The Heroic Age of the Late Qing Dynasty

Now, the gentleman boss's sarcastic remarks were simply outrageous, instantly igniting the crowd's anger. More and more people gathered, and soon someone couldn't hold back any longer and took advantage of the chaos to attack. With a few tugs, they knocked the gentleman boss to the ground. The crowd swarmed over him, immediately beating and kicking him.

This gentleman boss, accustomed to a life of luxury and old age, was now being beaten by the crowd. His head was bloodied and he lay on the ground, groaning and unable to speak. As for the few people from the Infantry Yamen who had been invited, they dared not speak when they saw the angry crowd. However, one clever clerk was afraid that his boss would die and he would be unemployed. He had a family to support and knew he couldn't lose his job, so he immediately pushed through the crowd and shouted, "There's no point in beating this old man to death. Let's go find the governor. The governor has already said that the granaries will be opened to release grain."

When everyone heard this, they decided that they should indeed find the governor to solve the problem fundamentally, so they immediately left their boss, who was half dead, and headed towards the governor's office.

A massive crowd arrived outside the Governor's Office, now numbering over ten thousand. They say a crowd of over ten thousand seems endless. Adding in some onlookers and others with ulterior motives, the crowd surrounded the Governor's Office. Duan Fang was also inside the Governor's Office, discussing matters with Zhang Zengyang. Both of them were furious at the sight of this situation.

These people were so bold that they had even blocked the Governor's Office. They were about to rebel. But seeing the surging crowd, Duan Fang, a bannerman, was terrified. Firstly, there were too many people, and secondly, the Qing Dynasty had fallen so quietly. If these people rebelled, he would have no idea what to do.

Facing the public's demands to stabilize grain prices and open granaries to release grain, Duan Fang immediately stated: "In three days, just three days, I can reduce the price of rice to its original level."

Duan Fang had grain, but he needed to trade it with Japan for weapons to maintain his rule over Min and Zhejiang. This was a pre-negotiated agreement, and Duan Fang, fearing the Japanese, was unwilling to release his grain reserves unless absolutely necessary. He knew the grain merchants, who were essentially connected to the Qing ruling class and formed the foundation of his rule. He didn't dare offend them, as this would be his downfall. However, Duan Fang was willing to negotiate with the rice merchants, as otherwise, no one would be able to overcome this hurdle.

Three days? Who would be willing to wait three days? After three days, it's still uncertain whether they'll be alive. If they're willing to stabilize food prices, why wait three days? The people have been deceived once before, so why would they be willing to believe this nonsense now?

This is what happened when the government lost its credibility. The people did not believe that the government could stabilize the food prices. Some people even believed that there was no food in Zhejiang or that there was not enough food to eat. This greatly deepened the panic among the people.

The people have no food left. Does that mean the whole of Zhejiang has no food left? Looking up and seeing the huge crowd, my judgment was further deepened.

Duan Fang and Zhang Zengyang had never dealt with such a problem before. Duan Fang, in particular, began to speak without thinking: "Don't worry, everyone, I eat well every day, how could there be no food?"

Duan Fang had meant to say he had food, but what he said came out as something like "minced meat." Speaking inappropriately at the wrong place, at the wrong time, the consequences were predictable.

The people are starving to death, and you officials are just sitting there talking nonsense, right? You are simply adding fuel to the fire, and you are going too far, and you are igniting the people's emotions instantly. What does this mean? I eat a lot of fish and meat every day, how can I be short of food? Who are you mocking?

Duan Fang also realized that he had said the wrong thing, but the people obviously did not intend to give Duan Fang the opportunity to show off his wealth. Someone immediately wanted to grab Duan Fang and Zhang Zengyang, but this was not the door of a rice shop, and Duan Fang and Zhang Zengyang were not the owners of a rice shop. They held military and political power in their hands. In order to maintain their rule, and with the foreigners taking the initiative to contact them, Duan Fang also purchased a lot of weapons from Japan. He was armed to the teeth, which was a powerful weapon to suppress the unruly people.

