Chapter 2 May's Fresh Flowers (Part 3)

  From the moment he laid eyes on Peng Xuewen, Fang Guoqiang had a bad impression of him. At this moment, hearing that he actually dared to ask the members of the Blood Flower Society to follow him to Nanjing, he was immediately furious, his questioning voice like thunder. Not only did it scare the students from Beiping at the next table, but also the guests drinking in the nearby elegant room, who were surprised and looked out from behind the door, frowning and observing who was going crazy outside?

  "Go to Nanjing, petition the Central Government. Ask the Central Government to take out its strength and directly dispatch troops northward to resist Japan. Do not have any more illusions about peace, and do not have any illusions about Song Zheyuan this warlord!" Peng Xuewen also stood up in anger, staring at Fang Guoqiang's eyes without fear, word by word.

  "The blood of the 29th Army's soldiers has not yet dried on the top of the Great Wall, and you are already slandering them. What is your intention?!" Hearing that the other side had even slandered Song Zheyuan in order to achieve their goal, Fang Guoqiang could no longer tolerate it. He directly stretched out his arm to grab Peng Xuewen's collar.

  Peng Xuewen's slender figure moved extremely quickly. He took a half step back and dodged Fang Guoqiang's attack, then turned around and hooked his arm, pinching Fang Guoqiang's wrist tightly. "The bloody battle merits of the 29th Army cannot be denied by anyone. However, the blood of the 29th Army only dyed the purple robe of Song Zheyuan red! Now, he Song Zheyuan is only thinking about how to keep his territory, how to take advantage of the situation, and doesn't care about the rise or fall of the entire country! Don't believe me? Go ask around in Beiping. The Japanese devils have been sharpening their knives since last spring. He Song Zheyuan not only suppressed the 29th Army and the student army from counterattacking but also sent his trusted advisor Pan Yuanguang to secretly collude with the Japanese devils. In 1933 and 1934, the central government allocated funds to the 29th Army for building national defense fortifications, but until now, there is nothing around Beiping. All the allocated funds went into Song Zheyuan's private pockets, turning into cars, villas, and mistresses. Moreover, last March, when that little devil Tōjō Hideki casually mentioned that 'the students in Beiping seem to have a deep misunderstanding of the Great Japanese Empire', he ordered the suspension of all military training in schools. If it weren't for Zhang Zizhong and others strongly advising against it, he would have even directly cancelled the student army..."

  As a student leader of Beiping High School, Peng Xuewen was extremely disappointed with the actions of Hebei Province Chairman Song Zheyuan. Therefore, he listed them one by one, righteous and stern, without feeling any inaccuracy at all. However, Zhou Ju, Tian Qingyu, Lu Ming and others had never been to Beiping before, and their impression of the 29th Army and General Song Zheyuan came entirely from newspapers and radio broadcasts. At this moment, they suddenly discovered that the patriotic organization they had always admired actually had such an unsightly side, and were shocked into a state of panic! It felt like a basin of cold water was poured over their heads, chilling them to the bone, almost stopping their heartbeats.

  The students who were eating at the two tables stopped their chopsticks and looked up at Peng Xuewen with shocked faces. Especially those from the Blood Flower Society, whose ideals had almost been shattered in an instant, each with tears in their eyes. Only Fang Guoqiang, even if he couldn't find a reason to refute Peng Xuewen, refused to give up easily, gritted his teeth and muttered: "So what? Even if everything you said is true, what does it prove? After all, nationwide, only the 29th Army is holding back the Japanese invaders. After all, the Japanese tanks still haven't been able to enter Beiping!"

  "That's because Song Zheyuan was colluding with the Japanese invaders, plotting for North China autonomy! Otherwise, the National Government wouldn't have been unable to send a single soldier!"

  "How can you prove that General Song Zheyuan is not just pretending to fight the Japanese? How can you prove that the Central Government, which you keep talking about, will really have the courage to engage in a decisive battle with the Japanese and not take advantage of the opportunity to eliminate dissent?"

