On the plains of Fengtai County in late autumn, the tops of the plants had begun to wither and turn yellow without exception, with only the root and stem parts still maintaining some green. The autumn wind swept across this mottled small plain, making a rustling sound. The camps of several reclamation brigades appeared stable and solid in this bleak autumn wind.

Heaven had finally opened its eyes. Although floods raged in the first half of this year, there were no further disasters in the second half, and the rush-planting harvest was finally obtained. Because there was enough food, the common people obviously talked more, and the miserable looks on their faces dissipated a lot unknowingly. After the food supply finally stabilized, and with the farm work basically finished, the common people who originally rested once every seven days were now given an extra three days off. After everyone had been worrying in fear for so long, once they could finally relax, the camp of the reclamation battalion immediately became lively.

However, the southwest corner of the camp was not allowed to be noisy; the reclamation battalion's school was located here. The camp required all children to attend school. As long as the children attended school, breakfast and lunch were supplied by the Insurance Corps. In this year of flood, there was basically no housework to do at home. The People's Party and the Insurance Corps had many rules, including regular washing and changing of clothes. The men's camp changed and washed clothes regularly according to the rules, and there were also people responsible for mending clothes regularly. Men had little interest in taking care of children; if someone was willing to take care of them for them, especially letting the dolls go to study... After visiting the school in person and seeing that the dolls were really studying and eating okay, at least not starving, the men were really eager to hand over these burdens to the school teachers to manage.

However, this feeling appeared very uncoordinated during the holidays. Having finally caught a breath, they wanted their dolls by their side to talk to them. The school uniforms were unified, all blue clothes like the Insurance Corps. The school teachers managed strictly; these kids washed themselves clean all day long, wearing neat blue clothes and behaving with rules. No matter how you looked at it, it made the adults happy in their hearts.

Because the holiday was decided temporarily, the children's school did not receive notification. Although today's classes were reduced to morning classes, the children still had to finish the unified lunch at school at noon before being dismissed. The adults also took this opportunity to bask in the sun and chat together.

"Third Master, how come I heard you let your kid come back?" Everyone was from the same village; these topics were most likely to arouse everyone's interest.

"Yeah, I let that kid come back, but that bastard kid wanted to change my mind. When I see him, if I don't break his dog legs." The one called Third Master was surnamed Zhang, over fifty years old this year, a local of Yuezhangji. He was a well-off household before the flood, but when the flood came, in order to protect his family property, the whole family insisted on staying in the flood for a few days and refused to go with the Insurance Corps' rescue boats. Fortunately, the Insurance Corps did not forget them. When the last trip passed by, the Zhang family's house had completely collapsed from soaking, and the family property could not be found at all. If not for his sons dragging Third Master Zhang onto the boat for dear life, Third Master Zhang would definitely have been buried with his family property.

Third Master Zhang seemed to have a very good memory. After the flood, there was a patch of white land. Every time Third Master Zhang passed a piece of land, he would point to that piece of land and say, "That is my family's seven mu and three fen of land." He had said this no less than a thousand times these days, and everyone's ears were about to grow calluses. But no matter how everyone looked, they couldn't tell whose land that patch originally was. Although Third Master Zhang was persistent in saying so, he had no persuasiveness at all. Moreover, to prove he remembered correctly, Third Master Zhang actually said where each family's land was with eighty or ninety percent accuracy. Such efforts did not make everyone admire Third Master Zhang; instead, they felt weird in their hearts.

Remembering the things in the village so clearly was not something that made everyone like him. But after the flood, everyone was depressed, and Third Master Zhang's alternative liveliness could be considered as relieving everyone's boredom. So everyone didn't say much.

Seeing that everyone simply didn't pick up the conversation, Third Master Zhang couldn't hold back after a moment of silence. "This Insurance Corps has grain now, why don't they distribute it to everyone? Why do they occupy the land? Why do they refuse to leave?" Third Master Zhang said in a muffled voice, "What talk of distributing land? A group of outsiders coming to our place definitely harbor no good intentions. Sooner or later trouble will break out; let's not mix blindly with them. They won't stay long. As soon as the water recedes, the government will come. When they leave, we still have to pay taxes and grain."

Everyone remained silent. Since the first harvest in late autumn began, such remarks were like small grass defying the season, suddenly popping up from everywhere. Although everyone had their own various thoughts and desires, no one was willing to speak.

