"Are these unruly people not afraid of royal law?" Magistrate Zhou of Nangong County trembled with anger in the yamen. But being blocked at the gate of the yamen, if this continued, how could he continue to be the magistrate?

"How many people are outside exactly?" Magistrate Nangong asked.

"Sir, I see there are at least more than two hundred people outside." The bailiff dared not speak too loudly, fearing to irritate the magistrate.

"Hiss!" The magistrate felt a sensation similar to a toothache. Needless to say, someone must be playing tricks behind the scenes. "Find out who is instigating behind the scenes first!" The magistrate ordered.

Sometimes even a Marquis of a Hundred Li (*Bai Li Hou* - Magistrate) like the magistrate couldn't do whatever he wanted. Magistrate Nangong suddenly found that hundreds of ruffians and idlers united were also very difficult to deal with. Bailiffs wanted to go out to inquire about news, but as soon as they opened the door, they saw idlers standing full at the gate, shouting: "Life can't go on; we want to rebel." They simply didn't let the bailiffs go out.

"Do you want to rebel?" The bailiff shouted.

"We just want to rebel!" The idlers shouted back.

Facing such rolling knife meat (*gun dao rou* - tough/shameless people), the bailiffs really had no way. Holding weapons in hand, the bailiffs really dared not fight their way out. Otherwise, fighting out meant they had to come back. After reporting the matter to the magistrate, the magistrate was furious. This was too bullying.

"Come, this official will take you to see personally. If this official gives an order, you beat them out for me." The magistrate shouted.

Opening the door this time, the idlers were still at the gate. Seeing the magistrate's official uniform, the idlers clamored again, "Can't live anymore, rebel!" Hearing these words, the magistrate's face was gloomy. Just as he was about to let the bailiffs fight out, he saw two people squeeze to the door. The magistrate's hand was originally raised, pointing at the idlers. As soon as he saw these two people squeezing to the door, the magistrate's fingers trembled, and his gloomy face almost turned green with anger, "Drag these two bastards in for me." The magistrate shouted to the bailiffs.

The two were dragged into the gate, and then the door closed with a bang. The bailiffs held weapons preparing to wait for Magistrate Zhou to speak, but saw Magistrate Zhou rush up directly and give each of the two a kick first. He shouted while kicking, "Rebel? You guys really rebelled."

The two young men took a kick but didn't complain at all. Instead, they both spoke with smiles, "Hello, Uncle." "Hello, Teacher."

As soon as these words came out, the bailiffs were surprised. Magistrate Zhou waved to the bailiffs, "You go down." After speaking, the magistrate's anger hadn't subsided, and he kicked the two again. This Magistrate Zhou was from Julu, Hebei. One of the two young men kicked by him was Pang Zi, who had studied with this Magistrate Zhou for a few months. The other was Magistrate Zhou's nephew, Pang Tianshuo. Pang Zi and Pang Tianshuo were distant cousins.

Seeing these two brats actually play this trick on him, Magistrate Zhou was almost amused by anger. Taking the two into the study, the magistrate opened his mouth and cursed: "How does Brother Jing have relatives like you?"

"Teacher, I have no choice..." Pang Zi said. Although he only studied with Magistrate Zhou for a few months, Pang Zi still dared not act rashly towards the teacher.

Magistrate Zhou stared at Pang Zi for a while but didn't continue to scold, "What rebellion? I'll issue an escort license (*ya piao*); you lead these idlers to escort goods for people in the future."

This was originally the purpose of Pang Zi's action this time. He thought there would be some twists and turns, but didn't expect Magistrate Zhou to agree so easily. This made Pang Zi overjoyed, "Thank you, Teacher."

Magistrate Zhou said seriously: "I only help you this one time. If other things happen in the future, I can only do business officially."

Just like this, Pang Zi got the escort license and started the business of the Escort Agency (*Biao Ju*).

Every time he thought of this matter, Pang Zi felt lucky. Actually, Magistrate Zhou was usually a very serious person. It was really not easy to make him help so readily.

"Is Mr. Xingtai here?" Entering his own courtyard, Pang Zi shouted.

