War is not just military: the New Fourth Army fought an economic war against Japan

The following article comes from Hot and Cold Defense, written by Yan Zhao Jiedu

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During World War II, in order to realize their ambition of global hegemony, the Japanese aggressors frantically launched wars of aggression against foreign countries and invaded the territories of many Asian countries, including China. However, Japan is an island country with a small territory and scarce resources, and if it wants to maintain the war for a long time, it must carry out economic plundering of the occupied areas, which is the policy of the Japanese aggressors of "feeding the war with war".

Relying on the accumulation of resources in the previous years, Japan occupied a large area of Chinese territory in the first two years of the War of Resistance against Japan, until the end of the Battle of Wuhan, Japan's vain attempt to quickly destroy China was shattered, and the War of Resistance against Japan entered a phase of stalemate. At this time, the disadvantages of the Japanese state began to be revealed: Japan's national economy began to decline in 1939, the deficit gradually increased, and the Japanese government exclaimed that "the resources accumulated over the years, especially the raw materials for military supplies, are almost exhausted, and the regular products are not enough to meet the needs."

The Japanese army during World War II

In order to maintain its huge military spending, Japan began to adopt such methods as increasing its temporary military budget and issuing government bonds.

In October 1939, Shigeru Sawada, the Japanese Army's Deputy Chief of Staff, recalled: "After I took office as Deputy Chief of Staff, I immediately discussed from all sides the question of how much Japan's national strength remained as it continued to this day in the Sino-Japanese War. As a result, although the mouth is the outside, it is like a rotten fruit on the inside. ”

Especially after the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan tightened its economic control and plundering of China's occupied areas.

Japan's policy of "feeding war with war".

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In order to control China's economy and plunder China's supplies, the Japanese army launched the "Public Security Strengthening Campaign" and the "Township Cleansing Movement" against the Japanese base areas, and entered the base areas to implement the "three-light policy" in a vain attempt to destroy the will of the army and people in our anti-Japanese base areas to resist and stifle the living environment in the base areas.

As for the occupied areas, the Japanese invaders plundered in a variety of ways.

(1) Drug smuggling and trafficking.

In the occupied areas at that time, the Japanese invaders established five major smuggling strongholds: Tianjin, Xuzhou, Shanghai, Hankou and Wuhan, with more than 700 small strongholds. In order to make huge profits, the Japanese invaders tried their best to dump drugs, and rewarded those smugglers, rewarding tens of yuan for every 1 tael of drugs sold. In order to hide people's eyes, the Japanese invaders sold drugs under the banner of selling cigarettes.

Not only that, but under the guise of "drug rehabilitation," the Japanese invaders also wantonly sold all kinds of drugs for drug rehabilitation. For example, Japan's Dongxing Company sells a large number of detoxification drugs called "Toko Agent" to Chinese mainland, but in fact, half of this detoxification drug is morphine.

(2) Plunder

In the occupied areas, the Japanese invaders wantonly plundered all kinds of materials, and at the same time carried out shopping materials in the nationalized areas and anti-Japanese base areas. During the harvest season, the Japanese invaders bought grain from the Kuomintang at a high price, and some profiteers were greedy for huge profits and sold large quantities of grain to the Japanese invaders, even causing famine in some Kuomintang areas. In addition to grain, the Japanese also bought oil, livestock, timber, charcoal, tea, medicinal herbs, camphor, pig bristles, metals, etc. at high prices.

Robbed Japanese criminals

(3) Economic blockade

 After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese invaders imposed a severe blockade on the Kuomintang and the anti-Japanese base areas in an effort to weaken our anti-Japanese forces. The Japanese invaders and the puppet government explicitly stipulated that all kinds of minerals, metals, machinery, grain, cotton and linen, coal, and tung oil were strictly forbidden to enter the base areas.

Wang's puppet government stipulated that those who provided rice and grain to the enemy would be sentenced to death or life imprisonment, or fixed-term imprisonment of more than 10 years.

