The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Late autumn is bleak, the cold wind suddenly picks up, but no leaves fall.

Although the trees planted last year in Zhou Mansion are irrigated by gardeners every day, they still cannot withstand the drought that lasted for more than half a year. About a quarter of them were dead, the remaining leaves were curled by the sun, and the branches fell bare in the early autumn.

Yin Changling stayed directly at Zhou's house, waiting shamelessly for the next batch of food to arrive. He is the president of the Sichuan Disaster Relief Association. He has neither food nor money, so it is useless to go back. He has resigned from the disaster relief position three times, but Liu Xiang did not agree at all, and even used the excuse of recurrence of stomach trouble to avoid seeing people.

The blind man A Bing pulled the strings of the harp, and the sound of the harp was choked and weeping, making this autumn even more sad.

"Oh, I was wrong," Zhou Hexuan sighed, "I should have bought grain from abroad earlier."

Yin Changling comforted: "You are right, you have tried your best and done better than everyone else. Who could have predicted? This year's drought will be so serious."

Zhou Hexuan remained silent.

Regarding the severe drought in Sichuan from 1936 to 1937, Zhou Hexuan knew something about it before traveling through it, but he really did not study it in detail.

Under normal circumstances, large-scale famines occur at the turn of winter and spring. Zhou Hexuan believed that the problem could be solved by transporting grain in winter. He never expected that many places in Sichuan would be unable to survive while it was still summer, and that after autumn, the entire province would be in dire straits.

Winter hasn't even arrived yet, and the whole Sichuan is already full of people starving to death, with dead bodies lying everywhere. Even the fertile Chengdu Plain has begun to experience famine. If this continues, even Chengdu may not be immune.

Mr. Zhou, who thought he was confident, was caught off guard by the cruel reality and regretted it too late.

Liu Xiang's direct troops were exhausted. In the past few months, they had mobilized everywhere to counter the rebellion. The victims who could not survive gradually turned into large-scale refugees. Once a few "reckless heroes" appear, the refugees will turn into bandits, killing officials and devoting food to large households, and stage an "uprising" drama that has never ceased for thousands of years.

Sichuan's social order has tended to collapse. Countless victims deliberately committed crimes and then went to the police station to surrender, hoping only to be able to eat a bowl of jail food, or even to be "decapitated".

Who should be blamed for the current situation?

We cannot blame God, nor the central government nor Chiang Kai-shek. The real culprits are the Sichuan warlords, including the anti-Japanese hero Liu Xiang and Chairman Liu!

More than 20 years of continuous warlord fighting has exhausted the people of Sichuan. Not to mention having a surplus of food at home, ordinary people are content with barely filling their stomachs. In addition, the water conservancy facilities have basically not been repaired. If there is a natural disaster, they can only wait for death.

Just like the news mentioned earlier, Fuling County resident Tan Jiufeng's family owns more than 40 acres of fertile land and is self-sufficient in farming. If not a landlord, he should at least be considered a rich farmer. As a result, two women and one son starved to death in succession. The couple held their heads and cried, and both committed suicide by hanging from a beam.

Even the rich peasants cannot survive, let alone the poor peasants?

"Sir, Director Liang wants to see you." The servant suddenly came over to report.

Zhou Hexuan moved his body, sat on the wicker chair and said dejectedly: "Let him come in."

Officer Liang is Liang Xuzan, a cadre specially sent to Chongqing by the Sichuan Disaster Relief Association. He was the one who came to report when the anti-smuggling team was robbing food. Liang Xuzan walked quickly to the courtyard and said happily: "Mr. Zhou, President Yin, we have good news!"

"What good news? Has the disaster relief food arrived?" Yin Changling stood up awkwardly.

Liang Xuzan was so busy that his mouth was dry and he didn't see anyone else. He picked up Zhou Hexuan's tea and drank it all in one gulp. He said with a smile: "The first batch of disaster relief food raised by the Red Cross has been transported to Fengdu. It will be tomorrow morning at the latest." It can reach Chongqing, with a total of 8,000 dans (400 tons). In addition, the Red Cross also transported some old clothes to help Sichuan victims survive the winter. "

"That's good, that's good," Yin Changling was so happy that she rubbed her hands and stared at Zhou Hexuan and said, "Mr. Zhou, these grains..."

