History has always been interactive; Chen Ke felt this deeply. As a time traveler, Chen Ke originally thought there was nothing he could learn from this era. But later, he realized he was wrong. If all he did previously was push for revolution, then once the revolution was mobilized, Chen Ke gradually discovered his understanding of revolution was naive. Chen Ke used to think revolution was a process, but after personally engaging in it, he realized the essence of revolution is "progress."

Being a time traveler might imply superiority relative to this era, but if the time traveler themselves does not pursue "progress," then the revolution still hasn't found the right direction. That would only mean the passive advancement of society and the active degeneration of the time traveler.

What made Chen Ke realize this were his revolutionary comrades. While the cadres of the People's Party learned from Chen Ke and gradually awakened to the necessity of "progress," they also taught Chen Ke a profound lesson. Although Chen Ke constantly spoke of social progress, deep down he subconsciously believed he could be an exception. It wasn't until these comrades made Chen Ke understand that everyone must constantly improve.

With this realization, Chen Ke no longer viewed Zhang Xun simply as "backward" or a "reactionary." Compared to the Manchu Qing's feudal power enfeoffment system, Zhang Xun's attempt to establish a political force of the gentry to participate in politics could be considered a huge step forward. But once the clarion call of the people's revolution sounded, this progress became somewhat insignificant. It even became a stumbling block hindering the great progress of the people's revolution. However, this could not negate the progress of the gentry class represented by Zhang Xun. Even if this progress was for the sake of opposing the People's Party, progress was still progress.

If the gentry could really organize themselves, Chen Ke didn't have the intention of beating them to death with one stick. "General Zhang, I suggest you go back and discuss with the gentry you have united. What exactly do you want to do? I think open and honest negotiation is a very good choice. What do you think?"

Zhang Xun laughed self-mockingly. "Since Brother Chen puts it this way, you must already have a verdict in your heart on how to deal with us, right?"

"If I say it, General Zhang may not be willing to believe it." Chen Ke kept him in suspense slightly.

"But speak freely. Given the current situation in Jiangxi, Brother Chen already controls the big picture. We are putting up a desperate fight in a corner; what is there we dare not hear?" Zhang Xun was quite straightforward.

Chen Ke was also straightforward. "Land reform must be carried out. Whether the gentry support it or not, we are determined to do it. When General Zhang talks about this with the gentry, there is no need to hide this point."

Zhang Xun's face turned ugly, though this was something he already knew. For the sake of land reform, Zhang Xun had spoken with He Zudao many times, and He Zudao had this same firm attitude.

Chen Ke didn't want Zhang Xun to have any misunderstandings, so he added, "Land reform is land reform. What the People's Party wants is for everyone to have land to farm. The gentry should have land to farm, and the common people should also have land to farm. We do not accept the common people being displaced and living in precariousness. General Zhang stands on the position of the gentry and feels the gentry are pitiful. We, the People's Party, stand on the position of the people and the masses, and we feel the masses are even more pitiful. If the gentry landlords insist on opposing land reform, we will arrest those who should be arrested and kill those who should be killed, without any leniency."

He Zudao had long promoted the land reform policy in Jiangxi. Land reform was not about stripping the gentry clean, but ensuring everyone had land to farm. Moreover, the People's Party guaranteed that only land would be distributed, and floating wealth would not be confiscated. That is to say, land was distributed, but the gentry's property was not. Farm cattle, farming tools, gold and silver treasures at home, and the shops and businesses they ran—the People's Party would not touch a single hair. This clear stance was also the reason why many gentry dared to persist until now. In their view, the People's Party had not yet reached the level of "rebellious mob."

Zhang Xun listened silently with a dark face. He originally thought Chen Ke's attitude would differ from He Zudao's. If it were the Manchu Qing, there would certainly be someone playing the red face and someone playing the white face. He never expected that from top to bottom, the People's Party had only one face and one attitude. The words spoken by He Zudao and Chen Ke didn't differ by more than a few characters. The meaning was exactly the same.

"General Zhang, if the gentry are willing to actively accept land reform, we have a foundation to continue talking. If they don't accept it, they can look out for themselves." Chen Ke gave a clear answer.

