Chapter Seven

  Night, cold and dark. The dim moonlight shines on a long train, speeding across the vast wilderness. Past midnight, in the rhythmic whirring of the wheels, most passengers in the carriage have fallen asleep; but some are still talking, quietly and passionately debating; others lean against the icy wall of the carriage and softly sing songs.

  The first carriage was like this, the second one was also like this. All carriages were carrying unusual passengers - students from Beiping University rushing to Nanjing to petition the National Government.

  More than 200 students from Peking University were crowded in the luggage car at the back of the train, sleeping. Only in the small compartment for guarding luggage, there were still three young people huddled together under the dim light, talking in low voices.

  "Old Lu, Old Luo, the burden that the Party has entrusted to us is indeed heavy! The Nanjing government will see that we have traveled thousands of miles to come here... If they can't put on a red face, then they'll probably have to show their white face instead..." The speaker's name was Li Mengyu, and he was the commander-in-chief of this southern expedition.

  "Be afraid of him!" Lu Dafang, a stout man with a ruddy complexion, lightly pounded his fist on the small table and continued Li Mengyu's words, "Even if we sacrifice many people - like 'March 18' - blood is the most effective way to awaken people's hearts. The people, who are asleep, will be awakened by our blood."

  Another young man was Lu Jia-chuan, who had appeared in Peitaiho. He opened his eyes wide and looked at Lo Ta-fang, shaking his head and saying: "No, Old Lo, your ideas are too naive! A clever person should use the smallest sacrifice to gain the greatest victory. On November 30th, we defeated the reactionary student union and won over so many schoolmates to come to Nanking; but once in Nanking, how can we achieve even greater victories? How will the reactionary rulers deal with us? All these are worth careful consideration!" He fell into thought and stopped speaking.

  From the second day of the "September 18th" Incident, young students in many cities such as Shanghai, Beiping, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Taiyuan, and Xi'an immediately launched a widespread anti-Japanese national salvation movement - strikes, petitions, demonstrations, demanding that the Nationalist government send troops to resist Japan. However, the Nanjing government, which adhered to non-resistance, ignored the people's demands; by November 25, 1931, they even sent a telegram to Shi Zhaoji, who was stationed at the "League of Nations", asking him to propose to the "League of Nations" that Jinzhou be designated as a "neutral zone", to be jointly managed internationally, with the condition that Chinese troops withdraw into Shanhai Pass. This plan to hand over Northeast China to imperialism further enraged people across the country, and workers went on strike, students boycotted classes, and they flocked to Nanjing to protest. Beijing University was among the first to raise a big banner and rush to Nanjing.

  The carriage shook gently. The cold wind howled in the wilderness, making the unheated car even colder. Li Mengyu, who was tall and imposing, pulled his duck-billed cap forward, while Lu Jiachuan rubbed his frozen hands together. Luo Dafang seemed to have forgotten about the cold as he listened to Lu's words, lost in thought with his head bowed. After a while, he suddenly looked up, as if he had just woken up, and said: "Other schools are petitioning, we***, of course, will provoke the dignitaries of Nanjing."

  "So you're afraid now?" He gave Lu Jia Chuan a sharp glance and shook his head in disbelief.

  "No, Old Luo, what are you thinking!" Lu Jia-chuan smiled slightly and grasped Luo Da-fang's large hand. "Thinking of the bad aspects doesn't mean being timid. We're Marxists, after all."

  "Right!" said Li Mengyu, "Old Lu is right. We absolutely cannot underestimate the enemy."

  "Now let's talk about the specific issues. I think we should divide our work again: Old Lu is good at security and has many methods, so this time you can specialize in dealing with reactionaries from all sides; as for me and Old Luo, we have enough energy and a loud voice, so we'll take charge of mobilizing the masses."

  Before he could finish speaking, someone outside the car door shouted "Report!" and with the opening of the car door, several male and female students jumped in.

  "Report! The pamphlets, handbills, flags and armbands are all ready!" A robust and handsome young man, carrying a large bundle of red and green propaganda materials, rushed into the small compartment and said, "Commanders, is there anything else to instruct?"

