In 1937, Li Xiuying had just married, not very old, only 18 years old, her husband was a technician in the army, when the government moved out of Nanjing, her husband took a train away, because Li Xiuying was six or seven months pregnant at that time, her husband was worried that Li Xiuying would be in danger on the crowded train, so he temporarily stayed in Nanjing.
Obviously, her husband and Li Xiuying did not expect that staying in Nanjing was the most dangerous, and they had no concept of the cruelty of the Japanese army. Li Xiuying, like many others, hid in the Nanjing Safe Zone, which was run by Europeans and Americans.
The Nanjing Security Zone was formed by dozens of Europeans and Americans, the representative of which was John Rabe, who did not leave the dangerous city of Nanjing, but chose to stay and form a safe zone to protect the displaced civilian population.
In fact, the Japanese did not recognize the existence of the safe zone from beginning to end, so the so-called safe zone is equally unsafe, in order to protect the safety of the Chinese, Rabe and others must "do it themselves", if they are not on the spot, those civilians may be slaughtered by the Japanese at any time.
Li Xiuying and her father entered the safety zone and hid in the basement of a private primary school, which was crowded with people who had taken refuge and soldiers who had lost their uniforms. In order to search for soldiers, or in the name of searching soldiers, the Japanese often broke into safe areas to arrest people.
On December 18, 1937, a group of Japanese soldiers broke in and arrested many young men, among whom there may be soldiers, probably ordinary people, but no matter who they are, they will almost all die.
The next day, the Japanese soldiers came again, this time they wanted to arrest women, Li Xiuying was among them, after many days of seeing and hearing, Li Xiuying also knew very well in his heart that once he was captured, he would not only suffer inhuman humiliation, but also be brutally killed.
During the Nanjing Massacre, the Japanese army would kill people in a variety of ways, buried alive is the most common way, The Japanese soldiers will force the first wave of prisoners to dig a pit, then force the second wave of prisoners to bury the first wave of prisoners, and then use the third wave of prisoners to bury the second wave of people, and so on, in most cases, no one dares to resist.
Sometimes, the Japanese would bury the victim only in the chest or head, followed by bayonet damage, or crushed with horses and tanks. In addition, the Japanese army will let the military dogs go to the victims of the bite until they are killed.
Witnesses have seen the Japanese take off the victim's clothes and then direct the German black back to bite, these dogs will tear open the victim's stomach, and even drag the human intestines far away.
As for the persecuted women, it is even more unbearable. Li Xiuying did not want to be a prisoner of the Japanese army, so she decided to commit suicide, and in the gap between the Japanese soldiers' arrests, Li Xiuying slammed into the wall, and after a moment, Li Xiuying fainted.
It was because of Li Xiuying's suicide that the Japanese soldiers did not arrest him. When Li Xiuying woke up, he found himself lying on a small bed, and the Japanese soldiers had already left.
Obviously, Li Xiuying did not succeed in committing suicide, but she was also very clear that the danger did not leave her. Many women were captured by the Japanese soldiers, and Li Xiuying began to think of ways, there was almost no possibility of survival to escape, if you sit still, you will still encounter insults from the Japanese army, the entire city of Nanjing has been turned into a slaughterhouse, Li Xiuying has nowhere to escape.
Immediately, Li Xiuying made up her mind that if the Japanese soldiers came again, she would fight with them, never be a prisoner of the Japanese army, and would rather die than be insulted.
In fact, the people of Nanjing at that time had almost lost hope and the courage to resist, and they numbly obeyed the orders of the Japanese, even if they let them die.
The same is true not only of civilians, but also of the Chinese soldiers who laid down their arms in large numbers. Japanese veteran Higashi Shiro once recorded the surrender of 7,000 Chinese soldiers in his diary:
"I thought, how did they become prisoners of war? They had so many men, more than two divisions, that they did not try any resistance... Although we have two companies of troops, and the 7,000 prisoners of war have been disarmed, if they rise up, our forces will be wiped out. ”
Among the Chinese soldiers, there were constantly japanese soldiers who asked for assurances not to kill them, and constantly asked the Japanese for water to drink, and Higashi Shiro also recorded in his diary:
"They walked forward in droves like ants crawling on the ground. They looked like a bunch of homeless people with a look of ignorance on their faces. ”
The surrendered soldiers may have thought that the Japanese would treat the prisoners well, but in the end the result was death.
Soon after, with heavy footsteps and the screams of several women, Li Xiuying encountered three Japanese soldiers. Several women were dragged away by the Japanese army, and one of the Japanese soldiers stared at Li Xiuying lying on the bed.
The Japanese soldier slowly approached, looking up and down at Li Xiuying, and before he could react, Li Xiuying suddenly jumped up from the bed and rushed over to take the Japanese soldier's bayonet.
The Japanese soldier was so frightened that he was stunned, how could he not have expected that there were still people who dared to resist. Li Xiuying took the bayonet and stabbed the Japanese soldier in the body, but the Japanese soldier grabbed the wrist, and Li Xiuying's other hand grabbed the Japanese soldier's collar and bit the Japanese soldier's arm with all his strength.
The two sides fought in the room, although Li Xiuying was a woman and pregnant, but this did not affect her movements, in the fight, Li Xiuying actually had the upper hand, and even forced the Japanese soldiers to ask for help outside the door.
There was only one Japanese soldier in the room, and soon, hearing the cries for help from his companions, two more Japanese soldiers rushed in. Two Japanese soldiers took bayonets and stabbed Li Xiuying in the head, and although Li Xiuying subdued a Japanese soldier, the three of them dealt with one person, and Li Xiuying had no chance of winning.
The Japanese soldiers slashed at Li Xiuying's head with bayonets, her teeth were knocked out, and her mouth was full of blood, but even so, Li Xiuying still did not stop resisting, and she even spit a mouthful of blood on the head of the Japanese soldiers.
The elderly Li Xiuying recalled: "On the wall, on the bed, on the floor, there was blood everywhere. I was furious and not afraid at all. My only thought was to fight with them and kill them. ”
Eventually, the outnumbered Li Xiuying was hit in the abdomen by a bayonet and fainted. The three Japanese soldiers thought That Li Xiuying was dead, so they left.
When Li Xiuying was carried to her father, she was almost like a dead man, so everyone prepared to bury Li Xiuying behind the school. For the corpse, everyone seems to have become commonplace, several people dug a pit behind the school, they were going to put Li Xiuying into the pit, just at this time, Li Xiuying spat out blood bubbles from his mouth, and everyone found that Li Xiuying recovered his breathing.
Several people immediately sent Li Xiuying to the hospital of Jinling University, and under the reluctant treatment of doctors, Li Xiuying miraculously survived, but she also lost the child in her belly.
The Japanese left 37 knife wounds on Li Xiuying's body, and since then, these wounds have also brought a lot of inconvenience to Li Xiuying's life, and the snot often comes out of the opening next to the nose, and although the Japanese stabbed her in the eye with a bayonet, she did not lose her sight.
The reason why Li Xiuying dared to resist head-on when facing the Japanese soldiers had a lot to do with her family. Li Xiuying lost her mother at a young age, and most of the elders in her family are soldiers or policemen, under the influence of this environment, Li Xiuying has a strong spirit of resistance and a short temper.
Li Xiuying once recalled that her biggest regret was that she did not learn martial arts with her father, otherwise she would have killed the three Japanese soldiers long ago! (Text/Nine Fish Pavilion)