Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 526 Market ([-])

"Honey, the prices of many commodities on the market have risen today." The Italian wife of Zhang Yun, the deputy general manager of Nanhai Fishery Company, complained while receiving the dinner from the cook.

"Did the price increase? How much? Which products have increased?" Zhang Yun hung his woolen coat on the hanger, then pulled out a chair and sat down, and asked, "Is it because meat products have increased? It shouldn't be. Ah, the production of whale meat in our company’s new processing workshop is increasing every month, and it stands to reason that the supply should exceed the demand, so why is the price going up?”

Zhang Yun's wife brought a pot of fresh prawns from Luoqia Lake to Zhang Yun, and said worriedly: "The price of whale meat has not risen, but it has not fallen, because more people are buying it in the market. But everyone The price of beef that I like to eat has skyrocketed. When I went to buy it this morning, it cost 9 cents a catty. Oh my god, it was terrible."

The issue of beef has become a long-standing problem in the East China Republic today. No matter what methods the government resorts to, the price will never come down.Especially after the Spaniards closed the Colonia free trade market in the first half of the year, the large-scale official beef trade was terminated. Except for a small amount of beef that is currently circulating on the east coast market, the source of the rest is quite similar. miscellaneous.There are small-scale beef cattle smuggled from La Plata, some beef cattle snatched by the northern army from the Guarani people, and South African cattle and New China hump cattle brought back from the colonies. Except for the returned ones, the rest are basically not cheap, at least the cost calculation is far higher than the original import price of 15 yuan a head from La Plata.

After completely losing confidence in controlling the price of beef, the Government Administration Council and the Ministry of Agriculture jointly launched a substitute—whale meat, and vigorously mobilized domestic propaganda agencies to advocate the "benefits" of eating whale meat.No matter how extravagant the publicity was, the common people didn't really buy it. The only benefit they saw of eating whale meat was that it was cheaper.Yes, very cheap!The uniform retail price of ordinary bacon is set at 2 cents per catty, which is less than a quarter of the price of beef.

This price can basically be stabilized in coastal ports or towns along the railway, but in inland areas or along canals with long transportation distances, because it is direct sales by the country, the price per catty of meat is also controlled at 2 cents 5 cents to 3 cents. Within a penny, it is considered a policy of benefiting the people.The South China Sea Fisheries Company currently has four professional whaling ships and one comprehensive supply ship. In addition, it is the traditional peak season for whaling, and a large amount of whale meat is transported to Rocha Port by ships returning from Baleen Whale Port.Then, after being processed by the whale meat processing workshop of the Luocha Seafood Processing Factory affiliated to the Nanhai Fishery Company, it is transported by train to six or seven towns along the Luomei Line.In addition, some meat products were transported offshore by steamships to ensure that more urban residents could benefit.

All in all, under the multi-pronged measures, the price of the domestic edible meat market in the east coast has basically been controlled.Ordinary people can't afford beef, so they buy whale meat. A whale can produce [-] to [-] tons of clean meat, which is worth hundreds of cows.In today's peak whaling season, the people on the east coast can catch seven or eight whales by themselves every month. If you add the whale meat sold to the people on the east coast by some local foreign whaling ships, you can get almost seven or eight whales every month. [-] tons of clean meat, which makes it necessary to run a train every two days between Luocha port and Merlin port, otherwise it will be too late to transport all kinds of materials including whale meat, whale oil, whale bone meal and whale skin .

Therefore, now only increasingly affluent middle-class families like Zhang Yun complain about the soaring price of beef, because their families often buy these expensive meats to show the difference between themselves and ordinary families. The "difference".

"If the price of beef rises, it will rise, and now we are not short of that money." Zhang Yun opened a bottle of Xiangshan dry red for himself nonchalantly, and said: "The price of beef has risen probably because of the decrease in supply. In the past few days, someone from the military department has come to our factory to purchase large quantities of whale meat, including bacon and spiced jerky. The Ministry also purchases a large amount of fresh beef from Ranch Township and transports it to our factory for marinating, and stores it in the dock warehouse after marinating. With so many materials hoarded at once, it looks like a war is going to happen!"

"War?" Zhang Yun's wife immediately panicked. She looked at the pair of children who were playing with tableware playfully sitting on the chair, and said in a trembling voice: "I went to the last time I attended the meeting held by Li Yi's wife. During the dinner party, I vaguely heard the wives of the naval officers complaining that their husbands have stepped up their training recently and have not disembarked for a long time. Are we really going to war? Are we going to war with the Spaniards?"

