- >>->The plane landed at Jinling Japanese Military Airport. Majors Kinoshita Sakae and Okamura Shizo led their entourage, and Chen Mingxiang and Wang Zhen took their bodyguards. They got off the plane and boarded the cars that came to greet them. But Wang Zhen
The car she and her bodyguard were riding in was a car sent by the Police Department. She was going back to her home in the Yihe Road Gongguan District.
Originally, Chen Mingxiang was going to report to Kinxiarong City on the food situation in Suzhou after returning to Shanghai. Unexpectedly, Kinxiarong City took a plane to Suzhou, picked up him and Wang Zhen, and flew directly to Jinling.
The General Headquarters of the Japan-China Expeditionary Force is located on Zhongshan North Road, Gulou District, Jinling. It was the original residence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Yamashiro Government.
Facing the Drum Tower, this building is a reinforced concrete structure with double eaves on the top of the mountain and a glazed tile roof. The middle part is four stories high, the two wings are three stories high, and there is a semi-basement level.
In the office of the headquarters, Chen Mingxiang met the senior generals of the dispatched army, Commander-in-Chief General Hata Shunroku, North China Front Commander General Okamura Neiji, Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Matsui Tairo, and Eleventh Army Commander Yokoyama Isamu
Lieutenant General, Commander of the Thirteenth Army, Lieutenant General Shimomura Sada, Commander of the Twenty-third Army, Lieutenant General Tanaka Kuichi, and others, and naturally the head of the Ume Agency, Lieutenant General Shibayama Kaneshiro, are also indispensable.
It can be seen that the unfavorable matter of collecting military rations in Jiangsu Province has attracted great attention from the dispatched army headquarters and actually held such an important meeting.
After Chen Mingxiang entered the conference room, he was arranged to sit directly opposite General Hata Junroku at the conference table. This was a special reporting position.
On the plane, Kinoshita Eiichi did not even ask about the content of his report, which also showed his full trust in him. Fortunately, Chen Mingxiang did not deal with it, and the report materials he wrote were meaningful.
No one is more familiar with the grain smuggling situation in the entire Jiangsu Province than him, especially the grain speculators. He also knows how much grain is being dealt by each company.
"Chen Jun, the matter of military rations is very urgent. If the food collection work is in trouble, it will inevitably affect the morale and combat effectiveness of the entire dispatched army. I specially invite you to the headquarters this time because I want to hear your opinions on food collection.
Investigation results.”
"Although the intelligence department of the Imperial Army and the garrison organization of Jiangsu Province have reported on this matter, their investigations are not satisfactory. Please start!" said Shunroku Hata.
"My Excellencies, Generals, I received a notice from General Kinoshita on July 26th to start statistics and analysis on the grain collection situation in Jiangsu Province. According to my investigation, the entire military grain collection work started in July.
It will be operational on the 10th and will be implemented on July 15th."
"Provincial government documents show that the imperial army and the Jinling government have levied a total of 280,000 tons of indica rice and 350,000 tons of japonica rice. So far, only 74,000 tons of japonica rice have been levied.
, only 10,000 tons of indica rice have been collected, and the completion rate is 13%."
"Now is the stage when new grains are on the market, and it is also the most important stage of collection. Based on the current trend, I can make a judgment that before the new grains come on the market next year, the imperial army's grain collection work will only be completed by about 20%. Dispatch
The total strength of the army in central and northern China is 728,000. The minimum daily food consumption is 364 tons, and the total consumption is 132,860 tons. According to normal supply,
It would require about 200,000 tons."
"Considering that there is a cooperation ratio between the imperial army and the Jinling government, although the collected grain can basically meet the demand, if even one-third is given to the Jinling government, the imperial army will be short of one-third of the food, and the daily food quota will be
Reduce it by one-third.”
"The key to why this happened lies in the following aspects. The rice output in Jiangsu Province is far lower than last year. This year's per mu output is only equivalent to 20 to 30 percent of the high-yield period. The total quantity has decreased.
, the people still have to eat and plant seeds, and after paying the land tax, there is not much food left.”
"Then there was a massive outflow of rice from Jiangsu Province. Grain dealers from all over the province rushed into Jiangsu Province and took advantage of the opportunity to collect grain at high prices. In a short period of time, the price of rice increased from 780 yuan per stone to 1,200 yuan per stone.
The purchase price offered by the imperial businessman is only six hundred yuan, which is really not very competitive."
"According to the information I received, within half a month, nearly 150,000 tons of rice were lost in Jiangsu Province. As for Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, no data has been obtained yet. As far as this amount is concerned, there is nothing larger.
There is room for expansion, and there is no big breakthrough in this year’s food collection task.”
"My generals, please pay attention to the two most important points. The Jinling government is also competing for the rice market. The Shanghai market needs 230,000 tons of household registration rice, and Jinling needs 50,000 tons of household registration rice. This alone occupies a large amount.
The troops and police affiliated to the Jinling government also need 40,000 to 50,000 tons of military rations."
"The provincial government of Jiangsu Province and the county and district governments at all levels below are all trying to get food. It is precisely because of their indulgence that they even secretly helped, under the guise of collecting land taxes for the Jinling government, privately selling the rice paid by the people to the grain industry.
Speculators have caused the continuous loss of rice. At least 100,000 tons of rice have entered the pockets of grain merchants through the government."
Chen Mingxiang's report mentioned four points. The first is the reduction in production resulting in a total shortage. The second is grain speculators harvesting rice at high prices in Jiangsu Province. The third is the Jinling government's competition for rice sources. The fourth is corruption among officials at all levels in Jiangsu Province.
**.
In fact, he mainly talked about the last two points, which are also the two most critical points. The Japanese army and the Jinling government have a huge conflict of interest in resources. The Japanese army needs rice, and the Jinling government also needs rice. This cannot be reconciled.
contradiction.
But the problem is that the Japanese army cannot go from house to house and steal all the people's food. That is not in the interests of the Japanese army. Although they are more bandits than bandits, they are planning to plunder for a long time and cannot kill the goose to obtain the eggs.
As for the provincial government and officials at all levels below being involved in smuggling, it is essentially Li Shiqun, everyone here can hear it, but Chen Mingxiang's identity cannot be made too clear.
"Chen Jun's report only took a week. It is indeed more comprehensive and more pertinent than what our intelligence agency provided. It can be heard that a lot of effort has been put into it. Kinoshita-kun entrusted the matter to Chen Jun
The decision we made was very wise." Shunroku Hata said.
"Chen Jun, your mission has been completed. Go home and wait for the news. I will take you down!" Kinoshita Eichi stood up and said with a smile.
Be obedient and listen carefully. After Hata Shunroku finished speaking, the next thing to do was to discuss the new plan for grain collection. Chen Mingxiang was not suitable to stay here. After all, he was not Japanese.
But Chen Mingxiang allowed the sullen and arrogant Kinoshita Eichi to send him downstairs in person. People present were also surprised. It seemed that the commander of the military police regarded this subordinate very highly.
