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Zhao Zhenzhong estimated that Xu Yongchang's so-called discussion was to seek Yan Xishan's consent, and it is likely that the purchase of cars was not for Hebei Province. After all, Xu now has the final say in Hebei Province. If he buys it for Hebei, he can make the decision. However, Zhao Zhenzhong did not say it out loud and said now: "After sending this batch of grain to the disaster area, Huamei Company will set up a branch in Tianjin to engage in wharf construction and other matters, and our Sihai Industry will also open an office in Tianjin to deal with matters related to the disaster victims. In addition, if Chief Yan can permit, we also want to open some industries in Suiyuan and northwest Shanxi to provide local disaster victims with a way to make a living. If Chairman Xu has any needs, he can send someone to contact Sihai Industry."

"As long as the conditions are met, I think Chief Yan will agree to Mr. Zhao to start the industry." Xu Yongchang did not say much.

"Mr. Zhao, what is the origin of that Huamei Company?" Zhu Qinglan had heard him mention Huamei Company several times since he met Zhao Zhenzhong in the morning, so he took the opportunity to ask.

"Huamei Company is a company established by some Chinese in the eastern United States. The purpose is to unite the local Chinese and improve the lives of Chinese people. Now this company is already quite powerful. In addition to the United States, it will also open some branches in Australia, Nanyang and China in the near future." Zhao Zhenzhong briefly introduced, "When I went to the United States to visit some brothers and sisters studying in the United States more than half a year ago, I saw that some of them used their spare time to do some work at Huamei Company, so I communicated with some responsible personnel of Huamei Company. Later, I heard that the disaster was severe in China, so we agreed to buy food from the United States and transport it back to China for disaster relief."

"Brothers and sisters?" Xu Yongchang was a little surprised. After all, Zhao Zhenzhong said that he was an orphan in the morning.

"I know a little about this." Zhu Qinglan said, "Mr. Zhao has taken in many orphans in Qingdao over the years and started a charity school to teach them to read and read. Later, he sent those orphans with good studies to study or study in the United States, but he stayed in China to start an industry to provide the required funds. In addition, Mr. Zhao participated in the establishment of Qingdao University a few years ago and became the chairman of the school. It can be said that he is young and promising."

"While Mr. Zhao is young, his actions are admirable." After hearing Zhu Qinglan's introduction, Xu Yongchang couldn't help but look at Zhao Zhenzhong with admiration.

"But you can't be praised by both of you." Zhao Zhenzhong said humbly, "At that time, our three orphans were taken in by our master, and the elders of the Taiqing Palace provided a place to survive in this chaotic world. To put ourselves in others, what we did was to do our best to save more people with the same fate as ours at the time."

"This is very rare." Zhu Qinglan sighed and asked again: "Who founded Huamei Company and can create such a big situation overseas? How much grain do you buy?"

"There are some young people in charge of business affairs now, but the one who came forward was Mr. Situ Meitang. As for the grain I purchased, I didn't have the exact number before returning to China, but I thought it would not be less than tens of thousands of tons. After all, I brought nearly 20,000 tons this time. However, the Tianjin Wharf could not dock at all, so I had to transfer through the Qingdao Port Wharf."

Zhao Zhenzhong did not want to reveal his true relationship with Huamei Company, so he used Situ Meitang as a guise and gave a few brief explanations.

"Situ Meitang? It turned out to be him!" Zhu Qinglan sighed, "When I was in Guangdong, I heard many people mention several important figures among overseas Chinese, including Situ Meitang. Overseas Chinese had vigorously helped the revolution before and after the 1911, but they did not expect that they would now work to provide relief to domestic disasters."

"It's just that Huamei Company does not agree to hand over the disaster relief supplies to the government for management, saying that it is not trusting the people of the Nanjing government. Otherwise, it is not my turn to come to find Mr. Zhu." Zhao Zhenzhong explained.

"Ah... I'm afraid Situ Meitang and the others still have resentment towards Mr. Sun's actions back then." Zhu Qinglan obviously knew a little about the entanglement between Zhigongtang and Sun Wen.

