"Why must we oppose feudalism? Comrades, what do you think is the greatest difference between feudalism and socialism?"

This final essay question was the key problem in the Party School's graduation exam. Up to this point, the Party School had never provided any standard answer. For the more than six thousand answer sheets, the twenty graders of the Party School had reached a consensus on this.

"The power structure of our People's Party is not a top-down layer-by-layer enfeoffment, but is derived from the bottom up through democratic centralism. If comrades cannot understand this point..." Shang Yuan was still somewhat worried. However, the area of Shang Yuan's brain responsible for humor had a slightly different association. The People's Party's exams were quite similar to the Imperial Examinations.

"That is only part of the system. Whether one can distinguish between the limiting and protective functions of the system, whether one can thoroughly understand the concept of the People's Party members as the revolutionary vanguard, and constantly urge oneself... I am also a bit worried," Qi Huishen was also uncertain about this.

He Zudao did not make a sound. As the supreme leader of the military's political work system, He Zudao controlled military administration. Regarding the power of revolutionary consciousness, as well as the harm of blindly believing in "revolutionary consciousness," He Zudao probably had more contact with it than anyone else present.

The twenty comrades of the Party School grading team sitting around the long table knew that this was an unparalleled grading session. It wasn't just the papers; in the archives behind them, there were stacks of files. The various records of these 6,000 people were all in there.

The graduation exam papers were certainly important, but even before that, the 20 core grading personnel, the more than 80 grading team members, and the 200 researchers—this team of over three hundred people was now the group of comrades deciding the future core of the People's Party.

Lu Huitian did not speak; he had already discovered a problem. Of the People's Party members who had originally followed Chen Ke to Fengtai County, less than 30 remained in this core team of 300. A large number of local young cadres had begun to enter the Party Central Committee's core stratum. There were also a large number of cadres who, although they had not entered the Central Committee, were about to be entrusted with heavy responsibilities. If there had ever been a Shanghai "Fudan Public School Faction," now within the Party, the Fudan Public School Faction was already a very inconspicuous group. Shang Yuan was a Northerner, and Qi Huishen and He Zudao had no connection with Fudan Public School. Many of the newly rising comrades were young cadres from the Anhui locality. No matter how Chen Ke opposed and killed landlords and gentry, young comrades from former Anhui small landlord and rich peasant families still occupied nearly forty percent of the proportion.

Faced with the huge changes in the Party organization, Lu Huitian felt a sense of loss.

Chen Ke looked around at the comrades. Even after such a long period of discussion and training, Chen Ke still felt somewhat uneasy in his heart. He couldn't help but emphasize again: "I will tell comrades one more time, the establishment of the system is not because we do not believe in the subjective initiative of the comrades. It is to guarantee organizational discipline and ensure the effective execution of work. This is the essence of modern industrial management. Facing a complex yet simple social system, a person can only be responsible for one aspect of the work. If our People's Party wants to do everything well, we must complete the division of labor and cooperation under the system's structure. This Party School training must eliminate that feudal thought of power enfeoffment from within the Party. If we don't knock out power enfeoffment, our People's Party will be at a dead end within a few years. The large-scale industrial system we are starting to build now relies on the capital accumulated from the huge labor force taken from the masses; this is all the blood and sweat money of the people. If systemic problems lead to the waste of these resources, that is a crime against the people."

The nineteen comrades all nodded slightly; everyone understood the concept of power enfeoffment. This was also a core part of traditional Chinese culture. As early as when Chen Ke wrote the book *The Life of Cixi*, he had begun to prepare to thoroughly strike at the current greatest enemy within the Party, "feudal power enfeoffment."

Cixi never cared about what was actually happening in each place. For her, power belonging to herself was the primary core objective. Only in this way could Cixi do whatever she wanted using power as she pleased. The Manchu Qing's power system was merely to maintain this set of feudal power enfeoffment system centered on Cixi. The Manchu Qing's personnel arrangements, various internal policies, daily taxation, foreign diplomacy, and wars—their core purpose was to maintain the existence and operation of the Manchu Qing's power enfeoffment system.

