The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

The festive atmosphere brought by the Olympic athletes came to an abrupt end in Chongqing.

It was already mid-September, and the sun was still scorching hot. Not only was the ground scorching hot, but even the water in the Yangtze River was steaming up.

At the busy Chaotianmen Main Wharf, all cargo ships and passenger ships are now docked. A five-meter-high Dragon King's Palace has been built on the wharf, and it is surrounded by people praying to God for rain.

“Ding-dong-dang-choking!”

On the steep pier ramp, a Taoist priest holds Buddha dust in his hand, followed by several monks, nuns and immortals. They led the way in front, followed by two groups of gongs and drums, with flags, umbrellas, fans and flags waving, just like a wealthy family seeing off for a funeral.

Twenty shirtless men, each carrying five Dragon King chariots, descended the stairs along the broken road. In front of each Dragon King's chariot, there are documents written by local celebrities to pray for rain, and there are several wooden plaques with the words "heavy rain today" and other words.

The five dragon emperors were sent to the dragon tent to return to their places. People burned incense and candles in the dragon tent. The fairies and fairies swayed their whole bodies, recited incantations and danced to pray for rain.

The Taoist priest took out the mahogany sword from his waist, lit the talisman and recited: "Taiyuan Hao master's thunder and fire essence combines yin and gathers yang to guard the thunder city. Guan Bo's beacon fire ascends to the Yuanting, and the style and electricity raise ghosts. The guests of Taihua order, God has The order is to proceed with haste. The sun will collect and rain will fall instantly, and the dragon will be driven out and the lightning will come out of Xuanhong. I am hereby ordered to proceed with haste. This is the name of the Jade Emperor. Anyone who dares to refuse will be punished. Hurry is like a law and order!"

The Taoist priest walked with strange and rhythmic steps, and suddenly took out another talisman and pierced it on the tip of the sword. The talisman ignited without fire. The Taoist priest raised his halberd finger and drew his sword towards the Dragon King, shouting and yelling: "Five emperors and five dragons, descending the light and moving the wind. Spreading zeal and moistening widely, assisting the Thunder Lord... hurry up like a law!"

The monks and nuns sat on the futon with their palms clasped together and recited the Dragon King's mantra for rain: "Om Duo Suo Suo La Suo La Sili Sili, Sulu Sulu, Naganan, Jhapo Jhapo... Because of the power of the Buddha, Great Dragon King and others, come here quickly. In Jambudvipa, it rains heavily on the trees, covering the trees, covering them, making benefits, making benefits, making Zhulu, Zhulu, Suopoha."

More than 30 local squires knelt in front of the Five Dragon Emperors. One of them took the lead and said: "Sichuan is suffering from drought and the Yangtze River has dried up. We, the common people, are praying here. I hope the Dragon King will send down the rain soon to relieve people's livelihood." Hanging upside down, I will worship you every day, make offerings every month, and give thanks every year... Lord Dragon, just drop a few raindrops!"

More than thirty squires knelt down together, pressing their hands on the stone slabs with a temperature of 60 degrees, and shouted and begged the Dragon King for rain.

"Lord Dragon, just drop a few raindrops!"

Thousands of onlookers, including boatmen and fishermen on the river, all knelt down, kowtowed and screamed miserably.

The scene of praying for rain, which originally seemed a bit funny, suddenly became extremely solemn and solemn. If the heavens were kind, it would be time to rain after seeing this.

The river ship Zhou Hexuan was riding was floating on the river at this time, waiting for the rain praying ceremony to end before it docked to unload the passengers. Passengers walked onto the deck to watch the ceremony.

Zhou Hexuan was also on the deck at this time, watching everything in front of him silently, with extremely complicated emotions.

Chongqing suffered from severe floods last summer, but this summer it became a severe drought.

When Zhou Hexuan first moved to Chongqing, it had not rained for two months. Unexpectedly, when he returned from a trip to Europe, there was still no large-scale rainfall in Chongqing.

