The tall, pleasant young mayor of Yuanping county seat in Shansi told Rittenberg, when the latter arrived in that city: “We'll soon be pulling out of town, for Yen's troops are coming to attack and our army is too far away.”
[...]The mayor did not seem much concerned. “Just as we did with the Japs,” he replied. “We'll stay a week or two with the peasants till our troops can come and take Yuanping again.” He proved an accurate prophet. Yuanping was lost and retaken within three weeks. It suffered some looting, but its people were experienced in hiding valuables. The real value lay in the soil of the farms where the grain was growing, untouched by the passing of troops. Any county government the peasants supported could move easily out of Yuanping and back.