  This lively young man was named Xu Ning, and one sentence made everyone laugh.

  "Xu Ning, you guys are tired enough! Are there enough papers?" Lu Jia Chuan quickly reached out to take over these things, carefully placed them on the small stall of the watchman, then turned around and winked his agile eyes, tightly grasping Xu Ning's and another male classmate's hands.

  "These are the powerful weapons of our Northern Expeditionary Army, you've made them! Thank you!" He then turned to a slender and neat female student, "Xu Hui, have you drafted the slogans yet?"

  "Is that alright? Take a look." Just as Xu Hui was about to hand a piece of paper to Lu Jia-chuan, Xi Ning snatched it away.

  "You're all tired, let me read it!" Xu Ning hadn't even started reading when he turned his head to smile at Xu Hui and said, "Xu Hui, you're a famous 'scholar' from Beida, how could the slogans you wrote have mistakes? Come, I'll read them out loud, everyone listen: 'Oppose the government's betrayal of the three northeastern provinces!'"

  Oppose dividing international jointly administered neutral zones! Oppose surrendering imperialist diplomatic policies!

  Oppose the government! The masses unite to resist Japan! Down with Japanese imperialism!... Xu Ningyue's voice grew louder, his fists clenched higher. As he read on, he suddenly jumped onto a bench, waving his fist and almost shouting at the top of his lungs.

  "Alright, Xu Ning, don't shout anymore! Tell our fellow students to get a good rest and save their energy for the battle in Nanjing." As soon as Li Mengyu finished speaking, a loud chant suddenly erupted from outside the train car: "Down with Japanese imperialism! Long live the liberation of the Chinese nation!"

  The voice was 'fierce' and indignant, and in this cold deep night, in this dark carriage without windows like a prison cell, it burst out even more desolate and sorrowful, moving people's hearts.

  Before dawn, the three young people in the small car also huddled together and dozed off. The three new leaders of the student union had not slept for three days and nights due to their intense struggle against the reactionary student association and the school authorities.

  At this time, fatigue had conquered them, and two of them had just fallen asleep. Li Mengyu, who was still awake, suddenly woke them up: "Hey, I thought of something. When we arrive in Nanjing, let's notify the Garrison Command to give our *** a 'protection' okay?"

  "What?" Luo Dafang said in surprise, "Protection? We go to the government for help, but ask the government to 'protect', what does this mean?"

  Li Mengyu's attitude was calm and peaceful. At this moment, he smiled slightly and said slowly: "There are literary and military, soft and hard, this is strategy."

  "Good, this is also a move!" Lu Jia-chuan picked up a small paper flag from the small shop and waved it, as if driving away the unbearable drowsiness. "Old Li's words gave me inspiration. Dialectics, after all, everything has its pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages."

  Lu Dafang opened his round big eyes and stared at the two comrades. His eyes seemed to say: "What's wrong with you two old guys?"

  Lu Dafang went to sleep elsewhere, Lu Jiaxiang leaned on the small bed and fell asleep again. Only Li Mengyu sat against the small table on a small stool. Many things were churning in his heart, he couldn't sleep. After a while, he got up, turned his head and saw that Lu Jiaxiang was shrinking his body in his sleep, cold and groaning. He took off his own cotton-padded jacket and gently covered it over him, then went outside the small compartment.

  He stepped over his classmates who were lying on the floor of the train car and walked to the closed doors. Because he was dizzy, although his body was cold, but his mind wanted to use the cool breeze to blow it away. He leaned against the door, through the wide gap between the doors, he saw a vast expanse of grayish-white wilderness. The sky was about to brighten up, and the edge of the sky showed a fish-belly white color. In that ever-changing landscape, there were still a few stars twinkling at the edge of the sky. In the distance, there was also a faint outline of mountains looming in the gray sky. "Are we almost arriving in Jinan?" He took a deep breath of the cold air coming from the gap and yawned again. When he seemed to hear the distant crowing of roosters and barking of dogs at dawn, his heart suddenly became excited, as if these scenes were going to disappear forever with the running train. He greedily gazed at the bright little river that jumped into view and the few small trees that whizzed by. At this moment, the tall and calm young man's eyes were suddenly filled with tears of excitement...

