Disasters, hunger, natural disasters, plagues, all major disasters in the world are like a mirror, naturally reflecting the kindness and weakness of human nature.
War is also a mirror in which the ugly nature of human nature, such as greed, selfishness, and narrow-mindedness, will be revealed and fully exposed.
Because of the war and because the mountain city was a "capital", the mountain city gathered batches of civil servants, soldiers and refugees from the occupied areas, so the supply of supplies was very tight.
At the same time, economic stagnation and the excessive issuance of legal currency by the government have caused prices in mountain towns to rise three times a day. The legal currency that can buy a pig one day can buy a chicken the next day.
On the other hand, half of China fell, and almost all the foreign trade ports on the southeast coast fell into the hands of the enemy. The only foreign trade routes left were Yunnan Province and the British Shan Kingdom, and Guangxi Province and the French Cochin.
In the Republic of China, many industrial products, medicines, and machine parts could not be produced by themselves. In addition, the Communist Party controlled various materials in the name of all-out resistance to the war, resulting in a shortage of materials and an imbalance between supply and demand.
Daily necessities are supplied in quantity, and prices have skyrocketed. For example, the price of rice, which was 10 yuan per bucket of rice before March 1939, has risen to 50 yuan per bucket in April. Sometimes, even if you have money, you can't buy it.
Under this situation, the black market came into being. It can even be said that half of the people in the mountain city participated in black market transactions to varying degrees. Ordinary citizens and small merchants had to exchange something through black market transactions to maintain their lives.
A closer look shows that although the Japanese blockade was responsible for this matter, it was also caused by profiteers hoarding goods and driving up prices, especially relatives who were related to someone.
For example, Miss Kong Er, gasoline as a military material is in short supply, but the other party has a way to obtain and sell Dafa, which is difficult for the country to make. This matter is well known to the people in the mountain city, including the upper echelons of the government.
So what does the Military Command's "Investigation of the Black Market in Mountain City" mean? Could it be that someone is preparing to exterminate their relatives for justice? Zuo Zhong looked down in confusion and quickly figured out what this group of people wanted to do.
Regarding the black market transactions of daily necessities, grains, and oils that have the greatest impact and involve the widest range of people, the report only briefly mentions them. What really spends a lot of time is the drug transaction in the black market in mountain cities.
It is also understandable that the former is closely related. Let’s take Miss Kong Er as an example. This woman played very well with a certain Sichuan Army general named Fan, and the two of them opened several trading companies that resold kerosene, cotton, etc.
Because they made too much money, the two of them opened a bank account, which was later changed to a bank. Since Fan was born as a general, Pao Ge was not well educated and had a strong social spirit. He loved to play and make friends, so he often opened a running banquet setting for gambling at home. , hold a dance party to entertain all kinds of people.
According to the surveillance report of the military commander, Chief He, Chief of Staff and Minister of Military and Political Affairs, Chief Tang, Director of Military Justice, Director of Transportation, Chief Zhang, Director of the Political Department, Chief Gu, Commander of the Third War Zone, Chief Shangguan, Deputy Commander, and Commander Yu, Commander of the 7th Theater Sir.
There are also Directors of the Attendance Office, Mr. He and Mr. Bray, Boss Du from Shanghai, General Manager of the Central Bank, General Manager of Sichuan Salt Bank, Mr. Wang Xian, the flour king, Mr. Ning, manager of Sichuan Kang Bank, Mr. Ma, the great salt merchant of Sichuan Province, etc. They are all his guests.
Look at this list of names. They are all people who would make the mountain city tremble when they stomp their feet. Are these people getting together for the sake of peace in the world? Don't be ridiculous, it must be for profit.
In a gambling game, General Fan lost 800,000 French currency to Boss Du in one go. At that time, the salary of ordinary workers in the mountain city was only between 30 and 40 French currency. You can imagine how much money these people made.
Even Zuo Zhong's cheap teacher Dai Chunfeng had been to that party several times. No one dared to monitor what he did or said, but it seems that Lao Dai recently bought several more houses.
Therefore, unless the Second Office of the Military Command is crazy, they will not choose to go against this huge interest group. What they are eyeing is the drug trade, especially the trade in gunshot wound medicine and antiseptic medicine.
Compared with making some money for oneself, someone cares more about the underground party. In the bitter cold land of the northwest, except for some Chinese herbal medicines, all medicines are raised from enemy-occupied areas and Kuomintang-controlled areas. The black market is one of the most important channels. .
Zuo Zhong put the report on the table, held his arms and fell into thinking. He and Lao Dai had just reached a secret cooperation with the underground party, and the superiors had issued the document. Was it a coincidence or the news was leaked.
After thinking about it, he picked up the phone on the table and called the second and third offices of the Military Command Department. He asked his nominal subordinates about one thing, which was whose idea it was to investigate the black market.
The other party didn't dare to hide anything from the director's inquiry, so he honestly reported a person's name. Zuo Zhong casually chatted for a few words and hung up the phone, and then said three words viciously with a cold light in his eyes.
"Xu! En! Zeng!"
According to the information disclosed by the three offices, Xu Enzeng formally wrote to the Second Department of the Military Command a few days ago, requesting a comprehensive investigation into the black market in Shancheng and completely cutting off the underground party's channels for obtaining western medicine.
