Chapter 661: Warm water, boil some frogs

“It’s Chinese New Year!”

“217, pay the salary!”

On January 1938, 1, just two days after Xiaoduo and his companions left, Xu Chaoyang invited Deng Xihou of the Sichuan Army and several of his generals to Xin County to celebrate the New Year. After the high-ranking officials of the Sichuan Army arrived, the first thing he did was to pay their salaries.

How spectacular was the scene?
In the snow, Xu Chaoyang and Yang Jingyu sat in the hall as if they were at home with their parents. Li Wanchao stood aside like a housekeeper and shouted, “According to the order of establishment, the old battalion and the old company of the 217th New st Regiment, collect your pay!”

All the military chiefs of the New 1st Regiment headed by You Kui entered the yard together, each holding a new wooden tablet in their hands. However, among these people, only a few stood in the middle of the tablet according to the order of their previous team formation, or there was not even one person in each row.

“Rule 217, pay compensation first!”

Tray after tray of silver dollars covered with white paper was brought up by his men. Xu Chaoyang slowly stood up, peeled off the white paper on the tray, and personally twisted the paper package to scatter the silver dollars inside on the tray to prove that there was no fraud. Then Yang Jingyu stood up and said, “In the past, the pensions for the 217 martyrs were all handled by me. I won’t tell you the specific methods, but we used the underground money houses of pawnshops and the old connections I left in the Northeast. Later, we used comrades on the hidden front of the organization…”

“So, I have an account for every pension!”

“But in recent years, the Japanese have been causing more and more trouble in the Northeast, and the amount of pensions I’ve issued has been getting less and less… It’s not that I don’t want to issue them, but the people in my hometown are dying in one village after another. Even if I wanted to issue them, I couldn’t find anyone to do it.”

“In our old company alone, there are already 24 extinct families. What should we do with the money that cannot be distributed? When we have time, let our leader find a time to gather all the living elders together to discuss it.”

At this point, Yang Jingyu’s voice was a little choked up. Xu Chaoyang glanced at him, smacked his lips, and complained: “It’s New Year’s Day, look at you…”

Yang Jingyu turned his back and said nothing, while Xu Chaoyang waved his hand. Li Wanchao continued to shout loudly: “According to the previous rules, after the New 67st Regiment receives the pension, the New nd Regiment and the th Regiment will receive the pension in order. The military chiefs of each regiment will go to the Political Department to check and fill in the gaps to see if there are any missing… All funds will be issued after approval by Director Yang, and will be transferred to each household by comrades on the hidden front. Whether it is in the Northeast, Chahar, Pingjin, or northern Shaanxi, pensions will be issued according to this rule.”

This is a play, but not entirely a play.

To say that this is a play is because it is performed for Deng Xihou and the people of Xinzhou as a whole, so that everyone will know how 217 treats their subordinates; to say that it is not a play is because 217 has been doing this every year, and the pension is increasing day by day, and this year is particularly serious, even more than doubling!
After all, too many people died in the two battles of Tuanchengkou and Xinzhou…

“Get your pay!”

“New 1st Regiment, combat hero Chang Zhan performed outstandingly in the Tuanchengkou battle. Award: 100 silver dollars!”

“…”

“The big guy, the battle hero of the New Second Regiment, has the merit of protecting the flag. The reward is fifty silver dollars!”

“Yang Jingyu, director of the 217th Political Department, led the New st Regiment to attack Ruyuekou after Yu Changzhan was injured. He was extremely brave and was the first to rush into the enemy’s position. Award: silver dollars!”

……

“217 New Second Regiment Commander, Hero, Martyr Yu Minghao, reward, silver dollars, silver dollars in compensation, a total of !”

Deng Xihou was sitting on the side, listening, frowning as if serving as a foil.

Yes, Xu Chaoyang did not treat them badly. He served them hot tea as soon as they entered the room and put peanuts, melon seeds and snacks on the table. But his subordinates stood behind him and kept muttering… He couldn’t stand it.

“No wonder Xu Chaoyang’s men dared to charge at the Japanese with all their lives and were called the ‘heroic troops’. Look at them, the average soldier only gets 15 yuan a month, and they even get pensions every year if they die…”

“That’s just the beginning! I heard that those who are old enough have found wives!”

“That’s right, 217 is so strong, do you know who Xu Chaoyang’s wife is? In the past, the country was their private property!”

cough! cough!
Deng Xihou was so angry that he kept coughing!

Even this couldn’t stop his subordinates from complaining.

Can……

What can you say?

They kindly invited you to celebrate the New Year, and provided you with good cigarettes, good tea, and good hospitality. They didn’t ask you to charge at the Fifth Division, nor did they ask you to cover the rear with the Sichuan Army. You can’t get angry for no reason, right? But just sitting there, Deng Xihou felt awkward, indescribably awkward.

