Early winter was a good time for various congresses to be held. As the year was coming to an end, farm work was basically finished, and the slack farming season had begun. Taking advantage of this period, what should be summarized was summarized, and what should be looked forward to and prepared for was looked forward to and prepared for. The Anhui People's Representative Congress was held again in Fengtai County.

Unlike the hastily organized congress last time, at that time, let alone the representatives, the People's Party itself was preparing various evacuation works, as if the Manchu Qing was about to invade Fengtai County immediately. This frightened the representatives from various places. Some were so scared that they took their whole families and ran to other places after returning home. Except for the representatives who resolutely followed the People's Party, other representatives all hid, afraid that the Manchu Qing would pursue and arrest "bandit crowds" after the People's Party was destroyed.

Only more than a month later, the Beiyang Army was completely annihilated. The People's Party ordered NPC representatives from various places to Fengtai County to attend the first government work report meeting. Only 80% of the total number of representatives could be notified. The proportion of People's Party internal representatives, as well as NPC representatives who firmly followed the People's Party, surged from less than 60% originally to nearly 80%.

On the first day of the congress, the first agenda item was to strip these fleeing people of their NPC representative qualifications. In the secret ballot, 95% of the people voted in favor.

These papers looked the same, but actually had secret marks. The People's Internal Affairs Committee quickly counted who exactly cast the 5% opposing votes. Chen Ke required the Internal Affairs Committee to keep it secret; this was just making some preparations, not flaring up on the spot or settling accounts after the autumn harvest. If these representatives were really of one heart and mind with the People's Party, it would be an incredible thing instead.

After stripping those people of their NPC representative qualifications, the number of people at this congress changed from absent to full. Starting from the second day, representatives were organized to visit the base area. The psychological change brought by military victory was quite large. NPC representatives who dared to stick to their homeland when the Beiyang Army attacked either sincerely supported the People's Party or were particularly bold. The proportion of speculators among the latter was quite high; they were now full of joy, thinking their choice was so correct. A bright future unfolded before them.

As the saying goes, experts watch the method, laymen watch the scene. The representatives basically couldn't understand industrial construction. What impressed them deeply was visiting the gas hot bulb engine. That huge iron machine emitted a chugging roar; the rapidly rotating wheels on the machine drove belts, which in turn drove various mechanical equipment. The People's Party cadres forced scientific and cultural education, so they didn't feel anything unexpected about this. Representatives not from the People's Party felt dazzled.

Wanting to understand industrial progress and technological breakthroughs required sufficient scientific knowledge; non-Party representatives could only watch the excitement. Until visiting agricultural development, these non-Party representatives saw something significant. As the capital of the base area, the current wealth of Fengtai County really surprised these non-Party representatives. Quite a few of these people had experience managing large tracts of land. Vast and flat farmland, large-scale water conservancy channels crisscrossing between farmlands. Various roads built, concentrated residential areas in rural towns. Everything in perfect order shocked the representatives.

What surprised them even more were the social facilities in these concentrated residential areas. Schools, post offices, clinics, supply and marketing cooperatives, assembly squares serving as both villager meeting places and performance venues. Not to mention the almost identical red brick houses for every household. The powerful strength possessed by the new government of the People's Party was demonstrated vividly.

And the People's Representative Congress composed of NPC representatives was theoretically the master of all this. At least the non-Party representatives had a cognition that they, the representatives, controlled everything before their eyes, or at least they thought they could get a share of the pie from it. This feeling was really too good.

The visit lasted for two days. Starting from the fourth day, the NPC began to formally listen to the government work report. There were three main contents in this government work report. The most important was undoubtedly requiring preliminary land reform to be realized within the base area within one year, that is, land nationalization, people regaining land use rights, and beginning to build new towns.

Ranking second was the census work of urban and rural residents. Governments at all levels in the base area had to start population census and corresponding household registration establishment.

Ranking third was the construction of a universal education system.

The government representative making the report was Ren Qiying. Originally, this work was intended for Yuwen Badu, but Yuwen Badu tried to make the report several times; reading documents was okay, but letting him explain, Yuwen Badu would stutter and become somewhat incoherent. No way out, this work finally fell on Ren Qiying, who was recognized as eloquent.

At the meeting, Chen Ke required Ren Qiying to make the report in reverse order starting from the most superficial universal education system. Even with Ren Qiying's cleverness, she didn't understand what was going on at first. Chen Ke rarely didn't explain much but handed the work to the two sets of Party and government teams in Fengtai County to discuss. Ren Qiying guessed a part of Chen Ke's mind; this was to test Ren Qiying's ability. As long as this work could satisfy Chen Ke, it meant Chen Ke would entrust Ren Qiying with important tasks. However, Ren Qiying was still a young girl after all; no matter how capable she was, her perspective on viewing problems still couldn't synchronize with Chen Ke. Ren Qiying stated clearly at the time that she completely didn't know what to do.

