"Dear, the prices of many commodities on the market have risen today." Zhang Yun, deputy general manager of Nanhai Fisheries Company, complained while taking the dinner from the cook.

"The price has increased? How much has it increased? Which products have increased?" Zhang Yun hung his woolen jacket on the hanger, then pulled open the chair and sat down, and asked, "It's not that the meat products have increased, right? It shouldn't be that the whale meat production in our company's newly launched processing workshop has increased monthly. In theory, the supply should exceed the demand, so why will the price increase?"

Zhang Yun's wife brought a pot of fresh shrimp produced in Luoqia Lake to Zhang Yun and said worriedly: "The price of whale meat has not risen, but it has not fallen, because there are more people buying it on the market. But the price of beef that everyone likes to eat has risen to the sky. When I went to buy it this morning, I had already cost 9 cents per catty. Oh my God, it's so scary."

The beef problem has become a long-standing problem in the East Coast Republic of China today. No matter what means the government uses, its prices will never be reduced. Especially after the Spanish closed the Colonia free trade market in the first half of the year, the large-scale official beef trade was terminated. At present, except for a small amount of beef circulating in the East Coast market, the rest of the beef circulating on the East Coast market is quite diverse. There are vegetable beef smuggled from La Plata, some vegetable beef snatched from the Guarani people from the North Army, as well as South African scalpers and New China Hump Beef ox shipped back from the colonies. Except for the army, the rest of these vegetable beefs are basically not cheap. At least the cost is far higher than the original import price of 15 yuan per head from La Plata.

After completely losing confidence in controlling beef prices, the State Council and the Ministry of Agriculture jointly launched a replacement product - whale meat. They vigorously mobilized domestic publicity agencies to advocate the "benefits" of eating whale meat. No matter how much it is boring during publicity, the people are not very convinced. The only benefit of eating whale meat they see is probably cheap. Yes, it is very cheap! The unified retail price of ordinary cured meat is set at 2 cents per kilogram, which is less than a quarter of the price of beef.

This price can basically be stable in towns along coastal ports or railways. In inland areas or canals with far-reaching transportation distances, because it is sold directly by the state, the price per kilogram of meat is also controlled within 2 cents and 5 cents to 3 cents. It is considered a policy of benefiting the people. Nanhai Fisheries Company currently has four professional whaling ships and a comprehensive supply ship. In addition, it is the peak season for traditional whaling. A large amount of whaling meat is transported to Luoqia Port by ships returning from the Baleen Whale Port to Luoqia Port. Then, it is processed through the whale meat processing workshop of Luoqia Products Processing Factory affiliated to the Nanhai Fisheries Company, and then transported by train to six or seven towns along the way through the Luomei Line railway. In addition, some meat products are transported offshore by steamships to ensure that more urban residents can benefit.

In short, with a multi-pronged approach, the price of the domestic edible meat market in the East Coast has been basically controlled. If ordinary people cannot afford beef, buy whale meat. A whale can produce 30 to 50 tons of clean meat, which is comparable to hundreds of cows. In this peak whale season, people on the East Coast can catch seven or eight whales every month. If some local foreign whaling ships sell whale meat to people on the East Coast, they can obtain almost seven or eight hundred tons of clean meat every month, which makes it necessary to drive a train between Luoqia Port and Meilin Port every two days, otherwise they will not have time to transport all kinds of supplies including whale meat, whale oil, whale bone meal and whale skin.

Therefore, now only middle-class families like Zhang Yun, who are increasingly wealthy, complain about the soaring beef price, because their families often buy these expensive meats to show the "difference" between themselves and ordinary families.

"The price of beef increases, and now we don't need that amount of money." Zhang Yun opened a bottle of Xiangshan Dried Red for himself indifferently and said, "The price of beef increases is probably due to the decrease in supply. In the past few days, some people from the military department came to our factory to purchase whale meat in large quantities, including cured meat and five-spice jerky. After the purchase, they were stockpiled in the dock warehouse in Luoqia Port, which seemed to be of great use. Moreover, the military department also purchased a large amount of fresh beef in the Ranch Township and transported it to our factory for marination. The marinated ones were stored in the dock warehouse. This time, so many supplies were stored, it seemed like they were going to fight!"

