On the top of the North Gate of Hangzhou, Qiu Jin's eyebrows couldn't help trembling as she looked down. The roar of the New Army below the city wall could be heard clearly on the wall. They were all Northerners; Qiu Jin, who had stayed in Beijing, judged this fact clearly. Connecting with the attire of the New Army, their identity was already about to come out.

"Beiyang New Army!" Qiu Jin squeezed these few words out from her tightly clenched teeth.

The Guangfu Army Dare-to-Die Corps beside Qiu Jin didn't hear the words "Beiyang New Army"; their attention was attracted by the Beiyang New Army. Everyone's expression was different; the more Dare-to-Die Corps soldiers who had experienced fierce battles, the more solemn their expressions were. Precisely because they had experienced the test of life and death, they could feel the heavy killing intent emanating from these New Army soldiers below the city. These New Army soldiers below the city had not only killed people, but more terrifyingly, they knew how to kill people and had a strong desire for combat.

With a fluidity that the Shanghai New Army couldn't compare with at all, the New Army officers and soldiers under Hangzhou city began to check weapons and organize queues. Those officers riding horses just retreated slightly. They were not leaving the battlefield to hide in a safer rear; the riding officers just made way for the open space to facilitate the attack of the first row of New Army soldiers. The soldiers of the Guangfu Society Dare-to-Die Corps saw one of the officers draw a saber with a *shua* sound and raise it high in the air. Following this action, in the array of the Manchu Qing New Army, the flag bearers held their heads high and chests out, raising the military flags high at the same time.

"Ping!" Ji Ye's hoe hit a stone under the soil layer. Because Ji Ye used too much strength when waving the hoe, the reaction force numbed her hands. Letting the hoe chop crookedly into the soil, this seventeen-year-old girl Ji Ye suddenly raised her hand to cover her eyes and started crying.

The work of the Guangde County Lijiaji Work Team finally made progress. After finishing the work of cutting ten thousand bamboo poles a few months ago, a large open space was cleared on the mountain. The work team arranged for the villagers to learn techniques for raising earthworms to feed chickens, ducks, and pigs on one hand, and began planting mulberry trees on this large open space on the other.

Moso bamboo was a plant with extremely tenacious vitality; just cutting down the bamboo on the ground couldn't stop the moso bamboo from growing. The huge root system deeply rooted underground was intricate and connected; one had to rely on deep digging and ruthless digging to remove these root systems. Otherwise, the mulberry root system could hardly compete with the moso bamboo. Raising chickens and ducks showed results quickly, so the masses naturally favored this kind of scientific technology more. For planting mulberry trees, which required huge labor, less than fifteen families were willing to participate. Even among these fifteen families, five were weak labor families. They didn't put the main energy of the family on moso bamboo either, but just sent some people to come and help. Even so, many of the people sent were half-grown kids. The children weren't lazy, but their attention was too easily attracted by other things. Seeing things dug out of the soil, the children would swarm up to watch. Or if snakes and other animals appeared in the ground, the children would immediately scream and swing the farm tools in their hands to beat them indiscriminately.

Regardless of whether the attitude of the people was positive or not, the Lijiaji Work Team spent the rest of their time on labor, besides teaching, imparting agricultural knowledge, and helping the masses solve unexpected problems every day. Where did Ji Ye have experience with such heavy labor? The little girl ground blood blisters on her hands; when the blood blisters broke, calluses formed. Because it didn't hurt much after having calluses, she used too much force when waving the labor tools, and as a result, new blood blisters formed under the calluses. Sorrow suddenly came from within Ji Ye, and she wailed loudly.

The children who came to help were not on the mountain now. The comrades of the work team just looked up to see if Ji Ye was injured. Seeing Ji Ye wasn't injured, everyone immediately buried their heads and continued working. More than half a month ago, two students from the Base Area Agricultural School came to the work team. They brought some materials about bamboo and mulberry trees written by the Base Area Agricultural School. Combining theory with practice, the speed of eliminating bamboo root systems improved a lot visibly. Seeing that the dozen mu of land on the mountain were finally cleared up, some mulberry saplings transported from the Base Area had already been planted. The slogan of the work team was "Put in more effort, finish the first phase of the project as soon as possible."