  December 1st, they set out from Beiping and arrived in Nanjing on December 3rd. The prosperous and peaceful city of Nanjing was suddenly filled with armed guards and sentry posts as if the enemy had appeared at the city gate. The Central University gymnasium where they were staying was surrounded by people from the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee and swarms of reporters who came to "inquire about news". On the morning of the 4th, the Garrison Command of the capital seized all several thousand copies of the "Letter to the People" printed by them and also arrested the owner of the printing house. On the morning of the 5th, a "letter of condolence" was sent to Li Mengyu's hands.

  A dozen or so representatives of the League quickly gathered around Li Mengyu to listen to him say: ... The so-called "Northern University Southern Expedition" League, since arriving in Beijing, has been boasting and refusing advice, taking strange actions and speaking absurd words. Yesterday, they even printed flyers, slandering the government for "bullying and selling out the Chinese nation". Finally, there were obvious counter-revolutionary propaganda and arrogant language of "ordering the government", which was exactly the same as the *** Party's rhetoric...

  "Alright, don't read on!" Lu Jia-chuan gently took the official letter from Li Meng-yu's hand and said, "The rest is just that we are a group of rioters who want to plot something evil; they will punish us for the country and the people. The situation is very urgent, let's discuss what to do quickly!"

  The representatives immediately held an emergency meeting. The meeting decided that no matter how the Garrison Command threatened, *** Corps still decided to set off at 11 am on the 5th with the whole team*. At the same time, Deputy Commander Lu Jiachuan was sent to the Garrison Command to find Commander Gu Zhenglun for explanation and ask them to provide protection.

  Lu Jia-chuan listened to this decision, and for a long time he did not speak. His eyes suddenly became somewhat melancholy. With his classmates, with Li Meng-yu, he was fearless, that thunderous slogan resounding through the skies of Nanjing had been so powerful in urging him on. But now, he could no longer be with everyone else, and instead had to go alone to see Gu Zheng-lun!

  "What's on your mind, Old Lu?" The representatives all quickly dispersed to tidy up their troops, leaving only Li Mengyu and Lu Jia-chuan in a small room that served as the team office.

  Lao Lu suddenly smiled slightly, stood up, and grasped Li Mengyu's hand: "Old Li, your idea is correct. I'll leave now. But the heavy responsibility of *** troops will be entirely on your shoulders."

  "No, wait a minute!" Li Mengyu thought for a moment and said, "You're going alone is too lonely, what if something happens and there's no one to send a message. Call Xun Ning to go with you, this guy is still clever."

  "Alright, I wish you success!" Lu Jia-chuan seemed to be leaving for a distant place, and also seemed like he couldn't come back again, tightly grasping Li Meng-yu's hand once more.

  Then he and Xu Ning wore the *** Brigade armband together and arrived at the Nanjing Garrison Command. They held the *** Brigade's reply letter, wanting to see Commander Gu.

  After waiting for a long time in the living room, Commander Gu did not come out. Finally, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie with a white face came to meet them. He smiled, lit a cigarette, and gestured for Lu Jiachuan and Xu Ning to sit down before sitting on the sofa himself. He looked at the two students carefully and asked slowly: "What brings you two here today?"

  "You're probably not Commander Gu. We want to see the commander." Lu Jia-chuan said slowly, word by word. He seemed more calm and refined than the gentleman who had just entered.

  The person who came in frowned, knowing that this opponent was not a simple guy. After taking two puffs of smoke, he nodded and said: "I am the chief of staff of General Gu, fully representing the general. Please speak your mind."

  "We, the Northern Expedition Army, will depart at 11 o'clock this morning. We will pass through Chengxian Street, Zhongshan Road, 'Hua' Building, turn to Fuzi Temple, Zhonghua Road, Zhongzheng Street, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central Party Department and other places. Please dispatch more troops and police for protection." Lu Jiachuan stared at the chief of staff with piercing eyes and said this in one breath.

