As soon as the morning light dimly illuminated the window, Chen Ke woke up. This is a standard army officer's dormitory, modeled after Chen Ke's college dormitory, with a four-meter by five-meter room, four one-meter-by-two-meter double-decked wooden beds, and eight people in one room. This is still the officer's dormitory, and the ordinary soldier's dormitory is a chase shop. Now the conditions are so simple, except for Chen Ke and his wife, there is no one else in the dormitory. The young couple snuggled together, and He Ying slept deeply on Chen Ke's left shoulder.

Chen Ke looked at his watch, and it was almost five o'clock. Last night, he was busy preparing condolences for the labor army until ten o'clock, and Chen Ke, who had always behaved quite neatly, returned to the dormitory a little shyly. Since the transfer of the insurance regiment to Yuezhangji, Chen Ke finally lived with his wife.

Chen Ke has always felt that he has an obligation to lead by example, and the insurance group does not provide a shared residence for husband and wife, and in order to facilitate management, there are only male and female dormitories. Due to the large transfer of troops, quite a few rooms were vacated. Chen Ke temporarily lived with his wife He Ying. Back in the dormitory, Chen Ke was a little overwhelmed, and He Ying also had no experience in married life. The young couple has been dividing more and getting together less since they got married. Less than two months after getting married, the two arrived in Anhui. Then Chen Ke was busy outside all day, and his residence was not together.

finally had the opportunity to live together, but He Ying knew very well that this was only a temporary measure. He Ying's family is not low in this era, and children like her who come out of the family have learned to understand the rules since they were young. He Ying had already understood the rules of the People's Party and the insurance group through talking with You Yu in the same bedroom. Although she can be with her husband, He Ying also knows that the distance is very short.

The husband and wife snuggled together in silence, He Ying felt that Chen Ke wanted to speak several times, she knew that Chen Ke wanted to apologize, but she was afraid that she would be angry. He Ying pillowed her head on Chen Ke's shoulder and said softly, "Wen Qing, you don't have to say anything to apologize. You work in peace, I won't be angry with you. ”

His wife was so considerate, Chen Ke's impulse as a man came up, and he blurted out the words of his wish, "Wait for me ......"

As soon as she said this, He Ying's slender fingers pressed on Chen Ke's lips, "Don't say anything." If you do something for me one day, you just have to tell me where to go and what to do. The days are long, and it's good to go by day by day. While speaking, He Ying adjusted the angle of the pillow on Chen Ke's shoulder to make herself more comfortable. The young couple clinged to each other, their fingers interlocked.

"I feel so quiet and comfortable inside." He Ying's voice was low.

Chen Ke felt the same way, he turned his head sideways, kissed his wife lightly on the forehead, and whispered, "Me too." "I'm out there all day and I'm so busy fighting this, fighting that. Chen Ke finally knew how luxurious it was to have someone with a common destiny by his side. We don't have too many needs, just snuggling together so simply, I feel happiness from the heart. No matter how fierce and cruel the outside world is, two people who care about each other and love each other are together, and it is enough for this moment. After a minute or two, the two of them fell asleep.

The blissful sleep was so short, and when it was light, someone in the barracks had already gotten up, and these slight commotions woke Chen Ke. Although he really wanted to hug his wife for a while, Chen Ke didn't. He slowly pulled out his arm, then got up, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and tidied up his clothes. My wife was still asleep, and it was still some time before the six o'clock wake-up number. Chen Ke leaned down and gently touched his wife's hair, then turned around and went out. The gentle look on his face had vanished, and Chen Ke's spirit had shifted from her husband to her role as the leader of the People's Party and the supreme commander of the insurance regiment.

Not only Chen Ke has already gotten up, but according to yesterday's plan, the transport troops of the labor army have also gotten up, and they have gotten up earlier. The pigs have been killed overnight, and all kinds of supplies are ready to stop. A simple labor order would require twenty or thirty men to work all night. This is true for any organization of a certain size, where an order from above only takes one sentence, and it takes a lot of links and manpower to work together to implement this order. If it was under the old order, there was a hierarchy to maintain the system. The new revolution will inevitably find an organisational philosophy that is more effective and more capable of uniting the comrades.

