The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China - Chapter 1043

  New Year’s Day in 1944 had a bad time.

  Zhang Mouzhi took out a pile of reports, threw it on the table and sighed, “Alas, these factories have to be closed, and it’s impossible to close them.”

“Close it,” Zhou Hexuan said without reading the report, “the workers must be paid enough severance pay, and I will pay for those that are not enough. I will buy the goods stored in the warehouse in full at the ex-factory price and donate them to the disaster-stricken people in the provinces. “

“I donate my share too,” Zhang Mouzhi felt a little disheartened, he turned his head to look outside, and said in a low voice, “Mingcheng, do you think the National Government can still be saved? Waiting for the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, I’m afraid it won’t be the Communist Party. sit down.”

   “Taishan rest assured, I have my own arrangements.” Zhou Hexuan said.

   “I trust your vision,” Zhang Mouzhi said in a low voice, “How about we quietly send some supplies to the Communist Party first, and establish a relationship in advance? You should be able to contact the Communist Party.”

   “The Communist Party is well-organized, I can only get in touch with the Democratic League.” Zhou Hexuan said.

  Zhang Mouzhi said: “I donated all the backlogged goods in the warehouse, you can help me get in touch.”

   “Yes.” Zhou Hexuan nodded.

  In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the number of factories in the rear area was less than 100. By 1942, it had grown to its peak—more than 1,000. However, in 1943, it turned sharply and only more than 900 factories remained.

   Now that we have just entered 1944, the big rear has once again ushered in a wave of factory closures, and hundreds of homes have been closed all of a sudden.

  The factory that Zhou Hexuan invested in Sichuan has now closed one-third, and one-third has been suspended for a long time, and the remaining factories are only struggling to maintain.

  The reasons for the large number of factory closures mainly include the following aspects:

   First, the devaluation of the fiat currency, insufficient funds for factories, and triangular debts are everywhere.

  Second, prices have skyrocketed and social purchasing power has declined. The goods produced by the factories cannot be sold, and the people who want to buy them cannot afford them, resulting in a large number of scarce goods rotten in the warehouse.

   Third, the government capped prices. This was originally a policy to control prices, but it caused the factory to lose as much as it sold.

   Fourth, government control. Many daily necessities and industrial products are government-controlled materials, and these are often raw materials. Government control has resulted in a large number of factories unable to obtain raw materials.

   Fifth, transportation is inconvenient. The war caused various disruptions in transportation, and the cost of transporting raw materials greatly increased, and the delivery of raw materials to factories was often delayed.

   Sixth, government monopoly. Tobacco, sugar, salt, matches and other daily necessities are all sold and purchased by the government. They are forced to buy at low prices. Corruption is rampant, and the factory has no profit at all.

   Seventh, taxes are too heavy. In order to ease the financial pressure, the central government canceled the unified tax policy, and changed to collect commodity tax instead of tax. The government stipulates that enterprises whose profits exceed 60% of their capital will be subject to a 50% commodity tax. In the case of the devaluation of the fiat currency, almost all factories have reached this standard of profit, but they are actually at a loss. The government only looks at book data and imposes a 50% commodity tax on more than 90% of factories. Others include stamp duty, donations, food offerings, and public debt, all of which are forcibly apportioned.

   Eighth, malicious hoarding and speculation. Capitalists who are a little bit smarter don’t start businesses or factories anymore. A large amount of hot money is frantically hoarding necessities and materials in short supply. They collude with the government’s collection agency to buy at a low price, and then sell it after dozens of times. The market has been controlled by speculators.

   These factors, as long as there are two or three of them, it is enough for the factory to drink a pot. How can they be spared?

   As an entrepreneur, Zhang Mouzhi was completely disappointed with the Nationalist government. With his very limited political vision, he can also see that the current government is bound to fall, because the government has completely lost its prestige in the business world. The same is true of the common people, who endured hunger and supported the War of Resistance. They could not see the hope of victory in the War of Resistance, but only corrupt officials.

  The devaluation of the French currency can be tolerated, the transportation inconvenience can be tolerated, and even the taxation can be tolerated.

   What is the most unbearable thing about Zhang Mouzhi?

  The government imposes a price limit on commodities, purchases them at a low price, and sells them to speculators. This means that the factory is working hard to produce, and the profits are all taken by speculators, and the factory owner has to pay the government various taxes.

   Zhang Mouzhi has been in business for half his life, and he has never encountered such a wicked thing.

  We often say that steel and coal are the soul of modern industry. However, now there is a large number of unsalable steel and coal – during the war, steel and coal were unsalable, and a large number of related workers were unemployed!

   At the end of 1943, the machinery manufacturing industry was also in trouble. Countless precious engineers and senior technicians had to guard the empty factory building and rest all day.

   Let’s talk about “China Industrial Cooperatives”, hereinafter referred to as “Gonghe”.

   The “gonghe” organization was initiated by the Snow couple in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. The purpose was to develop the mainland economy, solve social problems, provide financial assistance, integrate industrial resources, and support the Anti-Japanese War. The Snows persuaded Alley, an Englishman, to formulate a set of industrial cooperative plans suitable for rural and underdeveloped areas in Asia.

   This plan was not only realized in China, but was later adopted by India, Myanmar, Japan and other countries.

   Mrs. Sun, Soong Meiling, Soong Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi all initially supported the “Gonghe” plan and claimed that it was promoting Sun Yat-sen’s people’s livelihood. However, because the “Gonghe” was helped by international democrats, and the initiators, Mr. Snow and his wife, were obviously pro-CCP, and provided some supplies to the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army. The government suddenly began to suppress the “Gonghe” after the Southern Anhui Incident.

  The “gong co-op” organization that once helped China’s wartime economy flourish has gone into recession. On the other hand, the Communist Party, led by Taizu, actively supported the development of the “gonghe”, and a large number of “gonghe” members in the Kuomintang-controlled areas were invited to the Communist base area, which significantly enhanced the industrial strength of the base area. Many factories in the base area are here. It was formed with the assistance of “Gonghe”.

   Zhou Hexuan really felt that Chang Kaishen’s brain was ill, and it seemed that he would not give up unless he pushed all the forces that benefited him to the Communist Party.

   During the Spring Festival, only seven of Zhou Hexuan’s factories in Sichuan are still in production, and the other four are semi-shutdown. The Spring Festival has just passed. Due to the surging tide of factory closures, materials are even more scarce, and the government has printed another wave of fiat currency. The price of prices in Sichuan has risen to an unbearable level.

   Kong Xiangxi, who was in charge of money management, was so anxious that he suggested to Chang Kaishen to reduce military spending last year, hoping that Chang Kaishen could check the actual number of troops.

   But there is no way to check…

  According to Chen Cheng’s later recollection, the budgeted number of the National Army was 5 million, and the actual number of rations was 7.2 million. It would be good to have 3 million combat troops. That is to say, at this time, more than half of the troops of the national army belonged to empty pay or old, weak, sick and disabled.

  Kong Xiangxi wanted Lao Jiang to inspect these troops in order to save military expenses, but Lao Jiang did not dare to investigate at all, and he did not have the courage to investigate! It can be said that the generals of the national army are all taking empty pay at this time, and checking the number of troops is equivalent to offending all the generals, which is equivalent to Lao Jiang digging his own grave.

   The year 1944 just ushered in, the Chinese people will have an extremely difficult time.