The car drove slowly, and Carambola in the car held her husband's arm tightly and couldn't help but yawned.
"What? You're too full and sleepy?"
"I'm really sleepy. You men are really, discussing a problem. Sometimes you laugh, and sometimes you show your teeth and claws. Finally, if I give you a plate of melon seeds, I'm afraid it will last until dark. We can't do other serious things.
It’s really…”
"Okay, we still have some time, let's get things done quickly."
My wife was a little angry because of her impatience, but it was really rare for her to be angry.
Isn't it cute when she looks angry and complaining?
Yang Mingzhi guessed that maybe women are born to like shopping, and I am afraid that she is eager to settle the money matter and then go shopping.
"It's not yet three o'clock in the afternoon, we do have some time." Looking at his watch, Yang Mingzhi felt that the time was okay, so he asked the co-pilot, Captain Lalin: "Comrade Captain, are we going to the bank next?"
"Yes! Comrade Berekova seems a little unhappy."
"I didn't." Yang Tao retorted decisively, stretching her neck and pouting.
From the rear mirror, the captain also saw a little girl acting coquettishly. A sense of happiness arose spontaneously, and he couldn't help but feel happy for Yang Mingzhi.
"Well, we are about to go to the savings bank. Our people have already contacted the branch president. Comrade General, you will handle the business immediately after you arrive, and will be supervised by our Ministry of Internal Affairs in person. Please rest assured that your money will be faithfully
dropped into your account."
"I trust you completely, thank you so much."
The flat streets are still a bit bumpy, because only a few main roads in Moscow are paved with asphalt roads, and other roads are still traditional cement roads.
Entering the afternoon, this is the time when Moscow citizens seize the time to concentrate on doing things. Through the car window, Yang Mingzhi once again saw some women carrying baskets. They were generally muscular, wearing black and gray skirts, and most of them wore headscarves.
.
They lined up neatly in front of the state-owned store!
"Are those people buying anything?" Yang Mingzhi asked Captain Larin loudly.
"Yes! Every afternoon, many women go out shopping."
"It's strange that the alliance is not doing its best to mobilize the labor force, such as those older women. I also ordered them to work in the swamp."
"This is Moscow after all, so the situation is not too bad. Some of those people are unemployed workers' families, and some are retired workers. Their lives are very simple. There are no signs of German air raids, and urban life is beginning to recover."
The captain's words were somewhat sarcastic and had a hint of helplessness.
Balloons are still floating in the sky, and fortresses made of sandbags can be seen everywhere on the streets, often including a large-caliber anti-aircraft gun with its turret pointing upward. Moreover, the security police also have new helpers - active-duty soldiers.
The military helps the police patrol the streets. In addition to its main task of stabilizing order, it also monitors suspicious people.
There are also some men in black, wearing traditional Russian coats and even fake beards on their faces. These people dress up like retired men, but in fact they are not. They are colleagues of Captain Larin, the real secret police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
.They hoped to use this disguise to blend in with the crowd and uncover the German spies among them.
How can urban life be restored in such a state? Besides, in the current war years, peace and tranquility are simply impossible.
On the other hand, those citizens who lined up in long lines to shop made Yang Mingzhi worried.
"Comrade Captain."
"exist."
"When we get to the bank, won't we line up like this?"
"No, at least there won't be a queue to do business for you."
"Is it because of privilege?"
"Yes, that is the power you should enjoy. Military personnel have priority, not to mention you are a senior military officer. Please rest assured that our people have explained it to the people at the savings bank, and your business will be handled first."
The car finally stopped at a branch of the Soviet Savings Bank in Moscow.
This branch is located in an old building from the Tsarist Russia period. The entire building is very artistic, but the signboard does not have any decoration, and the words "Savings Bank" are simply spelled out in Russian.
Since the founding ceremony of the Soviet Union, it has attached great importance to the quality improvement of citizens. It is said that all citizens are equal and they must queue up to buy things and do errands, unless they are those who have made outstanding contributions to the country.
The same is true for places like banks. Through the open door, Yang Mingzhi saw that there were indeed people queuing in the lobby on the first floor. But compared to what he had just seen and heard, the queue at the bank was too short.
