Chapter 4 Toshiro Diary (2)

We stayed in Chinese families respectively.The walls of the houses of the Chinese people are made of mud and are two feet thick. No matter what, they couldn't let me sleep soundly.In the house where our team stayed, there was a room on the left side of the gate, another room at the far end, and a place where sorghum and millet were piled up on the right side. The mud walls had collapsed, and the house was very dirty.I have no intention of living in such a dirty house.I think living in the open air is better than this.If you still have to live in such a house in the future, it will be bad.I also harbor a luxurious unease.At that time, as long as it was a Chinese house, even if it was considered clean, I probably didn't have the heart to lie down at all.

Private Noguchi was a worker at the Kawasaki Shipbuilding Works.He had been stationed in Manchuria, and he was used to this kind of house. In this kind of house, he knew how to keep out the cold and heat.He is very smart, can do tailoring work, and can cook and cook.Moreover, he also likes to cook very much.No matter how tired he is, he cooks happily.For him, cooking seems to be a kind of comfort to forget fatigue.He is such a person, so when it is someone else's turn to cook, tell him, he often takes it all by himself.As a result, when he saw it, he would get angry again: "Why do you let me do it alone!" Once he got angry, he would let the fire under the pot ignite and extinguish itself, and he would not care about it.At this time, the other soldiers had no choice but to go up again.He muttered and whined and smoked.

But seeing the opportunity to say a few more good words, he came over again.Because he likes to cook and is a greedy person, he is often annoyed by stomach pains.It was also his chopping skills that comforted our stomachs tonight. "It will turn cold at night." Noguchi explained to us as he got on the kang triumphantly.Although it will be cold in the middle of the night, there is still sunlight at night, and the ground is baked, so it is not cold yet, so there is no need for a kang.However, Noguchi, who thought he knew everything, had a bit of a nose.But no one was lying on the hot kang, only Noguchi was wiping his sweat in embarrassment.As long as he doesn't burn the kang, there will be no night dew in the kitchen inside the house, so we purposely watched him with the stars above our heads outside the house where the scorpions are active.

The home has a toddler and a grandpa with a toddler.Not a single woman was seen. I grabbed my grandfather and asked him in Chinese if he liked the Communist Party, but he didn't understand me.I wrote down the words "communism", but he still didn't understand.Propaganda texts written by the Japanese Propaganda Group are pasted all over the walls.The child is very cute, I gave him a candy and five coins.There is a month plate in the house, it is September 15th, Wednesday. At 8:30 in the morning on the 16th, we left Junliang City.Among the filthy farmers and nasty pigs and lots of chickens flying around, the troops lined up.

When we think of the sweltering, heavy, painful and uncomfortable march, we can't help but frown, but this is in front of the Chinese farmers, pigs and chickens, so we are full of energy, walking on the soil that seems to grow out of the ground. We felt very angry when we walked through a village made up of houses. We don't understand that there is a railway leading to Tianjin but we don't use it.Some soldiers said: "This railway belongs to Britain. We are not allowed to use it in order to hinder our march." We thought that this railway belonged to Britain, and we shouted the slogan "Down with Britain" under the pressure of the hot summer heat.

The road was full of dust, and our military boots seemed to be walking on yellow flour, and the dust was everywhere when we stepped on it.The tall sorghum on both sides of the road completely blocked the wind.The sun scorches you like it's shooting down from above.Sweat is constantly evaporating from our bodies, almost mummifying us.The brim of the sun visor was drenched with sweat, the part of the military uniform in contact with the backpack was soaked first, then the bend of the right arm holding the gun was covered with black sweat, and finally it hit the knee The leggings were also soaked.As a result, the military uniform was constantly invaded by sweat, emitting a stench mixed with sweat, dust, and dirt.Take a break every forty-five minutes, but if you don't use your whole body's strength for the last five minutes, you may not be able to take a step.Physical strength is needed on the battlefield, and at the same time, energy is even more needed.In the afternoon, people began to fall over and over again.Every hundred meters someone falls behind.

