Chapter 611: Heavily Guarded (I)

A rickshaw stopped at the street corner. A foreigner in a 'stiff' dress got out of the car, and he handed the money to the Chinese coachman, and then asked.

"Excuse me, a riot broke out in the Japanese concession in Hankow yesterday, I heard that some Japanese were arrested by the authorities, do you know where these Japanese are being held now?"

The coachman was stunned for a moment, put away the money on his feet, and muttered: "Mr. is a foreign correspondent, right?" I'm a foreigner who pulls a foreign cart, I don't know anything, and if my husband wants to ask, it's better to go to the teahouse, and it's always right to go there to inquire about the news. ”

After saying that, the coachman pulled up the rickshaw and walked away.

The foreigner shrugged his shoulders, lifted his briefcase, and looked towards the end of this street, where was the boundary street of the British Concession in Hankow, and at the corner of the street stood British sailors, fully armed, checking all Chinese, even foreigners, who had entered the concession. Documents must also be presented for inspection and questioning.

The foreigner walked to the corner of the street, took out his papers from his briefcase, and handed them to a British officer.

The British officer looked at the papers, was surprised, and handed them back.

"Mr. Morrison, you are really quick to act. Now, Mr. Consul is at the Consulate, and he has specially instructed that if you arrive, you will be sent there immediately, because you are a worthy guest. ”

Morrison was not surprised by the officer's politeness, for he had a fairly accurate foresight of the development of the situation in China in his reports a few years earlier, so that his reputation in the press far surpassed that of most of his foreign counterparts, and now most British journalists could name him when it came to the Far East editor-in-chief of The Times.

Originally, Morrison was still in Zhangde, Henan Province yesterday, preparing to follow up and report on the news of the military exercises in Zhangde, but late last night, a telegram made him change his plan, because a large-scale Japanese expatriate riot broke out in the Japanese concession in Hankou, and the Chinese troops were stationed in the Japanese concession in Hankou to quell the riot. In view of the impact of this incident on foreign affairs, before getting on the train, Morrison sent a telegram to the British consul in Hankow, asking the consul to provide him with some interview convenience.

So, Morrison quickly got into a car and rushed to the British consulate.

When Morrison arrived at the consulate, he found that the consul obviously did not only treat him as a distinguished guest, as long as he was a journalist, he could be treated as a distinguished guest by the consulate, perhaps the consular gentleman really needed a group of reporters to "adhere to the correct British position".

Morrison is not British, he is Australian and has a British passport, according to Mr. Consul. All journalists with British passports have the obligation to uphold Britain's position and uphold Britain's interests in the "June 26 Incident", which can be seen from the propaganda materials distributed by the consulate secretaries, and Mr. Consul's position in the "June 26 Incident" is very clear, that is, the Japanese mob is at fault, and the local Chinese authorities are also at fault, and the most important question now is not to investigate who is more at fault, but to discuss how to deal with the aftermath and how to restore the "normal order and international norms" of the Hankow Japanese Concession.

The British consul believed that since the social order of the Hankow Japanese Concession had been restored, the Chinese army should immediately withdraw from the concession and transfer the management and control of the concession to the Japanese consul, or simply transfer it to a "joint management committee" composed of Britain, France, Russia, and Japan, and let foreigners administer the Hankow Japanese Concession.

The Japanese consul in Hankow fully agreed with the British consul's proposal, while the French and Russian consuls remained noncommittal, while the German consul in Hankow and the Italian consul in Hankow opposed the proposal, and the two sides had a great difference of opinion, and the American consul in Hankow and the Austria-Hungary consul in Hankow had to mediate, but so far the two sides had not reached an agreement.

As for the Chinese side, they were not at all interested in this suggestion of the British consul in Hankow, and the Chinese military spokesman made it clear that the Chinese troops would absolutely not withdraw from the Hankow Japanese concession until the Japanese mob had been completely eliminated, and that in view of the Japanese consul's suspicious stance on the entire "June 26 Incident," the Chinese side was considering whether to expel him through foreign 'diplomacy'.

Things have developed so far. The British consul is obviously a little ill and has gone to the hospital, and he is trying to force China to soften its position through the press, but will the consul be able to do so? Morrison has no confidence in this, after all, the current China is not the China of a few years ago, and the current China is ruled by a "madman from the Far East", since he dares to send troops to the Japanese concession, then, he will never change his position because of the chauvinist reports of a few foreign journalists, Morrison has long pointed out that this military strongman does not rely on the support of foreign countries, but the support of his own people, and the occupation of the Japanese concession can obviously further strengthen his image as a patriot.

Therefore, Morrison did not stay in the consulate for too long, and after revealing his identity, he easily 'obtained' a car and a driver and bodyguard from the secretary of the foreign department, and then he immediately left the British Concession in this car with the insignia of the British Consulate and rushed to the Japanese Concession in Hankow to the north.

Morrison asked the driver some questions on the road, and basically 'figured' out the current situation, since the Chinese army had taken full control of the Japanese concession. The fighting in the concession has ended, but because the Chinese military is still arresting some Japanese thugs, the current Japanese concession is basically still under martial law, and no one can enter or leave the Japanese concession at will without the approval of the Wuhan Garrison Command.