"What should we do next?" Yang Mingzhi asked as he got out of the car.
"Please come with me." As he spoke, the captain straightened his clothes and put his iconic big-brimmed hat on his head.
Holding his wife's little hand tightly, Yang Mingzhi followed the captain directly to the back door of the bank and strode into the building full of ink.
In 1944, Turing successfully invented the Turing machine with analytical capabilities. The core of electronic computers had been born, but it was still many years before the birth of the first computer in the true sense.
Yang Mingzhi simply cannot imagine how the financial system would operate without computers and the global Internet.
The answer is purely manual recording. Every transaction is manually accounted for. All transaction records are also paper files, where every business transaction of the customer from the beginning of applying for a passbook is recorded. Managing so much data is a challenge.
The work ability of all salesmen, even if a group of bank employees have outstanding abilities, the time spent on accounting and statistics every day is extremely high.
In this state, in addition to paying interest to depositors, the bank also charges account management fees.
It is also because of this backward banking system that started in the days of the Merchant of Venice and has lasted for 500 years. The cost of economic crimes is really low. The so-called clerks do not keep accounts or do not keep records after collecting money from depositors.
It is said that the goose has plucked its hair and enriched its own pockets.
Lenin decided to restore the Soviet banking industry, and the revived national banking system fully adopted the modern banking model.
There is no shortage of corrupt people in any era, and the same is true for the banking industry in the Soviet Union. Today is a difficult war period, and it is bad to keep accounts of depositors randomly, even if there is less and more than one ruble, and those who make huge amounts are simply dismissed by the internal affairs department.
The Ministry of Justice treats them as German spies. Beria naturally does not care about the banking industry, but the stability of the financial system is related to the economic operation of the entire alliance. His explanation is simple: "Whether they are spies or not, destroying the economy of the Alliance is equivalent to an act of hostility.
, must be eliminated immediately.”
When the war first broke out, the city of Moscow was in danger and the city fell into chaos. The Ministry of Internal Affairs executed a large number of people, which stabilized order.
So in the current September of 1944, economic criminals have become dust and dirt, and the corruption of the entire Moscow banking industry has reached its peak.
Just as the captain said, a bald middle-aged man named Nikonov received the group of people. From what he said, he was the director of the outlet.
"You must be General Berekov. Only you can have so many medals."
Yang Mingzhi was a little displeased with the network director's familiarity. Although it is wrong to judge a person by his appearance, it is not nonsense to say that a person is judged by his heart. This man is by no means a simple, honest and rude Russian uncle. He has big eyes and double eyelids.
It is also obvious, just like the characters in the glass mosaic of the Orthodox church, these big eyes inadvertently reveal shrewdness.
He was wearing a white shirt with suspenders and a business card hanging on his chest. This attire was in sharp contrast to other employees.
Yang Mingzhi shook hands with him slightly awkwardly, but unexpectedly, Captain Lalin protested.
"Comrade Director, why don't you wear a uniform like the others? Wearing plain clothes is disrespectful to the general."
"Ah! I'm so sorry." Nikonov had his own explanation, which was that it was too hot in the room.
After hurriedly changing into his uniform, he still muttered: "Transfer more than one million rubles to an individual at one time, which is a huge sum of money. Even though it was an order issued by the leader, it was eventually implemented by my branch. Think about this
I can't help but sweat."
"I'm too nervous." Yang Mingzhi asked kindly.
"Of course! I have seen relevant reports in the newspapers. You traveled thousands of miles to our country just to fight the invaders. I admire your internationalist spirit. You have achieved many major victories, so you received a special bonus.
What a huge sum of money! One and a half million rubles can probably build eight T4 tanks."
"Pravda", "Izvestia" and other national newspapers, in order to inspire the national era, must correct the glorious deeds of some heroic figures and publicize them.
Here, Yang Mingzhi was unable to complain about the title given to him by the newspaper as a "noble internationalist fighter". He just did not expect that the director would use the cost of a tank as an analogy. With this, the fact that a T4 tank cost approximately 200,000 rubles was not revealed.
Already?
Originally, due to low prices, the purchasing power of the ruble was very strong. Now that the Soviet Union has issued an excessive amount of currency, I am afraid that the cost of the 200,000 rubles is also mixed with inflation.
