The next morning, the sky had just cleared up, but the exchange point at the entrance of the camp was already crowded with people. There were more people than the day before, and most of them were concentrated at the small exchange point. There were also quite a few medium exchange points, but not a single large exchange point. It was as if they had discussed beforehand that no one was willing to stand out. They would rather exchange for small exchange points bit by bit than be remembered by the camp.
Zhang Huai'an, Wang Le, and Lu Xiaobu looked at the dense crowd in front of them and frowned. Be it recruiting people or building rafts, they needed time. But yesterday, the scattered exchanges had reduced the camp's food reserves by half, and this was under the premise that there were no large exchanges. If someone were to suddenly withdraw a large amount of food today, they really wouldn't know what to do.
After eating too early, the staff entered the exchange point one after another. They put up a big wooden sign in front of the table with the words "Exchange at 9: 30" written on it. Then, the guards with rifles entered the field and stood guard on the side. Then, countless bags of grain were pushed to the weighing station on a cart.
Time passed second by second. Neither side spoke or made any noise, waiting for the official exchange to begin. Looking at the countless people holding rice tickets, Zhang Huai An's throat was a little dry. The wooden rafts for transporting the grain could only be prepared in the afternoon. They had to get through today, or else there would be a ruckus before the grain could be delivered.
When the sun shone brightly, the exchange began. The silent scene was like a splash of cold water on a pan of hot oil, and it became noisy. The crowd formed a long line, tiptoeing to look at the bags of food in front of them. Some of the more observant people kept an eye on the speed and frequency of the food being transported out of the camp.
"I want to exchange for 20 tons …"
A loud shout shocked the entire place. Everyone turned their heads silently to look at the man who shouted to exchange for 20 tons. Three tons and above was considered a large exchange, and 20 tons was the largest of the large exchanges.
The man who shouted was not very old. He had a ferocious look on his face, and his head was bald. There were more than 10 crisscrossed scars on his head, giving him an imposing aura. As he looked left and right, the scars seemed to come alive.
Behind him were more than ten men armed with knives and sticks. Of course, these people kept their knives and sticks obediently to the side, not even daring to point their blades at the camp. Behind them, more than a hundred people pushed carts and carried poles, seemingly ready to move.
Forty thousand pounds worth of rice notes were firmly thrown onto the ground. The fierce-looking man pretended to raise his head and look around. However, the fear that flashed across his eyes and the occasional cramping of his calves and stomach proved that this man was not as ferocious as he appeared to be.
The staff at the exchange point looked at the 40 large rice notes on the table. They were stamped with steel seals and engraved with serial numbers, and then he turned his head to look at Zhang Huai'an. Zhang Huai'an stared at the guy who wanted to exchange for rice with a dark face. After hesitating for two or three seconds, he nodded firmly and said to Wang Le beside him, "Go and check if there's any problem with the rice notes. If there's any problem with one of them, I'll skin him alive …"
That man did not know that he had inadvertently stood out. He was one of the new rising forces, and he did not have much capital. Moreover, he was too young and could not endure the anxiety in his heart, so he came to exchange for 20 tons of rice. There was no problem with his rice notes, but it gave the other small forces a head start, and people came to exchange for rice one after another.
As more and more people came to exchange, Zhang Huai'an's face became darker and darker. The stored food in the camp continued to decrease. Before the afternoon, their food for dinner would probably be exchanged.
Zhang Huai An and Huang Tingwei were counting the seconds until the exchange ended at 11: 30. Zhang Huai An's coat and underwear were all drenched in sweat. It was not because of the heat, but because he was anxious. He had been panicking for a long time. According to this situation, he did not need to wait until 15: 00. He was afraid that he would run out of food in less than half an hour.
"What should we do …?
Our food has already reached the bottom. Just now, the person in charge of the granary reported that we have less than 10 tons of rice left besides the ones placed outside. We still have corn, but are we going to use corn as rice? "
Zhang Huai'an was also anxious. He came up with a solution that was not really a solution, and he blamed himself in his heart. Previously, when the corn was shipped back, he treated it as an emergency food and left it at the bottom of the warehouse. Who would want to eat corn when there was rice?
Who knew that such a situation would occur. If it was not handled well, all the plans would probably be in vain.
"How about … I go find Liu Zhenghua and get him to prepare. When the time comes, we will forcefully disperse …"
Huang Tingwei was also panicking. He could not make rice appear, so the only thing he could think of was to get Liu Zhenghua to do the dirty work. Liu Zhenghua would step in and divert everyone's anger onto Liu Zhenghua. With Liu Zhenghua's influence, he would buy them time to transport the rice overnight and start the free exchange the next morning. In other words, they only needed an hour.
"No … Liu Zhenghua already said that as long as there is no problem with the food, he will be fine. Because he will not help us suppress the entire colony, so we can only rely on ourselves."
Zhang Huai'an always liked to think about the worst possible outcome. There were still 10 tons of rice and more than 100 tons of corn in the camp. If it really did not work, he could use 2 catties to exchange for 1 catty. No matter what, they should be able to survive today. Although they would be taken advantage of, it would calm the people's hearts. Without confidence, who would dare to exchange 2 catties for 1 catty of food?
"Why don't we start looking for people now? 1.5 catties of rice a day. We will give them rice tickets first … Just pretend I didn't say anything …"
Zhang Xiaotian could not help but interrupt. As soon as he said the word 'rice tickets', everyone glared at him. Only then did he realize that the rice tickets were only a sliver away from waste paper. Right now, he could only give them food that could fill their stomachs.
"Go … go find people. 1.5 catties of corn a day per person. Go and drag the corn out. We will give them the corn first, and then they can go take a shower and change their clothes. I'd rather let them wait for the boat than let the boat wait for people …"
Zhang Huai'an could only come up with this idea. He hoped that he could use the corn to divert the attention of those people and drag it out for the day. As soon as Zhang Huai'an's corn was laid out, Zhang Xiaotian used a loudspeaker to recruit people on the spot. Needless to say, people really came over. They were all poor people with small rice tickets. They only had 3 to 4 catties of rice tickets, and they didn't know how long they would have to wait in line.
Hundreds of people came in scattered groups. Zhang Xiaotian stood in front of them and said with great fanfare that he would take them to the island in the center of the lake to move the food. Although he said it to the temporary employees, the crowd in the distance also heard it. Seeing that the camp seemed to be very confident, some people couldn't stand the heat and ran to the side to watch the show. Most people still stood in the same place, waiting to exchange. After all, no one had seen the food on the island with their own eyes.
Seeing more than a dozen people withdraw from the exchange, Huang Tingwei's eyes lit up. He thought of a wonderful idea that could make people feel at ease.
"Good!
This is a good idea. Let's do it this way. Quickly arrange for people to go to the island in the center of the lake. Everything will be done according to your needs. As long as this idea is good, when Zhang Xiaoqiang comes back, he will report to you … "
When Zhang Huai'an heard Huang Tingwei's idea, he was overjoyed. With this idea and the food that was shipped back as proof, no one would suspect that they didn't have any food.
Huang Tingwei turned around and went to work on his important matter. Zhang Huai'an ordered his men to use forklifts to move all the corn out and stack it at the entrance of the camp. Thousands of sacks were neatly placed together. It was a spectacular sight. At the same time, it made the people who exchanged the food heave a sigh of relief.
"Old Zhang … be careful … we've already received fake food tickets …"