The car is driving on the only provincial-level main road in Sichuan, and the eyes are endless withered yellow. Mountains, fields, wilderness...... There is hardly any green to be seen, and even the leaves of the evergreen banyan tree are tanned yellow-brown.

There was no water in the rice fields and ponds, and the ground was cracked and solidified, some of which were as wide as a palm's face.

Yu Peichen looked at everything around him in amazement, and said in shock: "How long has this been drought?" ”

Yang Baochun, a reporter who accompanied him, said: "Chongqing is even better, and the further west you go, the more serious it gets. The whole of Sichuan, at present, the Chengdu Plain is relatively normal, and the northwest of Sichuan has not rained since this spring, and there are already rumors of cannibalism there, and I heard that the mayor of Jinghua County (Jinchuan County) is about to be frightened crazy. ”

Cheng She and Zhang Hatshui were persuaded by Zhou Hexuan to open the headquarters of "Libao" in Chongqing, and Yang Baochun is a native of Sichuan hired by "Libao".

Zhou Hexuan was also extremely shocked, perhaps the historical materials he saw before crossing were imperfect, he originally only thought that there was a catastrophe in eastern Sichuan, but he didn't expect that northwest Sichuan was the most serious place in drought. The current drought in eastern Sichuan is so terrible that it is hard to imagine what kind of hell on earth in northwest Sichuan is.

Several people set off from Chongqing in the evening, and arrived near Longchang County in the early morning of the next day.

Zhou Hexuan ate some biscuits in the car to satisfy his hunger, and in the morning light, he saw the villagers carrying wooden barrels and walking collectively into the mountains. He got out of the car and stopped an old man with gray hair, took out some copper plates and asked, "Uncle, are you going to fetch water?" ”

The old man took the copper plate with a smile and replied in detail: "The wells in the village are all dry, the ditches are also dry, and only the mountains can still receive some mountain spring water." ”

"When did the drought start here?" Zhou Hexuan asked again.

The old man sighed and said, "On April 17 (June 6 of the Western calendar), it rained, and I remember very well that it was 'Mangzhong' on that day. After that, there was no rain, and it was almost dry for almost three months. ”

It seems that Longchang is similar to Chongqing, and there has only been a drought for three months, and although the people have difficulty drinking water, they will not go hungry. It is that the summer grain harvest is so bad that people can survive the autumn at most, and they will go hungry in the winter.

And far away in the northwest of Sichuan, where the drought has been close to six months, it is terrible to think about!

Zhou Hexuan hurriedly got into the car and asked the driver to speed up to Chengdu, he couldn't be busy with disaster relief alone, and he had to get official help from Liu Xiang.

In the northwest of Sichuan, Zhou Hexuan is definitely powerless, and he can only do his best to rescue eastern and southern Sichuan now.

In the great drought in Sichuan in 1936, at least 5 million people starved to death, equivalent to more than a dozen Nanjing Massacre. The tragedy in Nanjing was inevitable for Zhou Hexuan, but he was able to do his part for the disaster in Sichuan.

The closer you get to the Chengdu Plain, the lighter the drought becomes, which is the only remaining foundation of the land of abundance.

Along the way, Zhou Hexuan inquired about the situation, and the worst thing was not only the difficulty of drinking water, but the soaring food prices in various places. Those grain merchants and rich gentry all knew that there would be a famine in the coming year, and they were stockpiling grain from now on.

When I came to Chengdu, I obviously changed the world.

The towering towers, the tall and wide city walls, and its defensive capabilities are not lost to the city of Nanjing.

The crowd at the gate of the city is endless, people walk and talk comfortably, the city is shoulder to shoulder, and the shouting in the teahouse is heard from time to time, which is more than ten times more prosperous than the backward Chongqing.

came to Liu Xiang's official residence and handed over the business card, and the guards quickly invited Zhou Hexuan and others in.

Liu Xiang's mental complexion is not very good, I heard that he is sick, a minor illness, and a stomach ulcer attack.

His wife is a rural woman, diligent and thrifty, and often receives gifts such as pastries, and she is reluctant to lose them when they are about to spoil after half a month. His wife not only ate it herself, but also put the pastries on Liu Xiang's desk, causing Liu Xiang to suffer from stomach problems after eating spoiled food for a long time.