We try to rest in shaded places.That is to say, but those shaded places simply cannot accommodate this long dragon-like team.Since most of the rest orders were issued when the brigade headquarters reached the shade, only the soldiers closest to the headquarters could enjoy some of the remaining shade.Many soldiers had to lie horizontally in the hot sun, fanning the cool air with fans painted with sun flags.Our brigade often rests in the shade.The captain who rode on a horse and marched leisurely is a horse head taller than us and close to the sun, so he may be hotter than us hikers.Probably our dear captain thought that when the soldiers walked on the mud, the cold air from the ground could be continuously transmitted to the soldiers' bodies, so the soldiers would not feel hot.Thanks to his rare thoughtfulness.The soldiers were so grateful that they shed tears on their bodies.As soon as they rested near the wet area, the soldiers dropped their backpacks and used their military caps as spoons to scoop up water. The water in the wetland was very cold, and when it flowed down their backs to their stomachs, the soldiers felt that there was nothing happier in the world than this thing.Never again have the words "delighted," "pleasant," and "regenerated" been so vividly understood by us.Since drinking unboiled water is strictly prohibited, some soldiers pretended to wash their faces and drank a few sips secretly. We only had a rest time of fifteen minutes, and we thought of various ways to make full use of it.

We must study how to spend fifteen minutes in order to dispel the fatigue of the body the fastest and best.As soon as they hear "rest", some people fall down on their backs no matter where they are, some people try to stay in a windy place, some people go a few steps forward to a shady place, and others There are so many different ways to untie your backpack and rest. Even if it is a bit troublesome, I still take off the backpack, loosen the belt, and unbutton the buttons to let the wind blow into the body. Try it, it seems that this method is the fastest and easiest to relieve fatigue.

This method of unfastening the backpack, putting it on, unbuttoning it, and fastening the buttons is a waste of time, but it is still the best method. Drenched all over, the march began again.Because it was a quick march after a meal, my chest was gurgling and congested, and I felt that my blood was not enough, and my consciousness was taken away. I hurriedly swallowed a plum essence that I got from the dormitory in Osaka.Prune essence showed its efficacy and saved me when I was about to collapse.Looking from afar, you can see chimneys emitting black smoke. ——Tianjin is here!Tianjin is here!I put my backpack on my back with all my strength, and strode forward vigorously.I don't know whether it is the suburbs or the urban area, but in short, I have arrived at a dirty Chinese city.This is a disgustingly dirty city.The trumpets sounded overwhelmingly everywhere.The trumpeter played desperately as if he was about to make the most wonderful sound in his life.

The captain was stroking his mustache on the horse, with his chest straightened out, we forgot about our fatigue and foot pain, and started to take strong steps—we are indeed outstanding and powerful Japanese soldiers!Chinese people gathered here from every corner, looking at our heroic troops.We concentrate, but we can only squint at the streets of China and move forward.After crossing the stone bridge, I don't know which country they are from, and they parked five or six cars there.It wasn't for looking at us, it was because we crossed the bridge as if there were no one else in four lines, cars couldn't get on the bridge, and our long snake-like line stretched without end.

