Canteen System Assistance Notes

"Hey, Xiao Liu, can you charge for this aperture?" General Secretary Luo suddenly spoke.

"Yes!" Liu Helian took out his wallet with a few Mao Zedong notes in it. He put the money into the aperture, and the words "Cash 100 Yuan" appeared on the screen. The balance item below immediately increased by 100 Yuan.

"I say, how about we throw in some French currency and silver dollars and try it out?" General Secretary Luo suggested. "Anyone here has French currency or Yuan Datou coins? I'd like to borrow some from you."

Several people present laughed. The Chairman shook his head and said that I, an old teacher, don't have any Yuan Datou coins. General Zhu also said that he didn't have any. But Minister Deng rummaged around and took out a neatly stacked 10-yuan legal tender banknote.

"Ha! Let's take on this local tycoon today!" the Chairman laughed. "Comrade Xiao Liu, in your time, how was the exchange between legal tender and RMB carried out?"

"There's no such thing as an exchange!" Liu He shook his head in denial. "This legal tender has long been invalidated and out of circulation over here. How can it be exchanged?"

"These 10 yuan can buy almost 20 kilograms of meat!" General Zhu pointed at the banknote. "With the white flour, it's enough to make a thousand dumplings - this is for the New Year!"

"General Zhu, the purchasing power of the legal tender is still strong now, but it won't be in a few years." Liu Helian made no secret of his disdain for the Nationalist government's economic management capabilities. "If we really want to exchange it for the renminbi, 30 billion for one yuan is too much for me!"

"How much?" Minister Deng was extremely surprised. "One yuan is only worth two steamed buns in the cafeteria!"

"Thirty billion! Then three million French francs will be exchanged for one old coin, and ten thousand old coins will be exchanged for one new coin... Commander, to be precise, it's thirty billion for one coin. No! There's one more..." Liu Helian paused, scratched his head, did some mental calculations, and replied,

"It's nine... a quadrillion... damn, sixteen zeros after the nine! That's enough to exchange for one yuan!"

Upon hearing this frightening number, Minister Deng's hand trembled and 10 yuan of French francs fell into the aperture.

General Zhu's dumplings flew away.

Chapter 7 The Future of eMule

Canteen System Assistance

By Forgotten Maple X

2151 words

2020-08-31 12: 00: 00

"Thankfully, there's still the possibility of identifying it as a collectible. That's why Minister Deng's ten yuan in French currency became... two cents, and was described as a poorly-preserved collectible—after all, it wasn't a precious cultural relic."

Liu Helian, hands on his hips, worked on his phone. The cafeteria was practically empty. Minister Deng was drawing with charcoal pencils by the light of a nearby table. He said he had to create a painting that could buy a thousand dumplings to make up for the loss, otherwise he would feel bad. "That's 10 yuan for half a steamed bun, after all, that's Party property."

The old veterans are indeed persistent on certain issues...some of them are lovable and respectable.

Next, Liu Helian wanted to study this eDonkey, which had undergone some kind of super-future transformation. It no longer needed to be recharged. Filled with some mysterious fuel, it could transform into a forklift, a truck, or even a bicycle. This awakened his instinct as a time traveler with a system: exploit the system's loopholes!

This is one of the most interesting and fun things. As a person who likes role-playing games, finding some loopholes that can be exploited in this unreasonable time travel is also one of his major pursuits.

He first found the charging port for the electric bike. That spot had become a reservoir, with a line of small words written on the side. "Fuel low, please add water." He had seen this before, but he hadn't seen the second half of the sentence, "Heavy water is optimal."

Huh? What's this thing burning?

The fuel pointer is still at 100%. Liu Helian cautiously rejected the idea of ​​opening the fuel tank to take a look, for fear that some high-energy substance inside would trigger some uncontrollable "rapid reaction".

He called up the cafeteria control app on his phone and found an interface in the "My Cafeteria" section called "Crossover eMule Controller." When he clicked on it, an authorization request popped up.

"Device identification code, storage device, making and receiving calls, sending text messages? Oh, sometimes I need to enable the camera... Okay, what else can I click besides agreeing?"

The program started downloading components. At some point, the server sent him a module. A line of large characters appeared on the phone screen: "Welcome to the eMule app for travelers." It was in Song font.

This kind of style of making trouble... the developer of this mini program deserves to have no hair.

