Descartes once said, "If a person cannot make a decision, it is either because the desire is too great or because the awareness is not enough."

Despite repeated exhortations and sending a very reliable guard, Chen Ke still felt uneasy in his heart. This was his first time conducting such cooperation with foreign countries. Theoretically, Chen Ke wasn't actually afraid of Americans cheating him, because the Chinese market, which foreign countries couldn't open with guns and cannons, finally had a huge opening now. Neither the United States nor Britain cared whether they were selling consumer goods or mechanical equipment to China.

But Chen Ke also had his own distress, which was what was often called the "investment environment" after the Reform and Opening Up. When the Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense discussed it, Kong Zhang excitedly proposed the power generation equipment issue. Actually, this consideration was not excessive. Transportation, water supply, power supply, and a full set of industrial supporting systems—this was simply a nightmare. To solve these things, it was necessary to increase production capacity with greater intensity, but increasing production capacity could only be done by importing with greater intensity. Before the base area could solve the self-manufacturing of heavy industrial equipment, this was a dead loop. This was the pain of being controlled by others.

At this point, Chen Ke had no other way. Factories couldn't be built in a day, and teams with scientific research capabilities couldn't be taught in a year. Chen Ke could only say to himself repeatedly like hypnosis: "Bread will be there, milk will be there, everything will be there."

At least when the three representatives of the People's Party delegation who went to Beijing to attend the Constitutional Conference entered Chen Ke's office, Chen Ke was relieving his annoyance in this way.

Seeing Chen Ke rubbing his temples with his hands and muttering something, Yan Fu, Feng Xu, and Shang Yuan were all startled. Chen Ke usually never showed this kind of dilemma. "Chairman Chen, what are you thinking about?" Yan Fu asked.

"I'm thinking about what exactly to sell," Chen Ke answered casually. Only after saying this did he realize it. He opened his eyes and saw the delegation standing in front of him. Chen Ke hurriedly stood up, "The three of you are back; you've worked hard."

Shang Yuan took out a thick stack of documents from his satchel. "This is the main stuff; more is outside."

Several people sat down and talked about the parliament issue. Up to now, the three didn't hold any optimistic estimates about overthrowing the Manchu Qing.

Shang Yuan reported the discussion of the three-person delegation on the train. "Although Yuan Shikai gave quite favorable conditions and gave the current Viceroys and Governors two years, the Viceroys and Governors simply don't believe Yuan Shikai. No matter how much pressure we put on the Viceroys and Governors, it is impossible for them to demand the overthrow of the Manchu Qing now. As long as that Little Emperor Xuantong is still on stage, the Viceroys and Governors feel much more at ease..."

Chen Ke nodded slightly; this was human nature. The Manchu Qing had actually fallen. Yuan Shikai wanted to use the Manchu Qing, and the Viceroys and Governors naturally also wanted to make final use of the orphans and widows in the Forbidden City. This had nothing to do with being royalist or not; this was a struggle for personal interests.

After everyone reached a consensus, Chen Ke asked the three to summarize the situation in Beijing and make a concluding report.

After reporting the work, none of the three meant to leave; obviously, they all wanted to talk with Chen Ke privately. Everyone was a smart person; in this silence, they knew the others' thoughts. Yan Fu and Feng Xu stood up and indicated they would go next door to write the report first.

As soon as they went out, Shang Yuan said, "Chairman Chen, I want to go to the grassroots level to work for a while." This was Shang Yuan's recent thought. After being enlightened by his teacher Li Hongqi, Shang Yuan made up his mind to start from the most basic level and make up for his experience properly.

Listening to Shang Yuan recount his insights, Chen Ke felt happy again. Chen Ke also had a relatively similar process of awakening. The two talked about some common feelings and both sighed with emotion. Although Mr. Li Hongqi said that Chen Ke also had the experience of being deeply stuck in the darkness of human nature, Chen Ke walked out. Shang Yuan originally didn't quite believe it, but after talking with Chen Ke, Shang Yuan found his teacher's judgment was not wrong at all. Arrogance, laziness, opportunism, stubbornness, sophistry. Although Chen Ke was much younger than Shang Yuan, he had done many more wrong things than Shang Yuan. And such a Chen Ke solved these problems through labor, which further strengthened Shang Yuan's belief in working at the grassroots level.

"Comrade Shang Yuan, if you had this idea when you just went to Shandong, that would have been even better. Now I want to tell you, you cannot go to work at the grassroots level. You must work well for me in the position of Secretary of the Huaihai Provincial Party Committee." There was a certain attitude of reassurance in Chen Ke's voice.

