Chapter 26 Chapter 15 1937: Shipwreck and Salvation

July 10, 1937 was the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Municipal Government, and one month later it would be the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Nanjing Nationalist Government.A grand celebration meeting was held in the center of Shanghai. Nearly 10,000 people flocked to the venue to watch the celebration ceremony and visit the six achievement exhibitions.At this time, Shanghai was like an "Oriental Pearl", where three-quarters of the country's financial assets gathered. 53% of foreign trade and 25% of domestic and foreign shipping run through here. In terms of modern manufacturing, Shanghai is the "center of national industry". Among the nearly 4,000 modern factories in the country, more than 1,200 are located here. Whether it is the amount of investment or the scale of the use of modern new machines and labor, Shanghai ranks first.On this day in Shanghai, there is joy and passion everywhere.However, People's Forum, a current affairs magazine, published a commentary titled "The Ghost of Shanghai's Founding Day Celebration," in which the author wrote, "There is always a ghost haunting the celebration: the ghost of war. "

Just three days ago, the Japanese army launched an attack on the Chinese army at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing, and it was called the "July 7th Incident".From this day on, China has been involved in an arduous war of resistance for eight years. On August 8, the Japanese army invaded Beijing.Immediately, they drove south to attack Shanghai, and more than 4 million refugees poured into the concession. In the next three months, 700,000 Chinese troops fought heroically, and Shanghai fell on November 8. On December 13, the capital Nanjing fell, and the Japanese army carried out a tragic massacre, killing more than 350,000 soldiers and civilians.The national government moved to Chongqing.The Japanese army's arrows were approaching Wuhan, and looking at Chongqing in the distance, Tokyo declared that it would destroy China within three months.

War broke out.Everything becomes involuntary. At the critical moment of the country's survival, the careers of entrepreneurs are so fragile that they flutter like silk in the strong wind. Entrepreneurs, big and small, like every Chinese in that era, are suddenly tied to the great meaning of the destiny of the nation. stood together. Just before the war that changed China's destiny, what were people in the Chinese business community doing? Let me talk about Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi first.Just a week before the outbreak of the war, they made a business with super profits. On July 1, a joint-stock company named Yangzi Electric announced the establishment of the Capital Power Plant, the largest state-owned power plant in China at that time. .This is one of the countless classic cases of the Kong Song family using power and turning private into public.

In 1928, the power supply system of Nanjing, the new capital city, was so inadequate that "the lights were dark and only seen in the whole country" (Zhang Jingjiang).Nanjing built a government-run "Jinling Electric Lamp Official Factory" in the late Qing Dynasty. After the Republic of China, it was renamed Jiangsu Provincial Nanjing Electric Lamp Factory. It was called government-run and actually operated by private capital.After the national government established its capital in Nanjing, it immediately confiscated the electric light factory as a "reverse production" without compensation, and renamed it Capital Power Plant, which was placed under the jurisdiction of the Construction Committee.Subsequently, the government mortgaged the power plant and obtained funds from the bank for large-scale renovations. At the same time, it gave a lot of preferential policy support, including the enjoyment of parity coal, low-interest loans, and even allocated funds by the Executive Yuan to build new power plants in the name of improving people's livelihood. Power Equipment.Stimulated by multiple benefits such as policy blood transfusion, market monopoly operation and "capital effect", Capital Power Plant grew rapidly and achieved very good benefits. When it was classified as state-owned in 1928, the fixed assets of the power plant were only 210,000 yuan , increased to 9.58 million yuan in 1937, an increase of 45 times. For many years, the average annual profit rate of the enterprise was around 20%-25%, and it was one of the large state-owned enterprises with the best profits in China at that time .

By 1937, something strange was happening.The construction committee proposed that the capital power plant and the Qishuyan power plant in Wuxi, which was also a private enterprise before 1928 and was later confiscated and classified as state-owned, be made public on the grounds that the capital power plant needed to raise huge amounts of development funds, which were difficult for the country to raise at the moment. Recruit business shares, "to increase social investment."This proposal was approved by the National Government on April 1 of that year.After just over a week, the Construction Committee completed the asset appraisal of the Capital Power Plant.It also quickly drew up a specific prospecting method. The main contents are as follows: first, merge Capital Power Plant and Qishuyan Power Plant to form Yangzi Electric Co., Ltd.; In addition, the rest are recruiting business shares.The handling of commercial shares was handed over to a private enterprise called "China Construction Bank Corporation".

All the secrets lie in this mysterious China Construction Bank Corporation.It is a joint stock company founded by Song Ziwen himself in 1934. After he was forced to resign as the vice president of the Executive Yuan and the Minister of Finance, he turned around and established this company. At that time, he seemed to have given up his career. He told Zhang Gongquan "Determined to abandon the official position for business, and has the willingness to be a 'Morgan of China'".On the surface, the company appears to be a private company registered under the Banking Act and the Companies Act, but the reality is far from simple.Most of the initial shares of the company came from the National Bank and a dozen of the largest commercial banks. Later, they were gradually transferred to individuals, especially the names of Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi's family. Different account names such as Jiahe own large shares.The company's shareholders, directors and supervisors are either high-ranking government officials in charge of finance and economy, or financial tycoons active in the business world, or they themselves are two-time figures, and it is difficult to draw a clear line between them.Therefore, the company has maintained a very special relationship with the government since its inception.Zhang Jingjiang, the chairman of the Construction Committee, and Zhang Jia and Li Shizeng, among the three standing committee members, are both the founder and shareholder of CCB, and Zhang Jingjiang is also the number one supervisor, while Zhang and Li are both the managing director of the company. (The registered share capital of China Construction Bank is 10 million yuan, most of which do not come from the private pockets of shareholders, but the amount of shares participated by various banks. In the late period of the Anti-Japanese War, Song Ziwen and others bought from state-owned banks at a very low price. acquired most of the shares.)

