It is often said that Kunming is like spring all year round, but there are also shortcomings, that is, there is too much rain in summer, and sometimes it rains for half a month.

Zhou Hexuan seems to be trapped in Kunming, and it rains heavily for three consecutive days, and he can't leave at all. Every night is even more busy, because the student dormitory is leaky and leaky, and I often get up in the middle of the night to use the basin to catch the rainwater, otherwise the beds will be flooded.

Zhou Hexuan also went to a few classes on a rainy day, and the taste was very uncomfortable. Because the roof was made of iron sheets, the raindrops clanked like it was non-stop, and the teachers could only shout at class.

Jin Yuelin originally spoke quietly, and once he couldn't shout in class, and the content of the lecture was completely covered by the sound of the rain hitting the iron, so he simply announced the suspension of classes and took the students to the eaves to enjoy the rain.

The bombing damage that day was also counted, and a school building was destroyed by the bombing of the Teachers' College, but fortunately there were no casualties. The administrative office building of the school headquarters was also blown down, and it was said that it was an office building, but it was actually a mud-walled bungalow, and it was necessary to wait until the weather was sunny to start organizing the repair.

Two teachers and students were also injured in the school headquarters, one student was wiped on the forehead by the blown pebble and fell unconscious on the spot, and woke up without serious problems; Another lecturer was buried under an earthen wall, suffered a broken leg, and nearly died, and is now recuperating in the hospital.

The situation has already been calculated, and the Southwest Associated General Assembly was bombed shortly after its establishment. It was the first time that Japanese planes bombed Kunming, and because the city's air defense warning system was not perfect, two students, three school workers, and three family members of faculty and staff members were killed.

At present, whether it is the sirens who pull the air raid siren, or the families of the teachers and students of the school, they are accustomed to air raids, and the casualties have been greatly reduced.

Such a precarious day not only did not deter the teachers and students, but aroused their patriotic enthusiasm. During the all-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, more than 30% of the students of the United Nations University joined the army, and many faculty members also enlisted in the army.

For example, the great poet Mu Dan was studying in the Department of Foreign Languages of Southwest Associated University at this time, and stayed in the school to teach after graduation. At the age of 24, Mu Dan signed up for the expeditionary force as a university teaching assistant, and survived nine deaths.

Zhou Hexuan was a little ashamed of this, because he copied Mu Dan's "Praise", and all he could do was to help as much as possible in terms of finances.

On the fifth day of coming to Kunming, the rain stopped, and Zhou Hexuan asked Mei Yiqi to meet at the teahouse.

"Brewing in a teahouse" and "running the alarm" are the collective memories of the teachers and students of the United Nations, who do not entertain in the teahouse, but go to the teahouse to do research and study.

Only the library of the Southwest Associated University is a tiled house, which is not affected by the rain. But the library has limited space and can only accommodate a few people, and the rest can only go to the nearby teahouse. There are electric lights in the teahouse, and you can sit for most of the day by making a cup of tea, so it is a good place to read and study.

After a long time, the owner of the teahouse felt that he couldn't stand it, and some deliberately dimmed the light, obviously not wanting the teachers and students to rub their seats.

Mei Yiqi took the lid of the tea bowl and skimmed the foam and asked, "Is Mr. Zhou leaving?" ”

"I'll leave tomorrow," Zhou Hexuan said, taking out a check, "I can withdraw 1 million fiat currency from the Bank of Kunming, which will be used to repair the school's library and school building." The library is too small and should be a little bigger. It's time to change the tin roof of the school building, and replace it with tiles, so that at least classes can continue on rainy days. The money is used as soon as possible, and it is better to find someone to buy building materials immediately, otherwise the price will rise again if it drags on. ”

In these years, capitalists are uncomfortable, don't look at Zhou Hexuan who opened a factory in Sichuan to make a lot of money in real estate, but the speed of price rise may be faster than the speed of making money. It feels a lot better to earn tens of millions of dollars now, but in a few years it will be waste paper, and in 1943, the Southwest Associated University could spend 150,000 yuan to buy an electric meter.

Instead of putting the money in the bank to depreciate, it is better to use the money in practice, at least Zhou Hexuan has a better heart.

