Chen Ke implemented many new policies in the base area. Whether it was land distribution, state-owned enterprises, or providing compulsory education, most comrades understood them well. These policies were not unprecedented innovations in Chinese history and did not exceed the comrades' imagination. Only one policy had caused indescribable confusion among comrades up and down the base area, and that was the monetary policy of the base area. Chen Ke had explained the essence of currency as a "general equivalent" in detail in Party classes. Renminbi had been circulating in the base area for some time, but many comrades still felt amazed when buying various commodities with reasonably pretty small pieces of paper.

During the afternoon meeting, Chen Ke began to discuss financial issues.

"Comrades, since we already have the People's Congress (NPC), financial budgeting and accounting are key issues. Specific financial work is responsible by the Ministry of Finance, but the NPC holds the power of reviewing the financial budget." Speaking of this, Chen Ke also wavered slightly in his heart about whether to really give the NPC such great authority. So Chen Ke couldn't help adding a sentence, "At least now the NPC holds this authority."

Even though the level of attending cadres was not low, at least half of the cadres had absolutely no concept of finance. Chen Ke knew this situation. Let alone these comrades, even Chen Ke himself felt quite tricky about this work. Glancing at Zhang Yingchen sitting next to him, Chen Ke said, "Now Comrade Zhang Yingchen, the Minister of Finance responsible for financial work, will give a report to everyone."

The comrades' eyes focused on Zhang Yingchen. Zhang Yingchen didn't react to these gazes at all. He stood up coldly and walked to the blackboard. The People's Party stressed "treating comrades as warm as spring," so this frosty attitude was not common. However, neither Chen Ke nor Zhang Yingchen cared. Before Zhang Yingchen took over the position of Minister of Finance, the two had a deep talk. Chen Ke told Zhang Yingchen clearly that the Ministry of Finance adopted military law. Inside, no matter who maliciously embezzled state property, the final death penalty was almost inevitable. Zhang Yingchen replied expressionlessly at the time: "Including me, we will not disappoint the organization. We welcome organizational supervision."

Standing on the podium expressionlessly, Zhang Yingchen explained the latest financial budget plan of the base area. Finance might involve profound theories behind it, but the guiding principles of fiscal expenditure at the practical level were actually very simple. The current financial budget was aimed at those eating financial rice (government employees). The army was managed by the Party, and its finance was independent. How many state administrative personnel were there in each county? After making a register, apply for a budget. As long as the NPC could pass these budgets, the Ministry of Finance would give money according to the number. As long as there were no deductions and interceptions in the middle, there would be no problems causing conflicts.

The trouble did not lie in these "fixed wages," but in the local construction issues of each county. For example, infrastructure construction cannot requisition people's labor for free. So every year or even every quarter, the locality has to submit a financial budget. For projects to be built locally, the labor force needed to be mobilized, and the required expenditure, a detailed financial budget report must be submitted.

The persons in charge of the Party committees of various counties understood. They couldn't help frowning. The situation in each county was very complicated. Except for the core base area, other counties hadn't even completely mastered the local political power. In such a chaotic situation, wanting to submit financial reports systematically was a fantasy. This required strong management capabilities over the government. Not only relying on military background to promote government construction, but also needing to conduct effective surveys of population, environment, and resources in areas already included in the management system. At this point, the persons in charge of the county committees really understood one point: why Chen Ke built professional teams including surveying and mapping and civil engineering so early back then. And why strengthen cultural education. Without surveying and mapping troops, without a large number of comrades who could read and carry out statistical work, just census registration and land measurement would make the locality overwhelmed.

"What if the financial budget report can't be made?" Lu Huitian asked.

Zhang Yingchen replied coldly, "Now a financial budget report is submitted once every quarter. If you can't catch up this quarter, you have to wait for the next quarter."

"Then who manages taxation?" Qi Huishen asked.

"Taxation is now managed by the Ministry of Finance." Zhang Yingchen gave a clear answer.