After crying a few times, Ji Ye put down the hand covering her eyes and continued to wave the hoe while sobbing. Soon, the sobbing was gone too. The grievance in Ji Ye's chest turned into a kind of grief and indignation, and grief and indignation turned into strength. This seventeen-year-old girl waved the hoe desperately, digging randomly on the ground.

The arm raising the hoe high was grabbed by someone. Ji Ye turned her head and saw Work Team Captain Li Shouxian standing beside her. Li Shouxian sighed, "Comrade Ji Ye, take a rest."

These warm words calmed Ji Ye's grief and indignation a bit, but then she heard Li Shouxian say: "You are not efficient working like this."

Hearing that Li Shouxian cared not about her grief and pain but about her work efficiency, Ji Ye suddenly really wanted to choke Li Shouxian's neck with both hands and strangle Li Shouxian to death like a chicken in vigorous shaking.

However, this kind of thing was just a thought. Leaving aside that Li Shouxian had too much advantage in height and weight relative to Ji Ye, in the heavy work of Lijiaji, Li Shouxian had trained a strong body and developed muscles. Even so, Li Shouxian wasn't satisfied; he always held the People's Party's "Exercise Manual" and urged everyone to maintain exercise every day. Li Shouxian claimed that heavy physical labor did not equal exercise. Comprehensive physical training and paying attention to physical adjustment were the correct ways to maintain a strong revolutionary physique.

Ji Ye actually wanted to scold Li Shouxian severely, "If you trained so strong, then go fight a war. What are you messing around with a group of villagers in the village for?!"

But everyone was working, and Ji Ye felt it would be too silly to lose her temper like this, so she suppressed her anger, picked up the hoe, and continued to work. After all, she had several months of labor experience. The People's Party's work team training repeatedly taught everyone how to work. When Ji Ye calmed down to work, the effect was quite good. Perhaps she had vented just now, and her emotions were relieved. Moreover, after digging out and cutting off the root system, she needed to be careful of the sharp roots poking out and hurting her feet. Ji Ye's attention quickly returned to the labor itself. When the sun was about to set, Ji Ye looked up and found that there wasn't much left to complete.

"Call it a day! Continue tomorrow." Li Shouxian shouted.

Ji Ye couldn't help answering: "Just put in some effort and finish it today, wouldn't that be fine?"

"The problem is we can't finish it today. Such a piece of land, we have to work until tomorrow afternoon. When it's time to relax, let's not push ourselves too hard. Everyone rest well after going back; we still have to gather tree planting personnel. Tomorrow will be busy enough." Li Shouxian replied.

Ji Ye immediately recalled Li Shouxian discussing opening a mill a while ago. Needless to say, after the mulberry planting was completed, the next step was the start of the mill. Guangde County not only produced moso bamboo abundantly but also produced chestnuts abundantly. Eating too many chestnuts would cause dryness and constipation, but chestnut flour mixed with white flour could be steamed into wowotou (steamed corn/grain bread). And mixing chestnut flour with some other stuff could make "mixed pellet feed". It was said to be very useful stuff. There were chestnuts, moso bamboo, and mulberry trees near Lijiaji. Li Shouxian believed that if they continued like this, Lijiaji would take on a completely new look in a few years.

Thinking of this, Ji Ye asked: "Captain Li, how long are we going to work in this place?"

"What do you mean how long?" Li Shouxian didn't quite understand.

"I mean, are we going to live in this place and not leave in the future?"

"This depends on the organization's arrangement." Li Shouxian replied lightly.

"If the organization ignores us, will we keep working in this remote and poor place forever?" Ji Ye was scared by Li Shouxian's words of sticking to organizational principles.

"How is it called a remote and poor place? This place is not bad." Li Shouxian replied somewhat strangely.

Ji Ye looked down the hillside and saw patches of dilapidated thatched cottages standing in the setting sun. The black and yellow dry moso bamboo used as roof beams exposed a tattered section from the thatch. Although there was cooking smoke, the people entering and leaving every house were in ragged clothes. Children and dogs frolicked outside the doors. The only decent thing was a bamboo tube water diversion channel built under the lead of the work team not long ago, leading a spring directly into the village from the hillside.

