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

Back in the village.

The three then arrived at the landlord's courtyard.

Today, this place has become the division's temporary hospital and the workplace for telegraph operators.

Although walkie-talkies are now available, telegrams can still be used.

In particular, telegraph machines were necessary for communication with Soviet areas and other places.

When they arrived at the landlord's granary, it was empty, with very little grain inside.

The Red Army and the Eighth Route Army fought against local tyrants and distributed land to them.

The majority of the grain belonging to those bad landlords would be distributed to ordinary people, who would only take a small portion.

In the past, Xia Weiwei also sympathized with those landlords, feeling that their land should not be taken away, as long as they lowered their rent.

It wasn't until she learned about the situation in northern Shaanxi that she discovered how despicable the behavior of many landlords was.

The first is the result of the rural survey conducted by the teachers in the 1920s.

At that time, landlords, rich peasants, gentry, warlords and officials, who made up 10% of the rural population, controlled 70% of the arable land.

The middle peasants, who make up 20% of the population, own only 15% of the arable land.

Meanwhile, the poor peasants, tenant farmers, and hired farmers, who make up 65%-70% of the rural population, own only 10%-15% of the arable land.

In other words, a large number of rural people did not own land at all; they could only rent land from landlords and bear high rents, which was essentially usury.

Whenever there is a year of disaster, weddings, funerals, or a shortage of money to pay off debts, poor and middle peasants have to sell their land at low prices or sell it to landlords for a pittance.

In a good harvest year, an acre of fertile land could sell for 10 silver dollars, but in a year of famine, it could only be exchanged for a few bushels of grain.

Besides landlords, the gentry, warlords, and officials' families were even more ruthless.

Local officials of the Kuomintang could directly extort money from ordinary farmers under the guise of road construction, land reclamation, and wasteland restoration.

If you dare not pay, the other party will beat or even kill you, and will also make things difficult by imposing exorbitant taxes and levies.

Xia Weiwei also learned that in order to suppress peasant uprisings, the Kuomintang deliberately implemented the old Baojia system, appointing landlords as Baozhang and Jiazhang, while they recruited thugs and purchased weapons and firearms.

In rural areas of the White Area, someone had to act as a "guarantor".

If no one vouches for them, they are considered "rebels" or "criminals" and can be directly arrested and imprisoned.

In other words, the lives and fortunes of ordinary farmers were entirely in the hands of these gentry and landlords.

If you disobey, they can use the method of refusing to vouch for you to ruin your entire family.

Faced with this threat, farmers had no choice but to swallow their anger in order to survive.

Therefore, rich peasants and middle peasants could become proletarian tenant farmers or laborers at any time due to various "problems".

Furthermore, the Northwest region is barren, and reactionary warlords would force farmers to grow opium.

In Edgar Snow's "Red Star Over China," when he traveled from Chang'an to the front lines, the roadsides were lined with opium.

Moreover, a major famine had occurred in the Northwest a few years prior, resulting in the deaths of over three million people.

International Red Cross investigators arrived and stated that the primary cause of this tragedy was that the best land had been planted with opium.

The Loess Plateau in Northwest China is inherently arid, resulting in low grain yields.

The excessively greedy warlords not only seized large tracts of fertile land to grow opium themselves, but also forced other farmers to do the same.

When disaster strikes and there is not enough food, these farmers can only starve to death or be shot for "treason".

Xia Weiwei thought of the term Ma Hongwei used to describe the United States in later generations—"the kill line"!

Even in the old society under the rule of the Kuomintang, there was a line of execution.

On their way to the Soviet area, these students also saw large swathes of opium.

In addition, there are many people who sell their children.

Only by selling their own children could they possibly help their entire family survive a life-or-death crisis.

It was after learning about these things that Xia Weiwei lost her goodwill towards the landlord class.

Although there are indeed good people among the landlords, they are ultimately a minority.

Just like in later generations of capitalists, there are good capitalists like Yu Donglai, but they are extremely rare.

Many capitalists are like Cao Wang, who say things like, "Raising wages for employees is not conducive to their hard work," or "If we raise wages for employees, we also need to take care of other capitalists; we can't just raise wages arbitrarily."

……

After putting the chocolate into the landlord's granary, Xia Weiwei left the landlord's courtyard with the two leaders.

"Comrade Xia!"

Commander Liu said, "If there's nothing else, you should go back and rest to prepare for the next crossing!"

Xia Weiwei said, "Commander, I still have some items to give you!"

"What else?"

Deputy Division Commander Xu asked in confusion.

"Just follow me!"

As Xia Weiwei spoke, she took the lead and walked towards the courtyard.

Upon entering the room, Xia Weiwei picked up a case of Telunsu milk and handed it directly to Commander Liu.

"Telunsu Pure Milk?"

Commander Liu glanced at it and asked, "Comrade Xia, what are you giving us this for?"

Deputy Division Commander Xu said, "This couldn't possibly be from Comrade Hongwei's mother, could it? She gave it to you specifically; we can't accept it!"

"Yes, we can't accept it!"

The two directly refused.

"Sir, this was indeed given to me by Aunt Zhang, but it was a gift for me."

Xia Weiwei said, "I came out this time under the pretense of visiting my classmates for a few days, and she gave me two boxes of milk. I refused at first, but she insisted on giving them to me."

"I'm not here for half the month, so I can't possibly finish all this milk. I'd like to trouble you two leaders to help me share the burden."

Upon hearing this, Commander Liu chuckled and said, "It seems that Comrade Hongwei's mother already considers you family."

"We'll accept this carton of milk!"

Deputy Division Commander Xu said, "We'll donate it to the hospital canteen and incorporate it into their food to supplement the nutrition of the wounded. This milk is really good stuff!"

In the Republic of China era, before the war, a standard half-pound (226ml) of sterilized baby bottle milk cost 0.2 silver dollars.

In other words, one silver dollar was only enough to buy five bottles of milk.

This is the wage of an ordinary worker for a week or even more than ten days.

Even for workers in Beijing and Shanghai, a month's supply could only buy about 40 bottles of milk.

After the war started, a box of milk sold for 25 legal tender in 38, rose to 50 legal tender in 39, and cost several legal tender per bottle in 41.

The price was almost the same as pork, making it a luxury that the poor simply couldn't afford.

At that time, only officials, wealthy merchants, and foreigners could afford to drink milk.

However, the old witch Song Meiling applied 4 pounds of milk to her body every day for skin care.

From time to time, they would even take milk baths with large amounts of milk.

It can be described as extremely extravagant and utterly shameless.