Chapter 19: The King of the South
After transferring in Xuzhou, Ouyang Yun and his entourage came to Guangzhou in a few days.
When people were chatting on the road, Guangzhou was mentioned more than once. Guangzhou can be said to be the cradle of the revolution of the Republic of China, because of special geographical factors, the people here are most deeply influenced by the Western ideology, and the famous Whampoa Military Academy is located here. Guangzhou had a unique position in the political system of the Republic of China, and many of the Kuomintang elders were Cantonese or settled here. And now Chen Jitang, the actual controller of Guangdong, is known as the King of the Southern Heavens, not to mention Chen Jitang's character, whether he has the ambition to compete in the Central Plains, Jiang Shuren and Ouyang Yun talk about his governance of Guangdong the most.
Under Chen Jitang's administration, Guangdong's achievements are obvious to all. Administratively, he proposed to "reform bad habits, refresh politics, and create a model new Guangdong", criticizing the central government for saying that "no province has done anything in accordance with the policies laid down by the prime minister, and has resulted in disorder, disorderly steps, lack of a specific plan, and lack of a consistent revolutionary spirit of those in charge of politics; China's recommenders are looking for a living and a bowl of rice, so the public servants in various organs lack a sense of responsibility for the national obligations; He pointed out that "the situation in the southwest is special, it is located on the front line of national defense, it is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, and there are many overseas Chinese, and the policy decisions and decrees promulgated by Nanjing are not fully suitable for reality, and there should be some gains and losses." This may be an excuse for him to break away from the central government, but what he said is true. He believed that "the merits of politics depend on the quality of officials," and for this reason, a "Public Servant Performance Appraisal Committee" was set up to train and evaluate officials, and public servants were selected through examinations.
Militarily, he changed the militia groups that had harassed the localities into a guard force and carried out unified management and establishment, and this move raised nearly one million military and police troops for Guangdong at once, and maintained social order very well.
When Chen Jitang first took over the military administration of Guangdong, in order to change the embarrassment of facing financial bankruptcy, he proposed that first, it is necessary to open up sources of money and reduce expenditure, and second, to clear up accumulated malpractices, and drew up specific regulations for punishing corrupt officials and corrupt officials. At the same time, in order to protect local agriculture, import taxes were imposed on imported rice and sugar, which may be the first "anti-dumping duty" imposed in modern China to protect its own industry. In addition, he set up a large industrial project, successively expanding and building a number of profitable paper mills, textile mills, sack factories, sulfuric acid factories, beverage factories, cement factories, glass factories, and power plants, thus making huge profits from them, thus solving the huge military expenditures.
Chen Jitang is also worthy of praise for his emphasis on education and culture, first implementing compulsory education in rural areas, and expanding civilian schools and adult cram schools for men and women (when Ouyang Yun heard this, he couldn't help but think of the literacy classes that no longer existed in his society, and his interest in Chen Jitang and his people couldn't help but increase). Chen Jitang has made many achievements in education and cultural undertakings, such as the construction of vocational schools, and the proposal of school farming and urban education as professionalism and student labor. The schools he raised funds to build include Sun Yat-sen University, the College of Engineering, the College of Commerce, the College of Commerce, the Guangdong Army Medical School and the Army General Hospital, the Provincial No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 Agricultural Schools and the No. 1 Vocational School.
Of course, his motivation for attaching so much importance to education was not pure, but was actually to strengthen his rule, which is not difficult to see from his advocacy of respecting Confucius and reading the scriptures, making the Book of Filial Piety a compulsory subject in schools above the middle school, and hiring professors to teach the University and the Mean, and propagating the Four Dimensions and Eight Virtues. However, regardless of his starting point, the development of education is a great thing that will benefit future generations, and it can indeed be recorded in history as one of his merits.
Jiang Shuren knows a lot about Guangdong and Chen Jitang, but Ouyang Yun is a novice in this regard - Chen Jitang's original impression in his mind is that he is just a warlord. After listening to Jiang Shuren's speech, his perception of Chen Jitang completely changed, and he said in his heart that if this guy can obtain my computer knowledge, then what shape should Guangdong be now, it is estimated that the national government will not be able to send out the horse, and only one Guangdong will be able to beat the little devil back to the island! As soon as he thought of this, his heart moved-the withdrawal of the Cantonese department from the historical stage should be next year, Chen Jitang united with the Gui department to overthrow Chiang, but Lao Chiang used the strategy of drawing salaries from the bottom of the kettle to win over all the important generals under him, so he was forced to retreat to Hong Kong, and Guangdong, which had been painstakingly operated for many years, was lost. According to historical records, Chen Jitang is more superstitious, so Huang Banxian may be able to play a certain role! He decided to take care of it as soon as he returned from the United States.
Xu is background problem, although Ouyang Yun's special forces are actually half-level, but as a soldier, he is always used to thinking about problems from a military point of view, except for the need to consider economic construction, Ouyang Yun really hasn't paid attention to things like education and culture. Jiang Shuren's narration about Guangdong and Chen Jitang made him realize the importance of education and culture, and also made him realize his own shortcomings - he is still too young to consider all aspects of the problem, so it seems that he can only give full play to the plagiarism expertise of the traverser, make a little name for himself economically, and then lead a force to make some contributions to the anti-Japanese cause as much as possible.
