Gold is a hard currency, and there is a saying that is "antiques and gold in troubled times". During turbulent times, gold is the best property savings.

At that time, gold bars, also commonly known as "yellow croaker", have always been the strongest and most recognized equivalent among the people. The raw materials for the yellow croaker were gold bricks imported from the United States. After being cut by the Central Mint of the National Government at that time, they were used to press and roll the semi-automatic gold bars into gold bars of different weights.

Gold bars are based on "two" as the basic weight unit. Generally speaking, gold bars are divided into three types, namely ten taels, five taels and one taels. Of course, there are also other specifications such as half a quantity. For ordinary people, one tael of gold bars are generally called small yellow croakers, and 10 taels of gold bars are naturally large yellow croakers. The gold bars made by the Central Mint will be filled with words such as Central Mint, dates, etc.

However, the Republic of China implemented the "16 taels per pound", which means that one tael of "small yellow croaker" actually weighed not 50 grams, but 31.25 grams, and 10 taels of "big yellow croaker" actually weighed 312.5 grams.

The 31.25 grams "small yellow croaker" is about the same size as the nail cover, while the "big yellow croaker" is generally about the same size as a Snickers. The long and thick gold bars in later TV series are basically deceptive, and it is impossible to carry dozens of gold bricks in a sack. With the quality of gold, it is difficult to hold a gold brick, but it is impossible to carry a sack.

Calculated based on the gold content of the US dollar at that time, an ounce of gold can be exchanged for about 35 US dollars. Under the trophy system, 1 ounce is equal to 31.103 grams, so 1 ounce of gold is slightly lighter than a "small yellow croaker", with a difference of only 0.15 grams. A "small yellow croaker" at that time can also be regarded as an ounce of gold, worth 35 US dollars.

If you count it this way, a "big yellow croaker" is equivalent to $350. The two gold bars Wu Youyuan gave to Chen Qiang are worth $700!

According to the exchange rate of USD to silver dollar in 1932, a dollar can be exchanged for about 2.84 silver dollars, and 700 USD can be exchanged for at least 2,000 silver dollars on the black market. The USD is stronger than silver dollars, and there will be a premium when exchanged.

Chen Qiang originally had a funding gap of 1,900 oceans, but now with these two "big yellow croakers", the funding gap is instantly gone.

Now Chen Qiang has collected 6,000 oceans. With this funding, it should be more than enough to go to the United States to participate in the Olympics.

Next, Chen Qiang doesn't have to go to Hangzhou and Guangzhou anymore. He decided to return to Tianjin for the first time to make the final pre-match preparations.

The next day, Chen Qiang went to the Telegram Office and told Zhang Boling the good news.

...

Japan Sports Association.

Kenjiro Nakano hurriedly walked into Kishi Kishi's office.

"President, this is a telegram sent by the Consulate General in Tianjin. Chen Qiang has returned to Tianjin." Kenjiro Nakano presented the telegram to Kiyukuni.

An Qingyi flipped through the calendar book he had made, looked at the date, and then said, "If you calculate the time, Chen Qiang should have returned directly from Shanghai. He did not go to other cities to raise funds. It seems that he has realized that it is impossible to raise funds to participate in the United States, so he gave up this method!"

A few days ago, An Qingyi learned that Chen Qiang's fundraising in Nanjing was very unsuccessful. He went to several universities in a row, but few were willing to donate.

At that time, An Qingyi was still sighing that the public opinion war launched this time was very effective. To promote the theory that "the Olympics are useless", the Chinese actually believed it.

"It's really a foolish nation. Everyone only cares about the interests in front of them, but does not understand the meaning of honor! They will definitely say that honor cannot be eaten as food, so what's the use of coming? But they don't know that if people live without goals, without faith, just to fill their stomachs, then what's the difference between it and animals! If a country and a nation only look at the present and not on the future, how can it be great!" An Qingyi said.

"President, do we still have to pay attention to Chen Qiang next?" Kenjiro Nakano asked.

"Chen Qiang is the world's top athlete, but what is the value of a 'world' who cannot participate in the Olympics?" An Qingyi said with a smile.

Kenjiro Nakano nodded: "What the president said is that if I were Chen Qiang, I would be very disappointed now! The Chinese government does not allocate funds for him to participate in the competition and goes to the private sector to raise funds, the Chinese people will not support him. What he does and the efforts he puts in, in the eyes of others, are all meaningless things. It is really sad..."

...

An Qingyi obviously made a wrong judgment. He never expected that there would be a gambling king in the Republic of China who directly gave Chen Qiang two gold bars, so that Chen Qiang would not have to continue raising funds and could return to Tianjin in advance to prepare for the competition.

This time at the Los Angeles Olympics, Chen Qiang signed up for five events, namely 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, long jump and triple jump. Although there are a lot of numbers, it is not an exaggeration. After all, it is common for athletes in this era to be able to be able to be. In addition to registering for the decathlon, some decathlon athletes will also register for two additional events they are good at.

American legendary track and field athlete Jesse Owens signed up for four events at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and all four events won the Olympic gold medal.

