Chapter 290: Rumors Upon Entering The City
When the entire 386th Brigade stepped onto that flat and wide cement road and began advancing toward the heart of Wutai County, they finally truly understood that what they had seen on the border before was merely the tip of the iceberg.
The deeper they went, the more continuous the shocks they experienced.
On the wide and flat road, long convoys of trucks loaded with grain, ammunition crates, and various supplies occasionally roared past them.
Those trucks were all brand new, painted with the blue sky white sun emblem of the Shanxi Militia on their bodies, and the drivers skillfully controlled the steering wheels, even having the leisure to honk twice at these “friendly forces” marching on foot and grin.
They even saw at a fork in the road more than a dozen tanks rumbling past them, their tracks crushing the cement surface.
Those tanks had sleek designs full of power, with long gun barrels angled toward the sky, exuding a murderous aura.
These were clearly not some captured bean tankettes, but standardized, well-maintained main battle equipment.
In the sky, several silver fighter planes swooped overhead at extremely low altitude, emitting a shrill whistle tearing through the air, circled above the column, performed a beautiful side pass as if saluting them, then pulled up their noses and flew toward the distant airfield.
This integrated land-air, three-dimensional, mechanized scene gave them an illusion, as if they had not arrived at a barren county town in North China, but had intruded into the heartland of a legendary military powerhouse.
“Good grief… this… this damn thing is a tank…”
Li Yunlong’s eyes were fixed dead on the departing tank column, saliva nearly drooling from his mouth, “Old Kong, Old Ding, did you see? That iron bastard is way more imposing than the Japanese 97-style! If Old Li had a battalion of these… no… even a company, I could poke right through Taiyuan City!”
Kong Jie was speechless, just smacking his lips repeatedly, murmuring, “This Regiment Commander Su, exactly which god’s bank did he rob… This scale, compared to Old Yan Xi, makes him look like a beggar!”
Ding Wei’s expression was the most grave. He nudged Li Yunlong and Kong Jie beside him, lowered his voice, eyes flashing with sharp light:
“Don’t just drool over it. Have you thought about why, with such strong backing, he still pulls us in?
This means the Taiyuan bone is harder than we imagined! And it also means… this Regiment Commander Su is scheming for far more than just Taiyuan!”
Amid the hushed whispers of this iron triangle, the column finally arrived outside Wutai County town.
At the city gate, two ranks of militia soldiers in crisp uniforms, holding submachine guns, stood ramrod straight, exuding a stern presence.
And right in the center of the gate, two men stood smiling, waiting for them.
The leader was Su Yaoyang. He wore a gray German-made 36-style regular uniform, stood tall and straight, with a confident and enthusiastic smile on his face.
Standing beside him was Bai Chongxi, also in military attire, his expression somewhat complex.
Brigade Commander Chen dismounted, straightened his uniform, and strode forward.
“Brigade Commander, long journey, you’ve had it rough!”
Then, Su Yaoyang turned sideways and ordered Chief of Staff Pi Ruoyu to lead the main force of the 386th Brigade to the camp already prepared outside the city, where hot meals, hot water, and brand-new barracks awaited them.
“General Chen, fellow colleagues, long journey, you’ve had it rough!
Thin wine has been prepared in the city; please enter, and we’ll host a welcome banquet to wash away the dust of the road!”
While Chief of Staff Pi Ruoyu led the main force of the 386th Brigade in majestic procession to the camp outside the city, Su Yaoyang and Bai Chongxi escorted Chen Geng, Li Yunlong, and other Eighth Route Army officers through the thick gate tunnel and formally entered Wutai County town.
If the mechanized troops and modern roads outside the city had shocked them militarily, then the scenes inside the city refreshed their understanding once again from the perspectives of livelihood and economy.
Upon entering the city, the chaotic, war-torn, industry-decimated scenes typical of other county towns that Li Yunlong and the others usually saw were completely absent.
What met their eyes was a wide, clean main street paved with cement.
Shops lined both sides of the street, people came and went, vendors’ calls, laughter, and children’s play sounds filled the air endlessly, presenting a scene of bustling stability, even livelier than some pre-war big cities.
What astonished them even more were the buildings lining the streets.
The low, dilapidated thatched huts or traditional brick-tile houses common in other county towns had become very rare.
In their place were brand-new, sturdy two- or three-story buildings.
The main structures of these buildings were strikingly made of the cement bricks they had just been marveling at, or even poured concrete.
The walls were smooth and flat, windows large and bright, some even embedded with glass, a luxury item in this era.
Every household’s doorstep was swept clean, many with a few potted flowers and plants, full of the breath of life.
