1. Retreat - retreat again

People who are engaged in cultural work, when they usually shake the pen and lips, seem to be able to hold their heads up, but when it comes to difficult dramas, they are overstretched.

The retreat of the Third Hall from Changsha has taught us a very profound lesson.

The first is my own unresponsive talent. Usually all the work is carried out by my friends, but when the time comes, my friends can't cope with it, then I am even more helpless.

According to now, I stayed in Changsha at that time, and it was okay not to retreat, so why should I be so "mediocre and disturbing"? But at that time, no one could have predicted what the enemy would do. After the enemy occupied Yueyang on the 10th, if he wanted to drive straight in, no one could stop him. Didn't even the police in Changsha retreat?

Our retreat was a predetermined procedure, and it was already more final than any central authority. From the 10th onwards, there is no way to negotiate the train; There is no way to negotiate road cars. Early in the morning of the 11th, Zhang Zhizhong had promised us that we could spare six trucks, but it was not until midnight that it became a complete cake. So I couldn't help but make a final decision and figure it out on my own.

Fortunately, Vice Minister Zhou was in Changsha, and he knew about our difficulties, so he personally supervised and decided on a plan for retreat overnight.

He divided the personnel into two parts. Some of the people walked, walking to Xiangtan. The other part of the people can go to the station to wait for the train, and it is rumored that there is a train leaving on the 12th.

The luggage is also divided into two parts. Heavy goods are transported by train, and easy by truck. Only two pieces of personal luggage are allowed per person, all of which will be transported by truck. Trucks, at this time we have two more. On the 11th I bought a wrecked truck, which was dumb and blind, but it still worked and could roll on the road. In addition to this, he borrowed a section of the Eighth Route Army Office to help for half a day. Relying on these three trucks, between Changsha and Xiase, they were transported back and forth until the removal was completed. Train baggage is escorted by the person who takes the train, and truck luggage is escorted by the person in charge left by each unit.

The departure was early the next morning. It was Sun Yat-sen's birthday, and we held a commemorative meeting on the playground. Vice Minister Zhou spoke, and took the opportunity to give detailed instructions on the march for the walkers. He asked everyone to pay special attention because enemy planes could come to attack from the air. During the march, they must not be in close contact, they must be kept at considerable distances, they must always keep an eye on the air, and in case they are spotted enemy aircraft, they must disperse quickly.

Zhou Gong's plan is very thoughtful, and the instructions are very detailed, I can only remember a brief outline here. Through his deployment and guidance, the chaotic situation was immediately organized, and the brains of everyone who were in a mess were also immediately given birth to a sense of clarity.

I have always been happy and convinced of Zhou Gong. He thinks things like mercury, deals with problems with agility like electricity, and deals with everything with dedication as if he never tires. He could go sleepless for days and nights, and you can see that he was tired, but as soon as he came into contact with work, his whole mind and body were like clockwork, and he played a regular tension in an orderly and regular manner, giving out a harmonious and powerful rhythm.

The ceremony of commemoration was completed. Those who walked were led by Tian Shouchang, and those who took the train were led by Fan Shoukang, and they each set off separately. The handling of luggage was assigned by Hong Shen, and he kept in touch with the officers of the two teams as much as possible. I and a few people like Zhang Shuzhong and Zhang Shu also stayed at the end to help take care of everything.

It stands to reason that our retreat should be able to achieve the ideal point of being orderly.

2. "Calm Waves"

The three trucks were moving back and forth on the road, each going back and forth about four times, and it was already dark.

After Zhou Gong gave everyone instructions early in the morning, he often went to Shuifeng Well to check the situation. He felt relieved to see that everything was going according to plan, that three-quarters of the luggage had been removed, and that the people waiting at the train station had not yet left, but that there was a car ready to leave in the evening. At around nine o'clock, he also talked on the phone with Chen Cheng and Zhang Zhizhong, inquiring about the enemy situation in front of him, and they all said that there was no movement. Especially Zhang Zhizhong, what he said, Zhou Gong also relayed it to us.

