Chapter 191 Do you know what Eight Treasure Rice is? (The third update!)

"Principal Mei, please sign your consent for these people." Li Jiu looked at Principal Mei in front of him and said with great respect.

"Hmph, I won't agree to that." Principal Mei shook his head and refused.

"Their studies are not yet complete and they still need to continue their studies in school."

In this regard, Li Jiu did not give up, but spoke leisurely.

"Principal Mei, do you know where the rice on the market comes from these days?"

Before this, students at Southwest Associated University did not have a good life.

The simplest example is that the Military Intelligence Bureau often defaulted on military pay, and some of the Military Intelligence Bureau's undercover personnel in the Japanese-occupied areas even raised funds on the spot.

The funding of Southwest Associated University was getting less and less, so in order to fill their stomachs, the students’ lunch became eight-treasure rice pudding.

What is Eight Treasure Rice Pudding?

It is made of red brown rice, mixed with sand, sawdust, and even a few grains of rat droppings.

The students have had enough of this kind of lunch.

After talking about lunch, the canteen’s regular dishes are boiled kidney beans in salt water and purple-gray konjac tofu, which are mushy and tasteless.

In fact, it was much better than the cannon fodder group, who later ate boiled banana leaves.

That stuff is really hard to swallow.

During this period, a large amount of rice appeared in Kunming City.

Some people even donated a considerable amount of money and rice to Southwest Associated University.

So students can eat delicious rice.

Principal Mei originally wanted to refuse, but after seeing the rice, he finally accepted it.

As expected, there is no free lunch in the world, and now the Military Control Commission has come to us.

"At this time, even the army can't get enough food. How can there be so much rice on the market? Apart from the south, I can't think of any other place that would be willing to take out so much rice to help those hungry people." Principal Mei sneered.

He's not a fool.

But he didn't expect that the Military Control Commission was so deeply involved with the Sichuan Army.

If it's just a simple business, it's fine.

He can pretend he didn't see it.

But now that the other party has set their sights on his students, it is naturally impossible for him to agree.

"Principal Mei is indeed a scholar, very smart. It was indeed transported from the Sichuan Army." Li Jiu smiled slightly, and then sighed softly.

"The Sichuan Army is kind and righteous. They are thinking of transporting the uneaten food back to help those who are hungry."

"Of course, we, the Military Control Commission, can't just not help at all."

"So, you just want me to sign and let these students go to the battlefield?" Principal Mei said sarcastically.

"Do you know what they do? They are students, college students. Do you know how many college students there are in China after decades of accumulation?"

"To be frank, they are carefully selected talents who have gone through layers of selection. Now they are asked to go to war? To be cannon fodder?"

"Do you think I will agree?"

"They are seeds that will take root and sprout, and give birth to more trees. I will never allow them to go to the battlefield."

Hearing this, Li Jiu frowned slightly. This stubborn old man is really hard to please.

After thinking about it, Li Jiu started to explain again.

"Principal Mei, they are not going to the battlefield, but to conduct scientific research."

Hearing this, Principal Mei sneered again.

"Scientific research? He's a soldier, what does he know about scientific research? Does he have any equipment?"

"Still manufacturing airplanes? What about equipment?"

"As long as there is equipment, I will immediately agree to release them, even without caring whether they join the army or not."

In his eyes, how could a soldier understand what scientific research is?

It was purely to fool him and let those people serve as cannon fodder on the battlefield.

These students were all trained by him with great efforts, so how could he just let them be cannon fodder?

Hearing this, Li Jiu's eyes suddenly lit up and he looked around.

"Principal Mei, you said this, you must not lie."

"What? Is there really equipment? Don't worry, if there is equipment, I promise I will never stop it." Principal Mei said confidently.

"Principal Mei, have you heard of Leiyun Airport?" Li Jiu said in a low voice.

As the person who has the most in-depth dealings with the Sichuan Army, he knows a lot about the army.

For example, some of the workers and equipment at Leiyun Airport were originally in Myitkyina.

If it weren't for the limitation of raw materials, people would have built the fighter jets long ago.

Not only that, but they also obtained a batch of civilian equipment.

"Of course I've heard of it. Wasn't it destroyed?" Principal Mei asked puzzledly.

“It was indeed destroyed, but before the destruction, some of the workers and equipment were transported to Myitkyina.”

After hearing what Li Jiu said, Principal Mei was stunned for a moment.

There really is equipment.

