My client Li Yunlong

Chapter 189 Crazy Landlord!

Ze County.

Jia style mansion.

Old Man Jia had a frown on his face, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back.

A pair of old cold legs flew very fast.

A few days ago, Tubal Road suddenly increased the supply of grain to the market, and sent troops to strictly block the flow of grain, vowing to lower grain prices at all costs.

Once the price of grain drops, the two thousand tons of grain he worked so hard to hoard at a high price will depreciate greatly.

This is all his belongings.

Two thousand tons of grain, even at the price of the Eighth Route Army, one New Hebei Nan dollar per kilogram was worth four million New Hebei Nan dollars.

If according to the market price in the base area, three New Hebei Nan coins per pound, that is 12 million New Hebei dollars. If according to the Japanese price, six New Hebei dollars per pound, that is 2,400 New Hebei dollars. One million new Hebei Nan coins.

Thinking of this, Old Man Jia breathed heavily.

The housekeeper thought about it and thought it made sense.

Old Man Jia's pupils were shining with crazy light.

But the Eighth Route Army has guns!

The rules were also set by the Eighth Route Army.

Three hundred thousand!

It’s equal to 30,000 oceans!

"Do not."

"Don't let food prices fall?"

Two million four hundred thousand silver dollars.

The housekeeper was worried.

Old Man Jia regained some composure, his crazy expression was slightly restrained, and his tone was confident:

"Yes!"

It's like wasting water.

Old Man Jia sounded crazy:

Twenty-four million new Hebei Nan coins.

It is the purpose of the Eighth Route Army to reduce the price of food. If this prevents the price of food from falling, isn't it going against the Eighth Route Army?

Yesterday it was only three yuan and two cents, but today it is only three yuan.

If the Eighth Route Army continues to tighten restrictions on grain sales and steadily supplies grain to the market, grain prices will inevitably continue to fall.

Not to mention a dime less, even if it was a penny less, he would still lose 300,000.

“It’s better to make less than to lose.”

You must know that most of this cash flowed out of the southern Hebei area controlled by the Eighth Route Army and flowed to Japanese territory. Some of it was even transported abroad by the Japanese.

"Don't worry."

"Tuba Road has recently been using conventional means to stabilize food prices and stabilize the new Hebei Nanyuan currency."

In the past three months, in order to stabilize the new Hebei South currency, the Eighth Route Army invested more than 15 million silver dollars in cash on the market in the South Hebei region.

We must not let food prices fall!

On the side, the housekeeper suddenly said:

"master."

The housekeeper was very obedient and stopped trying to persuade me.

"Master, will you force the Eighth Route Army..."

Don't want to die? !

"You send someone..."

I can buy 40,000 acres of good irrigated land.

Old Man Jia named Ze County and a dozen surrounding large landowners located inside the base area, who were also accomplices in jointly opening up food transportation channels to the Japanese-controlled areas.

The price of food in the base area is one per day.

He knew his master's idea, so he united with several surrounding landowners and continued to purchase grain at high prices.

"As long as we don't break the rules, they won't do anything."

"We won't sell it for a penny less."

For every dime that grain prices dropped, he lost nearly a million.

"How about we sell a batch of grain before the price of grain in the market drops too much?"

"We have to find a way to prevent food prices from falling."

But the Eighth Route Army still has a daily minimum of 150,000 silver dollars, which is unbeatable.

The housekeeper was shocked.

"No, you go and contact the Liu family, Wang family..."

"Can't sell."

In order to hoard 2,000 tons of grain, their Jia family's loan of 5,000 acres of irrigated land and all their possessions and silver coins were basically spent.

No violence or other means were used to restrict the circulation of silver coins, just to stabilize the value of the new Hebei Nan coins.

And food.

In the past three months, the Eighth Route Army put more than 30,000 tons of imported grain on the market at the price of one yuan per catty. It was precisely because of this that he was able to purchase more than 2,000 tons on the market under the arrangement of the master.

The same goes for other landowners.

Even so, the Eighth Route Army did not take action, but continued to act according to the rules they set.

It is enough to prove that as long as they don't completely fall out, such as transporting grain to the Japanese on a large scale and leaving no evidence, the Eighth Route Army cannot attack them directly.

···

"Old Man Jia, the largest landowner in our county, has probably hoarded 2,000 tons of grain."

"Although the other landowners, the Liu family and the Wang family are similar, they are not as good as Old Man Jia."

Ze County.

Inside the base meeting room.

An officer spoke about the information in his hand.

After cultivating the southern Hebei region for so long, especially with the recent surge in strength and sufficient funds, the southern Hebei base area naturally easily grasped the whereabouts of a group of landowners in the base area.

If it weren't for the follow-up, several landlords would have been arrested long ago.

Together with the Japanese, the evidence of grain reselling has long been obtained.

"Together, this group of people has accumulated approximately 15,000 tons of food."

The officer finally said.

"Fifteen thousand tons!"

The person in charge of economic warfare was silent for a long time.

This number is somewhat unexpected.

About three months after the start of the Jinan Economic Defense War, the total grain put into the market in the base area was about 35,000 tons.

More than a third of it was hoarded by a group of profiteers and landowners. In addition, more than 10,000 tons of grain flowed out to the Japanese-controlled areas.

