Chapter 7 Kowloon Park (1) Strange Story about Military Tickets

The issuance of the new Hong Kong banknotes by the Bank of China is a grand event worthy of celebration. Countless citizens are waiting to exchange them.All in all, the long queues are voluntary by the citizens.But a few decades ago, when the new banknotes were exchanged, the citizens felt extremely sad and indignant. In October 1942, the Japanese occupying Hong Kong planned a series of measures to suppress Hong Kong people in the traitor group Central News Agency (a subordinate sent by Wang Jingwei to Hong Kong to assist the Japanese in ruling Hong Kong), including forcing Hong Kong people to return to the mainland, and the population of Hong Kong was reduced from two to two. The reduction of 1.3 million to less than 700,000; rice distribution per person is 326 per day; coupled with the exchange of military tickets (that is, military tickets) for Hong Kong dollars, the ban on the use of Hong Kong dollars is only under these three evil strategies Hong Kong people have lost their wives and children, their families are ruined, and the city is full of hunger. How can they have the ability to fight against Japan and violence!

When the military tickets were forced to be exchanged that day, most of the Hong Kong people disobeyed the law and only wanted to take a small amount of Hong Kong dollars to exchange.A few days later, the citizens took the Hong Kong dollars automatically and consciously, and went to the currency exchange to exchange for military tickets.The currency exchange office in Hong Kong Island was located in the old Bank of China (the HSBC Bank was used as the Governor’s Mansion at the time), while the currency exchange office in Kowloon was located in the Kowloon Military Police Department (today’s Kowloon Park, which was the police headquarters before the war and was used by the Japanese army as the military police. department).

The military tickets that Hong Kong people were forced to spend all their wealth in exchange for were worthless at all, and they were nicknamed wet wood, which means that they can't be used to boil water. This shows that Hong Kong people look down on military tickets.But at the point of the gun, it still has to be exchanged. Many rich merchants had already sold their properties to cash in cash, but were unable to leave Hong Kong due to the imminent onset of the war. As a result, all Hong Kong banknotes were turned into worthless military tickets overnight.Those who were unwilling to keep some Hong Kong banknotes at the currency exchange were shot on the spot, and some businessmen who were found hiding Hong Kong banknotes were dragged to the currency exchange to be executed.

In order to maintain the value of military tickets, the Japanese severely punished citizens who despised military tickets, and sent traitors to release snakes. Many small businessmen were dragged to currency exchange offices and shot. Therefore, the currency exchange office is also called the shooting office.The most outrageous thing is that the murdered compatriots died indirectly or directly at the hands of traitors.Many were killed by traitors as traps.They can say that death is hard to rest in peace! After the demobilization after the war, the currency exchange office and the barracks were returned to the Hong Kong government. However, for unknown reasons, the Hong Kong government did not rebuild the police headquarters, but converted this large area of ​​land into the Kowloon Park.

It is said that this is because the camp and the surrounding area are haunted, and the noise is quite fierce. Except for the barracks that was used as a currency exchange, the other barracks were used as prison cells and torture rooms, and many compatriots died of the tyranny of the Japanese army.And the big banyan tree on the small hill is where the execution ground and the mass grave are located. It seems to be haunted, and it is surprising that it is not haunted! Poor Chinese refugees still have to do it themselves when recovering the blood debt left by the Japanese.In order to prevent future generations from forgetting that the blood debt has not been repaid, they keep appearing at the scene of the disaster, reenacting the cruel scene, or finding a hapless guy and telling him the sad past!

The facilities in Kowloon Park before the reconstruction were very ordinary, the more distinctive ones were the flower garden clock and the barracks.The use of the barracks has been changed many times. The one near Peking Road is said to be the former site of the currency exchange office. From the 1970s to the 1980s, it was used as a study room for candidates to study for self-study. Regardless of whether they are studying history or not, many HKCA candidates have taken a class in this study room on modern history, a history about the period when Hong Kong was occupied by the Japanese.These historical fragments will replay in the dreams or hallucinations of the candidates.

Four Candidates from Ge X Academy took a nap on the desk after lunch.In a daze, he was picked up by two middle-aged men, dragged downstairs (the study room is on the second floor), and pushed in front of a row of people without any explanation. The student's pockets were searched, and several Hong Kong banknotes were found. A guy who looked like a Japanese soldier held the students with a gun, ordered everyone to kneel on the ground, and shot the students to death one by one! When the gunshots rang out, the students began to wake up.The scene in the dream seemed unreal, scaring the students into a cold sweat. What is amazing is that all four students had the same dream at the same time and felt the same feeling!

The story spread from Ge X Academy, and then another version came from Wei Kee Middle School: Two students studied in the study room until the evening, and left before the study room closed. They found that the scene downstairs was completely different from the daytime.Several men and women fell to the ground under the guns of the soldiers, and others shook out Hong Kong banknotes from their bodies to exchange for military tickets. The two students were frightened to do the same, and took out the Hong Kong dollars on their bodies, but the Japanese army thought the Hong Kong dollars were inappropriate , To imprison the two for torture.The student was escorted back to the second floor, beaten in a room, and the two passed out in pain.When I woke up, I found that I was trapped in the staff office in the study room, covered in bruises!

After the staff called the police, the police regarded the two as concealed burglary. The two were unable to argue. Fortunately, the principal was willing to provide a guarantee, and there was no loss or damage in the office, so the charges were withdrawn.It took more than a month for the bruises on the two of them to dissipate! The experience of a repeat student is even more strange: repeat students need to work during the day, so they have to come here to study after work. Fortunately, the place of work is on Haiphong Road, only a few steps away from the study room in Kowloon Park, so it is convenient to commute.However, working during the day and studying at night is extremely tiring after all. Many times, he would fall asleep on the desk.However, what he saw in his dream was the chaotic situation when the Japanese army retreated.

After the Japanese emperor announced his unconditional surrender, many citizens immediately flocked to the currency exchange office and ransacked the currency exchange.The repeat students were in the middle of it, and unconsciously joined the crowd. They found a few boxes of Hong Kong banknotes on the second floor. Everyone rushed up and snatched all the banknotes. After a lot of hard work, the repeat students also grabbed a few and stuffed them into their pockets. .Not long after, the British army dispatched personnel to take over the currency exchange office and dispersed a group of citizens who were robbing money.

Upon waking up, the repeat student felt uncomfortable and his belly was like thunder. He went to a nearby fast food restaurant and took out banknotes from his pocket, but the clerk found that the banknotes were not valid. They were Hong Kong dollars that circulated before the war.The re-reading student pondered over the origin of these old banknotes, recalled the previous dream, grabbed a few banknotes and stuffed them into his pockets, who knew that these banknotes returned to reality with him! The repeat students didn't dare to hold the old banknotes, so they sold them in a hurry, and made a small fortune.However, even if the repeat students deliberately fall asleep, they will never be able to return to the dream of that day, just like the end of the plowman who waited for a rabbit, and finally got nothing.The repeat students only care about dreaming instead of revising, and the results of the re-examination are even more messy!