The situation in the public trial of the 412 massacre has spiraled out of control to such an extent that it seems impossible to continue to allow observers. The judge eventually allowed reporters to observe, and the general public was not allowed to enter the courthouse. The public broadcast continued, and tens of thousands of people gathered in the vicinity of loudspeakers in several places.

There is no shortage of tribal content, storytelling, and opera in China, but those popular things are not about fair trials, but about privilege and personal legends. The trial of Feng Guozhang and Cai Yuanpei by the People's Party was the first time that the people of Zhejiang saw what is called law and what is called trial. didn't even listen to the content of the indictment, everyone already knew that Feng Guozhang and Cai Yuanpei were dead. Having killed so many people and being caught by the People's Party, where is there a reason not to die.

This trial is a message to the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and it turns out that people with high status will also pay for their lives if they kill the people. At least under the BJP, the killing of civilians is repaid by the heads of the "big men". Although they did not know why they were happy, most of the people who heard the trial felt a kind of puff of heart. Someone is speaking loudly, making their position or prescient. More people stood there in silence, listening to what was going on inside the courtroom.

The situation inside the court is not as dignified as outside, Feng Guozhang, Wang Ziming and others are all from the officialdom, according to their experience, being caught by the enemy is already a reason for death, whether they have killed people is the last thing. In the Manchu and Beiyang officialdom, the reason for sentencing was only to find a reasonable excuse for execution, and the hostile forces were able to sentence the enemy to death by drinking cold water in a state that they could ensure that they could kill the other side. The only way to do so is to show as much as possible that you are not hostile to the BJP. The situation is already so dire that the chances of success are slim to none. But when doing nothing is certain and you are certain to die, nothing you do can make things worse. Without exception, these people have put the blame on Cai Yuanpei's head.

Cai Yuanpei was not angry, and in the face of everyone putting the blame on himself, Cai Yuanpei did not feel that there was anything incomprehensible. He has never looked down on these people in Beiyang, and his despicable and cowardly behavior is completely in line with Cai Yuanpei's judgment of Beiyang. After Feng Guozhang and others performed to their heart's content, Cai Yuanpei spoke, "The People's Party calls itself a revolutionary, and then kills counter-revolutionaries on a large scale. As far as I know, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have died at your hands. As the speaker of the Zhejiang Assembly and the president of the Liberation Society, how to deal with the affairs of the Liberation Association is my duty. Since I have fallen into your hands, there is naturally nothing to say, you can kill me as much as you want. It's just that I have a question, what kind of reason did you rely on to kill me? ”

Even if these words are not sonorous and powerful, they can be regarded as frank and open. The judge had long discussed with his colleagues about various possible situations, including the reactions of Cai Yuanpei and others. Disagreement on the revolution is not Cai Yuanpei's crime, and it is indeed a very happy thing to be able to break down Cai Yuanpei's psychological defense line and make Cai Yuanpei admit that he is a counter-revolutionary. However, there is actually no relationship between refuting Cai Yuanpei and trying Cai Yuanpei. The former is aimed at personal thoughts, while the latter is aimed at practical actions. Personal thoughts are not a reason to arrest Cai Yuanpei in court. It is not a reason to be discussed in court. If ideological issues are discussed in court, it can only be described as "not doing a proper job".

The judge asked, "Cai Yuanpei, do you think the prosecutor's accusations against you are incorrect?" If you think you didn't do these things, you have the right to question and refute them. ”

Cai Yuanpei's thoughts were originally like a surging river, and they wanted to gush out in words, but as soon as the judge mentioned "what he had done", he immediately stopped talking. What have you thought about, what have you said, this is a matter of public justification and mother-in-law saying that mother-in-law is reasonable, Cai Yuanpei has the confidence to fight with anyone on the basis of reason. But if you have done something, unless you refuse to admit it, or hope that others will not find out, it will definitely not be erased.

Seeing that Cai Yuanpei was no longer silent, the judge continued to start the trial process.

Fan Ainong had worked in education, and after defecting to the People's Party with the West Zhejiang Branch, he had a very positive attitude towards the People's Party, and now he has left the Liberation Society. As a probationary member of the People's Party, as the acting director of the Zhejiang Education Bureau, and as one of the witnesses of the massacre, Fan Ainong appeared on the witness seat.

There are not many witnesses to the acquittal of the Wujialing massacre, and Fan Ainong is one of them. When Cai Yuanpei saw Fan Ainong appear in front of him, his eyebrows twitched slightly. Fan Ainong didn't pay much attention to Feng Guozhang and the others, and his gaze also fell on Cai Yuanpei's face. Both of them, who once admired each other, now appear in court as rivals. Neither of them was in a calm mood. Before Cai Yuanpei could see Fan Ainong's expression clearly, he saw Fan Ainong pin his head away.

