This is an old village with a lot of history in the Sanjin area. Although the name is a bit weird, the village is a serious village.
The second day when Kong Jie led the last batch of transfer troops of the Independent Regiment to arrive in the Niukou Village area.
After the Eighth Route Army was stationed in Niukou Village, the first announcement spread quickly:
The Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army recycles copper plates from the late Qing Dynasty, and the recycling prices are quite generous, even ten times higher than the original face value of the copper plates. People in Niukou Village and surrounding villages who still have copper plates in reserve at home can get them from the temporary stores opened by the Eighth Route Army.
At the exchange office, you can exchange for currently circulating coins, silver dollars, daily tickets, or legal tender.
……
In fact, Kong Jie is not the only one eyeing Tongyuan.
Since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese invaders, in addition to robbing gold and silver, are also very keen on copper coins circulating among the people. It can be said that they have racked their brains and exhausted all means to plunder and plunder the copper coins circulating among the people.
Since 1936, the Japanese troops stationed in China have been smuggling Chinese copper coins to Japan on a large scale. Even for copper coins with extremely small face values, the total amount smuggled reaches more than 100 million yuan per year.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army switched from smuggling copper coins to stealing them openly. On average, more than 7 million copper coins from China flowed into Japan every month. In Shanghai alone, 4 million copper coins were collected every month.
After the war, the amount of Chinese copper coins found in Japan even amounted to 11,000 tons, which shows how ruthlessly the Japanese army plundered them.
As the Japanese army plundered copper coins, in fact, after June 1939, that is, one and a half years after the fall of Shanghai, copper coins were no longer circulating in the SH market.
The Japanese army was so keen on searching and plundering copper coins for two purposes.
One is the same as Kong Jie’s original intention. The Japanese army collected these copper coins because they also took a fancy to these raw copper materials, which could be used as military strategic materials.
On the other hand, the national government's legal currency was not allowed to be used in the areas occupied by the Japanese army, but the Japanese army could not completely control the use of copper coins by the people in small transactions.
So the Japanese adopted the method of removing the money from the cauldron and simply took away the copper coins, leaving the Chinese people with no copper coins to use, thus achieving the goal of completely crowding out legal tender.
Copper coins were used as auxiliary coins with small denominations at that time. For example, if the transaction amount was less than the face value of one yuan, or less than the face value of a dime, these auxiliary coins could be of great use.
To put it simply, copper yuan is a auxiliary currency used by ordinary people to make change in daily transactions.
Once such auxiliary coins are lost in large quantities, the situation will be very bad.
People will soon discover that after buying things in their daily lives, shopkeepers cannot give change at all, and can only give small-value commodities such as needlework, matches, and candies as change.
But this is not a long-term solution after all, and it is far from enough to cope with the various difficulties caused by the lack of auxiliary coins.
Even the beggars begging on the street have been implicated.
Why? Because there are no coins with small denominations like copper yuan, and no one can bear to give away coins with too large a denomination.
Beggars have to change their profession, otherwise they will starve to death.
For businessmen, it is even more of a disaster.
The lack of auxiliary coins raises the threshold for doing business. The value of your goods itself is too low, and customers cannot trade with currencies of large denominations.
This has led to the closure of many small businesses in the market, which has also affected people's lives and made them increasingly unsustainable.
As for the national military government, the auxiliary coins that were originally intended to be minted for the circulation of legal tender were actually not in place due to the Japanese army's blockade.
Therefore, in many areas, the massive loss of copper coins means the massive loss of auxiliary coins.
……
Fortunately, the Japanese were never able to completely occupy Sanjin.
The middle section of western Shanxi has always been active with the Shanxi-Sui Army, southern Shanxi is the territory of the Central Army and local miscellaneous armies, and the northwestern Shanxi area is the guerrilla area of the Eighth Route Army. The entire Three Shanxi can be said to be a hodgepodge.
It is not that easy for the Japanese army to completely cut off the circulation of copper coins in Shanxi and Shanghai.
Another example is the Niukou Village area. The villagers actually have a lot of copper coins in their hands.