Zhang Xun continued to nod slightly with a dark face. "Chairman Chen said you only want land and not wealth. Is this sincere?"

Chen Ke laughed. "Has anyone here said otherwise? Or have we really confiscated anyone else's money? Of course, if someone robbed others' property, we have to demand the return of the stolen goods. This has nothing to do with land reform. This is a civil case."

When Grandpa Mao formulated land reform policies back then, he did not advocate confiscating landlords' floating wealth. Moreover, the Party had limited experience back then, and there were problems with the planning of many policies. Later, in reflections on post-liberation agricultural policies and large-scale land reform, there were many reviews. Land reform was definitely correct, but the pressure back then was too great, and agricultural technology services and industrial back-feeding could not be achieved. The policies were also slightly ahead of their time. The overall land reform could be scored 85 out of 100, leaving some gap from a perfect score.

Chen Ke believed that as a time traveler, he might be able to achieve 95 points. Now his attitude was simple: just being able to implement the formulated land reform without distortion would be enough. Let alone 85 points, scoring 80 points would be pretty good.

Zhang Xun had no understanding of modern justice; he couldn't distinguish between criminal cases and civil cases. However, after receiving Chen Ke's guarantee, his heart calmed down a bit at least. Land was the lifeblood, but under the People's Party's land policy, the landlords weren't stripped bare. They could also receive a share of land equal to other common people. "Then I will go back first to discuss with the other gentry. But I wonder how long Chairman Chen will stay in Jiangxi?"

"That's hard to say. Anyway, the sooner the discussion yields a result, the better." Chen Ke gave a non-answer.

As soon as Zhang Xun left, Chen Ke immediately convened a new session of the Party School meeting. Jiangxi was under military control, so military academy study replaced Party School study for the troops. The formal, pure Party School model was not suitable in Jiangxi.

The first question Chen Ke asked straight away at the Party School was, "Comrades, why does our People's Party constitution define us as the revolutionary vanguard of the broad working people?"

He Zudao's political education seemed to be very thorough; the Party members in the troops answered extremely correctly. "Because our People's Party is a member of the broad working masses! We ourselves are laborers."

With this consensus, Party School education was much easier to handle. In the Hubei Party School education, this issue had been discussed repeatedly before the concept that the People's Party itself was composed of laborers was established. This was a most fundamental concept. If the People's Party separated itself from the broad working masses, the result would be catastrophic.

He Zudao had promoted the Party's theories quite consistently, and the cadres in the troops had a rather profound understanding of land reform. Land reform was not about equalizing the ownership of fields, but about the rational utilization of land as a means of production. Land nationalization did not refer to land ownership either, but to the redistribution of land use rights. After guaranteeing the land use rights of the common people who were willing to farm, other land belonged to the state, which possessed the power to develop and use it.

Regarding land planning and use, the political work system led by He Zudao really made Chen Ke feel it was magical. Concerning the key question of "why not let the populace lead the land development and use rights," all comrades realized that this approach was "unscientific, unfair, and unreliable."

The understanding of land by the military Party cadres was even wiser than that of a considerable portion of the civil administration cadres, which truly gratified Chen Ke. When the country was just liberated, because the land policy was not clear enough, the New China was directly built into the world's largest "agricultural petty-bourgeois country." Every peasant had their own means of production. With the level of agricultural productive forces back then, the villages directly possessed immense power. Once problems arose at the local grassroots level, they directly triggered many issues. The land reform Chen Ke was pushing weakened the autonomy possessed by the local grassroots to the limit. Except for the land distributed to the peasants, everything else was undertaken by various state-owned enterprises. This was actually quite like the later policy of migrant workers going to cities everywhere. It was just that now, peasants didn't need to travel thousands of miles to other places; they could work right next to their hometowns.

Chen Ke was never a revolutionary idealist; he was more realistic. Establishing large-scale state-owned farms or enterprises aimed to maximize the acquisition of tax revenue and supplies. Collecting taxes door-to-door always caused great dissatisfaction among the masses and increased local conflicts. Collecting grain directly from large farms was much easier. Moreover, large farms could serve as bases for improved seeds and leaders in popularizing agricultural technology. Even for their own sake, peasants would try to learn more advanced technologies. Furthermore, large farms were also very good demonstration units.

