The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Friends from the north have a hard time imagining what kind of three-dimensional city Chongqing is.

If you rely solely on navigation to drive in Chongqing, congratulations. Sister Zhiling reminds you that when you have arrived, you may still be 500 vertical meters away from your destination.

Although the traffic in Chongqing in 1936 was not that complicated, it was actually more troublesome. The various uphill climbs and obstacles made you doubt your life.

If you ask a local for directions: "Excuse me, how to get to such-and-such street?"

The enthusiastic locals replied: "It's very close. You can reach it after climbing this slope."

Half an hour later, you are still climbing...

Liziba, where Zhou's residence is located, is where a subway line passed through the wall from the eighth floor in mid-air in later generations. I believe many friends have seen that photo.

At this time, Liziba was not strictly an urban area of ​​Chongqing. There was only one old street that was still prosperous, and various villages and houses were scattered around it.

But the Feng Shui here is not bad. The mansion of Sichuan King Liu Xiang is here, only two kilometers away from Zhou Hexuan's home. The residence of Li Gengu, the Chongqing garrison commander and commander of the new 25th Division, is also under construction and will soon be neighbor to Zhou Hexuan.

There are roughly two ways to go from Liziba to Chongqing city: one is to take the waterway directly to Chaotianmen Pier; the other is to take the mountain road to Lianglukou.

Want to take a car into the city?

That's impossible, at least not yet.

In the 1920s, Chongqing fell even further behind, thanks to Pan Wenhua, Liu Xiang's top confidant and the first mayor of Chongqing. During Pan Wenhua's tenure, he directly doubled the area of ​​Chongqing's urban area. Previously, the area outside Tongyuan Gate and Shangqing Temple was a wasteland of mass graves.

Fan Ha'er set out from his own Fanzhuang, first took a slide to Qixinggang, then took a car and went straight to the intersection, and then switched to a slide to cross the mountains - well, Mr. Fan was going to visit Zhou Hexuan, and the journey was quite tiring. of.

On the winding and steep mountain road, another group of people came from a distance. When they met, they both stopped and held hands in greeting.

"Hey, Mayor Li, it's a coincidence that we met here." Fan Haer greeted with a smile.

The visitor was Li Hongkun, Liu Xiang's former chief of staff and the third mayor of Chongqing. He also smiled and said, "It's a coincidence. I can meet Brother Ha everywhere."

Fan Haer said: "I'm going to visit Mr. Zhou. Where is Mayor Li?"

"We are on the same journey." Li Hongkun said.

"That's just right, you are the mayor, you go in front." Fan Haer said and ordered his entourage to give way to the mountain road.

Li Hongkun didn't refuse and walked forward with peace of mind, too lazy to talk nonsense to Fan Ha'er.

The communication between the two seemed harmonious, but in fact it was all pretend. Liu Xiang has now unified Sichuan. While developing internal affairs, he must also eliminate dissidents in the military. Fan Haer is one of the targets who will be eliminated soon.

The reason is very simple. It doesn't matter how many bosses Fan Haer takes refuge in. Which Sichuan warlord is not like this? It happened that Fan Haer defected to Chang Kaishen halfway, which was a taboo among Sichuan warlords.

Just last month, Fan Haer's friend Xie Guangxing died on the mahjong table. He was shot on the spot for resisting arrest. It doesn't matter whether Xie Guangxing dies or not. The problem is that Liu Xiang wants to launch an anti-drug campaign, targeting Fan Haer who is engaged in the opium trade. Xie Guangxing's death is equivalent to cutting off half of Fan Haer's financial resources.

After Fan Haer learned the news, his first reaction was to raise troops to cause trouble, and then he began to plan assassination activities, hoping to kill Hou Jianguo, the inspector appointed by Liu Xiang (responsible for the smoking ban). This is the "Instigator Incident" that shocked Sichuan. The assassination will be successful next year. From then on, all county magistrates and commissioners who take office in Dazhu must first go to Fan Haer to pay homage to the dock.

As Liu Xiang's chief of staff for a long time, Li Hongkun was naturally not in the same pot as Fan Shaozeng. Their personalities and philosophies were very different.

Take dealing with the Red Army as an example. Liu Shuai failed to instigate the Luzhou Uprising and was arrested. Li Hongkun not only came forward as a guarantee, but also paid for and escorted Liu Shuai out of Chongqing. As for Fan Haer, he actually took the initiative to attack He Shuai during the Long March, and was beaten to a pulp in minutes. Fan Haer robbed a buffalo from his fellow villager and rode the cow across the river before he escaped from the battlefield.

