As the richest man and a prominent local figure in Yuezhangji, Fengtai County, Anhui, Landlord Zhang Youliang had never been so calm. The gunshots and shouting outside couldn't scare Zhang Youliang, who had participated in battles involving tens of thousands of people. In his military career, a battle of two hundred people was not worth mentioning. Although the jaw and shoulder joints dislocated by Hua Xiongmao still hurt, they had been dislocated for a while, and he had gotten used to the pain.

The lackeys hadn't learned how to reset dislocated joints, so after they rushed into the courtyard and saved Zhang Youliang, Zhang Youliang still couldn't command the battle. Leaderless, Zhang Youliang's subordinates were beaten into retreat again and again.

Military books say "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger." Although he couldn't speak, Zhang Youliang knew just by listening to the voices that the Insurance Corps soldiers outside were all greenhorns (*sheng gua dan*). If he were still young, he could definitely command this group of subordinates to beat them to smithereens (*luo hua liu shui*). The only ones worthy of fear in the Insurance Corps were those young officers. After being coerced by the two young men Hua Xiongmao and Xu Dian, Zhang Youliang was also observing these two youths carefully. Leaving aside their combat skills, their fighting will was truly terrifying. Under the posture of being besieged, they didn't resign themselves to fate or wait for death with tied hands at all. Presumably, the level of other commanders should not be inferior to these two. War is like this; even if the subordinates are a rabble, as long as there are capable officers leading, the battle can go on. The Insurance Corps obviously didn't lack officers of this level.

The subordinates shouted surrender in panic. Listening to the people outside shouting immediately, asking the lackeys to go out and surrender one by one. Although they were also afraid of being settled accounts with after surrendering, after the people outside fired another volley into the courtyard, the lackeys' last bit of morale dissipated. They went out to surrender one by one. Although they walked past Zhang Youliang, the lackeys didn't even look at Zhang Youliang.

Zhang Youliang was not angry at their performance. These people had never seen "such fierce shooting"; this was normal. Usually, Zhang Youliang just bullied ordinary people; these people had never participated in real battles. Now there was no need to deduce carefully anymore; Zhang Youliang's own result was obvious. This Insurance Corps that suddenly popped out didn't intend to let the matter drop with Zhang Youliang from the beginning. After catching him, they would absolutely not spare him either.

Not long after the lackeys surrendered, a few people peeked in first. Seeing no one else in the courtyard, several people who were obviously officers entered the courtyard. One of the two leaders was Hua Xiongmao. The other person was tall and should be the head. Then he heard someone cheering outside, "Caught Zhang Youliang!" "Caught Zhang Youliang!"

Listening to these cheers, Zhang Youliang didn't feel any excitement. Zhang Youliang had long lost count of how many such cheers he had heard in his life. Every time a battle was won, the Huai Army didn't like to keep captives. Except for important figures, other captured enemies were all beheaded. His fate was just the difference between being beheaded earlier or later. So the sixty-eight-year-old former Huai Army officer and current landlord Zhang Youliang even closed his eyes.

*I have no regrets,* such a thought suddenly popped into Zhang Youliang's mind. In his life, he had fought wars, earned money, and had several sons; he had lived gloriously. Today's destruction was the will of heaven. Even if he could start over, with the Insurance Corps, this strange outsider force being so big, he definitely couldn't win if he attacked them. And if he didn't attack them, the Insurance Corps' victory would just mean a few more deaths, and his destruction was just a matter of sooner or later.

Old Master Zhang Youliang didn't blame god or man. He had long looked at life and death very openly. After killing so many men, women, old, and young, Zhang Youliang didn't have much fear of being killed. Now was a disaster year, no different from a time of war. There were starving people everywhere, and one could die at any time. The only thing Zhang Youliang felt regretful about was that he was old, and his ability to cope with this environment had dropped greatly. It would have been better if he had built a stockade for self-protection earlier instead of trying to make a fortune in the disaster year. But on second thought, if he did that, his whole family would be blocked in the fortified village and lose their lives. If he abandoned his family property and ran to the county town or even the prefecture city, he should have been able to escape this calamity.

