Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 608 Gele Mountain

The night passed in the rain.

When I woke up in the morning, the air felt even more damp. The rain hadn't stopped, but it wasn't as heavy as it had been at night. It shrouded the city in a misty haze. The sky was like a blank canvas, and the streets and alleys looked like a faded old photograph in the rain and mist, especially the rows of small black wooden buildings that caught my eye.

"Why are all the wooden houses black?" Little Red asked, peering out the window into the distance.

Xiao Wei leaned lazily against the headboard and said, "It's black because it's made of wood. I actually know that."

Xiao Hong turned her head and asked, "Why?"

Xiao Wei said, "It's damp and rainy here, the wood will rot. We can't just build a new one every few months, can we? Do you even know what a paulownia tree is?"

Xiao Hong said, "Tung oil? Oh, I see. If you brush on tung oil, it won't rot. Tung oil is black, I've never seen it before."

Xiao Wei said, "I can't live in these wooden houses in the south. They feel eerie, like there are ghosts around."

Xiao Hong laughed and said, "You coward, what are you not afraid of?"

Xiao Wei said, "Looking at those embroidered shoes, my heart almost jumped out of my chest." He shook his head, "I can't imagine what it was like for people to live in those kinds of houses back then."

Xiao Hong pounced on him: "Didn't you say you'd only watched 'Little Soldier Zhang Ga' and 'Tunnel Warfare'? And what about scientific farming and pig raising? You big liar!"

Xiao Wei said, "There's also Mine Warfare, Heroes and Daughters, and Yang Sanjie's Accusation."

There was a knock on the door. Xiao Hong climbed off Xiao Wei, and Xiao Wei went to open the door.

As Xiao Liu walked inside, he asked, "Where are we going today? It looks like this rain isn't going to stop."

Xiao Wei looked at Xiao Hong and said, "How about we go to Zhazidong?"

The Yangtze River basin has historically been one of the centers of Chinese civilization. From another perspective, it has many historical sites and is quite famous. Everyone knows about it, whether they have been there or not.

Gele Mountain gets its name from the legend that when Yu the Great was taming the floods, he invited his relatives and friends to hold a party here: "He summoned his guests to sing and make merry here," hence the name Gele Mountain. It's incredibly classy.

Let's not dwell on the past. Envy and jealousy are useless; it's just that ancient mythological figures never went to Northeast China to see the snow.

However, the reason why Gele Mountain is famous has nothing to do with Yu the Great, but with Dai Li.

In 39, Dai Li, the leader of the Blue Shirts Society, bought the Baiju Mansion located in Gele Mountain and converted it into a detention center for political prisoners. Baiju claimed to be a descendant of Bai Juyi, so the place was also called Xiangshan Villa.

The adorable little radish-headed girl in Hongyan Village, and those martyrs who persevered through hardship and struggle—these are the reasons we remember this place deep in our hearts. It's one of the most captivating texts for elementary school students.

Luo Guangbin, the author of Red Crag, was also imprisoned here. He and Guo Dexian, along with nineteen others, eventually escaped and survived their deaths. This led to the little-known history we know today, as well as the story of ** and that adorable little radish.

Guo Dexian and Guo Degang have no direct or indirect relationship, although her posts often appear in Guo Degang's fan forum.

Guo Dexian's husband was the prototype for Pu Zhigao, the traitor in the novel *Red Crag*, named Pu Huafu. He was a high-ranking CCP official in Sichuan and Kangding, equivalent to a provincial-level official today. He was a contradictory figure, meticulous yet cowardly. His greatest weakness was his lust for pleasure.

The situation was already very critical. The higher authorities ordered him to evacuate to the countryside, but he refused no matter what, saying it would be too hard.

After being betrayed and arrested in Chengdu, he endured severe torture, including being subjected to chili water and the tiger bench. He finally succumbed to the "fire basket" torture—a kerosene can tied to his back filled with burning charcoal. He watched as his comrades were scalded unconscious, and once it was tied to him, he confessed. He subsequently revealed the identities of over eighty people, more than half of whom were infiltrating the Nationalist army and attaining high ranks.

Fortunately, by this time it was 49, and many comrades escaped the disaster because the Nationalist army was too defeated to arrest them in time.

Pu Huafu was eventually imprisoned in the Bai Mansion, along with his wife Guo Dexian, whom he had betrayed, and their two children. He was a very interesting person; when surrounded by his own people, he became tough again and stopped confessing. In the end, they were all shot dead.

In the ten hours leading up to the liberation of Chongqing, over 300 people were executed in batches at the Bai Mansion and Zhazidong prisons. The first was General Yang Hucheng, and the youngest was Xiao Luobotou. Only about thirty people survived, including Guo Dexian. The military and police fled in panic after the killings, leaving no place to bury the bodies. Ten hours later, Chongqing was liberated.

On November 30, 1949, Chongqing was liberated. This was exactly two months after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Hundreds of pioneering martyrs did not live to see the new face of the Republic.

Like fleeting clouds and grey dogs, like a white horse galloping past a crack in the wall. Bai Ju's villa still stands among the green hills and cypresses for posterity to pay homage, while Bai Ju, an unknown warlord, has become famous for his vacation villa. Who can truly understand the affairs of this world? Right and wrong, merit and demerit, all eventually drift away with the mountain wind.

The main gate of the Bai Mansion is built more like a temple, looking somewhat strange, but it is very tall. During the Sino-American Cooperative Organization period, this was a guesthouse for receiving Americans. The interior was very spacious, with a main building, annexes, underground storage rooms, and air-raid shelters.

The underground storage room became a prison for revolutionary predecessors, and the air-raid shelter became a torture chamber. This was probably something Bai Ju could never have imagined.

Five miles from Bai Mansion is the equally infamous Zhazidong Prison, which was originally a small coal mine known for having more slag than coal.

The Bai Mansion and Zhazidong were the same unit, and the main prisoners were imprisoned in both places, so many people confuse the two.

When they learned about the founding of the People's Republic of China, the female prisoners here used their imaginations to make a five-star red flag by hand, with a large star in the center and four small stars in the four corners. This flag is now on display here.

I don't know why, but when I saw this flag, I burst into tears.

After reading the report on the deeds and visiting the prison, the four of them took a closer look at various instruments of torture and shackles.

Rain was still falling from the sky, and the cold wind blew against my skin, making it feel as if the rusted shackles were stained with human blood.

After coming down from the mountain, the four of them visited the martyrs' cemetery to pay their respects, and then walked to the ancient town of Ciqikou by the river.

Emerging from the solemn and dignified atmosphere of Gele Mountain, and joining the lively and noisy crowd here, walking along the ancient road and looking at the messy shops on both sides of the street, several of them suddenly had a feeling of happiness and bliss.

In 91, Ciqikou was in decline. The once prosperous docks had been moved away, and without the benefits of water transport, it became deserted and its development was slow. However, this also preserved a large number of ancient buildings. After it became a municipality, it was designated as a protected area and took off again.

(End of this chapter)