He Xiaojun came to the provincial capital this time, and when they set foot on Shamian, it happened to be about nine o'clock in the morning, which was the time when the consulate had just opened.

I don't know if it's because the time is well grasped or if there are not many people leaving the country during this time, when He Xiaojun and the others came to the consulate, there were very few people waiting in the consulate for business.

He Xiaojun and the others have to go through two procedures when they arrive this time, one is a physical examination, and the other is a visa.

In He Xiaojun's previous life, he had accompanied many relatives and friends to go through the procedures he had today, and it took at least two days to go through these two procedures at that time, because there was a project called liver function culture in the experience, and it would take the overnight stay to have results, so this time he went to the provincial capital irregularly, and he had already made plans to stay here for two days.

What He Xiaojun didn't expect was that the contemporary experience was very simple, only some simple routine examinations were needed, and the results were already available an hour after the experience.

Because the physical examination went smoothly and the visa was also very smooth, He Xiaojun and the others only spent more than two hours, and in the morning of the same day, they unexpectedly completed the pre-departure procedures.

Coming out of the US Consulate, He Xiaojun and the four of them are already half Americans, because they can go anywhere in the United States at any time within half a year now.

Since it was not estimated that the matter would be so simple and smooth, He Xiaojun's return boat would return to Haishan tomorrow evening, so they stayed in the provincial capital for one day and a half plus one night.

If you want to stay overnight, of course, you have to find a place to stay. Originally, the Situ family's business house had a place to live, but He Xiaojun didn't know what the situation of the provincial capital was after the fall, for the sake of safety, after thinking about it for a while, he would rather spend money to live in a hotel opened by a foreigner near the consulate.

In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese did not have the madness of the later period, and they did not dare to offend foreigners too much, so the Japanese basically did not harass the foreign concessions at that time. And Shamian, the place where consulates of various countries gather, has become the safest place in the provincial capital after the fall, so for safety, He Xiaojun chose to stay in Shamian, a concession that is not a concession.

Seeing that he had free time and it was not easy to come to the provincial capital, after taking the women to lunch, He Xiaojun decided to go to the only trading house that Situ's family kept in the provincial capital to have a look, and take a look at the current situation in the provincial capital?

The second young lady, an active person, was of course unwilling to stay in the hotel, and shouted for He Xiaojun to take her with her.

He Xiaojun considered that the safety of the occupied area was not guaranteed, and did not allow anyone to follow them, and strictly ordered them not to step out of Shamian, the safest place in the provincial capital, for half a step, and had to play or rest here before walking to the city alone.

The distance from Shamian to Situjia Commercial Bank is not far, walk about a kilometer, and pass a few streets to arrive.

Along the way, the provincial city He Xiaojun saw was in a depression at this time, not only the shops on the street were closed, but even there were few pedestrians on the street, compared with the prosperous and lively scene he saw last time, it was really a world of difference.

From the information of his previous life, He Xiaojun also roughly knew that the provincial capital had been bombed by the Japanese army by planes, and the citizens of the provincial capital had fled one after another, and the number of people who left every day was tens of thousands. In the days before the fall, a large number of citizens fled the city in a hurry to escape the war, and the population of the provincial capital was sharply reduced from more than one million to tens of thousands.

He Xiaojun still remembers the book "History Should Not Be Forgotten" by Epstein, a reporter from the United Press of the United States, which recorded the situation before and after the fall of the provincial capital: The retreat of XX City was arranged very well, which can be said to be unprecedented in history. Within days, a city of 600,000 people (the normal population is more than a million) was reduced to a brick ruin. It is estimated that on the day the Japanese army entered the city, there were only 10,000 people at most in the huge xx city. …… A few months after the Japanese occupation, there was no sign that a large number of people would return to their homes......

From this historical record, the extreme depression after the fall of the provincial capital can be seen.

Although it has been a year since the Japanese invasion, many citizens have returned to their homes one after another during this time, but the area where He Xiaojun passed through today and the provincial capital was originally quite lively is also very crowded, with ten rooms and nine empty.

In particular, almost all the shops in the area around Renyi Road, which used to be the most prosperous, were closed, and most of the shops were locked. In the past, those seafood, old clothes, and jade markets were also closed, and some fish pens, vegetable pens, salted fish pens, raw fish pens, rice markets, and pig pens were reluctantly opened because they were related to people's livelihood, but they were extremely deserted and had few customers.

He Xiaojun, who knows history well, also knows that before the occupation, the industrial base of the provincial capital was very good, and in the twenties and thirties of the 20th century, the provincial and private industries in the provincial capital developed greatly, so that the provincial capital had become a prosperous place in the forefront of the country at that time.

