An incident happened in the early hours of the morning that caused Tong Mantang to fall into a state of madness, and for the first time in his life, he had the urge to kill. His sow "Hei Ni" was murdered, if the perpetrator Ma Lao Wu had not abandoned the stolen goods and fled, he would have become a murderer if he didn't make trouble today.

The incident was caused by the theft of Ma Lao Wu, a well-known ruffian in Xiagouzi Village. Xiagouzi Village is only two miles away from Gangzi Village, and for many years, the villagers of the two villages have intermarried each other, and their blood ties have been fused, and almost every family has been related to each other. Carefully speaking, Ma Lao Wu and Tong Mantang are still distant relatives, they have been playing together in the mud since they were children, digging out the crow's nest, and they know each other very well. Later, when they got older, Ma Lao Wu and Tong Mantang became the child kings of Xiagouzi Village and Gangzi Village respectively, and the relationship between the two became estranged, the reason is very simple, the two child kings do not obey anyone, and they all regard themselves as the boss.

As an adult, Ma Lao Wu became more and more unpopular, he was lazy by nature, hated farm work, and had no ability to earn money to make a living, and gradually became a second-rate child who everyone hated. From ancient times to the present, such young people are common in rural China, and can be found in almost every village.

The Mantang family belongs to tenants in Gangzi Village, and his father Tong Chunfu is an honest farmer who lives by being a tenant farmer for the owner Chen Jiaxing. Because the 20 acres of rented land is Chen Jiaxing's traditional Chinese medicine garden, which grows all kinds of herbs, the income is higher than that of growing crops, and the Tong family's life in Gangzi Village is at a medium level.

In the 31st year of the Republic of China, there was a great drought in Henan, and millions of hungry people appeared in the Central Plains, and the smoke of cooking in a radius of hundreds of miles was extinct, and starvation was everywhere, and the tragedy of cannibalism occurred in many areas. Most of the villagers in Gangzi Village also ran out of food, and dozens of people starved to death, and all seven members of Chen Baocang's family in the west of the village starved to death, and none of them survived. There are still a few in Gangzi Village like this. If it weren't for Chen Jiaxing, a great benevolent man, who took out his savings to buy grain in Luoyang to help the villagers, at least half of the people in the village would have starved to death. As Chen Jiaxing's most loyal tenant, relying on the generosity of the Chen family, Tong Mantang's family not only did not starve to death, but also raised a pig. Speaking of which, everything that happened after that had something to do with the pig, and it was the sow that was entirely to blame.

This pig was bought by Tong Chunfu in exchange for two buckets of corn at the market last spring, and when he brought it back, he was just a freshly weaned piglet, as thin as a mouse. Because it was a sow, Mantang gave it a name, "Heini". During the disaster years, people had no food to eat, not to mention pigs, it was Tong Mantang who took Tiezhu and his sister Cuihua to hunt pigweed, went to the pond to fish for water hyacinth, chopped it and fed the pigs, and then raised it with hard work, in order to sell the pig and marry Tong Mantang's daughter-in-law. After the seventh lunar month, Mantang will be 19 years old, which is not a small age in rural areas.

In this way, "Heini" is no longer an ordinary sow, it carries all the hopes of Tong Mantang's family for the future, and it is not an exaggeration to raise it as an ancestor.

A few days ago, Tong Mantang once again weighed "Hei Ni", and this product was really competitive, and his weight actually grew to more than 120 pounds. If you wait like this, in two or three months, "Hei Ni" will be able to grow to more than 150 pounds. At that time, it will no longer be a pig, it will become a handsome daughter-in-law, and live with Tong Mantang. Thinking of this, Tong Mantang's heart blossomed, and his whole body was filled with happiness.

In Xiagouzi Village, two miles away, Ma Lao Wu was already waiting a little anxiously. He, like Tong Mantang, is also looking forward to "Hei Ni" growing up. Ma Lao Wu has a lot of hobbies, the most addictive of which is to push pai gow gambling money, in fact, his gambling skills are not very smart, often lose more and win less, so he fell into a lot of debt. Needless to say, if this "Heini" is in hand, it can at least offset part of his gambling debts.

Ma Lao Wu's tools of crime were very simple, a short hammer, half a bottle of soju, a white bun, and a blue cloth curtain, of which the hammer was stolen from Zhang Blacksmith in Zhangjia Town, and the blue curtain was casually brought from the neighboring village Cai Widow's house.

That night, taking advantage of the dark moon and high wind, Ma Lao Wu finally acted. He touched the pigsty of the whole house, and fed "Hei Ni" with a white flour bun dipped in soju, "Hei Ni" had never eaten a white flour bun when she was so big, even if it was a little weird, she didn't care much, so she swallowed it without even chewing it. Then "Hei Ni" stared a little confused, and after a few steps, she staggered and slammed into the ring door. At this time, Ma Lao Wu shot like lightning, and smashed the hammer on the head of "Hei Ni"...... Poor "Heinie" collapsed before she could snort.

Ma Lao Wu tied the two horns of the blue flower curtain to the two front hooves of "Hei Ni", and then grabbed the two front hooves to carry "Hei Ni" to the back, so that the blue curtain was like a cloak to cover "Hei Ni" from head to toe. Ma Lao Wuxin said, there are still two miles back to the village, even if you meet someone walking at night, people can't see what you are carrying.

But Ma Lao Wu should be unlucky, and the full hall and the iron pillar also went out that night. Because I heard Tong Dabao in the village say that the devil and the national army have fought a big battle in the past few days, and the national army is afraid that it will not be able to withstand it, and the defeated soldiers of the national army on the road are running west like a tide, and there are more things lost on the road! Tong Dabao said inspiringly, I finally have a chance to make a fortune, and it would be stupid not to pick up Yangluo'er now.

Of course, Mantang didn't want to let go of the opportunity to make a fortune, he and Tie Zhutian just went out after darkening, and the brothers squatted in the bushes on the side of the road for half a night and didn't find a chance, there were too many defeated soldiers on the road, and they were like sheep, running west in groups. The hall pondered, if he went to the road to pick up Yangluo'er at this time, he would have to fucking let the family catch him, these turtle grandsons are lacking a husband.

It was almost dawn, and the defeated soldiers on the road had not yet passed, and the two brothers finally got impatient and decided to go home. It is three miles away from Gangzi Village, and on the way back to the village, the unlucky Ma Lao Five Ghosts bumped into the two cousins like a god.

Ma Lao Wu's work was not easy, he had to carry more than 120 pounds of "Heini" to drive two miles at night, which was undoubtedly a chore. As soon as he was halfway through the road, Ma Lao Wu was a little overwhelmed, and he regretted that he didn't find a helper at the beginning, even if he took half of the pork, it was worth it. Just thinking so, I met a full of cousins.

