Zhou Hexuan's return to Tianjin this time was extremely bumpy.
After he said goodbye to Zhang Henshui and married me in Nanjing, he originally planned to cross the river to Pukou Railway Station to buy a ticket. However, there was a sudden heavy rain that day, so he had to stay in the hotel. Moreover, the heavy rain lasted for two days and two nights.
From Sichuan to Shanghai, floods occurred along the entire Yangtze River, with the disaster in the middle and lower reaches being particularly severe.
The Yangtze River ferry in Nanjing was immediately suspended. I heard that there was flooding on the Huaihe River, and it was impossible to take the train north. Zhou Hexuan had to return to Shanghai from Nanjing and took the sea route to Tianjin. However, the short route from Nanjing to Shanghai is
Seven or eight railway tracks were washed away by heavy rains.
After nearly half a month of struggle, Zhou Hexuan finally arrived in Shanghai. When he bought a ticket and boarded the ship, the news in all newspapers across the country was all about disasters and disaster relief.
Since Chiang Kai-shek came to power, natural disasters have occurred frequently in China in the past few years, and it seems that God is trying to deal with Chang Kaishen.
In 1931, China's largest flood since the late Qing Dynasty broke out; in 1934, China's largest drought since the late Qing Dynasty broke out. This year, the disasters in 1931 and 1934 were combined, and there has been widespread drought across the country since the spring.
In the summer, there are heavy floods again, and various droughts are mixed with the floods.
At this moment, most of China has entered disaster mode. Even the riverbeds in drought-stricken areas have cracked, and the flood-logged areas have become a swamp. It is simply a world of ice and fire.
The Yangtze River and the Yellow River overflowed at the same time, and the floods affected 241 counties alone, including Hubei, Hunan, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi... These provinces are the hardest-hit areas. For example, Wuhan, the city was flooded for more than 90 days.
, many people rely on rowing to go to work.
Anyway, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge invested by Zhou Hexuan cannot start construction, and it will have to be delayed until at least October.
Chang Kaishen is really depressed. China's economy has been in bad shape this year, and now there is another layer of natural disasters. The British have been reluctant to borrow money, the United States has stood still, and Japan has not backed down. This makes the confident old Chiang Kai-shek
Some panicked and even brought Germany in to try to solve the silver crisis.
Because of the experience of major disasters in 1931 and 1934, the Nanjing National Government's disaster relief capabilities have been greatly improved. The government's disaster relief system and private charity groups are operating at the fastest speed, and the national media have worked together to help publicize, report and supervise.
This is a manifestation of the cohesion of the country and the nation. In times of crisis, most Chinese people can form a rope and tide over the difficulties as one.
This is true when facing natural disasters, and it is also true when facing invasion by foreign enemies.
As long as this cohesion is maintained, China will never sink and will rise sooner or later.
When Zhou Hexuan left Shanghai, Du Yuesheng, vice president of the Red Cross Society of China, made a special visit to raise funds for disaster relief. Zhou Hexuan heard that Du Yuesheng had donated 30,000 yuan, so he also donated 30,000 yuan. At the same time, he sent a telegram to Hongmen in the United States, hoping to purchase
20 tons of corn were shipped to make disaster relief food.
When the ship arrived in Tianjin, Zhou Hexuan found that Tianjin was also flooded. The Haihe River had swollen and had reached more than 20 meters away from the gate of Sanletang.
Charitable organizations in Peiping and Tianjin heard that Zhou Hexuan had returned to Tianjin and immediately sent people to collect donations. Apparently, Mr. Zhou's reputation for charity had already spread throughout the country. Salesian Association, Red Cross Society, Yellow Cross Society, Red Cross Society...
Zhou Hexuan spent another 200,000 yuan.
This time the Nanjing government's disaster relief efforts were very strong, or in other words, it looked very strong, but it was actually far less than the disaster relief investment in 1931, because the government had no money.
But since it is the central government, regardless of whether it has money or not, it must do enough. Especially when disaster relief is weak, it is even more necessary to do a good job in appearance, so it vigorously praises private philanthropists, sets various examples, and promotes good people and good deeds.