In this regard, Chen Ke could see the root of all Cixi's words and deeds even more clearly than Cixi herself.

After reading *The Life of Cixi*, the People's Party cadres' understanding of the Manchu Qing reached an unprecedented height. So regarding Chen Ke, who was dedicated to eliminating the power enfeoffment system within the People's Party, while the comrades supported and admired Chen Ke, they even felt a sense of sympathy for him.

Chen Ke himself also had a great sense of crisis regarding the People's Party's current system. As before, he told the truth to the comrades in the Party, only out of extremely realistic considerations, Chen Ke spoke even more bluntly to the core comrades.

In a sense, the People's Party was currently Chen Ke's "one voice hall." Political and war strategies—Chen Ke's explanations were merely teaching the comrades what to do. The People's Party organizations at all levels only needed to be responsible to the level above them. As long as they could thoroughly execute the Party program and policies proposed by Chairman Chen and obey Chairman Chen's command, they would be successful. In this situation, inner-party democracy had turned into "democratic discussion on how to better listen to Chairman Chen."

If one stripped away the concepts of "anti-exploitation, equality, science, democracy" that Chen Ke had repeatedly emphasized from beginning to end, perhaps the Manchu Qing's system would look even more humanized, more considerate, and more courteous to the worthy than the People's Party.

This was also what Chen Ke feared most. If the core programs he had exerted all his strength to implement were overthrown, given the organizational characteristics of the People's Party now, transforming into a feudal power enfeoffment organization would be a matter of minutes. The collapse of the Soviet Union had already proven all this.

In a history where private ownership had existed for thousands of years, and surrounded by forces of private ownership, Chen Ke had no certainty whether the base area could persist. Even if Chen Ke pulled the People's Party into the era of large-scale industrialization, once "anti-exploitation, equality, science, democracy" were overthrown, China would merely be advancing by leaps and bounds towards a brand-new fascist empire.

Faced with Chen Ke's consistent heart-to-heart discussion and exchange, the comrades' initial feeling was "astonishment." If not for Chen Ke's consistent political propaganda, if not for Chen Ke's consistent dedication to establishing the organizational model of democratic centralism, if not for Chen Ke dedicating his everything to the Party... and more importantly, if not for Chen Ke personally leading the comrades to create such grand revolutionary achievements, the nineteen core cadres present would absolutely not believe this was Chen Ke's heartfelt truth.

Those present were all hot-blooded young people, all participating in the revolution with the firm purpose of saving the country and the people, or at least being loyal to Chen Ke. Since the revolutionary leader was so frank, what else did the comrades have to say? The revolution had proven its effectiveness up to now, and the comrades had all seen the edge of a glorious future. Regardless of whether they themselves hoped to maintain a feudal power enfeoffment centered on themselves, at least the core high-level officials had reached a consensus to "eliminate feudal power enfeoffment within the Party."

Since power enfeoffment was to be eliminated, there had to be a corresponding system to replace the political structure of power enfeoffment. Chen Ke had managed to reach a consensus within the Party on the management system of large-scale industrialization with great difficulty. "Iron discipline, and a comprehensive democratic life model within the Party organization." The high-level officials all accepted Chen Ke's opinion.

There was still some time before the end of the exam. Zhang Yu, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up and asked, "Chairman Chen, do you think the Beiyang will fully implement feudal enfeoffment of power? To what extent will they do it?"

This question sparked the interest of quite a few comrades.

Chen Ke answered, "Beiyang is a warlord system; everyone is clear on this. Not enfeoffing is impossible. As for the extent of the enfeoffment, that depends on Yuan Shikai's own control ability and his own understanding and attitude. As for what exactly will happen, let us wait and see."

"Then what about the possibility of military conflict?" Zhang Yu continued to ask. "Before participating in this Party School training, I still felt we were awe-inspiring. Now looking at it, we ourselves are on the edge of a cliff. If domestic and foreign enemies unite to attack us now, I'm afraid we really won't be able to hold them off."

If a person can face reality directly, looking at the near term can scare one into fainting, and looking at the long term can scare one to death. Zhang Yu's attitude was not outrageous. If domestic and foreign enemies truly completely united and cooperated fully, the People's Party indeed could not hold them off. Hearing Zhang Yu's words, at least a few comrades looked somewhat nervous.

