Dreaming back to 1949, the great powers were there to deceive us

At the Cathay Hotel, Atlan hung up the phone.

At present, TA Cruise Company has leased eleven ocean liners, with a total passenger capacity of 20,000 per trip, and even more if they squeeze in.

However, the rental is not cheap. Eleven ships cost 50,000 oceans per day. This transaction was also handled by major foreign companies. They saw that Tong'an Company needed it urgently, so they increased the price a lot.

There is nothing we can do about this.

As for other inland passenger ships, fishing boats, cargo ships, sampans, etc., they are much cheaper, with the daily rental cost of each ship ranging from a few yuan to several hundred yuan.

These are the types of ships that the Qing Gang and TA Company are robbing.

When it comes to robbing ships, the Qing Gang has a natural advantage because they are the local tyrants. Unless you don't plan to stay in Shanghai anymore, you have no choice but to rent the ship to them!

In terms of rent, the Qing Gang did not pay much, so the fishermen and ship owners dared not speak out.

In Hu Zhenhua's plan, these ships are a very important part, because TA's company cannot obtain a dock and can only ferry people bit by bit using these sampans and fishing boats.

This is very inefficient, but the advantage is that everywhere can be used as a dock!

Atlan looked at his watch and it was already one o'clock in the afternoon!

The sell-off of ships in the Magic City has reached its climax!

He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"I'm Atlan, start the second step of the plan!"

At Shiliupu Wharf, Xu Qun received the notice and immediately began to ask the ship owners to leave.

"Everyone, I've got a job. You'll pay your rent as usual, and I'll give you an extra 5% per day. Now, please follow me! We'll take care of your meals!"

The ship owners cheered.

Having work means their boat can be rented for a few more days!

A boss whose boat was not rented out was envious. He squeezed in desperately and shouted,

"Manager Xu, do you still need a boat?"

Xu Qun pricked up his ears and listened for a long time before he heard clearly. He held his hands together and waited until everyone was quiet before he spoke.

"I'm not sure if their company needs to rent another boat, but there's a big job at Chongnan Wharf that requires a lot of boats. If you're interested, you can come with us to take a look!"

"Where is Chongnan Pier?"

"Just follow me!"

"What's the big job?"

"It's a 10,000-ton cargo ship that can't enter the port, so we need to use a small boat to ferry the cargo!"

"Mr. Xu, we'd like to go with you and take a look!"

Just like that, in just half an hour, the news of a big event at Chongnan Wharf spread to all the big and small wharves and fishing ports in Shanghai!

Hundreds of sampans, fishing boats and small boats that had regained their freedom began to head towards Chongming County.

The Magic City is the world of the Green Gang, but Chongnan Wharf is under the absolute control of the Tongan Company.

As long as the ship arrives at Chongnan Wharf, the Qing Gang will no longer be able to interfere.

Chongnan Wharf, although called a wharf, actually only has the conditions to be a wharf, and the berths and loading and unloading areas have not yet been built.

After all, Wang Zhi has only taken over here for less than 5 days. Building the airport is the top priority, and building the wharf has just been put on the agenda.

The labor force of tens of thousands of people cannot be wasted. According to Hu Zhenhua's plan, Wang Zhi began to build roads, factories, residential areas and reservoirs.

The problem of reservoirs in particular needs to be solved urgently, otherwise the water supply for tens of thousands of people will be a big problem.

Wang Zhi held the map in his hand and fell into deep thought.

Hu Zhenhua asked him to build bunkers, artillery positions and other defensive facilities!

But where is the gun?

"report!"

"speak!"

"We caught two more soldiers who were stealing food from the common people!"

"Shot dead!"

"Yes!"

In the past two days, more than fifty soldiers have been shot by Wang Zhi. The atmosphere in the neighborhood has changed, but there are still some people who go against the wind and commit crimes, and food robbery incidents occur from time to time!

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Chongnan Wharf welcomed two special guests, one was Jiang Zhen, whom Hu Zhenhua had just met at night, and the other was Carter, the consul of the US Consulate.

They all came in a low-key manner.

Jiang Zhen came for the industrial zone, while Carter came for the rice dollar promotion!

The two met unexpectedly at the Friendship Store.

Carter asked, pointing to a bag of chocolates.

"how much is it?"

"Two dollars!"

Jiang Zhen also asked,

"Will you accept payment in silver dollars?"