  The Chief of Staff's smile suddenly disappeared, he forcefully threw away the cigarette butt and sternly said: "May I ask, many schools have come to Beijing to petition, but why does your school call itself ***? Why ***? To whom ***?"

  "The time for petitioning is over!" Lu Jia-chuan smiled slightly and fired the opening shot, "Millions of people have petitioned for three months, but you are still a 'non-resistant'! That's why we've come. To whom should we appeal? To the Japanese imperialism that has invaded the Chinese nation! To the running dogs of Japanese imperialism who have sold out the interests of the Chinese nation!"

  "So how will your 'power' be demonstrated?"

  "We've already made it clear!" Lu Jia-chuan said sternly, "The official letter you sent us says we're plotting something and that you want to take disciplinary action against us. We came specifically to declare to Commander Gu: our purpose is purely patriotic, with no intention of taking any improper actions. Please don't obstruct us."

  "Not so!" The chief of staff smiled again, "You say you are patriotic, but your slogans on the flyers are very reactionary. We must stop you to maintain the capital's security."

  Xu Ning suddenly swung his fist and said angrily: "Your stop is useless! If you must use force, the students will never give in! If something unfortunate happens, I'm afraid the government will also have no excuse."

  Lu Jia-chuan gave Xu Ning a look of approval and the chief of staff remained silent, furiously puffing on his cigarette.

  Lu Jiachuan glanced at his watch, it was almost eleven o'clock. He stood up and said: "Our troops are about to set out now. Please report to your commander immediately and ask him to order the military police not to block..."

  Before he could finish speaking, a cavalryman came in and handed Lu Jiachuan a note saying: "Please write down your names."

  Lu Jiachuan wrote down two names without hesitation.

  "Alright, I'll go and tell the commander for you." The chief of staff walked in as soon as they had signed their names.

  In the dimly lit large room, only Lu Jia-chuan and Xu Ning were left. They looked at each other, both smiling and sighing.

  "We're leaving!" Xun Ning gripped Lu Jia Chuan's hand tightly, his beautiful big eyes burning with fire.

  "We're off!" Lu Jia-chuan nodded. Suddenly, a surge of hot tears made him turn his face away. But soon he grasped Xu Ning's hand and smiled again.

  Half an hour later, the chief of staff returned. This time he was not as gentle as before, and as soon as he entered the "door", he said fiercely: "Nonsense! Just received a report that your troops have set off! Of course, we had to send troops to take care of them. You two just settle down here!"

  The chief of staff turned around and walked out again.

  Lu Jia-chuan and Xu Ning were both silent. Before their eyes suddenly appeared a vast, surging crowd of people, shouting, wrestling, bleeding...

  "Go! Let's find the big squad!" Lu Jia-chuan pulled Xu Ning and walked towards the 'gate'. But just as they reached the edge of the 'gate', a black fatty blocked their way: "Going out? Too late. Go inside! We'll treat you well."

  "Why arrest us?" Lu Jia-chuan and Hsu Ning asked in unison.

  "It's chaotic outside, isn't it great to rest in here!" Hei Pangzi smiled and left.

  Immediately, five or six fully armed soldiers came up and took them away.

  They walked into the passageway of the nearby garrison command's guardhouse, where seven or eight soldiers carrying rifles came up and searched them from head to toe. In the end, even Xun Ning's beautiful tie was taken away.

  Lu Jia-chuan smiled at Hsu Ning and said: "Look, this is quite an honor!"

  Xu Ning didn't calm down at this time. His face flushed red as he whispered to Lao Lu, "What do they want to do with us?..."

  Lao Lu shook his head and gently patted Xu Ning's shoulder.

  "What are you sneaking around for? Get moving!" A soldier brutally poked Lu Jia-chuan with his rifle and locked them up in a small cell, each door of which had a square hole.

  It was indeed "preferential treatment". There were originally only two people in the cell, and with Lu Jia-chuan and Xu Ning, there were only four people in total. The air wasn't too foul, and there were wooden boards to sleep on and a window with iron bars.

