"It is also a very difficult thing for feudal landlords to transform into capitalists." When Xie Mingxian discussed this matter with his comrades, he actually felt a sense of helplessness.

The People's Party delegation was under close surveillance by Wang Youhong at their residence in Nanjing, but the People's Party representatives simply did not care. In accordance with the improved institutional regulations, the Party group had an obligation to conduct organizational life, hold meetings, and discuss and analyze the current situation. Although they knew the situation was not absolutely safe, as long as they were not dead, Party members had an obligation to contribute to the improvement of the Party organization.

Xie Mingxian did not know if this counted as a dauntless spirit in the face of danger, but if they did not hold a Party meeting and analyze the current situation clearly, he would instead feel a strong sense of unease. To "die understanding clearly what happened"—this was a mindset of the People's Party members.

"The production models are different, and specifically, whether there is a clear purpose—this is the biggest difference," Xie Mingxian offered his own view.

"That's not necessarily true. I think the biggest problem in Jiangsu is that the ruling class lacks self-awareness. They feel their position as rulers is ordained by heaven and earth, and they haven't truly understood where the root of their rule lies. On this point, our People's Party has understood it thoroughly," Lin Mengchu said in his awkward Guangdong-accented Mandarin.

"The ruling class must be self-aware. If they want to promote social development but adopt a 'treat the head when the head aches, treat the foot when the foot hurts' attitude, they will certainly be abandoned by the times."

"Well said!"

Lin Mengchu's point received unanimous approval from the Party group members. The ruling class of Jiangsu had absolutely no concept of a modern state system, which was completely different from a political party like the People's Party that emphasized class position and social systems.

"I also only realized this after coming here and listening to these guys talk. These people simply have feelings about what has happened, and then these feelings give birth to their actions. As for what contradictions caused these manifestations, how these contradictions were produced, and what the causes and effects are—these people are truly 'confused by being in the game'!" Encouraged by his comrades' appreciation, Lin Mengchu became even more excited.

"There probably aren't many people in China right now who can understand these contradictions, right? These people completely lack social concepts. They can't see clearly now, and they won't see clearly in the future. Falling behind the times leads to just this one outcome."

"Haha..." The group of young people all laughed. Although the People's Party cadres were all very young, the rapid changes in society and the tight rhythm under the People's Party's industrial system could only be felt by these youths who personally participated in social labor. In terms of what they had seen and experienced, the older Jiangsu gentry were far inferior.

While the People's Party had already cast its vision globally, the Jiangsu gentry group and Wang Youhong had not yet understood what they were facing—just what kind of efficiency and depth the industrial mass production in the base area was sustaining in its development. As observers, the People's Party comrades could not help but feel a sense of absurdity.

Feeling this strong sense of absurdity, Xie Mingxian said, "I'll make a self-criticism today. When I saw Zhang Yutong, I still looked down on him in my heart. But Zhang Yutong was the first to see that our silk is a single thread. I think this person has actually done work. If it were me, I wouldn't have thought of that. I feel this mindset is harmful and not seeking truth from facts. Low-level tastes are really hard to eliminate."

Lin Mengchu laughed. "I had this thought today too. Looking down on that group of assemblymen, feeling they were just too useless. Hearing Comrade Xie Mingxian put it like that, I also feel I failed to seek truth from facts. But let me say this upfront, finding an excuse for myself: if one truly eliminated low-level tastes, they would be someone like Chairman Chen. And Chairman Chen also admits that he himself can't eliminate low-level tastes no matter what. The dark side of human nature is hard to overcome. I feel I can't resolve the desire to show off. This must be because I haven't done enough work. When I was doing grassroots work, the pressure was high, and I actually didn't have these thoughts. As soon as I stopped doing grassroots work, these competitive thoughts and such all came out."

All six young comrades admitted they had this problem; wanting to mock others was instinct. They could see others' faults at a glance, but turned a blind eye to their own errors.

After laughing for a while, Zhang Yudong was the first to regain his cool. "Chairman Chen says this is because we do too little work, lack confidence in ourselves, and don't know fear. I've been a soldier. Looking back now, there was no such thing on the battlefield. Would you laugh at others on the battlefield? You'd be scared enough to wet your pants yourself. When ordered to charge, you couldn't charge up. Knowing clearly that rushing out of the trench meant the enemy's bullets would come like splashing water, nowhere was safe. At that time, I always had to get rid of the fear of death first, then get rid of the imagined battlefield appearance, and focus on the matter of fighting. The terrain, the enemy's deployment, and the usual training. In every post-battle summary meeting, we found that the more we focused attention on these realistic matters, the safer we were. And the greater the battle results. I thought it was bitter back then, but now I think working in the localities is not as simple and relaxing as working in the army. At least in the army, it's always those few same things. In local work, there are too many things. And every time is different. As soon as I see something new, I'm easily confused."

