Chapter 9 chapter eight

After suffering the most violent air raid in history during the day, all the street lights in downtown Chongqing were extinguished, replaced by raging fires, illuminating the severely damaged streets.Numerous citizens dragged their families with their mouths and carried all kinds of bags on their shoulders. They merged into a main road leading to the outside of the city from the alleys in all directions. Congested.The military and police struggled through the crowd, trying their best to keep the road clear.People crowded and moved slowly, there was no imaginary cry, except for the collection of messy and low footsteps, it could even be said that the crowd was shrouded in a strange silence.However, the faces of men, women and children are full of sadness, panic and the desire to escape.

On the side of the road, a large area of ​​residential buildings was still burning. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, and was reflected by the flames into a terrible dark red.Dozens of firefighters and soldiers bravely and futilely scurried through the blaze, trying to contain it and salvage the mess of household items from crumbling homes.Beams that turned into ashes continued to collapse... Finally, with a bang, the entire building collapsed, and denser black smoke and countless flickering burning ashes rose up immediately. At another intersection leading to the outside of the city, it was still illuminated by fire, and still crowded with people.A jeep was parked in front of a pile of ruins on a roadside slope.Jiang Qingdong and several staff officers from the Air Defense Command stood beside the jeep, watching the slow-moving flow of people below and the military and police working hard to maintain order.

A staff officer sighed: Chief of Staff, it's too messy.All the roads out of town are like this.If this continues until dawn, not many people will be evacuated. The flickering fire illuminated Jiang Qingdong's anxious and bewildered face: "It's out of control, what about hundreds of thousands of citizens!"How is an organized evacuation possible?What's more, I just went through a whole day of bombing.The common people are already quite orderly, and if there is a real chaos, the number of people trampled to death may not be less than the number of people killed by the bombing.

Another staff officer said: Chief of staff, let's go back. Jiang Qingdong nodded: let's go.The Japanese plane will definitely come tomorrow. As he spoke, he subconsciously looked up at the sky.The sky, illuminated by the flames, was clear.But a full moon is being cast in a dark shadow - a lunar eclipse. Jiang Qingdong pointed to the sky: Look! People looked up, and a staff officer exclaimed: lunar eclipse! Jiang Qingdong couldn't help but let out a long sigh: lunar eclipse.God has eyes!It happened to be the night of a lunar eclipse.Otherwise, the enemy plane might not have given us such a peaceful night.

At this time, a staff officer suddenly pointed to the crowd on the road below and said: Chief of staff, look! Jiang Qingdong looked in the direction that the man was pointing at, and found Xia Chengyuan, who was wearing a military uniform, was trying his best to look around and shout against the crowd of people, because he was too far away to hear what he was shouting. Jiang Qingdong frowned: Xia Chengyuan, what are you doing here at this time? None of the staff around him could answer such a question.In the blink of an eye, Xia Chengyuan had disappeared into the chaotic flow of people. On a pier by the Yangtze River, the same crowd was surging and chaotic.On the dark river bank, thousands of citizens swarmed into boats of all sizes.Zhang Xuming, in military uniform, and his mother, Mrs. Zhang, his wife and children, were also mixed in the chaotic crowd.Zhang Xuming supported his mother, and Li Sufen hugged her son tightly and followed behind, struggling to approach a small boat.The surging crowd scattered them from time to time and gathered them again.

Li Sufen tried to get closer to Zhang Xuming again, and said loudly: "Xuming, wait for me!" Zhang Xuming turned around and stretched out a hand, pulling his wife to his side. Mrs. Zhang was too tired to walk, so she stood up suddenly and said: What a crime!We are not leaving, go back! Zhang Xuming continued to push her forward as if he didn't hear her. Mrs. Zhang broke free from his hand: I'm not leaving!I'm not leaving! Li Sufen quickly persuaded: Mom, the whole city is hiding outside the city, aren't you waiting to be bombed when you go back? Mrs. Zhang simply sat down on the ground: "Forget about blowing up!"If I die, I will die at home!

