The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!"

Li Shuanzhu, dressed in casual clothes, knocked on the gate of the courtyard house, with an M1892 revolver pinned to his waistband.

Recently, Marshal Chu bypassed Zhang Zuolin and the Japanese, and secretly negotiated an arms deal with the Frenchman. Purchased 30,000 rifles, 300,000 bullets, 6 mountain guns, 10,000 shells, 10 Fiat machine guns, 20,000 shells, with a total value of 28 million francs.

These are the stocks of France after World War I. Most of the riflings are severely worn, and some even have rusted barrels, but they are still very popular when sold in China. The French also knew how to deal with favors, and gave away 500 pistols and a lot of bullets for free, and Chu Yupu gave one to each of his direct guards.

In the past ten years, the franc has depreciated wildly, and the exchange rate with the British pound has fallen to 240:1. The conversion of 28 million francs is less than 1.2 million oceans. This business makes Chu Dashuai very happy.

Since receiving the French revolver, Li Shuanzhu has become such a baby that he has to hold it in his arms even when he sleeps, and even carries it with him when he goes out, and never leaves it.

"Yeah!"

The old gate of the courtyard house opened, and the landlady saw Zhou Hexuan, and immediately greeted her with a smile: "Mr. Zhou is here, please come in, please come in!"

"Old lady, excuse me!" Zhou Hexuan clasped his fists and said.

The landlady said gratefully: "Thanks to Mr. Zhou's care, those big soldiers dare not come to make trouble."

When the landlord Shan Chengfu heard the movement, he quickly asked his daughter-in-law to make tea, ran to the yard and bowed, "Mr. Zhou, come in and have a seat."

"No, I'm here to find brother Shoumin." Zhou Hexuan laughed.

The door of the west wing was suddenly pushed open, and Li Shoumin's Sichuan accent came: "Rare guest, rare guest, I just said why the magpie keeps barking today."

Zhou Hexuan went into the house to meet Mrs. Zhou, and took brothers Li Shoumin and Li Xiangji out to play. The third brother Li Shouji also wanted to follow, but was scolded by Li Shoumin and went back to the house to do his homework.

"Go to Xinming Theater!"

Li Shoumin gave instructions to the coachman, turned around and said to Zhou Hexuan, "The Xieqing Club is performing in Tianjin these two days, you must not miss it."

Zhou Hexuan has no interest in traditional operas, and he doesn't know which popular opera troupe Xieqingshe is. Since Li Shoumin liked to watch it, he took it as a way to relax with his friends.

The rickshaw ran on the street for a while, Zhou Hexuan looked at the sparse pedestrians, and couldn't help but said: "This Tianjin city is much deserted, it used to be very lively on weekends."

"It's not Chu Yu..." Li Shoumin glanced at Li Shuanzhu, and changed his words, "It's not thanks to Marshal Chu. Today he catches the Red Party, and tomorrow he collects money. The people of Tianjin have met a master Qingtian."

"Hehehe." No matter how stupid Li Shuanzhu was, he could still hear the irony in it. But this is a fact, and Li Shoumin is Zhou Hexuan's good friend, so he doesn't know what to say other than giggle.

To be honest, people in Tianjin still miss Feng Yuxiang's rule. Although General Changzhang is vacillating politically, he is much more gentle than Chu Yupu in terms of managing the people.

Not far away, a newsboy suddenly appeared on the street. He was barefoot, wearing shabby single clothes, holding a booklet in his hand and yelling: ""The Legend of the Condor Heroes" will be published in a single volume, a set of four volumes, with a limited number of copies. No la!"

Li Shoumin laughed loudly: "Brother Hexuan, all of your masterpieces have been published."

"It's also thanks to Xiangji's connection." Zhou Hexuan stopped the driver and waved to the newsboy, "How did "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" sell?"

The newsboy immediately ran over: "A set of four volumes, one yuan each, you can buy them separately, and the whole set costs only three and a half yuan."

"Give me a set, and the remaining fifty cents is for your tip." Zhou Hexuan took out 4 silver dollars and said.

"Okay, thank you sir!" The newsboy was overjoyed.

Zhou Hexuan took the books to read, and found that each book had only six chapters, about 160,000 words in content. Considering the current prices, this book is quite expensive, it is no different from stealing people.

There were few intellectuals in the Republic of China, and even fewer were able to write and publish books. Therefore, not only the manuscript fees for literati were high, but the prices of books were also ridiculously expensive.

In Lao She's novel "Divorce", there is such a plot: a colleague persuades Lao Li not to buy books, save the monthly money for buying books, and in a few years can buy a small house in Beiping.

A few years of money for buying books can buy a house in the capital. This is a fantasy in later generations, but it was a fact in the Republic of China.

How about Zhang Henshui's manuscript fee for a book, he bought a palace in Beiping.

Zhou Hexuan handed the book to Brother Li Shoumin and asked the newsboy, "How is the sale of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"?"

The newsboy smiled and said, "The sale is great. I have sold 8 sets in the street for a while, and I am about to go back to get the goods. It is much more profitable than selling newspapers." The newsboy got 5 cents He said, "If "Legend of the Condor Heroes" is sold every day, I will be able to earn enough tuition fees in half a year, and I can go to school to study."

Looking at the happy smile on the newsboy's face, Zhou Hexuan felt very sad, and there were so many things he wanted to say but couldn't say. He waved his hand and said, "Go to work, read more books to have hope."

"My mother said that too," the newsboy ran away excitedly, then quickly turned around and bowed, "Thank you sir!"

Li Shoumin was also a little touched, and asked for no reason: "Hexuan, when do you think this country will be able to cheer up?"

Zhou Hexuan shook his head helplessly: "As long as China is not unified, there will always be endless internal friction. The warlords don't care about the lives of ordinary people."

The two stopped talking and fell silent.

The rickshaw arrived at the Xinming Grand Theater in a blink of an eye. No matter how fierce the battle outside was, it was always bustling here, like two unrelated worlds.

Zhou Hexuan bought four premium tickets and sat at the front. After watching an opening scene, today's highlight finally came.

After hearing the introduction from the newspaper, Zhou Hexuan knew that the Xieqing Society was Shang Xiaoyun's team.

Shang Xiaoyun is the founder of Shangpai Art. In the 1930s, he was as famous as Mei Lanfang and ranked among the four famous actors in Peking Opera. At this time, although he hadn't made this name yet, he was already well-known all over the country, no matter how cruel the warlord was, he dared not kill him easily.

Fame is very important!

As long as Zhou Hexuan's "The Rise of Great Powers" is finished and its reputation spreads all over China, Marshal Chu will never dare to embarrass him again. Of course, Chu Yupu was really pissed off, and he directly labeled a red element, and the king of heaven, Dashuai Chu, would kill him if he wanted to.

What surprised Zhou Hexuan was that Shang Xiaoyun was acting in a fashion show today. The Peking Opera master wore a suit and was accompanied by Western musical instruments throughout the performance. The title of the piece was "Motanga Girl".

Wearing a suit, playing foreign music, and singing Peking Opera, but the content of the story is interpreting Buddhist classics, and the painting style is weird to the extreme.

"good!"

When the singing was exciting, the audience burst into applause, and the sound seemed to be able to overturn the roof of the theater.

Zhou Hexuan turned his head and looked aside curiously. The person beside him was not too hot. He was still wearing a hat in June, and half of his face was covered by the brim of the hat. The strangest thing was that the applause from this person just now was extremely shrill, and it was clearly a woman in men's clothing.