Chapter 537 536 [Northeast Epic]

What anti-war novels should I write?

Do you want to copy—Second Battalion Commander, bring me my spaghetti?

Of course "Bright Sword" won't work, it's still too early for the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Even other classic Anti-Japanese War novels cannot be copied, because the full-scale Anti-Japanese War has not yet broken out.

If you want to write anti-war novels now, you must have something to do with the four northeastern provinces, which is more difficult to do.

Therefore, Zhou Hexuan had to make his own original this time.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Zhou Hexuan decided to play the big game. He wanted to write a magnificent masterpiece, not just Anti-Japanese War literature.

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Jingping, do you know anything about breaking through the Guandong?"

"Yes, sir, you want to write a work about breaking through the Guandong?" Duanmu Hongliang suddenly became excited. His ancestral home was in Hebei, and his great-great-grandfather was forced to make a living in the Guandong. By the time of his great-grandfather, he had developed into a well-known landlord in Changtu.

Duanmu Hongliang grew up listening to the story of breaking through the Guandong. How could he not understand?

Zhou Hexuan explained: "I am going to write a novel about Northeast China, about three families and four generations, from 1850 to the present."

"That's really a masterpiece!" Duanmu Hongliang said in shock.

Three families, four generations, spanning 80 years, is equivalent to a history of modern changes in Northeast China. Once this kind of book is written, it will be a major event that will shake the Chinese literary world. As long as it is not too bad, it will definitely be a classic.

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "I have roughly thought out the content, and it is divided into five parts. The first part is called "Crossing the Guandong", the second part is called "Russian-Japanese War", the third part is called "The Storm of 1911", and the fourth part is called "The War of 1911". The May Fourth Revolution, the fifth part is called "September 18". I don't know much about the customs and customs of Northeast China, so I need to ask you, Jingping, for advice."

"No problem, I promise to tell you everything I know." Duanmu Hongliang said excitedly. He is very honored to be able to participate in the creation of such a masterpiece.

Although Zhou Hexuan made the titles of the five parts of the book so big, in fact, what he really described was the encounters of the three families in the decades of changes in the Northeast, and he even thought out the general content structure.

In the beginning, in the 1850s, there was a severe famine in Shandong. At that time, the Qing government had not yet opened up the Northeast, and two poor families from Shandong were forced to cross the Guandong.

The two families were originally neighbors, one surnamed Zhong and the other Ma, and they had a very good relationship.

On the way to the east of the Guandong, due to hunger and cold, the Zhong family killed the two brothers of the Ma family, snatched the remaining food from each other and fled.

The Zhong family made their fortunes by panning for gold, gradually reclaimed wasteland, and became well-known local landowners, and controlled hundreds of armed mine guards. The Ma family froze to death and starved to death, leaving only a pair of orphans and widows, who were rescued by the horse bandits in the northeast. The widow became the wife of the leader of the horse bandits.

These are the two families in this book, the Zhong family and the Ma family.

The other family is the Guan family, which was originally the Guerjia family, one of the eight major surnames of the Manchu.

The Guan family was originally a general stationed in the Northeast, and was first ordered to exterminate the Zhong family who were digging for gold. Later, the Qing government lifted the ban and allowed the people in the pass to immigrate to the northeast. The Guan family quickly colluded with the Zhong family, and even promoted the Zhong family to become officials.

Among the content of the first "Crossing the Guandong" is the history of the fortune of the Zhong family, the history of blood and tears of the Ma family, and the history of the rule of the Guan family.

At the end of the story, the revenge-minded son of the Ma family grew up and fell in love with the daughter of the Zhong family. The daughter of the Zhong family was betrothed to the son of the Guan family. In the end, the Ma family son eloped with the daughter of the Zhong family.

Furious, the Guan family led the army and the Zhong family's mine guard team to suppress the bandits with all their strength and killed Ma's adoptive father and biological mother. The three families forged an inextricable grudge ever since.

In the second "Russian-Japanese War", the sons of Ma's son and Zhong's daughter who eloped have grown up. Because he accepted the new ideas, he didn't want to continue to be a horse bandit in the mountains and forests, so he went east to study in Japan without telling his parents. As a result, he was discriminated against in Japan. Hearing the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, he resolutely returned to the Northeast and encouraged his father to help the Russians fight the Japanese.

And because the Zhong family was miserably tricked by the Russians, they spontaneously helped the Japanese and formed a training team to help the Japanese destroy Russia. The Guan family strictly maintained neutrality and allowed Japan and Russia to bully them. As a result, they still caused "diplomatic conflicts".

At the end of this part, the Ma family accepted the imperial court's recruitment, and turned from a bandit to an official army. Although the Zhong family has been helping the Japanese, the Japanese who won the war ransacked their gold mines.

In the next three parts of the novel, the three families are hostile to each other due to various contradictions, and because of the bond of blood and in-laws, they each embark on different paths in military, government, and business.

Until the "September 18th Incident" broke out, the Guan family and the Zhong family unanimously turned to Japan as traitors. But even so, their factories and mines were brutally "requisitioned" by the Japanese, and they could only continue to exploit the poor people with tears, trying to get back what they lost from the people.

A pair of sons and daughters of the Zhong family were full of patriotism and resolutely announced their separation from the family. The son joined the Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army with more than ten policemen, and was rescued by the Ma family after being defeated and injured; the daughter joined the underground party, but was arrested and sacrificed by the puppet Manchukuo government.

The Guan family was directly ransacked and exiled because of their involvement in the "emperor throne" struggle of the Puppet Manchukuo, and the family business accumulated for hundreds of years was divided up by Puyi and the Kwantung Army. Because the Zhong family helped the Kwantung Army collect food, the unbearable peasants joined the Red Gun Club and burned the Zhong family's big manor to nothing.

All three families fell due to the fall of the Northeast, and the patriotic children of the Ma family and the Zhong family are still galloping on the anti-Japanese battlefield behind the enemy lines. Some of the remnants of the Guan family and the Zhong family continued to be traitors, some entered the customs to seek refuge with Zhang Xueliang, and some went south to seek refuge with the central government.

The Guan family, who took refuge in Zhang Xueliang, went crazy and wanted revenge, and finally switched to the 29th Army Broadsword Team. The people from the two families who went south to seek refuge in the central government were robbed by Japanese warships because of the Battle of Rehe, and all of them were arrested and sent to Heilongjiang to do coolies to build anti-Soviet fortifications.

Zhou Hexuan has great creative ambitions this time, he just wants to write a modern epic in Northeast China. Through the rise and fall of three families, four generations, and 80 years, a map of the changes in the Northeast is drawn, which not only includes national hatred and family hatred, emotional entanglements, but also shows the prosperity of the Northeast, the poverty of the Northeast, the disasters of the Northeast, and The spiritual outlook of bureaucrats, peasants, workers, intellectuals and other classes.

This is a huge project, and the full writing has at least 2 million words.

Zhou Hexuan didn't even dare to start writing right away, he had to write a complete outline first, as well as the genealogy of the three families, as well as the background information of each class and various supporting roles. Not only did he have to ask Duanmu Hongliang for help, but he also learned many stories about breaking through the Guandong, as well as other aspects of the Northeast.

Fortunately, Zhang Xueliang lives in Zhou Hexuan's house, and the adjutants and guards around him come from all walks of life in the Northeast, which can completely become Zhou Hexuan's story library and database.