"The multi-party cooperation system under the leadership of the People's Party is not a one-party dictatorship; it is the people's democratic dictatorship of the broad masses of working people," Chen Ke replied with a grin.

In these times, no matter what they thought in their hearts, everyone inevitably had to shout a few slogans about democracy and republicanism. The only one who consistently put forward the concept of dictatorship was the People's Party. Upon hearing "dictatorship," Song Jiaoren immediately felt strong resistance in his heart. Dictatorship meant "coercion," meant the powerful suppressing the weak. This was worlds apart from the "democracy" Song Jiaoren hoped for.

"Without a party system and an election system, where does democracy come from?" Song Jiaoren immediately retorted.

There were also such views within the People's Party in the early days, and Chen Ke had long grown tired of hearing them. "'Democracy' as a slogan is poorly explained and its meaning is unclear. Those who shout about democratic systems never regard themselves as the people. Mr. Song, can you tell me who exactly you refer to when you speak of 'the people'?"

Song Jiaoren was stunned. Chen Ke's words didn't sound good no matter how he listened. If speaking from Song Jiaoren's true heart, whoever supported party politics was "the people." So in the current China, Song Jiaoren truly believed that there were actually very few who could be called "the people." But this kind of thing could be thought, yet was very difficult to say publicly. Especially to someone like Chen Ke who held great power.

"Mr. Chen, isn't it good to overthrow the monarchy and realize democracy?" Song Jiaoren avoided Chen Ke's question and directly led the topic in this very general direction.

Chen Ke stared at Song Jiaoren and said in a rather cold tone: "Our People's Party has always been dedicated to overthrowing the monarchy; this is our greatest goal at the present stage. As for democracy, don't talk about elections or political parties. Democracy—who are the people?"

Hu Hanmin immediately interjected: "The four hundred million compatriots of China are the people."

Chen Ke turned a deaf ear to this; he stared at Song Jiaoren, waiting for Song Jiaoren's answer.

Song Jiaoren held back for a good while before saying: "The common people of China are the people. But now the people's wisdom is not yet open, so we must rely on revolutionaries and gentry everywhere."

"In other words, Mr. Song believes that at the current stage, there are people more suitable to be 'the people' than the common people?" Chen Ke pressed.

Song Jiaoren was forced into a corner by Chen Ke; he asked in return: "Then what does Mr. Chen think?"

"What I think is not important at all; what situation we face is the most important. The people want to eat and drink, want land to farm. This is the most important thing. Our People's Party government can't conjure up money, nor can we conjure up grain. We can only go farm the land, repair water conservancy, and build dams together with everyone. This is the people—they want to eat, drink, and live. If this democracy can conjure up food and drink, the people will definitely follow you. If it can't, the people will absolutely not pay attention to you."

Chen Ke's tone was very heavy. Before the revolution, he had also once been a believer in democracy for a time. But once he truly participated in the revolution, he detested it. State institutions must guarantee the development of productive forces and guarantee the effective operation of society. This was originally a very scientific thing. A bunch of people engaging in politics had smeared too many things onto the vocabulary of democracy, as if without the word democracy, it would be the end of the world. The people wouldn't die at all if they didn't use the word "democracy" for a month, but they would definitely die if they didn't eat food for half a month. This was the truth of the word "democracy."

As for these people promoting democracy at the end of the Qing Dynasty, what they hoped for was to obtain power through "democracy." Among all those who actively came to Chen Ke to propagate democracy, not a single one mentioned the immediate living problems of the people. Not a single one.

"Then Mr. Chen will absolutely not support the parliamentary system?" Song Jiaoren said in a reproachful tone. As if Chen Ke had done some terrible evil deed.

Song Jiaoren was quite tragic in history. Regarding who assassinated Song Jiaoren, there were various theories in history. Chen Ke originally felt he should give Song Jiaoren a little respect, but this respect had vanished with contact. Hearing Song Jiaoren's reproachful tone, Chen Ke could no longer hold back; he let out a cold snort.

"Mr. Song, in your view, democracy is your banner, very important, very necessary. Without democracy, you few people would have nothing. I can understand. But for us, democracy is a tool used to solve the immediate living problems of the masses. Everyone has no land to farm, so we democratically discuss it, and the land must be nationalized. China is being bullied, so we democratically discuss it, and we must overthrow the Manchus. What we want to get from democracy is support, not like you, getting a bunch of people with assets to decide the fate of the people. There is really nothing to talk about between our two sides on this matter. What we talk about in the base area is how to do things. How to let everyone eat their fill first, dress warmly, how to earn more money, and ensure the children all go to school. Those democracies you talk about are fundamentally useless for the practical problems we need to solve now; of course, I cannot support your set of parliamentary democracy."

