Chapter Twenty-Three: Dawn

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  Until China unilaterally withdrew its troops, the Sino-Vietnamese War was basically over, leaving only border conflict issues. The International Red Cross and the United Nations showed their ability and confidence in mediating local conflicts at this time.

  Yesterday, they completed the registration and identification of prisoners of war at Gaoping B Prisoner-of-War Camp. Early this morning, Minnick Bohm brought his working group members to C Prisoner-of-War Camp in Lianshan. In addition to registering and identifying the identities of prisoners of war, they also have an important task, which is to supervise whether there are any violations of international law by the warring parties, such as mistreatment of prisoners of war.

  Maj. Meir Baumel was not satisfied with the conditions of two POW camps he visited. Chinese prisoners in Vietnam were clearly not receiving proper treatment, and their food and sanitation were very poor, basically unsatisfactory. However, after seeing the food and sanitation conditions guarded by the Vietnamese side, he didn't say anything more. After all, Vietnam is a country with limited conditions, although it has won grain production, but years of war have made Vietnam a country extremely lacking in food. Now, the prisoners of war in the POW camp can eat two meals a day, which is already considered very good. However, when Maj. Meir Baumel saw the medical and health conditions of the POW camp, he was not satisfied. Unless it was a serious injury, the prisoners of war could not receive effective treatment with antibiotics, and many sick prisoners could only rely on herbal medicine and their own resistance to fight against the disease.

  "I want to know why the Red Cross medicine specifically for POWs wasn't used on the POWs? Why doesn't the POW camp have a full-time medical staff?" Minnick Pomerleau asked the person in charge of the POW camp.

  "Mr. Minnick, Bomer, you should speak with basis, how do you know we don't give medicine to the prisoners of war? You should know that both us and China are very particular about the use of herbal medicine, this is arranged according to the medical instructions of our prisoner-of-war camp's medical staff. These Chinese prisoners of war can adapt better to herbal medicine." The person in charge of the prisoner-of-war camp gave Minnick Bomer a nail. Of course, he couldn't say that due to the large number of wounded, a large amount of medicine provided by international aid had been diverted. Years of war had pushed Vietnam's underdeveloped pharmaceutical industry to the brink of collapse.

  Minik Bomer was suddenly topped by the Vietnamese person in charge, and he was stunned for a moment. It wasn't until then that he remembered that both China and Vietnam had a discipline of treating diseases with herbal medicine called traditional Chinese medicine.

  "Mr. Bomer, I assure you that we treat the prisoners of war humanely. In this anti-invasion war, we have captured nearly 300 Chinese prisoners of war. Except for more than 40 who escaped, not a single one has died." The Vietnamese person in charge had to show some attitude, otherwise it wouldn't be so easy to get aid materials next time.

  Melnick Bormeier didn't say a word, but that doesn't mean he wasn't clear. He had heard more than once about Vietnamese soldiers shooting wounded prisoners of war and abusing them just because they couldn't work or simply for entertainment. But after all, this was a war between two countries, and many things can't be said.

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  Just as the ICRC and the Red Cross were about to leave, the POW camp received a report from local people that they had discovered an armed man disguised as a Vietnamese officer, who was now under surveillance. The POW camp was asked to send personnel to assist in the capture.

  As soon as Minnick Bomer heard the news, he decided not to leave for the time being. If what the Vietnamese peasants said was true, then this Chinese man would be in great danger. According to international regulations, if he wore the uniform of an enemy country and was captured, he could not enjoy prisoner-of-war treatment. These were all unknown to Bao Yulin.

  It was not until much later that Bao Yulin learned that, thanks to Wu Hongying's transfer to the Lang Son prisoner-of-war camp and also thanks to this Mihail Pavlovich confirming his identity as a prisoner of war on the spot, otherwise he would have been very likely to be tried for espionage. In that case, what awaited him would not have been an exchange of prisoners of war. During the war, it was very likely that he would have been sentenced to attempting to overthrow Vietnam, in which case all that awaited him would have been bullets.

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  When Wu Honglian took Bao Yulin back to the prisoner-of-war camp, the person in charge of the prisoner-of-war camp was accompanying Minnick. Baumel and others in the interrogation room. Of course, for the Vietnamese side, this is an opportunity to show UN officials about Vietnam's good treatment of prisoners of war and humanitarianism.

  "What did you find on this man?" asked Wu Hongyuan, after he had handcuffed Bao Yulian to the bars of the interrogation room in front of Minik Bomeyer.

  "There's nothing, actually I know this person, his name is Bao Yulin, he was one of the escaped prisoners from the original Hanoi prisoner-of-war camp."

  As soon as he heard this, the person in charge of the POW camp became excited. Two days ago, it was learned from this aspect that a group of prisoners of war from Yuanhe Internment Camp had all escaped back to their home country. Now that one has been caught, it means that the Chinese side is boasting, and maybe there are others who haven't run out of Vietnam yet. If they can catch a few more, it will be very beneficial for propaganda purposes.

  "Has he confessed whether it's just him or are there others? Where are those people hiding?" the POW camp director asked excitedly.

  Wu Honglian never thought that the person she caught was actually Bao Yulian. All along the way, she was so excited and kept thinking about how Bao Yulian had wronged her, worrying about how to prevent her from revealing what happened between her and Ruan Yuanjia, that she completely forgot that Bao Yulian wasn't supposed to be escaping with the other prisoners of war. By this time, she didn't know how to explain herself anymore.

