"Stop these people from crying and take them to verify their identities." The 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 359th Brigade of the Insurance Corps was employed in this battle. It was originally an operation to pick up the family members of the officers and soldiers of the Anhui New Army, but now it had turned into a reconnaissance operation to attack the locality. When the Water Detachment first set out, it included a reconnaissance unit. The reconnaissance unit was the group with the highest cultural level in the Insurance Corps. Besides undertaking reconnaissance work, these soldiers who possessed certain writing skills also temporarily acted as clerks.

Before attacking the fort, the troops had compiled a list of the landlord family's population. As soon as the battle ended, the screening operation began. Thanks to the disaster victims outside the fort, intelligence on how many people were in the landlord's family, how many relatives, their genders, and their names was easily collected, and then verified through cross-referencing. Basically, not a single one was missed. It could be said that even the landlord himself might not know the situation of his own clan so clearly.

Responsible for this work was Xiong Mingyang, the political commissar of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the newly formed Water Detachment. The 1st and 2nd Regiments had conducted large-scale personnel exchanges with the Water Detachment. All soldiers willing to fight for the common people were incorporated into the ranks of the Water Detachment. The Military Commission decided not to pull out the entire unit. It wasn't that they felt the soldiers were unreliable, but that the public security pressure in the base area was now unprecedentedly high. After a large number of disaster victims entered the base area, public security issues began to become prominent. These people did not have the constructiveness of the Fengtai County common people; the newly arriving victims from other places came to Fengtai County for survival. Even if they were incorporated into temporary production teams, these people could not willingly participate in the cause of building "New Fengtai County." Therefore, the People's Party strengthened mass work among the victims on the one hand, and strengthened security work on the other.

Under such circumstances, external battles could not consume so much manpower. Only soldiers willing to participate in combat could have better combat effectiveness, so Xiong Mingyang chose to participate in the battle.

Liu Guangying, the daughter of landlord Liu Shengyong, was weeping in sorrow for the death of her father and brother when she was suddenly yanked up. It was inconvenient for male soldiers of the Insurance Corps to participate in such work, so when Liu Guangying turned her head, she saw a female soldier from the Insurance Corps Water Detachment. Zhang Xiuhua pulled Liu Guangying's arm and yanked her up. "Sister, stop crying. Go for roll call," Zhang Xiuhua said.

The former Fengtai County refugee camp was now renamed "Fengtai County New Village." In early October, the rush-planted farmland had its first harvest. When the first batch of potatoes was dug out, they weren't very big, and the yield per mu wasn't very large either. If planted properly, the yield per mu should have reached over 1,000 jin. Now there was only a harvest of about 400 jin. But the Insurance Corps had planted over ten thousand mu of potatoes at once. The first harvest of 1,500 mu, with a yield of 600,000 jin, made the common people blossom with smiles. Actually, they could have harvested later, but the influx of disaster victims made the hearts of the people in Fengtai County waver. No amount of inspiring words was as reliable as grain placed in front of them. The Insurance Corps then painfully harvested a batch of grain.

With ten jin of potatoes per person for the 60,000 disaster victims, such a harvest was enough for everyone to eat for ten days. On the day of the harvest, everyone ate a truly full meal for the first time. The morale of the army and people in the base area was greatly boosted. A flood had occurred in the spring when the green crop had not yet replaced the yellow, yet in late autumn, there was actually a harvest. This unheard-of event made the army and people sincerely support the People's Party.

Zhang Xiuhua was originally a probationary party member. When the troops needed to recruit some female soldiers, she signed up voluntarily. Although the fierce battle frightened Zhang Xiuhua quite a bit, facing the work assigned to her before the battle started—taking the female family members of the landlord for screening—Zhang Xiuhua still strove to complete it.

"Let go of me," Liu Guangying shouted. Facing those fierce men in blue, she didn't dare to resist. Facing a woman in blue, Liu Guangying suddenly had the courage to resist. "I won't go with you. I don't want to go with you."

"Sister, come with me. I won't hurt you," Zhang Xiuhua advised.

"You killed my father, and you say you won't hurt me?" Liu Guangying immediately shouted. While shouting, she struggled with all her might.

The strength of a landlord's daughter was nothing compared to a girl like Zhang Xiuhua who came from a farming background, let alone that Zhang Xiuhua had undergone continuous military training. What troubled Zhang Xiuhua was how to persuade her successfully. The Insurance Corps paid great attention to training work, but that was all aimed at combat, which is to say, aimed at men. These soldiers had not received specialized training on how to deal with women.

Since soft tactics didn't work, she would use hard ones. Zhang Xiuhua didn't say anything more. She dragged Liu Guangying towards the assembly point, saying as she walked, "Come with me."

Liu Guangying couldn't resist. No matter how she pulled back, she couldn't withstand the pulling of Zhang Xiuhua's powerful arm. Finally, she simply didn't care whether it was dirty or not, lay on the ground for the first time, and refused to walk. Moreover, she started screaming. The unique sharp voice of a female felt very uncomfortable. Xiong Mingyang didn't want to have any dealings with women; Chinese tradition didn't support social interaction between men and women, and the People's Party consistently emphasized respecting women. This time the troops arranged for female soldiers, which made Xiong Mingyang feel much more relaxed. But he didn't expect that even so, it would be so troublesome to really take the women away smoothly. Seeing that Zhang Xiuhua couldn't solve the problem smoothly despite talking, advising, pulling, and dragging, he also got a bit anxious. Not only that, seeing Liu Guangying resist like this, other members of the Liu family also started to make a fuss. The landlord's family members, who had originally been scared out of their wits by the killing, also started to cause a commotion.