They seemed impatient to wait, and kept honking their car horns.But the troops turned a deaf ear to the trumpets and continued marching arrogantly, as if they were listening to a bad march.In the car sat a rather beautiful woman, beautiful and radiant with reason.While thinking of the beauty, I walked past her. The Marine Corps was setting up barbed wire all over the street, and the looming black loopholes in the piles of earthbags were pointing in all directions.The tarmac made the soles of our feet ache. When we entered the Japanese Street, we thought that many expatriates would come out to greet us with cheers, but this expectation was completely dashed.No one came out to welcome them, not even the Japanese who came to see them.What exactly is going on? Why are the Japanese in Tianjin so indifferent, as if they have nothing to do with us?In the interior, people welcomed us with great enthusiasm.The crowd at the inland dock sent off the soldiers several times.Whenever new troops set off, they sent them off with new enthusiasm and excitement, and we also set off with boiling enthusiasm, although people in the interior cannot directly experience the scourge of war. The Japanese in Tientsin, trembling at the sound of the guns not so long ago, and thanking God for the arrival of the army, had forgotten the soldiers so quickly. I can't help feeling angry.Is that the way it is in the colonies? Dragging their sore legs and enduring fatigue and fatigue to rescue them, they treated the Japanese army fighting for them with such indifference.I was so sad that I was close to tears. Ah, they are Japanese too.Why don't they have Chinese nationality? At this time, at a corner of the street, an employee of Mitsui Bank was delivering water to the soldiers. The soldiers treated the small kettles as if they were their most beloved lovers, and they had no water left.When the soldiers were drinking tea with thirsty throats, the squadron leader's roar sounded: "It's not good!" We couldn't understand the reprimand of the twenty-five-year-old squadron leader.It's not that we lack patience, it's not that we're not disciplined, it's that the battles of tomorrow require energy. I don't know where the singing of "comrades in arms" came from. The melody was sad and tragic, and it devoured my heart.For the first time since the expedition, I felt sad. After a short break on Fukushima Street, a member of the National Defense Women's Association was busy running back and forth, and she shouted around: "Anyone want to post a letter? No stamps, I will mail it for everyone." What a strange woman to thank. It seemed that she was the only Japanese woman in Tianjin.The hostess at the Tokiwa Hotel brought us water, which we drank in no time, then rushed into the hotel kitchen and turned on the tap.Most Japanese women, as far as we can see, wear kimonos.It is really commendable that they do not wear frivolous Chinese clothes and foreign dresses. At ten o'clock in the evening, we finally arrived at Nanhai Middle School.I was hungry, my feet hurt, and I was very tired. I dragged my sore legs and walked towards school. When I passed a steamed bun shop on the way, I saw white steamed buns steaming in a steamer, and I greedily looked at them.If it is allowed to buy, I am afraid it will be bought from the Chinese people immediately.Even now, I still can't forget the scene of the steamed bun shop on the corner - Zhiyue in a white apron.The person lifted the lid of the steamer and took out the steaming hot white steamed buns. Even now I can still think of that scene, and there is an urge to eat one. Nanhai Middle School is a large and well-equipped school. Among the middle schools in the mainland, I have never seen such a luxurious and complete middle school.We decided to sleep in a room in the school dormitory.Like many houses in China are made of bricks, this one is painted white lime on black bricks.But the paint on the walls is easy to peel off and get on your clothes.The six tatami-sized room had to accommodate people from two teams, so it seemed overcrowded. The light in this room was not working, so Noguchi, who was smart and had some common sense about electricity, immediately repaired it.Faced with this opportunity to demonstrate his talents in this area, he will triumphantly forget about fatigue and unjust complaints.With his brilliant technique, the lights went on.Looking up, on the white ceiling, the thin wires turned into pitch black, and the flies swarmed together, and the mosquitoes kept flying down to attack us. Mosquitoes and flies took turns flying towards the ceiling.According to day and night, they strictly guard their active areas and attack in turn. On the 16th, I woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning and began to wash.Due to excessive fatigue, my whole body is lazy, my legs and feet are swollen, my joints are sore, I can't lift my hands, and I can't walk. I'm afraid I've reached a lifeless state, but I still don't want to wear smelly clothes. There