Chapter 91 Consulate Massacre

Consulate Massacre What a terrible day the eighteenth of March is!We should never forget this day! On this day, the government guards massacred Beijing citizens—nine out of ten were students!More than 40 people were killed and about 200 people were injured!This is the first massacre in Beijing! I was also present at the massacre this time, but fortunately I didn't encounter a single bullet until my appearance; please rest assured, my friends far away!When I read the newspapers the next day, I felt that except for one or two newspapers, the records in each newspaper were inconsistent with the facts.I don't know whether it's the inaccuracy of the interview or other intentions, and I don't want to go into details.I'm just talking about what I saw and what I heard later. Please take a look at this gloomy China on March 18, 26th of the 20th century! ——The report of several people who escaped on the spot in the "Beijing News" on the 19th is quite detailed, you can refer to it.

I'll start with the parade.After I set off from Tiananmen Square, I once watched the parade from the beginning to the end.A total of about 2,000 people; two teams of workers, at most 50 people; one team of the Guangdong diplomatic delegation, about ten people; There are about twenty people in the first team, and the rest are mostly students from Beijing, including three teams of female students.There are not many people with wooden sticks, and they are all students, no more than ten people; I have never seen a worker with a wooden stick.The stick was about three feet long, with one end sharpened, and a piece of paper with a slogan written on it was pasted to look like a flag.As for the "wooden stick with nails" I have never seen it!

Later, I went with the team from Tsinghua University and was at the end of the team.When we arrived at the empty field in front of the Consulate General, the brigade had already dispersed to fill the field.At this time there were about two hundred guards standing in front of the gate of the mansion, lined up on both sides; the collar badges were all red ground, and the two brass characters "Fuwei" on them were indeed the guards of the Consulate.They are all carrying guns, standing leisurely: there is no nervous color.Moreover, there was no bayonet on the gun, let alone any mighty appearance.At this time, a person climbed on the head of the stone lion to take pictures.On the upper floor of the front of the mansion over there, the railings are full of people, and they are crowded, probably to watch the excitement.In this regard, the ruling government is quite like ordinary people, not like a dignified "ruling government".The cameraman got off the stone lion, and there was a report from the south: "They said there is no one, what about us?" It was about five years after being rejected; we walked in late, so we didn't know what happened—— But before that time, there was absolutely no clamor from the masses.At this point, there were only one or two shouts: "Going back is not allowed!" There is nothing wrong!" While raising his hand, the commander of our Tsinghua team also raised his hand and shouted: "Students from Tsinghua University, don't leave, there is nothing wrong!" During this time, the crowd gathered for a while, but immediately dispersed again; Tsinghua's command had just finished calling out for the second time, and when I saw everyone running away, a guard had already loaded its bullets!I hurried forward a few steps and fell asleep next to a group of people; but before I could fall asleep, a person above and behind me came up, closely next to me.I couldn't move, so I had to curl up.

At this time, the sound of gunfire was heard; it was the first time in my life that I heard gunshots, and at first I thought it was an empty gun (by then I forgot to see the reload).But a minute or two later, bright red blood dripped from the top onto the back of my hand, and the mandarin jacket was put on, and I immediately understood that the massacre was already in progress!At this time, I was not afraid, I just quietly paid attention to my own destiny, and forgot everything else.Except for the gunshots from the filming rehearsal, the whole audience was completely silent, and there was absolutely no human voice; the "crying loudly" was just "taken for granted" by the reporters.The one above me was bleeding, dripping and dripping, until we got up and fled after the first gunfire stopped.This is when death strikes, and silence is the news of death.In hindsight, it was kind of creepy.Who is above me?I couldn't see him because I couldn't move; and I couldn't think of seeing him—what a selfish man I am!Later, when I ran away, I realized that my hat and my head, which fell to the ground, also dripped a lot of blood, all of which belonged to him!He bled for more than two minutes, all on my body. I think he suffered a lot. May God bless him!After about five minutes of the first gunshot, several rows of guns were fired; the commander used the siren; There is almost a certain rhythm, which shows the calmness of the commander!Later, I heard from other witnesses that the commander was still pointing the direction with a command knife at that time, always shooting at crowded places!Another eyewitness said that at that time, there were people dancing and dancing in the building of the executive government!