The teller immediately smiled and said,

"Accept, 5 yuan a pack!"

When the young scalper Wu Lie saw that someone was asking about products priced in rice, he immediately became excited.

Usually, people ask about industrial products such as pumps and walk-behind tractors. So far, he has only closed two orders!

Nowadays, if someone asks about chocolate, you can tell at a glance that he or she is a rich person.

Jiang Zhen looked at the merchandise in the store, which was full of dazzling goods: radios, record players, light bulbs...

As for the generators, water pumps, four-legged beasts, hand tractors, and steam turbines, they are all models, which are urgently needed in the liberated areas.

Carter took out two dollars and handed it over.

"Give me a bag of chocolate!"

After opening it, he distributed it to the customers present, causing everyone to cheer!

Jiang Zhen also got a piece and took a light bite. It was a little bitter!

Carter glanced around the store and found that Jiang Zhen was the only one with a good temperament, so he approached him and started a conversation.

"Sir, are you the leader of the construction site?"

"No, I'm a foreign merchant. I heard that the Friendship Store has a wide variety of goods, so I want to come and buy some!"

When Wu Lie heard this, he became even more concerned.

Carter was a little disappointed. He wanted to ask the management here whether they paid salaries in US dollars!

However, since we have met a customer, there is no harm in having a chat!

"My name is Carter, I'm American, what's your name, sir?"

"Jiang Zhen!"

After exchanging pleasantries, they saw that the store was unusually noisy, so they went out to chat.

After a few steps, Wu Lie blocked their way.

"Second brother, do you want to exchange for rice?"

Carter was overjoyed and said quickly,

"Yes, yes, how do I change it?"

Wu Lie looked reluctant and thought to himself, I'm not calling you, why are you getting so excited? Don't you have rice and yuan yourself?

He refused to pay attention to Carter, pulled Jiang Zhen aside, and whispered,

"Sir, do you want to buy something priced in rice? I have rice. You can save a lot of money by exchanging your dollars for rice before buying it!"

Jiang Zhen already knew what Wu Lie did, and said with a smile,

"Sir, are you from Shandong?"

Wu Lie grinned, finally meeting someone who knew what he was talking about, and said with a smile,

"That's right, Wu Erlang, the tiger-slaying hero in Water Margin, is my ancestor!"

Jiang Zhen laughed out loud.

"Didn't Wu Erlang become a monk? Does he have descendants?"

"Of course I do. I am one! Even if I become a monk, I can still return home!"

Jiang Zhen was overjoyed, but he suppressed his smile and said,

"How did you exchange that rice dollar?"

"If you want more, 2.2 dollars for 1 meter!"

Jiang Zhen was not easy to fool, so he shouted,

"The official exchange rate is 2 yuan for 1 meter!"

Wu Lie was stunned, but he reacted quickly and said,

"You said it yourself, that's an official place. If you dare to take out money from a bank, it will be confiscated immediately!"

"2.2 is too expensive. This way, you'll make less money. 2.1 is more for me!"

The spirit of the military was shaken.

"How much do you want?"

"Three sets of each industrial product in the store!"

Wu Lie suddenly looked at Jiang Zhen with a questioning look.

"Do you know how much this costs? You're not lying to me, are you?"

"Ten thousand dollars, is that enough?"

"Not enough, at least 40,000 yuan!"

“How can it be so expensive!”

"Sir, you probably don't know that the real big ones aren't in the store, but in the backyard. For example, the steam turbine you saw in the store is just a model. The largest one is as tall as our house!"

"Can I see it?"

Wu Lie waved his hand.

"follow me!"

Carter had been eavesdropping on their conversation and immediately followed them.

Suddenly, a voice came from a distance.

"Brothers from the Wu family, brothers from the Wu family!"

Wu Lie's eyes lit up, realizing that business was coming. He apologized to Jiang Zhen and hurried to greet him.

There are more than thirty villagers in this group, and they are a huge group!

After the two parties met, they simply exchanged greetings and began to enter the transaction process.

Wu Lie counted out a handful of colorful US dollars and handed them to the villagers, and then received a pile of silver dollars!

"Look, there are foreign devils printed on it!"

"The foreign devils up there are different!"

