The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

  The Republic of China was a deformed era, and countless scholars and celebrities emerged, including many masters. Shiliyangchang is very lively, the upper class is extremely lavish, and the younger generation is actively chasing international fashion. Correspondingly, the people at the bottom of the society live in very hardships, and countless poor people die of illness and starvation.

   In terms of salary income, the driver that Zhou Hexuan met that day had to work hard all day to barely support his family. If you contract any kind of disease, you basically have no money for medical treatment.

   On the other hand, Zhou Hexuan's fee for writing a novel is one yuan per thousand words. He can write a few thousand words casually, enough for the rickshaw driver to work for half a month.

How much is   1 yuan worth?

   Today, the price of rice in Shanghai is only 6 cents per catty, and the price in Beijing and Tianjin is even lower by 20%. 4-5 cents can buy a catty of rice.

   At this time, the monthly salary of university lecturers started at 100 yuan, and the monthly salary of professors was several hundred yuan. Knowledge is wealth, this sentence is most vividly reflected in the Republic of China.

   Of course, there are also many professors and lecturers crying poor because the Beiyang government always defaults on their salaries. Sometimes it is delayed for months or even years, and sometimes only half salary is received. Later, many professors and lecturers from the north went south. In addition to political reasons, there were also reasons why they could not get salaries.

   Take the great writer Lu Xun as an example. He was owed three months’ wages in 1920, half a year’s wages in 1921, and three months’ wages in 1922. Lu Xun can only earn extra money by writing articles and going out to give lectures, otherwise he would not be able to buy a house in Peiping.

   Even a big troll like Lu Xun dares to default on his salary, and the junior lecturers are even worse off. Some Peking University teachers even rely on borrowing money to survive.

  Li Shoumin used to work as a small civil servant in Peiping. He once complained to Zhou Hexuan when he was chatting, saying that being a civil servant of the Beiyang government is not interesting, and he is lucky if he works for a year and gets half a year's salary.

   Just by not being able to pay wages, we can judge that the Beiyang government will fall sooner or later, which is too unreliable!

  Many people in later generations envied the life of the Republic of China and worshipped and advocated the so-called Republic of China style. If these people are really allowed to return to the Republic of China for the first half of the year, it is estimated that they will have to roll up their sleeves and curse their mothers.

  …

   Zhou Hexuan was paid more than 70 yuan for his manuscript of more than 70,000 words, which made his pockets finally bulge, and he didn't have to worry about the living expenses for the next month. He gave Mrs. Zhou 10 yuan ocean, which was considered as food money for this month, and will eat at Li Shoumin's house in the future.

   However, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" has not yet started serialization, and you must wait for other people's works to finish.

   That night, Li Shoumin came home very late, sighing and his face was extremely ugly.

   Zhou Hexuan asked: "What happened?"

"There was a tragic incident in Peiping. Feng Yuxiang's army shot at the petitioning students, killing 47 people on the spot and wounding more than 100 people," Li Shoumin said angrily. Can you, why don't you dare to shoot at the Japanese?"

   Zhou Hexuan was silent, the famous "March 18 Massacre" finally happened.

   The cause of the incident was the melee of the Beiyang warlords. In order to defend against Zhang Zuolin's attack from the sea, Feng Yuxiang arranged mines at Dagukou. This move caused dissatisfaction among the eight countries including Britain, the United States, France, Japan, and Italy. They jointly protested to the Beiyang government, and issued a 44-hour ultimatum to dismantle the defense of Daku, otherwise it will be solved by force.

   These eight countries not only protested, but also sent their warships to Daku.

The   Eight Kingdoms ultimatum was not only to remove the mines, but also required the Beiyang government to cut down all the forts along the line from Dagukou to Peiping, which was far beyond the content of the "Xin Chou Treaty".

After the news of    came out, the patriotic students and the masses were filled with indignation. The Kuomintang and the Communist Party jointly held a meeting, and organized a student and mass rally to petition, hoping that the Beiyang government would reject the shameless demands of the eight powers.

When the    tragedy happened, General Feng Yuxiang was actually not in Peiping. It was his generals who ordered the shooting without authorization, killing and wounding nearly 200 students.

  …

   The next morning, Zhou Hexuan went out and bought a few newspapers. Sure enough, the headlines were full of the March 18 massacre, and all major newspapers were criticizing the Beiyang government.

  There was an uproar in national public opinion, because the Beiyang government was too outrageous and too outrageous. The student masses carried out a patriotic petition, pointing their finger at the powers of the eight countries. The soldiers did not go to war with the powers, but turned their guns on their own people.

   What does this look like?

   Mr. Lu Xun's famous "In Memory of Lord Liu Hezhen" was also released soon and published in "Yusi" Weekly: "Real warriors dare to face the bleak life, dare to face the dripping blood..."

   Zhou Hexuan has always looked at this era from the perspective of an outsider. He has long known that a massacre will happen on March 18th. But at this time, when I saw the denounced articles in the newspapers and Lu Xun's essay, I still felt extremely aggrieved.

   This is a **** society that reverses black and white!

   Zhou Hexuan finally deeply understood why there were so many people with lofty ideals in the Republic of China, throwing their heads and blood one after another, they just wanted to create a bright future.

   Maybe I should do something?

   Zhou Hexuan couldn't help but think so, but after all, he has a small reputation, and he doesn't want to go south to apply for the Whampoa Military Academy. It's not worth being a cannon fodder one day. Even if the Beiyang government is overthrown, it will only be a change of soup but not of medicine.

   The more Zhou Hexuan thought about it, the more at a loss he felt. He couldn't find his worth in this era.

   Today's hot-blooded young people in China either join a patriotic group impassionedly, or join the army and serve the country with their ideals. But Zhou Hexuan couldn't do it, because he knew the future direction of history, he didn't want to get involved, and either side would be in danger.

   Alas, let’s take a step by step.

   Zhou Hexuan has an ostrich mentality in his mind, and he doesn't dare to join the tide of the times for the time being. As a small commoner living in Tianjin, his more intuitive feeling is that prices have risen!

  Because Zhang Zuolin was attacking Tianjin, and the Japanese pulled sideways to help, Feng Yuxiang's National Army was obviously unable to hold on, and the city was only about to be destroyed.

  The military disaster is about to come, and everything in the city is going up in price. Many citizens have stockpiled grain and water at home early in the morning to prepare for various emergencies.

   Ironically, however, the teahouse business in Tianjin City has done the same, and there are no less people drinking tea and playing cards than before. The theater was still noisy and lively, the stage was babbling and singing, and the audience was applauding like thunder.

   It seems that everyone has become accustomed to wars.

  No matter how the city head changes the king's flag, ordinary people are most concerned about their own lives. They just want to be fed and clothed, and if they have some spare money, they will go to drink tea, listen to operas, and who the **** is the president.

   Zhou Hexuan's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" started serialization under this circumstance.