Episode 8 The mountains and rivers of the motherland are discolored
Episode 8 The mountains and rivers of the motherland have changed color
Slowly, the thing crawled closer, and it could be seen clearly that it was a human being, with only the upper body and no lower body. Each hand was tied to a wooden board, supporting the ground, and crawling forward step by step.
This "person" was in ragged clothes, with unkempt white hair and white beard sticking out, like a hedgehog. The figure slowly climbed up the road, raised his face, and looked at the dozen or so people in military uniforms with indifferent eyes.
"Hehe" he laughed twice, lowered his head again, continued to hold on to his only upper body, and crawled across the road.
No one said a word, Xiang Xiaoqiang silently looked at the ghost-like old man, watching him crawl across the entire road with difficulty.
"Zi Teng," he turned around and said, "go give him some money."
He hesitated for a moment and said softly:
"Captain, there are too many people like this in Qinglu. Besides...he is a lunatic, and even if he is given money..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed:
"Go, Zi Teng, give him some money."
Stomachache glanced at him, didn't argue anymore, touched his pocket, got out of the car and walked towards the old man.
The old man slowly turned his head and looked at him. Suddenly, as if he was frightened, he screamed "Ouch" and muttered something vaguely. He shook his head wildly and stretched his arms rapidly.
He landed on the ground and ran away to the roadside, his speed was so fast that most people would have to trot to catch up.
My stomach hurt and I chased him for a few steps. I saw him climbing up the railway and was about to catch up when I heard Xiang Xiaoqiang yelling:
"Forget it! Zi Teng, come back!"
…
The old madman kept looking back, his eyes so frightened that they actually glowed like a wild dog in the night.
Everyone didn't say anything, they all rode on the bike silently, spraying white mist from their mouths, and pedaling hard.
The old madman behind him suddenly howled again, and then burst into tears, as if he was remembering the most miserable past event.
The dogs in the distant village barked for a while, and they could still be heard from a distance.
…
It wasn't until six o'clock, when the night sky turned from thick black to deep blue, that the endless farmland disappeared, and the second river that Xiaoqiang was looking forward to seeing finally appeared in front of him.
This is the ancient Yellow River, also called the old Yellow River, the abandoned Yellow River, and the old Yellow River. It is a remnant of the Yellow River that last changed its course and flowed through Xuzhou in the mid-19th century. In later generations, it flowed through the city of Xuzhou, with the old city to the south and the old city to the north.
A new urban area developed later.
But now, it seems that Xuzhou City still only has the old city, and the north of the ancient Yellow River is still a desolate countryside.
This river is much narrower than the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. This section is only twenty or thirty meters wide. A steel bridge spans the river, and the railway leads from the bridge to the south bank.
There are also guards at the bridge, but now it's a little brighter. Even if the guards don't see the military ranks on the sticks on their shoulders, the dozen or so officers and soldiers riding bicycles and wearing "tiger skins" are not the targets of their investigation.
.This time without even asking, a group of people passed by directly.
Beside the bridge on the south bank of the river, there lies a large iron bull that controls the river. It is dark and half as tall as a man. If it were not for the fear of attracting attention, Xiang Xiaoqiang would really like to stop and take a good look at this big iron bull.
In later generations, there was a large iron bull on the bank of the ancient Yellow River in Xuzhou. Later, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a larger bronze bull was cast, which was placed in the green garden on the river bank. The bronze bull was quite large, and the granite
The stone base is nearly a person tall, and the cow's testicles are as big as a human head. In the past, on summer nights, children often climbed on the base and got under the cow's belly to play. The pair of big copper testicles were always touched.
It must be shining brightly.
Thinking of this, Xiang Xiaoqiang felt a little lighter, and a smile inadvertently appeared on the corner of his mouth.
…
After crossing the river, it looks a bit like a city. There are intersecting roads, with low houses lined on both sides, and occasionally two-story buildings, mostly made of blue bricks. Go further south, and there are
There are various shops with signboards on their doors and disguises, but most of them have boards on them.
There is a lot of dust on the narrow road, with dirty water and garbage on both sides. There are often patches of gray-white phlegm on the road, which have frozen into ice.