These words stabbed Song Jiaoren's sore spot like a knife. Song Jiaoren flew into a rage; he slapped the table with a *pa*, pointed at Chen Ke, and said: "Mr. Chen, according to what you say, how is what you are doing different from those feudal emperors and warlords?"

"Heh heh!" Hu Hanmin laughed coldly twice from the side at just the right moment, intensifying the already heated situation a little more.

Chen Ke calmed down instead. "I can tell you the biggest difference between us. You believe in having a certain system first, and then using this system to manipulate the people. We believe in first recognizing that we are part of the people, and then learning to live well together with the people. Only in this process can a system that truly meets the needs of the people be produced."

These were Chen Ke's heartfelt words, but Song Jiaoren and Hu Hanmin clearly thought this was an excuse Chen Ke found for himself to maintain the interests the People's Party had obtained now. Umekawa Kamiyoshi, who came to accompany them, looked serious. Having received the Party's education for so long, he knew clearly that the People's Party had always been trying to implement this concept thoroughly. And Kita Ikki beside him revealed a look of deep respect.

Watching Song Jiaoren's rage and Hu Hanmin's face full of mockery, a little regret arose in Chen Ke's heart. Was falling out with other political parties so early a bit against the "United Front"? But Chen Ke quickly made up his mind. The performance of this group of people in history could only be called "pig-like teammates." Falling out early wasn't a bad thing at all. Moreover, whether it was the Tongmenghui or the Huaxinghui, they gathered the forces of landlords and gentry; this force was Chen Ke's great enemy. Making the hostile stance clear wasn't a bad thing at all. And from a more practical perspective, the Tongmenghui and Huaxinghui didn't even have the ability to effectively mobilize the landlords and gentry.

"Do you gentlemen have any other matters? If not, I will take my leave." Chen Ke said brightly.

"Mr. Chen, I would like to visit the base area. Is that okay?" Kita Ikki hurriedly said. Ever since learning that there were other Japanese revolutionary youths working in the People's Party, Kita Ikki had made up his mind to befriend them properly.

"This Comrade Umekawa is temporarily responsible for your reception work. Discuss it with him," Chen Ke replied.

Song Jiaoren didn't intend to discuss politics with Chen Ke this time. The situation of the Huaxinghui in Hunan was very unoptimistic now. He came this time to borrow money, grain, and guns from the People's Party. Starting such a big conflict was originally not Song Jiaoren's intention. Seeing Chen Ke already had the posture of seeing off guests, Song Jiaoren felt great regret in his heart. Turning his head to see Hu Hanmin's face looking like he feared the world wouldn't be chaotic, Song Jiaoren suddenly felt a huge suspicion: did Hu Hanmin already know Chen Ke's political views and deliberately provoked the conflict in fundamental political positions between the two sides?

While waiting for Chen Ke, Hu Hanmin kept leading the topic towards Chen Ke opposing the democratic system. When Song Jiaoren defended Chen Ke slightly, Hu Hanmin deliberately provoked, and the two argued for quite a while. As a result, when Song Jiaoren talked with Chen Ke, they indeed couldn't agree, and Chen Ke's attitude was so firm. Now that the talks had collapsed, there was no basis for discussing cooperation again. Let alone opening his mouth to ask Chen Ke for things.

Song Jiaoren was a figure after all. At this point, he couldn't care about so many matters of face. He shouted: "Mr. Chen, please stay."

Everyone in the room looked at Song Jiaoren. Song Jiaoren had already changed to a very sincere expression. "Mr. Chen, whether to adopt a party system—now that the Manchus are not yet destroyed and the revolution has not yet succeeded, that can be discussed later. I came this time to ask Mr. Chen for help. The comrades of the Huaxinghui have reached the point of running out of ammunition and food. I hope the People's Party can support the revolution."

Natural disasters were frequent at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Added to the financial collapse of the Qing government, the water conservancy projects that should have been supported by the state in the provinces of the Southeast Mutual Protection during the Gengzi year (1900) were all stopped. The already frequent natural disasters immediately caused great harm.

The basis for the People's Party easily seizing Hubei was that starting from 1904, Hubei had constant floods. Hunan, adjacent to Hubei, was the same. By 1910, Hunan's floods had lasted for seven years. Rice was as expensive as pearls, firewood as cassia; starving people were everywhere, and the lives of the common people were in extreme hardship. After entering summer, Hunan had continuous violent storms, added with "freezing northern winds and snow," causing a rare "strange disaster." "Official dikes and private embankments collapsed countless times, fields and houses were washed away, livestock lost, and the damage was immense."

That the Huaxinghui could gain a foothold in Hunan initially, the large-scale social chaos caused by natural disasters played an important role. But this was only the initial stage. After the Huaxinghui seized Changde, they once proclaimed they would save the elders of Hunan. The rolling refugees that followed directly crushed the Huaxinghui's finances. The grain and materials provided by the Huaxinghui's supporters were fine for feeding a few hundred Huaxinghui members. Faced with tens of thousands of refugees, it was simply a drop in the bucket.