In addition, the Eighth Route Army has always had a good reputation. After the news of the Independent Regiment's recycling of copper plates spread, people in Niukou Village, Xicun, Zhangjiazhuang and other villages immediately responded positively.
Kong Jie ordered to set up copper recovery points in each village.
Exchange the copper dollar for ten times the original face value of the copper dollar.
For example, if the face value of a copper dollar is one cent, then one dime is exchanged for one copper dollar. If the face value of a copper dollar itself is one dime, one yuan is exchanged for a copper dollar.
For the common people, this can be said to be a great blessing. If you take the copper coins at home, you can exchange them for ten times the amount of money in the blink of an eye.
In addition, the Eighth Route Army is trustworthy and worthy of the common people's trust, so no common people have any doubts.
The common people were kind and simple. They took copper coins and exchanged them for bills. After receiving the benefits from the Independent Group, they all praised the Independent Group.
Regarding the arrival of the Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, the people in Niukou Village are increasingly full of expectations and sincerely accept it.
……
That's it, it only lasts three days.
Resident.
The newly determined regiment headquarters is a courtyard rented from the people.
Dong San, the logistics person in charge of coordinating this matter, found Kong Jie and reported the latest copper dollar acquisition situation:
"Captain, you just didn't go. The scene was really hot. When I heard that our independent group recycled copper plates at ten times the price, the villagers brought us all the copper plates they had accumulated at home in sacks.
”
"Guess what? In just three days, nearly 50,000 copper coins were recovered from the dozen or so copper recycling points we set up. If this copper dollar represents a bullet, that is to say, in our three days
, we have the raw materials for 50,000 bullets on hand."
Kong Jie nodded with satisfaction. The response to the copper dollar recovery was better than he expected.
As for these copper coins, even if Kong Jie doesn't collect them, they will slowly be lost to enemy-occupied counties and counties sooner or later, and be looted by the Japs.
Nowadays, a copper plate can be turned into a bullet, which will eventually be used to kill the little devil. It is definitely worth the money.
Kong Jie was curious about another thing, "By the way, Dong San, when the folks exchange copper coins, which currency do they prefer?"
Dong Sandao: "Of course everyone's favorite is the silver dollar, then the daily ticket, and finally the legal tender."
Kong Jie sighed: "Well, the legal currency issued by the military government of this country is not as popular as the Japanese daily tickets!"
Dong San said: "Captain, there is no way. The legal currency issued by the national army has depreciated too fast. Especially in recent years, the depreciation trend has become more obvious. One month ago, you could buy ten kilograms of rice with legal currency. One month later, you can even buy half a kilogram of rice."
You can’t even buy rice. In contrast, silver coins and notes issued by the Japanese are much more stable. People are all trying to make a living, so naturally they like whichever kind of money is more stable.”
"Then how much did we spend on acquiring these nearly 50,000 copper plates?" Kong Jie asked again.
Dong San thought for a while and gave a relatively clear estimate, saying: "Captain, the total face value of 50,000 copper plates is almost 5,000 yuan. We recycled it at ten times the price, which cost about 70,000 yuan."
."
Kong Jie said in astonishment: "What kind of situation do you think this is?"
Dong San smiled and said: "Captain, that's the thing. Our silver dollar reserves are not enough. Compared with daily tickets, the people prefer silver coins. But later, I will follow what you said, leader. If the people can accept the daily tickets,
If we exchange it, we can even exchange it at ten times the price. Nowadays, people are more inclined to exchange daily tickets, and we can save a lot of silver dollars."
In front of the common people, even Dong San, who has always been good at calculation, also adheres to the concept that suffering is a blessing.
Kong Jie suddenly realized and said with a smile: "If you do well, let's do it this way. As long as it's the Japs' money, we don't have to feel bad about spending it. Also, don't stop buying copper plates for three or five days.
This is the benefit that our independent group brings to the people, indirectly helping the villagers.
Tell the folks that our independent group has been recycling copper plates for a long time. Whenever you have copper plates, you can exchange them."