Chapter 13 Chapter Eleven

The Japanese came as soon as they said they came, and they came with great fanfare. At the end of September 1938, Japanese planes flew over Qingpu three times, scaring the factories of the British and Germans to spell out their own nationality letters or patterns every night with lighted small fire oil barrels to prevent Japanese bombing.However, the Japanese aircraft had not bombed at that time, and did not bomb once until September 30. On October 2, the bombing officially began.It was just dawn in the morning when more than 20 Japanese planes flew over and dropped hundreds of bombs, turning the area around Daxing Cotton Mill and Dafeidao into a sea of ​​flames.Dehua Company, which spelled out the swastika pattern with lit oil drums, was not spared either. The company's casting branch factory was also hit by a Japanese bomb, and half of the factory building was blown down.Dongfang Locomotive Works is a Japanese company. Before the war in Qingpu, some machines that could be dismantled were dismantled and loaded on trucks and ships as enemy products. The factory buildings and equipment that were not removed in time were not bombed.Probably the Japanese military knows well about the factories of Japanese businessmen in Qingpu.

From October 2nd to October 14th, there were seven or eight bombings.On one occasion, a bomb fell on the consulate district in Mary Road, almost killing the British consul's family. Fortunately, until the end of the bombing, Xiahong Road, which is close to the business district, was not bombed.Apart from false alarms, Zheng Shaobai's family was safe and sound, and none of the glass in the house was shattered. At noon on the 15th, the Japanese army officially entered Qingpu City.The traitors of the Qingpu Industry and Commerce Maintenance Association made the merchants on both sides of William Street hang up the sun flag, and the traitors also held a ceremony to welcome the Japanese in the square in the middle of the street.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Japanese put up a notice ordering the former workers of the Dongfang Locomotive Works to return to the factory to resume work within the specified time limit.Zheng Shaobai honestly went there according to the prescribed time limit. He was not afraid of being accused of anti-Manchurian anti-Japanese, but he was afraid of losing his job in this turbulent time. This has nothing to do with his cowardice.Recalling it decades later, Zheng Shaobai also defended himself by saying: "My thought at the time was: No matter what dynasty or generation, people must eat. If I don't return to Dongfang Factory to resume work, my wife, children, Xiaoyong and Xiaoling will all starve to death. At that time, although the one hundred yuan that Gao Ming gave me had not been used up, I still had to leave a way out! Who knows how long the Japanese will stay in Qingpu?!"

Speaking of which, the Japanese are really efficient. An empty Dongfang locomotive factory became lively in a blink of an eye.Machines from the enemy-occupied areas entered the factory one after another, and truckloads of steel and iron plates were brought in by small trains. The factory not only resumed normal production within three months, but also built a new military branch factory. It specializes in repairing firearms for the Japanese army, manufacturing grenades, small steel cannons and so on.The military branch factory is surrounded by high walls and electric grids. It is a factory within a factory in Dongfang Factory, and there are double posts at the entrance day and night.Except for some technicians, most of the people who were surrounded to work were the so-called recruiters and Kuomintang prisoners of war captured from the enemy-occupied areas, and there were not many local people in Qingpu.

Zheng Shaobai was not forced into the military branch factory, but continued to work as his desk fitter. At the beginning, he worked ten or even twelve hours a day, and seven catties of moldy sorghum were found in the factory.Later, when the traitor government in the city was established, the working hours were only changed to eight hours, and the wages were changed from moldy sorghum every day to cash vouchers in the factory to buy moldy sorghum or cash. Life is even more difficult. Although he works sixteen hours a day and works two shifts, he can get vouchers for two shifts, but because the voucher system gives the factory the opportunity to exploit, and because the market prices are soaring, in fact Zheng Shaobai Sometimes the wages earned by working two shifts is not as much as that earned by working one shift in the past.Ye Chunlan didn't dare to set up a small stall anymore. Not only did she not make money, but she also lost money. There were too many rascals who got nothing for nothing. Most of these rascals were traitors, and Japanese people were rare.