Someone raised these questions in the Party School, and Chen Ke informed the comrades of the policy without concealment. "Rather than going through untold hardships to transform every single person among the masses, it is better to solidly let the masses realize the advantages and benefits of socialized mass production. This is the inevitable direction of social development. The agricultural society of 'men plowing and women weaving' looks beautiful, but this social model is destined to be replaced by the industrial society, which looks more complex and has more contradictions. This is the inevitability of the development of productive forces. This is absolutely not accidental."

Chen Ke spoke from the podium, and the comrades took notes rapidly. And people kept raising questions. "Then to what extent should we explain this to the masses? If we directly say we want to thoroughly overthrow the small-peasant economy, the masses might not be able to accept it."

"We shouldn't talk about policy to the masses with a critical attitude; we should talk about policy to the masses with a developmental perspective," Chen Ke replied. "A problem was encountered during the land reform in Hubei. Some people thought our land reform was a kind of traditional 'benevolent governance.' After discussion, everyone understood this was a misunderstanding. Under the condition that productive forces remain at a certain level, so-called benevolent governance is just the government taking a little less and the people taking a little more. But the little bit more that the people take cannot fundamentally solve the problems they face. Moreover, if the government takes a little less, it has a huge impact on the government's necessary expenditures. Furthermore, comrades, what I am proposing now is still a very idealized model. This model does not include intermediate exploitation. It is the government collecting taxes directly from the people. If intermediate exploitation is included, then we face an even more ridiculous result. The government thinks it has implemented benevolent governance, but in fact, the intermediate class collects not a single cent less from the masses. And they will even collect more."

He Zudao had organized quite effective political training, and the tax issue was the top priority. Regarding the tricks in taxation, He Zudao had gathered many examples and captured tax collectors, organizing everyone to study and research.

Any government has to provide expenses for various departments. Leaving aside internal consumption issues, benevolent governance means cutting a lot of government spending. For government departments, especially for low-and-mid-level personnel, this is a matter of life and death. Cutting a certain tax burden means huge income adjustments and personnel adjustments. It would be strange if it didn't cause major chaos.

Seeing that the comrades had understood this issue, Chen Ke continued, "So what we need to do now is not some benevolent governance, but to develop productive forces. If the level of productive forces doubles, it means the simultaneous growth of people's income and tax revenue. The people will have the financial resources to solve the problems they face, and the government will also have the financial resources to shoulder the responsibilities it should shoulder. This is also the reason why we want to overthrow the exploitation system. Because the exploitation system does not achieve the maximum efficiency of social productive force development. For example, the silk industry. The market demand for silk is huge now. If it can't be scaled up, there can't be maximum benefits. Under the old-style exploitation system, it's impossible to scale up. How many wicked things do landlords have to do to concentrate enough land for scale? And even if the landlords have this scale, the officials will eye this big piece of fat meat. In the end, the officials will squander all the money they get. The result of countless tragedies of blood and tears is born this way. It is always the people who bleed and shed tears. As long as the exploitation system exists, the people can never turn over a new leaf."

The economy in the base areas was developing well. A considerable number of Party members were from the old base area in Anhui, and they knew the situation at home very well. Their own relatives had land to farm, and there were many jobs available. These employment opportunities were open to the broad masses uniformly. Life in the base areas was far better than before. After overthrowing the old system, everyone could see the new life of the broad working people. This was more effective than any propaganda.

Chen Ke's voice was sonorous and powerful. "Land reform is not a simple economic measure, nor is it simple propaganda judging good people and bad people. What this land reform needs to determine is also the core program of our People's Party: who is the ruling class of the base area? It is the alliance of the broad laborers. The new system serves the laborers, serves this alliance. Of course, the working masses do not understand the current situation right now. Many laborers do not have sufficient knowledge of the new country and new system they have never seen before. This is not strange. Understanding any new thing requires a process. Therefore, we, the People's Party, the revolutionary vanguard of this laborer alliance, must stand out and shoulder the glorious task of leading this great people's revolution, shoulder the sacrifices required by the revolution, and accept various hardships encountered in the revolutionary process, even suffering grievances. This is the situation you were destined to face when you swore an oath under the Party flag. This is the common cause of all us Party members."

