He Qian sat by the table with a pale face. The interrogator opposite looked stern but poured her a cup of water. It was cold water. Because He Qian hadn't eaten anything and was exhausted from the long journey, after drinking a cup of cold water, her body soon began to feel cold. The staff expressionlessly repeated the unchanging questions of "Name, Age, Native Place, Purpose." He Qian answered again with a numb brain. The interrogators looked at each other, leaving He Qian alone in the interrogation room. After finishing the record, the two went out. Not knowing how long passed, He Qian heard the door being pushed open, and a familiar voice shouted: "Aunt."

Looking up, she saw a figure at the door. After identifying carefully for a while, He Qian recognized that this woman in dark blue clothes was He Ying. Seeing the niece she hadn't seen for nearly two years, the big stone in He Qian's heart finally dropped. She swayed, wanting to stand up, but her legs had no strength at all.

He Ying rushed forward and held He Qian. The temperature from that warm palm penetrated the clothes, making He Qian unable to help shivering greatly. Numbness, coldness, panic, helplessness; all the emotions He Qian had forcibly frozen surged into her heart in this instant. He Qian first covered her mouth tightly with her palm, then simply bit her own palm fiercely, which prevented her from wailing loudly.

He Ying hugged her aunt tightly. She was called here urgently. Hearing that her aunt He Qian actually rushed to the base area, He Ying's first feeling was disbelief. Until seeing her haggard aunt with her own eyes, He Ying believed she wasn't dreaming. Seeing her usually resolute aunt frowning, maintaining control of emotions completely by biting her palm tightly, He Ying couldn't imagine how much suffering and grievance her aunt had endured. He Qian didn't cry, but He Ying's tears streamed down.

Having controlled her emotions with great difficulty, He Qian released her palm from her teeth. She asked: "How is Yongsheng?"

"Uncle's injury has stabilized. Wenqing and I visited him in the POW camp a few days ago; there should be no danger to his life," He Ying answered hurriedly.

Hearing this news, He Qian's body trembled slightly. She continued to ask: "You didn't drag him out to parade through the streets, right?"

He Ying answered: "No, we don't parade wounded soldiers. However, according to rank, Uncle's rank should also have been tied up and paraded. I have already told Uncle about this matter. I see Uncle is a person who cares about face; if I didn't explain it clearly to him, I was afraid he would feel we looked down on him in his heart."

"Thank you." A big stone in He Qian's heart finally fell to the ground. He Ying handled the matter very thoughtfully. Sun Yongsheng was a person who regarded face as more important than life. If Chen Ke and He Ying ignored Sun Yongsheng, Sun Yongsheng would definitely be angry. If Sun Yongsheng was paraded through the streets to the public, Sun Yongsheng would naturally think he suffered a great humiliation. Not letting Sun Yongsheng parade with Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen, Sun Yongsheng's self-esteem would also feel hurt.

He Ying pulled He Qian up. "Aunt, let's go home."

After signing her name on the document, He Ying supported He Qian and left the "Reception Office" of the People's Internal Affairs Committee together.

The noise of the celebration outside could be heard far away in the residential area of government department personnel. He Ying cooked and boiled water deftly. He Qian sat on the bed, her mind numb. Only after eating and taking a hot bath did she feel that inexplicable sense of panic disappear a lot. She was a young woman just twenty years old after all; experiencing and bearing these changes was too intense for He Qian. The experience of traveling a thousand *li* only accumulated new fears constantly. Only by the side of her relative did He Qian feel her constantly tense nerves gradually relaxing. She originally wanted to say something to her niece He Ying, but fell asleep without any consciousness.

It was almost dark when Chen Ke returned home. He Ying welcomed Chen Ke with a look of relief. Chen Ke hugged his wife gently and kissed her on the forehead. "Are my clothes ready?"

"Ready," He Ying answered.

"Then I'll go live in the dormitory," Chen Ke laughed. "If Aunt wants to visit the prison, you just write an application directly. No need to find me. Also, don't cook these days; go eat in the cafeteria."

"Okay." He Ying hugged Chen Ke, resting her head on Chen Ke's chest. "Should I tell Aunt about my family's matter too?"

