April 6, 1935, Zhejiang Province, Zhoushan Island, Dinghai County
With a bright morning glow quietly leaping out of the sky, the bright spring sun rises above the sea level again as usual.
Almost instantly, the ancient and vicissitudes of Dinghai County was shrouded in a bright and brilliant red glow.
Then, amidst the refreshing sea breeze, various noises gradually broke the tranquility of the morning - a new day was about to begin.
The light mist with the salty smell of seawater gradually dissipated under the sunlight, revealing a trestle pier and fishing sampans. Ragged shell pickers ran along the coast, throwing any shells and crabs they could find into the rattan baskets on their backs. The early morning fish market is slowly becoming more and more lively with the brightening sunshine and the shouts of fishermen.
The poor people in the market who had nothing to live on, as well as the refugees who had fled across the sea, had just walked out of the smelly and dirty shacks with sleepy eyes. While stretching and wearing sweat towels, they queued up at the well to get water for washing. , while whispering to each other, greeting each other, and discussing where to find some work.
Colonel Whitney, who had just withdrawn from the Beilun Port battlefield a few days ago and took his regiment to Zhoushan Island to rest, also got up from the camp bed in a tent on the outskirts of the county town, casually rubbed his still dizzy forehead, and then I stood up and put on a shirt, raised the somewhat damp curtain, and let the fresh morning air blow into the tent. Then I listened to the faint noise coming from the distance, looked at the rising red sun, and smiled softly. He narrowed his eyes.
It¡¯s springtime at this time. The mountains and forests are green, and under the golden sunshine, there is an indescribable tenderness and charm: the sparkling stream. Reflecting the clear blue sky, there are long white clouds floating randomly in the wind. The lush jungle is filled with the sweet chirping of birds and insects; the vast beach in the distance that stretches to the sky is constantly hearing the sound of huge waves crashing on the shore.
Being able to immerse yourself in such a comfortable and peaceful atmosphere, temporarily forgetting the cruel battlefield and smoke, is really a supreme enjoyment
People who have never experienced war always have a romantic vision of it. Only after you have truly witnessed the flames of war will you understand the value of peace
Very fortunately, there were terrible wars, explosions, smoke and corpses. At present, they are far away from Colonel Whitney.
¡ª¡ªAlthough on the Chinese mainland on the other side, the overwhelming war is still burning, and tens of thousands of Chinese and Japanese troops are still fighting to the death in Jiangnan and the Central Plains, at least on this island on the edge of the Chinese mainland. The annoying sound of gunfire could not be heard for the time being.
therefore. These few days of peaceful life made the colonel feel like he had recovered and became much more energetic.
It is already spring in April, and the warm spring breeze has already blown green the warm land of Jiangnan, and it has also blown green the Zhoushan Island in the East China Sea. There is a world of birds and flowers everywhere - the vegetation on the island is very dense, with neat rice fields and vegetable fields cultivated on the plains, and the mountains covered with lush pines, cypresses, camellias and various shrubs If you look at it from thousands of Looking down from a height of 3 meters, you can see the vast ocean around you. This island is like a piece of green emerald set on sapphire, which is particularly beautiful.
Because of the interference of various countries in the fleet. They have all been transferred to the ports of Sasebo and Nagasaki in Japan to replenish fuel, supplies and repair the hull. The US Marine Corps stranded in Zhoushan has nothing to do for the time being. Colonel Whitney, who was bored for a while, took the opportunity to walk around Zhoushan Island, and even took a boat to visit the nearby religious resort Mount Putuo, and was greatly impressed by the scenery of this fairy mountain in the sea. To praise.
On that island with crisscrossed mountains and dense forests, there are picturesque scenery almost everywhere - exquisite hexagonal pagodas, carved pavilions and pavilions, ancient temples and forest of steles, and towering pines and cypresses and brocade trees surrounding them all. Clusters of flowers can all give people infinite poetry. There are also the strange peaks and rocks covered with moss and shrubs, and the gurgling streams that are often shrouded in drizzle and mist, which make Putuo Mountain even more charming. It is like an exquisite bonsai that has been enlarged, and it is like a fairyland that has descended into the mortal world It is really dizzying and lingering.