Then, Zhu Qinglan said again: "Chichen, you are busy with official business, so I am very grateful to send us to the train station, so there is no need to wait for us to get on the bus. Besides, you have seen the car that Mr. Zhao has brought. There is nothing else here, so please go back first."

"I'd better wait for Mr. Zhu to get in the car before going back."

"We people also need to discuss some disaster relief matters, so don't wait." Zhu Qinglan advised.

Xu Yongchang thought that there was still a lot of things to deal with on his side, so he stopped insisting and said goodbye to everyone and returned to the provincial government headquarters.

Afterwards, Zhu Qinglan and Tang Mufen and others divided the work in detail: Zhu Qinglan took Zhao Zhenzhong from Datong to Yangqu to meet Yan Xishan and then went to Suiyuan to meet everyone; Li Yuntian and Rao Fenghuang, Cha Liangzhao and others took a train to Suiyuan, and mobilized staff from the North China Charity Federation in Suiyuan, northern Shaanxi, northwest Shanxi and other places to join in the relief operation; while Tang Mufen continued to raise disaster relief supplies in the Pingjin area.

At around 3 pm that day, the train left Peiping and headed towards Suiyuan.

The distance between the Pingsui Railway from Peiping to Datong is only about 370 kilometers. However, the train stopped several times on the way and added water and coal, and the speed was far less than that of later generations. Zhao Zhenzhong and others did not arrive in Datong until the next morning.

Near Datong Railway Station, everyone found a restaurant, asked the owner to make some hot soup, and had breakfast with the dry food they brought on the train. Afterwards, Zhao Zhenzhong and Zhu Qinglan broke up with everyone, took a driver to drive south from Datong and headed to Yangqu.

In Zhao Zhenzhong's previous impression, Taiyuan was the provincial capital of Shanxi, but why has it become Yangqu now? When asked about Zhu Qinglan, Zhu Qinglan smiled and said, "The Ming and Qing dynasties set up Taiyuan Prefecture, and the prefecture was in Yangqu County. After the establishment of the Republic of China, the prefecture-level system was abolished, leaving Yangqu County, and the capital of Shanxi Province was also located in Yangqu County. However, many people also called the current Yangqu County Taiyuan according to the previous name."

Zhao Zhenzhong was relieved.

In fact, the Taiyuan City system did not exist from the founding of the Republic of China in 1912 until 1947. The so-called "Taiyuan" refers only to the area around Yangqu County. In 1947, the Shanxi Provincial Government redefines the Yangcheng County District and sets up Taiyuan City separately, Taiyuan City became a truly established city, and has been the capital of Shanxi Province since then.

In this era, there were no expressways from Datong to Taiyuan, but only bumpy sandy roads. Along the way, Zhao Zhenzhong kept looking at the scene outside the car. It was just that in the mountains and fields of northern Shanxi covered with snow, in addition to the passing county towns and large towns, you could also see some of the atmosphere during the New Year, the villages on the roadside were hard to see people. In the fields exposed after the snow was blown away by the wind, there were only some yellow wheat seedlings sparsely scattered.

"It's snowing a little late. If it were early, the wheat wouldn't be like this." Zhu Qinglan sighed, "Yan Baichuan's life was not easy last year, and I didn't go to beg for alms with him. Hedong, northern Shanxi, and southern Shanxi were drought from spring to early summer, but in summer and autumn, it suffered heavy losses in various places. Prices in Hedong were soaring, and plagues were prevalent. The victims dug up grass roots, sold their wives and children, and went into exile to the road, which was terrible. Wutai and other places encountered floods in northern Shanxi, and the water of the Hutuo River rose by more than two meters, and the residents along the river suffered heavy losses; while in southern Shanxi, the people had eaten up all the food accumulated and lacked relief, and even the bark of grass roots and trees were eaten up. Although there was a lack of statistics on the number of victims in the entire Shanxi area, there were more than 810,000 victims who had no food and clothing in southern Shanxi alone. I estimate that the victims in Shanxi will not be less than 2 million."

