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Chapter 275 Disaster Relief (Part 1)

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    At the turn of summer and autumn, there were heavy rains and floods that had been rare in decades in Hebei, Northeast and other places.  Continuous heavy rains and flash floods in Hebei have overwhelmed the entire Gyeongsang region, with 103 disaster-stricken counties and more than 6 million victims.

    This severe flood is related to the disrepair of the river.  According to the subsequent disclosure on February 22, 1918 ("Declaration"), "the rivers in Gyeonggi Province have not been repaired for more than 20 years, and the embankments are completely incomplete. In this flood, five major rivers and dozens of small rivers rose simultaneously, causing flooding  The cross currents flooded more than a hundred counties, covering an area so vast that all embankments and embankments were destroyed. After the people were affected by the disaster, they were unable to save their lives, so how could they spare any energy to prepare for dredging."

    In old China, which had insufficient financial resources and frequent wars, natural disasters were followed by man-made disasters.  Zhang Zuolin has stabilized Fengtian, and Zhang Hanqing's People's Party has gradually penetrated into every corner of Fengtian and established relatively tight party organizations in some grassroots units.  Therefore, for this disaster in Northeast China, the Fengtian Civil Affairs Bureau and the People's Party were able to play a huge role in minimizing the disaster losses and quickly and decisively resumed post-disaster reconstruction in addition to rescue, so that the victims could stand on their own feet.  To this end, Zhang Hanqing advocated the establishment of an Agricultural and Industrial Committee, which was responsible for guiding the work of the Fengtian and Heilongjiang Agriculture Departments and Water Resources Departments, with Mo Dehui serving as the director.  It is generally believed that this is the starting point of the Young Marshal's people in politics in a complete sense - before that, Mo Dehui was the director of the Investment Promotion Bureau appointed by the Young Marshal and was controlled by Liu Shangqing, the director of the Finance and Economics Committee.

    On the other hand, in Guanzhong, because they did not receive the attention of the government - with the methods of these bureaucrats, they were unable to effectively organize active rescue forces. The victims were displaced and had no food or clothing. The tragedy was unbearable to see.

    "Beijing Times" reported: "About 350,000 people have taken refuge along the Baihe River and elsewhere. They lack food and clothing, and those who see it are sad."

    "There are three breaches in the South Canal, and Tianjin is in danger. There is a shortage of food, firewood, drinking water, etc. Outside the Southwest Pass, as well as Nankainan City, the Japanese Concession, etc., the water is all up to their chests. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are flooded, supporting the elderly and the young. It is unspeakably miserable.  "

    "The water in Tianjin's rivers has risen sharply, and all the villages along the rivers have become Zeguo."

    The apartment of former Prime Minister Xiong Xiling, who has been living in seclusion in Tianjin, was also swallowed by the river.  Xiong Xiling, who was in the disaster area, witnessed the tragic situation of the victims and the incompetence of the officials. He immediately rushed to Beijing and asked the Bank of China Association for help. He received a donation of more than 10,000 yuan and gave it to the Beijing Police Department to purchase grain and transport it to Tianjin.  Disaster relief.  At the same time, he also put forward disaster relief suggestions to the government and strongly advocated that the government come forward to raise funds to relieve all the hungry people in the disaster areas.

    His suggestion was submitted to the State Council for discussion, and the cabinet members unanimously agreed that it could not be defined unless Xiong Xiling stepped forward to take charge of the relief work.  The government tried to take the opportunity to force him to return to his job in the department. Xiong Xiling was also worried that if he did not come out to provide relief and the government did not make a decision, "then millions of hungry people would have no hope of living a full life, so they would have to be spared."  Disaster".  In fact, since retiring from politics, he has regarded politics as sinful, but for the sake of the disaster victims, he had to end his "seclusion" life.

    He was then specially assigned to supervise the aftermath of floods and river construction in the Gyeonggi area. He tried his best to subsidize the exiles, provide relief to the hungry, re-establish the Salesian Bureau, and adopt children in need.