(4) Issuance of public bonds

In addition to Japan, Japan also issued government bonds to finance the war effort in the Chinese-occupied areas. For example, Japan issued treasury bonds in Taiwan, and as of the end of the Anti-Japanese War, various banks in Taiwan held Japanese treasury bonds as high as 880 million yuan, plus individuals or companies, a total of 3 billion. Similarly, Japan has also issued a large number of treasury bonds to the puppet Manchurian, Wang, and Mongolian puppet regimes in the mainland. According to incomplete statistics, Japan has issued 3.4 billion yuan of government bonds in the occupied areas. The Japanese invaders even forced the people in the occupied areas to deposit their money in pseudo banks and allowed them to buy Japanese pseudo treasury bonds.

These treasury bonds were all long-term bonds, and most of them were not paid after the end of the Anti-Japanese War.

Japanese Army

The New Fourth Army's economic warfare against the Japanese invaders

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In 1941, in accordance with the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on "systematically fighting against counterfeit currency issued by the enemy and undermining the policy of local currency, and allowing the establishment of local banks and the issuance of paper money in the severed areas", the Central China Bureau actively carried out economic construction in the base areas and waged an indomitable struggle against the blockade policy of the Japanese invaders.

Prior to this, the Japanese invaders wantonly plundered and purchased grain, cotton, linen, and livestock from the base areas at high prices, resulting in a decline in production and a sharp rise in prices in the base areas, which seriously affected the economy of the base areas.

In view of this situation, the New Fourth Army has become a general bureau of trade control in the border areas (also known as the material control bureau and trade management bureau) or a public company, which exercises strict management over the materials in the base areas, especially grain, cattle, cotton and linen, and so on, and purchases and sells them in a unified manner.

Fighters of the New Fourth Army

Every year, the public companies export a large number of local products in exchange for salt, telecommunications equipment, paper and stationery, hardware, medicines, and medical equipment needed by the military and civilians in the base areas. Because of the large transactions carried out by public companies, the price of goods in enemy-occupied areas was reduced. For example, the price of salt from the Yanfu area in northern Jiangsu was transported to the Wanjiang area, and the price changed from 3 catties of rice for 1 catty of salt to 2 catties of rice for 1 catty of salt.

In order to prevent the enemy from smuggling goods and disrupting the economy of the base areas, all base areas have set up checkpoints on the main waterways and communication routes connected with the enemy-occupied areas to strictly inspect the incoming and outgoing goods.

There is no ban on goods that cannot be produced in the base area, such as western medicine and machinery, and daily necessities such as soap, toothpaste, and towels are subject to low taxes, while high tariffs are levied on luxury goods such as jewelry, cosmetics, and sacrifices, as well as superstitious goods.

Japanese Army

The export policy of the New Fourth Army is to strictly restrict the export of grain, military supplies, and raw materials in order to prevent the enemy from being funded. These policies have played a positive role in putting an end to smuggling, stabilizing the market, and improving the living standards of the people in the base areas. For example, in 1941, the rice and wheat in the Tianchang and Gaoyou base areas only cost 30 or 40 yuan a stone, while the rice in Nanjing cost 160 yuan in counterfeit currency. For those smugglers, the New Fourth Army resolutely cracked down. For those who report smugglers, once they are detected, a bonus will be paid.

In addition to supplies, the New Fourth Army also engaged in a "currency war" with the Japanese puppeteers.

The Japanese counterfeit confiscated legal tender in the occupied areas and issued counterfeit money, but they took the confiscated counterfeit currency to the base areas to plunder materials on a large scale, which seriously impacted the economy of the base areas. In order to maintain the financial security of the base areas, each base area has set up banks to issue its own currency.

Dajiang coin

After 1941, the New Fourth Army set up 10 major banks in Jianghuai, Yanfu, Huaihai, Huaibei, Huainan, Dajiang, Jiangnan, Zhedong, Jianshe and Central China in various base areas, issuing a total of 242 kinds of banknotes, firmly controlling finance in its own hands. Merchants in enemy-occupied areas must exchange counterfeit currency for base currency when they enter the base area, and barter trade is the mainstay, and the circulation of counterfeit currency is strictly prohibited in the base area.

The Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army, which was so rich

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When it comes to the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, we have the impression that they all set up base areas in the countryside, and the conditions are relatively poor and their lives are relatively difficult. However, there is a unit of the New Fourth Army that is very rich, and it is the Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army, which is known as "the Seventh Division of the Rich, the first of the whole army."

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Seventh Division was the unit with the most adequate military expenditure, the highest standard of food expenses, the most advanced weapons (all Japanese-style equipment), and the most adequate financial resources among the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and the troops grew from less than 2,000 to more than 30,000. Even the troops of the Seventh Division wore imported faucet muslin, which was the only one in the whole army.

The New Fourth Army in film and television dramas

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army established the Anhui Anti-Japanese Base Area (renamed the "Anhui River Anti-Japanese Base Area" after March 1945). On the one hand, the Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army cracked down on the Japanese puppets, and on the other hand, vigorously developed production, improved the people's livelihood, and actively carried out economic warfare against the Japanese puppets.

The activity area of the Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army is the Anhui River region, which is the land of rich fish and rice, and is also adjacent to big cities such as Wuhu and Nanjing, and is a place where businessmen must pass. Taking advantage of this favorable conditions, the 7th Division actively carried out economic activities.

The Seventh Division mobilized heavy troops, blocked the passage between the base areas and the occupied areas, cut off the grain supply to the Japanese puppeteers, caused grain prices in the Japanese puppet areas to rise, and forced the Japanese puppets to spend more money to buy or exchange the materials that were lacking in the base areas; controlled the salt industry and unified supply and marketing by the General Administration of Trade; ensured the personal and property safety of merchants entering the base areas, and implemented a one-stop transit tax system, and so on.

In order to obtain materials in short supply in the base area, the 7th Division established a trade zone in Tangjiagou, with us as the main body, to carry out special trade with the enemy and the stubborn to meet the living needs of the soldiers and civilians in the base area. In just two or three months, a large number of merchants gathered in Tangjiagou to transport a large number of goods to exchange grain in the base area. Tangjiagou soon established two or three hundred shops, with a resident staff of up to 3,000 people, crowded during the day and brilliant at night, a prosperous scene, known as "Little Shanghai".

The 7th Division also contacted patriotic businessmen in Shanghai, and through them, they secretly purchased special military supplies such as radio stations, Western medicines, medical equipment, inks, and explosives in Shanghai, and transported them to the base areas to support the war of resistance. Seeing that they were open to money, some puppet armies even privately traded weapons with the New Fourth Army, such as many Japanese-made machine guns, ammunition, grenadiers, sabers, and so on, all of which were sold to the New Fourth Army.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Seventh Division made huge profits in trade with the enemy, greatly improved the livelihood of the soldiers and civilians in the base areas, purchased a large number of military supplies, and improved the combat effectiveness of the troops. During the Anti-Japanese War, the 7th Division annihilated a total of 30,000 Japanese puppet troops.

Tan Xilin, political commissar of the Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army

At the same time, between 1942 and 1945, the Seventh Division also handed over 53 million legal dollars (equivalent to 260,000 taels of gold) to the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the 7th Division went north and transferred assets of 500,000 taels of gold to the local government. The New Fourth Army waged a protracted and arduous struggle against the economic blockade of the Japanese invaders and achieved fruitful results.

On this battlefield where there was no smoke of gunpowder, it was difficult for the Japanese army to obtain grain and other military materials and raw materials in the base areas, and its policy of "feeding the war with war" was greatly discounted, while the New Fourth Army broke the blockade and economic plunder of the Japanese invaders, exported materials in the base areas to the enemy-occupied areas, and obtained weapons, machinery, medicines, and daily necessities that could not be produced in the base areas.

Under the extremely difficult war environment, the New Fourth Army took the initiative and relied on self-reliance by using the laws of the market and financial means, broke the enemy's blockade, continued to grow and develop, played a major role in the economic war on the battlefield of resistance against Japan, and accelerated the failure of the Japanese invaders' policy of "feeding China with war."

(This article only represents the author's point of view and does not represent the position of this number)