During the entire process of the construction committee's recruitment of commercial shares, whether it was drafting the articles of association or absorbing shares, everything was done in secret, and neither the prospectus advertisement nor the publicity was made publicly. On May 14, Yangzi Electric Company directly announced in Shanghai that the capital had been fully raised. On July 1, the two companies officially announced their merger, and the chairman of the newly formed Yangzi Company was Song Ziwen.In this way, the Construction Committee transferred the state-owned enterprise that it had painstakingly managed for nearly ten years to a special private company in the name of recruiting business shares.

The establishment of China Construction Bank Corporation, Yangzi Electric Corporation, and the privatization process of the Capital Power Plant are wonderful and typical cases of bureaucratic capital embezzling state property. Their operation method is very typical, that is, in the name of national interests Make acquisitions and then take the proceeds private.Among those involved were the vice president of the Executive Yuan, the minister of finance, the governor of the central bank, and the chairman of the construction committee. Some of them were professional revolutionaries, some graduated from the best universities in Europe and America, and some were devout Buddhists or Christians. .Sadly, while shouldering the responsibility of rebuilding the country, their minds are more on the accumulation of their own property, and they use the most disgraceful means of theft.This is not so much a moral depravity as it is an inevitable evil of bad institutions.

It was an episode that was so unpleasant for everyone to read, it just didn't seem like it should be in a place like this.However, it presents the inherent absurdity of that regime in a very real and brutal way.In a sense, the upcoming eight-year war of resistance will delay China's modernization process for at least twenty years, but it will also allow the regime to survive for eight years. After four years, it was abandoned by the people. Unlike the filth of bureaucratic capital groups, private entrepreneurs are struggling in their own businesses.They would have had a good year if there hadn't been a war.

Rong Zongjing and his engineers are concentrating on developing new machines, which are expected to produce 5,000 spindles per month and 8 new cloth machines per day. The performance is better than similar machines in Japan and the United Kingdom, but the price is half cheaper.In the past three years, the Rong family has gone through hellish suffering, but thanks to God's blessing, they finally got over it, and Shen Xin's career has been back on track since the fall of last year.In the summer, Rong Desheng’s fourth son, 21-year-old Rong Yiren, graduated from St. John’s University. Last year, he just married Yang Jianqing, who was born in a prominent Wuxi family. As the assistant manager of the second factory, he enthusiastically drafted a plan to build dozens of flour mills across the country to form a "flour trust".Lao Rong smiled and said to him, "Your madness is not like me, but like your uncle."

Although the 70-year-old Yu Qiaqing is no longer as brave as she used to be in the mall, she has just passed a glorious moment in her life. On October 1, 1936, in order to celebrate his 70th birthday, the Shanghai municipal government and the concession authorities decided to rename a road running through the downtown area of ​​Shanghai "Tibet Road" to "Yuqiaqing Road". Zhu Baosan has enjoyed this honor.The naming ceremony was held in the lively racetrack, and all the celebrities in Shanghai attended the meeting in costumes. The "Chinese Business Gymnastics Club" founded by him also performed a review performance for 300 people.In the past ten years, the life of this Ningbo businessman known as a "big tune man" has undergone dramatic changes. Under his leadership, the little fellow Chiang Kai-shek won the support of the Shanghai Entrepreneur Group, thus conquering the world. But later, his position in the arena was gradually replaced by the rising Zhang Gongquan and Du Yuesheng, and the banks and exchanges he had painstakingly managed changed hands one after another. The only thing that is gratifying is that his Sanbei Shipping Company has been developing well. The scale of 10,000 tons has become the largest private shipping enterprise in the country. As the survivor of Shanghai bankers, Chen Guangfu's Bank of Shanghai is the only private financial institution that can compete with state-owned banks.By 1937, the Bank of Shanghai had a total of 157,000 depositors. Based on the population of 480 million at that time, one out of every 3,000 people opened an account with the bank.The reason why the Bank of Shanghai was not swallowed up by Kong Song, of course there are various rumors, but its unique storage concept for the common people may be one of the reasons why Kong Song and others could not grasp it.It was ordinary public officials, employees, teachers, freelancers, housewives, general self-employed people and other small people who increased the savings deposits of the Bank of Shanghai from 570,000 yuan in 1915 to nearly 200 million yuan in 1937. It accounts for about one-tenth of the total deposits of