The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Henry Nino was a Jew, his father was from Germany, he used to run several wineries, and married a Jewish woman. According to Judaism, all those who convert to Judaism, as well as those born to Jewish mothers, belong to the Jews.

When Henry was a child, his family was very rich, and he still attended aristocratic schools in high school.

From the First World War to the economic crisis in 1929, the United States developed with a roaring attitude. All walks of life are advancing by leaps and bounds, and any business can make money, except for the brewing industry.

While the family's wine business was booming, Henry's father planned to expand production. He mortgaged the two wine estates under his name, purchased new winemaking equipment and production lines, and invited top winemaking engineers from France.

Then, there is no more...

The federal government suddenly enacted one of the dumbest laws ever created in the United States—Prohibition.

Henry's family was heavily in debt, and he was reduced from a millionaire to a low-level poor. His father also committed suicide by swallowing a gun.

Henry, who had already been admitted to a prestigious school, had to give up his studies to make a living. He had to take care of his mother, two younger brothers, and three younger sisters.

"Ding dong, ding dong!"

Henry rang the doorbell of a residence in a wealthy area, and soon a housewife came to answer the door.

Henry smiled and said, "Hello, madam, I am..."

"Salesman?" The housewife looked at the big suitcase he was carrying and interrupted unceremoniously, "Sorry, I don't need to buy anything."

Henry still smiled, and said confidently: "I think your husband will definitely need it. I am selling grape bricks."

Before the housewife could make a sound, a bald middle-aged man rushed out of it, and he asked in surprise, "Is it really a grape brick?"

"Of course, this kind of grape bricks uses the most traditional techniques. It is made by my mother and sister at home, and the taste is very pure." Henry said, his expression suddenly became serious, "Sir, the law is sacred. As a law-abiding citizen, you must not add sugar and yeast, otherwise this grape brick will ferment into wine."

The balding middle-aged man smiled and said, "Of course, how could a well-known lawyer like me violate the law? You must tell me the process of fermentation into wine in detail, so that I can effectively prevent the situation from happening."

Henry said politely: "We can talk in the house, what do you think?"

"Of course, please come in." The bald middle-aged man said happily.

Henry dragged the big box in, took out a grape brick and said, "For a grape brick of this size, you shouldn't add 0.5 gallon of water, and you should definitely not add 50 grams of sugar. As for the yeast, I firmly oppose the use of Valentine's Yeast, that kind of yeast is too easy to ferment wine."

The balding middle-aged man took out his notebook and pen, and said righteously: "Please tell me about the process, how can I avoid brewing it into wine exactly."

"Okay, let me write it down for you," Henry said.

"You can read? Oh, that would be great." The bald middle-aged man said happily.

While writing about circumventing the wine-making process, Henry denounced the harmful effects of alcohol with the balding middle-aged man. Finally, the two reached a deal, and the bald middle-aged man bought all the grape bricks he brought, and shook hands enthusiastically and said: "Young man, I really appreciate your attitude of upholding the law. If you have materials and methods to circumvent the brewing of spirits, I will Hope to continue communicating with you. After all, spirits are more harmful than wine, we must resolutely prevent it from appearing!"

"It's a great honor. I'll come to visit another day." Henry said with a smile.

Just as the two of them finished speaking, there was a sudden knock on the door, followed by a few plainclothes men with guns rushing in.

The balding middle-aged man scolded: "This is my private residence, sacred and inviolable, please get out immediately!"

"We are FBI Prohibition agents, please accept the search!"

The visitor showed his ID.

The balding middle-aged man's expression changed slightly, and he cursed softly, "These bloody bastards!"

When the FBI was first established, it was just a small role under the Department of Justice. But because of Prohibition, this organization was born into a behemoth, they can ignore the Constitution, in the name of Prohibition to break into private territory at will.

Until the end, the FBI grew into a tiger that even the president of the United States turned pale.

"What's this?" the FBI Prohibition agent asked, pointing to the grape brick.

Henry helped explain: "This is grape brick, a very nutritious dried fruit food."

The balding middle-aged man echoed: "Yes, I really like eating dried fruits, especially grapes, the taste is really wonderful."

FBI agents are naturally aware of the tricks, but everyone can take advantage of legal loopholes, and they can't do anything about it. Ignoring grape bricks for the moment, I began searching the family's basement and garage, eventually finding several bottles of fruit wine in the closet.

The FBI agents immediately issued a $1,000 fine, and the balding middle-aged man argued hard, discussing the Prohibition Law with these agents, and citing classics to prove that he did not break the law.

