"Most of the distinguished gentlemen here have read some books, and know that Confucius said, 'The elderly should be cared for, and the young should be nurtured.'" Shang Yuan said with a smile to the people in the conference room. This was the Insurance Corps' military camp conference room in Fengtai County. The room structure was simple and bright: wooden pillars, exposed beams, and straw mats for walls. Considering the situation in Anhui, the wind was also taken into account. Many spots were left with ventilation openings. As a result, ventilation and lighting were excellent. Chen Ke liked working in such a spacious, bright room made of natural materials. Shang Yuan also liked it. Compared to the cramped yamen, this room with only straw mats for walls was spacious—not just by a little bit. It gave one a feeling of openness and magnanimity.

After the flood, most landlords in the disaster area followed their old habits and fled to the county town to avoid the disaster. The wealthier ones fled to the prefecture seat. Because it had rained for sixty days continuously in Anhui, roads were cut off. Plus, most landlords in Fengtai County didn't have much money, so they hadn't gone any further. After eliminating Zhang Youliang, Shang Yuan invited the landlords to the Insurance Corps' military camp for a meeting.

"I have read a few lines and seen those words. I wonder what instructions the Magistrate has," Miss Ren Qiying asked first.

Miss Ren Qiying came to the meeting on behalf of the Ren family. The head of the Ren family had fallen ill recently, claiming to the outside world that he caught a cold. In fact, it was to express his strong dissatisfaction with his daughter willfully joining the Insurance Corps and showing her face in public all day long. But Ren Qiying didn't care about the gossip at all. Since her father "fell ill," Ren Qiying, as the eldest daughter, was duty-bound to undertake family affairs. It should be known that Ren Qiying had a fierce temper. Since childhood, if her two younger brothers and two younger sisters didn't listen to her, she dared to beat and scold them. With the elder sister coming forward and the father "reporting illness," the Ren family now looked to Ren Qiying as their leader.

However, Ren Qiying knew her father's thoughts. If her father got involved after she joined the Insurance Corps, there would definitely be endless trouble in the future. Eggs should not be put in one basket. Even if the Insurance Corps failed in the future, as long as Ren Qiying stepped out to take the blame—at worst being beheaded to give an explanation—the Ren family would at least not be too embarrassed. But in these times, the Insurance Corps' arrogance in Fengtai County was overwhelming, added to the great flood; if they couldn't cling tightly to this big tree, the Ren family would lose the present. And without the present, there was no need to mention the future.

So to clear the relationship, Ren Qiying didn't care about the gossip outside at all. Outside, everyone said Ren Qiying "acted recklessly" and angered her father into illness. If it were someone else, they would have tried every way to explain, but Ren Qiying let such rumors be. Moreover, she acted even more "unscrupulously." For example, this time Magistrate Shang Yuan gathered the landlords of the county town for a meeting, and Ren Qiying, as a woman, participated openly. This caused unhappiness among the landlords in the same row; their gazes were full of disgust and annoyance.

Shang Yuan laughed: "Miss Ren is indeed heroic. This official has been in Fengtai for almost half a year. As far as I know, the charity granaries in Fengtai County have no grain at all. The various clans have no money and no grain either. This flood is far from comparable to the past. If this continues, even the strong will be helpless, and the old and weak will naturally be in imminent danger. A human tragedy is imminent. This official has read some books and seen records of 'using bones for fuel' and 'exchanging children for food' in disaster years. Just reading these words, I was scared out of my wits. Since I am the magistrate of Fengtai County, if such things really happen here, I could not redeem myself even with ten thousand deaths."

With such dignified righteousness laid out, the landlords knew that Magistrate Shang Yuan was about to state his conditions. Everyone's eyes wandered back and forth between Shang Yuan and Chen Ke beside him. Shang Yuan's meaning should be Chen Ke's meaning.

Local landlords knew that Magistrate Shang Yuan had a very deep relationship with the Insurance Corps. They had seen more than once that when Magistrate Shang Yuan met Chen Ke, the leader of the Insurance Corps, he always took the initiative to step forward and salute. Although they didn't know who Chen Ke was, the rule of officialdom was that commoners saluted officials. Although Magistrate Shang Yuan didn't deliberately put on airs when facing landlords, his official prestige was always sufficient. This let the landlords know that Chen Ke was not someone they could afford to provoke. Of course, it must be noted that during this natural disaster, the Insurance Corps, which controlled nearly a thousand people, was definitely not a force the landlords could offend either.

