Yunxiu Tower.

Chang Kaishen was quite annoyed and said, "This Zhou Mingcheng, why is it here again?" Let's just say that I am not feeling well and have been on bed rest, so that he can come back another day. ”

"Yes, Chief!" The attendant lieutenant bowed and withdrew.

After a while, the shouts of the internal guards suddenly came from outside: "Mr. Zhou, you can't go in, otherwise I'm welcome!" ”

"Shoot if you have a kind!" Zhou Hexuan said.

"Mr. Zhou, don't embarrass your brothers." The inner guard pleaded.

Zhou Hexuan shouted: "People in Henan drink to death every day, and so many people who die will be punished, and you will also have a share of these retributions!" Get out of the way! ”

Mr. Zhou...... Alas, don't take my gun! ”

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out, Lao Jiang was startled, and hurriedly asked the attendants around him to take a look.

The attendant came back and said, "It was Mr. Zhou who fired the gun, no casualties, he has been caught by the internal guards." What should I do with the total seat? ”

Chang Kaishen had a headache and said, "Let him in." ”

Zhou Hexuan strode in and slapped a pile of materials on the desk: "These are all news sent back from Henan by the reporter of "Ta Kung Pao", if Mr. Jiang does not see me today, then I will let "Ta Kung Pao" report it tomorrow." ”

"What's the situation?" Chang Kaishen asked.

Zhou Hexuan said: "Let's talk about Xuchang first." The disaster in Xuchang was not the worst, but Xuchang starved to death the most. Wang Hengwu, the magistrate of Xuchang County, raised the tax amount of land last year for the sake of political achievements, and it ranked first among the counties in Henan! His slogan for this year's grain campaign is: It is better to starve ten ordinary people to death than to starve to death one soldier! ”

Chang Kaishen said: "It's just a propaganda slogan, and this is also for the sake of the Anti-Japanese War. ”

Zhou Hexuan sneered: "He doesn't just shout slogans, do you know how this county magistrate Wang levied grain?" However, if there is a wealthy household with more than forty or fifty acres of land, he will send six people and three cattle to pull the cart and urge it, and the food for the people and livestock will need to be provided by the household. ”

"Well done!" Chang Kaishen clapped his hands and praised, "Most of the rich gentry landlords are moths, they are in tandem with the armor chief to avoid conscription and grain requisition, if they don't use thunder means, they don't even want to say a word." What's more, the state's grain is traded at market prices, and it is not taken for free. Allowing the landlords and rich gentry to sell the surplus grain as military rations would be of great benefit to both the country and the people. ”

"But do you know what those who requisition do?" Zhou Hexuan said angrily, "They live in the homes of rich families, eat white flour and eggs at every meal, and the livestock must also be fed, and they often extort money." Those rich peasants in Xuchang County, who had dozens of acres of land, were actually starved to death by that county magistrate Wang! Moreover, they were not only to the kulaks, but also to the ordinary peasants. The grain collectors lived in the peasants' homes and did not leave, and the peasants themselves had no food to eat, so they had to hand over the grain, and sold all the things they could sell at home to buy grain and hand them in. The peasants bought grain at the market price, but sold it to the grain collector only at the official price. Now all the peasants' homes in Xuchang are empty, there are no farming tools, no cattle and horses, and there is no grain left behind. ”

Chang Kaishen nodded and said, "It's indeed a bit excessive. ”

Zhou Hexuan also said: "Now that the price of grain in Xuchang County has skyrocketed, the citizens can no longer afford to buy grain. By the way, Yang Keshu, secretary general of the Xuchang branch of your Three Youth League, his youngest son has fallen ill due to malnutrition and is dying! ”

Chang Kaishen was dumbfounded and incredulous.

The Three Youth League is composed of backbone members of the Blue Coat Society and the CC Department, and Chang Kaishen himself serves as the leader, and he has high hopes. Now the son of the secretary general of the Xuchang branch of the Three Youth League is about to starve to death, which is a big joke.