However, compared with the beautiful scenery of the Zhoushan Islands, the first impression left on Colonel Whitney by the people here was that they were extremely poor, dilapidated and numb - most of the villages and towns on the islands were built on the gentle coast. On the hillside, the surrounding small valleys and mesas were cultivated into rice fields and vegetable fields according to their distance from streams and springs. On the beach below, seaweed, kelp and dried fish are drying in the sun.
Although these fishermen work so hard to develop a variety of industries, farming, fishing, and doing small handicrafts, they are generally poor.We can't even build wooden houses, so we can only live in thatched mud houses with mud walls and thatched roofs, which leak both wind and rain. In order to prevent the roof from being blown away by strong winds, many stones had to be placed on top of the thatch. Moreover, the house is also covered with damp mud. If you sleep in this kind of place for a long time, you will easily suffer from skin moss and rheumatism.
What¡¯s even more frightening is that these villages and towns are almost as crowded as concentration camps, but even more lacking in hygiene. The dirty roads were simply trampled by people and were filled with all kinds of garbage. The stream used as a source of drinking water flows directly through the village, and adults and children often urinate and defecate in the water as if nothing has happened. The villagers' houses are also filthy, and a family often only has two or three decent clothes. Only men who go out to farm and fish can wear them, while women and children can only hide naked in the house and look through the cracks in the door in terror. He looked outside at the blond and blue-eyed foreign visitors.
Even the young and strong men walking on the ridges of fields and on the beach, busy planting rice, harvesting rice and packing up fishing nets, looked very slovenly - everyone's clothes were in tatters, with patches on top of patches, as if they were covered with There were old rags with holes in them, and my hair was crawling with annoying lice and fleas.
The vast majority of the islanders Colonel Whitney saw in Zhoushan, regardless of age or sex, were all thin and gray-faced, showing symptoms of severe malnutrition. There were also many pustules and sores all over. Although they have been engaged in physical labor for many years, their hands and feet have thick joints and strong muscles. But this kind of robustness is actually an illusion¡ªyears of heavy labor have indeed forced them to develop well-developed muscles. However, in the case of insufficient nutrition and poor living environment, excessive squeezing of physical strength like this is actually overdrawing one's life.
As a result, veins bulge on their arms and their skin is dull and lacks luster. Seems very dry. It doesn't matter when you are young, but once you reach thirty, you have to start "paying off debt" for the past years - these people are often in their thirties or forties. You will begin to become hunched over, frail and sickly, and be troubled by chronic diseases such as rheumatism and arthritis. According to information obtained by Colonel Whitney from conversations with several American missionaries on the island, local fishermen were considered to have died if they lived to be over fifty years old. Over the age of sixty. He is fully qualified to be called a longevity star! Even the so-called "rich" guys. From the colonel's point of view, the most he could do was live in a tile-roofed house, his face was a little rosier, his clothes were also dotted with patches and holes, and he couldn't even afford a decent meal every week.
Therefore, every time Colonel Whitney went to the Allied Frontline Headquarters in Dinghai County, there would always be a large group of slovenly, almost naked, slovenly children crowding the roadside. With the dishes on his face, he held the broken bowl carefully. Asking him for this and that, pestering him endlessly is still good. The worse problem is that there are countless nimble pickpockets among them, ready to steal his valuables at any time!
After being tortured twice by these little beggars and pickpockets, Colonel Whitney began to hate the dirty and run-down county town more and more, and would rather stay in a military camp in the wilderness However, when he came back to his senses, Thinking about it carefully, he also understood a little bit why those Chinese Bolsheviks wanted to rebel - the beautiful scenery, ancient civilization, shabby villages and towns, and the down-and-out people In such a decadent and dark society, recalling the glory In the face of a bleak reality, it would be weird if even a spark of revolution could not be sparked!
