The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

By May, the Second Northern Expedition was in full swing.

The Wuhan Nationalist Government marched into Henan, and Feng Yuxiang left Tongguan, and the two sides agreed to join forces in the Central Plains.

Facing the siege from three sides (the Feng army was also beating him), Wu Peifu was defeated, and led the remnants to flee westward to Sichuan, where he defected to the local emperor Yang Sen of Sichuan, and the once prominent Zhili warlord was destroyed.

In Henan, there are still several troops of Zhang Xueliang's direct lineage, who originally planned to reap the benefits of the fisherman, but now they have to face the attack from the north and the south. Zhang Xueliang didn't care to help take the lead in "relief with work", and rushed to the front line overnight to personally direct the battle in Henan.

Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army is really too strong. All the ministries under his command have members of our party as political commissars, and they have strict discipline. Zhang Xueliang's new army was also regarded as the elite of the Feng Faction, but they were still retreating steadily when they encountered the Northwest Army, which made Zhang Xueliang so worried that he couldn't sleep all day.

Zhang Zuolin also had a headache, because he actually separated the forces of the Northern Expedition. But they never expected that the Northern Expeditionary Army, which was divided into two, would be so strong that most of Henan, which was finally captured, was about to be handed over to others.

As for our Principal Chang, after announcing the establishment of the Nanjing National Government, he has been focusing on "clearing the party" and has not been involved in the battle between the two sides for the time being-he is also sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight.

The fighting in Henan is fierce, but there are signs of severe drought in Hebei and Shandong. There has not been a drop of rain recently, and the grain planted in the fields has dried up and turned yellow.

The red spear associations in Hebei and Shandong provinces revived and spread like a prairie fire. Uprisings broke out every now and then, not to mention killing local tyrants and distributing food, and the government residences of many states and counties were breached.

More and more refugees fleeing disasters are gathering in Tianjin, but fortunately most of them are just stopping temporarily, and their final destination is the Northeast. Since the late Qing Dynasty, a tradition has almost been formed. Whenever there is a major disaster in Shandong, the victims will drag their families and run to the northeast, which is called "crossing the Guandong".

Zhang Xueliang was not in Tianjin, and the method of uniting foreigners in the name of the central government to "work for relief" could not be carried out. Zhou Hexuan had to do his best to provide life-saving food to the victims.

Due to the large number of victims, those who were sick could no longer be cared about. Zhou Hexuan could only turn a blind eye and let them fend for themselves. Tianjin's corpse collection team collects at least double-digit corpses every day.

At this time, more than half of the charitable funds raised by the Jimin Society had already been spent. Zhou Hexuan had no choice but to publish a newspaper to appeal for donations, barely making ends meet.

...

Tianjin, Beiyang Theater.

This place is very lively and full of theater fans, in stark contrast to the hellish scene outside the city, it is completely two worlds.

Li Keyong, played by Meng Xiaodong, is stroking his long beard and singing: "I will talk about the old roots with my virtuous brother. Recalling the Wufeng Tower in the past, all civil and military officials celebrated for thousands of years... Duan Wenchu, the uncle of the country, fell to death, and the king of Tang was furious. To behead. Since we parted that year, we meet again in Beizhou today."

"good!"

There was thunderous applause from the audience, and there were applause everywhere.

"Zhulian Village" is a traditional play, and Li Keyong's original play is pure. Later, Tan Xinpei, a well-known artist of the Tan School, re-edited the performance, using an old man as Li Keyong, and the result was a great success.

At this time, Meng Xiaodong has integrated the techniques of Tan and Cheng, and has won the essence of both schools. If she doesn't speak, she will become a blockbuster, and her singing is so beautiful that the audience is intoxicated.

"good!"

Wanrong also clapped her hands and praised, even ignoring Zhou Hexuan next to her, she kept staring at Meng Xiaodong.

The performance of "Zhulian Village" ended, and Xun Huisheng, one of the four famous actors, took the stage to perform "Fishing and Killing". Xun Huisheng sang Daomadan. Not only is his appearance charming and beautiful, but he also has agile skills. The fighting scenes are pleasing to the eye.

