The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

As the car drove along the only provincial-level main road in Sichuan, the eyes could see endless withered yellow. There is almost no green in the mountains, fields, and wilderness. Even the leaves of the evergreen banyan trees have been tanned to yellowish brown.

There is no water in the rice fields and ponds. The earth is cracked and hardened, and some cracks are as wide as a palm.

Yu Peichen looked at everything around him with his mouth open, and said in shock: "How long has the drought been going on?"

Reporter Yang Baochun, who was traveling with him, said: "It's better in Chongqing, but the further west you go, the worse it gets. In Sichuan, only the Chengdu Plain is relatively normal at the moment. It hasn't rained in northwest Sichuan since this spring, and there are already cannibals there. According to the rumors, the mayor of Jinghua County (Jinchuan County) was almost scared out of his mind."

Chengshe and Zhang Henshui were persuaded by Zhou Hexuan to open the headquarters of "Li Bao" in Chongqing. Yang Baochun is a Sichuan native hired by "Li Bao".

Zhou Hexuan was also extremely shocked. Perhaps the historical data he saw before traveling through was incomplete. He originally thought that eastern Sichuan would be severely affected by the disaster, but he did not expect that northwest Sichuan would be the most severely affected by drought. The severe drought in eastern Sichuan is already so terrifying. It is hard to imagine what kind of hell the northwest Sichuan is like.

Several people set off from Chongqing at night and arrived near Longchang County early the next morning.

Zhou Hexuan ate some biscuits in the car to satisfy his hunger. In the morning light, he saw villagers carrying wooden buckets walking collectively into the mountains. He got out of the car and stopped an old man with gray hair, took out some coins and asked, "Old man, are you going to fetch water?"

The old man took the copper plate with a smile and replied in detail: "The wells in the village are all dry, and the rivers and ditches are also dry. Only the mountains can still get some spring water."

"When did the drought start here?" Zhou Hexuan asked again.

The old man sighed and said: "It rained on April 17th (June 6th in the Western calendar). I remember it very clearly. It was the 'Grain of Ear' day. Then it didn't rain again, and it lasted almost three months." "

It seems that Longchang is similar to Chongqing. It has only been drought for three months so far. Although the people have difficulty drinking water, they are not starving. That is, the summer grain harvest was severe, and people could only survive through autumn at most, but they would be hungry in winter.

Far away in northwest Sichuan, there has been a drought for nearly six months. It’s scary to think about it!

Zhou Hexuan quickly got into the car and asked the driver to speed up to Chengdu. He was too busy to provide disaster relief alone and needed official help from Liu Xiang.

In northwest Sichuan, Zhou Hexuan is definitely powerless. Now he can only try his best to rescue eastern and southern Sichuan.

The severe drought in Sichuan in 1936 caused at least 5 million people to starve to death, and the number of deaths was equivalent to more than ten Nanjing Massacres. Zhou Hexuan could not avoid the tragedy in Nanjing, but he could do his part in the disaster in Sichuan.

The closer we get to the Chengdu Plain, the lighter the drought situation becomes. This is the only remaining foundation for the Land of Abundance.

Along the way, Zhou Hexuan inquired about the situation. The worst thing was not only the difficulty in drinking water, but also the soaring food prices in various places. Those grain merchants and wealthy gentry all knew that there would be a famine in the coming year, so they were all stockpiling grain from now on.

When I came to Chengdu, it was obviously a completely different world.

With its majestic city towers and tall and wide city walls, its defensive capabilities are not inferior to those of Nanjing City.

There is an endless flow of people at the gate of the city. People are walking and chatting comfortably. Inside the city, there are crowds of people, and shouts from teahouses can be heard from time to time. It is more than ten times more prosperous than the backward Chongqing.

When he arrived at Liu Xiang's official residence and handed in his business card, the guards quickly invited Zhou Hexuan and others in.

Liu Xiang's mental complexion was not very good. He was reportedly ill, with a minor illness and a gastric ulcer.

His wife is a rural woman who is diligent and thrifty. She often receives gifts such as cakes, but she is reluctant to throw them away even after they have almost gone bad after half a month. His wife not only ate it herself, but also put the cakes on Liu Xiang's desk, which caused Liu Xiang to suffer from stomach problems after eating spoiled food for a long time.