The two men's entourage were clearly separated. They were at least seven or eight feet apart, so there was really no possibility of communication.

After advancing for about ten minutes, an old man with a wooden stick appeared in front of us. The old gentleman was wearing a green gown and a thick beard, and he was walking leisurely with a scroll under his arm.

"Principal Hu, please go slowly!" Li Hongkun shouted after him while sitting on a sliding pole.

Hu Shuhua turned around slowly, stroking his long beard and said with a smile, "It turns out to be Mayor Li."

Li Hongkun quickly got off the sedan and walked with Hu Shuhua, asking: "Principal Hu is also going to visit Mr. Zhou?"

Hu Shuhua explained: "Chongqing University has established a new school motto. I heard that Mr. Zhou settled here, and I wanted to ask him to inscribe the school motto of Chongqing University."

Hu Shuhua has been the president for half his life, including Tongji University, Hunan University, Chongqing University, and later Northwest Associated University. Among them, the school anthems of Hunan University and Chongqing University were written and composed by Hu Shuhua himself, and the school motto of Chongqing University was also written by him.

Li Hongkun said with a smile: "We might as well ask Mr. Zhou to be a professor. With him sitting at Chongqing University, he will definitely attract many students and teachers."

Hu Shuhua stroked his beard and shook his head: "Mr. Zhou travels around all year round, so how can he have time to be a professor? He ran away before finishing his class in Peking, and all the history students at Tsinghua University were scolding him."

"Hahaha, that's a good scolding. How can any teacher do this?" Li Hongkun laughed.

The two people in the front were chatting happily, but Fan Haer felt uncomfortable in the back. He is a rough old man and has nothing in common with educated people. Unlike Li Hongkun, he also attended the Whampoa Military Academy.

After crossing the hill, Li Hongkun said in surprise: "Hey, when did there be an extra road over there?"

"Mr. Zhou should have paid for the repair," Hu Shuhua guessed.

In fact, it is not considered a road at all, but a gravel road was dug halfway up the mountain. It is only more than four meters wide, barely enough for cars to pass, and connects Zhou Mansion and Liziba Old Street. It would be a tragedy if it rained on this road. It was all kinds of muddy and difficult to walk on, so the car had to be carried.

Everyone came to the back gate of Zhou Mansion - the main gate facing the river, and were quickly welcomed in by the servants.

When I got inside, I discovered that the Zhou family already had guests. Chongqing Security Commander Li Gengu was here as a guest. He would also move to Liziba in a while.

Everyone met and exchanged pleasantries for a while. Fan Shaozeng regretted coming because all he met today were enemies.

Hu Shuhua did not beat around the bush and said straight to the point: "Mr. Zhou, I would like to hire you as an honorary professor at Chongqing University, with a monthly salary of 100 yuan. You only need to come to the school to give three academic lectures and one public lecture every year. Please don't refuse."

Now that he has settled in Chongqing, Zhou Hexuan also wants to build good relations with the local area. He smiled and said: "If you have a monthly salary of 100 yuan, you don't need it. The school funds are not generous, so a symbolic payment of 1 yuan is enough."

"Is this a promise?" Hu Shuhua was a little surprised. He didn't expect Zhou Hexuan to be so easy to talk to.

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Principal Hu, just don't say that I am misleading my disciples."

"Mr. Zhou is being humble," Hu Shuhua took out some pieces of rice paper and said, "This is the newly established motto of Chongqing University. I hope Mr. Zhou will spare no effort in his calligraphy."

Zhou Hexuan was a bit embarrassed when it came to writing brushes. He was good at running script, and regular script or official script was obviously more suitable for important school mottos. Running script seemed too frivolous. After thinking about it for a while, Zhou Hexuan bit the bullet and wrote down the school motto in Chinese: Research academics, cultivate talents, bless the country, and inspire society - Zhou Hexuan's title.

"Free and easy without losing poise, elegant without losing magnanimity. Good words!" Hu Shuhua stroked his beard and nodded in admiration.

"It's funny." Zhou Hexuan was modest. In fact, he was very proud. He had been practicing calligraphy for almost ten years and was confident that he would not lose to many famous calligraphers in the Republic of China.