The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

In just five days, Ma Yongkui expanded his army to 400 men.

The reason why the recruitment of volunteers went so smoothly was because the people in Gansu were so poor that joining the army to fight the war was no different than going out to work.

It's funny to say that the government's military recruitment agency came to recruit strong men, and the common people hid one by one because the whole process from recruitment to enlistment was very terrifying. When Ma Yongkui, a bandit, recruited volunteers, the people nearby were very enthusiastic. The main reason was that they trusted Ma Yongkui, and at least they could eat enough before entering the barracks.

On the day of departure, Zhou Hexuan looked at the ragged volunteers and said to Ma Yongkui: "It seems that you will not be able to be the cavalry battalion commander."

"There are always company commanders." Ma Yongkui curled his lips helplessly.

400 men are barely enough for a battalion, but there are only more than 100 horses. If Ma Yongkui wants to join the cavalry division, he can only be a company commander.

Zhou Hexuan got into the cab of the truck and shouted to Ma Yongkui: "Let's go. Since I recommended you to join the army, I have to give you a battalion-level establishment."

"Haha, General Zhou is so generous!"

Ma Yongkui was overjoyed, got on his horse and shouted: "Let's go!"

Among the more than 150 bandits, about 20 were unwilling to join the army, and they were all dismissed by Ma Yongkui who distributed money and food. Master Pang You didn't want to join the army, so one night he quietly approached Zhou Hexuan to ask him to join the army, and Zhou Hexuan agreed to help him find a civil servant position in the provincial capital.

The team of more than 400 people moved forward slowly, starting in the morning and arriving at Yongdeng County in the evening.

Hearing that a cavalry of more than a hundred people was attacking, followed by more than 200 "refugees", the local security captain (who also served as the county magistrate) was frightened and quickly organized his army to fend off the bandits. The only old machine gun in the county was set up.

Zhou Hexuan asked Ma Yongkui's people to stop, drove over, and shouted to the security team: "Who is in charge of your affairs here?"

County Magistrate Hua Zongfu was a little puzzled. The invading team looked like bandits, but he had never heard of any bandit team having a truck. He called to the security team: "Don't shoot yet, let's see what the situation is."

Zhou Hexuan took out his general certificate and shouted from a distance: "I am Zhou Hexuan, who is in charge here?"

"But Mr. Zhou Mingcheng?" Hua Zongfu finally had some insight.

"It's me." Zhou Hexuan said.

Hua Zongfu hurriedly came forward to greet him, shook hands and said, "I, Hua Zongfu, the magistrate of Yongdeng County, have admired Mr. Zhou for a long time."

Zhou Hexuan pointed to the bandit team behind him and said: "I was returning from a business trip in Dunhuang and passing through the boundaries of this county. I met hundreds of volunteers who wanted to join the army and kill the enemy."

"That's it." Hua Zongfu didn't expose them on the spot. He had already seen that these people were bandits. How could there be righteous people on horseback and armed with guns?

Zhou Hexuan said: "No need to be embarrassed, County Magistrate Hua. We will rest outside the city. We also brought our own food. I just hope that your county can provide some drinking water."

Hua Zongfu's mind was a little confused, and he couldn't figure out what this method was. Volunteers joining the army are either organized by the county government, or the local regiment area is responsible for it, but it must be handled with the assistance of the county government. The current situation seems to be something that he does not need to worry about.

Hua Zongfu asked: "Mr. Zhou wants to send these volunteers to the regiment area?"

Zhou Hexuan said: "I will take them directly to the Lanzhou Military Control Area."

"Oh, that's good, that's good." Hua Zongfu finally felt confident and secretly lamented that Zhou Hexuan had a strong reputation.

That night, Hua Zongfu sent someone to bring clear water and asked Zhou Hexuan to go into the city to rest. After being politely rejected by Zhou Hexuan, the next day he organized people from the county to come dressed in red and green, beating gongs and drums, saying that they were coming to practice for the strong men.

When Zhou Hexuan left the county with the bandits, he also had a banner with him that read, "Kill the enemy to show off your power and serve the country with loyalty." The eight characters were embroidered crookedly, and they were obviously made overnight.

In this way, Zhou Hexuan and the others frightened the towns along the way and finally arrived at Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province.

"You guys wait where you are, I'll go to the theater headquarters." Zhou Hexuan told Ma Yongkui.

Lanzhou was just established as a city this year. It used to be at the county level. Just like Zigong, which was established as a city due to salt, it was a result of the Anti-Japanese War. As the only route for Soviet aid supplies, Lanzhou, coupled with the development of industry and commerce in the west, finally ushered in the city's modernization process in the 1940s.

Just like the treatment in Yongdeng County, Zhou Hexuan was greeted by the Lanzhou security group, who set up guns at the city gate and surrounded Zhou Hexuan's truck.

Zhou Hexuan showed his general certificate and said: "The special commissioner of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is on business and will take me to the Eighth Theater Command."

"Ah... yes! General Zhou, please come with me." The head of the security group said quickly.

In order to solve the problem of military logistics and transportation, the highway on the west side of Lanzhou was widened to about 8 meters, and the streets in the city were also repaired. Even a bus was opened not long ago, which was converted from an old car and can carry more than 30 people.

These buses only run a few miles and often break down, making it faster than walking. The people of Lanzhou at that time made up a jingle for this: "One trip of two or three miles, the car stopped four or five times. It broke down six or seven times, and eighty or ninety people pushed it."

After entering the city, Zhou Hexuan realized the "prosperity" of Lanzhou. Merchants coming and going from east to west were crowded together. Horse-drawn carriages, donkey carts, mule carts, and camels were crowded and chaotic. Buses were driving and honking their horns among the crowds. From time to time, you can still see a few incompletely filled bomb craters on the roadside, which were all bombed by Japanese aircraft. In the northwest during the Anti-Japanese War, Japanese aircraft paid attention to Lanzhou second only to Xi'an.

At this time, Lanzhou has completely turned into a large construction site. The seven main streets in the city center will be expanded into gravel roads 15 to 30 meters wide. The sidewalks on both sides of the road alone are 3 meters wide. Since there were no road rollers, dozens of people could only pull large iron rollers. This type of urban construction continued until the end of the Anti-Japanese War.

In the last five years of the Anti-Japanese War, Lanzhou developed rapidly, and people worked hard to build despite the bombings of the Japanese invaders. In five years, Lanzhou's urban area has expanded nearly 10 times, and its resident population has doubled. As a result, when Japan surrendered, Lanzhou's urban construction came to a halt. Industry and commerce were completely depressed, and more than 200 emerging factories went bankrupt one after another.

Zhou Hexuan only drove for a few minutes before he couldn't help but abandon the car and walk because the driving speed was too slow.

The city was so dusty that even the shop signs were covered with dust. Zhou Hexuan could only walk away covering his nose with his hands. The theater headquarters was outside the city, and Zhou Hexuan had to walk through the city. It took about 40 minutes of walking. He finally arrived at his destination, handed his general's certificate to the guarding soldiers and said, "I'm looking for you, Commander Zhu. Please inform me."

Not long after, Zhou Hexuan was invited into the headquarters lounge, and Zhu Shaoliang in military uniform came to greet him personally. This gentleman burst into laughter as soon as he entered the door, and said with great enthusiasm: "Oh, it's the Duke of Ming Dynasty who has arrived. Some are not far away to welcome you, some are not far away to greet you!"