All persons in charge of county committees showed dissatisfied looks. If taxation was managed by the Ministry of Finance, then the Party committees and governments close to the tax departments could not command the local tax departments. Instead, they had to rely on the Ministry of Finance to remotely control the local tax departments.

Zhang Yingchen saw everyone's expression. He continued, "Now the tax revenue of each county is basically zero, so local tax revenue has little impact on the county."

Hearing this, Yuwen Badu was also very dissatisfied in his heart. The financial resources of the People's Party were now basically concentrated in the old base area dominated by Fengtai County. That is to say, the old base area had to bear the financial expenditure of the entire base area. This might be a glorious task, but it was definitely not a happy task. The problems encountered in building the base area were even more than when conquering the base area. Thinking of this, Yuwen Badu couldn't help glancing at Ren Qiying sitting next to him, only to see Ren Qiying recording rapidly in her notebook. Yuwen Badu relaxed in his heart; as long as Ren Qiying could figure it out, there would be no problem with Fengtai County's finance. This relaxation only lasted for a moment. Yuwen Badu suddenly thought of something. If all work relied on Ren Qiying to complete, what about Yuwen Badu himself? Just wait helplessly until the next election to be voted out?

Thinking of his future, Yuwen Badu felt lost in his heart, and actually didn't listen to the subsequent meeting content.

What Lu Huitian wanted to learn most was how Chen Ke built the base area almost empty-handed in Fengtai County. After his biggest competitor Shang Yuan went north, Lu Huitian felt that as long as he did a good job in the revolution in Fuyang, he could sit in the position of Governor of Anhui Province sooner or later. After listening to Zhang Yingchen's introduction on the financial budget, Lu Huitian was very unhappy. Before he could display his skills, he was already shrouded by the shadow of the Ministry of Finance. Lu Huitian felt he must fight for a better situation for himself. "There will be many unexpected problems when carrying out work locally. If finance relies entirely on approval, what should we do when facing emergencies? Robbing Peter to pay Paul (*Chaidongqiang buxiqiang*)?"

"Then what problems does Comrade Lu Huitian think will be encountered?" Zhang Yingchen asked.

Lu Huitian was immediately speechless. Yes, what problems would be encountered? The troops were not under the jurisdiction of the county committee. Before completing land reform, any state-owned enterprise construction was completely out of the question. The People's Party had occupied Fuyang not long ago, and Renminbi didn't have much credibility at all. Lu Huitian was very smart. He knew his most important work recently was to complete land reform in the entire Fuyang and promote the new system. And these jobs happened not to need money most. Knowing is one thing, but being constrained by the Ministry of Finance, Lu Huitian felt he couldn't swallow this breath no matter what.

The persons in charge of other county committees more or less had some thoughts similar to Lu Huitian's, but seeing that Lu Huitian couldn't even outtalk Zhang Yingchen, everyone was unwilling to stick their necks out again.

Since the financial budget matter had been accepted by the comrades, Chen Ke began the next topic: the proportion of People's Party seats in the People's Congress (NPC), and the NPC's approval power over the financial budget. Being suppressed by the Ministry of Finance, who were comrades, everyone could still accept. But the NPC was not opened by the People's Party; it was elected. There were quite a few NPC representatives from non-People's Party backgrounds inside. Everyone was suppressed within the Party, so they absolutely refused to be suppressed by people outside the Party again. Lu Huitian said, "Since we have already given up positions like village heads and town heads, there is no need to give up NPC seats. I think it is best for the NPC to be all our own comrades of the People's Party."

This view was agreed upon by a considerable number of comrades. No one wanted to ask for trouble. After seizing power with hard work, being dictated to by others again, no one could be willing.

