"In the construction of the army, the army must obey the command of the Party and the commander..."

"That is bureaucratic thinking."

"What?"

"Note that the people's revolution launched by the proletarian party does not need to leave itself any way out. If the Party cannot represent the people, it will be abandoned by the people, and it will also be abandoned by the army. The idea that the army must obey the ruling party and the commander is a manifestation of the bureaucratic pursuit of stability."

"Then what about systems and discipline?"

"The state is a tool of class rule, but rule does not equal oppression. Since the ruling class of the base areas is the working people, the purpose of the systems established by the base area government is to maintain the interests of the working people. This is the root of everything."

"Isn't that just Left adventurism?"

"Left adventurism demands that reality yield to theory, whereas the core ideas I am stating are in line with the actual situation."

The higher the level of the People's Party meeting, the fewer taboos there were. In front of Chen Ke, the comrades dared to say anything. Firstly, this was due to everyone's age; being in their twenties and thirties was the time of greatest drive. Secondly, it was due to the inherent "safety" of the revolution led by the People's Party. Because the enemy was too weak, up to now, it had always been the People's Party suppressing others, and never the enemy crushing the People's Party. This naturally made the young comrades even more fearless.

Chen Ke let the comrades discuss freely while he seized the time to process some documents. In just this short time, Qi Huishen and Zhang Yu had locked horns. Qi Huishen was still the Chairman of the People's Internal Affairs Committee, while Zhang Yu had not yet taken up his post. The two represented different political views: Qi Huishen criticized Zhang Yu for bureaucratism, while Zhang Yu counterattacked with "Left adventurism."

Chen Ke was not at all clear whether the two were arguing so loudly on purpose for him to hear, nor did he care. The secretary placed documents in front of Chen Ke one by one, and after reading them carefully, he signed his name with a flourish. Since he had now been "parachuted" in to preside over the work in Anhui, he also had a certain plan for the future power of the Provincial Committee. The Party had suffered greatly from decentralization, and Chen Ke had been very concerned about this from the beginning.

With Chairman Chen Ke sitting so firmly on the fishing platform, other comrades began to participate in the fierce debate. Such debates had happened many times, and now the comrades' views were quite inconsistent regarding whether "revolutionary discipline comes first" or "revolutionary theory comes first."

Those prioritizing revolutionary discipline had to face a problem: Chairman Chen Ke always emphasized the universal significance of revolutionary theory. Those prioritizing revolutionary theory encountered another problem: Chairman Chen Ke emphasized the big picture during revolutionary execution, as well as his stance against Left adventurism. Therefore, the final decision-making power for major decisions still rested with Chairman Chen Ke.

By the time Chen Ke finished commenting on the thick stack of documents, the debate among the Central Committee comrades had reached a new level. That was the "relationship between the grassroots and the center."

"Why do we hold 'Zhuge Liang meetings' before battles? Why did we come up with democratic centralism? These are systems established based on theory. The Party's decisions are relatively correct; they are collective decisions, not the self-will of a certain commander. It is about doing ideological work; once explained clearly, they will certainly be supported and agreed to by the commanders and fighters. If the vast grassroots disagree, then the decision must be wrong. If the decision is wrong, it will certainly be corrected. Since it is a collective decision, there is no issue of a certain commander losing face."

"It is still the center that ultimately decides the strategy. What the grassroots comrades ask for is a foolproof plan. But every decision carries risk, and many links have particularly high risks. We are now letting Party members and cadres undertake the work with the greatest part of this risk. Therefore, we must establish discipline at the local level."

The two representative figures, Qi Huishen and Zhang Yu, were now arguing until they were a bit dizzy. Although the content of what they were saying was becoming more and more consistent, their attitudes appeared increasingly sharp and hostile.

Chen Ke knocked on the table. "I very much agree with the discussion on risk links. This is also the reason why we have always been promoting the transparency of decision-making. That is why we have the statement that the People's Party is the vanguard of the working people's revolution."

