Li Shuanzhu, dressed in casual clothes, knocked on the door of the courtyard. The hem of his clothes was bulging, and there was an M1892 revolver stuck inside.
Recently, Marshal Chu bypassed Zhang Zuolin and the Japanese and secretly negotiated an arms deal with the French. He purchased 30,000 rifles, 300,000 bullets, 6 mountain guns, 20,000 shells, 10 Fiat machine guns, and 20 shells.
Wanfa, with a total value of 14 million francs.
These are the stocks of France after the First World War. Most of the riflings are badly worn, and some even have rusty barrels. However, they are still very popular when sold to China. The French also know how to do favor business, and they are free of charge.
Chu Yupu gave 500 pistols and a large number of bullets as gifts, and gave one to each of his direct guards.
In the past ten years, the franc has depreciated wildly, and its ratio with the pound has dropped to 240:1. The conversion of 114 million francs is less than 600,000 yuan. This business made Marshal Chu very happy.
After receiving the French revolver, Li Shuanzhu became so fond of the baby that he would hold it in his arms even when sleeping. He even carried it with him when he went out and never left it.
"Eaaah!"
The old door of the courtyard opened. When the old landlady saw it was Zhou Hexuan, she quickly greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Zhou is here, please come in quickly, please come in quickly!"
"Old madam, excuse me!" Zhou Hexuan said, cupping his fists.
The landlady said gratefully: "Thanks to Mr. Zhou's care, none of the big soldiers dared to come to the door to cause trouble."
When the landlord Shan Chengfu heard the commotion, he quickly asked his daughter-in-law to make tea, ran to the yard and bowed: "Mr. Zhou, come in and sit down."
"No, I'm here to see Brother Shoumin." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.
The door of the west wing suddenly opened, and Li Shoumin's Sichuan accent came: "Rare guest, rare guest, I just want to tell you why the magpies keep chirping today."
Zhou Hexuan went into the house to meet Mrs. Zhou, and took Li Shoumin with him. Brother Li Xiangji went out to play. His third brother Li Shouji also wanted to follow, but Li Shoumin scolded him and went back to the house to do his homework.
“Go to Xinming Theater!”
Li Shoumin ordered the coachman and turned back to Zhou Hexuan and said: "Xieqing Society is performing in Tianjin these two days, so don't miss it."
Zhou Hexuan had no interest in traditional opera, and he didn't know which popular opera troupe the Xie Qing Club was. Since Li Shoumin liked watching it, he treated it as a friend to relax.
The rickshaw ran on the street for a while. Zhou Hexuan looked at the sparse pedestrians and couldn't help but said: "Tianjin is a lot deserted now. It used to be so lively on weekends."
"It's not Chu Yu..." Li Shoumin glanced at Li Shuanzhu and changed his words, "It's not because of Marshal Chu. Today he catches Red Party members and tomorrow he collects money. The people of Tianjin have met a Qingtian Grand Master."
"Hehehe." No matter how stupid Li Shuanzhu is, he can still hear the irony in it. But this is a fact, and Li Shoumin is Zhou Hexuan's good friend, so he doesn't know what to say except giggle.
To be honest, the people of Tianjin still miss Feng Yuxiang's rule. Although General Chang Zhang was vacillating politically, he was much gentler in managing the people than Chu Yupu.
Not far away, a newsboy suddenly appeared on the street. He was barefoot and wearing shabby single clothes. He held a book in his hand and shouted: "The single volume of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is about to be released. A set of four volumes. Print it."
Quantity is limited, first come first served, buy later and you won’t be able to get it!”
Li Shoumin laughed loudly: "Brother Hexuan, all your masterpieces have been published."
"Thanks to Xiang Ji for connecting the dots," Zhou Hexuan asked the driver to stop and waved to the newsboy, "How did you sell "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"?"
The newsboy immediately ran over: "A set of four volumes costs one yuan each. You can buy them separately. The whole set only costs three and a half yuan."
"Give me a set, and the remaining five cents will be a tip for you." Zhou Hexuan took out four silver dollars and said.
"Okay, thank you sir!" the newsboy was overjoyed.
Zhou Hexuan took the books and took a look and found that each book only had six chapters and about 160,000 words of content. Calculated in relation to the current price of goods, the sale of this book was quite expensive, and it was no different from robbing people.
There were few intellectuals in the Republic of China, and even fewer could write and publish books. Therefore, not only were the intellectual fees paid by literati high, but the price of books was also ridiculously expensive.
There is a plot in Lao She's novel "Divorce": A colleague persuaded Lao Li not to buy books. By saving the monthly money for books, he could buy a small house in Peiping in a few years.
It would have been a fantasy in later generations that one could buy a house in the capital with just a few years of school money, but it was a fact during the Republic of China.
Otherwise, the royalties from Zhang Henshui's book could be used to buy a palace in Peiping.
Zhou Hexuan handed the book to brother Li Shoumin and asked the newsboy: "How is the sales of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"?"
The newsboy laughed and said: "The sales are so good. I have only been selling on the street for a short time and I have already sold 8 sets. I am about to go back to get the goods. I make more money than selling newspapers." The newsboy got 50 cents.
The tip made him feel very happy, and he added, "If "Legend of the Condor Heroes" is sold every day, I will be able to earn enough tuition in half a year to go to school."
Looking at the happy smile on the newsboy's face, Zhou Hexuan felt very sad. There was a lot he wanted to say but couldn't. He waved his hand and said, "Go and do your work. Only by reading more can you have hope."
"My mother said the same," the newsboy ran away excitedly, then turned around and bowed, "Thank you, sir!"
Li Shoumin also had some feelings and asked for no reason: "Hexuan, when will this country be able to cheer up?"
Zhou Hexuan shook his head helplessly: "As long as China is not unified, there will always be endless internal strife. The warlords don't care about the life and death of the people."
The two stopped talking and became silent.
The rickshaw arrived at the Xinming Grand Theater in a blink of an eye. No matter how raging the war was outside, the place was always lively, like two completely unrelated worlds.
Zhou Hexuan bought four premium tickets and sat in the front. After watching the opening scene, the highlight of the day finally arrived.
After hearing the introduction in the announcement, Zhou Hexuan knew that Xieqingshe was Shang Xiaoyun's team.
Shang Xiaoyun is the founder of Shangpai Art. In the 1930s, he was as famous as Mei Lanfang and ranked among the four famous actors in Peking Opera. Although he had not yet achieved this reputation at this time, he was already famous all over the country. No matter how cruel he was,
The warlord did not dare to kill him easily.
Reputation is very important!
As long as Zhou Hexuan's "The Rise of the Great Powers" is published and his reputation spreads throughout China, Marshal Chu will never dare to embarrass him again.
What surprised Zhou Hexuan was that Shang Xiaoyun actually performed in a fashion drama today. The Peking Opera master wore a suit and was accompanied by Western instruments throughout the performance. The song was called "Modern Girl".
Wearing suits, joining in with foreign music, and singing Peking opera, the content of the story is a interpretation of a Buddhist story, and the style of painting is extremely weird and weird.
"good!"
When the song reached its climax, the audience burst into cheers, and the sound seemed to be able to knock off the roof of the theater.
Zhou Hexuan turned his head and looked to the side curiously. The man next to him was not worried about the heat. It was June and he was still wearing a hat, and half of his face was covered by the brim of the hat. The strangest thing was that the man's cheers just now were high-pitched.
Incomparably, she is clearly a woman wearing men's clothing.