is no running water, and only a small amount of water is provided by a well.There are washers and clothes washers by the well, mixed together.I tie the ribbon on the lunch box, fill it with water, and wash it in the empty can.The water that came up was not enough, so I had to use the rice washing water or the water from washing my face.Water is very precious. We know that water must be treated as a precious commodity in China.As far as we were concerned, the shortage of water was quite comparable to the shortage of ammunition, and later experience has fully proved this point.Going out is prohibited.However, I had a pain in the joint of my left ankle, and I was going to the infirmary, and on the way back I stopped at the Japanese Street.The infirmary is far away from our dormitory, which is a good opportunity to go out casually.The infirmary was a very luxurious house, with beautiful gardens and rich shades of trees adorning its yards.The military doctor looked at my feet and said, "Oh, just put a pad on it. It's very simple. Hey, next time..." He diagnosed me as simply as a fly from a man's head It's as simple as flying over another person's head. Shimodoi sanitation officer, Shimada and I, the goal of the three is the Japanese town.But, I don't know how to put it, the coachman couldn't understand us, we wrote "Japanese Street" on the ground, but none of the three or four coachmen who gathered together understood.They chattered among themselves, and one of them left for a while, bringing another coachman. The coachman could read.So, we got into the car and ran a long way but before reaching our destination, we entered China Street.We started to be vigilant, the people in front looked forward, the middle ones looked left and right, and the back ones looked behind. We were fully alert. Seeing that we were all on guard, the coachman said something loudly in surprise, probably to reassure us.A Chinese patrolman was standing at the crossroads with a two-foot-long baton. The coachman stopped and gestured for us to come down. Then, he pointed in the direction of the patrolman, so we walked towards the patrolman and wrote the words "Japanese Street" for him to see.The patrolman smiled and said something to the coachman.After crossing the intersection, I got into the car again and started running.When we finally arrived at the Japanese Street, we got out of the car and asked him to pay him for the car, but he didn't take the reward, as long as he used his car when we went back.So, we started our activity. We entered a cigarette shop run by Chinese people, which displayed all kinds of cigarettes.This store is a store specializing in cigarettes. It has all kinds of cigarettes, as if there are cigarettes all over the world. Wanting to send a letter to the mainland, I asked a girl walking on the road for the address of the post office.The seventeen-year-old girl smiled quietly and led us to the post office.She spoke little, and walked quickly ahead in silence.Her demeanor and figure give the impression that she is a city girl. "Where is your hometown?" I asked. She replied that it was Japan and was silent for a while. "I don't know where I come from," she added. "why?" "I don't know the mainland. I haven't been there once. I was born in Tianjin and I grew up here." She said so, but she didn't want to ask about the situation in the mainland, and she didn't say she wanted to go and see, so she walked away quickly without saying a word.I'm surprised by girls who are Japanese and don't know much about Japan. In order to complete his task satisfactorily, Shidoi health worker bought private medicine of about 20 yen.He said: "The army doesn't always take medicine. I want the soldiers to take everything with them. To satisfy the soldiers, I have to spend my own money to buy some medicine." The coachman was afraid that we would get lost, so he followed closely behind us vigilantly.I took his car back to the dormitory again, and gave him 20 yuan. The car ride took about three hours, and the fare was still very cheap. In the evening, I heard a noisy sound outside the house. It was the reserve engineers from Hokkaido who were making trouble.Their angry curses attracted a group of onlookers.It is said that when a sergeant of our Ono army was reprimanding soldiers in the corridor, a Hokkaido engineer passed there.The sergeant stood on the edge of the wall and blocked the passage behind him. The engineer couldn't pass behind the sergeant, so he had no choice but to walk in front of the sergeant.The twenty-four or five-year-old sergeant, who was admiringly admonishing others, felt that his majesty was offended, so he punched the elderly engineer hard.The incident started from here, when the Hokkaido engineers came in a group to beat the young sergeant half to death.Sergeant Cao hid behind some coverings with a livid face, embarrassing himself in front of the reprimanded soldiers.The incident expanded, and both sides sent officers to resolve it.The engineers and soldiers