Film and Television World Life Record

Even if the local area has a surplus of food to supply some, there will still be a significant shortage. Moreover, as the war continues to spread, it is unknown how many more people fleeing the conflict will flood in, further increasing the demand for food.

This is a problem we have to face.

On the third day, seeing that people's enthusiasm for buying grain remained undiminished, Li Mu had no choice but to implement a purchase limit, allowing a maximum of fifty jin (25 kg) to be bought at a time. For a family, fifty jin of grain would be enough to last for a while.

His purpose wasn't to restrict people from buying food; they could simply queue up again if they wanted to buy more. The main goal was to prevent some merchants from taking advantage of the situation to buy cheap food and hoard it. With this restriction in place, the loopholes for exploitation would be greatly reduced.

Actually, grain prices could be set even lower, at 80%, 70%, or even lower than the market price, and he could still make a profit. Li Mu's main concern was preventing merchants from taking advantage of loopholes.

They collect cheap grain from here and transport it to other places to sell.

Transporting grain from abroad is not easy for him; it takes a lot of time to go back and forth. Although he can earn a lot, he could earn even more money if he switched to military supplies.

The main reason for purchasing grain from abroad is to consider the local people's livelihood and stabilize prices.

If merchants exploit this loophole to buy cheap grain locally and resell it elsewhere, then it will be a losing proposition.

An 85% discount is a good price. The labor and resources used to collect the goods locally and transport them to other places are no different from the market price, so there is no profit. Therefore, no vendors are willing to do it.

……

Purchase restrictions proved to be a good strategy; on the third day, grain sales were only a little over a thousand tons, which relieved Li Mu.

Including soybeans, the total amount of grain purchased from abroad was only over 20,000 tons. Based on the sales rate of the previous two days, it would be gone in five or six days.

With daily sales of over a thousand tons, he finally has time to make purchases.

With no other option, Li Mu boarded a speedboat to Wuhan that very night, intending to continue his journey to Singapore to purchase more grain.

This time, Li Mu purchased 1.5 tons of rice, 2.8 tons of wheat, and 5000 tons of soybeans.

The total amount was 48,000 tons, costing US$1.65 million, equivalent to 1.65 tons of gold. The grain, which seemed cheap, was actually not cheap at all.

Back in Nanyang, with this batch of grain replenished, the dozen or so grain stores were finally able to hold out for a month or two.

At this point, Li Mu once again focused on the issue of people's livelihoods. Those who had endured countless hardships, fleeing with their families, would they be able to find food here? Would they be able to survive?

Over the next few days, accompanied by guards, he made a low-key visit to various places, but the situation was not optimistic.

The stable environment, good governance, and reasonable prices in the Nanyang area have attracted more people to come here.

Despite launching numerous large-scale projects and recruiting as many workers as possible to ensure everyone could earn a wage and have food to eat, many newcomers still faced significant survival challenges.

Those with some wealth, education, or skills are better off, but the poor and those who have fled are truly miserable. They are constantly struggling on the brink of death; people starving to death is quite common these days.

The main reason is that the existing job positions are still insufficient.

That day, upon returning to Yu Garden, Li Mu convened another meeting with relevant personnel to discuss how to ensure the survival of these people. Simply supporting them was unacceptable; the project had to continue.

Subsequently, under Li Mu's leadership, more than a dozen large brick factories and cement plants were established in the Nanyang area.

These technologies have been popular in China for a long time. As long as there are enough people, they are quite simple to implement, and there are many workers available.

In addition, dozens of new factories of varying sizes have been established, such as five or six flour mills, three or four bean product manufacturing plants, and several fruit canning plants…

Of course, infrastructure construction is where the most labor is absorbed, so they selected several secluded locations and restarted the construction of several secret airports.

Near Nanyang City, Li Mu launched another civil aviation airport construction project, this time openly and legitimately. Whether it will be useful in the future is hard to say, but it will certainly attract labor.

In addition, construction has begun on more than a dozen arsenals deep in the mountains, which, along with roads and water and electricity, is another major project.

Although we don't know when we'll need it, once the factory and supporting facilities are built, we can start production as soon as the machines arrive.

Furthermore, there is another significant project: building grain silos. He will select suitable locations to construct dozens of large grain silos, as domestic food shortages are certain in the future, and this requires advance preparation.

The launch of so many projects has even caused a small-scale labor shortage, and many local farmers have started to take odd jobs.

Li Mu has plenty of legal tender, so he can afford to employ so many people.

Chapter 437 Anti-Japanese United Army

After spending a few days in Nanyang, Li Mu returned to Singapore, where the airplanes and machinery he had ordered had arrived.

The six improved I-16s, which were just manufactured earlier this year, weigh 1.3 tons, have a top speed of 580 kilometers per hour, and a combat radius of more than 700 kilometers, making them one of the fastest aircraft in the world.

The three latest generation German-made Bf-109 fighter jets are also an extremely excellent fighter jet, especially in terms of combat radius, which exceeds 700 kilometers, making them one of the fighter jets with the longest combat radius in this era.

Three British-made Rafale fighter jets, with a speed of over 500 kilometers per hour and a combat radius of nearly 700 kilometers, were also among the world's best fighter jets.

They received twelve fighter jets, along with a batch of various machines, machinery, and processing equipment worth more than two million US dollars. With these, they could set up a large metal processing plant.

They will be needed in the future to produce guns, cannons, bullets, and ammunition.

They spent another $1.5 million to purchase a batch of military supplies, including steel, gasoline, and explosives, leaving only 20,000 cubic meters of space.

