Xiao Yimin sent a letter to Zhao Erfeng, a teacher in Kangding, to ask for countermeasures, and then observed the three-day meeting and selection at the Ya'an training base, delivered a morale-boosting speech, and participated in a number of selection competitions as an ordinary soldier, which made the soldiers new and moved.

After receiving a reply letter from Zhao Erfeng, Xiao Yimin said goodbye to his teachers and friends in Ya'an and returned to Chengdu.

Chengdu City has become a pot of porridge, Xiao Yimin stepped into Chengdu's home with his front feet, Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan arrived with his back feet, and behind him he also led Luo Lun, vice chairman of the Provincial Advisory Bureau, Wang Zhangyou, director of education of the Higher Normal School, and Xu Zifang, manager of the Chengdu-Chongqing section of the Sichuan-Han Railway.

At first glance, they were all familiar celebrities in Sichuan's political, cultural and business circles, where did Xiao Yimin dare to slack off, he hurriedly stepped forward to salute and warmly invited everyone into his home to watch tea.

Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan opened their mouths to complain that Xiao Yimin was selfish and blindly evaded, did not think about his family and country, and disregarded public opinion, which made Xiao Yimin cry and laugh, but in front of so many celebrities from all walks of life, he could only make promises, humbly apologize, and explained his current position and military affairs, Zou Wenhan and others' faces looked better.

Xiao Yimin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, wiped off the beads of sweat on his head, and put on a humble appearance to listen to everyone's complaints, but he was indignant in his heart, muttering: "You old masters have a lot of money, either rich or expensive, and they have invested a lot of money in the painting cake of the Sichuan-Han Railway to sit and wait for dividends.

"At the beginning, in order to strengthen the momentum of the railway stocks, regardless of Sven, you attached Sheng Xuanhuai, a member of the Manchu Dynasty, and praised Sheng Xuanhuai for having the motherland in mind and looking at the world, and was the country's leading industrialist and pioneer of the Westernization movement.

"Now it's okay, come to my house to drink my good tea and eat my snacks, and criticize me a lot, I recruited you to provoke you?"

Zou Wenhan, who had become a senior think tank of the Huaxi Group Company, did not have the heart to say so many kind words, and quickly gave Xiao Yimin a brief briefing on the situation that the imperial court borrowed from the foreign powers with the rights and interests of the railway, how the foreign powers took advantage of the opportunity to blackmail, and how the people from all walks of life in Sichuan panicked.

Zou Wenhan finally said with great sadness:

"If the imperial court did not strongly approve and spend money to occupy part of the equity of the Sichuan-Han Railway, and the major yamen in Sichuan did not intervene and add fuel to the fire, and forcibly apportioned huge sums of money and taxes to the people of Sichuan in the form of stock replacement for three consecutive years, and only relied on private capital to build the railway and operate it independently, it would not have caused today's catastrophe that affected tens of millions of people in the province!

"Now that I think about it, we can't get rid of the heavy responsibility of poor thinking and planning mistakes! But the matter has come to this, if we don't rise up to fight, the huge investment of the people in the province will be robbed by the imperial court, and countless people and national enterprises will lose their money! ”

Everyone sighed one after another, one by one, as if they were mourning, and finally looked at Xiao Yimin, who was silent and only cared about drinking tea, thinking that the reason why your cunning turtle son is not in a hurry is not because you didn't buy railway stocks?

"Yiming, you have a statement! Do you know how influential you are today among young people and the military? Why don't you stand up until now and speak out for the benefit of the people of Bashu? A few days ago, the Chinese and foreign newspapers in the southeast also mentioned your Xiao Yimin's name, and they were very puzzled that you had not reacted to you so far, so you can see how important your position is, but you ...... Can you bear to watch tens of millions of old folks go bankrupt? ”

Zhang Lan couldn't hold his breath anymore and asked sternly.

Luo Lun, Wang Zhangyou and others hurriedly agreed, but their tones were much gentler, and the friendship between them and Xiao Yimin was not as deep as that between Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan, so their words were sincere, and they didn't dare to rely on the old and sell the old, but their anxiety was not inferior.