Liu Helian began to browse. The program didn't have any fancy features, and its usage was simple and concise: this eDonkey could transform into any human-made, atmospheric vehicle with an empty weight of no more than 100 tons, from airplanes to cars to small boats. The vehicle could only be used when the traveler was on board, and the traveler would automatically gain the corresponding driving skills. The transformation required zero ground speed. After the transformation, the transformed vehicle would faithfully reflect its faithful interaction with the real world, such as aerodynamics, thrust-to-weight ratio, internal structure, etc., but there was still no need for refueling...

It looks like it can be transformed into a plane, but... at the moment it seems it can only be transformed into a propeller plane.

Liu Helian quickly thought of the border region's scarce air power. While a vehicle wouldn't necessarily change the situation, an aircraft would be the most effective. Without further ado, he switched the interface to the air unit section.

A line of large characters popped up: Air units are prohibited from attacking the ground!

There was also a small note in parentheses at the end: "This will be written into this time and space as a set of rules. You can try to find loopholes as much as you want, but it will not work."

Just looking at this note, you can feel the strong malice. Liu Helian directly controlled the operating system and turned eMule into a famous fighter plane in World War II: the P51 Mustang.

A series of interfaces and data appeared, and Liu Helian discovered that this thing was the A-type production model of the Mustang, equipped with a V1710 Allison engine, without a blister cockpit, and armed with several small-caliber machine guns - the smaller empty machine gun muzzles showed that this was not prepared for .50. The total horsepower written in the power column was "1150 horsepower/3000 rpm".

There is also an up and down arrow on the side, indicating that this index can be adjusted.

Liu Helian curiously dragged the horsepower arrow, and the Mustang transformed from the electric donkey began to change gradually. The patch-type canopy disappeared and turned into a bubble cockpit with an anti-roll bar installed. Next, the appearance of the nose also changed, and the engine changed from "Allison" to "Merlin", and then to "V-1650-9".

This is the change from type A to type H...

Based on his historical knowledge, Liu Helian knew that the Mustang fighter had reached its end when it reached the "H" model. But what would happen if he continued to increase the engine output? Would a "Griffin" version of the Mustang appear?

Liu Helian continued to increase the engine output. Now, the horsepower jumped directly from 2060 to 2455. The Mustang's iconic radiator disappeared, and the nose became a strange long cigar, looking ugly and ridiculous. He stared wide-eyed and looked around carefully before confirming that this was a Mustang fighter directly modified from a P51D. The engine...

"T55 turboprop engine? Oh! It's the Enforcer demonstrator!"

This is a thing that was forcibly created in later generations by the U.S. Congress in an attempt to revive the turboprop attack aircraft!

So that's how it is... If you don't modify the design yourself, you can only create models that already exist in history... Liu Helian finally understood how this thing worked: in the simple model selection mode, eMule directly selected from existing models and created a completely unarmed aircraft, but the onboard sights, instruments, and even optical cameras were all present. The Dantong aliens had banned this thing's ground bombing function, but they hadn't banned air combat and reconnaissance, so there was still some room for operation.

It seems that I have to find some airborne weapons later.

Just as he was thinking, Minister Deng, sitting nearby, suddenly let out a long sigh. He had finally completed a sketch of Liu Helian, who was studying his phone and the fighter jet before him. The entire drawing was done in charcoal on a plain A4 sheet of paper—just straight out of the printer. In the picture, Liu Helian looked serious and thoughtful, contemplating a glowing phone, the light illuminating the contours of his face and a small section of his hair. The fighter jet behind him had been distorted and reconstructed, its lines sharp, giving it the style of a woodcut.

Without waiting for Liu Helian and Staff Officer Zuo on the other side to make any comments, he operated the computer on the table in a very professional manner, activated the aperture, and placed the painting on it.

"Character mechanical charcoal carving style, excellent structure, pure technique, your work has been included in..., please check the remittance:

"Seventy thousand yuan!"

Chapter 8: A Different Way of Mass Production

Canteen System Assistance

By Forgotten Maple X

2345 words

2020-09-01 12: 00: 00

"Comrade Xiao Liu, please repeat the canteen's supply capacity."

In the cafeteria's meeting room, several heavy smokers were puffing away smoke. The powerful fresh air system sucked out all the secondhand smoke, making the atmosphere less stuffy.