"Why?" Shang Yuan was greatly surprised. Since Shang Yuan lacked grassroots experience, he should go to the grassroots to make up for the experience now. He could now be sure that Chen Ke was not an emotional person, so it couldn't be that Chen Ke was acting out of appeasement to save face for Shang Yuan. After the self-righteousness in his heart was weakened a lot, the attitude of humility and prudence naturally gained the upper hand. Shang Yuan pursued with a question, "Why arrange it like this?"

"People say do what you are familiar with, not what you are unfamiliar with. Comrade Shang Yuan, you lack grassroots experience now, which means you won't do well if you go to the grassroots now. If it were before, when your view was not quite correct, you would misunderstand grassroots work. Now your attitude is correct, and misunderstandings about the grassroots have decreased. As long as you encounter problems, go to the grassroots to look more and learn more from frontline comrades. This can solve the problem. And other comrades in Huaihai Province lack the experience of viewing problems from the perspective of a province. On this point, they have to learn from you. I repeatedly emphasize democratic centralism, criticism and self-criticism. Now that you have this understanding, you might as well go back and hold a meeting, report your understanding to the comrades, and carry out a criticism and self-criticism. You will find that the mistakes you made, many people make. So our People's Party needs to hold meetings; the purpose of meetings is not to see others' jokes, but to solve problems. The first key point of Seeking Truth from Facts is to face the facts and admit the facts. You are getting excited yourself now and preparing to quit (leave the burden); this attitude is wrong."

Although the wording was different from Teacher Li Hongqi's, Shang Yuan knew that Chen Ke's attitude was exactly the same as Li Hongqi's. "Then Chairman Chen, can you make some suggestions based on my biggest problem now?"

"Many comrades, especially comrades who have read books, easily fall into a misunderstanding. They think there is an absolutely correct appearance in the world. They think that changing the appearance of the world before them according to this so-called absolutely correct appearance will make everything fine. This is wrong. In this world, if we say everyone has the same thing, that is life. We want to eat, wear clothes, and develop. All this revolves around real life. Above all this, there is the concept of laborers, the concept of anti-exploitation, and the concept of the socialist system. But the purpose of establishing these concepts is to guide everyone to live better. Not to let the People's Party risk their lives for these concepts. Do you think our common people in China are stupid? Look back at all our successes; which one didn't make the people live a better life?"

Criticized like this, Shang Yuan not only didn't feel ashamed or angry, but instead felt that a brand new world suddenly unfolded before his eyes. Things that couldn't be understood or touched before became accessible at this moment.

Chen Ke knew this feeling of access. When he struggled to crawl out of the various chains that bound him tightly, he also felt this free and cheerful pleasure. That was the pleasure of breaking free from the heavy burden on the soul. If all hardships were imposed by the outside world, then there would be no hurdle that couldn't be passed.

"Comrade Shang Yuan, the eyes of the people are sharp. Because the people don't have the unrealistic fantasies of scholars, because their cognition of interests is clear. This is the greatness of the Chinese people. The Chinese people love labor, but they won't work for nothing without promoting the improvement of their own interests. In life, everyone seeks truth from facts. No matter what you say with your mouth, as a revolutionary, or at least someone who claims to be a revolutionary, if you cannot truly guarantee the people's interests and let the people be liberated, then the people will absolutely not support you."

After saying this, seeing Shang Yuan listening as if drunk and mesmerized, Chen Ke hurriedly corrected, "However, serving the people is not buying the people with interests. Social development has its own laws; the basis for promoting social development is productive forces. We People's Party members want to devote ourselves to this revolution because we recognize this social law. In the process of revolution, constantly deepen the understanding of this social law, and constantly revise and adjust our policies according to the status quo. This is not pushing down the original Confucian god statue and then setting up a new socialist god statue."

It seemed Shang Yuan couldn't completely understand to this extent for a moment. Chen Ke didn't blame Shang Yuan's comprehension ability. Chen Ke himself spent a lot of effort to understand this key point. However, there was a sentence Chen Ke felt he had to say.

"Comrade Shang Yuan, the 'Internationale' sings that there has never been a savior. Our People's Party comrades basically believe that there is no savior outside our People's Party. However, I personally think that quite a few comrades regard our People's Party, or themselves, as saviors. And 'there has never been a savior,' the original intention of this saying is that others are not saviors, and we ourselves aren't either. Please be sure to keep this in mind."

