It was already the end of the hot season (rainy season), so the rainstorm had stopped early the next morning, and the air outside was fresh.

McKinley's Akito wife has prepared breakfast consisting of polenta, fried peanuts and a poached egg. McKinley finished his breakfast and turned to look at the door, where his eldest two-year-old son was sitting playing in the mud. This is his eldest son and at the same time his only son. Two months ago, his youngest son died of illness not long after he was born, which made him very sad, and at the same time, he loved his eldest son even more.

"The price of peanuts has risen again, and so have the prices of eggs." His wife began to complain, "It's terrible that those greedy peddlers raise their prices every time they come." Not only have these risen, but mangoes and bananas have also risen, and they have risen very much. Your government doesn't care about it? ”

McKinley no longer works in the guest house, and he was introduced by Pei Soning to become a clerk in the agricultural technology station. As for why he didn't go to the health center, after all, he was also involved in the research and development of antimalarial drugs. However, McKinley, who was a farmer and had worked as a sailor, a pirate, and a coal mine to make ends meet, felt that he was really not a medical material, so he politely turned down the errand of the health center, and instead begged Pei Soning to ask for an errand at the agricultural technology station, and is now in charge of the introduction of tropical cash crops in Xinhua Town and Xixiang - of course, he still has a hand.

"I'm a member of the agricultural technology station, and I can't manage economic work." McKinley replied impatiently, and then asked his wife to bring her white shirt, he had an important meeting to attend today. So get ready to put on a formal attire. His wife quickly brought him the so-called formal suit. That's a white cotton shirt. and a pair of black linen trousers. McKinley put it on and left the house shortly after, heading for the town's town hall.

When he arrived at the meeting room of the town government, people from all government departments were basically there. Of course, this so-called gathering refers only to people from the civil affairs system, such as the judicial, police, military and other systems, as well as cadres from large state-owned enterprises such as the East African Transport Company and Xinhua Shipyard, who were not present, so this is just a simple civil affairs work conference.

Presiding over the meeting was Kyle, the former assistant to the mayor of the town, who acted as the mayor. Kyle was born in the navy, but he is more diligent and likes to study. Therefore, it is quite valued by Shi Qinjie. This time, Shi Qinjie returned to his hometown, and before leaving, he clearly explained that Kyle would act as the mayor of the town and preside over the civil affairs work, which made a group of people who were originally on the same starting line as him envious.

"The main purpose of today's meeting is to discuss the recent rise in prices." Not long after McKinley sat down, he was greeting his neighbor when Kyle's voice came from above. So they stopped talking and started a meeting.

"According to statistics, the prices of various commodities have risen in different ways. Among them, the prices of daily necessities such as sorghum, wheat, cotton cloth, beef, palm oil and other commodities that ordinary residents are most concerned about are relatively stable, with a small increase. This is mainly due to the overall regulation role of the Xinhua branch of the national reserve material library. About this, we have to admit. Kyle said aloud. After years of experience. He is also a relatively sophisticated bureaucrat who is nearly 30 years old, so he is very familiar with presiding over such meetings.

McKinley in the audience was slightly surprised to hear Kyle's words. As far as he knew, Kyle was a staunch economic liberal, largely because his old boss, Stitchinger, was a strong believer in liberal economics. Therefore, he has always been very disgusted with government intervention in the economy, and advocates regulating through the guò market mechanism. At present, he is sure that he has also played a role in regulating the material warehouse and controlling prices, which is still a little surprising to McKinley.

Due to the harsh natural environment and ultra-high mortality rate of New China, the local residents have developed a higher desire to consume, and even those who are accustomed to frugality of the Ming people due to the dual role of environment and atmosphere, although the consumption frequency is not as good as those of the Irish, French or Tatar, but it is also considerable. After all, in this place, no one knows whether they will suddenly get sick and die in the next moment, so the demand for all kinds of consumer goods has been relatively strong.

The reason why the price of these daily necessities has not increased much is that it cannot be one-size-fits-all. Among them, sorghum, cotton cloth and other commodities were transported to this side from the South African River Port, and sold at a uniform and affordable price by the state-run stores belonging to the material warehouse, so the prices were low and did not change all year round, which was mainly the result of the enslavement of black slaves by the local state farms.

In addition, wheat was partly supplied from South Africa, and partly imported through the port of Suez in the Ottoman Empire, and the state-run stores wholesaled wheat to hawkers, who then sold it from village to village, forest farm, factory family area, etc., to make some difference. Of course, once prices rise to a certain limit, state stores will also take the initiative to sell some wheat to stabilize prices.