*Pity there is no chance to start over.* Zhang Youliang thought regretfully. This was Zhang Youliang's last regret. He didn't think about anyone avenging him or anything at all. Although he still had some clansmen serving in the Beiyang Army, even if they knew his news and came back to avenge him, what use would it be? He was dead for sure anyway.

As if to confirm Zhang Youliang's thoughts, Hua Xiongmao said: "Battalion Commander, do you think we should kill him now or later?"

"Kill the ringleader in public first. After getting rid of those lackeys outside, we'll settle accounts with the Zhang family."

Zhang Youliang opened his eyes, wanting to see who this enemy deciding his and his family's fate was. To his disappointment, that young man was a complete stranger. Not an enemy with whom he had any irreconcilable hatred.

"How do we hold the public struggle session? I think we should hold a meeting to struggle against him." Hua Xiongmao had heard Chen Ke talk about this kind of struggle session before. Logically speaking, letting those with hatred come on stage to denounce Zhang Youliang and others should be very inciting.

"The common people were shut out of the fortified village by Zhang Youliang back then, leading to deaths. To be honest, the common people don't feel Zhang Youliang is devoid of conscience. Probably many people still feel he is excusable. Our battle this time was designed well, but when fighting, it wasn't like that at all. So I originally wanted to hold a struggle session, but looking at it now, if the struggle session is messed up, it won't be good."

Chen Ke analyzed the current situation very calmly, "What matters now is to hurry up and rush-plant and rush-harvest so everyone can live until next year. There will be plenty of opportunities for struggle sessions in the future. There is no need to let everyone make any mistakes now."

After saying these words to Hua Xiongmao, Chen Ke looked down at Zhang Youliang, "Old Master Zhang, I am Chen Ke, the Battalion Commander of the Insurance Corps. I have decided to execute you immediately. The reason for the execution is that you refused to hand over land for everyone to cultivate in this disaster year, which would lead to tens of thousands of people starving or dying of illness. You committed the great crime of harming the people, which is a heinous crime (*shi e bu she*). I decided to chop off your head."

Although he knew his life was at stake, hearing Chen Ke list his crimes as actually this, Zhang Youliang couldn't help but widen his eyes. These words were absolutely not something bandits could say. Even when bandits used the slogan "Acting on behalf of Heaven" (*ti tian xing dao*) to fool those poor people, they could absolutely not speak such logical words. And their reasons would absolutely not be so "absurd." No one could block natural disasters, and why should Zhang Youliang let others farm his own land? People starving to death in disaster years was the norm! Sacrificing oneself to save others was the biggest absurdity. But this Chen Ke, who called himself the Insurance Corps Battalion Commander, said these absurd words as if they were only right and proper. The two officers in the Insurance Corps, Hua Xiongmao and Xu Dian, also took these "absurd" words as matter-of-course. Were they playing dumb, or were they really crazy?

Landlord Zhang Youliang suddenly felt a chill all over his body. If those poor farmers really believed these people's words and followed them, then the landlords of the entire Anhui would suffer a catastrophe. Thinking of poor people everywhere dividing landlords' land, farming the land without paying grain to landlords, Zhang Youliang only felt as if he saw hell (*di yu*).

Landlord Zhang, who had already accepted his fate, suddenly wanted to speak again. He wanted to voice opposition to this lawless atrocity. He wanted to shout loudly at these lawless young bandits for destroying the rules of thousands of years. He wanted to curse the bandits killing his family for rebelling. In short, Landlord Zhang Youliang's consciousness as the landlord class made him want to oppose the ideas of these two young men in front of him. Pity, he couldn't speak.

And these two young men had no intention of letting Zhang Youliang speak either. They ordered two guards to watch Zhang Youliang, and then went out to continue commanding the battle. With this experience, the subsequent battles were much easier. Breaking doors, shooting, persuading surrender. If the people inside refused to surrender, shoot again, and infantry would storm in to solve the battle.

Chen Ke's excitement had completely disappeared. Comrades were immersed in the intense emotions of battle one by one. But in Chen Ke's view, this battle didn't even have the excitement of ordinary police and bandit movies.

