Chapter 1468 Disaster Relief (Part 2)
To be exact, this family doesn't have any courtyard gate. From the fence made of bamboo poles, you can see two earthen houses made of rammed earth at a glance.
Being poor is normal. This is not only the case in the Central Plains, but also in the whole country.
'When prosperity comes, the people suffer; when decline comes, the people suffer! ' This sentence from the poem of Zhang Yanghao, a Sanqu writer in the Yuan Dynasty, is not just a casual remark. It is a true portrayal of the thousands of years of feudal dynasty rule in China.
The so-called prosperity and prosperity actually have little to do with the lower-class people.
In such a war-torn world, it is good to have a place to shelter from the wind and rain.
Sitting under the eaves was a ragged girl wearing a coarse cotton coat. Looking at the group of people who came into the courtyard uninvited, her eyes were full of fear.
"Ni'er, where are your parents? Why are you the only one sitting here on New Year's Eve!" The village chief stepped forward and asked.
"My sister is sick. My parents wanted to get her something to eat, so they left early in the morning and asked me to look after my sister at home." The girl looked at the familiar village chief, and replied tremblingly with fear.
Tang Dao frowned.
It is snowing now. Although Henan Province is in the Central Plains, it is actually more close to the north in terms of geographical location. The temperature has been below zero. What can you find to eat at this time? The most important thing is, haven't you just bought the food? Even if you really don't have money, can't you give out dozens of kilograms for free?
It's New Year's Eve, and there are patients again. Even making noodle soup is okay!
"You are too ridiculous, your family just received 100 kilograms of noodles the day before yesterday. Can't you steam a bun for the baby? It's so cold, the bark of the tree has been peeled off, what can you find outside!" The village chief's face changed slightly, but he immediately scolded the girl loudly.
The girl's eyes were already full of tears, but she refused to speak again.
"Sir, their parents are not at home, how about we go to another family?" The village chief could only turn around and suggest.
"We'll wait for them here!" Tang Dao's face was as gloomy as the sky.
Instinctively, he felt that there was something fishy going on.
Even if the village chief in front of him was not the initiator, he should know something about the inside story. His heartbeat was already one third faster than before.
Someone was trying to take the food. If it weren't for the little girl, Tang Dao's murderous intent would have been uncontrollable.
However, from an angle that others could not see, Tang Dao's hands behind his back had already made gestures.
Xia Dayu, who was standing outside the door, understood and turned around and left.
Tang Dao came here not only with the security battalion and his guard reinforcement squad assigned to him by General Jiang, but also with a reconnaissance company that Lei Xiong urgently transferred to him a week ago.
Tang Dao knew very well that in this era, whoever has a strong fist will have the weight of words, otherwise how could the military control's "Zhui Ming Tai Sui" dare to throw a provincial administrative inspector who is also a major general into the Yellow River?
Of course, such a small village would not require Tang Tuanzuo to raise troops to surround the village to get the truth. Tang Dao asked his guards to go to the village to find out the truth, and the scouts on the periphery needed to be prepared for battle.
Extraordinary times must be handled by extraordinary means. No matter who is involved, Tang Dao must use thundering means to cut off the black hand reaching out to the food, so as to avoid more people from thinking of disaster relief food after encountering a greater disaster in summer.
The number of people affected by the disaster is still small now, but by then it will involve 30 million people and a famine that will starve 3 million people to death.
The life and death of a few or even hundreds of people, in front of millions of levels, even a fool knows how to choose.
Tang Dao stood in the yard as still as a mountain, his face gloomy and silent, but the village chief who accompanied him was sitting on pins and needles.
The village chief is an old man in his 50s. He should have some prestige in the village, which is a major feature of China's current rural areas.
The so-called village chief is actually not an administrative position, and no one pays him a salary. He is elected by the villagers themselves, and his main job is to help the village and the township communicate.
Such a small role is naturally not qualified to participate in the distribution of this interest chain, but it does not prevent him from knowing some rumors and warnings from the people above.
The village chief is not sure what kind of big shot Tang Dao is. He only knows that this young man in military uniform is sitting in a car, with a blond and blue-eyed foreign woman standing beside him, and more than a dozen trucks of fully armed soldiers following behind him, and the soldiers are all respectful to him. This pomp is better than the county magistrate he has seen.
The girl got a few candies from Laura. With Laura's patient help, she carefully peeled off the candy wrapper and put the candy into her mouth. An indescribable sweetness rushed into the tip of her tongue. The girl hurriedly spit it out and held it tightly in her hand.
"Delicious, you eat it!" Laura was a little surprised.
