Chapter 3 Chapter 17 1941: The Great Rear Area

In mid-August 1941, Zhang Jiluan, the most important news critic in China and the editor-in-chief of Ta Kung Pao, was seriously ill. Wang Yunsheng, who succeeded him in charge of writing affairs, stayed with him day and night in Zhang's house in the suburbs of Chongqing.Over the past two years, Chongqing, the accompanying capital, has almost always been terrified by air raids. From 1939 to 1941, this mountain city was bombed 268 times by Japanese aircraft, almost twice a week on average. The two major bombings in May 1939 killed 4,400 people.However, the bombs did not knock the Chinese down.

On the same day, the Japanese plane once again carried out "fatigue bombing" on Chongqing day and night. Zhang Jiluan, who was dying, said to Wang Yunsheng: "We should think of a way to attack the enemy." Wang said: "The enemy plane has no resistance. How can we How about using empty words to comfort the people of the country and attack the enemy?" At this point, Zhang Jiluan, who was dying of exhaustion, suddenly stood up and shouted: "I will write an article today, and the title is 'We are cutting rice'." The following is the famous news article "We Are Cutting Rice" published by Wang Yunsheng on August 19: "Just as the last ten days were clear and enemy planes were attacking again and again, our farmers, among thousands of miles of fields, cut The golden rice!... So we still hope that the weather will be fine, and the enemy planes will come, please come and see us harvesting rice! As for the Anti-Japanese War today, harvesting rice is our top priority. With food, we can fight! ...The experience of the past three years has taught Chongqing people how to live in the air raids of enemy planes. People have never stopped breathing because of air raids, and many industries are still engaged in production in air-raid shelters. Take the situation of this newspaper as an example. In our In the air-raid shelter, the editors continued to use their pens, the workers continued to typeset, and the machines continued to print newspapers. How did we sell one less newspaper? After all, let the boring enemy planes harass us! We are still cutting rice, because this is our If you have enough food, you will have enough soldiers; with food, you will be able to fight, and you will be able to fight until the day the enemy is completely defeated!"

This article spread across the country and greatly encouraged the fighting spirit of the Chinese people.Half a month later, on September 6, Zhang Jiluan left this world where there was more suffering than happiness. It was with this spirit of "cutting the rice" that the Chinese began the arduous eight-year war of resistance.Among them, the group of entrepreneurs is not far behind. Fan Xudong's refined salt, soda ash and curium factories fell into the enemy's hands one after another, but he and his colleagues moved some of the equipment to Sichuan. On September 18, 1938, which is the "September 18th" anniversary, the new Jiuda Salt Factory was established in Zigong.The following year, Yongli and Huanghai were also rebuilt at Wutong Bridge.To commemorate the headquarters of Tanggu, Tianjin, Fan Xudong renamed Wutong Bridge as "Xintanggu". Today, 70 years later, the three characters "Xintanggu" are still engraved on the cliff of Wutong Bridge.On the wall of the joint office of Jiuda and Yongli in Chongqing, there is a photo of the Tanggu Soda Plant, on which Fan Xudong personally wrote the words "Yan Yun is in sight, and I will never forget it".He often stood in front of the photo and said to his colleagues: "We must call back."

However, Fan Xudong's career finally did not return to its pre-war appearance. His saline-alkali company encountered many difficulties and obstacles, and it has not really opened up the situation. Almost all private enterprises that migrated to the west are no longer the same.Liu Hongsheng was a famous entrepreneur at that time. His Greater China Match Company occupied most of the match market. In addition, he was also involved in many industries such as cement, coal, and textiles. One of the five directors of China.After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese military forced Liu Hongsheng to take the post of chairman of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce. He refused the appointment and pretended to leave overnight. More than a dozen factories in Shanghai were confiscated by the Japanese army as "enemy property", and property losses exceeded 10 million yuan.After Liu Hongsheng moved to Chongqing, he was immediately entertained by Chiang Kai-shek, and promised that as long as Liu developed industries in the rear, the national government would provide great support for raw materials and funds, and the latter was greatly encouraged.

