Yue Zhangji was already the headquarters of the insurance regiment. In the northwest corner, it is always heavily defended. That's where the prison is.

Zhang Youliang's family and the landlords who were arrested from all over the place were locked up there. No torture, no interrogations and no forced confessions. The attitude of the BJP towards these captives is to ignore them. Everyone eats two meals a day, cleans on time, and no one else is treated here.

The landlords never knew that squatting in prison was such a thing. After the fence was broken, the men were sent here to be in prison. Two taels of coarse grains a day, starving to death, not enough to eat. The slow state of hunger mercilessly tormented everyone's hearts, and the landlords were at first discussing escape. There are also people who try to put the prison escape into practice while they still have some physical strength. But hunger is far more powerful than these people think. The troops of the insurance regiment were heavily defended, and if they wanted to break through a wall with their hands, they needed more physical strength than the upper limit of calories provided by two taels of coarse grains.

At the beginning, everyone was still talking about what kind of organization this insurance group suddenly appeared. Is it a bandit, or is it a rebel? As the oldest Zhang Youliang family in prison, they have become everyone's source of information. Knowing that Zhang Youliang had been locked up for almost four months, everyone was frightened. Being able to detain people for a long time says at least one thing. The organization even has the capacity to form institutions such as prisons.

However, the discussion did not last long, and one of the effects of starvation was that it effectively reduced the blood supply to the brain, which caused a decline in thinking skills. And this day is as cold as a day, in order to maintain body temperature, everyone is even more reluctant to speak, or even reluctant to move.

Life in prison can be said to be like a year, and these people soon lose the ability to judge the day, and they just survive in prison.

Suddenly, the insurance corps began to pick up prisoners outside.

Zhang Youliang's family has been locked up for the longest time, and they have been hungry for the longest time, and in the face of the interrogators, the Zhang family has shown a kind of numbness and sluggishness up and down.

The doors and windows of the interrogation room were not large, and although it was still quite dark during the day, the room had to be lit with a lamp. Looking at it gives people a depressing atmosphere. The interrogator at the table, dressed in blue, was young and asked in a deliberately flat voice, "What's your name?" ”

Zhang Youliang sat on a very special stool, which was made of a whole round wooden stake, big at the bottom and small at the top. It's uncomfortable to sit. But Zhang Youliang didn't feel it at all, let him enter the house, he entered the house, let him sit down, and he sat down. When the interrogator questioned, Zhang Youliang did not say a word.

"What's your name?" The interrogator asked again. Zhang Youliang still didn't say a word.

"Again, what's your name?" The young interrogator was already a little impatient. At this moment, the person next to the interrogator pressed his hand on the interrogator's shoulder, "Comrade Xiao Zhang, don't worry. ”

It was Lin Shenhe who spoke, and the People's Party had given a task to solve the problem of the landlords' blood debt to the people recently. In fact, it is too easy to kill the landlords in prison with a little means. But one of the consequences of this is that there is no way to mobilize the masses at all. The main purpose of the temporary detention of the landlords was to prevent the landlords from running to sue the officials, and the People's Party had to avoid a sudden military conflict before the People's Party chose war. Now that the People's Party is ready for war, the work of settling the blood debts of the landlords can finally be officially carried out.

The job in charge of the interrogation is Zhang Zijie, and as the temporary head of the procuratorate, Lin Shenhe must also participate in the interrogation. Zhang Zijie is a native of Yue Zhangji, and he went to join the army when the insurance regiment began to recruit people. Now he can be responsible for interrogating the big landlord of the former Yue Zhangji, although his face is serious, but his heart is really excited. Unexpectedly, Zhang Youliang on the opposite side did not react like a wood carving, and he didn't even answer a few questions, but Zhang Zijie lost his cool a little.

After being reminded by Lin Shenhe, Zhang Zijie knew that he was a little out of shape. He quickly settled down, and then continued to ask, "I'll ask one last time, what's your name." ”

Zhang Youliang remained silent.

"Hmph," Zhang Zijie sneered, "Zhang Youliang, aren't you also horizontal on weekdays?" Why don't you dare to say anything now when I ask you what your name is? ”

Hearing this, Zhang Youliang, who had been indifferent, moved his eyes slightly.