Xu Zifang, the manager of the Chengdu-Chongqing section of the Sichuan-Han Railway, who returned from studying in France, stood up excitedly, walked to the middle of the hall, and bowed deeply to Xiao Yimin:

"Brother Yiming, you are far-sighted, full of strategy, in just a few years from scratch, Huaxi Group Company has become the leading industrial and commercial entity in Bashu, and the industrial and commercial circles in Sichuan are all admired! Contemptible people added as the manager of the Sichuan-Chongqing section of the Sichuan-Han Railway, seeing the catastrophe coming, deeply felt that the talent is shallow, the responsibility is heavy, and now it is said that he has taken the liberty to come to the door, and he feels deeply ashamed, but he bears the trust of thousands of employees in the company, and shoulders the expectations of tens of millions of people in Bashu. ”

Xiao Yimin hurriedly jumped up and ran up to support Xu Zifang's hands: "Brother Xu is ashamed of Xiao!" I can't help it, so sit down first, sit down, and let's discuss it slowly. ”

Xiao Yimin helped Xu Zifang, whose eyes were flushed, back to sit down, knowing that he couldn't hide today, so he had to ask everyone to wait, enter the study, take out the support article written in advance from the suitcase, and returned to the hall instead of handing it to Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan, but respectfully handed it to the short man Luo Lun with both hands:

"Speaker, this is a short article on current affairs written by me after repeated consideration, which represents the position of myself and all the employees of Huaxi Group Company, and if the speaker thinks it is desirable, Yiming will be honored."

Everyone was overjoyed, realizing the important surnames of these two thin manuscript papers, and today they learned that Xiao Yimin had just returned from Ya'an, and everyone hurried here in order to win Xiao Yimin's support. So they surrounded Luo Lun and rushed to see Xiao Yimin's article first.

Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan glanced at each other, and both showed happy smiles.

Xiao Yimin handed over the article to Speaker Luo Lun instead of them, and the two knew that Xiao Yimin already had a clear position, instead of playing haha all day long and continuing to thin the mud, otherwise Xiao Yimin would not have done it in accordance with this formal officialdom document transmission procedure.

"You don't need to be in a hurry, Kanghou, thank you, the chairman of the Consultative Bureau, for reciting it in public, so that everyone can work less hard. Although Yiming's article is full of vernacular and has a mixed reputation among the Chinese people, his sharp words and witty comments have also been touted by the group of celebrities who set off the vernacular literature movement in China! ”

Zou Wenhan was in a good mood at the moment, and loudly reminded Luo Lun to read Xiao Yimin's article in public.

Everyone realized their gaffe, and hurriedly applauded in unison, and quickly returned to their seats one by one, listening attentively.

Luo Lun quickly glanced at the upright and powerful pen font, happily walked to the middle of the hall, and read aloud, and when he was halfway through the reading, he was already excited and out of tune:

“…… Looking at the great powers of today, all of them encourage and support the development and growth of their own private capital......

"I hope that the imperial court will respect the will of the people, be sympathetic to the world, and hope that Sheng Xuanhuai and Duanfang Zhugong will put the fundamental interests of hundreds of millions of people in Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong provinces first, and reform the maladministration and benefit the people...... If the branches and leaves of the towering tree wither, it can still be the will of a strong man to cut off the diseased branches with a knife to survive, if he turns a blind eye and insists on going his own way, it will definitely affect the trunk and then the foundation will erode, and it is not far from collapsing! ”

"Okay—"

The hall was full of cheers, and everyone was excited.

This sharp-tongued 800-word essay not only fully demonstrates Xiao Yimin's clear-cut stand, but also dares to question the Manchu court and dare to hold Sheng Xuanhuai and others accountable by name.