The full hall was vague and saw Ma Lao Wu coming over panting with something on his back, and he wondered in his heart, and said that this goods came from the direction of Gangzi Village in the middle of the night? So he asked loudly: "Old Five, where are you going?" What's on your back? ”

Ma Lao Wu is a veteran of theft, and his psychological quality is definitely stronger than that of ordinary people, he replied without changing his face: "Oh, it's a full house, Mo Shi!" My old lady is sick, go to your village to see Mr. Chen. ”

As soon as I heard that Ma Lao Wu's old lady was sick, the full house couldn't help but express his concern, so the two families were still distant relatives. Mantang immediately leaned over: "Ouch, it's my aunt's illness, does it matter?" You rest, I'll help you carry it! ”

Ma Lao Wu said politely: "Mo Shi! Mosa! This is home, my mother just fell asleep after taking medicine, don't wake her up. ”

Mantang stopped: "Then also, if there is anything to help with my aunt's illness in the future, you can give me a word." ”

Ma Lao Wu hurriedly thanked him and prepared to slip away. Who knew that at this time, "Hei Ni" woke up from a coma and let out a weird humming sound, and Ma Lao Wu's cold sweat suddenly flowed down his head, but he was a veteran after all, and he had already practiced the ability to not be alarmed. He turned his head and comforted softly: "Mother, I know that you are uncomfortable, bear with it, and this is home!" ”

Tong Mantang felt that something was wrong, why was the voice of the fifth mother so familiar? It's not like an old lady's **, it's a bit like the sound of a strong man snoring.

Tie Zhu's brain was faster than that of Mantang, and he had already seen that Ma Lao Wu had a ghost, so he unexpectedly opened the blue curtain on Ma Lao Wu's back, and the huge pig head of "Hei Ni" was immediately revealed......

Ma Lao Wu saw that the situation was not good, so he got rid of "Hei Ni", and disappeared without a trace in a blink of an eye.

The next thing is very simple, the angry full cousins carried firewood knives and slaughtered into Xiagouzi Village, ready to split Ma Lao Wu, the turtle grandson. Who knew that Ma Lao Wu didn't go home at all, I heard from a neighbor that he sent his mother to a relative's house half a month ago, and as for where his relative's house was, no one knew in Xiagouzi Village.

At dawn, poor "Heini" finally took her last breath, and her skull was almost shattered by a hammer, and it was a miracle that she survived until dawn. Tong Mantang's family cried into tears, and in this terrible year of catastrophe, the departure of "Hei Ni" shattered all the hopes of the Mantang family.

From the summer of 1942 to the spring of 1943, there was a severe drought in Henan, and most of the crops in the summer and autumn of the province were lost. After the great drought, there was a locust plague, and billions of locusts swept the land like a tornado. The locust swarms covered the sky and the sun, roaring and gnawing away all the plants on the ground, and the number of people affected in the province reached 5 million, accounting for 20 percent of the province's population.

The Central Plains is starving all over the wilderness, and the population of some areas in Henan has plummeted, reaching the level of ten rooms and nine emptiness. According to the private statistics of the relevant departments of the people, the catastrophe caused as many as 3 million people in Henan Province to starve to death.

In addition to official newspapers and periodicals such as the "Central Daily," almost all non-governmental newspaper reporters in Chongqing, including foreign reporters stationed in Chongqing, rushed to the disaster-stricken areas.

Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang did not pay attention to the news reports in the disaster area in Henan at first, and during the war, the big men had too many things to worry about, and China was so big, and it was normal for some people to starve to death in a certain area.

It stands to reason that such a huge natural disaster should naturally assume the responsibility of mobilizing food for disaster relief, but the people also have their own difficulties, and the six-year war has made the poor and weak Chinese economy on the verge of collapse, and the exhaustion of its comprehensive national strength has also reached a critical point. At that time, Henan was the main battlefield of the Sino-Japanese War, and the heavy military groups of the Chinese and Japanese armies faced each other across the Yellow River, and in Henan, the Chinese garrison facing the enemy on three sides amounted to hundreds of thousands, and its transportation was extremely difficult, and the only strategic passage that could be relied on was Shaanxi Province in the west. Since ancient times, Shaanxi Province has been a barren province with a shortage of food, and it has no time to take care of itself on the food issue, so how can there be surplus grain to support Henan's hundreds of thousands of garrisons and tens of millions of huge population?

After all, Henan's military rations can only be solved on the spot in Henan. In wartime, a soldier cannot go hungry. As for the common people, they had to be wronged. This year, the central government's grain collection quota for Henan Province has not decreased at all, which is undoubtedly even worse for the people in the disaster areas who are thousands of miles away from the red land and waiting to be fed.

John Sheavis, a U.S. diplomat in China at the time, wrote in a report to the United States: The biggest burden on the victims of the disaster in Henan is the increasing tax in kind and the collection of military rations, all of which account for 30%~50% of the total harvest of the peasants, including local taxes, national land taxes in kind collected by provinces, and incalculable military needs.

Some high-ranking officers of the ** army sold the surplus grain of the troops to the victims at a high price, making a windfall. Profiteers from Xi'an and Zhengzhou, petty officials and low-ranking officers from the local government, and some landlords who still hoarded grain, desperately bought land at sinful low prices.

On February 1, 1943, Chongqing's Ta Kung Pao published a report by reporter Zhang Gaofeng entitled "Record of the Henan Disaster", revealing the tragic situation of mourning and cannibalism among the hungry people in the disaster area. On the 2nd, "Ta Kung Pao" published a news review "Look at Chongqing, Read the Central Plains" written by Mr. Wang Yunsheng, the chief writer, based on this record. One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the public opinion in the rear was boiling, and the grief and indignation were inexplicable. That night, the Kuomintang Press Censorship Office sent a notice from the National Military Committee, ordering Ta Kung Pao to suspend publication for three days as a punishment.

This is really a very helpless thing, Chairman Jiang and the members of the national ** have a super-stable psychological quality, let your public opinion turn upside down, people will not do anything even if they are killed, see what you can do.

For the inaction of **, the Chinese newspapermen had to reluctantly shut up for a while, but foreigners do not know much about Chinese politics, and they feel incredible about China's attitude.

Bai Xiude, a reporter for Time magazine in the United States, is such an "axis man"[1]

。

This Mr. Bai Xiude was the first disciple of the famous American sinologist Fairbank at Harvard University. After graduating from university, he came to Chongqing in 1939 with a letter of recommendation from Fairbank and served as a special correspondent for Time magazine in Chongqing. After Snow, Bai Xiude is another American journalist who has close ties with China and has important influence.

In February 1943, Bai Xiude flew from Chongqing to Baoji, took the Longhai line to Xi'an, and entered Luoyang, Henan Province through Tongguan, where he conducted interviews under the leadership of American missionary Father Meghan. In his later memoirs, he described what he saw: "What we saw, I can't believe now is true—but what I wrote in my jumbled notes made me believe it." First of all, the corpse, the first time I saw it was a corpse lying in a snowdrift less than an hour after leaving Luoyang, dead for a day or two. Her face has shrunk and her skull can be seen. She must still be very young. Heavy snow covered her eyes. Until the birds and the dog come and eat all the flesh on her, no one will come to bury her. The dogs along the way are regaining their wild wolf nature, and they are eating all the good. I stopped to take a picture of a dog picking up a corpse from a pile of sand. Before the camera could be adjusted, the dog had eaten all the meat off one of its heads. Half of the villages are abandoned......"

