The Fourth Disaster Begins at the Dawn of the Millennium

As the captain, the player had never managed others before, let alone a rescue diving team to investigate pipe bursts. He could only try to get ginger, electric kettles and medicines from the flood control headquarters to keep the team members away from the cold. And when faced with the most dangerous situation, he would definitely go himself.

Later, the diving team's equipment was better, but the mission became more dangerous. They were sent to check a section of the dam. The green river water below the dam seemed to have solidified, and a foul smell filled the water.

Divers have to dive 7 meters underwater and then drill into the more than 50-meter-long drainage pipe of the gate to check whether there are cracks in the gate and whether there is any leakage.

There was a pipe burst. The player took the responsibility without hesitation, and asked his teammates to help him put on warm clothes and carry a compressed air bottle.

Normally, two safety ropes should have been tied, but the diving team didn't have any, and they couldn't find any longer ropes in a short period of time. Wanzhong didn't care about this kind of thing. He looked at the nylon rope tied around his waist and thought it was OK.

Then he dived into the dirty river and sank. The people on the shore pulled out the rope, section by section, until the rope had reached its end, but it was still sliding forward.

The team members held on, "It's too dangerous to let go of the rope, pull the captain out first! Find a longer rope and then go down!" But the rope became tighter and tighter until it slipped from the team members' hands and fell into the water. 7 minutes,

8 minutes, 9 minutes... The people on the shore held their breath until they saw bubbles appear on the water surface. The bubbles grew bigger and bigger, and the player's head popped out.

Everyone then breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's okay! It's okay!" The player took off his mask, wiped the dirty water off his face, and then swam to the shore. "I felt that I was almost at the gate when I was suddenly pulled back. I thought the rope was probably broken, but I wanted to clear this place up as soon as possible so that I could get to the next place as soon as possible. So I swam forward with all my strength and pulled the rope off. I don't think anything will happen." He smiled embarrassedly.

Companies in various places have basically earned the title of "Model Supporters of the Army, Vanguards of the Business Community" by fighting against floods. Players from various places have also taken the initiative to participate in this flood fighting and rescue work. Many of them have been commended by the local government and become models. Some players have noticed that the local people have changed their name for those wearing camouflage uniforms from "soldiers" to "PLA comrades"; some players, as technical experts, have attended a high-level meeting and heard the Prime Minister angrily scold the local deputy mayor for turning a century-old project that involves human lives into a shoddy project, saying he was a bastard!

The flood disaster of 1998 has not completely passed, but the most dangerous time has passed. Players who have made some reputations in various places, companies of the Universal Group, and those companies and enterprises that have no connection with the Universal Group on the surface, have gradually begun to focus their energy on other things.

Chapter 121: Hunan Brother Returns to His Hometown (—)

The bus was so hot and stuffy that it was hard to breathe. The windows were closed and the sunlight shone directly through the glass, making the interior of the bus like a steamer.

The air was filled with the stench of sweat and the smell of leather seats being heated for four days, making people feel dizzy. Everyone's skin was shiny, and beads of sweat were constantly flowing down from their foreheads, necks and backs.

It was already soaked and stuck to my body as if it had just been pulled out of the water.

The passengers leaned listlessly in their seats. Some fanned themselves with newspapers, but the weak breeze seemed to only stir up the heat waves without bringing any coolness. The children twisted in their seats irritably.

The children were crying and wailing. Mothers wiped the sweat off their foreheads and tried to comfort their children helplessly.

He took a sip of water from his mouth, but drank it up quickly, and his throat was still dry.

The driver wiped the sweat from his forehead from time to time. The fan in the car had long lost its function and only made an occasional creaking sound.

The bus bumped along the country road, and the scenery outside the car passed by quickly, with green trees and

The fields and mountains in the distance seemed a little blurred under the steam.

The Hunan man who started from Guangzhou, holding a worn-out woven bag in his hand, snored in the aisle seat. If his father had not passed away suddenly and he needed to come back to help his elder brother with his father's funeral, he would never come back on the days of rushing the construction. Asking for leave means no allowances for working on the construction site, only the minimum basic salary. But for the Hunan man and many migrant workers, this practice of leaving you with a minimum salary is simply "scattering money around". In addition, after learning that the Hunan man's father had passed away, his boss asked the Hunan man to advance two months' salary to go back to his hometown to handle the funeral, which made the Hunan man "ashamed" when he asked for leave, and felt that he was hindering his boss's project.

