Riding the wind of rebirth

"Didn't you all go back to your original work lines? How come the director of the municipal education bureau is busier than the former deputy county head?"

The couple's positions have now undergone another round of adjustments. Because of their outstanding achievements in the education sector, which led to the high college entrance examination pass rate of Jiachuan Middle School, the godmother was first transferred to the position of deputy county head in charge of education, health and sports for a term. Then she was transferred to the city to give full play to her strengths and became the director of the Education Bureau again.

My godfather was also transferred to the city cultural center as its director. At the same time, because of his sharp pen, he also served as the editor-in-chief of the city-level literary journal "Manzhou Literature" and the director of the local history office.

The two elderly people were lucky; they were allocated one of the last batches of welfare housing by their work unit. The conditions in the city-level unit were much better than in the county. The house even had some basic renovations done, which, for the two elderly people, was like a fully furnished apartment.

However, the interior decoration remained simple and unpretentious. In addition to a simple bedroom, the three-bedroom apartment had two studies, which were filled with books. The living room also had three bookshelves, filled with books and Yangtze River stones that had been collected.

"It's busy. The work in a city, not to mention anything else, just the middle schools alone, there are more than a dozen. How can it be the same as in a county? Not only do we have to manage the teaching quality, but we also have to manage the teachers' salaries. It's not that easy."

Zhou Zhi began to understand. These days, even public school teachers' salaries are hard to guarantee, let alone those in private schools. Finding salaries for these people is a difficult task. His godmother must have a lot of similar work to coordinate.

"And what about you? You seem to have a lot of free time," Zhou Zhi joked casually.

“My work is a hobby, and the more I do, the happier I am,” my godfather said with a smile. “So I’m not tired.”

After saying that, he tapped the blueprints on the desk: "For example, this is what we're planning to start working on recently."

"What kind of drawing is this?" Zhou Zhi finally turned his attention to the drawing.

"Take a closer look," the godfather said, as if showing off a treasure.

"This is... judging from the map, the location is Longtou Pass, right?"

“That’s it! It’s Longtou Pass!” Godfather said. “What do you think about building the city museum here?”

"Oh? Manzhou City is going to build a museum too?"

“We’re currently working hard to push it forward.” The godfather nodded. “You’ve built museums before, what do you think?”

“My museum is really just a place to store my collection,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “It’s quite different from yours. But Longtou Pass is indeed a good place, with a rich history for Manzhou.”

Many of China's ancient historical cities are located on peninsulas formed by the confluence of two rivers. Building a city on such a peninsula would give the defenders a significant advantage in terms of waterways, facilitating the flow of supplies and providing free access to moats in three directions. The defenders would only need to focus on defending the direction from which the city comes from the land.

Manzhou Ancient City is located in such a position, on a peninsula between the confluence of the Tuojiang River and the Yangtze River. By land, one can travel upstream along the Tuojiang River to reach Yandu.

In the northwest of the peninsula lies a uniquely advantageous high ground. One side of the high ground is a sheer cliff overlooking the river, making it impassable, while the other side is relatively low and flat, serving as a vital passage in and out of the peninsula. The ancients chose this location first, utilizing the high ground to build a strategic pass, allowing them to command a high vantage point and defend the peninsula from invasion. The earliest complete pass was constructed during the Shu Han period, stretching for several miles along the banks of the Chang and Tuo rivers, directly isolating the peninsula from the outside world, with only a gate for entry and exit. Later, during the Song and Qing dynasties, it was further fortified, with the addition of artillery emplacements and other facilities, becoming a crucial defensive stronghold for Sichuan throughout history.

Later, as the threat from the Yuan army grew, Yu Jie, a famous minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, built another similar strategic pass on a peninsula in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and named it Shenbi City.

The two passes, one above and one below, one south of the river and the other north of the river, are like the left and right arms of Manzhou City, repeatedly causing invaders to suffer defeats at the city's gates, earning it the title of "Iron-clad Manzhou".

Later, as the population of Manzhou City grew and the city expanded, it long exceeded the protection range of Longtou Pass. The old Manzhou City was transformed into a district of the city, namely Jiangyang District.

Although the capital of Manzhou changed frequently during the dynastic transitions, the important geographical location of Longtou Pass always determined its status. It can be said that if it was there, Manzhou would be there; if it was lost, Manzhou would be lost. As the site of the museum representing the history of Manzhou, it really knew how to choose a location.

“Since it’s a historical site, it needs to be protected.” Zhou Zhi thought of a problem: “Protecting and rebuilding at the same time would cost much more than building a museum alone.”

“That’s not all,” the godfather said. “As people’s living standards improve, the current state of development also requires cities to provide more places for leisure and entertainment. At present, Manzhou only has Zhongshan Park and a dock that is used by citizens as a park for dancing every night. That’s all. The supporting facilities in this regard are very inadequate.”

“Since the Longtouguan site itself needs protection and development cannot be carried out around it, let’s simply expand the area further, restore the official city on the site as a tourist attraction, build a supporting cultural relics park around it, and build a museum on the other side of the park. This way, we can achieve many goals such as cultural relics protection, research, open exhibitions, and increase entertainment venues for citizens.”

“If it’s just a project to protect the ruins of the fortress, or just to build a museum, the city will definitely feel the pinch spending so much money.” The godfather put on a kind, innocent smile. “But if it only costs a little more than one project, but achieves the effect of implementing three projects at the same time, the city will feel it’s a good deal.”

Zhou Zhi couldn't help but laugh: "This is a really clever plan. Godfather, is this the kind of expression you used to win over the provincial and municipal leaders?"

“You’re underestimating the leaders’ abilities.” The godfather gave Zhou Zhi a serious reprimand: “Even a skilled cook can’t make a meal without rice. In addition to a reason, the most important thing for a project to start is the policy and financial support from the higher authorities. We need to find reasons and financial support for the leaders, and they have to be very convincing.”

"So you've come up with the reasons for rebuilding Longtou Pass, along with the reasons for building the park and museum?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"Hehehe, have you forgotten the Manzhou Uprising?" The godfather was extremely proud: "I have already verified that the command headquarters of the Manzhou Uprising was set up in Longtou Pass!"

"Amazing!" Zhou Zhi couldn't help but give his godfather a thumbs up.

The Manzhou Uprising was an uprising that took place on December 1, 1926. Although it failed, it holds great significance in the history of the Chinese revolution and the founding of the People's Army.

The leaders of the uprising were veteran proletarian revolutionaries Yang Angong, Zhu De, and Liu Bocheng; the aim was to overthrow the warlords and coordinate with the Northern Expedition; the uprising was as large as a brigade; later, it was besieged by 100,000 troops from Sichuan and Guizhou, but it still held firm at Longtou Pass, and Manzhou City remained as stable as Mount Tai.

Although the uprising failed, it was the first urban defense battle led by the Party, in which the army fought against the old warlords for 167 days; it was an important war experience during the first period of cooperation; and given the leader's identity, Longtouguan was fully qualified to establish an uprising exhibition hall.

Such an exhibition hall can secure substantial policy and financial support from higher authorities, which is sufficient as a reason to launch the project and for the first phase of funding. (End of Chapter)