Occasionally there are two or three pedestrians, most of them wearing large black and gray cotton-padded jackets, walking slowly with their heads lowered, hands in their sleeves, and white mist spraying from their mouths and noses. Occasionally, I look up and see these dozen cyclists.
The officers all stopped and stared in surprise for a moment, and then hurried to a small alley on the side of the road as if they suddenly remembered.
On the roadside, a scrawny mangy dog, with its tail between its legs, shiveringly rummaged through the garbage to eat. When it saw the dozen or so bicycles rushing towards them, it hurriedly limped away and trotted away.
The edge of the city is quiet, everything is dirty, narrow, and lifeless.
…
The road ahead suddenly came to an end, and a high blue-black wall blocked our eyes.
Xiang Xiaoqiang raised his hand, and everyone behind him stopped. Xiang Xiaoqiang raised his head and looked at the high wall in surprise. The big green and black bricks kept going up, and there were arrow stacks one by one on it. It was not too high, but
It's eight or nine meters.
This is a clear city wall! A section of the ancient city wall preserved next to Xuzhou Kuaizai Pavilion Park in later generations looked like this.
Look at both sides, the city wall stretches out until it is blocked by buildings. This is by no means a specially preserved "ancient city wall", but Xuzhou City at this time had a city wall!
Xiang Xiaoqiang turned around in disbelief and saw other people looking at the city wall, but their expressions were normal and no one thought anything was wrong.
He didn't ask, but turned around and looked at the city wall again, and his mind came back. Yes, although it is the twentieth century, it is still the 1930s. Most cities in China still had intact city walls until the 1940s.
.During the Anti-Japanese War and Civil War, the city walls were also attacked.
"Captain," Snail came over and asked, "Shall we go into the city? It's time to open the city gate at this hour."
Stomachache also says:
"Even if it's not open, I can still get it open wearing this outfit."
Entering the city? Xiang Xiaoqiang thought again, looking at the tightly blocked city wall, he obviously felt a very uncomfortable feeling.
The telegram asked them to go into the city to find a place to settle down. Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't think much about it at the time. That was because he didn't expect that there was such a thing as a "city wall". Now that there was an extra thing like this, his intuition told him that it would be very awkward to rush into the city.
Appropriate.
"Don't go into the city yet," Xiang Xiaoqiang said hesitantly, "then go in during the meeting time at noon, come out immediately after the meeting, and don't stay inside for a moment longer. Once something happens and the city gate is closed, we will be the turtles in the urn."
"Then...then where do we live now?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't say anything, just stared at the corner.
At the foot of the city wall lay a row of beggars, crowded one behind the other, lined up along the city wall. There were hundreds of them as far as the eye could see.
Compared with the beggars on the streets of Nanjing, the beggars here have no human appearance at all. Not to mention there are many, each one is as thin as a skeleton, wearing scattered rags, and the original color cannot be seen at all. There are a few
Each of them had black and yellow rotten cotton wool exposed, and most beggars didn’t even have rotten cotton wool on their bodies.
"If you are asked to open a bunk, just do it. Don't ask so many questions. It's not a pleasure for the commander to bring the brothers out. The bunk is convenient for the task, you know? Otherwise, who are we, the commander, who wouldn't enjoy having a single room?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang frowned and waved his cigarette:
"He's a common man, so don't talk so much to him... Hey, boss, hurry up, you will be rewarded by Tongpu."
"Hey, hey..."
The shopkeeper hurriedly took the key from behind the counter and led him to the back to open the door.
The group of people retreated the bicycles to the backyard, took off the weapon bag from the front beam and took it into the house.
The long room is more than 20 square meters, very dark, with several large wooden pillars holding up the wooden floor above. There is a long bunk that can sleep a dozen people, covered with quilts, and it looks dirty.
It's smelly and the smell isn't very good.
When you open the window, there is a very quiet street behind you, where you can go out if something happens.
"Okay," Xiang Xiaoqiang waited for the shopkeeper to step back, looked at his pocket watch, and smiled at the team members, "That's it. It's almost six o'clock. Everyone, hurry up and go to bed. You can still sleep for five hours. Snail,
Zi Teng, the three of us take turns on duty. I'm on the first shift."
Everyone has checked their weapons, the submachine gun bag is at hand, the big belly box is loaded and loaded in the chest, and they are ready to sleep with their clothes on.