The Japanese had eaten moldy sorghum for almost two years, and the one hundred yuan that Gao Ming had given to Zheng Shaobai on behalf of the party organization had also been used up. Zheng Shaobai finally thought of stealing it. There was really no other way.If it had been possible to solve the belly problem with a revolutionary solution, and if the workers in the factory had dared to join him in another General Union strike, he would have risked his life to participate.Unfortunately, there was neither such an opportunity nor such a possibility at the time. In 1939, the Japanese implemented military control over the Dongfang Factory. Leather boots and bayonets did not allow the workers to have any form of resistance.A few workers in the casting and molding section quarreled with the foreman of the sales station just because they opposed the factory adding sand to moldy sorghum. The Japanese arrested them and locked them up for a month.Organized economic struggles began after 1940. The factory-wide sabotage prompted the Japanese to abolish the voucher system.It was after 1942 to get in touch with the underground party and carry out armed struggle.At that time, Zheng Shaobai had already entered the Japanese Palace of Hades, otherwise, he would definitely participate in sabotage and join the workers' guerrillas.

In 1939, the only way Zheng Shaobai could think of to resist was to steal.Stealing copper from the factory and selling it to feed five hungry and cold children, two of whom are orphans of martyrs.Before preparing to steal, Zheng Shaobai had spent several weeks carefully observing the physical examination of the Japanese guards at the gate of the factory.Zheng Shaobai found out that when the mid-shift workers got off work at midnight, the Japanese guards were very sloppy in checking themselves, and they didn't check them one by one. They only pulled over to touch anyone they saw suspicious.Zheng Shaobai decided to use the opportunity of getting off work to steal and commit crimes.

There are various ways of stealing.Zheng Shaobai once put a copper rod in a broken flashlight and took it out carelessly.I once put the brass plates that can be used to match the keys in the shoes and dragged them home a little bit.He also wrapped the copper wire in a cloth belt and wrapped it out quietly.The most daring time, Zheng Shaobai actually buried a piece of copper bearing bush weighing four to five catties in more than ten catties of moldy sorghum, and blatantly brought it out.That time almost caused a big trouble: the bearing bush was urgently needed by the chief technician in Japan, but it could not be found anywhere the next day. If someone reported the case, they had to rush to make it again.

Zheng Shaobai did not sell the various copper materials he stole directly. He was a good fitter, and any copper material could come in handy in his hands.He used the stolen brass skins to give people keys.The copper rods and copper tile shafts were melted down, and small copper Buddhas were cast, and the children were sold in the streets and alleys.Once, Wang Yong even sold one to a passing Japanese soldier. It was a tough time. I worked two shifts in the factory for 16 hours during the day, and when I got home, I had to be locked up in a small east room and engaged in individual production secretly. I couldn't sleep for four hours a day.Inadvertently, Zheng Shaobai was almost scalded by the molten copper water.When doing all these, Wang Yong is always his best helper.At that time, Wang Yong was twelve or thirteen years old. During the day, he and his younger sister Wang Ling went to pick up junk and sell bronze Buddhas as usual. At night, they kept company with him, filing keys and casting small bronze Buddhas. Lie on the sidelines and watch.Both brothers and sisters are sensible, and they both know that stealing like this is very dangerous, and they both advised Zheng Shaobai not to do this, they were afraid that Zheng Shaobai would never come back after going to work one day.

Of course Zheng Shaobai knew the danger, but he couldn't stop doing it.Not to mention his three children, even for Wang Yong and Wang Ling, he had to do it.Third Brother Wang died because of his injustice, and it would be unacceptable for him not to take good care of his two sons and daughters.As a result, what the family was worried about finally happened. One night, when he stuffed a piece of copper skin the size of a palm into the interlayer of the top of the broken felt hat and took it out, he was discovered by the Japanese guard. The discovery was entirely by accident.At that time, there were many off-duty workers waiting to leave the factory. When Zheng Shaobai walked in front of the two Japanese guards, he took off his hat and bowed to them as usual. Stealing secrets.That day, Zheng Shaobai was not sloppy either, he didn't rush past him with a nod just because there was copper hidden in the hat.Zheng Shaobai grabbed the copper top of the hat, put the hat on his chest respectfully, and bowed to the Japanese guard.Unexpectedly, at this time, a reckless worker squeezed in from behind and bumped his elbow. His arm went numb, his hand went limp, and his hat fell to the foot of the Japanese guard, revealing the copper skin.The Japanese guard was stunned, and Zheng Shaobai was also stunned.Zheng Shaobai didn't wait for the guard to recover, he turned around and wanted to run into the factory.Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned around, the butt of the Japanese guard's gun hit him.

