20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 758 Save yourself first when saving others

The arrest operation lasted for several minutes, and although the petitioning crowd had dispersed, they did not go far.

Not long after the arrested students were taken away, two more officers rushed out of the office building, looked around and cursed.

"Who fired the gun? Who the hell told you to fire the gun?"

"We didn't shoot," the military police explained, "we just wanted to scare them, otherwise they would have rushed in just now."

The two officers breathed a sigh of relief and quickly reminded them, "Wang Tiekan said that we only need to guard the gate and not harm the students, even if we fire blanks! What time is it now? Do you know how much impact firing a gun will have?"

The gendarmerie curled their lips and thought to themselves, we don't want to shoot, but with thousands of people rushing towards us, how can we intimidate the petitioning masses if we don't shoot?

The two officers ignored him and turned to ask Lao Chai: "What about you? Have you caught the leading student?"

"We caught several people and took them back just now."

"Then why are there so many people?"

"This... this can't be caught!"

Lao Chai was also panicking. The petitioning team was coming in with such force that if the police force was dispersed to arrest them, there was no guarantee that they would not be beaten up by the students in return.

As they were talking, they saw the crowd in the distance suddenly calm down, gradually gather together, regroup, and slowly approach the government office building again.

"Why, why are you here again?"

The two officers subconsciously took a half step back, and the petitioning team seemed to have regained their cohesion.

Everyone narrowed their eyes and looked up, only to see that the crowd in the distance had a new group of leaders.

Chen Rui exclaimed: "It seems that Yan Yuheng is here!"

Sure enough, although the main body of the petition team remained unchanged, the leaders were no longer students, but a group of young teachers.

Yan Yuheng was the general secretary of the Youth Association. The rest were either well-known figures in academia or in the newspaper industry. Some of them even worked in the office. People like Gu Lemin could only be ranked at the end.

The two officials were surprised and delighted when they saw this. They hurried to the steps to greet him, waved and shouted: "Oh, Mr. Yan, we've finally got you here!"

Yan Yuheng walked over quickly and asked sternly, "How could you shoot at students?"

"That's not true! It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! Those were just warning shots, there were absolutely no casualties!"

“But you arrested the students!”

"They want to break through, but the office has to protect itself!" The two officers laughed, "Mr. Yan, you are a reasonable person. The worst order is better than no order, don't you think? Aren't we all here to solve the problem? If the office is in chaos, how can we solve it?"

"I don't see any problem," Yan Yuheng said. "The students just asked the provincial government to send a telegram of condolences, that's all."

"Yes, yes, Mr. Yan, you have the most prestige in the students' hearts, but what do they know? What else can they do besides shouting slogans? Please let them disperse first. If they have any demands, we can each send representatives to sit down and have a good discussion. Wang Tiekan has been waiting for you upstairs for a long time."

"No, I can go meet with Wang Tiekan, but the students cannot disperse, and you cannot use force to drive them away."

"This……"

The two officers looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded and said, "That's not impossible, but you have to promise that they won't do anything out of line again."

"I'll go talk to them."

Yan Yuheng did not insist. The purpose of the petition was to show support for Shanghai. When it is time to negotiate, negotiations are always necessary.

He returned to the team, calmed the petitioning crowd, and then led a few assistants and walked into the office building.

The students trusted him, followed his instructions, and did not do anything out of line, but the loud shouting did not stop.

……

Twenty minutes later, Jiang Lianheng finally arrived.

It wasn't that he came too slowly, but that the streets were too chaotic. Just after passing the city gate, the road was blocked by the crowd. During the journey, he ran into petitioning students from two schools. They were in such large groups that even the horse couldn't move. He was so anxious that he simply dismounted and walked. All he could think about was Jiang Ya.

After finally arriving at the square in front of the Municipal Government, we looked around and saw a sea of ​​people, like a dark cloud covering the city.

At this time, the petitioning masses, including students, businessmen, laborers, teachers, as well as the gendarmes and patrol police who were maintaining order, numbered nearly 20,000 people. They were shoulder to shoulder and their shouts were deafening. They were like a barrier, separating Jiang Lianheng from a distance.

