Training the Heavens

Chapter 380 Leaving Shanghai
It was summer vacation at the time, and first, second, and third-year students from Tsinghua University, Peking University, and other universities in Peking were conducting military exercises at a summer camp in Miaofeng Mountain in the western suburbs of Peking. More than 200 fourth-year graduates stayed on campus to find jobs and prepare for graduate school and government-funded student exams to study in the United States. Most of the faculty and staff were on campus.

Upon learning that the war had broken out, Mei Yiqi decisively implemented the plan for internal relocation according to the contingency plan. He immediately packed up his personal belongings and distributed them to all teachers and students, gathering them together and preparing them to depart at any time.

At the same time, we quickly packed up the equipment, books, and materials that were still left in the school. The boxes had been prepared long ago and were numbered. Various materials had also been numbered. Now we just had to put the items into the corresponding boxes according to the numbers.

The most troublesome thing now is the train cars. Once the war broke out, the train station was crowded with people preparing to go south to avoid the war. Fortunately, there were students from various universities working in the railway department. Mei Yiqi also followed Zhang Xingjiu's instructions and established connections in advance, which secured the precious train cars for the school's relocation to the south.

The teachers and students immediately lined up in an orderly manner, jogged all the way to the train station, and quickly boarded the train. A group of specially selected teachers and students used a small number of cars and a large number of rickshaws to transport the packed equipment and materials onto the train, and arranged for special personnel to guard both ends of the carriage.

With Zhang Xingjiu's advance reminder, a detailed relocation plan was formulated, and several simulation drills were conducted in advance, the relocation work of these universities is now much more efficient than in the original history. In just a few days, the teachers and students who were willing to leave left Peking and Tianjin, and most of the materials and equipment that could be taken away were also taken away. Some of them really could not be taken away, so they were simply distributed to the nearby people. This is better than letting the Japanese take them away in the future.

There were still a few teachers and students who were unwilling to leave, and Mei Yiqi had no choice but to let them stay and told them that if they wanted to go to Kunming in the future, the school would always welcome them.

Zhang Xingjiu, Zhang Boling, Jiang Menglin and others left Lushan and immediately rushed to Shanghai. When they arrived, Aurora University and many other universities in Shanghai had already made preparations for relocation. Their preparations were even more thorough than those of Tsinghua University and Peking University, because this was Zhang Xingjiu's base camp. He had been operating in Shanghai for more than 40 years and his words were much more effective than those in the north.

Some church schools and schools funded by foreign funds remained indifferent. They felt that even if the Japanese attacked Shanghai, they would not dare to touch them, and they were very safe staying in the concession.

Zhang Xingjiu didn't have any better solution for this. He could only arrange people to persuade the students and Chinese teachers of these schools as much as possible, promising that they could still teach and study in the new schools when they arrived in Kunming. This did attract some teachers and students to leave with them, but the foreign consuls were quite dissatisfied with this and repeatedly found Zhang Xingjiu to protest.

Zhang Xingjiu had already hired foreign ships in advance based on the actual situation. The teachers and students from Shanghai universities set off first with supplies and students, while the teachers and students from the north took the second ship.

He knew very well that the Japanese were planning to launch an all-out war this time. Once Peking fell, Shanghai would suffer unprecedented fierce attacks. Time was the most precious thing at this time, and it would be best to leave first, to avoid the Japanese navy coming and forcing the ships back to Shanghai or even sinking them directly.

You have to know that the two ships carry the academic elite of the entire China. Once the attack is successful, China will suffer extremely heavy losses. If this is possible, even if the ships are American, they will be destroyed. The worst that can happen is that we will have to pay compensation and apologize to the American devils afterwards.

All the teachers and students left, but Zhang Xingjiu and Ma Xiangbo stayed. They still had a lot of work to do, such as welcoming teachers and students from the north and dealing with the relevant assets of Aurora University.

Aurora University was no ordinary institution. It also owned numerous factories, many of which were located in Shanghai. These factories provided valuable funding for Aurora University, and achieved world-class standards in areas such as alkali production and MSG production. It would be a shame to leave such factories to the Japanese. Therefore, any equipment that could be removed was dismantled and shipped away as quickly as possible. If it was impossible or too late to dismantle, explosives were simply installed in key locations and trusted personnel were left to guard them. If the Japanese didn't break into Shanghai, the equipment would simply collapse. If they did, they would be immediately detonated. It was better to destroy it than leave it to the Japanese.

Various written materials are of utmost importance. We must not let these precious things fall into the hands of the Japanese. We should take away as much as possible, and burn those that cannot be taken away directly. Not even a piece of paper will be left for the Japanese.

Fortunately, because of Zhang Xingjiu, the plans formulated by the northern universities were very detailed and anticipated various emergencies, so there was not much delay. Most of the teachers and students from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nankai University and other universities arrived in Shanghai smoothly.

They continued to take the second ship south to Haiphong Port in Vietnam. The equipment dismantled from the factory and the valuable information were also loaded onto the ship. Everything was ready. As long as Zhang Xingjiu gave the order, the ship would soon set sail.

But Ma Xiangbo refused to leave no matter what. He stood at the gate of Aurora University, saw off the last batch of teachers and students, and turned around to go back to the school. Zhang Xingjiu quickly pulled him back and said, "Father-in-law, the school is empty now. Why are you going back?"

"I won't leave, Zhou Ping. I'm almost a hundred years old. Why am I still struggling at this age? Just let me live and die with Aurora University!" Ma Xiangbo said tremblingly with tears in his eyes.

He was born in the year of the Opium War and is 98 years old this year. It is really hard for the old man to get over the humiliation he has suffered at such an old age.

Zhang Xingjiu knew very well that playing the family card was useless at this time, so he chose another approach. "Father-in-law, precisely because the national situation is so difficult right now, you can't give up at this time. Going to Kunming to rebuild the school is complicated, and it requires an elder like you to take charge. This is your responsibility, and you absolutely cannot ignore it."

"How could our country become like this? Even I, a hundred-year-old old man, can't have peace!" Ma Xiangbo shook his head and smiled bitterly, but still accepted Zhang Xingjiu's persuasion. Even at this age, he still couldn't let go of these students.

Zhang Xingjiu was the last one to board the ship. As soon as he stepped onto the deck, the captain immediately ordered to raise the anchor and set sail. Many teachers and students refused to return to the cabin. They held the railings with both hands, looking at the direction of the school with tears in their eyes, until the sailor came over to urge them, and then they left, looking back every few steps.

Ordinary teachers and students could be immersed in sadness, but Zhang Xingjiu, Ma Xiangbo, Mei Yiqi, Jiang Menglin, Zhang Boling and others did not even have time to be sad. They immediately gathered together for a meeting because there were still many things they needed to solve.

(End of this chapter)