Because she was responsible for education work, Ji Ye suddenly remembered a question in math class, "If the inlet pipe and outlet pipe of a pool are opened at the same time, how long does it take to fill a pool." Such a magical exercise became a reality in Lijiaji. At the end of the water pipe down the hill was a newly built multi-layer pool. Looking down from directly above, it looked like concentric circles. Several steps provided access for the masses to climb up this layered pool. The spring water led down poured into the top of the pool, and the overflowing water filled the layers of pools below layer by layer. Finally, the flowing water entered a pond dug on the ground. And after the pond water was full, it flowed along a ditch dug far away into a distant creek.

This arrangement not only ensured that the villagers could always get clean drinking water from the upper pools, but the lower pools could be used for washing clothes. When fetching water that didn't need to be so clean, one could just use a bucket to fetch water below. For a pool that took so much thought, most villagers were just watching the excitement when it was built. As a result, after it was built, without needing explanation, the villagers naturally saw the way. When they fetched their own drinking water, they always fetched it from the highest pool.

And the drainage ditch also played a role in the rainy season; rainwater rolled away along the drainage ditch, and no accumulation problem appeared at all. The villagers were not stingy with praise, but they were stingy with their own physical strength. As long as it was working for themselves and seeking welfare, the villagers were absolutely enthusiastic. Whenever doing something for the work team or for the collective interests of Lijiaji, there were very few followers. Only when "judging reasoning" (resolving disputes) did the villagers remember the work team. Every "judging reasoning" was a nagging and quarreling session that almost drove people crazy.

Having stayed in Lijiaji for only a few months, Ji Ye felt her energy seemed to be drained clean by this poverty-stricken mountainous area. She really couldn't see where "this place is not bad".

"Captain Li, do you plan to be in this place for a lifetime?" Ji Ye said with obvious dissatisfaction.

Li Shouxian packed up tools with everyone and replied casually, "A lifetime? How can I think that far? If the organization lets me work here, I work. If the organization asks me to go to other places, I go. Why think so much."

These words choked Ji Ye badly. She paused for a while before continuing to ask: "Then don't you have things you want to do yourself?"

"Things I want to do myself?" Scraping the mud stuck on the hoe with a bamboo piece on the ground, Li Shouxian then replied, "I used to want to do many things. The result was not only did I accomplish nothing, but my whole family almost starved to death. Now following the organization, everything can be accomplished. This bamboo is cut, mulberry trees can also be planted soon. Before long, if the mill is built, we can even provide grain to the county. With chestnut trees all over the mountains, how much chestnut flour will this grind? Exchanging for cloth, salt, and ironware, we are taking a huge advantage."

"That advantage didn't fall into your pocket either." Ji Ye really wanted to argue with Li Shouxian properly.

Li Shouxian frowned imperceptibly, but he soon laughed: "How is it called not falling into my pocket? We have to taste the chestnut flour ground from the best chestnuts first. Golden wowotou steamed with the best white flour transported here and this chestnut flour, plus duck meat, salted bamboo shoots. By the way, bamboo shoots stir-fried with big fat meat, that is very delicious. Once the mill is finished, I will go to the county and ask them to prepare a few pigs. Spices must also be prepared well. You don't know, we ate stewed pork made by Chairman Chen; thinking of it makes me drool. Not only having these dishes, I'll get some more wine, and everyone eat and drink well."

Ji Ye was still a seventeen-year-old girl after all. Hearing Li Shouxian's vivid description, she also felt her mouth watering, and her stomach began to rumble. And other comrades around, hearing Li Shouxian's description, couldn't help cheering.

"Let's go, go back to eat!" Seeing everyone had finished packing tools, Li Shouxian casually picked up the largest bundle of tools and carried it on his shoulder, taking the lead to walk down the mountain.

After labor, naturally, the appetite was wide open. The comrades of the People's Party paid great attention to personal hygiene. Besides the water diversion channel, public facilities in the village also included a bathhouse. However, only showers were provided. A branch pipe separated from the bamboo water pipe led directly to a large black thin iron bucket above the bathroom. After filling up, it would slowly flow into a pool below. On sunny days, the water in the big iron bucket was heated piping hot every day. After some adjustment, one could take a satisfying hot bath. However, such preferential treatment only existed when the People's Party work team tried it out in the first few days. Later, the common people spontaneously occupied the advantage of washing first.