Hearing Chen Ke speak, the argument immediately began to subside. The comrades all looked at Chen Ke. In the Party, only Chen Ke could lead the comrades to walk on thin ice as if it were solid ground; only Chen Ke could constantly point out the correct path. Although Chen Ke also repeatedly reminded the comrades of the difficulties and obstacles they would encounter on this path, as long as there was a route that all comrades could accept, the magnitude of the difficulties only lay in how to deal with and overcome them. At least regarding the extent to which the work would end the entire link, there was no real divergence within the Party.

"Then does Chairman Chen support Secretary Qi's view on leaving no way out for the revolution?" Zhang Yu was very familiar with the characteristics of Chen Ke's speech. If he supported a specific practice, it was tantamount to expressing a disguised, implicit criticism of a higher-level execution train of thought.

"This has nothing to do with a way out. The purpose of revolution is to promote progress. Since we are moving forward, how can there be any consideration of retreating?" Chen Ke still expressed his attitude implicitly. "The key point of propaganda work lies in publicizing a result, and explaining to the masses why we are doing this. Therefore, the clarity of the theory in propaganda work, as well as logical self-consistency, is extremely important. Of course, Comrade Zhang Yu believes in discipline during execution, and even a certain degree of confidentiality; I do not oppose that either. I know that comrades have always felt that I don't speak much truth."

Hearing this last sentence, many of the Party's senior cadres couldn't help but smile. This kind of criticism was almost completely public. Chen Ke viewed current execution as extremely important, so it was only long after things were completely over that the comrades could figure out the ins and outs of the whole matter on their own. This made the comrades very annoyed with Chen Ke sometimes. Being kept in the dark, even if it was being kept in the dark with good intentions, still represented an attitude of distrust.

"Chairman Chen, since the theoretical guidance work for this conscription propaganda and the propaganda work itself are so important, I will ask two questions. Chairman Chen, you must tell us exactly what is in your heart." Yuwen Badu spoke up.

Chen Ke nodded. Yuwen Badu rarely spoke so bluntly; it seemed Yuwen Badu was truly anxious.

"The first question: how exactly does Chairman Chen view the masses? You always say we must trust the masses and rely on the masses. Perhaps my political level is too low, but the way I see it, Chairman Chen, you are mainly guarding against the masses and leading the masses." Yuwen Badu raised such a question.

Approving looks appeared on the faces of some comrades; this key question was also troubling them. However, the expressions of Qi Huishen, Zhang Yu, and Ren Qiying were slightly disapproving.

Chen Ke answered, "Speaking of the Chinese people, I have always believed that the Chinese people are great. For thousands of years, China has alternated between abundance and frequent disasters and famines. The masses have high aspirations, but they have long-term anxiety about scarcity. Therefore, the Chinese people place great importance on immediate interests. This is nothing shameful; it is a historical reason, the continental monsoon climate is just like that. Think about it, if you trace back every family for a dozen or dozens of generations, it has been an alternation of famine years, bumper harvests, wealth, and disasters. One moment they are rich, the next their families are broken and they are dead. This long-term state cannot help but foster a habit in Chinese people of desperately grabbing what they can get their hands on. In our investigations of the base areas, those who value money the most are precisely the kind of people who succeeded through hard work. This is the result caused by the natural environment and history."

These words didn't sound like nice words, but they were the honest truth. Every comrade nodded slightly.

"Such historical reasons have made our Chinese people disbelieve in ghosts and gods. They go everywhere to pray to gods and Buddhas because the masses do not have enough grasp of science and cannot recognize those natural laws. But as long as it is not the type seeking psychological comfort and peace, there are very few Chinese masses who truly believe in these gods, Buddhas, ghosts, and monsters. In my book *Chinese Cultural Inheritance and the Rise of Materialism*, I discussed this issue. Of course, in that book, there were many things I didn't say, and many places where I spoke nonsense. Everyone need not mind."

There was another ripple of low laughter, especially from the comrades who had started following Chen Ke early on because of that book. Everyone could indeed recognize the problems in that book now, but no one was angry, because even that book had revealed the true face of the vast world to these youths to a considerable extent and lifted the fog from before their eyes.

