Volume 2 China, the beginning of a spring】 Popularization

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Popularization

After a warm spring rain, the spring wind started blowing, and the weather became warmer. The spring wind blew on the south bank of the Green River. It was true. In Jiangnan at the end of February, there was still a hint of winter there, and some were just spring.

Warmth. "Please familiarize yourself with the domain name"

The country people thanked God for his kindness, and when they saw that there were only a few grains left in the rice vat, which was not enough for a meal of porridge, they quickly took off their cotton-padded clothes and sent them to the pawn shop. This was a "rule" in the countryside that had been going on for hundreds of years.

It has always been like this. When the weather is good in autumn, you will put on a new cotton-padded coat. After surviving a winter, you will take it off and send it to a pawn shop. The family's cotton-padded coat will be pawned in exchange for a few scraps of silver. The silver will be enough to buy enough rice.

Come down to chun cocoon.

At seven o'clock in the morning, when the street was still deserted, the pawn shop was already crowded with country people. These people were just waiting for the pawn shop to open. Many of these people were waiting there before it was even bright enough.

They don’t have anything valuable. The cotton-padded clothes they just peeled off, or the few feet of homespun cloth they prepared for marrying their daughter off in the fall, or else - that’s one of a kind. From last year to this year, it was always too much of a loss to sell them.

The reason why the remaining half of the threads were not sold is simple. The price of these native threads dropped sharply last year. Big factories did not accept them, and small factories did not want them. Only a small factory that was greedy for cheap bought them back and used the machine to reel them again.

In this way, the price will naturally not be high. This year, within a radius of hundreds of miles, I am afraid that not many households will reel in silk as in previous years.

At this time, the things these country people brought with them were all their property. If it were not for the rice waiting in the pot to cook, they might not be willing to send it to the pawn shop and never see each other again.

After finally waiting until nine o'clock, the pawn shop opened for business, and this group of people struggling with hunger squeezed together desperately. The pawn shop will be "closed" at twelve o'clock, and even if it is not yet twelve o'clock,

At one o'clock, a few hundred yuan had already been pawned, so it was time to "stop"; the country people who were waiting to pawn the money to buy rice had to squeeze forward with all their strength.

People who squeezed up, took the money with trembling hands, and squeezed out sat on the stone steps along the street to catch their breath.

I was angry and had a grimace. It was "good luck" and I got the money. But looking at the money in my hand, I didn't know what to buy. Rice was the most important thing, but there was no oil and no salt. Salt couldn't

There is less, but those salts that are black and sizzling like yellow sand cost more than 200 yuan per catty. If the Lianyungang Jiudajing Salt Company sells white huāhuā "Neptune Salt", it will cost more than 300 yuan. This is "official"

"Salt; sometimes there are small boats selling salt in the countryside, and they sell it for one yuan and five pounds, and they use a large scale of twenty-four taels. But the profit and loss of salt sales, and the luck of country people to eat cheap salt,

It only happens a few times a year.

After thinking about it, those who want to buy salt are still attracted by the "Neptune Salt" from Lianyungang. Not only is the salt clean, but it is also salty. One pound of salt is worth two pounds.

After looking at the money in their hands for a while, those people sighed.

Those poor sallow faces passed between:

"It's only four feet of cloth! You only spend three yuan to buy cotton yarn; you only get two yuan for dang cloth!"

"Any more will only cost you two yuan.—Two yuan to seal the customs!"

"Ah Tu's father only paid 20 yuan for half a car of silk, and they said they didn't want it."

No silk! Farmers who regard silk as only half a year old have never dreamed that for hundreds of years, the silk they regard as half a year old silk has been in danger!

Since the second half of last year, since the establishment of the China Silk Industry Guild, few people have collected the earthen silk. The earthen silk is too thick and has poor cleanliness. Exports rely on factory silk. As for the earthen silk, it used to be domestic.

