On May 2, He Yaozu and An Yi arrived at Tongguan by train via the Longhai Railway and were warmly welcomed by General Feng Yuxiang, commander-in-chief of the Northwest Army, and more than a dozen generals.
Feng Yuxiang smiled brightly when shaking hands with An Yi, and said with a hearty smile that he didn't expect the commander-in-chief to send our young general here, while An Yi was respectful and did not dare to neglect at all.
After the meeting, Feng Yuxiang saw that there were more than 40 Chinese and foreign reporters accompanying him, and he quickly asked his old friend He Yaozu what was going on? He Yaozu explained in a low voice that they all came by themselves, and that the central government did not organize and did not refuse. Hanhan
Feng Yuxiang was helpless for a moment with his vague answer. After a second thought, he greeted the reporters generously and ordered his subordinates to send the reporters into the city to make arrangements. Then he and He Yaozu got into the car and drove straight to the military camp east of Huaqing Pool.
An Yi and his old friend Sun Liangcheng were sitting in the second car. Looking at Sun Liangcheng who was full of energy and flushed, An Yi asked in a low voice:
"Brother Sun, why did you resign as Chairman of Shandong Province without blinking an eye? What a pity! Are you really feeling unwell?"
Sun Liangcheng smiled slightly and asked instead of answering: "I didn't expect you to come, brother. How were you along the way?"
"No! Two trains of nearly a thousand tons of disaster relief grain were intercepted by the brothers of General Han Fuqu in Zhengzhou and Luoyang. The younger brother failed to negotiate and had to give up. After the train passed Luoyang, everything was miserable, and the bark on the roadside was gone. Occasionally,
I saw that several people were reduced to skin and bones and had difficulty walking. It seemed that the disaster was much more serious than I imagined.
Before heading north, my younger brother had ordered the Jiangnan Pharmaceutical Factory to make full preparations and planned to deliver a batch of special medicines as soon as possible. The plague in northern Shaanxi and the dysentery in Baoling area cannot be controlled, but what if they are detained along the way? I was about to find him.
Brother, please help me find a solution." An Yi said honestly.
Sun Liangcheng shook his head and looked out the window, sighed, turned around and said in a low voice: "Brother, you are a real person who values friendship. This Bodhisattva-like heart makes Brother Yu stand in awe. Don't worry! The food matters are not under Brother Yu's control.
If you can’t help me, Brother Yu will definitely escort the medicines and send them to the places where they are most needed.”
An Yi's heart darkened, and he squeezed out a smile and whispered: "The younger brother came in a hurry and didn't prepare any gifts for the elder brother. There are a hundred footballs and pumps in the big wooden box on the truck behind, and there are also things that the younger brother asked the elder brother to try out.
A revolver, an imitation Colt pistol, a medium-sized machine gun, three thousand rounds of ammunition and two sets of new combat uniforms with helmets, shoes and caps, all produced by the Jiangnan factory in which the younger brother has a share. Based on the older brother's figure, I estimate
I'm bringing it here, I don't know if it's suitable."
Sun Liangcheng patted An Yi gratefully: "You are still thinking about this, Brother Yu accepted it... Here we are, the scenery here is nice, and the spring water in Huaqing Pool is better. I will have a drink with you tonight, and we will take a dip in the pool together."
One dip."
"Okay!"
An Yi answered with a smile, but his heart was full of bitterness.
After a simple wash, there was an intense secret conversation. Feng Yuxiang only brought three deputies including Chief of Staff Zhang Zhijiang and Sun Liangcheng to the meeting. From the central government, only He Yaozu, An Yi and Commissioner Zhao of the Ministry of Civil Affairs attended the meeting. Feng Yuxiang was as chatty and funny as ever, only
It took more than ten minutes to put aside the misunderstanding between the Northwest Army and the Central Committee. Feng Yuxiang magnanimously stated that he did not believe the rumors spread by the outside world at all. All officers and soldiers of the Northwest Army firmly supported the leadership of the Central Committee and would never let a small group of people with ulterior motives conspire.
Those who tried to drive a wedge between the central government and the northwest provinces.
Feng Yuxiang's attitude surprised He Yaozu, An Yi and others, but they also felt very relieved. Since they could clarify the misunderstanding and trust each other, the purpose of the trip had basically been achieved.
Commissioner Zhao saw that He Yaozu and An Yi had completed their tasks so easily, and quickly brought up the matter of the two trains of disaster relief food being withheld. Feng Yuxiang looked very surprised, and immediately went out to call in the adjutant, ordering him to call Han Fuqu immediately to inquire, and severely reprimanded him.