"After thousands of years of tossing and turning, those who didn't fight or grab, who held expectant hopes for the coming year, all died out long ago in the face of disasters. The ones left are those who built fortified docks and hid inside them, collecting every grain of food, every piece of ragged cloth, strangling the extra children born, and beating to death or enslaving outside refugees. This habit of desperately wanting more and hurriedly occupying more has been carved into our bones after so many generations. From bargaining over buying vegetables in small matters, to desperately buying houses—buying several houses—in medium matters, to being extremely stubborn about territorial issues in major matters. The Chinese people simply cannot say, 'I didn't get it this time, next time will be fine.' The situation in China is that next time it changes, it's long gone. Whatever you encounter is always a new situation."

These words were too realistic and didn't sound like praise for the people at all. How could Chen Ke, holding such an attitude, support trusting the people? But no one dared to easily draw any conclusion. Because every time, Chen Ke could unexpectedly pull the problem back to his initial theory and give an almost irrefutable definition in an even more eloquent way.

"Born in sorrow and dying in peace—this implies the disasters and changes that have lasted for thousands of years, forming the simple materialist worldview of the Chinese people. This simple materialist worldview determines that the Chinese people are the most reasonable. If they were not reasonable and instead believed in those heresies, China would have perished long ago. Therefore, the Chinese people can certainly recognize the fact that revolution promotes social progress. They can equally recognize the science and democracy we promote, and they will also fully utilize this democracy and science to make their own lives better, thereby achieving the comprehensive progress of the entire society. So I have always believed in the masses and relied on the masses. Without the masses, there would be none of our current revolutionary achievements."

Yuwen Badu remained silent. The logic of the principles Chen Ke recounted had no problems, yet it made people involuntarily feel a strong sense of dissonance. Something must be wrong; there was something Chen Ke hadn't explained clearly. After being silent for a good while, Yuwen Badu asked, "Then how do we trust the masses?"

"As long as you consider yourself not to be part of the masses, then you cannot possibly trust the masses." Chen Ke stared at Yuwen Badu with a solemn expression, speaking word by word. "We are all Chinese. Every one of us has inherited this way of thinking passed down from our ancestors. If you don't treat yourself as part of the people, if you don't think that you also have these characteristics of the masses, but instead think you are a cut above others, thinking that the masses must obey your will, then the vast majority of things cannot be accomplished. Because what the Chinese people consider first is their own interests. If the interests of the masses cannot be satisfied, then one's own interests can absolutely never be realized."

Chen Ke's expression was too solemn, looking aggressive, and no one was willing to continue making a sound at this moment. Moreover, the comrades also knew that there were some reasons why Chen Ke said this to Yuwen Badu. Chen Ke had criticized Yuwen Badu very frequently recently. More importantly, Chen Ke had arranged for Ren Qiying to be Yuwen Badu's deputy for several years now, and Yuwen Badu had made great progress. But this bit of progress was acting as a foil to Ren Qiying's even greater progress.

Someone had already publicly mocked Yuwen Badu as being Ren Qiying's deputy, and there were indeed major problems in Yuwen Badu's recent work arrangements. Not only did many policies fail to get support from the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, but problems occurred frequently in the work Yuwen Badu was directly responsible for, which was a rare situation within the People's Party. Whether it was Yuwen Badu's public self-criticism or the comrades' private discussions, everyone believed that Yuwen Badu had been too impatient recently and had lost his composure. But admitting it without obvious improvement meant the problem was big.

It was just that Yuwen Badu had too much seniority, and no one was willing to be the first to bring up the issue of replacing him. Moreover, the Party's general election had not yet arrived, so it was really difficult to move Yuwen Badu. Many comrades had already started hoping in their hearts that Chen Ke could forcefully push for personnel changes. Seeing Chen Ke's attitude so solemn this time, this thought began to become active again.

However, Chen Ke's secretary came in at this moment. He whispered, "Chairman Chen, regarding the meeting with those people from the Tongmenghui outside, should we arrange it for tomorrow?"

Chen Ke replied, "No need, I'll go over now. Have you arranged the other reception comrades?"

"They have already been arranged," the secretary replied.

"Let's stop here. I'll go deal with the matters outside first," Chen Ke said as he stood up.

"Chairman Chen, I... I want to talk to you privately," Yuwen Badu suddenly said.

"This evening," Chen Ke gave the answer.