I will now go back to the story after the first silence of the gunfire, and trace some of the circumstances of the shooting.It was at most four minutes between our entry and the shooting; during this period there were photographs, reports, and one or two yells, as I have already mentioned.I remember, and I do remember, that the last yell was only a minute or so before the shooting; and that's when the crowd broke up and then broke up again, and the shooting began.That's what I said too.But at the time of the "slightly gathered", the formation had dissipated, and everyone had a wait-and-see attitude, and many of them hesitated to move forward. There was absolutely no such thing as an "offensive"!As for the reason for the first scatter, I think that everyone was horrified when they saw the guards take their guns from their backs to reload; command action) is loaded.Before the first dispersal, I didn't see any conflicts between the crowd and the guards, so I don't know.But later, according to one injured man, he saw some people—some with sticks—trying to rush into the house.I think there is also such a thing; but this is by no means the reason for the guards to shoot, at most it is just an excuse for them.Whether their guns are loaded with ammunition or not bayonets (to show calmness) and let the masses freely enter the gate (to facilitate shooting) are all expressions of their determination to "gather and annihilate", and it doesn't matter if they rush in or not. .After the proof, the shooting at the east gate was even more obvious!It turned out that those who escaped first thought that they would always have a way out when they left the east gate; but they didn't know that there was another soldier in front of them--according to a certain newspaper, it was the pistol team from Jizhao Hutong. The murderous guards are here! — shot and beat.At that time, there were bullets all over the front and back, there were so many people and the doors were narrow, and the guns in front were very close, so there was a lot of death!This is what a student told me afterward; he said that both his front and back died, and he dodged a bit, but survived.This kind of time between life and death is enough for people to think deeply.

According to these circumstances, even the princes who were not present probably could not believe that the crowd first bombarded the guard with pistols.And the bombardment must have sound. Where I stood, I was only twenty steps away from the guards. Before the second scatter, I never heard a gunshot.In fact, it only needs to look at the vagueness of the government's clever telegram, which is enough to prove it.As for the so-called pistols seized on the spot, although the numbers were given out in a serious manner to make people believe it, I am always surprised; none of these captured pistols ever fired a single shot on the spot to prove their existence . —Aren't people with pistols all fools?Also, some people calmly ask now: "Before you shoot, is there any warning?" I can only say that the muzzle of a guard I saw was pointed at us, but it was just loaded. when.And the poor friend above me, he was bleeding about a minute or two after the shot was fired.I don't know whether the first volley of guns of the guards was fired upwards, but even if they were fired upwards, it would not be considered a warning; The crowd who heard the gunshots, of course, will not come back (this is not a matter of one's courage, and we don't need to pretend to be tough guys), so why put down the guns one after another!Even if you are afraid that a row of guns is not enough to disperse the crowd, let's fire the guns to the sky, why use flat guns!Therefore, even if the guards once fired a row of spears, it is by no means enough to justify them; let alone the subsequent barrage, it is still necessary to ask: "Is it more than necessary?"

After the first gunfire stopped, I followed the crowd and fled out in a daze.When I just got up, I saw two companions lying down next to me!I didn't have time to see their faces clearly, but the one in front had a big red scar on his right breast. I thought he couldn't live!I will never forget that red!At the same time, I heard a low moan, I think it belonged to the other person, and I will never forget that moan!I couldn't bear to step over them, so I had to make a detour and run forward with my waist bent, feeling very relaxed; a person came from behind and bumped me right away.I climbed two steps, stood up and ran bent over.At this time, there was a pair of gold-rimmed round glasses standing upright on the road; there were two bicycles quite blocking our way, and we all stepped on them with difficulty.I involuntarily followed the crowd to the north and hid in the horse.We lay down on the horse dung pile in the east corner.The horse manure pile was so high that someone tried to climb over the wall.Outside the wall is the pathway.I saw a man standing, and a man climbing up his shoulders; I felt that I would never have the strength to go over the wall, so I didn't look at them.Moreover, the gunshots inside have been dense again, and I have to pay attention to the change of fate.At this time, I heard someone from the wall asking: "Is it a student?"The two people who climbed the wall, I saw, did not seem to be students, and I thought they had the permission of the soldiers to go down.If my guess is not wrong, from this simple question, we can see that the guards and even the government have a deep hatred for the students!And it can be seen that the massacre this time was indeed intended to "rectify the style of study"; I later learned that at this time, several Tsinghua students were with me on the horse manure pile.One of them told me that there was a female student next to him who called him for help, but he couldn't do anything.We lay down on the horse dung pile, and within two minutes, we suddenly saw a soldier in the opposite stable holding a gun, loading the bullets, and seemed to be about to shoot us.We got up immediately, still stooping to escape; at this time, there were still gunshots being evacuated in the field, so we didn't care about it.Walk out of the road and you will arrive at the east gate.