Chen Qiang once showed his strength in three sprint events, but Chen Qiang has never appeared in the competition in the long jump and triple jump events. If it were later, an athlete had never participated in a certain event and had to participate in the Olympic Games of this event. This is simply incredible.

However, in the 1930s, there were not so many Olympic competitions, and there were no Olympic A-marks and b-marks. As long as you register, you would basically be allowed to participate.

Moreover, there are many people who do not come to participate in the Olympic Games after registration. Some unpopular events may just barely collect the lowest number of participants. Therefore, every athlete who really stands on the Olympic Games is very precious. If an athlete wants to try more events and provide more popularity to the competition, the organizer will never stop it, but will give it convenience.

Therefore, even if Chen Qiang has not participated in the long jump and triple jump competition, it will not affect his participation in the Olympics' long jump and triple jump events.

After Chen Qiang returned to Tianjin, he told Zhang Boling about his experience in this fundraising and the donation of two gold bars by Wu Youyuan.

Zhang Boling was also very surprised. He didn't expect that Chen Qiang would eventually raise enough funds for the competition in such a dramatic way.

In fact, these days, Zhang Boling has also helped Chen Qiang raise charity funds, and the process of raising charity funds is similar to what Chen Qiang expected. It is very unsuccessful. Not many people are willing to support Chen Qiang in the United States to participate in the competition. Even the boss who paid the money will give Zhang Boling some face and symbolically give it some.

If you donate money to build a school, those rich people are still very enthusiastic, but donating money to athletes to compete abroad is not happy. Zhang Boling also repeatedly hits walls during the fundraising process and has eaten a lot of soft nails.

Later, many literati and scholars published articles in newspapers, promoting the "Olympics' useless theory", calling on everyone not to donate money to Chen Qiang, but to donate all the money to disaster areas or the army. With the rhythm of public opinion, Zhang Boling's fundraising work became even more difficult. Some people even said that Zhang Boling was not divided between public and private, and only cared about whether his students could go to the United States to participate in the competition, and ignored the safety of the country.

Zhang Boling is not afraid of his shadow. Although he is not afraid of these rumors, this wave of rhythm has seriously affected the effect of fundraising. There were not many people who were willing to invest money in Chen Qiang, and even fewer afterwards.

Zhang Boling was also anxious when he couldn't find the money and couldn't sleep all night. Fortunately, good news came from Chen Qiang, so Zhang Boling could have a stable sleep.

...

Tianjin Shoe Manufacturing Factory.

Manager Zhang from the shoe factory pushed several shoe boxes in front of Chen Qiang.

"Jian Chen, this is your customized nail running shoes, made completely according to your drawings. Can you see if you are satisfied?" Manager Zhang from the shoe factory said.

"I want to give it a try first. If there is something inappropriate, I need to trouble your master and help me modify it." Chen Qiang said.

"No problem. If there is any discomfort, Chen Jian will just say that we will modify it as soon as possible." Manager Zhang said.

Chen Qiang personally tried every pair of nail running shoes, and then nodded quite satisfied. These specially customized running shoes are much more comfortable than before.

For this Los Angeles Olympics, Chen Qiang went to a shoe factory in Tianjin to customize several pairs of nail running shoes.

The nail running shoes customized by Chen Qiang are different from the nail running shoes of this era. He designed them according to the appearance of nail running shoes in later generations.

The nail running shoes of later generations were scientifically designed and more in line with the principles of ergonomics, and will also help athletes achieve better results. The running shoes of those world's top athletes are full of high-tech elements, from materials to design to production, and there are even many black technology applications.

The shoe manufacturers in the 1930s could not produce any high-tech elements, nor could they have black technology. Even many of the design requirements put forward by Chen Qiang could not meet in this era, so the batch of running shoes customized by Chen Qiang is far less than those of later running shoes. However, compared with those running shoes imported from the United States, it is much stronger.

The running shoes specially customized now are lighter than those imported from the United States, and the design of the shoes is more in line with the ergonomics when running. Even the arrangement of the nails on the soles is more reasonable.

Chen Qiang was not worried that Tianjin's shoe manufacturers would copy their designs and then produce such advanced nail running shoes to sell, because in China, nail running shoes have no market.

There are only a few hundred athletes engaged in sprinting in China. For the sake of a market of hundreds, it is obviously not worth the effort to produce a nail running shoe. What's more, these nail running shoes are all handmade, and the nails must be worn-resistant steel nails imported from the United States. The cost of making is very high. It is not that there is a mine at home that cannot be afforded. Even if it is sold, there is no sales volume.

If you weren't going to participate in the Olympics, Chen Qiang would definitely be reluctant to spend a lot of money to customize running shoes.

Chen Qiang tried every pair of running shoes, and only then did he receive the goods and paid the final payment to Manager Zhang. After all, these are running shoes used to participate in the Olympics, and there is no need to lose money.

After taking the running shoes, Chen Qiang went to the tailor shop run by the Italians and took out the suits that had been customized before, as well as the tuxedo and leather shoes used for the banquet.

At this point, Chen Qiang's equipment for participating in the Los Angeles Olympics was well prepared.

...

