The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China - Chapter 1025

   Ta Kung Pao, Chongqing Headquarters.

Hu Zhengzhi walked quickly into the editor-in-chief’s office and said to Wang Yunsheng, “Editor-in-chief Wang, I’m afraid this news cannot be reported, and it will easily have a negative impact on the overall situation of the war. You take down the manuscript first, and I will go to meet Mr. Jiang immediately. “

   “Is it useful to see Chairman Jiang? Mr. Zhou has seen him several times.” Wang Yunsheng said angrily.

  Hu Zhengzhi said: “It’s always useful. The central government not only reduced the amount of grain levied in Henan by 20%, but also brought the county magistrate of Xuchang to justice. A few days ago, another 200 million disaster relief funds were allocated.”

“What I want to expose is the embezzlement of disaster relief funds!” Wang Yunsheng dropped the pen in his hand, “The 200 million disaster relief funds are not enough for each of the disaster victims in Henan to buy a pound of rice, so the embezzlement is still going on, and there are only 80 million left in Henan. The 80 million yuan is still greedy. Wang Rupan, as the deputy director of the Henan Disaster Investigation Committee and the director of the Henan Branch of the Three Youth League, even embezzled disaster relief funds and went back to his hometown to buy land! Is it tolerable, and what is not? If this news cannot be published, then I will resign “Ta Kung Pao” editor-in-chief!”

   “Alas,” Hu Zhengzhi said, “I’ll give Mr. Zhou a call.”

   “Please!” Wang Yunsheng sneered.

Hu Zhengzhi called Zhou’s mansion, explained the situation, and said, “Mingcheng, editor-in-chief Wang insists on publishing this news, but I can’t persuade me. I only mention two consequences. First, it is inevitable. The overall situation of the war of confrontation is unfavorable, and secondly, Ta Kung Pao will inevitably be suspended again.”

   “Then prepare to stop publication.” Zhou Hexuan said.

  Hu Zhengzhi slowly put down the phone and said to Wang Yunsheng, “Send!”

  …

   “Damn!”

  Chang Kaishen threw the newspaper angrily and shouted, “Check it out for me, check it out for me!”

   Zhang Daofan stood aside with low eyebrows pleasing to the eye, not daring to let out the air. When Lao Jiang’s breathing slowed down, he asked, “Boss, is Ta Kung Pao going to be banned?”

  Chang Kaishen thought for a while and said, “The museum was ordered to be closed for one month for rectification.”

   Lao Jiang was really angry, and in order to quell public opinion, he chased away 200 million in relief funds. As a result, there were only 80 million left before it was sent to Henan, and they continued to be corrupted when they arrived in Henan. These worms simply regarded the party-state event as a child’s play.

   What is even more irritating is that Wang Rupan is the director of the Henan branch of the Three Youth League, and he is very trusted by Lao Jiang, so he was specially appointed as the deputy director of the Henan Disaster Investigation Committee. He even misappropriated the disaster relief funds to go back to his hometown in Xuchang to buy land, and bought a full 500 acres.

   “Ta Kung Pao” reporter originally went to Xuchang to cover the disaster situation, after all, Xuchang County suffered the most people to starve to death. As a result, I accidentally discovered that someone was buying land at a low price. After a little investigation, I found that the person who came forward to buy the land was a person from the Henan branch of the Sanqing Group.

At the end of the article, the reporter also asked a question: “The deputy director of the Henan Disaster Situation Investigation Committee embezzled the disaster relief funds to buy land, so does the director of the committee know anything? If he doesn’t know, it is a cover up, and if he doesn’t know, he is foolish! If the deputy director is corrupt, then the director Is there any suspicion of corruption? Since then, the disaster relief funds will be sent to the Henan Disaster Relief Committee. Can the Disaster Relief Committee announce the whereabouts of the funds, and whether there is another corruption in the Disaster Relief Committee?”

As soon as the news came out, the whole country was in an uproar.

  People have called for Wang Rupan to be punished and to investigate all officials who handled the relief funds.

   Following the execution of Xuchang county magistrate Wang Hengwu, Wang Rupan, also a native of Xuchang, was also taken to the court. Wang Rupan died very quickly, and before the Central Investigator could do anything, the Henan side immediately took Wang Rupan to death. At first glance, it was obvious that someone wanted to cover up more crimes – this thing can’t be investigated, and there is a lot of investigation.