"Oh, Mr. Zhou, please take a seat!" Liu Xiang cheered up and greeted him with a smile.

The maid brought a cup of fragrant tea, Zhou Hexuan poured half a cup with a dry mouth, and said straight to the point: "Fu Gong, the drought in Sichuan is urgent, do you have any disaster relief strategies?" ”

"100,000 urgent? It's not that serious. Liu Xiang didn't care very much.

At present, the disaster situation in several counties in northwest Sichuan is terrifying, but that place is already poor and poor by Gansu, and the provincial government cannot collect a few taxes, which has always been ignored by officials. As for the eastern and southern Sichuan regions, it is only two or three months of drought, and it is normal to put it in Sichuan.

If Sichuan doesn't have some floods or droughts in any summer, it will make the locals uncomfortable.

That is to say, Liu Xiang, the "King of Sichuan", did not face up to the disaster at all at this time, let alone expected that there would be a year of drought in Sichuan in the next year.

In fact, this is also human nature, who would have thought that a province would be in drought for more than a year? This weather is simply wicked.

"Baochun, you come." Zhou Hexuan continued to drink tea to quench his thirst.

Yang Baochun took out a stack of materials from his bag and reported in detail: "Fu Gong, I am Yang Baochun, a reporter from Libao. In the past two months, we at Libao have been interviewing and collecting news about the severe drought in Sichuan. In addition to the dozens of counties around Chengdu, more than 100 counties and cities in Sichuan have been hit by drought, ranging from a one-month drought to a six-month drought. In particular, Jinghua County was particularly serious, with no harvest of spring and summer grain, and there was a frost disaster last winter. Although our reporter did not go to interview in person, a local colleague sent a telegram saying that Jinghua County had begun to eat people. ”

Liu Xiang didn't look too shocked, he nodded and said, "I know about the affairs of Jinghua County, and Chairman Jiang also knows. The place was already poor, and the mountains were high and the roads were far away, and the relief food brought in would be eaten by the porter on the way. I've already sent people for relief. ”

"How effective is the disaster relief?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"I allocated 20,000 oceans." Liu Xiang said.

20,000 oceans are useless, and it is not only Jinghua County, but several surrounding counties that were affected at the same time. In addition, the distance is long and the transportation is inconvenient, and the loss of relief grain is extremely serious, and it is estimated that only more than 10,000 of the 20,000 oceans of grain will be left, which is enough for the local victims to eat for half a month at most.

Zhou Hexuan already understood very well at this time, Liu Xiang estimated that he didn't want to care about the lives and deaths of the victims in northwest Sichuan, which was too remote and poor, and it was just a simple burden for the provincial government.

Liu Xiang saw Zhou Hexuan's dissatisfaction, and he sneered: "In June this year, Chairman Jiang came to Sichuan to inspect, and I asked him to give him a photo of people eating people in Jinghua County. Chairman Jiang put it in his pocket on the spot, and until now, he has not asked, and he has not seen a single relief grain from the central government. ”

Zhou Hexuan sighed and said, "Fu Gong, what if in a few months, the whole of Sichuan will become what Jinghua County looks like?" ”

"How is that possible?" Liu Xiang finally reacted now.

Zhou Hexuan said casually: "I have a friend who studies meteorology, and through his climate analysis of various parts of Sichuan this year, in the next six months, except for the counties on the Chengdu Plain, there will be little rainfall in other places, and it may even not rain." ”

"I'm afraid I'm mistaken?" Liu Xiang was a little panicked. He was a man who had been old knowledge since elementary school, and later did not graduate from military academies, and was extremely superstitious about religious occultism and modern Western science.

Since Zhou Hexuan said that meteorologists judged that there was a major drought in Sichuan, Liu Xiang really believed it when he heard it, he didn't expect Zhou Hexuan to deceive people, because it was no good to deceive anyone.

"It's true!" Zhou Hexuan said solemnly.

If it was just a major drought in the surrounding counties of Jinghua, Liu Xiang would definitely not panic, but if there was a major drought in the whole of Sichuan, it would shake the foundation of Liu Xiang's warlord rule.

Liu Xiang immediately called the adjutant and said eagerly: "Quickly pass on Gan Jiyong, the director of the Civil Affairs Department, and Yin Changling of the Sichuan Disaster Relief Association!" ”