private banks in the country.In the Great Depression in 1934, it was because of his mediation and assistance that national industrialists such as Rong Zongjing escaped the catastrophe. In Chuanzhong, Lu Zuofu's Minsheng Company just held a commemorative meeting for its 10th anniversary.In 10 years, relying on fine management and bold expansion strategy, Minsheng Company has developed from a company with only one small steamship to the most important shipping company in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River with more than 30 ships, from Chongqing to Yibin, All Chinese merchant shipping companies downstream to Yichang were incorporated into the Minsheng system. By 1936, Minsheng opened the Tuojiang River route, and Minsheng ships appeared on all navigable rivers in Sichuan.On the Yangtze River, Minsheng has become a feared opponent of all foreign-funded shipping companies. The old Swire and Jardine Company require Chinese compradors to provide Minsheng's shipping information every week to study countermeasures. The angry scholar 10 years ago has now become a big entrepreneur who is good at business. What I see is still behind these undertakings, and those who support these undertakings have forgotten themselves for their undertakings, and endure personal hardships in order to increase the success of their undertakings. If the entire company has this kind of spirit, it will be possible to build A strong cause; if the whole nation has this spirit, a strong country can be built." Like Lu Zuofu, Fan Xudong in the chemical industry is at the peak of his career. On February 5, 1937, the Nanjing Curium Plant founded by him was officially put into operation and produced the first batch of domestically produced ammonium sulfate.Ammonium sulfate can be used to produce nitric acid and make explosives.At that time, the state affairs were already tense, and the news was released, and the people of the country were cheered up.In the past 10 years, China's soda ash industry was born in his hands. From 1927 to 1937, Yongli's annual output of soda ash more than tripled, and the "Red Triangle" brand of soda ash was exported to Japan, India, and Southeast Asia. .In Tianjin, Yongli Alkali Factory, Nankai University and Ta Kung Pao are collectively known as the "Three Treasures of Tianjin", representing the highest standards of industry, universities and journalism in that era.The main building of Yongli Alkali Plant towers into the sky from north to south. The carbonization plant is 32 meters high and has 8 floors. The evaporation plant is 47 meters high and has 11 floors. It is not only the tallest building in North China, but also a landmark building in Tanggu and even Tianjin. .Fan Xudong's desire to save the country through science is very warm. He once said in a speech: "If there is no one group of people in China, they are willing to calm down: don't take advantage of the heat, don't worry about troubles, don't be confused by the fame and wealth of the world, and sincerely convert to life. Create new academic skills for China, and China will never produce new life." Since 1930, he wanted to build China's sulfuric acid industry, and he submitted a report to the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, hoping that the finances would allocate 20 million and 6 million Set up an alkali plant, 8 million to set up a nitric acid plant, and 6 million to set up a sulfuric acid plant.However, the official reply document given by the government was full of empty words and nothing real, which completely frustrated his hopes.In the next three years, he went back and forth among various banks, trying his best to raise funds to promote the project, and finally in 1933, he was approved to establish the Nanjing Curium Plant, with a design capacity of 50,000 tons of ammonium sulfate per year. The successful commissioning in February 1937 made him very excited. He wrote in his diary: "The high-pressure synthetic ammonia industry that the great powers are vying for supremacy has finally been realized in China. my country first had soda ash and caustic soda, which can only be said to have a wing; Now we have synthetic ammonia, sulfuric acid, and nitric acid, so we have another wing. With two wings, our country’s chemical industry can spread its wings and take off.” Before July 1937, apart from Chinese entrepreneurs, most foreign observers were also full of optimistic outlook on the Chinese economy in that year.U.S. Ambassador to China Jensen said in his report in April, "The Chinese government cannot but be given positive enthusiasm. On all fronts such as agriculture, industry and transportation, the development plan is advancing. Under the leadership of the Nationalist government, a The period of economic development has come.” The British Commercial Counselor in China also said in the report, “Chinese private capitalists are able to adapt them to the needs of the modern economy. This is manifested in private Chinese enterprises, such as flour industry, textile industry, The electrical industry, as well as many other industries, has grown in number. This growth reflects the confidence that the Chinese themselves, and most of the world, have in the future of this country." However, artillery fire on July 7 interrupted all of this. The huge industries that the Rong family