Human-powered cranes unloaded bags of grain onto the shore, and porters lined up in a long line to transfer them. Not far away, there were countless onlookers, and they were even beating gongs and beating lions to celebrate.
Situ Juncong, Wuzhou Hongmen's representative in China, walked off the deck with his head held high, and the attendant behind him held a loudspeaker and shouted: "Hongmen Zhigongtang, together with all Chinese Americans, donated 200,000 tons of corn to the disaster-stricken compatriots in China.
Mr. Zhou Hexuan personally donated 150,000 tons of corn! The first batch of 90,000 tons of grain has arrived in Shanghai. I wish our country, China, peace and prosperity, and the disaster-stricken compatriots will get through the disaster as soon as possible!"
"good!"
The onlookers cheered loudly.
Du Yuesheng, Huang Jinrong, Zhang Xiaolin and others came forward to greet him. Lao Du held Situ Juncong's hand and said, "Mr. Situ, on behalf of the victims of the disaster across the country, I would like to thank you, Hongmen Zhi Gong Tang and Mr. Zhou!"
"Mr. Du, you're welcome. This is our responsibility as sons and daughters of China," Situ Juncong asked, "Where are the people from the Flood Relief Committee?"
Du Yuesheng smiled and explained: "The person in charge of the Shanghai area is almost here. I also sent a telegram to Minister Song Ziwen and Song. He is now taking the train to Shanghai."
Because Du Yuesheng is very active in charity, he is now the president of the Shanghai branch of the Red Cross Society of China, and will serve as the vice president of the Red Cross Society of China (General Federation) in two years. It is absolutely impossible for this Youth Gang boss to embezzle disaster relief funds
, for many years, all the gifts Du Yuesheng received for his birthday have been donated to charity.
People don't lack money, but they lack social recognition.
Huang Jinrong and Zhang Xiaolin also shook hands with Situ Juncong one after another, expressing their admiration and praise.
Countless grains were unloaded from ocean-going cargo ships and piled up like mountains, as if they would never be finished. The onlookers marveled at the sight.
"How much food will this cost?"
"Didn't you hear just now? Hongmen and Mr. Zhou from the United States donated a total of 350,000 tons. This is just the first batch, a full 90,000 tons!"
"God, one donation is worth hundreds of thousands of tons. Hongmen and Mr. Zhou are really rich."
"There are many rich people, but I haven't seen them donate much. Mr. Zhou is still very warm-hearted."
"Mr. Zhou is a great man, the reincarnation of Bodhisattva, Amitabha."
"Now the victims can be saved."
"It's difficult. Even if hundreds of thousands of tons of grain are distributed across the country, it won't be enough to last for two days."
"Oh, this world!"
"..."
In fact, Zhou Hexuan did not spend much money to buy grain. What he purchased was the cheapest corn. Because he purchased in large quantities, the unit price per kilogram was only US$0.001, and 150,000 tons of corn cost a total of US$150,000. On the contrary, transportation and storage costs were extremely expensive (
American farmers do not want to pay freight and need to purchase at door-to-door). The total cost of purchasing and transshipping in the United States, plus shipping to China, is as high as 30,000 US dollars.
So those officials in the Nanjing government are not smart enough to buy a piece of wheat. For the price of one pound of wheat in the United States, you can buy more than 40 pounds of corn. Corn is so cheap that farmers are too lazy to harvest it, and many farms are simply burned down.
All is gone. How many victims can be saved by transporting this corn to China?
The same scene happened at the Tianjin dock. The next day, the second batch of 60,000 tons of corn arrived in Tianjin to help the victims in the northern region. The amount of corn donated to the north was not as large as that of the south. This was Zhou Hexuan's practical consideration. After all, this time
The hardest hit area is the Jianghuai generation.
In the following days, major newspapers across the country reported on it, causing a huge stir in public opinion.
Song Ziwen also immediately issued an announcement, announcing that the Flood Relief Committee had purchased 450,000 tons of wheat on credit from the U.S. government. Disaster victims in various places should be patient for the time being, and a large amount of relief grain would be shipped soon.
This announcement made many people despise it. The Americans Hongmen and Zhou Hexuan both jointly donated 350,000 tons of grain, but the central government only ordered 450,000 tons.