The loudspeaker outside the window suddenly sounded, and harsh music came in.
Everyone was excited and hurried towards Xiaoqiang towards the window. When he opened the window and looked around, he saw that the only few people on the street were standing still, facing the north with indifferent expressions.
The unknown loudspeaker finished playing the prelude music, and an impassioned male voice shouted:
"Long live the Qing Empire! Long live the Qing Empire!"
Those few people followed weakly:
"Long live the Qing Empire, long live the Qing Empire..."
The loudspeaker shouted again:
"Long live my lord, the Holy Emperor!"
One of them accidentally glanced at Xiang Xiaoqiang who was pushing the window. He immediately stood upright and shouted with all his strength:
"Long live my lord, the Holy Emperor!"
Several other people were startled by him, and followed his eyes and saw Xiang Xiaoqiang. Their faces turned pale with fright, and they stood upright and followed the radio to shout long live the mountains.
Immediately afterwards, the wind instrument started playing on the radio and majestic singing sounded. The few people quickly sang along seriously:
"Gong Jinou,
Chengtian Gui,
The people are happy with the algae..."
…
Xiang Xiaoqiang came back to his senses and turned around and asked:
"What's going on? What are they doing?"
"This?" Snail said, "Captain, this is Qinglu raising the flag and playing the national anthem."
"The national anthem of Qinglu?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang wondered, this was the first time he heard of the national anthem of the Qing Dynasty. He looked out the window to listen again. The singing continued outside:
"Happy compatriots,
Fortunately during the Qing Dynasty.
Zhen Xihao..."
…
Stomachache also said:
"Yes, captain, every morning at six o'clock in the morning, the national flag is raised in all areas of Qinglu. All the people have to sing the national anthem and are not allowed to move. Qinggu has special personnel to check. If they find you not standing properly, you will be in trouble...
"
Xiang Xiaoqiang said:
"What about our Ming Dynasty? Does it also have a national anthem? Does it also raise the flag every day?"
They all vaguely heard that Captain Xiang Xiaoqiang was an overseas Chinese, employed by the East Factory of the Ming Dynasty, and it was his first time in the Ming Dynasty. His question just confirmed this statement.
My stomach hurts and I quickly reply:
"Yes, captain, we have to raise the national flag at this time every day in Ming Dynasty."
“What does our flag look like?”
"The bright yellow background, the vermilion dragon, and the rectangular flag are much more spirited than the Qinglu's triangular dragon flag!"
“What about our national anthem?”
"It's "The Mountains and Rivers of My Homeland", written by Prince Zheng Jing back then!"
"The mountains and rivers of the motherland..." Xiang Xiaoqiang murmured and repeated, listening to the smooth "Gong Jin Ou" that kept coming from the window, and on a whim, he blurted out, "Let's sing it and listen!"
Several people looked at each other.
Snail was stunned for a moment and said in disbelief:
"Captain, we are in Qinglu territory now! Sing the national anthem of the Ming Dynasty?"
Others also said:
"Yeah, it's too dangerous!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about his mother who froze to death, and became irritated. He waved his hand:
"Come on, come on, sing and hear what's going on. Just keep your voice down! Now that the Qing Dynasty's national anthem is so loud outside, we don't dare to sing the Ming Dynasty's national anthem? Come on, Zi Teng, give me a start."
Everyone looked at each other and listened to the continuous howling of the tweeter outside the window:
"Gong Jinou,
Chengtian Gui,
People are happy with algae...
The sky is high and the sea is roaring..."
…
The snail's face turned red from suppressing it, he stamped his feet, went over and closed the window.
Stomachache looked at him, nodded, cleared his throat, and sang in a low voice:
"The barbaric dust spread all over Jiuzhou,
Loyal ministers and righteous men are sad.
There is no prodigal son's house attack,
Xuxiao's ancestor Ti Zhou
…”
Then, everyone whispered together:
"...
The mountains and rivers of my motherland have changed color,
The old palaces of Beijing were transformed into hills.
I don’t know when I will take revenge and avenge my shame.
I will never stop until Loulan is killed.
…”
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at everyone and couldn't help himself, so he softly said:
“The mountains and rivers of my motherland have changed color,
The old palaces of Beijing were transformed into hills.
I don’t know when I will take revenge and avenge my shame.