The Fengtai County wharf was south of the county town, by the Huai River. In early 1906, it was a very ordinary small stone wharf. But when Qi Huishen arrived at Fengtai County with the large fleet at the end of October 1906, he could hardly see the original appearance of this wharf. The wharf had been expanded to double its size; the new parts built with large grey bricks and stones mortared with cement slurry looked thick and solid. Just looking at it gave people a very reliable feeling. Although the wharf here was quite busy with many people coming and going, the ground was very clean.

In the correspondence, Qi Huishen had long known that Chen Ke and the others were making great waves in Fengtai County. However, Qi Huishen had also experienced the social investigation of 1905; he grew up in Shanghai and was accustomed to environments with so many people. Compared with Shanghai, the population of the surrounding towns and villages, including the surrounding cities, was very small. So after the fleet docked, Qi Huishen really hadn't expected that although the Fengtai County wharf wasn't big compared to Shanghai, it would be so imposing and neat. And the density of people on the wharf was no less than in Shanghai.

As soon as the fleet approached the wharf, red and green lights had been hung up on many poles. This really startled Qi Huishen; such standardized handling didn't appear backward at all even compared to the Shanghai wharf.

"What is going on?" Qi Huishen asked the signalman beside him. Since boarding this ship and entering the water sphere of influence of the Insurance Corps, the signalmen began to be used frequently. For signal communication with land and water, these signalmen could always come up with methods that looked strange to Qi Huishen.

"Mr. Qi, that horizontal row of lights on top of every pole indicates which berth number it is. The vertical column of lights below tells how many ships each berth can hold. The small boats we sent out not long ago are pilots. They have already told the wharf the number and scale of our fleet. These lights are to tell us exactly how many ships can be docked. Soon small boats will come over to tell us how to dock."

"Wouldn't it be fine just to dock in order?" Qi Huishen asked curiously.

"This also involves some unloading issues. Some berths can unload cargo, while some berths are just specially used for parking ships. This has to be arranged well, otherwise it would be chaotic," the signalman explained very seriously.

So there was such a complex management system. Qi Huishen felt a sense of sudden realization. He smiled, "Thank you, Comrade Zhao. Only after you explained it did I understand."

"Mr. Qi, no need to be polite. This is my job." The signalman responded very seriously.

Qi Huishen could hear a sense of pride in the signalman's voice. He could also understand; the signalman had long been told that Qi Huishen was a big shot in the People's Party, coming from Shanghai, and visiting Fengtai County for the first time. And such a complex water management system was indeed something worth the signalman's pride.

Sure enough, as the signalman said, two small boats approached the fleet from the wharf, but didn't come completely close. Red and green lights lit up on the small boats, the lights constantly changing. The signalmen on every ship also communicated using signals Qi Huishen completely didn't understand. There were no chanties, no yelling and shouting, only the sound of water made by oars striking the water surface. Under the command of the signalmen, the fleet entered their respective berths in an orderly manner.

"Comrades disembarking, please take your belongings and get off the ship quickly." As soon as the fleet docked, someone on the berth began shouting with a megaphone. An hour before the ships docked, people on the fleet had already been notified of this matter. Wang Qinian and his uncle Wang Yuelong hurriedly picked up their suitcases and went ashore following the flow of people carrying bundles.

"Qinian, this People's Party really looks like the real deal," Wang Yuelong praised. "Just looking at the rules of the wharf, the wharves over in Manila are no better than this."

"Uncle, Mr. Chen Ke is indeed not an ordinary person. Up to now, hasn't the medicine from Shanghai still had no imitators in Nanyang?" Wang Qinian said with a smile.

Wang Yuelong was obviously very satisfied with his nephew's choice. He also laughed, "Many foreign devils catch venereal diseases. A year ago, I thought that once the formula for this medicine was published, European foreign medicine would enter Nanyang in large quantities. I really didn't expect that after a year, European foreign medicine not only hasn't entered Nanyang, but I've actually made quite a lot doing the resale business, selling the medicine to Europe and India."

Wang Qinian didn't care much about his uncle's praise. He looked around and suddenly pointed at the group of reception people on the wharf and said, "Uncle, look. That tall man on the wharf is Mr. Chen Ke."

