The Japanese have been producing counterfeit currency for several years. The person in charge of this is a major named Kenzo Yamamoto. He graduated from the Army Accounting School. After graduation, he was sent to China as a spy, traveling around to inspect the use of Chinese currency and prepare for future currency wars.
Prepare.
Kenzo Yamamoto observed that the currency circulating in China at this time was printed by three companies in the United Kingdom and the United States. The anti-counterfeiting measures were mainly watermarks and secret stamps. Some American versions added red and blue silk threads to prevent counterfeiting.
He believed that it was not difficult to imitate these currencies, so he hired coinage expert Inoue Gennosei and started working on it in December 1938. The operation was code-named "Sugi Work".
It took less than a year to produce counterfeit coins that could be mistaken for real ones. In 1939, they tried to invest 5 million counterfeit coins in the Shanghai Concession and successfully purchased a large amount of supplies.
5 million may not be worth mentioning to a modern country, but the value of legal currency at that time was not a small amount. The annual military salary of the entire Eighth Route Army was only more than 6 million. This was also due to deliberate delay and obstruction.
Discounts were made, such as using food instead of military pay, and requiring the Eighth Route Army to go to distant cities to collect it, etc.
After the forgery was successful, the Japanese were not in a hurry to take action.
This is mainly due to insufficient raw materials for coin making, resulting in low output.
If the output is not large, the destructive power is not very strong. The Japanese hope to strike a fatal blow at the critical moment.
Who would have thought that the British teammate, the pig teammate, would actually set up a banknote printing station in Hong Kong to save shipping costs. When the Japanese invaded Hong Kong in 1941, they directly obtained a complete set of banknote printing equipment and raw materials, and printed two billion in one breath... These are even
It cannot be said to be a counterfeit currency, because it is exactly the same as the real currency, and the number even exceeds the total circulation of legal currency at that time.
This happened later. At this time, the Japanese were using counterfeit banknotes produced by themselves to drop into the base areas to attack the Eighth Route Army's economy and production.
Okamura Neji's intentions are extremely sinister.
He knew that the Japanese army, which had only tens of millions of counterfeit banknotes in hand at this time, could not cause much damage to Chongqing, but this was not the case for the Eighth Route Army, which was already short of supplies.
In addition, this will further divide Chongqing and the Eighth Route Army and intensify their conflicts. Chongqing may even seize this opportunity to add insult to injury.
Isn't this another blockade of the Eighth Route Army?
The chief was shocked when he heard Wang Xuexin's explanation.
Although he didn't know about currency warfare or economics, he still knew what the consequences would be if he used fake money to buy grain from the people and then shipped it to the Japanese.
The leader did not hesitate, and immediately made a phone call to the Hundred Battle Group, and ordered: "Surround Chenjia Village, and I will detain anyone who buys grain at high prices. He will not be allowed to take away a grain of grain!"
Then the chief paced around the office anxiously.
The leader has gone through hundreds of battles and has rich combat experience. When he used these battlefield experiences to think, he knew that the enemy could not be so simple, and they could not only do this in Chenjiacun.
Therefore, Chenjiacun was probably just one of many places where fake money was used to buy grain, and it was only discovered by Xiao Dongbei that he happened to hear about it.
At this time, most of the soldiers and civilians in the border area had no idea about fake money. They thought it was a good thing for someone to pay double the money to buy grain and it was an opportunity to make a fortune. They were so scared of poverty that they didn't rush to exchange it!
At that time, all the food in the border area will be replaced by a pile of useless waste paper, and it will be impossible to buy the food back!
Thinking of this, the chief issued several orders one after another:
"Order all troops to immediately send out inspection teams to search for traitors who buy grain at high prices. Once discovered, all grain, people and fake money must be seized!"
"Order all troops to strengthen ideological education on the dangers of counterfeit money. No troops are allowed to participate in the use and dissemination of counterfeit money. Once discovered, they will be dealt with seriously!"
"In addition, we must also publicize it to fellow villagers and report any suspicious persons immediately and take measures immediately!"
The chief's orders can be said to be vigorous and resolute, but Wang Xuexin thinks it is difficult to have any effect.
"Chief!" Wang Xuexin reminded: "Those who purchase grain at high prices... they may or may not be traitors!"
"What do you say?" the chief asked.
"For example..." Wang Xuexin analyzed: "Some people collect grain in Zhaojia Village with 2 cents and a catty. In order to receive the grain as soon as possible and make a profit, the people in Zhaojia Village go to Chenjia Village to collect grain with 10 cents and a catty. Let's use Chenjia Village to collect grain.
They gathered around and thought they had caught a traitor, but he might just be a fellow villager from Zhaojiacun who came to buy food..."
The chief of staff interjected: "That's right. When Chenjiacun heard that someone was collecting grain for a cent a pound, they would go to other villages to collect grain for eight cents a catty after selling their own. Isn't that also a high price for grain?
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The chief was stunned when he heard this, and then immediately hung up the phone: "The person collecting the grain may not be a traitor, so don't mess around!"
After checking later, it turned out that it was indeed the case. The ones in Chenjiacun were just reselling them, and there were also those who harvested grain for 30 cents per catty.
In fact, there are many ways to spend fake money, such as going to the market and buying food or horses at fair prices.
Another example is that fake money can be used to bribe traitors. When the traitors spend the fake money, they are helping the Japanese in disguise.
There are also direct sales or exchanges, one-to-ten sales, and there will always be someone to buy before the difference in price.
At present, the auxiliary currency issued by the Eighth Route Army itself is Guanghua Coupon, which is exchanged for legal currency at a ratio of 1:1. As long as it is exchanged, the fake money will be exchanged for real money.
Wang Xuexin poured out these things that might be "blah blah blah", and the leader and chief of staff frowned and sighed.
"So..." the chief of staff asked, "how should we respond?"
Wang Xuexin hesitated and said: "The best way is to recognize the fake money and teach the people to recognize the fake money. In this way, the fake money cannot buy things, and of course it will not be effective."
The reason why Wang Xuexin hesitated was because he knew that the fake money created by the Japanese was not recognized even in the Shanghai concession, and it was even more difficult to recognize it in the border area.
What's more, next year there will be pig teammates sending complete sets of equipment to the enemy, so it will be even easier to distinguish fake money.
The chief reason is that the cultural level of the villagers is low. Many villagers cannot even recognize the value of currency, let alone recognize counterfeit currency.
So the chief shook his head and said: "This road is too difficult, and it cannot be done in a short time. Think of other ways!"
"Stop the exchange of Guanghua coupons and legal currency immediately!" Wang Xuexin said: "Throw all the legal currency out to grab food, and then issue our own money!"
The chief of staff turned his attention to the chief and said worriedly: "When we discussed cooperation, we agreed not to set up a bank or issue currency. If we do this..."
The chief has a huge headache.
At this time, the Eighth Route Army seemed to be in a deadlock:
If we take into account the overall situation of cooperation in the anti-Japanese war and do not issue currency, we will face having a large amount of materials bought with fake money by the Japanese and having our blood drawn at all times.
But issuing its own currency would give Chongqing another excuse.
Another possibility is that Chongqing is responsible for the currency issuer. They have the responsibility to send people to identify the authenticity and make corresponding adjustments.
But everyone knows they won't do that.
It would be great if they don’t add insult to injury!