The boss said, "Well, you won't make a difference on the construction site if you're not there. Go back and take care of your family affairs before coming back. Your parents only have you and your brother as their sons."

The Hunan guy is also a person who has extensive experience in taking long-distance trains and buses. Ordinary thieves and pickpockets simply disdain to steal from people like him. He looks dirty and smelly, but in fact, the woven bag in his hand contains several thousand yuan.

But encountering robbery is another matter.

Suddenly, the bus braked hard, and the people inside were awakened. The old man opened his hazy eyes and saw through the window that there were several people standing in the middle of the road, blocking the way of the bus. He frowned, and a sense of foreboding rose in his heart. The door was pushed open, and several burly men strode up, waving iron bars and knives in their hands, and walked to the middle of the car aggressively. The car was suddenly silent, and everyone held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

"Behave yourself, everyone. Hand over the money and valuables on you! If anyone dares not to cooperate, don't blame me for being rude!" After saying that, he raised the iron rod in his hand and hit the seat next to him hard, making a loud "bang" sound.

The old man felt a chill rising from the bottom of his heart, and he quickly slapped his face to wake himself up. He glanced at the woven bag beside him, thinking to himself, "If these people dare to touch my hard-earned money, I will never sit and wait for death." He quietly reached into his pocket and touched the screwdriver commonly used on the construction site, silently planning a response strategy in his mind.

Sitting next to the old man was a middle-aged woman with a face full of anxiety and fear. The anxious woman decided to "try her best" and secretly took off the gold necklace from her neck, stuffed it into the old man's hand, and begged in a low voice: "Little brother, please keep it for me, please."

The robbers began to search the passengers one by one, rummaging through their belongings, stealing their wallets, jewelry, and valuables. Anyone who did not cooperate would be slapped in the face or even threatened with a dagger.

But they don't rob everyone on the bus. Instead, they specifically target the old, weak, sick, disabled, and women who are alone. If you are a strong man, or look like a relative of a strong man, they will skip you.

The Hunan guy was tense at the moment, his heartbeat quickened, and he tried hard to keep

Calm down, recalling what the teacher of the "Self-Defense" course taught every weekend, the hand in his pocket has already clenched the screwdriver. As long as the robbers touch his woven bag, the brother will stand up and stab the first one to death, and then the second one.

The third one, just like the teacher taught in class, once you choose to take action! After stabbing the first one to death, you must stab the second and third one in one go.

The brother didn't know that he was having a fierce ideological struggle, and the expression on his face was almost written on his face, which made the robbers who were searching for things look a little confused.

The robber looked at the old man's face, which looked like he was about to kill someone. He felt his skin tingling. He thought to himself, "Why does this man look like he is going to kill someone..." Then he looked at the old man's bald head carefully. It was not a pure bald head. There was a lot of

The hair is very short and is black or dark blue in color.

"Damn it, this couldn't be a collision..."

The robbers thought about it, and the leader pulled the others out of the car and stopped searching. The Hunan brother who was holding the screwdriver tightly suddenly felt relieved. After all, if they really started fighting, he might really die here.

By the time we got off the bus, it was already dark. Fortunately, this place was very close to my hometown and I could reach it by foot. The Hunan brother thought that after finishing my father's funeral, I would persuade my mother and eldest brother to

My mother might not be willing to let the whole family come to Guangdong, but she loves her eldest brother's son the most, that is, her nephew. As long as I persuade my nephew to come to Guangdong, I will be willing to come. It is also very simple to persuade my nephew. Just say that if you really excel in your studies, you can get an incentive scholarship from my boss, and you will really have the opportunity to go to college.

"If my nephew was not born in the countryside but in the city, he would be in college now."

The nephew of the Hunan brother is like most ordinary farmers, he also has to go to the fields to tend the crops. What is different from others is that he is full of knowledge, likes to read newspapers, listen to the radio, likes to nitpick, and likes to use his brain. He is usually very humble, but he is also a bit of a "nerd", stubborn, dares to speak the truth, and dares to refute the wrong words of the village and township leaders. It is precisely because of this that he has more troubles than other farmers and is always prone to trouble.

