Chapter 9 Chapter Eight: The Nao County Tragedy (1937.10.8-9)

Nao County, now changed to Naoyang Town.The Japanese army invaded Shanxi Province, murdered and set fire all the way, and created one appalling tragedy after another. The Nao County tragedy was one of them. More than 1,300 residents of Nao County were massacred in two days, and more than 2,000 houses and temples were burned. The first bloody massacre made. On the morning of October 8, 1937, the Japanese army approached Nao County, the Kuomintang army had already fled, and the residents in the city were in panic.Some people feared that the Japanese army would massacre the city, so they organized a so-called "security maintenance committee".Led by Tian Jie, the chairman of the chamber of commerce, more than 200 merchants and citizens in the city, holding Japanese flags, lined up outside Xiaoximen, and found hundreds of Japanese soldiers gathered outside Daximen. Shunmin, Tian Jie told the Japanese military officer through a translator that he was the president of the chamber of commerce and came to welcome the Japanese army into the city.The Japanese officer asked who the kneeling man was?Tian Jie replied, "They are not soldiers, but merchants." The Japanese military officer signaled Tian Jie, Zhang Feng and the other three to lead the Japanese army into the city, while the other merchants stayed where they were and were not allowed to return to the city.Unexpectedly, the crowd who "welcome the Japanese army" outside the west gate turned into lambs to be slaughtered.

When Hanhao Tianjie and others were looking for a place to live in the Japanese army house, the more than 200 merchants who stayed outside the west gate had already been tied up one by one.By the time people wake up, it's too late.When the Japanese army gave an order that night, the massacre began outside the west gate.While setting fire to houses, temples, and theaters in Wangjiawei, Xiguan Temple, and Xiya, the Japanese army fired machine guns at 200 businessmen who were bundled together.In an instant, flames shot into the sky outside the west gate, screams continued, and the area around Wangjiawei was reduced to ruins.

On the morning of October 9, the Japanese army also burned, killed and looted the city extensively, killing all residents caught.More than 100 residents near the west gate were shot to death in a cesspit beside the city wall; more than 100 people died tragically in street courtyards.Residents of 6 families on West Cliff were all killed on the spot; in Wang Chunchang courtyard, another 10 people were killed, and bloody corpses lay across the courtyard. At noon, the Japanese army continued to hunt and kill people from door to door at the bottom of Xiaodongmen. Wherever the hooves of the beasts came, they killed and burned them all.Among the 24 households near Xiaodongmendi, 96 people fell into a pool of blood.Wang Haisheng, Ming Jiji, and Yang Xiuling's family of 13 were shot dead at home.Eleven residents gathered in the Ming Shunyi courtyard, and 10 were killed by machine guns. Only Ming Yinzhong fell down due to a foot injury, and escaped by climbing to the Heshen Temple overnight.

In the evening, the Japanese army arrested hundreds of residents from Main Street, West Street, South Street, etc., and gathered them in Guo Erhe Courtyard in Nanguan one after another.Japanese soldiers strung their arms together with iron wires and ropes, and more and more strings were strung together, from the doorway to the street. At this time, the Japanese army began the interrogation before the massacre.The Japanese military officer asked through an interpreter who the soldiers were, but everyone was silent.Suddenly, the Japanese army found a wounded soldier of Yan Xishan's army from the crowd, and forced him to confess who was a soldier in the ranks with a bayonet.Under the enemy's butcher's knife, the wounded soldier was trembling with fright, and he said nonsense, "The young are soldiers." So, the Japanese army pulled out the young and middle-aged residents one by one, tied their arms in clusters, and escorted them to the south. outside the door.

Outside the south gate, near the temporarily paved train track, there are three large pits.At the edge of a large pit in the west, more than 70 young and middle-aged men were first used as live targets, shot one by one, and killed in the pit. When the gunshots continued, the Japanese army escorted more than 200 people to the center Dakeng, continue to shoot.Some people fell to the ground and pretended to be dead when they heard the gunshots.Unexpectedly, there was a idiot named Tongniu who couldn't bear the pain of the gunshot wound, and suddenly stood up and screamed and struggled.The Japanese army found that there were still people alive, and stabbed and stabbed the fallen people one by one with bayonets. Many injured survivors fell into the ranks of the dead again. That night, more than 300 people were buried in the third large pit.

At the same time, the streets and alleys of Nanguan were littered with the bodies of victims.Many residents in the city were massacred sporadically.In Zhaojiaxiang, 11 members of three brothers named Tiesuo, Guansuo, and Misuo were all killed by grenades in the vegetable cellar.Thousands of young women were raped and shot by the Japanese army.In Yuanzengrui Courtyard in Cangjie, as many as 13 people were killed at one time.Yang Cunxi was arrested to answer the enemy's mission. The Japanese soldiers took a pot of boiling water from his hand and poured it over his head, almost dying. Before the Anti-Japanese War, Nao County was a prosperous town, but after being massacred and looted, it turned into a city of dead people, a sad scene.