mixed in the war

Lao Jiang is a stubborn person.

At the beginning, he believed that the Communist Party was the greatest threat to him, so he would rather watch the Japanese encroach on the three eastern provinces, watch the Japanese send troops to Beijing and Tianjin, and watch the Japanese encroach on North China step by step. Watching the squadron being kicked out of Songhu, he was still determined to wipe out the gang first, even though the gang had already been driven to northern Shaanxi by him at that time, no matter how you looked at it, they looked like they were lingering.At that time, according to the poems he wrote in the future, it was really "it is better to chase the poor with the remaining bravery, not to become famous and learn from the overlord".And in the future war of liberation, the Communist Party is unwilling to let him recuperate on the south bank of the Yangtze River. I am afraid that one or two points are "learning" from his "model"!

Of course, whether it was Lao Jiang who relentlessly pursued the Red Army at the time, or the People's Liberation Army who relentlessly pursued him and someone like Jiang in the future, the reasons must be extremely complicated, not just one or two.But Lao Jiang's temper can be seen from this.

In addition to his stubbornness, Lao Jiang also has another characteristic, which is the same as many warlords of his time: they don't pay attention to the common people, or they don't care about the life and death of the common people at all.

Some people may question, how can a leader not care about the life and death of the people in his own country?Even if Lao Jiang is a reactionary, you can't talk nonsense like this.You know, Lao Jiang even let go of many warlord leaders who opposed him at the beginning. Among these people, the most ruthless ones almost knocked him off his position as the country's leader.These people have been released and given high positions to support them, so how can they not care about the common people?Although there are indeed many corrupt officials under Chiang Kai-shek, there are historical reasons for that.After all, the Kuomintang has had few truly good people since the Tongmenghui era.Lao Jiang inherited such a political legacy, so he naturally had to bear the consequences.Therefore, you must be kind and honest, and don't attribute all your mistakes to Lao Jiang alone.

But the fact is that Lao Jiang is really not a kind person.

The Henan famine was strictly blocked by the then Henan provincial government from the very beginning.As a result, Jiang Dingwen, the commander-in-chief of the first war zone, reported the disaster situation in Henan to the central government. Because the Henan Provincial Government did not report truthfully, his declaration was reprimanded instead.According to Li Jingzhai, the Minister of Land Affairs in Henan at that time, he later recalled in the "Spring and Autumn" magazine that Jiang Dingwen once called on his soldiers to save two taels of food every day.For a period of three months, the food was requested to be used to relieve the victims.Not only Jiang Dingwen, but also the various armies in Henan at that time also hoped that the government would quickly allocate food from other places. The commander of the 36th Army, Li Jiayu, also reported the disaster situation in Henan, but He Yingqin also beat him back, because the disaster situation cannot be reported casually.If the local government fails to report, the military report is invalid.later.The facts cannot be concealed.In October 1942, when the central government sent two officials, Zhang Ji and Zhang Lisheng, to inspect the disaster situation in Henan, a disaster report meeting was held in Mixian County, and provincial political leaders and representatives from all counties were required to attend.Unexpectedly, Li Peiji, who was the chairman of Henan Province at the time, sent a message to representatives from various places on the way to the meeting, telling them not to make the disaster too serious.A participant recalled: "During the meeting, the representatives of the counties complained about the severe disaster, but the officials turned a blind eye to it, and people starved to death everywhere. Zhang Lisheng said at the meeting: 'Before we arrived in Henan, we only knew that there was a disaster in Henan. I don’t know how serious the disaster was. It was only later that I found out that the disaster in Henan was so serious, Chairman Li, you can’t absolve yourself of the blame!’” Later, at a banquet hosted by the Henan military, Zhang Lisheng asked Li Peiji face to face why he did not report the disaster.Li Peiji said: "At the beginning, when I saw the two wheat seedlings in abundance, it would not stop raining. Who would have thought that the bastard Huang Tian would blow a yellow wind and dry all the wheat seedlings overnight." Zhang Lisheng asked again: "There is such a situation. , why didn’t you report the disaster?” Li Peiji said: “I saw that the early autumn looks good, but who would have thought that the bastard Huangtian would have a neck drought again!” (local dialect, meaning to choke the neck).According to Jin Handing's recollection, when the central government sent Zhang Puquan and Zhang Lisheng to Henan to investigate, "Chairman Li Peiji led the relevant personnel on the way to the meeting and told the commissioner Li Xingcun to tell the representatives: 'Don't make the disaster too serious, the chairman has his own way. .'"