After finishing the talk with Shang Yuan, Yan Fu and Feng Xu came in together. "Chairman Chen, the students of our normal school have all gone to schools in various places to be teachers. But the number of teachers is still not enough. We think whether we should recruit a batch of Xiucai (scholars who passed the imperial examination at the county level) and the like from the folk to be teachers temporarily."

"Resolutely no." Chen Ke refused immediately. "The basic concept of the People's Party is anti-exploitation and wanting equality. The basic idea of Xiucai is order between young and old, distinction between noble and base. We talk about discipline because discipline is the institutional guarantee for completing social production, not a standard for dividing people into ranks. We try to pull the children out of the old era; this is already exhausting our efforts. If you let this bunch of Xiucai teach, what do you think they can teach?"

Feng Xu couldn't accept it a bit. "Chairman Chen, the problems you mentioned exist. But Xiucai are not that unbearable. I see Comrade Ren Qiying's father, Comrade Ren Yugang, doesn't have this problem."

Chen Ke was amused by these words. "I heard a bit about Comrade Ren Yugang's matter; he actively moved closer to our party. And he was originally a schoolteacher, and what he pursues now is still being a schoolteacher. But what does that bunch of Xiucai pursue? They pursue being officials. Where do we have officials for them to be?"

Criticized by Chen Ke like this, although Feng Xu was cultivated, he was also a bit embarrassed. Chen Ke didn't want to strike Feng Xu too much; he laughed, "Mr. Feng, you are a laborer. The major you chose is liberal arts. So whether writing books, teaching, or going on diplomatic missions, these are all things covered by your major. You go to do things. Most Xiucai want results, want status. The purpose of their reading books is to get rid of hard labor. They and you are not on the same path at all. Mental labor is actually harder than physical labor. In terms of mental labor, you should be very experienced."

Yan Fu was an educator, and Feng Xu was an old scholar and bureaucrat proficient in worldly affairs. Hearing Chen Ke say this, although they felt Chen Ke was inevitably a bit radical, the logic was correct.

Feng Xu said, "Chairman Chen, it is I, the old man, who didn't consider it thoroughly. I acted too hastily. Since there are no normal school affairs recently, I also want to apply to go to a middle school to teach and give classes."

"Mr. Feng, I'm afraid it can't be as you wish," Chen Ke replied. "Recently we captured several provinces. You also know that our People's Party's local work requires a large amount of information. For the officials captured in Anhui, we set up an Anhui Literature and History Museum. It is to translate the geography and history of Anhui in history into modern Chinese. I don't oppose you reading books, but work comes first. You either take on the role of organizer of our literature and history museums in various places and utilize that group of captured officials. Or go to the History Department of Anhui University to be a department head and start training a batch of people who can undertake translation work. This is a big matter; I'm not at ease if someone like you isn't responsible for it."

Feng Xu finally chose the position of Director of the Literature and History Office. After solving Feng Xu's matter, Yan Fu raised his question. "Chairman Chen, since we already have ports, should we rebuild the navy?"

"Mr. Yan, don't you want to be the Minister of Education anymore?" Chen Ke felt a wave of dizziness.

Yan Fu replied seriously, "Wenqing, you know. I have worked in the navy all my life. Not working in the navy for these ten years was only because fate played tricks on people. Now that the base area has taken shape, I talked with Yuan Xiangcheng (Yuan Shikai) a few times, and everyone thinks the national situation has begun to stabilize, and the possibility of war starting again is not high. I really want to go back to the navy. As the saying goes, prepare for a rainy day. It is also a good time for us to build the navy now."

Chen Ke rubbed his temples. The navy indeed had to be built. But listening to Yan Fu's meaning, he wanted to build a real blue-water navy, not an inland river navy. This required considerable investment. "Then where do you plan to set the school site?" Chen Ke asked.

"I want to set it in Lianyungang." Yan Fu said decisively.

"No. It's okay to be close to Lianyungang, so set it in Xuzhou. Establish a shipping school first."

"If it's a shipping school, it's better to set it in Wuhan." It seemed Yan Fu already had his own ideas.

"Alright. Let's do it this way." Chen Ke agreed to Yan Fu's request.

After handling several recent matters, Chen Ke led the Mobile Central General Office all the way west, continuing the mission of mobile office work.