Seeing that the people were trying to catch him, Duan Fang was suddenly terrified and immediately ordered to shoot.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

After a burst of gunfire, dozens of unarmed people were killed or injured on the spot. To everyone's surprise, Duan Fang was also shot through the neck from left to right and fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. Duan Fang tried to hold the bleeding wound, but it was no use. He could only open his mouth, and blood immediately flowed from his mouth and nose. Duan Fang's eyes widened, and he wanted to say something, but his trachea was blocked by blood, and he died without saying anything. It is unknown whether Duan Fang died of excessive blood loss or suffocation. This is a difficult mystery to solve.

Duan Fang stayed in Hangzhou because it was close to Shanghai, allowing him to flee there and seek asylum among foreigners if anything happened. However, Duan Fang never dreamed that his life would end this way. In his final moments, perhaps Duan Fang remembered that he had just ordered soldiers to attack innocent people, only to be shot himself, paying the price for those who had been killed.

It is true that those who kill people will be killed.

The man who shot Duan Fang did not hesitate. He quickly took a few steps, grabbed the governor Zhang Zengyang, put his pistol to the back of Zhang Zengyang's head and shouted: "No one move, no one shoot, otherwise I will shoot the governor to death, and we will all die together. It will not be a good death."

Hearing the shouts, the scene at the gate of the governor's office formed a strange picture. On one side, there was chaos. The people were running around, screaming and fleeing. Many people were pushed to the ground, injured or even trampled to death. On the other side, there was a strange silence. The Qing soldiers were holding their guns, stunned and at a loss. Many of them even looked terrified, as if they would drop their guns and run away if something happened. Everyone had no idea what had just happened. How could the governor be killed? Should they continue to shoot?

Only then did Zhang Zengyang recover from his shock. He had not expected such a change to happen. First, he did not expect Duan Fang to actually give the order to shoot; second, Governor Duan Fang was actually killed like this, and he himself became a hostage. Such a result was really beyond everyone's expectations.

After calming down, Zhang Zengyang slowly said, "Who sent you?"

Xu Xilin hid behind Zhang Zengyang and shouted, "I am Xu Xilin, a member of the Forward Party. The People's Liberation Army has already dispatched troops and is on its way to Hangzhou. Everyone, lay down your arms and surrender. The People's Liberation Army will treat prisoners with respect. The culprit Duan Fang, who just ordered the shooting, has been killed. The rest of the people will be forgiven. Anyone who dares to shoot again will have no place under heaven for you."

Xu Xilin was a native of Zhejiang, so he was assigned to work there. Duan Fang, in need of talent, was attempting to save the Qing Dynasty by establishing a new-style school, which provided Xu Xilin with an opportunity to connect with Duan Fang. Since the Liberated Areas had no immediate plans to liberate Zhejiang, Xu Xilin naturally sought to utilize the Qing Dynasty's resources to establish a school, laying the foundation for the subsequent liberation of Zhejiang.

In fact, Xu Xilin did not want to stand up, nor did he want to kill Duan Fang, but Duan Fang actually ordered the shooting of the crowd, forcing Xu Xilin to choose to cut the Gordian knot and kill Duan Fang to save more people.

"The Revolutionary Party, they really have good tactics!"

When he heard that it was the Forward Party and that the People's Liberation Army had already sent troops, Zhang Zengyang knew that the situation was hopeless. He said something, closed his eyes helplessly, and said nothing more, resigning himself to his fate.

Zhang Zengyang understood the policies of the Forward Party and knew his life wouldn't be in danger if he fell into its hands. This was one of the reasons he chose to remain in Zhejiang and continue serving the Qing as governor, rather than accept Yuan Shikai's solicitation. As a capable official, if he didn't intend to die for the Qing, he naturally needed to be discerning in this turbulent era. Otherwise, he would end up like Duan Fang, who died without knowing how he died.

