Chapter 135: The Truth Maker
At night, the cold wind in Beiping is severe, and the rain is pouring down. Compared with more than ten years ago, Beiping, the former capital of the three dynasties, seems to have declined, after the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, millions of banner people were moved out of the city, which is a serious blow to the prosperity of the city, although after more than ten years of development, the city still does not see the prosperity of the past, however, this has a benefit, in the eyes of many people, especially foreigners, in this city where development seems to have come to a standstill, they can always see more, they want to see the oriental color.
Time seems to have stood still in this city, and there are hardly many new "imperial buildings" in this city, and there are also few Western-style buildings, of course, except for the former embassy area of Dongjiaomin Lane, as a big city, it still maintains the old appearance of more than ten years ago, which can not but be said to be a miracle.
For many, this large northern city has only one attraction and that is the Forbidden City, formerly known as the Forbidden City, which is in fact the largest museum in China, with a large collection of royal treasures that has always attracted domestic and foreign tourists.
Other than that, the city doesn't seem to have much to offer, of course, for some people, the city has a place that attracts some people, for example, there are several universities in the city, which are the top universities in the country, perhaps because it is far away from politics and the bustle of the city, but it is more suitable for academics, but in addition to universities, there are some places that attract some people.
Early in the morning, the west wind stopped. But when the officer, dressed in a navy blue raincoat, opened the door to the playground at Nanyuan Prison, the rain was heavier than before. Nanyuan Prison is a military prison that used to be a military barracks in the past. It was once a centralized detention camp, but now it is a modern military prison.
The military prison covers an area of about 1.1 square kilometres, with a wall that is 4 kilometres long on its perimeter alone. Outside the walls are 24 guard towers. The prison consists of 5 sections, each surrounded by high walls, and guarded by tall towers. Six years ago, the main part of the prison was originally built here by a building contractor, but subsequently. The engineering corps was also put in charge of the entire project.
After the prison was built, it was used to house political prisoners, rebels and prisoners of war during religious rebellions. According to the severity of the crime, the prisoners here are not allowed to receive any visitation and are cut off from all contact with the outside world. This continues to this day. The cell is about 20 square meters in size. There is a separate toilet inside. The cell door is a wooden door made of tin bags. There are "peepholes" above the door and waist-level toilets in the toilets, which are used by sentries to keep a 24-hour watch on prisoners.
For safety reasons, stools are never available, and the beds are where the prisoners sit on weekdays. All permanent features in the interior have been stripped of edges and corners, and polished into a circular shape. Iron wire, pieces of broken glass, rope and even strips of cloth. As well as flammable and explosive materials, all tools that could be used for murder, suicide, and prison escape are extinct here.
In China, this prison can be said to be one of the highest-security prisons.
At this time. In the passage of a building in the Nanyuan Military Prison, a guard soldier pushed a middle-aged man forward.
"Hurry up."
The middle-aged man wore only a prison-issued blue cloth overalls. Looked out. The playground, surrounded by a high brick wall, was deserted.
"I'll get wet."
When the middle-aged man spoke, he spoke with a strong Jiangsu accent.
"Nope. You won't. I've always been nice to you. ”
As he spoke, the soldier pulled out a small folding umbrella.
"I'd rather go back to my cell in this weather." …,
"One hour a day, that's written in black and paper, and we're going to lock you up for the other twenty-three hours, you know, we can't let you have any contact with anyone else."
With that, the soldier pushed the middle-aged man into the rain and locked the door behind him. The middle-aged man unbuttoned the folding umbrella. He then took a box of cigarettes out of his pocket, lit one with a cheap lighter, and began to walk around the playground alone.
Strangely, despite the biting cold, walking in the rain lifted his spirits, and the cigarettes tasted exceptionally good. Then again, nothing is better than twenty-three hours of solitude in a cell. So far, he has been suffering for three years, but there are still seventeen long years waiting for him. Sometimes he thinks about the endless years ahead, and he thinks he's going crazy.
However, it was much better now than the first two years, during which the greatest enemy for him was not prison, and endless loneliness, at that time, his guards were ordered not to say a word to him, and compared to the soldiers who were now guarding him, the guards of the Bureau of Investigation were simply robots. They didn't say a word to him for two years, even if he was there roaring and scolding and scolding everything, including the emperor, and they didn't pay attention to him, and finally, after the boundless loneliness, all he learned was to reflect, to reflect on his actions, to reflect on everything, and then to chagrin and boundless remorse.
Perhaps, this is retribution!
Sometimes, he thought so, and it wasn't until a year ago, when the supervision of him was relaxed, that the guards of the Bureau of Investigation were replaced by soldiers, and those soldiers began to talk to him, and until now, he remembers what the soldier said to him twelve months ago, when the door of his cell was opened.
