Chen Ke's love for the Dabie Mountain area stemmed entirely from inheriting history. This area, where life was arduous, had many red counties and general counties. In the revolutionary cause, the Dabie Mountain area contributed hundreds of thousands of outstanding sons and daughters. And the total population of this area was no more than five or six million. If they hadn't been forced by life to the point where they couldn't survive without revolution, it would be absolutely impossible for so many masses to embark on the revolutionary path.

The reason he hadn't developed here before wasn't that Chen Ke worried the masses wouldn't revolt. He worried that the People's Party wasn't revolutionary enough to truly mobilize these masses. Chen Ke selected the advance party very carefully. He had to ensure the revolutionary nature of the team to the greatest extent, and also ensure that this team had enough drive. He had to ensure that the cadres and soldiers in the team had true understanding and resonance with the suffering masses. If "outsiders" went to carry out the revolutionary cause with pity and a condescending attitude, it would be better not to go.

"Must not be arrogant! Absolutely not allowed to view the local masses with a condescending mentality. The Dabie Mountain area is indeed very poor, but poverty does not mean being inferior in personality. We are not going to lead the masses from high above, but to sink down and mobilize the masses." Chen Ke emphasized repeatedly to the comrades of the Military Commission, but he was still not at ease. Actually, these days, Chen Ke had been seriously considering whether he should lead the team to the Dabie Mountain area personally.

"Chairman Chen, Comrade He Zudao has already been arranged to go to the Dabie Mountain area; what else is there to worry about?" Hua Xiongmao rarely saw Chen Ke so anxious, and couldn't help asking.

"Comrade He Zudao might be more suitable to preside over the demobilization work in the base area." Chen Ke spoke his thoughts. The comrades of the Military Commission were actually quite puzzled about arranging He Zudao to work in the Dabie Mountains. Hearing Chen Ke say this, several people showed joy on their faces.

"I feel if it really doesn't work, perhaps it would be more appropriate for me to lead the team personally." Chen Ke's next words shocked the comrades of the Military Commission greatly.

"Chairman Chen, if you are not here, who will preside over the work? Is the Dabie Mountain area that good?" The Military Commission meeting exploded immediately.

Chen Ke waved his hand to quiet everyone down. "Comrades, I feel I have started to detach from the masses now, and I can't grasp the upcoming work at all. I need to go to various places for field inspection personally now. Moreover, the base area has Party Committees. Even if I'm not in the Central Committee, everyone completes work through the Party Committees according to the principle of democratic centralism; I feel there should be no problem."

"Negotiations with Beiyang, issues of machinery production, judgment of foreign relations. Chairman Chen, if you leave, who will preside over these?" Hua Xiongmao immediately came out to oppose.

Chen Ke answered: "I have discussed all these key points with everyone. Even if I am not in the Central Committee, everyone just needs to work according to their own understanding. What are you worried about?"

"We are worried we can't do it to the degree of Chairman Chen. If handled completely by us, there will definitely be mistakes." Hua Xiongmao said very bluntly. The comrades of the Military Commission weren't angry; this was the view of all comrades.

"Comrades, this attitude of everyone is correct; at least you know to be modest and prudent. A comrade who knows to be modest and prudent, a comrade who knows he can't do the work well, won't make the mistake of advancing rashly. However, the current work is laid out here. Although I firmly require building the base area well now, we will eventually liberate the whole of China. At that time, everyone will be responsible for the work of various provinces; what to do then? Everyone has to improve their ability through work now."

Chen Ke's words didn't make the comrades feel relaxed. If some comrades were not quite convinced by Chen Ke before, now such comrades no longer had this arrogance. Comrades of the Military Commission persuaded Chen Ke one after another not to leave the Central Committee. Someone even expressed that if Chen Ke wanted to work in the locality, it must pass the decision of the Party Central Committee.

"Comrades, this statement is very good." Chen Ke couldn't help laughing out loud. Bringing out the Party Central Committee to suppress Chen Ke's personal arbitrary action was indeed a very good practice.

"My going to work in the locality is not just because I have a special view of the Dabie Mountain area. I myself also need to accumulate experience in practical work. My previous experience didn't include mobilizing the masses; this is my shortcoming. Now we are not under huge external pressure. My absence from the Central Committee won't lead to disastrous results. Regarding the error problem Comrade Hua Xiongmao mentioned just now, I want to talk to comrades about this matter. We cannot accept making mistakes (*fan cuo* - errors in principle/line), but we can accept failure (*shi bai*). If we couldn't accept failure before, now we can finally withstand the impact of failure. I want to talk to everyone about this issue."