Amidst the complicated gazes of the comrades, Chen Ke stated his view calmly: "The NPC is different from our Party and government organizations. Especially this NPC meeting; the purpose is not to let representatives make resolutions and judgments. Our purpose is to let them know how the government operates. So we can't talk about class struggle in the NPC. Talking about class struggle makes this not an NPC meeting but a struggle session. Starting from the universal education issue is going from shallow to deep, letting them gradually understand government operation. Everyone knows receiving education is a good thing. We start from the result of doing good things, and finally talk about land reform issues. Only then can the representatives understand why we want revolution. Without revolution, they can't enjoy the fruits of universal education."

Chen Ke already felt he spoke very clearly, but the comrades who could understand could be counted on one's fingers. Ren Qiying was one of them; she clearly stated that she would undertake this work.

After the meeting started, Ren Qiying made the government report according to prior preparation. Representatives from the People's Party had an understanding of these several topics. Everyone had participated in related work more or less, and quite a few comrades were responsible for related work in various places themselves. Representatives from outside the Party felt confused listening to these topics.

The least controversial topic was universal compulsory education. In Chinese tradition, reading books was a good thing; as long as there was an opportunity to read, everyone wouldn't let it go. Previously, reading required hiring a teacher; this expense wasn't something every family could bear. Even in small landlord families, there were plenty who couldn't afford to read. Representatives from the People's Party naturally had to fully promote compulsory education because this was the Party's policy. Representatives not from the People's Party also supported this policy.

Under the superficial consensus, different views appeared. In this era, the purpose of reading was to become an official. Why promote universal education, why let everyone read and write—different people naturally had different understandings of the inherent meaning of this practice.

From the perspective of the People's Party, compulsory education contained a complete core of theory and practice. From the perspective of political power, the education process was originally a process of condensing the masses. Especially the people who received government education since childhood would naturally distance themselves from the old era. From the perspective of social operation, putting children in kindergartens and schools could effectively reduce family pressure and better liberate labor force, especially female labor force. From the perspective of developing productive forces, universal education was the most effective way to improve labor quality.

These contents could still be said openly at the NPC meeting. Ren Qiying dared not say the contents discussed within the Party at the NPC. Chen Ke only talked about the "problem of revolutionary successors" to high-level cadres. School education could set various tests by the school. Those who could let "human sociality" develop to the maximum would naturally know to follow the Party and know to enter the social system. Even with a very unoptimistic ratio, 50% of the people educated in the education system understood the structure of society, and 5% understood they had to follow the Party and understood that personal safety and value must be realized through social operation. Chen Ke firmly believed that even relying only on this 5%, the People's Party could thoroughly manage the country. Moreover, China's greatness lay in the general consensus that individuals must rely on the state to realize their value. The people not only accepted the existence of a strong central government but even eagerly longed for the existence of an almost omnipotent strong central government.

So a comprehensive compulsory education system must be promoted. If a powerful central government was controlled by the elite education system, instead of graduates selected from the people of the whole country through comprehensive compulsory education controlling the government, the result could only be China rapidly becoming an imperialist country exploiting internally and invading and expanding externally. Chen Ke would absolutely not allow the people's revolution he painstakingly created to fall into such a state.

Comrades within the Party couldn't fully understand these contents Chen Ke recounted either. This was viewing compulsory education from a national perspective, and also viewing compulsory education from the perspective of past and future. Although Chen Ke wasn't a genius, he was in the downstream of history and truly saw the process of history. So Chen Ke could establish his faith from the history he saw. And could establish what he wanted to stick to. Comrades within the Party didn't have this historical practice; for everything Chen Ke said, everyone could only find explanations from what they had already learned.

However, the People's Party had its own discipline and system. If one could understand the Party Central Committee's policy, then strive to implement the policy in work. If one couldn't understand, one also had to gradually understand the Party Central Committee's policy in work.

These representatives outside the Party hadn't received the internal education of the People's Party at all; it was even less possible for them to understand the many meanings contained in compulsory education. They could only interpret the People's Party government's policies based on the world they knew. Thus, various discussions in the NPC meeting that made Chen Ke feel very helpless unfolded.