- Zhang Wenbai said: "The wind is calm, the wind is calm!" He said two "calm waves" in succession. Probably nothing will go wrong tonight, and Wen Bai invited me to his side for a chat.

After listening to the news ahead, Zhou Gongxuan was more relieved. He hadn't slept for two nights. He said goodbye to us and went back to the office for a good night's rest, and then left early tomorrow morning.

The night is indeed calm, our people are almost gone, and there is not much luggage left. After a busy day, it's time to see if it's time for the end. After all, the school building of Changsha Normal School is still large.

The market is just as calm. Although the police withdrew, during the martial law, there were no people on the streets for a long time. A small number of party and government leaders held a meeting to commemorate the prime minister's birthday early in the morning, and announced that they would carry out a torchlight procession in the evening, but it did not have an impact. Probably the preparation was not thoughtful, and it stopped, right?

I'm hungry. After eating a meal of porridge early in the morning, the men had already set off. I ate something in the streets at noon and prevaricated, but I didn't think about the evening. When I came in the evening, I couldn't buy anything.

Hong Shen was prepared. He looks like a rough man from the outside, he is very nervous about his work, and he is also very daring, and he is not afraid of offending his friends, but he is also very careful, and when he charges bravely, it seems that at the same time even the way of retreat is also considered. Zhou Gong selected him as the executor of the retreat plan this time, which must be regarded as the right material. Although he had been busy all day, he had bought baked cakes early to eat there for dinner.

Hungry, watching Old Master Hong gnaw on the baked cake seemed to be even more uncomfortable than being electrocuted. I feel that my ability is too poor, not only do I not have the ability to take care of others, but I can't even take care of my own food, clothing, housing and transportation. Poor culture people!

I had to find a way, so I crept over to the big kitchen next to the playground, looking for some leftovers to ease the internal turmoil in my stomach.

The lights in the kitchen are still brilliant. But as soon as I entered the door, I immediately saw Zhang Shu. He'd searched the cupboard there.

- Nothing! It's so clean! Zhang Shu made a disappointed voice at me.

I'm also searching again: if we have some rice, we can cook some porridge ourselves. As he spoke, he was also a little conceited: Twenty years have passed since he lived in Japan, and he still has the ability to cook on a fire.

All the tanks have been read, except for some water left in the tank, not a single grain of rice or vegetable leaf can be found. The guys are amazing, it's just a solid wall.

But luckily, I made a big discovery! I found that there were some leftovers of porridge from the morning on the bottom of a large wooden barrel. It was too rushed to set off, and I didn't wash the bucket after eating. This is really the "Manna" that fell from the sky.

Of course, we also have to pay attention to hygiene, Zhang Shu scraped the residual porridge into the pot, and I made a fire under the stove.

It had to smell a little salty, but there wasn't even any salt residue.

- Oh, the emperor lives up to his hard work! Zhang Shu suddenly shouted loudly, it turned out that he had found a tooth of salt ginger from some old waste on the top of the cupboard, the famous thing in Hunan, cut like mica. The original red color of ginger has turned yellow. Zhang Shu washed it and split half of it for me.

Ah, that piping hot porridge and what umami salt ginger!

3. The harshness of conscience

At twelve o'clock, Zhang Shu took most of the luggage of the third team of the projection team away. There was only a small part of the baggage left for the third team and all of the fourth, plus a large barrel of gasoline. All it takes is one more truck to get it done.

By this time, the luggage had been completely moved out of the streets. Zhang shoulders are guarding outside, and Hong Shen is guarding the phone inside. From time to time, I ran in and out of the ground to take care of both ends. People waiting at the train station often have phone calls, and after waiting for a day, the train has not yet left. But there is no news from the military.

The streets where martial law is under siege and there are no people are gradually becoming a little strange. Some of the guards in blue cloth uniforms appeared in groups of three or five. The strange thing is that some people carry foreign oil barrels, and some people carry small stoves, and they all have rifles hanging on their bodies. When we were carrying our luggage and getting into the car, such people had already come to urge us - hurry up, isn't it almost over? We asked what they do? They were silent and walked away again.

