Yingshan County is located in the center of the Dabie Mountains hinterland, on the border of Hubei and Anhui. It is the gateway to eastern Hubei, facing Huangshi and Jiujiang across the river 50 kilometers to the south, connected to Hefei City, Anhui Province 200 kilometers to the east, and 170 kilometers to the west is the great Wuhan City, the thoroughfare of nine provinces. It has always been known as the Jing-Yang Avenue, the throat of Wu and Chu, the fortress of Jiang-Huai, and the thoroughfare of Wan-E (Anhui-Hubei). After discussion, the Anqing Party Committee set the battlefield to solve the Thirty-first Regiment of the Hubei New Army near Yingshan County.

Since the decision was made, Zhang Yu only left a platoon of troops to guard Anqing. Cooperating with this platoon were Chen Duxiu and others. Since Anqing had already built a city operation system, and most of the *Chengguan* (City Management) and sanitation systems hired local common people, as long as no one came out to cause trouble, the normal operation of Anqing City would have no problems.

Because the troops almost turned out in full strength, Chen Duxiu and the others received orders to help transport materials. Although there is a saying "no load is light on a long journey," which probably means that a long march is definitely very tiring, and being a bit lighter or heavier doesn't make much difference. But the People's Party obviously didn't think so; minimizing the burden during the long march of troops was very important. So besides marking the road, the advance troops also had to complete the preparation of rest points along the way as much as possible, including transporting materials to supply points and departure points. The saying "food and fodder go before troops and horses move" referred to this link.

The supply materials of the People's Party were very special. To improve handling efficiency, all materials were packages of almost the same size. These packages were put into customized wooden crates. The size and weight of these wooden crates were relatively suitable for handling. With planning and preparation to such a detailed degree, Chen Duxiu and others really had their eyes opened. Relying on the Anqing Arsenal, the People's Party opened some new factories, one of which was a sawmill. At that time, Chen Duxiu and the others didn't understand what the busy sawmill was doing every day; now they finally knew.

No matter how planned the preparation was, material transportation required many laborers. Zhang Yu also unceremoniously let the Yue Wang Hui people, especially Chen Duxiu, participate in the transportation work. When setting off, the former Yue Wang Hui people were still praising the full preparation of the People's Party's material packaging. After only moving materials for half a day, their physical strength was exhausted. The burden on their shoulders seemed to weigh a thousand *jin*, and those pulling carts couldn't pull the carts anymore. They were all sweating profusely and panting. The cadre in charge of logistics had to let Chen Duxiu and the others stop to rest.

"Time to eat," the cadres shouted loudly. The officers and soldiers of the People's Party were long accustomed to this manual labor. Actually, everyone's daily good diet, rest, and training aimed to enhance physical fitness through good living habits and learn to eliminate fatigue and restore physical strength to the maximum extent. Hearing the order, the comrades immediately stood up and gathered together to start receiving dry rations.

Where had Chen Duxiu and the others experienced such hard work? They sat by the roadside crookedly from the start of the rest. Due to excessive physical consumption, they had no appetite at all. If not for the troop cadres coming over to urge them, plus Chen Duxiu and others reluctantly taking the lead to stand up and set an example, this bunch probably couldn't get up at all.

The meal wasn't hot food cooked on the spot. The troops just boiled hot water and then provided military dry rations. Each person was distributed two salted duck eggs and a rectangular block wrapped in oil paper. It felt a bit heavy in hand. After opening, inside was a square block composed of some small fragments. Seeing the People's Party soldiers biting it in small bites, Chen Duxiu also learned to take a bite. He quickly tasted that this block was mixed with peanuts, walnuts, and flour. Not only these, but this thing was sweet; it should also contain sugar. It actually tasted like a snack.

"What is this?" Chen Duxiu asked the cadre beside him.

"Compressed biscuits," the cadre said while distributing materials. Compressed biscuits were materials Chen Ke had to choose as a last resort. Due to the need for mobile warfare, it would be best if the troops could be provided with luncheon meat. The breeding industry in the base area was relatively developed, so meat wasn't unavailable. But the base area couldn't manufacture can tinplate in large quantities. If glass was used as a container, it would be too heavy instead. Moreover, the development of military fuel in the base area couldn't be put on the schedule at all now. So individual rations adopted compressed biscuits with a high-calorie formula.