Chen Ke did not make a sound. He Zudao had already answered this question, "Domestic and foreign enemies are driven by economic interests. Fighting a decisive battle with our People's Party now with untold hardships is a huge money-losing business. They won't do it."

"Our military strength has now reached its weakest point. Once a situation arises where all provinces in the country suppress our People's Party, the foreign devils will dare to blackmail us. At that time, do comrades have the confidence to persist to the end?" Zhang Yu glanced at Lu Huitian as he asked.

Lu Huitian's face changed immediately; what should come would come eventually. The line of compromise with existing local forces that Lu Huitian had once adopted had triggered dissatisfaction among quite a few comrades. Zhang Yu never believed that the local gentry had anything worth uniting with; the fortified villages in Northern Anhui had been swept clean during Chen Ke's time. After Zhang Yu arrived in Southern Anhui, he had spent great effort on land reform.

"Comrade Zhang Yu, if you have any opinions, please say them directly. Hiding and tucking them away like this, I don't understand," Lu Huitian counterattacked without showing weakness.

"The matter of land reform is not that simple. Completely copying the land reform of Northern Anhui is not suitable. The difficulties in promoting land reform in Southern Anhui are great. I believe that next, we must focus our energy on this," Zhang Yu said calmly.

This attitude actually made Lu Huitian feel quite surprised. He originally thought Zhang Yu was going to attack the "Lu Huitian Right-Deviationist Capitulationist Line." It turned out he was overthinking it.

Chen Ke waved his hand. "Land reform work still has to be ranked after Party building. To forge iron, one must be strong oneself. Matters must be distinguished by priority. There are so many problems with the Party organization; let's perfect the Party organization first."

While they were speaking, the bell outside suddenly rang; the exam had ended.

In the following few days, the grading teams worked almost through the night. Written tests, oral tests, and comprehensive assessments. Among the full six thousand People's Party members, only over 700 could have a spontaneous to conscious understanding of the revolution. And those who could treat the revolution with a learning attitude, temporarily not putting their personal interests first, and had an attitude of dedication, were just over 2,400.

The remaining 3,500 or so people mostly had a tendency towards "petty cleverness." They were either good at showing off, pretending to be active, belonging to the category of opportunists. Or they indeed had outstanding performance in certain aspects of work, but regrettably were complacent and conservative, using these performances as their capital.

Chen Ke didn't know whether he should feel unhappy for these 3,500 unqualified Party members and probationary members, or happy for these 2,400 Party members.

However, when it was time to graduate, they had to graduate. On May 14th, Chen Ke gathered the 700 outstanding comrades and administered the Party admission oath to more than 140 probationary members among them.

"I swear."

"We swear!"

"I voluntarily join the Chinese People's Party."

"We voluntarily join the Chinese People's Party."

"Obey the Party's constitution."

"Obey the Party's constitution."

"Obey the Party's command."

"Obey the Party's command."

...

Chen Ke, who was observing the ceremony, did not feel excited at all. Thinking that these comrades would have to undergo severe tests in practical work, thinking of the long and arduous process, and then associating it with the future of the world situation... Historically, World War I would not break out for another 4 years. Due to the butterfly effect brought by Chen Ke's appearance, the specific time and cause of World War I could no longer copy history. Although this war would definitely break out, thinking of the unpredictability of the future, Chen Ke also felt quite apprehensive in his heart.

After the oath-taking ended, Chen Ke took the stage to speak. After first expressing welcome to the new Party member comrades, Chen Ke asked everyone to be fully mentally prepared. In future work, they must perfect the Party organization and government organization, closely contact the masses, mobilize the masses, and complete the tasks given by the Party.

Different from the enthusiastic expressions of the young comrades offstage, Chen Ke's attitude was calm and powerful. He had once thought that the leader standing on the stage was relaxed, just needing to say a few sentences and the people below would get things done. The current Chen Ke was already very clear on how heavy the responsibility pressing on his shoulders was. Although there was no timidity, Chen Ke also had no leisure time to engage in any sighing.