"Mr. Chen is not here." A fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy came out to answer.

"He went to the breeding farm again?" Pang Zi asked the boy.

"Mr. Chen went to the Peasant Association."

After Pang Zi got the escort license for the Escort Agency, Chen Tianhua set up the first Peasant Association in Gaojia Village. The first batch of Peasant Association members were farmers who participated in the breeding farm. After that, Chen Tianhua spent most of his time in the Peasant Association, and Pang Zi was used to it.

To buy people's hearts in Hejia Village today, Pang Zi took a lot of chickens, ducks, and pigs from the breeding farm starting the day before yesterday. Although preparing to return to Nangong County immediately, Pang Zi felt he should greet Chen Tianhua and thank him before leaving. If Chen Tianhua didn't run the breeding farm well, where would there be so many livestock and poultry for Pang Zi to use? Thinking of this, Pang Zi got up and went out, going to the breeding farm to find Chen Tianhua.

From last year to now, Chen Tianhua stayed in Hebei for almost a year. Because he learned the Hanyu Pinyin taught by Chen Ke, although his accent still had a strong Hunan flavor, Hebei people could understand what he said.

At this time, Chen Tianhua was organizing fertilizer in the earthworm field with other breeding farm personnel. Carrying a hoe and working skillfully, that is, covering the humus retted from straw stalks, pig manure, and chicken manure on the organized earthworm field. After the autumn harvest, there was no shortage of straw stalks. Lay a layer of retted stuff, then lay a layer of wheat straw and sorghum stalks, then sprinkle a layer of soil, then cover a layer of humus, and then lay straw stalks and soil. Every commoner working in the earthworm field wore a mask. Even so, the pungent smell still smoked the eyes so they couldn't open much.

When left in Hebei by Chen Ke, Chen Tianhua had already prepared mentally that future work would be very hard. But in the long talk before parting with Chen Ke, Chen Ke gave Chen Tianhua three suggestions. One was not to propagate beating away foreigners to the common people. The common people didn't care about such things at all. Second was to understand that the problem now was to develop productive forces so that the common people could produce more food. Third was to establish an organization truly belonging to the common people—the Peasant Association.

Chen Tianhua admired Chen Ke very much. Since Chen Ke said so, Chen Tianhua really implemented Chen Ke's three suggestions. Actually, Chen Ke had only heard of Chen Tianhua's great name. Because historically Chen Tianhua committed suicide in 1905, Chen Ke had no concept of Chen Tianhua's "possibilities." This was also the reason why Chen Ke wanted to leave Chen Tianhua in Hebei. Chen Tianhua was a person who could see current surface problems and raise relatively profound questions. As for how to find solutions to China's current problems, as a latecomer, Chen Ke's evaluation of the problem-solving ability of people in this era was extremely low.

History has proven that only by carrying out a thorough revolution, smashing all old orders, and rebuilding a new order in China, can China be saved. Any reformism is bullshit.

Chen Ke had always been puzzled by one thing. The industrial age and the agricultural age are originally two social situations that have nothing to do with each other. Why do some people always hold on to those "warm veils" of the agricultural age while being in the industrial age? Even in the 21st century, such fools still emerge one after another. These people basically call themselves "public intellectuals," and the vast majority have a characteristic: they only revere the status of "scholars" in China's agricultural age. Thinking that recognizing a few broken characters and reading a few sour essays allows them to be high above, naturally entitled to power. Most of these people praise some "Republic of China Style" (*Min Guo Fan*).

The Republic of the so-called "Republic of China Style" is the era when such "public intellectuals" who read some books occupied high positions in society. Without exception, these people praising "Republic of China Style" in the 21st century are guys who think scholars are superior to others.

Since Chen Ke had a good impression of Chen Tianhua, but since there was no trace of Chen Tianhua in history after 1905, Chen Ke must let Chen Tianhua prove that he was not this kind of "Republic of China Style." Because Chen Ke actually had a very serious idea: if he came to power, these "Republic of China Style" predecessors shouldn't even think about possessing a shred of political power. Even for the rubber-stamp Political Consultative Conference, Chen Ke wouldn't give this gang any chance. So Chen Ke hoped very much that Chen Tianhua could withstand such a test.