Disaster relief grain must be transported to Xi'an and distributed uniformly by the Shaanxi Provincial Government.
Commissioner Zhao happily thanked him repeatedly. He Yaozu and An Yi smiled, but they knew in their hearts that once the food fell into the hands of the army, they would never get it back. However, neither of them pointed it out to avoid embarrassment. However, Commissioner Zhao
After solving the problem of food being withheld, I was very excited, and then asked if I could go to the disaster-stricken area in northern Shaanxi.
Deng Baoshan next to Feng Yuxiang explained worriedly: "I'm afraid it's difficult! In order to prevent the spread of the plague, our garrison troops in northern Shaanxi have sealed off the epidemic area and no longer let anyone in or out, in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic from causing an uncontrollable catastrophe. Therefore,
It’s better not to go, please forgive me!
Thanks to Commissioner Zhao and the central government for their compassionate concern. At present, the most urgent needs in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces are medicines and food. There is an extreme shortage of medicines such as sulfonamides and quinine manufactured by Jiangnan Pharmaceutical Factory. An injection of 15 yuan is now sold for 100 yuan.
Yuan could not be found. A bottle of sulfonamide tablets costing 60 yuan now sold for 5 yuan each. Our Ministry of Military Affairs and Government urgently ordered a raid on nearly 100 unscrupulous drug dealers in the three provinces. In the end, only a few boxes of sulfonamide tablets were seized to supply more and more disaster victims.
, Difficult! There is also food. In Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Henan, no rain has fallen for several months, the land has dried up, and the surviving crops are less than 20% of last year. If we can no longer get the central government’s coordinated relief and assistance from all parties across the country, it is estimated that
Millions of people starve to death.”
"Millions of people? Oh my God!"
Commissioner Zhao, who was full of literary aura, stood up in fright, walked around anxiously and lamented. At He Yaozu's signal, An Yi stepped forward and pulled him back to his seat:
"Director Zhao, sit down and think of a solution. Before I came, I read the news sent by reporters from Shenbao and Oriental News from the disaster area. It seems that it is not as serious as the rumors, and there is no further news in the party newspapers.
, so let’s wait until everything is clarified. The situation will be clear when several civil affairs directors under Senior Feng arrive to report tomorrow.”
"How can the JoongAng Ilbo dare to publish such news? Some people conceal it in every possible way for the sake of political achievements, but this is a matter of life and death. Can it be concealed? Even other newspapers must be censored when publishing relevant news. They want to save face but ignore the people.
Life and death, shameful, hateful..."
Commissioner Zhao suddenly realized his gaffe and quickly apologized to Feng Yuxiang and others. Feng Yuxiang, Deng Baoshan and others smiled in agreement without any intention of blaming them. The extremely important meeting ended here. He Yaozu followed Feng Yuxiang to the confidential room and called the Central Military Commission.
Reporting on the gratifying results of successfully resolving the problem, Commissioner Zhao, accompanied by the good-tempered Deng Baoshan, walked out of the door to join the group of delegation members who had not been able to attend the negotiation meeting.
An Yi and Sun Liangcheng went for a walk in the yard to chat. Sun Liangcheng asked An Yi how he could attack Western Hubei so quickly. An Yi replied that the main reason was to mobilize Hunan divisions to participate in the war. There was no fatigue of vehicles and long distance marches, so he was able to fully gain time.
Sun Liangcheng was a little dissatisfied, saying that An Yi was cunning and unwilling to tell the truth. An Yi smiled and explained that soldiers are impermanent, power is impermanent, and water is impermanent. Leading an army against the Gui clan by himself felt like two gangsters fighting, picking up whatever they picked up without a head.
Knocking without thinking, whoever has faster hands will surely suffer the consequences. A joke made Sun Liangcheng burst into laughter and attracted dozens of generals and guards in the yard to stare.
The laughter of the two people attracted the attention of two reporters passing by the street outside the military camp. One of the young reporters was very surprised to see An Yi. He wanted to go in but was stopped abruptly by the sentry. The sentry saw the foreigners coming behind the young reporter.
He did not use violence against the young reporter who was yelling, but just loudly ordered him to leave immediately, otherwise he would be arrested for the crime of attacking a military important location.
An Yi and Sun Liangcheng heard the noise outside the camp gate and looked together. Seeing the young man waving his hands, An Yi quickly said: "Brother Sun, that person is an old friend of my younger brother, a current affairs reporter from Oriental News Agency, and a native of Hebei.