"I want to give it to Xiao Ni'er, she's sick." The girl tightly grasped the candy that brought her unprecedented sweetness, and explained very uncomfortably.
"This is for you, for your sister, I have more here." Laura felt sad, and took out a few more from her pocket and stuffed them into the girl's pocket.
The girl walked into the house happily and stuffed the dirty candy in her hand into the mouth of the four-year-old girl whose face was red because of a high fever under the tattered quilt.
"You Chinese people, it's really not easy." Laura looked at this scene with pity in her eyes.
"War, did not destroy our will, but greed can!" Tang Dao took a deep breath, closed his eyes and looked up at the sky.
Little bits of cold snowflakes sprinkled on his face, but they couldn't extinguish the growing anger in his chest.
Forty minutes later, a couple wearing tattered cotton-padded jackets, their feet and legs covered in mud, returned home carrying tools.
The woman supported the man. One of the man's trouser legs was still empty, swaying lightly in the cold wind. The woman's thin body looked as thin as a piece of paper, as if a gust of wind could blow it away.
His face was even more charred, showing that he was extremely malnourished.
The two of them were obviously not mentally prepared for the few people standing in the courtyard. They looked at the village chief aside with fear in their eyes.
"What are you two doing? Where did you go when you're not at home during the Chinese New Year? Let the gentleman from the province wait for a long time." The village chief scolded the thin couple as soon as they met.
"Xiao Ni'er is sick. My son and I are thinking of going to the river to get some fish and shrimps to replenish her body and celebrate the New Year." The man replied with a bitter look on his face.
"That river to the west, do you think there is water there? Can it be up to your ankles? There are still fish and shrimps! People from all over the country have fished for it countless times, and even a grasshopper has been thrown into the water. Boil it in the pot and eat it. Where is the 100 kilograms of white flour you got from the county the day before yesterday? I don't believe you can eat it in two days." The village chief continued to scold.
The couple both have their own disabilities. The man dug trenches for the army two years ago, and a cannonball exploded and lost one of his legs. The army simply bandaged him, threw a piece of silver in his hand, and left him to fend for himself. self-destruction.
As a result, the man was desperate and returned to the village with the help of his fellow villagers, miraculously surviving.
He was probably thinking that his deaf and mute wife and two young children had no one to take care of them!
But after losing a leg, the situation of the family without its main labor force can be imagined. By this year, due to the drought, the food production was almost extinct. The family even had to eat one meal for three days. The four of them had to live in this famine year. Not starving to death is simply a miracle among miracles.
It was not easy to survive until the provincial government offered to buy grain at half price. Many families sold the silver bracelets given by their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law or the ancestral items at the bottom of the box to buy grain. However, this family had only two mud houses and a bed. Once the quilt is broken, nothing valuable can be taken out.
Fortunately, the county also issued a notice. It is really impossible to get money for something like this. As long as the village or township acts as a guarantor and a chief official comes to the house to review and approve it, the grain can be distributed free of charge.
There are five families similar to these two in the whole village. The village chief reported them early. After people from the county came to check, they all passed. They were notified the day before yesterday to collect food and go home.
I just heard that there seemed to be some discrepancies between the weight and the notice, but the village chief warned them, the village chiefs, not to ask what you shouldn’t ask, don’t say what you shouldn’t say, and those who stutter are fine. The county and provincial officials are busy After such a long time, why don't we let them get some benefits?
This is a perfectly normal truth, and the village chief who has matured into a master would not understand it.
"Brother, don't be afraid. I came from the province to see how everyone is doing this year after receiving the relief food. If you have food, you can eat sparingly. If it lasts until April or May, there should be a batch of disaster relief. The food has arrived. Now the country is at war with the Japanese, and the economy is also in difficulty. I won't say that we will be well fed, but we will still have a way to survive." Tang Dao took the initiative to talk.
"Sir, it's not that I don't want to give food to my baby, it's really..." After hearing what Tang Dao said, the man's throat became choked, but it was difficult to continue speaking.
"Brother, tell me what you want to say. Don't hide it from me. I am the deputy disaster relief commander appointed by the Executive Yuan. I am responsible for assisting the Commander of the First War Zone in all disaster relief matters in this province. As long as disaster relief food is involved, it falls under my jurisdiction. ." Tang Dao said seriously.
The man and the village chief were stunned. They couldn't figure out what kind of official the deputy commander was, but they knew how big the commander of the theater was. He was the king of a province.
Such a young man is actually the deputy of the king of a province?