The example Chen Ke gave was simple: the negotiation with Beiyang this time. It could be said that the People's Party failed negotiations twice in a row. Failed once when meeting Yuan Shikai, not achieving the desired result. Failed once in the first negotiation with Wang Shizhen, also not achieving the desired result. But by analyzing these two failures, the People's Party also grasped Beiyang's thoughts, and finally, this matter was settled overall. The People's Party obtained the steel they wanted most, and in a sense reached some mutual trust with Yuan Shikai of Beiyang.

"So some say, failure is the mother of success. Failure is not scary at all. Actually, in doing things, failures are many, and successes are few. Going to the Dabie Mountain area this time, I long had the psychological preparation to encounter failure at the beginning. Who can succeed as soon as they start?" Chen Ke summarized.

"Then Chairman Chen, when we first arrived in Anhui, why did we never fail?" Someone asked.

"How can it be called never failed? At the earliest time, we organized a fleet, and everyone couldn't paddle well after getting on the boat. The boat capsized the first time it went out; isn't that called failure?" Chen Ke answered.

Everyone in the conference room burst into laughter. The people here were either on the boat at that time or saw with their own eyes comrades with ropes tied around their waists falling into the water one by one because of the capsizing. Comrades were frightened bad at the time; looking back now, they felt those days of suffering were so inspiring.

"We experienced failures again and again, constantly held meetings to summarize, constantly conducted research. Constantly asked people for advice, only then do we have today's success. In future work, the mistakes we make will only be more, not fewer." Mentioning the past, Chen Ke also had the same high spirit. "However, comrades. We can have today because we didn't make mistakes (in principle/line). Failure is because we didn't master the laws of things, so naturally we would fail. But making mistakes is a question of line. If we didn't adhere to the line of people's revolution, if we didn't adhere to the line of opposing exploitation, then we would be making mistakes. If we committed this kind of mistake, we absolutely couldn't have today's success. Just as if we didn't have the accumulation of so many failures, we absolutely couldn't have today's success either."

Hua Xiongmao nodded slightly. Looking back now, everyone indeed experienced too many failures, but never made mistakes. "Chairman Chen, you mean, if we mobilize the revolutionary movement in the Dabie Mountains with a condescending mentality, that would be making a mistake?"

"Correct, this is absolutely a big mistake. This mentality is a betrayal of the people's revolution. We must rely on the people masses and mobilize the people masses. The essence of the people's revolution lies in the fact that the people need to solve the problems they encounter through revolution. So the revolution itself is already bred among the people. What we have to do is help the people realize the revolution. This doesn't mean just killing a few local tyrants and evil gentry, overthrowing landlords and distributing land is revolution. Revolution is to overthrow the old system and establish a new system. This requires a full understanding of the old system, and a profound understanding and sympathy for the people masses."

Listening to Chen Ke elaborating on the understanding of theory, the comrades' agitated emotions just now also calmed down.

Chen Ke seemed to have no intention of letting the comrades return to calm. He continued: "In this aspect, although I know, I haven't done enough. my awareness in this aspect is far inferior to many comrades. Current me has my advantages and strengths in formulating systems, but I haven't worked at the grassroots level for too long, and have never been to the Dabie Mountain area. Because of the lack of practice, I have the problem of disconnection between theory and practice. So I need to go to the locality for practical work."

At this point, Chen Ke had already persuaded the comrades of the Military Commission. Even if most comrades were still unwilling to let Chen Ke go to the Dabie Mountain area, the comrades also admitted that Chen Ke's reason for working in the locality made sense.

Seeing the comrades began to understand his statement, Chen Ke also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. While the base area developed greatly, Chen Ke discovered his most fatal flaw more and more. All the knowledge and training he received in the 21st century were to shape Chen Ke into a "capable professional technocrat," not a professional revolutionary in the true sense. This was also the reason why Chen Ke could easily get support among intellectual youths. These youths were originally people inside the old bureaucratic system; they were really "birds of a feather" with Chen Ke. Even if they had different views on the world, that was just a gap based on scientific knowledge and social insight. Essentially, the earliest group of people in the People's Party were completely one class.

To reverse this defect, there was no other way but to work on the front line personally. Actually, Chen Ke also worried that many jobs would have flaws, but these jobs were all external work. That is to say, the problem of "a big customer bullying the shop, a big shop bullying the customer." As long as the People's Party could maintain its strong position, before the other party completely changed the balance of power between the two sides, they had to admit many things while holding their noses. But to maintain the dominant position of the People's Party, the only way was to continue deepening the Party building and base area construction of the People's Party. Chen Ke firmly believed that if he wanted to improve his theoretical level, he could only rely on a large amount of practical work.

After persuading the comrades of the Military Commission, Chen Ke convened a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee members staying behind. After some discussion, the comrades also accepted Chen Ke's opinion. Agreed that Chen Ke lead the team personally to work in the locality. As for the Standing Committee members outside, Chen Ke definitely had to deal with them. Needless to say, at least the Party Secretary of Lu'an County would have to partner with Chen Ke for a long time.