Xu Xilin continued to shout: "My waist is full of explosives. If anyone dares to shoot me, we will all die together. Everyone lay down your weapons."

This was of course a lie. Even Xu Xilin carrying a pistol was a violation of discipline, not to mention the explosives. It was simply because of the recent chaos in Zhejiang that Xu Xilin felt uneasy when he went out that morning, so he brought the pistol with him. He never expected it would actually come in handy.

As the saying goes, "A sharp weapon in hand brings a murderous intent." For undercover personnel, the greatest fear is being caught and impulsively acting. As an undercover agent, the most important thing is to blend in. This demonstrates a sense of responsibility towards oneself and one's fellow soldiers, as the consequences of being caught would be disastrous.

At this point, aside from the screams and groans of the wounded, the atmosphere at the Governor's Office had calmed down again. Everyone stared at the soldiers, their rifles drawn, awaiting their final decision. Meanwhile, the comrades who had been hiding with Xu Xilin, along with the crowd, slowly approached, attempting to pressure the soldiers into laying down their weapons. No one dared to move, fearing death.

Suddenly, Xu Xilin fired two more bullets at a man, hitting him in the chest. This man was none other than the Japanese who had come to discuss business with Duan Fang. The Japanese were eager for chaos in China and wanted to see the Qing soldiers lay down their arms. So they wanted to take advantage of the chaos to kill Xu Xilin and rescue Zhang Zengyang. Then they would quickly send the Qing army to resist the People's Liberation Army. Then they would contact foreigners in Shanghai and other places to send troops to support Zhejiang and interfere with the revolution. They could not let the hostile forces of Japan continue to grow.

Although Xu Xilin was hiding behind Zhang Zengyang, he kept watching the Japanese from the corner of his eye. After listening to Zhang Yinghao's lecture, Xu Xilin knew that Japan was China's enemy and that the Japanese would not be willing to see the Chinese revolution succeed, otherwise they would not have sold weapons to Duan Fang.

At this critical moment of the standoff, Xu Xilin feared an unexpected outcome: he could kill Governor Duan Fang, control Inspector Zhang Zengyang, and seize the initiative. The Qing army, with all these considerations and knowing their combat effectiveness and psychological state, knew they were no longer a threat. Instead, the Japanese were the real variable. So, the moment the Japanese prepared to act, Xu Xilin decisively raised his gun and pulled the trigger. At this moment, he preferred killing someone by mistake to allowing the Qing army to fire again.

"No one is allowed to move. Anyone who moves will be killed. Whether Manchu or Han, as long as you lay down your weapons, you will be forgiven. Think of your parents, your wives and children. There is no way out if you continue to resist. Lay down your weapons, and soon your families will be reunited..."

The firing had just frightened the Qing army again. When they heard this, they looked at each other, looked around, whispered to each other, and looked hesitant. However, at this time, the comrades lurking in the Qing army immediately shouted: "Brothers, the Qing Dynasty is dead, the governor is dead, let us all surrender!"

He raised his gun high and quickly handed it to another lurking comrade. The reason for waiting so long was that he was worried that some Qing army officers or soldiers were truly loyal to the Qing Dynasty and would open fire without hesitation. In order to protect his comrades, he needed to wait for a while. If the Qing army really opened fire, he could immediately return fire, so that his unarmed comrades would not be sacrificed in vain.

"Brothers, surrender! Why are you standing there like an idiot? Are you waiting to die if you don't surrender? Surrender, surrender."

The comrade who surrendered his weapon immediately went to take the weapons of the other Qing soldiers and persuaded them to surrender. The most feared thing about surrender is that it leads to excessive consideration and stalemate. As long as there is an example, a stepping stone, and the shame is put aside, the work will proceed very smoothly, and all the Qing soldiers will obediently lay down their weapons and surrender.

