After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression began, Mao Zedong realized the "hard truth" of developing and strengthening the army, and only by relying on its own strength can it improve its deterrent power. Chiang Kai-shek's policy towards China is to "give economic relief" and "strictly limit military power". He agreed that the Red Army should be reorganized into the titles of the three divisions, and paid them a monthly salary of 45,000 people according to the agreement. These wages are really crucial for the Red Army, which has just arrived in northern Shaanxi for less than a year. But Zhong * * * also realized that the army must not be limited to the number given by Chiang Kai-shek, but must mobilize the masses, expand the collection of materials and expand the army.

1937 When the first anti-Japanese base area in China was founded, there were only 3,000 people of all kinds. At that time, comrades joked that how many people were there in the headquarters? A pot of food is enough, and a kang is enough to sleep. Nie Rongzhen said: "In order to create anti-Japanese base areas and deal a greater blow to the enemy, the most important thing is to have more armed forces." At that time, from Yanmenguan in the north, fenglingdu in the south, Luliang Mountain in the west and Pinghan Railway in the east, the Eighth Route Army troops were mobilizing people and expanding their armed forces. By 1945, Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei had grown to more than 320,000 regular troops and 900,000 militiamen.

In the early days of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army seized the opportunity, vigorously expanded its troops and mobilized the masses, and achieved remarkable results. The original three divisions of the Eighth Route Army were quickly enriched, and the number of new troops doubled. As the general rear area where China commanded the Anti-Japanese War, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government sent a large number of officers and men to various counties, townships and villages to publicize the Anti-Japanese War and mobilize the masses to join the army. Due to the needs of the war situation and the development of the revolution, China * * * did not recruit soldiers by formulating a standardized military service system, but recruited new soldiers through publicity and mobilization, developed people's armed forces and local armed forces, established various guerrillas and volunteers, and expanded the size of the army led by the Production Party.

According to incomplete statistics, from 1937 to 1940, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region mobilized more than 30,000 young people to join the army. Of course, this rapid expansion will inevitably lead to just making up the number, regardless of the quality, and some will directly recruit some rogue armed forces such as landlords and bandits. Therefore, at the beginning of 1939, after the massive military expansion basically ended, the whole army began to be concentrated in a planned and step-by-step manner. Through centralized rectification, the quality and combat effectiveness of the army have been greatly improved. After that, the recruitment of the Eighth Route Army was no longer extensive. Scholar Sassu found that the Japanese army had studied the conscription of the Eighth Route Army. They believe that the recruitment of the Eighth Route Army does not rely on simple propaganda, but has a complete recruitment propaganda system. First of all, the Eighth Route Army preached the truth of patriotism and resistance to Japan to the people, selected brave people from them, and then let them experience the cruelty of war outside the battlefield (the Japanese called it "listening to gunshots"). Then let them participate in the work of lifting the wounded, know how to obey orders, emphasize organization and discipline, and finally let them fight with guns, thus truly becoming soldiers with strong military and political quality and a sense of honor. In the memoirs of Japanese soldier Fumio Saito, he recorded such a sentence: His friends in China told him that there is a saying in China that "a good iron does not nail, and a good man does not become a soldier". Since all good men have been soldiers, the future world must be the * * * production party.