Liu Hongsheng decided to build a Chinese wool textile factory and a Chinese match raw material factory.The factory needed machinery and equipment, so he sent his son Liu Nianzhi back to Shanghai to demolish the machinery of the Zhanghua Wool Textile Factory in Pudong. The machines were smuggled from Pudong to Puxi, and then into the concession.Then, at a price of 500,000 yuan, 500 tons of textile, printing and dyeing equipment and equipment were successively transported to Yangon, Myanmar.At the same time, hundreds of textile workers, locomotive operators, mechanics, etc. in Liu's enterprise also traveled thousands of miles to the rear out of patriotic enthusiasm.However, after the machinery and equipment arrived in Yangon, they could no longer be transported to Chongqing.Liu Hongsheng obtained an order from the chairman of the committee to "give urgent departure" through Chiang Kai-shek's attendant, but the Southwest Transportation Company controlled by Kong Xiangxi and Song Ziwen's family was busy making money from the country, so they couldn't spare it.Liu Nianzhi had no choice but to buy 12 American Dodge trucks and carry them by himself.The road from Yangon to Chongqing was difficult and dangerous, and there were many checkpoints. The convoy traveled day and night and finally arrived at Lashio, a strategic point on the China-Myanmar border. Baoshan, a border town in Yunnan, was already in sight, but the Southwest Transportation Company refused to allow them to enter the country on the grounds of smuggling materials. .This see-saw negotiation took place for two years. By April 1943, the Japanese army attacked Burma and occupied Lashio. Hundreds of tons of equipment immediately became cannon fodder.Liu Nianzhi, who was in the car, fled into the primitive forest of Savage Mountain and escaped back to Chongqing after narrowly escaped death.

Liu Hongsheng was in a state of shock and was exhausted. In desperation, he had no choice but to seek refuge with Kong Xiangxi and became the director of the government-run Match Tobacco Monopoly Bureau.According to the "Biography of Liu Hongsheng, an Industrialist", Liu Hongsheng, who was used to the life of the Western style, was no different from ordinary people in Chongqing. "At that time, he no longer lived in a luxurious western-style building, but a simple and ordinary dormitory. He lived in a house on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Danzishi has to go to work in downtown Chongqing on the north bank every day. There are steep cliffs on both sides of the bank, and there are as many as 300 stone steps up and down. He walks and never rides a pole... He often eats bowls of Yangchun noodles and A plate of raw fried steamed buns, and sometimes just a few pieces of cakes, as a lunch." Later, Liu Hongsheng set up woolen textile factories, wool washing factories, match factories and potassium chlorate factories in the southwest and northwest, but his personal equity Both are only about 20%, and the rest are state-run or bureaucratic capital, and important decisions must be made by others.Therefore, the tycoon in Shanghai once complained in frustration: "In Shanghai, I was a big boss, but in Chongqing, I became a little boy."

Yang Xiaokai, in "Notes on Chinese Economic History in the Hundred Years", regards the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937 as the turning point of China's modern economy, and called the following twelve years "the period of economic collapse": The status of state-owned capital and parasitic bureaucratic capital has been strengthened unprecedentedly. This structural change has caused the Chinese economy to prematurely end the era of free competition and accelerate into the era of monopoly with state capital as the main body. . There was basically no modern industry in western China before the war. In Chiang Kai-shek’s words, “If you want to build industry in this vast area, you have to create something out of nothing.” With the westward relocation of factories, the western economy has entered a period of development. In 1941, the number of relocations increased to 639, involving machinery, textiles, chemicals, educational equipment, electrical appliances, food, mining, steel and other industries. 254 relocated to Sichuan, 121 to Hunan, 27 to Shaanxi, 23 to Guangxi, There are 214 other provinces.However, its industrial and capital structure presents the following characteristics: first, heavy industry serving the war has become the focus of investment, and livelihood industries are almost completely ignored; second, the weight of state-owned capital continues to increase. In March 1938, the national government reiterated, " A planned economy is implemented, and the state raises capital for the establishment of any business that is suitable for the state.” During the Second World War, the economic theory proposed by the British economist John Maynard Keynes dominated the global economic circles , His book "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money" published in 1936 almost became a textbook for governments of all countries at that time.Keynesianism opposes the traditional practices of "laissez-faire" and "rule by doing nothing", and advocates that the state actively intervene and regulate economic life through fiscal and monetary policies.The economic policy of the Chiang Kai-shek regime was a "mixture" of Keynesianism and the German-Soviet centralization model, and pushed the elements of state control to the extreme. This is certainly inevitable in a state of war, but due to the lack of policy design and implementation capabilities, Low and powerful bureaucratic capital has made the national economy more and more deformed, while the dynamic private capital has been completely abandoned.

