Great Power Technology

Yindu, Punjab.

After entering late July, the wheat in the fields has begun to be fully harvested, and the purchase price of wheat has increased by 40% compared to when Rekesh sold it a month ago.

This is a terrifying number, because it means that the price of wheat in the entire Yindu has risen by nearly 100% in just 4 months.

The farmers around him cheered, but Rakesh saw something deeper.

This is very wrong.

Because the price of flour has barely increased.

The price of wheat has increased, but the price of flour has remained unchanged. So what is the flour made of? Could it be the low-priced wheat in stock last year?

But if there is still low-priced wheat in stock, why do these merchants buy this year's wheat at high prices?

This is not logical.

Looking at the day laborers coming and going to carry wheat for the merchants, Reksh frowned more and more.

Something had to be done.

According to his plan, it will take another two weeks for his wheat to start harvesting, which means that it will take at least two weeks before he can get enough money to buy flour.

However, based on current trends, he does not believe that flour prices can remain at current levels for more than two weeks.

So, he only has two choices.

Either harvest wheat early, or borrow money to buy flour and food.

However, no matter which plan it is, it is not an easy task for him. There are indeed big families in the village who will grant loans, but the interest rates on those loans are frighteningly high, and each payment is calculated on a daily basis. Absolutely no one is willing to borrow it unless it is on the verge of life or death.

But the funny thing is that in this country, there are too many poor people who are on the verge of life and death every day, so their business is ridiculously good.

After a long silence, Rekesh finally made a decision.

Harvest wheat!

Even if the harvest now may be more than 10% less than two weeks later, compared with the interest on the loan, this is still an almost negligible figure.

He stood up and walked into the house and called his wife and daughter out. Then, the two of them carried tools and headed to the small wheat field at their home.

On the way, his wife tentatively asked him the reason for harvesting wheat now. He couldn’t explain the logic himself, so he could only tell his wife that this was God’s will for him.

However, this reason seemed more convincing than scientific logic, and during the subsequent work, the wife did not ask any more questions.

Naturally, human labor cannot compare with machines, but after working continuously for three days under the scorching sun, they still harvested all the wheat and sold it at an unprecedented high price that day.

Afterwards, Rekesh took the astonishingly thick banknotes and hired a donkey cart to go to the city without stopping. He purchased a cart full of flour and food from the grain store, which was enough for his family to eat for a long time. half a year.

This cost him 70% of his money, and from the remaining money, he used some of it to buy new shoes for his daughter, a sari for his wife, and an ax for himself.

He didn't know why he needed an axe, but the moment he saw it, he immediately felt that he had to buy it.

Maybe it will come in handy one day?

But for what purpose, Rekesh can't think of an answer for the time being.

All he knows is that his family will not go hungry for at least the next nine months.

…

However, far-sighted farmers like Rekesh are rare in this place where the per capita literacy rate is less than 10%. After selling the wheat they worked so hard to grow, most farmers, in addition to relying on experience and current In addition to leaving some savings due to food prices, most of their income was used to pay off debts, purchase consumer goods, or some necessary but less urgent activities.

In this month, there were more weddings held in Rekesh's small village than in the whole of last year.

The entire village is booming, and businessmen have even begun to use trucks to bring electrical appliances and electronic products to the village to sell them - even though the village suffers from power outages for at least nine months a year.

However, this did not affect the farmers who suddenly had a large sum of money in their hands to satisfy their vanity with consumption. When Rekesh went out to work in rags, all his friends laughed at him. .

"It's time for you to change your clothes, Rakesh. Your clothes are old enough to make a nest for my dog."

"You should take care of yourself and get a haircut - maybe at least wash your face?"

"This is the latest mobile phone, why don't you buy it? Do you have all your money hidden under your bed?"

"You're not going to give the money to your wife, are you? Is that so? Why don't you ask her for it back? Beat her up!"

…

Reksh ignored such words mixed with hidden malice.

He can completely understand the psychology of these people. When everyone is doing the same thing, a different person becomes an outlier.

But now, the so-called "miser" himself has naturally become an alien.

They don't know that all their money has been spent on low-priced food, and they will never reveal this secret.

This is a pessimism buried deep in his heart.

From these laughing people, he could vaguely smell some corruption.

And this kind of smell, he had actually smelled it once when he was still very young - it came from the smell of corpses that had died of starvation and died on the roadside.

After returning home, Rekesh closed the courtyard door and resumed his excavation work.

He wants to dig a cellar, a cellar that can only be opened from the inside after being closed, that stores enough water and food, and that can circulate air.

This is the final preparation he can do.

…

As Rekesh expected, the price inversion of raw materials and finished products did not last long. One day in early August, as if he had received some kind of order, the prices of flour and food in the Yindu market suddenly began to rise. skyrocketing.

On August 1st alone, flour prices surged by 20%.

Subsequently, the price of 500g of white bread, the most consumed basic food in the entire Yindu market, skyrocketed to 49 rupees from 37 rupees the day before.

Followed by rice, the price increased from 54 rupees per kilogram to 65 rupees per kilogram.

Subsequently, the price increase effect was further transmitted, and the prices of milk, eggs, meat, potatoes, and even drinking water all experienced a comprehensive increase. According to official news released by Yindu, within this month, the national consumption index rose to 9.2 %, once again refreshing the highest level in the past 10 years.

A terrible inflation is coming soon, but what is even more frightening is that even with such a price increase, food is still in short supply, and the price increase has no tendency to slow down at all.

It was not until this moment that the bloated and slow bureaucracy in Yindu finally realized the danger.

They are not afraid of inflation, because every inflation will make them a fortune, but they are afraid of famine.

After just a few days of discussion, Yindu officials issued a policy banning the export of flour and wheat. But by this time, it was too late.

——

In other words, even if this policy is promulgated at the beginning, it actually has no meaning.

Because a considerable part of the wheat purchased at high prices actually remains in the country.

As for the reason?

It's just a deal with some international grain merchants.

The purpose of those companies is not in Yindu at all, so they do not plan to invest too much money here. In this case, they will hand over part of the market to the local grain merchants in Yindu and let them act as the hoarder. Role.

After all, it is about making money. As long as someone takes the lead, these local grain merchants will move even faster than international grain merchants.

And their methods are of course more vicious.

Can't get enough food? Are farmers unwilling to sell grain?

That's great, let's start the robbery openly and openly.

Official inspection?

There are more than 600 counties in 28 states across the country, all of which are our people. Why are you checking?

Even the core official institutions have nothing to do with them.

Therefore, under such a complicated power game, the situation in Yindu became worse and worse.

A famine sweeping over one billion people across Yindu is already brewing, and on the eve of this crisis, the entertainment venues in the streets and alleys of Yindu are still brightly lit.