Chapter 15 county magistrate breakout

The night was pitch black, like splashed ink. As if infected by the dark night, the land was silent, except for the occasional gunfire from the outskirts of the city, the city was as silent as death. After walking a few steps on the wet river bank, Dai Jiufeng stopped again, turned around, and faced the black shadow of the huge city wall of the upper south gate. "Major Dai, Magistrate Dai, let's go!" someone called him softly from the front. He didn't answer, bent his legs, and knelt down on the ground with a "plop". Chief He and Captain Wu of the police station who were traveling with him came forward to help him up, and said anxiously: "County officer, it's late, I'm afraid the enemy will attack again!"

Dai Jiufeng babbled, saying something that only he could understand, stretched out his hand, took a large bag of soil on the ground and put it in the bag, and then followed Director He and the others to the boat by the river. People only know that the county magistrate is the county magistrate, but they don't know that the county magistrate is the official of the parents. The county magistrate bids farewell to his county seat, just like saying goodbye to his relatives. He cherishes each other and cannot bear to leave. Dai Jiufeng walked into the division command post and saw several officers in the room who were all acquaintances, not strangers, so he nodded respectively.Teacher Yu Chengwan got up and shook hands with him, let him sit on the only small square stool next to the small bed, and said, "Magistrate Dai, thank you for bringing the police to help you put out the fire. But I advise the county The chief left the county level and has not been adopted until now, but now there is no delay."

"That's right." The others present also echoed. "I'm not such a great person," County Magistrate Dai said excitedly, "I was just moved by the teacher and the officers. I am also a person who is responsible for guarding the land. The teacher guards the city as steadily as Mount Tai. I am the county magistrate. Open, it seems that it shouldn't be." Yu Chengwan smiled and shook his head. "I am a soldier who defends the country. Am I against you defending the land?" He explained calmly, "Times have changed, weapons have changed, strategies and tactics have also changed, so why don't political strategies change? Many places are building cities, Many places are also demolishing cities. Building cities is to prepare for their own defense. To demolish cities is to prevent the enemy from occupying them. From this point, you can know that the use of cities is sometimes related to land and people, and county magistrates are not necessarily You have to live and die with the county. You are an administrator, what kind of government can you do in a besieged city under heavy artillery fire? Help the military, you don’t know how to fight, and there is absolutely no need for you to stay here.” Speaking of this, Yu Cheng Wan stood up and solemnly paced the room briefly, continuing to say, "The key to Changde's survival now is not to increase or retain hundreds of ordinary people, or even thousands of people to help the garrison, but only reinforcements can quickly When it arrives, a large number of troops can be used to counterattack to break the siege, but Commander Sun called several times to say that the reinforcements are not far outside the city, where are they?" Yu Chengwan stopped, his eyes seemed to shoot through the wall, and cast his eyes on the distant place. Mountains and rivers.He turned his head and said to Dai Jiufeng: "Major Dai, as long as you don't leave Changde County, you can't be regarded as disobedient. Well, if you go out of the city, you can still send news to the friendly army for me, and bring the friendly army in. Come, break the siege of Changde early."

County Magistrate Dai was silent for a while, looked at Yu Chengwan with an expression of anticipation, and said, "Mr. Yu, to be honest, part of me is the presiding officer of my conscience, who taught me to guard the city, and part of it is because of your superiors I was moved by your attitude, and felt that you are so calm and calm, why can't we? One hundred years of life is inevitable, so what's the point of staying in the city? It's just a death, and such a death is honorable, so I decided not to leave. Now that The teacher said so, I can still make a difference when I go out, I can consider it."

Yu Chengwan smiled and said: "Magistrate Dai's ambition is commendable. Yue Wumu said that civil servants don't love money, and military officials don't hesitate to die. They are good officials. If you are not afraid of death, you will not love money, so You are a good official I admire! However, if immortality can do something for the country and the public, immortality is also good. In this way, immortality is also glorious, the big deal is to reduce the content of honor a little, and it will never be shameful. Go there. Because I am advising you to meet the reinforcements, not to flee, so you might as well sacrifice a little honor to help me save this city?" Yu Chengwan didn't want to waste any more time discussing, so he gave the order directly Said: "Let's go, there is no time for you to think about it." At this time, several officers came in and stood by, waiting to report the battle situation to Commander Yu.

Dai Jiufeng stood up, nodded his head and said: "Okay, I accept this order from the division commander! I brought all the policemen in the city and rushed out from the west road. If I encounter reinforcements, I will definitely tell them the situation in the city. The division commander's time is Precious, I won't waste the teacher's time." Yu Chengwan also stood up and asked, "Have you decided to go?" "I've decided to go!" Dai Jiufeng replied as if expressing his determination. Yu Chengwan stretched out his hand, held him tightly, nodded and said: "That's very good, if you welcome the reinforcements, the greatest honor will still belong to you. You can go out through Daximen, I will call Inform the troops in that area to cover you and the police brought by Chief He." As he spoke, his hands were tightly clenched and shaken, and they were not separated until he finished speaking.