"War?" Zhang Yun's wife immediately became a little panicked. She looked at her children who were sitting mischievously on the chair and played with tableware. She said in a trembling voice: "When I attended a dinner held by Captain Li Yi's wife, I vaguely heard the wives of the naval officers complaining that their husbands have strengthened their training recently and have not been off the ship for a long time. Are we really going to start a war? Is it going to start a war with the Spaniards?"

"You are a woman, don't gossip everywhere." Zhang Yun grabbed a shrimp with peeled off his shell for his son, then turned his head to say to his wife, "War is obvious, it's not a secret. I had this feeling a long time ago. The situation on the market now only confirms my guess. But don't tell everyone everywhere that the spies of the Mei agency's dogs have a very sensitive nose, be careful that they come to the door. Just understand everything in your heart, don't whine."

"Okay, my dear, I'll listen to you." Zhang Yun's wife scooped some chicken soup from the basin and brought it to her youngest daughter. Women in this era have this characteristic. They are men's accessories and follow their husbands by order. I remember that when this Italian woman first got married to Zhang Yun, she often made some bread, cakes and other Western pastries at home. However, after Zhang Yun scolded her for saying "What's the matter", the woman immediately stopped. Then she learned from the surrounding Ming women how to make Chinese food to please her husband. Since then, there has been no Western food in the family, and even fewer clothing.

In fact, this is pretty good. In the vast inland areas, the Ottoman female slaves who were paired with Ming men had no status. They dressed up completely according to their husbands' preferences, made food completely according to their husbands' appetites, and acted as much as possible to get closer to their husbands, almost completely losing their sense of self. When the Mei agency investigated and found these situations, they couldn't help but shake their heads and laugh. It was indeed amazing that men assimilated women.

"Tomorrow, go to the store to buy more things to store, such as marinated meat, eggs, dried fruits, sugar, soybean oil, and soybean oil. Well, buy more cotton cloth, wool velvet, candles, red wine, and leather shoes. It's useless to keep so much money at home, just use them all. In another half a year, you may not be able to spend money even if you want to spend it." Zhang Yun sighed to his wife and said, "Now the government has begun to hoard various war materials in a planned manner, and many of them actually overlap with civilian materials. The prices of these goods on the market will definitely be on a slow upward trend for a period of time. Buy more and use it. If you want to buy it, you will have to spend more money."

In fact, there are quite a few families who hold ideas like Zhang Yun. Most of them are military officers, engineers, government officials, senior technicians, merchants, and wealthy farmers. In short, they are the so-called middle class. They have a certain amount of wealth and have many sources of information, so the first wave of buying on the market originated from them. Fortunately, their proportion of the population is not high, and coupled with the conscious regulation of the country, the impact on prices is still within a controllable range.

Now, it is no longer a secret that the East Coast is about to fall into a war crisis with Spain. People with a little knowledge or a more informed person can feel this more or less. The only thing that everyone is confused about is whether this war will start, how large its scale, intensity, and how long it lasts. In a short period of time, everyone can tolerate it, but they may complain over time, because they are used to living a life of abundant supplies, no one wants to suffer from the shortage of supplies.

"By the way, if you encounter a student on the street to raise military funds, donate a few dollars. Now our family is considered decent. Pay attention to the influence and don't let people secretly say that we are not enthusiastic about serving military supplies. If a student who is passionate about blood throws a stone to the door and window at night, it will be ugly." Zhang Yun thought about it and reminded him.

Nowadays, militarist ideas are rampant in China, and East Coastist ideas are becoming increasingly popular. The passionate new generation of teenagers are very confident and aggressive. They believe that the system and ideas of the East Coast are the best, and they have natural justice. Whether it is the Spanish or the Indian natives, they are the objects of their conquest, transformation, and assimilation. During wars, these people will always gather under the organization of some student clubs to carry out activities, such as promoting militarist ideas, raising military funds, etc.

There is not no worry within the government for these fanatics. However, these young students are not without a backstage. Whenever the civil servants want to cool them down and brake, there will always be people from the military headquarters coming to negotiate, which makes the students' momentum more and more high. Over time, no one cares about them.
Chapter completed!