Seeing no one made a sound, Third Master Zhang continued to chatter: "They say it's for the common people, did we get a single hair? The grain is all hoarded by the Insurance Corps, not distributing a bit to us. Not a word has been said about how to farm the land next year. We put in effort and labor to open up fields; is it all done for the big officials of the Insurance Corps? The direction of this channel opening, isn't it going to occupy my family's land? What to do in the future? That piece of land can't be touched; that's our Zhang clan's field. It'll be trouble if it's touched."

With such a grumbling chat partner, the atmosphere immediately became much worse. Quite a few people were already becoming impatient. Just at this moment, suddenly the lunch bell rang. Everyone stood up almost reflexively. "Time to eat, time to eat. Hurry up." Under mutual urging, everyone left Third Master Zhang behind and ran towards the canteen.

"Are you rushing to a funeral? Going early won't get you an extra bite. This bunch of Insurance Corps people are dark!" While cursing in his mouth, Third Master Zhang also stood up and followed everyone to the canteen.

In times of scarce supply, everyone got hungry early. Holding up the rice bowl, they wished they could eat the bowl too. After eating, no one was willing to talk much. The Insurance Corps managed strictly, and it was hard to slack off at work. Everyone worked a lot and ate a lot; no one was willing to waste energy on talking nonsense. Saving a breath to warm the stomach was the proper business. But once this full meal was eaten, and encountering three consecutive days of rest, everyone was not in a hurry.

As soon as Third Master Zhang entered the canteen, he saw everyone starting to queue up one after another. Looking hurried and anxious, like it was Chinese New Year. The last time he saw such urgency was during the pork distribution a few months ago. At that time, the rules were not so strict yet; everyone really swarmed up, and a stampede incident occurred, actually killing a few people and injuring quite a few. Since that time, canteen discipline had been strengthened. Every time the line became slightly crowded, food distribution stopped immediately. Those who cut in line were immediately pulled out and put at the end to collect food. Because the food supply was consistent, taking it first or last meant the same portion. After such rectification, queuing became a trend.

But this time the situation looked very special. He saw a few big characters written on the food distribution board. Third Master Zhang didn't know many characters and didn't understand. He quickly grabbed a young man next to him and asked, "What does it say up there?"

The young man was grabbed and was full of dissatisfaction. He said hurriedly, "Distributing duck eggs today, one per person. And there is duck meat to eat." While speaking, he broke free from Third Master Zhang's hand and ran to queue with his bowl. Hearing this, Third Master Zhang indeed felt the air in the canteen was different from usual. A faint fragrance wafted in the air, making one feel great.

The rule for eating was to collect a meal token according to number when collecting the bowl. Everyone had a fixed mess line. When collecting food, hand in the meal token, insert it into the corresponding meal tray position, and then collect the food. The position for hanging meal tokens was quite eye-catching; collecting and hanging tokens were in places everyone could see clearly. This was to improve credibility and prove to the maximum extent that no one took more or less.

Now the meal token area for distributing bowls was empty; only a few latecomers hadn't received theirs. The security team also added manpower to prevent the stampede incident like last time from happening again. Third Master Zhang hurriedly went up to collect his meal token and bowl and ran to queue. The big pot was uncovered, and the cloth covering the table was also lifted. The people in front who could see clearly involuntarily let out cheers.

Although there was still scrambling, after eating in the canteen for so long, there was some habit of discipline after all. Everyone managed to receive their food safely and orderly. The duck was stewed. The size of the duck eggs was also barely consistent. As soon as they sat down, everyone began to wolf it down. Especially the duck soup which could be eaten unlimitedly; people constantly got up to add soup. As long as there was free stuff, farmers would absolutely not let themselves eat a tiny bit less. Eating the fragrant duck egg, Third Master Zhang couldn't care about speaking ill of the Insurance Corps anymore. He hadn't had such a feeling for a long time. Northern Anhui was originally poor; in fact, even before the flood, it was not uncommon for many common people not to eat a meal of meat all year round. Even Third Master Zhang's family might not necessarily eat duck eggs often. Eating the oily yolk, that feeling of satisfaction had really been long absent. Third Master Zhang felt a bit strange; actually, eating at home, he might not necessarily feel this duck egg was so delicious. But eating the Insurance Corps' duck egg, he felt it was extremely delicious. He couldn't say exactly how delicious it was; in short, it was different from the taste at home. Third Master Zhang didn't eat fast. He had just finished eating the yolk; other young people had already finished the egg white and were working hard with chopsticks to get all the scrapable egg white into their mouths.