Mr. Bai Xiude was greatly stimulated by this trip to the disaster area, and what Chinese officials were accustomed to was simply intolerable in Bai Xiude's view, and this cannot but admit that there is a great difference in the values of the East and the West.

After returning to Chongqing, Bai Xiude wrote to a friend: "Since I came back, I have been mentally ill – nervous, depressed, and uncomfortable. I still can't believe those things, and I can't tell anyone the truth even after the war is over. The army forcibly took grain from the peasants; The hungry sell their children to pay their taxes; The road was littered with corpses; I saw dogs digging carcasses out of the dirt; The dogs tear apart the dead hungry people on the railroad. Under the threat of the local army, the provincial ** tried to block the news and not let anyone leak the news. Chongqing did not send anyone to Zhengzhou, the center of the disaster area, to conduct an independent field investigation. The central government provided 200 million yuan in disaster relief funds for Henan. I tried to find out where they were – they didn't actually reach the victims at all. ”

It should be said that Bai Xiude's interview manuscript is very taboo, because Chongqing's news censorship system is quite strict. According to the regulations, all articles sent overseas from various provinces in China at that time had to be transmitted to Chongqing first, and then they could only be sent after being examined by the news censorship organs. But to Bai Xiude's surprise, the Luoyang Telegraph Bureau did not know what was wrong, and the manuscript actually bypassed Chongqing and was sent directly from Luoyang to the headquarters of Time in New York through the commercial radio system in Chengdu.

This report of the disaster from Henan was published in Time magazine on March 22, 1943. This incident annoyed Mrs. Jiang Song Meiling, because just 21 days ago, on March 1, Song Meiling became the cover character of "Time", which is undoubtedly a great irony. Madame Chiang had just made a visit to the United States in February of this year, when she delivered wonderful speeches in support of China's War of Resistance in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and her charm conquered almost the entire United States for a while. At this juncture, Bai Xiude's article has greatly ruined the international image of the Jiang couple, isn't this ruined?

Madame Chiang was furious when she saw the report, and she angrily wrote to Luce, the owner of Time magazine, asking Luce to fire Bai Xiude, but Luce refused her request.

Afterwards, Bai Xiude analyzed that if there was not a problem with the censorship system, or that the telegraph operator was driven by his conscience to hope that the world could know the truth, even if he might be persecuted afterwards.

Bai Xiude's return to Chongqing was like a ghost possessed, he went crazy and went to all the people he could find to report the situation, he found Song Qingling, Kong Xiangxi, He Yingqin and others. During the interview with He Yingqin, the two also quarreled loudly, and He Yingqin did not admit that the army had robbed the relief food transported from other provinces, believing that it was a rumor created by the Communist Party. Bai Xiude insisted that he had spoken to the robbed peasants, and that the generals' reports were all fake.

The two broke up unhappily.

In the end, Bai Xiude finally met Chiang Kai-shek. In one of his letters, he described his meeting with Chiang Kai-shek in a highly disrespectful tone: "This old fellow gave me 20 minutes. As usual, he sat in a large chair in a dimly lit room without saying a word, only agreeing or disagreeing. At first, he didn't believe what I had reported about dogs digging up bodies from the dirt. So, I showed him the pictures that Foreman had taken. Then I told him that the army was stealing the food of the common people, and the old guy said that this was impossible. I said it really is. He began to believe in me and wrote down the time and place of our journey. He wrote it down in his own little notebook. Well, all of this means that those who give disaster relief money are out of luck. Most of them are people from the CC department and the Ministry of Finance. As long as the chairman of the committee lets him know about those embezzlers, there is only one simple way to punish them - to shoot them. ”

In this way, a belated and helpless disaster relief operation began.

On the one hand, he hurriedly convened a "forward military ration conference" and decided to reduce the total amount of grain collected in Henan Province to 2.5 million stones, and the state treasury allocated 200 million yuan for disaster relief in Henan, and at the same time ordered the requisition of all means of transportation to quickly transport Shaanxi's grain storage to Henan; On the other hand, Chairman Chiang also stressed that this year's military ration levy in Henan Province cannot be reduced or reduced.

Chairman Chiang's move made future historians feel confused, and on the one hand, they were in a hurry to "provide disaster relief" and on the other hand, they were inextricably involved in "receiving grain." These two things that were completely different from each other were actually mixed up.

Some people analyzed that Chairman Chiang's "disaster relief" was false, and that the "grain requisition" was true, and that the Henan garrison, which was facing the enemy on three sides, could not go without food for a day.

After Bai Xiude wrote the disaster report, he interviewed a Chinese officer, and when he indignantly blamed the tragedy caused by the people's requisition, the officer was reassuring: "The common people are dead, the land is still Chinese, but the soldiers starve to death, and the Japanese will take over the country." ”

This should be very right to Chairman Jiang's thoughts, he didn't say it, but in his heart he hoped that the common people should have this kind of consciousness, and would rather starve to death than be a slave to the country!

But the question is, how should the millions of Henan victims who are dying choose at this moment? Would you rather starve to death and be a Chinese ghost? Or should you be a slave who has something to eat?

What a paradox! No one seems to be able to answer this question.

A few years later, Bai Xiude said of the Chinese people: "They are the descendants of a people who created one of the greatest cultures in the world, and even the illiterate ones have been nurtured and raised in a cultural background that cherishes traditional festivals and etiquette." This culture values social order above all else, and if they cannot obtain order from themselves, they will accept the order provided by whoever provides. If I had been a Henan peasant, I would have been forced to side with the Japanese and help the Japanese against their own Chinese army, as they did a year later. I would also be on the side of the ever-winning Communist Party, as they did in 1948. ”

Two American-made military open-top jeeps crawled with difficulty on the road from Yexian County to Luoyang. This section of the road has become uneven due to disrepair, and the Japanese air raids have caused the already bad road surface to be covered with craters of various sizes, and the car is very bumpy. Town's hat was crooked, his dusty yellow tweed uniform was open at the neckline, and his face was covered with sweat and dust, leaving scars on his round face.

Towneberg was in a bad mood. On the first day of the outbreak of the war, the Yellow River defense line heavily defended by the Nationalist army was torn open by two huge openings, and the Japanese army surrounded Zhengzhou on three sides, leaving only a passage to the west of the city. The strategic intent of the Japanese army was very clear: instead of wasting more time on the siege, it was better to quickly seize the transportation hub and move the main force south as soon as possible to control the Pinghan Railway. As for the Chinese defenders in Zhengzhou, the Japanese simply opened a passage and made them retreat on their own initiative, so as to prevent the defenders from fighting the trapped beasts and increasing the casualties of the Japanese siege troops.

According to the pilot of the reconnaissance plane of the mixed regiment of the Chinese and American air forces, another powerful force of the Japanese army is surging in the southwest direction. This situation shocked Jiang Dingwen, at this time, even if he was stupid, he could see the number of the Japanese army, which was the heart disease of the Japanese commander-in-chief Shun Hata: the elite main force of the Tang Enbo group in central Henan - Shi Jue's 13th Army.