As long as this article is published, it will certainly win the support of the four provinces of Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong, and it will be a strong solidarity and encouragement to the people of the Sichuan-Han Railway Company and the victims of the four provinces who have the greatest rights and interests of the Han-Guangdong Railway and the Sichuan-Han Railway, and it will be even more tremendous support for the "Baolu Comrades Association," which is in full swing and trying its best to encourage the people to launch protests and demonstrations.

The excited Luo Lun and the others left in a hurry with the article in their hands, and Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan, who had successfully completed the task, left for a drink, and the three of them did not see each other for more than half a month, and they seemed to have a lot to say.

After three rounds of drinking, Old Master Zou looked at Xiao Yimin with a smile: "When did you figure it out?" ”

"Dare I not figure it out?" Xiao Yimin asked angrily, grabbed the wine bottle and poured himself a drink.

Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan laughed, and it seemed that the two of them were very happy.

Xiao Yimin drank a glass of wine, sighed and said in his heart:

"Actually, I don't have to force the two of you to force each other, I will also stand up and take a stand, I didn't say it before, because the time didn't come, at that time the Manchu court did not make a written decision, there are too many rumors on the market, and I am afraid that a joke will be made if I am not careful, but now everything is clear, and the statement must be stated. Think about it carefully, although the railway company has to bear a large part of the responsibility, but now is not the time to investigate, trying to keep the right of way is the most important, nearly 20 million yuan of investment is facing ashes, that is all the people's fat and people's ointment!

"Again, as the helmsman of Huaxi Group, although I have not participated in railway investment and have no losses, I always feel a little sad about the death of a rabbit and a fox. Also, I have to think carefully about my current reputation and status, and if I don't take a clear stand and express my support, I am afraid that I will offend thousands of people, since I know that I can't escape, it is better to yell a few times than to moan without pain. ”

Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan deeply think so, they appreciate Xiao Yimin the most, what they say in front of their friends, they will never hide it, and they will not do the despicable deeds of being a bitch and setting up an archway, so both of them like to get along with Xiao Yimin, they feel very relaxed and comfortable, and they have no worries and are very open.

Zou Wenhan, who was deeply trapped in interests, was quite ashamed, Zhang Lan was not much better, Xiao Yimin saw the uncomfortable appearance of the two, and gently turned the topic to the new governor: "What is the attitude of Lord Wang?" ”

Zhang Lan smiled bitterly: "Of course he has to support us, otherwise he will offend the local gentry, and the future will definitely be difficult, but his support is very limited, he is afraid that the court will condemn him, and he is afraid that we will rebel against him. ”

Xiao Yimin nodded:

"Now the key is to see the attitude of Sheng Xuanhuai, the Minister of Posts and Communications, the mortgage loan to the four countries with two railways is what he single-handedly made, and this initiator is very arrogant, has been sneering at the voice of the people, and does not even want to say a soft word of appeasement, it seems that he is likely to make some new names in it, such as the news that the imperial court in Shanghai is considering buying the shares of the Hanyue Railway in cash, but there is no mention of what to do with the Sichuan-Han Railway, if it is really so favoritism to divide the other, it is undoubtedly a very mean and vicious trick, Beware! ”

Zou Wenhan smiled bitterly: "I'm afraid it's not as simple as a rumor, this is very likely to become a fact." ”

Xiao Yimin was quite surprised and turned to Zhang Lan: "What about your opinion?" ”

"All the same, the outlook is not good!" Zhang Lan couldn't do anything about it.

Seeing Xiao Yimin's thoughtful appearance, Zou Wenhan hesitated for a moment and asked: "Hunan is making a fuss, I'm afraid the alliance will win this time, and our Sichuan will not be much better, if you use force at that time, what will you do?" ”

Xiao Yimin sighed: "What else can I do besides conforming to public opinion?" But before that, I would like to use the relationship between our newspaper and the Shanghai public opinion circles to publish a few articles I wrote during this time, which can be regarded as a kind reminder. ”

Zou Wenhan and Zhang Lan nodded frequently, but their thinking was confined to Sichuan, not to the entire Yangtze River basin, especially the three towns of Wuhan, as Xiao Yimin did.

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