Chapter 60: The Youth Who Pulled Strings

  Bid farewell to the unpleasant reality of the airport. He Juncai took He Xin and a group of security guards in two jeeps heading south to Nanchong County. Nanchong is a major town in northern Sichuan, also a cultural city with over 2,200 years of history, known as a bright pearl on the banks of the Jialing River, famous for its silk production and fruit production. This is also where He Juncai was born, and his past life had lived here for eighteen years.

  With a beauty by his side, He Juncai's spirits were high. The two of them walked along the banks of the Jialing River, chatting and laughing, for a long distance until they reached the cargo dock, where in later years the Jialing River Bridge would be built, directly across from the famous Song Dynasty White Pagoda with a flower pepper tree on top. Although He Juncai was quite unsuccessful with women in later life, he possessed knowledge and jokes that surpassed this era by 80 years, enough to make He Xin giggle uncontrollably.

  He Juncai had some doubts about He Xin's identity, she exuded a kind of noble lady's demeanor, not comparable to those rotten girls in later generations. She should have a good family background, as this temperament must have been cultivated from an early age. Moreover, from the fact that she took out so much money just now, her family is quite wealthy. But how could such a noble lady end up in the military and take on a position? It's not like the status of soldiers is high right now. If it were later generations, a girl like this would definitely not even glance at an old man like He Juncai, but as his secretary, within permitted limits, He Juncai could order her to do anything, just thinking about it feels so evil.

  He Juncai turned his head to glance at the security guard following far behind, and continued to tell a joke about "the eunuch having nothing below" to the little beauty beside him, making He Xin laugh uncontrollably. He Xin walked forward while laughing, but after a short distance, she realized that He Juncai hadn't caught up with her. Turning back, she saw He Juncai staring at a half-naked boy wearing tattered shorts and pulling a rickshaw by the riverbank in utter astonishment.

  This group of ragged trackers pulled the heavy cargo boat upstream with great difficulty. Among them were old men and young boys, all with disheveled hair and exhausted faces. The Jialing River is located in the Sichuan Basin, where there is little wind to utilize, so boats can only rely on human power to go upstream. From the Three Gorges to entering Sichuan, they had to pull the boat, all the way to the place where goods were loaded upstream.

  He Junci was stunned because he thought it was too coincidental. The familiar face of the young man in front of him wasn't his own grandfather, was it? He Junci remembered that his grandfather used to be a rickshaw puller until just before liberation when he had saved up enough money to buy his own boat, made a trip to Shanghai, sold the boat and brought back the money, only to have the hard-earned cash turn into worthless scraps of paper after liberation, which ended up being pasted on the wall.

  "What's the matter, sir?" the young man asked timidly. The entire rowing team stopped and stared at this strange-acting officer, behind whom stood a lovely woman in military uniform.

  "Grandpa, you are indeed my grandpa." He Juncai shouted in his heart, but he didn't dare say it out loud, or else He Xinfei would drag him to see a psychiatrist.

  "There's nothing going on, I just want to see how you guys pull the wool over each other's eyes." He Junci explained his strange behavior and turned to He Xin, "Hey, um, do you still have money?"

  "What's wrong? I didn't bring much today either." He Xin smiled as she looked at He Juncai, this lieutenant colonel and regimental commander had actually never taken his own allowance.

  "Give it all to me, I'll return it later." He Jiancai said gently. He had originally wanted to take his "grandfather" away, but thinking about it, if he changed history and wasn't born, what would happen? So he decided to support his grandfather instead.

  He Juncai handed over the roll of money that He Xinhui had passed to him, and then distributed it among the trackers. However, he secretly gave some more to Grandfather. Facing the crowd's puzzled gaze, He Juncai said: "Just now seeing everyone's hard work made me think of my own family members. This money is for everyone to share. It would be better if you could buy a boat and run it yourself, pulling rickshaws is too tiring."

  Pulling the raft is hard work, hot and humid in summer, cold and gloomy in winter. In order to facilitate climbing and getting into the water, one has no choice but to wear only shorts, and even go without pants when outdoors. This is a physically demanding job, as can be seen from the deep scars left on the rocks by the ropes. Later, He Juncai's grandfather suffered from severe varicose veins due to being exposed to dampness in the water when he was young, and would feel severe pain whenever it was cold.

  Although the crowd was dissatisfied with the explanation of the nobleman they met today, the legal tender in their hands was solid. At this time, the legal tender was still relatively strong, and a stack of legal tender in each person's hand was enough to live a good life for a while. So everyone thanked them excitedly, picked up the reins, and continued on their way, professional quality requirements forced them to complete this trip "River Road" before making other plans.

  He Juncai watched as the young man disappeared into the distance, silently wishing his grandfather well. At the same time, he also made up his mind to do his best to improve the lives of the people!

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  "Hey, General He!" He Xin suddenly jumped in front of He Juncai, blocking his line of sight. "You don't like that young man, do you?" He Xin looked at He Juncai with a strange gaze.

  "Don't worry, I only like beautiful ladies like you, I have no interest in men." He Juncai said with a chuckle, struggling to withdraw his gaze.

  "You said there were fun places, let's go quickly." He Xin had been on the floating base for several months and was almost suffocated. She felt her face turn red from He Juncai's teasing.