Xiong Mingyang walked forward in anger and gave two slaps to a young boy whose veins were popping out on his head and who was resisting the most fiercely. *Ping pa!* "What are you fussing about!" Xiong Mingyang roared. The soldiers of the Insurance Corps were initially quite polite to the captives; this was stipulated in the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention." Seeing that such an approach did not receive a kind response from the captives, Xiong Mingyang couldn't help but get angry.

The soldiers of the Insurance Corps never expected that the political commissar would be the first to break discipline. These simple soldiers dared to fight and dared to bleed and sacrifice. But for these soldiers, the reason they did so was that the People's Party and the Insurance Corps gave them such power and gave them the order to fight. The orders of the Insurance Corps were the key to everything. This was the education the soldiers had consistently received for more than half a year. Although they were also very dissatisfied with the resistance of Landlord Liu's family members, the soldiers didn't dare to personally beat the captives in public. Seeing the political commissar give two slaps to that kid who scratched and clawed like a wild cat, many soldiers actually felt very happy. Especially the soldiers who had been scratched by this kid.

Seeing her brother being beaten, Liu Guangying immediately crawled up from the ground. She was about to rush at Xiong Mingyang again, but was grabbed by Zhang Xiuhua. "Don't beat my brother. You bandits," Liu Guangying shouted.

"We are not bandits, we are the army of the People's Party. We are the army of the common people," Xiong Mingyang shouted at the Liu family members who were restless. "We have our own discipline. Comrade Zhang Xiuhua, let go of this woman, and then tell these people the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention."

As soon as Zhang Xiuhua let go, Liu Guangying rushed to her brother's side. The siblings held each other's arms and wouldn't let go. Zhang Xiuhua ignored them; she loudly recited the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention once. Then she looked at Xiong Mingyang.

"The eighth point: do not mistreat captives, do not beat or curse them, do not search their pockets; everyone must be conscious in observing discipline, supervise each other and do not violate it. This is our discipline. But this is for captives. Since you are our captives, you must be obedient. You must do whatever we tell you to do. We don't beat or curse captives, but that doesn't mean we let you be unwilling to be captives and beat and curse us. Our soldiers are not punching bags," Xiong Mingyang said loudly. This was not only said to the Liu family, but also to the soldiers. Seeing the sudden realization on the comrades' faces, Xiong Mingyang continued to shout: "Those who do not give up resistance are not captives! Although we don't want to kill people, for enemies who resist to the end, those who should be killed must still be killed!"

The Liu family members originally saw that the Insurance Corps soldiers didn't want to make things difficult for them, and adding Liu Guangying siblings' resistance, their minds had become somewhat active. After hearing Xiong Mingyang's roar, everyone looked at the eager soldiers around them and immediately became silent as cicadas in winter, daring not to move.

"Then kill me, let me follow my father and mother!" Liu Guangying suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Good, bring them to the middle and give them two knives!" Xiong Mingyang shouted loudly. The soldiers were stunned, completely not expecting Xiong Mingyang to issue such an order. The Liu siblings were just children around ten years old; the soldiers really had no intention of killing them. But military orders were like mountains; since Xiong Mingyang ordered it, the soldiers had to obey. The Liu siblings were brought to the center of the open ground, and two knives were thrown at their feet. The soldiers couldn't help but grip their weapons tightly. If a fight really broke out, the Liu siblings would be shot dead in an instant.

The Liu siblings looked at the soldiers around them, knowing that as long as they picked up the knives, they would die on the spot. Although they had an impulse to pick up the knives, they ultimately didn't dare to move a muscle.

Although Liu Guangying had submitted again in her heart, she refused to relax her mouth. "What kind of common people's army are you? Apart from daring to rob our Liu family's grain, apart from daring to rob our Liu family's things, what else do you dare to do?" She said this with righteous indignation. The Liu family members couldn't help but nod after hearing it. These words spoke the inner thoughts of the Liu family members. Their faces, originally full of fear, now recovered some spirit.

"Haha, your family's things?" Xiong Mingyang laughed loudly, as if he had heard the biggest joke. He raised his left hand, pointed at the Liu siblings, and then pointed at the Liu family members. He said loudly, "Your Liu family's grain? Your Liu family's things? Then let me ask you, of the grain now in the Liu family granary, how many jin were planted by your Liu family going down to the fields? How much was collected by you from the common people?"

Liu Guangying really didn't expect this man with blue clothes and short hair to say such things. She was immediately choked into silence.

"If this grain was grown by your Liu family with your own sweat, our People's Party army wouldn't touch a single grain of yours," Xiong Mingyang said loudly.

Hearing this, the Liu family members were all speechless, but the faces of the Insurance Corps soldiers lit up.

"The land is my family's. It is perfectly justified for my family to collect rent. If my family didn't rent the land to the fellow villagers, they wouldn't have anything to eat." Liu Guangying knew that she and her brother probably wouldn't have a good end today, so she simply went all out. She also screamed.