"The county has already moved the victims to Yuezhangji. Presumably, everyone knows about this, right?" Shang Yuan asked.

Of course, everyone knew about this. The reason why these landlords could tolerate the existence of the Insurance Corps before this, and didn't risk death to run to the prefecture seat or Jiangsu, was on one hand that it was hard to leave their native land, and on the other hand, the roads were cut off. Excessive rain fell for more than 60 days, mountain torrents erupted, and the Huai, Si, Sha, Ru, Fei and other rivers rose simultaneously. The water on the flat ground was several feet deep, and over a thousand *li* up and down, all became a watery country. To save the surrounding people, the Insurance Corps requisitioned all boats. Without boats, the landlords couldn't run either. More importantly, public security in Fengtai County was actually better after the disaster than before.

Since the flood started, the Insurance Corps had managed all the victims and refugees. They built a place called "Home of the Common People." The concentration camp provided food and lodging, so the victims naturally followed to the "People's Home." After the Insurance Corps settled all these people, they struck out forcefully and swept away the local ruffians and hooligans in the county. These people were all arrested for forced labor. Although it was a disaster year, the order in Fengtai County was much better. What landlords feared most was victims rising up to make trouble. How many people did a landlord family have? In a disaster year, the common people would die even if they didn't make trouble; making trouble might mean dying a bit later. If thousands of common people rioted, landlords couldn't resist at all. Since someone was willing to come forward to manage these things, landlords felt happy instead.

Of course, the Insurance Corps relied on this "Home of the Common People" to recruit manpower and gather henchmen on a large scale. If it were in the past, providing such materials would naturally be hugely expensive. Ordinary forces couldn't afford it at all; they could only borrow money and grain from landlords. And landlords could also take the opportunity to reach various compromises with these forces. Unexpectedly, the Insurance Corps didn't do this at all. Since building the "People's Home," the Insurance Corps completely ignored the landlords' active gestures of goodwill. On one hand, they cut off the connection between the inside and outside of the "Home of the Common People"; on the other hand, they relied on their own strength to provide clothing, food, money, and grain for the concentration camp. They never asked landlords for a bit of property. Magistrate Shang Yuan also didn't take advantage of the natural disaster to extort landlords.

Although landlords felt strange about such an abnormal situation, since they didn't suffer losses themselves, it was an extremely lucky thing in this year of great disaster. At least most of the landlords present thought so. Except for Ren Qiying who explicitly requested to join the Insurance Corps, other landlords thought "less trouble is better than more trouble" and chosen a self-protection strategy of silence.

"Lord Shang, what instructions do you exactly have?" The one speaking was Landlord Zhang Pinggui. Although he knew the best way now was to remain silent. But Zhang Pinggui and Zhang Youliang were clansmen, relatives within three or four degrees. After learning of Zhang Youliang's destruction, he was very panicked and uneasy. The armed force under Zhang Youliang was also considered famous in Fengtai County. As a result, these young men of the Insurance Corps turned hostile as soon as they said so, and dealt with Zhang Youliang in half a day. There was no more news of the Zhang family members. If the Insurance Corps took action again, people related to Zhang Youliang would naturally bear the brunt. To avoid this fate falling on his head, Landlord Zhang Pinggui had to argue strongly on just grounds.

When the Insurance Corps began to transfer a large number of victims to Yuezhangji, the landlords hadn't received the news of Zhang Youliang's destruction. Regarding the transfer of victims, landlords privately celebrated. The Insurance Corps managed those people very strictly, and the landlords didn't know what happened inside the "Home of the Common People." But according to past experience, the farther away one was from the victims in a disaster year, the safer. The Insurance Corps moved all the victims to other places, so the landlords in the county town were naturally much safer.

But a few days later, the news of Zhang Youliang's destruction reached the county town, and only then did the landlords know things were bad. It wasn't that the landlords hadn't heard of Zhang Youliang shouting about taking action against the Insurance Corps. They had also guessed in private who would win if the two sides really fought. Unexpectedly, that group of young men from the Insurance Corps took action instantly, and actually destroyed Zhang Youliang first. Zhang Youliang's destruction was so easy; if the Insurance Corps took action against other landlords, who could withstand it?

