Spain, the entire peninsula was enveloped in darkness.
In the past five years, this land has experienced too much blood, chaos and tears. The entire country is in chaos, with the right wing and the left wing taking turns to come to power, but neither time has brought peace to the people, only more and more frequent
There were conflicts, riots, assassinations, and bombs thrown. By 1936, the entire Spain was completely out of control, completely losing law and order. Spain had become the darkest land on the European continent except Russia.
In this darkness, there is a faint, beating light.
It was a small church. The church was erected in the countryside, small and broken. The small cross on the steeple stood in the night sky, vaguely visible in the silhouette of the moonlight. The glass on the window had been smashed to pieces, but right here
A bit of bright light shines through the broken glass window. In the darkness all around, this bit of light can really make people feel safe and warm.
There were a few candles lit inside the chapel. On the broken rows of chairs, more than a dozen old people, women and children from the surrounding mountain villages gathered here. They didn't say anything, they just sat quietly, their expressions either in trance or in a state of confusion.
Indifferent, they were like wooden figures, motionless. It seemed that in this long dark night, they were very satisfied to have such a candle-lit space for them to sit.
On the altar, the Virgin Mary looked at them lovingly. Under the altar, several elderly nuns were trembling slightly, holding buckets and rags, and wiping the altar with pious expressions. The other two wore flower glasses.
A nun sat at a table, carefully repairing torn religious books with glue.
…
Suddenly, a noise came from outside. Before the people in the chapel could react, the door of the church was kicked open. Several faces appeared at the door.
These faces were young, angry, and flushed. One of them shouted loudly:
"Alfonso! You jackal! You are indeed here!"
Everyone in the chapel turned around in horror and looked at the few people at the door. More than a dozen people outside swarmed in, holding torches, machetes, sickles, and rifles. Each of them had a piece of red cloth tied on their forehead and on their arm.
All wearing red armbands.
They rushed forward and grabbed a young man in the chapel.
"Alfonso, that's him!" One of the men with a bayonet grabbed his hair and shouted loudly, "He was the one who killed Secretary Gonzalez!"
These people were all flushed with excitement and shouted loudly:
"Hang him! Hang him!"
"Murderer! Murderer!"
The young man named Alfonso was not afraid at all. Instead, he laughed and said:
"You are a group of murderers, murderers! Your Secretary González arrested Padre Díaz, Mr. Gayek, Mr. Armende, and also arrested Sisters Verres and Rames!
And then you shot them all as 'enemies of the Republic' without even a trial! Not only that, you also set their homes on fire and killed all their wives, daughters, and their entire family! God, look at it.
Get it, who is the murderer!"
"Go to your God!" Another young man put a knife to his neck and shouted fervently, "Sir, your gods are just like your masters, they are a bunch of filthy vampires and parasites!
You fascists are always thinking about subverting our republic so that you can welcome your masters Hitler and Mussolini to Spain so that you can lick their butts more conveniently! You fascists, you think we don’t know what you think
What? Bah! You guy whose hands are stained with the blood of the Spanish people!"
"Bah! What about you? Don't you just want to welcome your master Stalin to Spain so that he can continue the purge in Spain? He has already killed half of the people in his own country, so you just want to let him also
Come and kill half of us Spaniards! You guys... have your hands full..."
Before he could finish speaking, several young people started making noises feverishly. They stamped their feet and shouted "Hang him", then took out a rope and tied Alfonso up, then stepped on a table,
Throw a rope through the church chandelier and tie the lower end into a live buckle.
Seeing that they were about to execute people in the church, several old nuns rushed over desperately and tried to stop them. But the captain waved his hand and ordered:
"These religious fanatics, you are all parasites of the Spanish people. On behalf of the Republican government, I declare that this church will be closed, and you will also be transformed into self-reliant people! Take them away!"
Amid the cries and shouts, several old nuns were dragged out. The elderly, women, and children in the church also ran away. But two young villagers pulled out daggers and rushed forward.
The captain waved his hand, and his dozen or so people instantly dispersed into a large circle. The captain also pulled out his dagger proudly, and one person dueled with the two villagers. The team members in the surrounding circle were holding torches, shouting, stamping their feet, and blowing fanatically.
whistle.
This was a duel without any suspense. Within two minutes, two young villagers were killed by the captain one after another. The two corpses were placed in a pool of blood in the center of the church. The team members cheered and pulled the two corpses up.