"Tell her. Let her not worry. As long as our base area hasn't reached a desperate dead end, the Manchu Qing dare not really harm the He family."

"Mhm," He Ying answered.

"Go bring my clothes out; I won't go in," Chen Ke said.

Coming out of his own home, Chen Ke didn't go directly back to the office but went to the reception office of the People's Internal Affairs Committee. Yuan Shikai's reaction was so fast; Chen Ke was also somewhat unexpected.

Sun Yongying was searched several times. At this time, he had also eaten and sat honestly by the table. He had seen Chen Ke's portrait before coming. When seeing this number one bandit leader of the Manchu Qing appear in front of him with his own eyes, Sun Yongying still felt a shock. Chen Ke was too young, looking just in his early twenties, moving extremely steadily yet full of vitality. Sun Yongying was twenty-six this year and considered a person with an official position. He was by no means obscure among his peers. Compared with Chen Ke, who was similar in age to him, Sun Yongying's reputation and power were far behind. Although Chen Ke was called a bandit and chaotic party member, even Lord Yuan Shikai dared not underestimate Chen Ke. Thinking of these, a strong jealousy suddenly arose in Sun Yongying's heart.

The proposal brought by Sun Yongying was simple: hoping Chen Ke would release Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, and other Beiyang officers for the sake of the Beiyang lineage connection. Even if not releasing them temporarily, don't harm them.

Chen Ke answered: "Tell Mr. Yuan when you go back that we have our own prisoner of war policy. We will not kill prisoners. Our People's Party's prisoner policy, I think it is already written clearly in the notice, right?"

Sun Yongying hurried to smile apologetically. "I have seen this."

Next, Sun Yongying hoped to discuss the return of prisoners with Chen Ke. Actually, there was nothing to discuss. The People's Party unilaterally controlled a large number of Beiyang Army prisoners; whether to release them or not depended entirely on Chen Ke's will.

"We will release some seriously injured and disabled Beiyang officers. And if the relatives of the Beiyang Army want to come and transport the corpses back, let them come as soon as possible. It's cold; the corpses can be preserved."

"Then Lord Wang Shizhen and Lord Duan Qirui..."

"Those two are too capable; I can't release them in the short term. Moreover, we want to prove we have the ability to crush all attacks of the Manchu Qing, so we inevitably need the two to exert some effort and help out. So these two can't leave for the time being."

"Then can I meet these two lords?" Sun Yongying said. Yuan Shikai required Sun Yongying to meet Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui no matter what. The life and death of these two were too important to Yuan Shikai.

"Meeting them is fine," Chen Ke answered.

"Then I thank Mr. Chen first. Also, when Lord Yuan ordered me to come, he also said if Mr. Chen can send the Beiyang officers and soldiers back, Lord Yuan will definitely think of a way to protect the He family people." Sun Yongying finally had some confidence when saying this. This was the only "advantage" the Manchu Qing could grasp.

"Hmph!" Chen Ke gave a cold laugh but didn't answer.

Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui never expected Yuan Shikai's rescue reaction speed to be so fast. The two were locked in the same cell, grief-stricken in their hearts. Neither could imagine that as dignified high officials of the court, the top generals in Beiyang, they would actually suffer such a defeat.

Chen Ke did come to see the two once. Wang Shizhen had acted as Chen Ke's elder during Chen Ke's wedding anyway, and had received Chen Ke's kneeling bow. There was some unusual friendship after all. Chen Ke asked if the two were healthy; Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui turned a deaf ear to such nonsense. Contrary to their expectations, Chen Ke didn't persuade surrender or threaten. After normal etiquette and care, Chen Ke first explained the captive policy of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to the two. Then he apologized to the two that he had to organize the Beiyang Army captives to parade through the streets; this practice violated the captive policy. He hoped the two would forgive him. Chen Ke guaranteed to the two that the People's Party absolutely had no intention of insulting the captives.

Veins popped out on Duan Qirui's forehead in anger. Wang Shizhen gave a cold laugh. "It seems we have to thank Wenqing for telling the truth."

