Chapter 18: Reunion

The ancient Grand Canal flows leisurely to the south, and compared to the past, the current Jinghang Grand Canal is wider and deeper.

Standing on the bow of the cement boat, Sheng Si looked at the Grand Canal, he had no heart to look at the Grand Canal, let alone the mood to admire the greatness of this "imperial project", because he clearly knew what was behind those imperial projects, that is, the sweat of his relatives and friends on the Grand Canal in front of him.

"Hey the Grand Canal, ruined his Sui Dynasty, why didn't it ruin this China"

Sheng Si sighed in his heart, he didn't have a good impression of the Chinese Empire at all.

But on the way back from the coal mines in Shanxi, he had to admit the fact that the Han people were better at governing the country than the banner people, and under their governance, the country was more prosperous than in the past.

"Jingshi let his mother's Chen devil drive away, he has become a ghost town, what's wrong with our flag people, even if the ancestors committed a crime, then we can't be coal blacks here."

Although he rarely participated in the occasional complaints of the people around him, in Sheng Si's view, the bannermen of the Jingshi were all imprisoned in the labor camp to dig coal, and the Jingshi would not have been prosperous for twenty years, after all, the current capital of the country was Nanjing, and the Jingshi had already become Beiping, and even the Forbidden City, the former royal forbidden place, had become a museum, and even the common people could sit on the dragon chair and take a photo if they wanted.

Not really

Sheng Si did not have the leisure to confirm that for him, the most important thing was to go home, to return to his family, from being arrested in Nanjing nine years ago, and later sent to Shanxi coal mine to dig coal, he

I haven't seen my family in nine years.

All along, he thought that maybe he would never see them again in his life, but he never thought that they came to the letter last year, and the women and children in the banner were released in the first batch the year before last

settled in Yangzhou.

Since that day, he has been eager to go home, but he is waiting for release, in order to be released one day earlier, he worked hard, worked hard, and now he is finally free, but the labor camp only bought him a train ticket to Beiping, as for the rest, he had to pay for the road by himself, in order to save money, he did not buy a train ticket, but was introduced by others, took the cargo ship on the Grand Canal home, as long as he helped to work along the way, not only did not need to pay for the journey, but even worked and gave a meal.

The Grand Canal did not decline with the construction of the railway, but with the increasing prosperity of ships made of barbed wire and cement, the Grand Canal connects the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River, the Huai River, the Yellow River and the north of China, and it is this kind of cement ship that connects these river networks with China's economy, especially last year, after the completion of the Huai River into the sea project, the widening and deepening of the Grand Canal, water transport occupies an increasing weight in China's traffic.

Huai River into the sea project, in

When he used this word, Sheng Si's mind couldn't help but think of the things he heard in the labor camp, such as the Huaihe River Estuary Project, the Baocheng Railway, the Sichuan-Han Railway, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway, the Hainan Island Rubber Plantation, the coal mines in Shanxi, and the greening of northern Shaanxi.

Millions of colonists and traitors like him who were subjected to "forced labor" during the period of recovery showed the industrial and economic achievements of the Chinese Empire at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.

Labor in exchange for freedom was just a dream for him, in the mine, he had seen too many people, because he did not believe that there would be a day of freedom, and chose to commit suicide, but in the end everything changed

Labor in exchange for freedom has gone from an unattainable dream to a reality.

Two years ago, when a brave journalist exposed the inside story of the forced labor camps in the newspapers, the whole country was in an uproar

Millions of people are still held in the country, engaged in the most dangerous and tiring work of 12 hours or more a day, and in the labor camps, no one treats them as human beings, and any guard can beat them or even shoot them.

Eventually, the Minister of the Interior was forced to resign in the face of criticism from the outside world, and a few months later, after a bill was submitted by some members of the Diet, the people who had been subjected to seven years of forced labor finally achieved their ultimate goal. ,

"Labor in exchange for freedom"

They traded their labor and sacrifice for China's waterway transportation network, in exchange for ......, and in the end, they won their freedom.

"Freedom comes at a price"

Sheng Si couldn't help but sigh, after nine years of labor, he finally got his freedom, and when he left the coal mine, the reward for nine years of hard work was freedom and 90 yuan "wages", which is ......

"Well, actually, I said, you ......."

Smoking a cigarette pouch and pot, the old beard, the owner of the ship, glanced at the "Tunguska" beside him, who had seen his papers, and unlike the others, they were holding "documents" issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Two years ago, when the House of Commons discussed how to treat those flag people, there was a debate, and finally passed a vote, they are still not "Chinese", naturally cannot enjoy the rights and interests of Chinese, if it were not for Russia's refusal, those parliamentarians, really want to send them to their hometown, but the Russians did not agree.