has managed for more than 30 years are concentrated in Shanghai and Jiangsu, all of which are under the coverage of Japanese artillery.During the Battle of Songhu, the Japanese army fought fiercely with the resisting 19th Route Army on the front lines of Zhabei and Hudong. Several factories of the Rong family were in the war zone and were all targeted by the Japanese army. On August 13, Shenxin No. 5 Factory was attacked. The Chinese and Japanese troops fought fiercely near the factory area. The factory stopped production. The Japanese army occupied the factory area and all the facilities were destroyed.Immediately, Shenxin No. 6 and No. 7 factories were burned down by the war, and many machine spindles were demolished by the Japanese army; Fuxin No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6 factories were occupied by the Japanese army as offices and warehouses for military materials.Shenxin No. 1 and No. 8 factories with the most advanced equipment were bombed by 18 bombs, killing more than 70 people on the spot and injuring more than 350 people. Rong Desheng's eldest son, Rong Weiren, was in a near accident.The Japanese army used yarn materials as quilts, and machines and flour quilts as bunkers. In November, after the fall of Shanghai, the Rong family’s strongest rival in Shanghai, the Japanese Toyota Spinning Mill—that is, the Japanese-funded enterprise that failed to bid for Shenxin No. 7 Factory two years ago—hired a group of Japanese ronin and hooligans Rushed into Shenxin No. 8 Factory and smashed all the remaining 126 worsted spinning machines with a heavy hammer. , Cotton all looted. On November 15, Wuxi fell, and the Japanese army snatched 40,000 bags of flour from the warehouse of Maoxin No. 1 Factory, and then set fire to the factory machinery. The fire burned for half a month, and the birthplace of the Rong family was reduced to rubble.Shenxin No. 3 Factory used to manufacture military clothing for the national army, and it became the target of Japanese retaliation. They burned the factories and warehouses with sulfur gunpowder and diesel. During the war, 187,000 spindles, 2,726 cloth looms, and 36 mills were destroyed in the equipment of enterprises in Wuxi and Shanghai.Facing the tragic situation, the Rong brothers were helpless. The only thing they could do was to evacuate the workers to a safe place as much as possible, and transported all the tens of thousands of bales of flour and thousands of dans of wheat in stock at Maoxin No. 4 Factory to the Chinese army. rations. Almost all of Fan Xudong's chemical plants fell into the hands of the enemy during the war. On the eve of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japanese warships had already sailed into Tanggu Port, Tianjin. Fearing a major change, Fan Xudong immediately organized personnel to dismantle equipment and quit the factory.Some of the drawings left in the factory were burned by the engineers, and some were kept in secret to make technical preparations for future reconstruction.The workers dismantled the rock-distributing turntable and remote control instrument at the top of the lime kiln, the temperature sensor of the distillation tower, which represented the latest technology at that time, and some pipelines of the carbonization tower.The dismantled instruments and blueprints went south by boat in batches, transferred to Wuhan and Changsha via Hong Kong, and then transferred to Sichuan one after another, becoming an important asset for the reconstruction of the rear. In the autumn of 1937, the North China Development Corporation of the Japanese Military Department instructed its subsidiary Xingzhong Company to seize the Yongli Alkali Plant.Because Yongli Alkali Plant enjoys a high reputation in the world, the Japanese hope to obtain the property right through legal procedures.Dao Gen, the representative of Xingzhong Company, "visited" Li Zhuchen who stayed behind several times, talked about "goodwill between Japan and China", and attempted to cooperate with Wynn.Li Zhuchen turned a deaf ear to it.Daogen also asked Mitsubishi to come forward to negotiate, and proposed that Mitsubishi provide technology and funds in the name of a private consortium, and that the two companies would jointly establish Wynn.Li Zhuchen refused on the grounds that the company's articles of association clearly stipulated that "people of Chinese nationality must be able to buy shares".The Japanese were not willing to let it go, and approached Fan Xudong several times, asking to buy the Yongli Alkali Factory.Fan replied: "I don't sell the factory. If you can take it away, you can take it away." The Japanese military finally lost patience. On December 9, 1937, Dao Gen took the pre-drafted agreement to hand over the soda plant to Xingzhong Company and forced Li Zhuchen to sign the document.Li Zhuchen couldn't bear it anymore, and changed his old manner of being gentle and refined, and angrily scolded: "There is no reason in the world for a robber to steal something and ask the owner to sign it! You are too courageous to be a robber." The next day, the Japanese army ordered to forcibly take over the Yongli Soda Plant .Staff from Daone and Japan Xingzhong entered the factory.All of Fan Xudong's properties in Tanggu fell into the hands of the Japanese. The Nanjing Iron Factory also failed to