At this time, the gunfire continued, and the east gate was almost congested.I vaguely saw many people crouching and squatting underneath, and we pushed, squeezed, struggled, and stepped on them.At that time, rationality really failed, and Tian Ran didn't seem to think it was strange.I was pushed back a few times, and finally I had to push forward with all my strength.A man in front of me had a bullet wound on the back of his head and was bleeding profusely; he was also struggling sideways.But he disappeared after a while, and I think he went down safely.I'm still walking on top of the crowd.This door is the boundary between safety and danger, the door of life and death, so everyone dare not relax a step.At this moment hope filled my heart.I don't really care about the marbles of rare vegetables in the back.The previous flight was just a matter of death, but this time they managed to survive; all the people in the crowd were actively showing their efforts to survive.But it is still blindly quiet; everyone is at this critical juncture, how can we have the leisure and time to talk?As a result of my hard work, I finally rolled down from the crowd, and my fate was sealed.At that time there were only two guards left at the gate, chatting there, and by luck, the pistols were gone!Later I found out that there were actually some dead bodies in the crowd at the gate, and they were beaten to death by the pistol team!Now thinking about the passing over the dead body, I really shudder!

I'm really useless, out of the door, walking, just panting!There are two female students in the back, one of whom I really admire; she can still smile and say to her companion: "They are also Chinese!" This makes me ashamed!I think that when a person is in such a situation, if he can change his mood from fear to excitement, he can really save people.Suffering is only blindly afraid, "I don't have to be afraid!" As for me, this time I returned to numbness from fear, which is really shameful!But I hope that my experience will gradually increase my courage!There are two things that are very memorable in the presence this time: one is when Tsinghua classmate Wei Jie Sanjun (he has left us now!) was injured and fell to the ground, two other students risked their lives to carry him out; A female student once helped two male students escape from danger.This is what I learned later.These are all chivalrous acts, worthy of our eternal admiration!

The two female students and I went out and walked south along the wall.There was still gunshots at that time, and I wanted to hide in the alley to avoid danger; they probably did the same, and after walking a few steps, they came to an alley entrance; we wanted to turn into it.At this time, there was a watchman in short clothes standing on the corner of the wall, and he said softly to us: "Don't enter this alley!" We obediently obeyed him, and went to the second alley to enter; we were really out of danger. up!Later, I learned that the guards had robbed (not only reported in the newspapers, but also witnessed by someone), and also used gun handles, wooden sticks, and knives to beat and chop people. I thought they must be in the alley we didn't walk into. do those things!Thanks to the idle person!The guards fired guns inside and outside the gate, and felt that killing was unpleasant, and even blocked the way to invite attacks; their methods of venting their anger are really omnipotent!In their eyes, a mere life is just like a piece of grass or a pile of horse dung, they don't care!Therefore, although some people survived the bullets, they were still injured by sticks, gun handles, and machetes; and Ms. Wei Shiyi died under the stick. This is really a permanent trembling!According to people from Yanda University, Ms. Wei was hit by a guard from behind with a thick stick on the head when she escaped, and her brains burst to death!I don't know which door she came out from, but I think it was probably Ximen.Because that day I was on the tram at Xizhimen, and I met a senior engineering student. He told me that he came out of the west gate and passed through three gates (the Xiyuan Gate of the Navy Department and the East and West Gate of the Army Department), and each gate has guards. Gun butts, sticks, and broadswords lashed out at those who fled.His left arm was beaten several times and he could no longer move.The son of a colleague of mine had his head shaved flat and now has no memory at all;Those who suffered serious injuries or died from such blows were naturally recorded in the newspapers; those who suffered minor injuries were beyond record, but there must be many.So I think more than two hundred people were injured this time!The guards not only beat and robbed people, but the most frightening thing was that they stripped off the clothes of the dead, no matter men or women, they often stripped them until only a hakama was left; just look at the photos in the "World Journal" a few days ago.Just don't talk about "humanity", don't you even care about the state of the country and the face of "temporary governance"; Duan Qirui, think about it for yourself!I heard that after the incident, the governing government took advantage of people's ignorance and buried the dead body a little bit, in an attempt to cover up their eyes and ears.This is what a friend of mine heard from the Consulate; if it is true, then the most bloody ones must be buried first.Lest it be exciting.But how can one hand cover all the eyes and ears of the world?I don't know if anyone who went to the government that day is still missing?If so, the news is terrible indeed!

The massacre this time has more casualties than the May 30th incident, and it is "the bullets of our compatriots". How can we hold on to other people's mouths!Moreover, in front of the majestic executive government in the capital, in broad daylight, massacres were not sufficient, followed by robbery and skinning of corpses. Duan Qirui and others could do all kinds of bestialities, but our people have such a shameless government. How can you be ashamed of the world! ——This is the shame of the world!Let's think about it too!After this incident happened, Li Mingzhong, the chief police officer, came to the executive government in a hurry and said, "So many people have died, what should I do?"We are currently in the game, and we cannot be as calm as he is, so we have to ask: "So many people have died, what should we do?" Written five days after the massacre on March 23, 1926 (Originally published in Issue 72 of "Yusi" on March 29, 1926)