Seventeen: The Lonely City

Enemy planes came over with a rumbling sound. Wang Mingming and Aunt naturally looked at the sky. The aunt suddenly shouted: "Oh my god, there are so many planes!" ”

They felt the ground tremble beneath their feet. Fear enveloped them all at once. Wang Mingming saw the enemy plane rushing towards her. I can't help but be flustered. Become six gods without masters.

The aunt pulled Wang Mingming up and hid in the alley next to him in three steps and two steps. They watched nervously at the sky and gasped for breath. Enemy planes flew over their heads as if they were grazing the roof.

They saw the bomb fall from the plane. The explosion was deafening. The tiles on the house beside them were shaken and fell. The alley was suddenly in shambles.

The anti-aircraft guns went off, and the devil's plane dropped a few bombs and flew away. Calm returned to the skies over the city of Nanjing. There were a few hurried pedestrians on the street.

Wang Mingming breathed a sigh of relief and took out a handkerchief to wipe her face, and she straightened her hair. Heart-rending howls and cries rang from the place where the house had been blown down.

They looked over there, and a woman was sitting on the dusty ground, slapping her legs and crying for her life, her house had been bombed, and she was in despair.

A seven or eight-year-old boy next to her cried out to his mother. There was a man in the bombed house fighting a fire that was still burning.

The house was bombed to the point that it was uninhabitable. It's not a matter of a day or two to fix it. It's the war years, and if you can't keep it, you will be bombed.

The king had not gone over to comfort the woman, their house was gone, and a few words of comfort were useless. They looked at them sympathetically. Things like this happen every day.

The aunt said: "The worst thing about the houses bombed by the army's plane is the garden called "Qin Yin Garden" on the side of Dashamao Lane. The fire burned terribly.

"Such a big garden, such a good building, so many antiques, calligraphy and paintings were all destroyed. It's a pity. His family has since been ruined. ”

Wang Mingming asked his aunt: "Whose garden was bombed?" ”

The aunt said, "It's from someone surnamed Tang." That family is the "Loyal and Filial Family" of the former Qing Dynasty. Three generations of the Tang family have sacrificed their lives for the imperial court.

"In the former Qing Dynasty, everyone in the government and the opposition knew about it, and when they arrived in the Republic of China, they were also a prominent family."

Wang Mingming said gloomily: "It's not a family like this that has been destroyed by the bombs of the army. ”

Wang Mingming said this because the engine room of Zhang's mansion on the edge of the Qinhuai River was bombed by the devil's plane.

On the day of the bombing, the workers inside did not have time to escape, and several were killed. A large family 100 meters away from the computer room, more than a dozen houses were blown to the ground.

The mother-in-law found out and took Wang Mingming to the computer room to see. There was a cry by the Qinhuai River. The bodies of four workers were dug up from the rubble. When my mother-in-law saw it, she couldn't help but cry too.

Although the machine room has already been sold. The workers belong to the new bosses. The mother-in-law saw that they had worked for Zhang's house, and took money from the company's pension fund to pay for the families of the four victims.

Ever since the planes of the Japanese army came to Nanjing to drop bombs, they bombed all the people. Many places outside Nanjing were bombed into ruins.

Nanjing's originally beautiful and neat south of the city has been bombed to pieces. Only Zhang's mansion has not yet dropped bombs.

Zhang's house was not bombed because the yard was large, and the towering trees in the yard covered all the houses. From the plane, it's a wasteland.

Wang Mingming suddenly thought about what would happen if the bomb fell into the yard of her house, and she couldn't help but worry, the house was blown up, and the damage was small, and the injuries were big.

If your yard is really ...... Will she howl like that woman! She thought for a moment and looked up at the sky. The days are particularly high in the depths of winter.

She said to herself: "The house collapsed and the sky couldn't collapse, and if he defeated Xiao Yue, he would have to make him pay for it!" ”

The aunt asked her puzzled, "What did you say?"

