Chapter 34 shadow of war

What was to come had finally come.A gunshot from the Marco Polo Bridge in mainland China ignited the heightened crisis. People from all walks of life have different opinions on the development of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. 'An event of the same nature as the Manchurian Incident will not develop into a full-scale war. ’ There’s that optimism too.Therefore, treat it with an attitude of watching the fire from the other side. There are more elderly people who have this kind of view.But that optimism faded as the war spread from northern China to Shanghai, and before everyone watched nervously, the situation finally developed into a full-blown two-state conflict.Then it's a slump.Taiming felt perplexed by this historic change.

With the development of the war, Taiwan also immediately took on the colors of wartime. Whether it is in the countryside or on the street, what people talk about is war, and flags are flying everywhere to send off soldiers or soldiers.In addition, the "National Spiritual Mobilization" campaign was launched, and even every corner of the village held a speech meeting to promote its general mobilization. At this time, in addition to household heads, even housewives and young men and women were mobilized to listen to the speeches of the township head, principal, Baozheng, etc. speak.

One afternoon, Taiming and the owner of the rice shop next door went to a lecture together. The lecture on this day was about the general mobilization of donating gold. In order to "punish violence", he called on the people to donate all the gold they held.Both the head of the township and the speaker emphasized that those who hide gold are not worthy of being "citizens", and both Baozheng and Chief Jia knew the names of the gold holders in the jurisdiction to threaten the people to donate gold voluntarily, so as not to regret the possession of gold. On the way home after the lecture, Taiming and the owner of the rice shop slowly walked home. Around them, there were also crowds coming out of the public hall, walking in groups of three, three, five, five.Then heard the two women walking in front of the two women talking loudly: 'My ring?I've never worn it, so I guess it doesn't matter. ''No no, Baozheng came during the wedding ceremony, he has seen it. ''But it's a wedding anniversary. ''... If it is found by the search, it will be terrible! 'The middle-aged housewife said so, reminding the young daughter-in-law.Speaking of this, he probably noticed that Taiming and the two were gradually approaching from behind them, and he stopped talking in surprise, and suddenly accelerated his steps to widen the distance.They probably mistook Taiming for a Baojia officer.Taiming felt bored.The owner of the rice shop said in Hakka: "Open a new mountain and sell old fields." What he meant was that good fields were sold to be reclaimed, that is to say, even the old fields were sold before the new fields were reclaimed.Taiming just nodded slightly to express his agreement and silently did not say a word.The two were silent for a moment, and the owner of the rice shop issued another warning: "The length of the whip does not reach the abdomen and back." ’ In other words, the whip is too long to be useful for scratching.Taiming comprehended and asked: "Do you mean it's futile?" The owner of the rice shop showed exactly this expression.

'Mr Hu is a man of insight.There are more than 400 states in the vastness of China, and the war of resistance in one province takes eighteen years.It's like chasing mice in a big playground. If it's not done well, if the mice are not caught, people will be exhausted. He went on to talk about the history of the rise and fall of the past dynasties in China. He seemed to be quite educated in Sinology and liked to use such suggestive words.He also said: "The third guarantee's Baozheng keeps saying "jihad" and "non-citizen". Where is the justice in Japan? ' He vented his usual anger.

Taiming couldn't find a word to answer this, but just walked silently. The demands of the authorities for the delivery of precious metals caused great consternation among the women.Taiming's side, also over the issue of donating gold earrings, sister Qiuyun and brother Zhigang disagree.Since Zhigang became Baozheng, he has become an enthusiastic supporter of the war, so he is also very active in donating precious metals. In order to protect Zhengzheng, he immediately decorated the house in a Japanese style, set up shrines, and even paved tatami rooms, which are rare in the countryside. .When visiting a shrine, couples are particular about wearing kimonos together.The incident happened, and he was crazy about the atmosphere of the war, serving as the vanguard of the Japanese, and he was busy all by himself.As for asking the people to donate precious metals, in order to improve Baozheng's performance, he insisted on the donations from the Hu family.Qiuyun hesitated to donate the only pair of earrings out of young women's love for jewelry, but he half-forced her to hand it over.And threatened her: 'What if I suffer a house search? ' or 'If you don't hand it over, I'll report it to the police! With such a hostile attitude and no regard for brotherhood, Qiuyun had to shed tears of reluctance and gave up.

One day, when Taiming was chatting with the owner at the head of the rice shop, three Japanese men wearing commissioned official hats came into the shop imposingly, and some farmers who were resting at the door said: "My lord, come and sit down!" 'As he spoke, he gave up his seat immediately, and then slipped away quietly.These three Japanese can be seen at a glance as rice shell inspectors.Those farmers were criticizing the unreasonableness of the 'Rice Husk Management Order' just now.In short, the 'Rice Grain Management Order' is a sinister bill conceived by the government for wartime industrialization. It is a means for the authorities to recruit cheap labor, lower the price of rice, and turn the rural population into a working population.The authorities issued the rice grain management order in order to achieve the effect of killing two birds with one stone: on the one hand, it can protect the sugar industry, and on the other hand, it can supply labor.It is the government's plan to rob more than half of the production price of rice produced by the sweat and blood of farmers.And even more far-fetched to the deep plowing incident.This incident was carried out in the name of land improvement to implement a policy of extraction.Because if the farmer plows the rice field to the specified depth according to the order, he will not be able to grow rice, so whether you like it or not, you have to switch to sugar cane.At that time, although the Japanese government used various methods to oppress the peasants, the peasants resisted bravely and unyieldingly, and many people were imprisoned.This time, the imperial edict of the emperor was used, and it was in a wartime situation, and the order could not be resisted casually, so there was no other way but to bear the tears.While the farmers were complaining, the three Japanese came to the rice shop.

