The celebratory atmosphere brought by the Olympic athletes came to an abrupt end in Chongqing.

It's the middle of September, and the sun is still scorching, not only the ground is hot, but even the water of the Yangtze River is rising.

The busy main wharf of Chaotianmen, at this moment, all the cameos of cargo ships are on the side, and the wharf has built a five-meter-high Dragon King's Palace, surrounded by people praying for rain.

"Ding Dong choke!"

On the steep wharf ramp, a Taoist priest holds Buddha dust in his hand, followed by several monks, nuns and fairy women and immortals. They lead the way in front, followed by two shifts of gongs and drums, and the flags, umbrellas, fans, and banners are beckoning, just like a large family seeing off the funeral.

Twenty shirtless men, each carrying five dragon kings, walked down the steps along the broken road. In front of each dragon king, there are prayer documents written by local celebrities, and there are several wooden plaques with the words "heavy rain on the same day".

The Dragon Emperor of the Five Directions was sent into the dragon shed to return to his position, people burned incense and lit candles in the dragon shed, and the fairy princess and fairy woman played the whole body, chanting the mantra and dancing the rain prayer dance.

The Taoist priest took out the peachwood sword on his waist, lit the charm and recited the words: "Taiyuan Hao Master Thunder Fire Essence, Gather Yin and Yang to guard Thunder City." Guan Bo Fenghuo ascended to the abyss court, and the style and electricity evoked the ghost. Floating in the Taihua life of the public guests, God has a hurry to go. The rain in the sun is instantaneous, driving the dragon to power out of Xuanhong. I am in a hurry with the curse today, this is the name of the Jade Emperor's order, and those who dare to refuse are not lightly guilty. Haste as a law! ”

The Taoist priest stepped on a strange and rhythmic pace, and suddenly took out a talisman and pierced it on the tip of the sword, and the talisman spontaneously combusted without fire. The Taoist halberd pointed at the dragon king with his sword, and shouted: "Five emperors and five dragons, descend the light and the wind." Widely spread Zerun, assisted by Lei Gong...... Haste as a law! ”

The monks and nuns sat on the futon with their palms folded and recited the mantra of praying for rain and the dragon king: "Om Ta Ta Woo Si Li Si Li, Su Lu Su Lu, Naga Lan, Ja Po Ja Po ...... Therefore, the power of the Buddha, the great dragon king, etc., come here quickly, Yan Futi, rain on the trees, cover the benefits of Zhu Leakage, Zhu Leakage, Zhu Leakage, Zhu T ”

More than 30 local squires knelt in front of the Dragon Emperor of the Five Directions, and one of the leaders recited: "Sichuan is drought, the Yangtze River is cut off, and we are waiting for the common people, praying here." Wanglong Wang Ye rained down early, and the people of the people were upside down, and they will worship every day, worship every month, and thank them every year...... Lord Dragon, just sprinkle a few raindrops! ”

More than 30 squires knelt on the ground with brushes, their hands pressed against the 60-degree high slate, chanting and begging the dragon king to give rain.

"Lord Dragon, just sprinkle a few raindrops!"

Thousands of onlookers, including boatmen and fishermen on the river, all knelt on the ground and kowtowed and screamed.

The scene of praying for rain, which originally seemed to be a bit funny, suddenly became extremely solemn and solemn, and if the sky was lovely, it was time for rain to fall.

The river boat that Zhou Hexuan was riding was floating on the river at this time, waiting for the rain ceremony to end before going to the shore to unload passengers, and the passengers went to the deck to watch the ceremony.

Zhou Hexuan was also on the deck at this time, silently watching everything in front of him, with extremely complicated feelings.

Chongqing was hit by a major flood last summer, and this summer it was changed to a major drought.

When Zhou Hexuan first moved to Chongqing, it hadn't rained here for two months, but he didn't expect him to go around Europe and come back, and there was still no large-scale rain in Chongqing.

This year, almost no grain of summer rice has been harvested in the entire eastern part of Sichuan, and there have been two consecutive years of floods and droughts, and there will inevitably be another famine in winter and spring.