This year, there is almost no summer rice harvest in eastern Sichuan. There have been two consecutive years of floods and droughts, and there will definitely be another famine in winter and spring.

According to historical records, from the end of 1936 to the beginning of 1937, an average of 500 people starved to death in Chongqing every month. The victims ate up all the tree roots and plantains, and dug white mud to feed themselves. One after another died of intestinal congestion, and there were even human tragedies such as "starving people fighting to eat human corpses."

At that time, there were so many corpses that they filled up the Chongqing Cemetery. The Sichuan Disaster Relief Society had to build two (some say four) crematoriums and dig tunnels to cremate the corpses and store their ashes in the tunnels.

By April next year, the severe drought in eastern Sichuan was still continuing, and Liu Xiang, the "King of Sichuan," had to personally come forward and ask Liu Shenxian, who was already wanted by him and was on the run, to come out to pray for rain. However, it was useless, Liu Xiang was furious, and Liu Shenxian fled to Shanghai in panic.

A professor from Sichuan University found an ancient prescription for relieving drought from Dong Zhongshu's "Spring and Autumn Dew" and dedicated it to Liu Xiang. Liu Xiang immediately ordered all localities to protect all folk activities of praying for rain, but gods and demons from all walks of life appeared one after another, wasting a lot of money and having no effect.

In fact, Liu Xiang also allocated money for disaster relief. Mr. Yin Zhongxi, chairman of the Sichuan Relief Association, cried and knelt down to the relief workers, urging and pleading that the funds must be distributed to the victims and not to embezzle without conscience. However, even if all the money is fully released and distributed to more than 120 counties in the disaster area, it will be a drop in the bucket. On average, each disaster victim can only get 4 cents.

Liu Xiang was so anxious that he got no response at all from asking the central government for help. He banged the table and cursed: "Oh my God, Bald Chiang wants to unify Sichuan, but he doesn't care when Sichuan is in trouble... unification is a fucking shovel!"

Those who come after us should not forget that the Sichuan people supported the Anti-Japanese War against the backdrop of three consecutive years of major disasters.

The rain praying ceremony on the pier has ended, and thousands of people are facing the scorching sun and looking up at the sky... cloudless.

"Woooooooo..." I don't know who started crying first, leading more people to cry.

A squire's palms had been blistered by the slate. He beat his chest and raised his feet and asked the sky: "Oh my god, you are going to drive all the people in eastern Sichuan to death. Please open your eyes and see how miserable the folks here are! Please!" You, let it rain a little, just throw a few of them and you will get it. Let it rain a little, rain a little..."

"God, please make it rain!" People shouted.

If God didn't respond, it would have been blind a long time ago.

The crowd dispersed silently, leaving only the temporary rain-praying dragon tent still standing at Chaotianmen Pier.

The dock workers tore down the dragon sheds with sweat, and cargo ships and passenger ships docked one after another. Chaotianmen Wharf has returned to its former prosperity.

Zhou Hexuan walked up the stairs along the pier slope, went straight to the telegraph office in the city, and told the operator the address: "The American transoceanic telegram said: There is a severe drought in Sichuan, please ask Hongmen to raise relief food, at least 500,000 tons, Zhou Hexuan pays the full amount."

The dispatcher was stunned. After sending the English telegram, he suddenly stood up and bowed: "Mr. Zhou, on behalf of my fellow Sichuan folks, I would like to thank you!"

Zhou Hexuan nodded slightly and accepted the thanks. He walked out of the telegraph office and said to Sun Yongzhen: "Buy a train ticket to Chengdu. I'll go home first and take a look. I'll set off tonight."

"Okay, sir." Sun Yongzhen ran towards the station.

"etc!"

Zhou Hexuan called Sun Yongzhen to stop again. He just remembered that Chengdu and Chongqing were not yet connected by train, and they had to transfer to a bus on the way. It was better to take a bus directly along the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway. Zhou Hexuan handed Sun Yongzhen a business card and told him, "Go to Chongqing Mayor Li Hongkun and tell him that I want to borrow his car."