Since the fall of Wuhan, the headquarters of "Ta Kung Pao" has been moved to Chongqing, with Zhang Jiluan presiding over the work, while Hu Zhengzhi serves as the chief editor of the Hong Kong branch. There is no distinction between their positions, and they are equally important. The Chongqing headquarters mainly focuses on domestic affairs.
The Hong Kong branch is mainly concerned with international news.
When Zhou Hexuan was still in Chengdu, he called Zhang Jiluan, Cheng Shewo, Zhang Henshui, and Shi Liangcai and arranged for them to gather at Zhou Mansion in Chongqing on March 10.
On February 2, the dragon raises its head.
This is the "Blue Dragon Festival" in the traditional lunar calendar, and it is also the legendary "Birth of the Land." Whether it is the birthday of the Dragon God or the Earth God, today is a day of sacrifices. In ancient times, the queen sent meals and the emperor personally plowed the land to ensure a healthy life.
year's agricultural harvest.
There are several pieces of farmland near Zhou's mansion. The wheat is lush and green, and the rapeseed flowers are about to wither. It looks like it is a good harvest year.
After Chengshe, Zhang Henshui and I walked on the mountain path, admiring the spring scenery along the way.
"Xinyuan, what do you think Mr. Zhou wants to do with us?" Cheng She asked me.
Zhang Henshui smiled and said: "Let's have a normal party."
I shook my head and said, "I don't think so. His tone on the phone was a bit anxious."
"Nevermind, the Zhou family's food is good, and we can have a good meal again today." Zhang Henshui said happily.
The two entered through the back door of Zhou's residence, and when they arrived at the living room, they discovered that Shi Liangcai and Zhang Jiluan were also there.
Shi Liangcai greeted with a smile: "Come and take a look, you two. This is a photo Mingcheng brought back from the Fushun Confucian Temple. It's incredible."
"What photo?" Zhang Henshui leaned over.
"The naked boy," Zhang Jiluan said, "is so strange on the roof of Chongsheng Temple."
Several people circulated the photo and marveled at it, making various speculations about the origin of the naked child, but in the end they were still unable to solve the mystery.
After chatting for a while, Zhang Henshui suddenly asked: "Brother Mingcheng, did you invite us here today just to look at the photos?"
Zhou Hexuan suddenly stopped smiling, shook his head and said: "No, there is something else important. I need your help, gentlemen."
"Please tell me...cough cough cough!" Zhang Jiluan coughed repeatedly. He was not in good health.
Zhou Hexuan described the situation of arresting young men in detail and said solemnly: "I plan to make an investigation report and send reporters to Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Henan and Guangdong provinces to collect detailed data on the government's signs of young men."
As early as 1939, the arrest of young men had provoked several popular uprisings in various provinces, but overall it was not too bad.
Especially in the early two years of the Anti-Japanese War, recruits mainly joined the army voluntarily. Around 1939, the lottery began, that is, each family drew lots to decide who would join the army. Except for a few areas eager to make meritorious services, most of the situations were relatively normal, and the mortality rate of strong men was also low.
Rarely more than 10%.
But this thing is getting worse, because the national government has extremely poor control over the grassroots and the army, which has led to many people becoming more and more courageous and starting to use drafting into the army as a profit-making tool. In addition, the number of conscripts suddenly increased in 1940,
Moreover, the legal currency depreciated and prices soared. The military conscription money allocated by the government was not enough to begin with. After being embezzled layer by layer, there was little left. Even the young men could not be guaranteed to have enough food to eat along the way. As a result, the death rate among the young men increased exponentially.
According to Jiang Menglin's memoirs, he visited a young men's shelter in the summer of 1941. 700 young men walked from Qujiang, Guangdong to Guiyang, and only 17 of them died. No one escaped on the way, because the land was thousands of miles away, and even if they escaped, they would still die.
.
What Jiang Menglin encountered should be a special case. After all, the mortality rate of 97.5% of the strong men was too terrifying (the soldiers were too lazy to boil water for them to drink, and they were not allowed to light their own fires. So they drank boiled water on the way and collectively fell ill with dysentery. It was natural for them to get sick.
