Chapter 935 934 [Chiang’s Anger]

Lao Jiang was aware of the shortcomings of seizing young men, but he did not expect that the situation would be so bad.

In Chang Kaishen's view, it is normal for the mortality rate of young men to be less than 10%, and it is even more normal for imposters to appear. But it would be terrible if more than 500 of 1,000 strong men died, and the rest were all weak and sick.

How does this make recruitment work? How can we fight a war if we don't have enough troops to supplement them?

Zhou Hexuan mentioned a total of five issues in the report——

First, grassroots officials used the lottery to make money and engaged in various illegal operations, which led to the ruin of some families. Chiang Kai-shek did not want to deal with this problem and could not control it. It was a phenomenon that could not be eradicated at all.

Second, local gangsters extort money from the people in the name of conscription, seriously damaging the image of the government and the people's enthusiasm to join the army. Chiang Kai-shek also didn't want to deal with this issue. He would at most issue a document asking county magistrates and mayors to pay more attention to it and investigate it seriously, but the result would definitely be nothing.

Third, the recruitment agency and the recruiting troops withheld money and food, causing a large number of deaths and weakness among the young men, and captured foreigners as young men along the way. Chiang Kai-shek is very angry about this situation. On the public side, it has seriously damaged the speed and quality of the recruitment of soldiers. On the private side, I finally got the money to recruit troops, but you all just stuff it into your own pockets!

Fourth, the recruitment agency used strong men as porters to do business, and even secretly engaged in smuggling. Most of these smuggled items were opium, so Chiang Kai-shek could just turn a blind eye, but for contraband items like tungsten ore and mercury that were used by the enemy, Chiang Kai-shek planned to kill a group of people's heads!

Fifth, many clerks responsible for sending young men do not regard young men as human beings at all. For example, small things like boiling water and heating food don't cost money at all. You can just light a fire in the wilderness. But these people were too lazy to bother, and because they were afraid that the young men would escape, they were not allowed to collect firewood and make a fire by themselves. Therefore, the young men could only drink raw water and eat cold food, which caused unnecessary deaths due to illness.

In addition, Zhou Hexuan also mentioned some individual phenomena.

For example, a certain township chief has his eye on a farmer's land, so he levies a dice on that family every year, sometimes two or three times a year. When the amount becomes too much for the farmer to bear, the township chief takes the opportunity to annex the other's land.

In addition, the government's heavy taxation and rationing policies have resulted in some farmers having land but unable to cultivate it, resulting in small-scale abandonment of cultivated land. This phenomenon of abandonment has become more and more intense. If it continues to develop at this rate, it is likely that the area abandoned will double or triple in another year, causing incalculable agricultural losses. If there is another natural disaster, it will inevitably lead to a catastrophe - the 1942 Henan disaster and the long journey from Guangdong to Guizhou reflected in Jiang Menglin's memoirs are all the bitter consequences of this reason.

Chang Kaishen held back his anger and patiently read the 30,000-word report. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Are these situations obtained by reporters' investigations and interviews?"

Zhou Hexuan nodded and said: "Reporters from Ta Kung Pao, Li Pao and Shen Bao spent nearly two months visiting seven provinces. I guarantee that every data and case in it is true and reliable."

When Chang Kaishen heard that Ta Kung Pao and Shen Bao were involved, his facial muscles twitched a few times and he asked, "It wasn't published in the newspaper, was it?"

Zhou Hexuan replied: "The matter is very important and can easily lead to instability in the morale of the military and the people, so I suppressed it and did not let them release the news."

"Very good," Chang Kaishen breathed a sigh of relief and said gratifiedly, "Mingcheng is mature and prudent. He has done a good job in this matter. The relevant news must not be published in the newspapers. Now that the national crisis is at hand, everything is focused on resisting Japan. There cannot be any Unfavorable remarks appear.”

Zhou Hexuan said: "But the issue of mature men is indeed full of ills. I hope President Jiang can seriously investigate and deal with it."

Chang Kaishen nodded and said, "Don't worry about this."

Zhou Hexuan stood up and said: "Then I will wait for the good news and say goodbye!"