Well, in the end, the agent was bribed with $100, and both parties were happy--$100 is enough for ordinary American workers to work for two and a half months at this time.

And Henry, who made a business, ran into the stock exchange quickly, and exchanged most of the money he earned today into stocks, leaving only a few living expenses for emergencies.

In the United States in 1927, the form of manufacturing continued to decline, and the number of unemployed people hit new highs, but the stock market was in full swing. By the beginning of 1928, the stock market was so crazy that even illiterate peasant women in rural towns talked about stocks all day long.

In the past few years, Henry has earned thousands of dollars by selling alcohol-related products, and has invested them in the stock market one after another. If the money is cashed out, it will be more than 5,000 US dollars, which is more than five times more than that.

Henry plans to use the money as start-up capital in another year, build a small factory to produce grape bricks, and reorganize the family brewing business.

After buying some bread for his mother and younger siblings, Henry turned his head and walked into a bookstore, asking the clerk, "Are there any new books?"

The clerk politely introduced: "There are more than ten new books published on New Year's Day, please follow me!"

Henry likes to read. His original ideal was to be a scholar, especially geography, history and literature. Unfortunately, in order to support his family, he had to work as a salesman, selling homemade grape bricks to law-abiding customers.

"Hey, James Cabeca's "Silver Horse", wasn't it published more than a year ago?" Henry asked, pointing to a new book.

The clerk explained: "This time the publication is a hardcover revised edition, and several new short stories have been added."

"Really? Then I must read it." Henry said with a smile.

The period from 1919 to 1939 was the golden age of American literature. In the past 20 years, there have been seven Nobel Prize winners in the United States, including five novelists, one poet and one playwright.

People in the United States also like to buy books and read books, especially in the 1920s, because the society was booming, the middle class increased in large numbers, and the literacy rate and savings of ordinary people at the bottom also continued to increase. The American publishing industry showed a prosperous scene.

The thriving publishing market has even heightened the moral thinking of publishers.

Especially those large publishing houses believe that books are a special item with public value, and good books should be respected by intellectual value, aesthetic value and social value. They regard publishing books as "the industry of ideas" and "a gentleman's business", and the forerunner of ideas is the soul of books.

Sometimes when a good book is found, large publishing houses would rather not make money than promote it crazily. They firmly believe that the mission of publishing is to let readers have access to really good books. Because of this, the annual profit margin of the American book publishing industry in this era is only 3% to 4%, which is even lower than bank deposit interest, but publishers are still happy with it.

This situation did not begin to change until the 1980s, when book publishing became the second entertainment industry, and publishing pictures also evolved into a purely commercial activity.

Of course, even in the American publishing industry in the 1920s, making money was still the first priority, and trying to promote good books that didn’t make money was just a means to increase the influence of publishing houses—don’t trust the conscience of capitalists.

Henry took down "Silver Horse" from the bookshelf, and walked to a part of books that consisted of two volumes. He asked, "Which famous scholar is this "Rise of Great Powers"?"

The clerk said: "This is written by a Chinese scholar. I heard that the history circle has a very high evaluation. Mr. Markas even wrote a preface for this book."

"Mr. Markus from Harvard?" Henry asked.

"Yes." The clerk smiled.

Henry asked politely: “May I read it first?”

The clerk said, "Of course, please go ahead."

Henry opened the first volume of "The Rise of the Great Powers", first read the preface of Marcus, and saw that it said: "The book "The Rise of the Great Powers", I have read part of it one after another, all of which I wrote in Europe. Sent from a friend. I am very happy that it can be officially released in the United States. This book is clear, penetrating, and both refined and popular. Whether you are a professional scholar or an ordinary citizen, you can find fun in it. If you are a student of history , or history buffs, then don't miss it..."

It must be a good book recommended by Mr. Marcus!

Thinking this way, Henry began to flip through the text. He started reading "Portugal" and fell into it unconsciously, completely forgetting that he was still in the bookstore.

After about half an hour, the clerk finally couldn't help reminding: "Sir, have you decided to buy it?"

"Ah? Oh, of course," Henry said, "I must buy it. This is a marvelous work. I have never seen such a great work of world history."

The U.S. price of "The Rise of Great Powers" is 1 dollar and 80 cents for a full set. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either. The average worker earns less than a day's wages. Today's American working class earns around $12 to $14 a week.

Henry went home with "The Rise of Great Powers" and "The Silver Horse". He didn't even care about eating, and read while holding the bread, completely ignoring the passage of time.