Chapter 527

In early and mid-January, with a difference of less than seven days, Wan Rong and Liao Yaquan gave birth successively, and they both gave birth to sons.

Zhou Hexuan didn't bother the masters of Chinese studies for help this time, he flipped through "Chu Ci" and named his son. The second son is called "Shuoming", which means "the sky is bright"; the third son is called "Yangjia", which means "sail forward".

Now that the Great Wall Anti-Japanese War is being fought hard, the names Zhou Hexuan gave to his sons are all good wishes for the future of China. I hope that China will usher in a bright future as soon as possible, and it will be smooth sailing in the future, and it will once again stand tall among the world's great powers.

January of this year has been really eventful.

On the 3rd, Shanhaiguan was breached by the Japanese army.

On the 4th, an anti-Nazi demonstration of 100,000 people broke out in the German capital.

On the 5th, former US President Coolidge died.

On the 7th, the provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party was forced to move from Shanghai to Ruijin.

On the 10th, the Japanese Ministry of War added more than 30 million yuan to the budget for Manchuria. On the same day, the Communist Party publicly stated its proposition of resisting Japan and saving the nation.

On the 15th, the U.S. government notified other countries that it would not recognize the legal status of the Puppet Manchukuo.

On the 22nd, Chang Kaishen personally went to Nanchang to direct the "bandit suppression".

On the 30th, Hitler officially took office as Chancellor of Germany, and the Third German Reich was formed.

January 30th is also the day when the Beiping branch of the China Civil Rights Protection League was formally established. Zhou Hexuan set off one day earlier, planning to live in the Tsinghua University's I-shaped hall that night, and went directly to the meeting the next day.

As for why you don't live in the Peking University dormitory?

Of course it’s because Tsinghua’s accommodation conditions are better, and the teachers’ dormitory at Peking University is not even as good as a third-rate hotel.

After arriving in Tsinghua University, Zhou Hexuan originally planned to chat with Wang Guowei, Li Ji and others, but none of them were at school, and it was said that they had already lived in the Forbidden City for more than half a month.

The first batch of cultural relics in the Forbidden City will be moved south!

Zhou Hexuan hurried to watch the excitement, and saw wooden boxes piled up in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Yi Peiji, former Minister of Agriculture and Mining, former Minister of Education, and current curator of the Palace Museum of the Nanjing National Government, is directing the packing of cultural relics in person, while Ma Heng, Wang Guowei, Li Ji and others are providing technical guidance.

"Brother Yincun, is the situation going well?" Zhou Hexuan stepped forward and asked.

Yi Peiji said anxiously: "Having been busy for half a year, only more than 2,000 boxes of cultural relics have been sorted out. Time is waiting for me!"

The plan to relocate the cultural relics of the Forbidden City to the south was proposed as early as the September 18th Incident, and the leader was Yi Peiji. He was well aware of the nasty nature of the government of the Republic of China, and he was afraid that the Japanese would loot cultural relics after they occupied Beiping, so he couldn't wait to move the Forbidden City to the south.

When Japan attacked Shanghai last year, the Beiping political committees held a meeting and proposed to auction cultural relics to buy 500 aircraft. Yi Peiji, Ma Heng and others ran around, and finally, with the support of Zhang Xueliang, the turmoil of auctioning cultural relics was quelled.

The entire southward relocation plan of the Forbidden City's cultural relics was also formulated in Zhang Xueliang's villa. Although Zhang Xueliang lost his power and humiliated the country and lost the Northeast, he contributed a lot to the protection of cultural relics. Without Zhang Xueliang's support, the cultural relics of the Forbidden City may be destroyed.

It is very difficult to relocate cultural relics. The first batch (more than 2,000 boxes) of cultural relics from the Forbidden City moved southward took half a year just to pack them.

Even professionals such as Ma Heng, Li Ji, and Wang Guowei have no experience in large-scale relocation of cultural relics. They convened experts in antiques to work together to study and try out the safest method. Each box of cultural relics has at least four layers of defense: papyrus, cotton, straw, and wooden boxes to ensure that no matter what happens, such as overturning or water ingress, there will be no damage.

What is more difficult is how to ensure that the cultural relics will not be lost after a long journey!

Yi Peiji made very strict arrangements for this. Before the cultural relics moved to the south, each piece was counted, checked, numbered, and cataloged. A responsible team composed of experts, civil servants, and leaders classified them according to the categories of cultural relics, and recorded who , reviewer, teller, and supervisor must sign, and each box is also individually numbered. As long as one of the boxes or one cultural relic is lost, the person responsible can be accurately found.

Five batches of precious cultural relics moved southward, and the troops were divided into three groups. It took 14 years and spanned 20,000 miles, and they had to avoid the flames of war on the way. It is a miracle that none of them were damaged or lost.

People who escort cultural relics regard cultural relics more important than their lives.

They ate and slept in the open, crossed mountains and ridges, and would rather die on the way than leave a single cultural relic behind.

The Chinese are really strange. They usually have all kinds of bad habits, but they can burst out with incomparably noble personalities at critical moments. During the transfer of the cultural relics of the Forbidden City, the army along the way will spontaneously escort them when they know it, instead of robbing them with guns. Passing by a place, the local people will spontaneously help, whether they are wealthy businessmen or farmers, they will actively lend a helping hand.

