Tang Yufeng was silent for a long time before speaking: "If we had not planted this batch of potatoes in advance, more than 100,000 victims in the defense area would be out of food, and our national rescue army would definitely be in an unprecedented crisis!"

"Only 100,000 hungry victims will become a huge hidden danger. If the Japanese and puppet military spies take the opportunity to mess up and encourage them to grab food everywhere, these victims will immediately turn into a group of mobs, rob them everywhere, and eventually turn into a big riot, and the defense zone will also fall into chaos..."

"Without food, the morale and morale of the National Salvation Army will be affected, and the combat effectiveness will be greatly weakened. In addition, when they suppressed the rebellion, they faced a group of unarmed and hungry people, not Japanese and puppet troops, and they would definitely not be ruthless when fighting."

"If a unit loses the determination to kill, it is impossible to fight quickly on the battlefield and end the battle quickly."

"Once the National Rescue Army is dragged in the defense zone by more than 100,000 mobs, and the Japanese and puppet troops take the opportunity to launch an attack, we will definitely not be able to draw troops to fight. In the end, whether it is the people in the defense zone or the National Rescue Army, they will suffer a devastating blow in this turmoil."

Zhou Cheng nodded while listening, and as soon as Tang Yufeng finished speaking, he stared at him and asked: "Now you can see the importance of food!"

Tang Yufeng first lit his head, then shook his head: "Captain, in this matter, food has indeed played an irreplaceable role."

"But I think this kind of thing will definitely not happen often, especially after we organize the people to reclaim a large number of land in the defense zone, the defense zone will not be short of food. Although grain is very important, it cannot become a hard currency!"

Zheng Yunshan nodded in approval and looked at Zhou Cheng: "If the grain is really a hard currency, our Eighth Route Army would not be so short of weapons, ammunition and medicine."

"Although major bases are short of food, because the bases are very wide and are almost all rural areas. As long as there is no natural disaster or man-made disaster, the people in the bases will still have a good harvest, and there is still no shortage of food."

"I usually save a little bit, and I have collected two or three million kilograms of surplus grain in many bases."

"If food is a hard currency, it can be exchanged for weapons, ammunition and medicines that the troops are short of. The equipment level of the Eighth Route Army is definitely not as bad as it is now."

"The reality is just the opposite. Once the base area encounters a bumper harvest, the grain prices in the base area will drop to the lowest level under the manipulation of the Japanese and puppet troops, preventing the base area from obtaining a large amount of funds due to the bumper grain harvest..."

"In the end, the ocean and gold exchanged for surplus grains by each base area did not increase in proportion to the grain harvest, but weapons, ammunition and medicines on the black market increased in proportion to the grain harvest. Therefore, the base area not only did not gain profits due to the grain harvest, but instead suffered heavy losses. The same grain bought fewer weapons, ammunition and medicines than before."

"After all, the grain harvested in the base area must be exchanged for oceans and gold before we can buy weapons, ammunition and other materials that are scarce in the army. The prices of these things are in the hands of the Japanese, and we have no final decision at all."

"Even if the Japanese agree to sell us 10 million kilograms of grain this time, the price will be very high."

"After the autumn harvest, whether it is our defense zone or the Japanese occupied areas, the shortage of food will definitely be alleviated, and the food prices will naturally drop."

"Maybe we are buying oceans that are consumed by 10 million kilograms of grain now, and it will be fine to buy 20 million kilograms of grain at that time!"

Tang Yufeng immediately agreed: "I also agree with Deputy Leader Zheng's point of view."

"Even if the grain is very important, we can buy at most two or three million kilograms to save the emergency. If the leader of the group, you really want to store grain, we can wait for the autumn harvest before buying in large quantities, which will definitely be more cost-effective at that time."

Zhou Cheng shook his head and replied firmly: "We will definitely buy a lot of grain after the autumn harvest, but we also have to buy it now, and we can buy as much as we can!"

"As for the price of buying grain, don't worry."

"Since the Japanese want to use this to trap us, they also have the intention of winning us over. The price is definitely not much higher. I have just reminded the Japanese that in addition to buying grain from them, the National Salvation Army can also put down their faces and use weapons, ammunition and medicine to buy grain from the Eighth Route Army."

"Although this is just a threat and it will not be implemented in a short period of time, the Japanese and puppet troops are afraid from the bottom of their hearts that we really buy food from the Eighth Route Army, and even we are afraid when we meet, otherwise all their efforts to make us rebel against each other would be in vain."

"As long as we hold this threat in our hands, the Japanese and puppet troops will not dare to force us too tightly."

"We are really forced to force us to the Eighth Route Army. They regret it themselves."

Tang Yufeng believed what Zhou Cheng said, this threat could indeed suppress the Japanese and prevent them from asking too much.

But in his eyes, even if he buys grain from the Japanese at the market price, the national rescue army will suffer a loss.

The price of grain will definitely drop after the autumn harvest. No matter how much the Japanese compromise, the price they offered will not be higher than that time, otherwise they will suffer losses themselves.

Just as he was about to continue persuading him, Zhou Cheng continued to speak: "In addition, you still underestimate the importance of food."

"There is one thing Lao Tang, you are right: Once there is more grain, the price of grain will naturally be suppressed. There are market rules and Japanese factors, but this does not mean that the price of grain will drop after the autumn harvest."

Tang Yufeng became anxious after hearing this: "Captain, aren't you talking contradictory? After the autumn harvest, there will naturally be more food, and the price of grain will definitely drop. Could it be that after the autumn harvest, the food in the defense zone and the Japanese occupied areas will be reduced?"

Zhou Cheng replied very seriously: "This possibility is not ruled out!"

"There are many factors that affect autumn grain production, the most common are natural disasters and then man-made disasters."

"We can't control the natural disasters, we can only find ways to reduce the bad impact of natural disasters on us."

"But man-made disasters are possible, you didn't notice: as the Japanese wars with us become more and more fierce, is the grain output in the entire North China getting smaller every year?"

Seeing that Tang Yufeng and Zheng Yunshan were both frowning and had not yet understood what they meant, Zhou Cheng continued to explain: "The scale of the war is getting bigger and bigger, and more and more soldiers and ordinary people are killed and injured on the battlefield. In order to deal with his increasingly insufficient troops, the Japanese began to form puppet troops on a large scale. Except for a part of the troops that surrendered to them, most of the Imperial Army were strong men captured by the Japanese in the local area."

"In addition, a large number of ordinary people joined the Eighth Route Army and other anti-Japanese troops in order to resist the Japanese. Over the past few years, the number of young and middle-aged labor force in North China has definitely decreased by millions."

"Based on the calculation that a labor force cultivates four acres of land, these people alone have abandoned millions of acres of land!"

"When war, a large number of ordinary people are displaced or leave their homes to avoid war, and the land of these ordinary people must have been abandoned."

"Since the Japanese invaded North China, they have carried out massacres everywhere, and dozens of them have been slaughtered in the village. If the people are killed, their land must have been abandoned."
Chapter completed!