Chang Kaishen said in annoyance: "This Zhou Mingcheng, why is he here again? He just said that I was unwell and was already in bed resting, and asked him to come back another day if he has something to do."
"Yes, Chief!" The adjutant bowed and exited.
After a while, the guard suddenly shouted from outside: "Mr. Zhou, you can't go in, otherwise I won't be polite!"
"If you have the guts, shoot!" Zhou Hexuan said.
"Mr. Zhou, don't put your brothers in trouble," the inner guard begged.
Zhou Hexuan shouted: "People drink to death every day in Henan. There must be retribution for the death of so many people. You will also share in this retribution! Get out of the way!"
"Mr. Zhou...Oh, don't take my gun away!"
"boom!"
The sound of a gunshot startled Lao Jiang, and he quickly asked his attendants to see what was going on.
The attendant came back and said: "It was Mr. Zhou who fired the gun. There were no casualties. He has been caught by the internal guards. Chief, what should I do?"
Chang Kaishen said with a headache: "Let him in."
Zhou Hexuan strode in and slapped a stack of information on the desk: "These are the news sent back by Ta Kung Pao reporters from Henan. If Mr. Jiang does not see me today, then I will let Ta Kung Pao report it tomorrow."
"What's going on?" Chang Kaishen asked.
Zhou Hexuan said: "Let's talk about Xuchang first. The disaster in Xuchang was not the most serious, but the number of people who starved to death in Xuchang was the highest. For political achievements, Xuchang County Magistrate Wang Hengwu increased the land tax last year, and it was the highest among counties in Henan.
!His slogan for this year’s grain collection is: I would rather starve to death ten common people than starve to death one soldier!”
Chang Kaishen said: "It's just a propaganda slogan, and it is also for the sake of the war of resistance."
Zhou Hexuan sneered: "He is not just shouting slogans. Do you know how County Magistrate Wang collects grain? For any wealthy household with more than forty or fifty acres of land, he will send six people and three animals to pull the cart.
The food for the people and animals must be provided by this household."
"Well done!" Chang Kaishen clapped his hands and praised, "Most of the rich gentry and landlords are moths. They collude with the armor commanders to avoid conscription and food requisition. If they don't use thunderous means, they can't even think of a word. What's more, the country
The requisitioned grain is traded at market prices and is not free. Letting the landlords, rich gentry, and the wealthy gentry sell the excess grain as military ration will be of great benefit to the country and the people."
"But do you know what those people who collect grain do?" Zhou Hexuan said angrily, "They live in the homes of rich families, eat white flour and eggs every meal, and their animals must also be fed grain, and they often extort money. Those in Xuchang County
The rich peasants with dozens of acres of land were actually starved to death by County Magistrate Wang! Moreover, they not only did this to the rich peasants, but also to ordinary farmers. The grain requisitioners stayed in the farmers' homes and did not leave, and the farmers themselves had no choice but to do so.
To eat, we had to pay grain. We sold all the things we could sell at home to buy grain and turned it over. Farmers bought grain at market prices, but when they sold it to grain collectors, they could only charge official prices. Now all the farmers’ homes in Xuchang are empty.
There are no farming tools, no cattle and horses, and no grain to save seeds. How can we complete the task of collecting grain next year with this method of harvesting grain from the lake?"
Chang Kaishen nodded and said: "It's indeed a bit excessive."
Zhou Hexuan added: "Now that food prices in Xuchang County have skyrocketed, citizens can no longer afford to buy food. By the way, your youngest son, Yang Quesu, the secretary-general of the Xuchang Branch of the Three Youth League, has become ill due to malnutrition and is about to die.
Got it!"
Chang Kaishen was stunned and in disbelief.
The Three Youth League is composed of key members of the Lanyi Club and the CC clique. Chang Kaishen personally serves as the leader, and he has high hopes for it. Now the son of the secretary-general of the Xuchang branch of the Three Youth League is about to starve to death. This
It's just a big joke.