What he didn't like even more was the bad atmosphere in the coalition's frontline headquarters. In the most luxurious mansion of a wealthy businessman on Zhoushan Island, liaison officers from France, Britain, the United States, Japan and the Kuomintang government gathered together. They were busy quarreling from morning to night, quarreling and swearing at each other in various languages: before, when the French fleet and the British fleet bombarded Wusongkou, and the U.S. Marine Corps fought fiercely and to death in eastern Zhejiang , the Japanese army in Nanjing has been pretending to be deaf and mute, refusing to cooperate tactically; now, when the Japanese army launches an offensive and bloody battle in the Taihu area in the north, it is the turn of the Westerners on Zhoushan Island to stand still and sit on the mountain Watching a tiger fight
In addition, the intrigues between the two Chinese governments on the mainland have also obviously spread to Zhoushan Island. As a result, the Kuomintang troops who retreated to Zhoushan Island have been in serious chaos and treated their own people the same as the bandits. So much so that for the sake of immediate peace, the coalition forces had to drive them to other islands to station themselves and collect supplies Otherwise, these bandits could really burn down Dinghai County!
¡ª¡ªThe endless quarrels, wrangling, shirking of responsibilities, exchange of messages, attacks and shouting soon wiped out the last vestige of enthusiasm in Colonel Whitney's heart, making him more and more tired of this messy Far East war, and he became more and more dissatisfied with the war in the Far East. The prospects for this war are even less promising.
¡°¡?Perhaps, in the end, this bad war will be the same as when they jointly intervened in the Russian Revolution more than ten years ago. Everyone has their own little ideas, and the various government officials have been arguing and scolding each other for several months, and finally ended up with Returning in vain It seems a bit difficult to get medals, win honors and promotions in this mess Let's think about it for a while and find some Chinese-style souvenirs to take back! "
In the brightly sunny camp, Colonel Whitney was waiting for the orderly to prepare breakfast for him, muttering to himself in boredom, while pouring himself a glass of beer, and casually took out the beer he had borrowed from an old missionary on the island. Personal notes, read page by page for pleasure:
¡°Time is the most ruthless killer. No matter how brilliant it is, it cannot stop the erosion of the long years.
The China of our time has long lost the splendor of the ¡®Golden Country¡¯ described by Marco Polo, and now looks like a dying old man. The atmosphere of decay and decay exudes from the very core This old empire, which has experienced too many ups and downs, has begun to collapse from the foundation of civilization. Until the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, this miserable country. He is always in a strange and numb state of sleep, and in this sweet sleep, he deceives himself with the power and prestige that no longer exists. In fact, it has only a large population, a vast territory and a heavy burden, as well as a lifeless culture, shrinking wealth and lost hegemony.
In order to avoid being exposed, this empire has been in a very long period of time. Like lepers, they try their best to prevent their people from contacting the outside world, only to make themselves even more ignorant. Arrogant and insular. The imperial government only knows how to rudely hang out the "Don't Touch Me" sign, but has no ability to defend itself. Unfortunately, the world we live in is not an upper-class residential area with good security and politeness. Rather, it is a chaotic colosseum filled with violence, looting, and bloodshed. If you don't have a saber, dagger and rifle in hand. It is impossible to prevent robbers and thieves from forcing their way in In a den of thieves, a cowardly good old man is bound to be bullied repeatedly.