escape the bad luck of being seized.This newly built factory has reached international standards and is capable of producing chemical products needed for making weapons. When the Japanese army approached Nanjing, they intended to preserve this first-class factory in Asia intact. They used various channels to force Fan Xudong to submit. If he is willing to cooperate, the safety of the factory can be guaranteed.Fan flatly refused, and replied: "It is better to hold a funeral than to accept a funeral ceremony." After the start of the Nanjing War, Fan Xudong ordered that all the machine materials, drawings, and models that could be taken away should be rushed to the west, and the equipment that could not be moved had to be dismantled, even if it was the main equipment that could not be moved, it should be buried or buried. Disassemble it as much as possible and throw it into the Yangtze River, so as not to be used by strong bandits. On August 21, September 7, and October 21, Japanese planes bombed the Nanjing Mo Factory three times. A total of 87 bombs were dropped in the factory area, leaving a mess.Hou Debang, the scientist who built the factory with Fan Xudong painstakingly, is in pain. He walks around the destroyed workshop every day, touching this and that, like crazy. Everyone knows that his heart is broken, and no one dares to persuade him.It was not until the eve of the fall of Nanjing that Hou Debang was the last to board the last boat to evacuate. His entourage later recalled that when it rained that day, Hou looked at the factory in a daze, his whole body was soaked, and he didn't realize it. After the Japanese army entered the city, Mitsui Corporation took the Nanjing Curium Factory as its own. In 1942, the Japanese dismantled and transported the equipment of the factory to Japan, and installed it in the Yokosu factory of Kyushu Omuta Toyo High Pressure Co., Ltd. to produce explosives for the Japanese army. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Japanese army was bound to go south to attack Shanghai and Nanjing, and the national government decided to move to Chongqing.At this time, the situation was still very critical. The Japanese warships would surely march westward along the Yangtze River waterway, and the capture of Chongqing was just around the corner.The "March Annihilation Theory" of the Japanese military should be calculated based on this.Therefore, how to block the Yangtze River has become a top priority.If you rely on the army to conduct sniping on the water or along the line, there is almost no chance of winning.Therefore, the sinking of the ship became the only option.China's shipping companies saved the country at this moment. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the most important shipping companies are the state-owned China Merchants and two private shipping companies, Yu Qiaqing's Sanbei Company and Du Yuesheng's Dada Company.As early as August 12, the national government implemented the "Jiangyin shipwreck plan". 24 ships from three companies, totaling 43,000 tons, were scuttled in Ebizui in the lower reaches of Huangshan Mountain in Jiangyin. Among them, 7 ships from China Merchants were sunk. , totaling 13,700 tons, accounting for a quarter of the total tonnage of the company's Jianghai large ships, and the tonnages of Sanbei and Dada's sunken ships were 20,000 tons and 10,000 tons respectively. The "Jiangyin Shipwreck" originally had two combat purposes. One was to cut off the route so that Japanese warships could not enter the Yangtze River Basin from the East China Sea. A traitor named Huang Qiuyue was betrayed to the Japanese army, causing the Japanese ships to escape from the Yangtze River overnight while the river was not completely blocked, and the plan failed.Huang Qiuyue was beheaded to show the public. In December, after the Japanese army conquered Shanghai and Nanjing, the government organized the second shipwreck in Madang, Jiangxi Province. In April 1938, 18 ships were sunk, totaling 25,000 tons. In addition to the above three companies, there were also private companies such as Datong and Minsheng. company.Since then, several shipwreck plans have been successively implemented on the Yangtze River waters such as Zhenhaikou, Longtankou, Yichang and Wuxue Tianjia Town.This tragic act of self-destruction successfully prevented the Japanese army's strategy of rapidly advancing westward along the Yangtze River, and the western rear of the Anti-Japanese War was preserved.During this process, the shipwreck of China Merchants accounted for 40% of the total tonnage, half of Yu Qiaqing's Sanbei was lost, and Du Yuesheng's Dada was all lost. Along the Yangtze River, one after another iron boats filled with rocks sank, one after another, like a black funeral scene after scene. "Shipwreck" is a very allegorical event. Chinese entrepreneurs have shown their strength in their own way when their family and country are dying. This is a "sacrifice" and a kind of salvation. In addition to sinking ships to stop the enemy, the shipping company also took on the important task of transporting troops and supplies to the west.Since the late Qing Dynasty, most of China’s industries have been concentrated in the southeast coast and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. By June 1937, there were 3,935 factories