"Look at the villages along the road, there seems to be almost no one in and out, as if they are abandoned, but there are many people inside. They are hiding in the broken house because of lack of food and clothing. Lying still can reduce consumption and get hungry for a while. Many people die of cold and hunger."

After hearing what Zhu Qinglan said about the disaster, looking at the outside of the car that looked particularly vast in winter, the desolate mountains and fields in northern Shanxi, as well as the roadside, the villages that seemed dilapidated and quiet on the Central Plains War, and thinking about the Central Plains War in a few months, Zhao Zhen felt particularly heavy in the heart. He hated Jiang, Gui, Feng, Yan and other giants who ignored the lives and death of the people and only knew how to fight for power and profit.

It was nearly 300 kilometers from Datong to Yangqu, Zhao Zhenzhong and the driver named Tian drove in turn. They did not arrive in Yangqu until dusk and found a hotel to park the car.

"It's finally here. My old bones are almost disintegrating." Zhu Qinglan got off the car and moved his hands and feet, which were a little numb, and then smiled: "We'll have a good rest tonight and go to Yan Baichuan to fight for the autumn wind tomorrow and get some Lantern Festival."

"Then I will have a lot to do with Mr. Zhu tomorrow." After rubbing my hands that were frozen a little stiff, Zhao Zhenzhong smiled, "However, we will ask the store to make some hot soup tonight, eat a bowl of Shanxi knife-cut noodles, and have a good sleep before talking about it."

On February 13th, this day was also the Lantern Festival. After breakfast with Zhu Qinglan, Zhao Zhenzhong rushed to Yan Xishan’s official residence.

When he heard Zhu Qinglan’s visit, Yan Xishan, who had just sent a controversial telegram to Jiang Jiang in Nanjing, greeted him in front of the living room. As soon as he met, Yan Xishan bowed with a smile and said, “Brother Ziqiao, it’s been a long time since I saw you. What kind of wind is blowing your brother to me today?”

"Hehe, brother Baichuan. Today is the Lantern Festival. I remember that you have Lantern Festival here for eating, so I came to my house." Zhu Qinglan bowed and smiled.

After the three of them entered the living room and sat down, Zhu Qinglan pointed to Zhao Zhenzhong and introduced to Yan Xishan: "This is Mr. Zhao Zhenzhong. Mr. Zhao was concerned about the disaster and raised some food to help the victims, so he found me. As for me, some problems cannot be solved, so I will come to you, brother."

"Boy Zhao Zhenzhong has met Chief Yan." Zhao Zhenzhong stood up and bowed.

"Today, old friends and new friends meet each other. If you don't have the time to do official business, you should call me "Mr." Yan Xishan smiled and said, "If you can let Brother Ziqiao come out to travel with you during the holidays, Mr. Zhao must have his own extraordinary features."

Since seeing Yan Xishan, Zhao Zhenzhong looked at the famous "tumbler in troubled times". Seeing that he was dressed like a local wealthy man from Shanxi, he could not see any sign of a national official. Hearing Yan Xishan's praise, Zhao Zhenzhong hurriedly said: "Mr. Zhu came out to travel around during the holidays, which means that he couldn't let go of the victims in his heart, but it's not that the kid has any skills."

"I said you should stop being polite, so let's go straight to the point. Otherwise, Brother Baichuan will be so worried when he sees me, a person who is fighting Qiufeng everywhere, come to him." Zhu Qinglan smiled and said, "It's really not to hide it. This time I came to see Brother Baichuan with Mr. Zhao, and I really have something to ask for.

"Where is Brother Ziqiao?" Yan Xishan said seriously, "Although Shanxi was in serious disaster last year, millions of people were affected, I will do my best as long as Brother Ziqiao needs it."

After hearing this, Zhao Zhenzhong thought to himself: This Yan Laoxi spoke highly on the surface, but in fact he was slick. He first talked about the victims and then tried his best. It was clearly a flashy and rude refusal.
Chapter completed!