inspire-indiana Chapter 648 Haizhou Kingdom (4)
Chapter 648 Haizhou Kingdom (4)
Mulan City, Bin County,
The biting cold wind cut through the earth like an ice knife.
On the empty training ground, there was endless white snow. When you stepped on it, the snow was above your ankles.
A group of soldiers wearing white cotton training suits and carrying brand new parachutes lined up neatly in the snow, and the white breath they exhaled instantly dissipated in the cold wind.
The tall parachute tower was wrapped in ice and snow, standing tall in the snow. A young soldier took a deep breath and climbed up the cold and slippery steps. The cold wind blew across his cheeks, freezing him, but his eyes remained firm. When he reached the top of the tower, he quickly checked his parachute. Although his hands were frozen red and stiff, his movements were still neat. Following the command, he jumped, and the parachute slowly opened in the whistling wind and snow. The white parachute flowers fluttered in the snow, like a strange flower blooming in the cold weather.
On the ground, the comrades watched the sky closely and cheered for their partners in the air. The soldiers who landed quickly put away their parachutes and ran back to the team in the snow, splashing snow waves. Then, the next soldier set out on his journey.
On the training ground, Guo Qiang, the commander of the 1st Airborne Regiment of the Volunteer Air Force, looked down at his watch and said to Ji Yuan, the regiment's political commissar,
"Political Commissar, we can start air parachute training tomorrow!"
The only airborne regiment in the entire army was formed by troops drawn from the 43rd Army, and Guo Qiang was lucky to serve as the first regiment commander!
In the early morning, soft sunlight began to shine on Haizhou City. The sky gradually changed from dark blue to light blue, and the clouds were dyed a light orange.
The air is fresh and moist, with the unique scent of grass and trees in the tropical rainforest and a hint of salty ocean flavor.
A man in his forties rode a bicycle and slowly came to the door of a seafood porridge restaurant.
He was wearing a cotton summer shirt that had faded from washing. The sleeves of the shirt were casually rolled up, revealing his arms that were tanned by the scorching sun. He was wearing a pair of loose black trousers.
He is Lei Zhi’s brother, Lei Tian, who has lived in Haizhou for nearly ten years!
Lei Tian is a hardworking and family-friendly person, which is unique to Chinese people. After some hard work, he has opened a local wood furniture factory, which can be considered a successful career!
Every morning, he likes to come to this store to have a bowl of seafood porridge. The owner of the store, like him, is from Taishan, Guangdong. This is the taste of his hometown!
There were actually a lot of people gathered in front of the store today, all surrounding a wooden sign on the roadside!
It has been three days since the establishment of Haizhou State. The Chinese people here were very nervous at first, but now they have gradually gotten used to it.
No matter who cares about Haizhou, it’s the same to the common people here, as long as it doesn’t ruin their jobs!
Out of curiosity, Lei Tian walked closer and squeezed in through the gap in the crowd with great effort. When his eyes fell on a notice posted there, his whole body froze instantly.
His eyes were wide open, full of disbelief, as if he had seen the most incredible thing in the world.
Lei Tian opened his mouth slightly, his lips trembling slightly subconsciously, but he couldn't utter a word for a long time.
But a look of great surprise appeared on his face!
The notice reads,
“To celebrate the establishment of Haizhou, His Excellency the President has decided:
1. All Haizhou citizens will be given Haizhou Department Store shopping coupons! The purchasing power of each coupon is equivalent to two dollars!
2，自12月18日起至明年2月18日，海州百货公司所有商品一律按八折出售！
3，所有适龄学生（7-18岁）将于1951年1月1日开始强制免费入学！
Signed, Haizhou Presidential Palace! "
Shopping vouchers were distributed per capita, which was the first time for all Haizhou people to see it. Compared with the previous British colonists, they wanted to squeeze every last penny out of the people every day!
Big price cuts at department stores! Another huge benefit!