"No problem. The entire canteen's food supply capacity can provide three meals a day for 60,000 people. Assuming that each person eats 1 jin of rice, 2 liang of meat, 1 liang of fish and one egg, that's 30 tons of rice, 6 tons of meat, 3 tons of fish, and 60,000 eggs. Of course, if we have sufficient funds, the total amount of food we can purchase is far more than this: beverages, snacks, side dishes, and edible additives like salt, sugar, and alkali can all be purchased almost without restrictions - in other words, as long as we have the money and can ship the purchased goods, there's no problem.

"As for the food variety... Staff Officer Zuo and Minister Deng just looked at it. I think anything we can name is here. Even if we can't name it, if we try it out, the system can make it for us. As for the price, it should be tied to the time when I traveled through time. The staple food is cheap, which is a pity. If it weren't for the swine fever, pork would be even cheaper..."

"Then, please summarize the strategies and rules for the cafeteria's return of supplies."

"Okay, Chief," Liu Helian fiddled with the PPT, and the conference room's projector projected a series of lists. "There's basically no limit on the quantity of goods the canteen can purchase. Simply place the goods in the recycling aperture and sell them. The proceeds will be measured according to the market price of my era, and the Danteng aliens will directly transfer the funds to the account. The aperture does not accept 'special goods', arms, and other products that were not allowed to be sold privately in my era. It is also forbidden to directly sell the canteen's goods back to the retail price for arbitrage. Whether processed products will be banned may require further testing.

"At present, the prices of livestock products such as mutton and pork are relatively high, even much more expensive than the retail prices in my time, and close to the price of "pollution-free" products. I think this is because the current breeding in the border areas is not industrialized. Secondly, the prices of grains, some vegetables, handicrafts, and Chinese medicinal materials that meet future food safety standards are also good. Finally, calligraphy and paintings, cultural relics and antiques, rare woods and other things can also be sold, but the prices fluctuate slightly, and precious cultural relics may be donated..."

Liu Helian glanced at Minister Deng and several other leaders, who were trying hard to suppress their laughter. "After selling a painting, it seems that due to the impact on the market, the price of similar works will drop for a period of time. However, this situation hasn't occurred with other resold items. I guess it's because in my time, our area was a huge market of 1.4 billion people, and the canteen's shipments hadn't yet affected market fluctuations."

After Liu Helian finished his speech, he sat to one side of the conference room.

The main topic today is the work arrangements for 37. Of course, because of Comrade Liu, we will mainly discuss economic and financial issues. Compared with the previous situation where the army had to organize production to reduce the pressure on farmers to levy public grain, the current situation is obviously much more relaxed. Naturally, the original plan also needs to be modified to a certain extent.

The Minister of Finance at the time was Elder Lin. He produced a document and handed one to the attendees: "Last year, the Northwest Office calculated the cultivated land area in the entire border region at 843 million mu. This year, we estimate that 863 million mu can be reclaimed. However, the estimated yield is only 111.6 million dan, which is nothing compared to Comrade Liu's."

"The central government originally planned to collect 10000 dan (approximately 60 kilograms) of public grain. Considering the situation reported by the rural work teams, northern Shaanxi had virtually no water conservancy facilities, no advanced farming methods, and no improved seeds. Furthermore, due to the long-term collection of 'special goods' by the former warlords, farmers were forced to grow only opium poppies. Over time, local farmers even lost the ability to make compost.

"Against this backdrop, we purchased improved seeds, promoted fertilization and agricultural techniques, and mobilized efforts to build water conservancy facilities, enabling us to harvest at least half as much more grain. This resulted in a very low yield of only 0.16 liters per mu of land.

"Of course, there are some other opinions in the office right now." Elder Lin looked at the others. He was the chairperson of today's meeting. "Why don't you all share your opinions first and discuss them."

"Just using millet as an example, even without factoring in that pollution-free price, one pound of millet can be exchanged for almost five pounds of rice! Steamed into steamed rice, that's at least ten pounds of white rice! Converted into white flour, it can be exchanged for four pounds, enough for seven and a half steamed buns—white buns! I think we should decide what to plant this year based on the canteen's purchase price."

"That won't work." As soon as the idea of ​​relying on agriculture was proposed, many people present voted against it. "When it comes to food, we must always be self-reliant." As if worried that this would dampen Liu Helian's enthusiasm, General Zhu consoled him, "Comrade Liu, it's not that I don't trust you. You know, we Communists believe in self-reliance and hard work.

