Chapter 96

Persuading the comrades to abandon their sympathy for Zhang Youliang was not an easy task. Zhang Youliang was a landlord, and many of the comrades also came from landlord families. To them, Zhang Youliang was more like "one of their own." Even though they spoke of a "people's revolution," many were no longer as resolute in defending the people when faced with Zhang Youliang's small test.

Although Lu Huitian no longer mentioned the issue of Zhang Youliang, he never explicitly supported a decision on Zhang Youliang's life or death. The other comrades also supported the idea of resolving the issue with Zhang Youliang, but no one clearly stated whether he should be killed or spared. Chen Ke didn't want to say much more. For Chen Ke, once Zhang Youliang's fate was left to the people, he must die. The mass movement, in essence, was about mobilizing the masses and stirring their anger. This was more effective than anything else. The people were also "clear in their love and hate"; once their emotions were stirred, it was enough to put someone to death. Zhang Youliang had been in Yuezhangji for so long and had certainly done many bad things. Finding the victims and having them accuse Zhang Youliang, then "following public opinion" to execute him, was the best approach.

The only problem was the urgency of time; these people were hard to find. Time was like the crystal sand in an hourglass, every moment precious. So Chen Ke stopped talking about this issue and began assigning other tasks.

Fengtai County was now overcrowded. During the flood, landlords from the surrounding areas fled to the county town to escape the disaster. Many of the common people also fled to the county town. Along with those rescued by the Insurance Corps and their families, the small town of Fengtai was now home to over thirty thousand people. After the floodwaters began to recede, the refugees' moods became increasingly restless. This was understandable; the floodwaters had surrounded the county town, and these people were constantly afraid that the water level would rise again, swallowing their last place of refuge. The external environment was tight, and everyone could gather under one banner. But after the floodwaters receded, everyone's thoughts began to diverge.

The wealthy landlords felt that returning home was no longer reliable and decided to head for the big cities. The poorer landlords, or those whose property had been destroyed by the flood, had nowhere to go. As for the ordinary people, they were homeless. The people of Anhui had a tradition of fleeing famine, and many tried to talk to the Insurance Corps' fleet members, hoping to be taken along when the fleet set sail.

After this major flood, the Qing Dynasty was powerless to provide relief. To be honest, in an agrarian country, disaster relief was a matter of doing one's best. Without the efforts of the People's Party Insurance Corps, many more people would have died.

The expansion of the Insurance Corps was closely linked to the deepening of the flood. At first, when recruiting, there was little interest. After all, most people were not interested in becoming bandits.

As the farmers' food supplies gradually ran out, more and more people requested to join the Insurance Corps. Initially, anyone from a good family could join the Insurance Corps, but later, the Corps became selective, choosing only the strong and fit. The immediate benefits of joining the Insurance Corps were significant. First, one could eat well. Second, the Insurance Corps hired people to do various jobs, and family members of those who joined the Corps could get priority for these jobs. As a result, the Insurance Corps saw a rapid increase in numbers in a short time.

County Magistrate Shang Yuan had always believed in Chen Ke's abilities. After seeing how Chen Ke used the Insurance Corps, he became even more impressed and puzzled. In terms of "eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating," Chen Ke not only led the People's Party and the Insurance Corps in providing food and drink but also paid great attention to the "defecating and urinating." In the temporary camps in the county town, the "security teams" composed of Insurance Corps members had a key goal: to prevent people from defecating and urinating anywhere. This was something no one had ever paid attention to, but Chen Ke strictly enforced it from the beginning. The reason was simple: defecating and urinating anywhere during the flood could easily lead to an epidemic. The population density in the county town had reached a dangerous level, and an outbreak of disease would be catastrophic. The Insurance Corps was responsible for sanitation in the county town. Later, when the Insurance Corps began transporting grain, these tasks were handed over to hired workers.

There is a saying, "You can control the sky and the earth, but you can't control people's defecation and urination." However, the Insurance Corps' strict control made the people extremely dissatisfied. But when you eat someone's food, you have to follow their rules. The Insurance Corps' rules were simple: if caught defecating or urinating anywhere, the person's food would be halved for the day. Those caught were naturally very unhappy, but hunger set in quickly, and they eventually submitted.

In addition to making people comply with hygiene regulations, the People's Party established more rules, from washing clothes to bathing. Fortunately, the flood occurred in summer, and the temperature was not low, and there was no shortage of water. To get food, people reluctantly followed the rules.