By the time the soldiers responsible for liberating Hangzhou arrived, Hangzhou had already been liberated, unexpectedly. Even the entire city had been captured with the help of the Qing army, which had surrendered after being encouraged by their comrades. It can be said that Xu Xilin alone was responsible for half of the credit for the liberation of Zhejiang with just a pistol. It must be said that this was a miracle. It really is true that the great men of our time are still to be seen!

However, after receiving the relevant report from Xu Xilin, Zhang Yinghao immediately gave Xu Xilin a public punishment for carrying a gun in violation of discipline. He then appointed him as the acting secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, which was a sudden rise to power. Of course, the internal report also stated that Xu Xilin had violated discipline and was punished, without mentioning Xu Xilin's appointment. This was because, despite Xu Xilin's great contributions, the Forward Party did not encourage such cases...

Chapter 1: A big update!

Zhang Yinghao had never anticipated the smooth and swift liberation of Fujian and Zhejiang, and was caught off guard. While the military could destroy the enemy and seize power, it could not govern the country. Zhang Yinghao was well aware of this. Therefore, he immediately ordered the Organization Department, the Personnel Department, and the Talent Reserve Management Committee to urgently dispatch thousands of people, including Qiu Jin, the female hero of Jianhu Lake, and Tao Chengzhang, to the newly liberated areas. At the same time, Zhang Yinghao dispatched thousands of Party and government officials, whose training in Wuhan was nearing completion, to Fujian and Zhejiang, significantly alleviating the shortage of Party and government officials in the two provinces.

The liberation of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces broke the previous speed record of the People's Liberation Army in liberating provincial administrative regions. Several battles that were prepared for a major war were won with great success, especially the liberation of Fuzhou and Xiamen. The Manchu officials there had basically fled, and the cities were taken almost without bloodshed. The defending Qing troops surrendered at the sight of the enemy, and most of the time was spent on marching.

It can be said that the People's Liberation Army at this time is just like the army in the previous life. Its combat effectiveness is getting stronger and stronger, and the end time of each war is getting shorter and shorter.

This time, the PLA also abandoned the strategy of surrounding the cities from the countryside, and instead liberated the cities first and then slowly dealt with the resistance in the countryside. After all, the PLA was now strong enough to sweep away the Qing forces, and no longer needed to accumulate strength and weaken the enemy before defeating them.

The coastal provinces are more economically developed, and the real power is concentrated in the cities, with rural areas being subordinate to them. The analysis based on the principal and secondary contradictions is the same. The principal contradiction this time is the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. As long as all cities were liberated, in an era when imperial power did not extend below the county level, it would be equivalent to overthrowing the Qing Dynasty.

Overthrowing the Qing Dynasty was not the goal; solving the people's food problem was. Therefore, Xu Xilin and his colleagues immediately issued a notice ordering factories to reopen, shops to open, setting food prices, and cracking down on hoarding.

At the same time, supply and marketing cooperatives were opened, and the confiscated grain was transported to the cooperatives for sale for emergency use. The confiscated money was then used to purchase grain in the liberated areas and transported back to various cities in Zhejiang for sale, further suppressing grain prices.

However, everything is useless if the people have no money to buy food. In order to solve the most important livelihood issue of employment, land reform, construction of water conservancy roads, and construction of various projects are imminent.

Forty or fifty years ago, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Nanjing, and Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Jiangsu and other places became the places where the Taiping Army and the Qing Army fought each other. The two sides fought fiercely and slaughtered people wantonly, resulting in many places being left with nine out of ten houses empty.

After the war to suppress the Taiping Rebellion ended, self-cultivating farmers emerged in Zhejiang and other places, and the country re-entered the era of dispersed land. However, it was only a few decades, and land annexation was not particularly concentrated. Most of the land was still in the hands of self-cultivating farmers. Therefore, the resistance to land reform and land distribution in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces was not as great as in inland areas.

The landlord militia that had previously massacred revolutionary progressives immediately became the biggest stumbling block, a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh. As long as these landlord militias were dealt with, land reform could be carried out immediately without delaying spring plowing and planting.