At this time, shouts of killing arose outside. The main force composed of the Second and Third Companies had just set off signal fireworks. They should have arrived outside the fortified village by now. Chen Ke handed the command power to the enthusiastic Hua Xiongmao and climbed up the watchtower at the south gate himself. Sure enough, under the guidance of two red sickle and hammer flags, every comrade of the Second and Third Companies charged forward bravely. Seeing enemies attempting to resist, long spears immediately stabbed these guys into sieves. And lackeys who gave up resistance were kicked to the ground.

It was truly "to see a thousand *li* further, go up one more floor." Chen Ke looked out from a high position. Within a radius of one *li*, the Insurance Corps soldiers were launching fierce attacks and intimidation against Zhang Youliang's armed forces. Soldiers ran, roared, and threatened. Except for killing on a large scale, they looked quite decent.

From the perspective of encirclement, those enemies were rushing back to the fortified village when they suddenly discovered hundreds of people popping out of the swamp where they thought large troops could absolutely not pass. These people didn't know where to flee at all. Some tried to escape by water, but the Insurance Corps' boats blocked them. Those who wanted to return to the fortified village were blocked outside the gate. With this hesitation, the Insurance Corps' main force arrived. Except for a few who fled fast, the fate of destruction for others was irreversible.

Chen Ke looked cold; he even looked at this battle with some worry. Don't look at the Insurance Corps winning a complete victory now; at this current level, if they fought against regular troops, they would collapse at the first touch. There was no need to use armed forces like the Beiyang Army; just the Anhui New Army would be about enough. He and the comrades in the Party would have to lead such an army to fight; the future was worrying.

But anything destined to happen will happen, and everything will have an end. Just like the battle in front of him soon entered the end stage. Seeing no chance of winning, family servants and lackeys knelt and begged for mercy one after another. Scout troops went to pursue those fish that slipped through the net. Other soldiers guarded the captives under the leadership of their respective unit commanders. Then, not knowing who took the lead first, comrades began to cheer for victory.

"Won! Won!"

"Defeated Zhang Youliang!"

The battlefield in front of Chen Ke turned into a sea of joy. Comrades began to jump and shout like kindergarten children after playing a game of "riding horses and fighting battles" (*playing war*). Chen Ke had good eyesight; he could even distinguish the faces of comrades turning red from excitement.

Not knowing who saw Chen Ke on the watchtower first, someone was already shouting to Chen Ke: "Battalion Commander!" "Battalion Commander!"

He Zudao took the red sickle and hammer flag at the right time, waving it while shouting: "Battalion Commander! Battalion Commander!" In such an environment, the soldiers quickly shouted along with him.

Chen Ke quickly let a confident smile appear on his face. He waved his arm to the soldiers in front of the fortified village. Thus, a burst of cheers erupted suddenly in the somewhat orderly shouting.

"Everyone quiet down!" Chen Ke roared. He finally understood now why words like "voice like a great bell" (*sheng ru hong zhong*) appeared easily when describing soldiers. On a boiling battlefield, if you spoke slowly and deliberately (*man tiao si li*), no one could hear you at all. Sure enough, after Chen Ke finished this roar, the comrades below quieted down.

"Comrades, we won! What is the result of our victory? From the county town to this Yuezhangji, all the land will be farmed by everyone's relatives! No rent collected! The harvested grain will be distributed to everyone to survive this disaster year!" Chen Ke continued to roar.

The comrades below immediately burst into heartfelt cheers. Having land to farm, not starving to death in this disaster year—wasn't this the purpose of everyone fighting? Chen Ke stating his position in public stabilized everyone's emotions even more.

"We have to farm ourselves too. Since we don't collect taxes in recent years, we have to farm to feed ourselves. Are comrades willing or not!"

"Willing!" "We are willing!" The soldiers cheered.

"Bring Zhang Youliang up!" Chen Ke roared, "Let everyone see what this bad thing who prepared to starve the common people to death looks like!" Chen Ke turned and roared to the comrades at the door.