In the next period of time, Li Mu used Henan North Airport as a base to launch a comprehensive attack on the air power in the northern region of Xiaobenzi.
The process was a bit bumpy, but despite being chased and intercepted by Japanese aircraft many times, the set goal was achieved in less than a month.
For a time, the morale of the domestic resistance fighters was greatly boosted, and the future was bright.
It just so happened that Penicillin got the money back, and within a short period of time, it paid back more than 10 million U.S. dollars. No wonder Penicillin was known as soft gold during World War II, and it was really more expensive than gold of the same weight.
During this critical period, if you have money, you will naturally spend it. When I came to Singapore, I ordered another batch of machines and equipment for the production of penicillin.
Continue to expand production scale and output.
In addition, the European War is about to break out, and some weapons and equipment also need to be ordered, otherwise it will be difficult to buy them in the future.
After contacting several large international arms suppliers, Li Mu placed a one-time order for 300,000 Mauser 98k guns; there were also 2,000 M2 heavy machine guns; 10,000 light machine guns and thousands of mortars.
Another two hundred howitzers and thirty heavy artillery pieces were ordered at a high price...
Various orders were made for arms worth over 20 million U.S. dollars, and only a deposit of 5 million U.S. dollars was paid.
In the next few months, or even half a year, these arms will be delivered one after another. The quantity is really too large and cannot be raised in a short time.
In order to increase war potential and self-sufficiency, Li Mu ordered 20 more bullet production lines; 15 firearms production lines; 8 mortar production lines; 10 artillery shell production lines, 10 grenade production lines...
Just as it happened, the batch of inland river gunboats he purchased also arrived, and he paid the balance and completed the acceptance. In the future, a surface force can be formed in the inland river basin to protect the safety on the water and at the same time launch attacks from the water.
Not only military supplies, but also various civilian products and supplies are within his procurement scope.
The Nanyang area is already in the rear, and the only threat is the air threat. Now that the air threat is gone, it is conceivable that there will be basically no wars spreading here in the future, and it can develop stably.
In this case, people's livelihood cannot be left behind, and some basic public configurations must be provided.
For example, buses.
Don’t think that buses in the Republic of China are rare. According to Li Mu’s understanding, Guangzhou’s city hall was established in 1921, and buses appeared on the streets that year.
Before the outbreak of the all-out Anti-Japanese War, the city already had more than 200 long-distance buses, and more than 300 "pheasant buses" that could stop with just a hand, similar to today's taxis.
From here to there, this is the case in Guangzhou and the same is true in other big cities. Buses are almost standard.
The Nanyang area has developed to this point. In order to meet everyone's travel needs, buses have become a necessity.
This time, Li Mu purchased 500 buses of various types at one time, as well as hundreds of cheap Ford cars that could be used for taxis.
In addition, a large number of ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, engineering vehicles, including excavators, bulldozers, etc. were also purchased.
With the transportation of these vehicles back to Nanyang, Nanyang's development speed has accelerated, especially the construction speed of new districts.
Gradually, it took on the temperament of a big city in the Republic of China.
On the other side, the domestic war continued and natural and man-made disasters continued. In order to prevent famine in the country, Li Mu stepped up his plan to stockpile grain.
It just so happens that the international market has a bumper autumn grain harvest, and grain prices have dropped slightly. Especially for corn, the output in various places this year is good, and the price has dropped a lot. Now it has reached 17 US dollars per ton, which is about 10 US dollars per ton cheaper than wheat.
Therefore, Li Mu instructed the Far East Commercial Bank to purchase corn on a large scale and store it in warehouses at the northern ports of Malaysia. If conditions permit, he can even purchase corn directly from the grain origin in South America.
Domestically, many granaries were built in the Nanyang area, so Li Mu became busy again.
In my spare time, I have to fly abroad to bring grain, 60,000 cubic meters, and I can carry two 48,000 tons at a time. I have to make 11 or 2 round trips a month.
Unexpectedly, corn noodle after processing is quite popular in China. It’s not that everyone likes to eat it. The main reason is that it is cheap, one-half cheaper than flour and one or two times cheaper than rice. Considering the current domestic situation
, it’s good if the people at the bottom can have enough to eat, who cares about the taste.
In terms of grain, since the routes to foreign countries were opened, Li Mu has relaxed the ban and allowed some grain to flow out.
In fact, during this period, domestic food prices have risen too sharply. They are not rising in one place, but are generally rising in surrounding areas.
With the war still going on and food prices getting higher and higher, one can imagine how difficult people's livelihood is.
Li Mu sometimes flew fighter planes for reconnaissance during the day. As long as he went outside the scope of Nanyang, it was like a completely different world. There were people fleeing everywhere, and there were also many hungry people dying of starvation on the roadside.
Selling children and selling daughters happens from time to time.
It is true that food prices are soaring. The war itself has led to a reduction in food production. Coupled with the hoarding of rare goods by some merchants, food prices have become even higher. It is simply unstoppable.