Wang Yuelong looked in the direction of his nephew's finger. He only saw some tall and short people on the wharf; before he could distinguish which one was the Chen Ke his nephew mentioned—because of the upward viewing angle, he couldn't even distinguish which one was the tallest—he saw Qi Huishen already stepping forward quickly, and a tall man on the wharf also stepped forward quickly to welcome him. The two held hands tightly. Wang Yuelong knew that Qi Huishen was the highest leader of the People's Party Shanghai Branch, so presumably, the short-haired tall young man opposite him was the Chen Ke his nephew had always highly esteemed.

Parted for nearly a year, when Qi Huishen saw Chen Ke again, seeing this companion who had once led the comrades to swear to create a brand-new China, the excitement in his heart was beyond description. Since Chen Ke left, Qi Huishen had led the party branch in Shanghai to work hard, racking his brains. After the Anhui flood, communication between the two sides was interrupted for a time. But by then, quite a few Anhui disaster victims had already entered Jiangsu and Zhejiang to flee the disaster. Qi Huishen had specifically found disaster victims to conduct investigations. When these victims talked about the flood they personally experienced, it was truly weeping blood. Death, death, death; besides various starvations and deaths, the victims' narratives actually contained absolutely no other content. Listening to the first-hand information of this terrible disaster made Qi Huishen feel chilled to the bone. Those who could run to Anhui [Jiangsu/Shanghai border?] were no longer considered victims from the heavily hit areas. Qi Huishen simply couldn't imagine what Fengtai County, located in the core of the disaster area, would look like.

Just when Qi Huishen was burning with anxiety but had no way out, he finally received the small team sent by Chen Ke. Chen Ke's letter contained no words of complaint at all; instead, it constantly recounted how tenaciously the revolution was advancing. He requested Shanghai to provide ships and supplies; this fleet would bring these life-saving supplies back to Fengtai County.

Besides the People's Party comrades striving to save the disaster under Chen Ke's leadership, the news brought by this team was roughly the same as what the victims said. Qi Huishen knew Chen Ke's personality; this young man who looked gentle on ordinary days had an indescribable ruthlessness in his bones. As long as it was something Chen Ke resolved to do, he would definitely do it to the end. Although he knew the horror of the flood, Qi Huishen no longer said anything that could shake the morale of the army. He simply followed Chen Ke's arrangements, used all the connections of the Shanghai Branch comrades, and even used the power of Yan Fu, Fudan Public School Principal Ma Xiangbo, and the gentry they knew, to gather the ships and supplies Chen Ke needed, ensuring the fleet would face minimal difficulties. When seeing the fleet off, Qi Huishen could even smile sending the comrades onto the ship. But in reality, Qi Huishen was extremely anxious in his heart.

In the few months that followed, communication between the two sides was always barely maintained. On one side was the news brought by the fleet that the base area was flourishing day by day; on the other side was the even more terrible situation in the disaster area brought by more victims. Qi Huishen actually couldn't figure out which side was telling the truth.

Today he personally saw the Fengtai County wharf and saw Chen Ke. He finally believed that this founder of the People's Party in front of him, this highest leader of the People's Party, had realized the words in the letter about establishing a new base area. Needless to say anything else, being able to have the spare capacity to build a new wharf in a disaster year was enough to prove the strength of the base area.

"Wen Qing, Wen Qing..." Qi Huishen was full of words, but when they reached his lips, he didn't know how to say them. He could only hold Chen Ke's hand tightly and shake it vigorously.

"Huishen, welcome to the Fengtai County Base Area." Chen Ke was not as excited as Qi Huishen. Compared to a year ago, Qi Huishen had changed a lot. Originally, although Qi Huishen had the drive of a revolutionary youth, he came from a wealthy family and had received a lot of education, so overall he was still quite refined. But after being separated for nearly a year, there was a considerable change in Qi Huishen's temperament. Leading the work of the Shanghai Branch and preparing various supplies, Qi Huishen had experienced so many things, and he had also matured a lot. However, it could be seen that Qi Huishen had worried a lot these days; there was an indescribable gloomy feeling between his brows. That was the look only people who worried and were anxious all day long would have.

And in Qi Huishen's gaze looking at Chen Ke, only half was happiness; the other emotion was a mixture of worry that dared not believe the reality before his eyes.

"Wen Qing, is everyone okay?" Qi Huishen finally squeezed out the first question.

"All good. Zheng Lan, Zu Dao, everyone is good. Your side is okay too, right? The British didn't continue to trouble us, right?" Chen Ke laughed.