surrounded the officer who served as the commissioner for handling the scene like a solidarity group, and the two sides argued with each other. "The sergeant is too arrogant and disrespectful. It is too unexpected for a person who is about to go to the place of death, no matter what the reason is, especially for those trivial matters, using the power of the sergeant to beat people at will. It should be punished for abuse Sergeants who lynch are severely punished!" Although Sergeant Cao is a member of our army, we all hate him. The auditorium of this middle school is very luxurious, and the equipment is like a movie theater.The basement of the auditorium is filled with water.It was heard that the anti-Japanese elements who had nowhere to escape fled into the basement, so they used water attack.Wanted to go and see the body, but the basement steps were so deep that it was impossible to find the body.Looking towards the urban area from the roof, you can see the traces of the bombing everywhere. Those traces of the bombing show how accurately the Japanese planes bombed. The walls around the houses remained, only the inside of the house was completely burned, and the houses outside the bombing target suffered little damage. There is not a single mountain in the four directions of southeast, north and west.Surrounded by a flat land like a vast ocean, it is not clear which side is east and which side is west.We searched for the direction of Japan in the dimness of the evening, and took the direction we found at random as the direction of Japan; looking at Japan in the distance—the nostalgic Japan that cannot be seen. Our bodies can no longer set foot on Japanese soil!Thinking of these, for some reason, I couldn't control the sadness welling up in my heart. Moreover, he realized that he had come to such a distant place. Tomorrow will set off again, set off to the battlefield. Where endless cruelty awaits us, Brutal death abounds there. Twenty-six spring and autumn days and nights, Live for today. As the song goes, what hope can we have? The so-called loyalty means death.Bushido means death. ——"Ye Yin" (a book on samurai training in the Edo period, officially called "Ye Yin Wenshu", also known as "Ye Yin Analects") told us. die!die! Only death is hope. There is a meaning of hope, a meaning of death. For us now, there is no need to look back on the past like dust. It is with such a hope that our bodies must be armed with the heightened urgency of moving toward the future—the age to come. go ahead!gunfire!Cannon!bombing!shout! And bloody groans!And what's next... die! The glory of victory beyond and at the price of these will shine brightly. The price of victory is blood. The body is the fertilizer of victory. The earth is dyed red, and the banner of the sun rises above the manure of our flesh. The following announcement caused a lot of repercussions for a while. Ahead is the battlefield, there are enemies on the battlefield, and plainclothes teams haunt the occupied areas.Tomorrow begins the march, and falling behind means death.Because there are no hospitals or shelters there, only hostile local residents, plainclothes teams and regular troops, they are all enemies.To fall behind means to die, and this must be firmly remembered.You can't die because of falling behind before you reach the front line. You should pay attention to the reasonable distribution of physical strength, maintain absolute patience, and use your best efforts to reach the battlefield.Once on the battlefield, it doesn't matter if you fall down or die immediately.If anyone thinks their body won't last no matter what, please speak up! None of us has yet experienced war, and this stern announcement pricks our chests. "Being behind means death" is not easy to say.For us who have no experience in war, it seems that there should be no danger of falling behind in occupied areas, because the so-called occupied areas mean that after the enemy is completely wiped out or driven away, it becomes the sphere of influence of our own people.However, the announcement said that there was still a danger of enemy infestation. There was no need for us to apply, the warrant officer had already made an appraisal of the physical strength of each soldier, and unfortunately and very dishonorably, I was listed as one of the infirm.However, my competitive spirit did not allow me to join the ranks of the left behind or the rear transport team, and I resolutely decided to join the march. Although I am full of spirit, I have to worry about my weak physical strength.Our squad leader wasn't there, so I went to talk to the captain of the second squad. "If there is a railway leading to the front line of the battlefield, I can go there at my own expense, please let me go." I said. The second team leader opened the map and said that there is no railway, most of them are wetlands, and it is very difficult to march. I resolutely made up my mind that if I lost my strength during the march, then I would throw away the backpack and