The Party members offstage immediately responded with warm applause. Chen Ke waved his hand in the air, and the applause stopped immediately. "Comrades, the purpose of our meeting is to complete work, not to pay tribute to the leader. If everyone applauds me every time I say a paragraph, are you here for a meeting or to listen to applause? I will set a rule now: no applause is allowed during the meeting. what do you think?"

Hearing this, a burst of good-natured laughter came from the venue.

Compared with the People's Party's "serious yet lively" meeting, the meeting convened by Zhang Xun appeared much gloomier. Many gentry inside Nanchang City had joined Zhang Xun's organization. Hearing Zhang Xun convene a meeting, these people all ran over. Zhang Xun recounted the process of his meeting with People's Party Chairman Chen Ke today, and immediately, a gentry member's voice carried a sobbing tone. "Lord Zhang, it looks like the People's Party is determined to divide this land! My family only has these few *mu* of land. If the land is divided, how will my family live?"

The speaker was Zhang Zishan, a very distant relative of Zhang Xun. Zhang Xun looked at Zhang Zishan with a look of "hating iron for not becoming steel." Zhang Zishan's family had hundreds of *mu* of land, not just a few *mu*. And his family had quite a lot of grain and money; they were not the type who couldn't survive at all.

The other gentry kept silent out of fear. The People's Party's attitude was consistent throughout. This was truly unbelievable to the gentry. Before this, they had used all means, such as sending money, sending grain, pulling strings, and sending women. Unexpectedly, this group of young people from the People's Party was completely unmoved. There were a few newly promoted local cadres in the People's Party who had accepted some things recently. Just as these people wanted to take the opportunity to follow suit, the People's Party publicly announced the expulsion of these few individuals. The reason was clear: because these people accepted bribes, they were expelled from the People's Party ranks.

Since then, the People's Party cadres viewed the local gentry as floods and fierce beasts, absolutely refusing to deal with them. And those Anhui cadres who continued to be responsible for dealing with the gentry, although young, were all impervious to persuasion. But when they saw ordinary people, they were polite and attentive, handling things with ease. Such an organization could not help but fill the gentry with fear.

They had originally thought the People's Party Chairman's attitude would differ slightly from He Zudao's, so the gentry could find an opportunity. Unexpectedly, what the People's Party Chairman said was completely consistent with the lower-level cadres of the People's Party. Even the chance for sowing discord at the end no longer existed. Everyone was looking at Zhang Xun pitifully, hoping this person who had seen the world could come up with a way for the gentry of Jiangxi.

Zhang Xun was also extremely confused in his heart. The officialdom of the People's Party was completely different from that of the Manchu Qing. All the customs of the Manchu Qing officialdom were useless here in the People's Party. If he wanted to find opportunities to exploit from within, he feared it would take a long time. But the People's Party was pushing land reform intensely. Leaving aside whether loopholes could be found to exploit, he feared that by the time he found a loophole, the land reform in Jiangxi would have been completed first.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xun pursed his lips tightly, and those two thick mustaches trembled. The gentry thought Zhang Xun had come up with a solution, and looks of hope appeared on their faces.

"Gentlemen, in my humble opinion, I'm afraid we have no way to change the People's Party's mind in the short term." Zhang Xun spat out this sentence with difficulty.

Hearing this, many gentry collapsed in their seats like deflated rubber balls, and some had already begun to wail loudly. Although some gentry could still maintain their composure, their expressions wilted like frosted eggplants.

"There is no justice! There is no justice!" Zhang Zishan wailed. "The People's Party, these god-damned treacherous thieves, they are not letting people live!"

After wailing for a while, Zhang Zishan suddenly stood up and shouted, "Gentlemen, we can't survive anyway. Let's just fight these treacherous thieves of the People's Party to the death. Killing one is breaking even; killing two is earning one!"

Zhang Xun was already in a chaotic state of mind. Stimulated by Zhang Zishan's words, he couldn't bear it anymore. He slammed the table fiercely and stood up abruptly. "Zhang Zishan, if you are willing to die yourself, then go die yourself. Once you walk out this door, none of us know you. You want to die, but we don't want to be buried with you!"