Jiang Dingwen was shocked by this, he knew that the 13th Army was Tang Enbo's heart and soul, and there must be no mistakes, so he urgently ordered Tang Enbo to rush to Luoyang to hold a military meeting. This is Jiang Dingwen's stupidity, it's time to burn his eyebrows, and he has to hold a military meeting to discuss it seriously.

In order to hurry up, Tang Enbo hurried on the road with only the adjutant, staff officer and four guards.

Tang Enbo was not an idle person, he was a fellow countryman of Chairman Chiang, graduated from the Zhejiang Martial Arts School in his early years, and later studied in the 18th Artillery Section of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School. After returning to China, he first served as a major in Sun Chuanfang's department, and then served as a staff officer of the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army, a captain of the sixth military training area of Huangpu, and in 1932, he served as the commander of the 13th Army of the National Revolutionary Army.

Town's prestige gradually rose with the great exploits of the 13th Army. After the Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937, Tang Enbo led the 13th Army to fight with the Japanese army in the area of Juyongguan in Nankou for 14 days, until Zhangjiakou was broken through, and then had to order a breakthrough.

In the Battle of Taierzhuang in 1938, Tang Enbo really showed his outstanding command talent, and he led the 20th Army to storm Zaozhuang and Yixian. The Japanese army came to the aid of Taierzhuang with a brigade, Tang Enbo encircled the Japanese 10th Division into the encirclement with a backhand, and the cavalry regiment of the 20th Army Corps immediately launched an attack along the Taizao Highway, and thousands of light cavalry armed with sabers formed several fierce attack waves, and under the fierce fire of the Japanese army, they attacked one after another, and attacked continuously, one wave after another, wedged into the Japanese defense line four kilometers deep, and hundreds of Japanese soldiers were killed by the swords of the cavalry regiment......

A reporter from the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, who accompanied the army, witnessed the tragic battle, and he reported it this way: "The fierce Chinese cavalry spread out in battle formation, rushed into our defensive positions like a whirlwind, and as the speed of the horse's impact increased, the formidable saber in their hands was like a lawnmower, causing a river of blood to flow to our army, even in the Middle Ages [2]

The reappearance of the cavalry, that's it, the nervous system of some of our infantry is in a state of collapse......"

The victory of Taierzhuang is a legendary story in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, and the Tang Enbo Regiment and the subordinate 13th Army have made great contributions. In 1939, in the Battle of Suizao, Tang Enbo's regiment crisscrossed the Xiangdong Plain, recovering Tanghe, Tongbai, Zaoyang, and Suixian, and its main force, the 13th Army, became the star unit of the Chinese Army. In the winter offensive of that year, the 13th Army was ordered to attack the Japanese 3rd Division and won a complete victory, becoming the most glorious battle of the winter offensive. In February 1942, in the Battle of Southern Henan, the 13th Army fought fiercely with the Japanese army in Wuyang, and once again inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese army.

The high-ranking generals of the Japanese North China Front hated Tang Enbo, an old opponent, and regarded Tang Enbo's department as the No. 1 enemy in Tianzi, and Tang Enbo became one of the few generals in the national army who was feared by the Japanese army.

In 1940, Tang Enbo concurrently served as the commander-in-chief of the border regions of the four provinces of Shandong, Suzhou, Henan, and Anhui and the director of the party, government, and military branches of the border regions. However, Tang Enbo's political talent did not dare to compliment, in 1942 Henan disaster, Tang Enbo did not do disaster relief, save the people from fire and water, but expanded the army, in order to maintain military spending, actually in the hard-hit areas of the large-scale collection, Henan Province levy the famous "soup grain". As a result of the massive expansion of Tang Enbo's troops, as long as quantity is not sought for quality, a large number of stragglers and bandits were recruited into it, and his troops once grew to four group armies, totaling 300,000 people. The quality of the troops is uneven, and most of the military expenditure required depends on the support of Henan Province alone, with the result that the rumor of Henan's four evils of "water, drought, and locust soup" has spread far and wide. This planted irreversible bitter and evil consequences for the rout in central Henan.

At noon, Tang Enbo and his entourage passed through the county seat of Yichuan, and two jeeps drove north through a small village, only to see the word "Gangzi" written in lime on the wall of an adobe house at the entrance of the village, which had been washed away by the rain and was so mottled and blurred that it was almost unrecognizable. The road in the village was deserted, and the two villagers ran home in a panic and closed the courtyard gate. Behind the cracks in the courtyard gates were pairs of frightened eyes, watching the two cars pass through the village.

At the north entrance of the village was a huge locust tree, and when he accidentally glanced at it, he found that the bark of the tree had been stripped naked by the hungry people, and it was long dead, and the hideous dead branches stretched coldly into the gray sky, and a flock of crows were startled by the roar of the cars, and made a burst of noise.

He looked at his watch, it was already 12:30, he felt a little hungry, so he ordered to stop and eat a little before leaving.

The adjutant brought the food box from the guard car behind, spread out a military rain cloth on the threshing floor at the north entrance of the village, opened the folding chair, invited Tang Enbo to sit down, and then began to distribute the food.

The guards were each given a field lunch box, which was the standard field ration of the US military, which contained buttered bread slices, luncheon meat, jam and salad dressing, as well as two "Camel" brand cigarettes and three matches, and a few puffs after the meal.

Mr. Towne and a few of the officers ate better, and their lunch was the U.S. Army's Category C combat rations, which are packaged in industrially produced quantities that are simply too extravagant to Chinese soldiers. Each ration weighs three kilograms and has six small tin cans and an accessory package, three of which are meat, vegetables, macaroni, bacon, eggs, known as the M component. The other three cans are staple foods and include biscuits, mixed compressed cereals, iced peanut kernels or raisins, instant coffee, instant lemon or orange powder, fruit sugar, jam, cocoa drink powder, and brown milk sugar, known as Ingredient B. The accessory bag contained nine cigarettes, purifying water tablets, matches, toilet paper, chewing gum and a canning opener. These six cans make up a day's ration. In most cases, U.S. Army Category C combat rations are served cold, but can also be eaten warm.

This specially designed field food is nutritional, calorie, and tasteful, reflecting the strong comprehensive national strength and industrialization of the United States, and is part of the Lend-Lease materials, which is popular among the allied armies and can be enjoyed by every soldier.

After 1941, the Chinese theater also allocated a small amount of "Lend-Lease Act" materials, but because the quantity was too small, it could only be given priority to the Indian garrison and the expeditionary force, and such Class C combat rations could only be enjoyed by senior generals of Tang Enbo's level.

Town's stomach is not very good, and he can hardly eat cold food in normal times, but today he had to make do with it, and it was already a luxury to have this kind of food on the road in the midst of war.