After one o'clock, standing on the playground, he saw two or three fires in the city, and the enemy entered the city? But no gunfire could be heard. The phone that Hong Shen was guarding lost its function, and the calls everywhere were ineffective. I went to the streets again. At this time, there were more guards in groups of three or five. Some of them came to us and asked us what kind of organ we were. Some don't care about 3721, and take ** to hit the door of each family's house. I even went out on the street to see that there were groups of guards every ten. The same attire, the same gun, carrying a foreign oil drum and a small stove. There are already more fires in the streets. Tianxin Pavilion was on fire. Tianxin Pavilion is the highest place in Changsha City, where there is a fire, it is as if a beacon fire has been raised, and the pillars of fire in the whole city have risen one after another. Groups of people in groups of three or five became more active, banging on the door, opening the barrel and opening the barrel, all preparing to set fire.

- What exactly do you do? I asked boldly with a drink.

- On order to set fire! The men replied in unison.

- Did the enemy enter the city?

- I've already killed Tear Luo!

As the fire grew, I rushed back to school, and Hong Shen also walked out of school to the streets. We estimate that the two trucks will be back in a matter of minutes, and the people at the train station will have to go and get them out. Zhang and I got into a car and wanted to rush to the station to ask the people waiting for the bus to hurry back to the water wind well so that we could take a truck to escape.

However, the fires broke out in unison, and in an instant the whole city was in flames. The street leading to the station is sandwiched between the two sides of the alley of fire. I asked the driver to rush forward, and the driver almost scolded me.

- Rush! You want to make meat marbles! This gas order can withstand a fire and your car won't blow up?

Who has a way? One street is a sea of fire, one street is a sea of people, and one street is a sea of cars!

The arsonist seems to have made a way for the evacuees, but there was a street where no fire was set and people and cars flocked to it like water had returned to the trough. The car was immediately encircled, and could only advance, not retreat. Jin, like a snail, slowly shuttles on the ground.

- Oops! What about the people at the station? What about Old Master Hong? What about Zhou Gong and the people in the office of the Eighth Route Army? I'm going to go our separate ways like this?

Sitting in the car, constantly being rebuked by conscience.

The scenes along the way were truly tragic. The highways were crowded with fleeing people, dragging children and daughters, carrying boxes and cabinets, crying, shouting, scolding, wrapped in quilts, carrying the elderly, wounded, pregnant, soldiers, refugees, and a mess. The horn kept barking, the car kept crashing, and there was no way to describe the embarrassment.

In this way, it hit for half the night, and at dawn the car hit the edge of the Xiangjiang River, and it was the next step to cross the river. There was only one raft on the river, which went on overnight. When our car was picked up, it was part 279.

I escaped, but it was like I had escaped and committed a great sin, and I was always harshly reprimanded in my heart.

What happened to Zhou Gong? What happened to Hong Shen? What happened to the people at the station? There are Nachao and Lu Di in it. If they have any shortcomings, why do I only care about myself? ……

Fourth, the third embarrassment

Relying on the heavy running of his shoulders, he connected with the person who escorted Li to the next regent.

Then he met with Zhou Gong and Hong Shen one after another.

Zhou Gong escaped with Ye Jianying. The office of the Eighth Route Army has been evacuated, and the two of them are left with Zhou Gong and Jian Ying planning to rest quietly for the night. They were so tired that they slept soundly. I was woken up in the fire and tried to get out of the gate, but the car parked outside the door was gone. When they turned back to the back door, there was also a fire near the back door, and the two men rushed out of the fire with an important suitcase in each hand. Halfway down the road, I caught one of our trucks.

Hong Shen escaped in the dumb and blind broken truck, and the rest of the luggage was too late to be loaded. He rode in a broken truck, and according to him, he carried a lead bucket in one hand and a flashlight in the other, sometimes hitting the flashlight instead of a headlamp, sometimes knocking on a lead bucket instead of a horn. Halfway through, the truck broke down, so I threw it away and came on foot.