The same goes for wheat, and the same goes for beef. Since the local hump cattle population is not large enough, and the demand of the people is increasing day by day, the poor beef slaughtered by the meat factory every day is in short supply. For this reason, Shi Qinjie had consulted with the Portuguese in Mozambique on the other side of the river and decided to bring in some livestock from them, but the slaughter had to be slaughtered in a designated location on the east coast (Xinhua Port Meat Factory). Since the introduction of Mozambican beef, the contradiction between supply and demand has been alleviated.

However, people on the east coast are also trying to find self-sufficiency, after all, the island of Madagascar is known as the country of hump cattle in later generations, and there are more than 10 million hump cattle in the country, indicating that the environment here is still very suitable for raising this kind of cattle. However, the current population is still small, and the amount slaughtered every day is far from enough to meet the consumption needs of the more than 2,500 local residents and nearly 2,000 South African laborers.

As for someone mentioning that yì went to the aborigines to grab it, it was quickly vetoed by Shi Qinjie. Those natives themselves are still at war, and even the Eight Banners tribes on the island, who have taken refuge in the people on the east coast with relatively good economic conditions, are still very withered. Therefore, there is no future in looting, so you can only build it yourself, but this will require a process, so for the time being, part of the demand will be imported from Mozambique. At the same time, it also strengthened economic ties with the Portuguese East African colonies, and had a positive effect on the relations between the two sides.

In addition, the Zambezi housewives, the owners of Portuguese estates in Mozambique, export large quantities of palm oil to the east coast, which is another major consumer product and a necessity of life. The National Stockpile is also stockpiled on a large scale, operating in the same way as wheat and beef.

To sum up, the prices of sorghum, wheat, cotton cloth, beef, salt, palm oil, coal and other commodities that are included in the daily necessities are basically well controlled, which ensures that the basic living standards of the people do not drop too much.

"Luxury consumer goods such as tea, pepper, high-end leather shoes, high-end furniture, liquor, porcelain, etc., have risen rapidly, and the prices of some of these goods have more than doubled. For example, according to customs statistics, the average arrival price of red wine exported from Zhenhai Port is about 6 yuan per bottle, but the final market sales price often hovers between 10 and 12 yuan, nearly doubling. What is the reason? Kyle asked, flipping through the materials in his hand and looking up.

Without waiting for others to answer, he quickly buried his head and answered himself: "According to the figures of the customs, the industrial and commercial office, the tax office, the finance office, and the Xinhua branch of the Northwest Reclamation Bank, the amount of currency (i.e., silver coins, east bank yuan) in the Xinhua port market has increased rapidly in the past year, which is due to the rapid economic growth of our new China region. Since the year before, the export volume of coal, hardwood, sisal, and coconut has almost doubled in a year, generating a lot of profits. In addition, with the increasing trade with nearby Portuguese East Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia, a number of foreign merchants poured into the town, bringing with them large quantities of gold and silver currency, as well as increasing consumer demand. Under the combined effect of these two, many local commodities are in short supply, and prices are rising rapidly, causing some disorder in the economic order. In other words, the root of the problem is that there is too much currency in the market in a short period of time, and the quantity of our goods has not increased rapidly, which has led to a rapid rise in prices. ”

Although most of the goods exported by New China were traded between the state-run depot and the mainland, with the substantial increase in production and profits, the bonuses and benefits of the workers also increased. If you have money, you will naturally want to consume, especially in a place with a special environment like New China, people's desire to consume is generally high, but the supply of goods has not kept up in time, so it is not surprising that prices have risen. That is, while workers' incomes have increased, the real purchasing power of the coins in their pockets has decreased. The root of the problem lies in the region's economic development, but they are not sharing in the benefits of economic development.

In fact, the price of these luxury goods has risen, and ordinary people don't care too much. At most, they expressed their amazement, wow, red wine is 12 yuan per bottle! But you basically don't have to expect that those with a monthly income of 4-6 yuan will often consume red wine, which is unrealistic. Therefore, trying to adjust the price of luxury goods is actually thankless, because it does not reach a wide audience, and most of the complainants are high-ranking technicians in some factories, high-ranking government officials, military officers, and wealthy farmers who grow cash crops. As for ordinary people, who cares what the price of your red wine or tea is? I don't buy it anyway!

In fact, the biggest complaints of ordinary people are those ordinary consumer goods, such as: mango, banana, milk, eggs, sugar, cream, cheese, tobacco, seafood, ordinary furniture, ordinary leather goods, etc. The vast majority of this will need to be imported, and any one of rising international prices, inflation, and hoarding will cause changes in the final retail price at home. How to control the prices of these commodities is what tests the government's ability to govern. (To be continued......)