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

"Sir, the salt we bought is already very basic."

Xia Weiwei said to Deputy Division Commander Xu, "In supermarkets, this kind of snowflake salt costs only a little over one or two yuan per kilogram, and the wholesale price is even cheaper, only 1200 yuan per ton."

In fact, the cheapest is ordinary sun-dried industrial edible salt, which costs 320-380 yuan per ton.

A slightly better option is first-grade refined pure white salt, which is very close to snowflake salt, and costs 420-480 yuan per ton.

But Ma Hongwei felt that 1200 yuan per ton of bagged snowflake salt wasn't much more expensive, so he bought all of it.

This salt has very few impurities, a delicate texture, and no bitter taste; the soldiers should like it.

"What did you say?"

Commander Liu's eyes widened. "You're saying such good snowflake salt only costs 1200 yuan a ton? Isn't that only equivalent to the value of a single silver dollar?"

At 1200 yuan per ton, that works out to only 6 mao per jin (0.5 kg), which is less than the price of grain.

In their time, in coastal salt-producing areas, one silver dollar could only buy 16.6 jin of coarse salt (or 2.5 jin of snowflake salt).

In towns in North China, one silver dollar could only buy 10 jin of coarse salt (or 1 jin of snowflake salt).

After the Japanese army occupied the transportation lines in North China, one silver dollar could only buy four catties of coarse salt, and snowflake salt could not even buy one catty.

Furthermore, with the Japanese army's continued blockade, the price will only continue to rise.

Furthermore, the purity of the snowflake salt from their time was far inferior to that of salt from later generations.

In other words, if salt from later generations were sold to warlords and wealthy merchants in this time and space, it could fetch 3-5 yuan per kilogram.

In later generations, however, a single Yuan Shikai silver dollar was worth the equivalent of 2000 catties of snowflake salt.

How many times the profit is that?

Commander Liu discovered that in the resource-rich future, even the smallest things could generate huge profits.

Xia Weiwei looked at the two of them and said, "Commander, let's go put our things away now!"

"good!"

The two nodded.

Immediately, he went out with Xia Weiwei.

They arrived at a building specifically for storing supplies.

With a casual wave of her hand, Xia Weiwei took out 12000 cotton-padded military coats.

"Commander!"

Xia Weiwei said, "These are the cotton-padded coats that Comrade Hongwei bought. He said that he took apart hundreds of them to test whether they were made of real cotton, and they need to be sewn back together."

Commander Liu nodded and said, "These are minor issues. I will have someone keep an eye on them."

Most of the Eighth Route Army soldiers came from poor backgrounds, and they usually patched their own clothes.

Deputy Division Commander Xu then said, "Let me try it on first and see how this modern cotton-padded overcoat looks."

As he spoke, he opened a box, inside which were pieces of clothing wrapped in transparent plastic bags.

Deputy Division Commander Xu opened a plastic bag and took out the clothes inside.

"Whoa!"

He patted the clothes and said with a smile, "These clothes are quite thick, with a fur trim around the collar. They should be warm to wear."

"Huh!"

When Deputy Division Commander Xu unzipped the zipper, he immediately discovered what was inside.

"The inner layer is actually wool?"

As Deputy Division Commander Xu put on his cotton-padded military overcoat, he couldn't help but say, "This coat is truly a product of later generations; it's much better than those cotton-padded overcoats that the Kuomintang used to rob us."

Those cotton overcoats that were taken from the Kuomintang were made of coarse cloth and coarse cotton, and they looked crudely made, and they didn't even have wool linings inside.

However, this cotton-padded military coat from later generations is exquisitely made, and the fabric looks unusual. It has a wool lining inside, which makes it even warmer.

According to Deputy Division Commander Xu, only the Northeast Army had a small number of fur-lined overcoats, but those overcoats were extremely expensive.

Not to mention ordinary soldiers, even junior officers were not qualified to wear it; only high-ranking generals had it.

Meanwhile, the officers of the Kuomintang troops were equipped with woolen overcoats without wool linings.

While it looks better, it's not as warm or cold-resistant as the cotton-padded military coat he's wearing.

"Warm, wool-lined ones are warm!"

Deputy Division Commander Xu laughed and said, "With these cotton-padded military overcoats, the soldiers will definitely not suffer from the cold anymore!"

"Excellent, excellent!"

Commander Liu was also very happy and said, "Comrade Xia, you and Comrade Hongwei have helped us solve another big problem this time. You deserve the most credit!"

"You're too kind, sir!"

Xia Weiwei said modestly, "Heaven has chosen us, so naturally we must fight for the cause of the War of Resistance."

After placing the cotton-padded military coats, they went to another building to store the salt and cooking oil.

Deputy Division Commander Xu inquired, "What was the price of the oil you bought?"

"Sir, this is non-GMO, first-pressed soybean oil!"

Xia Weiwei explained, "The wholesale price is 6000 yuan per ton, which is an average of 3 yuan per jin."

"We bought 30 tons at once, and we got a discount of 200 yuan per ton, which is 5800 yuan per ton."

"oh!"

Deputy Division Commander Xu calculated, "5800 yuan for 2000 jin, that's an average of 2.9 yuan per jin, which isn't too expensive."

He recalled that before the war, they purchased cottonseed oil in large quantities at a price of 0.17-0.19 yuan per kilogram.

If you buy a small amount, it will cost 0.2-0.25 yuan per kilogram.

The main reason for purchasing cottonseed oil is that it is cheaper than soybean oil.

Even when purchased in bulk, soybean oil costs 0.2-0.23 yuan per jin (500g).

After the war began, the price of cottonseed oil purchased in bulk had risen to 0.24-0.28 yuan, and the retail price had reached 0.35 yuan.

You should know that these days, a worker in a big city only earns 9 yuan a month.

Workers in small towns earn only half the wages of workers in big cities.

Even workers are like this; farmers at the bottom of society can't bear to eat much oil all year round.

They would dip a white cotton cloth in a little oil, wipe the bottom of the pan, and then start cooking.

"Commander!"

Xia Weiwei suddenly remembered something and quickly said, "I remember, we used cottonseed oil at our base, didn't we?"

"If this kind of oil is not refined and decolorized and detoxified, it will cause poisoning and illness if consumed."

"Consuming too much of this oil can cause irreversible reproductive damage in both men and women, and it can also interfere with fetal development."

"Besides damaging reproductive health, long-term consumption of cottonseed oil can also cause fever and damage the liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and nervous system."

"It's just that our Eighth Route Army ate very little cottonseed oil per meal, otherwise we would have all been poisoned and sick long ago!"

At this point, Xia Weiwei's expression turned serious, and she said to the two leaders, "Comrades, from now on, we will provide all the cooking oil. Please, please, do not eat cottonseed oil anymore!"