Chapter 79 Under the Chinese Sky (Part 2)

According to official records later.

In just two hours after the donation point was established, people in the concession donated 300,000 French francs, 200,000 silver dollars, more than 53,000 copper coins, 30,000 pieces of clothing, and more than 1,000 pieces of bread.

The French francs and silver dollars were mainly donated by Chinese tycoons in the concession. There were also some Western embassy officials and their families who sympathized with China, like reporter Edward, and some businessmen who had been doing business in China for many years.

Although they were not Chinese, they had lived on this land for several years and became friends with many local Chinese.

In the past few months, they had seen countless Chinese refugees starving to death on the streets, and they hated the suffering of civilians caused by the war.

But the copper coins and clothing that were small change mostly came from civilians living in the concession, and they were also the few possessions they could take out.

After all, this was not the first time to raise funds. The hundreds of thousands of refugees who poured into the concession had no living materials and could not find jobs. Relying on a few charitable organizations to distribute porridge relief was just a drop in the bucket.

More than a thousand pancakes are the least valuable of this round of donated materials, but they made Tan Tai Mingyue, who went to interview, burst into tears.

On the street with sunset clouds, she wrote in the war diary she carried with her:

"I experienced too many touching moments during this day.

I was moved by the tenacious fighting of the warehouse defenders. They fought back the enemy's attacks again and again under the fire of the Japanese pirates. They created a brilliant victory. They are the most heroic people of this era.

Their names may not be known to us, but I know that they are destined to become light, the light that can still illuminate our way forward in the darkness for the Chinese people.

I was also moved by the people on the south bank of Suzhou River. They risked being involved in the war and stood on the edge of hell for victory. They were cheering and fighting.

I was also moved by the two ladies who sang for our soldiers. It was their fearlessness in the face of the bullets that the Japanese invaders might shoot at any time that dispelled people's fear and anxiety.

The war was in full swing, the drums sounded like thunder, the dances were like flowers, and the songs soared into the sky. It was indeed the most beautiful picture Mingyue had ever seen in her life.

Mingyue volunteered to stay in Songhu alone, and she thought she was quite tough, but the above made Mingyue shed tears, but it was not them who made Mingyue cry uncontrollably.

At the donation point, I saw the rich people who came with money boxes to donate, and Mingyue bowed from a distance to thank the soldiers on behalf of our army; I saw the citizens carrying large and small bags of clothes, and I also thanked them; There were also children who took out their pocket money that they had saved for who knows how long... Please forgive me for not being able to write down their names one by one, because there are too many.

But when I saw an old lady with gray hair and ragged clothes put a piece of bread at the donation point with some shame, and then turned away, Mingyue really couldn't keep calm.

Her face was haggard, and Mingyue couldn't tell her age at all, but the only thing Mingyue could be sure of was that she was not a person in the concession who had no worries about food and clothing, but should be one of the hundreds of thousands of people who entered the concession to seek refuge in March.

The bread had already become cold and hard, at least one or two days, and it should be that she was hungry and didn't want to eat it. rations that she was willing to eat to fill her stomach.

It can be imagined that on ordinary days, she was a good housewife. Even on extremely difficult days, she would leave the last hope for herself and her family.

However, at this time, she took out the hope of herself or the whole family.

I am extremely sad, sad that my people are so miserable, but I am also extremely proud, proud that my people are facing the disaster side by side.

This is my country, my people, although it is suffering now, but at this moment I am extremely confident that we will win this defense war. "

Of course, what Tan Tai Mingyue saw at this time was just the tip of the iceberg.

There were more than one bread, up to a thousand, which meant that thousands of refugees donated their last property, and for this they might have to go hungry for two or three days or even wait until the next free food distribution.

But they still chose to do so.

For no other reason, the soldiers didn't even want their lives. They were afraid of hunger. At most, they would accompany them with their lives.

In addition to the charitable organizations with official backgrounds, several organizations with great influence in Songhu are also taking action.

It's just that they are more targeted, and they are raising funds for the defenders in the warehouse.

Food and medicine are the focus of their preparations. It is not difficult to obtain such supplies in wartime with their means. The most difficult thing is how to contact the defenders in the warehouse and send them in.

This is just in the concession on the edge of the battlefield, and the outside world's attention has actually begun to focus here.

Major Chinese newspapers frequently report on the small battlefield of Sihang Warehouse. The Central Daily News even published an article titled "One Inch of Mountain and River, One Inch of Blood" by a big boss, calling on passionate young people across the country to join the army and fight the national crisis together.

Thousands of miles away in the West, the "News Chronicle" of the British Empire also published an article saying: The achievements of the Chinese army in resisting the Japanese army in Shanghai are indeed one of the most courageous pages in the history of any country!

However, the Asahi Shimbun on the main island of Japan rarely made a big fuss about the Battle of Songhu on that day. Instead, it simply introduced the battle that day by saying that the Imperial Army had occupied the entire Songhu area and was about to march directly to southeast China.

On October 27, the daytime battle excited the Chinese, frustrated the Japanese, and surprised the West. I don’t know how many eyes were focused on this battlefield with an area of ​​less than one square kilometer.

But for the defenders of the Sihang Warehouse, they couldn’t think so much, because they needed to deal with the next wave of attacks from the Japanese army.

The Japanese paused their attack in the afternoon, but it didn’t mean that they would stop. The night might be more difficult than the day.

As night fell, the people gathered on the south bank of Suzhou River were reluctant to leave for a long time. Until it was completely dark, the crowd of tens of thousands of people who poured into this place gradually dispersed, leaving only about a thousand people in the corners and alleys of various buildings.

The only field radio in the building actually received a message from outside the division headquarters. The content of the telegram made the lieutenant colonel of the army think for a long time and finally choose to believe it, because the code was newly established before coming to the Sihang Warehouse, and no one outside the war zone headquarters knew it, and even if the Japanese army wanted to crack it, it would not be possible in just one day.

The reason why the lieutenant colonel chose to believe was not only the high confidentiality level, but also the name that was famous in Songhu. He was not only capable of doing everything he said, but he had also done so during the Songhu War five years ago.

Of course, the real reason why the lieutenant colonel was willing to take the risk and make this choice was that if the Sihang Warehouse wanted to defend it for a longer time, it could not only rely on the bravery of the officers and soldiers and not fear sacrifice, but also needed help from the outside world.

The warehouse needed more medicines, ammunition and food, and the two seriously injured soldiers also needed urgent treatment.

However, the Japanese troops outside the warehouse must be eyeing it covetously. It was easy to get in touch, but it was extremely difficult to get substantive contact.

However, the night was long, and the surface of Suzhou River was only tens of meters, not very wide.