As soon as they were halfway through the meal, the soldiers noticed that something was wrong, and at some point, some onlookers appeared around. At first, they didn't care, this situation had happened before, the peasants in the countryside had never seen the world, and there were onlookers from time to time when the troops were resting and eating. But in a short time, the number of onlookers had reached hundreds, and what was more serious was that they were carrying hoes, poles, firewood knives and other various kinds of guys in their hands, and they had already tightly surrounded the soldiers in the middle, and the farmers were silently staring at the soldiers who were eating.

Man Tang and Tie Zhu stood at the front of the crowd with kitchen knives in hand.

A staff officer of a major stood up, he didn't pay any attention to these peasants, and his right hand habitually held the holster on his waist, and shouted: "Who are you? What do you want to do? ”

Mantang took a step forward and replied arrogantly: "It's nothing, the car and the guys on the body stay, you leave!" ”

The major staff officer was furious, he felt unbelievable, these peasants were simply crazy, they actually robbed the heads of the dignified national army, and wanted to find death! He sneered: "Boy, do you know who is sitting in the car? ”

Mantang looked disdainful: "I don't care what kind of dick you are, why do you talk so much nonsense?" ”

Tie Zhu stepped forward: "Even Chairman Jiang has passed here, and he must leave the guy behind." ”

"Little rabbit cub, there is no royal law, do you want to rebel? Guardsman! The angry staff officer scolded and tried to pull out his gun.

How could the croppers still allow him to take out his gun, five or six dung forks immediately pressed against the major's throat, the major's face became pale, the hand touching the gun kept shaking, and a few guards just raised ***, before they could open the insurance, the gun was already in the hands of others.

Tang Enbo was just about to speak, when he suddenly felt a cold feeling on his neck, and it turned out that Mantang had already put a kitchen knife on his neck. Towneburgh squinted and saw that the kitchen knife had just been sharpened, as sharp as a razor, and that if he moved slightly, he would probably have his carotid artery severed. Tang Enbo couldn't imagine that a battle-hardened army general died in the hands of a few stupid croppers, if this matter was spread, it would have to make the Japanese generals such as Shunroku Hata, Okamura Ninji and other Japanese generals laugh off their big teeth, they all dreamed of killing Tang Enbo, which would save trouble, and before the Japanese could do anything, General Tang Enbo was slaughtered by several Chinese peasants, which is a mess to think about.

Towne looked at his men again, and saw that their situation was not much better, with a few pikes on their backs, kitchen knives around their necks, and axes on their heads. If you shoot rashly at this moment, you may be able to knock down a few, but the soldiers will turn into meat sauce in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this scene, Tang Enbo completely lost his fighting spirit, he waved his hand and said dejectedly: "Put down your guns, there is something to discuss!" ”

The soldiers obediently handed over their weapons, and Tang Enbo reluctantly handed over his precious ivory-handled **** to Mantang, a gift from a brigadier general of the United States.

The staff officer of the major changed his face at this time, he nodded and discussed with the leader of the hall: "I said good man, we have an important military meeting, we have to leave immediately, you see if this is the case, you can leave this car and the things in the car, just leave us a few guns, now we are fighting, the road is not very peaceful." ”

The hall was impatient, and opened his mouth to scold: "I'm a mother, hurry up!" No more nonsense grandpa, I even stripped off your clothes and let you go on the road naked, believe it or not? ”

Tang Enbo was so angry that he smoked, but he didn't dare to attack, he said to the major staff officer with a blushing face: "There is no time to entangle with them, the military affairs are urgent, let's quickly withdraw and leave!" ”

The major staff officer scolded in a low voice: "Damn, I have met a traitor, the mountains will not turn around, let's see!" ”

Before he could finish speaking, his back was firmly struck. Tie Zhu raised the flat shoulder again fiercely: "Who are you scolding on a dog day?" ”

Tang Enbo irritably reprimanded the major: "You just don't say a word, let's go." ”

The staff officer of the major was silent, and the soldiers left empty-handed.

This day is simply a carnival festival for the villagers of Gangzi Village.

The streets of Gangzi Village were crowded with people, men, women and children pouring out of their homes to watch the loot looted by the leaders of the full hall and iron pillars. Half-grown children climbed into the car and honked the horn, hugged the steering wheel, and learned the roar of the engine with their mouths "boom". The women chirped and talked with the soles of their shoes, while the old people shook their heads and sighed, and quietly retreated to their courtyard doors.

Tong Mantang and Tie Zhu were busy counting the loot, although the things were not much, they looked like they were worth some money. In addition to the two jeeps can not be estimated, those pistols, *** have their own prices, there are special gun dealers nearby to buy, they have a good reputation, has always been paid with "Yuan Datou", of which the purchase price of pistols is 5 yuan, rifles 10 yuan, light machine guns, *** 15 yuan.

Tie Zhu counted with his fingers, and the guns alone could be exchanged for one hundred and ten "Yuan Datou" today. There are also two boxes of Class C combat rations, which are printed with a lot of foreign characters, no one can understand what they are, and before Mantang and Tiezhu have time to start, these foods are divided on the spot by the old and young masters in the village. Everyone was crazy with hunger, all kinds of cans were rudely chopped with firewood knives, the old and young men rolled on the ground and grabbed a mess, and two villagers were fighting for food.

Tie Zhu picked up the kitchen knife and pounced, and wanted to grab a few bites, but was stopped by the full hall: "Forget it!" These turtle grandsons are shameless, we still have face. ”

The strangest thing is a small iron box with a dozen dials and seven or eight buttons. None of the old and young masters knew what it was, and it seemed that it was useless to keep this thing, and it felt bad when it was thrown away. Mantang ordered: "Whatever it is, keep it, and when the gun dealer comes to show him, maybe he can sell it for two dollars." ”

The old and young men pushed the car to the wheat field in the south of the village, covered the two jeeps with wheat straw, and everyone began to think about how to turn the car into cash and divide it equally.

Li Gouwa, who was in the backyard of the house, kicked the car and said: "This goods is worth the money of the old nose, eighty percent of them can't even be bought by the county magistrate, and I think they have to be sold to the senior officials of the national army." ”

Mantang kicked Li Gouwa's ass: "Let go of your mother's fart!" Looking for death? What you snatch from the national army and then sell it to the national army, people want your dog's life first! ”

Tie Zhu asked, "Brother, what do you say?" Such a big iron guy is sitting here, and something will happen sooner or later. ”

Man Tang tilted his head and thought about it, but he didn't come up with any way, so he roared: "What a mother!" Let this iron guy go first, don't surround the folks, scatter first, and talk about it later! ”

And they dispersed.