"Jiang Ya! Jiang Ya!"

He shouted twice, but his voice was immediately drowned out by the students' shouts.

Seeing no one responded, he quickly walked around the crowd, grabbed a female student's wrist, and asked, "Which school are you from?"

The female student was startled and was about to respond, but was stopped by her classmate next to her. She turned to Jiang Lianheng and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm asking you which school you are from!" Jiang Lianheng yelled.

A trace of suspicion flashed in the eyes of the two students, and they whispered to each other: "Maybe he is a spy, don't pay attention to him!"

Jiang Lianheng said hurriedly: "I'm looking for my daughter. Where is the Fengtian Provincial Girls' Middle School?"

The female student became even more suspicious. She struggled to break free and turned around to shout, "Let me go! Help, help, the police are here to arrest someone!"

Several male classmates immediately came over, pushing Jiang Lianheng and shouting, "Hey, what are you doing? Are you bullying female students?"

The dignified leader of Fengtian Dragon Head was pushed and questioned by a few young boys in the midst of the angry crowd.

Under normal circumstances, Jiang Lianheng would have slapped him, but now he had no intention of fighting, so he simply let go and turned to walk to the other side of the crowd.

The shouting in my ears never stops, making me feel more panicked and more anxious.

The journey was extremely difficult and dangerous, and Jiang Lianheng had never been so exhausted in his life.

I asked many students along the way, some of them kept silent, while others told me the truth, but I still couldn't find out Jiang Ya's whereabouts.

"Girls, which school are you from?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Classmate, is this the Provincial Girls' High School?"

"No, we are students from Wenhui Middle School."

When we walked to the east side of the team, we finally heard good news: "This is the team from the Provincial Girls' High School."

"I'm looking for my daughter," Jiang Lianheng asked hurriedly, "Do you know Jiang Ya?"

Unexpectedly, Jiang Ya is actually a "celebrity" in the lower grade group. As soon as I asked, someone came to answer.

"Jiang Ya is not here, she ran ahead!"

The ones who responded were two of Jiang Ya’s good playmates.

"Did Lao Chai arrest anyone just now?" Jiang Lianheng asked hurriedly.

"Who is Lao Chai?"

"Patrolman, did any patrolman arrest anyone just now?"

“Yes!” The two girls nodded hurriedly, “Someone fired a gun just now, but Jiang Ya was not seen. She was too far away and everyone got separated!”

When Jiang Lianheng heard that an officer had fired a gun, his face turned pale. Without even having time to thank him, he rushed into the crowd.

The students in the field were very dissatisfied. They glanced at him and pouted, saying, "Why are you pushing so hard? Can't you see that these are all female students?"

"Down with Anglo-Japanese imperialism!"

Jiang Lianheng suddenly raised his arms and shouted, and the students around him immediately responded in unison: "Down with British and Japanese imperialism!"

"Fight for sovereignty abroad and punish traitors at home! Excuse me, excuse me. Awaken our compatriots and fight to the death! Please make way, I'm looking for my daughter."

Shouts and glances again and again.

It's so close, yet so far away...

Jiang Lianheng wandered around and weaved his way through the crowd, and after a lot of effort, he was unable to get very far.

When we reached the middle of the team, we saw crowds of people jostling for position, and we couldn't go any further.

He stood on tiptoe and looked around, no longer shouting empty slogans, but only shouting his daughter's name.

The sounds were drowned out.

Suddenly someone grabbed his arm, "Boss Jiang, Davarish, you're here too!"

"Who the hell are you?" Jiang Lianheng threw his arms aside and tried to squeeze forward.

"It's me, Gu Lemin. We've met before!" Gu Lemin pulled out a flyer from his arms. "We urgently need influential people like you to join us. This is for you. Go back and take a look. Internationale will definitely be realized!"

"Get lost! I'm looking for my daughter!"

Jiang Lianheng pushed Gu Lemin away and buried his head in the crowd.

As long as he could get to the door of the government office building, he could talk to the gendarmerie or the patrol police and inquire about Jiang Ya's whereabouts.

However, this short distance seemed as difficult as climbing to the sky at this moment.