Finally, out of humanitarian considerations, the National Assembly agreed to issue them a "resident identity card" issued by the Ministry of the Interior, which is fundamentally different from the imperial citizen identity card, as residents, they only "temporarily reside" in China, and they do not enjoy any civil or national rights.

But in his heart, Lao Hu Tou felt that these people were not easy, how many years have they been, and now they ......

"According to me, you should think about how to make China accept you, forgive you, and work, yes, you have been working for a few years, but what do the people think, you can kill tens of millions of us, this crime...... It's hard to redeem."

Shaking his head, between his words, there was no trace of hatred in the tone of the old beard, if the little grandson mentioned this, he would bite the root of his teeth to death, his face was full of anger, and he wanted to eat the flesh of the Tunguska, fortunately there were no Tunguska people in the school, otherwise it would ......

"...... Atonement"

Saying this word, Sheng Si shook his head helplessly,

"If you don't accept us, what will we use to atone for our sins?"

When talking in the restaurant, I pronounced "six" as "six" instead of "road", and as a result, I was almost blasted out by someone, how to atone for my sins?

"Come on, don't talk about accepting or not accepting, what you say, I'm talking about it, it's okay, but if it's outside......"

Spuffling on a cigarette, the old beard looked at the canal and listened to the roar of diesel engines in his ears.

"Maybe someone will kill them with one shot, kill the Tunguska......"

The eyelids lifted slightly.

"At most, the sentence is six years, and in some places, the training jury has even found not guilty in cases."

After that, the old beard stopped talking, he had seen everything and heard of everything in the boat for decades, and he was naturally not surprised by this kind of thing, no way, who let the people hold back the fire in their hearts.

"Okay, don't talk about this, this ship is about to arrive in Yangzhou, listen to me, live your stable life honestly, as for the past...... Just go over it."

In the past, can you get by?

Sheng Si didn't know, he looked at Yangzhou City, which was getting closer and closer, and his mind was full of family members he hadn't seen for many years, they, how happened to them?

After saying goodbye to Lao Hutou and others on the dock, carrying simple luggage, Sheng Si walked towards Yangzhou City, and when he approached the city gate, he saw a tall white marble archway.

"The archway of loyalty?"

Looking at the archway, Sheng Si does not feel strange, there are this kind of archway in many cities, which are all after the Han people won the tripod, by the Han emperor decree to build, and then look at the "sincere service to the country" written on it, this is the emperor gave the people of Yangzhou, approached, but saw that there is a book wall on the right side of the archway.

"Yangzhou Ten Diary: On April 14 of Jiyouxia, Shi Kefa of the town of Duzhen...... Walking through a ditch and a pond, piling up corpses and accumulating them, pillowing hands and feet, blood entering the water and blue ochre, turning into five colors, and the pond is flat. To a house, it is the residence of Yongyan Yao Gong, and he enters directly from the back door, the house is deep, and there are corpses everywhere......"

Looking at the words on the wall of the book, Sheng Si only felt that his eyes were dark, looking at the bustling and noisy Yangzhou, the tragic situation of the ten-day massacre in Yangzhou seemed to emerge in front of his eyes, and there seemed to be countless souls under the prosperous Yangzhou city, as if they were going to pour out from the ground to ask for his soul.

Leaving the city in despair, Sheng Si had only one thought at this time, to leave, to leave Yangzhou no matter what, never, never to live here.

Finally, after some inquiry, he walked into a laneway, and walked to a simple courtyard gate, the wooden door was not closed, and looking into the courtyard, he froze, and in the courtyard, he saw the woman who was giving the stove, it was...... Wanru, that's right, it's her,

Just as he was about to speak, a young man dressed in black suddenly broke into the courtyard.

"A-Niang, A-Niang, war has been declared, war has been declared, China has declared war on Germany, it is going to war"

The young man who rushed into the courtyard took a sip of herbal tea first, and when he drank tea, he didn't see the mother who stood up looking at the courtyard door, and the whole person was stunned.

"A-Niang, I want to be a soldier, I am a soldier, and when I become a soldier, I can change from a resident to a citizen, and I want to atone for our crimes......"

The woman standing by the hearth didn't hear her son, she just looked out the door, at the man outside the door.

"Fourth, fourth brother...... Quick, Apu, hurry up and say hello to your father."

Wanru hurriedly pulled her son over and said urgently.

"Daddy......"

Looking at the person who looked old even from the age of fifty, Sheng Puquan didn't believe his eyes, is this the father in his memory?

Look at Wanru, and then look at that

Sixteen-year-old boy, Sheng Si only felt a heat in front of him, but he held back his tears.

"Changed, changed its name......"

Silly responded twice, as if remembering something.

"Ah, Ah Pu, what are you talking about, what are you declaring war."

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