Liang Maocai escorted 300,000 catties of grain back to Jiangbei via Jiangsu, Anhui and other places. Among them, the difficulties and dangers are indescribable, but fortunately, the prestige of the Jiangbei Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army resounded all over the country, and people from all walks of life gave a thin face, plus Liang Maocai was strong and brave, so he came back with this batch of life-saving food.

On a hot day in July, fires flowed everywhere, stepping on the land of Jiangbei, Liang Maocai really felt like a world apart, and suddenly the scene in front of him shocked him incomparably, the familiar green gauze tent in the past turned into a white ground with no grass, could it be that the devil launched a sweep? It's not like ah, this tragic scene is like the scene of a locust plague.

When I found the villagers and asked, I learned that there had indeed been a locust plague not long ago, and the whole world was full of locusts, covering the sun, and there was no grass left everywhere I went.

Escorting the grain to the headquarters, Chen Zikun had already received the news, greeted him at the entrance of the village, saw Liang Maocai coming, stepped forward and bowed, this move frightened Liang Maocai, and jumped back and said: "Dashuai, what are you doing?" ”

"On behalf of the Jiangbei fathers, I thank you, if you can't bring in food, something big will happen." Chan said.

Liang Mao was born as a farmer, and he knew the horror of the disaster year, and the peasants had no food to eat, so they could only eat the grass roots, bark, and Guanyin soil. After eating these, you can only wait for death, 300,000 catties of grain is a drop in the bucket for hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangbei, but it can also save a lot of lives.

Chen Zikun saw Chandes next, almost didn't recognize this old friend, looked carefully twice before he was sure that it was his old classmate of West Point, and stepped forward to hug him: "Bill, you have suffered." ”

Major Chandes burst into tears and choked up, "Thank you, thank you, but Emily and the children are still in Shanghai." ”

Chen Zikun said: "I will find a way." ”

When the group returned to the headquarters, Liang Mao recounted the incident, 30,000 catties of opium were only exchanged for 300,000 catties of grain, and on the way, in order to deal with people from all walks of life, another 30,000 catties were sent out, and 270,000 catties were transported to the full house, and another Major Chanders was added.

"If you don't do it well, please punish the marshal." Liang Maocai said.

Chen Zikun said: "Now that there is a great drought in the Central Plains, the price of grain is soaring, although opium is valuable, it cannot be satisfied. ”

Liang Maocai was a little restless, and Chen Zikun knew in his heart: "Hurry up and go home and have a look." ”

"Xie Dashuai." Liang Maocai was anxious, went to the warehouse to carry two bags of rice, and wanted to ride a motorcycle back, but the motorcycle was all out of gas.

Outside Liangjiazhuang, there was no grass, the ground was cracked, the bark of the trees was stripped naked, the white flowers were a piece, the corpses of starvation were dead on the road, and the wild dogs were eating with green eyes.

When he came to the door of the house, Liang Maocai's heart tightened, and he took three steps and two steps into the house, but he saw his daughter-in-law and son sitting at home upright, and their complexions were fine, and there was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl in the house, skinny, and her eyes were extraordinarily big.

"Master, you're back." Liang Qiaoshi was pleasantly surprised, and when she saw the food bag on her husband's shoulder, tears of joy came down.

"What is this?" Liang Maocai put down the sack and looked at the timid little girl suspiciously.

"Her name is Xi'er, she fled from Henan, her father and mother starved to death, I saw that she was pitiful, so I took her home and became a child daughter-in-law for Pan'er."

Xi'er was very well-behaved and shouted in a low voice.

Not only is the family fine, but also a daughter-in-law, Liang Maocai's hanging heart finally let go, and he put on the prestige of his parents and said: "Xi'er, you will be the Liang family in the future, if you have a bite to eat, you won't be hungry, where are you from Henan, how many people have fled from the famine?" ”

"I am from Qi County, more than 100,000 people in my hometown have fled the famine, and half of them starved to death on the road, my father, my mother, and my sister are starving to death, and my brother has sold them to someone else's family......" Xi'er said, tears couldn't stop flowing.

Liang Maocai was deeply shocked, and he suddenly understood why the handsome man bowed to himself.

……

A large number of Henan refugees poured into Jiangbei, and there was not enough food to eat, so it was even more difficult, Chen Zikun set up relief points in various villages, and cooked porridge in a big iron pot to satisfy the refugees' hunger, and many refugees also poured into the Japanese-occupied areas, and the people in South and North Thailand were overcrowded, and the puppet government also set up porridge sheds to help the refugees in order to invite people to buy people's hearts.

After the locust plague, even the hay on the thatched hut was eaten clean, and the war horses had to eat concentrated feed, and the amount of food for a horse was as high as five people, and people couldn't support them these years, so the bad horses were slaughtered and made into horse broth, and the cars needed gasoline, and it was extremely difficult to get oil behind enemy lines, so they could only walk.

On the way to the porridge shack, the refugees were hungry and their arms and legs were as thin as firewood sticks, but their bellies were high because they had eaten indigestible tree bark.

Seeing a group of dignitaries coming over, the refugees stretched out their hands to beg, and there was no expectation in their godless eyes, but just a subconscious move.

"Master, as long as ten catties of sorghum noodles, change to a yellow flower girl." An old man pleaded, and beside him knelt a girl, shriveled and thin, unable to tell her age.

Chen Zikun sighed and turned his face stiffly, it was not that he didn't want to save it, but he really couldn't save it.

Major Chandes was dumbfounded, he had never seen such a bleak sight.