In Kaihua, Hengzhou, Zhejiang, the landlord Qian Deqing was like an ant on a hot pan, running around in circles, sending people everywhere to inquire about the PLA. When he learned that Jinhua City had been captured by the PLA, Qian Deqing felt as if the sky had fallen.

Qian Deqing is 68 years old this year. He is a local landlord who likes to lend money at high interest rates. If villagers cannot repay their loans, they have to use their land as collateral. In this way, he has seized a large amount of land. Many people have lost their families and homes due to his actions. He is called "Old Ghost Qian" by local people.

However, Qian Laogui liked the title of "Mr. Qian the Good" more. In addition to being able to gild his own image and accumulate merit by calling himself a "good man", he also gained recognition as a "good man" from the landlords, exploiters, and lackeys.

Old Man Qian, with his feudal and backward ideology, had no idea that China was undergoing a monumental transformation. Wherever the People's Liberation Army arrived, land reform would be launched, ending the era of landlord exploitation and oppression. His son, Qian Fugui, who was more knowledgeable about the outside world, urged him to prepare early, saying, "Dad, the Qing Dynasty is over. With the arrival of the Forward Party, land reform is inevitable. I urge you to prepare early. Land reform is land reform! Isn't it just distributing land to the peasants? It's going to be distributed tomorrow. Rather than being led around by the nose and ruining your family, it's better to divide the land yourself and seize the initiative..."

After listening to his son's analysis, Qian Laogui realized that he was no match for his father. Seeing the family business that his ancestors had worked so hard for was about to become someone else's, it was more painful than cutting Qian Laogui's flesh. He cried to his son, "These red bandits are just robbers, the remnants of the Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing rebels. Damn it, this is really cutting my heart."

Qian Laogui immediately sold eight apartments at a low price, carefully hid the gold bars from the sale, and then took out some land deeds to distribute to the villagers. The news that Qian Laogui was going to divide the land quickly spread throughout the village, but no one could believe it was true, thinking that Qian Laogui was playing some trick to cheat everyone's money. Looking at the land deeds in Qian Laogui's hand, just when everyone felt something was wrong, a brave villager finally went up and took the land deeds. The villagers couldn't believe it. They didn't expect that landlords would start doing good deeds these days?

However, the villagers may have been out of touch with the news, but it's human nature to worry about inequality rather than lack of it. Therefore, the villagers who received land were not only ungrateful, but also cursed Qian Laogui's ancestors behind his back. It turned out that in order to reduce losses, Qian Laogui had distributed dry and rotten land to the villagers. This was just like the Forward Party's initial proposal to reduce rent and interest rates. The insatiable will inevitably lead to land reform. The villagers were all talking about Qian Laogui: "Qian Laogui, you old fox! He's fooled everyone! He's not doing his job properly!"

Seeing that Old Deng was incapable of doing anything, Qian Fugui immediately advised his father to distribute some more land to the villagers, so that they would not be classified as landlords when the class status was determined, which would result in criticism.

Qian Laogui cried out in pain: "I am a landlord!"

"The Red Bandits are targeting the landlords. Do you really want to wait for a public trial? The land you distributed to the villagers is all rotten and dilapidated land that can barely produce anything. The villagers have lived here for generations, and who wouldn't know this? The most important thing now is to win over the people and save your own lives."

Old Ghost Qian was also a little scared and wanted to save himself, so he asked: "How much land do we have to give to the villagers?"

"Leave enough land for us to farm, and give away all the rest." Hearing this, Qian Laogui, who loved the land like his life, was about to die. He cried out in grief, "This is the family property left to us by our ancestors. We worked so hard and tried so hard to get this land. How can I explain this to my ancestors a hundred years from now?"

Old Ghost Qian knelt on the ground, heartbroken.