Wang Mingming said: "Thank you, aunt, I'm not hurt, I'll go home." ”

The aunt helped her bounce off the ash on her body and said, "I see that your body is very weak, my house is very close to here, you can come to my house to rest for a while before leaving." ”

Wang Mingming said: "No, I can go, auntie." I'm afraid that the enemy planes will come back in a while. I found that enemy planes were coming very often. The battle for defense has reached the doorstep. ”

Wang Mingming's words aroused the aunt's heart, she frowned and said: "I don't hide it from you, I am not optimistic about the defense battle in front of me." Very thoughtful about what to do at the base camp.

"The offensive of these said armies was very fierce, [***] blocked again and again, and as a result, the lost troops retreated again and again. The battle for the defense of Nanjing was fought badly.

"Nanjing's outlying positions have been breached. Yesterday, in the morning, Lao Jiang saw that the general trend had gone and flew out of Nanjing. Nanjing's high-ranking generals and their troops followed closely and disappeared.

"The 3rd Theater Command also crossed the river. At this time, the base camp should call on the common people who remained in Nanjing to retreat immediately.

"Tang Shengzhi's 100,000-strong army did a good job of covering the retreat of the common people. At the same time, prepare yourself to retreat to the north of the river. Save your strength for another battle.

"But Lao Jiang asked them to hold on for two weeks before leaving, and there is no follow-up on what to do in the future, and there is no retreat date and retreat plan. The implication is to stick to it. Hit the last man with one shot.

"The 100,000-strong army fought alone under the command of Commander Tang. There was no support from friendly armies, and there were no reinforcements to respond. To defeat the devil and win the victory, it is completely up to you.

The officers and soldiers knew that this was the last war of their lives, and they swore to the Prime Minister's Mausoleum with their fists and chests in the same hatred of the enemy, swearing to live and die with Nanjing.

They resolutely fought to the end against the Yue army and held Nanjing to the end. It was a tragic scene.

"There are four or five hundred thousand Nanjing locals and people who have fled, and their safety is entrusted to foreigners in the safety zone. The refugee area is about to become the last isolated island for the people of Nanjing.

"Since yesterday, Nanjing has become an abandoned orphan. It began to struggle to fend for itself in the face of the frenzied attack of the Japanese army.

I think of these and feel terrible loneliness and great sadness. I was also worried about whether the isolated island of the refugee area would sink in a sea of blood and fire in the face of the brutal Japanese army. ”

Wang Mingming chuckled in her heart, she remembered that her eldest sister once said: "What can the chairman of the committee do if he is still in Nanjing, he can't control your life and death when he is his chairman."

"When the army came, he took the plane and left, what can you do, you hit the sky with a stone, you can only watch him go."

Wang Mingming sighed. No one can stop him from leaving. Why did the eldest sister see it so accurately. Why did I believe in him like that?

The aunt said: "Lao Jiang took the political axe on the front foot and declared Nanjing a war zone on the back foot. The garrison began to carry out systematic destruction of military points.

"It's supposed to be fried, it's been burned, it's been burned. Destroy everything that cannot be taken away. Not at all left to the army.

"It's only been two days, and the army has already reached the city of Nanjing, and [***] is building fortifications in the city to prepare for street fighting. Nanjing is finished. ”

Wang Mingming stayed in the hospital for a few days, and Nanjing has undergone such a big change that she doesn't know many things. The situation is changing too fast.

The aunt said: "The rich and powerful people in Nanjing are gone. Judging by your clothes, you are also a young lady from a large family, and it is dangerous for you to stay in the city at such a young age.

"Once the army enters the city, kills people and sets fires, they will do all evil. If you can walk, it's best to go. Now the devil has not completed the siege of Nanjing City, and he can still go out.

"I have heard that there is an attempt by an army to cross the river from Anhui to capture Jiangpu and then march to Pukou, and they are trying to cut off the last retreat of Nanjing. At that time, if you want to leave, you won't be able to leave. ”

Wang Mingming said: "Auntie, my family has already left, and I was injured by the plane, so I didn't leave." I'm out of the hospital now, but I'm not fully well.

"When I was discharged from the hospital, the doctor repeatedly asked me not to be tired. I'll think I'll leave in a day or two.

Hearing you say this, the army will soon be able to besiege the city, and I'm afraid there will be no way to leave.

"My destiny is hard to disobey, and I am destined to stay in Nanjing. If Nanjing falls one day, I will not resign myself to fate, and I will definitely fight with the army. It's a big deal. ”