The most typical thing was that representatives outside the Party actually viewed the compulsory education system as a profit-making industry. After opening schools, how much money should each student pay? Someone actually asked this stupid question. One hearing this question knew they didn't listen to the government work report properly. The government work report clearly pointed out that compulsory education was free. Not only not collecting money from the common people, but the state also had to pay a large sum for school buildings, educational equipment, and teacher salaries. What students had to pay was merely books and miscellaneous fees.

Understanding that running education not only didn't make money but also lost money, representatives outside the Party were frightened without exception. In the intelligence collected by the People's Internal Affairs Committee, representatives outside the Party discussed privately one after another whether the People's Party would apportion this cost to the rich. Quite a few representatives thought that if this forced apportionment happened, they would resolutely oppose it.

The government work report was carried out in sections because the People's Representatives had absolutely no concept of a modern state, let alone knew how to operate various policies of this modern state. Not only representatives outside the Party, but representatives within the People's Party were not just People's Party members; a large number of mass representatives who firmly supported the People's Party also didn't understand these policies and related implementation methods and processes. The People's Party government must undertake comprehensive explanation work. Instilling a brand new concept into people who had no concept at all was far more difficult than directly taking a gun and killing this person. Even compulsory education, which everyone supported, encountered this arduous process.

With the progress of the meeting, Chen Ke discovered a situation he hadn't thought of at all originally. The seats of the representatives were self-chosen; you could sit wherever you loved to sit in the venue. People's Party members naturally sat together. And other representatives sat in patches according to region. With the progress of the meeting, the pattern began to change. The People's Party still sat together. For representatives not from People's Party member backgrounds, based on their own political stance, representatives supporting the People's Party naturally chose to sit next to the People's Party. Those representatives who didn't stand on the stance of the people masses, with the deepening of understanding of the topics, gradually formed a situation of sitting together. Regional factors quickly gave way to political factors. The discussion on the content of the government work report made political factors dominate everyone's stance and emotions even more. The polarization expanded at a surprising speed.

Originally, the seats in the venue were one carrot one pit, one stool per person. After Chen Ke discovered this problem, he deliberately had a dozen more stools filled every day. After the meeting was held for a few days, looking down from the rostrum, the People's Party and followers sat darkly on the left, while representatives with different political views sat darkly on the right. An area was forcibly left empty in the middle. Only a few representatives who held themselves aloof, neither willing to follow the People's Party nor willing to mix with those other people, sat sparsely in the middle zone. Political view division completely replaced regional division, although many representatives had never even heard of the term "political view."

The government work report was naturally the work of the bureaucratic system. Chen Ke had no prejudice against the bureaucratic system. Bureaucrats were also people; they also needed methods and systems to work. The bureaucratic system needed scientific and humane systems and methods even more than other systems. So the government work report didn't talk about isms and ultimate ideals at all.

At the current stage, compulsory education wasn't just about building a school education system, but also comprehensive literacy work for the people. To eliminate illiteracy, one had to know how many people were in the base area and the education level of these people. So as to formulate corresponding specific implementation methods. This required building a household registration system.

And the household registration system involved the urban-rural dual household registration issue. The dual household registration needed to be carried out on the basis of completed land reform. These works had stages. Roughly speaking, land reform was first, household registration followed closely, and compulsory education was last. Of course, those masses who followed the People's Party closely had already let their children join the opened schools first, and they were also receiving education themselves. This showed a situation that didn't completely conform to the general work sequence.

One doesn't know the cost of fuel and rice without running a household. The government listed the contents of these works one by one. Not to mention anything else, just the demand for paper made these representatives dumbfounded. In these years, paper was precious, especially white paper used for writing was not cheap. To complete the household registration system statistics and other work needs, just this white paper would require more than a hundred thousand *jin*. Converted to market price, it would cost at least more than a hundred thousand taels of silver.

The population of the Anhui base area was estimated to be more than ten million now; no one knew the specific number. Just the paper used for the household registration construction of the common people, calculated at one tael of silver for one thousand *wen* of money, the government would spend at least ten *wen* of white paper on each person. As for ink, plus the wages of government personnel and the salaries of auxiliary personnel to be mobilized, it was another large expense. Some representatives outside the Party who were proficient in calculation estimated privately that just the census work would require spending at least five hundred thousand taels of silver. And the People's Party shouldered this money alone.

Among the representatives outside the Party, one representative's family ran a paper-making workshop. He was very happy about this news. Such a huge demand for paper gave his workshop extremely large profit possibilities. When he overestimated himself at the meeting and proposed willingness to supply paper "cheaply," Ren Qiying, the spokesperson for the People's Party government work, smiled and told this representative that the People's Party had already collected all the paper. Of course, Ren Qiying also smiled and told this representative with a face full of astonishment and depression that if there was demand, the government would contact this representative.