Of course, there is a safer way to store value, and that is to exchange your money for gold or foreign exchange. The four major families took the lead in storing foreign exchange in various ways, and the people of the people tried to reserve gold, and the fools held the depreciating fiat currency in their hands.

Mei Yiqi took the check, feeling warm and sour in his heart, he choked up a little and said: "Mr. Zhou, thank you for everything you have done to the United Nations General Assembly, I will immediately let people buy bricks and stone tiles." ”

Zhou Hexuan took out another telegram and said with a smile: "The teachers and students of the Central University and the Agricultural College of Jinling University have sent back and forth, they set off from Chengdu yesterday, and they also brought the improved breed chickens introduced from the United States. I am only responsible for contributing the money, and you can solve the rest by yourself, and I will remit the funds for opening a chicken farm one after another. ”

"The teachers and students of the United Nations must raise the chickens well." Mei Yiqi said.

During the Republic of China, the agricultural colleges of Central University and Jinling University were the most powerful. The former began in Zhangzhidong at the end of the Qing Dynasty and has a strong technical foundation; The latter is even more powerful, various well-known foreign agricultural colleges came to teach, and some international friends did not leave China during the Anti-Japanese War.

Let's put it this way, with the exception of some Soviet support, the development of agricultural technology in the new China was laid by these two universities – and this was when a large number of top agronomists chose to go to Taiwan.

In addition, Peking Agricultural University is also relatively powerful, but it is still much inferior to the Agricultural College of Central University and Jinling University, mainly because there is no stable source of funding for a long time, resulting in worse and worse teachers and students.

On June 23, Zhou Hexuan left Kunming.

Before leaving, Zhou Hexuan went to visit Long Yun's third son, thanked the other party for providing cigarettes and other materials, and wrote a sub-word to Long Sangongzi as a souvenir.

On July 1, Today's Review published an article by Zhou Hexuan, titled: "The Tasks and Expectations of Today's Students".

Although Southwest Associated University is known as the poorest school in the Republic of China, they have not had enough to eat, but they have run a comprehensive publication with the greatest influence during the Anti-Japanese War, that is, "Today's Review" founded by Mr. Qian Duansheng.

The founding goal of "Today's Review" is very clear, that is, to provide services for the anti-Japanese war, and the contributors are mainly professors from Southwest University, and some of the authors of the articles are from other schools. The contributors are all famous, including: Zhu Ziqing, Luo Wengan, Yang Duanliu, Pan Guangdan, Feng Youlan, Qian Zhongshu, Chen Daisun, Shi Guogang, Ye Gongchao, Lu Kanru, Zhang Daoxing, Lin Huiyin, Wang Yuanzhao...... And so on and so forth.

The content of the articles is also varied, some discuss the war situation, some discuss politics, some discuss the economy, some discuss education, and some discuss social order. Some people even openly publicized the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines of the Communist Party, which made the central government headed by Lao Chiang very unhappy.

Because of this, Chang Kaishen often ignores the Southwest Associated University, and even the Ministry of Education deliberately presses the funds not to be paid. After the Japanese invaders occupied Vietnam, the central government demanded that the Southwest Associated University relocate, but the Southwest Associated University resolutely refused because it was afraid that it would lose its freedom to run the school after moving to Chongqing. As a result, school breakfasts were canceled, and students sometimes had to eat only one meal a day, and their physical fitness was extremely poor, and they often fainted in class.

After Zhou Hexuan's article was published in Today's Review, it immediately aroused widespread discussion in academic circles, because there is only one core viewpoint: it is better for college students not to join the army.

Zhou Hexuan hoped that the students would learn as much knowledge as possible, do more scientific research in the rear area during the war, and provide advanced technology for the country. Moreover, the more arduous task of the students is that after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, China will inevitably be devastated, and the recovery and development of China after the war will depend on these students.

Some people agree with Zhou Hexuan's views, while others express strong opposition, which is nothing more than the rise and fall of the country. Although most people shouted that the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression would be won, they actually had no bottom in their hearts, and they wanted everyone to join the army to fight.

Therefore, some scholars severely criticized Zhou Hexuan, believing that he was discouraged from the enthusiasm of students to join the army, which is very important.