In December 1941, when the British "Economist" magazine commented on China's economic system, it believed that "the octopus-like power structure of government undertakings is becoming self-solidified and full of expansion." Zhang Nai, who has liberal economic thoughts The author—remember the name, he will be the protagonist in a later chapter—was repeatedly criticized during the war, saying, "Don't blindly borrow Keynesian theory. Keynesian theory is rigid and mechanical. It is used in industry. The time and place are even more inappropriate for China, which is backward, and we should try our best to encourage private operations and avoid direct government operation.” But these voices seemed very weak amidst the rumble of artillery fire.According to "Data on the History of Modern Chinese Industry" edited by Chen Zhen, by 1942, state-owned capital that only existed in the form of state-owned, public-owned, and provincial-owned enterprises, excluding military production and state-private joint ventures, had roughly accounted for the Kuomintang 69.58% of the total industrial capital in the ruling area.

Based on the above facts, two other phenomena are naturally derived: one is that the collusion between state capital and bureaucratic capital has reached an unprecedented level, and finally a privileged class independent of all social classes has been formed, which has become a hindrance The progressive, most reactionary force in industry and commerce.Second, due to the shortage of people's livelihood materials and the loss of control of financial policies, inflation has worsened unprecedentedly, people are struggling to make ends meet, and the national economy is in the "worst situation."

As we saw in the "Battle of Kong and Zhang" in 1934, the penetration and ultimate control of the national economy by state capital began with finance and ended with finance.The degree of marketization of a country's economy can be evaluated from the country's financial marketization. This law has been around for a century and is still valid.After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalist government further strengthened its control over finance. In September 1939, Chiang Kai-shek signed a decree, "Specially appointed Jiang Zhongzheng, chairman of the Peasant Bank of China, as the director of the joint office of the Central Committee, China, Communications, and the Peasant Bank of China. "At the same time, the "Outline of Financial Consolidation Measures" was issued, stipulating that "the general office of the four banks shall be responsible for handling various special businesses related to the government's wartime finance and finance." The sole authority in finance, Chiang Kai-shek patted his chest and appointed himself as the director, and Kong Xiangxi was the executive director and deputy director.

At this time, Kong Xiangxi was in the most glorious moment of his life. After the government moved to Chongqing, he successively became the president of the Executive Yuan, the minister of finance, and the president of the central bank. Leading the four major industries in one fell swoop, it is naturally handy to do anything. Let's talk about his performance in managing the country first. Since the outbreak of the Pacific War, the national economy in the rear has gradually slipped to the brink of collapse.Due to the tight blockade of Chongqing by the Japanese army, there was an extreme shortage of materials. According to Zhang Gongquan’s records, “Even normal industrial production could not be maintained. Due to the shortage of hardware, metal products, and chemical raw materials, most factories reduced production. It was actually shut down. During the period from 1940 to 1944, the supply of various basic foodstuffs was only 10% of that in 1939, and the supply of clothing items in the whole of China was lower than the level before the war. Industrial consumer goods, in 1944 The supply is less than 10% of what it was in 1938. At the same time, a large number of people are pouring into the rear, which intensifies the continuous expansion of aggregate demand." On the one hand, the demand is far greater than the supply, and on the other hand, the incompetence of government governance. Kong Xiangxi's level of governance has not improved over time. His only way is to print money. Anyway, the seals of the four major banks It's all in his hands.About 75% of the national government’s wartime expenditures were made up by printing new banknotes. At one time, because the amount of banknotes used was too large, the Central Bank had to entrust Zhonghua Bookstore, Commercial Press and Dadong Bookstore to help print banknotes.In this way, the unprecedented deterioration of inflation inevitably broke out.According to research by Yang Ge, Zhang Gongquan and others, the annual increase rates of retail prices were: 49% in 1938, 83% in 1939, 124% in 1940, 173% in 1941, 235% in 1942, 1944 231% of the year and 251% before August 1945 (before the end of the Anti-Japanese War).According to calculations by American scholar Albert Feuerwerker, from 1940 to 1946, prices in the rear areas of China rose by an average of more than 300% per year. "Cambridge History of China" determined that the basic cause of inflation was financial. During the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, the average