Liuan City was a stronghold of the People's Party, not because of its economy or geography, but because it provided 20% of the People's Party's soldiers. This was one of the reasons Chen Ke came to Liuan.

The new municipal government was located in the original county seat. It was no different from the last time Chen Ke visited—just as dilapidated. However, there were fewer idlers in the city and more people wearing various uniforms. Municipal Party Secretary Hua Wenyu was not in the county seat; Mayor Zhang Zizai received Chen Ke and the others.

"Chairman Chen, Secretary Hua went out to mediate disputes between military families and the locals." Zhang Zizai’s expression looked quite unpleasant.

"What exactly happened?" Chen Ke was very concerned about this.

"It’s a long story. We lack female cadres in this place," Zhang Zizai said, glancing at Huang Yuyue.

This kind of thing was definitely not happening for the first time in the base areas. Huang Yuyue guessed immediately what had likely happened. It must be that women's liberation work had encountered problems.

Taking the old base areas with the highest level of social organization as an example, the method adopted by the government was to complete land reform and determine individual land use rights. Large state-owned farms, plantations, and raw material processing enterprises were built on other lands, providing a large number of employment opportunities. With female dependents of the military taking the lead in the army factories, many women came out to work. Moreover, new farm tools greatly improved women's labor efficiency, and there was much more work they could do in the fields.

Now, there were many jokes in the old base areas mocking women for doing various heavy physical labor, saying it looked unsightly. This could be said to be a kind of counterattack by men. It could also be said that women had truly begun to enter social labor industries that they were previously unable to access.

This was the practice in economically developed areas. In economically underdeveloped areas, there were not many employment opportunities to begin with. Even if the labor force level was improved, without enough new industries to accommodate sufficient labor, women's employment opportunities were still insufficient. This was also why Chen Ke insisted on training a large number of "Lady Teachers". These "Lady Teachers" engaged in education work, and Chinese commoners had a traditional reverence for the teaching profession. Even if the teacher was a woman, the masses would look up to her. The People's Party work teams generally tried to include both male and female teachers. If a female teacher stepped forward, it was very easy to organize a Women's Federation and many other women's organizations locally.

There were very few women willing to leave their homes and follow the People's Party to make revolution, and this group of people already had their own positions. In fact, most female cadres already held high or mid-level positions. The female teachers in the Education College were all young girls, mostly female students Chen Ke had "abducted" from Anqing. They were not from poor families and were unwilling from the bottom of their hearts to work in poverty-stricken areas like Liuan. Every place lacked female teachers, and wealthy areas opened their arms to welcome them. Poor areas had to rely entirely on male comrades to develop work.

Without the participation of female comrades, a group of men doing women's work... Huang Yuyue felt that this difficulty was indeed too great. Thinking of this, and seeing Liuan Mayor Zhang Zizai constantly casting his gaze upon her, Huang Yuyue secretly prayed in her heart that Chen Ke would absolutely not prioritize the "overall situation of the work" and leave her, the one in charge of education in this mobile general office, in this poor place of Liuan. Huang Yuyue hoped to return to her hometown of Anqing to engage in education; she would be willing to work herself to death.

Chen Ke maintained his consistent style of not interfering and not arbitrarily assigning generals. He changed the subject and asked, "How is the enrollment rate for girls now?"

"It's passable. The key is that boarding schools can't be set up for the time being. The masses can accept sending a group of boys to boarding school. But when it comes to sending a group of girls, the masses have strong objections. It's only because of the few forest farms and mulberry orchards we're running now, where everyone lives in the collective residential areas of the farms, that the parents nearby are willing to send their children to school. Even so, many children in our various teaching points have to walk more than ten *li* of mountain roads every day to get to school. And this is only because we provide a lunch at school every day. Girls are obedient, so the masses hope even more that they stay at home to help with housework. Boys going to school is still okay..."

Speaking of this, Zhang Zizai completely opened his chatterbox. Chen Ke was afraid that Zhang Zizai's complaints would cause the young people in the General Office to misunderstand the local work. He first arranged for the comrades of the General Office to go to various local agencies in Liuan City to learn local work methods.

Zhang Zizai arranged for these comrades to go to relevant departments based on their division of labor. Seeing this group of comrades younger than himself following Chen Ke, Zhang Zizai felt a kind of extreme envy in his heart. Of those who followed Chen Ke back then, which one was not now holding a high position and commanding a region? Even he himself had joined the People's Party organization at the end of the Production and Self-Salvation Campaign. But he had become a county magistrate at the age of 26.