  "With these eyes, I have been watching in Beiping, watching how Song Certain Person has been using the patriotic enthusiasm of soldiers and students to make his emperor dreams! Peng Xuewen dropped Fang Guoqiang's wrist and pointed back at his own eyes. During the December 9th Movement, I saw with these eyes how Song Certain Person used high-pressure water guns! In the early days of training for the Student Army Corps, I also saw with these eyes how he put loyalty to him above national interests! Is it just a temporary deception, or is it three or four years of deception? Moreover, he has even invited Tōyama Kanken as his highest advisor, isn't that preparing to be an emperor?"

  "That splash of red on the Great Wall wasn't painted on!" Fang Guoqiang's determination to his inner conviction was far beyond what others in the Blood Flower Society could match. He reached out again and grabbed Peng Xuewen's collar, shouting loudly, "As long as the 29th Army brothers are still holding off the Japanese devils, Song Zheyuan will never be able to dominate all of North China! Take a step back, even if the 29th Army brothers give up their resistance, we must still march to Beiping and use our own blood and lives to tell everyone that this great China is not entirely made up of cowards!"

  "You're using someone else's life as a sacrifice!" Peng Xuewen forcefully pried open Fang Guoqiang's hand, loudly and coldly laughing.

  "When the time comes, I will definitely stand in the front row!" Fang Guoqiang gritted his teeth, a trickle of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. "Those who have been deceiving others to bleed and sacrifice for the country all day long, but find excuses to run away at critical moments, are the real cowards! Such people do not deserve to criticize Mr. Song Zheyuan, nor do they deserve to criticize the 29th Army officers!"

  "You're incredibly foolish!"

  "You're making excuses for your cowardice!"

  The two of them couldn't see eye to eye and before long, they had turned to personal attacks. Just as it seemed like things were about to escalate into a full-blown fight, Zhou Ju, who had just regained his composure from the shock, hastily reached out to pull them apart. "Dafang, what are you doing? Sit down and talk this through calmly! Xiucai, sit down too! Your decision to go to Nanjing is your own choice. But we can't turn our backs on each other just because of a few heated words. We'll personally go to Beiping to see for ourselves the determination of the people of Qilu to support the war effort and let the soldiers of the 29th Army know about it. If Mr. Song Zheyuan is indeed as despicable as you say, rather than just being misunderstood, then at the very least we should stand together with the student army, advancing and retreating together."

  "Alright, in that case, we'll just head to Yan'an!" Fang Guoqiang loosened his grip on Peng Xuewen's collar, the angry words bursting out of his mouth.

  This sentence, more than all the previous refutations, still works. Peng Xuewen was stunned for a moment, and his crimson face instantly turned dark blue. Slowly releasing Fang Guoqiang's wrist, he slowly retreated backwards, retreating while asking in an extremely low voice: "The Japanese devils are just outside the North Ping City, what are you going to Yan'an for?"

  Note 1: General Song Zheyuan's troops indeed fought a bloody battle with the Japanese invaders at the Great Wall. However, General Song Zheyuan's vision was also limited by the local forces of the time. He always fantasized about gaining survival space between the Japanese army and the Nationalist Party Central Committee, but as a result, he was seen by the Japanese as an opportunity to invade North China.

  Note 2: Pan Yu-Gui, Song Zheyuan's confidant. He had represented Song in negotiations with the Japanese military on multiple occasions. During the July 7th Incident of 1937, he repeatedly betrayed the 29th Army's battle plans to the Japanese military, resulting in the loss of Nan Yuan and the brutal deaths of over a thousand university students at the hands of the Japanese bayonets.

  Note 3: Regarding the disputes in the book, they were all words of righteous indignation from people at that time. There must be some bias. However, they are still young, and they will gradually grow up and change their minds.