He was simply parading in a crowd, with turbulent currents coming all around him all the time. He could not fight to cross the river, so he had to go with the flow, floating up and down.

In a trance, I felt as if I was in a vast ocean with no shore to turn back.

Even if there were thousands of plans and tricks, there was no place to display them at this moment. "Godfather——"

A big hand pulled him out of the crowd.

"New Year?" Jiang Lianheng turned around and was stunned. "Why are you dressed like this?"

Hai Xinnian, wearing a school uniform, rushed to his godfather, panting, "My godmother asked me to wear it because she was afraid I couldn't squeeze in."

"Have you seen Jiang Ya?"

"Not yet, you should come out first. The police just opened fire. It's too dangerous here!"

Hai Xinnian was big and strong, and he stood like a wall beside his godfather, protecting him as he squeezed out of the crowd.

"Where is your Uncle Dong?" Jiang Lianheng asked in a hoarse voice.

"He went to school first," Hai Xinnian said, "If Jiang Ya wasn't there, he should be here soon."

The father and son struggled to break out of the crowd and after working for half a day, they finally found a slightly spacious open space.

Zhao Guoyan and his men, driving the carriage, had been waiting here for a long time.

As soon as the two sides met, Li Zhengxi and Fang Yan came quickly from not far away.

"Boss, get in the car first!" Zhao Guoyan stepped aside and lifted the car curtain. "I've asked Yang Lazi and Lao Yuan to go find Jiang Ya!"

Jiang Lianheng was extremely anxious and immediately shouted, "Why would I get on the bus? The military police just opened fire. Did you know that?"

Everyone looked ashamed and did not dare to answer.

Even though Jiang Lianheng always talks about his son, he loves his daughter Jiang Ya the most because he loves her too.

"Speak! Are you all fucking mute?"

Jiang Lianheng was also panicked and became furious on the spot.

Hai Xinnian whispered, "Godfather, before we left, Godmother had Uncle Dong call the government office."

"What did the government say?"

"The situation is too chaotic right now. All the police forces in the government office have been deployed. They told us to wait a little longer. They will check the student's identity later. If they have any news about Jiang Ya, they will inform us immediately."

It’s no wonder that the officials didn’t give face in this matter.

When Zhang Zhengdong called the government office, Lao Chai, who was on duty, was also full of complaints. He thought to himself, "Don't even mention your Jiang family's daughter, even my own daughter has gone to an unknown place."

There were too many students petitioning, including many children of wealthy families and even children of high-ranking officials. Everyone was very nervous, but the current situation was so chaotic that all the police were mobilized and they were too busy to catch people, let alone have the time to check identities one by one.

Li Zhengxi comforted him, "Brother, I see there are so many people here, Jiang Ya may not be caught, don't worry, let's go look for her."

"Find it! Find it now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Yan suddenly came over and said, "Boss, we can just look for it here. Why don't you go home and spend more time with your wife?"

Jiang Lianheng seemed a little hesitant.

Hai Xinnian said first, "No, before I came out, my godmother said that we don't need to send anyone back to accompany her."

"How is your godmother?" Jiang Lianheng was indeed a little worried.

"Nothing happened. Before I came, she was still upstairs chatting with my aunt."

There is one thing that Hai Xinnian was embarrassed to say - she is much calmer than you, even if she is pretending.

Hearing this, Jiang Lianheng calmed down a lot and murmured to himself: "Your mother is not an old woman who does needlework at home. She cries when something happens... You go find her. I'll wait for you here..."

…………

Southwest of Fengtian, the first prison in the provincial capital.

With the sound of iron chains clanging, Jiang Ya and other students were taken to jail.

Because it was a period of martial law, the arrested students were not even required to go through the interrogation process and were directly questioned and imprisoned.

These people are relatively lucky and will be temporarily dealt with according to the charge of "inciting trouble". If they are found guilty of the serious crime of "collaborating with the enemy", they will be sent to the military prison of the gendarmerie camp, where their life or death will be decided immediately and they will be executed in secret.

This was not the first time that the office had ordered the arrest of people. After the Northeast Security Command declared martial law, hundreds of people had been arrested in four days, most of whom were students, followed by laborers and then academics.