"Well said, me too." Lin Mengchu wanted to laugh, but couldn't find the feeling. "Then how do you think this should be solved?"

Zhang Yudong also spoke seriously, "I think we still need to cultivate professional negotiation teams. Right now, negotiations are either handled by Chairman Chen personally, or it's a forced marriage—finding a few comrades who are relatively familiar with the situation to step up. It's unprofessional. This has to be like fighting a war; there need to be people who specialize in this year in and year out. Let me be a guard, sure; let me participate in negotiations, I really can't do it."

Xie Mingxian replied, "Specialized teams can be formed, but the Party group exists to discuss. This is democratic centralism. You offer suggestions in your professional field, but you also have to listen to the comrades' views. If a professional team can't even convince themselves, they won't be any good negotiating out there."

The comrades of the Party group strongly agreed with this serious attitude. Zhang Yudong remembered something and said angrily, "The key is still an attitude problem. Even with defined roles, it's useless if the attitude is wrong. In the old base area, I saw some people starting to just go through the motions. Meteorological work—they were just asked to copy data. It was fine on sunny days, but as soon as it was windy or rainy, look at how big their complaints were. Going out, they'd kick dogs or chase chickens. Anyway, they didn't know what they were doing anymore. Their heads were full of thoughts about promotion, and they did their work perfunctorily. In the end, they faked the data for me. We draw curves; we could see it at a glance. After the meeting, I fired six people in a row. Basically wiped out half the Meteorological Bureau."

"How was it solved later?" The comrades were interested.

"What else could be done? Education!" Zhang Yudong was very proud of his choice. "I gathered all the county's military reclamation farms, state farms, state forest farms, animal husbandry units, and private spontaneous production teams. We conducted propaganda and education, with the agricultural department cooperating, explaining thoroughly the significance of soil temperature and climate changes. Everyone works in agriculture and cares about this, so we finally managed to share the climate measurement workload. Also, the local garrison was assigned tasks. Our army is still better managed; the weather soldiers are just more dedicated than that bunch at the Meteorological Bureau. The data was finally recorded solidly. That bunch at the Meteorological Bureau still didn't learn their lesson; they didn't realize their work was just that boring and repetitive, and still wanted to dictate to other units. I took one look and said, screw it, all of you get out. I cut the Meteorological Bureau and changed it to the Climate Summary Service Center, placing it under the Ministry of Agriculture. I got some fresh graduates who just drew charts. After the data accumulated, the geological department got interested too. Saying something about heat conduction potentially having research significance for geological distribution. It was hot for a while. Later, I went to the Party School for further studies and stayed in Hubei. I don't know exactly what happened after that."

After listening to Zhang Yudong recount his experience, many comrades felt their thinking suddenly open up. Xie Mingxian praised, "Science definitely must serve production. How to combine the two is of great significance."

Lin Mengchu also praised, "No wonder Chairman Chen favors you."

Most of the People's Party's excellent cadres had their own ideas on grassroots work, but daring to drastically adjust organizational structure and working methods like Zhang Yudong really required immense courage. And it was only logical that Zhang Yudong would be promoted by Chen Ke.

Zhang Yudong shook his head, however. "It's not that Chairman Chen favors me. Chairman Chen has always required activating grassroots Party organizations, letting grassroots Party organizations arrange work according to the actual situation. In the plains, my method can be used, but in the mountains—that's where wind and rain are brewed, it's very critical. But there are few places to farm or run forest farms, so we have to rely on establishing a specialized Meteorological Bureau. Mountain folk are practical. I heard from comrades in the mountain meteorological department that mountain masses are hard to haggle with, but as long as an agreement is reached, for that money, they really will work for you honestly. It's quite reassuring. Putting a few more measurement points and providing a few more job opportunities—the cost doesn't actually matter. Every place is different."

"Grassroots Party organizations and the government really are the key." Everyone was deeply convinced by Zhang Yudong's judgment.

Zhang Yudong felt he couldn't help but start bragging. Because he didn't want to do another self-criticism, he changed the topic. "Let's not talk about this. Does everyone think Wang Youhong is quite interesting? I see he has a bit of an attitude of wanting to learn from our industrial mass production, doesn't he?"

"He has his eyes on the money we earn; he's just drawing a tiger using a cat as a model. Wang Youhong has no choice, it's not that he's genuinely interested in our model. What does everyone else think?" Lin Mengchu said.