Therefore, in the past few decades, this ancient country has been experiencing a completely painful tragedy, a massive and unprecedented process of collapse, decline and degradation. This tragedy is so slow, ruthless and complete that it has made It seems more painful and cruel - wars, famines, rebellions various forms of disasters follow one after another, endless. Each time is more powerful than the last. All the glory and splendor of this great country are falling and dimming little by little in the eyes of the world. Destroyed and engulfed by the raging tide of the times
Napoleon once predicted that China should not wake up the sleeping lion, otherwise it will make the whole world tremble. But reality has proven the bankruptcy of this prophecy - this lion is too old and will only slowly die in a deep sleep instead of waking up with a roar again"
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Ningbo, Beilun Port
The battlefield where the smoke has cleared is desolate everywhere - burnt docks, muddy paths, intertwined river forks, various ruins looming in the gray morning mist, and from time to time there will be a cold gunshot. . Those abandoned villages with all their residents fleeing were as gloomy as graveyards. The sea breeze blowing through the treetops whispers, like a spoiled girl whispering a terrible nightmare to her boyfriend.
Many people in motley colors were patrolling this messy beach, trying to collect everything they thought they would need. Before evacuating this last stronghold on the Zhejiang mainland, the panicked U.S. and Kuomintang troops abandoned many things. Supplies that cannot be taken away.
Although the "rich and wealthy" Red Fifth Front Army no longer thinks highly of these "foreign settlers", for local guerrillas and rural peasant association members who are accustomed to living a hard life, this is an impressive sum. I was overjoyed by the unexpected windfall. Even if I could get some scrap copper and iron to make farm tools, it would be good, not to mention that there were still a lot of discarded rice, flour and cans
At the same time, on a majestic rocky hill by the sea, Commander Xun Huaizhou, the commander of the Red Tenth Army who led his troops into eastern Zhejiang, looked down at the bustling scene on the beach through his telescope, but he couldn't help but frown. , scolded a group leader next to him: "Why are there so many people staying at the beach? Wasn't the order on tsunami preparedness and emergency evacuation issued two days ago? How did you implement it?"
"Regiment Commander, you don't need to stress this matter. We have already informed each village several times, but they don't listen! They said that in Ningbo, typhoons come several times every year, and there are strong winds and waves. Yes, people like them on the seaside have long been used to it. What exactly happened before the disaster??Signs, how to deal with them, are much more familiar to us, and we don¡¯t need laymen like us to tell us what to do! "
The regimental leader said with a grimace, "Moreover, some local comrades have strong opinions about this forced evacuation, saying that we are following the Qing Dynasty's 'relocating borders and banning seas', which is a huge waste of time and money." He said that he also gave up on the people on the island, regardless of their life or death"
"Imagining! When did our Red Army say we were going to abandon the Zhoushan Islands? Well, no matter what weird things people say, I am giving you a death order here! Even if you use guns to chase them, you have to do it before the sun goes down today. , move all the people away from the seaside, or at least hide them high in the mountains. If that doesn't work, I'll ask you!" Xunhuaizhou said in a stern voice while taking out the order again. Message.
"Since the time limit of the last ultimatum has passed, in the name of the supreme cause of liberation of all mankind, I hereby sign an extermination order for the northern part of Kyushu Island, Japan. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been forgotten by the world. This is a tribute to the whole world. This is the first warning from the world's imperialist countries that they no longer dare to easily ignore the angry roars of all oppressed nations To this end, we hope that the troops, guerrillas and local cadres in the coastal areas of eastern Zhejiang will actually strengthen their efforts and do this as soon as possible. We must do a good job in the evacuation of seaside residents to prevent harm to our own compatriots"
" From Japan to Ningbo, it must be at least thousands of miles apart!" He asked suspiciously, " Is the power of the future killer weapon really that powerful?" (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature for better and more updated novels. quick!
ps: It¡¯s not Lao Lao Wang¡¯s drama. It¡¯s really not clear whether the 20-million-ton hydrogen bomb detonated in Sasebo can cause a tsunami in the East China Sea. Some people say that the East China Sea is too shallow to have a tsunami, but in Zhejiang local records, Xiangshan was in 1956. There was clearly a tsunami. I really don¡¯t know how to write it.