In the early days of the formation of the New Fourth Army, it was still able to get a little meager military salary from the Nationalist government, but since the Anhui Incident, the Nationalist Government completely cut off the supply of the New Fourth Army, which made the New Fourth Army fall into extreme difficulties.
In order to solve the problem of food and clothing for the troops, Hu Biliang, director of the supply department of the Second Division of the New Fourth Army, after reporting to Luo Binghui, deputy division commander, for approval, took the lead in starting his own production, cultivating land, and setting up enterprises, and soon solved the problem of food and clothing for the troops.
Soon after, Hu Biliang found that some soldiers picked up cigarette butts to smoke, which made him germinate the idea of building a tobacco factory, which was supported by Zhang Yunyi, deputy commander of the New Fourth Army, and specially allocated 42 Huainan dollars for him to build a tobacco factory.
However, it is not so easy to build a tobacco factory, and nothing can be done with this little money. However, with the support of Zhang Yunyi, Hu Biliang began to ponder this matter.
Soon, he got a reliable news that several merchants in Tongcheng Town had jointly built a cigarette factory to produce "Shenlong" brand cigarettes, but at that time, the town officials extorted and extorted, and the cigarette factory could not be opened, so it closed its doors.
Soon after, the Second Division of the New Fourth Army liberated the area, and several of the former joint merchants of the cigarette factory requested the New Fourth Army to protect the tobacco factory and ask for assistance in resuming production. Hu Biliang felt that this was a good opportunity to open a tobacco factory, and immediately summoned several merchants to discuss cooperation matters, and finally finalized a plan, with the New Fourth Army taking over the operation of the tobacco factory and handing over one-fifth of the profits to several merchants every year. After listening, several merchants agreed, and the tobacco factory was officially opened.
The news of the opening of the tobacco factory reached the military commander Chen Laozong, who also felt that this matter was done very well, so he gave a very nice name to the cigarettes produced by the tobacco factory: Pegasus brand, which means flying yellow Tengda.
Mr. Chen also specially instructed that the cigarette factory should be run well, and quality is the key, not only to satisfy the officers and men, but also to go out in the future, sell it to the whole of China, and realize the benefits.
All the staff of the tobacco factory strictly implemented the instructions of Mr. Chen and put the quality first, from the purchase of tobacco leaves, to the stir-frying of tobacco, to the matching of spices, all of which have made sufficient efforts.
After the Pegasus brand cigarettes were listed, they were warmly praised by the vast number of officers and soldiers, and the scale became larger and larger, and finally reached the ability to produce 600 cigarettes per day, which not only met the needs of officers and soldiers, but also local merchants came to order, and sometimes even queued up all night to buy cigarettes.
Because the economic benefits are very obvious, the scale of the tobacco factory has also been expanding, and finally reached the scale of 1200 articles per day, and the popularity has become larger and larger, and the profit paid by the tobacco factory to the military department every year has reached 4 million yuan. All this money was used to purchase weapons and improve the lives of officers and men in the base areas, and the combat effectiveness of the New Fourth Army was greatly enhanced.
At the same time, cigarettes have also become the weapons of the United Front, and many puppet troops have sought to buy Pegasus cigarettes, but they have no way out and no channels to buy goods, so they have to contact our reconnaissance personnel. Our reconnaissance personnel skillfully maneuvered around and used Pegasus brand cigarettes to obtain Japanese and false intelligence, and fought dozens of major victories in succession. Therefore, Pegasus brand cigarettes have not only produced economic benefits, but also produced great political benefits.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Kuomintang openly provoked a civil war, and the Pegasus Tobacco Factory was transferred to Shandong with the New Fourth Army. After the tobacco factory stabilized, it continued to produce, and the former merchants even chased here thousands of miles to smoke.
Pegasus brand cigarettes also began to be sold all over Shandong, because the price was moderate, the quality was superior, the aroma was fragrant, and soon it opened up sales, and it also reached the point where supply in Shandong was in short supply.
Later, the tobacco factory was stationed in Shanghai with the troops, and soon it was popular in Shanghai, and Pegasus brand cigarettes really became a famous cigarette at that time, and gradually began to sell to the provinces in the interior and sell well throughout the country.
The establishment of Pegasus brand cigarettes has left a strong mark in the history of the New Fourth Army, and it is worth mentioning again for today's people.
History Inn Author: Desert Sand