Watching this live drama, almost all government department personnel attending the meeting laughed secretly in their hearts. At that time, Chen Ke spent considerable manpower and material resources to open a paper mill; quite a few comrades didn't quite understand. Now they understood that Chairman Chen's style in this matter was exactly the same as usual, always preparing before problems occurred.

The paper mill used processing techniques for two raw materials: wheat straw and rice straw. In the past, common people used wheat straw and rice straw as kitchen fuel or burned them for ash fertilizer. After the People's Party paper mill purchased wheat straw and rice straw, the common people were naturally extremely happy. Things that originally couldn't be sold for money at all could now be exchanged for income; this was a good thing like a pie falling from the sky. Common people going to purchase points in various places to sell wheat straw and rice straw came in an endless stream. After selling wheat straw and rice straw, the common people's faces bloomed with smiles when counting banknotes. And the paper mill obtained stable and homogeneous raw materials, so it could naturally produce paper products stably and homogeneously.

The impact of this matter on comrades was quite large. Originally listening to simple and obscure "large-scale stable homogeneous raw materials, large investment built factories, mass production of cheap products," everyone hadn't seen this industrial production route, so it was naturally impossible to imagine it out of thin air. Leaving aside the various complex process technologies adopted by the paper mill, just in the process of paper mill construction, raw materials, and products, comrades in government departments had a feeling of sudden enlightenment.

Representatives outside the Party were shocked by the People's Party's great wealth on one hand, and instinctively felt a huge threat on the other. In their experience, whatever the government office wanted to do, they always had to rely on local gentry. Either contributing money, or organizing local labor, or government procurement. Although the struggle between the government office and gentry was extremely fierce. But as long as money was used in place, the gentry could still earn considerable benefits.

Now, although the People's Party didn't plunder gentry, it also didn't rely on gentry. By building grassroots political power, the People's Party step by step grasped the common people who originally didn't deal with the government office in their hands. If this went on, the gentry who had held the leading position in the countryside for thousands of years would be marginalized step by step, completely thrown outside the political power and the people.

If they hadn't participated in the People's Representative Congress, representatives outside the Party wouldn't have been able to understand this. Attending this congress, not only were the eyes of the People's Party followers opened to view society, but these representatives outside the Party who once occupied the mainstream of society also had their eyes opened.

In the intelligence collected by the People's Internal Affairs Committee, in the first few days, the gentry were almost still talking nonsense according to their social status. As the meeting proceeded, their private discussions became more and more interesting. When these backbones of the old era society originally scattered in various places gathered together to discuss problems, the depth and breadth of their view of problems were also constantly strengthening. These people could also view the immediate problems seriously.

While on the surface it was still peaceful, but internally wind and clouds were surging, news of the Guangfu Society capturing Hangzhou came. For the People's Party, this news was really a bit insignificant. Chen Ke just instructed the intelligence department to strengthen inquiries; specific countermeasures would be carried out after the NPC meeting.

When issuing this instruction, Chen Ke hadn't even finished reading the intelligence content completely. Until the meeting adjourned in the evening, after Chen Ke finished discussing the specific work of the day with comrades in the Party, and Chen Ke's trusted secretary handed this report to Chen Ke again, Chen Ke remembered there was such a thing.

A thick stack of intelligence content was detailed. The People's Party hadn't infiltrated into the Guangfu Society, so this was intelligence collected by the intelligence networks built by the People's Party in various places in Zhejiang through public content. In the view of the intelligence network trained by the People's Party, except for the internal meeting content of the Guangfu Society which needed some time to get, the actions of the Guangfu Society had no secrecy to speak of. Learning that the Guangfu Society was going to attack Hangzhou, the People's Party intelligence network specifically sent observers. As a result, after the observers arrived in Hangzhou and waited for four days, the Guangfu Army under the Guangfu Society arrived outside Hangzhou city.

What surprised Chen Ke slightly was that Zhejiang Governor Zeng Yun almost turned a blind eye to the Guangfu Society raising troops in southern Zhejiang. But when the Guangfu Army attacked Hangzhou, Zhejiang Governor Zeng Yun showed unusual integrity. Zeng Yun decisively rejected the Guangfu Society's persuasion to surrender. And he personally supervised the Defense Army, Training Army, and Green Standard Army already gathered in Hangzhou, organized defense, and deployed positions. About three thousand troops of various routes gathered inside Hangzhou city; this was already all the troops in southern Zhejiang.

Long before getting the news of the Guangfu Society moving out, Zeng Yun gathered these troops by the West Lake and delivered a public speech. The speech content had an appendix. After reading it, Chen Ke had a strong feeling of meeting a bosom friend. Reading the sincere parts, Chen Ke couldn't help laughing out loud.

