One day passed, and two days passed.
Time was fair to everyone, whether it was a person with power or an ordinary person. The passing of time would not speed up because of personal emotions, nor would it stop because of human desires. Amidst the ticking of the clock, Zhou Zhengxiong tossed and turned on his bed, unable to sleep.
According to Ruan Xihao's suggestion, it would be best for Zhou Zhengxiong to return to Wuhan immediately and not provoke the Governor for the time being. Zhou Zhengxiong wanted to accept this suggestion, but he couldn't bring himself to make such a decision. He had been famous all his life and had done so many great things. Was he going to stumble before retirement? When Zhou Zhengxiong thought of this, he felt a burst of pain in his heart.
Looking at his watch, it was almost ten o 'clock. He had been suffering from insomnia for more than a year, which was a pain he had never experienced before. No matter how hard his body tried to pull Zhou Zhengxiong to sleep, his brain refused to rest. Thousands of things tumbled in his mind, all kinds of expectations and disappointment mixed together, causing Zhou Zhengxiong to feel unbearable pain.
In such pain and despair, Zhou Zhengxiong sat up and put on his clothes. The secretary in the next room was sleeping soundly and was awakened by a knock on the door. Rubbing his eyes, he opened the door and heard Zhou Zhengxiong say coldly, "Prepare the car, we're going out."
"Secretary Zhou, it's already very late." The secretary didn't know what Zhou Zhengxiong was doing.
"Ask the driver to prepare the car," Zhou Zhengxiong ordered.
"We came by train. There are no cars now." The secretary, who was a little smarter, quickly reminded her boss.
"Ah …" Zhou Zhengxiong understood after listening to this. This was Nanjing, not Wuhan. In Wuhan, Zhou Zhengxiong could call a taxi at any time, but in Nanjing, there was no such condition.
"Then … call the central office. I want to see the commander-in-chief. Let them make the arrangements, "Zhou Zhengxiong ordered.
After receiving the order, the secretary hurriedly went to work. They were staying in a hotel directly under the central government. The conditions here could not be considered the best, but in terms of communication, it had incomparable advantages outside. If it was a hotel outside, they would have to face heavy scrutiny if they wanted to make a call to the central office. There weren't many numbers that could be dialed on an ordinary line.
No matter how busy the secretary was, Zhou Zhengxiong didn't take off his clothes after returning to his room. He just lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. At this moment, there was an indescribable impulse in his chest, like the indignation of fighting with his life on the line, but also like the relief of preparing to stand before death. Zhou Zhengxiong did not want to go back to Wuhan. Wuhan had changed a lot in the past year. Not in a good way, but in a bad way.
As one of the most direct ways to raise funds, the first three months seemed to be working well. At the very least, he could get a fine of 300,000 yuan per day. Especially the fines for motor vehicles, which could easily range from dozens to hundreds. Those who could afford a motor vehicle were naturally wealthy and respectable, and they had the ability to pay even after being punished. In one week, the daily fines of the entire province exceeded one million yuan. Then, the streets of Wuhan and even the entire Hubei Province suddenly became quiet, and the number of vehicles became few and far between. It was true that the higher-ups had their own countermeasures. Since driving a motor vehicle on the street could result in a fine, the driver would naturally not drive it to avoid the limelight.
Cars could stay off the streets, but shops had to open for business. The three towns of Wuhan had always been a place where merchants gathered, even though they had gone through wars and suffered great losses. However, after the establishment of the Min dynasty, the economic development and activity were far greater than that of the previous dynasties, and the merchants quickly accumulated a huge amount of capital. This group of people had a shop front and goods. Zhou Zhengxiong felt that since this group of people relied on the virtue of the Min dynasty and the prosperity of Hubei, why not make some contributions to the construction of Hubei?
Reality proved that merchants were always a group of immoral people. After being punished, the small merchants began to close their shops. The provincial party committee ordered merchants to only sell goods from Hubei, and began to seal up those products from other provinces. In addition to closing their shops, the big merchants even relied on their own connections to secretly transport the goods from other provinces from their warehouses. When the industrial and commercial bureau entered the local warehouses in Wuhan to seal up the goods, they saw empty warehouses.
Naturally, the unlucky ones were the medium-sized merchants who had their own stocks and had no relationship with the government. The goods stored by this group of people from other provinces were all sealed up. After all, the Hubei provincial government was the government, and Zhou Zhengxiong would not go so far as to openly rob the goods of merchants. The suggestion made by the director of the industrial and commercial bureau was only to temporarily seal up the goods.
Such a vigorous and swift policy did have an effect. It temporarily curbed the goods from other provinces, and the people of Hubei had no choice but to buy local products. The civilian goods factories that resumed production, and the civilian goods factories that had been struggling to survive, once again had a market to sell. After learning the last lesson, Zhou Zhengxiong did not dare to deplete the goose that laid the golden eggs to catch the fish. From the equipment, technology, and production processes, the companies that resumed production also began to carry out comprehensive transformation.