  The two of them had just seen Old Lu and were coming in, when before the soldiers who were escorting them could even leave, they suddenly ran to the 'door' and asked, as if welcoming them: "Which school are you from?"

  The two were originally classmates at Nanjing Central University. After the September 18th Incident, they were imprisoned in the Garrison Command's prison for over two months due to their involvement in the patriotic movement.

  As if old friends had met, the four young people immediately started chatting. The somewhat despondent Xu Ning's eyebrows danced with joy once again.

  "We are the Southern Expedition Team of Peking University," said Xu Ning with a boastful tone, "We boarded the train after getting off the tracks and headed to Nanjing to fight against the reactionary government. Now, in Nanjing City, our fierce battle with the reactionary rulers is probably unfolding."

  "Ah!" The two young men looked very excited and said in unison, "What's the situation outside now?"

  Lu Jia-chuan sat on the wooden "bed" and told two classmates from Central University about his experiences traveling north to south, and what happened after arriving in Nanjing. One of the classmates listened intently and immediately grasped Lu's hand, saying: "I'm Yang Xu. He's Wu Hongtao. Now we should report the situation here to you, but not yet, let's talk later. It's already one o'clock, you two must be hungry, I'll go order some food for you."

  Yang Xu was very familiar with the prison, and after a while, an inmate brought them food. Lu Jia-chuan and Xu Ning were eating when something suddenly flew in from the small hole on the "door". Alertly, Lu Jia-chuan quickly turned around, as if it was a guard with a bayonet who flashed by. Yang Xu picked up a small paper ball, opened it to take a look, and then called out to Lu Jia-chuan, Xu Ning, and Wu Hong-tao to come together to take a look:

  A student from Peking University was just taken away by *** on Chengxian Street. Probably being escorted to Xiaolingwei.

  Lu Jia-chuan remained silent; Xu Ning clenched his fist and struck the bed board with force, then suddenly buried his face in the bedding and wept. Yang Xiu and Wu Hong-tao stared blankly at the two of them, not uttering a sound for a long time.

  "Is this news reliable?" After a while, Lu Jiachuan asked Yang Xu in a low voice.

  Yang Xu looked out at the 'door' and nodded. Lu Jia Chuan's face suddenly turned a bit pale.

  The whole afternoon, Xu Ning fell asleep on the bed; Lu Jia-chuan sat silently against the wall on the bed board, thinking about the fate and trend of the entire *** team. How many classmates were arrested? Were there any casualties? What was the situation with Li Meng-yu, Luo Da-fang, and other responsible classmates? Would this painstaking southern *** movement end here because of the obstruction and destruction of the reactionary government? …… "No, it won't!" He shook his head with his eyes closed. "The Chinese people have been tolerant for a long time! Especially young people, where one falls, another will rise — rise up……" He was so focused on thinking about the *** team's problems that he forgot he was still in prison, until a strange noise suddenly appeared in the dimly lit cell, startling him out of his contemplation.

  "Old Yang, listen! Someone outside is shouting slogans." Suddenly, someone in the neighboring cell spoke softly while tapping on the wall.

  The four people in this room suddenly stood up and perked up their ears.

  “…………”

  “…………”

  Can't hear clearly! It's as if a strong gust of wind is blowing over from a distant place, making a low humming and whooshing sound.

  "Is it the army dispersing after drill?" Yang Xu asked doubtfully.

  "Perhaps our Beida classmates gather here?" Xun Ning suddenly became spirited, his expression both shocked and delighted.

  "Old Yang! Listen!" Someone from next door was knocking on the wall again.

  "Overthrow..."

  "Oppose..."

  From far away, the slogans really came over.

  The entire prison fell silent instantly. Lu Jia Chuan only felt a heartbeat.

  Here! Maybe it's really a classmate from Peking University *** who came?......

  The four of them stuck their heads together, squeezing them tightly against the iron window. The dusk sky was dull and gloomy, but in that instant, it seemed to become exceptionally bright and beautiful.

  "Oppose the betrayal of the Three Eastern Provinces!"

  "Down with executioner Tanaka Masatoshi!……"

  "Release the arrested Peking University students!"