retail price index rose 2,600 times. Except for the high and privileged class, almost all citizens in the country are victims of inflation. Take the situation of the two middle classes—civil servants and university teachers as an example. One-third, almost in "extreme poverty".University teachers were living on the "edge of starvation". Among domestic professors at that time, the historian Chen Yinke had the highest salary. Before the war, his monthly salary was 460 yuan, which could buy a courtyard house in Beijing. In 2009, his monthly salary rose to 1360 yuan, which was paid by the university and the Ministry of Education at the same time, but he could only buy 320 catties of rice. Because of this, Chen's poem said, "The price of rice in Huainan is startling, and the central banknotes are empty." "A solar eclipse is difficult to eat, and the monthly salary is still poor." In the words of Zhang Gongquan, "the laborer's share of the gross national value is reduced, but the burden on the ever-expanding national defense expenditure exceeds Civil servants and teachers became an oppressed class during the war.” Then look at Kong Xiangxi's performance in managing his family.In this part, the descendants of Shanxi ticket dealers fully demonstrated his amazing talents. Historical data prove that during the Anti-Japanese War, the Kong family made more money than before. While managing the four major state-owned banks, Kong has never forgotten to manage his own money bank - Yuhua Bank.It is the most active private financial institution in the rear. In the Chongqing gold market, it is the most powerful trader. It is the whole brick (400 taels), with large capital and strong influence. After buying it, it will be transported to Xi’an, and then sold on cattle camels to the enemy-occupied areas. The central bank opened an overdraft account for Yuhua, and the overdraft amount reached 30 million yuan in 1941. The registered capital of Yuhua before the war was 2 million yuan, which increased to 20 million yuan after moving to Chongqing. By 1945, the capital had been increased to 100 million yuan. With Yuhua as the leader, Kong Xiangxi's business has achieved countless industries. It is believed that there are no less than 28 companies listed under his name. The only famous firms include Xiangji (a comprehensive trade and investment company), Qingji Sha Haohao (specializing in cotton yarn trading), Qianghua Company (engaging in transportation trade), Dayuan Company (specializing in hardware and electrical materials), Hengyi Company, Shenghe Company (these two are foreign miscellaneous department stores), Guangmaoxing Company ( Ginseng and medicinal materials), etc. In addition, he invested in the "Current Affairs News", "Da Evening News", the English "Mainland Daily" and Shenshi News Agency, just like a "newspaper tycoon" in the rear. In 1941, the domestic The second largest publishing organization, Zhonghua Book Company, was in crisis, and he took the opportunity to take it into his arms. Kong Xiangxi also extended his hand to the industrial world. The method he adopted was stealthily robbing and overtly seizing. Among them, the two cases of getting involved in people's livelihood and controlling Huaxi were the most famous. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Lu Zuofu's Minsheng Shipping Company undertook the main task of transshipment of strategic materials. There were 48 ships before the war, and it increased to 115 at the most. It also has textile printing and dyeing, machinery and steel factories, and has become the most prominent private enterprise in the rear.Kong Xiangxi was very keen on Minsheng. When he was invited to give a speech in Minsheng, he proposed to Lu Zuofu that he hoped that the Central Trust Bureau would invest 2 million yuan in Minsheng. At that time, Minsheng’s total share capital was 7 million yuan. small shareholders.Lu Zuofu was horrified, and hurriedly asked Zhang Gongquan, who was then Minister of Communications, for help. The latter entrusted Qian Xinzhi, chairman of the Bank of Communications, to Kong Chenqing and said, "Minsheng is a purely private enterprise, invested heavily by the purely government-run Central Trust Bureau. It seems inappropriate. If the people’s livelihood needs financial help, it is appropriate to invest in the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications, which are in the nature of commercial shares.” Kong Xiangxi knew that this was a polite refusal, and Lu Zuofu had deep connections in Sichuan and was very popular. , he didn't dare to force his bow and mount his horse, so he had to give up for the time being. However, since then, it has become very difficult for Minsheng to borrow from the bank. According to Wang Shijun, who once worked as an assistant manager of the Finance Department of Minsheng Corporation, when he went to various banks to "run positions", people often hinted, "If you want to completely solve the problem of Minsheng For financial difficulties, it is best to find Mr. Kong to invest and serve as the chairman.” Once, Kong Xiangxi managed to obtain the list of major shareholders of Minsheng and the shareholding list, and secretly sent someone to buy it at the door. After learning about it, Lu Zuofu immediately notified the financial The Department paid strict attention to the transfer