Zhou Gong was very indignant. He has always been cheerful and pleasant, and he has a magnificent demeanor that is more than enough for anyone to be in any difficult situation, and this time, it is indeed an expression of anger. The car is gone, it's still a trifle; Changsha burned like that, I don't know how many wounded soldiers and how many refugees were burned, but it is not clear at all what the enemy situation is. These, I believe, were what made him indignant.

He instructed Zhang Shouzhong on the handling of the third hall, so he took me and Jianying in a truck and turned back to Changsha to find out.

The cars on the highway are finished, and the fleeing people are still dragging their tired feet on the side of the road, but they are not as crowded as when they first left Changsha. There is a string of trains on the railway, dragged by two locomotives, like the horn fins of dinosaurs, and the outside of the train is full of people, slowly crawling.

We turned back to a section of high ground not far from Changsha, where there was a temple of Guandi, and the fire was intensifying. The whole city of Changsha was enveloped in a cloud of fire smoke, and the power of the fire smoke seemed to swallow up the entire heavens.

- It seems that the enemy did not enter Changsha. Zhou Gong said with emotion: If the enemy enters Changsha, then he must chase after him, and there will be no movement. ……

Unable to see the reason for any further advance, we got on the truck and turned back. Along the way, I cleaned up a lot of people who had fallen behind in the three halls. We found that another part of our retreat plan had unexpectedly failed as well.

For the failure of this part, Shouchang, the leader of the team, cannot shirk his responsibility.

Shouchang is a native of Changsha, and his usual life is very disciplined, and he is even more famous for being able to walk.

Since he joined the Third Hall, he has always worn a military uniform and a pair of riding boots over his breeches. In the hall, every morning when I get up, I lead the friends of the sixth department and the affiliated team to do morning exercises, and then start working after the morning exercises. Regarding his military uniform and morning exercises, many friends who are used to living a romantic life have gossiped behind his back.

In fact, it is commendable to be able to reorganize the army and fight in this way, and as a cultural person, it can be used to correct the accumulated habits of weakness. Therefore, when he withdrew from Changsha, he was asked to lead the team on foot, and everyone felt that he was competent. When he left, his aura was very high, which fully showed that he was competent.

However, after all, the accumulated habits of cultural people are too deep, even if they have a full-body uniform and riding boots, they can't be restrained. On the day of Sun Yat-sen's birthday, the weather was fine. As soon as the team left the city, they came into contact with the scenery of nature, so the literati were freed from the shackles. It is said that they are touring the mountains and rivers along the way, and when they encounter any places with good scenery, they will stop and linger, or take a detour to get it. Some people like to take pictures, and the photographers of the sixth department take pictures everywhere to keep a souvenir. In this way, a team was scattered.

This failure, strictly speaking, was worse than the embarrassment in the fire. Many people who had been separated either ran into Xiangtan City or stayed in the farmhouses along the way, and it took a lot of effort until the third day to collect them all.

The group who took the train arrived at the Shimoshi Division on the evening of the 13th, and their experience was a different kind of embarrassment.

According to Naichao, the train came out in the midst of a fire. While driving, there were many wounded soldiers rolling on the station, trying to climb into the car, but there was no way to carry it. The car was dragged by two fronts and climbed very slowly. In some places, there were fires on both sides of the bank, and the car crawled out of the fire alley. The person sitting in the car had to bury his head in his head, and even his face was so hot that he couldn't bear it. A truckload of shells and gasoline, fortunately did not explode. Changsha Station was full of things, and our bulky public belongings, needless to say, were all thrown away.

5. Containment and rectification

On the fourteenth day, he stopped at the Lower Regent Division, and spent the whole day on the containment of personnel and the reorganization of luggage.

The day's work also relied on Zhou Gong's command and scheduling, and another eyebrow was sorted out from the chaos again.

We did fight a great defeat, not to the enemy, but to ourselves.

Hong Shen was rewarded, he has the talent to adapt and can be competent for complex dramas. Zhou Gong also appointed him as the executor of the plan. He also executes it quite with a quick knife to cut through the mess. While he was tidying up his luggage, he set fire to a number of public property in various sections. Personal luggage is also extremely restricted, and no more than two pieces are allowed, and no more than two catties are allowed. Later, many people criticized him and resented him, saying that he had ruined many important things. There are even people who say: Who can't sort out that kind of arrangement? But all this gossip is nothing more than Columbus's eggs.