The process in court is fixed, and after asking the names of witnesses and other basic information, the judge asks Fan Ainong if he knows that giving false testimony will lead to criminal punishment. Fan Ainong said that he knew that he was completely following the attitude of seeking truth from facts, and that all the testimonies he gave were witnessed with his own eyes.

After the initial process, under the prosecutor's questions, Fan Ainong introduced what he had seen and heard at the time. No lyricism, no criticism. It only introduced the circumstances under which they arrived at Wujialing, the blood-stained river, the execution process they saw, the piles of corpses, the identity of the executioners, and the conversation Fan Ainong had with them. Then Fan Ainong withdrew.

Cai Yuanpei didn't care about these killing processes, firstly, he had heard a lot of such scenes, and secondly, he didn't care about how many people had been killed. The purpose of purging the party was to kill the chaotic party, but it is strange not to kill people. The only thing that caught Cai Yuanpei's attention was Fan Ainong's demeanor. didn't look at Cai Yuanpei again, Fan Ainong simply withdrew. Cai Yuanpei admires Fan Ainong, a straightforward, rich and righteous young man. Regarding Fan Ainong's cold performance, Cai Yuanpei was a little puzzled.

The next step was for the prosecutor to call other witnesses, and the leader of the Wujialing militia group, Wen Side, was killed, and the other militia members took many prisoners. When the deputy leader of the militia group, nicknamed You Laohu, was brought in, his expression was much richer. In the process of questioning, as long as there is any opportunity, you will try your best to put the blame on Wen Side, who has been killed. If you don't listen to the statement of facts, You Laohu's other words simply describe You Laohu himself as a little white rabbit who is innocent and kind, eats fasting and recites Buddha, and even ants dare not step on it. Of course, the appearance of the tiger did not match his description, and a long scar ran through the right cheek of the tiger from top to bottom like a centipede. This is said to have been cut by a gang of Hainan thieves with a knife when You Tiger was dart in the south. In the fierce whitening of the tiger himself, the scar is not distorted, but it is particularly prominent with the change of the tiger's complexion, as if the centipede is alive.

The judge and the prosecutor did not hesitate to find out what had happened, and Wen Side accepted Beiyang's instructions to carry out a massacre in Wujialing at the expense and command of the local gentry and landlords. The official documents of the Beiyang Army were also copied out. After You Tiger was taken down, the officer of the Beiyang Army who commanded the matter was also brought in to give testimony. The officer of the Beiyang Army certified that it was issued by him, and it was the higher commander who ordered the issuance of these documents.

The chain of evidence was pulled out one by one, and in the end, the human and physical evidence proved that this was an action planned by the Zhejiang government in accordance with the documents approved by Li Yuanhong, as well as the list of party cleaners drawn up by Cai Yuanpei attached to the documents. The purpose was to completely kill the members of the western Zhejiang branch in the Wujialing area, as well as the members of the local peasant association, by using the mode of physical extermination.

The judge asked Li Yuanhong and Cai Yuanpei if there was such a thing. Li Yuanhong hurriedly explained: "If there is no list of Cai Yuanpei, I don't know where Wujialing is. Cai Yuanpei made some lists, Yuan Shikai ordered, and I signed the document. I'm a worker! ”

Cai Yuanpei didn't want to defend this question at all, even the list and the original official documents had been copied out by the People's Party, so what else could he say.

"Cai Yuanpei, you drew up this list, right?" The judge asked.

Despite reluctance, Cai Yuanpei replied: "Yes! ”

"You drew up this list to ask for killings according to this list. Really? The judge continued.

"Yes!" Cai Yuanpei felt that his momentum was too weak, and he raised his head and replied in a louder voice. After saying this, Cai Yuanpei finally added, "I drew up this list to let them kill the party, and there are no women and children in the list at all." ”

The clerk swiped and recorded the speeches of everyone in the courtroom. When Li Yuanhong heard Cai Yuanpei say this, he hurriedly interjected: "I just wrote an official document to second, and I didn't let the people below kill those women and children!" ”

All the upper-level handlers immediately emphasized their innocence, and the low-level criminal suspect simply howled with tears in his eyes and added: "At that time, there were so many official documents, I was in a hurry to go to the banquet, and I didn't even look at what was written on the official documents, I just signed the official documents casually." I really don't have a heart. I couldn't sign it at the time! If I don't sign, I will be killed by Li Yuanhong and Cai Yuanpei as a chaotic party! I was forced! I was forced! ”

The court is not a lyrical place, and the job of the trial is to determine whether what happened is true or not. Since all of these people have admitted that these things are true, the trial moves on to the next fact.