nationwide (excluding the Northeast) with a capital of more than 10,000 yuan, of which about 70% were concentrated in Shanghai, Among the five major cities including Wuhan, Wuxi, Guangzhou, and Tianjin, there are 1,235 in Shanghai alone, accounting for 31% of the total.When the war broke out, all the above-mentioned areas were occupied successively. Therefore, how many enterprises can move westward as soon as possible is related to the national fortune and business veins. The various shipping companies used to fight hard for business on the Yangtze River, but now they have abandoned their previous suspicions and united unprecedentedly. They have established the "Inland Waterway Industry Joint Office" in Nanjing, and along Shanghai, Zhenjiang, Wuhu, Jiujiang, Hankou and Changsha Set up sub-offices on the front line, make overall arrangements, and rush to transport day and night.Yu Qiaqing's Sanbei Company had 30,000-ton ships that were requisitioned by the government without compensation.Before the fall of Shanghai, 146 enterprises and 15,000 tons of equipment, along with 2,500 workers, were first transferred to Wuhan and then to Sichuan. In June 1938, the Japanese army mobilized 300,000 troops to attack the central city of Wuhan, and the Chinese army organized 1 million people to resist. This "Wuhan Great Battle" was one of the largest battles in the history of the Anti-Japanese War.At that time, there were Hanyang Iron Works, the most important iron and steel enterprise in China, and several arsenals in Wuhan area. There were 256 enterprises gathered here to move inland to the west, accounting for 55% of the total number of inland factories in the country at that time, and 108,000 tons of various equipment and equipment. .While the battle was raging, the shipping company braved artillery fire and air strikes to rush to transport goods day and night. By October 25, when Wuhan fell, most of the equipment was transferred and did not fall into the enemy's hands. After the fall of Wuhan, all routes in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were cut off, and Yichang, the gateway to Sichuan, became the next strategic target to be attacked.At that time, there were more than 120,000 tons of commercial and military equipment piled up at Yichang Wharf, in addition to 10,000 tons of oil, 60,000 tons of various public goods, and more than 30,000 government officials, skilled workers, university teachers and students, and refugees waiting to enter Sichuan. It is an exaggeration to say that the life of China's weapon industry, various machine industries and light industry is almost concentrated here, and it is the only remaining vitality of the country. At this time, Japanese planes bombed Yichang every day, and it might be captured at any time. Companies such as China Merchants and Sanbei were exhausted. What was even more frightening was that there was only about one month left before the dry season in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.When the situation reached the most critical moment, the heavy burden of Western Transport suddenly fell on the shoulders of Minsheng Company, the most important shipping company in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.Lu Zuofu, a thin Sichuan entrepreneur, has come to the most glorious moment of his life. At that time, Minsheng Company had 24 ships available. According to the usual transportation capacity, it could only transport about 14,000 tons in 40 days. It was almost impossible to transport more than 100,000 tons of materials to Chongqing within a month.Lu Zuofu convened a meeting overnight. They decided to adopt the method of transporting in three sections by referring to the experience of segmented navigation in dry seasons in the past. According to 40 days, they designed a strict transportation plan. Yichang to Sandouping was the first section, and Sandouping was the first section. The second section is from Ping to Wanxian, and the third section is from Wanxian to Chongqing.Only important and bulky equipment that is not easy to load and unload is directly shipped to Chongqing.The most reasonable and compact arrangements are also made for the sailing time and material loading and unloading of ships. Sailing during the day and loading and unloading at night will maximize the transportation capacity.Each unit cleans its own equipment and equipment, packs them into boxes, and distributes the tonnage in order according to the priority. The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, the rapids and dangerous shoals, can only sail during the day, loading and unloading at night can fully buy time, and the shipping personnel try not to waste a day, an hour, or even a minute.There were more than 2,000 porters and loaders at the most. Lu Zuofu later recalled the scene at that time: "Every morning, there are always five, six, or seven ships out of Yichang, and several ships have to come back in the afternoon. When the ships are about to arrive at the dock, The hatch cover has already been opened, the windows and doors have been opened, the long arm of the crane has been raised, the equipment on both sides of the strait has already been loaded on the barge, and the tractor has already approached the barge. The barge has been towed as soon as the ship has dropped anchor. When we got to the