When the Hunan elder brother was walking on the way home, his nephew was "preaching" to each household. This year, various places suffered from floods. The nephew learned from the radio and newspapers that the Party Central Committee held a relevant meeting in Beijing to reduce the burden on farmers. So, the nephew spent several nights collecting the new policies of the central government and sorting out a simple and easy-to-understand material to "preach" from door to door. This kind of "preaching" undoubtedly needs to be done secretly, just like the underground workers back then, which made him feel very awkward and very excited.

My nephew's eyes shone in the glow of the bulbs hanging from the beams of the farmhouses. He said to his fellow villagers with certainty: "The village cadres' practice of collecting 'levies' violates the spirit of the central government!"

Chapter 122: Hunan Brother Returns to His Hometown (Part 2)

The village where my brother lives is remote and backward, not a rich place. If you just farm, after deducting the cost, the per capita income is only a few hundred yuan a year, and the annual taxes and fees account for a quarter of this income. He is busy all year round, getting up early and going to bed late, running until his legs are thin and his back is bent. After deducting the food rations from the harvest, the rest is almost all "retained" by the village in various names. What should he do if the harvest is not enough to pay? "If you don't pay, you will be detained!"

Generally speaking, "whether you have money or not, you should go home for the New Year." This has been a custom of the villagers since ancient times. But in the 90s, there were many villagers who were afraid to go home for the New Year because they could not pay the "levy".

My brother's nephew read the words in the book, saw the content in the newspaper, and then thought about the reality. He was very confused.

The government read out the State Council's regulations to the villagers word for word: The amount of money collected from farmers should not exceed 100% of their per capita net income in the previous year.

He put special emphasis on the percentage. "It is obvious that the amount of money the village collected from us far exceeded the regulation, which is more than five times the proportion of 'five percent'! The central meeting clearly requires: All localities should protect the interests of farmers and reduce their burdens. They are clearly messing around. We have to go to the township to seek justice! If we can't get justice in the township, we will go to the county!"

He is a serious and knowledgeable person, and he is always willing to help others. The truths he tells us make many people who are used to going against the flow understand.

The villagers were convinced. However, when he proposed to seek justice from the higher authorities, the villagers who listened to his "preaching" fell silent for a while, and then someone carefully raised a question: "Aren't the surrounding villages and towns doing the same thing? The emperor is far away, what can you do to them?"

"I don't believe there is no place to speak out!"

The villagers were inspired by this, or perhaps because they felt that life was too hard, they thought, what if reporting the situation to the higher authorities really solved the problem? Everyone's hearts gradually became enthusiastic, and some people said that the village party secretary

The village party secretary actually dared to take the clothes and food provided to the village as relief for himself.

Moreover, they refuse to acknowledge the fines for family planning and various extra money and materials "retained", or they deliberately make the accounts confusing.

After a while, everyone started talking about village cadres and then township cadres, and the discussion gradually became a hot topic.

Another person revealed that the son of a township cadre, relying on his father's power, was rampant in the township. He repeatedly ran into the village with electric batons and handcuffs.

They demanded all kinds of money. For example, this year, the higher authorities prohibited any "levy" from the affected farmers, but this young man brought his thugs and entered the village like Japanese devils, forcibly demanding "levy". If he found someone hiding at home and not opening the door, he would send his thugs to kick the door, not a penny less, and pay extra labor fees to the "hero" who kicked the door. After robbing the money, he led a group of people to go to restaurants, and the expenses of eating and drinking would be reimbursed from the villagers' fundraising.

Everyone became angrier and angrier as they talked, and finally looked at the "preacher" and asked him to make a decision.

"You need evidence to accuse someone," said my brother's nephew. "We can go to the township party committee to reflect everyone's opinions and ask for a review of the village's income accounts."

"Nephew, I heard that you went to the township government. What did you do there?"

"I took a few villagers to the township government to report the situation. I told the secretary about everyone's problems and the request for an audit. The secretary also said that according to the policy, too much was reserved this year. Let them discuss it first and give us a reply in two days."

"bookworm......."

The relationship between the elder brother and his nephew is just so-so, and sometimes they even dislike each other. The nephew thinks his uncle is uneducated and likes to use "rogue methods" to solve problems, and he will cheat when he can't win the argument; while the uncle's elder brother thinks his nephew is inflexible, stubborn, and dull-headed. But today during dinner, the elder brother not only teased his nephew by calling him a "nerd", but also slowly began to explain why he called his nephew a nerd.