"Then let me ask you, what did Zhang Gongliang die?"

The name did not completely touch Zhang Youliang, and he remained silent. For this attitude of indifferent resistance, Zhang Zijie could no longer maintain his calm, he slammed the table, "What do I ask you?" Do you think you can stop talking if you pretend to be a dead dog? You just say it bluntly, what did Zhang Gongliang die? ”

Zhang Youliang's eyes finally blinked, because there were only two taels of coarse grain a day for the past four months, Zhang Youliang was already skinny, his Adam's apple moved up and down, and a dry voice slowly came out, "I already knew that you were going to kill me, you could kill me if you wanted, and what excuse did you make." Do you still want to say that you can't do it for heaven? ”

"Zhang Youliang, if we want to kill you, we can kill you early. But our People's Party doesn't like to kill people, and if you, a rural landlord, just talk a few nonsense, that's not a big deal. Now there are people who want our People's Party to uphold justice. Who killed Zhang Gongliang? How he died. ”

Zhang Youliang's answer was very simple, "He refused to pay the rent last year, and I had people beat him dozens of times." And he died. ”

Zhang Zijie didn't expect Zhang Youliang to say it so happily, but he was very surprised. After continuing Zhang Youliang's confession, Zhang Zijie then asked, "Who did you let do it?" ”

"Hmph, I asked people to drag Zhang Gongliang out and beat him in public, who did it, you can ask others. I don't know. Zhang Youliang still said slowly. After finishing speaking, he suddenly smiled, "Zhang Zijie, you kid is lucky." At the beginning of the year, you stole half a bag of grain from my family, and I asked people to arrest you at that time, but I didn't expect you to run away. Later, I actually went to join the insurance group. If not, this Gongliang is your end. You're going to be beaten to death, too. ”

Lin Shenhe didn't expect Zhang Youliang to tell this past incident at all, although his face did not change color, but he had a feeling of sudden realization in his heart. These days, Lin Shenhe and He Zudao have a closer relationship, and the formation of the procuratorate requires manpower, Chen Ke said that he would liquidate the blood debts owed by the landlords to the people. Lin Shenhe proposed to He Zudao, hoping that He Zudao would support comrades with strong political skills. He Zudao recommended Zhang Zijie, and the recommendation was "dare to fight". Looking at it now, the struggle between Zhang Zijie and the landlord is quite profound, and if Zhang Zijie had not defected to the People's Party, it would have been another murder case now.

In the face of Zhang Youliang's accusation of stealing, Zhang Zijie did not mean to be overwhelmed at all, on the contrary, Zhang Zijie laughed, "Zhang Youliang, you took away my family's tenant, and I only got half a bag of grain back from you." Relying on this half bag of grain, my family was able to survive until the People's Party arrived in Fengtai County. You owe so many lives, and now it's time for you to pay them back. I also want to tell you one thing, the People's Party is about to divide the land, and as long as it is an ordinary person, everyone can get a share of the land. And you will never take it again. These lands will always belong to the common people, and the good days of you local tyrants who eat people and don't spit out bones are completely over. ”

If Zhang Youliang could still remain calm at first, after hearing this, his breathing immediately became rapid, and the indifference in his eyes that seemed to be seen completely disappeared. Zhang Youliang's chest rose and fell violently, as if he was about to rush up and tear Zhang Zijie on the opposite side to pieces. Zhang Zijie looked at Zhang Youliang with a calm expression. The table in the interrogation room was buried in cement on all four legs, and it could not be lifted at all. Zhang Youliang's excited performance made Zhang Zijie very satisfied, this Zhang Youliang, who was once majestic and could arbitrarily decide the life and death of the residents of Yue Zhangji, now this desperate performance is like drinking a bowl of hot wine in winter, and every pore is comfortable. The wonderful pleasure of revenge made Zhang Zijie laugh.

