Chapter 672 671 [Cooperation]

Teahouse, private room.

Chengshe I used the lid of the bowl to fiddle with the tea leaves on the water, and asked: "Xinyuan, after finishing the sequel to "The Cause of Laughter", have you created any new works?"

"I'm writing a novel called "The Return of Yan"," Zhang Henshui said.

Cheng Shewo smiled and said: "This is a good name, and it sounds like the kind of love novel."

Zhang Henshui shook his head and said: "Although it is about love, I want to make it a work that reflects reality."

When Zhou Hexuan heard that Zhang Henshui was writing "The Return of the Swallows", he immediately remembered the opening poem in that novel - "Red-eyed evil dogs are like jackals and tigers, dragging people all over the ground with their legs in their mouths", "The soldiers are gone and the bandits come and slaughter them all, one after another." There are only three people left in the city, old and young.”

Zhang Henshui was not the kind of literati who made money by writing recreational novels. He had his own pursuits, and later devoted himself to writing anti-war novels and satirical novels. It is a pity that his later realistic works are not well-known, but his romance novels are more popular.

"It reflects reality very well, but is it about the Northeast's resistance to Japan?" Cheng Shewo asked.

In fact, Zhang Henshui was originally a reporter writing news articles. I felt that his short stories were very good, so I encouraged Zhang Henshui to write a long novel. So "Chunming Foreign History" was released, and it became unstoppable from then on.

Without Cheng She's encouragement, there would be no "Chunming Foreign History", let alone "The Golden Fen Family" and "The Cause of Crying and Laughing".

"It's not about the Northeast's resistance to Japan, but a story about the Northwest," Zhang Henshui said leisurely. "I went to the Northwest last year. Gansu and Shaanxi provinces were like hell on earth. The warlords there extorted money and arrested Ding Laf, making it difficult for the people to live. There was no difference between Shandong and Hebei years ago."

Cheng Shewo was surprised and asked, "Is the situation in the northwest so bad?"

Zhou Hexuan thought to himself: If the northwest had not suffered so much, how could the Red Army have stood firm?

"Do you know what crop has the largest planting area in Gansu?" Zhang Henshui asked.

"Wheat?" Cheng Shewo guessed.

Zhang Henshui shook his head: "No."

Zhou Hexuan sighed and said: "Poppy."

"Yes, it's poppy," Zhang Henshui said with a sad look on his face. "The most fertile land in Gansu Province is all used to grow poppy. Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang... these areas were among the most developed agricultural areas in Gansu during the late Qing Dynasty. . But when I went there last year, all I saw were poppy seedlings. Farmers in Gansu basically made a living by growing, processing and selling opium."

Chengshe was inexplicably shocked: "How is that possible? Even if the local government fails to ban smoking, it won't cause the entire population to grow opium."

"Because the local government is encouraging it." Zhou Hexuan sneered.

"Government encouragement?" Cheng Shewo asked doubtfully.

Zhang Henshui nodded and said: "The local government is indeed encouraging poppy cultivation in disguise. The central government in Nanjing called for a smoking ban, and the local government in Gansu took the opportunity to 'combine the ban with tax' and levy a 'smoking acre fine' on all farmers. For example, in Zhangye, the Gansu Provincial Department of Finance stipulates Every year, the local area must pay a fine of 200,000 yuan for tobacco acres. Regardless of whether you grow opium or not, you must pay the fine. In order to increase the enthusiasm of local officials, the Provincial Department of Finance even gives the county magistrate a commission, and the county magistrate can take 5% of the fine received. , local officials naturally charge heavy fines for banning smoking. And farmers have to pay tobacco acre fines no matter what they grow, so who else would be stupid enough to grow food?"

"How unreasonable!" Cheng Shewo slammed the table angrily, "In the past, all the farmers were growing opium. If there was no food, wouldn't they all starve to death?"

Zhang Henshui said: "The land has been starved to death, and bandits are rampant. Gansu not only imposes fines on tobacco acres, but also imposes various exorbitant taxes, such as 'firewood donations'. People must pay a fixed amount of 'official firewood' on time. In some places, all the trees have been destroyed, and the people cannot cut them down." If we don’t have enough firewood, we can only demolish our house and hand over the wood to the government to offset the donation.”