Throwing them onto the altar one after another, they laughed and said:
"Holy Mary, please take in these two poor souls!"
"No matter what, you make them their master!"
"It's a pity that you don't have many followers anymore!"
"Spain has woken up and the people have abandoned you!"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
…
Immediately afterwards, amid the fanatical shouting of more than a dozen team members, Alfonso, who killed "Secretary Gonzalez", was helped to the table. A team member tied a black cloth over his eyes and put a rope around him.
on the neck.
Before he died, the young man took a deep breath and shouted:
"Long live Spain!"
The surrounding team members were angry. How could the sacred word "Spain" be tainted by this fascist! They covered him up with louder voices:
“Long live Spain——!!!”
Immediately afterwards, the captain kicked the table over. Alfonso's body was hanging in the air. After struggling for a few times, he stopped moving, spinning under the statue of the Madonna.
Then, more than a dozen team members pulled the statue of the Virgin Mary from the altar and crushed it with their feet. Then they piled the tables, chairs and benches in the church and boxes of religious books in the center of the chapel, and burned the statue in the chapel.
All the candles were poured on it.
After a while, the entire chapel was engulfed in flames.
Several old nuns outside looked at the burning chapel with numb expressions and silently recited:
"Virgin Mary..."
In my ears, this group of young people sang excitedly and loudly:
"There has never been a savior, nor a fairy emperor..."
…
July 17, Spanish Morocco.
General Mora and General Franco issued a joint declaration, announcing that from this moment on, the Spanish government will be taken over by the military... Spanish military personnel will save Spain in times of crisis, just like countless times in history, and save Spain from chaos and crisis.
rescued her from the enemy and restored order to her.
On July 18, the "rebellion" first started in Spanish Morocco, led by Generals San Juljo, Mora and Franco.
…
On the same day, the Ming Empire cabinet held an emergency meeting.
Chief Minister Shen Rongxuan was speaking. He first summarized the situation in Spain in the past few years and the domestic situation in Spain:
"...After Spain entered the Second Republic and the king went into exile, the domestic chaos in Spain has continued for several years. The left and the right have taken turns to come to power, and time after time there have been "general elections" that cannot be called general elections. Time after time, there have been "general elections" that cannot be called general elections. Popular conflicts, riots, and strikes. The whole of Spain has been divided into two parts that hate each other. The entire Spanish people have also been divided in half and half, becoming two factions that hate each other and are difficult to reconcile.
"Although the left wing calls itself "republican" and the left-wing government also calls itself a republican government, it is a rather complex faction. Among them, the most radical, active and influential faction is controlled by the Soviet Union and the Communist International. Spanish Communists. On the contrary, the right-wing factions are mainly soldiers, royalists, middle class, and intellectuals. The most radical group among them is the Falangists, which are Spanish fascists.
“The left wing demands public ownership, while the right wing demands private ownership. The left wing has a strong anarchist tendency and allows local autonomy, while the right wing demands social order and a unified Spain.
"The left-wing government in 1931 began to implement land reform and religious reform. Spain is a Catholic country, and almost all schools are missionary schools. They were forced to disband by the left-wing government. The right-wing people felt that their basic requirements, "property, faith, and motherland" were all In danger. At the beginning of the 20th century, various ideological trends: socialism, communism, syndicalism, fascism, nationalism, anarchism... were all flooding the minds of all classes in Spain.
"Unfortunately, both the left and the right in Spain are the most extreme.
"What's even more unfortunate is that the international forces behind Spain's left and right wings are also the most extreme in the twentieth century. One is far-left communism, and the other is far-right fascism.
"The most unfortunate thing is that Spain at this time lacks the soil to breed the moderate faction in the middle.
"At this time, Spain has only had a few years since the end of the totalitarian rule of the monarchy. Spain has not yet had mature citizens accustomed to a democratic system of government. They cannot yet respect the law, respect votes, listen to different opinions, and respect peace and harmony like the people of Britain, France, and the United States. People with different views. No matter which faction comes to power, the ideas of both sides are completely contradictory. Once the ideas are contradictory, they regard the other party as an enemy. In addition, the Spaniards are martial and the folk customs are relatively tough. The opposition often resorts to riots, while the official Suppressed by force. The hatred between the two sides grows deeper and deeper, and the cycle repeats.
"In a word, although this Spain is a republic, it has no citizens, only mobs.
"…The question then is, what should we do in this crisis in Spain?"