I thought that after donating all the land, I would no longer be classified as a landlord. Unexpectedly, when Qian Laogui was trying to distribute the land deeds to the villagers again with great pain, the land reform work team entered the village.

The team was led by a woman named Li Yumei, who had been trained in Wuhan. She had taken the initiative to apply to lead the land reform work at the grassroots level and was approved. Li Yumei, regardless of what Qian Laogui was doing, immediately announced that all land distribution would be halted and that land would be distributed uniformly after a village meeting.

However, as a female comrade, Li Yumei naturally prefers cleanliness, so she did not live in the home of a poor fellow villager. Instead, she was invited by Qian Deqing to live in a house with a blue brick and tile roof. Li Yumei also knew to avoid suspicion and would not live in a landlord's house, but she did not know that this house also belonged to Qian Laogui's family. The villagers all saw Li Yumei living in Qian Laogui's house, which caused the villagers to have a crisis of trust in the land reform work team, and even thought that the land reform work team and Qian Laogui were in cahoots.

With the army's support, the villagers' meeting was quickly concluded, the land survey was nearly complete, and the class division was complete. Qian Laogui, a large landlord, cooperated and voluntarily handed over his land. Li Yumei praised him in front of the entire village, but according to policy, the landlord struggle meeting still had to be held.

The people still had doubts about holding struggle sessions. After all, they were all from the same village. What if they were retaliated against in the future if they criticized too much? You have to know that in order to recover the usury and acquire land, Qian Laogui would do anything. Not only did he own a large tract of land and charge a rent as high as 28% from the poor tenants, but he also recruited a large number of ruffians as thugs and colluded with Qing officials. In the past, a poor peasant had gone to Qian Laogui to reason with him, but was beaten to death by his thugs. Moreover, the group of ruffians under Qian Laogui's command had never appeared. Who would dare to criticize Qian Laogui?

Qian Laogui had also threatened and intimidated the villagers. Because he knew the policies of the Forward Party and his numerous crimes, he knew that a revelation would bring disaster. So he announced that everyone would call him "Mr. Qian" from now on, and that anyone who dared to criticize him or expose his shortcomings would be persecuted to death. He also said that the new government staff would not be stationed here permanently and would leave after the land was divided. This place was still his domain, and he would not let anyone who didn't let him have a good life be easy, and would definitely retaliate.

Intimidated by Qian Laogui's tyranny and Li Yumei's previous praise of Qian Laogui, the criticism meeting was half-dead. The villagers all had gloomy faces, and when Li Yumei asked everyone to speak, they just smiled awkwardly with dark faces, not daring to stand up and tell the truth, and became the silent majority.

Li Yumei didn't know what was going on at first. She thought that maybe the landlord Qian Laogui was a good person, so there was not much conflict between the villagers and the landlord! However, after two days, the work was completely deadlocked and could not be moved forward. The comrades could only get together to discuss and find out the reason.

During the meeting, a comrade who was originally a poor peasant and not very talkative looked at Li Yumei and said, "Team leader, have you been studying since you were a child?"

"Yes, I have been able to read and write since I was a child."

Hearing this, everyone immediately knew that Li Yumei was here to gild her reputation. Furthermore, Li Yumei wasn't from a poor family and didn't understand the psychology of the poor. Otherwise, how could a girl learn to read and write? However, the other comrades present also suffered from their lack of education. Otherwise, how could this team leader be taken away by a girl?

"I just got the news. Do you know what the villagers call Qian Deqing behind his back? They all call him 'Old Ghost Qian.' Qian Deqing's loan sharking has ruined many families, and the villagers are all afraid of him. And Old Ghost Qian is already in his sixties or seventies, but not long ago he took in a teenage concubine. He also has four other concubines, meaning Old Ghost Qian now has six women, all of whom he obtained through loan sharking."

"How is this possible? Why don't the villagers say anything?" Li Yumei said in disbelief.