Prisons everywhere are overcrowded, and there are countless cases of "prisoners" exceeding the limit in cells.

The cell where Jiang Ya was located was naturally full of students, both male and female, totaling more than twenty people.

Some of them arrived early, covered in filth, with dishevelled hair and faces. Only when their eyeballs moved did they look halfway alive.

Newcomers always have a sense of luck and think that it won’t take long before they can get out.

Despite this, several girls were so scared that they cried as soon as they entered the cell.

"They won't torture us, will they?"

"No, don't worry!"

Several boys are showing off again, and taking the opportunity to lend their shoulders to the girls - true friendship is tested in times of adversity, how romantic!

The leader stood in the middle of the cell with his hands on his hips and a sharp gaze, and made an impassioned speech: "Students, don't be afraid. Difficulties are only temporary, but victory is inevitable. As long as we have firm beliefs, all the obstacles before us will be nothing more than footnotes of history!"

"whispering sound--"

The students who were locked in early snorted coldly, turned over, and muttered softly: "You are sick."

"It's not me who is sick, it's this country!" The boy paced back and forth in the cell. "How can we be worthy of future generations if we give up at the slightest difficulty? Don't lose heart! Come on, I'll sing a song, let's sing together!"

"Clang!"

"Shut up!" The jailer knocked hard on the cell bars. "You're the only one who talks too much. You're already fucking locked up, but you still don't behave. Are you asking for a beating?"

The boy walked over and shouted, "You can lock up my body, but you can't lock up my free soul. The Internationale will definitely come true!"

The jailer could no longer tolerate this, so he immediately opened the cell door, kicked the boy to the ground, and then swung his baton, beating him violently, cursing as he beat him: "Yelling? Yelling? I'll fucking let you yell again!"

Everyone was handcuffed and shackled, unable to help, so they could only huddle in a corner and talk in low voices.

"No, doesn't he usually talk like this?"

"Oh, he's from our school's drama club."

"No wonder……"

As he spoke, the jailer vented his anger, spat fiercely in the boy's face, then locked the cell door and muttered, "You are not very capable, and you are seriously ill. If you keep talking big, I will break your legs!"

Everyone rushed over and asked with concern: "Hey, how are you, are you okay?"

"It's okay, don't touch me yet, let me rest here for a while."

"It looks like he was beaten pretty hard. He's starting to speak human language."

Everyone was worried, but saw that the boy's arm was already swollen.

"It's okay. Don't laugh at me sleeping drunk on the battlefield. How many men have ever returned from a battle?" He said, "These minor injuries are just medals of victory."

At this time, Jiang Ya suddenly asked in the corner.

"You keep saying victory, victory. Do you have any way to get out?"

"Of course!" the boy said as he sat up. "Our team is protesting outside. As long as we unite and refuse to compromise, the public opinion pressure will naturally let us out."

"what?"

Jiang Ya was greatly disappointed, and shook her head and said, "Your solution is to rely on others to rescue you?"

"How can you say that you rely on others?" The boy was very disappointed. "Student, your awareness needs to be improved. We are all a whole!"

"It's better to rely on yourself than on others, my mother said."

"Your mother doesn't understand."

"Your mother doesn't understand!"

Jiang Ya was not willing to give in and retorted on the spot, and there were signs of a quarrel between the two sides.

Everyone rushed forward to dissuade them, and the jailer outside the door couldn't help but laugh at them.

At this moment, another voice suddenly came from the corner of the cell: "I think this classmate is right."

Everyone turned to look, and someone who knew him said, "Su Run, stop adding fuel to the fire!"

"I'm not adding fuel to the fire," Su Run pointed at Jiang Ya, then at the boys, "They are both right. We are both a group and individuals. We need to rely on ourselves and everyone else. Isn't this normal?"

After saying that, he turned to look at Jiang Ya, nodded and said: "I support you. At a time like this, you can't put all your hopes on others."

He had good intentions and was worried that Jiang Ya, who was young, might be wronged in this cell.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Ya curled her lips and said unappreciatively: "Who needs your support?"

(End of this chapter)