In the 1980s, an old farmer in Shanxi coaxed to find the local government, directly asked the government staff for more than 11 million yuan, after being rejected by the government staff, he took out a yellowed torn piece of paper from his pocket, opened it to see that it was an IOU from the War of Resistance, although the IOU had turned yellow, but the handwriting on it was still faintly visible, the IOU read "The soldiers of the Eighth Route Army borrowed Guo Mingyang's eleven million french dollars, and promised to repay the money after the end of the war", and it was also stamped with the government's red seal. In order to verify the authenticity of the IOU, the government also specially invited several experts, and the experts verified that the IOU was genuine, and finally the government returned it in full according to the regulations. So the question is, who is Guo Mingyang mentioned on the IOU? How much can this eleven million Legal Tender be repaid to the elderly? Let's hear the story behind the old farmer's IOU.
This old farmer in Shanxi who took the IOU to find the government, his name is Guo Jianying, his grandfather is the borrower on the IOU, Guo Mingyang, who was in the coal business when he was young, made a lot of money, and was a well-known local rich man, but he was different from other landlords, he never oppressed the people, but often paid for the poor people around him, and the long-term workers recruited by his family coal mine were poor young adults, Guo Mingyang hoped that they could have an income, they could support their families, for Guo Mingyang's good deeds, The local people are also very grateful and have called him a great benevolent person. In fact, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Guo Mingyang not only helped the common people, but also helped the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, and also made a contribution to the victory of the War of Resistance.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in an all-round way, the iron hooves of the Japanese army stepped into the provinces of China, and the "Three Lights Policy" implemented made life very difficult for the entire base area behind enemy lines, the lives of the common people were poor, and the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who resisted the Japanese invasion did not have a good life. The Eighth Route Army needs to fight for a long time often, and after leaving the base area, the supply of the troops has become the greatest difficulty, many soldiers have to fight hungry, in extremely difficult circumstances, the soldiers can only use leaves and grass roots to fill their hunger, and because of the long war, many ordinary people have left their homes and fled everywhere, a large amount of land is idle, and food is naturally scarce.
In order to win the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, many ordinary people gave the Eighth Route Army free of charge the grain that they had saved and thrifty, but the Eighth Route Army was a disciplined unit that did not take a needle and a line from the masses, and as long as the people sent grain, they would write down an IOU, and then make up the arrears when the War of Resistance Against Japan was won in the future.
On a march, the Eighth Route Army came to Shanxi, because of the long journey, there was little food left in the troops, most of the soldiers were basically hungry and full, and if this continued, before the war was fought, we had already lost. In desperation, the troops could only borrow grain from the local people, although the people were generous, but far from enough, after the kind and upright Guo Mingyang learned of this, he did not hesitate to sell his belongings, and used the money exchanged to buy ten truckloads of grain for the Eighth Route Army, which also solved the urgent need of the Eighth Route Army, but such a righteous act cost Guo Mingyang's entire wealth.
Guo Mingyang's support and dedication to the troops made the soldiers very moved, and the leaders of the Eighth Route Army immediately laid an IOU of eleven million francs for Guo Mingyang, which also clearly wrote the number of the borrowing unit, the name of the borrower and the seal of the Eighth Route Army, and repeatedly stressed to Guo Mingyang that after the end of the War of Resistance, if you take the IOU to the government, you can exchange it for corresponding compensation. After getting the IOU, Guo Mingyang did not pay attention to it, and he never thought that he would take the IOU to repay the money in the future, after all, it was not worth mentioning at all for the soldiers who dared to resist the war and defend the country, Guo Mingyang only hoped that these grains could help the Eighth Route Army.
After Guo Mingyang's righteous deeds were known to the people, everyone admired him more and more, they were willing to take care of the Guo family's business, for a time the business of The Guo Mingyang shop was booming, as the saying goes, good people are afraid of being famous pigs are afraid of being strong, as the Guo family business is getting bigger and bigger, it is also the eyes of peers, in order to suppress the Guo family's business, other peers join forces to fight the price war, through reducing prices and selling inferior products, and the Guo family competes, after all, the people at that time were living on a tight budget, facing low-priced products, of course, they will give priority to the choice, In the absence of a source of customers, the Guo family's business declined step by step, and relatives and friends persuaded Guo Mingyang to reduce the quality of his own goods a little, so that he could reduce the cost and reduce the price, and perhaps the business might be slow.
