Reciting "National Mourning" and crying bitterly
It was half past five in the afternoon when I returned to the Women's Command Committee from the Army General Hospital. Everyone had to hold lunch and dinner together. Song Meiling also went to the dining room with everyone, and used this time to arrange the affairs of tomorrow's labor army to Chen Jiyi, so she sat at the same table with Chen Jiyi, Xiao Chen, me and Chen Qiyuan to eat.
Song Meiling has always spoken simply and concisely, and she finished speaking in a short time. Everyone did not say a word, and ate wholeheartedly. She finished a small bowl of rice and put down the chopsticks. Chen Huili asked, "Madam, why do you only eat so little?"
"I'm too hungry to eat. But she didn't leave, leaning on the back of the chair, stilting Erlang's legs, eyelashes drooping slightly, looking at everyone, as if admiring our meal, but also like thinking about something. Chen Jiyi also put down his chopsticks after only eating a bowl: "Alas, the bloody battle scene told by the wounded soldier to defend Tianjia Town has always been in my mind, with artillery fire in the sky and corpses of soldiers all over the field...... I can't eat ......."
Many young ladies at the other tables also agreed, saying that they were deeply touched today. Thinking of those fallen soldiers, I couldn't help but cry like rain.
A few young ladies joked with me: "Only Xiao Zhang is insensitive and indifferent!" This person is the most hard-hearted, look at him, he still gobbled up and ate four big bowls in one go!"
I put down the dishes and chopsticks: "Misses, I am more moved than you! When the wounded soldier complained, you were all in tears, but I was silently reciting Qu Yuan's "National Mourning", which was a hundred ......times more painful than crying."
So I recited "The Death of the Nation" and translated it into modern Chinese, and then came back and read out the last few sentences of the original text slowly and affectionately:
"Honesty is both brave and martial, and in the end it is strong and invincible. The body is dead, the spirit is the spirit, and the soul is resolute. With the heroic spirit of treating death as if they were at home, they are carrying out mighty battles that are unprecedented; they are always strong and cannot be humiliated! O heroic souls who sacrificed their lives for the country, even in the world of gods and ghosts, will always be national heroes who swallow mountains and rivers!
Song Meiling praised: "Good, good, Qu Yuan deserves to be a great patriotic poet." It is really good to use this article to describe the heroic struggle of our anti-Japanese soldiers!"
A young lady said: "Qu Yuan writes well, but it was written by Qu Yuan, not your Xiao Zhang's feelings!"
I said, "Ladies, I have personally witnessed the bloody battle in which the anti-Japanese soldiers regarded death as their home! Have you ever been to the forefront of defending Great Wuhan and personally experienced the offensive and defensive battles in Huangmei County?"
Then, I made a generous statement, briefly talking about how I joined the student propaganda team in the battle to defend Wuhan, and went to the front line to offer condolences, which happened to meet the offensive and defensive battles in Huangmei County.
A few young ladies still said that I was bragging: "How can there be a more tragic battle than the bloody battle in Tianjia Town?"
Song Meiling said: "Children, you are rare and strange! Xiao Zhang did not brag, the offensive and defensive battle in Huangmei County was more tragic and fierce than the stubborn defense of the fortress in Tianjia Town. However, in terms of combat performance, Tianjiazhen's record is higher. After the victory from Taierzhuang, the Japanese army pounced on Wuhan, and we began the great battle to defend Wuhan. Alas, what a song and a crying battle......"
Everyone asked Soong Meiling to talk about the actual situation of the battle. She couldn't push it off, so she asked me to tell you in detail about the battle in Huangmei County. I said, "If you are not too tired to keep up your spirits, it would be better for you to tell us about the whole battle to defend Wuhan." "Because she is the only one who knows the whole picture.
She suddenly came to her senses, and her eyes widened: "Who said I was too tired to do it?"
Her language is calm and simple, yet full of emotion. The twenty-minute narration gives us a clear impression of the entire battle to defend Wuhan.
She concluded:
"In terms of gains and losses in one place and one place, our campaign to defend Greater Wuhan failed, and Wuhan finally fell. However, when it comes to winning the final victory in the protracted War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, on the extension of the national soul, and on the display of the great spirit of the Chinese nation, we have won a great victory. After the great victory in Taierzhuang, we completely shattered the absurd dream of Japanese imperialism to destroy China in the short term, and caused them to pay huge losses. In the diaries recovered from the corpses left by the Japanese soldiers, the Japanese officers and soldiers were amazed: "I didn't expect the Chinese soldiers to be so tenacious." ''We have to pay heavy casualties for every step we take. ''I haven't seen a single Chinese soldier surrender.'' The idea of the generals of the base camp destroying China can only be a ridiculous dream. ''China is a nation that is absolutely unconquerable. ''There is little hope that we will return home alive.'' ’”
Song Meiling said again:
"Many journalists and commentators in Europe and the United States exclaimed: 'China, the sleeping lion of the Far East, has woken up!' and 'The sleeping lion roared!'...... However, our victory was won by the blood and lives of more than 400,000 soldiers...... You know, I am very active in comforting the soldiers, and I have a special affection for the wounded soldiers, why? Just because of this! Our wounded soldiers were wounded in bloody battles, and they survived the battle side by side with those thousands of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country! When I saw them, I thought of the thousands of brave soldiers who fell...... I have seen them kill the enemy with my own eyes. ”
She said: "The year before last, although the labor troops on the front line in Songhu were almost killed by Japanese planes, they had only been to the battalion and company command posts on the front line. During the Battle of Wuhan, I personally went to the front line. I have been to the frontier from the south side of the Yangtze River to Madang Fortress, and from the north bank to the front line of Huangmei County. When I went to the front line of Huangmei, I probably missed a day with Xiao Zhang and their student propaganda team. I also witnessed the battle in which we attacked the county town of Huangmei. ”
Her voice became deeper and more depressed:
"Our officers and soldiers are really united in their efforts. The brigade, regiment, and battalion commanders personally raised their machine guns and rushed in front of the soldiers, who raised their bayonet rifles, lifted the grenades that pulled the line of fire, and charged hard at the places where the enemy's artillery fire was dense...... The enemy's firepower was so strong that our soldiers fell in a pool of blood, but the soldiers of the second echelon stepped on their bloodstains, stepped over their corpses, and rushed towards the enemy even more bravely...... It's been so miserable and heroic—— it's been almost a year, and the scene of them charging into battle as if they were dead has always come to my eyes!"
Tears welled up in her already moist eyes: "Children, think about it! Which of the more than 400,000 soldiers, as well as the soldiers who sacrificed their lives on various battlefields since the great victory in Taierzhuang and the Songhu War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, was not his mother's beloved son? Which one was not brought up by his mother who was conceived in October and brought up by a delicate baby? Which one had no parents, brothers and sisters? Which one did not have their own love? They bravely sacrificed ......their lives for the survival of the nation, for the defense of the country, and for the sake of millions of women, children, and future generations."
She burst into tears and couldn't talk anymore. The ladies and wives present were all in tears, and some even burst into tears.
It was May 1939. Half a century later, I had the opportunity to see the historical sources. These historical records confirm Song Meiling's account one by one. For example, in its account of the battle of the Tianjiazhen Fortress, it writes: