The daily household of the Zhou Mansion was withdrawn from Zhang Leyi, and then used by Cui Huifu and kept accounts.

Only halfway through July, Cui Huifu shouted that there was no money.

After Zhang Leyi handed over the money to Cui Huifu, she couldn't help but complain in front of Zhou Hexuan: "Alas, the price of this rice has risen sharply again." ”

"How much has it gone up?" Zhou Hexuan asked casually.

Zhang Leyi said: "It has risen by more than a third. ”

Zhou Hexuan was a little surprised: "The rice harvest is about to be made, and the price of rice should fall." Even if the fiat currency depreciates, it stands to reason that the price of rice should not rise sharply. ”

Zhang Leyi explained: "The government has just issued a decree that in the future, all fields will not be subject to fiat currency, but will be accepted in kind. Grain merchants began to stock up on grain one by one, and the price of grain in the market also rose across the board, even with vegetables. ”

Zhou Hexuan suddenly had nothing to say, the grain tax was only collected in kind, which dynasty was this going backwards?

The banknotes issued by the national government itself are now not even recognized by themselves, so how can the people be good? The peasants are really bitter, and most of the grain grown by hard work has to be handed over to the government and landlords. The little surplus grain left was sold, and the money obtained was almost waste paper, and it was estimated that it would not be enough to buy necessities such as salt.

In doing so, the government will inevitably depreciate the fiat currency, and it will depreciate even more severely than in previous years.

However, the collapse of fiat currency will have to wait until after the war between the United States and Japan.

Before 1941, fiat currency could be circulated throughout the country, including the communist base areas and the Japanese-occupied areas. When the Pacific War broke out, Japan completely occupied Shanghai, confiscated the banks of Britain and the United States and the property of the Kuomintang in Shanghai, and directly cut off the exchange channels between legal tender and the US dollar and the British pound.

As a result, fiat currency is no longer recognized by the international community and no way to exchange foreign currency. Japan also took advantage of the fire to loot, and while wantonly making counterfeit currency, it also took the legal tender of the Japanese-occupied areas to the nationalized areas and base areas to purchase materials, resulting in a flood of legal tender in the nationalized areas and base areas and a serious loss of materials.

Finally, the communist base areas could not stand it anymore and had to expel the fiat currency and issue their own "anti-currency".

The Nationalist Government had no choice but to continue to use it, and as a result, the fiat currency became a local currency that was only used in the national control area. The value of the currency is rolling down, no wonder Kong Xiangxi is incompetent, even if he invites economic experts from all over the world, it is useless.

……

Hechuan, Yucai School.

The first half of the semester has just ended, but the funding for the next semester has not yet been secured. In particular, the depreciation of the fiat currency and the soaring price of food made Tao Xingzhi anxious, and he raised some money after running for a few days, but that money was not enough to pay the teachers' salaries.

"Jingle bell!"

Tao Xingzhi picked up the phone and asked a little irritably, "Who are you?" ”

The other party said: "I am Qiu Yicheng of the Central Bank, and the nephew of the Director of the Executive Yuan Duan wants to work in the Central Bank. This is a gentleman, and our leaders don't want it, so we ask him where he graduated. That kid didn't say that he graduated from Xiaozhuang Normal in the eighteenth year of the Republic of China, but he couldn't get a certificate of education. Mr. Tao, that kid is going to come to you in the afternoon to issue a certificate, I hope you don't give him any certificate. That's a bastard boy, coming to work in the central bank can only be a bad thing, and it is not good for the country or the people! ”

Tao Xingzhi asked, "What's his name?" ”

"Duan Zhikai." The other party replied.

Tao Xingzhi said: "You sent someone to send the student's file letter in the afternoon. ”

Xiaozhuang Normal School was Tao Xingzhi's former school, and when he moved inward, he brought all the files to Chongqing.

This kind of gentleman who is looking for someone to open the back door will be directly pushed away by someone else. But Tao Xingzhi seriously checked the archives, and sure enough, he found that there was a student named Duan Zhikai in 1929. After receiving the letter from the Central Bank, he immediately replied: After verification, the student had indeed graduated from our university in 1929 with a satisfactory academic performance and studied sociology......

The central bank was furious when it received the reply, and hurriedly called: "Mr. Tao, please be accommodating and help us push this related account away." This kid is really not a thing, he has no fart skills, and he is also an idle eater when he enters the central bank. ”

Tao Xingzhi said nonchalantly: "No matter whether he is good or bad now, and whether you want him or not, I just truly reflect the situation." He graduated from Xiaozhuang Normal School, I can only prove this. ”

Two days later, the young man named Duan Zhikai came to the door with a gift and said that he wanted to thank Principal Tao for his help.

Tao Xingzhi closed the door and only wrote a note: "I am engaged in education, and I have been emphasizing truth, I hope you haven't used my truth badly." ”

Duan Zhikai was stunned for a long time with the note, and he didn't know what kind of ideological struggle he was doing, so he suddenly put down the gift and turned around and left. He did not go to the central bank to report, but chose to join the army to fight, and finally died on the battlefield of resistance against Japan.

It's a true story.

Late July.

Tao Xingzhi came to visit the Zhou Mansion from Hechuan, he really had no other way, he heard that Zhou Hexuan donated generously, so he came here to try his luck. Other schools still have a little government funding, but Yucai School is private, and all the funds are solved by Tao Xingzhi everywhere.

"Principal Tao, rare guest, rare guest!" Zhou Hexuan greeted with a smile.

Tao Xingzhi didn't go around the bush, and said straight to the point: "Mr. Zhou, I don't hide it, I'm here to ask for help this time." The funds for Yucai School are not enough......"

"How much do you need?" Zhou Hexuan asked directly.

Tao Xingzhi said: "10,000 legal currency." ”

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Now that prices are soaring, how can 10,000 fiat currency be enough?" I'll give you 100,000! ”

Ten thousand fiat dollars in the summer of 1941 was only enough to buy dozens of bags of flour.

Tao Xingzhi stood up again as soon as he sat down, hugged his fists and said: "It is said that Mr. Zhou is timely rain, and this time I really believe it, Tao is grateful!" ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "In the future, the school will not have enough funds, even if they come to me." ”

Tao Xingzhi was so moved that he didn't know what to say, but he kept waving his fists and said, "Thank you, thank you!" ”

Hope Primary School has also been running all these years, before the Japanese army invaded North China, Zhou Hexuan asked Wenxiu and others to take the students south. At present, there are more than 80 hope primary schools in the rear area, mainly absorbing war orphans and poor children to enroll, and by the way, they also help some low-level intellectuals to make a living (become teachers).

If there was any highlight of the Nationalist Government's governance during the Anti-Japanese War, it was undoubtedly education.

In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Chang Kaishen made special instructions to separate students from conscription and vigorously develop education to prepare for post-war recovery. After eight years of all-out war of resistance, the territory of the national government is getting smaller and smaller, and the economy is becoming more and more difficult, but education has ushered in unprecedented development.

The number of primary school students increased from 3 million in 1936 to 6.76 million in 1943. The number of middle school students increased from 480,000 in 1936 to more than 1.2 million in 1945. The number of college students (including junior colleges) increased from 40,000 in 1936 to more than 80,000 in 1945 – including the large number of students who dropped out of school to join the army.

The number of universities and secondary schools has not only returned to pre-war levels, but has even nearly doubled from the pre-war period.

This is a very interesting phenomenon, although Chang Kaishen has done a lot of bastard things, but he attaches great importance to the cause of education, and he is still increasing his efforts to run education in such financial difficulties. Let's be honest, these students who came out of the Anti-Japanese War made great contributions to the development of New China.