And all of this requires leaders to be more able to lead by example.

Chen Ke appeared in front of the transport team with a high spirit, and carefully inspected every item of labor and military supplies. Originally, he should have changed his clothes at this time, but the comrades who were working were now covered in mud and water, and it was not appropriate for Chen Ke to dress brightly and decently. An old coat and a pair of straw sandals are enough. It was determined that there was no shortage of supplies for the labor army. Chen Ke had breakfast with his comrades. The cadres and fighters have long been accustomed to eating with big cadres, no one looks up at Chen Ke, everyone is concentrating on eating. There are so many materials that need to be transported by everyone, and the road is very hard.

The time for the troops to start marching was exactly six o'clock in the morning, "Brigade commander, do you want to wait for Hu Xing to arrive?" The guard next to him asked.

"There's no need. You inform the guards, and if Hu Xingzhi comes, tell him that we have set off. After speaking, Chen Ke said in a loud voice, "Comrades, let's go." ”

The ranks of the labor army marched quickly, and not long after leaving the county seat, they saw signs that they had begun to rush for seeds. The thick mud left behind by the flood has been turned over in the east and west. Some of the first lands to emerge have already planted seedlings. Everything else has been dealt with. Inside the ground, there were piles of debris, stones, branches, and the remains of the houses and furniture of the victims who had drifted in the water. I couldn't tell what the clutter was, but there were piles of things that weren't clear the contents.

Just get to work. Chen Ke is at least pleased with this.

In the later stage of the flood, the insurance group began to prepare for the work of rushing seeds, and after the disaster, it was naturally impossible to plant normally, and the insurance group only cultivated three crops, rice, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. Fengtai County is located on the edge of the Huainan Plain, on the north bank of the Huai River, with a mild climate and a good production area for one season of wheat and one season of rice. Now the wheat must not be washed, and only late rice can be planted. Sweet potatoes and potatoes are large in yield, and do not require much land, so they have always been the first crops for disaster relief. As for the taste, the disaster relief period is not a time to care about this kind of problem at all. 1906 was not New China, and it was impossible for one side to be in trouble and all sides to support. The relief of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was a drop in the bucket, and Fengtai County had to rely on itself to save itself.

The county town is on higher ground, and further on, the relief work is even more obvious, with teams of fighters digging ditches to drain the flood under the leadership of commanders at all levels. In just one night, a lot of water seeped out of the ditch. The fighters jumped into the water

Chen Ke grew up on the great plains of Henan, and the land he saw was a whole very flat piece of land. When he was a child, when he traveled in a car, Chen Ke would fall asleep when he looked at the land that had not changed for several hours. Many years later, Chen Ke and his classmates at the Agricultural University occasionally talked about the past, and the students at the Agricultural University told Chen Ke that this model was very convenient for irrigation and drainage. The land of the Great Plains that Chen Ke has seen is actually slightly sloping, and the purpose of this construction is very simple, which is conducive to natural irrigation and drainage of water through the slope of the ground. On dry days, the water is lifted to higher places through irrigation stations and irrigated along the waterways. On rainy days, excess water flows down the sloping ground and down the waterway into the drain. Such a construction model requires a huge amount of manpower and material resources to be invested in farmland water conservancy projects. In the era of Grandpa Mao, rural water conservancy projects consumed a huge amount of labor. A large part of the labor force is spent on such projects.

And in 1906, large-scale farmland water conservancy construction did not appear at all. The smallholder economy is characterized by self-sweeping snow and the land is cut into pieces, and such large-scale farmland construction is simply impossible. If it weren't for the simultaneous appearance of the flood and the insurance group, Fengtai County would have to wait at least half a century if it wanted to carry out large-scale rural water conservancy construction.