Fortunately, it was only October now, and the weather wasn't too hot, so cold water baths weren't too cold either. After taking a bath, everyone bent over the table and chewed heartily. Just halfway through the meal, someone came in. Everyone looked; it was a messenger from the county. The messenger was a very cute-looking boy, less than twenty years old, very funny when speaking, and everyone liked him very much. Pulling the messenger to sit down and eat together, the messenger said while eating: "I came this time to notify the Guangfu Society comrades; Mr. Xu Xilin summons you back."

Ji Ye looked at the messenger gobbling down food. She was originally smiling, but hearing this news, the smile gradually faded from her face. Zhao Ziyong, the Guangfu Society comrade who came with Ji Ye, became very solemn.

"Did something happen?" Ji Ye asked hurriedly.

"Heard that the Guangfu Society repelled the Shanghai Qing troops. There is no other news. Not only Lijiaji, but all Guangfu Society comrades in other areas also have to return to the county seat. It seems this time it's possible to let all Guangfu Society comrades gather and return to Zhejiang together." The messenger continued to gobble; having run dozens of li, he was really hungry.

Returning to the Guangfu Society, this had always been Ji Ye's dream. To roam the battlefield with comrades again, not having to be with these unruly and difficult villagers. Ji Ye hoped countless times that this day would arrive soon. She knew she should show a happy smile, but why did her face seem to be smiling, but her heart wasn't happy at all? Ji Ye didn't understand this point very well.

After the meal, Ji Ye pulled Guangfu Society comrade Zhao Ziyong to a secluded place to talk about this matter. Zhao Ziyong usually didn't like to talk. Facing Ji Ye's inquiry, Zhao Ziyong managed to squeeze out a sentence with difficulty, "If they let us go back, we go back."

Ji Ye was immediately choked by this. She thought for a long time, then suddenly asked Zhao Ziyong in a low voice, "Brother Zhao, do you want to go back?"

Zhao Ziyong didn't speak this time. After a long time, he sighed. The conversation ended in silence like this.

Lying on the bed, Ji Ye tossed and turned, unable to sleep. If she went back, she would participate in war, while the present Lijiaji was... peace? Thinking of this, Ji Ye felt the things she couldn't figure out before suddenly became clear. When she first arrived at Lijiaji, Ji Ye couldn't walk into a peaceful life because of the war. And now, no matter how boring this peace looked, Ji Ye found it hard to return to the battlefield. Thinking of this, Ji Ye felt her body trembling uncontrollably. Returning to the battlefield meant facing death again. She didn't want to die.

This world was very big. When Ji Ye followed her brother and the Guangfu Society team to many places in Zhejiang, she thought this was already a very vast space. But outside Zhejiang, there were Jiangsu and Anhui, and there were more and broader worlds. when members of the work group talked about Fengtai County, the core base of the People's Party, they talked about the factories and schools there, the vast fields, the flocks of ducks, and the scenery on both sides of the Huai River. If taking a boat from Fengtai County, going east could reach the vast Hongze Lake. Ji Ye heard them talk about these and really wanted to go and see.

Not only this vast world, but there were also many, many delicious foods. Even if she couldn't eat the delicious food from afar, just the sumptuous feast after the mill was built described by Li Shouxian, Ji Ye really wanted to eat it. But once returning to the battlefield, these all became extravagant hopes.

Just in this wavering, Ji Ye suddenly remembered her brother. Her brother died in the war with the Manchu Qing, and the Manchu Qing hadn't been defeated yet. Ji Ye once swore to overthrow the Manchu Qing and avenge her brother. At least break through Nanjing city. But the current situation was far from that time. Thinking of her brother's death, fear disappeared completely from Ji Ye. A strong emotion that had been forgotten arose abruptly. Peace was nothing anymore; fear seemed to no longer have meaning. As long as she could take revenge! Ji Ye was willing to go to the battlefield again.

Without doubts, Ji Ye calmed down quickly. Perhaps the excitement consumed too much energy, and of course, the daytime labor also accumulated enough fatigue; Ji Ye fell asleep before long.

Her left leg kicked violently; Ji Ye woke up suddenly. At this time, she didn't know what time it was; anyway, it was pitch black outside. Ji Ye felt drowsiness had disappeared completely. The habit of getting up early formed these days made Ji Ye unable to lie down. She turned over and got off the bamboo bed. Ji Ye put on her clothes and walked out. Just out of the gate, she heard someone ask in the dark: "Who!"