The New 67st and New nd Regiments were fine, but once the th Regiment arrived, everything went haywire…

The people, led by the head of the group, Zhu Rong, were like they were about to enter a gang to light incense. They held their hands with their thumbs crossed in a fist-shaped posture, but their palms were half-opened and raised to the upper right side of their bodies, and they all spoke in jargon: “Laoding!”

The key point is that Xu Chaoyang was really happy to see him like this. He raised his hand, grabbed a handful of silver dollars and threw them down, shouting, “Private reward!”

What he had in this bundle was full of red paper packages containing military pay. One bundle contained a full hundred silver dollars, in a long and thin strip!
When it fell to the ground, silver coins flew everywhere among the torn papers. Zhu Rong’s men picked up the money all over the room. The head of the 67th Regiment was so happy that his mouth was about to split on the back of his head. He shouted loudly: “Thank you for the reward!”

I was just about to kneel down and kowtow. From now on?
That would be even more lively!

I don’t know what this 217 came up with… By the way, in the 1938 Gala, in broad daylight, there was a gala, a colorful stage was set up in Xin County, and the programs were performed one after another…

“Let’s talk about them one by one, and say whatever we think of. Whichever one we say is good is good…” Some people sang and chanted while beating the clappers;

“Everyone, this crosstalk requires a lot of talking, learning, amusing and singing…” Two young men came up to perform crosstalk in military uniforms;

“See Luo Cheng, he broke someone’s teeth…” A man with a gap in his teeth came up and sang a Peking Opera;

“I am so embarrassed that my face is red… I can’t get it stuck in my crotch, it’s itchy…” There was also a duo singer who was booed off the stage right at the beginning. He was a grown man and started singing some Northeastern countryside jokes as soon as he came on stage. The audience below the stage was so happy that Xu Chaoyang was so angry that he almost chopped him with the plate of peanuts!

The people of Xin County were quite happy. They didn’t go home in the middle of winter and watched the show under the stage until dark. They lit torches on the stage… and they didn’t take anything away.

“Everyone!”

“Dear fellow villagers of Xin County, you have waited until now and have not left. I am afraid you are waiting for this moment, right?”

“As the mayor of Xin County sent by the organization, I am sorry to waste a few minutes of your time watching the show…”

The Xin County government sent by the organization has already taken action: “According to our latest policy, Xin County’s ‘land reform’ policy has been reported to the county and approved. In Xin County, all land suitable for farming and uncultivated land not suitable for farming will be evenly distributed to all the working people in Xin County in a matching way!”

Suddenly, there was silence under the Xin County stage!

Divide the land!

Are they talking about dividing the land?

Many ordinary people looked around in confusion, as if they didn’t hear clearly.

From ancient times to the present, land has been the lifeblood of the common people. They have never seen a regime that distributes land as soon as it acquires it…

However, those country gentlemen and former wealthy people all looked towards the stage nervously!
Some others were swallowing their saliva silently.

Liu Gener’s father-in-law stood up and said, “Comrade… Comrade, may I ask what you mean by equal distribution?”

“Ah, that is, every household should have equal land and fields, so that no one will suffer any loss.”

“very?!”

He looked at the stage and said, “You mean, the 47 acres of good farmland that my family had before the Japanese came doesn’t count? We have to share our own land with everyone else?”

“What about the property? We still have sixteen bright and shiny tiled houses. Does that still count?”

“How about this? If you don’t want the land you divided, just give us your own land. Is that okay?”

One question ruined the happy New Year atmosphere.

But the new county chief obviously had experience in governing: “My fellow villager, may I ask, did your family acquire these properties before or after the establishment of the new government?”

Liu Gener’s father-in-law suddenly stopped talking.

How could he answer?

What about the past? The past has nothing to do with the new government… After all, there were the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Right now, this place is under the jurisdiction of the border government.

What about the future? When the land and houses were just being divided, where did your family get them? Now everyone is still living in public housing, and Xin County has not been rebuilt yet. How can your family have any private property?
“Uh…uh…uh…”

“My fellow countryman, if you have any opinions, we welcome you to discuss them privately. Don’t worry, we will never avoid any issues. But now, please don’t waste everyone’s time. Everyone is still waiting to watch the show, okay?”

After he finished speaking, all the people around looked at Liu Gener’s father-in-law. These poor people, the peasants, who used to bow and nod when they saw a country squire, began to have anger in their eyes and even dared to glare at him!
It’s clearly my family’s fertile land that should be divided equally among them, so why does it feel like I’m taking advantage of them?

This time, it was Liu Gener’s father-in-law’s turn to be confused…

　There are only three chapters today, and I will continue to update tomorrow. Currently, the number of votes has reached 3000, and I am just a little bit away from finishing it. Just a little bit.

　
(End of this chapter)