"However, food in the future will be truly cheap. White rice, white flour, chicken, pork, and even most vegetables will be this cheap—Xiao Liu, you also mentioned that pork prices have gone up due to swine fever, right?" General Zhu sighed. "The power of industry is truly formidable. On the contrary, the coarse grains and brown rice we don't eat here are now much more expensive."

"Yes, that's true. In previous years, pork was cheaper." Liu Helian wasn't surprised at all. If the Eighth Route Army really engaged in dependent agriculture, they would no longer be called the Eighth Route Army. "I also think this practice is inappropriate. However, while ensuring food security, we can try new farming methods together."

"Oh? Looks like our Comrade Xiao Liu is a good farmer!" The Chairman threw a cigarette over and called his name. "Come on, no need to stand up. Tell me how you're going to farm in the future."

"Comrades, I wouldn't pretend to be an agricultural expert. I simply share some insights from future experiences." Liu Helian was a bit surprised. "Future farmers will have a more specialized division of labor. Since basic food security isn't too difficult to solve, many farmers prefer to grow 'cash crops' and engage in side businesses to increase their income. These are things like planting, breeding, and handicrafts that aren't primarily for personal consumption. These industries, because they have to compete in the market, will pursue economic benefits."

What he said was very simple and easy to understand, making it easy for these active-minded seniors to follow his ideas.

"To this end, our country has been promoting some relatively effective agricultural practices. Television—oh, this thing, there probably isn't a Chinese name for it yet, it's called 'Teliweixun,' I think. Only wealthy people in Germany and the US can afford it—helps farmers learn new agricultural techniques. For example, how to grow alfalfa instead of grass to raise cattle and sheep, how to raise fish and ducks in rice fields, and how to intercrop peanuts and corn." He chuckled. "I used to be quite interested in these things and have a lot of these TV programs saved on my computer. I personally suggest that we refer to these practices for our major production plan for the coming year."

Liu Helian cut out the PPT and opened his own player. The projection screen went black, and then festive music was heard. Three big words slowly appeared against a background full of a sense of the times.

"The Secret to Getting Rich"

Chapter 9: Research Before Eating

Canteen System Assistance

By Forgotten Maple X

2310 words

2020-09-02 12: 00: 00

The Chairman once said: "Without investigation, there is no right to speak." This kind of thing is not limited to revolutionary cause, nor is it limited to daily work and study. Even things like eating require investigation before one has the right to speak. All of this must be done through a scientific process.

Simply put, it is about how to eat in a way that is filling, nutritious, and comprehensive.

As for delicious food, it is not Comrade Fu Shi’s main goal for the time being - or in other words, food that can fill you up and eat well is definitely delicious.

To cure his malnutrition after time travel, Liu Helian devised a diet plan. This plan was adapted from a "nutritious breakfast recipe" designed by Norwegian nutritionist Carl in his previous time and space. This recipe included whole-wheat bread, butter, sausage, cheese, fresh fruit, milk, carrots, and even cod liver oil, providing most of the nutrients the human body needs.

Considering the procurement problems when working in the Soviet Union, Xiao Liu paid out of his own pocket and replaced whole wheat bread with black bread, cheese with Russian-style red sausage, and cod liver oil with cod livers bought from whaling workers at the port, which tasted terrible.

Combined with constant exercise, this diet cured his malnutrition and also spent a lot of the allowance given to him by the Communist International - even the principal of the Party School in Vladivostok, when writing a comment on him, wrote "This comrade likes to eat."

As for the Eighth Route Army, we didn’t have the conditions before, but now that we have them, we must ensure that the soldiers get rid of malnutrition as much as possible.

"You can't just copy this recipe. I do it to save money by not cooking at work, and I can tolerate milk, bread and sausage." Liu Helian and Doctor Fu, who were standing beside him, kept talking like a nagging grandmother. "People in our country, if you ask us to eat cold things in the morning, we're sure we won't be able to adapt.

"Doctor Fu, how about we try making pancakes?" He eagerly tried the cafeteria's electric griddle. "We can put eggs, shredded gourd, diced carrots in the batter, and then add some minced meat and chopped green onions. Maybe we'll add more kelp for iodine, and make a stuffed pancake. As long as we do it once, this thing will learn how to do it and can operate automatically..."

Doctor Fu listened patiently, but instead of responding directly, he asked:

"Comrade Xiao Liu, do you know what the main nutritional supplements we prescribe for patients are?"

"What is it?" Liu Helian was a time traveler after all, and had lived in this time and space for many years. He thought for a moment, "Generally speaking, it's eggs and butter, right? I've heard the Party School principal talk to me about this. Often, when these two aren't available, the patient can only be given soybeans, or even sugar water or white flour..."