Zhang Xuming became a little impatient: Mom, who are you angry with?Angry with your own life?move!It's not that he won't come back, isn't he just going out to escape the bombing these days? Mrs. Zhang still didn't move. Li Sufen looked at her husband: Xuming, or you can go with us!Mom is probably worried about you. Zhang Xuming glared at her: Don't make trouble here.I am a soldier, can I be like you ordinary people? Zhang: A wounded soldier recuperating at home is not just a commoner! Zhang Xuming pulled his mother up from the ground: now is not the time to talk nonsense.go!

Without any explanation, he finally squeezed his family to the boat docked by the river.Zhang Xuming pushed his mother and wife onto the boat.Behind them, more people scrambled towards the boat. Another boat not far from them also had countless people flocking to it.The overwhelmed boat shook violently.The boss of the boat was a middle-aged man, shouting hoarsely, trying to prevent more people from boarding the boat.But no one paid any attention to him, and the panicked crowd surged with huge energy, pushing more people onto the boat.The boat began to tilt, and people exclaimed.But the people behind couldn't see this, and the invisible force still pushed the people in front to the boat... Finally, the boat capsized amidst people's exclamation.

In this silent but panic-filled night, fleeing people crowded every street and alley. After breaking up with his wife and son who went to see peacocks in Loquat Mountain Park in the morning, Xia Chengyuan no longer knew their whereabouts, which made him extremely anxious. After all, he had just reunited with his wife and son who had experienced a near death.He tried his best, but in vain, to search in the vast crowd.In front of his eyes were almost endless black figures.Suddenly, in the crowd in front of him, he saw two figures that seemed familiar, a woman pulling a little boy, walking forward along the flow of people.It made him very excited.

He shouted: Xiaohua!Xiaohua!Sun Xiangmeng! No one cared about his yelling as they hurried towards the outside of the city.Xia Chengyuan struggled to squeeze through the crowd, chasing after the two figures... When he finally caught up with the woman and the child, and excitedly called out to them from behind, the woman turned her head and walked indifferently with the little boy. Look at him—not the wife and son he was looking for. Just below the road where Xia Chengyuan was standing, in a crowded alley with steep stone steps, Sun Xiangmeng held Xiaohua's hand tightly, and tried to go against the flow of people to the street above.Because that's the direction into the city, so it's the exact opposite of the flow of people.Sun Xiangmeng and the already tired Xiaohua couldn't resist the rushing flow of people at all, she yelled loudly, trying to get the flow to allow them to go backwards, but no one cared about them, and in fact no one had the ability to do so.