"0966 Release!"
It was only four words, but he was surprised for a while, and then the soldier said again.
"What are you stunned, come out quickly!"
Twelve words! When he heard those twelve words, he knew that his fate had begun to change somewhat, maybe he would not be able to contact the outside world in the future, but at least it would be better than now, just like half a year ago, he began to be able to see the newspaper, although he knew the newspaper very well as a newspaper editor, and knew that the freshness in it was more or less "water", but at least he could have a newspaper to read. You can spend time reading the newspaper......
Perhaps, someone will visit him in the future!
I look forward to it.
Just then the door opened, and the soldier appeared again.
"Come here, 0966. Someone wants to see you. ”
"Someone wants to see me?"
The middle-aged man couldn't help but be a little puzzled, after all, he knew about this prison, maybe all of China knew about this prison, but except for the prisoners and guards, no one knew who was locked in it, and there was no possibility of visiting. Perhaps, none of his family knew he was here.
"Yes, someone came to see you."
At this time, the middle-aged man is still standing in the rain. An umbrella is held over the head. And the soldier added with some impatience:
"It's a big official from Nanjing, you are blessed this time, maybe it won't be long before you can get out. Don't hurry up yet. "This prison doesn't have the same visiting hall as a normal prison, just a few small rooms. Those rooms were not so much visitation rooms as interrogation rooms, but for the interrogation of prisoners by the Bureau of Investigation, the Military Intelligence Service, and others, at the end of the secondary corridor. The soldier opened a door. There is a table in the room with a chair at each end. A huge window with an iron fence opened in the wall.
The man standing in front of the window looking outside was in a new black and brown uniform, which is typical of an officer's attire. Surprisingly, despite the heavy rain outside, there was not a trace of water on the trouser leg of the man with his back to him, not even on his shoes, either because he had been here for a long time, or his car had driven directly into an indoor parking lot in the prison, and only a very few people would have this attitude. …,
"You're here!"
Hearing the door open, the man standing by the window turned around, his cheerful attitude seemed to be amiable, wearing a pair of horn-framed glasses, and he looked to be about forty years old.
"It's you!"
The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, and then said coldly:
"Long time no see."
"yes, long time no see!"
Then the visitor turned to the soldier standing at the door, and then said with great majesty:
"I guess you would mind going out for a while, I'm going to talk to him alone?"
"Yes, sir."
So saying, the soldier withdrew, and the door closed after he had withdrawn.
Looking at the first person to visit him, the middle-aged man didn't have much affection:
"How could it be you? I never thought in my life that I would see you in this place, how about it? Do you want to see how I was persecuted? ”
Ignoring the other party's ridicule, Niu Yongjian took out a gold cigarette case from his personal pocket and saluted him.
"Twenty years,"
Lighting a cigarette for an old friend and saying,
"Old friend, it's your own choice! It has nothing to do with me. ”
"What are you playing tricks on, old man?"
The middle-aged man glanced at this old friend, if it weren't for him, perhaps, he wouldn't have entered this prison at all, it was he who betrayed him, and then he stood up, did he think that twenty years was not enough?
"Sit down, old friend! I'll tell you. ”
Telling his old friend to sit down, Niu Yongjian continued,
"I have an offer you can't refuse."
"What could it be? Re-appeal?"
Saying that, he smiled, the so-called trials are all arranged things, everything is carried out according to His Majesty's wishes, not to mention, it is not an ordinary court that judges him, but a military court, which is His Majesty's means of dealing with some people.
"Nope."
Walking to the window again, Niu Yongjian looked out,
"Do you want to be free?"
"You mean jailbreak?"
cast an idiot-like look at the other party, not to mention this prison, it was an ordinary prison, he didn't want to do that, it was better to die than to live.
"No, I mean true freedom. Write off past culpability. ”
The words of the old friend surprised the middle-aged man, and his voice was a little hoarse:
"I'm willing to do anything, anything."
"Of course, I think you will. But that's not all the benefits. If you want, then not only will you be free, but you will also be restored to what you used to be......"
After a pause, Niu Yongjian continued.
"It might even include your lordship, my friend!"
"Ah......h
looked at the old friend in front of him in surprise, the middle-aged man looked incredible. He exclaimed quietly,
"So, what do I have to do? Is it murder, or is it ......"
For the reaction of an old friend. Niu Yongjian's heart is sad for a while, and there will always be some people here.
"No one kills, and you can't kill either, play with the pen, you're a friend, but you don't have the guts to kill, I promise you. But. Let me start with a question for you?"
"Well, you say ......"