"Because the house you live in belongs to Old Ghost Qian."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent, their eyes turning to Li Yumei, waiting for her decision. In fact, everyone knew by now that if Li Yumei, the team leader, still didn't know what to do, then they had to report it to their superiors and ask for a replacement.

Although Li Yumei had not personally presided over the land reform and criticism and denunciation work, she had participated in these work as a team member many times. Now she naturally knew that she had done something wrong. Now she must immediately and thoroughly draw a clear line with Qian Deqing and move out of where she was sleeping.

Li Yumei immediately said, "I know I was wrong. I'm going to pack my bags and move in with the villagers. Are there any poor, lonely elderly people in this village?"

"That's Granny Qian at the east end of the village. Granny Qian had a miserable life. Her husband died early, her son was drafted and never heard from again, her daughter worked as a maid in a wealthy family, and she lived alone in three shabby thatched houses."

"Okay, I'll live at Zeniba's house."

The meeting was temporarily over, and Li Yumei immediately packed up and moved out of her comfortable tiled house and into Granny Qian's thatched cottage. Admitting one's mistakes and correcting them is the greatest virtue of all; it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep have been lost. Seeing that Li Yumei had corrected her mistakes, the comrades immediately put aside their previous unhappiness.

Seeing the land reform team leader coming to live in her home, Grandma Qian was happy and kept calling her "daughter". Li Yumei felt warm and also called her "grandma". The two of them sat on a stool and started chatting.

Granny Qian asked, "My dear, where are you from?"

Li Yumei replied, "Grandma, my home is far away from here, in Xiangyang, Hubei."

Granny Qian said, "It's so far, probably several thousand miles. You're just a little girl, and you're so pretty, how could your parents let you go so far away?"

Li Yumei said, "Grandma, of course I was reluctant. But after the People's Liberation Army liberated Xiangyang, I realized that the PLA is a civilized and just army, formed to help the poor live a good life. That's why I joined the PLA. You don't know that the soldiers in our army are all children from poor families. We are here to conquer the world for us poor people."

"Let the poor live a good life! Alas, we have bad people here and can't live a good life."

Granny Qian was old and talkative, and she missed her daughter. Li Yumei was also smart and well-behaved, and she missed her parents, so she tried to please them and they became close by chatting about family matters.

After realizing her mistake, Li Yumei asked Granny Qian to secretly call a few people who had suffered a lot and had deep hatred for her to find out what happened.

At night, when everything was quiet, an oil lamp was lit in the thatched house of Granny Qian's house. Granny Qian took the trouble to secretly call seven households of villagers to her home to chat and learn about the situation.

"Captain Li, I know there's a team in Anhui led by a man named Li Tong. They're our poor team. When we first arrived, I thought we were the same team and was going to look for us, but we didn't know they were staying at Old Ghost Qian's house. I thought, 'We're not Li Tong's team. If we were, they wouldn't be staying at Old Ghost Qian's house.' Now that they're staying at our poor house, I trust them."

Li Yumei hurriedly said: "We are the same team as Li Tong's team in Anhui. It's just my fault for living in Qian Laogui's house. I have no experience and don't understand the specific situation. Fortunately, no losses were caused. I bow to the villagers to apologize." After that, she stood up and bowed.

Granny Qian said hurriedly, "Girl, why are you bowing? Sit down, sit down."

Li Yumei said: "Grandma, I did make a mistake. This is criticism and self-criticism. I should bow and apologize to everyone. By the way, everyone, why do you call Qian Deqing Qian Laogui?"

The villagers were immediately puzzled as they didn't know how Li Yumei and the others knew Qian Deqing when he was so famous.

A villager tapped his pipe and said, "This Qian Laogui is no good. He owns land not only in our village, but also in other villages, townships, and counties. He actually has two nicknames. One is Qian Banxian, which means that he has a lot of land, and all the land added up is a lot. Some also say that Qian Laogui's words are as loud as half a county magistrate's. The other is Qian Laogui, because he has so much money that he lends money at high interest rates everywhere and regards money as his life."

