Xiong Mingyang was the Platoon Commander of the First Platoon, Second Company. This student from Fudan Public School had once incited an opposition movement against Chen Ke at the school. He had also participated in the shootout with the police during the Shanghai riots. After being rescued from the police station by Chen Ke, he followed Hua Xiongmao to Anhui. Later, he participated in the military training conducted by the People's Party in Anqing. Because of his outstanding performance, he was selected as a platoon commander. Tonight, after the transport fleet arrived in Fengtai, Xiong Mingyang was ordered to lead the First Platoon to guard the boats. This young platoon commander was not happy.

Xiong Mingyang had a fierce nature and felt great anger towards the dark reality of this era. As a young man, Xiong Mingyang, like others, had a firm belief in using drastic means to purge the world. However, in these thoughts, Xiong Mingyang always saw himself as a leader directing others to work. After starting work in Fengtai, this youth no longer had enough energy to think about such things. The revolution, which was magnificent and high-spirited in imagination, immediately lost that romantic color of fantasy in the face of realistic work.

After accepting the task of guarding the boats, Xiong Mingyang had some internal complaints. Everyone had come by boat together with hard work; why should the First Platoon be responsible for guarding the boats overnight? Of course, according to custom, there would be rotating shifts for these jobs. Tonight the First Platoon guarded the dock, and tomorrow it would be other troops' turn. Moreover, when cleaning the boats and the dock this time, the First Platoon did not undertake those tasks.

"A superior rank crushes people to death," Xiong Mingyang thought to himself. Although the organizational structure of the Insurance Corps was an equality Xiong Mingyang had never seen before, that was equality for soldiers, not for Party member cadres. Party member cadres had to undertake more responsibilities and obligations. This was something Chen Ke emphasized repeatedly at Party meetings. As leaders and initiators of the revolution, Party members must undertake more responsibilities and obligations. Xiong Mingyang understood this in his heart, but when it was his turn to do this hard work, there was always an indescribable resistance.

"Platoon Commander, how do we eat?" the platoon's Life Affairs Officer, Ogawa Yuji, asked in stilted Mandarin. All seven Japanese young students had joined the People's Party. Chen Ke treated Party members without discrimination and assigned posts according to ability. Ogawa Yuji's family ran a restaurant, and he studied medicine, so he was assigned to the post of Life Affairs Officer. This Life Affairs Officer, besides cooking and other mess duties, was also responsible for hygiene, epidemic prevention, and other work.

"Arrange the latrines first," Xiong Mingyang answered completely subconsciously according to the provisional military regulations.

There would be plagues after floods; this was what Chen Ke emphasized again and again at Party member meetings. Moreover, Anhui had many floods, and the soldiers from the local area also had enough understanding. Therefore, hygiene protection was one of the key points the Insurance Corps strictly grasped recently.

"There is already a latrine on the dock," Ogawa Yuji replied.

This answer surprised Xiong Mingyang a little. Ogawa Yuji's next answer made Xiong Mingyang even more surprised. "Tap water has been connected inside the residence."

Tap water was something Xiong Mingyang had only seen after arriving in Shanghai. He really hadn't expected that there would be tap water on the dock. "Go, let's go take a look." Xiong Mingyang answered excitedly.

On the empty dock stood a newly built house. The brick walls were not plastered at all, looking extremely crude. But Xiong Mingyang absolutely would not look down on it in the slightest. He still remembered the scene when he first saw this dock.

In this Anhui flood, Fengtai County seat was also flooded. At least this dock and the surrounding area had been soaked in water for a month. After Xiong Mingyang arrived at the riverbank with the troops, he couldn't see any signs of a dock at all. Except for a vast ocean, nothing could be seen here. But the People's Party needed a reliable dock to transport materials. Chen Ke personally led a group of students and experienced construction workers under Yuwen Badu to formulate a plan.

The crowd first barely collected enough straw bags through various channels, and also wove some themselves. After filling them with earth, they piled them on the bank. The place where Xiong Mingyang worked was not far from the bank. He led his platoon to work hard. Occasionally looking at those straw bags piling higher and higher, Xiong Mingyang completely couldn't understand what doing these things was for. Further away, a dozen or so People's Party members with ropes wrapped around their waists to prevent being washed away by the current were holding measuring rods, measuring the water depth place by place in the water.

Hundreds of people in the troops, plus hundreds of refugees, busied themselves for two days and finally piled up thousands of straw bags. These bulging straw bags were piled up like a small hill on the bank. Xiong Mingyang could be considered someone who had traveled extensively at a young age, and he had attended university. He roughly understood Chen Ke's meaning. But understanding didn't mean accepting. Under such an endless water surface, Chen Ke prepared to use these straw bags filled with earth and sand to forcefully fill out a usable place for a dock. How large was the scale of such labor? The People's Party's Insurance Corps was only more than four hundred people at that time. The boundless flood must have been dozens of *li* wide. The overwhelming heavy rain was still pouring down, and the sky hadn't cleared for more than a month. Every day was a gloomy sky. The wind carried rainwater and created various water marks on the endless water surface. Even if a dock was filled out now, what if the water rose higher? Would they have to fill again?