At the end of June, Chen Qiang and Zhang Boling arrived in Shanghai, and then met Liu Changchun, who arrived in Shanghai the day earlier, coach Song Junfu, and Hao Gengsheng, president of the China Sports Association.

The last time Chen Qiang met Liu Changchun was at the North China Games last year. Now, after a year, things have changed, and the Northeast has fallen, and Liu Changchun has become an exiled student. In recent months, training conditions have dropped significantly, and even the monthly subsidy is gone.

However, Liu Changchun's overall mental state is still very good, and he looks very motivated. It seems that he is eager to win glory for his country on the Olympics.

After seeing Chen Qiang, Liu Changchun's first words were, "You have grown taller again!"

Chen Qiang has indeed grown taller and stronger than when he was last year's North China Games. He has just turned 18 and has reached an adult age. In addition to his slightly immature face, he looks particularly tall and burly.

Today, Chen Qiang has reached 1.78 meters tall, which can only be regarded as a normal male height in later generations. In China in the 1930s, this was definitely a height that stands out. The Chinese in that era were generally poor in nutrition, so they naturally couldn't grow taller. The male performance was over 1.7 meters tall, which was the big man in people's eyes.

Chen Qiang spends a lot of money every year to supplement nutrition, which is very effective. His current physical fitness has reached the standards of later athletes. Chen Qiang estimates that if he continues to carry out scientific training, he should be able to grow taller.

Liu Changchun introduced his recent situation to Chen Qiang, and then said, "Sir Zhang gave us 8,000 oceans. We originally asked Yu Xiwei and I to participate in the competition. Yu Xiwei is still in Dalian. Our Northeastern University sent someone to secretly sneak back to the Northeast and contacted Yu Xiwei, hoping that he could come to Shanghai from Dalian to meet us directly, but he refused a lot, saying that the Japanese were monitoring him, and the transportation was inconvenient, he said... "

Liu Changchun sighed disappointedly. Of course he knew what Yu Xiwei's ruling meant. Liu Changchun once regarded Yu Xiwei as his friend, but he did not expect that Yu Xiwei did not make the right choice in the face of national justice.

"In fact, after the September 18th Incident, Yu Xiwei did not follow Northeastern University to Beiping, but chose to stay in Northeastern. At that time, he had already made a choice." Chen Qiang said.

Liu Changchun nodded silently and continued, "Yu Xiwei can't go to the United States, so our Northeastern University decided to let my coach Song Junfu accompany me to the United States. You know Coach Song. He once studied sports at Chuntian College in the United States. This time he went there as a coach and a translator. When you arrive in the United States, if you encounter something that can't speak, you can find him."

Coach Song Junfu is a famous sports educator in modern Chinese history. He participated in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, the Berlin Olympics in 1936, and the London Olympics in 1948. After the founding of New China, he served as the director of the Sports Department of Beijing Sports University.

"Thank you!" Chen Qiang thanked Liu Changchun and continued, "Actually, I can speak English too!"

Liu Changchun looked at Chen Qiang in surprise, then sighed: "It seems that the teaching level of Nankai University is indeed extraordinary."

Chen Qiang did not explain much about how he knew English. Since Liu Changchun felt that he knew English because he taught well at Nankai University, then he should regard it as a credit for Nankai University!

...

On the same day, all newspapers in Shanghai published news that Chinese athletes were about to go to the United States to participate in the Olympics, which caused a sensation in Shanghai. The sports press in Shanghai held a special banquet to wash away Chen Qiang and Liu Changchun. The next day, the China Sports Association and the 24 groups in Shanghai held a reception at the East Asia Hotel to practice for Chinese athletes.

The Ministry of Education did not send anyone to practice it for the participating athletes. At the beginning, they only registered but did not pay. The Ministry of Education did not think that it would eventually happen. Now athletes are about to set off, so they are not ashamed to send someone.

However, Wang Zhengting came to Shanghai in person to see off the athletes.

Although Wang Zhengting lost power due to the September 18th Incident, he is still a member of the International Olympic Committee and the chairman of the National Sports Association. He is the most powerful figure in the sports industry in the government. His arrival is also a kind of support from the Nanjing government for participating in the Olympics.

The China Sports Association also found a tailor and made a new set of clothes overnight, flannel suit tops, white pants, and a pair of patent leather shoes for athletes to participate in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

...

Xinguan Wharf on the Huangpu River is crowded and bustling. Hundreds of people gather here to see Chen Qiang and Liu Changchun off.

Chen Qiang and Liu Changchun were surrounded by many reporters.

"Chen Qiang, you are about to go to the United States to participate in the competition. Do you have anything to say to your compatriots?"

"Liu Changchun, let's say a few words!

Chen Qiang and Liu Changchun had to stop.

"Tell me." Chen Qiang said to Liu Changchun.

"You'd better tell me." Liu Changchun also made things humble.

"Okay." Chen Qiang turned his head, looked at the earnest gazes of the reporters, and spoke: "My attendance at the World Games this time was entrusted by compatriots across the country. I feel a great responsibility. I should do my best to work hard in the conference and swear to win the gold medal to pay the expectations of 40 million compatriots."

"good!"
To be continued...