Man Tang and Tie Zhu pushed open the door of their courtyard and saw his father Tong Chunfu sitting on a small bench in the courtyard angrily, it seemed that he had heard about the robbery of his cousins. The mother's face was full of sorrow, and she silently held the soles of her shoes, stopping from time to time to sigh. The 13-year-old sister Cuihua timidly hid behind her mother's back, like a thin kitten, constantly choosing wild vegetables in her hands, and a pair of big eyes observed her father's face from time to time. Seeing that the two troublesome sons came back, Tong Chunfu scolded angrily with a blue face: "Turtle calf, more and more promising!" Dare to rebel? If the government knows, our family is full of sins! ”

The full hall argued: "Dad, you can't say that, this is called the government forcing the people to rebel, and the disaster has been going on for almost two years, which village in our area has not starved to death?" Not to mention, just our village and Xiagouzi Village have killed several households! But the official family still levies grain and taxes, no matter whether we live or die, if we don't steal or rob, we will starve to death! ”

Tong Chunfu trembled angrily: "Are you a turtle calf still reasonable?" You have a kind of robbing devils and traitors, why do you rob your own people? You help the devil beat his own people, this is what the traitor does! ”

The whole house simply broke the jar and fell: "Dad, what do you like to say, anyway, I can't let the whole family starve to death." Besides, Commander Tang's soldiers don't have a good thing, they don't have much ability to fight devils, they spoil the people, all of them are good hands of his mother, this kind of team is worse than devils, so they should rob their mother! ”

Tong Chunfu was stunned by anger, and picked up a shovel: "I split you two evil seeds alive!" He chased his two sons all over the yard with a shovel, Man Tang and Tie Zhu scurried around with their heads, and Man Tang's mother hurriedly threw down the soles of her shoes and dragged her husband's cuffs: "The head of the house, the head of the house...... If you have something to say, why are you moving the real guy? ”

Tong Chunfu was angry, and as soon as he shook his arm, Mantang Niang flew out and hit his head on the fence.

Cuihua knocked over the basket in a panic, and the wild vegetables were scattered on the ground, and she hugged her father's leg and screamed, "Dad! Father! Please, don't beat my brother, can't you make my brother admit his mistake......"

The family was making a fuss and jumping over the wall, the courtyard door opened, and a slow voice came: "Chunfu, which one are you singing?" Did the eight sledgehammers make trouble in Zhuxian Town? ”

The proprietor, Chen Jiaxing, carried a long cigarette pouch pot, his white skin was shaved neatly, his lips were carefully groomed, and his hair with a little silver was combed back, spotless. He walked in with unhurried square steps, followed by his son Chen Shaolin.

As soon as Tong Chunfu saw the comer, he immediately put away the shovel and bowed respectfully to the Chen family father and son. The well-behaved Tie Zhu immediately took out two chairs from the room and invited the Chen family father and son to sit down. Chen Jiaxing lifted the robe in front of him, sat on the chair, and began to concentrate on filling the cigarette pouch and pot with tobacco, and hurriedly leaned over to light the fire for him.

Chen Jiaxing is a famous squire in Yichuan County and a family of traditional Chinese medicine. His grandfather Chen Deyuan was a man of the late Qing Dynasty, who had served as the commander of Yichuan County, and had ancestral traditional Chinese medicine skills, and opened a traditional Chinese medicine shop called "Dehuitang" in Luoyang. After Chen Deyuan resigned, he sat in his own pharmacy for consultation, and his medical skills were exquisite, and he had a great reputation in Yichuan County. In addition to practicing medicine, Chen Jiaxing's father, Chen Guangji, also set up a private school in the township to teach the children of his own clan, and the family gradually became wealthy. In Chen Jiaxing's generation, in addition to operating a pharmacy in Luoyang, he also purchased more than 200 acres of land in Gangzi Village and rented it to tenants for farming.

Chen Jiaxing is a bold person, and he keeps in mind the Chen family motto: "The business of the common people is respectful; Jia and Chongyi, Confucianism and benevolence. Reading and knowing etiquette is the honor of the Chen family, accumulating virtue and doing good, and the Chen family's style ...... "The land rent of the Chen family is less than half of the landlord in the neighboring village." He also often lends money to borrow grain, and if the other party is too poor to pay it back, he will say lightly: How much can be repaid, and if it is really not enough, it will be pulled down. After seeing a doctor for a fellow villager, he asked, "Are you short of money?" Seeing that the other party was difficult to speak, he smiled heartily: "Then forget it." "At the same time, five herbs will be given.

Chen Jiaxing's housekeeper Lao Huang has a lot of opinions about the owner's kindness, and has resigned to Chen Jiaxing several times, saying: "I can't manage your house, you better ask another master!" ”

Whenever this happens, Chen Jiaxing stares at Steward Huang with both eyes, without making a word of justification, for three minutes, staring at Steward Huang at a loss, and finally defeated. What's the solution?! This Huang housekeeper was originally a student in Chen's private school, because of his poor family, Chen Jiaxing exempted his tuition, and later Chen Jiaxing personally came to ask Lao Huang to be a housekeeper, relieving him of the shyness in his pocket, so Lao Huang knew that he owed too much to the Chen family, and he was really embarrassed to resign.

In the eleventh year of the Republic of China, Chen Jiaxing's wife had a difficult birth and died after giving birth to her only son, Chen Shaolin. Mantangniang just gave birth to Mantang that year, and the milk was still sufficient, so Tong Chunfu asked his wife to be a wet nurse for the young master of the Chen family. Originally, the Chen family treated the Tong family well, what is it for the child to eat a few mouthfuls of milk! But Chen Jiaxing didn't think so, he thought that the children of the Chen family ate the milk of the Tong family, and this kind of favor would not be finished for a lifetime. In this way, Chen Shaolin, the young master of the Chen family, has always called Mantang his mother a nurse since he was a child, and Tong Mantang also went to private school with Chen Shaolin for three years when he was a child, and Chen Jiaxing specially exempted Mantang's tuition, and the relationship between the two families is extraordinary. It's just that Chen Shaolin grew up but refused to learn the ancestral Chinese medicine of the Chen family, and went to the new-style school in Zhengzhou by himself. Chen Jiaxing didn't say anything, but he was very disappointed in his heart, and he always felt that this son was not promising.

At this time, Chen Jiaxing sat on the chair, smoked the pot, and asked quietly: "Mantang, I heard that you took the old and young masters in the village to rob the soldiers, is there such a thing?" ”

Tong Mantang lowered his head and replied: "Master Chen, there is such a thing, I took the lead. ”

Chen Jiaxing looked up to the sky and sighed: "Alas, natural disasters and man-made disasters, the world is difficult, this is not enough, what is even more hateful is that the officials are unreasonable, the fish and meat villagers, the people can't survive, and it is understandable to do something out of the ordinary......"

Tong Chunfu stood solemnly with his hands down, and said respectfully: "Master Chen, I am a farmer, and I don't understand the affairs of the government, but Mantang is doing this, isn't he helping the devil clean up our own people?" ”

Chen Jiaxing glanced at Mantang and sighed: "Yes, there are also difficulties, and they are not easy!" The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has been fought for almost seven years, and the people have been impoverished and the country has been impoverished. I'm just worried that something will happen again, since the 31st year of the Republic of China, droughts, floods, and locust plagues have not stopped, but the ** grain collection and distribution have not been reduced at all......"