    Disaster relief requires huge sums of money, but the Beijing government's financial resources have dried up. President Feng Guozhang only ordered the Ministry of Finance to allocate 300,000 yuan to Xiong Xiling to rush for emergency relief.  And with the severe cold approaching, millions will need to be spent on relief clothing for heating alone.  Xiong Xiling decided to mobilize resources from civil society to make up for the lack of official funds.

    On October 8, 1917, Xiong Xiling used his influence in society to send a call for relief to all provinces across the country, hoping that all gentlemen across the country would "sympathize with each other, and with the heart of being hungry and drowning, we would send a tasseled crown for  rescue".  When the relief power was sent out, Xiong Xiling led by example. He first donated 500 yuan in cash and then ordered his family members to sew 100 sets of cotton-padded clothes and donate them to the refugees.  Driven by his appeal, groups and individuals continued to donate clothes and foreign donations, and foreign charity groups also helped.

    At the same time, Xiong Xiling also joined forces with Liang Qichao and others to jointly launch a flood entertainment relief meeting, "collecting items, selling lottery tickets, and using all the proceeds to provide relief." And relying on his personal reputation, he borrowed millions of yuan from foreign banks as special relief funds.  In addition, he generated electricity and asked the Tangshan, Kailuan and other land affairs bureaus to donate 5,000 tons of coal, and asked the Beiyang government to provide many conveniences for disaster relief.

    This is a praiseworthy and respectable elder!  An official with a conscience!  However, with so many victims, it is difficult to rely solely on private efforts to help them.  Even if it can be solved temporarily, it will be a failure of the government to turn the victims into poor people.

    But the government is really powerless.  Not to mention that the central finance is exhausted, even if the local princes are willing, it is difficult to come up with this money. What's more, the governors and governors are all eyeing their own three-acre land, and no one wants to take advantage of it¡ª¡ªwith this money, and  You can enrich the army in your hands, and that is the right way to get promoted and make a fortune.  As for the victims, what happened??Whoever rules should be responsible!

    The north was originally poor. Even today¡¯s Beijing and Tianjin were only slightly larger cities at that time. The luxury was only around the concessions, and most places were considered Africa.  In addition, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi and other places can still achieve economic self-sufficiency in normal times. Once natural disasters occur, everyone will have nothing to do but to line their own pockets. Only real people like Lao Xiong can pay from their pockets.

    Although these governors and governors do not want to pay, it does not prevent them from eyeing other people's wallets.  There has been a lot of turmoil in Fengtian during this period. It seems that Zhang Zuolin has a lot of money in his pocket, so should he contribute something?

    Of course Zhang Zuolin wants to donate, but Lao Zhang is a real person and he really doesn¡¯t want to do something that is of no benefit just donating money.  At first he wanted to think like other provincial officials, but he changed his mind after being persuaded by Zhang Hanqing.

    The Northeast was indeed poor at the beginning of its development, but it could not cope with the fertile land and vast resources here.  And Fengtian has the best economic conditions in the three eastern provinces: the most people from the Guandong area have settled here. After the Japanese industrial development here (actually plundering minerals), although they were exploited, the industrial base far exceeded that of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.  After decades of development, it has become the richest province in the country.

    When Feng Delin and he were fighting before, they didn't even bother to take care of him.  After becoming the dominant family, Lao Zhang's mind began to expand. Not only did he become more interested in competing for the Northeast, he also began to cherish his feathers.  Of course, his Xiyu was only for Fengtian.

    When the disaster occurred in North China, Zhang Hanqing immediately sensitively believed that this was a good opportunity to enrich Fengtian.  In addition to capital, technology, and talents, what is most needed to develop the economy is also the most important factor: people.