of shares, but this plan did not succeed.Kong Xiangxi couldn't get benefits from Minsheng, and he was always unwilling. Next door to the Central Bank of Chongqing is the office of the Finance Department of Minsheng Corporation. It is a four-story building with a very elegant architecture.Kong Xiangxi asked Lu Zuofu to give up the building to the central bank. Lu asked whether he could pay an appropriate price and let Minsheng choose another place to build the building.Kong Da was displeased, and ordered the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to withhold all the freight and appropriations due to the people's livelihood. He also told people everywhere, "Lu Zuofu is not enough friends."After this round, Kong Xiangxi finally earned some face money. If Lu Zuofu managed to escape from Kong Xiangxi's iron claws, then Huaxi Xingye Company, another large private enterprise in Sichuan, did not have such good luck. Huaxi Xingye was founded by two brothers Hu Zhongshi and Hu Shuqian in 1932. It owns machine factories, steel factories, wood factories, brick and tile factories, auto repair factories and other enterprises, as well as self-operated iron mines, coal mines, refractory mines and A specialist school.Before the war, Huaxi undertook the construction of many power plants, cement plants, and water plants in the west.After the government entered Sichuan, it drew up a national policy of giving priority to the development of heavy industry, and put forward the idea of ​​"constructing the Southwest by pooling wisdom and efforts." The Hu brothers really wanted to take advantage of this and rely on the government's policy of "supporting and rewarding industries in the Southwest" to further expand the Hualian Steel Plant. .They tried their best to get on the line with Kong Xiangxi, who personally led many cronies to Huaxi for inspection.The story that happened next is a true "leading wolf into the house". The idea of ​​the Hu brothers is to expand Hualian into a steelmaking plant with a daily output of 30 tons of steel. The total construction capital is 3 million yuan. Hu can raise half of it, and the other half hopes to get a loan from the government.Kong sent people to test it out, hoping to invest in a joint venture. Hu was worried about future troubles and insisted on applying for loans to establish "external relationships with bureaucratic capital." Kong Xiangxi agreed, but the first installment loan amount given by the Central Trust Bureau was only 600,000 yuan Yuan.Hu started the expansion project with more than 2 million yuan in the account. When the infrastructure construction started and the equipment ordered from abroad came one after another, the China Information Bureau refused to lend any more with various excuses, and Huaxi immediately fell into a dilemma.When the Hu brothers approached Kong Xiangxi again, he clearly proposed a government-business partnership. He even threatened and lured them. If the Hu brothers obeyed, there would be no need to worry about investment and future government procurement orders. If they did not, the consequences would be disastrous.In the end, he said very meaningfully, "Steel, electricity, and mining are all heavy industries, which are closely related to the founding of the nation after the War of Resistance... (Combination) This move is highly praised by the President (referring to Chiang Kai-shek)." So far, the Hu brothers have no choice but to be extremely frightened.However, when it came to the specific terms of the shareholding, Kong Xiangxi's intentions still surprised them. The total share capital he proposed was raised to 12 million yuan at once, and Hu converted all the factories, mines and cash in the Huaxi system. , but only more than 2 million yuan, and Kong Xiangxi is most worried about capital. He used "the economic construction of the Southwest as a policy urgently needed by the central government" as an excuse, and the Executive Yuan instructed the Ministry of Finance to order the four major banks to jointly invest. Hua and Xiangji also entered into the shares, and the two capitals were merged. In July 1939, a "China Xingye Industrial Co., Ltd." was established. State-owned and bureaucratic capital accounted for 81%, and Hu's share capital was only 19%.In the spring of 1942, Kong Xiangxi proposed to increase the capital to 60 million yuan again. The merchants objected, thinking that the expansion project was almost completed and there was no need to increase the capital.Kong presided over the shareholders meeting in person, passed the capital increase resolution as an absolute major shareholder, and demanded that the apportioned funds be in place within ten days. , So far, the proportion of commercial shares has dropped to 11%.Another year and a half later, Kong Xiangxi proposed a capital increase for the third time, doubling ZTE's capital to 120 million yuan, and the situation repeated itself, giving up commercial shares and increasing official shares, adjusting the shareholding ratio to 5:95.The Hu family was almost out, and the two brothers left the company sadly. After bureaucratic capital takes control of ZTE, it would be beneficial to the country if the company can really run well. However, the situation is just the opposite.The board of directors of ZTE Corporation is unprecedentedly strong. Kong