Chen Ke answered calmly: "Although it is said that only victors can be magnanimous, our new government has been established not long ago. The masses still have a certain fear of the court and officers and soldiers. After you gentlemen are paraded through the streets, the masses see that the court and officers and soldiers are nothing to be afraid of; this psychological problem is easily solved. This helps our base area construction. The situation is stronger than people; even if it violates the captive policy, I have no choice. But I really have no personal malice towards you two, so I tell you two first. I hope you don't take the parade matter to heart either. This is public business, not private business."

It was thanks to the great self-restraint of the two; even as captives, they could care for their dignity, so the situation of the two jumping up and pointing at Chen Ke to curse didn't happen. Wang Shizhen even mocked himself: "I didn't expect this old man to have such use; rare, rare."

"There are few capable people in the Manchu Qing; you two are already top figures. Fighting with you two, I racked my brains. Look at the bearish appearance of the Hubei New Army; I'm not worried at all." Chen Ke also tried his best to comfort the two.

Having said that, the two were really frightened during the parade. Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui already knew the troops of the People's Party were definitely not bandits, and the attitude of the base area common people frightened the two even more. Common people watched parades just for the excitement, but the People's Party's parade was completely different. Tens of thousands of people shouting to beat and kill the two really didn't scare them. Being able to insult people of high status was truly excellent fun for the common people; Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui could completely imagine it.

The common people in the base area were not like this. What they exuded was not the stimulation and venting pleasure brought by "insulting high court officials," but a collective fanaticism for victory. Tens of thousands of people sang the same song together and shouted the same slogans. That earth-shaking situation was something Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen had never seen before. What these common people exuded was identification with the People's Party regime.

Those faces flushed with excitement, those arms waving neatly, those slogans of having completely overthrown the Manchu Qing regime, those confidences in building a new country. Just as Chen Ke said, parading through the streets was merely to prove that the People's Party didn't fear the Manchu Qing court and had the ability to crush any attack from the Manchu Qing court. When the common people saw these captives, they believed the People's Party had the ability to protect the base area common people. Duan Qirui, Wang Shizhen, and those Beiyang officers and Anhui officials were like the roasted pigs and sheep carried in a sacrificial ceremony; they served as "tributes," as symbolic things like "sacrificial animals and jades."

Even the Beiyang Six Towns had never had such a united activity. Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen were both excellent people of this era; they were understanding people. Chen Ke thoroughly possessed the hearts of the people in the base area. By closely surrounding Chen Ke, the people obtained a sense of collective power. Both were clear that if Chen Ke went back on his word and ordered the Beiyang Army officers killed now, these common people in the base area wouldn't feel they were killing high officials of the court. The common people thought they just killed the "sacrificial offerings" in the celebration. They would happily kill the Beiyang Army officers and then offer these "sacrificial offerings" to Chen Ke's feet.

The status and identity of Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen in the Manchu Qing regime had no meaning to these common people. These common people completely didn't consider themselves subjects of the court; they considered themselves Chen Ke's people, people of the new government led by Chen Ke and the People's Party. The common people of the base area no longer considered themselves "rebels of the court"; this Anhui was already an "enemy country."

After the parade celebration ended and the two were taken back to the cell, Duan Qirui saw strong fear on Wang Shizhen's face for the first time.

"Old brother..." Duan Qirui couldn't help shouting. It wasn't that he had anything he must say, but unknowingly trembling, Duan Qirui felt if he didn't say something to break the silence, he couldn't bear the psychological pressure.

Wang Shizhen's body was also trembling slightly. "Brother Duan, I really misjudged back then. When Chen Ke was in Beijing, he was just a not-very-remarkable youth. I never expected he could win the hearts of the people so much. The hearts of the people in Anhui are no longer with the court."

Duan Qirui understood Wang Shizhen's words. The Beiyang Army had suppressed so many rebellions; the People's Party's army and common people were completely different from those rebels. Rebels and common people were never of one mind, so rebels were more excited and inflammatory than common people. In the base area, the fanaticism of the people even exceeded the troops fighting on the front line. It wasn't the People's Party fighting the court; it was these common people fighting the court.

"Monster (*Yao Nie*), this Chen Ke is a monster." Wang Shizhen muttered. He understood military affairs and was even more proficient in civil administration. In this aspect of feeling, Wang Shizhen was much stronger than Duan Qirui.