"You're a woman, don't chew your tongue around." Zhang Yun gave his son a shelled prawn, then turned to his wife and said, "Wars are obvious, it's not a secret, a long time ago we That’s how I feel. The current situation in the market only confirms my guess. But don’t just say to everyone you meet, that the spies of the Mei Agency have very sensitive noses, so be careful not to be caught by them. Come to the door. Just understand what you know in your heart, don't make a fuss."

"Okay, honey, I'll listen to you." Zhang Yun's wife scooped some chicken soup out of the basin and gave it to her little daughter.Women in this era have this characteristic. They are the accessories of men and obey their husbands.I remember that when this Italian woman first married Zhang Yun, she often made some Western-style pastries such as bread and cakes at home, but after being reprimanded by Zhang Yun, "What the hell", this woman immediately died down, and then she He specially learns how to make Chinese food from the Ming women around him to please his husband.Since then, the family has never seen any Western food, and even very little clothing.

In fact, this is not bad.In the vast interior, the Ottoman slave girls who were paired with Ming men had even less status.They dress up completely according to their husbands' preferences, make food according to their husbands' appetites, and behave as close as possible to their husbands, almost without self-awareness at all.After the investigation and discovery of these circumstances, the Mei Agency couldn't help shaking its head and laughing. The efficiency of men assimilating women is astonishing.

"Tomorrow, go to the store and buy more things to store, such as bacon, eggs, dried fruits, cane sugar, soybean oil and other foods. Well, buy more cotton cloth, woolen fabrics, candles, red wine, and leather shoes. There are so many left at home. The money is useless, so let’s use it up, and after half a year, you might not be able to spend it.” Zhang Yunchao sighed at his wife, and said, “Now the government has started hoarding all kinds of war materials in a planned way. Many of them actually overlap with civilian supplies, and the prices of these commodities on the market will definitely rise slowly over a period of time. Buy more and store them for use, and you will spend more money if you want to buy them in the future.”

In fact, there are quite a few families who hold ideas like Zhang Yun's. Most of these people are military officers, engineers, government officials, senior technicians, businessmen, and wealthy farmers. In short, they are the so-called middle class.They have a certain amount of wealth, and there are many sources of news, so the first wave of panic buying in the market originated from them.But fortunately, their proportion in the population is not high, coupled with the country's conscious regulation and control, so the impact on prices is still within a controllable range.

Up to now, it is no longer a secret that the east coast is about to fall into war crisis with Spain. Anyone with a little bit of knowledge or better news can feel this more or less.The only thing everyone is confused about is whether this war will start, its scale and intensity, and how long it will last.For a short period of time, everyone can bear it, but after a long period of time, I am afraid there will be complaints, because no one wants to suffer from a shortage of supplies because they are used to living a life of abundance.

"By the way, if you meet a student on the street asking for military expenses, you can donate a few dollars. Now our family is considered decent, we must pay attention to the impact, and don't let people secretly say that we are not enthusiastic about serving the military. If It would be ugly if some passionate student threw stones at the doors and windows at night." Zhang Yun thought for a while and then warned.

Nowadays, the ideology of corruption in China is flooding, and the ideology of East Coastism is also becoming more and more popular. The new generation of young people full of enthusiasm are very confident and aggressive at the same time.They believe that the systems and ideas on the East Coast are the best, and they have natural justice. Whether they are Spaniards or Indians, they are the objects of their conquest, transformation, and assimilation.Whenever there is a war, these people will always gather under the organization of some student associations to carry out activities, such as propagating communist ideology, raising military expenses, and so on.

For these fanatics, the government is not without worries.It's just that these young students are not without background. Whenever the civil government wants to cool them down and stop the brakes, people from the military department will always come to negotiate, which makes these students' momentum even higher.Over time, no one cares about them.

"Okay, I will pay attention." Zhang Yun's wife nodded and agreed, "There is a donation point at the door of the vegetable market. Two young men and women aged [-] or [-] were holding a box all day long to collect donations for military expenses. I Donate two yuan tomorrow, which can be regarded as a service to the military. I hope our country can completely defeat those annoying Spaniards, so that they will never dare to go to war with our country again!"

(End of this chapter)