"Nothing happened in Shanghai. I was just worried about your side. Such a big flood in Anhui this time, many victims arrived in Shanghai, and there were people starving to death every day. I was worried to death every day." As Qi Huishen spoke, his eyes reddened, and he actually couldn't help choking up.

Chen Ke could imagine how anxious Qi Huishen had been these days. Just seeing one point—that every time the new fleet and new supplies received from Shanghai were of the maximum quantity—one could know how much energy Qi Huishen had actually exerted. Thinking of this, Chen Ke couldn't help but say, "Huishen, regarding the work of you and the Shanghai Branch comrades, the organization thanks you. You saved the people and saved the Party."

Qi Huishen never expected Chen Ke to squeeze out such a sentence. Although these semi-public, semi-private words were neither fish nor fowl, they didn't sound fake at all. He couldn't help but break into a smile through his tears. Wiping his tears, Qi Huishen asked, "Is Zheng Lan and the others here?"

"Zheng Lan is at the Insurance Corps station in Yuezhangji. Work over there is busy, so I didn't notify them for the time being." Chen Ke also smiled. While speaking, he suddenly saw Qi Huishen's gaze fall behind him, and then heard Qi Huishen ask in surprise, "Isn't that Zheng Lan behind you?"

Chen Ke turned his head and saw Hua Xiongmao squeezing through the crowd, striding over from behind him. Although he didn't know why Hua Xiongmao suddenly appeared here, Chen Ke laughed, "Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives. Zheng Lan is here."

While speaking, Hua Xiongmao had already arrived in front of them. He shook hands tightly with Qi Huishen. "Huishen, I missed you to death."

Although everyone was reuniting after a long separation, they had all done a lot of big things in this past year or so. Although their moods were excited, they all knew they should handle the current matters well. This fleet not only brought a large amount of supplies and machinery, but more importantly, many comrades from Beijing and Shanghai finally arrived. Qi Huishen quickly took Chen Ke to meet everyone.

Qin Tongren and Xu Erba of the Beijing Branch, these technicians from the honeycomb briquette factory; Wang Qinian, Xie Mingxian and others from Shanghai; and quite a few new party members developed in Shanghai had all disembarked. Everyone met briefly, and then Chen Ke led the team, taking these new comrades towards the direction of the Insurance Corps barracks.

The new comrades were all in Fengtai County for the first time, and most were in Anhui for the first time. Everyone already knew the details of this flood very well. Although they heard that Chen Ke and the others had established a great situation in Fengtai County and could even conquer the flood, before seeing it with their own eyes, everyone didn't quite believe it. Now seeing the order of this wharf with their own eyes, quite a few people believed that Chen Ke and the others had really created a true situation. But when following Chen Ke and the others to the barracks, seeing many refugee camps along the way, everyone became skeptical again about Chen Ke's words that they had already conquered the flood.

It was already evening, and it was impossible to hold a grand banquet. Qi Huishen had already given the roster of arrivals to Chen Ke, and the logistics department had allocated dormitories. Everyone first lined up for roll call on the playground to ensure no one was missing. Then comrades from the logistics department took everyone to their dormitories. Luggage was put down, and beds were made. Everyone was gathered again to recognize the canteen, water room, bathhouse, and toilets. Then dinner was served.

Food mainly consisting of potatoes filled the stomachs of these comrades who had traveled from afar. Everyone was then driven to take a bath. Then they were arranged to rest in the dormitories.

Since dormitories were temporarily allocated by region, Qin Tongren, Xu Erba, and others were arranged into one dormitory. Eight people were stuffed into one room. Many of them had never slept on double-deck bunks, and the straw mats were not that comfortable. Plus, northerners were not very used to boats; Xu Erba couldn't sleep on the upper bunk, so he simply opened his chatterbox. "Mr. Qin, how do you feel about this Fengtai County now? I feel it's not like what they said, that the disaster situation has already been calmed."

"Hmph, Wen Qing's ability is quite significant. Don't talk nonsense." Qin Tongren answered calmly.

"Why do you say that?" Xu Erba felt very puzzled.

Not only Xu Erba, but other northern comrades who came along were also somewhat doubtful. Plus, quite a few comrades hadn't fully recovered from seasickness; although their heads were dizzy and swollen, they were not sleepy. Hearing Mr. Qin Tongren, who didn't like to talk much on ordinary days, open his mouth, several people in the room simply sat up. "Mr. Qin, tell us. Why do you say Mr. Chen has significant ability?" These people had cooperated with Chen Ke in the Beijing honeycomb briquette factory before. Although they knew Chen Ke had ability, they always felt Chen Ke hadn't reached some amazing level.