Even so, this kind of compressed biscuit was only used during exterior line operations. If it weren't for the original plan that Zhang Yu's troops would fight guerrilla warfare outside Anqing city, they wouldn't have been able to get such high-grade goods as "compressed biscuits."

Since Zhang Yu decided to actively attack the Thirty-first Regiment, stable supplies couldn't be obtained on the road. And obtaining supplies from along the way might not necessarily be a high-efficiency practice. The route to be traversed was the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains, which was a poor place. It was hard enough for the troops to buy grain from the common people, plus getting fuel and making a fire to cook; just to eat a meal, if smooth, would take at least four or five hours of tossing about. This was extremely unfavorable for combat operations. Although compressed biscuits were high-grade goods, Zhang Yu used them without hesitation.

Sweet compressed biscuits, paired with salted duck eggs, could adjust the taste quite well. These were all foods with not low sugar and oil content. The portion didn't look big, but one would feel full easily after eating. Plus hot water, the effect of restoring physical strength was quite obvious.

After eating and resting for twenty minutes, when the troops began to continue moving materials, Chen Duxiu and the others could cheer up again. That night, the transport troops worked until the sky turned completely dark before stopping the advance. Tired after a day, Chen Duxiu couldn't care about that much anymore; he wrapped himself in the marching quilt and lay down to sleep. Even when shaken awake, Chen Duxiu still felt he hadn't rested well.

The sky was still pitch black, and the transport troops had already woken up all members. At this time, hot water had been boiled. After eating breakfast, everyone began to hold torches and continue advancing. After walking for more than an hour, the eastern horizon gradually began to turn white. Extinguishing the torches, the troops continued to march desperately.

After walking for only more than two hours, Chen Duxiu was panting again. He pursed his lips and pushed the cart desperately. If it were a march of the Yue Wang Hui, they would naturally be dragging their feet on the road, but the strength everyone didn't use up on marching would be used on their mouths. The team would definitely be full of "laughter and joyous chatter." But Chen Duxiu discovered that few people spoke when the People's Party troops marched. Now Chen Duxiu fully understood the reason. When all strength was used on marching, where would there be extra strength to joke? Especially when moving materials, it was even more impossible to speak. Chen Duxiu had a rather competitive personality; since he joined the logistics troops, he decided never to slack off before collapsing from exhaustion.

Just as Chen Duxiu was striving to squeeze out his last bit of physical strength, the officer ordered everyone to rest. Hearing this order, the crowd almost immediately collapsed to the ground. Chen Duxiu was the same; he leaned against the cart wheel, feeling weak all over. The vigor of working to death just now disappeared completely in an instant. Although the back of his head was pressed against a protruding part of the wheel, feeling very uncomfortable, Chen Duxiu didn't even have the strength to move his neck. He couldn't help thinking that the purpose of rest was to restore physical strength, and after restoring physical strength, he had to work to death again. If he really died of exhaustion now, perhaps it would be much more comfortable than this constant working to death.

Thinking of this, Chen Duxiu panted heavily, forced himself to cheer up, propped up his body, and stood up. He saw the comrades from the Yue Wang Hui background collapsing on the road one by one really like dead dogs. Looking at the comrades from the People's Party background again, although they sat back to back according to their usual training, their foreheads were also covered with sweat, and there were obvious water stains soaked by sweat on their military uniforms. Since everyone couldn't change uniforms yesterday, there were layers of white salt stains on their dark blue uniforms. This was very normal; when everyone set off yesterday, the materials to be moved were distributed evenly. As the physical strength of the comrades from the Yue Wang Hui was exhausted, the comrades from the People's Party silently took on more work of transporting materials. If not for this, the entire team simply couldn't have persisted until now without anyone falling behind.

"People's Party soldiers are human too," Chen Duxiu said in his heart. They would also feel exhausted and tired, so they put all their energy into fighting against this exhaustion and tiredness. Instead of being like the Yue Wang Hui, with minds full of showing off but unwilling to truly face hard work. The difference in achievements between the Yue Wang Hui and the People's Party, wide as heaven and earth, was gradually pulled apart from every such small link, from every section of marching. By the time the Yue Wang Hui saw the gap, it was fundamentally impossible to catch up.

