Reborn Bao Guowei, I really didn’t want to be a great writer!

Chapter 423: The publication of "Rural Teacher"! Bingwen washes away our shame!

London.

17 Church Street, Hampstead.

The famous novelist, politician and sociologist Herbert George Wells lived here.

Mr. Wells is another great master of science fiction literature after Jules Verne.

The work "The First Man on the Moon" was even translated by Xun Ge'er and introduced into China as "Journey to the Moon", which is also considered to be one of the earliest translated domestic science fiction works.

His works "The Time Machine", "War of the Worlds" and "The Invisible Man" have influenced the creation of science fiction novels by later generations.

At this point in time, Mr. Wells reduced his writing of science fiction and turned to interviews as a journalist and research in political science and sociology.

It is worth mentioning that Wells was once a close friend of George Bernard Shaw, and joined the Fabian Society under the latter's introduction.

But later, he had some differences with the Fabian Society on the advocacy of socialist ideas. He felt that Shaw had excessive influence on young students and had an inflated desire for personal leadership, so he withdrew from the organization.

Wells has been busy lately.

Ever since Bao Guowei proposed the economic concept of "Bao Economics", it has been regarded by the academic community as an improved version of a systematic democratic socialism.

This caused a sensation in the academic community at the time, and even Wells, who was originally editing "Outline of World History", joined the discussion and research.

"Sir, perhaps we can seek the help of Mr. Bernard Shaw. I think he should help us introduce Mr. Bao, so that many of your questions can be answered."

Inside the study, Charlie, who had been helping the teacher collect information, couldn't help but remind him.

"No, no, no." Wells, who had a fine beard beside the desk, shook his head repeatedly and said firmly. "I will never contact that dictatorial scholar again. Absolutely not."

Charlie sighed and felt a little headache.

Mr. Bao is now a hot commodity in London, and any scholar would like to take advantage of his popularity. How can I make an appointment to meet him?

Mr. Wells was already a well-known figure in London, and his achievements were not limited to science fiction.

Previously, he visited various countries and the interview articles he published often caused a worldwide sensation.

This gentleman had even been received by the fatherly leader of Tsarist Russia, which shows how high Mr. Wells' status and influence were.

Even when he wanted to meet Bao Guowei, he couldn't get a number in the City of London, which shows the extent of the impact of "Bao Economics" this time.

But my teacher is a loyal moderate socialist, and he attaches great importance to Bao Guowei's theory.

As a student who has always been taken care of, Charlie naturally wants to help him.

Suddenly thinking of something, Charlie patted his head and said.

"Mr. Wells, I suddenly remembered something. There is also a hot topic about Mr. Bao these days. Do you want to take a look?"

"Bao, what new theory have you come up with?" Wells stood up from his chair, grabbed Charlie's shoulders and said.

"It's not a theory." Charlie took out a magazine from his bag with an embarrassed look on his face. "Mr. Bao published a science fiction novel in Seaside Magazine, which was very popular."

"Science fiction?" Wells took the magazine and looked at it suspiciously.

He sat down, found the page number belonging to "The Rural Teacher", turned to that page and read it carefully.

But the more I read, the more interesting the expression on his face became!
1930 October.

Zhang Xueliang, the young master who controlled eight provinces, became the man with the greatest gains in China in 1930.

If there was a Chinese Person of the Year at that time, Zhang Xueliang would probably be on the list.

After the Central Plains War was settled, he took command of the military forces of the Northeast and North China provinces, and it can be said that he was the most powerful person for a time.

During this period at the end of the year, Zhang Xueliang was in Nanjing preparing for the New Year's Day military parade with Chiang Kai-shek.

After all, the war was won, so a ceremony had to be held to celebrate.

At the same time, a debate about the calendar is taking place in the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The reason was that the national government was promoting a new calendar, trying to abolish the old calendar, abolish traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival and New Year's Day, and adopt the Western New Year.

In fact, as early as the beginning of 1912, Nanjing issued a telegram from the Provisional President announcing the change of calendar and era name to announce the change.

However, it has always been subject to strong resistance from the people, and even in daily life, people still follow the rhythm of the lunar calendar.

The so-called Western calendar and Gregorian calendar were nothing more than exclusive calendars used for official affairs at the time.

When the Kuomintang government came to power, it also never gave up the idea of ​​abolishing the lunar calendar. In 1927, the Kuomintang government once again tried to reform social customs.

In the eyes of a group of "advanced" intellectuals at the time, anything traditional was worthy of criticism and needed to be improved, and everything from the West must be completely accepted.

However, the abolition of the Lunar New Year in 1927 still could not be implemented.

Bao Guowei's hometown Hangzhou is a good example. No matter what the official says, people still have to wait until the Lunar New Year is approaching before they start making preparations for the New Year.

Therefore, at the end of each year, the government would start to make arrangements to abolish the lunar calendar.