In view of this, Li Mu relaxed the grain restrictions in Nanyang area. Not only did he add more than 20 grain stores again, but the limit for residents to buy grain at a time was also relaxed to 100 kilograms.
If there is a small grain merchant who wants to use this method to purchase grain, he can also purchase a batch.
In addition, Li Mu also announced a new policy that holders of food stamps can redeem food without restrictions at food stores under the office's name.
As long as you have enough food stamps in your hand, any amount of food you need can be exchanged for you. There are no restrictions on where the food can go, you can use it for yourself, or you can sell it to other places.
As soon as this policy came out, the Nanyang area was abuzz, especially the small grain merchants in the surrounding areas, who all rushed to Nanyang.
This also led to another thing. The value of food stamps was completely highlighted. After Li Mu originally adopted the policy of paying wages with food stamps and cash, many employed workers did not understand it and did not want food stamps, but only wanted cash.
Gradually, everyone came to understand the value of food stamps and that they could be exchanged for food directly at the food store, and they gradually accepted it.
Now that the new policy has come out, food stamps have become more and more valuable. It is said that the price of food stamps on the market has increased by 20%, and the supply is still in short supply.
Don't look at this 20%, which is equivalent to Li Mu paying five silver dollars to the workers with food stamps. The workers take the food stamps to the market and sell them for six silver dollars.
This is a benefit delivered to your hands.
So much so that today’s workers no longer want silver dollars, they all want wages paid with food stamps.
Li Mu now has no shortage of food. He can transport about 500,000 tons of food from abroad every month. In order to stabilize food prices in surrounding areas, he has also begun to increase the issuance of food stamps.
It is used to pay various remunerations and purchase some domestic supplies. It is more recognized than legal currency and can even be used in surrounding areas.
With the implementation of this policy, a large amount of funds were concentrated in Nanyang, making the Nanyang area more prosperous.
Moreover, another purpose has also been achieved. The outflow of a large amount of food has played a very good role in suppressing food prices, especially in the areas around Nanyang. With the inflow of large amounts of food, food prices have gradually begun to fall, and the people can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
, Li Mu’s goal was barely achieved.
Due to the opening of air routes, in addition to food, he could carry more goods. Li Mu not only purchased a large amount of military supplies, but also purchased more domestically scarce civilian supplies and commodities.
Such a large number of scarce materials and commodities attracted many merchants to purchase goods, and more funds gathered in Li Mu's hands.
It also makes the recently established Renaissance Bank’s capital strength no less than that of the country’s established banks.
On this day, Li Mu had just presided over the establishment of the water camp. Thirty newly ordered inland river gunboats were divided into two teams. One team was stationed at the Baihe River in Nanyang and the Han River to maintain the safety of this waterway.
The first team was directly assigned to the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces and stationed in the waters of the Yellow River. It not only had to patrol the Yellow River, but also assisted the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces and relied on the natural dangers of the Yellow River to prevent Xiao Benzi from crossing the river south.
The construction of the Dragon City in the Kachin region is also progressing very quickly.
Since it is closer to the northern port in Malaysia where grain is stored, it takes more than three hours to fly one way. In extreme cases, it can even make two round trips a day, bringing in 100,000 tons of grain.
Therefore, Li Mu also stocked up a large amount of grain in the Longcheng area, about 300,000 tons. Not only grain, but also various local scarce materials, he also purchased a large amount and piled them in the warehouse.
There is food and supplies. Currently, with the assistance of Muwu Trading Company, Longcheng has begun to absorb labor and refugees on a large scale.
The southwest region is not a major food-producing area. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, so many people fled in. Those who had some financial resources could at least buy food and settle down, and make do with their lives.
For those people at the bottom who fled south, without money or food, they really became homeless beggars. In addition, there were too many victims, and the local area could not provide relief at all. Many people could only wait in vain to starve to death.
The Longcheng area recruited laborers, provided food and drink, and paid wages. Once the news came out, it was like a glimmer of hope for the refugees who were in desperate situations.
In addition, Muwu Commercial Bank has set up many registration points in the southwest region. As long as you sign up, you will receive food, attracting countless people to sign up.
As a result, groups of hungry people with nowhere to go rushed into the Longcheng area. Guofu naturally saw this situation, but pretended not to see it.
There are so many hungry people that they cannot solve or rescue. If they stay in the southwestern region, they will only cause chaos and consume the food that is not rich. If there is a place that can solve the problem, they will naturally want it.
As a result, a large number of refugees poured into Longcheng along the newly opened road.
Here, Li Mu refuses to refuse anyone who comes. Now he is not short of money, food, or materials, but he is short of labor force.
The newly planned Dragon City needs to be built, the surrounding roads need to be repaired, the surrounding infrastructure needs to be built, and some cement factories, brick factories, power plants, flour mills... and other basic factories also need to be built.
All of these require a huge amount of labor.