"A war weapon is expensive, but I think the most precious thing in war is human life. As for ruble banknotes, I can only use them in the city. If it is on the battlefield, I only hope that the country can ensure absolute food supply.
of stability.”
"Money is still very important. Please come with me. We will get things done right away."
Without further ado, the bald Nikonov snapped his fingers and quickly summoned two people. Following him, Yang Mingzhi took his wife into a separate room. Like the corridor, the air here was also tainted with ink.
It smells like paper and has the unique smell of paper.
Everything inside the bank gave Yang Mingzhi a sense of intimacy. Apart from the absence of computers and fiber optic cables, it also had a strong sense of strangeness.
"Welcome, this is my office."
While Yang Mingzhi was looking around and wondering about the bald man's lifestyle, the director went straight to the safe and finally took out a locked wooden box from it.
What was it that made this guy go to such trouble to save it? When he opened the lock on the wooden box, all the truth was revealed.
There are two pairs of passbooks in the box. The ID information on the first page refers directly to Yang Mingzhi and Yang Tao who are present.
The bald owner smiled and said, "This is your couple's brand new passbook. Please open it and take a look."
"Okay, I thought it was a card."
"What? Branded card?"
Realizing the slip of the tongue, Yang Mingzhi said nothing, picked up a hard passbook, opened the first page, and deliberately exclaimed: "What a huge sum of money."
However, a closer look revealed that in the life column, the owner of the fold was "Berekova".
This is my wife’s bankbook!
Look how far this girl has led, after all, Stalin did not reveal it yesterday.
Yang Mingzhi quickly turned to the next page and saw a large number printed on it - one hundred thousand rubles.
"What's going on? Could it be that Stalin slapped his thigh and increased the bonus? According to that calculation method, how could she get so much star fruit?" After all, no one disliked that she had too much money legally, so she put an end to her random thoughts and Yang Mingzhi changed her mind.
I turned my head to look at my wife's reaction, and saw that she was actually trembling despite her big belly and still petite body.
"Hey, honey, I'm scared to see a huge sum of money."
"It's... it's your bonus. It's really... it's really over one million."
"Let's take a look at your bankbook." Yang Mingzhi pinched his wife's neck with a smile, just to calm her down and absorb another shock of joy.
She finally saw her bankbook. Although it was not as large as her husband's, it was still a huge amount of money.
That’s one hundred thousand rubles!
She was like a canary longing for freedom. Without the pressure of her husband's big hand, she could lift her whole body to the ceiling. Even so, she clutched her bankbook and couldn't care about so much anymore, jumping up and down.
The celebration began.
She was even more incoherent: "Great, you are really the best husband... I have money now, you promised not to use a kopeck, right... I can spend my money however I want, haha...
…”
After all, in the eyes of most normal Russians, Star Tao is as small as a twelve-year-old Russian child. Looking at her excited look, Captain Larin can recall that before the war, various activities were held in Moscow, and she was very active.
The lively appearance of the girls of the Lenin Young Pioneers.
But this girl, no, this woman, this general's wife was so happy that she forgot about herself.
Yang Mingzhi had a secret trick to calm his wife down. By pulling her ponytail, which she had to tie into a temporary ponytail because there was no time, she was really like a pony, completely controlled by the charioteer.
The person had calmed down, and Star Tao's suddenly widened eyes seemed to shine with the light of gold. Her whole face was flushed with joy, but her smile did not fade away, as if she was gathering strength for a bigger celebration.
Compared to his wife's nouveau riche madness, Yang Mingzhi is much calmer.
Thinking about it, Stalin probably wanted to get the money done as quickly as possible in the end, so he rounded it up and finally got 1.5 million.
Anyway, the money is engraved on the passbook. It is of course not as safe as the chip bank cards of later generations. In this time and space, there are very few people in the entire alliance who can control a huge sum of one million rubles.
Of course, what people fear most when holding huge sums of money is losing it. When you have a bank card, you are afraid that it will be stolen or swiped.
Yang Mingzhi asked Director Nikonov how he could handle this major business at the speed of light. After a final moment of waiting, he asked an important and pragmatic question - what to do if it is lost. (Unfinished)