When Zhou Zhengxiong himself was ready to bear such pressure to forcibly restore the industry in Hubei, a large number of young workers went to North America to seek new employment opportunities. In just one year, Hubei lost more than 300,000 young people at an alarming rate. Including those who went to other provinces, the population loss of Hubei was more than 500,000 people.
In 1889, the population loss in Hubei was even faster. From January 1 to March, 100,000 Hubei people had chosen to go to North America. These three months included the Spring Festival. According to this rate, the population loss in 1889 would be at least 40,000 people. The Civil Affairs Bureau was very pessimistic about this. They actually took out a terrible data that the capital of Hubei would lose a million people in 1889. Zhou Zhengxiong did not need to look at this data to know the seriousness of the problem, because many factories could not even recruit young people.
Although the market was not particularly depressed, the commercial tax quota had been greatly reduced. After a large number of factories began to resume work, the entire financial situation not only did not improve, but also continued to deteriorate. If this situation continued, Hubei could only default on the financial revenue that should be turned over to the Central Government. More importantly, even if they did not turn over a penny to the Central Government, without external assistance, Hubei's financial revenue could not make ends meet …
There was a knock on the door. Zhou Zhengxiong shouted weakly, "Come in!"
It was the energetic secretary who came in. His eyes behind the glasses were shining. He took a few steps to Zhou Zhengxiong's side and said loudly, "Secretary, the commander-in-chief wants you to see him."
"What?" Zhou Zhengxiong turned over and sat up from the bed. He stared at the secretary and said, "When?"
"Go now! The commander-in-chief has already sent a car to pick you up. " The secretary was also very excited. He really did not expect to get such a reply after calling the Central General Office.
Zhou Zhengxiong stared at his secretary in disbelief. This news was completely out of Zhou Zhengxiong's expectations. With how busy the Military Governor Vaize was, he did not expect to see the secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee in the middle of the night.
"Go to the commander-in-chief's house? Is it appropriate in the middle of the night? "Zhou Zhengxiong was a little nervous.
The secretary looked at Zhou Zhengxiong's face, which had lost a lot of weight over the past year. He felt that Zhou Zhengxiong was a little excited. Zhou Zhengxiong had taken the initiative to contact the Military Governor Vaize. Even if the Military Governor Vaize ordered Zhou Zhengxiong to go to Nanjing in the middle of the night, would Zhou Zhengxiong dare to continue sleeping and leave after waking up?
However, the secretary naturally would not say this out loud. He advised, "Why don't we prepare the documents before the car arrives?"
This was a good reminder. Zhou Zhengxiong quickly asked the secretary to prepare the documents. He had also brought some documents with him on this trip. They were all documents that complained and described the future. After thinking about it, Zhou Zhengxiong asked the secretary to bring all of them. Since he was here to ask for money, he naturally had to complain and let the party who gave him money see a better future.
As soon as he put the documents into his briefcase, the hotel staff came to inform Zhou Zhengxiong that the car had arrived. Before 10: 30 in the evening, Zhou Zhengxiong and the others arrived at the central office building.
"It turns out that the commander-in-chief is still working." The secretary could not help but sigh. He thought that Vézé had probably gone to bed at this time, or at least was preparing to go to bed. He did not expect at least two floors of the office building to be brightly lit. There were a lot of cars lined up at the entrance. It seemed that the work in the central office was even more intense than in the local areas.
There were already people waiting at the parking lot of the central office. After Zhou Zhengxiong and the others got out of the car, they were led straight to the heavily guarded office building. As soon as they entered the building, they saw a group of officials walking down the stairs. One of them turned out to be Premier Wang Haiyang.
Zhou Zhengxiong and Wang Haiyang were naturally not on good terms, but he could not pretend not to see them. Wang Haiyang showed a surprised expression on his face, but he did not talk nonsense. He just said, "Old Zhou, you're here!"
"You go first. I still have something to do!" Zhou Zhengxiong replied frankly. Although his status was not as high as Wang Haiyang's, he had no intention of bowing to Wang Haiyang. It was not only because of their seniority, but also because Wang Haiyang was ten years younger than Zhou Zhengxiong. There was no reason for him to lower his head in front of a young man.
After the group of senior officials left the office building, Zhou Zhengxiong was brought to Vézé's office. The secretary was anxious. He did not know if he should follow Zhou Zhengxiong to meet Vézé. It was naturally the best to see Vézé. He could see Vézé up close and even have the opportunity to shake hands with Vézé. He could boast about such treatment for a long time when he returned. However, he was, after all, a top figure like the Military Governor Of Vaize. It was a big deal whether he could walk into the door of the Military Governor Of Vaize.
The secretary did not expect the meeting to not be in the office. He followed Zhou Zhengxiong and stopped walking. He instinctively stood at attention and shouted, "Commander-in-chief! I'm here. " Only then did the secretary notice a middle-aged man standing in the corridor. He held a cigarette in his left hand and stood at the end of the corridor, smoking slowly.
He had seen Vézé many times in photos. He had also seen Vézé from afar at the three meetings. It was the first time he saw Vézé up close. Vézé was wearing a general's uniform without any insignia. After hearing Zhou Zhengxiong's shout, he walked over briskly.
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