The grain depot of the Insurance Corps could be said to be the most heavily guarded place in Fengtai County now. When Chen Ke determined the location of the grain depot, he defined it as the future farm grain depot of the Insurance Corps. To directly attack the grain depot of the Insurance Corps, one needed to annihilate a full company of grain depot guards. And this was the last line of defense. To engage the grain depot guards, one had to pass through the cultivation areas of two battalions. There were also several checkpoints in between. Without a pass, no matter who you were, you couldn't enter the control area of the Insurance Corps 359th Brigade casually.

At night, as the lights-out bugle of the Insurance Corps blew, the soldiers exhausted from a day's work went to sleep. After a while, a dozen figures stood up behind a small mound outside the Insurance Corps' land.

"Brother Zhao, is it really okay to go like this?" someone asked in a low voice.

"It's okay. The Insurance Corps dares not kill people. Weren't the few caught last time released?" the one called Brother Zhao said in a low voice. This guarantee seemed to have an effect; the others stopped making sounds.

Just hearing this, one knew this person had studied the Insurance Corps quite deeply. The Insurance Corps indeed didn't treat common people violently. Even for those local common people who targeted the grain depot, the Insurance Corps wouldn't beat or scold them, merely telling the arrested people that the grain in this granary was not only for the Insurance Corps to eat but also to be distributed to the common people of Fengtai County. There was no need for these guys stealing grain to ruin the grain distributed to the common people. Then they released the people.

"Let's go forward a bit more; those sentries also have to change shifts. When they change shifts, we'll slip past." Brother Zhao said in a low voice.

Generally speaking, these petty thieves should be able to sneak into a place very close to the grain depot, but it was a disaster year now. To find a mouthful of food, the common people didn't care much whether what they could eat was fully mature crops or crops just growing out.

The Insurance Corps set up patrol teams along the land they controlled. Although from past experience, the result of failing to steal the grain depot and being caught was not that bad. But everyone still felt it was better to be careful.

On the land planted by ordinary common people, rice accounted for thirty percent, and the rest were potatoes and sweet potatoes. The Insurance Corps side was different; all lands were planted with potatoes and sweet potatoes. Chen Ke's calculation was shrewd; the Insurance Corps itself could buy rice and wheat from other places. But what the disaster area needed was first not to starve people to death, not to eat exquisitely. So the Insurance Corps planted potatoes and sweet potatoes with large yields.

These people headed by Brother Zhao didn't know this. They stood up one by one and walked forward through the fields. No one dared to take the small road anymore; those caught all took the small road. These people felt it necessary to absorb the lessons of their predecessors.

However, what they didn't expect was that the Insurance Corps paid more attention to absorbing lessons than they did. Just after this gang of petty thieves crossed the Insurance Corps' land not far, they suddenly heard someone shout, "Password (*Kou Ling*)!"

This group of people was stunned. They had never heard the word "password" and completely didn't understand the meaning of this word. Before they could react, there was another vigilant shout, "Password!"

Of course, the petty thieves couldn't give the password. The hidden sentry of the Insurance Corps immediately blew the whistle. The shrill sound traveled far in the night. Soon, patrol teams rushed towards here.

Comparing physical strength and familiarity with the road, these petty thieves were far from opponents of the Insurance Corps patrol team. From the time they started to flee to when they were all caught, it took less than ten minutes. What made these petty thieves feel miscalculated was that they were beaten by the Insurance Corps soldiers. The captain of the patrol team came up angrily and gave each petty thief a kick first. "You come to steal things and don't walk on the road; do you know how much grain you trampled?" the patrol team captain roared.

"We are hungry!" someone cried.

Hearing this, the patrol captain's anger didn't subside at all; instead, it burned doubly. He stepped forward and gave the guy claiming to be hungry another kick. Amidst the petty thief's cry of pain, the captain cursed, "The crops you trampled are enough for you to eat for a winter. You are still hungry? If you are really hungry, do you still have the strength to be a thief?" Still not relieved after cursing, the captain gave that petty thief another kick.

"Captain, what to do with these people?"

"What to do? Kill them." The patrol captain dropped this sentence directly. If it were a while ago, the patrol captain wouldn't have been so angry. At that time, the crops were just planted, and the patrol range was far less large than now. And at that time, the Insurance Corps were all working on digging ditches; they only needed to do their own things well and protect the grain depot.

The situation now had undergone major changes. Although the hardest ditch-digging work was completed, as a patrol team, the patrol range expanded again and again. Before, everyone only needed to protect the grain depot; now they had to protect the crops even more. When these petty thieves fled for their lives, they only felt getting away was enough, ignoring what was under their feet completely. It was just like this just now. The patrol captain said the angry words of killing the petty thieves under annoyance.

Unexpectedly, a soldier beside him asked hesitantly: "Where to bury them after killing?"

This sentence completely opened the soldiers' train of thought. Everyone discussed animatedly.

"We have discipline not allowing killing people casually, right?"

"Kill secretly, who knows?"