"Ah!" Ji Ye was scared into screaming. Looking closely, she saw a figure in the moonlight. Identifying carefully, it was actually Li Shouxian.

"Captain Li, it's me!" Ji Ye patted her chest with her hand and replied.

"Oh, Comrade Ji Ye." Li Shouxian laughed.

"Captain Li, why are you up so early?" Ji Ye felt her heart was still pounding from fright.

"You are leaving soon; preparing some food for you on the road."

Hearing this, Ji Ye felt warm in her heart. Although yesterday she really wanted to strangle Li Shouxian alive, Ji Ye herself had long forgotten that unhappiness completely. She smiled: "I'll help you."

"Okay, let's go fetch water together." Li Shouxian finished speaking and handed the few bamboo tubes in his left hand to Ji Ye.

The moonlight was very bright; there was no one by the pool. As a public living facility convenient for the masses, the enthusiasm of the masses to participate was still there. Using bamboo as pillars and thatch to weave the roof, a simple covering room like a pavilion was finally completed with the participation of the masses. Inside and outside the pool were pasted with cyan stone pieces using cement, so it felt very good. The villagers said this was the place spitting water. Unknown where they got a hollow dragon head; putting it on the bamboo tube, the cool and sweet spring water sprayed out continuously from the dragon's mouth.

"Captain Li, I originally came here to learn revolution with you guys. But I didn't learn well; I still don't understand how to make revolution until now." Ji Ye said somewhat regretfully.

"The party organization mentioned this matter. I think you've learned just about enough." Li Shouxian replied.

"What does 'just about enough' mean?" Ji Ye asked in surprise.

"'Just about enough' means that you are unwilling to accept these revolutionary principles now, but you have heard all the revolutionary principles."

"Then what exactly are revolutionary principles?" This was the question Ji Ye didn't understand the most.

"I think the revolutionary principle you lack now is mainly the lack of cognitive method, which is how to do things. Take this pool for example. The pool we see, the effort spent when building it was only one-tenth of the whole thing. Nine-tenths of the effort was preparing materials and preparing manpower organization. If only looking at the labor of building the pool, or thinking that only building this visible actual construction is the whole thing, that is wrong. Anything requires a lot of preparatory work. Without these invisible preparatory works, there will absolutely not be the result you can see."

Ji Ye was also a smart child, plus she personally participated in the ins and outs of this project. After thinking for a while, she suddenly saw the light, "Captain Li, it's what you said before: one thing has a hundred links, and not a single link can be missing. Missing one, the thing can't be done. Right."

"That's it." Li Shouxian replied, "I know Guangfu Society comrades really want to know how our People's Party does things. Our People's Party actually didn't do anything amazing; it's just that for these hundred links, we did them all personally. Please note, did them personally. Instead of letting others exert effort for us."

"But we also exchanged a lot of things with the masses." Ji Ye asked.

"Right, the things we exchanged with the masses, we also produced them ourselves, right." Li Shouxian replied.

Ji Ye forgot to fetch water. Carrying the bamboo tubes, she thought left and right. Everything the work team got from the masses was something the work team actually owned. Every single thing was the fruit of the work team's labor. Recalling the Guangfu Society's style, Ji Ye discovered that the real things the Guangfu Society could actually take out were actually very, very few.

"Why can the People's Party comrades take out so many things?" Ji Ye asked.

"Because we are laborers. Laborers are creators. We created a lot of things through labor, so of course, we have products that can be used for exchange."

Seeing Ji Ye falling into thought again, Li Shouxian said: "I have also heard of some secret society styles. How to say it? The best way to make people believe is to use the real things you have now to exchange voluntarily with the masses. If the masses are unwilling to exchange, that's already very bad. If you have nothing, and you draw a pie in the sky, saying you give me what and what, and I will definitely let you have this big pie in the future. What do you think this looks like?"

"Haha, this is a Jianghu swindler." Ji Ye laughed. But just after laughing, she understood what Li Shouxian really wanted to point out. Ji Ye stopped laughing instantly.