"Old brother, what do you say we should do?" Duan Qirui asked in a low voice.

"If we fight again, only by slaughtering all these people, leaving not a single one." Wang Shizhen said almost absent-mindedly, "These people are all scourges."

Duan Qirui agreed with Wang Shizhen's idea immediately. He suddenly understood why after entering the base area, not even a shadow of a commoner could be seen. Chen Ke's degree of control over the common people completely exceeded Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen's imagination.

Militarily, wanting to weaken Chen Ke's power by slaughtering common people seemed very difficult. The combat power of the People's Party army was absolutely not below the Beiyang Army. The Beiyang Army moving out in units of a regiment was now seen as meat buns hitting a dog—gone forever. Only by relying on a large army with overwhelming numbers to sweep through could they echo each other and achieve the goal of slaughtering all. However, with the current financial resources of the Manchu Qing, really gathering a force of such scale, the Manchu Qing's own finances would go bankrupt without waiting for the troops to arrive in Anhui.

"Still organizing *Tuanlian* (militia), following the path of Zeng Guofan and Lord Li back then?" Duan Qirui asked.

"Chen Ke is already a new Taiping Bandit Army in Anhui. Except for this method, I'm afraid there is no other method." Wang Shizhen answered. "The court gathers a large army to fight Chen Ke head-on, and other *Tuanlian* break Chen Ke's forces in various places. If we cannot tilt the power of the whole nation, it is absolutely impossible to destroy Chen Ke."

The time since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom passed wasn't long yet; this encirclement and suppression strategy was far from being forgotten.

"If we can't destroy Chen Ke and let him go on like this, the one who destroys the Great Qing will undoubtedly be Chen Ke," Wang Shizhen said. Although Wang Shizhen didn't like the Manchu Qing court, suddenly seeing a force like Chen Ke that truly had the ability to overthrow the court, Wang Shizhen almost instinctively began to think about methods to destroy this new force.

Duan Qirui had the same thought, but his starting point was slightly subtly different from Wang Shizhen. Duan Qirui frowned. "If my Beiyang Army fights Chen Ke again, we must be careful and absolutely cannot repeat the same mistake. I see this person Chen Ke has quite a breadth of mind and tolerance. If Lord Yuan completely controls the situation of the court, we can still fight. Now there are too many people in the court intending ill against Lord Yuan. Those people's eyes are full of their own power and influence; they don't take the court's affairs to heart at all. This point is really thorny."

Hearing Duan Qirui say this, Wang Shizhen also felt very depressed in his heart. He couldn't help saying: "When a country is about to perish, monsters will surely appear. Below is Chen Ke; above are those people who hold sinecures. Foreign powers are also pressing step by step. This Great Qing's empire..."

Although he wanted to maintain the Manchu Qing court extremely instinctively, Wang Shizhen wasn't completely suppressed by his emotions over his reasonably clear strategic view. Chen Ke was already very strong, but the court was trapped in endless internal strife. Cixi was old; once Cixi died, the contradiction between the Emperor's Party and the Empress's Party would definitely erupt comprehensively. There were only a few people in the court who could prop up the overall situation. Zhang Zhidong was already seventy years old; as the saying goes, it is rare for people to live to seventy since ancient times. Seeing Zhang Zhidong had today but maybe not tomorrow, it was absolutely impossible for him to carry the main beam. Although Yuan Shikai had the ability to carry the main beam, he was of the Empress's Party, and the Emperor's Party all believed Yuan Shikai betrayed Guangxu. Once Cixi passed away, the Emperor's Party would definitely not let Cixi go. No matter how critical the situation was, the Emperor's Party would say nothing to agree to Yuan Shikai holding power. But where did those wastes of the Emperor's Party have the ability to prop up the Great Qing's situation?

Thinking about the People's Party side again, Chen Ke was only in his twenties, young to an excessive degree. The people gathered around Chen Ke, at least those Wang Shizhen saw, were similar in age to Chen Ke. These people were already showing their sharp edges now; giving them a few more years to practice, they would definitely be harder to deal with than now. These young people didn't even need to win completely militarily; time was completely on Chen Ke's side. Most of the capable people in the Manchu Qing emerged during the "Tongzhi Restoration"; they were already old. A few years later, even if not dead, they would be candles in the wind. Among the figures Wang Shizhen saw, there was basically no one who could prop up the situation. If the People's Party couldn't be destroyed as soon as possible, the People's Party would have no opponents by then.