Before they had time to organize, the Insurance Corps troops came to the door with Magistrate Shang Yuan's oral message. It was said that everyone was to hold a meeting. Those formerly poor people were far less polite than before. After announcing, regardless of whether the landlords were willing or not, they immediately took people forcibly. Everyone gathered together in the Insurance Corps barracks. This was obviously a "Hongmen Banquet."

Although Shang Yuan was obviously in cahoots with the Insurance Corps, Shang Yuan was an official after all; he had to be reasonable, right? So Zhang Pinggui quickly replied, fearing that if he remained silent, Shang Yuan would feel he couldn't reason with the landlords and wash his hands of the matter. If Chen Ke came out to speak, the price he offered would definitely be much higher than Shang Yuan.

"The county has decided to move all the victims to Yuezhangji and has already started rush-planting and rush-harvesting. The victims need to farm, and the land in Yuezhangji is not enough. To feed these tens of thousands of people, this official feels we have to borrow some more land from everyone." Shang Yuan said very calmly.

Hearing this, there was silence in the room. The landlords were extremely shocked. They never expected that Shang Yuan, as the magistrate, could say such words. These people had never heard of such a thing as "borrowing land." They couldn't understand Shang Yuan's meaning and didn't dare to speak indiscriminately.

Shang Yuan naturally didn't intend to let everyone guess blindly. He originally intended to explain carefully. "This official stayed in the capital for a long time. From princes up top to ordinary officials down below, this official has some friendship. Do you gentlemen know what the hottest topic in the capital is now?"

"Please inform us, Lord Magistrate." Ren Qiying asked in a crisp voice. The girl's pleasant voice not only didn't put the participating landlords in a good mood but attracted angry gazes instead.

Ren Qiying didn't care at all. Not only did she not care, but she also sneered, "Elders, I know your thoughts. You just dare not speak, afraid of offending people after saying wrong things, and also afraid of being extorted. But this girl feels we might as well speak clearly. The Insurance Corps dared to beat even Uncle Zhang; we are even less of a match. Bringing us here this time is clearly a Hongmen Banquet. Maybe Mr. Chen Ke will smash a tea bowl, and dozens of people will rush in from outside immediately, brandishing knives and guns against us. Rather than getting to this stage, it's better to speak clearly. Everyone discuss it openly. Even if we can't reach an agreement in the end, we will die understanding why. Elders, you are knowledgeable and experienced; do you think what this girl said makes some sense?"

The participating landlords originally had a mind to "stall," so how could they be willing to lay their cards on the table so straightforwardly? After Ren Qiying finished these words, most landlords showed extremely unhappy expressions. Only one person laughed loudly. Everyone looked; the one laughing was Chen Ke.

"Miss Ren's words are interesting. I'll state my position to everyone first: inviting everyone here this time, we must discuss a result. Without a result, no one should think about going back." Chen Ke laughed.

This statement was clear and understandable. The landlords' last thought of hoping to muddle through fell flat. Before they could speak, they heard Chen Ke continue: "Tea bowls are very expensive. Smashing one costs a lot of money; I feel distressed. Calling dozens of people with knives and guns in from outside—I just need to shout once; no need to smash tea bowls."

This naked threat was really effective. The landlords swallowed the words that had reached their lips back into their stomachs.

Chen Ke continued: "Everyone listen to Magistrate Shang Yuan finish first; what's the rush? We have plenty of time. We have prepared accommodation for everyone here. Whenever we finish talking, we will naturally let everyone go. Magistrate Shang, please continue."

Shang Yuan ignored the landlords' faces turning ashen and continued: "The trend in Beijing recently is talking about constitutionalism (*Lixian*). To put it plainly, it means everyone formulating a law together, and everyone has to abide by this law in the future. From the Empress Dowager and princes up top to officials and clerks down below, everyone feels it should be done this way. Now is the flood period. This subordinate official feels that, first of all, we have to relieve the disaster. But regarding this charter of disaster relief, if we alone have the final say, either the common people won't be happy, or the landlords won't be happy. So, I feel we might as well follow the intention of Beijing and establish a constitution. Let's discuss and formulate a law. Whether it is this official, the Insurance Corps, you gentlemen, or the common people, all follow this law. This official's words alone don't count on this matter, so I invited you gentlemen here to discuss how this constitutional legislation should proceed."