Zeng Yun mentioned neither loyalty to the court nor personal loyalty. He simply and briskly explained the source of grain and pay for these Qing troops in front of him. The grain and pay of these Qing troops were all issued by the court. If the court fell, this grain and pay would naturally have no source. Zeng Yun stated that the Guangfu Society had its own army and would absolutely not recruit these Defense Army, Training Army, and Green Standard Army soldiers. Even if recruited, they wouldn't treat them as their own people. If these Qing army brothers thought they could live well without relying on the court, they could go to the Guangfu Society side now, or disperse by themselves. If they felt they only had food to eat by relying on the court, then defend the city well. Everyone could decide for themselves where to go.

For the Chinese people, as long as the reasoning spoken was the truth, everyone could understand. Zhejiang Governor Zeng Yun didn't cheat or coax; his reasoning was clear, and logic complete. The Defense Army, Training Army, and Green Standard Army were all clear that as long as Hangzhou was taken, they would immediately lose their livelihood, and had no means to make a living immediately at all. Among the more than three thousand people, except for less than four hundred guys who were indeed afraid of death choosing to leave, the others all chose to stay and defend the city.

Zeng Yun immediately issued reward money and called the commanders of various units together to discuss city defense matters. At any rate, a defense line was built before the Guangfu Army arrived.

The experience of the battle wasn't anything special. The military literacy of both sides was naturally the defending Qing army having the advantage, while in terms of morale, the Guangfu Army was higher. When exchanging volley fire, the defenders had relatively sufficient bullets. The Guangfu Society suffered a loss in the attack on the first day. The next day, seeing they could hold Hangzhou, the Qing army's morale was greatly boosted, and combat performance was better than the first day. Plus with artillery help, although the shell accuracy was very poor, the rumbling sound of cannons also stimulated morale very much. The Guangfu Society's attack on the second day was thwarted again.

On the third day, the Guangfu Society didn't attack the city. Zeng Yun immediately rewarded the three armies. The Qing army became even more energetic.

However, as the saying goes, joy begets sorrow. In the battle on the fourth day, after the excited Qing army repelled the Guangfu Army again, heaven knew if the alcohol from the previous day hadn't worn off, or if someone offered a heavy reward, they actually began to pursue the retreating Guangfu Army. At first, the pursuit was very smooth. According to the development of the situation, the Guangfu Army might collapse across the board. Suddenly, a troop attacked the flank of the sortieing Qing army.

The comrade writing the report seemed to have captured the Qing army officer participating in the sortie. The report contained a paragraph of literary language: "More than eighty enemy elites suddenly appeared on our flank, all with white cloth wrapped around their heads, bare-chested, wearing only white short jackets. Led by three women and two youths. Holding bombs, short guns (pistols), and Japanese swords in hand. First threw bombs, then shot with short guns, and after bullets were exhausted, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Japanese swords. Our army was then defeated."

The subsequent battle was very traditional for the Qing army. The sortieing Qing army troops routed back to the main camp. The Guangfu Army dare-to-die corps tailed behind chasing and killing, rushing into the Qing army's defensive position. The Qing army collapsed in hand-to-hand combat. After the main force of the Guangfu Army killed their way into Hangzhou city, Zhejiang Governor Zeng Yun actually didn't flee but conducted stubborn resistance relying on the Governor's Yamen. Because of street fighting in the city, the attacking Guangfu Army lacked room to maneuver; casualties were heavy in several hard attacks. Until the next day, they dragged cannons into the city and forced the artillerymen among the captives to operate the cannons. The captured artillerymen were actually quite loyal and refused to obey. The Guangfu Army chopped off the heads of several captured artillerymen before someone personally operated the cannons to shoot at the Zhejiang Governor's Yamen.

Only after the main gate and surrounding walls of the Governor's Yamen were blasted down did the defense collapse. Even so, the personal soldiers of Zhejiang Governor Zeng Yun still resisted for a long time. The Guangfu Society paid a considerable price to obtain the final victory. As for the end of Zhejiang Governor Zeng Yun, the report said it uncertainly. Some said he was killed by a shell, some said he committed suicide, some said after being captured, the Guangfu Society hated Zeng Yun for resisting desperately in a corner and executed Zeng Yun on the spot. Anyway, the result was that Zhejiang Governor Zeng Yun died.

Putting down the materials, Chen Ke thought, the Guangfu Society should be very happy, right? This was Chen Ke's only thought on this matter. Two minutes later, Chen Ke fell asleep lying on the temporary bed in the room next to the office.