still a huge gap in arming 50,000 people, and we need the full support of the arsenal."
Xing Zhiguo's request was quite exorbitant this time, and he directly expanded the military force three times, which really stunned everyone present. They did not expect Xing Zhiguo's appetite to be so big. Even Li Yunlong was a little shocked. His original goal was to expand it to 5000 people and add militiamen. He did not expect that Xing Zhiguo would directly expand the regular army to . If the militiamen were included, the total strength would exceed .
Lin Zhenhua felt tremendous pressure. The base was facing multiple crises at the moment, and it was very difficult to solve them all. He could only do his best to force the issue and take one step at a time. There would always be a way out when you reach the mountain. God will not let a sparrow starve to death. He believed that he could find a way out for everyone.
Putting down the large porcelain bowl in his hand, Lin Zhenhua knocked heavily on the table and replied in an unprecedented serious tone: "Our base has indeed reached a life-and-death situation. Multiple crises have erupted at the same time. If we don't find a way to resolve them, we may really be blown to pieces."
"Let's start with the biggest headache for us, which is how to solve the huge food gap. I think we need to start from three aspects. The first aspect is to increase the planting area of crops to increase the total grain output."
"Before, we only included the first blockade line set up by the devils. Now we might as well be bolder. Anyway, things can't get any worse. We can use the second blockade line as a buffer zone. With Wangjia Town and Yujia Town as the boundary, we can get an additional 30 mu of arable land, which can give us at least million kilograms of grain a year, so the gap can be reduced by half."
"If we increase the planting area of grains, our actual food shortage should be around 150 million catties. This way, the pressure will be much smaller. We only need to transport 100 tons of canned food and compressed biscuits every day to eliminate our food crisis."
"The second aspect is to seize food from the devils to make up for our food shortage. Seven ounces of food per person per day can only ensure that people will not starve to death, not to mention that the soldiers have a lot of training and their demand for food is also great. We have to think of a way to get rid of the devils. I don't need to say more about this. Everyone present is very clear about this."
"The third aspect is to increase trade with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, using weapons, ammunition and production lines to exchange for food and salt. Even our medicines can be exchanged. In short, the more food, the better. I won't have too much!"