Chapter 30 28. He was drowned alive

The autumn is crisp and clear, and there are no clouds in the sky.In the large sorghum fields, the farmers who were still working just now have disappeared.In the village surrounded by red maples, poplars, and green willows, wisps of lavender smoke rose. In early October 1941, Dohashi, the commander of the 12th Army of the Japanese Invasion Army, issued an order to mobilize millions of migrant workers from Shandong Province to build trenches stretching thousands of miles on the fertile land on both sides of the Jinpu Railway. Since then, Shandong The peaceful scene in the countryside was never seen again.

At the foot of Mount Tai, about 20 kilometers southwest of Tai'an County, there is a Xiazhang Village.Lieutenant Yamano's company was stationed here.Lieutenant Shan Ye and I commanded a "Xuanfu march" to Dongniuzhuang and Liumenzhuang. "Those who run away when they see the Japanese army are all suspicious people, and I will arrest them all!" The company commander gave an order, and the quiet atmosphere of late autumn was suddenly broken. Not long after, the cavalry drove about 40 peasants back to the village.Many whip marks were left on the faces and necks of the farmers.

"Hey!" Lieutenant Shan Ye sat down on the sorghum pole brought by the sentry, and he tapped his chin lightly, and the soldiers ran away quickly to search the farmer's body.Anyone who found cigarette purses, pipes, pipes, and flints were taken out and put on the ground. "..." An old farmer turned his face to look at me inexplicably, and spread his hands for me to search. The setting sun shone on his thick, fat, deeply wrinkled hands. "What's the matter with this bastard? Are you bullying me as a recruit?" Thinking of this, I was very annoyed.However, I have only been in Shandong for half a month, what should I do?I hurriedly looked at the face of the company commander.

Isn't this common?Shan Ye was smoking a cigarette expressionlessly, his eyes were searching for the peasants... At this time, I was ashamed of my embarrassment in front of a native farmer. "Ah, there it is!" A soldier found a cloth bag in the farmer's belly and took it out. "Ah..." The farmer was about to argue, but the soldier next to him hit him on the leg with a gun butt, and the farmer bent his knees and sat on the ground. "Look what it is? You bastard!" The soldier opened the cloth bag, and brown powder fell out of it. It turned out that it was half a sorghum noodle pancake.It seems that it is the lunch for the farmers to work in the fields, and out of love for the children, half is left for the children.This is a very precious thing for farmers.

"Damn it! This shit!" The soldier threw the pancake on the ground and crushed it with his feet. At this time, extreme anger appeared on the farmer's face, but he quietly closed his eyes again, enduring the intense anger. "Why did you run away? You must be colluding with the Eighth Route Army!" Lieutenant Shan Ye had a sinister smile on his face. He raised his saber and stabbed the farmer's chest a few times with the tip of the knife. "No! I am a common man, I want to go home, let me go home!" At this time, Corporal Xiao Lin standing behind him beat him on the back with a whip, and cursed: "You bastard! Say it or not! Say it or not!"

The farmer tenaciously endured the torture of the saber and the whip, and repeatedly said painfully: "I am a common people, let me go home!" After he finished speaking, big teardrops flowed from his eyes. However, I can't listen to these at all. "What an annoyance! This guy!" said and kicked him.He groaned and fell to the ground.But I lighted up a cigarette nonchalantly. Yesterday, when he came back from Tai'an, in Liulangpo Village, Shan Ye had already killed the father and son, what method would he use today?With a relaxed mood like watching a show, I tortured the peasants.

"Hey, why don't you tell me? When did the Eighth Route Army come?" My whip hit the farmer's back several times, tearing his blue shirt.His back, which was darkened by the wind and the sun, was torn to pieces by me, covered with blood and mud. "Crack! Crack!" The ruthless whip hit the peasants endlessly.His face had become indistinguishable due to the mixture of blood, oil, sweat and mud, but his hands were clenched into hard fists. We Japanese officers and soldiers, when encountering disturbances on the battlefield, would think that the Eighth Route Army was coming and would be frightened to death; but in front of these unarmed and peaceful peasants, we knew how to show off our power.

"Bastard! Stubborn guy!" Lieutenant Yamano stood up, grabbed the farmer by the collar, and pulled him to a place less than 10 meters away from the water. This is a well used by farmers all year round, and it is the favorite place for farmers to gather, but the devilish Japanese officers and soldiers have turned this place into an execution ground. The farmer struggled desperately, trying to get rid of Shanye's hand, but he was so tortured that he was powerless, and there was nothing he could do. Shanye smiled sinisterly and said, "This guy, isn't he afraid of water!" After he finished speaking, he forced the farmer into the well, which was what he planned to do.

"Oh!" the farmer let out a cry. "Gudong!" There was a loud noise in the well.When I came to the well, I heard shouts from inside: "My lord, my lord! I am a common people!" However, I thought, "Let him struggle in the water!" At this time, I thought, wouldn't it be better to throw a stone into the well and let him sink to the bottom with the stone?So, I picked up a rock and smashed it down.Missed!I picked up two more stones the size of a human head and threw them into the well.Unexpectedly, it missed again. "Bastard! Hey! What are you dawdling about? Hurry up and move the stone!" I yelled at my subordinates.

One, two, three... The company commander and his colleagues were all watching me throw stones.Cries of pain kept coming out of the well, and every time I yelled, it meant that the stone hit me once, and I would have a pleasure. The well water was cold, and the farmers struggled desperately to avoid the stones. "Okay! Throw one piece, and you can escape. I can throw a few pieces at a time, and see where you hide!" In this way, it really worked.When I dropped the 15th and 16th stones, I only heard a scream of "Ah!", and I couldn't hear the cry anymore.When he ran to the well, he saw that the farmer's body had disappeared into the water.

"Hey! Finally hit! Sugimoto, you may be lucky too!" This is the satisfied voice of the company commander. "Ah, I can be an officer too!" Thinking of this, I felt so happy. The autumn wind blowing down from the top of Mt. Jinjing seemed to convey the grief and hatred of the farmers. It was blowing quietly, and darkness gradually enveloped the land. Coal mines, county towns, streets, thousands of villages, and the entire mountains and fields of Shandong are all stained with blood.When the peaceful Chinese people lived at the bottom of the most miserable life, the coal, wheat, cotton, livestock and various resources here were loaded onto trains and transported to the north along the Jinpu line day and night. These crimes of mine lasted for 4 years and 8 months. I killed many Chinese people by myself, and I took the lives of many people with a machine gun. On this vast land of Shandong, I killed people with red eyes. Do all the bad things. Now, I still clearly remember the peasants who were tortured to death, the young Eighth Route Army soldiers who blew themselves up at the last moment, and the villages that were burned to ashes... Why did I come to China?What is it for to trample on such a beautiful and beautiful river and mountain?What is it for to kill such kind-hearted Chinese people? When I look back on the course of my first half of my life, I feel so ashamed. These are all crimes of war and war of aggression.I will never take part in this heinous war again. It is my duty to stop the war and prevent the disaster of war from befalling the peaceful people.The people I killed can't speak now, and I, who is still alive, must fight to the end to oppose the war no matter what! Author bio: Born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1919, he joined the army after graduating from junior high school. After coming to China, he served in the 45th Battalion, 54th Brigade, 59th Division, 12th Army of the Japanese Army, with the rank of Captain.