Double-Cut During the War of Resistance: My Wife Came from 1937

When Ma Hongwei and Xia Weiwei found Commander Liu, he was having lunch.

In the west wing, on a heated earthen bed, Commander Liu was sitting cross-legged eating.

In front of him was a small wooden table with a bowl of millet porridge, a small dish of pickled vegetables, and a few small sweet potatoes.

"Sir, Comrade Xia and this Comrade Ma are looking for you!"

Guard Zhang Xixuan came in to report.

Commander Liu said, "Let them in!"

"yes!"

Upon hearing the sound, Zhang Xixuan hurriedly ran out.

Then Ma Hongwei and Xia Weiwei went inside.

"Comrade Hongwei, Comrade Xia, please have a seat!"

Commander Liu asked with a smile, "By the way, have you two eaten?"

"I've eaten, Commander Liu!"

Xia Weiwei smiled and nodded: "Maixiang's father killed a chicken to treat us today!"

Commander Liu said, "It was my oversight. I should have had the cooks kill a few chickens for you!"

"Eh!"

Ma Hongwei quickly said, "Commander, we came to see you, not to ask you for chicken."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on the table, and he frowned, saying, "Commander, is this all you're eating for lunch? Didn't I bring so much rice?"

"Oh, this? I specially arranged for the cook to make it."

Commander Liu explained with a smile, "I ate too much meat yesterday, so I wasn't very hungry. I just ate a little something!"

"Sir, you're lying to me!"

Ma Hongwei looked at Xia Weiwei and asked, "Weiwei, what does the commander usually eat?"

"Here, only the main forces that expend a lot of physical strength in frontline combat can eat dry food to ensure their strength. If there is a food shortage, the main forces can only eat two meals of dry food a day."

Xia Weiwei said, "As for the rear units, those that do not engage in high-intensity physical labor, they adopt a diet of one dry food and two wet foods, or two dry foods and one wet food, supplemented with wild vegetables, sweet potatoes, and miscellaneous grains to reduce the consumption of staple food."

"Back in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Soviet Area, there was a strict rule that only frontline combat troops could eat dry food all day, while rear-area units had to eat porridge for at least one meal. This was a must."

"In order to save food, those leaders also regarded themselves as government employees, eating only two dry dishes and one porridge dish a day, or even one dry dish and two porridge dishes."

"Commander!"

Ma Hongwei couldn't help but advise, "You are the brains of the army, and you often need to think through the night. How can your bodies function properly if you don't eat well?"

"We don't have to fight on the front lines, so it's fine if we eat thin porridge!"

Commander Liu said, "Those soldiers are risking their lives on the front lines; they really should be fed better and more!"

"Commander!"

Ma Hongwei said in a deep voice, "From now on, you must eat rice, and you can no longer eat millet."

Commander Liu shook his head: "Comrade Hongwei, your mission is not here, I won't listen to you."

Ma Hongwei suddenly said, "It seems the leader wants to pocket more money!"

"Comrade Hongwei, what do you mean?"

Commander Liu asked with a puzzled look.

"Reporting to the commander!"

Xia Weiwei explained, "Because in the future world, this kind of food that has never used chemical fertilizers is considered organic food, and its price is much higher than other foods."

"Just like the millet you're eating, it would cost at least ten yuan per kilogram in later generations. The price of one kilogram is enough to buy five or six kilograms of rice."

Upon hearing this, Commander Liu's expression changed instantly, and he hurriedly asked, "Comrade Xia, are you telling the truth?"

"Sir, that's definitely true."

Ma Hongwei slowly said, "There's a saying: when people aren't full, they usually only have one worry—how to solve the problem of food and clothing!"

"But once you're full, countless worries arise. For example, will eating grains grown with chemical fertilizers or genetically modified grains cause any harm to your health?"

"Later generations have seen many food safety issues, and the marketing of anxiety by many accounts has led wealthy people to prefer grains and vegetables that have not been treated with any chemical fertilizers."

"It's not just grains and vegetables, but also meat. Free-range farm-raised animals are more expensive than those fed with feed, and purely wild animals are even more expensive, regardless of whether they taste good or not."

Ma Hongwei thought of those marketing accounts that fabricated stories about plastic rice and fake eggs.

Those are completely nonsense.

Brand new plastic costs four yuan per kilogram, and even when factories buy it back in bulk, the price is still around two yuan.

How much does a kilogram of rice cost?

Cheap old rice costs less than 2 yuan, so there's no profit margin at all.

In addition, plastic is relatively light, so it will float in water, and it will melt when exposed to high temperatures, emitting a pungent odor.

Rice, on the other hand, will carbonize; you can tell by putting it in a rice cooker.

As for artificial rice, it is reconstituted rice made by extruding broken rice flour, mixed grain starch, etc., and it is all real grain.

The same applies to artificial eggs; they are very expensive to produce, costing two or three dollars per egg, including raw materials, molds, and labor.

There are approximately 13 billion egg-laying chickens in China.

It can produce 16 billion eggs a day, and the wholesale price of a single egg is only 5 cents.

Artificial eggs are simply not competitive.

If it's sold at such a high price, ordinary people would never buy it.

Ma Hongwei continued, "Commander, the reason I came to see you this time is that I hope you can spread the word in the various bases of Taiyang Mountain, so that the organization can exchange grain for grain, collect these millet grains that have never been fertilized with chemical fertilizers, and then exchange them for money in the future."

"Oh dear!"

Upon hearing this, Commander Liu looked at the millet in his bowl and immediately felt a pang of heartache.

He immediately shouted outside, "Xiao Zhang, Xiao Zhang!"

"Sir, you wanted to see me?"

Hearing the noise, Zhang Xixuan hurriedly ran into the house to ask.

"Yes, that's who I'm looking for!"

Commander Liu hurriedly said, "Go and immediately inform all the cooking squads and cooks that from today onwards, all cooking must use rice; millet is strictly prohibited. All the millet must be properly stored and collected!"

"yes!"

Zhang Xixuan responded and was about to leave.

"Wait!"

Commander Liu added, "While you're at it, have someone send a telegram to the 115th and 129th Divisions as well, telling their commanders to leave Xiaomi behind and say that I ordered them to do so."

"If anyone wants to know the situation, wait until they are within 25 kilometers and ask me on the walkie-talkie. I will talk to them personally."

"Okay, sir, I've got it!"

Zhang Xixuan nodded and then hurriedly left the room.

He glanced at Ma Hongwei curiously; perhaps only this mysterious young man could make the leader make a change.

"Commander, you're in too much of a hurry!"

Ma Hongwei said, "I just have this idea right now, but it's definitely not something I can implement immediately."