The owner of the rice shop felt panicked when he greeted these uninvited guests. Usually, his son who speaks Japanese fluently received him, but it happened that his son was out that day.The inspector was obviously dissatisfied with his son's absence.If his son is in the store, he knows how to deal with everything and is used to entertain those inspectors thoughtfully.The owner of the rice shop explained that his son was not at home in half a word of Japanese. 'what?not at home?Did you know the inspection date in advance? ’ The inspector bumped back unhappily, and said: ‘Well, anyway, check! 'Inspector imposing? ?The ground went ahead, and the owner of the rice shop hurriedly followed behind him.Opening the rice warehouse, bags of rice are piled high in four or five rows. The inspector looks at the rice in stock and looks at the face of the owner of the rice store. After stabbing a few times, he walked to a corner of the warehouse and quietly discussed something with the other two inspectors, then suddenly turned around and shouted to the workers brought in at the door: 'Hey!coolie! The coolie came in with a strainer.So one of the inspectors stabbed a bag of rice in front of him with a rice stick, spread out the rice accumulated in the rice stick on his palm for inspection, and then deliberately threw the rice into the sieve. The inspectors stepped on the rice with the soles of their feet, and pierced the bag of rice with a rice stick for inspection, so they said: "Hey, there are stones, the inspection failed, and all of them were re-inspected." Polished rice! The inspector dropped this sentence, stopped inspecting the rest of the rice, and quickly walked out of the warehouse and returned to the rice store.The owner of the rice shop followed closely with a pale face, pleading with them frequently, because this batch of rice will be shipped for transportation in the near future, and if the inspection fails, it will be a big problem.

Seeing such a thing with his own eyes, Taiming was filled with righteous indignation, and his heart boiled with anger.There were more than one thousand bags of rice, but only about ten bags were inspected, and a small stone was accidentally found in one of the bags, and it was too much to order all the rice to be polished again.However, the inspector finished the inspection and did not go back immediately. He sat in the shop and drank the cold tea as if it was tasteless.Obviously there are other intentions, it is a salivating materialistic attitude.At that time, an inspector saw an old wooden mortar in the yard, walked over to have a look, he turned his head and said loudly to his companion: "It's made of camphor wood, it's a high-quality product." ' he said, stroking again salivatingly.

'what?Camphor wood? '(Camphor wood rice mortar was used as fire, which was most cherished by the Japanese in Taiwan at that time) The director among the inspectors stood up, walked over to look at the rice mortar, then walked back with a smile and said to the owner of the rice shop: "Hi!Give me that mortar, will you? ' He narrowed his eyes slyly.The so-called let means to give it to him.Seeing this situation, Taiming felt disgusted, but he suddenly thought that if he could pass the inspection by sending him a rice mortar, he would have to send it, so he whispered to the owner of the rice shop, urging him to send the rice mortar to him. It is better to give to that person.This boss is not like his son who can respond quickly, he doesn't understand Japanese and can't be tactful, but after listening to Taiming's whisper, he finally understood.

After presenting the rice mortar as a gift, the director suddenly turned into a smiling face and said, "I'm sorry, but the elderly are reasonable." ’ His attitude changed completely, but he still said: ‘The meter checked just now is poorly tuned, so pay attention in the future. ’ Then he said to his subordinates: ‘That’s all for today, let’s pass it. He gestured with his eyes, and his subordinates obeyed without checking, and were busy stamping all second-class rice inspection marks.Then the boss invited them to drink and insisted on asking Taiming to accompany them. Although Taiming had no intention of being there, he sat with them in order to serve as an interpreter for the boss.They got drunk and said: "The worst inspectors are plant inspectors, and the sweetest are sugar inspectors. When you go to the sugar factory, you will not only have a meal, but also a woman to accompany you." ''Yes, when it comes to drinking, beer is still enjoyable. ' they said.Women and beer, neither here.They want to go to the restaurant.

'How greedy these guys are. ' Taiming thought in his heart.And once they say something, they won't let it go.As a result, the boss invited them to the restaurant again to achieve their goal, and they took the last train back when they were drunk. The so-called jihad, the behavior of these inspectors today, the newspaper reports judged the Chinese as weeds, and praised the fact that a Japanese knife massacred more than 70 people as a heroic deed. What does it matter what you do? ' Taiming thought. That night after Taiming went home and went to bed, his eyes were awake for a long time and he could not fall asleep.