"My dear, the prices of many commodities in the market have risen today." Zhang Yun, the Italian wife of Zhang Yun, deputy general manager of the South China Sea Fishery Company, complained as she took the dinner meal from the cook.

"The price has gone up? How much has it gone up? Which commodities have risen? Zhang Yun hung his tweed jacket on the hanger, then pulled out a chair and sat down, and asked, "It can't be that the meat products are rising, right?" No, the output 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 should the price increase? ”

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 either, because more people have started to buy it in the market." But the price of beef that everyone likes to eat has risen to the sky, and when I went to buy it this morning, it was already 9 cents a pound, oh my God, it was terrible. ”

The beef problem has become a long-standing problem in today's East Coast Republic of China, and no matter what means the government uses, its price will never be lowered. In particular, after the Spanish closed the Colonia Free Trade Market in the first half of the year, the large-scale official beef trade was terminated, and the beef currently circulating on the East Coast is from a variety of sources, except for a small number of locally raised and slaughtered vegetable cattle. There are not only vegetable cattle smuggled from La Plata on a small scale, but also some vegetable cattle stolen from the Guarani people by the army in the north, as well as South African cattle and new Chinese hump cattle brought back from the colonies, these vegetable cattle are basically not cheap except for those snatched back by the army, at least the cost calculation is far more than the original import price of 15 yuan a head from La Plata.

After a complete loss of confidence in controlling beef prices. The Government Council and the Ministry of Agriculture jointly launched an alternative, whale meat. and vigorously mobilize domestic propaganda agencies. Preach the "benefits" of eating whale meat. No matter how much the publicity is blown, the common people don't buy it very much, and the only benefit they see about eating whale meat is probably cheap. Yes, very cheap! The uniform retail price of ordinary cured meat 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, while in inland areas with long transportation distances or along canals, because it is directly sold by the state, the price of meat per catty is also controlled within 2 cents and 5 cents to 3 cents. It can be regarded as a policy to benefit the people. The South China Sea Fishery Company currently has four professional whaling vessels and a comprehensive supply vessel, and it is the traditional peak season for whaling, so a large amount of whale meat is transported to the port of Luocha by ships returning from baleen whale port. It is then processed at the whale meat processing workshop of the Luocha seafood processing plant, which is affiliated with the South China Sea Fishery Company, and transported by train to six or seven towns along the route via the Luomei Line railway. In addition, some meat products are transported offshore by steamship to ensure that more townspeople can benefit.

All in all, under the multi-pronged measures, the prices of the domestic meat market on the east coast have been basically controlled. Ordinary people can't afford to eat beef, so they go to buy whale meat, a whale can produce thirty or fifty tons of net meat, which can be worth hundreds of cattle. In this peak whaling season. The people of the East Coast can catch seven or eight whales themselves every month, and if you add the whale meat sold to the people of the East Coast by some foreign whaling ships in the area. Almost seven or eight hundred tons of net meat can be obtained every month, which makes it necessary to run a train between the port of Rocha and the port of Merlin every two days, otherwise there will be no time to transport all kinds of supplies, including whale meat, whale oil, whalebone meal, and whale skin.

As a result, it is only increasingly affluent middle-class families like Mr. Zhang who complain about skyrocketing beef prices, as their families often buy expensive meat to show their "difference" from ordinary households.

"The price of beef has gone up, and now we are not short of that money." Zhang Yun opened a bottle of Xiangshan dry red for himself nonchalantly, and said: "The increase in beef prices is probably due to the decrease in supply. In the past few days, some people from the military department have come to our factory to purchase whale meat in large quantities, including cured meat and spiced jerky, and after the purchase is completed, it will be hoarded in the wharf warehouse at Luoqia Port, which seems to be of great use. Moreover, the military department also purchased a large amount of fresh beef in the pasture township and transported it to our factory for pickling, and the marinated beef was stored in the dock warehouse. With so many supplies hoarded at once, it looks like it's going to be a war! ”

"War?" Zhang Yun's wife immediately panicked, she looked at a pair of children who were sitting playfully on the chair and playing with the tableware, and said in a trembling voice: "The last time I went to attend a dinner party held by the wife of Captain Li Yi, I vaguely heard the wives of those naval officers complaining that their husbands have strengthened their training recently, and they haven't been off the ship for a long time, are we really going to war?" Was it a war with the Spaniards? ”