If you want to speak after the event, everyone can be Zhuge Liang. You can say that even the retreat from Changsha was eventful. Because the enemy did not enter Changsha at all. But who could have predicted it at the time? At that time, everything was very different. The enemy is coming, and he can drive straight at any time. Therefore, it was the requirement of the time to make a decision. If there are smart friends who can get the opportunity to learn from this failure, it will be very beneficial.

It was also a sunny day, and from time to time enemy planes flew in to reconnoitre, and our personnel scattered around the fields, watching the grand exhibition of vehicles taking place on the road in front of us. There are really all kinds of cars. Cars, trucks, artillery trucks, tank cars, command vehicles, armored vehicles, and other things that are not easy to see in normal times are all unfolded in front of you. There are searchlights, anti-aircraft guns, and sofa chairs, Yin Yin Honghong, fierce roar, rolling the highway ground into the heart bones, yellow dust has been covered with the top of the road tree.

Why didn't enemy planes come to bomb? That's a strange thing. - It became known later, four days after the fire, there was no information about Changsha on the part of the enemy. Four days later, when we went to Changsha to clean up the aftermath, his radio began to mention Changsha again. It is assumed that the enemy's intelligence network was also burned during the fire. This may be considered a blessing in disguise.

Regarding Zhou Gong's car, there is a small interjection here.

The driver, who thought he had lost his car in the fire, was actually not lost, but was sleeping in the car, woke up and saw the fire all over the city, and he was afraid of the gasoline explosion, so he drove away. There was no way to drive back after driving away, so I had to run away.

This is really a strange car, which was damaged once when we were going to Nanyue together, and this time it was falsely alarmed in the fire, and stopped at the lower division, and on the night of the 14th, it was really stolen by someone. - It was a person from the logistics department who stole the car, and it was stolen to Guilin, and it was later found out in Guilin.

On the 15th, all the staff arrived in Hengshan and joined the personnel of the three departments originally stationed in Hengshan.

Stayed overnight in Hengshan. Early in the morning of the 16th, the team formed in a very large temple and prepared to set off for Hengyang. This temple was originally the place where the second hall was stationed, and the second hall has been withdrawn to Hengyang. I can't remember the name of the temple, but I remember that the front of the temple was very empty, there was a wide stream flowing crosswise, and the temple was filled with Taoist priests. While we were gathered there and waiting for the whole team, the old Taoist priest came to me with a small suitcase. It is said that it was picked up in the air raid room, and I am afraid that it was something left by the second hall.

We opened the small suitcase and looked at it, and it was indeed left over from the second hall. The importance of the content can be said to be the whole life of the Second Department and the director of the Second Department - the customs and defense of the Second Department, the official seal, the private seal of the director Du Xinru, several kinds of coded telegrams, the telegram paper of the Military Commission, and others. If you lose such an important thing, you would have lost your head if it was in the Qing Dynasty. Hengshan is so far away from Changsha, and the embarrassment of the second hall has reached such a point. These things, of course, were returned when we arrived in Hengyang. But I can also assure you that they will make a big adaptation of the coded telegram.

The whole team went to Hengyang because there was not enough transportation, and some people had to walk. This time, the team leader had already decided to be Yin Boxiu from the second phase of Huangpu, but unfortunately it was late, so it was temporarily changed to Hong Shen. This time, there was no such thing as being left behind. Boxiu, who received the honorary punishment, has half the credit. He volunteered to go to the front station, camp at the top, and did it in an orderly manner, it can really be said that "failure is the mother of success".

Sixth, the aftermath of Changsha

The burning of Changsha was a great merit of the Kuomintang under the command of Chiang Kai-shek. They were trying to build a miracle, imitating Kutusov's burning of Moscow, to come to it a burning of the city of Changsha. It's a pity that the Japanese joked and didn't appear to play Napoleon. Who is responsible for ssowing a lot of filth, burning more than a million homes, and even burning to death the wounded, sick, old, sick and dead citizens who have not been counted?

