Chapter 8 Crazy Era

China, 1967.

The "Red United" attack on the headquarters building of the "4.28 Corps" has lasted for two days. Their flags were flying restlessly around the building, as if they were eager for dry firewood. The commander of the "Red United" was so anxious that he

He is not afraid of the defenders of the building. The more than 200 "April 28th" fighters are much more immature than the "Red United" who were born in early 1966 and have experienced grand reviews and mass rallies. What he is afraid of is the building.

The dozen or so large iron stoves in the room were filled with high explosives and connected in series with electric detonators. He could not see them, but he could feel their presence like magnets. When the switch was turned on, all the jade and stone were incinerated, and "April 28

"Those little Red Guards have this spiritual power. Compared with the first-generation Red Guards who have matured a lot in the wind and rain, the new rebels are like wolves on hot coals, except crazy.

A petite figure appeared on the top of the building. The beautiful girl waved a big flag of "April 28". Her appearance immediately attracted a burst of chaotic gunfire. The shooting weapons were various, including the old American style.

Carbines, Czech machine guns and 38 guns, as well as brand new standard rifles and submachine guns - the latter were stolen from the army after the "August Editorial" was published - together with cold weapons such as spears and broadswords, constitute

A condensed modern history... People who participated in the "April 28th Incident" have played this game many times before. In addition to waving flags, people who stood on the roof sometimes shouted slogans or shouted slogans through loudspeakers.

Every time they dropped leaflets, they managed to escape the hail of bullets and earn high honors for themselves. The girl who came out this time obviously believed that she was still so lucky. She waved the battle flag and waved her own burning

In her youth, the enemy will be reduced to ashes in this flame, and the ideal world will be born tomorrow in her boiling blood... She was intoxicated in this bright red dream, until a rifle bullet pierced her chest. Fifteen

The chest of the 20-year-old girl was so tender, and the bullet basically did not slow down after passing through it, making a chirp in the air behind her. The young Red Guard fell from the top of the building together with her flag, and her light body fell even lower than

The flag was still hanging slowly, as if a bird was attached to the sky. In fact, compared to some other people, she was lucky, at least she died in the magnificent passion of dedicating herself to her ideals.

Such hotspots are spread throughout the city, like countless parallel computing CPUs, linking the "Cultural Revolution" into a whole. Madness is like an invisible flood, submerging the city and penetrating into every tiny nook and cranny.

On the playground of the famous university on the edge of the city, a denunciation meeting attended by thousands of people has been going on for nearly two hours. In this era of numerous factions, there are intricate and complicated opposing factions fighting everywhere. On campus

The Central Committee, the Red Guards, the Cultural Revolution Working Group, the Workers' Propaganda Team and the Military Propaganda Team were all in sharp conflict with each other, and new opposing factions were often divided within each faction to defend their different backgrounds and programs.

, a more brutal contest broke out. However, the reactionary academic authorities who were criticized this time were the targets of the struggle that no one had any objection to, and they could only withstand brutal attacks from all sides at the same time.

Compared with other monsters and monsters, reactionary academic authorities have their own characteristics: when the attack first comes, their behavior is often arrogant and stubborn, which is also the stage when their casualty rate is highest; some of them were beaten to death because they did not admit guilt.

, and some choose to commit suicide to maintain their dignity.

Those who survived this stage gradually became numb under the continuous brutal blows. This was a kind of self-protective mental shell that prevented them from final collapse. They often fell into a semi-sleep state during criticism meetings, and only a threat could stop them.

They wake up and mechanically repeat the confession they have said countless times; then, some of them enter the third stage, and the protracted criticism injects vivid political images into their consciousness like mercury.

Their ideological edifice built of knowledge and rationality was completely destroyed. They really believed that they were guilty, really saw the damage they had done to the great cause, and cried bitterly about it. Their repentance was often more serious than that of non-intellectuals.

It is much deeper and more sincere. For the Red Guards, the objects of criticism in the latter two stages are the most boring. Only the demons and monsters in the first stage can effectively stimulate their already over-excited nerves.

Like the red cloth in the hands of a matador, there are fewer and fewer such objects. There may be only one left in this university. Because of his rarity, he was reserved for the last appearance in the criticism conference.

Ye Zhetai has lived since the Cultural Revolution until now, and has always been in the first stage. He does not admit guilt, commit suicide, and is not numb. When this physics professor came to the criticism stage, his expression clearly said: I have to bear this responsibility.

The cross should be heavier!

The thing the Red Guards made him carry was indeed heavy, but it was not a cross. The high hats worn by other targets of criticism were all made of frames tied with bamboo strips, but the one he wore was made of steel bars as thick as a finger.