Seeing Chen Ke's calm expression, Zhang Zizai couldn't help but say, "Chairman Chen, can you transfer more supplies in? Last time you took away a large group of people who couldn't get enough to eat, which solved our urgent need. But those were all young men. Land was distributed, farm tools were issued, and with the young men taken away, the masses' lives are much better now. But education is not a matter of one or two days. If the masses don't see immediate benefits, it really won't work. To expand revolutionary work quickly, it won't work without supplies."

"Mayor Zhang, it is wrong for you to say these things to me. You have to go to the province to discuss this issue. If the comrades in the township encounter problems and don't report to the county or discuss with the county cadres, but run directly to you to argue, do you think that's appropriate?"

Hearing this, Zhang Zizai also felt it was inappropriate. He quickly smiled and said, "Chairman Chen, I was thinking wrong."

After saying this, Zhang Zizai still felt blocked up inside. "Chairman Chen, relying on Liuan itself for construction is really too difficult. I also came out of the old base area. At that time, following you, no matter how difficult the situation was, with a wave of your hand, everything rose up with a *whoosh*. We had grain when we needed grain, soldiers when we needed soldiers. Here in Liuan, even working ourselves into the ground doesn't work. Now we don't have to fight wars here, and many things can be transported in from outside. The lives of the masses have indeed improved a lot, but the masses have their own ideas. It's truly 'no profit, no early rising'; we just can't unite them..."

No matter what Zhang Zizai said, he saw that Chen Ke gave no response. He felt a bit guilty and tentatively asked, "Chairman Chen, I am speaking of specific difficulties. Overall, it is still very good. Do you have anything to say?"

Chen Ke laughed. "Mayor Zhang, I didn't come here to be an Imperial Commissioner. I came to see how the comrades are working. Although I have been to Liuan, I am not familiar with the current situation in Liuan. You have to tell me; I have nothing to say."

"Oh! I forgot about that!" Zhang Zizai realized his approach was completely wrong; this was the time to claim credit. He hurriedly recounted the recent situation. "The census in Liuan has been completed. Secretary Hua and I personally led the comrades to count area by area. According to the provincial plan, mobile hospitals and the postal system have been established. Cooperatives and banks have also been set up..."

Zhang Zizai indeed had some skill in such bureaucratic work, plus he had run through it all personally. Speaking of this work, his data was clear and his logic was organized. The current situation and outlook of the entire Liuan region, through Zhang Zizai's introduction and contrasted with the situation when Chen Ke left, immediately gave Chen Ke a clear picture.

Just as they were speaking, the sound of quarreling suddenly came from outside. Zhang Zizai felt strange, then heard a shout from outside: "Mayor Zhang, this is bullying!"

Following the voice, two young men were seen pulling and dragging each other, trying to force their way in. The guards saw that neither was willing to let go, so they could only forcibly pull them apart. The conversation could not continue. Zhang Zizai went out to look and saw that the one shouting was the telegraph operator Huang Qing. He was furious. The person opposite him was also very unhappy but was trying his best to suppress his anger. It was Li Dangyong, who was in charge of telegraph communications in the General Office.

As soon as he saw Zhang Zizai, Huang Qing immediately shouted, "Mayor Zhang, this person came to our Telegraph Section. He said he came to learn. But he bossed us around in the Telegraph Section. I said a few words to him, and he wasn't convinced; he thinks he's more right than me. Where did this person come from? I've never seen someone so unruly."

Huang Qing was the newly promoted Deputy Chief of the Telegraph Section. He had an impatient temper but excellent technical skills. He was serious to the point of being pedantic and could absolutely not tolerate mistakes from others. Naturally, he didn't like listening to others accuse him either.

Zhang Zizai was almost fainting from anger right then. He gave a shout of rage: "Huang Qing, this is Comrade Li Dangyong from the Central General Office's telegraph communications work. What are you trying to do?"

Even though he was shouted at by Zhang Zizai and learned that this annoying guy in front of him was from the Center, Huang Qing was still unconvinced. Although there was some timidity in his voice, Huang Qing still stiffened his neck and shouted, "So what if he's a comrade from the Center? Are comrades from the Center automatically right? They follow Chairman Chen, so how did they learn to be like this? Isn't this embarrassing Chairman Chen?"