After a lot of hard work, the exhausted Sun Xiangmeng had no choice but to give up, and hugged the crying Xiaohua tightly, and was mercilessly carried away by the flow of people, disappearing from the steep and crowded alley. Later, Xia Chengyuan appeared at the intersection of this alley and the street above, looking down.At this time, of course he would no longer see Sun Xiangmeng and Xiaohua. The air force base on the outskirts of Chongqing was deadly silent. On the night of this lunar eclipse, because it was far away from the flames of the city, the entire base appeared extremely dark.Only the direction of the military dormitory was revealed by some faint lights.There were a few fewer planes on the tarmac, and it was even more empty.Among the few planes parked there, there were still a few that were severely damaged and paralyzed there crookedly.Where An Fuyao's fighter jet was parked before, there is nothing now, and that plane will never come back.The metal gangway used to board the plane was left there, giving off a dull luster. Gu Guosong sat on the ground alone, looked at the sky sullenly, and looked up at the moon, which was struggling to move out of the earth's shadow.Light footsteps sounded behind him.Gu Guosong looked away from the sky and saw Du Lanxiang slowly walking to his side.Du Lanxiang smiled at him. Gu Guosong asked: How do you know I'm here? Du Lanxiang: I saw you sitting here before dark. Gu Guosong stopped talking. Du Lanxiang: Your plane didn't come back? Gu Guosong nodded. Du Lanxiang: He didn't come back either? Gu Guosong: I heard he parachuted. Du Lanxiang: No news yet? Gu Guosong shook his head.Du Lanxiang sighed softly.After a while, she said: Go back. Gu Guosong smiled at her, did not move, and looked at the night sky again. Du Lanxiang also looked at the sky, the lunar eclipse was still slowly disappearing, and more moonlight poured down.She said: I have never seen a lunar eclipse?How about you? Gu Guosong did not answer.The gradually brightening moonlight slightly illuminated his worried face, and he silently looked at Du Lanxiang, who hesitated to speak.At such a moment, no one knows how to comfort each other. The next day, the sun rose as usual. When the clear morning appeared, the hillside of the antiaircraft artillery positions in the outskirts was illuminated by bright sunlight again.The smoke from yesterday's battle has cleared away, and the verdant forest is still full of vitality.Birds chirped happily in the mountains and forests, and a girl sang a Sichuan folk song: The sun came out and picked up the poles to go up the hill... Yesterday, too much ammunition was consumed, and the soldiers were replenishing shells on the position.They lined up, extending from the position to a cave on the mountainside. Boxes of ammunition were moved out of the ammunition depot in the cave, passed by each hand, and piled up in front of each artillery position.Zhang Xudong and Du Zhiguo were near the cave.They and the soldiers worked very hard and were very fast. At this time, their faces were covered with sweat. When the crisp, mountain-spirited singing of "The Sun Rises Joyful" came from down the hillside, it was hard for all the soldiers to remain indifferent, and the speed at which they passed the ammunition boxes naturally slowed down.Du Zhiguo followed the sound and turned his head, and saw the girl who lived at the bottom of the mountain carrying a load of water, walking up from the path among the trees.He hurriedly said to Zhang Xudong: Look! Zhang Xudong and the other soldiers saw it, but they were all in a daze.The girl walked towards them carrying water, and found that so many eyes were looking at her strangely, her singing stopped abruptly.Immediately, a bright smile appeared on her face, and she hurried up a few steps, stopped at a place about ten meters away from the soldiers, scooped up a ladle of clear water, held it in her hand, and said to the soldiers with a smile: Hello!I'm bringing you water! The soldiers were still in a daze. Zhang Xudong looked at the girl, his face flushed with excitement.He suddenly put down the ammunition box in his hand, ran towards the girl, took the water ladle from her hand, and gulped down.Driven by him, the soldiers immediately swarmed towards the girl, laughing and scrambling for the ladle in Zhang Xudong's hand. The girl hurriedly hid aside, watching them and smiling happily. The sun was a bit dazzling, and it shone brightly on the courtyard of the Eighth Route Army office. During yesterday's bombing, a bomb fell outside the window of Dong Biwu's office, but it did not explode for unknown reasons.That bomb is still stuck on the ground in the middle of the courtyard.Xia Chengyuan led a few engineers, set up a security cordon, and was trying to dismantle the fuse of the bomb. The sun was already hot enough, and sweat kept piling up on the forehead of Xia Chengyuan who was concentrating on it, and then flowed down. From time to time, he used his sleeve to wipe away the sweat that flowed into his eyes, and he was gently lifting the fuse of the bomb.Standing behind the cordon