The disaster relief party was held near the Taigong Temple on the outskirts of the city.
Many people who had fled the disaster were hired to level the land and build a performance stage, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.
As soon as Zhou Hexuan and others arrived, 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. Beggars in ragged clothes can be seen everywhere. At least 30% of the shops on both sides of the street are closed, which shows the decline of business.
Zhou Hexuan even saw a grain shop with its door closed, and a sign hanging outside saying: Grain has been sold!
I don’t know if the grain has really been sold out, or if the boss is deliberately not selling it, but the situation is not optimistic anyway.
When they arrived at the hotel, everyone had just put down their belongings when an old man in a long gown came to pay him a visit. He cupped his fists and saluted: "Thank you all for your help, Zhang Quan'an, the old man, president of the Shanghe County Charity Association."
"Hello, President Zhang, I am Zhou Hexuan of Tianjin Jimin Association," Zhou Hexuan introduced, "This is Wanrong, the former Queen of the Qing Dynasty, and this is Meng Xiaodong, and Chunhe Ban she brought."
Zhang Quanan was a little confused and said excitedly: "The Emperor...the Queen is here too?"
"Hello, I'm Wanrong." Wanrong extended her hand generously. She is now much more cheerful than before.
Zhang Quanan was stunned there, with the urge to kneel down and kowtow, but after thinking about it, he shook hands with Wanrong tremblingly, his face flushed and he said: "On behalf of the people of Shanghe County, I would like to welcome the Queen!"
Wanrong said: "Just call me Miss Guo."
Zhang Quan'an said yes repeatedly, and he was excited for a long time before talking to Meng Xiaodong and Chun Heban.
After the greetings were completed, Zhou Hexuan asked: "President Zhang, can you tell us about the disaster relief situation in Shanghe County?"
"Alas," Zhang Quan'an sighed before starting to tell, "Last year's famine started in southern Shandong, which was the hardest-hit area. Shanghe County was actually doing relatively well. A large number of victims from southern Shandong went north and gathered in Jinan, the provincial capital.
Shanghe County is right next to Jinan and has received many victims. However, later there was a spring famine in the local area. Coupled with the locust plague and drought, the number of victims increased. The local wealthy businessmen and gentry also donated money to put out porridge several times. Unfortunately,
To no avail. The victims later headed north to Guandong, and many of them froze to death in the winter. At the beginning of this year, there were only a few hundred people left."
"That's not bad." Zhou Hexuan said.
"The most hateful thing is that damn little Japanese boy!"
Zhang Quan'an denounced: "This year's disaster has become more and more serious. The Japanese are killing people everywhere in Jinan. City residents and victims have no choice but to run north. Our Shanghe County is the only way to escape. In the past few days, two people have arrived at once."
There were 30,000 people, and all the grass roots and tree bark outside the city were stripped bare."
Zhou Hexuan asked: "Besides money, is there anything else you need help with?"
"Money is useless," Zhang Quan'an emphasized. "The most important thing is food. Now even if you have money in Shandong, you can't buy food. I donated 30,000 kilograms of food this time and paid out all my money. But according to the current situation
Look, this food won't last long at all. To put it bluntly, the old man's family has a big business and a lot of people to feed. Donating 30,000 kilograms of food is my limit, I have to keep some just in case."
"Can the government transport grain?" Zhou Hexuan asked again.
"You're lucky," Zhang Quan'an said in a foul language, "Shandong is the hardest-hit area. The food shipped from the south has been diluted when it reaches Shandong. How can it reach Shanghe County? You don't know,
There are still bandits outside the city. They used to have only one or two hundred people. But because of the famine, they have now grown to more than 2,000 people. They commit robberies and kidnappings. My village in the east of the city was looted by them, and even the seedlings were pulled out.
Eat. If the trouble continues like this, the number of bandits will increase and they may even attack the county. Qidong County in the southeast (later merged into Zouping County) was captured by bandits a few days ago. The bandit leader is Zhang Mingjiu.
, I heard that he used to be Zhang Zongchang’s orderly."
Zhou Hexuan asked: "Where is the Red Spear Club? I heard that the Red Spear Club in Shandong is very troubled."
"I don't know about other places. The Red Spear Association around Jinan is quite peaceful. They just resist rent and donations and unite to deal with the government. Under normal circumstances, as long as they are not gentry who have done too much evil, they will not act randomly."
Zhang Quan'an sighed, "Well, it would be great if the red grain from the Northeast continued to be shipped! The price of sorghum rice is low, and we can keep enough food."
Zhou Hexuan thought about it and said to himself: "Maybe I can think of a way."
"Mr. Zhou, do you have any idea?" Zhang Quan'an said excitedly.
"I know Marshal Zhang, and I may be able to persuade him to continue transporting red grain," Zhou Hexuan said, "but we must communicate with the southern government in advance, otherwise the red grain may be intercepted as enemy property halfway through the transportation."
Zhang Quan'an grabbed Zhou Hexuan's hand: "Mr. Zhou, if you can accomplish this, you will be the great savior of the people of Shandong!"
"Just try your best. Whether you can succeed or not depends on God's will." Zhou Hexuan said.
Zhang Quan'an thanked him again and again, chatted with Wan Rong, Meng Xiaodong and the others for a few words, then said goodbye and left. He had other guests to visit.
After dark, Zhou Hexuan had dinner and was about to continue writing "The Chrysanthemum and the Knife" when Harriet Abban suddenly came knocking on the door.
The American reporter had a very ugly face. When he met, he said: "I just interviewed 12 refugees from Jinan. According to them, it is indeed the Japanese army who are deliberately causing trouble. Since the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Jinan on May 1, the Japanese army
Just by killing Chinese soldiers and civilians sporadically, I was deceived by the Japanese!"
Zhou Hexuan said: "I hope you can report this matter truthfully."
"I will, thank you for reminding me." Haret Abban said and left.
"Wait a minute!" Zhou Hexuan shouted.
Hallet Abban asked: "Anything else?"
Zhou Hexuan said: "Have you ever thought about why the Japanese committed massacre in Jinan?"
"The massacre of civilians and diplomats is completely beyond common sense. It can only be said that the Japanese are too cruel." Haret Abban said.
Zhou Hexuan reminded: "What if we combine the Jinan incident with the Tanaka Memorial and the Manchu-Mongolia issue?"
Hallet Abban still couldn't figure it out and asked: "Are these incidents related?"
"Of course," Zhou Hexuan said, "The Japanese regarded Northeast China and Shandong as their sphere of influence from the beginning, and did not allow others to interfere. From last year's Eastern Conference, we know that Japan has decided to invade China with force. This time they
In my opinion, the massacre in Jinan was just to test the reaction of the great powers and the southern government. As a result, the great powers only condemned it, and the southern government showed extremely weakness. Their next step should be to assassinate Zhang Zuolin and carry out the assassination in the next two days.
Invade Northeast China within three years.”
Haret Abban was stunned when he heard this, but when he thought about it carefully, he felt that it made sense. But this was just a guess, and he could not find any facts to verify it.
He returned to his room, spread out his manuscript paper and wrote: "The truth of the Jinan incident that occurred from May 3 to May 11 has been completely ascertained. All causes originated from Japan..."