  The sound was completely audible! Like a mountain flood, like a torn curtain, majestic and tragic, it passed through the layers of iron walls of the prison and reached the ears of the four young people.

  "There must be a senior among us!" exclaimed Wu Hongtao, a young and slender man, with a delighted glance at Xu Ning.

  "Of course we have our own Beida!" Xun Ning's triumphant expression was no less than Wu Hongtao.

  "The bell of the ruler has tolled!" Lu Jia-chuan and Yang Xu were the two more mature and older among the four. They looked at each other, unsure who had spoken these words. But had the students really arrived? Their eyes still held a skeptical gaze.

  The shouting crowd seemed to have arrived at the big 'gate' of the Garrison Command. The angry shouts, cries and din continued to be heard in the prison.

  The prison also suddenly became 'mixed' and 'chaotic'. Yang Xu pulled La La Xun Ning, saying: "Look! The stupid things have removed all the signs from the guard room!"

  The four of them looked out of the window at the same time: indeed, in the prison's corridors, officers and soldiers began to hurry back and forth in a state of commotion.

  A soldier carrying a large wooden placard for the guardhouse hastily walked past their window.

  "Hurry up like a dog in mourning." Lu Jia-chuan had just finished speaking when suddenly, a shocking shout made the four people stunned.

  "Charge! Charge in!"

  "Hurrah! Hurrah!"

  "Charge! Rescue our fellow students from Peking University!"

  As if hearing the call of a loved one in a distant foreign land, Lu Jia-chuan and Xu Ning immediately moistened their eyes upon hearing the words "Rescue Peking University students". They held back their heartbeat, pressed their faces tightly against the iron fence to listen: The cries of "Down with Japanese imperialism! ... Down with *** government! ... Rescue Peking University students..." grew louder. The sound of crashing at the gate, mixed with the cries, also grew louder. Suddenly, a loud crash, the cries were drowned out, and the crowd had actually broken into the first major gate of the Garrison Command.

  The lights suddenly went out. The entire headquarters and its prison fell into darkness and terror.

  At this time, the shouting temporarily subsided. However, the sound of soldiers' rifle bolts, the running back and forth of heavy boots, and the heavy sandbags being transported, continued to tense up continuously inside the prison. The prison was filled with a murderous atmosphere, suddenly filled with the smell of gunpowder.

  Four young men looked at each other, all wiping sweat from their foreheads with dirty hands.

  After a while, there were shouts outside again: "These conditions must be answered immediately!"

  "Hah! Why haven't my Peking University classmates come out yet? Not coming out yet?"

  "Ah! No way! Get in! Get in again!......"

  A loud crash at the big 'gate' mixed with slogans was clearly heard inside the prison. Then, the sound of setting up machine guns on the roof and moving them also came into the cell clearly.

  Students and rulers were fighting at close range.

  "The situation is tense! The reactionary guys are likely to use force!" Yang Xu whispered in the dark, pulling on Lu Jiaxiang's sleeve.

  "Ah?......" Xun Ning let out a cry of surprise.

  "The situation is serious." Lu Jiachuan said, leaving the window and pacing around the cell. He was trying his best to suppress his excitement and calmly analyze the tense situation at hand. It seemed that if the crowd continued to attack from inside, a tragedy similar to the "March 18" incident could occur in an instant. What should he do? He thought of the Peking University students who were led by him and must have been among the troops attacking the garrison headquarters. Should these young students be allowed to shed their blood and sacrifice themselves at this time? Or... His heart was in turmoil. How could he resolve this tense, complex, and difficult problem? He fell into deep thought.

  The crowd outside shouted louder and more angrily, sweeping over the prison: "Charge! Charge hard! Rescue Peking University students!"

  "Our rulers, you have guns and bullets, we have hot blood!"

  "Hurrah! Hurrah!......"

  Like a galloping horse, the roar of the crowd surged forward with another loud crash of the "gate", and the tide of people rushed into the second "gate". A chaotic mixture of shouts grew clearer and closer to the dark prison cell.

