The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Zhou Hexuan's return to Tianjin this time was extremely bumpy.

After he said goodbye to Zhang Henshui and Cheng Sheme in Nanjing, he originally planned to cross the river to Pukou Railway Station to buy a ticket. As a result, there was a sudden heavy rain that day, so I had no choice but to stay in the hotel. Moreover, the heavy rain lasted for two days and two nights.

From Sichuan to Shanghai, floods occurred along the entire Yangtze River, with the disaster in the middle and lower reaches being particularly severe.

The Yangtze River ferries in Nanjing were immediately suspended. I heard that there were floods on the Huaihe River side, so it was impossible to take the train north. Zhou Hexuan had no choice but to return to Shanghai from Nanjing and take the sea route to Tianjin. However, on the short line from Nanjing to Shanghai, seven or eight railway tracks were washed away by heavy rains.

After struggling for almost half a month, Zhou Hexuan finally arrived in Shanghai successfully. When he bought the ticket and boarded the ship, all the newspapers in the country were full of news about disasters and disaster relief.

Since Chiang Kai-shek came to power, natural disasters have occurred frequently in China in the past few years, and it seems that God has trouble with Chang Kaishen.

In 1931, China's largest flood since the late Qing Dynasty broke out; in 1934, China's largest drought since the late Qing Dynasty broke out. This year, the disasters of 1931 and 1934 were combined. From the spring, there was widespread drought across the country, and in the summer there were major floods. The floods were also mixed with various droughts.

At this moment, most of China has entered disaster mode. Even the riverbeds in dry areas have cracked, and flooded areas have become a swamp. It is simply a world of ice and fire.

The Yangtze River and the Yellow River flooded at the same time, and the floods affected 241 counties alone. Hubei, Hunan, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi... these provinces are all hardest-hit areas. Take Wuhan, for example. The city was flooded for more than 90 days, and many people had to row boats to go to work.

Anyway, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge invested by Zhou Hexuan cannot start construction, and it will have to be delayed until at least October.

Chang Kaishen is really depressed. China's economy was originally in bad shape this year, but now there is another layer of natural disasters. The British were reluctant to borrow money, the United States stood still, and Japan refused to give in. This made the confident old Chiang Kai-shek panicked, and he even brought Germany in to solve the silver crisis.

Because of the experience of major disasters in 1931 and 1934, the Nanjing National Government's disaster relief capabilities were greatly improved. The government's disaster relief system and private charity groups operated at the fastest speed, and the national media worked together to help promote, report, and supervise.

This is a manifestation of the cohesion of the country and the nation. In times of crisis, most Chinese people can twist together as a rope and tide over the difficulties as one.

This is true when facing natural disasters, and it is also true when facing invasion by foreign enemies.

As long as this cohesion is maintained, China will never sink and will rise sooner or later.

When Zhou Hexuan left Shanghai, Du Yuesheng, vice president of the Red Cross Society of China, made a special visit to raise funds for disaster relief. Zhou Hexuan heard that Du Yuesheng had donated 30,000 yuan, so he also donated 30,000 yuan. At the same time, he sent a telegram to Hongmen in the United States, hoping to buy 200,000 tons of corn to be shipped as disaster relief food.

When the ship arrived in Tianjin, Zhou Hexuan found that Tianjin was also flooded. The Haihe River had swollen and had reached more than 20 meters away from the gate of Sanletang.

Charitable organizations in Peiping and Tianjin heard that Zhou Hexuan had returned to Tianjin and immediately sent people to collect donations. Apparently, Mr. Zhou's reputation for charity had already spread throughout the country. Salesian Society, Red Cross Society, Yellow Cross Society, Red Cross Society... Zhou Hexuan spent another 200,000 yuan.

This time the Nanjing government's disaster relief efforts were very strong, or it seemed very strong - in fact, it was far less than the disaster relief investment in 1931, because the government had no money.

But since it is the central government, no matter whether it has money or not, it must do enough. Especially when disaster relief is weak, it is even more necessary to do a good job in superficiality, so we vigorously praise private charities, set examples, and promote good people and good deeds.

The Nanjing government even organized manpower to carefully calculate the amount of individual donations for disaster relief in major cities. For example, Du Yuesheng's disaster relief data for 1935 is: self-donation was more than 50,000 yuan, and public donations were more than 200,000 yuan.

The government's commendations are also very impressive. Du Yuesheng was specially awarded the "Third Class Jade Medal" and presented with personal inscriptions by national leaders. Chang Kaishen inscribed "Be kind and generous", and Wang Zhaoming inscribed "Be kind to the people and love things".

All those philanthropists who are well-known and have raised large amounts of money and donated money have received awards from the central or local governments. In Shanghai and Nanjing alone, nearly 10 "Jade Picking Badges" were issued at one time, which was like wholesale cabbage.

Everything shows that the central government is really unable to provide disaster relief and can only rely on private power.

Charity statistics for Tianjin and Peiping were soon released and published in detail in major newspapers. Zhou Hexuan topped the list with an annual donation of 260,000 yuan. The government sent a commissioner to Tianjin to distribute the award, and also brought inscriptions from Chang Kaishen, Wang Zhaoming and others.

It was simply like a farce. Before the flood on the streets of Tianjin had completely dissipated, the honorees gathered at the official residence of the Tianjin Municipal Government, and countless reporters came to take photos and report.

After the commendation meeting, the Tianjin Municipal Government also arranged a dinner. Since Chiang Kai-shek advocated a new life, and it was during a disaster, the table was full of vegetarian dishes, and everything seemed normal. But Zhou Hexuan knew that the central government official made a lot of money during this trip. The few Tianjin businessmen who were commended alone received a lot of money as "carriage and horse fees".

Because Zhou Hexuan did not pay the "travel fee", the special commissioner was very unhappy and would probably say bad things about him after returning to Nanjing.

Zhou Hexuan did not attend the dinner and went home directly with the medal and leader's inscription.

As soon as she entered the house, Zhang Leyi held Zhou Hexuan's hand and said happily: "Hurry up and take out the medal and see!"

"There's nothing interesting to see. Just take it apart yourself." Zhou Hexuan said nonchalantly.

"I want to see, I want to see!"

Little Lingjun jumped up and grabbed the medal box, and Little Weilie also came around when he heard the noise.

Zhang Leyi opened the box and took a look, and was surprised: "This medal is so big!"

It's really big. The "Jade Picking Medal" is the largest among all the medals and medals issued by the Nanjing National Government.

This thing was promulgated at the end of last year. "Caiyu" means "Caiyu" in the Book of Songs: "Speak to a gentleman and warm him like jade." It is also said that Chiang Kai-shek's mother was named Wang Caiyu, and "Caiyu Zhang" was named in memory of her mother.

In the beginning, the "Jade Picking Medal" was not divided into grades and was only awarded to heads of state (including foreign heads of state). In China, only Chiang Kai-shek and Lin Sen were qualified to wear it, not even Wang Zhaoming.

Now, in order to commend charity, the central government has specially graded the "Jade Picking Medal". The first-class medal is awarded to the head of state, and the second-class and third-class medals are awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to the public.

Including Du Yuesheng, everyone received a third-class medal this time. Only Zhou Hexuan received a second-class medal, which was probably specially instructed by Lao Jiang.

"A medal with a ribbon is a very high level." Liao Yaquan said in surprise.

Ordinary medals can be hung directly on the chest. The "Jade Picking Medal" is undoubtedly the top-level medal. It comes with a special ribbon and must be worn when wearing formal clothes. Wearing it in regular clothes is against the rules.

Zhou Hexuan said with a sarcastic tone: "Chiang Kai-shek has done a great job this time, giving away all the top medals in batches. Look at the national emblem in the middle of the medal. It is made of high-quality Hetian jade, which means 'the country is supreme, and a gentleman is like jade'." "

This thing will definitely be popular if you take it out. A "jade medal" is as big as two or three ordinary medals, and it is very heavy. It can be used as a weapon to hit people.

I wonder if you have seen a palm-sized medal before!