Qin Tongren actually felt uncomfortable too and didn't have much sleepiness. Moreover, he had good judgment and had already noticed details that many of these traveling colleagues hadn't noticed. Although he didn't really want to show off, on second thought, if he didn't explain the reasoning clearly to these colleagues, in case they started talking nonsense, they would only be looked down upon. He also simply sat up to explain, "When everyone was bathing, did you notice the taste of the water?"

Those bathing showers were devices where water flowed as soon as the switch was turned; these comrades engaged in mechanics knew the principle at a glance. The northern concessions actually had running water. Compared with the goods made of bamboo in Anhui, iron faucets were still much stronger. Everyone didn't pay too much attention. But when the taste of water was mentioned, everyone felt they had no impression.

"The water didn't have any taste," someone said.

"Correct, it's precisely because it had no taste that it shows Wen Qing is remarkable. This is running water [tap water]," Qin Tongren explained.

"Running water?" Everyone felt somewhat confused. "This Fengtai County is right by the water; it wouldn't lack water anyway."

Qin Tongren was very disappointed with these companions who lacked basic observation skills. "We took the boat all the way; how was the smell everyone smelled all day long? The fishy smell was heavy, right? This running water is processed water; it has no fishy smell at all. Building a waterworks, processing water. Just this one item, how much strength had to be spent? This is a disaster area, not a city like Beijing or Tianjin. A tiny Fengtai County actually has running water. In Beijing and Tianjin, how many people can use running water? Those are all rich people. We still use well water, yet here in the military barracks, they are already using running water. If you say Wen Qing has no ability, if sensible people heard it, wouldn't they laugh their teeth off?"

Everyone thought for a while, and only then did they suddenly realize. "So that's it."

However, Xu Erba was somewhat unconvinced. "This running water is so expensive. If Mr. Chen uses it like this, how much silver must be wasted?"

Qin Tongren felt speechless hearing this; he couldn't be bothered to explain to such an elm head. Qin Tongren continued to recount his views on the scenes he saw along this short road.

Although there were many disaster victims in Fengtai County, there was no such situation of selling sons and daughters, let alone crying to heaven and wiping tears with dead bodies everywhere. The disaster victims just curiously sized up this large troop marching with torches. Qin Tongren observed that besides their own large group, there were also many people wearing clothes similar in style to Chen Ke's, in teams of five, also holding torches and patrolling the gathering areas of those disaster victims. Although there was a very alert posture, at least there were no disturbances. regarding this security situation, although one couldn't talk about living and working in peace and contentment, at least one could declare it was orderly. To govern a disaster area into such an appearance was already quite not easy.

After telling what he had observed, everyone recalled these details. Everyone savored Qin Tongren's words repeatedly, and only then felt they made a lot of sense. Moreover, since Mr. Qin could see so many things, everyone's admiration immediately surged endlessly.

Seeing that everyone had accepted his point of view, Qin Tongren then continued, "This Fengtai County belongs to Fengyang Prefecture. The *Fengyang Flower Drum* sings: 'Since Zhu Yuanzhang came out, nine years out of ten are famine.' This was never a wealthy place to begin with. Wen Qing has been here for a year at most, plus this great flood. According to what that *Fengyang Flower Drum* says, even without a flood, it looks like famine is everywhere. It absolutely cannot compare to the wealthy places in Jiangnan. Now that there is a great disaster here, it is instead orderly. And although the food we ate wasn't very tasty, the things given to us to eat could make us full. If Wen Qing only cared about feeding his own people and the disaster victims outside had no rice to eat, do you think they could be so quiet?"

Everyone spoke no more, only nodding silently in the dark.

"For Wen Qing to manage this disaster area to this extent, I think there must be many things he hasn't let us see. Everyone hurry up and rest. Starting tomorrow, there will be more things to do. You must not delay resting, yawning one after another tomorrow. It will only make people look down on us." After Qin Tongren finished speaking, he lay down first to sleep.

Everyone dared not disturb Mr. Qin's sleep anymore, whether they could sleep or not. They also lay down quietly. After a while, everyone slowly entered dreamland.