"The people have already been affected by the disaster, and local officials are taxing them so violently, which is tantamount to adding insult to injury," Zhou Hexuan said. "According to incomplete statistics, more than 20,000 people have starved to death in Xuchang County. If this continues, at least 20,000 people will be starved to death by the end of the year."
Fifty thousand people will starve to death, and by next spring more than 100,000 people will definitely die of starvation, and it is even possible that 200,000 people will starve to death!"
Chang Kaishen remained silent.
Zhou Hexuan added: "I know that the central government has begun disaster relief, and I also know that the grain levy is to prepare for the war of resistance. But Chairman Li Peiji of Henan Province is too powerful. He forcibly lowered grain prices and strictly enforced them. This is normal in normal years.
It is very rare. I have to praise him for being a good official and avoiding the possibility of rich farmers taking advantage of the situation. But it cannot be done now. The provincial government has forcibly suppressed food prices, and private food has been expropriated. Rich peasants and farmers below
All the grain in the country has been emptied, and only large landowners and grain merchants still have grain available. These large landowners and grain merchants are afraid of being targeted by the government, so they no longer dare to sell grain, and even secretly transport it to other provinces. Grain merchants in other provinces are afraid of being targeted by the government.
The price of grain in Henan is too low, and they are unwilling to transport grain to sell, resulting in a lack of grain in the entire Henan market. Not to mention the poor, even the rich can't buy grain with money now! For such disaster relief, even if the central government allocates 100
Hundreds of millions of disaster relief funds will not help unless we directly transport grain to Henan."
"You leave the information and let me think about it." Chang Kaishen waved.
"Farewell!" Zhou Hexuan left angrily.
The great famine in Henan in 1942 was entirely a man-made disaster, which was different from the severe drought in Sichuan in 1936. Sichuan suffered from continuous disasters and had poor harvests for many years, while Henan had good weather for several consecutive years. Even after the disaster in 1941, it was able to complete the grain collection task in full.
However, it is precisely because of the need to pay grain after the disaster in 1941 that all the people's previous grain reserves were emptied, and the grain requisition intensified in 1942, which led to the current situation where people are starving after the disaster.
The most speechless thing is that the provincial chairman Li Peiji is so capable that the situation is so bad that he can forcefully suppress the price of grain in Henan Province. As a result, grain from other provinces is unwilling to be shipped to Henan for sale, and grain from Henan is secretly shipped to other provinces.
.
Chang Kaishen looked extremely gloomy after reading the disaster information sent by Zhou Hexuan. The current situation was actually much more severe than he imagined.
But the problem is that the food levy must continue. It is true that the military rations can no longer sustain it.
Chang Kaishen called the attendant secretary: "Immediately send a telegram to order the Henan Provincial Government to reduce this year's grain collection task by 20%. Also, remove Wang Hengwu, the county magistrate of Xuchang County, and investigate. It will not be enough if he is not killed."
The common people are angry."
The murder was of course out of anger for the common people, since the food that should be collected had already been collected.
This guy has gone crazy for political achievements. He can starve to death an average of 60 to 70% of the population of each small landowner in Xuchang who own dozens of acres of land.
Historically, Wang Hengwu was quickly promoted to Nanyang Commissioner because of his outstanding performance in grain collection. However, because of the great public dissatisfaction with him in Xuchang, Chiang Kai-shek had to remove him from his post and was taken to Luoyang Military Court for trial. Due to the fall of Luoyang,
And escaped trial. Until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, this man was buried alive by the angry people of Xuchang, and was charged with treason. It was really unsatisfactory retribution.
That was all Zhou Hexuan could do, prompting Chiang Kai-shek to lower the grain collection task in Henan by 20% in 1942. Perhaps some fewer people would die as a result.
Disaster relief cannot save people. Donating food and donations may save one person, but the government's food requisition can force the death of ten people.
It’s no good if we don’t levy it. It’s just for the war of resistance, at least that’s what many state officials think.
