Training the Heavens

Chapter 378 Preparations for Internal Relocation
A coded telegram from Peking was delivered to Zhang Xingjiu. The gist of the message was: "Mr. Zhou Ping, the situation is becoming increasingly tense. I'm afraid the plan you made earlier will have to be activated."

The sender of the letter was Mei Yiqi, president of Tsinghua University. Back when Zhang Xingjiu was heading north, he had expressed similar concerns: "As for whether I can continue to study peacefully in this way during this academic year and the next, it is uncertain at this moment."

At this year's annual opening ceremony, Secretary-General Shen Lu clearly stated, "Tsinghua is located in Peking, and Peking is now the forefront of national defense. This is an undeniable fact."

In addition to Zhang Xingjiu's reminder, Tsinghua University had begun preparing to evacuate Peking a long time ago. There were two main opinions about the evacuation location. Some people thought that Xi'an was suitable, and some people proposed moving to Hunan because they believed that Japan's invasion would never reach as far as Hunan, and Hunan produced rice. Even if Japan wanted to blockade China, Tsinghua faculty and students would not starve.

Mei Yiqi supported going to Hunan. He once decided to stop the construction of the large-scale liberal arts and law school buildings, and prepared to transfer 40 yuan of infrastructure funds to Yuelu Mountain in Changsha to build a new school building as a retreat in case of war in North China.

However, Zhang Xingjiu expressed a different opinion. Because when the Japanese pirates launch an attack in the future, their target will definitely not only be North China. They will definitely use their naval advantage to attack important economic areas along the coast and then go straight to Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China. If Nanjing is lost, Changsha will not be safe. They will definitely go upstream along the Yangtze River to attack Wuhan, Changsha and other places.

Their planes can even directly bomb Tsinghua University’s new campus in Changsha, so if you want to leave, go further.

From this perspective, Xi'an is more suitable than Changsha. It is not easy for the Japanese to reach Xi'an because of the natural barriers such as Zhongtiao Mountain and the Yellow River. However, Xi'an is relatively poor and has limited grain production. It is probably difficult to accommodate so many teachers and students. Moreover, it is relatively cold in winter, requiring additional heating expenses, which is also a considerable amount.

If it were just one or two schools, there would be no problem. However, this time, there will definitely be more than just Tsinghua University going south. Peking University, Nankai University and other schools will also be going. This is beyond the capacity of Xi'an.

So after comprehensive consideration, Zhang Xingjiu proposed to set up the school in Kunming, the rear area of ​​the southwest. It is far away from the front line, so teachers and students can carry out their teaching work with more peace of mind.

At the same time, Yunnan has a subtropical climate with good water and heat conditions, and crops can be harvested twice or even three times a year, so it is much easier to feed these teachers and students than in Xi'an; plus, Kunming has spring all year round, which reduces a lot of expenses.

After some consideration, Mei Yiqi and Zhang Xingjiu convened a meeting to discuss the matter and finally passed the plan to choose Kunming as the base. The 400,000 yuan of funds was also sent to Kunming, and with the help of Zhang Xingjiu's old acquaintances such as Dong Ze, they began to select a site for the construction of the school building.

Finally, the school was located on the east bank of Dianchi Lake, which is the location of the Haigeng base in later generations. It is far away from the city and suitable for students to study.

In addition to Tsinghua University, Zhang Xingjiu also persuaded northern universities such as Peking University, Nankai University, and Shandong University, as well as southern universities such as Xiamen University, Zhejiang University, and Sun Yat-sen University. As for Aurora University, it had already made preparations for moving south early on.

These schools pooled their resources to purchase a large amount of land along the shores of Dianchi Lake, quickly turning the area into a bustling construction site. They hoped to complete the school buildings as quickly as possible so that upon their arrival in Kunming, teachers and students could immediately begin resuming classes. At the same time, each school began to inventory and organize its valuable resources, including books, equipment, and teaching materials. At the end of last year, Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Nankai University secretly shipped a batch of books and equipment to Shanghai. Each shipment consisted of 50 train cars, each containing approximately 40 boxes—three times the number originally reported.

These equipment and books will become very important teaching equipment for Southwest Associated University in the future, and will play an extremely important role in ensuring the normal teaching and limited scientific research of the university.

Aurora University also joined forces with several universities in Shanghai, as well as schools in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places, and also raised a large number of equipment, books and other supplies. Zhang Xingjiu specially hired a French cargo ship to transport these supplies to Haiphong Port in Vietnam, and then changed to a train here and sent them to Kunming via the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway.

Why not go through China instead of going through Vietnam? There is really no other way. The Republic of China has been established for more than 20 years, and the construction of transportation in China is still slow. There are not many railways in the southwest region. It is very difficult to transport so many materials to Kunming.

If we first use the Yangtze River shipping to send the goods to Sichuan, and then hire a horse caravan in Sichuan to transport the goods to Kunming, it will be time-consuming and labor-intensive. The most important thing is that the road is not safe. It would be a pity if these precious supplies were stolen by bandits or even warlord soldiers.

Therefore, they can only go through Vietnam. In the original history, when Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University moved inland, two-thirds of the teachers and students entered Yunnan via the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. Zhang Xingjiu is just rehearsing this route in advance so that problems can be discovered and solved in time. In this way, when the official relocation is made in the future, more teachers and students can be sent to Kunming safely.

Upon receiving the telegram, Zhang Xingjiu immediately headed north. Tsinghua University President Mei Yiqi, Peking University President Jiang Menglin, Nankai University President Zhang Boling, and others were shocked to see him. "Mr. Zhouping, the Japanese are about to invade. It's too dangerous for you to come to Peking at this time. The Japanese have always regarded you as a thorn in their side."

"The school's relocation is a serious matter. You haven't been to Kunming, but I've traveled all over the country. You'll have to listen to me when the time comes to decide on the relocation route." Zhang Xingjiu explained, then raised his hand to stop their persuasion. "Now's not the time for nonsense. Let's come up with a charter!"

"First, each school should immediately establish a school relocation committee to be fully responsible for relocation matters, and clearly define the responsibilities and ranking order of each committee member, so that when the time comes, there will be no one to make the final decision, and there will be no wasted time in communication."

In the original history, when the Japanese launched the Lugou Bridge Incident, these principals were all in Lushan attending a talk meeting on national affairs convened by Zheng Sanfazi. They could only rely on telegrams to communicate with the school. The Nationalist government was also slow to make decisions. It was not until mid-August that it decided to relocate the school. By then, the Japanese had already entered the city.

These problems caused the schools to waste a lot of valuable time, and a large amount of equipment, books and supplies could not be withdrawn, and even many teachers and students were killed.

The first thing Zhang Xingjiu needs to solve now is this problem. He hopes that all schools can withdraw faster by then.

(End of this chapter)