The scar-faced youth who came to steal potatoes this time was named Zhu Cunshui, a farmer near Shouzhou City. Some of those who came with him were his fellow villagers, and some were disaster victims he met here. Zhu Cunshui didn't like farming on ordinary days and was also a troublemaker in the countryside. When the flood rose, others had their family surplus soaked. He originally had no surplus grain at home, so he didn't care much. But after the disaster, there was no food anywhere. He first went to Shouzhou City and stayed for a while; the Shouzhou government gave some food at the beginning. But after the water receded, they no longer cared about the disaster victims. Zhu Cunshui was soon on the verge of starvation. Unable to find food anywhere in Shouzhou City, he had to run to Fengtai County. Instead, he got porridge to eat. But people can never be satisfied, let alone living in hunger all day long; no matter who you are, you can't help it. That was why he took the risk to steal things to eat.

His long-term career as a troublemaker and rogue actually trained quite a few abilities in Zhu Cunshui; he taught himself some reconnaissance methods. And the timing was also good, actually allowing him to lead people into the farmland. But loopholes in any formal defense system won't last too long. Zhu Cunshui and that clumsy child had just walked less than halfway back after stealing potatoes when they entered the farmland alert system of Fengtai County. With a shout from afar, the originally slack personnel suddenly sprang into action. Sounds could travel very far on the open field. Shouts came from near or far, mixed with bursts of angry yells. On the originally seemingly empty plain, human figures appeared everywhere.

Looking at everything around him, Zhu Cunshui suddenly felt a burst of regret in his heart. If he hadn't felt that returning along the original road was closer, but had chosen to run towards the farther Phoenix Mountain, it would definitely have been very different. But this kind of regret was completely meaningless; he hadn't walked the road there himself, and heaven knew what he would encounter there. Moreover, if it weren't a disaster year, running dozens of li to steal a few potatoes? Was it worth spending so much effort? Shrinking his body into the corner of an unknown ditch, Zhu Cunshui and the child silently prayed that they wouldn't be discovered.

Perhaps such prayers had an effect. Although the farmland guard system did play a role, these two people were luckily not discovered. Of course, there were critical moments among them. Several people hurried past the edge of the ditch; the trampled clods of earth fell crackling on Zhu Cunshui's head. He almost couldn't hold back from using the final backup plan: letting that child run elsewhere to draw away the guards. But this was the last life-saving method; doing so meant they would have to leave behind most of the "booty" and flee lightly. Zhu Cunshui was unwilling to give up the "booty" he had already obtained. So he endured.

The noisy sound rang for a long time. Because the distance was quite far, although the sound was very loud, the two people completely didn't know what exactly happened. The sky finally began to darken, and the sounds gradually subsided. Zhu Cunshui took the child back. The guard system was stricter at night. This was the result of his personal investigation. Moreover, not long after, porridge would be distributed in the refugee camp. Even if he got these potatoes, Zhu Cunshui was unwilling to give up that portion of porridge. Even though it was such thin porridge. They were lucky; the irrigation system preliminarily excavated in Fengtai County covered them, plus no one worked these days, so they finally returned near the refugee camp in the county town.

Approaching the county town, the number of police forces wearing black suits increased. Although the police didn't pay attention to these two ragged people hurrying over. At the time of porridge distribution, such people were everywhere. The police simply didn't have so much energy to pay attention to them one by one. The responsibility of the police force was to maintain order; facing tens of thousands of disaster victims, the police force of less than a thousand people was already doing its utmost to maintain minimum order.

But Zhu Cunshui had a guilty conscience; it wasn't that he hadn't dealt with these police before. These "black-skinned dogs" wearing short coats and strange soft caps, with white characters "Police" sewn on their chests and backs, looked like Black and White Impermanence [deities of death]. This group of people didn't know what wrong medicine they took, patrolling day and night to maintain order. When Zhu Cunshui first arrived in Fengtai County, he relied on snatching other people's porridge or forcing others to get porridge for him to eat half-full. There were quite a few rogues like him. But since these "police" started patrolling, the security of the disaster victim station immediately improved greatly. Whenever they encountered someone causing trouble, this group of police immediately came up to beat and arrest people indiscriminately. Those arrested were announced in public what they did, and then beaten with sticks in public. Such "atrocities" actually had an effect; the disaster victims were emotionally stable instead.

Zhu Cunshui had been beaten twice and had his ration for the day deducted. He hated these "black-clothed dogs" to the bone, and consequently hated the people here in Fengtai County thoroughly. Actually, there were quite a few who wanted to steal grain, but the defense here in Fengtai County was tight. Only Zhu Cunshui had the perseverance formed by hatred to constantly study the defensive weaknesses of Fengtai County.