Since Yuan Shikai returned to Beijing to seize power at the beginning of the year, the military pressure on the People's Party dropped sharply. The original Fengtai County Central Committee was also in a state of disassembly. The cadre framework needed for four provinces was far larger than imagined. Jiangxi Province was now under pure military control. Hua Xiongmao and He Zudao formed a team, and the 104th and 105th Divisions and the Fourth Army Headquarters moved entirely to Jiangxi.

Shandong Province was slightly better, in a semi-military control state. The Fifth Army was formed with the original forces of the Shandong Base Area; Chai Qingguo served as the Commander, and Chen Tianhua served as the Military Commissar.

The situation in Hubei was complex. Lu Huitian served as the Provincial Party Secretary, taking away nearly half of Anhui's original framework.

As for Anhui itself, an almost completely new team was constructed. Qi Huishen served as Provincial Party Secretary, Yuwen Badu acted as Governor, and young Ren Qiying served as Director of the General Office of the Provincial Party Committee.

And Chen Ke himself led a Mobile Central General Office composed of a group of graduates from the Party School, Cadre School, and Military Academy, and began mobile office work in various places. People say "taking a chicken feather as a warrant arrow" (treating a trivial matter as a serious command); in this important transition period of the People's Party, it was instead "taking a warrant arrow as a chicken feather" (treating serious commands lightly? Or perhaps handling great power lightly/flexibly). Chen Ke himself didn't know whether doing this was right or not. But historical experience really made him feel it wouldn't work if he didn't go see it personally.

Grandpa Mao hated the Soviet bureaucratic system extremely all his life. Although he fought with the United States for more than twenty years, Grandpa Mao hoped very much to establish a good relationship with the United States, even strategic cooperation. This was the vision of a grand strategist and also an extremely wise decision. Taizong's (Deng Xiaoping's) policy, rather than being his original creation, was better described as a continuation of Grandpa Mao's line. At least when Nixon visited China in 1972, it was the line formulated by Grandpa Mao, and the specific negotiations were grasped by the Premier. From "Farewell, Leighton Stuart" in 1949 to Nixon's visit to China in 1972, the interval was only 23 years. Many of the peers of the Republic were not even married. In just these 23 years, China leaped from a poor and weak agricultural country that was destitute and ignored by everyone to a regional power possessing nuclear bombs and hydrogen bombs and constructing a preliminary industrial foundation. And in several confrontations with the United States, the Republic was not at a disadvantage at all.

Even after Grandpa Mao passed away, China's leadership did not fall into the hands of those local forces of the old era. Having experienced the shock of large-scale movements, an industrial bureaucratic group unprecedented in human history rose. Essentially different from the characteristic of other bureaucratic groups relying on local cultural strata, the Republic's bureaucratic group itself was an advanced cultural group, mastering advanced ideology, culture, science, and education. It dominated the country's economy and system, covering almost all fields. It completely overwhelmed localism and so-called "public intellectuals."

The One-Child Policy cut off the material possibility of the bureaucratic group making power hereditary and forming powerful families. The unified education system nationwide, and even the constantly improving civil service system, ensured sufficient openness for this powerful state machine.

Of course, if one demands a secular civilian government with the template of a pure and flawless angel, it will naturally make this secular civilian government look filthy. But if looked at from the angle of comparing rottenness, this system is still the least rotten in the world.

Chen Ke never thought the bureaucratic group was the original sin; bureaucrats are also people, and everyone has to live. The focus of the contradiction between bureaucrats and the people is the distribution system. Moreover, Chen Ke always believed that power overriding capital is one of the greatest justices in human political history. A true communist can naturally evaluate the limitations of various systems. But one should admit the basis for the existence of these systems. Fantasizing about a savior-like government first proves only one's own degeneration.

Therefore, how to strive to promote the Party organization and government organization of the People's Party to become laborers together with the people, learn to labor, and understand labor under the condition of the state strongly pulling the economy and productive forces in the near future. And defending the interests of the vast number of laborers through the socialist system—this was the reason Chen Ke chose mobile office work.

China's habit is to like "one size fits all"; it was the same in the Party's history. For example, the famous Great Leap Forward (Da Qian Yue) was the result of the Central Committee lacking experience and decentralizing power excessively. A relatively extreme example is that the impoverished Gansu Province invested in building 224,500 new factories in the first six months of 1958. Needless to say, without enough educated people, without experience, without equipment. These investments were destined to be wasted. Being destined to be wasted in the later stage, the investment in the early stage was absolutely creating huge waste. It would be strange if this movement created by Liu Xiuyang and others didn't cause big trouble.