"Zhu Shaoliang deserves to be killed!" Cheng Shewo said through gritted teeth.

Zhu Shaoliang followed Chiang Kai-shek during the Northern Expedition. He is currently the chairman of Gansu Province and director of appeasement, and is in charge of Gansu's military and political power.

Zhou Hexuan shook his head and said: "Zhu Shaoliang deserves to be killed, but his roots are still in the Nanjing government, and Zhang Xueliang must also bear some responsibility. Since the Central Plains War, the warlords in Gansu have been a mess, and were initially controlled by the Northeast Army. But Zhang Xueliang only focused on digesting North China. Then the Japanese invaded the Northeast, and Gansu could not take care of it. Later, Chiang Kai-shek sent Zhu Shaoliang to take over Gansu, but Zhu Shaoliang had no money and no food, and he had to raise a bunch of wolves and tigers under his command. A local warlord. If he had not relied on opium to collect taxes, he would have been driven out of Gansu long ago."

"How does Mingcheng think Gansu should be governed?" Chengshe asked.

Zhou Hexuan said: "In fact, governing Gansu is very simple, and it is nothing more than money and food. A few years ago, the Gansu warlords rebelled, and Yang Hucheng settled it. This shows how poor the fighting ability of the local warlords is. Whether it is Zhang Xueliang in the past or Zhu Shaoliang now, as long as If you go to Gansu with enough money and food, those warlords will immediately obey you. Once you deal with the local warlords and seriously develop agriculture, Gansu will be able to manage it well. The current bad situation in Gansu is all due to poverty. The government is poor, the warlords are poor, and the people are poorer. Being poor, one can only live on opium.”

Cheng Shewo smiled bitterly and said: "The Nanjing government's money has been used to fight the civil war, how can it be used for the construction of Gansu?"

"Hey, let's not mention this kind of thing. Let's talk about running a newspaper." Zhou Hexuan changed the subject.

Cheng She and I said to Zhang Henshui: "Xinyuan, I have decided to run a newspaper in Wuhan. Mingcheng thinks that the newspaper should be run in Chongqing. Where do you think is better?"

Zhang Henshui said in surprise: "Didn't you say in the telegram that you want to run a newspaper in Shanghai?"

"Shanghai is too dangerous. The Japanese invaders will inevitably invade within two or three years, and the Chinese army cannot defend it." Zhou Hexuan said, and began to talk about a comprehensive and protracted war of resistance, and concluded that Sichuan would be the rear area of ​​the war of resistance in the future.

Zhang Henshui said: "I don't know much about this aspect. Since Mr. Zhou said that Chongqing is safe, let's run the newspaper in Chongqing."

Chengshe smiled helplessly and said, "It's a no-brainer for you."

Zhou Hexuan sincerely advised: "Brother Cheng, believe me."

I thought about it carefully and said, "If Xinyuan is willing to follow me to Chongqing, then I will run the newspaper in Chongqing."

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where I live." Zhang Henshui was easy to talk to.

"Then let's do it," I said, "Let's go to Chongqing. I only have 20,000 yuan in hand now, which is definitely not enough to run a newspaper. How much are you willing to invest?"

Zhang Henshui said: "I used all the royalties from "The Cause of Laughter" to buy a house, and now I have more than 10,000 yuan."

Zhang Henshui has houses in Peiping and Nanjing, and the house in Peiping is still a big house...

"I can invest 30,000 yuan. If it's not enough, you can invest 50,000 yuan." After Zhou Hexuan finished speaking, he said to Zhang Henshui, "It's better to sell your house in Peking. It's not safe."

Zhang Henshui nodded and said, "I will take action as soon as possible."

I said to Chengshe: "A Mingcheng investment of 20,000 yuan is enough. The prices in Chongqing are much lower, which is enough for us to apply for the newspaper."

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "No problem, just invest 30,000. I can ask for less shares. After all, you are responsible for the operation."

The three quickly finalized a cooperation plan. Zhou Hexuan invested 30,000 yuan, accounting for 40% of the shares; Cheng Shewo invested 20,000 yuan, accounting for 35% of the shares, and served as the general manager; Zhang Henshui invested 10,000, accounting for 25% of the shares, and served as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

The name of the newspaper is "Libao" and its headquarters is located in Chongqing.