"The Shenbao" did not hesitate to praise: "China is suffering from a flood that is unprecedented in a century. All walks of life have donated generously. Mr. Zhou personally donated 150,000 tons of food. He should be regarded as the first martyr of China!"
After Yu Youren saw the news report, he even wrote a special couplet and sent it to Zhou Hexuan from the south to Tianjin. The content was: learned both Chinese and Western knowledge, full of splendid pillars; countless living people, full of passionate Bodhisattva heart.
…
Nanjing, Qilu.
Song Meiling's mother had just died of illness, and she had gone back to her hometown to attend the funeral, but Chang Kaishen couldn't leave.
Chang Kaishen put down the newspaper in his hand and asked: "Did Zhou Mingcheng and the American Hongmen really donate hundreds of thousands of tons of food?"
"This is true," Song Ziwen said, "I specially asked someone to check it. They are all high-quality corn, which can temporarily alleviate the famine in the Jianghuai disaster area."
"Alas, natural disasters continue, and bandits are rising again," Chang Kaishen cursed depressedly, "Mother Xipi, Chen Jitang, and Bai Chongxi really know how to choose the right time! Ziwen, please put down your work temporarily and go to Guangzhou.
Try to win over Wang Zhaoming. I will give him whatever he wants, and if he wants to be the Executive Dean, I will give him too!"
Song Ziwen hesitated and said: "Wang Zhaoming is now the leader of the puppet government in Guangzhou. I'm afraid it will be difficult to convince him because of the high salary and high salary, right?"
"Wang Zhaoming is the only one who still wants to be a leader? Haha," Chang Kaishen said with a disdainful smile, "He is just a sign that Chen Jitang holds up in front of him."
Nowadays, Guangzhou and Nanjing are in a hostile relationship, and Song Ziwen is not willing to take risks. He excused himself: "The disaster relief work is busy, so I'd better go there after a while. At least I have to repel the Guangdong-Guangxi coalition forces first."
Chang Kaishen thought about it carefully and felt that the time to win over Wang Zhaoming was a bit premature, so he nodded and said: "That's fine. By the way, you can issue a commendation order to Zhou Mingcheng in the name of the National Flood Relief Committee. He likes to collect calligraphy from famous people.
, last time the character "bearded man" (Yu Youren) was missing, now please ask the beard man to write another one for Zhou Mingcheng."
Wang Zhaoming left immediately after receiving the order. He was a busy man.
Chang Kaishen was sitting on the sofa, rubbing his temples in exhaustion. He had become a dog in the water within the Kuomintang, and everyone wanted to beat him up.
Nowadays, flood disasters are serious across the country, but the Guangzhou National Government ignored the disaster and chose to send troops to fight at this time. Just yesterday, under the supervision of Wang Zhaoming, the generals of Guangdong and Guangxi, with Chen Jitang as the commander-in-chief, Bai Chongxi as the vanguard officer, and Tang Shengzhi and other ministries,
Send 50,000 troops north to attack Hunan.
The rebellious Guangdong army has jointly sent troops with the Guangxi army, and the Hunan defender is He Jian. Chang Kaishen is very worried about He Jian. The army under He Jian is Tang Shengzhi's old army. It is possible that Guangdong and Guangxi are fighting each other.
, the three armies of Hunan must unite to fight against Chiang.
It was already early September, and the Guangdong-Guangxi Allied Forces were marching northward. The Hunan Army was in danger, and all parts of the country were flooded. Chang Kaishen wanted to raise money for disaster relief while also raising money to send troops. He was already too poor to sell iron.
Not only that, Chang Kaishen is also very unstable politically. Many factions of the Kuomintang are secretly making trouble, preparing to convene the Fourth National Congress of the Kuomintang and using political means to force Chang Kaishen to step down.
At this moment, Yan Xishan was also flying back to his hometown of Shanxi from Dalian on a Japanese plane.
The subordinates were worried about Yan Xishan's safety and asked: "Commander, when you return to Shanxi, aren't you afraid of being oppressed by Chang Kaishen and Zhang Xueliang?"
Yan Xishan smiled and replied: "They don't care about me."
He really couldn't care less about natural disasters, civil strife, and invasion by foreign invaders, so Yan Xishan chose a good time to make a comeback.