Early in the summer of 1938, drums and bamboo trumpets roared in the Tungken Village of Cloud County, when twelve funerals were held in the village within ten days. The deaths and casualties of lychee farmers were caused by bombings of the transport river boats from three Japanese air raids.<\/p>\n
Fears of Japanese invasion spread around the County. \u2018To our north, Amoy was occupied by the Japs! They killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians,\u2019 one said in the street.<\/p>\n
\u2018To our south, Swatow will be the next, I reckon,\u2019 said the other.<\/p>\n
\u2018The bloody iron birds will come to drop the deadly eggs again. I will take my family to the mountainous western Fukien.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018You need to have money to survive, or you\u2019ll all become refugees,\u2019 said the other with a sigh, \u2018and even die.\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The conscription office in the County was empty. Two sparrows were pecking grains in front of the office. In some popular places they would have been caught and cooked. The Chief Officer of the County came to see the headmaster of the primary school in the town.<\/p>\n
\u2018Good afternoon, Mr \u201cSwordsman\u201d. How have you been recently?\u2019 he said to the headmaster.<\/p>\n
\u2018I am pretty well, Chief. How can I help you today?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I need your help. You are the only one who can take this particular job. You know, the conscription office could not fulfill its task to enlist young men to join the army. I\u2019m now appointing you as the Director of the Office.\u2019<\/p>\n
At this moment, the headmaster\u2019s wife came in with their three-year-daughter in her arms, \u2018Good afternoon, Chief,\u2019 she greeted him.<\/p>\n
\u2018What a gorgeous girl you have! She\u2019s dressed in a western frock, it\u2019s beautiful.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Darling, I can\u2019t be a teacher from now on,\u2019 the headmaster said to his wife.<\/p>\n
\u2018He is still a teacher. He will teach not only children, but young men now,\u2019 the Chief replied with a laugh.<\/p>\n
\u2018What? How come?\u2019 The wife was surprised.<\/p>\n
\u2018Darling, you know our motherland is invaded by the Japs. I need to do more for it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Are you joining the army? What will our daughter and I do?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Yes, and no,\u2019 the Chief interrupted. \u2018He is appointed as the new Director of the Conscription Office. You need to say congratulations to him.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Huh?\u2019 the wife first looked worried, but soon turned firm and satisfied, \u2018I support you, darling. I\u2019ll follow you.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Good. You can start your work tomorrow. I\u2019ll go to tell your deputy to take up your job as the acting headmaster,\u2019 the Chief said to him before leaving, \u2018and you are still the headmaster.\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The following day, Mr \u2018Swordsman\u2019 started to work. He went to his hometown Hsinlow Village where many families had the same surname \u2013 they were from the same ancestor. \u2018My beloved relatives, you all know China is now invaded by the Japs. If we do not do something, we\u2019ll become another place like Amoy. Then we\u2019ll become refugees, just like those from Swatow when there was a typhoon,\u2019 he said loudly in his new grey army uniform at an open air conference in the Village.<\/p>\n
\u2018War will bring death, Son,\u2019 said one elder of the Village, \u2018a proverb says, good iron will not be made into a nail, and a good man will not be a soldier.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Grandpa, I understand this proverb. But now the Japs sent their iron birds and dropped the iron eggs killing many of us.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We can destroy the roads to stop the Japs coming,\u2019 the elder said.<\/p>\n
\u2018But that\u2019s the last resort. Besides, the Japs will send their boats to our docks, bringing killers here. We really need to fight them back.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018You sound right,\u2019 the elder sighed after a while. \u2018Go and serve our nation, boys!\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr \u2018Swordsman\u2019 was very pleased to find a few dozen youngsters stepped out and walked towards him. \u2018Headmaster, take me! I\u2019m healthy,\u2019 many shouted out. Mr \u2018Swordsman\u2019 opened a register book, writing down all the names. The young men followed him to the Office. They saw some grey uniform officers waiting for them. It was a very good start from this village.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That evening, the Chief hosted a dinner for the new enlisted young men, and, of course, for Mr. \u2018Swordsman\u2019, too. After some toasts to the new soldiers, he came to the Headmaster, \u2018Thank you Mr. \u201cSwordsman\u201d. You have done something to declutter.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Early in the summer of 1938, dru…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcwriters.com\/home1\/gjiang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}