The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

It is very strange to say that the suspension of "Fei Gong" did not cause any disturbance.

Countless colleagues and readers have expected this, because "People's City" is written too darkly, and it unabashedly condemns the central government's military ration purchase policy. So no one stood up to seek justice for Zhou Hexuan, just asking for benevolence. Everyone just sighed that they could no longer order "Fei Gong" in the future.

"Fei Gong" was founded before the war, and Zhou Hexuan wrote nearly 200 review articles in this magazine. In particular, the analysis of the international situation and the interpretation of Japan's policies are the first choice for Chinese people to understand the world in recent years. Even Lao Jiang's attendant office has established a special research group.

Now "Fei Gong" can no longer be run, which has disappointed countless readers.

But Zhou Hexuan's novel "People's City", because of its extremely sharp writing, made people pay more attention to the disaster situation in Henan. Various newspapers sent reporters to Henan one after another, and non-governmental organizations also responded positively. People in southwestern provinces donated money and goods to Henan when they were hungry.

The Henan Disaster Relief Committee couldn't withstand the pressure of public opinion, and began to turn around at full speed—at least on the surface, they were doing their best to provide disaster relief. The garrison troops on the border between Shaanxi and Henan no longer intercepted the fleeing famine victims, which made Shaanxi provincial government officials scold Zhou Hexuan for being troublesome every day.

The troublesome Zhou Hexuan was grounded.

The two gates of the Zhou mansion are guarded by guards around the clock. These soldiers were not young, they belonged to Lao Jiang's outer guards, and they were those who were usually responsible for helping Lao Jiang watch the door.

As long as Zhou Hexuan stepped out of the gate of his house, he would be stopped by the guards, and he would be invited back very respectfully. After Zhou Hexuan made several harassing phone calls, Lao Jiang finally let go and allowed Zhou Hexuan to go fishing by the river.

Zhou Hexuan was also earnestly carrying out the task of reading history assigned by Chiang Kai-shek, and published his first related paper in the Spring Festival of 1943: "The Death of Shen Wansan-An Exploration of Ming History".

On this day, Chang Kaishen had just finished reading the front-line battle report when the secretary of the attendant suddenly came in with a paper and said, "Boss, this is the history reading experience sent by Mr. Zhou."

Chang Kaishen got angry when he saw the title, and cursed: "Bastard, I let him understand the disaster of the Donglin Party, but he researched Shen Wansan's death for me!"

The attendant secretary stood quietly, not daring to speak.

Chang Kaishen asked, "Have you read this article?"

The attendant secretary said, "I've seen it."

Chang Kaishen asked again: "How does Zhou Mingcheng think Shen Wansan died?"

"I didn't say anything," said the attendant secretary.

"Then why is he writing about Shen Wansan's death?" Chang Kaishen was quite speechless.

The attendant secretary said: "Mr. Zhou believes that the content about Shen Wansan in "History of Ming Dynasty" is a random fabrication. Zhu Yuanzhang never exiled Shen Wansan at all."

Since the late Qing Dynasty, "History of the Ming Dynasty" has been a key research object in the field of Chinese historiography, and it is often associated with the revolution. Since the tyranny of the Manchu Qing Dynasty is to be overthrown, the injustice of the Manchu Qing Dynasty must be proved, so as to justify the name of the Zhu family's royal family.

Until the Anti-Japanese War period, "History of Ming Dynasty" was still popular knowledge.

Historians in the Kuomintang-controlled area studied the "History of Ming Dynasty" to summarize the lessons of the death of the Ming Dynasty. The Republic of China is like the Ming Dynasty, while Japanese aggression is like the entry of the Qing Dynasty. Taking history as a mirror, it warned the National Government how to improve its politics and love the people, and how to resist foreign invaders. For example, at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, historians used the Nanming civil strife as an example, calling for the country to be defended by fighting against the Japanese with the same hatred.

Historians in the occupied areas, on the other hand, eulogized the national heroes of the late Ming Dynasty in various ways, expressing their patriotic enthusiasm by playing around the edges.