It’s even less likely to be given to a doctor).
Those present here are all members of the press. They have some knowledge of the situation of young men, but they are only stuck in their old impressions from the past two years and have not yet gained a new understanding of this year's situation.
Chengshe said to me: "The Libao Newspaper does not have enough reporters. Not to mention other provinces, there are not many reporters even in Sichuan."
Zhang Henshui said with a smile: "I will go to Hunan or Guangxi in person and just take it as a tour guide along the way."
Shi Liangcai said: "This news angle is interesting. Shenbao can send three reporters to cover it."
Zhang Jiluan said: "Ta Kung Pao also sent three reporters."
Obviously, these four people have not attracted attention yet, because the country needs soldiers to fight, and catching strong men is a no-brainer.
Zhou Hexuan did not deliberately persuade them. He would know how powerful it was when the reporters came back from the interview. He said: "This is my plan. Three reporters from each province will be sent to interview the young men's shelters along the way in the name of Red Cross staff. When encountering
Under no circumstances should the reporter’s identity be exposed, record everything you see and hear, and then return to Chongqing to summarize it.”
Cheng Shewo smiled bitterly and said: "Li Bao really doesn't have that many reporters to send."
Zhou Hexuan said: "If there are not enough reporters, we will hire others, but the reporters sent out must be reliable and steady."
"Okay, you are also a shareholder, you have the final say." I didn't refuse again.
Zhang Henshui said: "I will go to Hunan myself."
"I will handle the Red Cross identity of the journalists," said Shi Liangcai, who is the vice president of the Red Cross Society of China.
"Then please!"
Zhou Hexuan said and emphasized: "I would like to remind reporters again not to publish reports without authorization, because this will affect the people's enthusiasm to join the army and serve the country, and will also seriously damage the morale of frontline officers and soldiers."
"Understood!" Everyone began to pay attention to what Zhou Hexuan said seriously.
Reporters from the three newspapers were quickly dispatched, and within half a month, Zhou Hexuan received the first letter from a reporter.
The reporter was responsible for covering the eastern Sichuan area and said in the letter:
"Yours sincerely, Mr. Zhou... I arrived in Wanzhou on the second day of my departure, and there happened to be a troop sending troops from western Hunan... My Red Cross status made them relax their vigilance, and I had medicines with me, so
They respected me very much. The leader also asked me about the way to buy medicine, saying that he wanted to buy some special medicine and resell it... The miserable condition of the young men shocked me. Most of them were drafted into the army, but each of them had a stable home.
The fee is only 1 yuan (it is 1 yuan in legal currency, not cash)..."
"I asked the people who sent the soldiers again, and they didn't hide anything... When sending young men from western Hunan to Chongqing, the government allocated 3 yuan for each young man's food expenses along the way. This was barely enough two years ago. But with the
Prices have risen, and the food expenses of 3 yuan are not enough to make porridge. However, the commander of the local regiment area deducted 1.8 yuan from each person, leaving only 1.2 yuan for food for the young men, and the remaining 1.2 yuan for food was sent to the army.
People deduct..."
"The young men traveled over mountains and ridges for a long time, and their physical strength was already severe. However, they could only drink a small bowl of gruel every day. It was extremely cold at night in the mountains, and the regiment area did not prepare enough cold protection. Many young men were cold and hungry.
They soon became sick. The sick people were not treated at all, and were whipped to rush on their way. If they couldn't walk anymore, they were abandoned on the roadside..."
"When this troop sent troops from western Hunan, there were 800 strong men. When they arrived in Wanzhou, there were only 648 men left. All of them were weak, and nearly half of them were sick..."
"Mr. Zhou, I will continue the interview... Due to the inconvenience of communication, all interview materials will be delivered when I return to Chongqing. Please wait."
After Zhou Hexuan read this letter, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the mortality rate among mature men was less than 20%, which was already beyond Zhou Hexuan's expectations.
