The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

As we all know, Mr. Sun Yat-sen liked firing cannons and once threatened to build 200,000 kilometers of railways within ten years.

Well, this somewhat fantasy goal had not been achieved until Zhou Hexuan traveled through time (in 2017).

But it is undeniable that China’s national aviation industry originated from the hands of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

In early 1913, overseas Chinese in the United States established the China Aircraft Manufacturing Company in the United States. The first aircraft was built and successfully tested by Tan Gen. Sun Yat-sen immediately called Tan Gen and related personnel to return to China to serve. Subsequently, Sun Yat-sen ordered people to set up an aircraft factory, designed and built aircraft in Guangzhou, and then opened an aviation school to cultivate talents.

Although the Beiyang government also established an aviation bureau at that time, all aircraft were purchased from foreign countries. Only Sun Yat-sen pioneered the Chinese design and construction of aircraft by themselves, and the Chinese national aviation industry was born.

Since 1921, China has opened up a number of civil routes, and you can basically fly to all major cities in the country. For example, if Zhou Hexuan wants to go from Tianjin to Chongqing, he can first take a train to Peiping, then fly from Peking to (Harmony) Capital, and then take a bus to Chongqing.

However, Zhou Hexuan felt that airplanes in this era were unreliable and he was afraid of falling from the sky mid-flight, so he would rather take a leisurely train every time he went out.

After the "December 28th Incident" broke out, Japan dispatched planes to bomb Shanghai indiscriminately, causing China to lose tens of millions of yuan. The Zhabei area was even reduced to rubble. The Chinese government and people finally felt the pain and launched the massive "Aviation National Salvation Movement".

The "China Aviation Association" mentioned by Zhang Xueliang was formed during that movement, and its original name was "China Aviation Salvation Association". It is not a government agency, but a non-governmental patriotic organization jointly initiated by the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and representatives from all walks of life.

The relevant government agency is called the "National Aviation Construction Association", which was proposed and approved by Song Ziwen at the Central Political Conference. From then on, China's aviation industry began to be vigorously constructed.

Well, the word "vigorously" needs to be put in quotation marks. The money was used by Chiang Kai-shek to expand the army. To develop aviation, the only way to develop aviation is to ask for money from the common people - to raise donations!

For example, the education circle in Hunan called on "primary school students in the province to donate 10 cents, middle school students to donate 50 cents, and college students to donate one yuan," to purchase the "Hunan Student Number" aircraft. The Guangzhou Women's Congress held a conference and raised funds to purchase an airplane, which was named "Guangzhou Women's Number". The Hangzhou Medical and Lawyers Association each donated money to purchase an airplane...

The names of the aircraft are various. For example, the planes in Zhejiang include "Zhejiang National Salvation Number", "Zhejiang Number", and "Zhejiang School Number"; the planes in Shanghai include "Shanghai Number", "Shanghai Tong Number", "Shanghai School Number", and "Shanghai School Number". "Shanghai Commercial No." and "Shanghai Industrial No."

You can tell where these planes came from just by hearing their names. The planes named after local places belong to donations from the people, the planes named "Xue", "School", and "Tong" belong to students' donations, and the planes named "Government" belong to civil servants. Donate, and so on.

Anyway, from 1932 to the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, it was very popular among Chinese people to donate money to buy airplanes. Moreover, these donations are mainly controlled by various industry associations, and they directly purchase aircraft and then donate them, thus preventing government officials from using them for corruption.

While China is calling for donations to build an air force, it is also hiring German experts to help build its air defense system. Chiang Kai-shek is really not stupid. He has been promoting air defense in recent years. Big cities such as Shanghai, Peking, Tianjin, Wuhan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Changsha, etc. are already digging air raid shelters, and the government has organized people to learn how to take refuge in air defense.

The pressure Japan puts on China is too great!

After the September 18th Incident, Japan also launched a large-scale national fundraising campaign. Workers, prostitutes, and prisoners all donated enthusiastically. Within one year, the Japanese government purchased 64 aircraft and organized them into the "Patriotic Flying Wing." To say that Japanese civilians are innocent, just look at their private donations. Warships, planes, tanks... I don’t know how much Japanese people have donated.

Although China and Japan have not yet gone into full-scale war, the people of the two countries have already launched a fundraising war!

In early June, Zhou Hexuan arrived in Nanjing.

The Nanjing Air Defense Exhibition opened in a public stadium and has three venues, namely the First Park, a public stadium and a public education center.

"Mr. Zhou please!"

At 7:30 in the morning, a special car came to the hotel to greet him. Zhou Hexuan now also enjoys the treatment of a government official.