“Good grief…”
Li Yunlong’s eyes weren’t enough; he tugged at Zhao Gang’s sleeve beside him, lowered his voice, but the shock in his tone couldn’t be concealed, “Political commissar, look quick, these houses the common folk live in, I reckon they’re fancier than those in big cities like Taiyuan and Datong. This isn’t a county town; this is simply paradise!”
Zhao Gang adjusted his glasses, his heart equally surging.
He saw the people walking on the streets—merchants, workers, or ordinary residents—all with confident and secure expressions on their faces, something absolutely unseen in other war-torn areas.
Their clothing was plain but clean and neat, complexions ruddy, clearly with quite a good standard of living.
Su Yaoyang walked along, smiling as he introduced, “Wutai County is at a strategic hub, but it used to be very poor. After I arrived, I didn’t do much else, just opened a few small factories—cement plant, hardware plant, match factory, and such. Not big scale, just enough to give everyone a bite to eat and some work to do.”
He spoke lightly, but to Chen Geng and the others, it was no less than a thunderbolt.
In this era, setting up modern factories, especially ones that could mass-produce strategic materials like cement, was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Yet the “small factories” in Su Yaoyang’s mouth had directly transformed the face of a county town, even creating a siphon effect, attracting large numbers of refugees and idle laborers from surrounding areas to work, thus creating the current prosperity.
“Some time ago, we discovered a not-insignificant iron ore deposit around Xiangyuan and Dingxiang.”
Su Yaoyang mentioned it casually like a trivial matter, “I’ve already had people start preparations, planning to build a steel mill.
From now on, we’ll smelt our own steel, make our own guns and cannons, and won’t have to look at the foreigners’ faces anymore.”
Build their own steel mill?
This was no longer just “having money”; this was building a complete, self-sufficient military-industrial system.
This was the ultimate dream of all Chinese people, yet one they could never attain!
The group followed behind Su Yaoyang through the bustling streets, their shock beyond measure.
They finally understood that this commander of the Shanxi Militia they were about to cooperate with possessed strength and ambitions far beyond all their imaginations.
After Su Yaoyang’s casual yet earth-shattering remark about “building a steel mill,” the silently observing political commissar Zhao Gang finally couldn’t hold back.
“Regiment Commander Su, forgive my bluntness. To establish a complete industrial system, even just the most basic light industrial factories as you mentioned, would require an enormous, systematic project in talent reserves, material allocation, technical support, and startup funds.
Given the current domestic situation, you… where did you get so many professionals, production materials, and this precision production equipment?”
This question hit the nail on the head, straight to the core. It was also the greatest puzzle in all the Eighth Route Army generals’ minds.
Hearing this, Su Yaoyang stopped, turned around, a playful smile on his face, as if he had long anticipated someone asking.
“Talent, well…”
He spread his hands, tone relaxed as if discussing buying vegetables at the market, “Naturally, just go poach them.
In big cities like Taiyuan and Datong, there are always talented engineers and technicians down on their luck. As long as the price is right, no one can’t be poached.
If those places aren’t enough, we can still send people to Beiping, Shanghai—those places have even more talent.”
He paused, changed tack, put on a “heartbroken” expression, and sighed.
“As for equipment… that’s even more direct, of course, and more expensive.”
He complained solemnly, “These were all bought through friends at foreign firms, set by set from places like America and Britain with real gold and silver.
Oh man, don’t even mention it, cost a fortune, still hurts my heart thinking about it now.”
Listening to Su Yaoyang’s seemingly complaining but actually peak Versailles boasting, Zhao Gang felt the bellyful of theories he had prepared on economic construction and base area development instantly choked off.
He opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing, just silently rubbed his nose bridge.
He suddenly didn’t want to talk anymore; chatting with this guy was too infuriating—he was too good at playing innocent.
With Zhao Gang silenced, Brigade Commander Chen beside him laughed heartily and took up the conversation.
“Regiment Commander Su, I have to say, the changes in Wutai County have really opened our eyes, us mud-legged folks.”
Brigade Commander Chen’s smile was very open and hearty, his words carrying sincere admiration, “I originally thought Regiment Commander Su you were just skilled at training troops and fighting battles, a born military genius. Who would have thought you were also so formidable in building livelihoods and developing industry! Impressive, impressive!”
Facing the praise from this future big shot who would single-handedly create Harbin Military Engineering Institute, Su Yaoyang didn’t dare accept it all. The playful glint on his face instantly vanished clean, replaced by a sincere and modest expression, waving his hands repeatedly:
“Brigade Commander Chen, please don’t say that, you’re overwhelming me! My meager skills dare not show off in front of you. I just got lucky by chance, did a bit of what I could, really can’t take such high praise from you!”