"I'm going to kill you!" Zhang Youliang suddenly grabbed the strangely shaped "stool" and was about to pick it up and smash it at Zhang Zijie opposite. But the peculiar shape of the stool suddenly came into play. The cylindrical shape made of whole logs has a smooth appearance, and there is no place to grasp it. Zhang Youliang bent down and wanted to pick up this "stool", but found another difficulty, this "stool" is big and small, heavy and light, sitting very steadily, and completely losing balance when he wants to hold it. Coupled with the limited physical strength, Zhang Youliang's efforts to find the murder weapon were all in vain. The guards at the door had rushed in when they heard the sound, and they saw Zhang Youliang shaking like pulling a turnip, holding a "stool", and the guards came up and kicked Zhang Youliang with the stool, and then tied Zhang Youliang firmly.

Lin Shenhe couldn't help grinning, this kind of stool was the style provided by Chen Ke. Including the way in which the interrogation room was built, Chen Ke also provided. The table was bought into the concrete floor to make it easy to handchain the prisoner to the table. Some people thought that there was no need to give prisoners stools to sit on, and Chen Ke replied, "It is inhumane to let prisoners stand." Lin Shenhe sat on that stool, the stool was not large, and it was quite uncomfortable to sit on. Unexpectedly, when the prisoner was about to use the stool as a murder weapon, he couldn't use it at all. Chen Ke has no experience as a police officer, which can be judged from the conversation with Chen Ke. However, what I didn't expect was that in addition to being able to provide various theoretical support, Chen Ke could actually come up with so many brilliant ideas for such a "dark nature" design. It's really scary to think about.

Zhang Youliang has fallen into a state of madness, struggling and scolding at the same time. Zhang Zijie said to the guards: "Take him down first, and bring Zhang Youliang's son up." ”

The work of collecting evidence was far easier than imagined, Zhang Youliang's crime was not done secretly at all, and for such a well-organized landlord, their arrogance was even beyond Chen Ke's imagination. The benchmark for this trial was the murder of the people committed by the landlords within three years. The comrades did not understand this specific requirement at first, and Chen Ke had to express his own considerations.

Before Chen Ke spoke, Chen Tianhua gave a detailed account of the impact of the feedlot in Xingtai, Hebei Province on the small-scale peasant economy. Just a village-run breeding farm can create such a huge influence in a county or even further afield, and it is even very likely that many families will be forced to die. The strangeness of the economy also made the comrades shudder.

After Chen Tianhua finished speaking, Chen Ke was very satisfied with the shock of his comrades, and he said: "This is the trading system. The characteristic of the small-scale peasant economy is that it avoids trading as much as possible, because the means of production are divided into the hands of countless small producers, and everyone has the same choice, first of all, to farm the land and eat enough. Very little surplus is traded. The transaction with those surplus products is small, but the pip money is very likely to determine the fate of a family. If you want to see a doctor, you will need money, and if you want to buy cloth, you may need money. As for you to go to school, you need money even more. And these deals are fundamentally uncompetitive against mass-produced competitors. The commodities that the peasants traded could not be sold, and they spent all their efforts to produce these products in vain, and in the end they could not get the money. If it were not for the peasant associations set up by Comrade Chen Tianhua, these people would have been afraid that many families would have serious problems. ”

Looking at the comrades of the People's Party who were talking about it, Chen Ke said: "Comrades, why should we overthrow the old system and establish a new system. Because industrial production requires a system that can be matched, and this system is very complex. The Chinese people are great people, and everyone knows that they can't believe what they haven't seen. Therefore, we must first understand the system, and then we must first build the framework of the system. Only when the people enjoy the benefits of this system can they gradually believe in us. Let's keep up the good work. ”

The speech was very persuasive, and although many comrades had something to say, it enabled them to thoroughly understand the role of large-scale production in the small-scale peasant economy, and there were more things that needed to be understood. So everyone simply didn't say more, but put the focus of the problem back to the original question, why should we focus on investigating the murder case within three years.