The administrative punishment was that three people were shot dead on the 18th, the garrison commander Yan Ti, the second garrison regiment commander Xu Lu, and the public security chief Wen Chongfu.

The people of Changsha do not understand the real situation and complain about the provincial chairman Zhang Wenbai. Afterwards, someone made a couplet and a plaque to ridicule him, and it was widely circulated. The plaque is "Zhang Huang is at a loss", and the couplet is "There is a way to govern Hunan and the five major policies are on fire; He Ren in the center, three people with 100,000 yuan". In this, the words "Zhang Zhizhong" are embedded. I can't remember the "five major policies" clearly; "100,000 yuan" is the pension of the national ** to the citizens of Changsha. It's pitiful.

However, there is a wrong, there is a debtor, and he complains that Zhang Wenbai is looking for the wrong right. Zhang Wenbai and the others only carried out Chiang Kai-shek's orders. According to the conclusive information we received later, Zhang Wenbai received a secret telegram from Chiang Kai-shek at 9 a.m. on the 12th, asking him to burn down the entire city of Changsha. Therefore, the responsibility for the Changsha fire should be borne by Chiang Kai-shek, and even the "three heads" were wronged.

Administrative sanctions only appease the anger of the people, and do not make up for the devastation in the slightest. The police ran out, and the senior personnel of the provincial ** ran to Yuanling. As a result, the work of Changsha aftermath unexpectedly fell on the head of our three halls.

After we arrived at Santang in Hengyang on the 16th, we received an order on the 17th that the Third Department should send people to Changsha to deal with the aftermath. For this work, Zhou Gong assigned Hong Shen again, asking him to lead a number of capable personnel and two anti-drama teams to Changsha that night. When everyone got on the truck, Tian Shouchang volunteered and participated temporarily. Hong Youtian was the first person to enter Changsha after the fire, and he did a lot of work to bury the dead bodies, comfort the residents, plant the wounded and sick, and restore transportation. Due to the busy work and lack of manpower, on the 19th, Nai Chao and I brought another group of people to support. At this time, the Aftercare Office was located in the Ministry of Finance. On the third day after I arrived in Changsha, people from the provincial departments came back from Yuanling to work. Tao Luqian, Director of the Department of Civil Affairs, Yin Renxian, Director of the Department of Finance, Yu Jichuan, Director of the Department of Construction, and Zhu Jingnong, Director of the Department of Education, came to visit us in the Department of Finance. We also feel an indescribable emotion.

Chen Cheng and Zhou Gong have both been to Changsha. Chen Cheng was very proud, and his "subordinates" made a start in the aftermath of Changsha, which of course added a lot of glory to him. Zhou Gong was also very happy to see that everyone was doing well and well. I know very well that these are all students who were trained by him for a short time in the Changsha fire, and after a few days of hard training, his students have made some progress.

The displaced people have gradually returned, and the courage to rebuild Changsha from the ruins has been inspired. The future work is not within our scope. That has to be left to the creativity of the people to their own devices; And in order to reduce friction, it is necessary to let those party masters deploy their Weifu as soon as possible.

After the fire in Changsha, about eight or nine tenths of it was burned, and the interesting thing is that the water wind well where we lived did not burn down. We still have a large barrel of gasoline in Changsha Normal School, but we are still unharmed. This is probably because we left late and the arson team was hindered, right?

We returned to Santang on the 26th. Prior to this, at the invitation of Pingjiang Zhang Fakui, I visited him once with Naichao and Shouchang. It was the twenty-fourth. That night, Zhang was the guide, and I went to see Yang Sen once. The Tako general gave us several canes of tea tree roots. He talked about the anti-war movement being hatched by some superstitious Guanyin people in the localities, and also said that some lower-level political workers were undisciplined and worked exclusively as secret agents, and fled first in case of emergency. As if the war of resistance was not effective, only those superstitious landlords and spies were the political workers, and we just listened to them in vain.

But both generals were a little strange, just like me: why did the Japanese stop the offensive?