were Yu Nanping and several staff members from the Eighth Route Army's office.Yu Nanping looked at his son with fear and fear. At this time, Xia Chengyuan raised his hand again to wipe the sweat from the corner of his eyes. An engineer beside him hastily reminded: Be careful! Yu Nanping suddenly crossed the cordon, took out a handkerchief, and walked towards Xia Chengyuan.A sapper tried to stop him, but she pushed him away involuntarily.When she appeared in front of Xia Chengyuan, even Xia Chengyuan was taken aback. Xia Chengyuan warned in a low voice: Mom, stay away! Yu Nanping smiled at him calmly, said nothing, carefully wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief, then gently put the handkerchief on the ground, and returned to the position beyond the cordon as if nothing had happened. At this time, the alarming air raid sirens sounded again over the city.There was some commotion in the yard, but everyone waited patiently until the roar of an approaching plane gradually sounded in the air. Xia Chengyuan finally successfully defused the bomb.He was still squatting on the ground, maintaining the posture just now, with his back to the others, holding the dismantled detonator and shaking it slightly.The engineers quickly surrounded and carried the bomb out of the yard. Yu Nanping stood there as if he couldn't move anymore, watching Xia Chengyuan come to him with a handkerchief. Xia Chengyuan smiled and put the handkerchief in her hand: Mom, don't do this again, it's too dangerous. Yu Nanping looked at him: Your job is terrible. Xia Chengyuan comforted: It's okay.I am careful. Yu Nanping asked: Have Sun Xiangmeng and Xiaohua returned home? Xia Chengyuan suddenly became depressed and shook his head: no.There is no more news. In the distance, there was already an explosion. Jimin Hospital, located in the city center, seemed to be relatively calm, but no one could be seen in the open space outside the hospital.In a ward on the second floor, people on the beds quietly received treatment from the nurses as if nothing had happened. He Xuezhu came in in a hurry and became anxious when he saw it.She stopped the head nurse who was infusing a patient: what happened?Didn't hear the air raid sirens? ! The head nurse looked at her innocently: But, the dean let us work normally.He said it was safe here. Just as He Xuezhu was about to say something, a bomb exploded very close to the hospital. The entire ward shook with the sound of the violent explosion, and the window glass was shattered and fell to the floor with a clatter.Patients and nurses were stunned. He Xuezhu angrily said to the head nurse: Is this called safety? !Quick, move the patient to the air-raid shelter! After speaking, she hurriedly turned around and left the ward, walked through the corridor trembling with the sound of explosions, and came to the operating room of the hospital.A light above the door was on, indicating that surgery was in progress.He Xuezhu broke in without hesitation, startling the people in the operating room.The old dean was operating on a patient on the operating table, turned his head, glanced at her very unhappy, and continued. He Xuezhu: Dean...the dean didn't raise his head, and said in a blunt tone: Didn't you see that I was undergoing surgery? Regardless of these, He Xuezhu firmly said: Dean, I must talk to you immediately! The dean angrily threw the surgical instruments into the tray in the nurse's hand, making a loud metal clashing sound: nonsense!You want my patient to die on the operating table? ! He Xuezhu said stubbornly: I am now worried that more patients will die in the bombing of enemy planes! The dean calmed down a little, and tried his best to say patiently: I have told you many times, this is a hospital and it is safe... At this time, another bomb exploded very close, and there was a violent explosion in the operating room. Shake up. He Xuezhu: Dean!Action must be taken now! The dean said helplessly: Well, you can figure it out.We'll talk after the surgery. He Xuezhu still wanted to say something, but saw the dean buried his head and focused on the operation again, so he had to leave the operating room quickly.When he came to the corridor outside the operating room, He Xuezhu stopped the two female nurses who were coming towards him, and held them back without any explanation: put down the work in hand, and immediately do as I say! The two nurses nodded quickly. He Xuezhu: First, notify everyone and transfer all the patients to air-raid shelters; second, collect all the white sheets in the hospital and spread them on the open space outside the building, the bigger the better; the third thing is to Find a lot of red cloth! A nurse asked: What are you doing? He Xuezhu: Spread a huge red cross on the open space in front of the hospital. Before He Xuezhu finished speaking, he heard a bomb fall.The whistle of the bomb falling was so close to them, and the sound was so piercing, that everyone froze in shock.Just as He Xuezhu was about to tell everyone to lie down, the bomb penetrated the roof of the hospital and hit the operating room.Followed