Lunch finished, everyone sat at the table with protruding bellies, unwilling to move. The feeling of being full to bursting was just too good. Third Master Zhang also touched his bulging belly and didn't want to move. Recovering a bit of strength, Third Master Zhang prepared to open his mouth again to criticize the various improprieties of the Insurance Corps. But he saw a group of dolls running into the canteen. The school lunch had ended, and the children were officially dismissed. So this group of big and small dolls ran to the canteen to find their families. Three dolls spotted Third Master Zhang and ran over immediately. "Grandpa, have a duck egg." The leading doll, looking eleven or twelve years old, handed a duck egg to Third Master Zhang while speaking. The two younger dolls behind also hurriedly took out duck eggs, "Grandpa, have a duck egg." These three children were all Third Master Zhang's grandsons, all attending school. It seemed their food today was the same as the adults.

"Kids, you eat it yourselves. Grandpa has eaten." Third Master Zhang was very moved. His grandsons were so sensible, far beyond his imagination.

"Teacher said we should honor our parents if there is delicious food. We ate duck today and are all full. Teacher wouldn't let us bring duck meat, so we brought the duck eggs." There was no hypocrisy in the child's tender voice. Hearing this, the other two dolls also hurriedly said, "Grandpa, eat the duck egg." Saying so, they stuffed the duck eggs to their grandpa.

Third Master Zhang suddenly felt a sour nose. "Kids, you eat. Grandpa is really not hungry." As he spoke, Third Master Zhang felt tears that hadn't flowed for a long time suddenly burst from his eyes. Looking at his sensible grandsons, the old man couldn't say another word. He just held the children in his arms, actually weeping old tears.

Under the envious gazes of everyone, Third Master Zhang finally persuaded his grandsons to peel the duck eggs and eat them themselves, watching them eat the duck eggs clean. Only then did he get up and take the dolls towards the accommodation area. Watching the dolls in neat blue school uniforms following him with rules, Third Master Zhang only felt that this originally eye-catching blue clothes looked much more pleasing to the eye. The words he originally wanted to use to continue attacking the Insurance Corps could no longer be spoken. Third Master Zhang made up his mind: he would ignore that son of his who refused to come back for now. As long as the Insurance Corps could really distribute land according to the previous agreement, living like this for the time being wasn't impossible.

Not everyone could change their view of the Insurance Corps. Just when Third Master Zhang was full of food and playing with his grandsons in the camp, two extremely small teams were rushing on the road to sue the Insurance Corps.

These were all confidants sent by local landlords. Since the Insurance Corps began the first harvest, the landlords were truly shaken. Zhang Youliang had already been killed by the Insurance Corps. The big landlord Hu Xingzhi simply closed his doors and refused visitors, saying nothing. Other landlords, some like Ren Qiying and others, simply defected to the Insurance Corps, while others dared not make a sound at all. But this was only a superficial phenomenon; the dissatisfaction in their hearts would absolutely not disappear so easily. Not to mention that the landlords were forced to give up the land use rights for two years to the Insurance Corps. For many landlords, this was harder than killing them.

But those who could become landlords were not idiots. At that time, the Insurance Corps beat Zhang Youliang and was arrogant; everyone refused to touch this bad luck. Moreover, the landlords did not believe that the People's Party and the Insurance Corps could really succeed in disaster relief. Since the establishment of the Great Qing Dynasty for these hundreds of years, it had never been heard that local disaster relief could succeed in the face of such a big flood.

The landlords were very conflicted. If the Insurance Corps failed in disaster relief, these bandits without grain would definitely not let them go. But in that case, the Insurance Corps would at least leave Fengtai County to find food elsewhere. If the Insurance Corps succeeded in disaster relief, the landlords' current family property could be saved, but they definitely wouldn't let go of the landlords' land. This dilemma made the landlords inquire about outside news all the time, while strictly guarding their homes, fearing that the Insurance Corps would break in and snatch their family property.

As soon as the news of the harvest came, the landlords felt relieved on the one hand, but restless on the other. Regardless of how those bandits of the Insurance Corps grew so much grain, if the situation developed according to the current trend, their own land definitely couldn't be kept. The landlords weren't stupid. The Insurance Corps said they were borrowing land, but once this land was really distributed and then asked back from the hands of the common people—that was unthinkable. The Insurance Corps expanded from such a small force to nearly ten thousand people, plus the formed Reclamation Brigade, which was a scale of more than sixty thousand people. How many people did the landlords have in total? If they really played hard, the landlords would definitely die without a burial place.