The insurance corps now has only 8,000 people, and it is not capable of building the kind of large-scale water conservancy construction after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Wu Longfu, head of the water conservancy section of the insurance group, discussed with Chen Ke and formulated a plan. It is to first dig out the lowest part of the land, and then dig a large pond here, and dig drainage ditches in various parts of the land, so that the water can temporarily flow into this large pond in this rush to plant. A more comprehensive rural water conservancy project can only be said after the end of this rush to plant and harvest.

The soldiers all ate breakfast instead, but one by one had no enthusiasm for labor. It's obviously the appearance of a monk hitting the clock for a day. Not only that, but the mood of the command commanders at all levels is not much higher. When the labor army passed by, the cadres and soldiers saw that the pigs that had been killed, their eyes lit up, and then they stood there with a smile on their faces. Chen Ke suddenly smiled bitterly when he saw their appearance.

"Brigadier, do you want me to say a few words to them?" Behind Chen Ke was Zhu Zhenji, the deputy chief of the logistics department, who was a native of Hunan and had opened a shop in his family, but he offended the local officials and broke his family. He had no choice but to go out to look for his brother in Shanghai, but he didn't find him, but he was living on the streets. Last year, when I saw the start of Shanghai Renxin College, I recommended myself to be an accountant. The bookkeeper did not become an ordinary worker. After all, he is a person who has suffered hardship, and he knows that people are warm and cold, and Zhu Zhenji doesn't feel that he has bent his own material, so he starts working seriously, because he has been promoted because of his serious work. When Chen Ke and the others arrived in Anhui, Zhu Zhenji resolutely asked to come with them. Now he has finally returned to the "account office". After the disaster, Zhu Zhenji also grew a lot. Hearing Chen Ke's wry smile, he knew what Chen Ke was sighing.

"No, it's not our job in place, and we don't know what hard work we have to do. Now let's go and scold everyone, what's the use? It just makes everyone more dissatisfied. Chen Ke said.

Zhu Zhenji has always admired Chen Ke and thinks that Chen Ke is reasonable and a rare good boss. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't have followed Chen Ke all the way from Shanghai to Anhui. Because his family was persecuted by small officials, Zhu Zhenji naturally had enthusiasm for the "revolution". Knowing that the People's Party and the Insurance Corps wanted a revolution, he was not afraid, but enthusiastically participated. Hearing Chen Ke's words, Zhu Zhenji just nodded, feeling that it was logical. If Chen Ke hadn't said such a thing, Zhu Zhenji might have been disappointed.

"By the way, the bags are ready, right?" Chen Ke asked Zhu Zhenji. Chen Ke once heard a story from a classmate that in the 70s, a village held a "Bittersweet Remembrance" meeting. Although it is bittersweet and sweet, it is impossible to really get some weeds to cook for everyone to eat, and it is still a normal fried vegetables. The next day, it was pork. Because eating meat was not popular at that time, the village cooks had no experience, and as a result, the meat was stewed fishy and oily, which led the masses to privately say that eating meat was not as delicious as eating vegetables. Chen Ke's father is a gourmet, and he often eats stewed meat at home since he was a child, and Chen Ke is full of praise for his father's craftsmanship. His father once devoted himself to teaching Chen Ke the skills of cooking, how to prepare the packets, and how to effectively remove the fishy smell of large pieces of meat, and Chen Ke remembers it very well.

"It's exactly what the brigade commander has planned." Zhu Zhenji replied. After all, Shanghai is a port city, and these spices can still be bought. Since Chen Ke has the intention of building a large-scale breeding farm, canned meat is also an object that must be considered. Spices are essential. This time from Shanghai, Chen Ke brought some spices. I didn't expect it to be able to play a role when I was in the labor army.

The troops were stationed separately in battalions, and Chen Ke and his team sent condolences to eight battalions along the way, and then each battalion left a cook trained by Chen Ke himself to take charge of the stew. There are only ten pigs, and if the meat is wasted, it will be too much to lose.

The laboring soldiers saw Chen Ke send condolences into the barracks, and then came out again. One by one, they are happy. By the time the work was finished at noon, as soon as the team had returned to the vicinity of the camp, a scent that had never been smelled before entered the nostrils. All the comrades who smelled this smell immediately began to salivate.