by a group of dazzling flames, there was a loud explosion.He Xuezhu and the two nurses were knocked to the ground by the airflow from the operating room. On the antiaircraft artillery positions in the suburbs, the sound of the artillery was deafening.Although the antiaircraft artillery had a limited range and could not hit the Japanese bombers, the soldiers fought hard to fire.At least, the Japanese aircraft can be resisted at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters.In the sky, several Japanese bombers and fighter jets spotted the anti-aircraft artillery position below, they circled over, and began to drop bombs on the position.Bombs continued to explode around the position, and the whole position was shaking. The ammunition has almost run out, and each artillery position is yelling "no more shells" one after another! The officer issued an order to the soldiers: go to the ammunition depot!quick!All ammo hands! The ammunition hands of each gun position left the gun positions and ran towards the ammunition depot on the mountainside.Zhang Xudong kicked Du Zhiguo who was still in a daze: go! Only then did Du Zhiguo run down as if waking up from a dream, dodging the explosion of the bomb, and came to the ammunition depot halfway up the mountain.Some soldiers had already carried the ammunition boxes, turned around and ran towards the position.Du Zhiguo hurriedly got into the hole and took out a box of ammunition.As soon as he left the cave, several bombs fell one after another, knocking down a large forest at the foot of the mountain, and he hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground.After the explosion, Du Zhiguo raised his head.He saw a bomb fall in the yard of the farmhouse at the foot of the hill, and the house burst into flames and collapsed.In the collapsed farmhouse, the girl Zhang Xudong admired stumbled out with blood on her head, and ran towards the hillside where the antiaircraft artillery position was located.The girl was wearing a red top, completely exposing the open area from the farmhouse to the hillside. Overhead, enemy planes were still dropping bombs. Du Zhiguo yelled "Danger", dropped the ammunition box and ran towards the girl down the hillside.The sound of explosions everywhere made it impossible for the panic-stricken girl to hear his shouts, and she just ran desperately.Du Zhiguo yelled, "Lie down!", ran out of the woods, and rushed down the hillside.At this time, there was the ear-splitting roar of the plane overhead. Du Zhiguo looked up and saw that an enemy plane was swooping down on the girl who was running, and the girl had already run only ten meters away from him.Du Zhiguo couldn't yell anymore. He put his hands on his head in fright, lay down in a bomb crater on the hillside, and waved vigorously at the girl.The girl also saw the swooping enemy plane, but she didn't stop, and still ran towards Du Zhiguo.The enemy plane that swooped down opened fire, and the girl was hit by bullets amidst the intensive machine gun fire, and fell heavily to the ground... The place where the girl fell was only a few meters away from Du Zhiguo. When Du Zhiguo raised his head in horror, what he saw was the dead girl who was almost close at hand.The red dress on the girl's body was torn by bullets, and the bright red blood mixed with the red of the clothes. Her beautiful eyes were still open, but her spirit was gone. She stared blankly at the hillside in front of her that she would never reach again.Du Zhiguo suddenly stood up straight, his eyes turned red, and he looked at the girl's body in disbelief.The bomb dropped by the enemy plane exploded not far from him, but he seemed completely unmoved.He slowly came to the girl's side, bent down, gently closed the girl's eyes, then turned around and ran back, picked up the ammunition box on the ground again, and rushed to the battlefield. On the Huangshan Mountain on the south bank of Chongqing, outside a shaded villa, Zheng Xianbo, Wang Chonghui and some government officials stood in a clearing in the forest, looking at the smoky city on the other side of the Yangtze River that was being heavily bombed.From here, you can even clearly see the Japanese bombers circling in the sky, and see the black bombs falling one after another.As soon as the bombs, which were almost just small black dots, touched the ground, they turned into huge flickering flames and smoke rising into the sky. After a while, there was a dull rumbling sound.Although it is safe here, everyone is silent and their faces are gloomy.The British ambassador, Carl, was also here, standing beside Wang Chonghui, watching the bloody bombing in front of him in astonishment and bewilderment. After watching for a while, Carl finally turned his head to look at Wang Chonghui, and said as if talking to himself: Unbelievable, really unbelievable. Wang Chonghui looked at him bitterly, but didn't speak. Zheng Xianbo said: Compared with what we see now, the bombing of the holy city of Guernica by the Germans two years ago is simply nothing.What do you say, Sir Archibald? Carl nodded silently. Zheng Xianbo