  "Alright, let's go for a walk at Qingquan Mountain."

  In the mountains five kilometers north of Nanchong City, there is a famous temple called Qingyuan Temple. According to the ancient stele preserved in the temple, which dates back to the 14th year of Wanli (1586) and the 22nd year of Qianlong (1757), the temple was first built during the Zhenzong period of the Tang Dynasty (around 630 AD). In the second year of Dazhong Xiangfu of Song Zhenzong (1009 AD), it was renamed Qingyuan Temple. The temple suffered severe damage in a fire at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. In the 13th year of Wanli of Ming Shenzong (1585 AD), the abbot of the temple, Changqing Dashi, raised funds and repaired the temple, expanding its scale. Every year on January 9th, April 8th, and October 15th, a grand ceremony is held at the temple, with incense burning and worshipers praying for peace. The temple was destroyed again during the war at the end of the Ming Dynasty. During the Kangxi period (around 1670 AD), the magistrate of Shunqing Prefecture and officials from eight counties led the reconstruction of the temple. In February of the 18th year of Qianlong (1753 AD), the high-ranking monk Zucheng was invited to take up residence in the temple. He Juncai compared the current state of the temple with its past, noting that it had been damaged during the late Republic period and not rebuilt until 1981. Compared to the past, the current Qingyuan Temple has a more solemn atmosphere but lacks the smell of incense.

  After visiting the ancient temple, He Juncai wouldn't forget to let Mei experience the delicious food of Nanchong. As a host, he introduced her to Nanchong's rice noodles, liangfen and various snacks, making her praise non-stop. It seems that beautiful Chinese women from past to present all love good food, He Juncai thought secretly, and he couldn't help but eat a lot too. Of course, the money was extorted by the security guard, neither of them had any money left on them.

  When entering the city, He Juncai specially ordered the driver to take a detour to the ancient city wall gate near the main street of Nanxian County, where there were several newly engraved characters on the east side of the stone wall - "Resist War to the End". These large characters with a diameter of about 1.2 meters were written by Lu Wushan in 1939 and carved by craftsmen to inspire the Chinese people to resist Japan and save the country from invasion. Later, this stone tablet was removed due to urban construction (to be honest, I don't know why it had to be done), He Juncai only saw its replica.

  In the city of Nanchong, there are still many traces of Japanese bombing. In early May 1940, according to Plan No. 101, Japan first bombed Nanchong, with the target being the outskirts of Nanchong, resulting in relatively minor losses. However, when He Juncai was about to return to Nanchong, the city suffered heavy damage.

  In August, the bombing coincided with a market day, and farmers from all over the countryside flocked to the city to sell their produce. The entire city of Nanchong was bustling with people, and the streets were filled with the sounds of hawkers and shoppers. At 11 am, 48 Japanese Army Air Service bombers flew over Nanchong, flying so low that the rising sun emblem on their planes was clearly visible. The enemy planes began dropping leaflets. Some alert citizens fled to the outskirts of the city with their families, but unfortunately, there were too many people and not enough space, causing a massive jam. After dropping the leaflets, the enemy planes dropped incendiary bombs and explosives along the riverbank from Xiaonanmen to Wulituan, causing widespread fires and destruction. Then, they strafed the area from Sanguantang to Daximen with machine guns, killing countless residents in an instant. Finally, the enemy planes flew over Mulao Township and dropped numerous bombs and incendiary devices over the city in three waves. The air was filled with smoke, flames shot up into the sky, buildings collapsed, and the sound of explosions was incessant.

  Enemy planes wreaked havoc and flew away triumphantly. Many people were killed or injured in the city, with corpses everywhere. Especially in the areas of Dadongmen's wine and oil market, San Gong Temple's chicken and duck hay market, Waiwuhui Temple and Guojiang Building's rice market, as well as the silk market street and Xiaoximen area, piles of bodies were killed by machine guns and bombs. Later, rescue teams only cleaned up a few main streets and several markets, and found over 1,300 corpses.

  These things He Juncai had heard from his elders when he was young, but now seeing the ruins of the rebuilt walls and bullet holes on the city wall, he could truly feel the threat of death. It was these threats that pushed him to change the face of the war of resistance.

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  The time spent with the beauty returning to her hometown is always short-lived. Although he had taken two days off, the airport incident made He Juncai rush back to handle it. After all, improving people's lives and changing China's situation is his goal. When riding a jeep back to Duwei Ba Airport, He Juncai noticed that the airport engineering department had indeed begun organizing laborers to build simple houses next to the airport. This made him breathe a sigh of relief, having a place to live was the beginning of a new life, and he sincerely hoped to help these struggling laborers improve their living conditions. Prohibiting corruption is one aspect, and on the other hand, China's labor output and efficiency must also be increased.

  As he sat back in the cramped liaison transport plane, the sky had gradually darkened. He Juncai furrowed his brow in thought about China's future amidst the turbulence of the plane. When he first arrived in this time and space, he was at a loss and directly chose to rely on the nominal ruler of China in this era. Indeed, over the past few months, the air force had been developing in the direction he had hoped for, but fundamentally, this government needed a revolution. The National Government had already begun to lose its vitality.

  "Perhaps this matter should be discussed with Chiang Kai-shek." He Juncai said to himself. The roar of the plane covered his voice.

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