When the first batch of refugees arrived and put on new clean and tidy work clothes, they could not only eat white steamed buns and rice for every meal, but also have one meal of meat every week. They even had wages, and they instantly felt at ease.
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When the news spread, more refugees knew about the treatment here and came in droves.
Dragon City, an area that was originally desolate and sparsely populated, instantly became bustling with people and became more and more lively.
Countless refugees came here to build cities, build roads, build factories... and open up wasteland to farm and settle down. The entire city was rapidly constructed at a miraculous speed.
…
On the other side, the front line in Wuhan remained in a stalemate. The airport in the northern region was removed, and the offensive was also weak. Xiao Benzi focused on Guangzhou, hoping to capture the largest city in the southeast region in one fell swoop.
As a result, the navy and transport ships were dispatched to transport a large number of soldiers and supplies to land in Daya Bay, opening up a new battlefield. The Guangzhou defenders had already been mobilized a lot. Faced with the sudden attack by Xiaobenzi, they seemed to be in a hurry. The front position
was breached one after another.
In addition, small amounts of reinforcements, supplies and ammunition were constantly being transported from the sea, and Guangzhou suddenly seemed to be in danger.
It just so happens that Wuyishan Airport has also been repaired, and the straight-line distance to Guangzhou is about 750 kilometers, barely at the edge of the fighter's combat radius.
Since there is no need to mount bombs and some necessary attack weapons, the weight of the fighter is greatly reduced, the combat radius and endurance time are further increased, and it also gives the fighter a certain amount of free combat time.
On the same day, after carefully studying the frontline intelligence and maps, Li Mu flew a fighter jet and quietly arrived at the newly built Wuyishan Airport.
In the early morning of the next day, under a good moonlight, the improved version of Yin-16 slowly took off and flew towards Daya Bay, where Xiao Benzi landed.
More than an hour later, Daya Bay was in sight. Li Mu reduced his speed, opened the hatch, took out his telescope and began to observe the nearby situation.
Not only did Xiao Benzi firmly control Daya Bay, but a steady stream of soldiers and ammunition were transported by sea. The soldiers at the front also made rapid progress, breaking through the Guofu garrison's defense line one after another.
If no other force intervenes, and if we persist for at most six or seven days, Xiaobenzi will be able to break through the battlefield, advance all the way, and occupy Guangzhou.
After observing for a few minutes, Li Mu walked around the outskirts of Daya Bay and came to the seaside. There were actually seven or eight large cruisers floating on the sea, a dozen supply ships, as well as more than 20 large troop transports that had just arrived, and countless little Japs.
We are taking advantage of the darkness to land.
All kinds of artillery pieces and armored vehicles were unloaded, and they were laid out in a dark mass on the beach. Boxes and boxes of artillery shells and bullets were piled up like hills, everywhere.
Tomorrow, these will become weapons on the offensive front.
At this time, Li Mu's eyes were focused on the sea... cruisers, which are rare. Today, there are no Japanese ships on the Yangtze River.
The three-ton aerial bomb just developed by the arsenal some time ago has no use.
There is a good opportunity before us.
The next moment, the fighter jet circled in the air for half a circle, and its altitude slowly dropped, four thousand meters, three thousand meters...
The fighter jets maintained an altitude of two thousand meters and pounced directly on the cruisers, supply ships, and troop transports floating on the sea.
Without any hesitation, three-ton aerial bombs fell silently from the sky, falling towards the target below...
In just three to four minutes, Li Mu dropped nearly two hundred 600-ton aerial bombs. Although most of them missed, almost a quarter hit the target.
Five cruisers, twelve supply ships, and nineteen troop carriers were hit by aerial bombs one after another, filled with water, rolled over, and slowly sank to the bottom of the sea.
The small navy had not fought in many years and was stunned by the bombs. While firing in the air, it retreated far into the sea to avoid the bombing.
Li Mu had limited time, so he did not chase. He circled half a circle and rushed directly towards the artillery, armored vehicles, ammunition boxes on the beach, and the soldiers who had just disembarked.
First, aerial bombs washed the ground. Within five minutes, Li Mu poured thousands of tons of aerial bombs on this area; then came gasoline bombs. In a short period of time, thousands of tons of gasoline turned into fire rain and were poured onto the ground.
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For a time, this area was like a purgatory on earth. Not only were all the various weapons and ammunition, armored vehicles, and artillery that had just been transported there, but there were also countless small books that were affected.
After finishing the work, Li Mu did not stop and quickly disappeared into the night.
In the next few days, Li Mu dispatched two more attacks. Since Xiao Benzi had taken precautions, the damage caused was much smaller, but Xiao Benzi lost the chance to win Guangzhou in one go.
After several rounds of bombings, Xiaobenzi's attack gradually became weak, and Guofu soon dropped troops to reinforce the Guangzhou front line. As a result, the battlefield also became stalemate.
Seeing this, Li Mu stopped caring and continued to transport grain.