    People are the basis of labor force and the premise of consumption power.  The 30 million people in Fengtian are not too many for the entire province, but too few.  Why did the Guards Brigade survive?  The first reason is that there are large tracts of wasteland available for reclamation and use.  With Fengtian's conditions, throwing in millions of people is not a problem. Of course, you need to survive the initial suffering.

    Considering Lao Zhang¡¯s ambition to conquer the entire Northeast, the number of people in the two provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang is extremely small. Isn¡¯t it true that after the founding of the People¡¯s Republic of China, a large number of educated youth from all over the country were attracted to go to the Great Northern Wilderness to open up wasteland and cultivate land?  A mere 9 million people really cannot control such a vast land!

    This is a God-given opportunity!

    "Father, the population of the Northeast is small to begin with. Now that there are floods in North China and refugees are everywhere, we need to take the initiative to provide disaster relief and accept the victims. We can not only promote the name of my father's kindness, but also develop Fengtian's economy - this is two birds with one stone.  "

    Zhang Zuolin agrees with Zhang Hanqing¡¯s idea.  In the past, even if he had the will, he would be unable to resettle tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of victims at once. It would be a huge project: solving the famine would cost a lot of food. Floods and droughts would be followed by plagues.  The problem of public security Now, Fengtian has sufficient food and good public security. What is testing is just the organizational ability of government officials at all levels.

    Moreover, the extensive industrial model that Zhang Hanqing paved the way for the rise of Fengtian industry requires a large number of workers. The production model and habits based on agriculture for thousands of years have made land-owning farmers only work as temporary workers unless they have to, and they cannot recruit them for a while.  To the abundant labor force, disaster victims are an excellent supplement.

    "That's good, but taking in the victims is a very troublesome thing" Unlike Zhang Hanqing, Lao Zhang actually has the memory of fleeing famine. He sympathizes with the North China disaster and hopes to help when he can. This is  The best of both worlds.

    It¡¯s just that he doesn¡¯t have the energy.

    "It doesn't matter, leave these co-ordination matters to me. The People's Party has not long been established, and it also needs to let grassroots party members and cadres go through some things."

    Seeing that Xiao Liuzi wanted to take charge of things, and that this was a good deed that accumulated evil deeds, Zhang Zuolin expressed his full support.  Of course, worried about Zhang Hanqing's lack of experience in political affairs, he still called Wang Yongjiang and gave him serious instructions.

    Soon, the "North China Flood Fengtian Relief Committee" was formally established, with the young and outrageous Mr. Zhang as the director.  As soon as he took office, he announced his willingness to accept disaster victims, accompanied by the slogan that everyone has heard since then: "When one side is in trouble, support from all sides will be provided."

    In order to show his sincerity, Zhang Hanqing actively responded to Lao Xiong¡¯s call. His two food factories, ¡°Yi Tong¡± and ¡°Master Yang¡±, urgently donated five million packs of instant noodles for free, which were delivered to the victims at the first opportunity.

    This is the first disaster relief industry in China. Instant noodles have indeed provided very useful relief to the victims who have no food and clothing, and have won great praise from the people. The propaganda of "a pack of instant noodles plus a cup of boiling water is equal to one life" has also made instant noodles popular.  The convenience and speed that instant noodles bring to the rescue of victims are reflected in the writings of reporters in disaster areas.

    "Yi Tong instant noodles, connecting the disaster area and our hearts" and "Master Yang, the life-saving master", these are new advertisements that Zhang Hanqing later placed in major newspapers such as "Fengtian Times" and "Beijing Times". They also serve as "Yi Tong",  "Master Yang" instant noodles made a dynamic advertisement.  If we trace it back to the origin of China's advertising industry, we can almost call this a positive success.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com)New advertisements placed in major newspapers and periodicals such as "Newspaper" and "Beijing Times" also made dynamic advertisements for "Yi Tong" and "Master Yang" instant noodles.  If we trace it back to the origin of China's advertising industry, we can almost call this a positive success.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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