  "There are over 40 of you who escaped from the POW camp together, and where are the others? I'm warning you, it's better to tell the truth, so our troops can find them first. You should know that now in Vietnam, it's like a copper wall and iron fortress, your comrades won't be able to escape! If they're found by our civilians first, I can assure you, they'll regret escaping from the POW camp!" The head of the POW camp warned Bao Yulin, also saying this for Minik. Pomeroy to hear. The United Nations is investigating the collective disappearance of Hanoi's POWs. They do not entirely believe China's report, thinking it is propaganda by China to save face.

  Minik B?mel's reflection is a word-for-word translation of the conversation on both sides, and it's clear that he listened very carefully.

  "Heh." Bao Yulin self-deprecatingly chuckled: "As for this, Wu Hongying should be the clearest. I escaped from the POW camp before my fellow comrades, they collectively took action later, so I don't know their whereabouts."

  "What?" Bao Yulin's answer shocked the person in charge of the Lianshan Prisoner of War Camp, who did not expect things to be like this. But how come he had never heard of such a thing? He couldn't help but glance at Wu Hongying, and from Wu Hongying's face, he saw an unnatural expression, which made him believe Bao Yulin's words. However, at this time, in front of Minik Pavel, he could not pursue Wu Hongying, but had to think of a way to cover up the matter, otherwise, it would be a big joke.

  "I'm asking you, have you agreed on a meeting point and contact method? You must believe me, I'm doing this for the good of your comrades. Only by finding them will they be safer." The person in charge of the prisoner-of-war camp could only continue to ask with a stiff upper lip.

  "Haha, you're really funny. Ask Wu Hongyuan, they play a tape of my voice every day in the POW camp, saying it's my 'anti-war declaration'. They even took it to the UN. Can my comrades trust me? In their eyes, I'm a traitor, a clown, a national criminal. How can they continue to contact me? At that time, they didn't kill me, that's all." Bao Yulin glared at Wu Hongyuan, thinking of the grievances he had suffered during this period, thinking of the massacre in the field hospital, and now he was starting to regret not killing Wu Hongyuan back then.

  Melnikov listened very carefully, and when he heard this, he interjected: "Excuse me, I'd like to confirm that the Bao Yulin you're referring to is indeed the prisoner of war who issued the 'anti-war declaration'? If so, I think his status as a prisoner of war has already been confirmed. I will re-list his name on the list of prisoners of war and submit it to the Chinese government after comparing photos." Melnikov knew that now was not the time to pursue Bao Yulin's wearing of the enemy's uniform, nor was there any need to expose the issue of the tape recording. This was a crucial prisoner of war, whose "anti-war declaration" had led many countries in the international community to impose sanctions on China. The key now was that his status as a prisoner of war must be immediately confirmed, so that he could be placed under the protection of international law. Besides, for a prisoner of war to wear the uniform of the enemy side in order to escape, this was not a big deal, and anyone could understand it.

  Of course, no one translated Mr. Bomer's words for Bao Yulian to hear, and he had no idea what the old foreigner was saying. However, he saw that after the translator finished speaking, a group of people were all staring at Wu Hongniang.

  Wu Hongying knew that things had reached this point, and there was no room for recovery. The photos and relevant information of Bao Yulin and others had already been reported, and she could only nod: "Yes, it's him."

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  Bao Yulin didn't understand, last time in the POW camp in Hanoi, it was just a matter of taking a photo and pressing a fingerprint, but this time it's so complicated. Not only did they take multiple photos from different angles and fingerprints, but also measured his height, weighed him, and even stripped off his clothes. The foreign old man seemed to want to use a magnifying glass to record every detail on his body. Many years later, he finally understood that Minnick Bomer was worried that the Vietnamese would not let him leave Vietnam alive, so he paid special attention. Of course, this made him the standard for evaluating whether Vietnam had abused Chinese prisoners of war.

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  Next, Bao Yulin was assigned to the prisoner-of-war camp again, but this time his days were much better. The other cooks were all on rotation, only he was fixed, every few days, Wu Hongying would take him out and give him a bowl of meat to eat. Because only he had gained weight.

  As for Wu Hongying, she was unlucky. The words spoken by Bao Yulian in front of Minik and Baumel made it impossible to hide the fact that several prisoners of war had escaped from Hanoi within a day. With the death of General Wu, Wu Hongying no longer had any backing, and she received direct demotion to soldier rank. If not for her good Chinese language skills and some remaining utility value, the Vietnamese army would have directly kicked her out. As part of the punishment, even Bao Yulian's occasional meat rations were deducted from Wu Hongying's quota.

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  In this way, the POWs of Bao Yulin continued to stay in the Lang Son POW camp with their unusual eyes and exclusion until May 20. On that evening after dinner, the Vietnamese side announced: In view of the mediation of the Red Cross and the United Nations, on the principle of humanitarianism and the agreement reached with China, the Vietnamese government decided that the next day would first release a batch of POWs who had a deeper understanding of the heinous crimes committed by China in its aggressive war against Vietnam. As for other POWs, they would also be handed over to the Chinese government after their ideological remolding was done.

  Today, Bao Yulin's mood was particularly excited. Because the first name on the list was indeed Bao Yulin!

  The day has finally come! Bao Yulin exclaimed in his heart.

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  That night, Wu Honglian called Bao Yulian again. She thought she should have a good talk with the man who might be her sister's murderer. After being together for so long, Wu Honglian really wanted to know how Bao Yulian had endured the humiliation and lived under the gaze of his comrades who were eager to eat him.

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