"No, no," Doctor Fu shook his head and said calmly, "I'm going to eat some millet."

Liu Helian was stunned, his mouth open, speechless. Only then did he realize what a joke he'd made—forget eggs and butter; even the "nutritional supplement" of soybeans and sugar water was something only doctors in provincial capitals could prescribe. He was now in Fushi City, a small river valley town nestled among the barren, hilly loess plateaus of the Loess Plateau. Here, the refined flour and cheap indica rice sold wholesale in the cafeteria were unaffordable for the patients.

When I was not in good health and was malnourished, I could only eat some millet. In other words, I could not eat pure millet on a regular basis.

After all, Liu Helian, who worked in the Soviet Union for a long time, didn't have a clear idea of ​​what Fushe was like during those 37 years. What he knew was more of a red revolutionary holy land, a place full of idealism and hard work. But as for just how difficult it was, he lacked a direct sense of it.

"But now, the situation has changed." Seeing Liu Helian like this, Doctor Fu felt a little sorry and encouraged him, "We can exchange a lot of things here now. There's no shortage of meat, eggs, vegetables, etc. At least the nutritious meals for the patients at Skin Shelter Hospital can be replaced. As for the food combination, we need to pay attention to the following points..."

He regained his composure and began to explain to Liu Helian the key points of proper nutritional combination.

"Sugar? No problem, Doctor Fu. We have rice and flour here, and plenty of potatoes. Yes, potatoes."

First, any nutritious meal cannot be achieved overnight. Even if it is to supplement sugar, the quality must be gradually improved. Otherwise, if the canteen's high-quality meals are eaten all at once, the border area will surely be flooded with patients suffering from cholecystitis or diarrhea, or even "hepatic coma" (hepatic encephalitis).

"For protein, I recommend eggs. They're cheap, plentiful, and high in protein. You can also try some white-striped chicken, duck, or frozen fish when you want to switch it up."

Secondly, the proportions of staple and side dishes need to be gradually altered, varying them within a feasible range. This helps maintain a healthy spirit and allows for a more comprehensive nutritional intake. For example, the combination of kelp and iodized salt can treat "goiter," a common disease in border areas and even in Shanxi. High-protein foods like eggs and tofu can combat edema. The intake of various vitamins can prevent and treat beriberi, night blindness, and scurvy. Mineral-rich foods can treat iron-deficiency anemia and even promote children's intellectual development.

"Fat? Fat is easy. We can sell lard and butter here. If the central government thinks it's too expensive, there are still plenty of vegetable oils. If that doesn't work, we can still afford palm oil."

Next, the cooking method of food should be as simple and efficient as possible. On the one hand, this can reduce cooking losses - the Red Army proposed this concept early on - on the other hand, after all, not everyone can come to the canteen to eat. The troops and units always have to cook on their own stoves, and the canteen's dishes are mostly future-oriented. It is also necessary to mobilize the masses to record some dishes that suit current tastes.

"As for vitamin tablets, except for vitamin C, we don't have any right now. But there are a lot of fruits here, Doctor Fu. There are apples, oranges, pears, bananas, cherries, dragon fruit, cantaloupe... Okay, I won't list the names of the dishes."

After much effort, the two finally created a preliminary spreadsheet, listing numerous suggestions for improving the food. Liu Helian launched his office suite and expertly compiled a spreadsheet and created a PowerPoint presentation. He planned to present the preliminary findings at an office meeting and select volunteers for the experiment.

According to Doctor Fu, good nutrition is the foundation of physical fitness, and excellent physical fitness itself can overcome many diseases; when people are healthy, they will naturally have better physical strength, mental strength and even intellectual level, and can better complete labor tasks, carry out combat tasks, and thus promote the progress of the revolutionary cause.

This is not a change that will happen overnight, but it will have unimaginable effects in the near future.

Liu Helian deeply agreed with this idea. After all, the canteen itself was to solve the problem of food. And in this ancient country in the Far East, those who can solve the problem of food for the vast majority of people will always be remembered by history.

Just as he finished his work and stood up, in the blink of an eye, a string of bright numbers appeared again. This string of numbers glowed dark red, obviously a date, but unlike the previous "1937.01.13" with night mode, its last three digits were jumping rapidly and randomly.

"1938-0*-**"

Chapter 10: Seniors working overtime