Although he still wanted to continue observing, Chen Duxiu felt a burst of blackness before his eyes, and his consciousness disappeared along with the darkness surging like a tide.

When Chen Duxiu woke up, he didn't even know what had happened. He only saw himself surrounded by several comrades from the Yue Wang Hui. Chen Duxiu wanted to raise his body, then discovered his strength seemed to have disappeared completely; he couldn't even move a bit. The comrades from the Yue Wang Hui hurriedly helped Chen Duxiu up. Someone brought water over. "Mr. Chen, drink some water."

After drinking water, Chen Duxiu felt much better. Supporting himself on the comrades' shoulders, he stood up, only to see there were more than thirty people with him, but the transport troops were nowhere to be seen. "Where did the transport team go?"

"Mr. Chen, after you fainted, the transport team left the comrades who couldn't walk behind, and they set off themselves. This bunch really doesn't give face," someone said very dissatisfiedly.

Chen Duxiu shook his head. "What kind of talk is this? Since we can't walk anymore, there is no reason to delay the troops from continuing to advance. If they stayed, wouldn't it be much easier? Continuing to advance is even harder."

After being criticized by Chen Duxiu, the comrades from the Yue Wang Hui dared not retort. They asked: "The troop cadres let us wait here. Mr. Chen, what do you think we should do?"

Chen Duxiu looked ahead for a while but couldn't see any trace of the troops at all. It seemed the main force had gone far. "Let's wait here."

Everyone was waiting for this sentence from Chen Duxiu. Since Chen Duxiu also stated his position, everyone helped Chen Duxiu sit down, and they also sat down along the way, or simply lay down. They had never experienced such hard work; at this time, their bodies and mental strength had reached the limit long ago. Quite a few people fell asleep not long after lying down. Chen Duxiu also fell asleep unknowingly.

It wasn't until noon that Chen Duxiu woke up. He didn't wake up naturally but was startled awake. The footsteps of the large troops marching in the distance vibrated the ground. Although no one spoke in this troop, this vibration still stimulated the most instinctive alert nerve of humans. Not only Chen Duxiu, but others were also startled awake.

Chen Duxiu took out his pocket watch and looked; it was 1:30 in the afternoon. He knew the main force set off in the dark early this morning to not disturb the citizens and not leak news. The transport troops walked for a day and a half; the main force completed it in half a day. This speed was truly surprising.

As the main force got closer and closer, Chen Duxiu could see that the main force's physical strength hadn't been consumed too much. The soldiers looked focused and walked briskly, marching on the mountain road without the slightest sluggishness. Exchanging situations with the troop's courier, the main force continued to advance without stopping. The troop of 1,000 people soon disappeared on the mountain path.

It wasn't until evening that the logistics troops came back pulling carts. And the vast majority of those who came back were cadres from the Yue Wang Hui background; most of the logistics troops from the People's Party background continued to set off with the main force.

When Chen Duxiu and the others stumbled on the return journey, the officers and soldiers of the Hubei New Army Thirty-first Regiment had already set up camp. They didn't have the marching mode of carrying compressed biscuits and salted duck eggs, so they brought their own grain when sending troops. Marching on the mountain road every day naturally couldn't be very fast. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army didn't need to make fires to cook, but the New Army had to cook. Just cooking and eating would take at least four hours every day. The tradition of the New Army sending troops was to issue money. The court had no money to give Hubei but could use tax deductions. However, the Huguang Governor had no intention of giving the New Army so much money, just giving a bit of start-up fee symbolically.

The Thirty-first Regiment shouted "loyal to the court, exterminate chaotic parties" the loudest with their mouths, but loyalty to the court was definitely not without a price. This bit of start-up fee absolutely couldn't make the officers and soldiers of the Thirty-first Regiment feel their loyalty received the deserved reward. Thus, the change in the mood of loyalty led to them walking less than twenty *li* a day. Now there was still a distance of more than seventy *li* from Yingshan County. The Commander of the Thirty-first Regiment was even more unwilling to walk so fast, setting up camp early to rest.

With the Hubei New Army marching so swaggeringly, they naturally wouldn't pay attention to passers-by. Anyway, passers-by had long been scared by this large troop into hiding by the roadside, not daring to approach. The scouts of the People's Party disguised as passers-by, closely monitoring the movements of the Thirty-first Regiment.