The weaving factory collects it, but now the weaving factory uses rayon from Lianyunchu. As for the people in the town wearing bright "Minghua Ge" and other silk fabrics, they don't know whether these are

The silk they had worked so hard to raise was rayon that was far cheaper than raw silk! Even at the end of last year, they were clamoring for cotton that was 10% cheaper than in previous years, and they also used rayon that was 50% cheaper. As for China,

The silk factory is now focusing on producing high-grade silk for export and competing with Japanese silk in New York and Lyon. As for native silk, naturally no one cares about it!

All this, they work hard to feed silkworms and country people who regard silkworms as more precious than their sons will not know. They only know that since their ancestors, their annual living expenses depend on the silk cocoons in the first half of the year and the harvest in the fields in the second half of the year.

But for these country people, they just sigh that life is not easy. After sighing, all they long for is to have a good year this year.

But what's the use of a good year? The indirect burdens of the country people are being added one by one. Although there has been a "truce" in Jiao'ao and the two countries have signed a treaty, taxes were levied on ordinary small businessmen last year.

The “national disaster donations” have not stopped yet.

According to the notice, the "National Disaster Donation" is all taxes plus 20%, for a period of six months. When a small businessman talked about this in the teahouse, he said with a sad face:

"The war has ceased, but the national disaster donations are still collected, and business is hard to come by."

"National calamity! Hey, national calamity. How much money did Zhejiang lose to the central government during the incident? This country is in calamity. It's just a name for the officials to make money!"

"If you can only charge it for six months, that's fine; unfortunately, it will definitely be extended after the six months expires!"

The small businessman who originally spoke added this sentence as if to give in. But someone immediately said.

"But the notice clearly says it's only for six months?"

"That's right, six months! After the time limit is up, our Chamber of Commerce will just say this and don't have to pay. But they also have a new way; they will come up with a new name, for example, 'donate to save money,' anyway, ours

It’s difficult every day to collect an extra 20% for six months! Even if the donation is increased, it will never be reduced. This has always been the case!”

The little businessman said angrily. He is a decent businessman who has passed middle age. He can still cope with the 20% supplementary donation for six months. His anger and sorrow are that this supplementary donation will be attached forever.

People began to argue in an uproar again.

"We no longer fight Japanese people, but we still want to donate money. Isn't that unreasonable?"

"Aren't we sending troops to Europa? Maybe the national disaster donation will be changed to "expedition donation"..."

"It's not necessarily a donation for the expedition. Didn't you read what the newspaper said? The governor said that the victory over the Japanese this time depended on the aircraft of the Jiangsu Army. Zhejiang is near the sea, and there cannot be no defense against the sea. Therefore, he has to send people there

Jiangsu learns to fly airplanes, and when the time comes there will still be airplanes, but if they are not enough, then there will be an "aircraft donation"!"

"National disaster donations, airplane donations, aren't they trying to drive people towards Jiangsu! Miscellaneous donations in Jiangsu have begun to be waived!"

Suddenly a person came and said something. So the issues of "national disaster donation" and "aircraft donation" were put on hold, and everyone started talking about Jiangsu's exemption from miscellaneous donations. Jiangsu's exemption from miscellaneous donations was just after the New Year.

, proposed by more than a hundred members of the National Socialist Party in the Provincial Assembly, and after some discussion, miscellaneous donations were regarded as "bad taxes" and were cancelled.

"Why did Jiangsu Province cancel miscellaneous donations? Didn't you read what it was written on the newsprint..."

“Fulfill on campaign promises!”

"Yes, that's right, the members of Jiangsu Province's parliament are elected by the people one by one. When they are elected, the reason why the people elect them is not because they promised to let the people make the decision. This is called fulfilling the campaign promise.

They are afraid that if they make up lies and get on stage, the people will chase them down..."

"Don't tell me, this is really the truth!"

This is the most "reasonable" explanation. The turbulent people's hearts have calmed down a bit, and there is also some resentment in the calmness.

"When will we, the members of the Zhejiang Provincial Council, be able to make decisions for the people and eliminate excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes!"

"You are so beautiful, you have two official Chinese characters since ancient times..."

"But Jiangsu..."

"Jiangsu is Jiangsu, that's because..."