"In the past three years, there have been signs of large-scale foreign goods entering Fengtai County. Many landlords in Anhui have their own business, and the landlords cannot cope with the challenge of foreign goods, and some foreign goods are also very important to the landlords, and the landlords also need more money to trade. On the one hand, the bankruptcy of the landlord's workshop, and on the other hand, the landlords needed more money. The landlords had no other way but to extract more grain from the peasants in exchange for more money. Moreover, there are many enclosures in Anhui, and the arrogance of these big landlords can be imagined. In the past three years, the landlords have had the most murders. Moreover, many of us are not locals, and many of the cases from three years ago have little information in our hands, so I am not saying that the cases of three years ago should not be investigated, but the cases of three years ago may not be as clear as these cases in three years. Since we want to handle a case, the facts that need to be handled are clear. You can't handle cases for the sake of results. ”

And the final result is really surprising, within three years, only Zhang Youliang's family committed more than a dozen homicides in Yue Zhangji. Several other landlords also had homicides. As for the seizure of land, there are hundreds of cases of seizure of tenants. And that's just the case near Fengtai County. The surrounding fences laid by the base area, the owner of each fence has a murder case in his hands. If this is the category of class struggle, it is easy to qualify. Gangs are prevalent in this area of Huaibei, and there are hundreds of deaths caused by various civil conflicts. This kind of weapon fighting case involves a wider range of people, and even the soldiers of some units are involved in these things.

"Now let's focus on the main contradiction first. The contradiction between the landlords and the people is the main contradiction. Focus on these cases first, and freeze the rest for the time being. Chen Ke gave instructions.

Xu Dian did not object this time, these murder cases were all cases before the construction of the base area, involving class struggle, and it can be said that there were people's needs, but the people's party had not yet appeared at that time in the civil dispute case, and it was not legally qualified to manage so much.

"Comrade Xu Dian, last time I asked you to arrange a trial for those who stole farmland. When the landlords were tried in public this time, these people also had to be tied up. After the trial of the landlords, they were also put on trial. These people have been arrested and forced to work for so long, and the time at this stage must be counted according to the sentence. ”

Xu Dian did not object, he asked, "Chairman Chen, when will this public trial be held?" ”

"As soon as the fleet of iron carriers returns, it will be convened immediately."

"Yes!" Xu Dian's eyes were full of enthusiasm, this was the first time he practiced the duties of a judge, and his excitement and excitement could be imagined, "I'll go back now and make the legal provisions more certain." Prepare more well before the fleet returns. ”

Under the command of Yan Fu, the fleet finally arrived in Hanyang. There are a lot more pipe clamps along the way. If it weren't for the fact that the flotilla was escorted by the flag of the Anhui New Army and some comrades of the New Army who had volunteered to join the People's Party, it would have been extorted very badly. Even so, the fleet gave a lot of benefits to the checkpoints along the way. In the great flood in Anhui, the government not only did not provide relief, but instead intensified its exploitation. In response to such a state of affairs, the water detachment was filled with righteous indignation.

Li Zhao, the political commissar of the water detachment, specially held a mobilization meeting, which left a deep impression on Yan Fu.

"Comrades, I know that you hate these levels. Because the money everyone gave them was the money that our party had worked hard to earn, and it was all the money earned by the people in the base area. Those corrupt officials didn't do anything, they just sat there and collected money. You shouldn't be angry with these bastards, you should be angry! Because we are all members of the People's Party and fighters of the People's Party. We want to save the people and completely eliminate these corrupt officials and corrupt officials! ”

Yan Fu listened quietly and watched. The comrades of the People's Party are all young, and the oldest is less than 40 years old. Listening to Li Zhao's mobilization, everyone had anger on their faces. Even Zhang Yu, a person who doesn't like expressions on weekdays, has a gloomy face.

"Of course, in the eyes of these people. After the flood, these people had a miserable life. The daily extortion has nowhere to come from, and they have no other livelihood than to collect money on the river. Comrades, these people have never thought that in the face of disasters, as long as they have to unite, as long as they are sincere in order to save the people, there is nothing they cannot do. Didn't we do it in Fengtai County? Moreover, Fengtai County is the most flooded, we have so many rivers and so many lakes here. As the saying goes, people go to high places, and water flows to low places. Water is coming to us from all over the world. But are we scared? I have to say that I was scared at the time, but so many blind dates are about to die in this big water, and it's too late to save people, and I don't have time to be afraid of this. ”

The comrades of the water detachment are all old comrades, and many of them have the experience of saving people, and everyone nodded one after another.