side of the ship, we started to load the goods nervously. The lights on both sides of the bank were shining for unloading, and the lights for loading on the ship were shining on the river, which was completely reflected on the river. Every few or dozens of people on the shore carried heavy machines, constantly The singing of the soldiers, the sirens of the tugs coming and going, the continuous honking, and the continuous shouting of the teeth of the cranes on the ship, combined into an extremely tragic symphony, which described the strength of the Chinese people to mobilize against the enemy." In those days, Lu Zuofu was guarding his command center day and night, and the transceiver was ringing 24 hours a day. Telegrams from upstream ports and ships continued day and night. All have been personally reviewed and approved by him.He knows all the transportation conditions and every link, knows how many tons of materials are transported every hour and which ships are being transported, knows where each ship is, knows which materials are unloaded at which port, and knows which units of materials are being loaded. Ship... In the middle of the night, he personally went to the dock to check the loading and unloading situation, and solved the difficulties encountered by the workers and crew.He encouraged his subordinates and said: "We did not do business this year, we went to the front line, we charged at the front line, and we were fighting the enemy desperately." During the entire Yichang retreat, the ships of the Minsheng Company were responsible for more than 90% of the transportation volume. In order to serve the country, Lu Zuofu only charged extremely low freight charges. Military equipment was only charged 30 to 37 yuan per ton, and other public goods were 40 yuan. It only charges 60 to 80 yuan per ton, while foreign ships that are also participating in the transportation charge 300 to 400 yuan.Minsheng's operating loss was more than 4 million yuan.During the more than a month of directing the transportation, Lu Zuofu, who was sleepless day and night, had sunken eyes and a haggard shape. He said to the company employees: "We must serve the country with our career, and we must devote ourselves to our career. Although we cannot go to the front Take up arms to defend the country, take up arms to fight the enemy, take it as your own responsibility, and work hard to be a soldier to strengthen the resistance to the war.” According to the investigation of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the machinery and equipment of the arsenal and private enterprises that were looted this time, every day It can produce 300,000 hand grenades, 70,000 mortar shells, 6,000 aircraft bombs, and more than 200,000 picks per month. The materials and personnel transported by Yichang this time are equivalent to the total transport volume of Minsheng Company in 1936.Within the scheduled 40 days, they miraculously transported all the personnel and two-thirds of the machinery and materials. After another 20 days, when the water level of the Yangtze River dropped to the point where large-scale transportation could not be organized, what remained along the river were only some Bits and pieces of scrap iron. Later historians called the "Yichang Retreat" organized by Lu Zuofu "China's industrial Dunkirk".Xu Ying, a writer of the Republic of China, commented in "Republic of China Industrial Figures": "The tension of China's Dunkirk retreat is no different from that of Britain's Dunkirk retreat, or we are more difficult than them. "Lu Zuofu also admitted: "We are much more difficult than Dunkirk." His bravery was respected by the soldiers. The most accomplished person", Feng wrote: "Your company has many talents, great careers, and contributions to the War of Resistance, which are rare in other companies. I admire it." ("Dunkirk retreat" took place in " In May 1940 after the Yichang Retreat, nearly 400,000 British and French allied forces retreated to Dunkirk, a port in northeastern France, and crossed the English Channel within 10 days to retreat to the mainland of the United Kingdom as the German army swept across Europe. Counter-offensive preserves strength.) After the Yichang evacuation, the ships of the Minsheng Company were still rushing to transport supplies and made great sacrifices.During the entire Anti-Japanese War, the people's livelihood ships transported out of Sichuan a total of 2.705 million troops and more than 300,000 tons of weapons and ammunition.Regardless of the danger, Lu Zuofu often visited the scene in person. Since 1938, Minsheng has had 9 steamships sunk and 6 damaged, including the largest "Minyuan Ship". 