Only halfway through December, the government could not wait to issue another official document, once again confirming that December 12st of the Gregorian calendar would be New Year's Eve, when a new year's eve dinner would be held, and that January 12st would be the Spring Festival banquet.

In order to ensure the full implementation of this decree, in addition to vigorous publicity, they also ordered officials at all levels to send personnel to villages and towns for inspection and supervision.

It even came to the point where schools that used the old calendar for New Year holidays were punished, and the homes of some people who still used the old calendar and the almanac were sealed off.

Cai Yuanpei, then president of the Academy of Culture, delivered a public speech in Shanghai a few days ago, calling on all sectors of society not to stick to the old calendar in the new year, but to use the new calendar in line with the times. He also emphasized that the new calendar is far superior to the old calendar.

As a leading figure in the academic world, Cai Yuanpei naturally caused a huge response in the cultural circle, and many scholars who claimed to be progressives came out to support him.

Under the Kuomintang's propaganda machine, many newspapers reported the content of the speech.

Most of the text on the press release reads "To celebrate the New Year's Day of the 20th year of the Republic of China, the country is now unified and the tax reduction is being implemented... Yesterday was New Year's Eve and auspicious snow fell." It was obviously a propaganda effort to promote the new calendar.

Of course, since the establishment of the National Government, the issue of replacing the lunar calendar with the Gregorian calendar has been mentioned almost every year, but it has never been unified across the country, nor has it ever been recognized by the people, so naturally there are many different voices.

For example, Mr. Lao She, who was then at Qilu University, published articles expressing his support and love for traditional culture and festivals.

Mr. Liang Shiqiu, who was preparing to establish the National Qingdao University, also strongly expressed that the Kuomintang government's forced abolition of the Spring Festival was a departure from the people's good wishes.

In short, there were extremely heated discussions on this topic both in Shanghai and Beijing.

Shanghai, French Concession.

No. 136, Lane 11, Hongdu Road.

As the year was coming to an end, Xu Zhimo invited Dai Wangshu, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin and other good friends to his home for a small gathering.

After a few drinks, everyone was a little tipsy, especially Xu Zhimo, who took advantage of the good mood to chat with his friends about the recent controversy about the new calendar.

"In my opinion, the dual calendar used in previous years is still a bit weird. In comparison, the Gregorian calendar is much more convenient."

But someone immediately jumped out to oppose it. It was Dai Wangshu, who has changed a lot now.

Dai Wangshu lost a lot of weight and looked very energetic. According to rumors, he seemed to have some socialist tendencies.

He just retorted, "Brother Zhimo, what you said is wrong. We are Chinese people, and what is passed down is the blood of Chinese people. This traditional culture is not all a scourge, how can it be abolished? Brother Bingwen once told us."

For a while, the two people argued endlessly, and other friends in the venue also formed two factions and had a heated discussion on this topic.

But the two could not convince each other no matter what.

Just when the situation was at a stalemate, Liang Sicheng heard Dai Wangshu repeatedly mention "Brother Bingwen said so". He knew that Dai Wangshu was a die-hard fan of the other party. He was amused but couldn't help but sighed. "Come to think of it, Bingwen has been in Europe for more than half a month. I don't know how he is doing in Europe. With his personality, he will definitely cause some interesting things."

Dai Wangshu couldn't help but say, "If Brother Bingwen were here, he would definitely support retaining the lunar calendar and refute the radicals!"

Now he only hated himself for being not good at talking. If he had Bao Guowei's clever tongue, he would definitely scold Xu Zhimo, the "old dog", to death.

Lin Huiyin covered her mouth and chuckled, saying, "With Mr. Bingwen's personality, he will definitely make a name for himself in Europe."

Xu Zhimo was very unconvinced. He stood up and wanted to think about it, but he heard the sound of the door opening.

When I turned around, I saw it was Jiang Baili. He looked exhausted, and a chill emanated from his coat.

Xu Zhimo, knowing that he was in an unfavorable position, immediately changed the subject. He went up to greet him and said.

"Hey, Brother Baili, you're finally here. Our wine is almost cold. Come and have a couple of drinks to warm yourself up."

Jiang Baili, who sat down with Xu Zhimo, took a small sip of the warm wine and waved his hands repeatedly.

"Don't rush. It's not convenient to drink too much today. There is good news from Europe."

He took off his coat, rubbed his hands, took out a telegram from his arms, and waved it to everyone present with a smile.

"It's Bingwen's news."

Everyone immediately exploded.

"Say Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will be here!"

"Bingwen finally sent me news. This guy didn't even want to send me a letter. How unkind of him!"

"I guess he has made a big splash again!"

Although the several people said different things, they all came to Jiang Baili's side without any prior arrangement.

At that time, the journey from Europe to China was still too far, the cost of using transoceanic telegrams was too high, and it would take at least ten days or half a month to deliver letters by post.