Chen Ke looked at the excited comrades and suddenly thought of other problems in his heart. One of Grandpa Mao's most famous sayings back then was, "Fighting with heaven is endless joy, fighting with earth is endless joy, fighting with people is endless joy." Back then, Chen Ke felt these words were too aggressive and had a murderous flavor. Unknown if his state of mind changed, or just because his work experience was enriched, Chen Ke now agreed with this passage very much. Various reactionary forces in the locality had not been purged at all, and reactionary forces and old forces still occupied an advantage in many places. If these people were not lured to the big stage of revolution to let them perform, how could the people see through the true faces of these people, and how could they agree with the new system promoted by the People's Party?

But many comrades seen now didn't want to promote the revolution through profound and meticulous struggle at all, but hoped to obtain superficial victory through a mode of eagerness for quick success and instant benefits. Chen Ke didn't know if comrades in the Party in Grandpa Mao's era also had the same problem. It is impossible to win people's hearts by violence and killing. In-depth and meticulous work is the only way to revolutionary success. This is like going upstairs; from the first step to the last, not a single step can be missing. But the comrades now looked like they wanted to jump directly to the roof from the ground. This attitude made Chen Ke very worried.

The meeting became more difficult as it went on. Originally, comrades' understanding of the NPC was that the People's Party obtained legal tradition through the NPC. Now looking at it, it wasn't like that at all. As the future highest authority organ of the base area, the NPC possessed powers everyone had never thought of before. It was impossible to act independently bypassing the NPC. This was originally nothing. If all or the vast majority of NPC representatives were People's Party members, the NPC would still be not worth mentioning. But Chen Ke's meaning was actually to use the NPC as a stage for political struggle, and this NPC was not simply "luring snakes out of holes." The NPC also had to truly play the role of the People's Representative Assembly. Just thinking about such unheard-of complex work gave many comrades a headache.

The high-level cadres of the People's Party had relatively high education. Everyone knew the idiom "drawing a cake to satisfy hunger." After establishing legal tradition through the NPC, the regime could be nominally stabilized. But everyone knew clearly that what really fought for this new regime was the army, state-owned enterprises, and governments at all levels. And these struggling comrades hadn't seen this "big cake." Looking at this unknown big cake, many people felt mostly boredom in their hearts. The NPC could certainly establish legal tradition, but many comrades strongly suspected whether establishing the NPC would become "cocooning oneself" (spinning a cocoon around oneself - getting trapped in one's own trap).

Lu Huitian said again, "Chairman Chen, I think the people in the base area are still used to the government mode now. Our government is definitely much better than the Manchu Qing. Propaganda is certainly important sometimes, but we can't let propaganda restrict ourselves, right?"

These words received a lot of agreement. Zheng Tairong, Secretary of the Hefei Municipal Committee, followed Lu Huitian's words and said, "Now the Manchu Qing is about to attack. Solve the Manchu Qing first, and many enemies can be solved along the way. After eliminating internal and external enemies, it will be much more efficient to promote these elections then. I think we should pay more attention to priorities."

Chen Ke asked, "Comrades, I want to ask, if we do this, what is the difference between us and the Manchu Qing? The Manchu Qing also wants constitutionalism now. The Manchu Qing at least keeps saying in propaganda that they love the people like children. Sometimes they even punish some corrupt officials who failed in political struggles."

Zheng Tairong replied, "We sincerely serve the people. The work we do now is enough to prove that our People's Party is different from the Manchu Qing."

Chen Ke scanned the senior cadres in the venue and then continued to ask, "Since we are sincerely serving the people, since we firmly believe that we are different from the Manchu Qing, then why should we be afraid of struggling in the NPC? Also elections, may I ask everyone, have you ever been afraid of elections within our Party? Have you ever been afraid of the election of soldiers' committees in the army? At least I haven't seen any comrade in our Party who has been afraid. Then everyone says they want to serve the people; why should we be afraid of the people's election? What promotes historical progress is struggle, not drawing a so-called blueprint for thousands of generations and then standing still and stagnant. Whoever did this, which one had a good end?"

No one dared to speak again in the venue. Chen Ke rarely lost his temper. Now Chen Ke was obviously angry.