And the sign he hung on his chest was not a wooden board hung by others, but an iron door removed from an oven in the laboratory, with his name prominently written on it in black and diagonally.

A big red cross was drawn on it.

The Red Guards who escorted Ye Zhetai to power were twice as many as other targets of criticism. There were six of them, two men and four women. The two young men walked steadily and vigorously, looking like mature young Bolsheviks. They were both majoring in theoretical physics in the Department of Physics.

In the fourth grade, Ye Zhetai was their teacher; the four girls were much younger, all sophomore students in the university-affiliated high school. These little soldiers wearing military uniforms and armed belts carried with them compelling youthful vitality, like

Four green flames surrounded Ye Zhetai. Ye Zhetai's appearance excited the crowd below, and the slogans that had been weak just now rose again like a new wave of waves, drowning everything.

After waiting patiently for the slogans to subside, one of the two male Red Guards on the stage turned to the target of criticism: "Ye Zhetai, you are proficient in all kinds of mechanics. You should see how powerful this great combined force you are resisting is. Keep stubborn."

It’s a dead end! Today we will continue the agenda of the last conference, so I won’t go into too much nonsense. Answer the following question honestly: Did you add a lot of content on the theory of relativity without authorization in the basic courses for the students from 1962 to 1965?!”

"The theory of relativity has become a classical theory of physics. How can it not be covered in basic courses?" Ye Zhetai replied.

"You're talking nonsense!" a female Red Guard nearby said sternly, "Einstein is a reactionary academic authority. He is a mother if he has breasts. He went to build atomic bombs for US imperialism! To establish revolutionary science, we must

Down with the black flag of bourgeois theory represented by the theory of relativity!”

Ye Zhetai was silent. He was enduring the pain caused by the iron hat on his head and the iron plate on his chest. Questions that were not worth answering were silent. Behind him, his students also frowned slightly. The girl who spoke

She is the most talented among the four middle school Red Guards, and she is obviously well prepared. I saw her memorizing a criticism draft just before taking the stage, but to deal with Ye Zhetai, her few slogans alone are not enough.

They decided to show off the new weapons prepared for the teacher today, and one of them waved to the audience.

Ye Zhetai's wife, Shao Lin, a physics professor in the same department, stood up from the front row and walked onto the stage. She was wearing a very inappropriate grass green dress. She obviously wanted to get closer to the Red Guards' colors, but she was familiar with Shao Lin.

People who think of Lin always feel awkward when they think of her who used to wear exquisite cheongsam to give lectures.

"Ye Zhetai!" Shaolin pointed at her husband and shouted. She was obviously not used to this kind of situation. She tried to raise her voice as high as possible, but even the trembling in it was amplified, "You didn't expect that I would stand up to expose you and criticize you!

?Yes, I was deceived by you before, and you deceived me with your reactionary world view and scientific outlook! Now I have woken up, and with the help of the revolutionary young general, I will stand on the side of the revolution and the side of the people!" she

Turning to the audience, "Comrades, revolutionary young generals, revolutionary faculty and staff, we should clearly understand the reactionary nature of Einstein's theory of relativity. This nature is most clearly reflected in the general theory of relativity: the static universe model it proposes denies

The nature of movement of matter is anti-dialectical! It believes that the universe is limited, and it is downright reactionary idealism..."

Listening to his wife's eloquent speech, Ye Zhetai smiled bitterly. Lin, did I deceive you? In fact, you have always been a mystery in my heart.

Once, I praised your father for your extraordinary talent - he was lucky to have died early and escaped this disaster - the old man shook his head and said that it was impossible for my daughter to achieve anything academically; then, he

He said something very important to me in the rest of my life: Linlin is so smart, but when it comes to basic theory, she has to be stupid.

In the years that followed, I continued to realize the profound meaning of these words. Lin, you are really smart. As early as a few years ago, you sensed the political trend in the intellectual circles and made some advanced moves, such as

During your teaching, you changed the names of most of the physical laws and parameters. Ohm's law was renamed resistance law, Maxwell's equation was renamed electromagnetic equation, and Planck's constant was called quantum constant... You explained to the students: All

All scientific achievements are the crystallization of the wisdom of the working people, and those bourgeois academic authorities have just stolen this wisdom. But even so, you are still not accepted by the "revolutionary mainstream". Look at you now, there is no "

The red armbands worn by "revolutionary faculty and staff"; you came here empty-handed, not even qualified to take a book of quotations... Who allowed you to be born into such a prominent family in old China, and both your parents were such famous scholars.