Meng Xiaodong held Zhou Hexuan's arm and sat in the car with great splendor. Since Zhou Hexuan's private life was revealed last year, Meng Xiaodong and the others no longer have to hide anything and show themselves as Mrs. Zhou wherever they go.

The car soon arrived at the Nanjing Stadium, which was already crowded with people, with many citizens queuing up to check in. Zhou Hexuan and the others naturally did not have to queue. The car drove directly in through the special passage and did not stop until it reached the parking spot on the side of the rostrum.

The Nanjing Air Defense Exhibition was very big this time, with representatives from 13 provinces and cities across the country participating, as well as representatives from various military academies, government agencies, schools, and civil society groups coming to watch. After the activities in Nanjing are completed, other major provinces and cities will also follow up. Anyway, we need to popularize air defense knowledge across the country - and by the way, call on the public to raise funds to buy aircraft.

As soon as Zhou Hexuan walked to the podium, someone came over and shook hands warmly: "Hello, Mr. Zhou, I am Yang Jie, director of the National Air Defense Commission!"

"Hello, Director Yang." Zhou Hexuan smiled.

Yang Jie took the initiative to shake Meng Xiaodong's hand again, and said with a smile: "Mrs. Zhou's old student sings really well, and I am your loyal theater fan."

"No, no, Director Yang is too polite." Meng Xiaodong smiled.

Yang Jie is no ordinary passerby. This man has been Chiang Kai-shek's chief of staff since the Central Plains War. He was also the chief of staff of the Great Wall Anti-Japanese War and the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Army of North China.

The "Great Victory at Xifengkou" was fought under the command of Yang Jie. He planned to abandon the front-line positions to lure the enemy deep into the area and encircle and annihilate the Japanese army. However, this plan was rejected by He Yingqin. Not only that, He Yingqin also used the excuse of lying about military information to remove Yang Jie from his post, which caused the subsequent stage of the Great Wall Anti-Japanese War to be a mess.

Until He Yingqin signed the traitorous treaty "Ho-Mei Agreement", Yang Jie was so angry that he slammed the table and cursed: "You are simply a traitorous person, so imbecile that you can't even sell it (can't sell it at a good price)!"

It can be seen that Yang Jie is a staunch "warrior". And Zhou Hexuan was madly promoting that there would be a war between China and Japan. Therefore, Yang Jie had a good impression of Zhou Hexuan and even treated Meng Xiaodong with great courtesy.

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Director Yang, I heard that you are responsible for dispatching the planes purchased with donations now?"

"I am responsible." Yang Jie smiled bitterly and added in his mind: Soon it won't be me anymore.

Yang Jie now has a very high position. He is the deputy chief of staff of the Nanjing headquarters and acting chief of staff. He is also in charge of city fortress and air defense affairs nationwide. Yang Jie had already planned to resign as director of the National Air Defense Commission because he was unhappy with some people.

The situation was like this. When Yang Jie inspected several newly purchased aircraft, he found that they were modified from scrapped aircraft, so he ran to Chang Kaishen to complain. It happened that these planes were bought by Song Meiling and Kong Xiangxi. Chang Kaishen avoided handling them, which made Yang Jie so angry that he planned to resign.

That was a plane bought by ordinary people with donated money!

Historically, Yang Jie offended Soong Meiling and Kong Xiangxi and provoked retaliation from each other. Not long after, Soong Meiling hinted at the Chen Guofu brothers and He Yingqin and accused Yang Jie of embezzling public funds for national defense projects. Chiang Kai-shek then shot the director and deputy director of the fortress munitions department, and removed Yang Jie from his posts as leader of the fortress team and acting chief of staff.

Yang Jie was one of the rare generals of the Nanjing National Government, but he never recovered and could no longer be reused.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Yang Jie was ordered to visit the Soviet Union to obtain 100 million rubles in arms to form 20 Soviet weapon divisions, and attached a Soviet air force to aid China. Immediately afterwards, he secured another US$250 million in supplies and loans, which was considered a great contribution to the Anti-Japanese War.

In 1940, Yang Jie returned to China and proposed suggestions and specific combat tactics for the Soviet Union's war of resistance to Chiang Kai-shek. However, Chiang Kai-shek gave him a copy of "The Complete Works of Zeng Wenzhenggong" for him to read. Yang Jie was so angry that he played mahjong for three months in a row, and then wrote a random essay for submission. Jiang was so angry that he lost his temper, and Yang Jie was completely idle from then on.

By the time of the War of Liberation, Yang Jie had become the leader of the "Republican Revolution" in the southwestern region, specializing in planning uprisings in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Kangshu provinces. For this reason, he was assassinated by someone sent by Chiang Kai-shek.

Chang Kaishen could force his long-time chief of staff to finally choose to surrender to the Communist Party. He really didn't know what to say.