Chapter 16 Section 3 Escape from Nanjing to Hankou

In mid-October, under the arrangement of my father, more than 700 girls and junior high school students were sent to Anqing by the Jiangnan Railway. They were led by teachers and family members of the Northeast Association, and then they took a riverboat to Hankou in Anqing.The second batch of more than 300 high school boys waited in Banqiao for the next bus to arrive.In Nanjing, there are only Mr. Huang Henghao who moved from Peking and participated in the whole process of building the school, and the newly hired principal Wang Yuzhang.Principal Wang was originally the second elder brother of the five Wang brothers who worked underground in the Anti-Japanese War in Heilongjiang. After entering the customs, he served as an instructor in the Central Army. A group of teachers and students evacuated Nanjing together.One month before the trip, my father was worried about the public security in remote areas, so he asked Wu Keren, the commander of the 67th Army, for 100 rifles to give to the school, and gave military training to the students to protect the safety of teachers and students on the road.

On the way from Qu’s family to the train station, there were almost no pedestrians. Only when they arrived at the station did they realize that there were thousands of people flocking to the station.Crowds of people in cotton robes and overcoats crowded the platform with bedding and boxes, and the sound of crying and yelling turned the station into a boiling cauldron. Students in the high school class of Zhongshan Middle School carried guns on their backs and put on leggings, trying to protect more than 200 teachers and students into the compartment reserved by the Ministry of Education.My elder brother, cousin Pei Lianju (my uncle’s son, who was also studying in Zhongshan) and nineteen-year-old Zhang Dafei wrapped my mother in a quilt and carried her into the car, making her half sit and half lie in a corner, Pass me and my three younger sisters in through the car window.I tied a small cloth bag around my waist, containing two gold rings, a little money, and an address in Hankou.

In the train, people sat, stood, and squatted close to each other, and there was not even an inch of space: the roof was also full of people, and although the station master told them to get down at the top of their lungs, no one would come down.At that time, everyone thought: as long as they can get on the bus and leave Nanjing. It was near noon that day, and my father stood outside the train station, which was already cold in the autumn wind. Twenty days later, at the intersection of Huangquan Street, where the Japanese army would massacre the city, he watched the train, which was so crowded that even the roof was covered with refugees, drive away heavily. On the platform, his heart was also full of sorrow.Japanese planes bombarded along the Yangtze River day and night, a long distance of more than 500 miles, could the lives tied to his heart escape safely?

The car passed through the first tunnel, and suddenly heard cries from the roof of the car, "Someone fell down! Someone fell..." But the people in the car couldn't even reach out for a "helping hand". The train drove like a crawl, and hid in a nearby tunnel when it heard the sound of the plane. It was already dark when we changed boats in Wuhu.In order to avoid the bombing during the day, the boat sailed at night, and the lights on the pier were not dared to be turned on. Only a few guide lights were lit on the diving board.We finally made it to the pier and stumbled onto the boat.There are too many people swarming up, and some people fall into the water while pushing; the boat can't hold people, but there are still people swarming on the gangway.Only a loud noise was heard, the springboard broke and more people fell into the water.

On the dark river, the voices of those who fell into the water calling for help and sinking, and the cries of those who had already boarded the boat, mixed with the cries of the people who were brushed off the top of the train during the day in that thrilling and frightening night, It often came back to me throughout my life growing up into old age.Those mournful cries echoed in many sleepless nights, and became the starting point of my compassion for the nation, gradually expanding from reading literature to all mankind. At that time, the Yangtze River troop carrier was one of the lifeblood of the capital defense battle, and the farthest from Hankou upstream could only go to Wuhu.Shanghai had completely fallen ten days ago. After the last defenders withdrew, Japanese military planes concentrated their fire on ships on the Yangtze River.Upriver to Wuhu after the reinforcements disembarked.The empty ship is loaded with the personnel and important documents of the central government (including the possessions of the Forbidden City), and sails back to Hankou at night. Covered with tree branches for camouflage, we're in about the last troop carriers.In order to stop the Japanese land offensive, on December 1, our army blew up the iron bridge and highway bridge in Wuhu, and the later ships could only go to Anqing further upstream.And the train from Nanjing to Anqing can no longer run, and almost all of them have become the targets of bombing. The life and death of all people can only be entrusted to fate.

It was originally a two-day and one-night voyage from Wuhu to Hankou.We hid on the banks of the Yangtze River for two days. Fortunately, the days in early winter were getting shorter. Three nights later, in the bright dawn, the ship berthed at Hankou Wharf.The students who sat on the floor in the cabin took a ferry to a middle school in Wuchang, where they lived temporarily in their auditorium and joined the previous batch of students.Our family stayed in the hostel that my father asked someone to book for him, so as not to lose contact.