"You are a woman, don't go around chewing the root of your tongue." Zhang Yun clipped a prawn with the shell peeled off for his son, then turned to his wife and said: "It's not a secret that war is an obvious thing, I felt this way a long time ago, and now the situation on the market just confirms my conjecture." But don't just say that the spies of the Mei Agency are very sensitive, so be careful that they come to the door. Just know what you know in your heart, don't babble. ”

"Okay, dear, I listen to you." Zhang Yun's wife scooped some chicken soup out of the basin and brought it to her youngest daughter. This is the characteristic of women in this era, they are the appendages of men, and they are obedient to their husbands. I remember that when this Italian woman first married Zhang Yun, she often made some bread, cakes and other Western-style pastries at home, but after being reprimanded by Zhang Yun for "what kind of thing", this woman immediately died down, and then she specially learned how to make Chinese food from the Ming women around her to please her husband. Since then, there has been no Western-style food in the house, not even clothing.

Actually, it's pretty good. In the vast interior, the Ottoman slave girls who were paired with Ming men had no status. They dress up exactly according to their husbands' preferences, they make food exactly according to their husbands' appetites, and they behave as closely as possible to their husbands, almost completely losing their sense of self. At the beginning, after the Mei agency found out about these situations, he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh, men assimilated women, and it was really amazing.

"Tomorrow I will go to the store and buy more things to store, such as cured meat, eggs, dried fruits, cane sugar, soybean oil and other foods. Well, buy more cotton, woollen wool, candles, red wine, and leather shoes. It's useless to keep so much money at home, just use it up, and after half a year, maybe you won't be able to spend it if you want to. Zhang Yun sighed at his wife and said: "Now that the government has begun to hoard all kinds of war materials in a planned manner, many of which actually coincide with civilian materials, the prices of these commodities in the market will definitely show a slow upward trend for a period of time." Buy more and use it, it will cost you more money if you want to buy it in the future. ”

In fact, there are not a few families who hold the idea of Zhang Yun, most of these people are military officers, engineers, government officials, senior technicians, businessmen, wealthy farmers, in short, the so-called middle class. They have a certain amount of wealth and more sources, so the first wave of panic buying in the market originated from them. However, fortunately, their proportion in the population is not high, and the state consciously regulates it, so the impact on prices is still controllable.

It is no secret that the East Coast is about to be plunged into war with Spain, and anyone with a little knowledge or better information can feel it more or less. The only thing that everyone is confused about is whether this war will be fought in the end, how big and intense it is, and how long it will last. If you have a short period of time, you can bear it, but after a long time, I am afraid that there will be complaints, because you are used to living a life of abundant materials, and no one wants to suffer in the shortage of materials.

"By the way, if you meet a student on the street raising money for military expenses, donate a few dollars. Now that our family is a decent person, we must pay attention to the influence, don't let people secretly poke the backbone and say that we are not enthusiastic about serving the military, and it will be ugly if some hot-blooded student throws stones at night and smashes the doors and windows. Zhang Yun thought about it and admonished.

Nowadays, militarism is rampant in China, and the idea of East coastism is also becoming more and more popular, and the new generation of young people who are full of enthusiasm are very confident and at the same time very aggressive. They believe that the institutions and ideas of the East Coast are the best, and they have a natural righteousness, whether they are Spaniards or Native Americans, 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 militarist ideas, collecting military funds, and so on.

There is no lack of apprehension within the government about these fanatics. It's just that these young students are not without a background, and whenever the civilian government wants to cool them down and brake the brakes, there are always people from the military department who come to negotiate, which makes the momentum of these students more and more high. Over time, no one cares about them.

"Okay, I'll pay attention." Zhang Yun's wife nodded and agreed, "There is a fundraising point at the entrance of the vegetable market. Two thirteen or fourteen-year-old boys and women are there all day long with a box to raise money for the military, and I will donate two yuan tomorrow, which can be regarded as serving the military supplies. Let's hope that our country will be able to completely defeat those pesky Spaniards so that they will never dare to go to war with our country again! (To be continued......)