Of course, this was also because Chen Ke didn't know there would be such a big flood in Anhui in 1906. In the disaster area, Chen Tianhua could definitely withstand a harsher test. If he knew, he would have taken Chen Tianhua to Anhui.

Chen Tianhua didn't know Chen Ke's true thoughts. He only knew Chen Ke asked him to practice a very hard revolutionary road in Hebei. Chen Tianhua had participated in using existing social contradictions to launch revolutions. But that was the dissatisfaction of the middle class with the Manchu Qing regime. These people were either out of indignation or because of long-accumulated economic contradictions.

In Hebei, Chen Ke asked Chen Tianhua to study the needs of the bottom-level common people for revolution. What exactly did the common people need? How was their revolutionary demand generated exactly? How to tell the common people a fact: without revolution, they will never have a future.

When Chen Tianhua asked Chen Ke how to deal with the common people, Chen Ke only said one sentence, "Work with the common people."

Now Chen Tianhua was working hard. Although Chen Tianhua's family background was poor, his father was a scholar, so Chen Tianhua himself didn't lack books to read. Later he studied well, and someone paid to help him. He continued to study further, even able to study abroad. Chen Tianhua was not too used to farm work. As for the breeding farm mainly run by Chen Tianhua, it goes without saying. This was a mode Chen Ke copied from the 21st-century breeding farm. In the understanding of the breeding farm management mode, there was a gap of nearly a century between the two sides.

So the work was naturally very hard. With Pang Zi's help, Chen Tianhua first gathered the owners of those saline-alkali or wet low-lying lands around the village. These lands were all bad lands; people with such lands were not poor people. Because these lands didn't produce much grain. If they were poor people, these lands would have been sold long ago to buy good land, or simply exchanged land.

Chen Tianhua didn't lack money. Led by Pang Zi, with a rent of fifty taels of silver a year, more than two hundred *mu* of continuous "bad land" was contracted at one time for a year and a half. With land, someone had to serve it. Still Pang Zi came forward; those people in the village who lacked land, had no land, or were forcibly deprived of tenancy were arranged to work here.

This breeding farm quickly became the laughingstock of the surrounding ten *li* and eight villages. Someone actually raised earthworms, and specially built some troughs with bricks. Everyone laughed at Chen Tianhua and these people. Just the money for these bricks couldn't be earned back by raising earthworms for a lifetime. If wanting to dig earthworms, just go to the field to dig; why bother so much?

Let alone the common people contacting this kind of artificial earthworm breeding for the first time, even Chen Tianhua, who had only read the book written by Chen Ke, was anxious in his heart. But relying on blind faith in Chen Ke, he persisted according to what was written in Chen Ke's book. Until more than two months later, Chen Tianhua, who initially mastered the law of earthworm reproduction, finally began to purchase the first batch of chicks, ducklings, and piglets from villagers. Another month passed, and nearby villagers were horrified to find that the chickens raised in the breeding farm led by Chen Tianhua grew extremely fast. Being chicks of more than a month old, the chickens and ducks in the breeding farm were half bigger than those of other families.

So naturally someone came to inquire, learning that these chickens and ducks fed on earthworms, and almost used earthworms as daily staple food to achieve the effect. Villagers who knew this "secret" could only shake their heads. Villagers would catch some earthworms and scoop some fish and shrimp as supplements for chicken and duck feed when earthworms often appeared after rain. Everyone who raised chickens and ducks knew that getting some earthworms and small fish and shrimp occasionally was fine, but if going specifically to get them every day, it was extremely uneconomical.

But the breeding farm run by Chen Tianhua raised earthworms on a large scale. Besides living earthworms used to raise chickens, ducks, and pigs, they were also used to raise small fish and shrimp in specially dug fish ponds. So the things that were very uneconomical for these villagers to capture in the natural environment alone, greatly reduced costs here with Chen Tianhua through artificial breeding.