Xiangxi personally served as the chairman, and ten executive directors, including the Minister of Economic Affairs, the Deputy Minister of Finance, the Vice President of the Central Bank, the manager of the Bank of China, the manager of the Bank of Communications, the chairman of the Central Trust Bureau, University presidents and more.But when it comes to the specific management level, it is a mess. In the words of a witness named Ning Zhicun, it is "monopolistic and weak, and the management of the enterprise is completely government-like and rotten. Rolling." The expansion project of the steel factory was procrastinated, and it was not completed until 1943. Hundreds of tons of low-carbon tool steel were smelted, but there was no market due to poor quality, so Kong Xiangxi had to order his son Kong Lingkan to be the director The long Central Trust Bureau bought them all.Since then, ZTE has not smelted new steel. In November 1945, the workers were dismissed and the work was suspended. The dream of "hegemony in heavy industry" is over. Under the governance of Kong Xiangxi and others, the industry in the rear has been sluggish.Not only has no new and commendable large enterprise been established, but even the effect of relocating factories inland has been depressing.Professor Yi Laoyi commented in "Cambridge History of China", "The total number of relocated machines is about 120,000 tons, which is actually insignificant compared to the industrial equipment at that time and the wartime needs of the Kuomintang China. Even more Importantly, had the government planned this industrial relocation in advance—which it could have easily done since it had anticipated the war—it might have been done more safely and more widely. Actually In fact, far from serving as a monument to the patriotism of the Chinese people, industrial inland relocation is enough to expose the pursuit of self-interest to a distressing degree.” The Kong family was corrupt and domineering and delayed the state affairs. At the end of 1941, because of a "flying dog incident", he finally became a national traitor who could be killed by the whole country. On December 8 of this year, the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor, and then attacked Shanghai and Hong Kong. On the 18th, 15,000 British troops stationed in Hong Kong announced their surrender.On the same day, the National Government sent the last plane to Hong Kong Airport. There were many important government officials and cultural celebrities waiting on the apron, including Chen Jitang, a member of the Central Standing Committee of the Kuomintang and a first-level army general, He Xiangning, the widow of Liao Zhongkai, a veteran of the Kuomintang, and the national Xu Chongzhi, vice president of the Government Procuratorate, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Chen Yinke, etc.However, the plane was full of Kong Xiangxi's second daughter, Kong Lingjun, and her more than a dozen nannies, bodyguards, pet dogs and accompanying toilets.When Chen Jitang boarded the plane, Miss Kong Er put the pet dog on the seat and refused to let him sit down.General Chen reprimanded him angrily, but Miss Kong Er pulled out a revolver and pointed Chen's forehead to order him to get off the plane.When the plane landed in Chongqing, the Central Committee of the Kuomintang was holding the Ninth Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee. The meeting applauded and passed a resolution entitled "Increasing Administrative Functions, Enforcing the Legal System to Improve Politics", and the important members of the meeting went to the airport to welcome Chen Jitang, He Xiangning and others, who knew that it was Miss Kong Er and her pet dog, bodyguard and nanny who got out of the cabin, and everyone present was stunned.Four days later, the "Ta Kung Pao" disclosed the news, and the whole country was in an uproar.College students who moved westward to Chongqing and Kunming took to the streets to march. University students of the Southwest Associated College wrote in the "Declaration Against Confucius", "Today, our country's corrupt officials are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, and the most heinous crimes are none other than the national thief Kong Xiangxi...... If you use your powers for your own selfishness, it will cause harm to the whole country. If this thief is not eliminated, it will cause endless harm. The state affairs are critical, and Xi Rong remains silent." In the roar of condemnation, the loudest person was Professor Fu Sinian, a historian, a government senator at the time, and later the acting president of Peking University.This man is short in stature, strong as a bull, and has a violent temper. He is known as "Fu Dapao". He was the commander-in-chief of Peking University students during the "May 4th Movement" more than 20 years ago. There is still a photo of him from that year. The flag led the team to rush in the first column of the parade. After the "Flying Dog Incident" was exposed, he yelled, "Kill Dean Feigou to thank the world." In fact, as early as a few years ago, he did everything possible to collect evidence of Kong's corruption and perverting the law, and put all the materials in a box. Hidden under the pillow, inseparable.He wrote to his teacher Hu Shi and said, "As soon as I am a scholar, I can't