"Get lost!" Zhang Zizai was scared pale. Chen Ke was right behind him; he couldn't imagine how Chen Ke would view such words.

"What this comrade said makes sense. Since you are from the Central General Office, you should be even less likely to have such a dispute with local comrades." Chen Ke finally spoke to Huang Qing. "May I ask this comrade, after you started the dispute, did he apologize to you?"

"Hmph." Huang Qing had never seen Chen Ke, but he wasn't a fool. Chen Ke's status looked no lower than Zhang Zizai's, and Chen Ke was indicating that the comrade from the Center was wrong. He just looked at Chen Ke with an unfriendly gaze. "That wasn't an apology at all. It was just perfunctory."

"Little Li, apologize to this comrade," Chen Ke said.

Li Dangyong was also full of anger, but several young comrades in the General Office had already set an "example" of the consequences of not apologizing after causing a quarrel with local comrades. He managed to suppress his anger with great difficulty and used formulaic words: "Comrade, I had a bad attitude and caused everyone to misunderstand. I disrupted the comrade's normal work order. I apologize. Please forgive me."

Huang Qing did not accept it. "Then why did you say I did it wrong? What did you mean by that?"

Li Dangyong glanced at Chen Ke and saw Chen Ke looking over with his head slightly tilted. Li Dangyong swallowed and said with difficulty, "Comrade, I indeed did not understand the situation here. Then I spoke nonsense. I was wrong. Please forgive me."

Since Li Dangyong had apologized in front of so many people, Huang Qing felt his face had been saved. However, he was a man who never showed weakness. After hearing this, Huang Qing grunted, "If you knew you shouldn't talk nonsense, then don't talk nonsense. Wouldn't it have been fine if you said this earlier? Why were you so righteous back then?"

Zhang Zizai was furious hearing this speech. Just as he was about to lose his temper, he heard Chen Ke say, "Comrade, everyone needs to work. Isn't this noise delaying normal work? How about everyone goes back and doesn't delay our own work. what do you think?"

Huang Qing was stubborn and cared about face. After hearing Chen Ke's words, he didn't want to pursue it any further at this moment. "Mayor Zhang, I'll go back now to see if this guy broke anything in the telegraph room."

Before Zhang Zizai could finally explode, Chen Ke seemingly casually grabbed Zhang Zizai's arm. This reminder finally allowed Zhang Zizai to suppress his emotions. "You go back first."

At this time, people stuck their heads out from various offices in the county government. Zhang Zizai shouted ill-naturedly, "What are you looking at! Hurry back to work."

Chen Ke took Zhang Zizai and Li Dangyong back to the office. As soon as they entered, Chen Ke said, "Mayor Zhang, my visit here is confidential, so you absolutely cannot reveal that I have come. This is the first thing."

Zhang Zizai nodded hurriedly. "I understand, Chairman Chen."

"Second, you are absolutely not allowed to make things difficult for this comrade or take revenge afterwards. If I find out, I will have to remove you."

Choked by Chen Ke's words for a good while, Zhang Zizai also nodded in agreement.

That evening, Liuan Municipal Party Secretary Hua Wenyu rushed back to report to Chen Ke. The Central General Office spent two days investigating in Liuan City. Chen Ke came silently and left silently. Under the protection and leadership of the City Armed Forces Department, the Central General Office rushed to the next target, Yingshan County.

It was a rule to hold a meeting halfway. Li Dangyong had been suffocating for these past few days. As soon as the meeting started, he immediately requested to speak. "Chairman Chen, there are many problems in the telegraph department. Equipment placement and many arrangements are problematic. Their attitude is also problematic; they are not humble at all."

"Hehe." Chen Ke laughed after hearing this. "Then, Comrade Li Dangyong, do you think *you* are humble?"

Li Dangyong was choked into silence right there.

Chen Ke put away his smile and asked sternly, "Be a student first, then a teacher. We are inspecting work to learn. You feel that there are many unreasonable things in the telegraph department over there, so I ask you, did you ask clearly why they did that? Can you tell me that comrade's explanation for why he did that?"

Li Dangyong had botched this job amidst a quarrel. Chen Ke's question made Li Dangyong dare not make another sound.