At the same time, he also became more curious about Cun Yunsheng. Through publicity, he also learned that the Tengchong Cun family was a family of loyal heroes.

Old Man Cun committed suicide by starvation, his third son was killed in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, and his fifth son also died heroically while guarding Leiyun Airport.

The other seven sons also served in the army.

"So, Principal Mei, the cannon fodder you are worried about does not exist. Commander Cun has promised me that they will never be allowed to go to the battlefield. Their mission is to conduct research." Li Jiu saw that Principal Mei fell into deep thought and continued to persuade him.

"Commander Cun once said that he hopes China can also have its own aircraft manufacturing plant. Now that these students have graduated, we can definitely give it a try. Maybe we will have our own aircraft manufacturing plant in the future?"

"Principal Mei, don't you trust your students?"

"In addition to these, Commander Cun also provided additional funding totaling 500,000 yuan, as well as various supplies and so on."

"This is just a one-time grant. There will be a sum of 100,000 yuan every month. He can even make personal contributions to help students who are willing to study abroad."

I have to say that this series of conditions is indeed very generous.

At least Principal Mei was moved.

After all, man is iron and food is steel.

I feel hungry if I don't eat a meal.

Why would you want to eat eight-treasure rice when you can have delicious rice?

Not to mention, they sponsor funds every month.

"Is this Sichuan Army so rich?" Principal Mei asked in surprise.

He knew that life was not easy for anyone these days.

So if you want to live a good life, you have to drink the blood of soldiers.

The other party took out so much money in one go, it must have cost a lot of money.

Otherwise, how could you come up with so much money?

"Not only is there money, but also our rice business, cough cough cough..." Li Jiu suddenly felt that it was a bit inappropriate to talk about this with his only child.
"I understand. I didn't expect that the Sichuan Army is quite good at making money. Does he have any other requests?" Principal Mei waved his hand and didn't care too much.

Hearing this, Li Jiu breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that Principal Mei had compromised, and he quickly stated the conditions proposed by Cun Yunsheng. "The request is very simple, that is, I hope you can recruit more students. Chief Cun thinks that there are still too few students at present. Looking back at the past few decades of decline, the reason for our decline is that we are too focused on eight-part essays and too little on scientific development."

"He hopes you can recruit more students. As for the funding, don't worry, he will take care of it. He can also provide U.S. dollars for studying in Europe and the United States."

This condition can be said to be extremely generous. At least Principal Mei couldn't help swallowing his saliva.

Isn’t the reason why he didn’t expand enrollment because of funding?

If there is sufficient funding, who wouldn’t want to recruit more students?
He also knew that the essence of the gap between China and Western powers was education.

He also agreed with the slogan "One hundred thousand young people, one hundred thousand soldiers".

But due to funding limitations, we didn't recruit more people and we are even hesitating whether to reduce our scale.

"What about the request? I don't believe he is so selfless." Principal Mei blurted out.

"Of course, there is no free lunch in the world. He hopes to recruit more students. His troops have recently been equipped with many new weapons. Those illiterate soldiers cannot operate them at all." Li Jiu said, looking at the other party.

He knew that the other party would definitely agree.

After all, no one would refuse such generous conditions.

Sure enough, after thinking for a while, Principal Mei stood up.

"From now on, I will no longer block the recruitment of soldiers, but I don't want your Military Control Commission to use your tactics on my students." After taking two steps, Principal Mei paused, then said lightly.

"Including those medical students, don't think I don't know."

Hearing this, Li Jiu did not feel any dissatisfaction, but instead a long-lost smile appeared on his face.

Cun Yunsheng completed the task assigned to him, and the remaining few officers were no big deal to him.

The only trouble came from the Duan family's sons, but when they heard that they could go to the south to avenge their previous humiliation, they immediately agreed.

As for Han Shaogong, it was even simpler. He had offended his superiors and was now idle at home. He could go to Burma to fight the Japanese. Without saying a word, he packed up his things and headed to Myitkyina alone.

"Sir, we are bleeding heavily this time. The money we spent alone is tens of thousands of dollars." The confidant next to him said with heartache.

"You know shit. This is called spending little money to accomplish great things. Once this is done, just prepare to count the money. Five thousand tons of rice is just the beginning, there will be more to come." Li Jiu glared at him unhappily.

"Hehe, I know. It's just that it's natural to feel sad to see the huge sum of money being spent." The confidant scratched his head and said.

"What do the officers of the Fifth Army say?" Li Jiu asked again.