"Where are those policies, laws, and principles you mentioned?" the elder brother asked.

"It's in the official documents! It's in the law! These are all binding documents!"

"I know this. I've seen it a lot when I was working in the city. Some companies still have people, equipment, and materials, but once a red-headed document comes down, it goes bankrupt. The people and materials are still there, but the company is gone. As my teacher said, even though the material is there, the social relationship connected to it has disappeared."

The elder brother who said this shocked not only his elder brother, but also his nephew. The nephew asked incredulously: "How did you learn these? Uncle, where did you learn these from?"

"That's right. I told you, I've learned a lot in this year working in the new company. In this family, besides you, I'm the most educated. Let's not talk about this for now. Let me continue with your story. Have you ever thought about who enforces those things written on paper? Will those things on paper really be enforced without compromise? If it is really enforced 100%, nephew, why do you need to report the problem? There would be no such problems a long time ago..."

The nephew was stumped for the first time by his uncle, whom he had previously thought to be unlearned. He remained silent for a long time, but still did not give up. He said in his heart: "It was the village and township cadres who did not implement it well.

If they don't listen to reason or the law, I will go to the county, city, or

I have to crawl to Beijing!" But he didn't say that, and continued to eat. Otherwise, this guy who had learned some weird things outside would

Uncle, I want to scold myself again:

"bookworm!"

The elder brother thought his nephew had stopped and went with his eldest brother to handle his father's funeral. But what the elder brother didn't know was that his nephew had been waiting for news.

Two days passed, and there was no movement in the township. Two more days passed, and then two or three more days. Until one day, at a cadre meeting held in the township, many village cadres and party members came to the scene. The deputy secretary of the township party committee

The reporter suddenly called out one of the village branch secretaries and asked him to "explain" the issue of overcollecting retention funds at the meeting.

The village party secretary was immediately furious, "Damn it, every village is like this!"

"When he heard that the villagers had reported him to the township and wanted to check his accounts, he immediately said something harsh at the meeting: "If someone wants to settle my accounts, who dares to do it? Unless he wants to die! Some people say that I

People with this income cannot afford a small four-wheel tractor or a large tiled house.

I can’t afford to build a roof, but I bought one, this is my ability! You are poor, you deserve it! If you want to mess with me, you probably don’t want to live anymore!"

After the speech of the village party secretary at the meeting was spread, the villagers were undoubtedly furious, especially the instigator, the stubborn nephew, who could not swallow this breath and decided to write a document about the village's random collection of "retention funds" and send it to the county. The villagers were also infected by his unwillingness to admit defeat. So, the villagers collected enough money from each other to give him the travel expenses to the county, and then secretly sent him and several other village representatives out of the village in the dark.

Chapter 123: Don't treat the village chief as a cadre

When the director of the county party committee office received the complaint letter, he was very surprised and quickly reported it to the county party committee secretary. The county party committee's reply satisfied the people who came here to submit the complaint letter. They clearly replied: "We will let the township implement the account clearance team as soon as possible to check the accounts of village cadres. We will also quickly verify and deal with the situation of the township government you reported."

In this way, the elder brother's nephew was persuaded, and he led other village representatives to squeeze into the bus back to the countryside. In the car that could shake a person's internal organs, he recalled the words of the county leaders with confidence and joy.

On the other hand, in the village, the village party secretary was gnashing his teeth at the villagers' petitions and reports. Although he was not even a clerk, there was a saying in the countryside, "Don't take bean buns as dry food, and don't take the village head as a cadre." No one was not afraid of him, and everyone knew that this guy was a wicked man who dared to do anything.

"We need to check the accounts. Fine, ask that nerd to come."

One morning, the village secretary sent a message to my brother's nephew, asking him to check the accounts. The young and energetic nephew, who thought he was right, went there in a hurry without telling his family. When he stepped out of the house, my brother was still sleepy and looked like he hadn't woken up yet. He got up from the bed lazily, stared at the sky for a while, and prepared to rinse his mouth, wash his face, and eat something.