Chen Shaolin interjected: "Dad, in fact, something big has happened a long time ago, in July last year, more than 7,000 victims in southern Henan snatched the guns of the national army stationed in Xinyang, ** sent troops to suppress it, I heard that more than 5,000 people were killed, and the blood flowed like a river!" As a result, the riots of the victims spread from southern Henan to northern Hubei, and the victims attacked the small units of the national army everywhere, and even disarmed the entire platoon and company of the national army, which has not subsided until now. ”

"Old Master Chen......" Mantang gritted his teeth and said, "At the beginning of the year, Chief Xie took away my family's seed grain, and the old cattle of Li Gouwa's family in the backyard were also pulled away, and there was a locust plague in 31 years, and more than 50 people starved to death in our village!" He Changshun's family in the north of the village handed over the last 20 catties of corn to the military rations last year, and the whole family of six committed suicide by taking rat medicine, you should know, right? **Isn't there any fear of retribution if you do this? ”

Chen Shaolin interjected: "Dad, our family has confiscated the rent since last year, and the food we eat now is all bought from the rice market by the guys from the Luoyang Pharmacy and sent to the village." A few days ago, Chief Xie came to our house to collect grain, and it was Steward Huang who took the amount of money, and even our family couldn't go on, let alone the tenants? Brother Man stole the car of the national army, I think he deserves it! It's urgent, let's riot too! ”

"Nonsense!" Chen Jiaxing glared at his son and reprimanded, "** is not good, it is also our Chinese's own **, we just have to be wronged and difficult, we can't turn our elbows outward, help the little devil beat the Chinese, I'm sorry for the ancestors and ancestors like this!" ”

Chen Shaolin said softly: "I heard that the Japanese crossed the Yellow River in Zhengzhou, and I see that this posture is going to open up the Pinghan line. The national army was already a little unable to hold on, and there was nowhere to get out of the belly, and I guess the top would not stop easily when they were making trouble. ”

The hall was stubborn and stubborn: "A good man is a good man, I won't affect everyone, you tie me up to see the official, I didn't say it!" ”

Tong Chunfu got angry again: "You turtle calf said it lightly, what kind of sin is this?" It's all over the place! You've dragged the whole family down sooner or later......"

Mantang flew up and kicked the small stool out of the way, and then slammed into the house, and the iron pillar hurriedly followed, Mantang turned around and closed the door, slamming the door loudly.

Mantang Niang was so anxious that she knocked on the door, but Mantang neither ignored nor opened the door. She turned around and complained to her husband: "Mantang has been stubborn since childhood, you don't know, what can't you say well?" ”

Tong Chunfu pointed at Mantang Niang and reprimanded: "It's all what you are used to, if you go back 20 years, I will have to slaughter this turtle calf!" He turned around and kicked the door in a rage......

Chen Jiaxing wanted to resolve the conflict, so he hurriedly stood up and grabbed Tong Chunfu: "Chunfu, it's time for you to go to work in the medicine garden." Well, I think the two fields of honeysuckle and forsythia should also be watered, come with me! ”

As soon as he saw the owner speak, Tong Chunfu immediately picked up the shovel and followed Chen Jiaxing and his son.

The room was still sitting on the edge of the kang and sulking, Tie Zhu slowly walked to the back of Mantang, put his arms on his brother's shoulders, leaned his head on Mantang's back and said softly: "Brother, no matter what happens in the future, I will listen to you!" ”

Mantang didn't say a word, just patted Tiezhu's arm lightly. The relationship between the two brothers is extraordinary, Tong Mantang and Shi Tiezhu are not brothers, Shi Tiezhu is an orphan adopted by Tong Chunfu and his wife.

Six years ago, in the twenty-seventh year of the Republic of China, the Battle of Lanfeng was lost, the Japanese army approached Zhengzhou, and the people were in a hurry to "replace the soldiers with water", and opened the Yellow River embankment at the mouth of Huayuankou in the suburbs of Zhengzhou, and 44 counties in eastern Henan and northern Anhui were a piece of Zeguo, and the number of people killed reached 890,000. Shi Tiezhu is a native of Zhongmu County, only 10 years old that year, his father struggled to carry his son to a door panel, put a longevity lock around the iron pillar's neck to pray for safety, and then turned back to save the whole family, the house collapsed, and the whole family including parents, younger siblings, and grandmother were all killed. After the hard-working iron pillar was rescued on the embankment, he followed the fleeing crowd to wander and beg for more than 400 miles to Yichuan County, and passed out outside the door of the Tong family's thatched hut on a stormy night......

When Tong Mantang was 13 years old, he found the dying Shi Tiezhu outside the door, and Mantang carried the iron pillar into the house without saying a word. The mother of the house lit the oil lamp, and the family came forward and were all stunned: the child was wearing a pair of black homespun pants on the upper body, and the pants were worn down below the knee. His feet were bloody, thin like little skeletons, and if he wasn't shivering, he really couldn't see that he was a living thing. The child was in a coma and must have been hungry. Tong Chunfu hurriedly instructed Mantangniang to heat a bowl of noodle soup and feed the child, and in less than a bag of cigarettes, the child eased up. To everyone's surprise, he turned over and put his legs together, knelt in front of the whole family and kowtowed in tears: "Uncle and aunt, it's okay, don't drive me away, just give me something to stutter, and I will make you a cow and a horse...... Auntie and uncle, okay? ”

The mother of the house had a sour nose, turned her face away, and sobbed: "Evil, this miserable child! ”

Tong Chunfu took a closer look at the child, his little face was covered with tears, his eyes were deep-set, his eyes were extraordinarily large, and he looked distressed.

Tong Chunfu's tears also flowed out all of a sudden, and he turned back to Mantang Niang and said, "Mother, let me drive this child out now, I can't do it, I can't do this lack of morality!" Take this kid in, just add an extra bowl of water and set up more chopsticks when cooking. ”

Tong Chunfu hugged the iron pillar on the kang, and then saw a long-life lock hanging on the neck of the iron pillar, made of brass, with two peony flowers engraved at both ends of the lock surface, and four small characters in the middle: wealth and longevity. This longevity lock is finely carved, Tong Chunfu picked it up and looked at it carefully: "Alas, maybe this thing really works, your life is hard enough!" Baby, what's your name? ”

"My name is Shi Tiezhu." The child replied timidly.

In this way, Shi Tiezhu became the second son of the Tong family, and in order to make Tiezhu remember his dead relatives, the Tong family did not let Tiezhu change his surname. The kind-hearted Chen Jiaxing was greatly moved by Tong Chunfu's righteous act, and specially reduced the Tong family's land rent by another point, saying that it was also his contribution to the child.

It's also strange to say, Tong Mantang had an indescribable sense of closeness from the day he first saw Shi Tiezhu, he recognized Tiezhu as his own brother, even if his father and mother didn't agree to adopt the child, he would leave Tiezhu behind, and it was a big deal that he gave half of his rations to Tiezhu.

Outside, Mantangniang knocked on the door and shouted: "Mantang, your father is gone, you brothers haven't eaten yet, hurry up and eat, go to the north river to carry water to water the land, that land is a life-saving field, and it can't be dry." ”

The two brothers were drinking wild vegetable paste at the small table in the courtyard, and the mother looked at them with a sad face, although the full hall was 19 years old and had a good skeleton, but he had not eaten enough for many years and was skinny. The iron pillar has not grown, and he is sixteen or seventeen years old, and at first glance he looks like a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy, whose body bones are so thin that he can be blown down by a strong wind. The full mother has been blaming herself, feeling sorry for the dead father and mother of the iron pillar. This world is too difficult, she has long been exhausted in running this family, and she has reached the age of marrying a daughter-in-law early, but how can she have the money to propose?