"You can take them all, I'll be watching over here in Chongqing," Zhou Hexuan said.

Yin Changling bowed, bent to the end, and solemnly said: "On behalf of the victims of the Sichuan disaster, I would like to thank Mr. Zhou!"

Yin Changling's old bones have been falling apart in the past few months. He bowed to people everywhere and even knelt down several times. He had no authority and prohibited corruption, so he could only kowtow to specific relief workers and beg them not to violate their conscience when distributing disaster relief food.

Zhou Hexuan stood up and looked at the Yangtze River water down the slope, silent and with a sad expression.

The president of the Red Cross Society of China is Wang Zhengting, who watched the Olympics with Zhou Hexuan. More than two months ago, Zhou Hexuan sent a telegram to ask Wang Zhengting for help, and also called for donations nationwide. Now he is finally seeing some actual results.

The 400 tons of grain transported by the Red Cross are probably mixed with sweet potatoes, sorghum, corn, pumpkin and other miscellaneous grains. But as long as it is edible, it will be of great help to the victims of the Sichuan disaster. In some severely affected counties, even the trees in the parks have been peeled and eaten.

Zhou Hexuan turned around and asked Yin Changling: "There has been no follow-up funding from the provincial government?"

Yin Changling shook his head helplessly: "The Civil Affairs Department raised 100,000 yuan, and borrowed another 1.6 million from the bank. No more can be borrowed. As for Liu Xiang, he is now deploying troops everywhere to quell the chaos, and the military expenditures he consumes every day are not small. number."

Zhou Hexuan was really helpless. He also planned to spend more money to buy grain from the provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. But the situation he faced made him extremely angry. Not only did grain merchants from other provinces raise their prices, but they even refused to sell the grain they had. They just held it in their hands and waited for another price increase after winter.

The price of rice in Chongqing has risen to three yuan and a half per load, and those rice shops are also selling limited sales every day. As for the more severely affected areas in Sichuan, the price of rice has soared to 4 or 5 yuan per load, and even those with money may not be able to buy it.

The consequences of major disasters are often all-round. Not only does the price of rice rise, but also other necessary daily necessities. Among them, the price of salt rose the most. In order to raise money to provide military rations, Liu Xiang raised the salt tax with a single order. The salt merchants took the opportunity to raise prices significantly, not only to express their dissatisfaction with Liu Xiang, but also to seek huge profits for themselves.

Nowadays, ordinary people in Sichuan can no longer afford salt, and even the price of inferior and harmful smuggled nitrate salt has made it prohibitive for ordinary residents.

Natural disaster? Man-made disaster!

Man-made disasters are everywhere...

The foothills of Jinyun Mountain.

Liu Shenxian, who was wanted by the whole province of Liu Xiang, finally returned to the world.

Liu Congyun wore a Taoist robe and sat high on the Dharma chariot. Sixteen Dharma protector disciples led the way down the mountain.

"when!"

"The White Crane Immortal has come down to earth to save the suffering. As soon as the immortals arrive, the severe drought will be eliminated. Dragon King of the Four Seas, don't be arrogant. Come quickly and come forward to call for the wind and rain!"

When he was wanted before, although Liu Congyun himself did not dare to show his face, his disciples were always active. Especially in this village at the foot of the mountain, the villagers have long been brainwashed by preaching. At this time, the elderly and children came to kneel down and greet him, shouting neat slogans: "Master God, save the poor!"

Liu Congyun smiled and nodded to his close disciple: "Give me food!"

The villagers knelt down and held up bowls and jars. Several disciples carried rice bags and poured two handfuls into each jar.

The villagers who got the food showed even more admiration and respect, and shouted: "Liu Shenxian, help me, Liu Shenxian will live a long life!"

The eldest disciple shouted: "If you want to have a full stomach, you must listen to Liu Shenxian's words. Each family chooses a strong man to become an apprentice under the god's sect. Tomorrow we will go to Chongqing City, where big fish and meat are open to eat!" "