With this batch of quite outstanding comrades as the backbone, the structure of the People's Party's four provinces underwent a comprehensive adjustment. The core leaders of the Central Committee were all present. After the Organization Department talked with these comrades, based on mutual needs, the leaders of the various provinces, cities, and counties of the People's Party underwent a comprehensive adjustment. In addition to the Central Party School, each province began to prepare for the construction of its own provincial Party school and cadre school, and each city also began to prepare for municipal Party schools and cadre schools.

Comrades who performed excellently were all entrusted with heavy responsibilities, and other comrades were also rearranged in their work posts according to their characteristics.

The final focus lay on the approximately 600 comrades judged as unqualified. Someone suggested directly announcing their removal from the revolutionary ranks in the Party School. After repeated discussions, it was finally decided to let them go back temporarily, and the local Party organizations would decide whether these comrades would stay or leave. This could also be counted as a test for the new local organizations.

On June 1st, Chen Ke made a report at a public assembly. In terms of the system, Chen Ke announced the resolution of the Party Central Committee: regular training in Party schools and cadre schools must be regarded as important work of the Party and government in the future.

In terms of ideology, it determined the work of recognizing anti-exploitation, establishing and beginning to perfect the socialist system, and eliminating the thought of feudal power enfeoffment within the Party.

Specific tasks were to strengthen local land reform, accelerate rural construction and raw silk export tasks. Each locality, according to its own specific situation, was to fully promote rural water conservancy construction and the construction of improved seed bases.

On June 2nd, cadres from all over began to return to their work posts in batches. Chen Ke and the General Office of the Central Committee temporarily remained working in Wuhan.

This grand assembly of the People's Party once made the various forces bordering the People's Party quite nervous. The long-term preparation of so many people was considered by many local forces as a pre-war mobilization. Various provinces actively mobilized troops, either garrisoning troops in border areas or making war preparations in various places. Even Yuan Shikai of the Beiyang, who had a secret agreement with the People's Party, was very nervous.

In the news He Ruming brought back to Beijing, although Chen Ke guaranteed again that he would not go to war with the Beiyang, Yuan Shikai would not really be foolish enough to believe it. Based on strong armed forces, the People's Party could tear up the agreement with the Beiyang at any time. Chen Ke had expressed that he would accept the new government after overthrowing the Manchu Qing, but he also clearly expressed that he resolutely would not obey the domination of the Manchu Qing government. Yuan Shikai controlled the Manchu Qing's regime, but the flag flying above his head was still the Manchu Qing's flag. As long as this flag was still there, Chen Ke had a reason to go to war with the "Manchu Qing regime" at any time.

However, the Beiyang regime had now fallen into internal strife. Controlling the overall situation was Yuan Shikai's job. The various forces under Beiyang could not intervene. But the "Federation of Autonomous Provinces" was the benefit Yuan Shikai had promised them, and everyone was determined to fight for it.

While the People's Party was carrying out Party building, the Beiyang was also carrying out internal interest struggles. Yuan Shikai finally determined the structure of Beiyang's interests. The four provinces of Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei were directly under Beiyang. The Beiyang Six Towns would be expanded into the Beiyang Eight Towns, stationed respectively in the four provinces of Zhili and the Beijing area. The four provinces of the Northeast and Zhejiang would each build their own local armies under the lecture hall system established by Beiyang.

Yuan Shikai also could not put all his energy into guarding against the People's Party's attack. As the center, Yuan Shikai had to shoulder a lot of work. For example, resuming patrol work on the Sino-Russian border. Guarding against Japanese attacks on the Sino-Korean border. The Manchu Qing's indemnities also had to be temporarily borne by the Beiyang; this all cost money. If he went to war with the People's Party or engaged in a military confrontation, Beiyang's financial resources could not bear it either.

So Yuan Shikai simply ignored the People's Party. He met with the diplomatic corps of various countries one after another, probing the attitudes of all parties towards Yuan Shikai on one hand, and starting to discuss what conditions various countries would propose under the new situation after Beiyang controlled the whole country on the other.