The reason why the other party did this is nothing more than two reasons. One is to establish a sense of presence with someone, to show his determination to be incompatible with the underground party, and to reduce the impact of Ji Bo's appearance.
The second is that he is clearly in trouble with Zuo Zhong. After such a blow to the black market, how can he sell penicillin? Destroying people's financial resources is like killing their parents. This person named Xu is seeking death!
!
Zuo Zhong picked up the phone again and asked He Yijun to notify Gu Qi and others to come to the office. Since some people are shameless, let's have a good fight. He narrowed his eyes while looking at the report.
Soon, Gu Qi, Wu Chunyang, Song Minghao, Wu Jingzhong and Gui Youguang arrived one after another. When everyone saw the deputy director with a murderous face, they all stood in front of the desk obediently without knowing what happened.
"Lao Gu, please circulate it."
Without any nonsense, Zuo Zhong threw the report directly to Gu Qi. The sale of penicillin was not only his, but the entire military command bureau would benefit from it. When encountering problems, it was natural to work together.
Gu Qi took the document nimbly, looked down at it for a while and handed it to Wu Chunyang next to him, with a puzzled expression on his face. It was just a black market raid. Why was the deputy director so angry?
More than ten minutes later, Gui Youguang, who was the last to read, put the document back on his desk. Then several people looked at each other secretly, secretly guessing why the deputy director called them over.
Zuo Zhong pretended not to notice their little moves and said with a cold face: "You have seen it all, I tell you, this is Xu Enzeng's suggestion to the summit. I don't need to tell you what he wants to do, right?"
Gu Qi and others thought for a moment and immediately saw through Xu Enzeng's sinister intentions. They were immediately furious. They all expected to follow the deputy director to get some penicillin to earn some pocket money.
Xu Enzeng's actions were tantamount to handcuffing them. If the superiors knew that the military commander was involved in the drug trade, they would definitely doubt their loyalty, this bastard.
"Deputy Chairman, how about I... Anyway, Japanese spies and underground parties are rampant. Even if Xu dies, others will not suspect us." Gui Youguang was the first to stand up, gloomy Sen made a gesture.
Zuo Zhong really wanted to pry open the other party's head and see what was going on in the bald man's head when he was discussing how to get rid of the person in charge of intelligence from another agency in the office of the deputy director of military command.
Although he trusts the people present and is not worried about the news leaking, there is no airtight wall in the world. If he really wants to do this, who knows if there are any spies among the secret agents responsible for the execution.
Moreover, this kind of rule-breaking thing must not be done until the last moment. If Xu Enzeng is really pushed into a hurry, the other party is not without the ability to fight back. Er Chen must not be underestimated.
As if he had guessed what Zuo Zhong was thinking, Gu Qi slowly said: "Youguang, don't mention this matter once it's out of this door. If the news is leaked, you, the captain of the special operations team, will be gone."
After warning Gui Youguang, he turned around and suggested in a low voice: "Vice-in-Chief, since the command came from the top, we have to implement it, but how to implement it and to what extent it is implemented is debatable.
The black market has a wide range of implications. In order to better complete the task, I suggest that we first conduct a long-term investigation and lock in the people involved in the crime, and then take a thunderous move to arrest the profiteers who resell the drugs.
Deputy, we must do a good job of confidentiality. We must not let the people involved in the scandal know about our actions, let alone let them know that it was Deputy Director Xu of the Central Unification Committee who made this suggestion.
If one of the suspects is confused and takes action against Deputy Director Xu, the loss of such an intelligence talent is really a loss for the party and the country, and the military commander will inevitably bear the responsibility for dereliction of duty. "
Gu Qi praised Xu Enzeng seriously, and gave two countermeasures, one is to delay, the other is to kill with a borrowed knife. If you can get rid of a close friend, the responsibility for mere dereliction of duty is of no concern.
Others nodded after hearing this. The military commander could not kill Xu Enzeng, but it was no problem to kill the suspect. Who would let the other party cut off people's financial resources? As for whether anyone dared to take action, there must be some.
Who can get ahead in the black market in the mountain city is a good person. Besides, even if they don't dare, there is still military commander, who can fan the flames and ignite the fire. No, it is adding fuel to the flames, but military commander is good at it.
However, it is not without hidden dangers. Wu Chunyang said a serious question: "Deputy Chairman, we must master this degree well. We cannot let the superiors see that we are not working hard. It is best to catch a few examples first."
Zuo Zhong nodded slightly. This was a mature and prudent statement. The military command department and the higher-ups were not fools. If the military commander just said it but did not do anything, it would definitely arouse suspicion. Catching a few black marketeers with no background would be an explanation.
Just as everyone was perfecting the plan to counter Xu Enzeng, Song Minghao, who had not appeared alone for a long time, hesitated and said something cautiously, which opened up a second idea for everyone.
"Deputy Chairman, Xu Enzeng has become a drunkard. The deputy director's salary alone is definitely not enough. His biggest income also comes from the black market." The old youtiao seemed to have said nothing, but also seemed to have said everything.
Zuo Zhong, who was behind the desk, had slightly narrowed eyes and immediately became interested. He stood up and recalled Xu Enzeng's information. He seemed to have caught a hint of inspiration, so he turned back to Song Minghao and said, "Old Song, please elaborate~"