Li Mu purchased another 8,000 tons of wheat, 5,000 tons of rice, and 3,000 tons of sugar.

Speaking of which, white sugar is really not cheap, at $185 a ton.

However, in this day and age, white sugar is truly a good thing.

Firstly, sugar is one of the main sources of nutrition for the human body, replenishing the body's required energy and elements. It can be quickly absorbed by the body, and a small amount can provide a large amount of calories.

Furthermore, white sugar is high in calories, easy to carry, and has a long shelf life, making it suitable for producing compressed biscuits, candies, and other foods. Not only is it small and easy to transport, but it also has a long shelf life. In times of war and famine, a small handful of sugar could save a life.

During wartime, sugar was also an essential supply for the army.

Second, white sugar can be used as a disinfectant and hemostatic agent when medicines are scarce.

On the battlefield, saline solution and medicines are extremely scarce medical resources, and the harsh conditions of combat mean that wounded and bleeding patients often cannot receive timely treatment.

In an emergency, sugar can be used to treat a wound. Applying sugar water instead of salt water to the wound can help inhibit bacteria and clean and dry it.

Third, sugar can be made into powerful ammunition. Many domestic and foreign films and TV dramas have featured scenes of using white sugar as ammunition. Many people think this is an exaggeration, but in fact, white sugar can really be used to make ammunition.

White sugar is refined sugar made from molasses extracted from sugarcane and sugar beets. At a high temperature of 186 degrees Celsius, the sugar turns into caramel, which then burns upon contact with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water. If sugar is mixed with an oxidizing agent, it can be made into a powerful fuel.

During wartime, many fuels, explosives, and grenades were made from sugar. Someone once demonstrated at home how a bomb made from sugar had a range of 12 kilometers.

It's not apparent now, but in two years, when resources become even scarcer, sugar will become a hard currency like weapons, gold, and tobacco and alcohol, and can be considered a necessity.

On the battlefield, life is the most important thing, and sugar is what can save lives in critical moments.

Seeing that there was still plenty of space, Li Mu purchased another two thousand tons of dried fish, which was not a problem for a port city.

Unfortunately, with coastal cities falling one after another, the supply of aquatic products in the domestic market has decreased significantly, and prices have continued to rise, to the point where there are no buyers even when prices are high.

Some of it will be taken back and sold to enrich the dining tables of the people in the Nanyang area, and the rest will be used to supplement the nutrition of the army.

After finishing his business here, Li Mu returned to China again.

As usual, some of the military supplies were left in Hankou for distribution, while Li Mu took the remaining supplies back to Nanyang.

Rice was delivered to the grain store, wheat to the flour mill. After processing, the bran could be used to feed horses, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry, while the flour was delivered to the grain store for sale.

From now on, grain stores will no longer sell wheat, but only processed flour, in bags of fifty jin (25 kg), with a limit of one bag per person per purchase.

That said, after a period of discounted grain sales, while grain prices in surrounding cities remained high, grain prices in Nanyang did indeed drop somewhat.

This has led to a significant drop in prices across various sectors.

Of the 3,000 tons of white sugar purchased this time, Li Mu sold 1,000 tons on the market and recovered more than 1.2 million silver dollars, so he made back his investment.

With the remaining two thousand tons, Li Mu established a candy factory specializing in producing candies of various flavors. This would not only increase employment and enrich the variety of products on the market, but also generate more profits.

In addition, to prepare for future marches, Li Mu established a food factory to produce various flavors of compressed biscuits and other side dishes.

He also gathered a group of technical personnel and university professors specializing in related fields to improve the production process of ham sausages and start producing them.

Ham sausages not only provide essential nutrients but are also convenient to carry. Compared to regular meat, they have a longer shelf life, making them suitable for military rations or for market distribution, enriching the diets and nutrition of the general public.

……

The above all relate to the economy, people's livelihood, and manufacturing sectors. The influx of people is clearly beyond what Nanyang City can currently handle.

The government is planning to establish a new district east of Nanyang City to accommodate more people and businesses.

From then on, the area inside the city walls became the old city, and the new area to the east became the new city. The old city and the new city together constituted Nanyang City.

Recently, Li Mu has sent people to survey the terrain and invited professional urban designers from the concession to make a master plan for the construction of the new district.

One can imagine the scale of the project once it begins, how much manpower and resources it will require, how many jobs it will create, and how many people it will enable to make a living in this chaotic world.

……

Just then, Li Mu heard that the Japanese 14th Division, led by Doi Makoto, had captured Heze and was about to attack eastern Henan and take over the provincial capital, Kaifeng.

Upon hearing about Tu Feiyuan and the 14th Division, a place name suddenly popped into Li Mu's mind: "Huayuankou".

More than 40 counties in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces were flooded, affecting more than 10 million people and causing one million deaths, forming a huge Yellow River flood zone at the junction of the three provinces.

It wasn't plugged until 1947.

Countless fertile fields were destroyed and turned into swamps, and countless disaster victims became beggars fleeing famine.

Li Mu's hometown in reality was also within the Yellow River flood zone, and he had heard about the tragic situation from the older generation.

My hometown was actually relatively lucky, as it was on the edge of the Yellow River floodplain. Some places were truly devastated; entire villages, even entire towns, were wiped out, as if they had never existed.

After the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, these places were rebuilt, but few of the original inhabitants were seen returning. It's likely that no one has left!

Faced with such a tragedy, Li Mu would do everything in his power to prevent it from happening if possible.

He had read articles about this matter, one of the biggest triggers of which was the Battle of Lanfeng.

The commander of this battle was the renowned general Xue Laohu, and the opponent was the 14th Division of Tu Feiyuan.