After calming his emotions, Chen Ke continued, "Comrades, establishing the NPC is not the goal, and establishing the NPC is even less to let anyone ride on the head of our People's Party. I can make this point clear to everyone."

After saying this, Chen Ke scanned the comrades again and saw that everyone's expression had calmed down a bit.

"Comrade Lu Huitian, I want you to answer, what are the two pillars of the socialist system?" Chen Ke called his name and asked.

Lu Huitian stood up reluctantly and replied, "Science and democracy."

"Please sit down." Chen Ke said.

After Lu Huitian sat down, Chen Ke continued, "Democracy can be interpreted as the people being masters of their own house. But I think the essence of democracy is led by the interests of the people. One of the ways to be led by the interests of the people is to let the people participate in the revolutionary cause, rather than shutting the people out. Establishing the NPC is not the goal; the NPC is just a tool, a platform, allowing the people to participate in democratic construction. Through this platform, the people know that they are the main body of the country. Let them know that there is a better system that can guarantee a better life for the people. This NPC election will definitely elect some bastards, and even elect some counter-revolutionaries. But this election will definitely elect many people's representatives. Who do you think these people's representatives will fight with in the NPC? If the people recognize the essence of our People's Party clearly and know that our People's Party represents the interests of the people, will these people's representatives fight with our People's Party? They will definitely fight with those bastards and counter-revolutionaries. On the platform of the NPC, we won over the people with maximum efficiency. Science is to develop productive forces and improve efficiency. Establishing the platform of the NPC is to improve our efficiency. For the current stage of the socialist system, the NPC is the most scientific choice."

The comrades of the People's Party still didn't speak. Chen Ke wasn't sure if these words could make everyone understand thoroughly, but he didn't hold too high expectations himself.

He had to continue, "The purpose of establishing soldiers' committees in the army is not to let soldiers override officers. The Soldiers' Committee is also a tool to let soldiers participate in army building and make army work run more efficiently. If political commissars and commanders lead everything in the army, and soldiers just follow political commissars and commanders without knowing anything, then how can our soldiers understand what nature of army our army is, and what is the purpose of our army's fighting? If soldiers don't understand the essence of our army as the people's sons and brothers, if they don't understand that the purpose of our revolutionary war is to make everyone's life better, then how can soldiers go to fight, and even bleed and sacrifice together with our People's Party comrades to defend this better life?"

Chen Ke reasoned with his mouth, but he also paid close attention to observing the comrades' expressions. He could see that these words actually didn't move all comrades; even a considerable number of comrades were not moved at all. This made Chen Ke very disappointed. He could actually understand the thoughts in the hearts of many comrades now. For these comrades, what they hoped to get was success, and the status, promotion, and honor brought by success. Revolution was merely a means for them to achieve these goals. It was unknown whether these comrades had profound enough cognition of themselves to clearly understand the thoughts in their own hearts. They chose revolution for success, not struggling hard for revolution.

In this awkward atmosphere, Lu Huitian stood up instead. "Chairman Chen, I was wrong. Although I don't know exactly where I am wrong, I know I am wrong. I will work hard and find my mistakes. In this NPC election, I firmly support your opinion, Chairman Chen."

These words were not what Chen Ke wanted to hear most. If Chen Ke scored Lu Huitian's statement, it would only be a passing grade of sixty. But Ren Qiying applauded at this time. With her taking the lead, many comrades also hurriedly followed to applaud. Amidst the applause, comrades who opposed Chen Ke just now stood up one after another to express their stance, firmly supporting Chen Ke's leadership. Those comrades who originally supported Chen Ke couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief. In any case, ensuring unity within the Party was the first priority. But Chen Ke could see that even if they expressed maintaining Party unity and supporting Chen Ke's leadership, some comrades were sincere, and some comrades were far less sincere.

This was not the time to pursue responsibility. Chen Ke waved his hand to silence everyone, and he began to continue the next topic.