Haizhou Department Store is a shopping mall that just opened yesterday, covering an area of more than 5000 square meters! Although the facilities are simple, just a tent, the goods inside are dazzling.
Among them, tobacco, alcohol, general merchandise, clothing, shoes, socks, canned biscuits, and daily necessities were all commodities that Xinyue Company had sold before, and they were not uncommon.
But the new goods include fertilizers, glass, and scarce resource materials, such as cement, diesel, gasoline, coal, and steel!
Mechanical equipment has also begun to be supplied in large quantities, including pickup trucks, off-road vehicles, buses, excavators, bulldozers, dump trucks, cranes, forklifts, motorcycles, bicycles, generators and other equipment! And heavy equipment provides a new service, renting instead of selling!
The variety of products is much richer than that of the previous Xinyue Company, and the prices are very cheap!
Lei Tian's furniture factory was equipped with a generator, which also needed diesel for power generation. He saw yesterday that the diesel sold at Haizhou Department Store was 20% cheaper than the diesel sold at the British store before! He immediately arranged for someone to purchase two large barrels of diesel!
Now, according to the notice, there is an additional 20% discount, which is simply too cheap! This means that his production costs will be reduced a lot!
As for the third one, compulsory enrollment for all students, which was free of charge, made everyone gasp. You know, since the British were unwilling to spend money, there was only one primary school in Haizhou, and it was a private one with expensive tuition fees. As a result, the enrollment rate of school-age children in Haizhou was only 5%, and most ordinary people could not afford it at all!
There was a buzz in the crowd, those who could read were reciting the contents of the notice aloud to those who could not read, and from time to time people were cheering and applauding!
Lei Tian suddenly felt a lump in his throat. In his 42 years of life, this was the first time he felt the warmth brought by the government!
Haizhou Department Store,
It is located about two kilometers away from the seaside port and has a cement site of about 10 acres!
This is the result of the Construction Bureau using quick-drying cement and carrying out intensive construction for 15 hours in a row. The quick-drying cement takes effect quickly and after the construction was completed, it could be put into use after 24 hours!
Quick-drying cement is more expensive and is suitable for military and emergency projects! However, it has a large shrinkage, which will cause a large number of cracks in the road surface in the later stage, which will inevitably affect the durability and service life of the road.
However, in Haizhou's current construction, only some roads, department stores and port storage areas use quick-drying cement due to emergency situations, and the airport's Runways 2 and 3 have resumed using ordinary cement!
A total of twenty-four large tents were built on the concrete road!
There is also a wooden fence outside!
There is a brand new cement road at the back door leading directly to the port’s storage area!
There are hundreds of fully armed soldiers maintaining order here!
And at the door of almost every tent, there was a long queue of buyers!
At the door of one of the tents,
There was a sign that said, "Shopping Voucher Registration Office!" There were especially many people queuing here! There were three lines with a total of more than a thousand people!
Because all those who receive shopping vouchers must register their name, identity, address and other information here in detail! Then they can receive the shopping vouchers. This is a measure taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to manage the permanent population using ID cards!
Inside the tent, a staff member behind the desk patiently explained,
"Don't push, everyone will get one. If you can't get one today, you can come tomorrow!"
Another leader-like person also added,
"We have set up shopping voucher distribution points on every street today. There is no need for everyone to rush here to collect them!"
Outside the tent, Yin Xinjun looked at the busy scene and said to Jiang Hailiang beside him with a smile,
"Uncle, the telegram said that two more ships will arrive tonight, not only with a large amount of cargo, but also with several transport planes, and about 500 reinforcements!"
Starting from last night, the frequency of cargo ships from Zhanjiang increased from one every two days to two every day!
Yesterday, an entire infantry company of the 1st Battle Group was sent here, plus civil servants drawn from various cities in Guangdong, a total of 357 police officers!
Every return cargo ship is also loaded with Haizhou’s specialty natural rubber latex and palm oil!