The best way now was nothing more than borrowing the power of the government to drive away these bandits of the Insurance Corps. Although most landlords didn't express their attitude, there were always those who dared to take risks. For example, two landlords, Hu Youdao and Zhang Chengxian, reached a consensus. Zhang Chengxian had acquaintances in Fengyang Prefecture; he sent people to Fengyang Prefecture to submit a complaint, accusing the Insurance Corps of intending to rebel. And Hu Youdao sent people to Shouzhou, more than fifty li away from Fengtai County, to sue to the officials. Although they knew that if the matter leaked out, these two families would definitely be unlucky. But by this time, the landlords couldn't care so much anymore. The two landlords calculated a bit; Fengyang Prefecture was farther, so the Zhang family's people left first, striving to have the complaints arrive at Fengyang Prefecture and Shouzhou at the same time.

However, many things cannot be predicted. For example, Landlord Zhang Chengxian did not expect that his own confidant would actually fall ill halfway. Because the Insurance Corps monopolized the fleets on the Huai River recently, the two nephews sent by Zhang Chengxian dared not take the water route, but walked to Fengyang Prefecture. Because they dared not make noise, this young man left at night. Because everyone's drinking water recently was running water, and the supply of running water to the county town was not so sufficient, the young man failed to carry a sufficient amount of water. And after the flood, the wells everywhere were basically filled up. Finding water sources was insufficient, and rushing on the road consumed a lot of water. So not long after drinking water in the wild that looked fairly clean, Zhang Chengxian's nephews unfortunately felt their stomachs start to feel unwell. Stomachs accustomed to running water were too fragile for wild water sources. Whether it was bacteria or something else, these two young men soon fell on the ground more than a day's distance from home and began to twitch.

Hu Youdao's nephew, Hu Congjian, was much luckier. But he had to face a primary problem: how to cross the Huai River without a boat. Young people were bold after all; everyone lived by the water and could be considered to know some swimming. The young man simply swam across the Huai River at night. By day, he finally arrived at Shouzhou City.

Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, set up the Huainan Marching Province in Shouchun in the 8th year of Kaihuang (588) for the military need of attacking Chen. The following year, after pacifying Chen, the Marching Province was withdrawn, and the Shouzhou Commander-in-Chief's Office was set up, governing Shouchun. In the 3rd year of Wude of Tang (620), it was changed to Shouzhou, and the prefecture seat was set in Shouchun. In the Qing Dynasty, Fengtai County once shared a city with Shouzhou. In the 10th year of Yongzheng (1732), Governor-General Yin Jishan petitioned the Qing court for approval to set up a separate county from Shouzhou, adding a magistrate and a jail warden to govern separately. It was named Fengtai County because there was a Fenghuang Mountain [Phoenix Mountain] north of the county. It was officially separated in the 11th year of Yongzheng and governed in the same city as Shouzhou (the county yamen was located in the northeast corner of today's Shouxian City). In the winter of the 2nd year of Tongzhi (1863), the county seat was moved to Xiacai, and Xiacai was renamed Fengtai, under the jurisdiction of Fengyang Prefecture. By 1906, it had been only 43 years since Fengtai County truly became independent from Shouzhou.

Shouzhou is located by the Huai River and has suffered from floods for over a thousand years. The impact of this Anhui flood on Shouzhou City was obvious; the traces of the water line soaked by the flood for a long time on the city wall were clearly visible. But this thousand-year-old ancient city stood immovable. How palpitating was the ancient city surrounded by floodwater. But no matter how the flood besieged it, the ancient city was as resolute as iron and had never fallen.

The dilapidated and low city walls of Fengtai County were nothing compared to the tall and majestic city walls of Shouzhou. Because Fengtai County was a new city, its prosperity could not be mentioned in the same breath as Shouzhou. But that was before; now there was almost no sign of human habitation under Shouzhou City. In broad daylight, the city gates were half-closed, meaning there was quite some vigilance involved. Compared with Shouzhou, Fengtai County seat was full of various disaster victims, plus the Insurance Corps organizing production and maintaining life, so it looked "full of vitality" instead.

Hu Congjian had been to Shouzhou many times. Arriving at the city gate, even the gatekeeper guarding the gate looked familiar. The gatekeeper didn't stop him either, and Hu Congjian entered Shouzhou City.