"Bullshit!" Gu Lu roared, his voice ringing like a great bell. Every comrade attending the meeting was stunned. The lowest rank in the room was Regimental Commander, and there were quite a few Division and Corps Commanders present. No one had ever dared to shout so presumptuously in such a setting before.

The target of Gu Lu's outburst was a Regimental Commander sitting opposite him, named Chu Deli. Chu Deli had just made a remark laced with sarcasm, mocking Gu Lu's regiment. The gist was that Gu Lu's regiment only worked hard to show off. Acting Regimental Commander Gao Zhisheng was both ashamed and angry, but before he could speak, Gu Lu had already slammed the table and risen to his feet, letting fly with "Bullshit!"

Chu Deli hadn't expected Gu Lu, who was just a staff officer not long ago, to be so explosive. He had been speaking triumphantly and was now left momentarily speechless by the sudden curse.

Gu Lu gave him no time to think. He spoke rapidly, words firing like a machine gun. "Our regiment worked the fastest and dug the most earth. Why can't we be rated as Advanced? This competition is about labor results. Even though Commander Lu was dismissed, it wasn't because he did a bad job. What you just said is pure bullshit."

The other commanders and commissars didn't genuinely agree with Chu Deli's statement. This was the pre-New Year merit assessment meeting, evaluating the work performance of the troops. When Lu Kaiwen was in charge, the 44072 Regiment's performance had been outstanding. If it hadn't been, they wouldn't have been recommended for Chen Ke's inspection. But with Lu Kaiwen's incident, everyone felt it was impossible to apply the same standards to the 44072 Regiment as the others.

However, while everyone thought this, no one dared to say it aloud. The 44063 Regiment, which had stepped up to speak, also had excellent performance. Everyone knew Chu Deli's position: if he could exclude the 44072 Regiment from the competition, his regiment would likely take the honor of 'Best Labor Regiment'. This wasn't just about honor; it included material rewards. For the first-place regiment, every cadre and soldier would receive four bars of the newly produced soap. As for enamel mugs and other rewards, it was said there was one for everyone. Moreover, the honor of first place was precious to the troops. So, every officer understood the root of this conflict. Emotionally, they might not support Chu Deli, but rationally, they might not support Gu Lu either.

"How can you curse at people?" Chu Deli finally retaliated, though his counterattack seemed a bit weak.

Accused of cursing, Gu Lu remained unmoved. He loudly declared, "If a Regimental Commander makes a mistake, the organization will deal with him. But you cannot ignore the labor of an entire regiment just because of one man's error. The commander should be responsible for the regiment's work, but there is no reason for all the comrades in the regiment to be responsible for the commander's personal actions."

Chu Deli felt that seizing on Gu Lu's "cursing" was indeed too feeble. Hearing Gu Lu's reasoned argument, he finally came up with a counter. "Unauthorized troop mobilization—where was the Party Committee's supervision?"

"The investigation results are very clear. Commander Lu and the Commissar never convened a Party Committee meeting. It was a decision they made privately. You ask where the supervision was? If the committee never met, how could there be supervision?" Gu Lu argued back, tit for tat.

"Being 'Advanced' isn't just about how much you do; there's also an ideological issue. Selecting an Advanced unit is a comprehensive matter. With such a major problem in the regiment, if you become the Advanced model, what kind of example is that?" Chu Deli finally hit the mark.

This point struck home, and some officers nodded slightly. Regardless, the 44072 Regiment had a major incident, so they couldn't be promoted as a model. Gu Lu, however, showed no fear. He shouted, "If that's what you say, fine. Then change the rules for selecting Advanced units. The rule for this competition was labor: whoever does the most and organizes labor the best is Advanced."

Hearing Gu Lu's clear-cut answer, the comrades' eyes turned to the Chief Engineer Commander, Chai Qingguo. Chai Qingguo looked calm. He said, "Very well. Let's discuss the rules for this merit assessment again and set a Party Committee resolution. Future evaluations will follow these new rules."

Put this way, the comrades felt it was acceptable. Currently, the troop merit assessment—or specifically for this project—was still using the military merit system. On the battlefield, if someone dared to mobilize troops without authorization, let alone Lu Kaiwen losing his head immediately, the 44072 Regiment wouldn't have any war merits to speak of. They wouldn't even be considered. But when the standards for this assessment were set, no one had anticipated an incident like Lu Kaiwen's. The criteria were entirely based on labor results. So, how to evaluate the 44072 Regiment had become extremely awkward.

"I suggest that if any regimental-level cadre has a problem, that regiment should be disqualified from any Advanced ratings," Chu Deli said first.

As soon as his voice fell, Zhong Xiulin, Commander of the 4407 Division, asked coldly, "As a Division Commander, if a Regimental Commander has a problem, I bear responsibility. What about the division-level assessment? Our Corps Commander is also sitting here; I ask, what about the corps-level assessment?"