go to battle, so what can I learn from reading sage books? I have been doing this so far, and I am not ashamed of the predecessors... At least it can be said that he (Referring to Kong Xiangxi) In the past, he was a taboo (taboo in English), and no one dared to name it, but recently he became a drowning barrel, and everyone insulted him.” Once, Chiang Kai-shek specially invited Fu Sinian to dinner in order to relieve Kong Xiangxi’s cheeks. Jiang asked: "Mr. Meng Zhen (Fu Sinian's word), do you trust me?" Fu replied, "I absolutely trust." Jiang said, "Since you trust me, then you should trust the people I use." Fu Wenyan immediately His face was flushed, and he said, "I trust the chairman. As for saying that because you trust you, you should trust the people you use, well, I can't say that if I cut off my head." Jiang was silent for a while. In 1943, Chongqing held a donation meeting, and Kong Xiangxi presided over it. After delivering a grand speech, some business gentry shouted on the spot, "President Kong, please take some out and show us." Kong said with a smile, "Where do I have money? I am a poor civil servant. The salary of the Minister of Finance is only 800 yuan. If I donate a little, it will not exceed 800 yuan." Everyone laughed. Although he became notorious because of the "Flying Dog Incident", it took more than two years to bring down Kong Xiangxi. In 1944, Fu Sinian disclosed the scandal of Kong Xiangxi reselling US dollar bonds.In 1942, the U.S. Congress announced that it would lend 500 million U.S. dollars to the government of the Republic of China. Kong Xiangxi immediately announced the withdrawal of 100 million U.S. dollars as a reserve fund, and issued "Alliance Victory Dollar Savings Certificates". Exchange dollars.At that time, the black market price of the U.S. dollar was 110 yuan to be exchanged for 1 U.S. dollar. Therefore, as soon as the savings certificate came out, it was sought after by the black market. Later, with the serious inflation, the value preservation of the savings certificate became more prominent. The price is 273 yuan per dollar cashed.Kong Xiangxi privately ordered his subordinates to buy 3.5 million US dollars of savings certificates at the official price, and then sell them ten times more on the black market for arbitrage. Another 7.995 million US dollars were purchased privately by other officials of the central bank.In this corruption case, it showed the characteristics of systematic crimes. First, the relevant agencies of the central bank did not follow the conventional accounting standards and responsibility procedures when handling accounts, and tampered with each link; second, The price for purchasing savings certificates is already extremely low, and even so, they are paid in advance by the central bank, not by Kong Xiangxi and other high-ranking officials themselves.This bureaucratic behavior pattern of turning the public into private is very typical. Fu Sinian publicly exposed the incident at the Political Council, which aroused public indignation across the country. At the end of 1944, Kong Xiangxi was forced to resign from the positions of the President of the Executive Yuan, the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank. It is difficult to count Xiangxi's misfortune to the country. There are two serious crimes.First, with the skillful financial skills of the descendants of Shanxi ticket dealers, he single-handedly cut off the thousand-year blood of the private financial industry. Since the pre-Qin period, there has been a tradition of private management of banks in China. He operated the government-business model to the extreme, so that in the troubled times, a privileged group was formed outside all social classes, which made the national economy fall into inefficiency, and made the people lose trust in the regime and feel extremely disgusted. After being dismissed, Kong Xiangxi withdrew from the political arena. He began to concentrate on taking care of his own property, and transferred what he could take away to Hong Kong and abroad as much as possible. In the summer of 1947, he went back to his hometown Taigu, Shanxi once, where he had a big banquet with relatives and family members from all walks of life, and then bid farewell to them.In the autumn, he asked his wife Soong Ailing to go to the United States first. A few days later, he sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek and the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, saying that he "suddenly received a call from his family from the United States, saying that his wife was suffering from a serious disease and was in serious condition", without waiting for approval. Flew to America and never came back. In 1962, feeling homesick, he lived in Taiwan for more than three years, and then returned to the United States. In August 1967, Kong Xiangxi died of illness in New York at the age of 88.How much property this person took away from China has always been a mystery. In 1951, he told people, "What I lost in mainland China is more than a thousand times more than what I have here." It is said that after Fu Sinian overthrew Kong Xiangxi, Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to look across the country and look for the "economic helmsman" again.The person he found was neither surprising nor unfamiliar to everyone.