The porridge shed was surrounded by troops, to prevent someone from grabbing grain, a huge iron pot was steaming, the man was stirring in the pot with a long-handled horse spoon, and the fragrance wafted away, causing the refugees to shrug their noses, and hundreds of people flocked to the bowl with a bowl, screaming to drink the porridge, all of them were unkempt, skinny, and their eyes were cloudy and dull, like ghosts.

The man condescended and poured a little gruel into each person's bowl, and the people who got the rice did not care about the heat, but drank it as soon as they raised their necks, and some people hurried out with their bowls, probably to deliver food to their hungry relatives who could not walk.

A conscription point was set up nearby, the banner of the Anti-Japanese Salvation Army was hunting and fluttering, and the young and strong people who were conscripted were discharged far away, all with yellow faces and thin muscles, long hair, tattered clothes and bare feet, more beggars than beggars.

Chandes was puzzled, why did Chen Zikun increase the burden on the army, these low-quality soldiers will only drag down the combat effectiveness, and will not have any benefit, as a West Point student, Chen Zikun does not understand this, he explained that it is just to better organize the disaster victims, leave some seeds for the country, those old, weak, sick and disabled can only fend for themselves, leaving the young and strong, and the country and the nation will have a day of rejuvenation.

Major Chandes shed tears, and Liang Maocai often nagged during the journey, saying that he alone had reached at least 200,000 catties of grain, and if he didn't rescue himself, he would be able to exchange more food and save more people, and if he lived, tens of thousands of people would have to die.

"Chen, I owe you so much." Chandes said movingly.

Chen Zikun said: "You're welcome, I'll find a way to send you to Chongqing, wait for a while, and when Emily and the children come back, your family will go back to the United States as soon as possible." ”

Chandes said: "I will not return to the United States, I will stay in China and do my best for the War of Resistance against Japan." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Okay, if you go to Chongqing, help me bring a letter to Chairman Chiang, tell him what happened here, the famine in Jiangbei is not serious, because there are not many battles between our army and the Japanese army, and the people have a little food to cope with the disaster year, these refugees are all from Henan, Henan is the main battlefield, Tang Enbo's troops raided the people, more powerful than locusts, he is the main cause of the great famine, it is useless for us to impeach him, you must be an American to come forward, in order to make the committee believe." ”

Chandes said, "I'll do this." ”

……

Major Chandes made a splash when he arrived in Chongqing, and his arrival caused a sensation, and reporters from the Associated Press, the New York Times, and other organizations interviewed him, and his legendary experience was amazing, and the Associated Press produced a long series to report on it, and the United States was also shaken, and the Chief of Staff of the United States, General Marshall, called to express his condolences and asked him to return to China to accept a new position.

"I want to stay in China!" This was Major Chand's resounding answer.

Chandes presented Chiang Kai-shek with a joint letter from Chen Zikun and American journalist Kathleen Stanley, in which he impeached Tang Enbo, deputy commander of the First Theater of Operations, accusing him of setting up troops to loot the people and causing the Great Famine in Henan, and was responsible for the death of three million people who starved to death.

In fact, Chiang Kai-shek already knew about the situation in Henan, and also allocated food for rescue, he felt that the matter was not so serious, and Chen Zikun's exaggeration was just to rectify Tang Enbo.

Chandes chatted privately with American friends, and when he talked about it, a reporter from Time magazine named Bai Xiude told him that the famine did indeed occur, but it was limited to the countryside, and that the generals and officials in Henan were still eating and drinking, and that the relief materials were resold by the officials in charge of disaster relief before they could be transported into Henan, and they were shipped back to Chongqing to make a lot of money on the black market.

"This is the real Chongqing, the real China." Bai Xiude said.

Major Chandes was transferred to Shanghai in early 1937, and he lived in China for a short time, he knew that corruption was rife in China, in fact, he was not so incorruptible, as a logistics officer, it was common to resell scrap materials or something, but that was all limited, at least worthy of God and his own conscience, the crimes of these corrupt officials in Chongqing could simply go to hell.

The stubborn temper of the Americans came up, and Chandes went to Chiang Kai-shek again to complain, but this time he did not get his wish, and the chairman could not have met casually, but he did meet the long-known General Townebo at a banquet.

Unlike Chen Zikun, who was skinny and tired, Commander Tang Enbo was very rich and looked nutritious, and he looked at Chandes arrogantly with a cocktail and said, "Oh, you are that Chandes?" ”

Chandes sensed his rudeness and arrogance, and ignored him.

The glittering Chongqing song and dance scene and the starving Jiangbei intertwined in Chandes's mind, and he seemed to have received a baptism.

When the time came, President Roosevelt learned of Major Chand's legendary story and personally sent a telegram to pay his respects, and the U.S. War Department awarded him a medal for his bravery and tenacity, promoted him to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and appointed him to a new position, the chief of the U.S. Lend-Lease Administration Office in Chongqing.

This is an extremely important position, American aid and the material resources lent to China are constantly being transported from India through the Hump route, from gasoline tires to weapons and ammunition, to compressed biscuits and canned luncheon meat, all of which are assigned to whom the material management office decides, and the Americans are well aware of the corruption of Chinese officials, so this work must be entrusted to an American, and an American officer with the selfless qualities of a saint.

And Lieutenant Colonel Chand, who escaped from the Japanese internment camp and spoke out in Chongqing, was the best candidate.

After Lieutenant Colonel Chandes took up his new post, he immediately became the darling of Chongqing's social circles, and everyone wanted to get in touch with him, especially those generals and commanders-in-chief, and a large number of invitations were sent to the desk of the lieutenant colonel of the management office every day.

"I don't care about anyone else, Don't try to get a drop of gasoline from me, a can of food." At a party, Lieutenant Colonel Chandes said in high spirits.