The "powerful" American journalist Bai Xiude was reporting on China, which made Hu Zhiyong almost attack the national army. There was a famine in Henan, and it had reached the point where people were cannibalizing!
From the summer of 1942 to the spring of 1943, a severe drought occurred in Henan, and most of the crops in summer and autumn were lost. The disaster extended not only to Henan, but also to Hunan and Guangzhou.
“My notes tell me that I am only reporting the facts that I have witnessed and confirmed, but I still find it hard to believe that they are true: dogs chewing human corpses on the road, farmers looking for human flesh after dark, desolate
The village is beyond sight, beggars are huddled in the doorways of every city gate, and abandoned babies are wailing and dying on every road..."
Hu Zhiyong raised the newspaper in his hand and asked Hou Dashun: "We sent more than 200,000 business troops, why did we not save him even if he was dead?"
"Master, the folk customs in Henan are fierce and there are many bandits. In addition, the garrison there is so unreasonable that no one goes to do business there." Hou Dashun wiped cold sweat, he was petrified by such a thing.
"This country is really dead. Not in physical life, but in people's hearts!" Hu Zhiyong recalled the information he had seen in his previous life. In the winter of 1943, the Japanese army launched a massive attack on Henan. Traces of famine can still be seen everywhere.
The Japanese army allocated part of the military rations to feed the farmers who were about to starve to death. The surviving people in Henan were disgusted with the war and the war, and spontaneously organized to collect the firearms of the Chinese soldiers. At first, they collected them individually, and later by a few people.
Simply proceed in companies and rows. According to incomplete statistics, 60,000 national troops were disarmed before and after.
The corruption was so serious that it was shocking. Li Zongren thought to himself on the sidelines: "The leadership of China is only held by one person, Chiang Kai-shek. His only weakness is his thirst for power. Everything he does is to preserve and expand power."
"Chiang Kai-shek himself has never been corrupt. He is happy for the corruption of his subordinates, because if a person becomes corrupt, he will be more obedient to him." Hu Zhiyong summed up the reasons for the corruption of the Kuomintang and believed that they had entered the stage of corruption.
end!
The laws of survival are not as complicated and treacherous as the laws of society and war. When grand propositions such as national justice and national survival are placed in front of hungry people who are about to starve to death, the question becomes: Would you rather starve to death and become a Chinese ghost? Or not?
Starve to death and become slaves to the subjugation of the country? The ignorant people chose the latter.
"Three divisions were sent from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Henan, Hunan, and Guangzhou to search and rescue abandoned babies and children, and distribute relief food!" Hu Zhiyong felt humiliated, but lost face in front of foreigners!
"Master, it's not that I didn't know, but I was angry that I didn't report it to you! The national army was still feasting on delicacies, big bowls of meat, and big bowls of wine, but they allowed us to be taken advantage of!" Hou Dashun was not unwilling to go to the rescue, but
I felt extremely disgusted with the areas occupied by the Kuomintang.
"Where can I tell them that if they are willing to immigrate, they can go to the Far East. If they are not willing to immigrate, they can join hands with our business. Saving people is the most important thing. We will talk about other things later!" Hu Zhiyong warned his subordinates seriously and issued the order without any doubt.
"yes!"
The affected area was so large that Hu Zhiyong could not blindly provide disaster relief. After he sent out the first group of people, he immediately transferred two divisions from the Far East and one division from Ryukyu, which he personally led to Henan.
A small county town in western Henan showed him what famine was like. There were vendors on the roadside selling leaves for sustenance, and you could only buy a small handful for one dollar. Wild dogs dug graves and turned over the corpses of hungry people.
When he came out, he was so round that his body was plump and his skin was shiny.
The convoy that was unloading grain was instantly surrounded by a large number of villagers. Hu Zhiyong rushed over and shouted loudly: "I am here to provide disaster relief. Whoever dares to rob me will smash your head! Now I order: The young and strong people organize
Roads are being built, women are cooking, doing laundry and taking care of the elderly, and the children are forming up in separate formations, all ready for me to go to school!"
"Give out food first!"
"Give out food first, give out food first!" Everyone raised their fists to express their dissatisfaction with Hu Zhiyong's actions.
"I'm hungry. There are instant noodles and fast food here. If you want to eat without working, you'd better wait to starve to death!" Hu Zhiyong did not compromise and stood motionless on the car with his waist pinched.
"Get the tools!"
"Yes, we have food to eat and we should work."
"He's building roads for us!" The victims talked all over the place, and finally scattered back home to get tools.
"Promote the experience here and mobilize 100 million people to take action!" Hu Zhiyong couldn't help but be surprised. He alone bears the burden of these hungry people, who need at least 10 billion kilograms of food in a year!
Building roads, building bridges, and building reservoirs can take up part of it, but it is impossible to continue doing it like this for a long time. Winter is coming soon, and it really can't be done without a proper solution!
Those who were educated and literate were selected, the young and strong were organized, and those who had done business were also selected. They were asked to learn business and add to Hu Zhiyong's business army in various parts of China.