But no matter how others persuade, Guo Mingyang always adheres to his own principles and conscience, he is not willing to sell inferior products to the people with shoddy quality, and it is precisely because of this, under the deliberate suppression of peers, the Guo family's business is getting more and more bleak, and gradually the Guo family has fallen, waiting for Guo Jianying's father's generation, the ancestral wealth has long passed, and because of perennial losses, the family has been in debt, Guo Jianying's father sold the ancestral family property, used to pay off the debt, and distributed the rest of the money to the servants. With what little money he had left, he went to the countryside to build a house and took his family to farm for a living.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a wave of debt repayment broke out, but the debtors were the government, a large number of ordinary people who had borrowed grain had taken the IOU to find the government for exchange, and the government also promised that no matter when, as long as the government came to find the IOU, it would all be repaid, but some people knew that this was the time when the government was the poorest, so they were not in a hurry to ask for debts, and some people did not have the idea of exchanging, thinking of leaving the IOU, when the heirloom was collected, Guo Mingyang belonged to the latter.
Before his death, Guo Mingyang told his son about the IOU, but he told his son that no matter what his life was in the future, he could not take this IOU to the government for exchange, and told his son that he had helped the Eighth Route Army for the War of Resistance, so he would take this IOU as a memorial, let his descendants cherish it, let future generations remember this history, and also remember those soldiers who died for the War of Resistance.
After The death of Guo Mingyang, Guo Jianying's father has always kept this IOU, even if the family life is difficult, he also followed his father's original will, did not go to the government to cash in, before his death, he handed this IOU to his son Guo Jianying, and explained the father Guo Mingyang's instructions to Guo Jianying verbatim. In fact, when Guo Jianying was young, he did not understand his father's intentions, but as he grew older, Guo Jianying also understood the intentions of his grandfather and father, and after his father's death, Guo Jianying kept the IOU properly, and also took it as a memorial and left it to his children and grandchildren.
However, in the eighties, Guo Jianying's wife unfortunately fell seriously ill, in order to treat his wife, the family savings were almost hollowed out, in desperation, Guo Jianying took out the IOU left by his grandfather, which was the only way to save his wife, but when he picked up the IOU, his heart was very entangled, the father and grandfather's will rang in his ears from time to time, and this IOU was nearly half a century ago, and the person who signed it at that time had already passed away, and he did not know whether this yellowed and worn paper still had legal utility.
After a struggle inside, Guo Jianying finally decided to take the IOU to the government, when he came to the government gate, at first did not go directly in, but hovered around the door, when the staff found out, immediately went forward to ask if there was anything that needed help, Guo Jianying told the IOU thing out, which happened the opening scene.
Because this IOU is old, the amount is huge, and the borrowers and debtors on the IOU are no longer there, the government has confirmed the authenticity of the IOU after many investigations, since the IOU is real and still has legal effect, the next is the problem of cashing, according to the market at that time, ten truckloads of grain are worth eleven million french tender, but the legal tender has been devalued many times, the price is not as good as before, and now the legal tender has been abolished, how to exchange it?
As we all know, the legal tender was issued during the previous Period of the National Government, but during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, due to the government's indiscriminate issuance of currency, the legal tender was seriously depreciated, and by 1948, when the legal currency collapsed, its price had risen by 34.92 million times, if the current price was still used in french currency, it would certainly not be feasible, and finally under the multi-party consultation of government personnel, it was decided to settle with the ratio of existing grain to RMB, and finally Guo Jianying exchanged it for 80,000 yuan.
Some people may feel that 11 million French currency is exchanged for 80,000 yuan, is not too little, but you must know that in the 1980s, the wages of ordinary people were only tens of yuan, and 10,000 yuan households were rare, not to mention that they had 80,000 yuan, Guo Jianying suddenly became a local rich man after getting 80,000 yuan, not only treated his wife and solved the problem of his grandson going to school, but also left a lot of savings, and his life was greatly improved.
After Guo Jianying took the IOU to the government to exchange 80,000 yuan, the major media came to interview, and after the interview, they learned that Guo Jianying's grandfather vigorously publicized the righteous deeds of the Eighth Route Army, and later this incident also became a classic example of "military and civilian family relatives". And Guo Jianying is also very grateful to the government, after decades, the government still remembers the merits of grandpa and is willing to cash in on this IOU, our current government is a government that truly serves the people, and will not deceive and ignore the people!
In fact, during the war years, there were many people like Guo Mingyang who were willing to pour their money into helping the Communist Party, and it was precisely because of their selfless dedication that the troops had no worries about the future, and the soldiers fought bravely to kill the enemy on the front line, which led to today's peaceful and happy life, just as the so-called people's happiness cannot be separated from the party, and the success of the party is inseparable from the people.
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