In 1986, an elderly man named Guo Jianying in Shangluo, Shaanxi Province, approached the local government and took out an IOU, which was a proof that the Eighth Route Army had borrowed 11 million yuan of legal tender from him 40 years ago. This IOU was handed over to the local People's Bank of China and then handed over to the Ministry of Finance, and after calculation, a huge sum of money was returned to the elderly Guo Jianying. The old man was so excited that he burst into tears and even said, "I didn't expect wow, I didn't expect wow." ”
In 1946, just after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the conditions of the Eighth Route Army were extremely difficult, and as many rural youth enthusiastically joined the army, the troops were not even equipped with uniforms and shoes. Under such circumstances, the Eighth Route Army could only borrow money from the local people.
Since the reorganization of sanwan, the "three major disciplines and eight attentions" have become the iron law of our army, and it is this iron law that has allowed the military and the people to establish deep mutual trust and have been inherited. Even in the most difficult period, our army only adopted the method of borrowing money and goods from the homes of fellow villagers, and laid down an IOU and agreed to return it in the future.
He Long called an IOU to his fellow countrymen
For example, in March 1945, Marshal He Long personally made an IOU, borrowing 64 buckets of rice, 1 fat pig, 420 pieces of silver yang, 500 copper plates, etc. from the family of zhou Lianchi, a fellow villager, and these money were repaid after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Guo Jianying, a patriotic merchant from Shangluo, Shaanxi, lent 11 million yuan to the Eighth Route Army in the Eyu-Anhui Border Region in 1946.
Fiat currency is a currency discovered in old China in 1935, which was pegged to the US dollar at the time of issuance, and every 100 yuan of legal tender can be exchanged for 30 US dollars. However, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the authorities indiscriminately issued legal tender, resulting in a sharp depreciation of the legal tender. In 1937, the total amount of legal tender issued was only 1.5 billion yuan, and by 1945 it reached 550 billion yuan, in 1947 it reached 16 trillion yuan, and by 1948 it reached 660 trillion yuan.
The Eighth Route Army before the battle
The indiscriminate issuance of fiat currency has led to a sharp decline in its purchasing power. In 1937, 100 yuan could buy two large buffaloes, by 1946 it could only buy 1 briquette, in 1947 a quarter of the fritters, and in 1948 it could buy 4 grains of rice. Guo Jianying lent the Eighth Route Army 11 million French dollars in 1946, and according to the purchasing power at that time, he could only buy 110,000 briquettes.
After borrowing money, Guo Jianying, fearing persecution by the enemy, hid the IOU in the wall of his home, until after the founding of the country, Guo Jianying gradually forgot about it. After that, the world changed, Guo Jianying also fell in the middle of the road, and also moved the idea of finding the government to repay the loan, but he could not remember where the IOU was placed, until 1986, the family demolished the old house, and the IOU hidden in the wall reappeared.
Military and civilians in the border area in 1946
The local government that saw the IOU attached great importance to it, but after so long, how much should it be paid back? They handed over the IOU to the local People's Bank and asked them to carefully calculate the amount that should be repaid. The People's Bank of China did not dare to be careless, and handed over the IOU to the Ministry of Finance, which combined a series of factors such as inflation and finally believed that it should return 80,000 yuan to the elderly Guo Jianying.
The old man was stunned to hear the news. In October 1946, the Shanghai Gold Exchange sold large gold bars (312.5 grams) for 4 million French tenders each, rising to 9.8 million French tenders in two months. At this price, the amount of gold purchased for 11 million francs is around 859 grams to 351 grams.
Piles of fiat currency in exchange for a gold bar
In 1986, the price of gold (24K) was 48.9 yuan, and 80,000 yuan could buy 1635 grams. If you buy other daily necessities, you can describe it as countless. In the era when the average monthly salary is only more than 30 yuan, 10,000 yuan is a huge amount of money, 80,000 yuan is really called an overnight wealth.