tried his best to identify the smoky city on the other side, but he couldn't know the exact location of Jimin Hospital.Last night, he had a phone call with He Xuezhu who had been guarding the hospital, and he was a little relieved to learn that the hospital hadn't been bombed yet.But today's bombing is obviously more violent than yesterday, and Zheng Xianbo's heart hangs again. At this time, an official came out of the villa and hurried to Wang Chonghui: Minister. Wang Chonghui: What's the matter? That person: Just came the news that the German embassy and the Italian embassy in the urban area were bombed by Japanese planes one after another. This news surprised everyone.Wang Chonghui hurriedly asked: Are there any casualties? The man replied: Two people were injured in the German embassy. Carl said: The Japanese are really crazy! The man seemed to have something to say. Wang Chonghui: What else?Speak. The man glanced at Carl: the British embassy was also bombed. This made Carl's face flush immediately, and his eyes widened in disbelief. Zheng Xianbo asked: Was anyone injured? The man shook his head and said: I don't know yet. Carl said to Wang Chonghui: I want to call my embassy immediately! The man said: The telephone line of the British embassy has been blown up, and there is no way to contact him. Karl shouted impatiently: "Come on, think of a way!" Zheng Xianbo looked at the continuous explosions in the distance, sighed suddenly, and said with some puns: It seems that it is impossible to watch the fire from the other side. Karl seemed to understand, and he gave Zheng Xianbo a sensitive look. The bombing continued as if it would never end, even though the city was full of fire and smoke. Xia Xinli, who was filming the bombing scene everywhere, has returned to the streets of the city.In an area that is being dive-bombed by Japanese bombers, a large number of houses are burning and crumbling.Xia Xinli kept pressing the shutter regardless of the enemy planes roaring overhead.Suddenly, another bomb fell nearby. Driven by the air waves generated by the violent explosion, a large area of ​​residential buildings shook and then collapsed like dominoes.Xia Xinli, who was filming, was caught off guard and hurriedly retreated towards the middle of the street.The air waves rushed towards him with smoke, dust and flames. The middle of the street was piled up with rubble and sundries. He tripped over a burning beam and almost fell. devoured. At this moment, a jeep sped up, and a pair of powerful arms stretched out from the car, hugged Xia Xinli tightly, and dragged him away.As the jeep escaped from danger, behind them, collapsed bricks and roof beams poured down, blocking the entire street. The jeep stopped, and Xia Xinli, who was still in shock, stood on the ground again, only to see that the person in the jeep was Jiang Qingdong.Xia Xinli was about to express his thanks, but found that Jiang Qingdong and his driver were looking at him with reproachful and annoyed eyes.Before he could speak, Jiang Qingdong yelled loudly: Mr. Xia, you want to die! Xia Xinli could only smile embarrassedly. Jiang Qingdong was still puzzled: still laughing!You're lucky to meet us! The driver also said: too mysterious! Xia Xinli patted Jiang Qingdong on the shoulder in a friendly way: Thank you, brother!Even if I owe you a favor.After speaking, Xia Xinli turned to leave. Jiang Qingdong called him sharply: Where are we going!Get in the car and get out of here with me. Xia Xinli: It's all right.You go about your business, I have my work. Jiang Qingdong yelled: Mr. Xia!Lao Xia! Xia Xinli continued to walk forward, waving his hands casually without looking back.Jiang Qingdong had no choice but to signal the driver to drive. Maybe it was because of staying on the road for a long time, maybe it was just an accident, in short, a Japanese military plane spotted the jeep and swooped down from the sky. Jiang Qingdong in the car hurriedly shouted to the driver: We were bitten by an enemy plane! But there was no place to hide on the road ahead. The driver slammed on the accelerator and swung the steering wheel left and right, letting the jeep snake forward as much as possible on the narrow street.The huge roar of the enemy plane's dive made Xia Xinli stop, he squatted down hastily, and looked back.Jiang Qingdong's jeep ran into the rubble piled up in the middle of the street while dodging the enemy plane and dived, and almost fell crookedly.The enemy machine guns began to fire, the jeep was hit, and finally lost control, slammed into the building on the side of the road, and then overturned and caught fire. Xia Xinli yelled in horror and ran over. On the twisted and deformed jeep, the driver had already died in a pool of blood.Jiang Qingdong's face was also covered in blood, and he looked at him with empty eyes. Xia Xinli shouted: Hold on!bro! Regardless of the burning fire, he desperately tried to drag Jiang Qingdong out from under the car.This is of course difficult, but Xia Xinli is already close to crazy.Difficulties are almost non-existent in the presence of a man maddened by rage.