During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, our army faced many difficulties, the biggest problem was the lack of military salaries, and the soldiers were not only poorly equipped, but also unable to eat enough to eat.
However, even in such a difficult period, the officers and men of our army still gave full play to their own tenacity and stubbornly fought against foreign invaders.
The New Fourth Army once made a way out of life under the double blockade of the Japanese army and the Nationalist army.
01
After the July 7 Incident, guerrilla groups in many parts of China were merged and reorganized into the Fourth Army, with Ye Ting as the commander, Xiang Ying as the deputy commander, and Zhang Yunyi as the chief of staff.
The salaries and supplies of the New Fourth Army were all issued by Gu Zhu, commander of the Third Theater, and although the number was small at the beginning, the good villains could still be regularly distributed, but after the Anhui Incident, this supply was also broken.
Chiang Kai-shek also called the New Fourth Army a rebel and sent troops to surround and intercept it.
During this period, the New Fourth Army suffered heavy losses and almost disintegrated, and later, for the needs of the war, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China decided to rebuild the New Fourth Army, and Chen Yi served as the acting commander.
After the reconstruction, the biggest problem of the New Fourth Army was still that there was no pay, and when the Nationalist army and the Japanese army encountered this problem, they gave a very simple and rude solution - robbing the people of food. Of course, our troops cannot do this.
Therefore, the New Fourth Army was in a predicament for a while, and most of the soldiers could only fight hungry.
Chen Yi and Zhang Yunyi were not in a hurry to solve the problem of military salaries, and later Zhang Yunyi made a clever move and thought of a way to solve the crisis.
Once, when he went to a meeting, he saw that every officer and soldier was smoking, because it was in a special period, so everyone's cigarettes were of very inferior quality and smelled very choking. On the one hand, Zhang Yunyi was sad that everyone could only smoke such inferior cigarettes.
On the one hand, he saw the demand for the cigarette market, so he discussed with Chen Yi to open a cigarette factory.
02
At first, due to insufficient funds, this idea could not be implemented, and then by chance, the New Fourth Army captured a county town with a cigarette factory on the verge of closure.
The last few shareholders and the leaders of the New Fourth Army hit it off, and the two sides worked together to reopen the cigarette factory, and in May 1943, the first pack of cigarettes made by the New Fourth Army was shipped.
Chen Yi decided to rename the cigarette "Pegasus" brand.
Since it is done to do the best, adhering to this concept, Chen Yi put forward strict requirements for the cigarette factory and checked the quality. After the resumption of operation of the cigarette factory, the New Fourth Army was able to receive a lot of dividends, and the problem of military salaries was solved.
After the high-quality and inexpensive Pegasus brand cigarettes entered the market, it also changed the monopoly of high-priced foreign cigarettes in the market, which can be described as a multi-pronged effort.
Later, because the business was too hot, the cigarette factory was in short supply and had to buy new machines to expand the scale of production. After that, the cigarette factory of the New Fourth Army built branches in many places, and also designed new cigarette box patterns, and the business became more and more formal.
At that time, in order to get the distribution rights of Pegasus brand cigarettes,
Many dealers crossed the Japanese blockade line despite the danger and lined up at the entrance of the cigarette factory.
The better the business, the more dividends it gets, and the New Fourth Army finally no longer has to worry about the problem of military salaries, and the dividends of the cigarette factory alone can get 300,000 French dollars every month. After sufficient military spending, the equipment and food supplies of the New Fourth Army quickly followed, and since then it has been invincible on the battlefield.
03
The cigarette business of the New Fourth Army has also brought a great benefit, that is, it has solved the problem of surplus labor in the Huainan base area, the people who are idle at home have found jobs and have income, and the problem of food and clothing for many families has also been solved.
However, the Japanese soon discovered the tobacco factories of the New Fourth Army, and the Japanese unification area began to block the Pegasus brand cigarettes on the market. But this is not difficult for the clever tobacco dealers, who have changed pegasus cigarettes for a box and continue to sell.
In 1943, Zhang Yunyi went to Yan'an for a meeting, and he specially brought two cigarettes to the chairman. The chairman has been in the habit of smoking for many years, and after he smoked this Pegasus brand cigarette, he was full of praise, and said that Zhang Yunyi was a good seedling for doing business in this factory.
The New Fourth Army not only saved itself with the dividends of the cigarette factory, but also did not hesitate to lend a helping hand when the people encountered difficulties. In the autumn of 1944, north China suffered a drought,
The New Fourth Army immediately took out 16 million yuan of French tender to support the disaster area, most of which was dividends from cigarette factories.
While making money, the New Fourth Army has never forgotten its most important task - that is, arming the anti-Japanese resistance. Since the establishment of the cigarette factory, most of the profits distributed by the troops have been used to purchase various weapons and equipment, and the purpose is still to resist Japan. The New Fourth Army continued to suffer from the difficult situation of being attacked on its belly and back
It has strengthened its own strength, developed the size of the team to 310,000 people, and established a number of anti-Japanese base areas, making great contributions to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.