It was just that hiding so many potatoes in his bosom at this time, attracting the attention of the police was really too unwise. Zhu Cunshui pulled the child to an uninhabited corner. "You keep two sweet potatoes for now; give me the rest first." He said in a threatening tone. The child immediately hugged the potatoes in his bosom tightly and refused to give them to him. Zhu Cunshui didn't care about anything else and took potatoes directly from the child's bosom. Seeing the child pouting and about to cry while resisting, he didn't want to waste that effort, so he didn't take them all. Zhu Cunshui slapped the child on the head in passing. "Not allowed to cry; the rest are yours." Checking that the potatoes carried on his body didn't show, Zhu Cunshui then avoided the police all the way and ran towards the refugee camp.

Everyone went to get porridge. After Zhu Cunshui hid the potatoes under the simple bed and checked carefully, only then did he feel relieved. He didn't dare to leave his "treasure," so he simply didn't get porridge either. He secretly took a potato, washed it clean, and ate it. Drinking porridge every day, his stomach was empty. Eating a potato felt so different. Finally having something in his stomach, he calculated that there were also some valuable things on the disaster victims. He could definitely exchange potatoes for them. Perhaps because there was food in his stomach, thinking and thinking, this young man fell asleep.

This sleep lasted until noon when porridge was about to be distributed. Zhu Cunshui followed the crowd to get porridge. Perhaps because he had eaten something, looking at those skinny disaster victims, Zhu Cunshui only felt as if he was much taller. A feeling of disdain arose in his heart. Looking at the porridge in the bowl again, Zhu Cunshui felt this porridge was even thinner. Drinking it in a few big gulps, he turned and went back to his residence.

As soon as he returned to that simple residence, he saw the child who went with him yesterday beside his own bunk with a bruised nose and swollen face. Zhu Cunshui felt a burst of worry in his heart, but looking left and right, he didn't see any suspicious people. Although he knew the best way at this time was to run away, Zhu Cunshui really couldn't let go of those potatoes hidden under the bunk. He finally gritted his teeth, sneaked in secretly, and grabbed that child from behind. Just as he wanted to speak, he saw several policemen rushing in from outside, shouting loudly: "Catch the thief!"

Zhu Cunshui knew he was really discovered. He no longer cared about any hidden potatoes and immediately took to his heels and ran. Whether there was food in the stomach really made a difference; if it were a few days ago, Zhu Cunshui definitely couldn't outrun these police. This was a bloody fact. Now, he exerted his strength and dodged the police chase in the nick of time. Then he ran wildly through the streets and alleys. It happened that people eating porridge were returning to their residences; the police's line of sight was blocked, and Zhu Cunshui mixed into these people. Moreover, he didn't run away blindly; he even followed the team back with some courage and strategy. The police simply couldn't distinguish who was who among these ragged people with disheveled hair. They actually let Zhu Cunshui escape abruptly.

The police also felt they couldn't let it go easily, so they simply arrested a dozen people who looked very suspicious and left. The disaster victims completely didn't know what was going on, just seeing police arresting people. They looked at the black-clothed police arresting people with puzzled and fearful expressions one by one. Zhu Cunshui hid in the crowd, his eyes flashing with incomparably hateful light.

Theoretically, this was just a small conflict. The police didn't think there was anything to make a fuss about either. After these arrested people were identified by the child in that theft gang, it was found that the right person wasn't caught. So they were all released. The nominal leader of the police system now was Magistrate Shang Yuan. The police responsible for this matter felt there was absolutely no need to disturb Magistrate Shang Yuan for such a small matter. So the matter was left unsettled.

But everyone never expected that just three days later, the whole thing completely exceeded everyone's expectations. This made those police responsible for catching the theft gang regret it too late.

Three days later, the troops preparing to attack Shouzhou were undergoing final rectification at the Yuezhangji camp. They were about to set out to attack Shouzhou soon. Suddenly—this action was no small matter, the commander of the troops was Zhang Yu, the commander of the Water Detachment, concurrently—when Zhang Yu suddenly gathered everyone with a gloomy face, the soldiers all looked at Zhang Yu excitedly, waiting for Zhang Yu to issue orders. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yu opened his mouth and said: "A riot occurred among the disaster victims in the county town. Everyone pack up and set out immediately. Go to the county town to suppress the riot." Before everyone could be shocked, Zhang Yu shouted: "Form up and set out immediately now."

This force of more than three hundred people was elite. No matter how shocked they were, they immediately obeyed discipline. Everyone lined up and answered the roll call in the camp, and then started running and forced marching towards the county town. Not long after this elite force ran out of the camp, other troops also began to assemble and form up one after another, rushing towards the county town.

All the secretaries who were in the county town arrived. You Gou was at the kiln firing construction site; Yuwen Badu and Lu Huitian were both over at the Reclamation Brigade talking to the common people about the house issue. Qi Huishen took the comrades new to Fengtai County to experience grassroots life together. Although people were sent to call them, no one arrived for the time being.

Inside the military camp in the county town, one could hear the shouting outside. That was the shouting of the disaster victims. Although one couldn't hear clearly what these people were shouting, the sound of tens of thousands of people was also quite terrific. It was as noisy as the tide, but without the rhythm of the tide.