According to historical records, from the end of 1936 to the beginning of 1937, an average of 500 people starved to death in Chongqing every month. The victims ate all the roots and plantains, and dug up the white mud to eat their stomachs, and died of intestinal stagnation, and there was even a human tragedy of "hungry people fighting to eat human corpse meat".

At that time, there were so many dead bodies that the Chongqing cemetery was filled with corpses, and the Sichuan Disaster Relief Society had to build two (some say four) crematoriums and dig tunnels to cremate the bodies and store the ashes in the tunnels.

By April next year, the drought in eastern Sichuan was still continuing, and Liu Xiang, the "King of Sichuan," had to come forward in person to invite Liu Shenxian, who was already wanted by him and was on the run, to come out of the mountain to pray for rain. However, the fart was useless, Liu Xiang was furious, and Liu Shenxian fled to Shanghai in panic.

A professor at Sichuan University found an ancient recipe for drought relief from Dong Zhongshu's "Spring and Autumn Dew" and dedicated it to Liu Xiang. Liu Xiang immediately ordered all localities to protect all the people's rain prayer activities, and all kinds of gods and demons came up one after another, with a huge amount of money and no effect.

In fact, Liu Xiang also allocated money for disaster relief, and Mr. Yin Zhong, chairman of the Sichuan Relief Association, cried and knelt down to the relief workers, and pleaded with him to send the money to the victims of the disaster, and not to embezzle with his conscience. However, even if all this money is distributed to more than 120 counties in eastern Sichuan, it is tantamount to a drop in the bucket, and each victim can only receive 4 cents on average.

Liu Xiang was so anxious at that time that he didn't hear back from the central government for help, so he slapped the table and scolded: "Mom, Jiang Guangtou wants to unify Sichuan, and he doesn't care if Sichuan is in trouble...... Uniform shovel! ”

Latecomers should not forget that the background of the Sichuan people's support for the war of resistance was three consecutive years of catastrophe.

The rain prayer ceremony on the pier has ended, and thousands of people are looking up at the sky in the scorching sun...... Cloudless.

"Woo woo woo ......" I don't know who cried first, driving more people to cry.

A squire's palm had been blistered by the slate, and he beat his chest and asked the sky: "God, you are going to force the people of eastern Sichuan to death, open your eyes, and see how miserable the villagers here are!" Please, if it rains a little, you can scatter as many as you want. It's raining a little bit, it's raining a little bit......"

"Oh my God, it's raining a little bit!" People shouted after that.

God didn't respond, it was already blind.

The crowd dispersed silently, and only the temporary rain prayer dragon canopy was still standing at Chaotianmen Wharf.

The dock workers sweated to dismantle the dragon shed, and the cargo ships and passenger ships docked one after another, and the Chaotianmen Wharf returned to its former prosperity.

Zhou Hexuan walked up the stairs along the wharf slope, went straight to the telegraph office in the city, and told the dispatcher the address: "The United States crosses the ocean, and it says: Sichuan is in drought, please Hongmen to raise relief grain, at least 500,000 tons, and Zhou Hexuan will pay the full amount." ”

The dispatcher was stunned, and after he finished sending the English telegram, he suddenly got up and bowed: "Mr. Zhou, on behalf of the fathers and villagers in Sichuan, I thank you!" ”

Zhou Hexuan nodded slightly to accept the thanks, he walked out of the telegraph office, and said to Sun Yongzhen: "Buy a train ticket to Chengdu, I'll go home first, and I'll leave tonight." ”

"Yes, sir." Sun Yongzhen ran in the direction of the station.

"Wait!"

Zhou Hexuan shouted Sun Yongzhen again, he just remembered that Chengdu and Chongqing have not yet been connected by train, and they have to transfer to a car halfway, so it is better to take a car directly along the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway. Zhou Hexuan handed Sun Yongzhen a business card and instructed: "You go to Chongqing Mayor Li Hongkun and say that I want to borrow his car." ”