The Nanjing government even organized manpower to carefully analyze the amount of individual donations for disaster relief in major cities. For example, Du Yuesheng's disaster relief data in 1935 was: self-donation was more than 50,000 yuan, and public donations were more than 200,000 yuan.
The government's commendations are also very impressive. Du Yuesheng was specially awarded the "Third Class Jade Medal" and presented with personal inscriptions by national leaders. Chang Kaishen wrote "Be kind and generous", and Wang Zhaoming wrote "Be kind to the people and love things".
All those philanthropists who are well-known, have raised money, and donated a lot have received awards from the central or local governments. In Shanghai and Nanjing alone, nearly 10 "Jade Mining Medals" were awarded at one time, which is almost the same as wholesale.
Like cabbage.
Everything shows that the central government is really unable to provide disaster relief and can only rely on private power.
Charity statistics for Tianjin and Peiping were soon released and published in detail in major newspapers. Zhou Hexuan topped the list with an annual donation of 260,000. The national government sent a commissioner to Tianjin to award the award, and by the way, he also brought Chang Kaishen, Wang Zhaoming, etc.
Human inscription.
It was simply like a farce. Before the flood on the streets of Tianjin had completely dissipated, the honorees gathered at the official residence of the Tianjin Municipal Government, and countless reporters came to take photos and report.
After the commendation meeting, the Tianjin Municipal Government also arranged a dinner. Since Chiang Kai-shek advocated a new life and it was during a disaster, the table was full of vegetarian dishes, and everything seemed normal. But Zhou Hexuan knew that the official specially sent by the central government made a lot of money during this trip.
There was a lot of money, and just a few Tianjin businessmen who were commended gave a lot of money, called "travel and horse fees."
Because Zhou Hexuan did not pay the "travel fee", the special commissioner was very unhappy and would probably say bad things about him after returning to Nanjing.
Zhou Hexuan did not attend the dinner and went home directly with the medal and leader's inscription.
As soon as she entered the house, Zhang Leyi held Zhou Hexuan's hand and said happily: "Take out the medal and see!"
"There's nothing interesting to see, just take it apart yourself." Zhou Hexuan said nonchalantly.
"I want to see, I want to see!"
Little Lingjun jumped up and grabbed the medal box, and Little Weilie also came around when he heard the noise.
Zhang Leyi opened the box and took a look, and was immediately surprised: "This medal is so big!"
It's really big. The "Jade Picking Medal" is the largest medal among all the medals issued by the Nanjing National Government.
This thing was promulgated at the end of last year. "Caiyu" means "Caiyu" in the Book of Songs: "A gentleman should be remembered as warm as jade." It is also said that Chiang Kai-shek's mother was named Wang Caiyu, and "Caiyu" was named in memory of his mother.
In the beginning, the "Jade Picking Medal" was not divided into grades and was only awarded to heads of state (including foreign heads of state). In China, only Chiang Kai-shek and Lin Sen were qualified to wear it, not even Wang Zhaoming.
Now, in order to commend charity, the central government has actually graded the "Jade Cai Medal". The first-class medal is awarded to the head of state, and the second-class and third-class medals are awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to the private sector.
Including Du Yuesheng, everyone received a third-class medal this time. Only Zhou Hexuan received a second-class medal, which was probably specially instructed by Lao Jiang.
"A medal with a ribbon is a very high level." Liao Yaquan said in surprise.
Ordinary medals can be hung directly on the chest. The "Jade Medal" is undoubtedly the top-level medal. It comes with a special ribbon and must be worn when wearing formal clothes. Wearing it in regular clothes is against the rules.
Zhou Hexuan said with a sarcastic tone: "Chiang Kai-shek has done a great job this time and has given away all the top medals in batches. Look at the national emblem in the middle of the medal. It is made of high-quality Hetian jade, which means 'the country is supreme and a gentleman is like jade'."
"
This thing will definitely be popular if you take it out. A "jade medal" is as big as two or three ordinary medals, and it is very heavy. It can be used as a weapon to hit people.
I wonder if you have ever seen a palm-sized medal?