Mantangniang's eyes fell on the three small nests mixed with soybean cake and rice bran on the small table, and neither of the two sons touched it.

She knocked on the table and said, "Son, this is what my father left for the two of you, saying that you two have the heaviest work, and he only ate half of it himself and left." Don't look at him beating and scolding, I still feel sorry for the two of you in my heart. ”

Tie Zhu glanced at Cuihua and said cautiously: "Mother, let my sister eat one, right?" ”

"Brother, I'm full!" The sensible Cuihua immediately carried the basket of wild vegetables, and the two pigtails turned their heads and ran away.

Mantang Niang couldn't stand it, turned her back and lifted the placket of her clothes to wipe the tears that welled up and said, "What are you full?" I drank a bowl of mush, saying that it was reserved for the eldest brother and the second brother. ”

Mantang and Tiezhumian looked at each other, and Mantang hurriedly broke his head and took a big bite and said, "Mother, don't be sad, can't I eat?" At the same time, he gestured to the iron pillar with his eyes, and the iron pillar picked up the other half of the nest.

Mantang Niang sighed deeply: "This bit of bean cake and stick noodles are still borrowed from the owner, it is estimated that it will not last long, there are still more than two months before the wheat harvest, your father said that you can't borrow it anymore, and it is difficult for the owner to collect the rent, you didn't hear the Shaolin brothers say that his family also has to take money to Luoyang to buy grain to eat." ”

The iron pillar was holding half of the nest head and weeping.

The full lady asked, "Son, what's wrong with you?" ”

Tie Zhu wiped his tears and said, "Mother, keep the rest of this nest for Cuihua Mei, if she doesn't eat it, I won't eat it in the future, just drink mush!" ”

After Tie Zhu finished speaking, he picked up the flat shoulder and walked away with the bucket.

Tang Enbo walked with a few retinues deep and shallow, and in his anger he took the wrong path. Commander Tang is in charge of Henan, and his grievances are too deep. This time, he was robbed by a mob in Yichuan County, and his car and radio station were robbed, and he experienced first-hand what "retribution" is.

Tang Enbo has been a high-ranking official for a long time, where can he suffer so much, the sleeves of his yellow tweed military uniform are open, there are a few huge blood blisters on the feet of the plate, and the delicate leather boots on the feet are also open. In order not to reveal their identities, he and his entourage ripped off the collar badges on their military uniforms, slept in the open all the way, begged the people for food along the way, and were driven out by the victims with sticks a few times, because they saw Commander Tang wearing a yellow tweed military uniform, so they decided that he was a big official, and he never had a good face for the big officials and the people, and it was polite not to kill them.

On the short road from Yichuan to Luoyang, Tang Enbo and his entourage actually walked for four days. When they rushed to Luoyang to see Jiang Dingwen, Tang Enbo's anger and grievances along the way were unstoppable, and before he could speak, tears had already flowed.

When Jiang Dingwen saw Tang Enbo's embarrassment, he was so shocked that his glasses almost fell to the ground, he scolded the victims on the one hand, and persuaded him with good words on the other, and the staff officers on the side were also embarrassed, and no one spoke.

This military meeting is very important, in the past few days, all the generals have arrived, just waiting for Commander Tang, and now Commander Tang has finally arrived, so Jiang Dingwen can't wait for Tang Enbo to freshen up and rest, and immediately announce the meeting.

According to the practice of this kind of military meeting, Jiang Dingwen first had to say a few words of foreshadowing to express his condolences to the generals who led the camping to Luoyang. But before a few words of greeting were finished, an operational staff officer rushed into the venue to make an urgent report: "Sir, there is a call from the front, Zhengzhou has been lost!" The Fourth Army Sun Weiru's troops had retreated to the areas around Xingyang and Bishui. The main force of the enemy's 37th Division swooped south along the Pinghan Road, and now it has broken through Xinzheng, and the enemy's 12th Army has set up an advance command post in Xinzheng. The enemy's 110th Division and 62nd Division made a detour along the south bank of the Yellow River in the direction of Luoyang! ”

Jiang Dingwen was like a stick, he was stupid all of a sudden, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

Towneburgh was also taken aback, and in the four days that they had been robbed and on foot, the war had changed dramatically. Wang Zhonglian, commander of the 31st Group Army, Li Xianzhou, commander of the 28th Group Army, and other generals kept using radio stations to "talk to Chief Tang." They shouted so loudly that their voices were hoarse, and the generals really couldn't understand why their Commander Tang disappeared without a trace as if he had been evaporated at this critical moment when the army was defeated. The generals were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, jumping to their feet and scolding the streets in their respective headquarters.

The misfortune is that Wang Zhonglian couldn't make a phone call with Tang Enbo, and only one day after jumping to scold the street, his command car and entourage were also disarmed by a group of mobs!

Tang Enbo angrily issued an order to all troops by telephone: "Liu Changyi's 15th Army is firmly guarding Xuchang, and He Cuizhi's 12th Army is guarding Yexian, Xiangcheng, Qiucheng, and Yuanhe respectively. The divisions of Shi Jue's 13th Army, moving north from Linru, Yuxian, and Mi counties respectively, quickly assembled in the Dengfeng area, waiting for an opportunity to flank the enemy attacking from Zhengzhou to the west and south! ”

Tang Enbo dropped the microphone as soon as he gasped and shouted: "Damn, less than a week after the start of the war, our army's command system has fallen into chaos!" How so? ”

Jiang Dingwen was so anxious that he was wandering around in the conference room, and kept saying: "How is this good, how is it good!" ”

Tang Enbo stopped talking, and turned his body on his back in a huff. All the staff officers and staff members in the room stood upright, and they didn't dare to make a sound. Jiang Dingwen walked behind Tang Enbo, stood dumbfounded for a while, and said: "Enbo, I think so, I will immediately ask someone to bring your car and radio station back, this is a top priority, Staff Officer Liu, give me Xiao Wan to become a family in Song County!" ”

Tang Enbo glanced at Jiang Dingwen and said angrily: "Then thank you, Tang is grateful!" ”

[1]

Axis people: Northern folk language, refers to stubborn people, people who love to drill the horns of the bull.

[2]

Mamluk: A slave soldier who served the Arab Caliphate in the Middle Ages, mainly serving the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt, was a slave regiment composed of people from Thrace and Macedonia in Greece, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus. The Mamluk cavalry were bought or abducted from their homeland before they were six years old, and the boys were all castrated after screening, and then put into ruthless military training, mainly equestrian and combat, and trained to be war machines without family, affection, or even **. They were skilled in horsemanship, adept at using scimitars, and fierce in their fierceness, dominating Eurasia for 300 years before being defeated by Napoleon at the Battle of the Egyptian Pyramids.