County Magistrate Dai bowed deeply again before turning around and going out. I don't know whether it was out of tragedy or out of emotional nostalgia. , His tears will roll down like a fountain.On the line of life and death in a war environment, it seems that there is no need to set up a blockade in human emotions, which are as easy to reveal as blood that bursts at any time. The ferry slowly sailed towards the south bank of the river. Because he was worried that the sound of the paddling water would alarm the enemy sentries on the other side, Director He of the County Police Department specifically ordered all boats not to use oars. The boats only rely on the northwest wind , drifting towards the stream ahead.

There were more than 300 people who broke through with the county magistrate Dai. In addition to the police officers, there were also some administrative personnel of the county government, and some civil servants who had tasks that could not be completed in the future when they retreated. And reporter Mr. Wen Jie.This well-known reporter who was all-powerful in the press at the time offered to leave the encirclement as soon as possible. He did not want to save his life. If he was afraid of death, he would not stay during the evacuation. The battlefield press releases that I personally wrote and wrote were sent out. These drafts recorded the touching stories of the National Army troops fighting against the enemy in Changde.

Fifty years later, I met Mr. Wenjie in Changde, a beautiful, quiet, and relatively isolated town.I made a request to see photos of him when he was young, but he said that all of them were copied in the previous "movements" after liberation.Don't have any?I asked.Indeed, none of them are left.Mr. Wenjie said with regret.Because there are no photos, I can't imagine and describe his free and easy and handsome back then.From the man in front of him, it is impossible to see that he was once an "uncrowned emperor" and a man of culture.He gave me the impression that he is a peaceful and kind ordinary citizen, a craftsman who has worked hard all his life.

It is extremely sad that the plots and stories contained in the pages of the manuscripts that Mr. Wen Jie protected with his life are not only extremely valuable, but will even last forever, not only did not satisfy his wishes, but on the contrary He almost lost his life when he was implicated in the eradication of counter-revolutionaries.I asked him if he could still remember some of the contents of the manuscript, even if it was a little bit of Yu Chengwan's voice, smile and manner, even if it was a fragment of the city defense battle and some hazy impressions, but the old man was silent for a long time. Seeing that he was searching for memory, he had reached a painful level, and finally shook his head.I have seen some people get tattoos on their skin, and later scrape them off with a knife due to various reasons. I think Mr. Wenjie must have scraped off those eternal memories in his heart with a knife.