For example, when a batch of cultural relics are transported to Leshan, they need to be stored in local ancestral halls. The clansmen in several villages did not say anything, not only vacated the ancestral hall, but also offered to help recruit workers, find ships, and negotiate prices, as if this was their bounden duty.

Perhaps in the minds of Chinese people, rescuing wartime cultural relics is equivalent to rescuing Chinese civilization, which has a more noble and sacred meaning than life.

In front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Yi Peiji once again counted today's boxed cultural relics, registered and made a book and asked everyone to sign, he turned around and asked Zhou Hexuan: "Mingcheng, look at this huge Beiping City, when will the Japanese invade?" ?”

Zhou Hexuan thought for a while and said, "No more than five years."

"That's okay, five years is enough to transfer cultural relics," Yi Peiji heaved a sigh of relief, "I'm afraid I'm only given five months."

Yi Peiji's original plan was to pack all the cultural relics into boxes before transferring them. However, Shanhaiguan was broken more than half a month ago. Seeing that the Japanese were about to drive straight in, Yi Peiji immediately started the cultural relics southward relocation plan in advance, and moved more than 2,000 boxes of cultural relics that had been packed.

While the two were talking, an old man with gray beard and hair wearing a long gown and glasses suddenly appeared. The old man looked at the boxed cultural relics angrily, and cursed angrily: "It's like moving, move them all away. Before the Japanese came over, you surrenderers wanted to run away. Run away, wait until the Japanese occupy the whole country." China, let's see where you can escape!"

Zhou Hexuan asked confusedly: "Brother Yincun, who is this old gentleman?"

Yi Peiji said: "Zhou Zhaoxiang, the director of the Antiquities Exhibition Office, don't pay attention to him."

Zhou Zhaoxiang's body was very thin, and his long white beard fluttered in the wind, as if he would be blown down by the wind at any time. He pointed to Yi Peiji's nose and said, "Your surname is Yi, you are a sinner of the Chinese nation through the ages. It is easy to transport these cultural relics away. Let me see how you gather them. Before they are transported to Shanghai, they have been stolen and sold by corrupt officials." It's all over!"

Zhou Hexuan stepped forward to greet him and said, "Old Mr. Zhou is well, my servant Zhou Hexuan."

Zhou Zhaoxiang stroked his white beard, nodded, and said, "It turned out that Zhou Mingcheng was in person, and you are a sensible person, so you came to judge! Now that the national crisis is at stake, and the Japanese have broken through Shanhaiguan, we are moving cultural relics at this time. Ordinary people, the government dare not fight, can this Beiping not be defended? These cultural relics are priceless, once they are transported away, where can they be recovered?"

After hearing these words, Zhou Hexuan realized that Zhou Zhaoxiang was not stubborn, but had his own considerations.

Indeed, moving the cultural relics of the Forbidden City to the south at this time is tantamount to sending a signal to the common people that the government dare not resist. Moreover, the risk of relocating tens of thousands of cultural relics is very high. If Zhou Hexuan was not a time traveler, he would not be able to believe the miracle that none of these cultural relics were damaged or lost.

Zhou Hexuan couldn't explain anything to the old gentleman, he could only say: "I am not from the Palace Museum, so I dare not make judgments, I just hope that Mr. Yi will take good care of these treasures."

"Hmph, raccoon dog of a feather, raccoon dog of a feather!" Zhou Zhaoxiang was heartbroken.

Zhou Hexuan hurriedly slipped to the side to rest, not wanting to argue with the old man, for fear that he would be so angry that he would vomit blood and fall to the ground. He asked the staff, only to find out that the Forbidden City had been arguing all day for the past six months, and the main responsible persons were divided into three factions. Yi Peiji, the director of the curator, advocated moving the cultural relics to Shanghai, Zhang Ji, the deputy curator, advocated moving the cultural relics to Xi'an, and Zhou Zhaoxiang firmly opposed the relocation of cultural relics.

Zhou Hexuan suddenly thought of what happened to Yi Peiji in the future, which seemed to be unlucky because of the relocation of cultural relics.

Zhang Ji was defeated in the cultural relics relocation plan, feeling that he could not save face, and felt that he had lost control of the Palace Museum. So he came to the wrong place and spread rumors that Yi Peiji embezzled and sold cultural relics. As a result, Yi Peiji's reputation was ruined, his property was confiscated, and he died in poverty after only living for a few years.

It wasn't until after the founding of New China that someone washed away Yi Peiji's grievances.

Zhou Hexuan suddenly felt that the water was very deep, and Yi Peiji also had his own political background, Zhang Ji alone could not spread rumors to slander him, let alone ransack his home and confiscate Yi Peiji's private property. It is very likely that in order to protect these cultural relics, Yi Peiji offended too many dignitaries in the Nanjing government, and was finally attacked by the crowd, which was beyond debate.

Looking at Yi Peiji who was concentrating on registering cultural relics under Zhou Zhaoxiang's scolding, Zhou Hexuan felt that he should help him.