However, if Li Peiji didn't report it, and even suppressed lower-level officials from reporting it, would he be able to hide it from Lao Jiang?He has so many spies, hundreds of thousands in the military command, nearly a hundred thousand in the central command, and generals at all levels... there is no one who has a little conscience and a little bit of a big picture?Millions of ordinary people have starved to death, and he still doesn't know?Later, the situation in Henan could not be covered. The Henan Provincial Relief Association elected representatives to Chongqing and asked the Kuomintang Central Committee to exempt the amount of grain requisition in the disaster area.Later, Guo Zhongkui, a member of the People's Political Council of Henan Province, also expressed sympathy for the suffering of the victims in Henan at the first meeting of the Third National Political Council held in Chongqing, and demanded that measures be taken, but Lao Jiang still ignored it.Before that, Zhang Ji and Zhang Lisheng, two officials he sent to Henan for inspection, returned to Chongqing and told him about the disaster situation in Henan, hoping that he could take measures to rescue the disaster as soon as possible, but he also said nothing.The appeals from various parties seem to have failed to attract Chiang Kai-shek's attention to the disaster situation in Henan at all.The only thing he did during this period was to hold an emergency "Front Army Grain Conference" after hearing the news, and took some measures to reduce the amount of grain requisitioned in Henan on the one hand, and transport the grain stored in Xi'an to the Henan to prepare for the use of the army.But these extraordinary measures were only to solve the food problem of the Henan army, and did not take effective disaster relief measures. As for the amount of grain requisition reduction or exemption, the Henan Provincial Chairman Li Peiji said this sentence: "Only the rich have to pay all taxes. From the poor we take no more than what the land can produce..."

In this way, in 1943, the climate in the disaster area was still dry, and the disaster situation deteriorated further.At this time, the situation in the disaster-stricken area finally began to spread under the blockade. At the beginning of February, the Chongqing edition of "Ta Kung Pao" published a report on the famine sent by the newspaper's reporter from the disaster-stricken area in Henan, but was criticized by the relevant departments of the Nationalist Government. Immediately ordered to suspend publication for three days and severely punished.

Bai Xiude, a reporter from the American "Time" magazine, went deep into the disaster area and found corpses everywhere on the roadside and in the fields, and there were wild dogs gnawing on the dead bodies everywhere. Through interviews, he also knew that cannibalism is very common. The difference is only It's about eating the dead or the living.He was deeply shaken.Decided to report these out.But he stayed in China for a long time, and he knew that if he just wanted to report the news in China, he might not even be able to pass the review, so he directly sent the news to the other side of the ocean through the telegraph office.

Therefore, the news first spread on Time magazine, where Bai Xiude worked. As mentioned earlier, this magazine is the most sympathetic to the Chinese in the entire United States. Its publisher, Henry Luce, has always been very firm in supporting China’s War of Resistance.At that time, Chiang Kai-shek's wife Song Meiling was visiting the United States. After hearing the news, she was furious, thinking that it would damage the image of the Chinese government.Since she and Henry Luce were old friends, she strongly urged Luce to dismiss Bai Xiude.As a result, this unreasonable request was naturally rejected by Luce.As a result, the news about the famine in Henan aroused great repercussions in the United States. The American government and the public were very dissatisfied and even very angry with the Chinese government's disregard for the lives of the people at that time.

Under such circumstances, Bai Xiude returned to Chongqing.And immediately asked to meet Lao Jiang and asked to present the disaster to Lao Jiang.The results of it?Lao Jiang refused to see him!

at last. "Mother of the Nation" Soong Ching Ling couldn't help but show up.She found Lao Jiang.He repeatedly told Lao Jiang that this was about the lives of millions of people, and insisted that Lao Jiang meet Bai Xiude.Lao Jiang couldn't help it, and finally agreed to meet.But when we met, Lao Jiang didn't hide his dislike for Bai Xiude at all, and firmly denied the situation of people eating people and wild dogs eating dead bodies.As a last resort, Bai Xiude took out the photos he took of wild dogs eating human corpses.Lao Jiang saw these photos.Finally surrendered.He embarrassedly asked Bai Xiude where he took these photos, and asked him to provide a complete report, and thanked Bai Xiude, saying that Bai Xiude was a better investigator than any investigator he had sent.