However, as the floodwaters receded, this compliance began to reach its limit. Some people started to pester the Insurance Corps for grain, indicating they planned to leave Fengtai County to escape famine. The people of Anhui had a tradition of fleeing famine, which Chen Ke understood. However, he was not in favor of it. With the planting and harvesting season about to begin, what impact would the people's departure have?

Yuewen Bada did not entirely agree with Chen Ke's concerns. "Comrade Chen Ke, you're overthinking it. In previous disaster years, after such a major disaster, the poor people staying in the area had no choice but to die. Our Insurance Corps has no reputation, and those people won't believe us so quickly. Even if you forcibly bring those fleeing people under our banner, they may not be loyal. I think those who stay will be more loyal. Without us, they wouldn't be able to farm at all."

This was a good point. After returning home, these people would have no means to resume production. First, there would be a lack of farming tools, which would directly affect their ability to help themselves. People escaping from the flood instinctively carried valuable items, and farming tools like hoes might not be the most valued wealth in their homes. Large farming tools were impossible to carry. Although the People's Party had brought some farming tools from elsewhere, they were far from enough for the tens of thousands of people.

Yuewen Bada believed that letting some people leave to escape famine would help reduce the consumption of supplies. In the absence of tools, having more people was not necessarily a good thing.

"Chen Qing, do you really plan to have everyone, men, women, and children, work together?" Shang Yuan was not entirely sure about Chen Ke's idea.

Chen Ke nodded. "Yes, that's my plan. I think we should give people a choice. Sending people to escape famine now seems inappropriate. We should start self-help production immediately. Can't those people wait a few more days?"

"Since that's the case, I will organize the comrades to explain this to the people," Shang Yuan replied.

"No need to organize the comrades. We should first explain this to the comrades in the Insurance Corps. If they don't understand our policies, it would be putting the cart before the horse to explain it to the people first."

"… Then let the Military Commission comrades handle this. But how should we explain it to the people? We can't have the Insurance Corps comrades do the propaganda, can we?" Shang Yuan paused initially but continued without any emotional impact.

"My idea is to expand the army. I think it's necessary to form some new units. Using the ancient military garrison model, we can form a reclamation unit. Even if people leave, I hope to keep the strong and fit. If the strong and fit stay, the elderly and weak will not leave easily."

"Military garrison? How about using the Third and Fourth Companies for military garrison first?" Hua Xiongmeng asked, concerned about the burden on the families of soldiers.

"In my view, our current army is not too large but too small. We need to form one or two regular regiments, with a total of about eight thousand people. And it's not just the new units that will engage in garrison farming; the entire regiment must farm and fight at the same time. We need to protect the base area and feed ourselves."

The Insurance Corps currently had about a thousand people, which was already a scale beyond anyone's imagination. An army of eight thousand people was even further beyond the comrades' imagination. Although many at the meeting had thought of a million-strong army, in their imagination, it was just a vague shadow, a simple collection of people. Managing a thousand people already kept the Military Commission comrades busy. Would the current management capabilities keep up with an eightfold increase in size? The comrades with military experience looked serious, while those without such experience looked pleased.

People are strange; as long as they feel they have enough people, many things become different.

As Chen Ke explained his vision for the future, the comrades' attitudes toward Zhang Youliang gradually aligned. Since eliminating Zhang Youliang was not about personal grudges but a political struggle, and with the possibility of an eight-thousand-strong army, many felt that Zhang Youliang's life or death was no longer an issue. The focus of the discussion shifted to how to arrange self-help production after capturing Yuezhangji.

"We don't need to wait until later; we should start immediately. Let Comrade Shang Yuan introduce this issue." Chen Ke passed the problem to Shang Yuan, who was responsible for self-help production in Fengtai County. Shang Yuan had been in charge of contacting the landlords who fled to the county town. Zhang Youliang's attitude was strong, but the other landlords in the county town had a different attitude. Chinese landlords lacked class consciousness; they saw being a landlord as a profession rather than a class. This attitude determined that their primary concern was their own survival, not the ideal of permanently owning land. In the face of natural disasters, small landlords did not strongly oppose the temporary transfer of land cultivation rights. These small landlords also needed to quickly escape their state of having nothing. The flood was fair; even small landlords had no surplus grain left.