There was no need to command, and in front of the large kitchens of the eight battalions stationed in different areas of the insurance regiment, there was a crowded scene. Even in an old unit like the first battalion, the number of veterans is the largest. But the habit of queuing was also thrown out of the clouds, and everyone crowded in front of the cauldron of stewed meat, stretching out their heads one by one to look inside the pot, what smelled and made people appetite. Everyone has the same thought in their hearts, if they don't eat a bite of this meal, they will regret it in this life.

The commanders of the various units had to personally suppress it, but there was no need to use force, "Line up for dinner!" With such a shout, the clever warriors had already hurriedly lined up, and the people behind saw that someone had taken the lead, and immediately rushed to line up.

"I'm ahead."

", I'm ahead."

The soldiers in the back row scrambled for the positions higher in the front, and the fighters in the front row did not care about the disputes in the back. Their eyes lit up, and their arms held the bowl straight forward. It was the turn of the fighters to hold the bowls in both hands, leaning forward, their eyes fixed on the large spoons that passed between the rice pots and bowls. The eyeballs almost popped out.

The troop commanders didn't care so much about it, and they had to settle the many quarrels that had arisen over the issue of queue order. One by one, they pulled away the fighters who were arguing over the queue issue, and even had to curse a few words. And at this time, the commanders are absolutely not short of saliva. Because of the aroma of the meat sauce, the commanders had to swallow their mouths full of saliva one by one. Since the commanders had to go to the dinner last, and if the ranks were chaotic, they had to eat later.

The stew that Chen Ke instructed this time took the method of "white Ji bun with cured meat". There is little pork and less meat, and if you cut the meat into large pieces, it will definitely not be enough. The stewed meat is taken out and chopped, then soaked in the broth, and the lunch is white rice, and a bowl of rice is poured with a spoonful of meat sauce, which is only one serving per person. Then Chen Ke saw with his own eyes something he could never have imagined. Many of the fighters ate a mouthful of food, and then they froze on the spot, and then they cried.

It was so fragrant, the spices removed the smell of the meat, and the pork sauce had an indescribable delicacy in the mouth. The sweet and salty, rich and delicate gravy is hot, mixed with the same hot rice, and every bite is a bliss. The whole person was intoxicated by the taste in his mouth, and he wanted to swallow his tongue as well. These peasant-born soldiers and cadres never knew that food could be so delicious. There was no other way for them to react than to shed tears. The other warriors, perhaps without sentimentality, quickly pulled their rice into their mouths and licked their bowls from time to time. His expression was completely excited.

"Wen Qing can also cook?" Hua Xiongmao also asked with a mouth full of saliva.

Chen Ke was not overjoyed about his "great" success, and his emotions rose when he saw the soldiers eating excitedly one by one. Chen Ke hurriedly said to Hua Xiongmao: "Maintain discipline for me immediately." As soon as Chen Ke's words fell, he saw that some soldiers who were eating fast had already started lining up again, asking for more food. Someone took the lead, and the rest of the warriors, whether they had eaten their share or not, began to line up. At this time, the meal is not over. Those who had finished their meals, and those who had not yet eaten, immediately began to quarrel. The scene immediately became chaotic.

Many years later, many of the fighters involved in this chaos are already in high positions. When asked what the best meal they had ever eaten during the revolutionary era, almost all of them talked about the food of the labor army. This is the first time in their lives that they know that there really is such a thing as "food" in the world. The old comrades-in-arms talked about this past with happiness, and they kindly ridiculed each other's lack of interest back then. Reminiscing about the good times of the year together.

But they all knew one thing, and they couldn't mention it to Chen Ke. Because this is one of Chen Ke's "great shame". The activities of the labor army led to riots caused by the scramble for food in many units, and for the sake of food, nothing was taken care of at that time. The troops had to send in the Judge Advocate Corps to "suppress" the riots.

This is still a regular unit like the 359 Brigade, and other "reclamation brigades" composed of disaster victims have even caused casualties in order to fight for food. Dozens of people were injured, and three died from a stampede in the chaos.