Shang Yuan's face was gloomy. The police system was under his banner; this was the result of Shang Yuan's striving at that time. But he didn't expect things to turn out like this. He looked at Chen Ke, but saw that Chen Ke's face was originally very ugly, but slowly became calm. By now, there was even a smile on Chen Ke's face; he covered his mouth with his hand, actually forcefully holding back laughter. This made Shang Yuan very surprised and dissatisfied. At this time, what exactly was Chen Ke thinking?

Chen Ke didn't want to mock anyone. When the matter happened suddenly, Chen Ke also felt a burst of annoyance, and his heart was even ice-cold. If nearly a hundred thousand disaster victims really made a big disturbance, one didn't need to spend too much effort to imagine what the result would be. The police system had been fully mobilized, and the troops that could be pulled into battle had also been fully mobilized. After a while, although there were some small-scale conflicts, the worst large-scale conflict did not break out. The situation actually reached a stalemate.

Once his mood relaxed, Chen Ke suddenly thought of something. Chen Ke had been very worried about the comrades' performance these days. When the revolution first started, Chen Ke always thought his revolution would be like the Party in history, having fierce contradictions and conflicts from the beginning. Although Chen Ke also talked about principal contradictions and secondary contradictions. But this was all a kind of Chen Ke's own imagination.

When facing disasters, Chen Ke merely completely imitated the level of officials in later generations. All persons in charge, including Chen Ke, supervised the battle in the most dangerous places. During labor, officers and soldiers were one; everyone worked. These practices didn't need any revolutionary theory; just copying what had been seen was enough. So under the leadership of the revolutionary core, the People's Party, the revolutionary team, the Insurance Corps, was established and developed. The counterattack of the "old forces" that Chen Ke had always been very worried about did not happen, although everyone was full of complaints. But the old Chinese saying "subordinates follow the example of superiors" was actually much more useful than any revolutionary theory.

Chen Ke took the lead leading the People's Party comrades to work; the People's Party comrades led the Insurance Corps to work; the Insurance Corps was composed of local common people's children, so they became the core force stabilizing the emotions of the common people. When Chen Ke instilled the simplest concepts into this team—"The Insurance Corps must listen to the Party," "The Insurance Corps is the armed force of the common people"—and the People's Party from top to bottom set an example. Thus, such a setup was spread out.

As long as there was organization and discipline, and this organization was not overstaffed, at least in 1906, it really didn't encounter any decent resistance. Zhang Youliang was destroyed, landlords submitted. Even the forts on both banks of the Huai River were all breached. In an instant, the grassroots of Fengyang Prefecture could be said to have changed color. Things were easier than Chen Ke imagined.

Other comrades were naturally very proud of such a great situation, but Chen Ke really couldn't be happy so simply. Peasant movements with such a situation in history were not absent. After Chen Ke, the transmigrator, brought the discipline and organizational model of the new era to this era, under natural disasters, it was not strange to have such a situation. But history has proven countless times that if an organization does not have a true program, it can certainly achieve countless victories, but one failure can cause its destruction.

Not to mention distant ones, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is a warning from the past. Such a charlatan as Hong Xiuquan could sweep half of the country. But so what? After their capture of cities and territories failed, the destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom didn't take much time. Grandpa Mao's books always said: one cannot fear hardship, one cannot adopt roving bandit tactics. Chen Ke supported this extremely.

What Chen Ke worried about most was that a fatal failure would occur before the revolutionary concept took root in the hearts of the people. The irrigation and cultivation of revolutionary concepts require too much time and effort. If the Party hadn't had the 25,000-li Long March back then, how could it be possible to forge tens of thousands of completely loyal and firm backbones? An army that could walk more than 20,000 li without collapsing and consistently maintained organization and discipline—everyone was an unparalleled national scholar. Tens of thousands of such national scholars gathered under one banner; there was nothing that couldn't be done. But Chen Ke couldn't let his team go through such elimination. Because encountering such pressure now, the revolution was destined to fail.

So Chen Ke strove to manage and instruct everything personally. He hoped to establish a large enough scale as soon as possible, so that even if there was a failure, it wouldn't lead to a complete collapse. Moreover, Chen Ke was now trying hard to hand over work to other comrades and tried not to interfere himself. But he didn't expect that Shang Yuan, the comrade Chen Ke considered most meticulous in doing things, actually caused such a thing.

But strangely, Chen Ke's mood didn't turn bad. He even felt this was a good thing. The disaster victims were now rioting, not rebelling. If it were really a rebellion, fighting would have started long ago. Up to now, the disaster victims were at most making a noise; as long as it wasn't handled improperly, it could still be solved. Actually, Chen Ke had already thought of a solution fundamentally. Wait a while longer and it would be time for noon porridge distribution. Send someone to shout "Porridge is served," and the disaster victims would be honest themselves.

However, Chen Ke didn't want to remind them directly. He really wanted to see how the comrades would handle this matter. Chen Ke decided to treat himself as an examiner to see what kind of performance everyone would have in this seemingly dangerous environment. Of course, such a thought was very unserious, so Chen Ke couldn't help laughing.