Fortunately, Bao Guowei is a celebrity, and the incident he caused was too sensational, so it spread to the country through various channels in just a few days.

Jiang Baili said, "This is news from London, England. I heard that after Bingwen arrived in London, he was invited by Mr. Shi Zhaoji, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, and attended a royal cultural salon. At this salon..."

Next, Chiang Bai-ri vividly described Bao Guowei's performance at the cultural salon.

In particular, the film emphasizes the horrible face of the extreme nationalist Mosley faction.

At that time, Little Mustache's book "My Struggle" had been criticized by many scholars in China.

So everyone is familiar with fascism, and may even be a little afraid of it.

This makes Bao Guowei's performance even more valuable.

It was not until Bao Guowei made a stunning statement and proposed an economic policy targeting Britain on the spot that everyone finally relaxed their held breath.

Xu Zhimo could not help but sigh and said: "This is really a happy event. I knew that Bingwen would bring us surprises after he went to London. It really made the Chinese people show off in front of foreigners!

With Bao's economics and the Goncourt Prize for Literature, it is not impossible for him to win the Nobel Prize next time. Let's see who in the world dares to call us the sick man of East Asia! "

Jiang Baili nodded and smiled and said, "Who says it's not true? I heard that Mr. Shi Zhaoji, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, was originally worried that Bingwen would get into trouble, but in the end he was proud of him!"

"When will the specific news be transmitted to the country? I want to see the details." Dai Wangshu asked anxiously.

"It's not that fast." Jiang Baili replied helplessly. "My friend in London also sent me this news. The information in the telegram is limited. It doesn't even mention the specific policies proposed by Bingwen. I can only wait for the subsequent press releases from Europe."

Many well-known European newspapers have branches in Shanghai and will reprint some of the hot news there, but they will be two or three days late.

"That's actually the case."

For a moment, everyone was inevitably disappointed.

People like Xu Zhimo, although they scoffed at Bao Guowei's ability to show off his supernatural powers in front of others, they had no doubt about his talent.

"I didn't expect that Mr. Bingwen also knows economics. I heard him talk about the international situation before and he was very knowledgeable." Lin Huiyin couldn't help but reveal an expression of admiration on her face.

This made Liang Sicheng, who was standing beside him, somewhat alert. He coughed twice and said, "You don't have to be too disappointed. I'm sure the newspaper will make some moves in the next day or two."

While saying this, Liang Sicheng couldn't help but make up his mind that he would make sure his wife had less contact with Bao Guowei.

It’s not that I’m worried about my wife’s loyalty and Bao Guowei’s character.

However, there are too many terrible things happening in the cultural circles of the Republic of China today, and we really have to be on guard.

Just like Mr. Xu Zhimo in front of us, his love story with Lu Xiaoman has caused enough controversy.

At this moment, Xu Zhimo did not realize that someone was criticizing him, and he said happily.

"If I had known that Bingwen had talent in economics, I would have asked Baldy to ask Bingwen to take charge of the national economy. Perhaps it would be better than the current government's handling of the situation."

Xu Zhimo was obviously mocking the government's poor policies in dealing with the economic depression.

Dai Wangshu said in a very sarcastic tone: "Don't mention this. Considering Baldy's personality, not harming Bingwen is already his greatest effort. He has no chance of employing talented people. The government now is nothing more than the world of his family."

Hearing everyone getting more and more excited, Chiang Bai-ri couldn't help but feel a little scared. He had just been released from house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek at the beginning of the year, and he was still feeling scared.

"Everyone, after the Central Plains War, you must be careful with your words and actions."

He couldn't help but remind him.

After the war, Chiang Kai-shek had the energy to deal with cultural issues. He has now tightened control over cultural speech, and many newspapers are still in the process of being closed down.

Although they were in the French Concession, they could not guard against eavesdropping.

In order to divert everyone's attention, Jiang Baili could only take out the trump card he had prepared for last.

As if by magic, he took out another manuscript from his pocket and said.

"This is Bingwen's latest work, "Rural Teachers". To be honest, there is not much news in the first part of the telegram, and it is largely for the purpose of transmitting this work."

"work?"

When they heard Bao Guowei's new work, everyone immediately became excited and looked at Jiang Baili expectantly.

"Don't get excited yet, I'm giving you a heads up." Jiang Baili waved his hand and said, "My manuscript here is incomplete, only the first two chapters, please forgive me."

"Incomplete again?"

Everyone was about to curse, but that was how long-distance transmission was, and Jiang Baili did his best.

“Don’t think it’s too little.”

Jiang Baili said mysteriously with a chuckle.

“I heard that this work caused an immediate sensation after it was released in London. The talent of the Bingwen brothers can be seen in just two chapters!

And, it’s science fiction.”

"Science fiction?"

Xu Zhimo frowned tightly. This term rarely appears in the domestic literary world.

(End of this chapter)