Chang Kaishen personally sent Zhou Hexuan out of the living room, and then his face became extremely gloomy. He gritted his teeth and said, "Call He Yingqin, right away!"

Two hours later.

He Yingqin hurried over after receiving the order and asked Chang Kaishen's guard adjutant in a low voice: "Brother Yiqiao, why did the chief call me?"

Ju Yiqiao led He Yingqin inside and said as he walked: "Minister He, the chief executive is very angry. You have to deal with it carefully."

"What's going on?" He Yingqin asked.

Ju Yiqiao said, "I don't know either. You'll know when you go in."

"Chief, Minister He is here!"

"Let him in."

Ju Yiqiao smiled, turned sideways, opened the door and said, "Minister He, please."

He Yingqin felt anxious, stood at attention and saluted: "Master, I am late for my humble duty!"

Chang Kaishen was sitting on the sofa, with a sneer on his gloomy face, tapping the report and saying, "See for yourself."

He Yingqin picked up the report suspiciously, and soon felt cold all over after reading it. His mouth went dry and he said: "Disgraceful position, despicable position..."

"Finish it!" Chang Kaishen shouted in a low voice.

"Yes!" He Yingqin could only bite the bullet and continue looking down.

In fact, although He Yingqin was in charge of the recruitment work, he knew nothing about the matter of recruiting young men. The specific responsibility was left to Cheng Zerun, the Director of Military Service.

Historically, in the summer of 1943, He Yingqin convened more than 170 recruiting cadres from various provinces to hold a meeting at the Fuxing Guanzhong Training Corps in Chongqing.

Cheng Zerun claimed credit and showed off when giving a report: "From the implementation of the new military service law in 1939 to May 1943, nearly 12 million strong men were captured across the country, of which 2.2 million were captured in Sichuan, 1.5 million were captured in Henan and Hunan each, and 1.5 million were captured in the remaining provinces. The number of arrests ranged from 1 million to hundreds of thousands, but Gansu and Ningxia each arrested more than 100,000 people due to their small populations."

He Yingqin was so angry that he asked on the spot: "There are only 7 million soldiers in the country, including the police, and the combined casualties of combat troops do not exceed 2.4 million. You have captured 12 million strong men, but the commanders of each army are sending telegrams every day calling for new recruits." Where are all the young men you captured?"

Yes, where have all the young men gone?

In four years, millions of young men have disappeared, which is horrifying to think about.

Recruitment commanders at all levels complained: "There are too many deserters, and all the strong men who were captured have escaped."

There are definitely people who can escape, but to escape millions of strong men in four years is either ridiculous or incompetent.

He Yingqin was already sweating profusely after reading the report. He swallowed his saliva and said, "Chief Executive, this humble position must be dealt with seriously!"

Chang Kaishen asked: "This report shows that last year, large-scale civil riots broke out in five counties in Sichuan, including Longchang and Xindu, due to fraud in the lottery. Why have I never heard of this? You have never told me I’ll report!”

This question is a bit heart-wrenching. Chiang Kai-shek has spread so many spies in Sichuan, and He Yingqin will never be able to report on the civil uprising.

He Yingqin could only bite the bullet and answer: "As far as I know, the civil unrest was caused by the ignorance of the people, their unwillingness to serve the country, and their refusal to perform military service."

Chang Kaishen sneered: "Is this really true?"

He Yingqin buried his head and admitted his mistake: "I was deceived by the people below because of my humble position. Please punish me."

Chang Kaishen said expressionlessly: "Ignore everything else for now, I will send all those officers who smuggled mercury in Henan to a military court for punishment!"

He Yingqin wondered: "Killing too many people doing things will make it difficult to recruit soldiers."

"You have to figure it out yourself!" Chang Kaishen walked away with a puff of sleeves.

He Yingqin smiled bitterly and froze on the spot, those who wanted to kill were all his people. Cheng Zerun, the director of military service, is one of the four kings under He Yingqin. The military service commanders in various places are also arranged by Cheng Zerun. This is to ask He Yingqin to investigate and deal with himself.