Actually, Chen Tianhua merely brought knowledge to the countryside. Through organization, utilizing local resources slightly, he obtained great results.

In 1906, if someone ate an egg or duck egg a day, and ate chicken, duck, or fish meat once every five days, how big a household must this be to achieve it? The poor common people in the breeding farm basically achieved it.

If it were an ordinary person, able to achieve such results and let the common people live such a life, he would naturally be smug. Chen Tianhua was actually an ordinary person too. The reason he wasn't smug was simple: the plan Chen Ke left him specifically discussed the situation at this stage. By now, Chen Tianhua understood for the first time what was called "industrialized production" and what was called "small-peasant economy."

The purpose of "small-peasant economy" is production to satisfy a self-sufficient lifestyle, while "industrialized production" is production for the purpose of "transaction." Although the small-peasant economy also raises chickens, ducks, and pigs, those are incidental. This breeding farm personally started by Chen Tianhua aimed to produce more poultry and livestock. And the ultimate goal of these productions was to sell these poultry and livestock to make money. Before having enough sales channels, Chen Tianhua found that he encountered "product backlog" for the first time in his life. Many "chickens and ducks" simply couldn't be eaten.

And relying on a fanatical support for Chen Ke, Chen Tianhua even forced himself to read the part about the transition between "agricultural society" and "industrial society" in the book *Chinese Cultural Inheritance and the Rise of Materialism* patiently.

In this part, Chen Ke expounded "how the agricultural system looks warm and affectionate in ordinary days and bumper years," but becomes hell on earth in disaster years. So Chen Ke firmly believed that the agricultural system must be completely destroyed and replaced by an industrialized system. For example, in the agricultural system, as long as one industrial variable is added, it will immediately trigger a series of chain reactions.

Because the small-peasant economy can never compare with industrialization in low cost no matter what, Chen Ke warned Chen Tianhua in the document left to him. Distributing the products produced by the breeding farm to poor common people for free is an absolutely foolish act.

The day Chen Tianhua's breeding farm succeeded, basically sentenced the farmers in Nangong County who wanted to rely on raising poultry and livestock to get rich and make money to death. The small-peasant economy can absolutely not compare with industrial production. Unless all farmers join the breeding industry federation, that is, the Peasant Association. Any competition will only make farmers go bankrupt continuously.

Chen Tianhua really didn't quite believe it because when he began to suggest the common people of Gaojia Village join the Peasant Association, he encountered "onlookers" and rejection. Northerners had no confidence in Chen Tianhua, this southern barbarian. Everyone knew Chen Tianhua came with Pang Zi, this guy who didn't do proper work. Since Pang Zi wasn't a good person, Chen Tianhua wouldn't be much better.

As the saying goes, refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Since Chen Tianhua's good intentions couldn't be recognized by everyone, he could only do according to the method provided by Chen Ke. Within the next month, the prices of poultry and chicken/duck eggs in Nangong County fell by thirty percent. Nangong County was originally convenient in transportation, with merchants gathering, known as "Linqing water wharf, Nangong dry wharf." Merchants gathering meant strong consumption. The breeding industry looked inconspicuous, but actually, it was also a way for many people to obtain money. It's just that many people didn't feel it.

Moreover, the breeding industry has a characteristic: livestock and poultry have to eat as long as they are alive. Eating less will make them thin; if thin, they can't sell for a high price. If killed when these livestock and poultry are fat, if the meat cannot be sold immediately, it will spoil. Still can't sell for a price.

Chen Tianhua's big dumping immediately made many families feel the crisis. Because in Chen Tianhua's breeding farm, the proportion of earthworms and small fish/shrimp in the feed was very high. This meant sufficient protein and phosphorus content. And the amount of grain consumed was much less. Other family breeding had a much higher demand for grain. Don't look down on a thirty percent price drop; it immediately made raising chickens and ducks uneconomical. Not only that, if looking at grain alone, perhaps exchanging grain for Chen Tianhua's chickens and ducks might be even more cost-effective.

In the fifth month of the breeding farm opening, finally, someone came to make trouble.