Although Mr. Wen Jie could no longer clearly recall the historical event of the Battle of Changde in his lifetime, I do know at least two things he personally experienced during the battle. One was following Dai Jiufeng to break out of the siege. After crossing the river, he encountered the Japanese army and was almost beaten to death. Another thing is that Fu Zhongfang detained Yu Chengwan under orders and took him to Chongqing to await trial. It was Wenjie who ran back to Changde and teamed up with famous people such as Dai Jiufeng, Changde Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Yao Jijie, Changde Local Commissioner Huang Weiguo, and local gentleman Li Zixin. More than a hundred people, drafted by himself, drafted the appeal petition, and passed it to Chiang Kai-shek's case through Yang Shaojiong, a member of the Central Legislative Council of the Kuomintang in Changde. Reassess. In 1949, when Mr. Wen Jie was in Kunming, someone advised him to go to Taiwan as soon as possible. He said that the Kuomintang’s millions of troops carrying guns were defeated by the Communist Party. What’s the use of going to Taiwan as a reporter with a pen?He didn't go, he returned to his hometown Changde City.But the Communist Party does not believe that carrying a pen is inferior to carrying a gun. In 1953, the Communist Party wanted to cut off his head because of a news report in an old newspaper. Later, because of the large number of "enemy and puppet" files he kept, the Communist Party almost wanted him. During the "Cultural Revolution", Wen Jie, who had been a gardener for more than ten years, was moved out and thrown into prison again. His name was circled and ticked off with a red pen for death.It is said that several underground parties who worked with him back then protected him, saying that Wenjie is still a relatively upright journalist and has no hostility towards the Communist Party.And so he survived, and has lived to this day.The more people live, the more memories they have, but the more they live, the more they have nothing left in their brains.His body is living in the human world, but his soul may have already gone after his hero, General Yu Chengwan. When the boat arrived at the south bank, near Gufengling and Maowan, Dai Jiufeng, the commander in chief of this operation, immediately became nervous all over his body, because he would encounter enemies anytime after crossing the river.He softly called everyone to get down, preferably behind obstacles.After all, ordinary people are not as good as soldiers, and even the police are not as well-trained as soldiers, so it took a few minutes to complete a simple set of covert actions.County Magistrate Dai listened attentively and looked around. Since the night was too dark, he couldn't find anything, so he had to call a few policemen to scout the way.Within a few minutes, the police officers who explored the road came back and reported that there were afterglows of Japanese bonfires flickering everywhere in front of them. The situation is very critical. If the day breaks, they will all be exposed to the guns of the Japanese army.Dai Jiufeng then discussed with Director He, where to go?Because the situation is not clear, it is really impossible to say where it is safe to go.At the end of the discussion, let's go to Doum Lake. Maybe there will be no Japanese troops there. In fact, this is completely a betting guess, but it can only be so.They divided them into 4 teams. The first team was Sergeant Zhang Xinlong leading 13 pioneers, the second was the police team of 20 people led by Dai Jiufeng himself, the third was the police station with more than 100 police officers led by Director He, and the rear was for refugees and In charge of government clerks, Captain Wu of the police force led dozens of police officers to lead the battle. This huge team, walking in a line, dragged for half a mile.They walked quickly in the dark, and it didn't take long for someone to discover familiar landform features, saying that the town of Doumhu was not far ahead.But they didn't know that this morning, the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army on the Hefu side had a brigade of more than 700 people. They crossed the Yuan River from Jiajie Temple with two cannons and occupied Doumu Lake.I couldn't tell the situation in the dark, and when I was only 50 meters away from the enemy post, the first team vaguely saw a black shadow wriggling on the embankment. They had no experience and asked loudly, "Who is this?" Without saying a word, the answer was a row of machine guns firing. At this time, the terrain that the breakout team was in was very bad, with water on both sides and a low path in the middle, so they could neither fight nor resist in concealment.In the chaos, County Magistrate Dai and Director He commanded the armed men to shoot back. The "ping-pong-pong" fight lasted for more than half an hour, causing heavy casualties. "Leave quickly, you will be reimbursed for everything if you stay here!" Director He shouted to County Magistrate Dai amidst the loud gunshots. "Okay!" Dai Jiufeng agreed. They organized a team, desperately broke through the enemy's weak firepower, fought back and charged, fought back and charged again, repeated several times, and finally escaped from the tiger's mouth. At this time, the team had been completely dispersed. More than 20 people including County Mayor Dai, Director He, and Captain Wu went to explore the home of Yang Xianlie, an employee of Zhishanjuan Township Office. Will the Japanese army arrive, so they only dare to stay for a while, after changing their clothes and shoes, they continue to choose remote places to detour. Walking and walking, it was twilight in the east, and they saw a small black forest on the opposite hill in their sleepiness. Hey, why did the forest move? "Ah! Japanese!" Someone exclaimed.Before I got down, the enemy had already opened fire here.Everyone quickly separated, so the team dispersed.After escaping from the range of the Japanese army's firepower, Dai Jiufeng looked around. There were only Director He, Captain Wu, Inspector Liu, and Sergeant Lei. After a while, the sky was bright, gunshots rang out, and there were bombers circling in the sky. It seemed that the enemy's attention was all on the offensive and defensive battle in the direction of Changde City. , to completely get rid of the enemy. Another team that broke through was not as lucky as County Magistrate Dai and the others.After dawn, the Japanese army found the Chinese police hiding in the grass in a ditch in a small village, so they mobilized troops to encircle and suppress.Just when the encirclement of the Japanese army was getting tighter and tighter, dozens of policemen led by Inspector Chen Guodong fought the enemy with a few long and short guns and a few hand grenades, but in the end, there was a huge difference in numbers, and most of them died for the country. The full stop ended the fight.Inspector Chen was captured by the enemy, and the few remaining people were led back to the South Station by Clerk Deng.There is an intelligence station of the 57th Division Cavalry Company stationed in the South Station, and the person in charge is Lieutenant Meng Xueru.There was also a battle at the South Station at that time, and the Japanese 3rd Division advanced aggressively.Lieutenant Meng led more than ten soldiers and disbanded police officers to occupy favorable terrain with two light machine guns and fight against the water.After several hours of stalemate, people from the riverside said that the ferry was ready, so Lieutenant Meng decided to retreat.The boat drove to the center of the river against the wind, and the vanguard of the Japanese army had lined up along the river bank, shooting at the ferry with machine guns and mortars, laughing and playing tricks on the Chinese soldiers. With a bang, the ship that Lieutenant Meng Xueru was on was unfortunately hit and was blown to pieces. Lieutenant Meng's body was floating on the clear Yuanjiang River, dragging a long winding belt of blood, a few small silver fish swam over, sucked a few mouthfuls of human blood, and then swam away again.At this moment, the sound of guns and artillery stopped, and only the "cuckoo" of water birds and the "hiss" of the northwest wind were heard on the river.Several police officers who fell into the water swam over with all their strength, picked up Lieutenant Meng's body, and took turns holding Lieutenant Meng's body in their arms and swimming towards the edge of the city.They only had one simple idea, that is, the lieutenant had saved them, and they wanted to carry the lieutenant back to land for burial no matter what they said.Finally, exhausted, they crawled ashore at the upper south gate, and carried Lieutenant Meng Xueru's bloody corpse to the city. A reincarnation of life and death: walk from the upper south gate, and then return through the upper south gate; three hundred people leave, and three or two come back.