In order to seize Hunan, the Huaxinghui vigorously agitated the Hunan New Army to revolt. Hunan Governor Cen Chunming also consulted many people during the National Assembly meeting. Jiangsu Governor Wang Youhong had a way of controlling the New Army, and he became a figure whom many governors of the southeast competed to visit.

Wang Youhong believed that one of the reasons for the New Army's uprising was not recognizing the situation clearly. The New Army generally believed that once the imperial court was overthrown, the situation would immediately improve. They hadn't thought clearly at all: if the court was overthrown, where would their soldiers' pay come from? As long as these things were explained clearly to the New Army, and reforms were practically undertaken, the New Army was still very reasonable.

Having obtained Wang Youhong's true teachings, the southeastern governors put great effort into propaganda after returning. Hunan Governor Cen Chunming also operated this way. He laid out facts and reasoned with the army, and fully utilized his brother Cen Chunxuan's reputation, managing to maintain the situation somehow. Faced with the Huaxinghui's agitation, the New Army did not revolt. The masses in Hunan had difficult lives, and the New Army dared not easily lose their jobs even more. Moreover, after the People's Party seized Hubei and Jiangxi surrounding Hunan, although the pressure was immense, the People's Party concentrated on internal affairs after all. Although they encountered disasters, no refugees ran to Hunan, and the grain trade between the two sides had been cut off. Grain prices in Hunan managed to stabilize at a relatively high position.

The Huaxinghui's efforts to agitate the New Army to revolt actually lost to the fact that the New Army could be paid on time. This was greatly beyond the expectations of the Huaxinghui led by Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing. Faced with the situation of financial exhaustion, a revolutionary party like the Huaxinghui with no foundation was simply not good at protracted war. As a last resort, the Huaxinghui had to start establishing a system within the controlled area and begin collecting taxes. They were a group of outsiders; how could they manage this well? So the Huaxinghui could only "fully cooperate" with the local gentry, rapidly transforming from a revolutionary party into a guardian of gentry interests. The Huaxinghui's reputation among the folk in Hunan began to plummet.

Even having become the guardian of gentry interests, the Huaxinghui still couldn't hold on now. Maintaining more than three thousand troops was a huge consumption. Fighting with the New Army and various local forces, protecting the sphere of influence—troops needed to be deployed everywhere. Even these small-scale wars were gold-swallowing beasts. Song Jiaoren originally didn't like the People's Party, and the Huaxinghui from top to bottom was very wary of the People's Party. The People's Party conquered cities and seized land; once the People's Party fought into Hunan, the Huaxinghui would only be making wedding clothes for others. Only now, at the end of their rope, did Song Jiaoren run to the People's Party for help in a hurry. As a result, out of deep-rooted apprehension in his heart, Song Jiaoren fell into the trap of Hu Hanmin's provocation.

"This requires internal discussion within our People's Party. I alone cannot make the decision," Chen Ke replied.

Hearing this answer, Song Jiaoren's face looked even uglier, and Hu Hanmin couldn't help but sneer again. Umekawa Kamiyoshi revealed an angry look on his face. Regarding external aid, the People's Party must discuss it through the Party Committee; this was organizational discipline. Without discussion by the Party Committee, even Chen Ke wasn't qualified to make the People's Party pay money.

"Mr. Song, write me a number for the loan. I will discuss it at the Party Committee." Chen Ke ignored the expressions of others and asked calmly.

"This..." Song Jiaoren became troubled. his hope was the more the better. As for how much he really wanted to borrow, he had no plan either. With Chen Ke saying this, Song Jiaoren couldn't say an accurate number instead.

"Think about it, and write me a number." Chen Ke said with a smile. "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave first. Comrade Umekawa Kamiyoshi is responsible for reception work; you can discuss with him if you need anything."

Watching Chen Ke's retreating figure, Hu Hanmin sneered again. He turned his head and said: "Dunchu, we should have a good talk."

Unexpectedly, Song Jiaoren snorted coldly, "I have matters tonight; I'm afraid I can't keep you company."

Seeing Song Jiaoren's face full of anger, Hu Hanmin realized this anger was likely directed at himself. He hurriedly said: "Dunchu, do you still believe Chen Ke? Even if he gives aid, it will just be sending you off with some insignificant things."

"We are so poor now that we wish we could beg on the streets. If he sends me off with anything casually, I'd be eternally grateful." Leaving this sentence behind, Song Jiaoren went to discuss the issue of material aid with the Huaxinghui comrades.