Chen Ke's attitude was exactly as Xiong Mingyang had expected. After the straw bags were more or less prepared, Chen Ke ordered the troops to rest for a while. After eating and resting for a bit, work began. More than four hundred strong young lads, two people carrying one bag. Under the leadership of engineering personnel, they started throwing bags into the water from the bank. Bags were thrown into the water one by one, only splashing up a spray of water, and in the blink of an eye, the bags were nowhere to be seen. The comrades initially had enough strength, plus the straw bags were close to the bank. After just a few minutes, the straw bags thrown down no longer sank to the bottom immediately but splashed up a large sheet of water. After sinking, one or two corners would emerge from the water surface. After another minute, the straw bags thrown down were already half-immersed in the water.

"Throw further forward. Throw forward." Chen Ke's loud voice came from the wind and rain. Xiong Mingyang wiped the rainwater off his face, then lifted a sandbag with the soldier beside him and moved forward. Stepping on a sandbag with one foot, he felt his footing go empty and almost slipped. Xiong Mingyang couldn't care about that much. He and the soldier moved a few steps forward again, swung the bag back and forth a few times, shouted "one two three," and threw the bag in their hands out. Just like in the beginning, the bag flew into the water and disappeared in an instant.

Cycle after cycle, never stopping. Except for those indicating personnel standing in the water like iron towers holding measuring rods, all Insurance Corps personnel were working hard. Behind them, there were actually some idlers watching. They all stood far away, presumably afraid of being grabbed to work. Although in the wind and rain, Xiong Mingyang actually heard those people in the distance laughing loudly, and some people even whistled. A look of being very satisfied with watching a novelty.

Xiong Mingyang was so angry in his heart. *We are working so hard like this, and in the end, isn't it you bunch of bastards who benefit?* These people not only didn't come to help but were actually watching the fun. It seemed that it wasn't just Xiong Mingyang who was angry; many soldiers had the same emotion. Many people's work speed slowed down, and some even stopped the work in their hands and turned to look at where those idlers were.

Xiong Mingyang cursed secretly in his heart: *Screw your ancestors' coffin boards*. But he was a platoon commander after all. In these days, he had gradually developed the habit of obeying orders. Just at this moment, a burst of laughter erupted from those idlers. Someone was heard shouting in a weird tone: "What are you looking at! Hurry up and work." Accompanied by this shout, a louder burst of laughter erupted among the idlers.

"Damn your mother!" Soldiers had already started to curse back.

"Shouting what? Hurry up and work." A roar instantly suppressed other soldiers preparing to curse back. Chen Ke was striding over. Others carried one bag with two people; Chen Ke carried one bag filled with sand and earth on each of his left and right shoulders. Since everyone had to brave the rain, they simply didn't wear shirts. Chen Ke's full muscles were taut strip by strip; it seemed he was using his full strength.

"Battalion Commander, that bunch is too infuriating," a soldier said angrily.

"Do you listen to the organization, or do you listen to them?" Chen Ke roared. His handsome square face was covered with anger, but in such a labor background, it actually looked extremely pleasing to the eye.

"Listen to the organization," that soldier answered subconsciously.

"Then don't care about what those people are barking. Work!" After Chen Ke finished roaring, he continued to walk forward. Reaching the water's edge, he threw out the bags on his shoulders with all his might. Then he turned and went to the place on the shore where bags were piled.

Although there were a thousand unwillingnesses in their hearts, seeing such effort from Chen Ke, the soldiers could only glare hatefully at the idlers in the distance a few times, and then continued to start work.

Two days of preparation, more than four hours of fighting bravely in the rain. The Insurance Corps forcefully built a new dock out of straw bags filled with sand and earth on top of the flooded dock. Although this dock was not big, it was enough to allow boats, especially large boats, to safely dock at the "New Dock."

And the dock Xiong Mingyang saw now was that old dock. After the flood receded, the old dock had completely emerged from the water. And at the end of the old dock was the newly built temporary station of the Insurance Corps.

Walking into the station, Ogawa Yuji took Xiong Mingyang into a separate room. Xiong Mingyang had seen this kind of room; there were such rooms in the dormitory of Renxin Medical College in Shanghai. This was a water room. Above a large sink, there were two rows of faucets. These faucets were made of bamboo, very simple. But after turning a faucet, a stream of clear water gushed out. Xiong Mingyang drank a few mouthfuls from the faucet. The water quality was very pure. Not a bit of muddy taste. He had gotten used to drinking that water mixed with the taste of mud after the flood these days.

The flood submerged water sources everywhere. According to the knowledge popularized by the Insurance Corps, this statement should be "water sources have been polluted." Although everyone drank boiled water, and there was filtration when fetching water, the taste of that water was really poor. Suddenly drinking such pure water, Xiong Mingyang only felt his spirit refresh. He quickly asked Ogawa Yuji: "Where is the water drawn from?"