Chu Deli hadn't thought that far ahead. Questioned by the 4407 Division Commander, he didn't dare to reply. If they really followed his logic of collective punishment, it would implicate everyone down the line and up the line. That would be a huge problem. Moreover, after Zhong Xiulin spoke, the commanders and commissars of the other three regiments glared at Chu Deli. Although Chu Deli was bold, he felt a bit unnerved.

"Why not just exclude the Second Regiment from the assessment this time?" Pang Zi said.

Zhong Xiulin didn't give time for this to be discussed. He immediately replied, "So our division is just missing a regiment? Other divisions have four regiments working, and we have three? You might as well exclude our entire division."

Pang Zi was choked by this retort and felt quite uncomfortable. A mocking smile appeared on his face. "Then what do you think should be done, Commander Zhong?"

"Responsibilities must be distinguished. Should the work be done for nothing? If that's how we assess, I don't think it's fair," Zhong Xiulin said loudly, staring at Pang Zi.

The meeting room fell into silence. Zhong Xiulin's words made sense; work shouldn't be done in vain. But this sudden event was too difficult to assign responsibility for—not that the culprit couldn't be identified, but rather the issue of responsibility between officers and the unit. On the battlefield, this was easy to handle, but they weren't fighting a war right now...

Silence, silence, silence for a good while. Many wanted to speak but held back. If they started talking about principles, it would become a question of who was responsible. Lu Kaiwen and others had paid the price, but what result should those who didn't cause trouble bear? If responsibility were expanded to a certain extent, even Chief Commander Chai Qingguo wouldn't escape it. And what responsibility should the Shandong Military Region bear?

Just as everyone was unsure how to define the scope of responsibility, Zhong Xiulin checkmated Pang Zi again. "Commander Pang, what is your opinion?"

Seeing everyone's eyes focus on him, Pang Zi couldn't help but look grim. He genuinely detested Gu Lu. In Pang Zi's view, Chen Ke's desire to use Gu Lu had made it impossible for other officers to intervene in the Engineering Corps' work. This 'starting fresh' approach disappointed Pang Zi greatly. To make matters worse, Wu Xingchen and Chai Qingguo clearly supported Chen Ke, leaving Pang Zi with no opportunities. So, he hoped to deal a heavy blow to Gu Lu's regiment. He just hadn't expected the conflict to erupt over merit assessment. If Gu Lu's regiment won 'Excellent' due to labor results, Pang Zi would be very, very unhappy.

Pang Zi was a Division Commander, and so was Zhong Xiulin. Even if the Cavalry Division was more glorious than the Infantry Division, that was only on the battlefield. In the Party Committee meeting, Pang Zi had no advantage. Not only did he have no advantage over Zhong Xiulin, but even against Gu Lu, a Regimental Commissar, it was one person, one vote. Pang Zi had no theoretical qualification to suppress Gu Lu.

"Chief Commander Chai, what do you think?" In his helplessness, Pang Zi kicked the ball to Chai Qingguo.

Chai Qingguo had remained calm and silent while listening to the argument. Now that Pang Zi spoke, Chai Qingguo opened his mouth. "Setting rules this time isn't just a temporary measure for this one incident. It will be the new charter for future troop assessments. I have no opinion. Once the new regulations are set, they will affect all troops. It should be the comrades who discuss this issue."

Hearing this, Pang Zi felt even more awkward. He had thought Gu Lu, a young comrade, was nothing special, but he hadn't expected Gu Lu to propose modifying the assessment rules. If it were a temporary discussion on handling the 44072 Regiment, things would be easy. The Committee could discuss it and mold the decision however they liked—round or square—since it was temporary. But Gu Lu went straight for the overall merit regulations. If the general rules were unfair or unequal, it would damage the collective interest. None of the officers present dared to mess with that.

Thinking of this, Pang Zi glanced at Gu Lu, then at Chai Qingguo, feeling quite regretful. *If only I had guided this to a temporary decision from the start,* Pang Zi thought.

Chai Qingguo didn't care what Pang Zi thought. Years ago, when he met Chen Ke in Beijing, he had been screwed over by that "Party Group" in Beijing. Organizational struggle was a cruel thing. if interest groups with different stances existed within the same organization, the struggle would be endless unless one faction was completely defeated and purged. At that time, Chen Ke hadn't supported Chai Qingguo, and Chai Qingguo had been extremely indignant. It wasn't until more than a year later that he understood Chen Ke had compelling reasons then; he needed the support of that Beijing group temporarily. Once Chen Ke got what he wanted, he actively left Beijing. If a summary had to be given, it could probably be described as a "United Front."

In the current People's Party, there were also obvious line struggle issues. And the complexity was far beyond what it had been in Beijing. Just like the struggle before them: no one mentioned the root of the contradiction. Or rather, no one dared to say it aloud. So Chai Qingguo could only use "comprehensive rule revision" to solve the problem. He was quite satisfied that Gu Lu had steered the topic in this direction. Equality within the Party organization was the bottom line. If they could manipulate the 44072 Regiment today, they could manipulate Chai Qingguo tomorrow. As the person in charge of the project, the only thing Chai Qingguo could rely on was the sound operation of the organizational system.