"After killing them, stuff a knife in the corpse's hand and say they wanted to commit murder."

"Then might as well dig a pit and bury them; at least it can fertilize the land."

Discussions on how to kill and how to shirk responsibility after killing swarmed out. The speakers actually knew they couldn't possibly do this, but they were really unwilling if they didn't say these vicious words.

But those listening didn't know their lives were far from that dangerous. Being bound with ropes, and the Insurance Corps, legendary for not beating people, beat people just the same. Now hearing this gang discussing how to kill them, timid thieves even began to cry, and thieves with more flexible brains began to beg for mercy.

Listening to the crying and begging voices of these thieves, the patrol team's mood was unspeakably refreshing. Everyone would not kill indiscriminately no matter what; there was just a grievance in their hearts. The patrol captain was even considering simply patrolling along the boundary all night tomorrow. Although harder, it wouldn't be hard for too long. By November, grain always had to be harvested. Counting fully, it was only two months. As old soldiers of the Insurance Corps, the patrol captain had developed some habits of the Insurance Corps, "willing to endure hardship," "not afraid of hard work." As long as the goal could be achieved most effectively, Insurance Corps soldiers shouldn't be afraid of suffering.

Just then, news revealed in a petty thief's crying shout attracted the patrol captain's attention. But he didn't show any emotion; he just went up, found a random petty thief, and kicked him, "It's too late to beg for mercy now. If you knew to be afraid earlier, don't come to steal things." While speaking, he grabbed the petty thief who said interesting words just now. "Go, take them back." When his arm grabbed the petty thief's shoulder, the patrol captain clearly felt the petty thief's shoulder tremble.

When Hua Xiongmao was woken up, it was deep in the night. He knew there was no urgent matter; no one in the Insurance Corps dared to wake him up at this time. Sure enough, the news brought by the patrol captain made Hua Xiongmao's remaining sleepiness disappear instantly. The patrol captain also brought witnesses over. After repeatedly questioning and comparing the confessions of these few people, Hua Xiongmao roughly had his own judgment.

After the thieves caught in the act were taken away, Hua Xiongmao issued the first order: call Deputy Regiment Commander Chai Qingguo over.

"What? Someone in the base area colluded with outside bandits and prepared to rob us?" Chai Qingguo rarely questioned this news. In his view, the Insurance Corps worked so hard; it was already very unconscionable for the common people in the base area not to be grateful. As for colluding with outsiders to attack the Insurance Corps, this completely exceeded the scope of normal morality.

"I want you, Qingguo, to lead a team to solve this matter," Hua Xiongmao said.

Chai Qingguo thought it was very necessary to solve this gang of petty thieves. But on second thought, any company commander could probably do this job well; why ask him to do it? He began to be suspicious again.

"Regiment Commander Hua, asking me to be personally responsible for this matter, I'm afraid it's using an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken," Chai Qingguo said quite tactfully.

Hua Xiongmao knew Chai Qingguo misunderstood his meaning as soon as he heard this. He asked: "Brigade Commander Chen wants us to prepare to fight out now; Qingguo still remembers, right?"

"Of course I remember," Chai Qingguo said.

Hua Xiongmao got an accurate answer, so he continued, "I think we need to adjust the troops specifically now. Some troops may have to fight often. Some troops probably won't fight often. Gather all those who can fight into one unit."

Chai Qingguo's short-term goal was Second Regiment Commander, but he also knew it was full of difficulties to achieve this goal. In Chai Qingguo's view, although Chen Ke's influence in the People's Party was large enough, this was based on the full support of multiple heavyweight figures in the People's Party. But Chen Ke's power in the Insurance Corps was absolutely at the level of one word being nine tripods (carrying enormous weight). The military number one Hua Xiongmao and political number one He Zudao were Chen Ke's diehard loyalists, and Chen Ke's prestige among soldiers also exceeded Hua Xiongmao and He Zudao. The officer class had always worked under Chen Ke's personal leadership and was also convinced by Chen Ke. If Chai Qingguo wanted to become the Second Regiment Commander, he must get Chen Ke's approval.

Now Hua Xiongmao gave Chai Qingguo a task. If he did it well, it wasn't impossible to become the Second Regiment Commander. However, Chai Qingguo was not very convinced by Hua Xiongmao. In his view, Hua Xiongmao's military talent was not outstanding, at least not showing any admirable points.

But the Insurance Corps stressed merit and background. Hua Xiongmao had never made mistakes until now. Whether attacking Yuezhangji, expanding the army, or formulating the return home mission for the Anhui New Army not long ago. Chen Ke led the army, and Hua Xiongmao, as the regiment commander, was considered conscientious. There was nothing to pick at in his work.

Although worried that his efforts might be picked by Hua Xiongmao (taking credit), Chai Qingguo finally agreed to come forward to be responsible for forming troops capable of field operations.

Since Chai Qingguo agreed to be responsible for this work, Hua Xiongmao made arrangements. "Let's cultivate the First Battalion of the First Regiment as a fist unit (*Quan Tou Bu Dui*)."