Then.Relief begins.A large amount of grain stored in Shaanxi entered Henan, and the disaster situation was quickly alleviated.

This is Lao Jiang, so stubborn that he is almost cold-blooded, or in other words, he doesn't care about the common people at all.

……

But now, Lao Jiang is still dissatisfied with Qin Wei and Zhu Kezhen. He is very dissatisfied with the behavior of these two people who "forced" him, and he doesn't think how long the famine that just started for a short time can last... Even if Zhu Kezhen provided The so-called research data and results.Therefore, he categorically decided not to provide disaster relief.However, facing Zhu Kezhen, the president of the university, he didn't act too harshly, and he didn't want to be caught up in the conversation, so he found another reason.

"The famine in northern Shaanxi has lasted for two years, but the government has been fighting the Japanese army, which consumes a lot of money, and northern Shaanxi has always been occupied by Communist bandits... that, the Communist Party has occupied it. The central government can only watch anxiously, but there is nothing to do. Now, Because the Communist Party couldn't stand the disaster, it found an excuse to go to Khalkha, leaving only a more serious disaster in northern Shaanxi to the central government... But the central government can't let the victims in northern Shaanxi ignore it? Compared with the ordinary people in Henan, they are more affected by the disaster It took longer. Principal Zhu, don't you think so?"

Lao Jiang's tone was both kind and compassionate. If everyone present didn't know him very well, they might be moved. And Zhu Kezhen obviously didn't belong to these people who knew Lao Jiang well.

"Chairman, you are right. In recent years, the natural disasters in northern Shaanxi have been very frequent, and it is indeed far more serious than the drought in Henan." Zhu Kezhen didn't realize the meaning behind Lao Jiang, thinking that Lao Jiang was really embarrassing , but his words still made everyone in the room, including Lao Jiang, feel scalp numbness: "Northern Shaanxi has been known as 'nine droughts in ten years' and 'drought at two ends in three years, and floods in one year without drought' '. And according to our investigation, northern Shaanxi has experienced many natural disasters such as drought, hailstorm, flood, frost, wind and sand disaster in recent years, among which drought is the most serious. I remember..."

Rubbing his forehead, Zhu Kezhen made an appearance of trying to think about memories.Seeing him like this, He Yingqin and the others wanted to stop him from continuing, but at this moment Zhu Kezhen clapped his hands suddenly:

"Remember! According to the relevant information sent by the Shaanxi area, we have calculated that in the past 100 years, Yulin alone suffered 46 droughts, 25 hailstorms, 11 frosts, 28 floods, and 12 windstorms. , 10 times of pests and diseases, 10 times of earthquakes and landslides, a total of 242 times. The frequency of disasters is 0.45!... The government should have rescued it long ago!"

"One, more than 100 years, this..."

Kong Xiangxi's face turned pale.He didn't remember what Zhu Kezhen said, but he only remembered the sentence "Yulin area suffered 100 disasters in the past 242 years"!But that's enough. There have been 100 disasters in 242 years, an average of two or three disasters per year... How much crime did the people of Yulin have to do to endure this kind of suffering?But what Kong Xiangxi is most concerned about is not this. What he cares about is the reason that Lao Jiang gave just now to evade the request for relief of Henan... Relief for northern Shaanxi!

Can you save this place that suffers from disasters two or three times a year on average?

"100 years is indeed a long time. But northern Shaanxi is really suffering." Zhu Kezhen couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, "Especially in recent years, since the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), northern Shaanxi has encountered a severe drought that has not happened in a century. 5 years! During this period, plague and other diseases were prevalent. Since the year before last, northern Shaanxi has suffered from drought, flood, snow, freezing, wind, frost, insects, plague and other disasters for many times. We do not know the area of ​​arable land and food loss , but according to our calculations on the population of various places, even if many were taken away by the Communist Party, there are still at least 100 million people affected by the disaster! Chairman, Henan needs to be rescued, but if northern Shaanxi is not rescued, there may not be many people Alive!"

"..." (to be continued...)