After a good while, the heat on her face caused by shame subsided, and Ji Ye continued to ask: "But our Guangfu Society doesn't have so many things. If we don't get support, we can't fight the Manchu Qing at all."

"It's not that the Guangfu Society doesn't have things, but the Guangfu Society doesn't know what the common people really want. Before we came to Lijiaji, the masses here wanted a better life. Suppose our work team leaves now and doesn't stay in this Lijiaji anymore; what the masses want is still a better life. This is the need of the masses."

Hearing Li Shouxian's words, Ji Ye immediately became excited, "Right, right. If the Manchu Qing is overthrown, the common people can live a good life immediately. So we have to overthrow the Manchu Qing first."

"Haha, Comrade Ji Ye. Your view is wrong. If we don't overthrow the Manchu Qing, the Manchu Qing will come to kill us revolutionary people. Overthrowing the Manchu Qing is for the immediate life and death survival of us revolutionaries. What does this have to do with the common people?"

"Huh?" Ji Ye had never heard such a strange argument and was stunned for a moment.

Seeing Ji Ye had no way to figure out these principles, Li Shouxian changed the angle, "Let's put it this way. Everyone says the Manchu Qing is bad, corrupt officials, extortionate levies. This is correct. But our People's Party conquered Guangde County; there are no corrupt officials, no extortionate levies. But where has the life of the common people become better?"

Ji Ye didn't make a sound. In these few months in Lijiaji, the people's life was very bitter and poor. This was why Ji Ye called Lijiaji a "remote and poor place".

"Then aren't they better now?" Ji Ye replied almost a bit roguishly.

"It's better now because the masses labored, and the fruits of labor were obtained by the laboring masses. Then life will naturally become better. More labor in the future, life will also become better."

"Our Guangfu Society says so." Ji Ye said this with no confidence.

Li Shouxian mercilessly exposed Ji Ye's last card, "Your Guangfu Society says so, but your Guangfu Society has never done so."

Ji Ye didn't make a sound. Although she really wanted to use the unique rebuttal method of children when they couldn't win an argument, that is, "You didn't do better than me," the fact of working together made Ji Ye unable to say even this.

Li Shouxian didn't pursue and attack relentlessly, "Comrade Ji Ye, we People's Party believe that what the revolution wants to establish is an alliance of laborers. What is a laborer? People like you and me are laborers. Like the masses who took the initiative to participate in cutting bamboo for the first time, they are laborers. Revolution is uniting such laborers."

Ji Ye couldn't help nodding slightly because she also liked working with these people. If the problem faced with these people was only "suffering from fatigue", then being with others meant being with all kinds of disgusting and angry things.

"Comrade Ji Ye, suppose the Manchu Qing fights back to Guangde County now, and we flee in panic. Do you think those laboring masses will bring the Manchu Qing to chase and arrest us?"

"Definitely not."

"What if the Manchu Qing offers a reward of one hundred taels of silver?"

"This..." Ji Ye thought for a moment before saying, "I think not."

Li Shouxian lowered his voice and said: "What if it's those few loafers in the village?"

"Haha." Ji Ye laughed.

"So, our friends are laborers. Comrade Ji Ye, if you return to Zhejiang, you must remember this matter clearly. Who are our friends, who are our enemies? This is the primary question of the revolution."

Fetching water and cooking. After dawn, everyone ate breakfast and prepared luggage. Ji Ye, Zhao Ziyong, and Li Shouxian went to the county seat together. Hurrying along the way, when they arrived at the agreed gathering point in the county, they already saw many Guangfu Society comrades there. Ji Ye smiled: "Captain Li, if I can come back, you have to treat me to the meal of chestnut flour wowotou you talked about."

"Okay, I will definitely choose the best chestnut flour wowotou, and other dishes mentioned, I will treat you to all of them." Li Shouxian answered with a smile.

The three shook hands and said goodbye. Li Shouxian didn't return directly to Lijiaji; he went to the People's Party Guangde County Committee.

After seeing Li Shouxian, the County Committee Director handed a transfer order to Li Shouxian. "Comrade Li Shouxian, in view of your outstanding work results in Lijiaji, the Organization Department transfers you to work in the Wuhan three towns area of Hubei. This is the transfer order. Go back and prepare, depart immediately."

"Yes!" Li Shouxian answered in a loud voice.