"For example, if your village chief said that you received 100 kilograms of noodles, let alone one or two kilograms less, even one or two kilograms less, I can get justice for you. Don't be afraid that they will cause trouble for you in the future. I am a soldier. In one sentence, you are going to die! How can you think so much when you are about to starve to death? Think about your two daughters, can you bear to watch them starve to death?" Tang Dao encouraged.
Tang Dao knows the thoughts of these low-level people. No matter how big Tang Dao's officials are, they are of little use.
What does it mean that a county official is inferior to a county administrator? Tang Dao is here, and it seems that he can find justice for them and punish some people, but he cannot be here forever. Once he leaves, those people can round them up and flatten them at will.
Tang Dao could only use the lowest level of life and death logic to encourage him. He said that he might be killed by others, but if he didn't tell him, his family would starve to death. They were all going to die anyway, so it was better to drag those corrupt officials into the water first.
Tang Dao couldn't tell them now that those people would not be able to persecute them, because when Tang Tuanzuo was angry, those who dared to cause trouble would lose their heads.
Tang Dao's words certainly aroused the father's passion. With the support of his wife, the man took out a bag of grain from the shallow cellar at home and placed it in front of several people. His face was full of sadness: "This is where I will go." The county received it, and the county officials said that it can be used as seeds for our spring plowing, and we can grow more than 100 kilograms of flour. "
Not to mention that the village chief was shocked, even Tang Dao, who had been mentally prepared, couldn't help but open his eyes and looked carefully.
First of all, the bag of grain was no more than 20 jin at most. Four-fifths of the 100-jin ration was deducted. Besides, it was not flour, but wheat, at least two years old.
It was nonsense to use it as seeds during spring plowing. Even this stuff could grow wheat.
If we use the ratio of 0.8 jin of flour to grind one jin of wheat, it would be 16 jin of flour.
The 84% deduction rate was also a great insight for Tang Dao.
"Sir, the drought has not eased at all now, and it may be worse next year, so we dare not touch these grains. Otherwise, it doesn't matter if my husband and I starve to death, but I'm afraid that my big niece and little niece will be like the one in the neighboring county." The man burst into tears as he spoke.
Cannibalism! The most terrible phenomenon during famine in ancient China actually happened in two counties last year.
The trees in the plain county are far less lush than those in the mountainous county. What can we do when there is no bark or leaves to eat?
The man is at least a very qualified father! He is doing his best to protect his wife and children in this disaster year.
"I promise, I will seek justice for you and all the people here, and you don't have to worry about anyone looking for you, Mafa, I promise." Tang Dao waved his hand and asked Xia Dayu, who was jogging over, to take 50 kilograms of white flour first, and turned to leave.
The murderous aura on his body made even two ordinary farmers feel that the cold wind suddenly became more fierce.
"It is common for families in the village to buy food in short weight, and it is not all white flour, basically half white flour and half wheat. Most of the free relief is wheat, and the amount is seriously insufficient." Xia Dayu followed Tang Dao and reported in a low voice.
"Let someone spread the word that Deputy Commander Tang is visiting the villages secretly, with a gloomy face, and has continuously sent encrypted telegrams to the theater headquarters." Tang Dao gave orders while walking.
"Tang, I remember you said that you sent an inspection team and ordered that if there is corruption, wartime military law will be enforced. Why are there still people doing this? Is money more precious than life?" Laura asked angrily and puzzled as she walked to the car.
Poverty and suffering have had a great impact on this kind and straightforward Western woman. Unexpectedly, there is still greed hidden behind this.
"Laura, Marx's Capital says: When the profit reaches 10%, they will be ready to move; when the profit reaches 50%, they will take risks; when the profit reaches 100%, they dare to trample on all human laws; when the profit reaches 300%, they dare to risk being hanged." Tang Dao stopped.
"And this kind of profit is as high as 500%. Do you think someone will reach out to them?"
"I am now! I am not worried about anything else, I am only worried about one thing." Tang Dao sighed before getting into the car.
"What are you worried about? Is it because those people have too deep backgrounds?" Laura couldn't help but worry in her blue eyes.
She knew Tang Dao's personality. He was indomitable on the battlefield, just as he once said: I will go even if there are thousands of people!
That kind of heroism is the most perfect man model in her mind.
She didn't believe he would stop because of darkness.
"Haha! I'm just worried! The person behind this matter is not powerful enough. If he is not powerful enough, his head is not important enough." Tang Dao laughed loudly.
The convoy set off in the snow, not going to the county town that had been prepared, but heading straight to another county.
Tang Dao knew that as he traveled to more places, some people were bound to suffer from insomnia on this New Year's Eve!
And those who were hiding behind the scenes were bound to surface.