, who came back from studying in the United States, is a bit talented, and has made a name for himself with documentary reporting in the past year. I want to go out and have a look."
"Let's go together."
Sun Liangcheng also strode out the door following An Yi.
When the two tall sentries saw Lieutenant General Sun Liangcheng and An Yi coming out, they saluted quickly. An Yi returned the salute and walked to the young reporter and greeted happily:
"Hello, brother Zhizhai! I didn't expect to see you here. Let me introduce...Brother Sun, this is Zhang Muting and Zhang Zhizhai. Brother Zhizhai, this is General Sun Shaoyun. You should know, haha!"
"General Sun is a famous general in the Northwest Army, and his military exploits are widely known. How polite, little brother!" Zhang Zhizhai, 27, bowed politely.
Sun Liangcheng smiled slightly and bowed in return. His eyes turned to a tall, thin foreigner in his thirties with a big aquiline nose. Zhang Zhizhai quickly introduced to everyone:
"This is New Zealand journalist Mr. Rewi Alley. Mr. Alley has been in China for two years and has just returned from Lanzhou."
Zhang Zhizhai immediately introduced An Yi and Sun Liangcheng to Alley in English. Alley politely stepped forward to shake hands with the two and said hello to An Yi and Sun Liangcheng in Chinese that was still not fluent.
Sun Liangcheng knew that his boss Feng Yuxiang, who was a devout believer in Christianity, had given many conveniences to foreign reporters and missionaries, so he greeted them politely. Seeing that An Yi and Zhang Zhizhai seemed to have a good relationship, he invited the two reporters to enter the camp gate and come to the chairs under the big tree on the left
After sitting down, before he could say a few polite words, his colleague Sun Lianzhong strode up as if he had something to ask for. An Yi also quickly went up to greet Sun Lianzhong, the general of the Northwest Army who he had met once but was stationed in Qinghai at this time.
Sun Lianzhong and An Yi, who were gentle on the outside and strong on the inside, saluted and shook hands with each other, chatted cordially for a few words, and then apologized and left together with Sun Liangcheng.
Sun Liangcheng was worried that An Yi would be left out, so he quickly called the passing chief of staff Zhang Zhijiang, the leader of the Five Tiger Generals of the Northwest Army, to accompany An Yi. Everyone had a drink in the evening and it was lively.
Zhang Zhijiang went to Nanjing twice as Feng Yuxiang's special envoy, but never had the chance to meet An Yi. This time they met and had a smooth secret conversation, and he had a very good impression of An Yi. An Yi was very fond of the Northwest Army staff officer who followed Feng Yuxiang and created a great empire.
The elder was very respectful and treated each other with the courtesy of a junior.
Zhang Zhijiang signaled An Yi not to be restrained, nodded thoughtfully to Ai Li and Zhang Zhizhai, exchanged a few words with An Yi's introduction, told everyone to sit down and chat casually, then turned around and called the adjutant to bring a table as soon as possible and serve tea.
Alley did not expect to suddenly see An Yi, a representative of the Young Zhuang faction who is well-known in China, and the Chief of Staff of the Northwest Army. He was very happy and became even more awkward when speaking. Zhang Zhizhai whispered to Alley in English that An Yi's English was good and it was completely acceptable.
Easy communication. Alley was very excited and immediately sent an interview request to An Yi in English. An Yi politely said that just chat casually and there is no need to be so cautious.
Zhang Zhijiang didn't understand English. Hearing the chatter between An Yi and the two reporters, his head went crazy for a moment. He laughed at himself and asked the three of them to sit down and have tea. He would come back after finishing some matters.
An Yi felt relieved as soon as Zhang Zhijiang left. Without waiting for Alley to interview him, he asked Alley to tell him what he saw and heard in Lanzhou.
Alley scratched the top of his head in pain, and finally let go of his hand with difficulty after a while, and asked An Yi in a low voice: "General, do you believe that there are three silver dollars per kilogram of rice in China? Do you believe that there are five silver dollars per sulfa pill?"
Do you believe that five potatoes can be exchanged for a girl?"
An Yi looked at Alley blankly, and then said sincerely: "Mr. Alley, please tell me the details of the disaster area. My heart is very anxious and painful. I am eager to know the truth so that I can decide what to do."
Help my fellow man."
"General, I know your kindness and generosity. During the floods in Shandong last year, I saw that the general has a loving, kind and beautiful heart..."
Alley finished sighing, shook his head in pain, and then detailed what he saw and heard.