Many comrades immediately hoped in their hearts that Yuwen Badu could see the current situation clearly and choose to resign voluntarily. With this thought, many gazes fell on Ren Qiying. If Yuwen Badu stepped down, Ren Qiying would become the comrade with the most hope of taking over Yuwen Badu's position. Obviously, Ren Qiying pretended not to see these gazes; she lowered her head slightly and began to organize the documents in front of her. Until Ren Qiying stood up and left the meeting room, her gaze never made contact or exchanged anything with other comrades.

When Chen Ke brought Umekawa Kamiyoshi into the meeting room, the faces of Song Jiaoren, Kita Ikki, and Hu Hanmin were all unpleasant. It wasn't that they had decided not to give Chen Ke a good look, but according to the introduction by the reception staff before entering, a conflict had occurred between Song Jiaoren and Hu Hanmin.

Umekawa Kamiyoshi was already the Director of the Agricultural Bureau of Fengtai County. The People's Party had no discrimination against Japanese comrades. There was always a glass ceiling for foreigners, but it was limited to senior Party and administrative positions; for example, no Japanese comrade had obtained a provincial-level position. On the contrary, in the army, several comrades engaged in military work like Kuroshima Jin had already reached the level of division cadres. After all, the army looked at military merit; guys who hid in the back wouldn't get promotion opportunities. Only army comrades who dared to fight and struggle on the front line could gain recognition. People who put life and death aside might become traitors, but it was hard to imagine them becoming spies.

Learning that the Umekawa Kamiyoshi before him was Japanese, Kita Ikki was already somewhat agitated. And Umekawa Kamiyoshi's current official position didn't sound low, which caused a subtle change in Kita Ikki's attitude towards the People's Party.

Song Jiaoren spoke according to the preparations made beforehand: "Mr. Chen, we have a suggestion. Let our various revolutionary parties unite, first take the southern provinces, and after overthrowing the Manchu Qing, we demand the implementation of a parliamentary system, with the National Assembly holding power. If the People's Party is willing, we of the Huaxinghui and the Tongmenghui will jointly nominate Mr. Chen as the Great President."

After introducing the idea, Song Jiaoren, Kuroshima Jin, and Hu Hanmin all stared at Chen Ke with burning gazes. Umekawa Kamiyoshi was a forcibly dragged-in receptionist; he never expected to hear such a "major event" as soon as he entered. He looked at Chen Ke in confusion, puzzled over whether he should be listening to these things.

At this moment, everyone heard Chen Ke say, "Our People's Party has never feared launching a revolutionary war, but we ourselves oppose meaningless wars. Since the so-called National Assembly is to be convened this year, we might as well give them a chance. If they insist on being buried along with the Manchu Qing, our People's Party will not be polite either."

Hu Hanmin revealed a mocking expression. "If these people decide to overthrow the Manchu Qing, with the currently proposed presidential system of federal autonomy, Yuan Shikai will first steal the political power of the Manchu Qing, and then steal the presidency of the country. I wonder what view Mr. Chen has on this?"

"What we are fully promoting now is the overthrow of the Manchu Qing. If Yuan Shikai supports the continued existence of the Manchu Qing, then needless to say, we will certainly do our utmost to eliminate him. As for whether Yuan Shikai comes to power after the Manchu Qing is finished, I actually think it should be resolved politically. I said earlier that our People's Party is willing to launch a war to overthrow the Manchu Qing; this is also the obligation of our People's Party. However, after overthrowing the Manchu Qing, our People's Party is unwilling to launch a warlord war. To launch a war for one's own selfish interests, I think this is an irresponsible attitude. Political problems should be resolved politically."

Hu Hanmin gave a cold laugh but did not speak. Song Jiaoren, however, opened his mouth. "I wonder if Mr. Chen supports a presidential system or a party system?"

"What our base areas implement is a multi-party cooperation system led by the People's Party." Chen Ke gave a clear and crisp answer.

Although Song Jiaoren's expression changed, he was far more cultivated than Hu Hanmin. He asked Chen Ke in detail about what exactly this People's Party-led multi-party cooperation system was.

After listening to Chen Ke finish, Song Jiaoren was silent at first. Only after a good while did he speak. "Can I consider it this way: what Mr. Chen supports is a one-party dictatorship?"