"The people are already suffering, and the local officials are still so expropriating, which is tantamount to adding insult to injury," Zhou Hexuan said, "According to incomplete statistics, more than 20,000 people have starved to death in Xuchang County." Under these circumstances, at least 50,000 people will starve to death by the end of the year, and by next spring more than 100,000 people will definitely starve to death, and maybe even 200,000 people! ”

Chang Kaishen was silent.

Zhou Hexuan also said: "I know that the central government has begun disaster relief, and I also know that the grain requisition is planned for the war of resistance. But the chairman of Henan Province, Li Peiji, was too powerful, and he forcibly lowered the price of grain and strictly enforced it. This is very rare in normal years, and I have to praise him for being a good official and avoiding the possibility of rich grain merchants taking advantage of the fire to rob. But now, the provincial government forcibly suppressed grain prices, and the grain of the people was requisitioned, and the grain of the rich peasants and below was emptied, and only the big landlords and grain merchants still had grain stocks available. These big landlords and grain merchants are afraid of being targeted by the government, so they no longer dare to sell their grain, and even secretly sell it to other provinces. However, grain merchants in other provinces were reluctant to transport grain for sale because the price of grain in Henan was too low, resulting in a lack of grain in the entire Henan market. Not to mention the poor, even those who are rich can't buy food with money now! In this kind of disaster relief, even if the central government allocates 10 billion yuan in disaster relief funds, it will not help, unless grain is directly transported to Henan. ”

"You leave the information and let me think about it." Chang Kaishen waved his hand.

"Farewell!" Zhou Hexuan left in a huff.

The 1942 Henan disaster was entirely man-made, unlike the 1936 Sichuan drought. Sichuan has been hit by disasters and poor harvests for many years, while Henan has been in good weather for several consecutive years, and even if it was affected by the disaster in 1941, it was able to complete the task of requisitioning grain in full.

However, it was precisely because of the 1941 disaster that the grain was handed over, and the people's previous grain stocks were emptied, and in 1942, the grain collection was intensified, which led to the starvation of the land after the disaster.

The most speechless thing is that Li Peiji, the chairman of the province, is too capable of doing things, and the situation is so bad that he can forcibly suppress the grain prices in Henan Province. As a result, grain from other provinces is reluctant to be transported to Henan for sale, and Henan's grain is also secretly transported to other provinces.

Chang Kaishen read the disaster information sent by Zhou Hexuan, his face was extremely gloomy, and the current situation was much more severe than he imagined.

But the problem is that the levy of grain has to continue, and it is really that the military rations can no longer hold on.

Chang Kaishen called the secretary of the attendant: "Immediately send a telegram and order the Henan Provincial Government to reduce this year's grain collection task by two percent." Also, the removal of Wang Hengwu, the county magistrate of Xuchang County, from his post and investigation, if this person is not killed, it is not enough for the people to be angry. ”

Killing, of course, is for the anger of the people, anyway, the grain that should be levied has already been collected.

This guy has gone crazy for the sake of political achievements, and can force the small landlords who own dozens of acres of land in Xuchang to starve to death an average of six or seven percent of the population.

Historically, Wang Hengwu was soon promoted to Nanyang Commissioner because of his excellent performance in grain collection. However, due to his great resentment in Xuchang, Lao Jiang had to dismiss him from his post and send him to the Luoyang Military Court for trial, where he escaped trial due to the fall of Luoyang. Until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, this person was buried alive by the angry people of Xuchang, and he was also accused of treason, which was really unpleasant.

That's all Zhou Hexuan can do, prompting Lao Jiang to reduce the grain requisition task in Henan in 1942 by two percent, maybe he can die fewer people because of this.

Disaster relief cannot be saved, donating food may save one person, but the government's collection of food can force ten people to die.

If you don't levy it, you can't do it, for the sake of the war of resistance, at least many government officials think so.