This is a charity performance. Except for Meng Xiaodong, all famous Peking opera actors in Tianjin signed up to participate in the performance spontaneously, and all the tickets sold were used to help the victims of the disaster.

Although opera singers are looked down upon by others and belong to the lowly industry, there are many righteous men who love the country and the people among them.

After all the performances were over, the theater manager Guan Xingquan came on stage and said, "Thank you all the bosses for the wonderful performances, and thank you all the fans for your support. Today's charity performance is for disaster relief, and all proceeds belong to charity. We also set up a donation at the entrance If you are interested in donating, you can go and donate. Here, I would like to thank you on behalf of the victims. Of course, donations are purely voluntary and not compulsory. You all rely on your heart.”

"good!"

"Take care of the boss's benevolence!"

The fans applauded and applauded, and Guan Xingquan left the stage with a smile. Although he is a leader of the Qing Gang, he has never done anything bad, and the opening of the Xiangtang basically only accepts opera practitioners.

Guan Xingquan is only the manager of the theater. He was unavoidably nervous when he persuaded his boss to organize a charity performance. But judging from the situation in the past few days, although the charity performance does not make money, it can gain fame and influence, and the popularity of Beiyang Theater will definitely be even higher in the future.

"Boss Cheng, Boss Xun, Boss Meng, Boss Zhang, Boss Yang... you all have worked hard!"

Guan Xingquan came to the backstage of the theater and saluted the famous actors one by one.

Cheng Yanqiu waved his hand and said: "Mr. Guan, you are welcome. It is a great thing to help the victims. It is a great honor for Cheng to participate in it."

Cheng Yanqiu's surname is not Cheng, he is a Manchu, Suo Chuoluo family, and Xun Huisheng are the same as "Four Famous Danes".

Xun Huisheng had already removed his make-up at this time, and changed from a charming woman back to a handsome young man. He echoed with a smile: "Yes, if there are charity performances in the future, just open your mouth, Mr. Guan, Huisheng is always on call."

But Meng Xiaodong was packing up his things, and said to everyone: "Brothers, Xiaodong still has important things to do, so I'm leaving first."

Guan Xingquan hurriedly said: "Boss Meng, I am hosting a banquet tonight, why are you leaving in such a hurry?"

"I have an appointment with Mr. Zhou." Meng Xiaodong explained.

"Oh, so it's Mr. Zhou, I'm talking too much." Guan Xingquan laughed.

Xun Huisheng joked: "Xiaodong and Mr. Zhou are really talented and beautiful, go quickly, don't delay the date."

Meng Xiaodong's pretty face flushed slightly, without saying anything, she just left with her fists in her hands.

Walking to the entrance of the theater, Meng Xiaodong found Zhou Hexuan and Wanrong waiting there. There were also many people around the donation box next to it, and there was the sound of tinkling copper plates from time to time. Everyone's three cents and my five cents donation, although the amount is small, is a heart.

"Brother Zhou has kept you waiting for a long time," Meng Xiaodong said, looking at Wanrong again, and greeting, "Sister Wanrong is good."

Wanrong is only a few months older than Meng Xiaodong, and in Meng Xiaodong's view, Wanrong does not pose a threat to her.

Although Zhou Hexuan and Wanrong are very close, the relationship seems to be very ambiguous. But Wanrong is a queen after all, even if she officially divorced Puyi, it would be very difficult for her to marry Zhou Hexuan as her regular wife, at most she would be a lover, not even a concubine.

"Hi Xiaodong." Wanrong smiled back. She was a little bit jealous, and also vaguely repelled Meng Xiaodong, but the Wenxiu incident made Wanrong a warning, and she didn't want to make men unhappy because of competing for favor.

The two women had met a few days ago, and what surprised Zhou Hexuan was that they got along very well, at least on the surface.

Men in the Republic of China are really happy, the premise is that you must be rich, famous, and have status.