From the July 7 Incident to the fall of the provincial capital, the Japanese did not directly capture Guangdong. With its own relatively good foundation and through Hong Kong's foreign contacts, Guangdong has become the only channel for China's foreign trade, and the foreign trade and production of the provincial capital directly supply military supplies and daily consumption to the north to support the war of resistance in the north.

The indiscriminate bombardment of the Japanese army before entering the provincial capital had already brought huge losses to the provincial capital. According to newspapers at the time, when the Japanese army entered Guangzhou, they saw "rubble everywhere".

After the Japanese army invaded the provincial capital, the industry of the provincial capital basically fell into the hands of the Japanese. After the Japanese took over the enterprises in the provincial capital, they implemented the policy of "nourishing the war with war" to serve its war of aggression. A lot of advanced equipment was shipped back to Japan by the Japanese.

At the same time, the Japanese army took control of the financial system in the provincial capitals and issued military tickets without reserves, causing prices to skyrocket. It made the citizens of the time miserable.

All this has caused the current Great Depression in the provincial capital.

At that time, there was a local ballad that sang: "...... XX is a good place, since the tragic bombing by the enemy, nine out of ten rooms are deserted, large families shelter foreign ghosts, and small families return to their hometowns. I have a hometown and can't return to ......"

Although He Xiaojun had a rough understanding of the depression of the provincial capital during this period from the information in his previous life, now that he saw the real situation in front of him, he also saw the depression and coldness of the market compared to the Japanese army, and tried his best to attract the citizens to return. They posted slogans such as "return to business as soon as possible and ensure the safety of life and property" all over the provincial capital, and wrote some guidelines such as "open a Huimin market in xx places, welcome to buy and sell" on the walls of many streets.

When He Xiaojun passed by a street in the center of the provincial capital, he saw such a market specially set up by the Japanese army.

Anyway, He Xiaojun, who was free and interested, simply walked into this passing market, to see what was sold in this market? By the way, take a look at the ecological situation of that era.

What He Xiaojun didn't expect was that in this newly built market, there were so many kinds of things to buy that he didn't expect, including antiques, treasures, cloth and grain, and even all kinds of department stores.

The people who set up the stalls are also eccentric, including Japanese, locals, and some roe deer rats who know at a glance that they are ruffians and hooligans. It seems that many of these stall people were found by the Japanese army to make up the numbers, and He Xiaojun estimated that many of the goods on sale were items from unknown sources.

The Japanese military police set up inspection checkpoints at the intersection at the head and end of the market, inspected both goods and pedestrians, and passers-by were required to bow 90 degrees to the Japanese military police.

Approaching the market, He Xiaojun saw a good and funny scene, that is, at the entrance of the checkpoint of this market, there was a sign with a large letter, and the sign said "looting the market", I don't know if the Japanese military police wanted to warn people not to rob, or announced that there were "robbery items" for sale.

It may be that there are not many residents in the provincial capital at this time, or it may be that the people in the war are not interested in shopping, and there are only a few buyers in the market of Nuoda, which has become a strange situation where there are many more sellers than buyers.

Seeing that there were a lot of Japanese and ruffians dressed up in the market, and the things they were selling were antique treasures, He Xiaojun estimated that these stalls were selling looted "rat goods", so he had the idea of Taobao.

Although He Xiaojun is not an expert in antiques and treasures, He Xiaojun, who has watched a lot of the "Treasure Appreciation" program of the Central Station in his previous life and has also dabbled in various information, still has some foundation, not to mention, the other party is not an expert, and people who sell "rat goods" will basically have the mentality of being eager to get rid of it, so He Xiaojun is ready to Taobao at the price of garbage.

As for He Xiaojun's speculation, those stalls selling antiques and treasures, the stall owners are all eager to get rid of it, they saw that the market has been deserted, and they are already impatient.

After looking at and asking a few stalls, He Xiaojun knew in his heart that he specially picked those inconspicuous things, such as ancient coins, bronzes, calligraphy and paintings, ancient porcelain and other things to bargain.

In the eyes of ordinary people who have no knowledge of antiques, the most valuable things are nothing more than gold, silverware, jade and other things, so those layman sellers, and even maybe looters, just like this, after turning a few stalls, He Xiaojun has used a few oceans to find a batch of items, and asked him to buy a sack and a big bamboo basket to hold these things.

Just when He Xiaojun was immersed in Taobao, a familiar figure hurried past him.