  "Look!" Xun Ning hastily pulled Lu Jia-chuan to the window and looked out: only to see that in the room of the guards opposite the prison, under the flickering light of the electric torch, many soldiers were quickly loading bullets, pulling up the gun bolts, and putting on bayonets. Then they aimed all these weapons at the prison with a fierce killing intent.

  The four of them pressed their heads against the iron bars on the window, staring out motionlessly.

  Suddenly, a low voice seemed to come from afar and reached their ears: "There is an order: students must open the third 'door' and fire immediately."

  Lu Jia Chuan quickly looked around: a guard with a shiny bayonet flashed by and disappeared. Old Lu immediately asked Yang Xu: "Who is this person?"

  "Is a patriotic soldier..." Yang Xu's broad round face looked exceptionally pale under the flashlight.

  "There are several machine guns on the roof aimed at the third gate." The wall was knocked again, and someone whispered from the other side.

  "So," Xun Ning said, pulling Lu Jia-chuan's arm hard, "the reactionaries may fire at the prison first?"

  "No!" Lu Jia-chuan shook off Xu Ning's hand and pulled Yang Xu to one side. He thought for a moment before saying, "Old Yang, the situation requires us to make a quick decision! Can you think of a way to send a message to the students outside? We've already dealt a significant blow to the reactionary rulers. To avoid further bloodshed and sacrifice, we suggest they temporarily withdraw their troops, how about it?"

  Yang Xu thought for a moment and said: "Isn't this a compromise - a dragon's head but a snake's tail? We need to think more about it!"

  "No!" Lu Jia-chuan's attitude was very firm. "Our struggle must also be beneficial and reasonable. You give it to Tsinghua, I'll give it to Peking University, we each write a note and send it outside. Can't that patriotic guard help us with this?"

  Wu Hongtao and Xu Ning, who were leaning against the window, also gathered around them. The four of them stood up and held a brief emergency meeting. In the end, they adopted Lu Jia-chuan's proposal - to write letters to their classmates outside the "two gates", suggesting that they temporarily retreat to avoid excessive bloodshed and sacrifice.

  Yang Xu pulled out a pencil stub and a piece of paper from the corner of the wall and handed it to Lu Jia-chuan.

  To avoid leaking out the light, Wu Hongtao and Xu Ning used a quilt to prop up a small nest, Yang Xu drew a match, and Lu Jiachuan hastily crouched in the nest and wrote a few words. Finished, Lu Jiachuan drew a match, and Yang Xu wrote again. When they finished writing, Yang Xu leaned against the iron window and coughed softly three times, and then a hand quickly took away the two small pieces of paper.

  At this time, outside the third iron gate of the Garrison Command, the roar of the crowd grew even higher: "White rulers! Fire your guns! You have bullets, we have hot blood..." In the dark night, the voices of thousands of young people had just stopped for a moment, and then rose again with sorrow. The sound of footsteps and shouts, trampling on the ground, was like thunder, getting louder and louder. The crowd used their bodies to blast the third gate of the Garrison Command, the gate creaked in response, and it seemed that it would be smashed again.

  The moment of decisive action has arrived! The enemy's machine gun on the roof is staring at the large group of students outside the iron gate.

  Lu Jia-chuan and three others stood tightly embracing each other, their shoulders leaning against the iron window.

  We don't believe the world will be forever dark, the night will pass and dawn will break in an instant...

  Lu Jiachuan sang softly. He didn't believe that the warrant would take effect, and his own heart was preparing for the final moment. As he sang, a few people also joined in quietly:

  The dark night will soon be over, and dawn will break in an instant...

  However, after more than a dozen minutes, a voice awakened them from their dreamlike state.

  "CUHK students gather here!"

  "Peking University students gather here!"

  In the midst of chaotic shouting, a gathering call sounded simultaneously.

  The prison lights suddenly lit up.

  "What a close call!" Xun Ning wiped the sweat from his forehead and jumped up with a shout.

  Yang Xu turned around and tightly grasped Lu Jia Chuan's hand, gripping it so hard that it hurt.

  "If we have to live here for the rest of our lives, wouldn't that be happiness too?"... Lu Jia Chuan smiled with tears in his eyes.