Speaking of Einstein, you have more to explain than I do. In the winter of 1922, Einstein visited Shanghai, and your father was arranged to be one of the receptionists because he spoke German very well. You told me many times that your father

You embarked on the path of physics under the personal teachings of Einstein, and your choice of physics major was influenced by your father, so Einstein can also be regarded as your indirect mentor. You feel extremely proud and proud of this.

happiness.

Later I learned that my father told you a white lie. He only had one extremely brief exchange with Einstein.

It was the morning of November 13, 1922. He accompanied Einstein for a walk on Nanjing Road. He seemed to be accompanied by Yu Youren, president of Shanghai University, Cao Gubing, manager of "Ta Kung Pao" and others. After passing a roadbed maintenance point, Einstein was walking on Nanjing Road.

A small worker who was smashing rocks stopped beside him. He silently looked at this boy with tattered clothes and dirty hands and face in the cold wind. He asked your father: How much does he earn in a day? After asking the small worker, your father replied

: Five points. This was the only communication he had with the master of science who changed the world. There was no physics, no theory of relativity, only cold reality. According to your father, Einstein stood there silently after hearing his answer.

For a while, I watched the laborers working numbly. The pipe in their hand was extinguished without taking a breath. After recalling this incident, your father sighed to me: In China, any transcendent and soaring thoughts will crash to the ground.

Yes, the gravity of reality is too heavy.

"Lower your head!" A male Red Guard ordered loudly. This may be the remaining sympathy of his students for the teacher. Those who are criticized must bow their heads, but if Ye Zhetai does this, the heavy iron hat will fall off.

As long as he kept his head down, there would be no reason to put it on him. But Ye Zhetai still held his head high, supporting the heavy steel bundle with his thin neck.

"Lower your head! You reactionary die-hard!!" A female Red Guard next to her took off her belt and swung it at Ye Zhetai. The brass belt buckle hit him on the forehead, leaving a precise shape of the buckle.

But it was soon blurred into a black and purple mass by congestion. He shook a little and stood firm again.

A male Red Guard asked Ye Zhetai: "In the teaching of quantum mechanics, you have also spread a lot of reactionary remarks!" After speaking, he nodded to Shaolin and motioned for her to continue.

Shaolin couldn't wait to continue. She had to speak without stopping to maintain her shaky spirit from complete collapse. "Ye Zhetai, you can't deny this! You have spread reactionary Copenhagen to students many times.

explain!"

"After all, this is the currently recognized explanation that is most consistent with the experimental results." Ye Zhetai said. After receiving such a heavy blow, his tone was still so calm, which surprised and scared Shaolin.

"This explanation believes that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another manifestation of reactionary idealism, and it is the most rampant manifestation!"

"Does philosophy guide experiments or experiments guide philosophy?" Ye Zhetai asked. His sudden counterattack left the critics at a loss.

"Of course the correct Marxist philosophy guides scientific experiments!" said a male Red Guard.

"This is tantamount to saying that correct philosophy falls from the sky. Opposing practice to produce true knowledge is exactly contrary to the Marxist cognitive principle of nature."

Shaolin and the two college Red Guards were speechless. Unlike the Red Guards in middle schools and society, they could not be unreasonable at all. But the four young generals from the attached middle school had their own "indestructible" revolutionary methods.

The girl who just made the move slapped Ye Zhetai hard again, and the other three girls also picked up their belts and slapped them. When their companions are revolutionary, they must behave more revolutionary, or at least be equally revolutionary. Two male celebrities

The guards did not interfere. If they interfered with this matter now, they would be suspected of not being revolutionary.

"You are also spreading the Big Bang theory in your teaching, which is the most reactionary of all scientific theories!" A male Red Guard tried to change the subject.

"Perhaps this theory will be overturned in the future, but the two major cosmological discoveries of this century: Hubble red shift and 3K cosmic background radiation, make the Big Bang theory the most credible theory of the origin of the universe so far."

"Nonsense!" Shaolin shouted, and then went on to talk endlessly about the Big Bang, naturally not forgetting to deeply analyze its reactionary nature. But the super novelty of the theory attracted the smartest of the four little girls.

, she asked involuntarily:

"Even time started from that singularity!? What was there before the singularity?"

"Nothing." Ye Zhetai said, just like answering any little girl's question, he turned to look at her kindly. The iron hat and the serious injury made his action very difficult.

"What... nothing?! Reactionary! Totally reactionary!!" The girl screamed in horror. At a loss, she turned to Shaolin for help, and received an immediate response.

"This leaves room for the existence of God." Shaolin nodded to the girl and reminded her.

The little red guard's confused thoughts immediately found a foothold. She raised her hand that was holding the belt and pointed at Ye Zhetai, "Are you trying to say that there is a God?!"

"I have no idea."

"What did you say!"
To be continued...