The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

1943 finally arrived.

On February 2, the Battle of Stalingrad ended, and 90,000 German troops, including Marshal Paulus, were captured.

On February 11, Eisenhower was named supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe.

On February 18, Soong Meiling delivered a speech in the US Congress.

Just after the Spring Festival this year, a solar eclipse suddenly appeared on the first day of the Lunar New Year. A partial solar eclipse can be seen across the country, and a total solar eclipse can even be seen in the Northeast, which inevitably gives rise to various bizarre rumors.

Among them, the most popular statement among Chinese people is that Japan is about to fall—the sun represents Japan.

Zhou Hexuan is now deaf to what is going on outside the window, and devotes himself to the study of Ming history. His desire to survive is still very strong, and Lao Jiang was obviously really angry this time. If he ran around, the soldiers at the gate of the Zhou mansion would dare to shoot him.

But Zhou Hexuan has no regrets, all the plots in "People's City" are not fabricated at will, but adapted based on the facts that have already happened. "Ta Kung Pao" sent a total of four reporters in Henan, and Zhou Hexuan read all the news they sent back, which was shocking and made Zhou Hexuan feel uncomfortable.

In mid-January, as soon as Ta Kung Pao resumed publication, it published news about the disaster in Henan again.

This time the article was written by Zhang Gaofeng, a war correspondent. He described in detail how the victims in Henan ate poisonous weeds, dry firewood, and white mud, and disclosed Tang Enbo's ugly behavior in Henan. At the end of the article, Zhang Gaofeng also quoted the content of the Central News Agency's telegram: "The 31st year of Henan Province's acquisition and purchase, although the disaster was serious, went smoothly." He also commented: "According to the Provincial Land Management Office People talk about it: "The situation of requisition is extremely good, and people from all over the country have spent all they have and contributed to the country." These four words are full of blood and tears."

The editor-in-chief of "Ta Kung Pao" Wang Yunsheng is also not afraid of things. After this news, he wrote an editorial: "The disaster victims in Henan sold their fields and people, and even died of starvation. Assets, and limit the purchasing power of ordinary wealthy people who don’t care? Looking at Chongqing and thinking about the Central Plains, it is really emotional!"

As a result, "Ta Kung Pao" was suspended for another three days, and reporter Zhang Gaofeng was arrested by Tang Enbo on the charge of "communist party leader".

Zhou Hexuan called Lao Jiang several times to ask for his release, but to no avail.

It was not until several months later that the Japanese army aggressively attacked the Central Plains, and Tang Enbo's troops were defeated, and Zhang Gaofeng was freed in the chaos.

Duanmu Hongliang came to Chongqing, temporarily lived in Zhou Mansion, and became Zhou Hexuan's full-time librarian.

Since Zhou Hexuan wants to study Ming history, his own collection of books is definitely not enough, so he has to search for historical materials in many ways. Copying books is easy, but in Zhou Hexuan's position, the more you copy books, the more cautious you must be.

"Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" is impossible to copy, the tone is too frivolous, and the subjective color is too strong. This book is only suitable for popular science on history, and it would be ridiculous to treat it as a monograph on history. During the period of the Republic of China, some people have been engaged in historical science popularization, and they have been extremely successful, that is, Cai Dongfan's popular romances of the past dynasties, even the Taizu read it and praised it.

Then there is only "Fifteen Years of Wanli" left.

Once this book came out, it was adopted as a textbook by many universities in the United States, and it has become a must-have book for countless scholars, writers, officials, and entrepreneurs in China. In the TV series "In the Name of the People", there is a copy of "Fifteen Years of Wanli" on the bookshelf in Gao Yuliang's office. Gao Xiaofeng is also loved by Gao Yuliang because he has read "Fifteen Years of Wanli".

However, although "Fifteen Years of Wanli" is a historical classic, it still has shortcomings that cannot be concealed.

The original author Huang Renyu was very serious when writing the book, citing various historical materials. It is a pity that the citations of these historical materials are not serious. He only uses historical materials that conform to his own views, and discards all historical materials that do not conform to his own views, and even cuts off the beginning and tail, distorts and cuts them.

For example, regarding Li Zhi's statement, Mr. Huang Renyu interpreted Li Zhi's evaluation of Hai Rui in reverse, intentionally distorted Li Zhi's attitude of praising the widow's integrity, and took Li Zhi's evaluation of Cai Wenji's views and Li Zhi's philosophy out of context.

General readers may not care, but professionals will definitely find fault. Even if no one said anything, as long as Zhou Hexuan copied it out intact, it would inevitably mislead readers' understanding of history.

Fortunately, there are many libraries in Chongqing. The National Central Library, National Peiping Library, National Compilation Library, Central University Library, Fudan University Library, etc. have all moved here. Zhou Hexuan asked Duanmu Hongliang to borrow a few documents for himself every week, and then stayed in the Zhou mansion to study slowly and think about the revision of "The Fifteen Years of Wanli".

At this time, there were two books on Zhou Hexuan's desk, namely Xie Guozhen's "Research on the Party and Social Movement During the Ming and Qing Dynasties" and Rong Zhaozu's "Ming Dynasty Intellectual History". It has been a long time since he calmed down to study. Thanks to Lao Jiang's disguised house arrest, Zhou Hexuan's impetuousness disappeared completely.

During the period of the Republic of China, the study of Ming history was still in the confused and groping stage before the 1930s, but it had already begun to study the urban life, party and social movement, academic thought and foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty. After the 1930s, the study of Ming history began to integrate with Marxism and Western new historiography theories, and deeply explored the Ming Dynasty’s regime structure, class changes, taxation system, industrial and peasant economy, etc.

To put it shamelessly, at least one-third of the current Ming history research experts belong to Zhou's disciples, and these people's methods of governing history are all learned from Zhou Hexuan.

During the Spring Festival, when I saw Zhou Hexuan's paper discussing Shen Wansan, countless experts on Ming history were delighted, because Mr. Zhou finally began to study Ming history.

Also benefiting from the research of these Ming history experts, Zhou Hexuan is now very easy to find information, and constantly adjusts and revises "Wanli Fifteen Years", but the theme framework and the big historical ideas in it have not changed.

"Dad, is your writing useful to the country?" Zhou Weilie asked while leaning over the table. He had returned to Chongqing for the Spring Festival and was going to Kunming after the Lantern Festival.

Zhou Hexuan asked back: "Why do you think these things are useless?"

Zhou Weilie said: "Even if you write out the history, you can't make the country receive one more grain, and you can't make one more cannonball for the country. What's the use?"

"Using history as a mirror, we can know the ups and downs. Have you never heard of this sentence?" Zhou Hexuan said.

Zhou Weilie said: "That is for the individual."

Zhou Hexuan said: "The same is true for the country. Do you think that the Anti-Japanese War was fought like this because China's science and technology were backward? No, it was because of problems in the government. The political structure is unstable and policies cannot be implemented legally. The internal friction caused by these reasons is even worse than the The destruction of China by the Japanese invaders was even more serious. When we study history, we are summing up the pros and cons of the ancient regime. If the current government can make use of its strengths and avoid weaknesses, and choose the best, it will be far more useful than making a few shells and growing a few catties of grain.”

Zhou Weilie seemed to understand, but also didn't seem to understand. He hugged his father's manuscript and read it for a while, but he was not interested in it. Except for Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng, he had never heard of other historical figures.

"I'd better go to study mathematics." Zhou Weilie ran away after finishing speaking.