The Republic of China: A Letter of Appointment Creates the Most Powerful Warlord

Chapter 364 Returning to the River, Disaster Victims Everywhere

"Huh!" Sanzhu picked up a silver dollar and blew on it, then put it to his ear to listen to the unique sound, and couldn't help but smile foolishly.

He has never earned so much money in his life. Now it seems that following the big brother is not a bad idea.

"Put it away, put it away. Don't you know that wealth should not be shown off?" Scarface put the remaining silver coins back into the cloth bag, rubbed his full stomach, stood up and said, "Let's go to the next stop!"

"Okay!" The three brothers stood up immediately and followed the pace happily.

In their opinion, don’t worry about whether you can form a team or not, as long as you have enough food to eat.

……

In Zhijiang Province, half a year later, Zhang Ye came to Qujiang Dam again.

After more than half a year of repairs, the Independence Army invested a huge amount of resources and manpower here, and the breaches in the dam were finally blocked and effectively controlled.

Of course, they also paid a heavy price for this. Not only did they sacrifice a large number of rescue soldiers, but the entire northern part of Zhijiang turned into a vast ocean. Millions of people were displaced because of this incident, and countless civilians lost their lives.

Looking at the river surface gradually becoming calm, Zhang Ye took a deep breath, and his inner annoyance increased again.

“How long will it take to complete the flood discharge work?”

"Marshal, the flood discharge work has been carried out for more than three months, but the current defense dam has not been repaired yet, and the drainage work is progressing relatively slowly." The chief engineer wiped the mist from his glasses and reported softly.

They forcibly opened a flood discharge outlet near the eastern coastline in an attempt to stop the spread of the flood.

Although it is impossible to drain the entire ocean in a short period of time, it can effectively prevent the spread of floods.

If there were no flood discharge channel, in more than half a year, not only the northern part of Zhijiang, but also Shanghai would have been flooded.

"We must seize the time and at all costs control the flooded area first and drain the sea water first." Zhang Ye said with a worried look on his face.

He felt deeply powerless in the face of this natural scene that could be described as a natural disaster.

Judging from the current situation, within ten years, the northern part of Zhijiang will face a tragic situation of swamps and uninhabited areas.

The culprit who caused all this is now enjoying the most prosperous life in the capital. It is really unfair.

"Marshal, it costs a lot of money to open each flood discharge channel now. According to the current flood discharge speed, the water in Zhijiang can be drained out in three years at most. There is no need to open a new channel." The chief engineer persuaded patiently.

In his opinion, the current mess is already in such a mess that it won't make any difference whether it is done a year earlier or later. Why spend so much money on a meaningless piece of wasteland?

It would be better to invest that money in a new type of dam, so it won’t be wasted.

"No, no matter how much it costs, you have to follow my orders!" Unexpectedly, Zhang Ye did not give them a chance to persuade him and finalized the matter in a very tough manner.

Zhijiang Province has a developed economy, with various light industries flourishing, and has huge room for development backed by sea transportation.

If it continues to be abandoned like this, within a few years, this complete industrial chain will face collapse, and the financial crisis caused by it will be more terrifying than the floodplain.

"Let's go back to Wulin City!" After watching for a long time, Zhang Ye slowly turned around and forced himself to drive away the heaviness in his heart.

Now that things have come to this, we can only repair them bit by bit. Apart from that, any self-blame and complaints are nonsense.

An hour later, in Wulin City.

Compared with the last time I came, there were fewer vendors doing business on the streets, but instead there were a group of ragged beggars begging with their children.

The northern part of Zhijiang River was flooded and the offshore area was blocked, which cut off all foreign trade business, causing most small workshops to face a situation of having no work.

At the same time, a large number of disaster victims poured into Wulin City, sleeping on the streets with their families, making the narrow streets so crowded that no one could pass.

At night, the streets and alleys are full of beggars huddled in the cold wind. If you find an alley to go into, you can see at least a dozen ragged strangers staring at you pitifully.

Faced with this situation, the local government provides porridge relief every day and selects a large number of young workers to participate in the dam protection plan, providing them with a job that can provide them with enough food.

However, there are nearly one million people living around Wulin City, and the government's rescue alone cannot change their current situation at all. It can only ensure that everyone with stuttering can barely survive.

If we want to fundamentally change this situation, we must create a large number of jobs so that these people can support themselves.

"How many people come here to eat porridge every day now?" Zhang Ye, walking on the street, looked at the figure curled up in the alley and asked in a deep voice.

He knew there were many victims, but he didn't expect there would be so many.

"Judging from yesterday's porridge distribution, the number of people, including adults and children, should be around 400,000." Mayor Wulin followed behind him, hunched over and wiping the cold sweat from his forehead from time to time.

He was in a meeting just now when he suddenly received the order for the Marshal's arrival. He immediately dropped the work at hand and ran here desperately.

Fortunately, the disaster relief mission has been going well recently, otherwise he would not have the confidence to stand by Zhang Ye.

"How much is each person's daily food quota?" Zhang Ye noticed two small figures huddled in the alley opposite and immediately turned around and walked over.

"Adults need one pound of rice per day, and children need six ounces of rice per day. It's all refined rice!" Mayor Wulin followed closely in his footsteps, answering every question he was asked, not daring to hide anything.

Anyway, these quotas are set by the Qizhou party, and they are only responsible for implementation.

"Starting today, everyone's quota will be increased by 20%." Zhang Ye approached the two children, looking at their weed-like, dusty hair and gray faces. He asked softly, "Children, where are your families?"

"Dead!" The leading boy, who looked to be only seven or eight years old, was holding a dirty broken bowl. His clear and bright eyes flashed with curiosity as he looked at the people in front of him.

"My parents died in the flood, and my grandfather also died on the way to escape..." Next to the boy, a little girl who looked somewhat similar to him was squatting at the entrance of the alley, holding a rag doll covered with black handprints in her left hand and a piece of exquisite cake in her right hand, and she spoke while swallowing her saliva.

Seeing this, a trace of sadness flashed across Zhang Ye's eyes, but he quickly covered it up and pointed at the cake in her hand and asked, "Why don't you eat it?"

"I'm not particularly hungry now. I'll eat at night when I'm too hungry to sleep." The little girl met his gaze and smiled a little embarrassedly.