  Because the corruption incident is too involved, it was impossible to find out for a while. In order to quell public anger, Lao Jiang had to allocate another 300 million to disaster relief.

   The 300 million disaster relief fund this time was sent directly to the Henan Industrial and Agricultural Bank, and then the bank transferred it to the Henan Provincial Government. Because Lao Jiang watched too closely, no one in the central government dared to be greedy, and the Henan Disaster Investigation Committee and the Disaster Relief Committee could not handle it either.

   It stands to reason that this time it should be safe, but Lao Jiang still underestimated the courage of corrupt officials.

   Li Guozhen, President of Henan Industrial and Agricultural Bank, directly colluded with Ma Guolin, Secretary General of the Henan Provincial Government, and misappropriated more than half of the 300 million disaster relief funds to engage in speculation. In their words, 300 million fiat currency is too little for disaster relief, so it is better to do business to make more money. With more money, more victims can be relieved.

   However, by the time they returned the funds and bought grain for disaster relief, millions of people in Henan had already starved to death, and the next year’s new wheat had already begun to be harvested.

   These are the three disaster relief funds that Lao Jiang successively allocated to Henan. The first one belonged to the funds lent to the Henan provincial government, the second one was embezzled by more than 70%, and the third one was misappropriated for speculation.

   After Ta Kung Pao was forced to suspend publication again, two foreigners came to the Zhou Mansion.

  A man named Bai Xiude, a special correspondent for Time magazine in the United States. The other is Harrison Foreman, a correspondent (photographer) for the British “The Times”.

   “Hello, Mr. Zhou!”

  Bai Xiude’s Chinese is very standard, while Forman speaks a bit lame.

   Zhou Hexuan shook hands with them and said, “Do you two have anything to do with me?”

Bai Xiude said: “Ta Kung Pao was forced to suspend publication, leaving the western journalists in Chongqing behind. Now no newspaper dares to report on the Henan famine. Harrison and I are going to go to Henan for field investigation. I heard that the Ta Kung Pao reporter has already I have a lot of first-hand materials, so I want to borrow them to read and prepare.”

   Zhou Hexuan returned to the study, brought a stack of written materials and said, “These are photocopies of the interview draft. The photos need to be extracted from the “Ta Kung Pao” newspaper.”

   “Thank you.” Bai Xiude put away the photocopies carefully.

   Zhou Hexuan said: “It’s me who should thank you. I hope the two of you can report the disaster truthfully.”

“Definitely,” Bai Xiude didn’t mention the Henan famine, but chatted about gossip, “Mr. Zhou, when I was in college, I often heard the tutor mention you. The tutor said that you are the most sober he has ever seen. Chinese, his communication with you is always so pleasant.”

   Zhou Hexuan smiled and asked, “Who is your mentor?”

   “Mr. Fairbank.” Bai Xiude said.

   “Haha, it turned out to be Lao Fei. He was very strict when he was teaching at Tsinghua University. You suffered a lot under him, right?” Zhou Hexuan laughed.

Bai Xiude said proudly: “Of course I suffered. The tutor thought that Chinese was too difficult and was afraid that students would waste their energy, so he put forward an unwritten rule that ‘undergraduate students are not suitable for learning Chinese’. At that time, there were only two undergraduate students learning Chinese. One, the tutor always made the test papers very hard, trying to make us back off. So another classmate gave up, and I was the first undergraduate student in Harvard history to study Chinese and pass the test.”

   “It seems that your language talent is good.” Zhou Hexuan said.

Bai Xiude said: “Before learning Chinese, I had mastered Hebrew, Latin, German, French and Yiddish. The first time I became interested in Chinese was at Harvard-Yenching Institute Books. In the museum, I saw the Chinese calligraphy works on the wall. They are so beautiful, they are beyond the scope of words, and every calligraphy is a delicate work of art. By the way, Mr. Zhou, before I leave Chongqing, can I ask you about it? Do you want a calligraphy work?”

   “Of course.” Zhou Hexuan often asks others for words, but not many people ask him for words.

   Zhou Hexuan wrote a short piece of “Friendship Lasts Forever”, which was signed with a seal. After Bai Xiude took it for mounting, he set off for Henan.