"Oh, please sit down, Mr. Zhou!" Liu Xiang cheered up and greeted him with a smile.

The servant brought a cup of fragrant tea. Zhou Hexuan drank half the cup with a thirsty mouth and said straight to the point: "Master Fu, the drought in Sichuan is extremely urgent. Do you have any disaster relief strategies?"

"Urgent? It's not that serious." Liu Xiang didn't care very much.

Currently, only a few counties in northwestern Sichuan are suffering from frightening disasters. However, those places are close to Gansu and are already extremely poor. The provincial government cannot collect a few taxes, so they have always been ignored by officials. As for the eastern and southern Sichuan regions, the drought only lasted for two or three months, which is normal in Sichuan.

If there are no floods or droughts in Sichuan some summer, it will make the local people uncomfortable.

In other words, the "King of Sichuan" Liu Xiang did not face the disaster at all at this time, and he did not expect that the entire Sichuan would be drought for another year.

In fact, this is human nature. Who would have thought that a province would be in drought for more than a year? This weather is absolutely crazy.

"Baochun, tell me." Zhou Hexuan continued to drink tea to quench his thirst.

Yang Baochun took out a stack of information from his bag and reported in detail: "Master Fu, I am Yang Baochun, a reporter from "Li Bao". In the past two months, we at "Li Bao" have been interviewing and collecting news about the severe drought in Sichuan. Except for Chengdu In addition to dozens of surrounding counties, more than 100 counties and cities in Sichuan have been hit by droughts, which can range from one month to six months. This is especially serious in Jinghua County, where both spring and summer grains were harvested. Last year, the drought There was also a frost disaster in winter. Although our reporter did not go to cover it in person, local colleagues sent telegrams saying that Jinghua County has started cannibalism."

Liu Xiang didn't look too shocked. He nodded and said, "I know about Jinghua County, and so does Chairman Chiang Kai-shek. That place is already poor, and the mountains are high and the roads are far away. The disaster relief food transported in will be needed on the way." The porters ate up 20% to 30% of the food. I have already sent people to provide disaster relief."

"How effective is the disaster relief?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"I allocated 20,000 yuan." Liu Xiang said.

The 20,000-yuan ocean was worth nothing. It was not just Jinghua County, but several surrounding counties that were affected at the same time. Coupled with the long distance and inconvenient transportation, the loss of relief food was extremely serious. It is estimated that only a little over 10,000 of the 20,000 ocean grains left were left, which was enough to feed the local victims for half a month at most.

Zhou Hexuan already understood very well at this time that Liu Xiang probably did not want to care about the lives of the victims in northwest Sichuan. It was too remote and poor, and it was just a simple burden to the provincial government.

Liu Xiang could see Zhou Hexuan's dissatisfaction, and he sneered: "In June this year, when Chairman Chiang came to inspect Sichuan, I gave him a photo of people cannibalizing people in Jinghua County. Chairman Chiang put it in his pocket on the spot, and it remains until now. , he didn’t even ask, and he didn’t even see a single piece of relief food from the central government.”

Zhou Hexuan sighed and said: "Master Fu, what if the whole Sichuan becomes like Jinghua County in a few months?"

"How is that possible?" Liu Xiang finally reacted.

Zhou Hexuan said casually: "I have a friend who studies meteorology. Through this year's climate analysis in various parts of Sichuan, in the next six months, except for the counties in the Chengdu Plain, there will be little rainfall, and there may even be no rain at all."

"Are you making a mistake?" Liu Xiang felt a little panicked. He grew up with old knowledge in elementary school, and later he didn't even graduate from the military academy. He was extremely superstitious about religious mysticism and modern Western science.

Since Zhou Hexuan said that meteorologists had judged that there was a severe drought in Sichuan, Liu Xiang really believed it when he heard it. He never thought that Zhou Hexuan would lie to others, because it would be useless to lie to anyone about this matter.

"It's absolutely true!" Zhou Hexuan said solemnly.

If it were just a severe drought in a few counties around Jinghua, Liu Xiang would definitely not panic. But if a severe drought occurred across Sichuan, it would shake the foundation of Liu Xiang's warlord rule.

Liu Xiang immediately called his adjutant and said urgently: "Quickly send a message to Gan Jiyong, Director of the Civil Affairs Department, and Yin Changling of the Sichuan Disaster Relief Association!"