Cai Yuanpei felt that these people in the People's Party were really tolerant, and they never mentioned why, but only asked what happened. Not to speculate, not to fabricate, is to present all the evidence. And looking at it this way, they seem to be really ready to sort out everything that has happened, if they simply want to kill someone, just what has been proven is enough to drag all the suspects out and kill them. Even a sentence of death is sufficient. Cai Yuanpei really didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in the People's Party's gourd.

Cai Yuanpei in the courtroom couldn't hear the sound outside the courtroom, but Fan Ainong, who walked out of the courtroom after testifying, heard it clearly and saw it clearly. The crowd listening to the trial through the electric loudspeaker set off a wave of murderous noises. The political propagandists of the People's Party stood in front of the masses and loudly proclaimed the ideas of the People's Party, "People, fellow villagers! No one can punish someone for something they haven't done. We, the People's Party, arrested these people, not because they became officials, but because they did bad things! Don't let go of the bad guys who have done bad things, everyone says it's right, right! ”

"That's right! You must not let go of the bad guys! The crowd responded enthusiastically.

"We must not let go of those who have done bad things, and we must not be wronged for those who have not done bad things! Isn't that right? ”

"Yes!" The crowd still responded enthusiastically.

Fan Ainong stood around the excited masses with a gloomy face, quietly watching the masses respond to the propaganda of the People's Party cadres. Although his face was indifferent, Fan Ainong was very excited in his heart. He once admired Cai Yuanpei very much, so Fan Ainong was half angry and the other half was sad when Cai Yuanpei did such a thing. Seeing that virtuous revolutionary predecessor had actually fallen to such a state, Fan Ainong felt even more uncomfortable than he had fallen to such a state.

But that's the truth, it's what happened. Faced with irrefutable facts, Fan Ainong couldn't bear to look at Cai Yuanpei in court, because he didn't know what he would say if he kept staring at Cai Yuanpei. In the heat wave of the crowd's indignation, Fan Ainong felt a little better in his heart. The mood swings in the outside world were strong enough to make Fan Ainong feel that his inner excitement seemed calm. If he was alone, Fan Ainong would not be able to deal with his emotions at all.

And this kind of indifferent performance is so incompatible with the outside world, some people have already noticed Fan Ainong, and more and more people look at Fan Ainong, with various expressions on their faces, from puzzled to angry. Seeing Fan Ainong continue to stand there thoughtfully, some of the crowd's movements were eager to try, probably wanting to come over and question Fan Ainong.

At this moment, a hand suddenly put on Fan Ainong's shoulder. Fan Ainong slowly turned his head, but saw Xu Dian, the chief prosecutor of the Supreme Procuratorate, standing behind him with two bailiffs. Xu Dian's hand was on Fan Ainong's shoulder.

Although the masses did not know Xu Dian, they could see that Xu Dian was a high-ranking official of the People's Party. The badges on the uniforms, as well as the guards following behind him, can prove Xu Dian's identity. Seeing Xu Dian affectionately hugging Fan Ainong's shoulders and walking out of the circle together, the masses who were originally trying to trouble Fan Ainong in their excitement immediately gave up this plan.

Just as the BJP cadres were shouting slogans, the attention of the masses immediately turned back to the propaganda gathering and the intense mood of the masses.

Xu Dian said something when he pulled Fan Ainong out, but at that time, the people were noisy, and Fan Ainong didn't hear it clearly at all. Walking to a place far away from the gathering place of the masses, Xu Dian spoke again, "Comrade Fan Ainong, you feel very uncomfortable in your heart, right?" ”

To this question, Fan Ainong simply responded with a long sigh.

"Let's go, go to the West Lake. I've been in Hangzhou for a few days, and I haven't had time to go to West Lake. If I go back to Wuhan and people ask about West Lake, I can't even tell what is so good about West Lake. I have to tell what West Lake looks like. Xu Dian said with a smile.

Fan Ainong knew that Xu Dian's purpose was to ease the atmosphere, but he really had no intention of chatting, and he couldn't push Xu Dian's invitation, so he nodded silently and followed Xu Dian in the direction of West Lake.

When he arrived at the West Lake, Fan Ainong saw an old friend Zhou Shuren already waiting there. After the People's Party took control of Zhejiang, Fan Ainong and Zhou Shuren are now colleagues again. Fan Ainong is the acting director of the Zhejiang Education Bureau, and has recently focused on the construction of the School of Political Science and Law. Zhou Shuren is the acting deputy director of the Zhejiang Education Bureau, and has recently focused on the construction of medical schools.

The three of them walked side by side by the West Lake, and Xu Dian said: "I have heard a saying before, the truth will never hurt us. I don't know what the two of them think about it. ”

Zhou Shuren has always been steady, so he was only slightly stunned, but he didn't speak. Fan Ainong was a fierce character, and he didn't care that there was a huge gap with Xu Dian in terms of level, he glared at Xu Dian fiercely with a disgusted look.