There are two types of floods, one is short-term and the other is long-term. The results of these two situations are completely different. After a short-term flood, the ground is left with sand, and after a long-term flood, the ground is left with cement. This is the result of a mixture mixed in a flood that results in different sedimentation patterns depending on the stagnation time of the water flow.

The Anhui flood of 1906 was the latter. After the two-month-long torrential rain finally stopped, the originally solid ground was completely soft, and the already soft ground seeped into a large amount of water, and was covered with a thick layer of mud, completely turning into a mud pond. The grass and crops on the ground had long since been completely soaked, and even the remaining wreckage was covered in thick mud. What remains on the ground are aquatic plants. When the water receded, very few of these plants that had once been in the water did not flow away from the water, but were left in the mire, dying in the scorching sun, or simply dying. And some other fungi and algae are thriving. These tiny creatures are thriving, covering large areas of the mire with a thin layer of green. The air is filled with moisture, mixed with the strong fishy smell of these microorganisms. Under this green, you can occasionally see the carcasses of fish, which are also left in the swamp, and then slowly die of lack of oxygen in the mire as the water disappears. Because even the scavengers were swept away after the flood, the fish carcasses were relatively intact.

No one was interested in these things, though, and the carcasses of the fish had long been soaked in mud, but there was no external force to change their shape. A small group of people in a light boat was wading through the mud left behind by the water. Occasionally, when the oars or poles of the boat touched the dead fish, a large chunk of their flesh was immediately taken down, revealing the skeleton of Bai Sensen.

He Zudao and six comrades were walking through the quagmire on a boat equipped with wooden skids, and after the flood, the original road could not be found at all. In some places, boats can be navigated, and in many more places, boats can only be towed by people and converted into mud skids. Each step is deep and shallow, and I don't know what I'll encounter next. Sometimes, they just sink into the swamp all of a sudden. Each comrade had a strong hemp rope tied around his waist, and the other end of the rope was tied to the boat. If you are really in danger, you can save your life by relying on a rope.

There are two ways to get to Yuezhangji, one is to follow the Huai River to the west, and then go north through the lake to reach the destination. The other is to go west from the county seat and through the disaster area, which has been turned into a swamp. The insurance group sent two teams of men, one team led by Yuwen Badu and Hua Xiongmao to take the boat by water, and He Zudao's team by land. The reason why he has to take this arduous road is by no means that Chen Ke has enough to eat. After several meetings, the secretariat committee finally decided to take Yue Zhangji as the first goal. The attack on Tuweizi in Yuezhangji will be the first official military operation of the People's Party, and the first step in the early stage is to determine the route of the march.

There are a lot of bamboo poles on the boat, and the rods are tied with red strips of cloth on the poles. He Zudao They planted this kind of marker in a relatively solid place, the purpose of which was to guide the future land march. It's not just the dwarf plants that are submerged under the surface of the water that are dwarfed, but even the trees that have been soaked for two months are not spared. After the water receded, after losing the buoyancy support, the trees with not deep roots had fallen in this muddy pond. Those who barely managed to hold on were also crooked. He Zudao pushed the big tree in front of him hard, this elm was quite straight, but He Zudao, a relatively thin young man, had already made it crooked, and the roots of the tree emerged from the mud, and He Zudao hurriedly jumped away. He and his comrades watched the tree fall into the muddy water, and the idiomatic phrase used to describe the tree was "deep roots and thick leaves", but the exposed roots were not very big, and the roots that should have been strong were white like turnips. The roots of the trees are soaked like this, how can such land be cultivated?

After He Zudao arrived in Anhui, he was either in the county seat or on the boat, and he had not been to the countryside. Therefore, when he heard the news that the landlord of Yue Zhangji threatened to attack the grain of the insurance group, he was very angry, and felt that the landlord named Zhang Youliang was too arrogant. But seeing such land with his own eyes, he can at least understand why Chen Ke is worried about the landlords inciting the people.

As far as the eye can see, there are no people at all. All you can see is a swamp. The group is the military backbone of the second company, Yue Zhangji is only a few dozen miles away from the county seat, with everyone's marching ability, it should be there now. As a result, after walking all morning, the county seat has long been out of sight. And Yue Zhangji, which is dozens of miles away from the county seat, can't be seen at all. All that remains between heaven and earth is this seemingly endless swamp. It's as if this swamp has existed here forever since the beginning of the world.

The sun was drying on his head and the water was steaming under his feet, but He Zudao felt dry and dry. He took a bamboo tube from the boat converted into a mud pry, pulled off the wooden stopper, and poured it into a big gulp. Don't look at the water, but don't talk about drinking these waters, just smelling the smell, the fishy smell is very uncomfortable. Therefore, the "tap water" in the bamboo tube seems so sweet at this time. Seeing He Zudao, who rolled into a "mud monkey", began to drink water, other comrades who were like "mud monkeys" like He Zudao also gathered around to get water to drink.

Chen Ke said that "water pollution problem", if production is to be resumed here, not to mention how to deal with this muddy pond, the drinking water of personnel alone is a big problem. Don't even think about digging wells, and you can only rely on the outside to bring in water. If it weren't for the waterworks that Chen Ke had built in the county, He Zudao couldn't imagine how to survive in this stretching muddy pond. There are nearly 1,000 insurance groups under the People's Party, plus thousands of family members who have organized insurance groups, and this force can be described as "a large number of people." But how many people can there be in a county? There are more farmers in other places, and when tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of people come in search of food, what can these thousands of people do?