Leftist Adventurism has always been a traditional method for bureaucrats to fish for political achievements. Grandpa Mao fought against Leftism all his life, and Chen Ke also made up his mind to fight to the end.

Going west from Hefei, they soon entered the territory of Lu'an County. In the team of the Mobile General Office, Huang Yuyue and several other female comrades rode on mules in the team. This preferential treatment for female comrades was not available all day either. They had to walk for half a day every day. In late November, the temperature in the mountains had already become cold. Because they walked fast in the morning, faint white mist could even be seen in the breath exhaled by the mules and the walking comrades. The General Office was full of young comrades; many originally thought that following young Chairman Chen would be very "enjoyable." Although there was no theoretical support, everyone could easily generate this kind of normal thought. Then they knew things were not the same as imagined.

Chairman Chen marched like the wind, striding with large steps. Everyone found it difficult just to keep up by trying their best. Let alone striking up a conversation to get close. Just because they couldn't keep up with the marching speed, half of the people in the General Office had been eliminated and replaced.

Moreover, Chairman Chen liked to talk with the accompanying personnel along the way to understand the characteristics and special products of various places. After listening a lot, the comrades also had a concept. What Chairman Chen wanted to know was what the local area had, what the local common people were willing to do, and on the basis of not destroying the local ecological environment on a large scale, what exactly the local area had that could be exported as trade goods on a large scale. Road construction, education, women's liberation, and logistics were even more eternal topics.

But when local cadres spoke about personnel matters either secretively or straightforwardly, Chen Ke never picked up the conversation. If the other party forced too urgently, Chen Ke would at most say, "I know."

The comrades of the General Office, especially the male comrades, had long asked Chen Ke why he asked these things, and Chen Ke had explained to everyone. If the People's Party used requisition as a means now, it would be destined to trigger a comprehensive backlash in the localities. But if the People's Party just brought into play the advantages of the localities, conducted trade, and increased people's income, then in this mutually beneficial relationship, the People's Party could effectively grasp the dominance in the localities.

Huang Yuyue naturally agreed with this working method very much, but Huang Yuyue had a question she never dared to ask. She found that no matter what the other party's status was, as long as they stood together with Chen Ke to talk, this person could find their own space. Chen Ke seemed to always leave space for others. Even if the other party involuntarily tried to be in a position higher than Chen Ke, as long as it didn't involve principled issues, Chen Ke could tolerate it.

Huang Yuyue had noticed this problem for a long time. She could clearly see this point every time. Huang Yuyue carefully mentioned this discussion to comrades several times, and she found that the comrades didn't notice this extremely abnormal thing at all. They just enjoyed the feeling of being able to stand with Chen Ke, even knowing it was very comfortable, but simply didn't know that this comfort was created by Chen Ke intentionally or unintentionally.

Huang Yuyue didn't join the revolutionary ranks willingly on her own initiative. After the People's Party conquered Anqing, they abducted all the students in the girls' school to the Fengtai County base area. And forcibly signed labor contracts with these children. The sound of guns and cannons all night in the Battle of Anqing, the shouts and screams of fighting, as well as the bloodstains on the ground after the war, and the smell of gunpowder and blood permeating the air. Huang Yuyue could still recall them now. The highest commander who personally commanded the war at that time was Chen Ke.

Such a soldier commanding a large army would absolutely not be an object to be bullied by others. In fact, no one in the base area dared to bully Chen Ke. Those people just hoped to make themselves appear more capable in front of Chen Ke. For example, the district cadre under Lu'an County in front of them. Mentioning his credit of mobilizing the masses to try planting mulberry trees, he was excited to death. How many masses were mobilized, how many wounds and calluses were worn on his hands. Chen Ke listened quietly. At the critical moment of that cadre's showing off, Chen Ke cleverly led the topic to other work. So this cadre poured beans out of a bamboo tube, saying all his various works in a circle. He was completely unaware that his words exposed the defects in many work arrangements clearly.

"Continue to work hard; bring all work to a close before the Spring Festival. After the beginning of spring next year, everyone will get greater results." Chen Ke's words were very simple.

Hearing this, Huang Yuyue felt a chill on her back. Looking at the elated and confident appearance of that cadre. Huang Yuyue really wanted to ask that cadre, with this workload, how exactly did he prepare to have a conclusion before the Spring Festival? If he couldn't close it on time, how did this cadre prepare to account for it?