A large number of apprentices and shop assistants dispersed. Then he organized young girls. Hu Zhiyong told them: "Go to Jeju Island and study hard, and you will not worry about having no way of living when you come back in the future!" Jeju Island's clothing industry is on the right track, with four buildings as high as two.
The accommodation building with more than ten floors has been completed.
"Master, more than three million have been spent just now, which seems like a drop in the bucket!" Hou Dashun muttered with a headache as he looked at the hordes of victims.
"How many homeless children and babies have been collected?" Hu Zhiyong suddenly asked.
"Master, when some families saw the children we were rescuing, they actually gave us their own children. More than one million have been given away so far. I really don't know why they are so cruel!"
Hu Zhiyong sighed: "Life forces them to do so, so that the children can escape with their lives!"
"Report, a family living in the mountainous area just received food last night, but it was robbed by bandits on the mountain!" A division commander came over to report.
"Tune the blood wolf over and go into the mountains to suppress the bandits!" Bandits have been rampant in Henan since the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Since there are bandits doing evil, Hu Zhiyong will certainly not let them go. The blood wolf carries drones, helicopters and a small number of armored vehicles, calling
Got the satellite and came to Henan to suppress bandits.
The small team entered the mountains, and they were smarter than hounds. From the smallest clues, they could find the loopholes left by the bandits. After political offensives and attacks by elite troops, the security of Henan quickly improved!
"How much grain did you collect?"
"Fifteen pounds per acre."
“How much is the tax?”
"Thirteen pounds per acre."
This is the record of Bai Xiude's interview. The county he visited has a population of 150,000, and 110,000 of them already have nothing to eat. The relief distributed by the government only amounted to 10,000 kilograms of bran.
"Recruit soldiers, tell them they can eat meat and get five pieces of ocean!" Hu Zhiyong was angry and determined to recruit all the good soldiers. This might have some unexpected benefits for the civil war.
"What? Hu Zhiyong expanded one million troops in the Central Plains, Guangdong, and Hunan?" Chiang Kai-shek was surprised.
"This is also a helpless move!" Li Zongren sighed: "If he doesn't recruit troops and let these people work, new bandits will appear. I heard that he transports food from Southeast Asia to the mainland day and night. I guess he can't hold on anymore."
"A million troops are training in Henan, Guangdong and other places?" Old Jiang glanced at Li Zongren dissatisfied and asked Dai Li.
"yes."
The famine in Henan from 1942 to 1943 was an unprecedented famine in the history of famines in Henan and even in the history of modern famines in China. This famine was dominated by drought locusts, accompanied by water, wind, hail, frost, earthquakes, epidemics and other disasters.
, with time and regional imbalance.
From a regional perspective, drought locust disasters are the most severe in western and northern Henan, while floods are the most severe in eastern and southern Henan. Overall, they have the characteristics of wide scope, concurrency, correlation, and accumulation.
.The causes of this famine include both natural causes and social causes. Natural causes include precipitation, topography, climate, crops, etc.
The losses caused by this famine were very serious, with 3 million people dying of starvation, 3 million people fleeing famine, and almost all 30 million people in the province becoming victims of the disaster. In the Kuomintang-controlled areas, the Kuomintang government adopted a disaster relief model that focused on government relief.
Under this model, the provincial government relies on the central government, the county government relies on the provincial government, and the disaster victims rely on the county government, forming this government-organized, "dependent" disaster relief mechanism.
This mechanism can neither fully mobilize social resources nor fully unleash the self-rescue capabilities of disaster victims. In disaster relief practice, it has not achieved a complete disaster relief effect.
Lao Jiang was thinking about it, and then remembered what Hu Zhiyong said in the Far East. He shook his head helplessly: "We did not lose to our opponents, but we gave it to ourselves for nothing! The national army generals and senior government officials were only interested in the fifth son, and many middle-level and superior officers took advantage of it.
Doing business, buying real estate, lusting after women, being arrogant and extravagant, corrupting and depraved by using one’s authority, causing the top and bottom to become alienated, and the army to have no fighting spirit. This is the root cause of our military failure."
The five sons mentioned by Chiang Kai-shek are gold bars, houses, women, cars (cars) and restaurants (high-end restaurants). The prestige of the Kuomintang has declined sharply and is out of control. Let’s first look at the situation in the army. Due to corruption among officers, embezzlement
Military pay and life of Kuomintang soldiers were extremely miserable.
Another one is the so-called "paper soldiers". A division is supposed to have 10,000 people, and the central government pays the commander according to this number, but the actual number may be only 7,000, or even less, so he spends the extra money
Put it in a belt bag.
Corruption within the Kuomintang's administrative agencies is also very serious. Instead of curbing some bad behaviors because of the country's difficulties, officials have intensified their corruption and bribery in an attempt to amass wealth to add weight to their future lives.
The powerful, as always, use their lustful power and plunder the people's wealth, ignoring the people and only caring about themselves; the rich still only know how to enjoy, speculate and flee.
Chiang Kai-shek made speeches on many occasions, asking his subordinates to pay more attention to the people. However, due to the imperfect system and corruption from top to bottom, no one could listen to his words, and it was impossible to put them into practice.