After just a morning's trek, He Zudao determined one thing, in this extraordinary period, the force like Yue Zhangji who tried to provoke the head must be cut off.

"Political commissar, just such a way, what if you can't get there at night? Can we sleep on this boat? A soldier asked, putting down the bamboo tube.

"If we can't walk during the day, we will walk all night. Say anything, you have to rush to Yue Zhangji before dawn tomorrow. He Zudao didn't want to rest at all.

Marching in such swamps is physically exerting. When several comrades heard He Zudao say this, they all felt that it was a little too harsh. "Commissar, it's not that we don't do our best. It's a difficult place to get around. ”

He Zudao could understand the thoughts of the comrades, he put the bamboo tube back in the boat, and then said: "If it wasn't because it was difficult to walk, why would you let us go?" Isn't it because we believe we will be able to achieve our goals? We're not going to go by ourselves, thousands of people behind us are waiting for us to report the good news. I can't bear such a little hardship, are we worthy of those folks behind us? ”

Hearing He Zudao say this, everyone was silent. There were Yue Zhangji's people in the team, all of whom were ordinary people who were blocked by Zhang Youliang in the flood, and if they hadn't been brought back to the county seat by the People's Party and their families, I'm afraid that their bones would not be found now. But after all, none of the comrades had walked such a road, and to be honest, if it weren't for the rescue of the People's Party, many of them would not have even been to the county seat dozens of miles away. Not to mention following the insurance group to hundreds of miles away to transport grain. For these warriors, who were ordinary peasants just a few months ago, this was something that was beyond imagination and had not even been heard of.

The fighters are very simple, and since the BJP can save them, they will have food to eat after joining them, and they will even be able to give their families enough rations. These people are willing to work for the BJP in order to survive. Since He Zudao, who has a high prestige in everyone's minds, personally led the team, everyone recognized it.

Seeing that everyone was convinced, He Zudao continued: "Then let's have a meeting to discuss, as far as we saw this morning, which places are easier to walk, and in the afternoon, we can go faster and spend less effort to explore the road." ”

Compared with He Zudao and them, it is much easier to take the waterway Hua Xiongmao and Yuwen Badu. By this time their ship had reached its destination. Yue Zhangji near a "wharf". In the distance, I saw a tall earthen fence towering in the distance. The earthen enclosure was built on a high slope and was constructed of masonry. Northern Anhui is the old nest of Li Hongzhang's Huai army, and most of this kind of earthen enclosure was built by retired Huai army officers. These Huaijun officers were either born as local landlords, or they made a lot of military achievements when they followed Li Hongzhang to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Twist Army, and became landlords after returning to their hometowns. There are a lot of bandits in northern Anhui, and on the one hand, the construction of the enclosure can prevent bandits, and on the other hand, through the construction of this enclosure, it also allows these retired officers to grasp the power in the township. After all, these officers also followed Li Hongzhang to fight in the east and west, and their organizational skills were much stronger than those of the rural landlords. After they grasped the power in the countryside, they sent their children to the Beiyang Army by cultivating connections, which also became a way out for the children in these places. Historically, Duan Qirui was called "Anhui", not only because he was from Anhui, but also because there were many people from northern Anhui in his troops.

The "docks" are heavily guarded. After all, many of the "commanders" in Tuweizi are retired soldiers, and they still have some of the most basic organizational skills. Moreover, according to the investigation of the People's Party, this Zhang Youliang landlord does not farm at all, and his land is rented to others for cultivation. A lot of information points out that the landlord Zhang Youliang seems to be the pillar behind a group of bandits.

On the bow of the ship was the BJP flag, which was very eye-catching. From a distance, people on the dock saw that Hua Xiongmao had excellent eyesight, and he saw someone running back to the earthen fence to report the news. And the others on the dock were already on standby. It's really a bit like facing a great enemy.

"What do you guys do?" The Mission's ships failed to dock, and two small boats had already sailed out and blocked the front of the Mission. The man on the bow shouted, "Who are you?" ”

"We are from the insurance group in the county, and we came to visit Mrs. Zhang Youliang Zhang." Hua Xiongmao's voice was clear and spread far away.

The other party didn't expect Hua Xiongmao to be so direct, so he was stunned for a moment before he asked, "What's the matter with your visit to Mrs. Zhang." ”

"Many of our people in Yue Zhangji went to the county to flee when they sent water. Now that the water has receded, we wonder if we all have to eat, and we can't starve to death. But the food is not enough, we want to discuss with Mrs. Zhang and let everyone come back. Let everyone plant this land together, so don't collect rent. It's better to grow something to eat, so that everyone can survive this year's disaster year. When Hua Xiongmao shouted this, he used enough confidence, and his voice was bright and far. Not only the people in the two boats on the opposite side could hear clearly, but even those on the shore could hear clearly.

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and then a burst of laughter immediately rang out. There was a mix of ridicule.

"Don't pay rent? Yuezhangji's land is planted together? Haha, haha! ”

"Farming and not paying rent? The people in the insurance group are stupid! ”

"Hehe, what do you think of Mrs. Zhang?"

These ridicules were made by people with weapons and even firecrackers and shotguns, and it was assumed that these people should be the guards of this earthen enclosure, or simply the bandits who were said to be close to the landlord Zhang Youliang. Most of those who had no weapons but were just next to them did not smile, but looked at Hua Xiongmao in amazement.

Hua Xiongmao didn't care about these laughter at all, he looked at the person who was looking at him like a monster on the opposite boat and continued to shout: "Anyway, we also traveled dozens of miles to get here." Brother, please report it. ”