Chen Ke had no intention of stopping there. He said sternly, "There are definitely problems with local work. But what are the reasons for these problems? Can scolding others clarify things? We must adopt an attitude of learning and ask local comrades why they do this. What is the rationale? What is the reason? If you don't even know why they do it, what right do you have to say whether others are right or wrong? If you want to do a thing correctly, there is definitely only one path. Once you deviate from this path, whatever you do is wrong. Comrade Li Dangyong, I ask you, based on your observation, why did the comrade in the city make this mistake? Is it a training problem, or did he misunderstand during his own studies? Suppose, ah, suppose this comrade misunderstood during his own studies, then exactly how did this misunderstanding arise? Can you tell me?"

Hearing Chen Ke's criticism, not only Li Dangyong, but comrades from other departments also thought about their own investigation work and felt they had done very inadequately. The comrades lowered their heads one after another.

Looking at the oppressive atmosphere, Chen Ke calmed his emotions before continuing, "What is service? Within our People's Party, the first thing is that leaders serve subordinates. There are many reasons for making mistakes, both subjective and objective. The various policies we formulated in the base areas manifest differently in each region because conditions are different. Just like the telegraph, a unit that requires extreme uniformity, actually differs in every region. Comrade Li Dangyong, you are a professional in this. You should know better than I do exactly why those detailed regulations were established that way."

Li Dangyong was silent for a moment before looking up in shame. "Yes, the telegraph has different requirements for various situations."

Seeing that the most aggrieved Li Dangyong had understood his mistake, Chen Ke continued, "The work of the comrades below definitely has limitations. Similarly, the overall plan we formulated also has limitations. So, understand the difficulties comrades encounter after these plans are implemented. We also try every means to solve these problems. This is the service we want to provide to the comrades. I said earlier that mistakes are divided into subjective and objective ones. We must help comrades solve objective problems. Only by knowing the objective problems do we have the opportunity to understand the true motive for subjective mistakes. Only then is it possible to know how subjective mistakes actually arose. Only then can we understand our comrades through the work itself."

The team of the General Office fell silent. Those who could remain until now were not ordinary youths. Comrades who performed too poorly or too excellently had already left the team. The former were sent back for re-education or assigned to inconspicuous work units to exercise themselves. The latter were assigned to corresponding posts where they could exert their abilities. Those remaining were a group who performed well but still needed education. Because their quality was passable, everyone basically understood Chen Ke's requirements.

Chen Ke continued, "That is why I say, everyone is here to learn. You must adopt a realistic attitude and learn sincerely. The process of knowing is first the accumulation of a large amount of perceptual knowledge. Without the accumulation of this perceptual knowledge, rational summary is water without a source, a tree without roots. You absolutely cannot come up and demand things of others holding a strong subjective attitude yourself. This is wrong."

"Chairman Chen, then I want to ask you, why do you seem to never make mistakes? Or why is your direction of understanding always correct?" a comrade asked.

"That is because the mistakes I have made are ten times yours. And in every job, I learn seriously from the comrades. The mistakes I have seen are perhaps dozens of times the mistakes you have seen now. Confucius said, 'When three walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher. Select their good qualities and follow them; select their bad qualities and change them.' Not only must you learn how to make the right choice, but you must also know how doing things will lead to mistakes."

The chief culprit this time, Li Dangyong, first lowered his head deeply. Hearing this, he finally raised his head. "Chairman Chen, I know I was wrong. Please give me another chance."

"It is not I giving you a chance, but whether you give yourself a chance. Next time you go to investigate, do you think you will make a mistake?" Chen Ke asked.

Li Dangyong pondered for a moment before answering, "I won't make this mistake again. I don't know about other mistakes; I'll probably make them."

"You are honest." Chen Ke said somewhat helplessly.

The young comrades thought the clouds had dispersed, but they saw Chen Ke stiffen his face again. The bit of relaxed mood everyone had just felt immediately flew to the nine heavens. They heard Chen Ke say, "What our inspection team fears most is comrades deliberately telling us lies. Whether comrades are doing this, we cannot dominate their actions. But I will emphasize again, everyone goes there to learn. You are not allowed to give orders, and you are not allowed to reveal any of your own ideas. If you do so, that is forcing the comrades below to tell lies. If any comrade does this, the organization will definitely deal with you severely. Did you hear?"

"Heard!" All the comrades shouted almost subconsciously.

Seeing the young comrades cheer up, Chen Ke then said, "Alright, now everyone continue starting the reporting and summary work."