Soon, the orders were issued to the troops. Xing Zhiguo marched toward the areas surrounding Puyang in western Henan to open up and consolidate the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan base area, while Li Yunlong moved into Ping'an County to secure the supply lines between the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan base area and the southeastern Hebei base area, creating a model project for border region security.
The immediate problem facing Wang Diren was the tens of thousands of refugees gathered around Ping'an City. Ping'an County was the eastern gateway of the Sanjin Land, the main thoroughfare into Shanxi from western Henan, and one of the few county towns controlled by the Eighth Route Army, which explained why it had attracted such a massive influx of refugees.
If the refugee problem could not be solved, stability—let alone development—would be out of the question. Short-term relief could only address the most urgent emergencies, and one misstep could easily cause the situation to spiral out of control.
Chapter 104