Along the way, Morrison saw two patrolling armored cars, and he was indeed very surprised by the speed of updating the weapons and equipment of the Chinese army, this was the first time he had seen the armored cars equipped by the Chinese army, before. He had only heard rumors that the Chinese army was equipped with armored vehicles, and now the rumors seemed to be confirmed, and Morrison had no doubt that the Chinese had used them in last night's crackdown.

When he arrived at the Japanese Concession in Hankow, Morrison confirmed the driver's statement, that the Japanese Concession was indeed still under martial law, and that there were soldiers with loaded guns everywhere, and in addition to the soldiers, there were also many Chinese youths wearing armbands patrolling back and forth on the boundary street to prevent those curious onlookers from entering the concession.

Morrison got out of the car and walked to Boundary Street, just then, a truck drove from the concession side, and a strong strange smell followed, and two people in white 'colored' coats and face masks could be seen on the truck body, they wore armbands on their left arms, and a red 'colored' cross was drawn on them, which seemed to be members of the International Red Cross, but judging from the mark on the straw hats they were wearing, they seemed to be people from local charities in China, such as the Shan Tang Miscellaneous Workers.

The truck jolted as it drove through Boundary Street, and something fell out of its body, only a few steps away from Morrison, who immediately recognized what it was.

It was a corpse, charred, but not complete, in fact only the upper body, and the corpse was still holding something in its hand, and on closer inspection, it seemed to be the butt of a rifle, and it was also burned beyond recognition.

"That's a corpse! The corpses of the Japanese! ”

Someone shouted in French. So, a large group of people rushed over and talked about the corpse, and several people dressed as reporters lost no time in raising their cameras and giving a few close-ups of the corpse, and a very bold Chinese reporter even reached out and ripped off the butt of the rifle held by the corpse, but because it was too hard, several fingers of the corpse were also torn down, and one of the fingers finally fell to the ground, shining golden in the sun, which was a ring.

Mo Lixun squatted on the ground, carefully studied the ring, and found that it was engraved with a 'flower' pattern, and after careful identification, he recognized that the 'flower' pattern was the emblem of Japan's Mitsui & Co., and the owner of this ring was either a staff member of Mitsui & Co. of Japan, or, he snatched the ring in last night's riot.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way!"

As Morrison studied the ring, the crowd was dispersed by several Chinese officers, who walked over and transferred the body to a stretcher and carried it to another truck, which also had a body full of bodies, many of which were also charred and blackened.

"Excuse me, are these the bodies of thugs who were killed in the riot?"

Morrison asked an officer, who looked at Morrison and nodded.

"What are you going to do with these corpses now? Is it buried, or is it burned? Morrison asked again.

"Burn clean, burn clean."

The Chinese officer gritted his teeth and snorted, his accent a little heavy, and Morrison thought that the officer might be from Hunan.

"Are you from Hunan? Are you the commander of the troops participating in the Changde exercise? Excuse me, how many Japanese did you kill in last night's operation? How many Japanese were seized? How many of them were Japanese thugs, and how many were innocent Japanese expatriates? How do you identify which of the suspects were Japanese thugs who had participated in the riots? Morrison asked.

But the officers were obviously impatient, waved their hands, and then turned and walked back to the concession, and soon the soldiers in the concession were noticeably more vigilant, and although they invited some Chinese journalists to enter the Japanese concession for interviews, all foreign journalists were turned away, and the foreign journalists were told that they would refuse to allow foreigners to enter the concession at this time unless they had the approval of the garrison command, or were members of the International Red Cross.

Mo Lixun was a little helpless, so he had to turn around, planning to go to the Wuhan Garrison Command to see if he could walk around and 'get' a certificate, and he also had a special business card of the president of the Republic of China in his hand, and he wanted to try his luck to see if he could enter the Hankou Japanese Concession.

"Mr. Morrison, Mr. Morrison!"

Before Morrison could get close to the car, a very unfamiliar voice came from behind him, and Morrison turned his head to see that it was a man with an oriental face who was wearing a "republican suit" on a hot day.

"Do I know you?"

Waiting for the other party to approach, Morrison asked the other party curiously.

"We don't know each other, but I've seen your picture in the newspaper before, and I'm not mistaken. Hope didn't bother you. The other party was very polite.

"So, do you have any advice?" Morrison looked at the other man.

"I am a Japanese expatriate, and last night I was in the Japanese concession in Hankow. I hope that you will be able to give an objective account of the massacre that took place in the Japanese Concession last night. ”

"Massacre? This accusation seems excessive. However, if you're telling the truth, I wouldn't mind hearing from you. What do you call you? ”

"Kawashima, you can call me Kawashima. For the sake of international justice, I hope you will listen carefully to my narration, and every word I say is true and without exaggeration. ”

Speaking of this, Kawashima 'Lang' quickly choked up. Indeed, he was so impressed by last night's battle that he could not believe that the Chinese army was so strong in combat, and the weapons and tactics of the Chinese army were even more terrifying.