Chapter 1021 1020【Famine】
The national government is not only facing the problem of economic collapse, but also this year's catastrophe.
In 1942, the Henan famine came.
It may not be accurate to say that the Great Famine in Henan was called the Great Famine in the Central Plains. Henan, Hebei, Shandong, and Shanxi were all affected. Gansu and other provinces in the northwest, due to their own insufficient grain production, had to purchase grain from Henan for a long time, which also caused famines.
The main cause of the famine was prolonged drought without rain, among which Henan Province was the most serious. In more than a dozen counties, from spring plowing to autumn harvest, there was no rain for more than eight months, followed by overwhelming locust plagues.
Lao Jiang also made a great contribution to the famine in Henan. The burst of Huayuankou seriously damaged the agricultural areas of Henan, and many water conservancy facilities were destroyed as a result, so that farmers were even more unable to cope with the drought. Coupled with the central government's expropriation and purchase of grain in Henan, the people's rations were dried up, which made the situation worse.
The disaster situation in the occupied areas was equally serious. In order to prevent the stability from being affected, the Japanese army imposed a military blockade on various main roads, which prevented the victims of the Kuomintang-controlled areas from moving to the occupied areas. At the same time, the Japanese army also drove the victims of the enemy-occupied areas to the Kuomintang-controlled areas and base areas, and more than 3 million victims were driven into the areas controlled by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
Mid-October.
Guo Zhongkui, a member of the National Political Council from Henan Province, came to the Zhou mansion, and the first thing he said was: "Mr. Zhou, you are a celebrity in front of the president. Please report the disaster situation in Henan this time! I really have no choice. Those Central officials simply ignored me!"
"Mr. Guo, even if you don't come, I still have to go to Yunxiu Tower." Zhou Hexuan said, holding back his anger.
The current general manager of "Ta Kung Pao" is Hu Zhengzhi, and Wang Yunsheng has officially become the editor-in-chief.
As early as August, Wang Yunsheng wrote an editorial titled "Looking at Chongqing, Thinking about the Central Plains". Because he accused the government of ineffective disaster relief, "Ta Kung Pao" was ordered to suspend publication for three days.
It was said to be three days, but after half a month of suspension, Zhou Hexuan personally came forward to resume publication. And just yesterday, "Ta Kung Pao" was forced to suspend its publication again, still because it reported the disaster in Henan.
The reasons for being suspended are as follows: fabricating facts, creating panic, disrupting order, and detrimental to unity.
Historically, "Ta Kung Pao" was suspended for four months for reporting on the famine in Henan.
Zhou Hexuan took Guo Zhongkai to Yunxiu Tower by boat, and he was allowed to enter without notification by Lao Jiang. This is not a unique treatment. During the Anti-Japanese War, there were about 20 or 30 people who were like this, and there were several in the education and academic circles alone.
But Guo Zhongkai was blocked by the guards. He handed the collected photos of the famine to Zhou Hexuan and said, "Mr. Zhou, I am waiting outside. Please be sure to hand over the photos to President Jiang."
"Definitely." Zhou Hexuan nodded.
Zhou Hexuan was directly invited into the reception room, and the adjutant brought tea and said: "Mr. Zhou, the chief and his wife are receiving the US special envoy. Please wait a moment, I will report right away."
In the garden, Soong Meiling was making lemon tea again to entertain distinguished guests.
Today's guests are Wilkie, the leader of the International Faction of the American Republican Party, and Mike Cowles, an American publisher and journalist.
Years later, Mike Cowles wrote a book called "Mike Looking Back".
He said in the book that Wilkie was so fascinated by Song Meiling that he asked him to hold Chang Kaishen for an hour at the banquet, but he went to have a tryst with Song Meiling himself. As a result, in less than an hour, Lao Jiang led the guards to search for people everywhere, and searched Yunxiu Building but could not find Song Meiling.
Cowles was sent back to Song Ziwen's residence, and was so scared that he couldn't sleep all night. Wilkie didn't come back until four o'clock in the morning, as happy as a college student who just spent a good night with his girlfriend. Cowles even said that Wilkie planned to elope back to the United States with Soong Meiling, but luckily he spoiled the matter. But because of this, he was scratched by the angry Soong Meiling, and the claw marks remained on his face for a week before they disappeared.
Cowles also wrote in the book that Soong Meiling persuaded him to give up his journalism work and fully assist Wilkie in his campaign for the 1944 US president. He recorded Song Meiling's original words: "If Wendell (Wilkie) is elected, he and I will rule the whole world. I rule the East, and Wendell rules the West."
It's hard to say whether there was a tryst, but the elopement must be fake.
Mike Cowles is a publisher who can write anything for sales. He even misremembered the time. The story in the book happened in August, but Wilkie's visit to China was from September to October, and he hadn't even arrived in China in August.
Song Meiling was chatting with two Americans in English at this time, helping Chang Kaishen translate a sentence or two from time to time.
Chang Kaishen listened more than talked, so he caught a glimpse of the adjutant standing at the gate of the garden and asked, "What's the matter?"
The adjutant replied: "Boss, Mr. Zhou is here."
Chang Kaishen suddenly laughed: "It just so happens that there are two American friends at home, let's call Mingcheng too."
Wilkie asked: "Mr. Jiang, is there any business to deal with?"
Chang Kaishen said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou Hexuan is here, I'll let him come in and have a chat."
"Is that Zhou?" Mike Cowles said. "He's a legend in the American publishing world. His book company has published a series of best-selling books. By the way, his partner is also named Mike, and I have the same name." .”
Song Meiling asked curiously: "Is Mr. Zhou's book company in the United States very large?"
"Of course," Mike Cowles said of the publishing industry, "that book company was on the verge of bankruptcy during the economic crisis, but since it was acquired by Zhou, it quickly turned around. The Titanic, The Talmud: Why the Jews Made Monopoly, The Nalesans, The Grapes of Wrath, and most recently, The Little Prince, and a series of pocket books that have sold well. Zhou’s book company has already ranked fourth in the US publishing industry, and I heard that it plans to go public next year.”
"It's actually the fourth place in the United States. Is it so powerful?" Song Meiling was quite surprised by this.
Song Meiling didn't translate these lines of dialogue, so Chang Kaishen naturally couldn't understand them, but he didn't say anything, just sat on the chair and slowly sipped lemon tea.
A minute later, Zhou Hexuan came to the garden.
The two Yankees immediately got up to greet them, and Song Meiling introduced: "Mingcheng, this is Mr. Wendell Wilkie, the leader of the American Republican International Faction, and this is Mr. Mike Cowles, the founder of the American "Prospect" magazine."
"Welcome to China as guests." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.
Zhou Hexuan heard about Wilkie's name like thunder. When he went to the United States last time, Wilkie's name was everywhere in the newspapers. This guy was the super dark horse in the 1940 U.S. election. He killed a bunch of opponents and became the Republican candidate. He didn't lose until he ran into Roosevelt.
Wilkie used to be a Democrat, representing the interests of Wall Street, and the congressmen vetoed many of Roosevelt's proposals. In order to run for the presidency, he simply jumped to the Republican Party. He belongs to the kind of 100% politician, not a statesman.
Chang Kaishen didn't ask Zhou Hexuan what he was doing here, and Zhou Hexuan didn't mention the Henan disaster in front of Yankees.
Everyone chatted and laughed happily while drinking lemon tea, as if war and famine did not exist.
PS: Originally, I wanted to write about 1949, but I couldn’t write about many things, and the more Lao Wang wrote, the less passionate he became. This book may end early, and it will probably be written in 1945, and Li Xianglan mentioned above will not appear.