Under emotional excitement, Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui didn't pay attention to secrecy at all. Talking about strategic planning to destroy the People's Party, they were almost self-forgetful. They thought no one guarded their cell, but completely ignored the saying "walls have ears." The comrades responsible for monitoring had already recorded their conversation.

When Sun Yongying went to "visit the prison," not long after Chen Ke returned to the office, the organized materials were delivered to Chen Ke. Flipping through a few pages, Chen Ke couldn't help laughing out loud. This looked just like Baldy Chiang's strategy for encircling the base area back then no matter how you looked at it. Moreover, Baldy admired Zeng Guofan very much. Chen Ke couldn't help comparing Baldy's encirclement of the base area and Zeng Guofan's strategy of defeating the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Not to mention, there was really a spiritual resemblance. "Beiyang really has talents," Chen Ke thought.

"Chairman Chen, these two people are really diehard counter-revolutionaries," the comrade from the People's Internal Affairs Committee said angrily.

"This is inevitable. If they don't stand on the people's side, they must stand on the opposite side of the people. This stance is absolutely irreconcilable. It is normal for them to think so." Chen Ke comforted the staff member.

"We spared their lives, yet they didn't think of gratitude but wanted to slaughter the common people of the base area instead!" The comrade of the Internal Affairs Committee glared with round eyes; that was anger from the bottom of his heart.

Chen Ke hurriedly advised: "Not killing captives is our discipline, our own integrity. It has nothing to do with the enemy. A dog eats shit because it is a dog; it definitely wants to eat, it must eat. As humans, we can't make ourselves like dogs, right?"

Although angry enough to smoke from seven orifices, Chen Ke's analogy still made the comrade opposite laugh in anger.

Chen Ke continued: "I know in this war, some comrades thought we made a fuss over nothing by preparing for strengthened defense and clear fields (*Jian Bi Qing Ye*). Some comrades even thought we were scaring ourselves, wasting effort for nothing. But I know our enemy is very ferocious. Since they are people who exploit the common people, they can do things like robbing and killing the common people. We would rather suffer more tiredness ourselves than give them the chance to harm the common people."

The comrade of the Internal Affairs Committee nodded repeatedly. As an internal security department, the Internal Affairs Committee also had to participate in this work of strengthened defense and clear fields, so there were not few complaints internally. Now he understood why Chen Ke wanted to do this thankless task.

The reason Chen Ke engaged in strengthened defense and clear fields originally was just that he completely learned the Party's practice during the Anti-Japanese War, but the conversation between Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui really touched Chen Ke's emotions. He could finally "connect theory with practice."

Chen Ke continued: "Some comrades think we are afraid. We are not afraid of Beiyang, nor the Manchu Qing. What we are afraid of is that because our work is not in place, the people get hurt. This is also the reason why our work is very hard, because we are not the masters of the people; we are the People's Party serving the people. This is our Party's purpose. No matter when, we cannot violate this principle."

Members of the Internal Affairs Committee were all Party members or activists for joining the Party. Hearing Chen Ke's words, the comrade of the Internal Affairs Committee looked at Chen Ke with bright eyes, stood at attention, and saluted Chen Ke. "Chairman Chen, I will definitely strictly observe the Party's purpose and resolutely serve the people."

Chen Ke nodded. "I believe in the comrades. Take this material and report to Comrade Qi Huishen. Comrade Qi Huishen has returned to Fengtai County and will also completely transfer back to the Internal Affairs Committee work. The Internal Affairs Committee should hold a meeting to discuss it. After all, these two people spoke their heartfelt words; our comrades also need to know what exactly the enemy thinks. How should we deal with their thoughts. But I emphasize again, we must abide by our own discipline. No abusing or making things difficult for captives. Dogs can eat shit; people can't."

"Yes."

While Chen Ke was conducting ideological education, Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui faced Yuan Shikai's envoy, moved into a mess.