The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Song Meiling passed cigarettes to the three guests present, and she lit one herself, which made Chang Kaishen frown slightly. But she didn't take it seriously, and asked, "What do Americans think of China's resistance to Japan?"

Mike Cowles said: "Thanks to the propaganda of Mr. Zhou and Mr. Hu Shi in the United States, the American people have sympathized with and supported the Chinese Anti-Japanese War Report."

"I'm asking American officials and businessmen, what do they think?" Song Meiling said.

Wilkie laughed: "Businessmen only care about profit, while officials serve votes."

Song Meiling said: "That is to say, American officials and businessmen don't care about China's war of resistance, but only care about whether their interests are damaged?"

"Yes, most American officials and businessmen don't care about the war in Asia, and their focus is on Europe," Wilkie said with a smile, "If Madam Chiang wants to change this situation, I think you should go to The United States, speaking to Congress as the first lady of China."

"Can I?" Song Meiling didn't know what to do.

Wilkie said: "Of course, I think President Roosevelt will support it."

Soong Meiling's visit to the United States was facilitated in this way. After she gave a speech in the US Congress next year, she immediately won a huge international reputation. Of course, there was also the scandal between her and Wilkie, which became a household name in the United States, and Soong Meiling was so angry that a bunch of newspapers were sued in court. The lawsuit was fought for many years before being settled out of court.

In the eyes of American politicians, Soong Meiling is charming, intelligent, charming and has all the advantages of oriental women.

However, Roosevelt's wife did not have a good impression of Song Meiling. According to her recollection: "Lewis (the union leader) was making trouble at the time. Franklin (Roosevelt) asked Mrs. Jiang: In China, how would you deal with people like Lewis? Mrs. Jiang did not speak. , but quietly stroked her throat with her beautiful little hand."

This made Roosevelt's wife feel cruel, even creepy.

After chatting with Wilkie about the visit to the United States for a while, Soong Meiling relayed the story to Chang Kaishen in Chinese and asked her husband for his opinion.

Chang Kaishen thought about it for a while, then nodded and agreed: "This is a good thing, you can go there."

Song Meiling immediately said to Wilkie: "I am willing to visit the United States, and ask Mr. Wilkie to help contact President Roosevelt."

"Of course, I'll make arrangements," Wilkie said.

Everyone chatted until the evening, and Soong Meiling invited everyone to have dinner again, and even went to the air-raid shelter once in the middle.

At around nine o'clock in the evening, when the two Yankees bid farewell and left, Chang Kaishen called Zhou Hexuan to the study and asked, "What can Mingcheng do for me?"

Zhou Hexuan put more than 20 photos of the disaster on the desk: "About the famine in Henan."

Chang Kaishen laughed and said, "The famine in Henan is purely a rumor, Mingcheng, don't be fooled by some people with ulterior motives."

Zhou Hexuan said: "Ta Kung Pao has reporters in Henan, and more than one reporter. Those reporters all said that there was a catastrophe in Henan, and the disaster was very serious!"

"Reporters inevitably exaggerate in order to gain fame," Chang Kaishen said. "I knew there was a disaster in Henan, but it was only a small disaster. Last month I ordered Li Peiji to provide relief. I also established a Henan Disaster Relief Committee, and the central government also reduced Henan's military ration quota has been exceeded, and the disaster relief food has already begun to be transported from Shaanxi to Henan."

Historically, the Henan Great Famine in 1942 did start to provide disaster relief in September. However, local officials were afraid of losing their money and concealed the disaster in various ways, so the central government did not pay enough attention to it.

Until the end of October, Guo Zhongkai, who asked Zhou Hexuan for help in the previous chapter, broke out completely. He took out elm bark, Guanyin soil, goose dung and other food eaten by the victims at the National Political Council, crying, cursing and begging, and finally put the matter to rest. Big trouble.