Wu Lie quickly explained to them,

"Look at the numbers on it. The one with 1 is 1 Mi Yuan, and the one with 2 is 2 Mi Yuan! The largest denomination is 100 Mi Yuan. Different portraits on it correspond to different amounts."

$1: George Washington

$2: Thomas Jefferson

$5: Abraham Lincoln

$10: Alexander Hamilton

$20: Andrew Jackson

$50: Ulysses S. Grant

$100: Benjamin Franklin

Wu Lie explained for a long time before the villagers understood. One of them asked,

"Why is this old man the most valuable? Is he the emperor?"

"The United States doesn't have an emperor. They have a president there. The person printed on these banknotes is their president. However, there is one exception. That's the old man on the 100-dollar bill. I heard he's an inventor!"

"How can this thin piece of paper be exchanged for more than 200 yuan?"

Wu Lie was speechless and shouted, "Why do you care? As long as you can buy things, that's enough. Hurry up, after you buy them, I still have the next wave of customers to come!"

Wu Lie and his men paid the money at the counter, received the delivery note, and went to the warehouse at the back to pick up the goods!

Carter was completely stunned. He had never thought that ordinary farmers in China would also start to come into contact with rice and dollars!

This is not a good start, but a very good start!

The consulate received an anonymous letter yesterday, and he thought it was a prank!

The warehouse covers a large area, more than a thousand square meters, and is filled with various machines.

The villagers bought a steam turbine, a water pump, electrical wires, light bulbs, a hand tractor, a trailer, an iron plow, and a barrel of diesel.

These things are almost the wages of everyone in their village these days.

Among them, the steam turbine has its own generator, which can convert thermal energy into electrical energy and provide electricity continuously.

Hu Zhenhua specifically requested the production of this type of steam turbine, taking into account the current situation in rural China.

For a considerable period of time in the future, China's coal and oil will not be able to meet the needs of the people.

There are many things that can be burned in rural areas, such as leaves, straw, and reeds.

These things are enough to drive the turbine.

The store provides training on driving a walking tractor. It doesn’t require any technical skills. Two smart young men learned it in just over ten minutes and had no problem at all!

Then, everyone loaded the things into the truck bed, and drove to the village with cheers all the way to the sound of the single-cylinder diesel engine!

Jiang Zhen stood in front of a huge steam turbine, his heart pounding.

This is the country’s hard power!

It’s just that it’s a bit expensive. This big guy weighing more than 6000 tons costs oceans!

Jiang Zhen walked up to Wu Lie and asked,

"Mr. Wu, can you help with the transportation problem?"

"Sure. If it's Chongming County, we'll deliver it to your home. If it's somewhere else, we'll send it by boat. We'll take care of the rest!"

"What if it breaks?"

The person who answered this question was the salesperson in the store.

"Sir, we have a three-year warranty for non-human damage! May I ask where you want to ship it to? We can't go to places over 3 kilometers away!"

Jiang Zhen nodded.

"Can we send someone in for maintenance training?"

The salesperson observed Jiang Zhen carefully and said with a smile,

"Yes, but it must be our agent?"

Jiang Zhen became even more interested.

“How can I become your agent?”

"If you purchase goods worth 5 yuan for the first time, there will be no limit on subsequent purchases!"

Jiang Zhen pondered for a moment and asked,

"Are you dividing the area, or what?"

The salesman laughed.

"The situation is unstable. Even if I want to divide it, I can't do it. Outside Chongming, where you can sell it depends on your ability!"

Jiang Zhen pointed to the north.

"Aren't you afraid of where it will be sold?"

The salesman spread his hands.

“We only sell it in Chongming!”

Jiang Zhen understood and laughed out loud.

Carter also smiled meaningfully. This rule of the Friendship Store would surely attract countless people to place orders, including people from the north.

If they want to buy goods, they also need rice and yuan!

It seems that I have to go and meet Hu Zhenhua!

He walked up to Jiang Zhen and said with a smile,

"Mr. Jiang, if you're done talking, how about we take a walk around the area together?"

Wu Lie immediately stood up,

"I'll lead the way for you!"

Jiang Zhen, this important client, must be held on to tightly.

As the saying goes, if you don’t open a business for three years, you can make a living for three years after you open it! This is exactly what it means now!

So, the three of them walked together towards the construction site.

At this moment, Hu Zhenhua, who was far away in Jinling, was looking at the Chongnan Wharf and muttering to himself: Is this bait delicious?