As the head of the negotiation delegation, Xie Mingxian had a deeper understanding of economics and did not support Lin Mengchu's dismissive view of Wang Youhong. "If Wang Youhong wants to imitate us, he will inevitably have to touch upon the land issue. For Wang Youhong, being able to control the land is a very necessary method to stabilize his rule. He has this need and idea. Our base area's land reform goal is clear: the means of production must adapt to the social system. Even so, we have to cooperate with the timing of heaven; where there is a disaster, we rely on disaster relief to unite the local masses and promote land reform. What does Wang Youhong have? First, no organization; second, no political program; third, no production model that fully utilizes land reform. Even if he forces it through, what's the significance? That this land ownership model has existed for thousands of years has its reasons. It can't be explained just by pushing the responsibility onto landlords."

"Then what will Wang Youhong do?" Lin Mengchu could accept Xie Mingxian's explanation but couldn't form a reasonable expectation for the future.

"Our land reform is also driven by economic interests; land reform is not simply dividing land. There is a whole set of production systems adapted to it to ensure more effective use of land as a means of production. Dividing the land doesn't equate to increasing yields. The masses only obtained the dividends of the revolution through a whole set of political and economic measures. If Wang Youhong wants to move the land, he also must have dividends to take. As I see it, Wang Youhong will definitely agree to our agreement. But in the initial stage, he can only cooperate with a portion of the gentry who are willing to cooperate with him. Furthermore, Wang Youhong's goal isn't land reform, but to determine his personal rule over Jiangsu. In this kind of game, I don't understand what plays they have in officialdom and among the gentry." Xie Mingxian frankly admitted his inadequacy.

This statement made a lot of sense, and the young comrades couldn't come up with a more reasonable deduction. Zhang Yudong suddenly asked, "Does everyone think Chairman Chen understands how this local game in Jiangsu will be specifically implemented?"

The six comrades looked at each other. Lin Mengchu hesitated and said, "I'm afraid Chairman Chen doesn't understand." Having said this, Lin Mengchu felt he hadn't correctly expressed his meaning, and hurriedly waved his hand. "No, no, it's that our understanding of Jiangsu is still not enough. We can't grasp the current contradictions in Jiangsu. How about we also go and contact and visit more Jiangsu assemblymen these next few days to collect intelligence properly?"

After speaking, Lin Mengchu looked at the surrounding comrades and saw that everyone looked like they felt the same way. Actually, the comrades had been ordered to come on short notice, and Chen Ke really didn't treat the changes in Jiangsu as a big deal. This could be considered training the team, allowing excellent comrades to gain various experiences. Seeing the status quo of Jiangsu with their own eyes, the comrades also found the specific content of their work. The people of the negotiation group began to discuss the specific steps of execution.

There were people eavesdropping outside the room. Several pitiful guys held their breath, hoping to hear some useful content. But these People's Party members didn't speak very loudly, their accents were very mixed, and the vocabulary they used was unheard of. As for the content of the talk, it was completely beyond these people's scope of understanding. They listened for a long time, writing quite a few things on white paper, but they themselves couldn't organize it into meaningful data. It wasn't until they couldn't hear what the People's Party was saying at all that these pitiful guys discovered that their hard work for a good half of the day had been completely in vain.

The gentry of Nanjing City simply never imagined that the People's Party would actually undertake such a large-scale visitation campaign. As long as it was a local assemblyman, the People's Party went to meet them. What the People's Party intelligence agencies aggregated was all normal life information, from commodity prices to population flow, and then to various factions. However, the attitude of these assemblymen toward the People's Party was not easy to determine, and the commercial delegation happened to fill this gap. Some assemblymen refused to see them, while others engaged with the People's Party representatives holding various doubts.

That attitude, revealing wariness and worry in every word, really amused the young People's Party members. The Party members were not afraid of the situation in the base area leaking. Chen Ke had long said, "After land reform is implemented, we are the public enemy of the whole country. This has nothing to do with personal likes or dislikes, but is a question of class position. The only difference is whether the landlords and gentry in other regions have the self-awareness of a ruling class."

Undoubtedly, in the feelings of the Jiangsu landlords and gentry toward the People's Party, fear outweighed personal likes or dislikes. Many people beat around the bush asking what exactly the People's Party's view on Southern Jiangsu was. Hearing these young people's reply that they "have no plan to attack Southern Jiangsu," whether they believed it or not, there was a sense of relief in their expressions.

To the questions raised by the People's Party delegation, these people answered "I don't know" to everything, as if they had discussed it beforehand.

Refusing to talk deeply was also an attitude, and the People's Party didn't mind being rejected. The group visited people while walking around Nanjing City, which was quite relaxing. By the morning of the third day, all the visitable assemblymen had been visited. The group had nothing else to do, so completely ignoring the guys tailing them, they banded together to tour Nanjing City. Discussing potential military offensive operations while strolling down the street was also quite an interesting thing.

