When disaster strikes, people often think about their own interests first, and on the premise that their own interests are given priority, they may only consider other things. But not everyone in the world thinks like this, and some people, no matter what the circumstances, they prioritize not themselves, but the national righteousness, such as Guo Laohan, a rich businessman in wartime.
First, the national crisis, the origin of the IOU
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the people of the country united to fight against the enemy together. But victory in a war requires assistance from many sources, and food and grass supplies are particularly important. In China, after a fourteen-year war of resistance against Japan, the country's grain and grass materials have approached poverty. If the supply of grain and grass cannot keep up, this will bring a lot of trouble to our army on the battlefield.
At the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, our country's confrontation with the enemy army entered its final stage. As a result of the protracted confrontation, the enemy army made a final attempt, and it is precisely because of this fight that our front line is tight and it is necessary to send reinforcements to support. So our army sent garrisons from the Shanxi region to the front.
Go to the front line to participate in the battle, and every warrior will go without hesitation. But traveling to the front requires a long march. Whether fighting on the front line or on the way to the front line, this requires food to fill the hunger, so that the soldiers have the strength to go to the battlefield and fight the enemy.
But this garrison, when stationed in peacetime, relies on digging wild vegetables to solve the problem of eating, if there is no sufficient food, go to the front line, the soldiers can only dig wild vegetables all the way to fill the hunger, if so, even if they can reach the front line, the soldiers do not have much strength to fight with the enemy.
Faced with such a difficult problem, the commander of this garrison tried his best to think of a good solution. In the end, in desperation, they had to borrow food from the local people. But under the devastation of the war, the people's crops were not good, and there was not much they could borrow. At this moment, a rich local merchant heard about this and immediately sent grain without hesitation.
When the rich merchant heard the news, he immediately began to prepare grain, and in less than two days, he prepared more than a dozen truckloads of grain and sent them to the garrison. It is precisely these grains that have solved one of the major problems of our army.
In times of war, it is not easy to prepare so much grain. And it was indeed not easy for this rich merchant to prepare so much grain. The wealthy merchant sold all his belongings to raise grain and spent more than 11 million French dollars. Now is a time of national crisis, and the people of the whole country should unite and give money and force, and this is the case with this rich businessman.
But in spite of this, our army has strict discipline, and the people's belongings cannot be taken for free. And this rich merchant is old, and this is all his possessions. But the war was imminent, and although the commander felt that he could not give him anything to exchange for this grain, he could only write down an IOU promising to return the money in the future.
Although this is the rich merchant's belongings, when he sent this batch of grain to the army, he did not want this IOU, but for the country, for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives and forgot their deaths, so the rich merchant said that he did not want anything, but our army was strictly disciplined, how could not take the people's property in vain, and finally the rich merchant could not resist the commander and accepted this IOU.
Second, the IOU of great significance was only taken out as a last resort
The peace after the war was bought with the lives of countless soldiers. But the war is merciless, and on the battlefield, the artillery is full of fire, the swords and guns have no eyes, and the soldiers of our army have sacrificed countless lives. The commander of this Shanxi garrison also died on the battlefield and left nothing behind. But perhaps, there is also what he left behind, the IOU he had written.
However, shortly after the death of this commander, the rich merchant who had given food to our army also died. But before he died, he had told his children and grandchildren to keep the IOU. But not to collect debts, but to commemorate, or perhaps to remember the commander who died for the country, and the countless soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country, because they deserve to be remembered.
After the war, I thought that this IOU would become a memorial to be passed on. This IOU passed from the rich merchant to his son, and then to his grandson. In the 1980s, because the rich merchant Guo Laohan exchanged all his belongings for grain and gave it to the army, to his grandson's generation, the family was poor and had to borrow money every year to survive, and faced with such a dilemma, his grandson had no choice but to take out this IOU and go to the government.
Third, the IOU reappears to understand the situation and fulfill the commitment
Faced with the plight of their families, the old farmers in Shanxi were not allowed to take out IOUs and go to the government. And when the old farmer appeared at the door of the government with an IOU and asked the government for repayment. The government staff did not pay too much attention, but adhered to the purpose of serving the people, learned from the old farmer about the situation and helped him solve the problem.
However, when the staff saw the amount of the IOU, they were shocked, the amount was as high as 11 million French tender, and the look of the old farmer did not look like a fraud. Therefore, the relevant experts were invited to identify the IOU. After the experts' appraisal of the IOU and the inquiry of the old farmer, it was found that the IOU was actually a document with real legal effect. Experts and government workers were shocked and intrigued by the origin of the IOU.
After all, from the perspective of this yellowed IOU, the time of existence of the IOU should not be short, and the amount on the IOU is not low. So the government began to investigate and understand the situation, and under the investigation, it was known that the origin of this IOU was an IOU obtained by the grandfather of the old peasant who sold all his belongings for grain to the army during the war.
After learning the origin of the IOU, the government attached great importance to it. After all, during the war, the war is cruel, and the soldiers fight to protect the people of the country. And the little grain that the people gave to the soldiers was not only to have food to eat when the soldiers were hungry, but also a little comfort and warmth to the soldiers. The military and the people are one family, and their sacrifices have not been in vain.
When the war is over, the country is at peace, and promises should be honoured. But for the amount to be returned, the government encountered difficulties, the old farmer grandfather lent legal tender, and after the war, the country's economy recovered, the legal tender depreciated, if it was replaced by renminbi, it must not be worth the money when the IOU was first written.
After consultation and accounting with the old farmers, the government finally repaid the old farmers according to the conversion of the legal tender of the 1980s into renminbi, and the old farmers did not have any opinions, after all, if it was not a last resort, he was not willing to take out an IOU to ask for repayment. In the end, because of this money, the old peasant's family's economic conditions were improved, and the old peasants were very excited and thanked the government one after another.
epilogue:
In this era of peace, in people's lives, integrity has become precious, and in dealing with others and borrowing and returning things with others, there have been hesitations or questions: Can I trust this person, will this person repay the money borrowed from me? And when people have these ideas, they often think about their own interests first, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But if everyone can keep their promises and be themselves, perhaps such doubts will slowly decrease. In any case, I believe that the national righteousness will be put first, just like this rich businessman during the war.
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