After the interview, the axle had not been repaired.
Harriet Abban pointed to the bare hillsides around him, raised his eyes and said: "Zhou, I finally knew what famine was when I arrived in Shandong. Famine means that people eat everything they can eat and eat nothing they can't."
Put it in your mouth. I once saw with my own eyes that a Shandong disaster victim ate mud cakes and eventually died of abdominal distension."
Zhou Hexuan couldn't help but smile bitterly. It was May now, when the plants were lush and lush. But the hillside in front of him was not green at all. Not to mention the grass and leaves, even the bark of many trees had been picked up and eaten by hungry people.
Compared with the current situation, the famine scenes in later movies and TV dramas are just like a joke. I have never seen any director pull out the grass and peel off the bark of the trees while filming.
Zhou Hexuan didn't want to talk about the famine because it was too heavy, so he asked instead: "Why did you come to China?"
"Of course it's for adventure," Haret Abban said with a smile. "I'm tired of sitting in an office in the United States, reporting the same news and repeating boring articles every day. China is not the same.
Likewise, magical things happen every day, and this is an adventurer’s paradise.”
Zhou Hexuan said unceremoniously: "I don't agree with your report on the 'Jinan Massacre'. It is too biased. The Chinese people will be very angry after reading it."
Harriet Abban was the first in the world to report on the Jinan tragedy, moving faster than Chinese reporters.
As an American reporter, he first went to Qingdao to interview spokespersons from the Japanese Consulate General, the Sixth Army Headquarters, and the Navy Headquarters. Those people told him that a battle broke out on May 3, and the telegraph lines in Qingdao were interrupted due to the war.
The train to Jinan has also been suspended. I don’t know the specific situation ahead.
Harriet Abban believed that the Japanese were lying and insisted on going to Jinan. The Japanese had no choice but to allow him to go in a troop carrier.
After arriving in Jinan, Abban interviewed the commander of the Japanese Sixth Division and his assistants, as well as the Japanese consul in Jinan, consuls and missionaries from Britain, the United States and other countries. He only did not interview Jinan citizens and soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, because Jinan
No Chinese could be found in the city, and those who survived either fled or were hiding.
Generally speaking, Haret Abban's report was relatively objective and fair, did not take sides, and described in detail the tragic situation after the massacre.
However, because the interviewees were relatively one-sided, he was greatly misled by the Japanese, and finally came to the conclusion: "From the detailed evidence, China should be blamed for the cause of the conflict."
Faced with Zhou Hexuan's accusation, Abban felt that he was right. He said: "Zhou, I admit that the Japanese are very cruel, but the conflict was really caused by the Chinese. When I was traveling from Qingdao to Jinan, I saw the Chinese ambush the Japanese with my own eyes.
The troop carrier was attacked again and again, so the Japanese army had to stop repeatedly. It passed five walled towns on the way, and there were burning and explosions everywhere. It was either destroyed by the retreating Beiyang soldiers, or it was shelled by the southern army. There were everywhere inside and outside the city.
They were all corpses. And according to the information collected during my interviews, the Chinese ** team took the lead in shooting at the Japanese on May 3rd. Coupled with the subsequent ambush along the way, the massacre on May 11th was actually the result of the Japanese troops being killed by the Chinese.
An act of revenge after someone has angered someone.”
Zhou Hexuan asked funnyly: "On what day did you take a troop carrier from Qingdao to Jinan?"
"I left Qingdao on the afternoon of May 9, and when I arrived in Jinan, the tragedy had just ended," Aban said.
"If my guess is correct, you were deceived by the Japanese," Zhou Hexuan said, "the troops who ambushed the personnel carrier you were riding in were disguised by the Japanese themselves, just to play victims in front of American reporters. They in April
By stationing troops along the railway line, we are fully capable of doing so."
Abban still refused to believe it. He said: "It's impossible. The two sides were exchanging fire with real guns and artillery. And I'm just a reporter. They wasted their march speed and guns and bullets just to act in front of me?"
"The Japanese can do this kind of thing," Zhou Hexuan asked with a smile, "Have you seen the Chinese *** team with your own eyes?"
Abban thought for a moment and said, "Because it's night, I can't see clearly."
"Let's take a step back," Zhou Hexuan said, "even if the Chinese army attacks the Japanese army, it is a normal behavior. Because the two sides are exchanging fire in Jinan, it is natural to send troops to intercept the other side's support troops. Don't you think so?"
Abban nodded and said: "That's right. In my news reports, I also pointed out the barbaric behavior of the Japanese army. They really should not harm civilians. I just want to say that the cause of the conflict was caused by the Chinese. The Northern Expeditionary Army took the lead in attacking Japan.
The foreigners opened fire, and the Japanese troops were forced to fight back, and fighting broke out. This situation had a precedent in Nanjing. The soldiers of the Northern Expedition were all revolutionaries. They were very easily agitated and would rob and kill foreigners when they saw them."
"Mr. Aban, I also run a newspaper. According to the information I got, the Japanese killed Northern Expedition soldiers for no reason as early as May 1. They were deliberately provoking trouble," Zhou Hexuan said sarcastically, "And the Northern Expedition
The leader of the army, Mr. Chang Kaishen, ordered his subordinates to endure the humiliation and not fight back, which is exactly the opposite of what you said."
Hallet Abban frowned and thought. If it were true as Zhou Hexuan said, what he saw was an illusion deliberately created by the Japanese army, and what he heard were lies fabricated by the Japanese side, then the joke would be too big. And as a
A reporter was fooled into reporting fake news, which made Abban extremely angry.
Zhou Hexuan pointed to the victims rushing in the distance and said: "Perhaps you can interview the refugees who escaped from Jinan City. Or, you should interview the Northern Expedition soldiers who experienced that incident personally and see what they said.
.”
"I will." Haret Abban said solemnly.
The axle of the car in front had been repaired. Zhou Hexuan got up and patted the dust on his butt. He went back to the carriage to get the manuscript of "The Chrysanthemum and the Knife" and handed it to Abban and said: "This is the book I am writing. You can read it.
It will be convenient for you to interview Japanese people in the future."
"Thank you," Haret Abban said with a smile as he took the manuscript, "but I'm not very good, so it might be a bit difficult to read."
"This book is very simple, you can definitely understand it," Zhou Hexuan said.
The two of them got back into their cars and continued towards Shanghe County.
Harriet Abban opened the manuscript and read it carefully. He was a little surprised by the content. It was actually a work analyzing and expounding the Japanese national character. However, the analysis in it was very reasonable and solved many of his doubts about the Japanese, such as why daily life
The Japanese, who communicate politely, can commit atrocities such as the massacre.
"This book "The Chrysanthemum and the Knife" should be read by those guys in the White House." Hallet Abban thought to himself. He knew that the United States has been competing with Japan in East Asia. 8