The actual amount of grain that actually flows into the hands of ordinary people in the market is less than 5,000 tons.

It’s surprising that food prices can be controlled.

"According to intelligence, Mr. Jia is recently uniting with some surrounding landowners, big and small, to purchase grain on a large scale and control the price of grain in the market."

The officer continues to report information

"Humph."

The person in charge of economic warfare snorted coldly at first, then looked at the secretary and asked:

“What is the current shipping volume?”

"After the bridge was strengthened, the size of the transport fleet has now been expanded again, reaching a scale of fifty vehicles at a time."

The clerk replied:

"Including the mule and horse transport team, the daily transportation capacity is 1,800 tons. However, in the near future, we will open a transportation channel to Mount Wutai and the Shaanxi-Gansu border area, so we only have 1,300 tons per day."

"Thirteen hundred tons."

The person in charge of economic warfare touched his chin.

This amount has exceeded the daily food demand in southern Hebei.

Calculated based on the population of 3.5 million in southern Hebei, coupled with the work-for-relief measures in the base areas, a large number of workers were recruited to build roads, bridges, water conservancy facilities, and organize land reclamation.

Under strict control of the flow of grain to areas controlled by the Japanese, 700 tons of grain per day can meet market demand.

The reason why food prices are still high at present is because there are still many businessmen and even individuals secretly transporting food to areas controlled by the Japanese, and the landlords headed by Mr. Jia are desperately hoarding food.

But as lockdowns intensify, it’s only a matter of time before prices fall back.

"Currently, how much food is controlled by landlords in southern Hebei?"

he continued to ask.

One of the main goals of the food war is to take back the land from the landlords through commercial means.

"One hundred and fifty thousand acres."

The clerk replied.

"Currently, there are still 150,000 acres controlled by those landowners."

"One hundred and fifty thousand acres."

The person in charge frowned slightly.

Apparently not happy with this number.

There are 1.5 million acres of cultivated land in the Jinan base area.

Although these landowners currently control only one-tenth of the land, they are all good irrigated land, even paddy fields, with good locations and high yields.

Grain production is estimated to account for about 30%.

The plan is to take back all the land in the southern Hebei base area through commercial means, and then give it to the people, organize and promote the advanced planting technology developed by Li Yunlong, and strive to develop agriculture.

Based on the current situation in the base areas, only by mobilizing the broad masses of the people can the economic development of the southern Hebei base areas be promoted, the internal circulation of the economy revitalized, and the strength of the southern Hebei base areas strengthened.

Relying solely on external supplies cannot last long.

"Continue to increase food input into the market."

"Appropriately reduce purchase restrictions."

After thinking for a moment, the person in charge of economic warfare ordered.

"Is the 769th Regiment ready?"

The person in charge suddenly asked.

One hundred and fifty thousand acres of land.

And they are all irrigated with good quality water.

Even if we exclude the small group of landowners who are smart and will not be fooled, and the even smaller number of landowners who truly stand with the people, we still have at least 100,000 acres of land.

Taking the average of sixty to eighty silver dollars per acre of irrigated land, that is seven million silver dollars and seventy million new Hebei Nan coins.

Want to put such a huge amount of funds to use.

The landowners must be given some confidence.

For example, a transport team was ambushed by Japanese soldiers and suffered heavy food losses?

Not to mention the landowners, even the Japanese would never have imagined that the southern Hebei base area could transport more than 1,600 tons of grain every day by relying on a fleet of trucks every two days.

"Ready."

A combat staff officer answered the question.

···

That day and night.

Old Mrs. Su walked into the Su family courtyard with a cane and a deep frown on his face.

The eldest son and third son of the Su family followed behind.

In Ze County.

Su family.

Compared to Old Man Jia, the Jia family is just a small landowner with more than a thousand acres of land, half of which is dry land, and the harvest is far less than that of irrigated land.

But more than a thousand acres of land is actually not too small. Just renting it every year is a lot of income.

"father."

Mrs. Su walked into the wing, and his eldest son Su An said immediately:

"I'm afraid it's not easy to get involved in this matter."

What Mr. Jia means is that everyone should unite to purchase grain and control the market price of grain.

But Su An understood in her heart,

The Eighth Route Army had actually known for a long time that they were purchasing grain.

The reason why they did not take action directly was just to establish an image of abiding by their own rules and stabilize the economic prosperity of southern Hebei.

Also, they transported food to the Japanese in a very secretive way.

Once they go too far and hit the bottom line, people can just draw their guns.

This year,

Neither the Eighth Route Army nor the Japanese are easy to get along with.

"Let's take a look at the situation first."

Mr. Su narrowed his eyes and took a puff from the cigarette bag in his hand.

As a landowner with more than a thousand acres of land in his hands and hundreds of tons of grain stored in his warehouse, he is willing to let grain prices fall.

But Tubalu had a gun in his hand.

To purchase grain, more than a thousand acres of land must be mortgaged.

Mrs. Su was instinctively unwilling to mortgage the land.

Besides, the Eighth Route Army is still importing foreign grain from Taiyue and Taihang through that highway.

Unless the Japanese can cut off this supply of food, it will be difficult to control food prices in southern Hebei by relying on their group of people to purchase food and sporadically transport food to the Japanese-controlled areas.

(End of this chapter)