Chapter 211 210 [Red Grain Problem]

The location of the disaster relief entertainment fair is near the Taigong Temple on the outskirts of the city.

Many fleeing victims were hired to level the land and build performance stages, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.

As soon as Zhou Hexuan and the others arrived at the place, the local person in charge immediately greeted them and took them into the city to arrange accommodation.

The situation in the county is extremely bad, and ragged beggars can be seen everywhere. At least 30% of the shops on both sides of the street are closed, which shows the decline of commerce.

Zhou Hexuan even saw that a grain shop was closed, and a sign was hung outside, saying: Grain is sold out!

I don't know if it is true that the food has been sold out, or the boss is not selling it on purpose, anyway, the situation is not optimistic.

When they came to the hotel, just as everyone put down their belongings, an old man in a long gown came to pay a visit and saluted with fists together: "Thank you for your help, old man Zhang Quan'an, the president of the Shanghe County Charity Association."

"Hi, President Zhang, I am Zhou Hexuan from the Tianjin Jimin Association," Zhou Hexuan introduced, "This is the former Qing empress Wanrong, this is Meng Xiaodong, and the Spring Heban brought by her."

Zhang Quan'an was a little confused, and excitedly said: "Emperor... Empress Empress is here too?"

"Hello, I'm Wanrong." Wanrong stretched out her hand gracefully, she is much more cheerful now than before.

Zhang Quanan stood there stunned, feeling the urge to kneel and kowtow, but after thinking about it, he shook hands with Wanrong tremblingly, his old face flushed and said: "I am the people of Shanghe County, welcome to the empress!"

Wan Rong said, "Just call me Ms. Guo."

Zhang Quan'an said yes again and again, and was excited for a long time before talking to Meng Xiaodong and Chun Heban.

After the greetings were over, Zhou Hexuan asked, "President Zhang, can you tell us about the disaster relief situation in Shanghe County?"

"Ah," Zhang Quan'an sighed first, and then began to talk, "Last year's famine started in southern Shandong, which was the hardest-hit area, and Shanghe County is actually not bad. A large number of victims from southern Shandong went north, and they all gathered in Jinan, the provincial capital. .Shanghe County is next to Jinan, and received many victims. But then there was also a spring famine in the local area, plus locust plagues and droughts, and the number of victims increased. Local wealthy businessmen and gentry also donated money to put porridge a few times. Unfortunately, It didn’t help. The victims then went north to the Guandong, and many of them froze to death in winter. At the beginning of this year, there were only a few hundred people left.”

"That's pretty good." Zhou Hexuan said.

"The most hateful thing is that damned little Japanese!"

Zhang Quan'an scolded: "This year's disaster has become more and more serious, and the little Japan has killed people everywhere in Jinan. The residents and disaster victims in the city have to run to the north. Our Shanghe County is the only way to escape. In the past few days, two people have come here all at once. Thirty thousand people, the grass roots and bark outside the city were stripped off."

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Aside from money, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Money is useless," Zhang Quan'an emphasized. "The most important thing is food. Now Shandong has money and can't buy food. I donated 30,000 catties of food this time, and took out all the old ones. But according to the current situation Look, these rations won't last long. To put it bluntly, the old man's family has a big business, and there are many people who need to support them. Donating 30,000 catties of rations is my limit, and I have to keep some just in case."

"Can the government transport food?" Zhou Hexuan asked again.

"What the hell," Zhang Quan'an cursed, "Southern Shandong is the hardest-hit area. The food shipped from the south has already been distributed in southern Shandong. How can we get to Shanghe County? You don't know, There are also bandits outside the city, which used to be only one or two hundred people. But because of the famine, they have now grown to more than 2,000 people. Robbery and kidnapping are commonplace. My village in the east of the city was ransacked by them, and even the seedlings were pulled out. Eat. If this continues, the number of bandits will increase, and they may even attack the county seat. Qidong County in the southeast (later merged into Zouping County) was captured by bandits a few days ago. The leader of the bandit is Zhang Mingjiu , I heard that he used to be Zhang Zongchang's orderly."

Zhou Hexuan asked: "What about the Red Gun Club? I heard that the Red Gun Club in Shandong is very noisy."

"I don't know about other places. The Red Guns around Jinan are pretty safe. They just resist rent and donations, and unite against the government. Under normal circumstances, as long as they are not gentry who do too much evil, they will not mess around," Zhang Quan'an sighed, "Oh, it would be great if the red grain in the Northeast kept shipping! The price of sorghum rice is low, and you can keep your fill."

Zhou Hexuan thought about it, and said to himself: "Maybe I can think of a way."

"Mr. Zhou, do you have a solution?" Zhang Quanan said excitedly.

"I know Young Marshal Zhang, so I may be able to persuade him to continue transporting the red grain," Zhou Hexuan said, "but we must communicate with the southern government in advance, otherwise the red grain may be intercepted as enemy capital if it is transported halfway."

Zhang Quan'an grabbed Zhou Hexuan's hand: "Mr. Zhou, if you can do this, you will be the savior of Shandong people!"

"Do your best, whether you can succeed or not depends on God's will." Zhou Hexuan said.

Zhang Quan'an asked and thanked him again and again, and chatted with Wanrong and Meng Xiaodong for a few words, then he took his leave and left, he still had other guests to visit.

After dark, Zhou Hexuan was about to continue writing "The Chrysanthemum and the Knife" after dinner, when Hallet Aban suddenly came knocking on the door.

The face of this American reporter was very ugly. When he met him, he said: "I just interviewed 12 refugees from Jinan. According to them, the Japanese army is indeed causing trouble on purpose. Since the Northern Expedition entered Jinan on May 1, the Japanese army Just killing Chinese soldiers and civilians sporadically, I was deceived by the Japanese!"

Zhou Hexuan said: "I hope you can report this truthfully."

"I will, thank you for reminding me." Harrett Arban said and left.

"Wait a minute!" Zhou Hexuan shouted.

Harriet Arban asked, "Anything else?"

Zhou Hexuan said, "Have you ever thought about why the Japanese committed massacres in Jinan?"

"The massacre of civilians and diplomatic personnel is completely beyond common sense. It can only be said that the Japanese are too cruel." Hallet Aban said.

Zhou Hexuan reminded: "What if the Jinan incident is combined with the "Tanaka Memorial" and the Manchurian issue?"

Haret Aban still couldn't figure it out, and asked, "Are these incidents related?"

"Of course there is," Zhou Hexuan said. "From the very beginning, the Japanese regarded Northeast China and Shandong as their sphere of influence, and no one else would be allowed to interfere. From last year's Eastern Conference, Japan has decided to invade China by force. This time they The massacre in Jinan, in my opinion, was to test the reactions of the great powers and the southern government. As a result, the great powers only condemned, and the southern government was extremely weak. Their next step should be to assassinate Zhang Zuolin, and in the next two days Invade the Northeast within three years."

Hallet Aban was dumbfounded when he heard it, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it made sense. But this is just speculation, and there is no fact to verify it.

He returned to his room, spread out the manuscript paper and wrote: "The Jinan incident that occurred from May 3rd to May 11th has been thoroughly ascertained. All the causes originated from Japan..."