"Hanyang is a big place, there are many interesting things and rare things. When everyone comes to this place, they all want to see the world and see the rarity. I can understand everyone's feelings, but I would like to say now that we are here in Hanyang to transport the precious iron back to our Fengtai County. We're here to work, not to play. No matter how good and prosperous Hanyang is, it is not the focus of our visit this time. I ask that you do not get off the boat during your stay in Hanyang. There are all kinds of bad guys in big places, and with such a large fleet as ours, there are many people who want to fight our ideas. Once we get off the boat, there will be people who will try to give us bad ideas. Even if we can settle these things, we will have to delay the trip. Comrades, after this flood, everyone needs farm tools at home, and if we transport these irons back to the base area, our family will have farm tools to cultivate next year. And this winter, we have to do so much farm work on water conservancy, and everyone is waiting for us to transport the iron back. If it's because we're playful and delay these important work, do you think it's appropriate? ”

"Don't worry, commissar. We will definitely listen to the command. Definitely not going into trouble. ”

"I'm not afraid that you will get into trouble, but I now ask everyone that during their stay in Hanyang, they will not get off the ship without an order. We're here to work. I promise you that when we liberate Anhui and Hubei, we will liberate Hubei. I will ask our party organization comrades to come to Hanyang to play. However, this time, I ask that you refrain from getting off the ship. The captain of each ship must take care of his own ship, his own crew. We didn't come out to play for ourselves, we came here for our families, for the revolution. ”

"Commissar, we must obey orders and listen to commands."

"If we don't let us get off the boat, we won't get off the boat."

The fighters all took a stand.

Yan Fu looked at the demeanor of the soldiers, it was by no means a look of coping, but a simple look that could be fully understood. The navy is the most disciplined, and the soldiers float on the water all day, and when they arrive at the port, they naturally want to relax. The Beiyang Navy Division also made a fuss in Flower Street in Japan. Many of these people are soldiers who have not joined the army for a long time, and they are already comparable to or even above the Beiyang Naval Division in terms of discipline. Yan Fu is very satisfied with this.

Zhang Zhidong was very polite to Yan Fu, there are so many scrap steel in Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, the price is naturally negotiable. Of course, Yan Fu's willingness to take real money is also another reason. The People's Party brought a lot of 914 over this time, but it also sold them at a very good price. With the prosperity of the Wuhan Concession, the problem of willow disease is very serious. With enough money and effective bribes, the total amount of steel bought in the end reached as much as 20,000 tons.

As a Confucian, Zhang Zhidong, in order to show his respect for Yan Fu, a real celebrity, even came in person when Yan Fu was about to load the ship and leave, and sent two officials to Yan Fu to guide the waterway, so that Yan Fu would not be excessively troubled in Hubei. And Yan Fu also knew the news that Zhang Zhidong was about to enter Beijing.

"Hello, where did you get such a group of cargo carriers?" Zhang Zhidong originally thought that the 20,000 tons of steel would not be transported too quickly. Unexpectedly, those people on the ship had a reasonable division of labor and were well organized. And everybody is doing their jobs. It's completely different from the numb docker who is tormented by heavy work. Although the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant is responsible for transporting the steel to the river. But I didn't expect more than 300 people to work together. It took more than two hours to get all the steel onto the ship.

"Zhang Gong, these people also met by chance. I didn't expect to meet such a group of people. Yan Fu said with a smile.

Originally, Zhang Zhidong wanted to invite Yan Fu to have a meal together, but when he saw such a scene, he saw that Yan Fu's face was full of urgency to get on the boat quickly. Zhang Zhidong smiled, "A few words, seeing that you are so anxious, I won't keep you more." ”

Yan Fu was not polite, and directly said goodbye to Zhang Zhidong.

Watching the fleet sail into the Yangtze River channel, Zhang Zhidong was puzzled. Yan Fu is doing his best, who is he helping out?

Nine days later, the news that Yan Fu's fleet had entered the control of the base area finally arrived at Chen Ke, who had been waiting for a long time. Chen Ke immediately convened a party committee. At the meeting, it was formally decided that the next step of work began.