Having re-established himself, he felt a sense of relief, and he was not so concerned about the loss of his computer.
On June 22, Ouyang Yun and his entourage set foot on the land of Hong Kong. They took a car all the way from Guangzhou and saw the prosperity and order of Guangdong, and the businessmen all praised it, saying that this king of the south really lived up to his reputation and governed Guangdong really well. Among them, there are enlightened people who look at Ouyang Yun a little differently, obviously hoping that he can also build Hebei into a "model province" like Guangdong!
Compared to Guangdong, Hong Kong's prosperity is a different story, and it is not difficult to see this in the clothes people wear. Although there are also long robes and cheongsams, they are no longer common, but suits and dresses abound, and Westerners with high noses and blue eyes appear in the crowd from time to time, showing Hong Kong's status as an international metropolis in the East.
Everyone got out of the car at the pass, shook hands with the soldiers of the guard platoon and said goodbye, and then walked into Hong Kong on foot, all the way out of the military area, and then saw Jiang Shuren's classmate Fang Dawei and his party who came to greet them.
Fang Da is as his name suggests, and he really looks "Fang Da", with a height of about 1.85 meters, a waist circumference of nearly 3 feet 5, a square face that is a little round, and his eyes are very sharp. Jiang Shuren hoped in the telegram that he could create some momentum for the delegation, and Fang Dawei lived up to the trust, using his connections and work convenience to organize a welcome team of considerable size. He was accompanied by many well-known Hong Kong personalities and a large number of journalists.
Ouyang Yun and Jiang Shuren walked at the front of the expedition group, the latter saw the old classmate, and was about to say hello, when a burst of magnesium lights flashed one after another, he only felt a flower in front of him, and he almost fell under his feet.
Ouyang Yun had already noticed that the formation was a little wrong, but he didn't care too much, thinking that they had another purpose. When a few reporters rushed up to surround him and ask questions, he realized that he was actually coming for the inspection group and himself. He was stunned at first, and then he understood, knowing that this was Jiang Shuren's "hard work", so he answered all kinds of questions with admiration.
The reporters asked a variety of questions, worrying about how many people died in the "426 tragedy"; There are inquiries about "Shang Lian'er committed suicide for love"; There are also those who inquire about the purpose of the delegation to the United States; There is also the question of whether the 29th Army really wants to stand on its own feet in North China; It's more about penicillin.
When Fang Dawei saw Jiang Shuren, he immediately led someone to greet him, but at this time, he was blocked by the reporters, so he could only wave his hand and smile at his old classmates behind them.
The reporters' interviews lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and Ouyang Yun patiently answered almost all the questions, except, of course, personal matters. As a modern person, he has seen a lot of interview shots on TV, and he has experienced many times in Beiping, he is not stage frightened at all, and he has a very "star temperament", which has left a good impression on Hong Kong reporters.
After the reporters dispersed, the protagonists had a chance to appear. Jiang Shuren and Fang Dawei introduced the people on both sides separately, and the two sides exchanged pleasantries, and then Fang Dawei led them to the place where they were staying, a villa of his friend, businessman Huang Jiayu.
Fang Dawei and Jiang Shuren are both old classmates and friends, which can be said to have given Jiang Shuren enough face, not only solved the problem of temporary accommodation for the delegation, but also specially borrowed more than a dozen cars to serve them.
Wong Ka-yu's villa is located in Tsim Sha Tsui on Kowloon Island, not far from Victoria Harbour, and in consideration of safety concerns, the dust-washing banquet prepared by Fong Dawei for the delegation was also set up here.
The reason why Hong Kong's celebrities are willing to appreciate the light to welcome the delegation is that the "anti-Japanese heroes" and penicillin are selling points, and after some gossip during the banquet, a professor of medical university named Lu Dingguang brought up this topic and asked Ouyang Yun: Does penicillin really have the legendary miraculous effect? Can wound infections be treated?
Ouyang Yun had already prepared and took out an experiment report plagiarized from the computer.
Lu Dingguang looked at it carefully, and then exchanged glances with a giant businessman named Li Zhejiang, and asked him if he could bring it back, saying that if it was possible, he wanted to do the experiment himself.
Ouyang Yun observed the words and understood that there must be some tacit understanding between these two people, it seems that he wants to learn from those "copycat" masters in the future generations and get a copycat version of penicillin. I felt funny in my heart, and said very solemnly: Of course there is no problem, but the penicillin I used for the experiment has been purified, and the purity has reached 99.99%, if the purity is not enough, it is easy to have an accident. What he said was complete nonsense, but Lu Dingguang believed it, and thought about it in his heart, if he really wanted to purify this concentration of penicillin, it was impossible with his own ability, he looked at Li Zhejiang, showed an embarrassed look on his face, shook his head lightly and said: In this way, it seems that I can't do this test.
Penicillin has aroused the appetite of Hong Kong businessmen, and then the issue of agency rights in Hong Kong, Macau and even Southeast Asia has been raised by sensitive people. Ouyang Yun and Jiang Shuren took advantage of the situation and put forward the investment promotion plan of the Renqiu County Government. When the news of Renqiu's oil was revealed, the enthusiasm of the businessmen was fully mobilized, so a dust-washing banquet evolved into a conference to attract investment.