Chapter 57: Tang Anxi Army Looking at the thousands of ancient books, the students majoring in classical literature felt like they were going crazy. It was too crazy. They had never seen such a purchase. However, they like it. Facing the ancient books, they burst out with unprecedented passion. After learning the dragon-slaying technique, there must be a place to put it to good use! Liu Hongmin also sorted out ancient books. He wanted to keep himself busy during this period. But he stopped writing novels because he couldn't help but write the name of Zha Jianying. He read history books all day long, after class, while eating and going to the toilet, and even when lying on the boat at night, reading until he fell asleep. Xu Liancheng and his classmates were transferred to a new dormitory in the new semester. The students who transferred here all had good relationships with Liu Hongmin. The dormitory became more harmonious, and Liu Hongmin became more bored. Although Xu Liancheng and his classmates were annoying, if they were here at this time, they might become a channel for Liu Hongmin to vent his emotions. Now that the channel is gone, Liu Hongmin can only keep the matter to himself. The classmates who had a good relationship with Liu Hongmin all surrounded him, fearing that he would do something bad. Liu Hongmin was still there, but he just became much quieter and did not have any thoughts of committing suicide. However, the history book in his hand changed from "Records of the Grand Historian" to "Book of Han" and finally to "Zizhi Tongjian". The semester is only halfway through, but Liu Hongmin has already read most of the Twenty-Four Histories.
On this day, he saw the last record about the Anxi Army of the Tang Dynasty. In May, Anxi was cut off and no one knew whether it survived or not. Is that all? Liu Hongmin was disappointed. The Tang Dynasty's Anxi Army was trapped in an isolated city and stationed in the Western Regions for half a century. Compared with them, what did I do? In ancient times, there was the Anxi Army of the Tang Dynasty, and now there are soldiers guarding the border. Far away from the motherland, facing the endless border, always be vigilant against the arrival of the enemy. One or two days is nothing, but to persevere for a year, two years or even decades is something that ordinary people cannot do. Liu Hongmin can't do it, so he particularly admires such people. So, he decided to do something. An advertisement slowly emerged in his mind, "The Last Transfer in Mobei of the Tang Dynasty". The film is only 16 minutes long, but the content it tells is beyond the reach of many movies. So Liu Hongmin picked up his pen again and wrote down this story. Liu Hongmin wrote the manuscript of more than 20,000 words very carefully. After finishing it, he revised it repeatedly until half a month later. Liu Hongmin originally wanted to continue to vote for "Beijing Literature and Art", but he gave up the idea as soon as he came up with it. "Beijing Literature and Art" is a memory point for him and Zha Jianying. Many of their topics are about "Beijing Literature and Art", "My Brothers and Sisters", "The Judge of the Song Dynasty", "Mrs. Li", and Zhang Dening... It’s better to submit your article somewhere else! I wonder what the editors of "Beijing Literature and Art" would think if they knew that Liu Hongmin gave up submitting articles to them because of Cha Jianying. Since "The Judge Advocate of the Song Dynasty" was published by Beijing University Press and became a hot seller, many magazines have asked Liu Hongmin to collect manuscripts, including famous magazines such as "Harvest", "October", "Contemporary", "Huacheng", and "Zhongshan". Therefore, Liu Hongmin has many choices. He didn't even need to send out a message, He Qizhi from "Contemporary" heard the news and rushed directly to Liu Hongmin's dormitory. "Teacher He!" Zhao Zhizhong greeted He Qizhi, then walked out to avoid suspicion. Liu Hongmin was speechless. Do you really think I don’t know that you and He Qizhi are from the same hometown? He Qizhi said with a smile: "Hongmin, I heard that you wrote a short story?" "You are really well-informed." He Qizhi laughed and looked at Liu Hongmin expectantly, "Can you show it to me?" Liu Hongmin handed the manuscript over, and He Qizhi read it carefully. The more he read, the more serious his face became. He obviously found that this short story was different from Liu Hongmin's previous novels. Liu Hongmin's previous novels were more entertaining in nature. Even "The Judge of the Song Dynasty" was different from those pure literary works. But for those who are not very knowledgeable in literature, such works are very friendly and can open up the market for magazines. Purely literary articles can also increase sales, but that is to snatch audiences from other magazines. The two are different. Purely entertainment magazines such as Story Club quickly became top sellers from the very beginning, surpassing many old magazines. Their readership was not snatched from other magazines, but converted into readers by those with low literary attainments.
Therefore, despite the decline in literary quality, there are still magazines willing to publish his novels. Magazines also want results. For leaders, this is a political achievement, and for editors, this is a bonus. The Last Military Expenses of the Anxi Army of the Tang Dynasty is a work of pure literature. The first half of the novel tells the story of the An-Shi Rebellion, when the Anxi Army, the main force of the Tang army in the Western Regions, returned to Chang'an to quell the rebellion. The Tubo took the opportunity to invade the four Anxi towns, which had little defense. Hexi and Longyou were lost one after another, and the Anxi Protectorate lost contact with the Central Plains. As a result, this iron-blooded main force that quelled the rebellion became a border defense force forgotten by the court. The subsequent story unfolds between the Anxi Army soldier Guo Yuanzheng who was escorting the military funds and the refugee Lu Shisi. Lu Shisi was originally a deserter who wanted to steal the military funds at any time, but was eventually influenced by Guo Yuanzheng. After Guo Yuanzheng died in battle, Lu Shisi inherited his mission and delivered the military funds to Xizhou with great difficulty. At the end of the novel, Liu Hongmin used Wang Changling's "Marching to the Army" to point out the theme. "The long clouds from Qinghai darken the snow-capped mountains, the lonely city looks out at Yumen Pass, the yellow sands have worn through my golden armor after a hundred battles, I will not return until I have conquered Loulan!" He Qizhi blinked and held back the tears in his eyes. With red eyes, he said to Liu Hongmin: "Hongmin, this novel must be published in Contemporary Journal." Liu Hongmin looked at his hand tightly holding the manuscript and said, "I said no, what can you do?" "Of course not!" He Qizhi said firmly: "If you don't agree, I will keep talking to you." "Okay!" Liu Hongmin said indifferently, "Take the manuscript back with you!" You hold it so tightly, I can't get it back even if I want to, right? He Qizhi didn't care what he thought, as long as he got the manuscript, it was better than anything else. "Then I'll go back first. After it's reviewed, I'll talk to you about the remuneration." "What's there to talk about? Just bring the money back to me." Liu Hongmin said nonchalantly that the remuneration he could get now was already the maximum, 10 yuan per thousand words. Not a cent more, because this was the remuneration standard stipulated by the state. More than 200 yuan for more than 20,000 words, Liu Hongmin didn't care about this little money at all. But he still had to take the money, which was just enough to live and cook in the courtyard and entertain the students of the classical literature major for a semester. (End of this chapter)