"It's not easy. He has a bright future. If he follows the Sichuan Army, wouldn't that be lowering his status? What's the matter?" said the confidant helplessly.

"That's right, but what about Zhu Maoqin?" Li Jiu nodded and then asked again.

"He didn't agree, but he didn't refuse either. I feel like he hasn't thought it through." The confidant thought for a while and expressed his own judgment.

Hearing this, Li Jiu also felt a little tricky.

If it's someone's idea that's not easy to implement, why put it in the Fifth Army?
"Where are the other troops?" Li Jiuduo asked.

"Have you heard of the newly formed 33rd Division?" the confidant said cautiously.

"They are just a bunch of new recruits. What do you want them for?"

"There are also some old soldiers. Their division is not even fully staffed, and they are receiving military pay in vain." The confidant continued.

Hearing this, Li Jiu instantly understood what his confidant meant. Only a force like this could take advantage of loopholes and poach some veterans without anyone noticing.

It is very difficult to dig out a direct line of troops like the Fifth Army. If they are discovered, he will probably be doomed.

"I didn't expect these people to be so brave. I heard that they fought quite well some time ago?" Li Jiu said with emotion.

"The battle results are falsely reported. In fact, there is a lot of water in them. One of my fellow villagers is among them." The confidant explained hurriedly.

"Okay, I understand. You go and arrange it. Don't worry about the money." Li Jiu said, patting his confidant's shoulder.

"Yes."

.........

On the other side, at the Nantianmen position, it has become a temporary base for the guerrillas.

After all, there are so many caves, which are especially suitable for hiding.

The main purpose was to capture Hirai Uesuke, so the guerrillas did not retreat after the Sichuan Army left.

The Yu division was still stationed opposite the Nujiang River, waiting for American weapons and equipment to be allocated by the military.

More importantly, this is also a golden road to making money.

"That damn Japanese soldier hasn't come out yet?" The guerrilla leader asked in confusion, looking at the dense forest in the distance.

"No, it's been more than ten days. Logically, he should have come out." The guerrilla fighter next to him explained.

"These Japanese devils are really tough. They're not going to eat grass in there, are they?" the guerrilla leader guessed.

"No way, how can we eat grass?" the guerrilla asked curiously.

As for leaves, he has also eaten them.

But I really can’t eat grass.

"The officer from the Sichuan Army said that these little Japs are very resilient and can even eat grass." The guerrilla leader spread his hands and said helplessly.

Hearing this, the guerrillas couldn't help but smack their lips in amazement.

It really eats grass.

Just then, someone trotted over and said.

"Come out, come out."

"What came out?" the guerrilla leader asked subconsciously.

"The Japanese are coming out, about forty or fifty of them, all of them are starving to the point of being skin and bones." The team member who came to report said hurriedly.

"No resistance?" asked the guerrilla leader in confusion.

"No, all the weapons are gone."

"Where is the Japanese leader?" the guerrilla leader asked again.

"We didn't see him. I guess he died in there." The team member thought after thinking about it.

"Captain, what should we do with these little devils? Kill them all?"

Hearing this, the guerrilla leader frowned slightly, thought for a while, and then spoke through gritted teeth.

"Send them to the Sichuan Army and let them deal with them. After all, strictly speaking, these are prisoners of the Sichuan Army, and we can't deal with them privately."

"Yes." The other team members had no objection.

Not long after, Cun Yunsheng received a telegram from Myitkyina.

"Forty or fifty Japanese prisoners? Didn't see that guy Hirai Uesuke? He is suspected to be dead in the jungle?" Cun Yunsheng looked at the telegram in his hand again and again. He didn't expect that these guerrillas were so trustworthy that they actually sent all these Japanese prisoners.

"Commander, what should we do with them? Should we kill them all?" Meng asked in annoyance.

"Hmm..." Cun Yunsheng nodded subconsciously. Normally, he didn't want to take prisoners.

However, it seems that Long Wenjian’s resistance army has developed quite well recently.

Suddenly, Cun Yunsheng thought of a better idea.

"What about down there? What are you doing lately?"

"Ah? Isn't he just sitting in a cell, with good food and drink every day?" Meng Fanle asked in confusion.

"Send him to me, there's something he needs to be present for." Cun Yunsheng ordered.

"Yes, where are the prisoners?" Meng Fan nodded and asked again.

"Keep it for now, and I'll talk about it when I see the bottom of the well." Cun Yunsheng said lightly.

　Try to write one more!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)