just have the guns and bullets needed for the war.I reported this to Chief Cao, and he said, "It's good to be determined! If something unexpected happens on the way, I will cut off your head for you before you are killed by plainclothes." Thinking about it now, I can't help but feel that it is an exaggeration.But for those of us with little combat experience, that determination was entirely real.Facing an unknown world that may only be cruel, dark, and violent, it is probably natural to have some even exaggerated determination. At 9 o'clock in the morning on September 18, we left the school where the anti-Japanese elements left their bodies in the basement after being flooded—the school of Chihua students. Due to my infirmity, it was decided that I should go forward by car.Wherever he went, he did not see a single mountain.Surrounded by a vast plain, it is a vast continent where the earth is the sky and the sky is the earth.The car is like a ship sailing on the vast sea, bumping up and down. The endless fields of cabbage and yams kept moving to the rear.Dust danced wildly in the heat.The tributaries of the Ziya River appeared and disappeared, disappeared and appeared again, so that it was night.The moonlight is bright and clear, soaking the dry earth, and loneliness shrouds the earth.In the bluish-white silence, a row of cars with their lights off was undulating on the dark road, moving forward on the land of China. At this time, a light wood tombstone stood at a three-way intersection. "The battlefield is here!" I felt it keenly. I silently thought, how bravely and painfully did the owner of the cemetery die in battle?What kind of fight did he have?He must have fought bravely and died bravely.Looking at the depression where the enemy resisted, the land where the machine gun was set up, the land where an enemy bled, and the grass where the wound medicine was scattered, I got into the car again. It was fifty kilometers to Duliu Town, and it took twelve hours to finally arrive there at half past nine at night.Since we came by car, we were immediately ordered to get ready. There are only a few wells in this small village, and these are either destroyed or poisoned, and even if they are not, they are not ready-to-use Chinese water.Water is off limits until the military doctor examines it, cooking comes after that.A particularly confusing situation arose as there was only one well used by all personnel. Over the corporal post stood tired military horses.The heavy soldiers have to take care of the army and horses, and they are even more busy. The long night finally turned white, and the scenery of northern China caught my eye.In the field next to the earthen house at the corporal post, yam vines are climbing, and morning glories show various smiling faces and dress up the earthen wall.After sighing that there are morning glories in China, I took off one and put it in the notebook in my arms as a souvenir. In the center of Duliu Town, a turbid yellow river with a width of about ten meters and a large amount of water passes through it.The children in China looked indifferent, drinking the muddy river water.Is their belly an iron wall?In the afternoon, mud-covered soldiers in tattered clothes returned from the front.They said: "The friendly soldiers suffered a lot of casualties. There was no time to collect the corpses, so they just left them there. Maybe some of them have been fed to wild dogs. The Chinese soldiers are really tenacious and should not be underestimated." "Advancing by this road is very difficult. Since we had to catch up with the general attack on the 25th, we retreated and tried to advance by railway. Soldiers in twos and threes were also beaten quite badly." We looked at each other and made a sad decision.Before long, our now living flesh may become food for wild dogs.Total attack!Total attack!These three words kept hitting our hearts. Their clothes were more torn and dirty than the coolies'.These costumes clearly depict the tragic situation on the frontline battlefield in our minds. It is said that it is two or three miles away from Duliu Town (the mile used as the unit of measurement in this book is estimated to be a day, and 1 day is equal to 8 Huali.), there are many remnants of defeated generals, waiting for us like hungry wolves waiting to devour the laggards.In short, you have to go, you have to go to the soles of your feet to wear it. We all used these words in our hearts to spur ourselves on. Lieutenant Ogawa, who served as the adjutant of the brigade, went to reconnaissance on the road. We thought he was attacked by the enemy, but he came back safe and sound. Death is getting closer and closer.Of course, even though I have fully understood that the so-called battle is the god of death dancing wildly in great joy and sorrow, I still feel the horror of being next to the god of death more painfully. Already doomed.Can no longer survive. Mother!younger brother!Father!younger sister!Take care of yourself.I offer my silent prayers.