Lao Jiang allocated disaster relief funds to Henan three times in a row, but the phenomenon of embezzlement and embezzlement was so serious that local officials still kept their hands on the disaster situation and did not report it, and the disaster situation continued and continued to expand.

In 1943, the Henan catastrophe was published in the "Time" magazine, which made Song Meiling, who was visiting the United States, feel ashamed and angry, and the disaster relief operation in Henan was really on the right track.

Zhou Hexuan sighed: "Chairman, you were deceived by Li Peiji."

"He doesn't have the guts yet!" Chang Kaishen said.

Zhou Hexuan said: "It's because he was timid that he lied to you. Can you recall the circumstances under which he reported the disaster to you?"

Chang Kaishen immediately fell into memory, with a gloomy and uncertain expression.

Beginning in the summer of 1942, Chang Kaishen ordered the hunting of local tyrants for grain. He also hated those big landlords, and believed that whether it was conscription or grain, most of them were still poor. On the contrary, the rich gentry and landlords tried to avoid it, and connected with Baojia chiefs and refused to apply.

Therefore, at the Xi'an Military Conference, Lao Jiang kept emphasizing the need to increase control over the wealthy gentry and landlords. At the same time, he listed the issue of military rations in Henan as an important topic of discussion, and by the way he scolded Li Peiji, the chairman of Henan Province, who was not good at collecting grain.

Li Peiji was timid, afraid of being stripped of his black hat. He originally wanted to report the disaster, but after being reprimanded by Lao Jiang, he immediately denied that there was a catastrophe in Henan and promised to complete the grain collection task in Henan in full.

Because of this, although the military generals and wealthy gentry in Henan kept reporting disasters, they were all considered by Chang Kaishen to be making a fuss over a molehill, and they were even suspected of taking the opportunity to avoid grain requisition. After all, there are disasters every year in China these days, and it is a rare thing that there are no years.

Then many newspapers began to report on the disaster. Chang Kaishen also realized that there might be a real disaster, but he didn't think it was a major disaster. He also asked He Yingqin about the situation, and He Yingqin contacted the provincial chairman Li Peiji. Li Peiji denied it from the beginning to the end, and continued to promise to complete the grain requisition task.

Here we have to give Chang Kaishen a cleansing. Later generations said that the government did not provide disaster relief but also collected food. Most of them quoted from Feng Yuxiang’s memory: “There was a severe drought in Henan and countless people starved to death. Under such miserable conditions, Chang Kaishen still called Henan The chairman of Henan had no choice but to say to Chang Kaishen: "The drought is too severe." Chang Kaishen slapped the table and cursed: "I have no shame or personality at all. I just spread rumors. I You know that the whole province of Henan has a good harvest, but you just say that there is a drought!"

What Feng Yuxiang said is pure nonsense, and he said it after he fell to the Communist Party, which is politically correct.

Henan Provincial Chairman Li Peiji not only did not say "the drought is too severe", but he was the one who was the most active in concealing the disaster and was also the most active in collecting grain. All he did was to complete the tasks assigned by Chiang Kai-shek.

Lao Jiang was really deceived by local officials this time, or he would rather believe that the harvest in Henan was good, and he selectively ignored the disaster reports reported by generals and gentry.

Zhou Hexuan said: "The detailed disaster situation sent by the reporter of "Ta Kung Pao" from Henan has almost been sent back to Chongqing. Judging from the content of their telegram, the famine in Henan this year may not be inferior to the disaster in Sichuan in 1936, and it was also affected by the war. , the damage is more serious than the disaster in Sichuan. The grain requisition mission in Henan must be stopped immediately, otherwise it may affect the battle situation in the Central Plains."

"Send me the news that the reporter sent back from Henan as soon as possible. "Ta Kung Pao" can resume publication tomorrow, but it is not allowed to report on the disaster situation for the time being."

After Chang Kaishen finished speaking, he sent Zhou Hexuan away, and then immediately called He Yingqin, scolded him and said, "Send a commissioner to Henan to investigate immediately, without any delay or concealment!"