Zheng Shaobai was arrested and taken to the Palace of the King of Hell overnight.Yanwangdian is the branch of the military industry, and Japan's special three departments are located in it.As long as the workers in the factory deal with the special three departments, they will lose their skin if they don't die.That night, Zheng Shaobai had a hard time. Several traitors from the special third department tied his hands, hung him in the air with an electric hoist, and took turns holding a leather whip to beat him. Live and die two or three times.They asked him to confess: how many times did he steal it?Zheng Shaobai bit his tongue and said, only this time, he just wanted to use this piece of copper with two keys for the house.The people from the special third department didn't believe it, so they rushed to his house the next day, trying to find enough stolen evidence. Fortunately, the workers told Ye Chunlan the news of Zheng Shaobai's accident overnight.Ye Chunlan was not confused, she immediately woke up Xiaoyong and Xiaoling, and hid all the broken vise and small melting pot in the east room.When the people from the special third department entered the door and rummaged through the cabinets, most of the criminal evidence disappeared.The devils and traitors searched for most of the day, and only found a small piece of old copper wire, so the incident did not cause any serious problems.If the broken vise and the small melting pot were found at that time, it is estimated that Zheng Shaobai's life would not be saved, and the Japanese military might have executed him on the charge of sabotaging military production and anti-Manchurian anti-Japanese. The Japanese thought it was ordinary petty theft, and after a month of imprisonment, Zheng Shaobai was left in the military branch factory to continue working as a fitter.Although he is still a fitter, his freedom has been lost since then. He did not go to prison in name, but in fact he was in prison.The Japanese refused to let Zheng Shaobai go home, and let him live and eat with the recruiters and Kuomintang prisoners of war captured from the enemy-occupied areas.Working during the day and sleeping at night, the Imperial Japanese Army stood guard for them.The only treatment that is different from prisoners of war and recruiters is that he is paid a salary in the factory.Every three or two months, family members are allowed to visit and give some things. The Japanese knew that Zheng Shaobai was a good fitter, and they liked his craftsmanship very much.The Japanese factory director who managed the military branch factory once said to Zheng Shaobai: As long as he works hard, serves the imperial army more, and redeems his merits, he will still be able to return to the Dongfang factory to work freely in the future.At first, Zheng Shaobai really believed it, and he really did a good job, but later he found out that the Japanese factory director was lying to him, and almost no one who entered this palace of hell could get out alive.If he wants to get out of here, there are only two possibilities. One is to die here exhausted and be carried out by the Japanese; the other is that the national army finally defeated the Japanese and he goes out as a freed slave.The hatred for the Japanese is deepened day by day due to the oppression of this cruel reality.Favorability towards Mr. An Zhongliang and the national government that Mr. An worked for increased day by day.At that time, Zheng Shaobai dreamed that Mr. An and Mr. Gao re-entered Qingpu.He knew that Mr. An and Mr. Gao belonged to the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Corps. They had guerrillas, and the guerrillas were attacking Japan! Then one night, I can't remember which day, either in 1942 or 1943, the guerrillas really broke in.Gunshots rang out in the middle of the night, half of the wall of the military factory was blown down, and 70 or 80 prisoners of war and recruiters fled out in the chaos.Zheng Shaobai was on the night shift at that time, surrounded by devil soldiers watching with guns, he did not escape, but he was sincerely happy for the compatriots who had escaped from the clutches of the clutches. Ye Chunlan and her family often came to see him, and Ye Chunlan cried every time she saw him.Xiao Ling also cried, Heng Ren and Heng Yi also cried, but Xiao Chung grew up and looked like a man, instead of crying, he put on a smiley face to comfort him and said, "Uncle, just take care of yourself, don't worry about us, The life of the little devil will not last long, I know, Uncle Liu told me!" Later, Zheng Shaobai found out that Uncle Liu's younger brother was an anti-Japanese guerrilla, and Uncle Liu once wanted to send Xiaoyong to Huaying Mountain to go to the guerrilla zone to work on the Eighth Route of.Xiaoyong hesitated for a few days, but in the end he didn't go. Xiaoyong thought he was a man and couldn't be so irresponsible to this broken family. At that time, Xiaoyong was not yet sixteen years old, and he had officially become a foundry worker in Dongfang Factory.