Of course, since Chang Kaishen was a follower of Wang Yangming, there were also a large number of Ming historians specializing in the Hongzhi and Zhengde dynasties at this time.

Throughout the period of the Republic of China, there were so many research works on Ming history. Later generations of netizens criticized the Donglin Party and questioned Yuan Chonghuan's arguments as early as that time, but Yuan Chonghuan was still considered a national hero, while the Donglin Party became notorious.

Chang Kaishen also likes to read history books, especially "Ming History", after all he admires Wang Yangming.

After his anger dissipated, Chang Kaishen immediately flipped through Zhou Hexuan's thesis, and found it more interesting the more he read it.

According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of the Concubine": "Wu Xing enriched the people and Shen Xiu, helped build one of the three capitals, and invited the army. The emperor said angrily: 'Every man rewards the emperor's army, and the people who are in disorder should be punished.' Later remonstrance said:' Concubine who hears the law, it is illegal to punish the law, not to punish the ominous... Unknown people, heaven will disaster, how can your majesty punish!' It is Shixiu, who is guarding Yunnan."

This is the source of the long-standing story about Shen Wansan, because Shen Wansan paid for the construction of one-third of the city wall and wanted to pay for the army, which immediately aroused Zhu Yuanzhang's fear. Zhu Yuanzhang originally wanted to kill Shen Wansan, but after being persuaded by Empress Ma, he finally exiled Shen Wansan in Yunnan instead.

There are also various unofficial histories in the folk, such as what kind of cornucopia, and Shen Wansan became a fairy in Yunnan. Some people even claimed to have met Shen Wansan during the Kangxi period.

However, Zhou Hexuan said in the article that he has a collection of "Wujiang County Chronicles" engraved in the year of Qianlong. According to the records in this county annals, Shen Wansan had already died under Zhang Shicheng's rule, and he would not be near Zhu Yuanzhang's side at all, let alone help Zhu Yuanzhang build the city wall with money.

The historical source of "Wujiang County Chronicles" is "Wujiang Chronicles", and the editor of "Wujiang Chronicles" is Shen Wansan's children and relatives, so there is almost no possibility of lying.

In other words, Shen Wansan was from the Yuan Dynasty, was born in the Yuan Dynasty, and died in the Yuan Dynasty, which has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty. When he was alive, Zhu Yuanzhang had not yet occupied Wujiang. The place where he lived was occupied by Zhang Shicheng, and Zhang Shicheng and Zhu Yuanzhang were deadly enemies. If Shen Wansan paid to help Zhu Yuanzhang build the city wall, then Zhu Yuanzhang would not have to exile him in Yunnan. His whole family would have been chopped off by Zhang Shicheng long ago.

When "Wujiang County Chronicles" quoted the historical materials of "Wujiang Chronicles", the Qing Dynasty's "Ming History" had already been compiled. The county chroniclers did not dare to overthrow the "History of the Ming Dynasty", and they were even more afraid of trouble. They specially noted the details later, and said that there were errors in the historical materials. I couldn't figure out who was right and who was wrong.

As a result, Zhou Hexuan questioned the credibility of "History of Ming Dynasty". The "Biography of Empress Ma" in "History of Ming Dynasty" is all fake, who knows that there are no fakes in other places? Then Zhou Hexuan quoted the materials of "Ming Shilu" and compared it with "Ming History" before and after, and found out many contents that maliciously smeared the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The most nonsense is the record about Zhu Houzhao. In "Ming Shilu", Zhu Houzhao is wise and martial, capable of fighting well, respects the ministers who are really capable and practical, and dismisses most bureaucrats who eat vegetarian meals. In the "Ming History" compiled by the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao favored treacherous eunuchs, absurd and uninhibited, and he was simply a first-class faint king.

The paper that Zhou Hexuan handed over to Chang Kaishen was a special edition. He compared Lao Jiang to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Although he worked hard to govern, he was deceived by a group of corrupt officials. He also cited the example of disaster relief in the late Ming Dynasty to compare the corruption of disaster relief in Henan today, hoping that Lao Jiang can severely punish officials who committed crimes.

Of course, there is no such paragraph in the published papers, but more textual research on Shen Wansan's life.