In the midst of this fierce argument, several more people walked in, and one of them was wearing a dress. As soon as they entered the room, they attracted the attention of others in the teahouse. These people were obviously strangers, and the person in the dress

After the man in the suit entered the room, he spoke a few words to the teahouse owner first, and then watched the older middle-aged man who was obviously the leader walk over. He bowed at the table and introduced himself at the same time.

.

"Everyone, I, Li Guobang, the candidate of the National Socialist Party of Zhejiang Province, will run for the House of Representatives in this district..."

While he was making the introduction, he saw the small businessman who had yelled the most fiercely before stood up and returned the greeting.

"National Socialist Party? Isn't that the party of Jiangsu!"

"This brother is joking. The National Socialist Party also has a party branch in Zhejiang Province. Guobang is a native of Zhejiang. The purpose of running for Congress this time is to benefit the people and the people of Zhejiang Province..."

"Then if you become a member of that council, will you be like Jiangsu Province and exempt from those national disaster donations?"

"Abolition of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes is the program of our country's Socialist Party. All actions of our party members are based on this program. If our country is lucky enough to be elected to the National Assembly with the trust of our elders, the National Assembly will join hands with our party's members and people of insight to

Let’s jointly promote the prevention of exorbitant donations to the people across the country..."

Amid the questions from the crowd, Li Guobang began his campaign speech. From the party's platform, to campaign promises, to national rights, this was no longer a simple speech, but like a popularization and knowledge popularization.

"The dear friend just now asked Guobang, what do you have? Yes, for thousands of years, our people have been nothing more than sheep, and the government has been like wolves. But it is different now. It is the Republic of China and the Republic. The big ones are not officials. Officials are

, the people support them, and their use is nothing more than the servants of the citizens. What is the biggest, the nation is the biggest, how big the nation is? How to reflect its bigness, that is the votes in your hands!"

"The votes in your hands will decide whether the members of the National Assembly and the Provincial Assembly will be elected. If they have been elected, but during their term of office, they failed to benefit the people and instead worked with corrupt officials, then you can issue an appeal and demand

The parliament will abolish their qualifications as members, and then elect a member who can speak for you and work for you. The vote is the power in your hands!"

In a theater hundreds of miles away, National Socialist Party candidates wearing campaign vests continued to instill in the public what kind of power they had.

"If power is not used, it will be ignored. This is the power of the parliament, and this is the power of the people! Just now, a dear friend proposed that the province collect army donations. So here I would like to ask the gentlemen of the provincial council whether this donation is passed through

The Provincial Council discussed and decided to launch the tax? Did they consult public opinions? Now that the people are dissatisfied, does the Provincial Council oppose this donation? Since the members of the Provincial Council are indifferent, then the promises made in the original campaign are just like farts!"

The words may have been a bit rough, but his speech won a round of applause and applause. Indeed, for ordinary people, sometimes, all they can understand is the rough words.

"The rights of the people, where is the power of the people embodied? There is a very simple saying, those without votes are just ordinary people, and those with votes are the real citizens. The country of ordinary people determines the country, and the future of the nation is just a group of people.

Officials, but in a country of citizens, it is the citizens who have the right to vote who decide the future!"

As for the National Affairs Research Association, which was reorganized from the Kuomintang, they were not idle while the National Socialist Party launched its election campaign. Compared with the National Socialist Party, whose power is rooted in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, the Kuomintang

After being demobilized, the National Affairs Research Association formed by the moderates who made up the majority of the Kuomintang and the soldiers who returned after the incident can be said to be a collection of elites from all over the country. The political elites from each province can be seen in its composition. In terms of its influence, almost

No less than the Progressive Party.

Compared with the Progressive Party’s “nonchalant approach” to the congressional by-elections, the National Affairs Research Association, headed by Huang Xing and others, regarded the congressional by-elections as “bringing China’s political situation back on track” and “establishing an unchanged republic.

" was a top priority, and the "Second People's Rebellion" dealt a heavy blow to the Kuomintang. First, the Kuomintang was disbanded, and then the Kuomintang split. Sun Yat-sen reorganized the Chinese Revolutionary Party in Japan until the "Jiao'ao Incident"
To be continued...