Li Yumei immediately said, "Everyone, tell me what specific bad things this old man Qian has done! We overthrew the Qing Dynasty, so naturally, we won't allow anyone to continue to abuse their power and oppress the people... Well, anyone who has done bad things and oppressed the people, we will punish them!"

What Li Yumei didn't expect was that after hearing her words, everyone stopped talking and the room became quiet.

Li Yumei learned a lot after joining the revolution, and she had her own experience in inspiring people. Seeing that no one was talking, Li Yumei knew that this old man Qian must be very bad and had great power in the village. No one dared to speak the truth for fear of retaliation.

Li Yumei sorted out her thoughts for a moment and said, "Maybe everyone is afraid of Qian Laogui, but the situation is different now. Our People's Liberation Army is here, the army that supports us poor people is here. We poor people no longer have to look at the landlords' faces. Not only do we not have to be afraid of Qian Laogui, we must also defeat Qian Laogui. Later, we will divide his land and his wealth! Fellow villagers know Comrade Li Tong, so you should know that Li Tong is a man of iron will. He is not afraid of any enemy siege. He has taken down many sieges and killed many landlords! Qian Laogui is nothing. Even if it was the Qing Dynasty's officers and soldiers, we would have defeated them just the same. I, a little girl, dared to take up a gun and fight. You are all men. I feel ashamed that Qian Laogui scared you so much!"

Even the provocation method was used, but it also touched a sore spot among the villagers. One villager said: "Captain Li's words make us ashamed. This old ghost Qian is very evil. We are afraid that you will not arrest him. If the officers leave, we will become his victims."

"We overthrew the Qing Dynasty and are now the government. We will not leave. From now on, Zhejiang will be the domain of our Progressive Party and the People's Liberation Army. If anyone bullies you, we will not tolerate it and will overthrow that person."

"Forget it, I'm not afraid of a little girl, I'll just go for it."

"Let me start by saying this. Old Ghost Qian is no good. He smiles in front of people, but behind their backs, if he sees someone with good land, he'll try to borrow money from them, then sue them and try to seize it. His family is rich and powerful, and the government helps him. If things don't work out, he'll even get a bunch of ruffians under his control. The Liu family in the next village originally had ten acres of irrigated land—good land! This made Old Ghost Qian want to buy it, and when the Liu family refused to sell, Old Ghost Qian sued them at the county government office, accusing them of collaborating with bandits.

It was all over now. The Liu family's husband died in prison, and the woman went to beg Qian Laogui for mercy, but the beast raped her and sold her to Shanghai. A child in the Liu family wanted to avenge his parents and wanted to set fire to Qian Laogui's house, but the house didn't burn down, and the child was beaten to death by Qian Laogui's men. It was so tragic.

Li Yumei felt heartbroken after hearing this and asked, "Old Man Qian killed someone. There are hundreds of people in the village next door, right? Isn't there anyone who can speak up for justice?"

"Alas, by the time we got there, the children had already been beaten to death. It was better before. Qian Laogui's family didn't have a gun, and the villagers dared to argue with him. Now it's no longer the same. I don't know where Qian Laogui got a gun and a pistol. Who dares to intervene in his affairs?"

—Hearing that Qian Laogui had a gun, Li Yumei immediately became alert. She called three comrades and asked them to stand guard and strengthen vigilance. She also notified her teammates to bring the soldiers to gather here and arranged two people to watch outside Qian Laogui's house.

A man in his forties said in a muffled voice, "It would be great if we could arrest Old Man Qian and take away his gun."

Li Yumei almost laughed out loud after hearing this. Is that all he asked for? In Li Yumei's eyes, this old man Qian was destined to die.

"Da Zhuang, Liao's idea is right. I think so too. If the army can take away his family's guns, we won't be afraid of him anymore. I dare to be the first to fight him to the death and fight them."

Li Yumei said: "Erzhu, you can also speak."