Walking for a long time always leads to encountering something new. When passing a main street, they suddenly saw a brothel in an uproar. Booming noises mixed with women's screams; it seemed a fight had broken out inside. As they stopped to watch, they saw a dozen or so soldiers wearing New Army uniforms holding military batons, dragging seven or eight guys wearing River Defense Battalion uniforms out of the brothel.

Those River Defense Battalion soldiers were black and blue, appearing to have been beaten quite badly. The delegation was really seeing an internal conflict among the enemy for the first time and immediately became interested.

Currently, Wang Youhong's main forces were divided into two parts. One part was the former Jiangnan New Army Ninth Division, which had fought the People's Party. In the Wuhu Campaign, a part of the Ninth Division stationed in Wuhu was completely annihilated by the Southern Anhui troops. The Ninth Division Commander Xu Shaozhen was tough; after being surrounded, he refused to surrender. Zhang Yu was a straightforward person: if they surrendered, they were treated as captives; if they didn't, they were treated as enemies. Xu Shaozhen was shot to death in a chaotic fusillade. According to intelligence, Wang Youhong had thoroughly controlled the remaining troops of the Ninth Division since then.

The other part was the River Defense Battalion that Wang Youhong had previously established. It was said that the two sides added up to a claimed forty thousand. In the People's Party's investigation results, Wang Youhong had counted the tax police into the army as well. Even adding the tax police, his real troops were no more than thirty thousand. The troops capable of lining up for battle were only twenty thousand. As for troops that could be pulled out for field operations, it was estimated to be less than ten thousand.

Stationed in Nanjing City were all Wang Youhong's main forces. There was a relatively large difference between the uniforms of the New Army and the River Defense Battalion troops.

"Hey, these New Army people are wearing patrol armbands?" Zhang Yudong had his own sensitivity to military attire. He quickly spotted the key point.

"Is it the New Army maintaining military order? Quite interesting. I thought Wang Youhong would assign the River Defense Battalion a higher status." Xie Mingxian also found it very interesting.

Just as they were speaking, a young officer, less than twenty years old, wearing a saber, strode out of the brothel. His skin was fair, looking more like a scholar than a soldier. His woolen uniform was crisp, and his leather boots and scabbard were polished snow-bright. Compared to the People's Party's cotton clothes, he really had a great military style.

"According to military discipline, you should each receive twenty military baton strikes. For leaving without permission during the day, you should receive ten strikes. Will you honestly go back to the barracks to receive punishment, or just take the beating here?" The young officer's voice was obviously that of a teenager, but the grim content and tone were completely inconsistent with his age.

"Yu Chen, we don't fall under your command. On what grounds are you beating us?" The River Defense Battalion soldiers seemed very unconvinced. Although they knew they couldn't beat the other side, they stretched their necks and shouted.

"We of the Patrol Battalion are responsible for military discipline. Whether it's the River Defense Battalion or the New Army, you all fall under our command. Moreover, I've seen you. A few days ago, I caught you leaving without permission during the day to come to this brothel. Last time I let you go back to take the baton strikes; looks like you healed up pretty fast." The young man named Yu Chen sneered.

"You dare hit us! Our commander won't be finished with you," the River Defense Battalion soldier threatened.

Yu Chen sneered, "Oh! I'd actually like to see just how he won't be finished. Execute military law now!"

The New Army patrols said no more. Two men took down one, and others swung their military batons to beat them. Other River Defense Battalion soldiers wanted to resist but were completely no match for the patrols. Under the heavy blows of the military batons, they were beaten to the ground in an instant.

"This military discipline is quite strict," Lin Mengchu laughed.

The words had just fallen when that Yu Chen turned his head, his sharp gaze staring straight over. It was a gaze full of heroic spirit, filled with drive and abundant energy. Some onlookers standing near the People's Party delegation couldn't help but take a step back when swept by this gaze. The members of the People's Party delegation were quite immune to this kind of gaze. In the troops, there were plenty of cadres and soldiers with this kind of energy. Those soldiers who had fought with real swords and guns not only had this sharpness but also had a killing aura on the battlefield.

The People's Party delegation watched everything happening before them as if nothing was amiss. That Wang Youhong had this kind of youth under his command, and that this youth could undertake the duty of patrol—it really was quite interesting.

Yu Chen frowned but didn't come over to pester them, merely turning back to continue watching the execution of military law. Laughter had already risen among the surrounding onlookers. The laughter, mixed with the screams of the River Defense Battalion soldiers, amused the public even more.

The People's Party delegation, on the contrary, felt somewhat bored. They left the crowd and continued shopping. Not having walked too far, they saw Assemblyman Zhang Yutong rushing over in a hurry. Stopping in front of the group, Zhang Yutong said breathlessly, "Gentlemen, we have discussed and reached a result. Please come over to negotiate."