Hu Hanmin originally thought he had successfully provoked the relationship between the Huaxinghui and the People's Party, but he didn't expect that Song Jiaoren hadn't told the truth from the beginning. He had actually run here to "beg." The People's Party was wealthy and imposing; this was something that made other revolutionary parties jealous enough to spit fire. As long as Song Jiaoren didn't ask for much, the People's Party could absolutely afford it. Watching Song Jiaoren's back, Hu Hanmin felt a burst of irritability in his heart.

Just then, he heard Kita Ikki already starting to chat with Umekawa Kamiyoshi in Chinese. Kita Ikki seemed not to have heard the content of everyone's conflict today at all, and instead seriously asked Umekawa Kamiyoshi, this Japanese person, about the People's Party's specific policies. Kita Ikki wasn't Hu Hanmin's subordinate; even if Hu Hanmin was unhappy, he had no qualification to gossip about Kita Ikki. Meeting a rebuff at the People's Party, followed by the scattered situation of internal personnel, Hu Hanmin turned his head and left with a cold face.

Kita Ikki didn't care much about Hu Hanmin's mood. Without Hu Hanmin there, he even felt more relaxed. Since neither Hu Hanmin nor Song Jiaoren were there, and Kita Ikki was prepared to help Song Jiaoren, he quickly turned the topic to how the People's Party responded to disaster relief.

Umekawa Kamiyoshi was an old Party member; he participated in the People's Party's disaster relief in Anhui and understood it thoroughly. Fellow countryman meeting fellow countryman, Umekawa Kamiyoshi didn't mind explaining it well.

The People's Party started with disaster relief and had rich experience. Wherever they went, they immediately organized relief and restored production. And they fully utilized these opportunities to promote comprehensive and thorough Land Reform. After Land Reform, the new government organized manpower to start dredging river channels and building dikes. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army played a huge role in this. With the efforts of the surveying teams the People's Party had spent untold hardships to cultivate, the new construction plans were far more scientific than before. The programmatic plan proposed by Chen Ke of "protecting key points, establishing flood diversion areas" increased efficiency even more, and basic water conservancy projects that had been neglected for ten years finally began to recover. In the floods, the People's Party's formidable execution ability ensured one thing: party and government officials everywhere must go to the front line, using local troops as the backbone to ensure the main dikes were not lost. Under such execution ability, even the hastily launched basic water conservancy projects played a huge role.

"Umekawa-kun, all officials go to the front line—is it really like this?" Kita Ikki listened with shining eyes.

"Kita-kun, it really is like this!" Umekawa Kamiyoshi answered proudly. As the Director of the County Agriculture Bureau, going to the dike during the flood season every year was already a common occurrence. With the improvement of the People's Party's cement production and transportation capacity, a considerable part of the key sections of the Huai River dike had begun to turn into solid dikes built of stone and cement.

"Then is it possible to realize the line of the Chinese revolution promoted by the People's Party?" Kita Ikki asked next.

Umekawa Kamiyoshi could see Kita Ikki's desire for revolution. His voice also became somewhat impassioned. "Kita-kun, the People's Party's revolutionary line is built on the foundation of the comprehensive destruction of the old gentry class. I am also reflecting on what exactly the Japanese revolution can learn from the People's Party's Chinese revolution. Looking at it now, Japan must undergo a comprehensive and profound transformation. All old systems must be thoroughly destroyed; the Japanese people must be the masters in Japan. Without the thorough destruction of the old upper strata, Japan will have no new life!"

"I ask Umekawa-kun to enlighten me!" Hearing Umekawa Kamiyoshi speak of the key point, Kita Ikki immediately lowered his head respectfully and said.

If Kita Ikki knew that Umekawa Kamiyoshi originally ran to China to join the revolution only because he couldn't make a living at home and was "coerced" by Kuroshima Jin and others in a muddle-headed way, he might feel his current respect was truly being cheated. But Kita Ikki really wanted to know now how the revolution could be successful like the People's Party.

"I have always been engaged in logistics and agricultural work. I started raising pigs, later went to the army farm, and only later arrived at the County Agriculture Bureau to become this Director. So regarding how to implement military struggle, I personally am not clear." Umekawa Kamiyoshi had been in the People's Party for over five years after all; he still had basic fact-seeking. Moreover, Umekawa Kamiyoshi himself didn't plan to return to Japan to start a revolution from scratch. Recently, many Japanese revolutionary comrades in the People's Party collectively sent people to bring family members willing to come to China to the base area. Although Umekawa Kamiyoshi's parents didn't come, his parents sent his younger brothers and sisters to the base area. Since he didn't prepare to return to Japan to participate in the revolution personally, Umekawa Kamiyoshi wanted even more to impart revolutionary logic to a Japanese revolutionary youth like Kita Ikki who was willing to revolt.

"Kita-kun, without eliminating the exploitation system, the Japanese people will never have a day of emerging. Even if the Japanese upper strata are successful, the people will still have nothing. Only when the means of production are mastered in the hands of the working people will Japan have a true future!"