After a long while, the elder brother came to the table to prepare for breakfast. A few flies hovered on the table, occasionally landing on the food, and were waved away. The elder brother and his wife, as well as my mother, sat around the table, eating their meals in the heat and sweat. However, the only person missing was his nephew, so the elder brother asked casually, "Hey, where is my nephew?"

"He didn't tell us, but when I got up, I heard someone calling him outside the room, asking him to check the accounts or something..."

"Check the accounts? What accounts?"

"It should be the village party secretary..."

The elder brother was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened, his face full of surprise and he could hardly speak. His hand trembled, and the enamel cup in his hand fell to the ground with a crisp sound of breaking, and the pieces of the cup scattered everywhere. "Why is he still involved in this matter! He is so confused! Why did he really go when others asked him to check the accounts! This is obviously the Hongmen Banquet! They want him to die! He is still a scholar, but he has not seen how much wisdom our ancestors have..."

The eldest brother and his wife were also stunned. They didn't even know what the Hongmen Feast was. But when they heard their younger brother say that someone would die, they became extremely anxious. What should they do? When the couple were still at a loss, the elder brother had already picked up a hoe and was ready to go out. He said to the couple: "My nephew has joined forces with a few villagers to serve as village representatives. You two should quickly notify those village representatives and ask them to take things to the village party secretary's house. Tell them that if the nephew dies, the village party secretary will take revenge on them next! Go!"

A lot of people have gathered in the courtyard of the village party secretary's house.

Like my elder brother's nephew, they were all called to the village party secretary's house to check the accounts. The first one to arrive asked the village party secretary to hand over the accounts as soon as possible, but the village

The branch secretary just gave everyone some melon seeds and peanuts, and then said, don’t be anxious, don’t be anxious, wait until everyone arrives.

At this time, the brother still had five minutes before he arrived at the village party secretary's house. It was at this time that the village party secretary saw that all the village representatives who wanted to audit the accounts had arrived. His face suddenly changed and he suddenly began to curse all the audit representatives present.

Seeing the village party secretary so arrogant, the representatives did not show any weakness and asked: "This time the township wants to check your accounts. The masses elected us as representatives. What have I done wrong? Keep your mouth shut. Even if we checked your accounts, what can you do to me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, two people rushed in from the courtyard gate and the village party secretary's room at the same time.

There were nine people in total, some of whom were the sons of the village party secretary and some were members of the joint defense team. They were all armed with weapons and had pig-killing weapons in their hands.

Knives and big kitchen knives blocked the retreat. Now, these village representatives know.

What can the village party secretary do to them?

"Finally I've gathered you all together. Kill them all! Kill all the representatives who want to settle accounts with me!"

The first villager representative to be killed was caught off guard. The butcher knife chopped and stabbed his head and chest. He fell heavily to the ground before he could even scream.

The second village representative who was killed was controlled by two joint defense team members

The son of the village party secretary stabbed the village representative several times in the chest, abdomen and buttocks, and he fell to the ground and died on the spot.

The third villager representative tried to hide, but the village party secretary's son raised a large kitchen knife, jumped up and chopped at the villager representative's head, knocking him to the ground. He also rode on the villager representative and chopped his back with a butcher knife.

In a flash, three village representatives were lying in the village party secretary's house, blood was flowing, the ground was covered with red, and the air was suddenly filled with a choking smell of blood.

The nephew of the elder brother, perhaps because of his youth or good luck, dodged several fatal attacks in succession and almost had a chance to rush out, but he saw someone lying on the ground, already dying.

The village representative was groaning in severe pain. He was not dead yet. The elder brother's nephew wanted to rush out and take the dying village representative away. But how could the village party secretary's son let him go? He picked up the bloody kitchen knife and chopped it on the elder brother's nephew's head. Or maybe it was because of an inexplicable sixth sense, the nephew tilted his head, and the kitchen knife fell and chopped on the nephew's arm.

"Ah!" - a scream was heard, and the people in the yard thought that another village representative had fallen, but the person from the second community did not fall, but the son of the village party secretary who had chopped people down, with blood oozing out of his stomach and lying limp on the ground. _Everyone looked again and saw a farmer holding a hoe standing at the gate of the yard, looking very angry.

He was in a heap of wood, with his left foot in front and right foot behind, his legs slightly bent, his body slightly leaning forward, his hands holding the hoe handle, the blade of which was still stained with blood.

"Uncle......."