117 crew members died and 76 were disabled. Although China Merchants, Yu Qiaqing, Du Yuesheng and Lu Zuofu tried their best, most of the factories did not have time to move to the interior of Sichuan because they lost their land too quickly.Until the fall of Wuhan in October 1938, in addition to the 304 factories that moved out of Shanghai and Wuhan, only 42 factories in Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Nanjing, Jiujiang, Wuhu, Jinan, Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Wuchang, Taiyuan and other places moved out. Enterprises in Qingdao, Shijiazhuang, Guangzhou and other places are all owned by the enemy.Until 1941, a total of 639 enterprises moved inland, accounting for about 15% of the total number of factories in the country at that time. Since the Taiping Rebellion, although there have been major political changes such as regime change, warlord separatism, and Chiang Kai-shek’s Northern Expedition to suppress the Communist Party, despite frequent occurrences of severe droughts in the Central Plains and floods in the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, in the past 80 years, China has not erupted nationwide, protracted war.This ancient country has always had a super wound self-healing ability, and people can always find ways and courage to live on.Compared with the period when Zeng Guofan lamented "I look forward to death day and night, and worry about the death of Zong Er", China has indeed undergone tremendous changes in the past half a century: the emperor has disappeared, a republic and a new national governance system have been established, The foreigner is no longer a strange animal, the pride of the "celestial dynasty" has been lost, new scientific technology and humanistic concepts are being introduced every day, and young people and intellectuals who have escaped from the cage of the imperial examinations begin to think with unprecedented vision and angles own country. In terms of economic construction, China has also become another country.According to the data provided by American scholar Arthur Young in the book "China's Financial and Economic Situation: 1927-1937", by 1937, the country had nearly 4,000 modern factories, more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, and 116,000 kilometers of railways. Highways, 12 civil air transport lines, 89,000 kilometers of telephone lines and 73,000 post offices.All unequal treaties were abolished, most of the foreign debts were paid off, and customs sovereignty began to be exercised independently.China has basically formed an industrial structure of heavy chemical industry and light industry with complete categories and considerable scale.The Nanjing government also completed the reform of the currency system, transforming from a "silver empire" into a gold standard country in line with international standards.Shanghai has become the most prosperous financial and commercial city in the Far East, and Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan have all become metropolises with a population of one million.中国的棉稻麦也基本实现了自给，经济学家何廉说：“农业经济发展已步入'起飞'之路”。中国还是外商投资最活跃的地区之一，据侯纪明在《外国投资与中国经济发展（1840－1937）》一书中的计算，到1937年，共吸引外资总额达25.6亿美元，在发展中国家里仅次于阿根廷和印度－缅甸－锡兰（在当时这是一个统一的英属殖民地）。 问题当然也是一大堆。在把皇帝拉下马后的第十六个年头，一党独大的中央政府又回来了。军人的势力过于庞大，中央财政被军事支出“绑架”。宪政改革的步伐十分缓慢，渐进式的改革思维总是被颠覆型的热血理念所掩没。曾经一度崛起的的民营资本集团被强势的国营资本和官僚资本的联盟打败。国民党与共产党因政治理念的决裂而形成了武装对抗的局面。在广大的农村地区，数以亿计的农民没有享受到任何的现代化成果，国家的任何进步或动荡都好象与他们无关。而在城市里，新诞生的工人阶层饱受压榨，生活悲苦。在上海、广州等中心城市，黑社会是公开的“第二政府”。 那是一个充满了希望和挫折感的年代，左翼作家茅盾在1933年出版了一本十分轰动的讲述上海商界和市民百态的长篇小说，他的书名就形象地定义了当时的年代特征：。十八年前领导了“五四运动”的自由主义知识分子胡适回顾这段时期说：“平心说来，最近二十年是中国进步最速的时代。无论在知识上、道德上、国民精神上、国民人格上、社会风俗上、政治组织上、民族自信力上，这二十年的进步都可以说是超过以前的任何时代。这时期中自然也有不少的怪现状的暴露、劣根性的表现；然而种种缺陷都不能灭损这二十年总进步的净赢余。”从来不会算金钱帐的胡博士居然用上了“净赢余”这样的经济学名词，可见他的心里是拨拉了一会儿“算盘”的。 在1937年，西方人对中国的观感也与几十年前大大不同，而且表现得兴趣越来越浓。一个美国传教士的女儿赛珍珠（Pearl·S·Buck）成了新的文学明星，她将在一年后获得诺贝尔文学奖，原因是她创作了一部关于中国农村的小说《大地》。 赛珍珠的少女岁月是在江西庐山的一栋美式小木屋中度过的，她象一个中国人那样地经历了好年景和可怕的饥馑，经历了血腥混乱的革命以及狂热且不切实际的改革。她在书中写道，“当我生活在中国人民当中的时候，是中国人民给了我最大的愉快和兴趣。当人们问我他们是何种人的时候，我回答不出。他们不是这或者那，他们仅仅是人民。我无法给他们下定义，正如我无法给我自己的亲戚朋友下定义一样。我与他们如此接近，曾与他们如此亲密地一起生活过，无法给他们下定义。” 然而，随着战争的爆发，中国成了一个被抛弃的巨人。日本侵华被西方舆论认定是一场他们不应该牵涉太深的“亚洲战争”。美国刚刚从大萧条中缓过神来，那时的它并不象二十世纪中后期那样，乐于当一个事事插手的“世界警察”，罗斯福政府只是表示了一下遗憾和谴责。英、法两国不敢得罪已经与纳粹德国和意大利结为轴心联盟的日本，它们均做旁观状。西方世界对中日战争的立场转变将发生在整整两年之后，那时候，第二次世界大战爆发了，同盟国需要在远东有一个并肩作战的盟友。 对中国局势一直比较关注的是美国《时代》周刊，这可能跟它的创办人亨利·卢斯出生在山东青岛有关。1937年1月的周刊第一次详细报道了正在崛起中的共产党力量。编辑在“编者按”中说，“中国共产党的军队几乎完全是神秘的，将近10年的时间里，他们行踪不定，与蒋介石委员长的国民政府进行战斗。”向《时代》提供了这组报道的记者之一是埃德加·斯诺，他是极少数到延安采访了中共的外国记者，10月，他根据自己的采访手记，撰写并出版了十分畅销的《红星照耀中国》。《时代》还第一次刊出了斯诺拍摄的毛泽东照片，这是一个头戴八角帽、神情沉重、面容清瘦的中年人，记者对他的介绍很简单，“毛是他的名字，他的头值25万美元。”在今后的70年里这家周刊将六次以这个东方政治家为封面人物，最后一次居然是在他去世了29年后的2005年。 到年底，《时代》周刊做出一个更有倾向性的决定，它将1937年的年度封面人物——“Man of The Year”——选定为蒋介石，而不是连任的美国总统罗斯福或新登基的英国国王乔治六世。主编们引用瑞典探险家斯文·赫定的一句话作为选择的理由，它听上去非常的奇怪，充满了西方人的偏见：“中国近来发生的事情，不仅仅构成一个警告，更是一个最后的信号，即白种人的负担将由一个更愿意承担的日本接过去。白种人在远东的统治即将结束。” 1937年11月，上海沦陷后，沪上几乎所有知名的商贾大亨都星夜出逃避难，只有少数人因为各种原因留了下来。 年过七旬的虞洽卿没有走。他思量再三，决意留下。8月淞沪会战的时候，百万难民挤进弹丸之地的租界。虞洽卿再次担当“调人”，他奔走呼号，发起成立上海难民救济协会，自任会长，英商迈克·诺登为副会长，该会设30余处收容点，按期支付代养金，先后收养难民8万余人，发放81期给养，共计970余万元。为了阻止日军西进，他的轮船或被沉江或被征用，全尽了一个公民的责任。日军占领上海后，对港口和海面进行全面封锁，全市陷入米荒。又是虞洽卿出面召集各行业公会开会，倡议成立上海平粜委员会，他恳请各公会先行垫款，以便购买南洋大米，保持物价平稳。为了避免运米轮船被日军击沉，他与意大利商人合开中意轮船公司，船挂意大利和中立国挪威、巴拿马国旗。所运大米均按市价7折出手，差额由各公会捐款补贴，平粜米共办30多期，被颂为善事。 也是在这段时间，各方政治力量角逐上海滩，象虞洽卿这样的老牌商界头面人物自然是拉拢的对象，他又收到了夹有子弹的恐吓信。这是他继1911年的辛亥革命、1925年的五卅运动之后，第三次遭到政治势力的生命威胁。在充满了诡异和动荡的乱世，企业家总是被要求选择立场。虞洽卿于1941年春离沪去了重庆。1945年4月26日，他因急性淋巴腺炎突发去世，弥留时遗嘱捐献黄金千两，“用以支持国民政府抗战。”虞氏陨后，国民党政府赠匾额一副，上书“输财报国”四字，此匾迄今仍悬于浙江省慈溪市东郊伏龙山下的虞洽卿故居。数十年后，虞氏事迹寂为人知，其老宅倒是因建筑精巧而成当地的“重点保护文物”，偶有游人踏春参观，仰见此匾，只当是一块寻常的、称颂亡者的俗物而已。 荣家兄弟决定一走一留。上海沦陷后，他们的性命十分危险，毕竟在过去的那么多年里，他们一直是日本纺织和面粉企业在中国市场的最大敌人。两兄弟决定分担去留，较为温和、一直驻守无锡的荣德生到上海主持总务，大哥荣宗敬先离开躲避一下。 1938年1月4日深夜，荣宗敬从荣公馆的后门出走，乘上轿车疾驰黄浦江边，在月色掩护下登上小火轮，悄悄逃亡香港。一个月后，65岁的他因焦虑过度，导致脑溢血突发，不治而逝，临终遗言曰，“那些厂子，来之不易，千万不能落到日本人手里……你们好自为之，善自为之。”他的灵柩一直没有入土，直到1943年9月才下葬家乡无锡。战争期间，荣家在上海、江苏的所有面粉、棉纱工厂，除了租界内的申新二厂、九厂之外，或毁于战火，或被日本公司接管，或遭浪人砸毁，全无幸免。 此时，战火由北而南，沿东南海岸线残酷蔓延，这一线正是中国商业经济最为繁华之地，自1870年的洋务运动以来，这个国家所积蓄的商业财富几乎毁之旦夕。