After these words were finished, the landlords were immediately confused. They originally thought Shang Yuan and Chen Ke wanted to seize the landlords' land. Unexpectedly, it turned into some constitutionalism. Fengtai County wasn't too isolated; some landlords knew the term "constitutionalism" and heard it was making a big noise in Beijing. But what exactly constitutionalism was, they didn't know. This was a major event discussed by the Empress Dowager and princes; the landlords thought to themselves that they were not qualified to participate in such major events. As soon as Shang Yuan said this, everyone was completely baffled—like a monk measuring two *zhang* tall who couldn't touch his own head.

While puzzled, they heard Ren Qiying laugh: "Lord Magistrate, you mean that to relieve the disaster, you want to borrow our landlords' land. You want us to discuss a charter, letting us landlords discuss with you how to borrow our land. Is this right or not?"

"Exactly so," Shang Yuan replied.

Only now did the landlords understand. A burst of anger surged in everyone's chest. This clearly meant the landlords were being sold, and they still had to help Shang Yuan count the money. This was really bullying people too much.

"Lord Magistrate, your words are unreasonable." Wang Pinggui spoke up. "Borrowing our land for the common people to farm—this is unheard of. You asking us to discuss how to distribute our own family property to others, isn't this playing us?" At this point, Wang Pinggui threw his delaying tactics to the winds. If he was openly played like a monkey by others, he would absolutely not accept it like this. As soon as these words came out, other landlords nodded one after another. Obviously, Wang Pinggui spoke their heartfelt thoughts.

Facing the landlords whose attitudes were quite consistent, Shang Yuan frowned slightly and looked at everyone with a slightly puzzled expression. If Shang Yuan had glared angrily and flown into a rage, the landlords might not have been afraid. But Shang Yuan's expression, which simply carried sympathy and pity, made the landlords baffled and uneasy.

After looking at all the landlords, Shang Yuan said: "Everyone ran to the county town, and some are even preparing to run to the prefecture seat and the provincial capital. Why? Isn't it because you are afraid of victims making trouble? Why do victims make trouble? Isn't it because they can't survive? As far as I know, after every flood, countless lawsuits and many homicide cases arise because of land demarcation. After every flood, victims will plant some grain on land that can be farmed, regardless of whose land it is, just hoping to have some harvest to survive the disaster year. Then these things entangle endlessly, and can't be cleared up for several years. It will even forge many personal grudges. Rather than this, it's better for us to simply draw a path now, to save fighting lawsuits later. At that time, everyone will be in turmoil because of lawsuits. When everyone files complaints, you always have to bribe up and down. This official doesn't love money and naturally won't accept any bribes. But everyone's money didn't come from the wind; spending this money in vain to fatten the officials and runners, don't you feel distressed?"

After Shang Yuan finished these words, the landlords also felt there was some reason. Although they had some intention of uniting against the enemy just now, once Shang Yuan mentioned the internal contradictions among landlords caused by land division, many people immediately remembered many old things.

"Mr. Zhang Pinggui, I heard that you and Mr. Lv Youlian's family are in-laws. As a result, the two families fought a lawsuit for almost ten years because of a piece of land. Two magistrates were changed, but the matter wasn't cleared up. Good in-laws act like enemies on weekdays. I won't talk about other things; after this flood, the field ridges and boundaries are all gone. Are your two families preparing to reconcile? Or are you preparing to continue fighting for that piece of land?" Before this meeting, Chen Ke and the others learned from the experience of attacking Zhang Youliang and made a lot of preparations and plans. They strove not to have huge loopholes in the plan. And regarding the contradictions between various landlords, the People's Party did a detailed investigation.

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, Zhang Pinggui's face immediately became extremely ugly. Landlord Lv Youlian also participated in this meeting. Because of these old grudges, he sat far away from Zhang Pinggui. Hearing Shang Yuan finish, Lv Youlian just snorted coldly but didn't speak. The atmosphere immediately became somewhat strange.

"So, gentlemen, won't it work if we formulate a charter?" Shang Yuan continued to ask with a sympathetic look.