When answering, the eyes of the middle-aged man became hot, it was a desire for freedom. Perhaps, when I think about it occasionally, seventeen years have passed in the blink of an eye, and now, this old friend of his. But it gave him another choice, not only to set him free now, but also to get everything he had lost in the past, such a temptation was in front of him. can't help but make him moved, even excited. If it weren't for the reluctance to be too excited in front of old friends. Maybe he would really laugh and even howl a few times to vent the excitement in his heart, but he also knew that such a condition was in front of him, and he also needed to do something for it, just like now, the problem of an old friend may be directly related to his freedom. …,
"I remember, when you used to run the newspaper, you knew it was the newspaper."
"Yes?"
Nodding, the middle-aged man's face showed some pride at this time, in this prison, a few people know that he was the editor-in-chief of the "Liberation Daily", maybe that newspaper is no longer there, but, in his opinion, that newspaper has changed a lot of things, that newspaper sounded the clarion call against Manchuria, and also encouraged countless people with lofty ideals to devote themselves to the great cause of national recovery, just as the history books say - without the early "Liberation Daily" to spread the idea of national recovery, there would be no smooth battle of liberation later.
And he, Li Zhiping, is the editor-in-chief of the newspaper that changed history!
"You have said that public opinion can be used and swayed, and the people ......"
At this time, Niu Yongjian laughed, but there was a hint of doubt in his smile.
"The people are ignorant! As long as the guidance and propaganda of public opinion are carried out at the moment, the people can take advantage of it, and even the wrong things will become the truth for the ignorant people after repeated repetition. ”
"This ......"
Hesitating, Li Zhiping didn't know how to answer his old friend's question, why was he sentenced to 20 years in prison? Why was he in such a prison? Why he suffered all this, perhaps, others do not know, but he himself knows very well, it is a certain person's fear of him!
Who is afraid of him?
It's Your Majesty!
Because Your Majesty knows one thing better than anyone else - that the people are ignorant! Even, in terms of propaganda, His Majesty can be said to be his teacher, but in the end, through continuous practice, he has become blue, originally, if he can keep his place in peace, maybe he will get a lifetime of glory, but in the end, his thinking has changed, leaning towards the republican, which directly leads to the betrayal of this old friend in front of him and everything that followed.
"There is a sentence that a lie is repeated a thousand times, and it becomes the truth, and the reason why the people are ignorant is because the people have limited channels to understand the event, and they need to use various channels to understand it, so as long as they master some channels, then the truth can be fabricated, of course, as long as it is not too outrageous, if it is ......"
After a moment of silence, Li Zhiping added.
"If you can control all the public channels, then even the most outrageous things will become the truth!"
Nodding, Niu Yongjian glanced at Li Zhiping, and then said.
"That's right. I remember that back then, you spread a lot of rumors in the newspapers, and as a result, almost everyone believed it. ”
"That's because the Manchu Qing Dynasty has lost its trust to the people for many years, so the people would rather believe the rumors! And there are also some particularities in creating rumors, for example, in the incident of the flag soldiers killing the Han, did the flag soldiers kill the Han people? Yes, that's for sure, so, next, where you need to make an article, is more and less articles, anyway, as long as you take care of the degree, this is a warm fire, not a fierce fire......"
When mentioning what he is good at, Li Zhiping seems to always have endless words, and even, in the past two years, when facing the loneliness of no one to speak, he has also thought about the past and reflected on some mistakes in technique, of course, it was just to pass the time, and now, he realized that the reason why this old friend in front of him gave him these promises, perhaps, is to be able to use his expertise.
Is it an old friend who needs him? No, it should be Your Majesty, but why does Your Majesty need him?
Recalling everything he saw in the newspapers, in Li Zhiping's opinion, His Majesty does not need him now, the reason is very simple, the situation in China is not beyond His Majesty's control at all, but why is that?
The reason is not the most important thing, the most important thing is - freedom! As long as he can be free, even if it is a deal with the devil, he is willing! As long as he can be given freedom, as long as His Majesty gives him freedom, he will willingly be His Majesty's loyal dog, and will never betray His Majesty again.
“…… In short, if you want to manipulate public opinion, you must understand the truth of public opinion, and the truth and facts of public opinion are in the hands of the public opinion circles, and in the final analysis, it is still people who grasp them. One moment they shouted injustice, but the other moment they shouted interests, why, it is still people's hearts to blame......"
Looking at the old friend, seeing that he seemed very interested, he continued.
"Well, in short, it doesn't matter if it's the truth or not, the question is, can you tell them a truth, can you find a way to make them accept it, that's the most important thing, of course, this is a science, not everyone can learn!"
When Li Zhiping emphasized this, Niu Yongjian smiled, and then he glanced at his old friend and said.
"Old friend, are you interested in making some truth?" (To be continued......)
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