Chu Deli really hadn't expected to stir up such a hornet's nest. His initial idea was simple: eliminate the competitor, the 44072 Regiment, and under the original rules, his 44063 Regiment would take first place. But he hadn't anticipated that justifying the exclusion of the 44072 Regiment would be such a thorny issue.

The army was strengthening cultural education. In addition to the *Xinhua Dictionary*, the Ministry of Education had compiled the *Modern Chinese Dictionary* and the *Idiom Dictionary*. Chu Deli had seen the phrase "pull one hair and the whole body moves." At the time, he thought it was a ridiculous metaphor. Pulling a hair just pulls a hair out. What's the big deal? Now, he suddenly felt that "pull one hair and the whole body moves" was the perfect description for the current situation.

With the comrades silent, Chai Qingguo couldn't let the matter drag on. "How about this: we'll put the merit assessment aside for now and discuss work first. But until the new standards are set, the awards cannot be distributed."

As soon as he said this, Chu Deli felt unfriendly gazes directed at him from all sides. New Year was approaching; no assessment meant no rewards. Life in the army was hard, though the treatment was quite good. Daily industrial goods that weren't yet common in the base area cooperatives were supplied to the army first. The soldiers lived frugally and sent many items home. Liberation shoes, enamel mugs, soap—these were all highly popular goods. It was said that some military families living near provincial borders sold these industrial goods to other provinces and immediately made a small fortune to subsidize their households. If the rewards couldn't be distributed as planned for the New Year, the comrades would definitely not be happy.

But with the situation at this point, Chu Deli couldn't take back his words even if he wanted to. No matter how unfriendly the glares, he had to accept his fate. As for Gu Lu cursing him with "bullshit" at the start, Chu Deli had completely forgotten about it.

The rest of the meeting was quite dull. After arranging the work and deciding to discuss the merit rules in two days, everyone silently got up and left. Chai Qingguo told the secretary to organize the minutes quickly, while he went to see Chen Ke.

Listening to Chai Qingguo's report, Chen Ke asked, "Did no comrade analyze where the contradiction lies? Or why the merit standards couldn't be set?"

"Who dares to say it?" Chai Qingguo was helpless. "This contradiction is about internal distribution, not a contradiction between us and the enemy. On the battlefield, you just wipe out the enemy. Merit is simple: whoever completes their mission gets the credit. Now, all units have completed their work, so it involves distribution. On this issue, it's almost a total 'zero-sum game'. If other units get more, your unit gets less. At the moment of eruption, the intensity of this contradiction rivals that of a conflict with the enemy."

"The contradiction between backward productive forces and advanced production relations?" Chen Ke said, seemingly to himself. He didn't quite believe in the 'contradiction between the people's growing material and cultural needs and backward social production.' As long as 'the people' saw something, they wanted it. Just like Chen Ke had once let his imagination run wild about what would satisfy him. The result was roughly that he would need to become an omnipotent supreme being. As for whether this "material and cultural" need could be met, it was only the realistic material conditions that determined it "could not," not that Chen Ke "did not want" it.

Copying institutions, technology, and even organizational models from history as Chen Ke had seen them was still just copying. To make these specious things truly operate, what was needed was the internal perfection of the organization and the system itself. Throughout history, the Party had always been in a situation where it could be annihilated at any moment, so individual needs had to be thoroughly suppressed. If individual needs affected the organization's operation, the individual would be finished along with the organization's destruction. Even though Chen Ke had to some extent solved the problem of mass starvation in the base area, it didn't mean the organization would inherently become stronger.

"Should we hold a meeting to explain this?" Chai Qingguo didn't think as much as Chen Ke; he went straight to the point.

Chen Ke sighed and replied slowly, "Even if we say it, it depends on how everyone understands it. If they can't recognize the current situation and treat it as a personnel struggle, that would be counterproductive. It might be better not to say it explicitly."

Chai Qingguo agreed with Chen Ke's attitude. "It's almost New Year. If we don't distribute the items quickly, the troops' morale will be affected. I imagine the comrades don't want that to happen either. What should be the key point of this discussion?"

"Labor and equality," Chen Ke gave the answer. "If we want to superficially calm the dispute, it's not impossible. We could adopt a 'one size fits all' approach where all troops get the same things. But this kind of 'equality' is even more terrifying than inequality. It would deal a devastating blow to labor enthusiasm."

"Since we are discussing merit standards, it must be fair and equal. Equality isn't 'one size fits all,' but giving equal opportunity to labor. Given equal labor opportunities, everyone's performance will naturally differ. But ultimately, the standard of judgment can only be labor."

"People seem to want to hold on to Comrade Lu Kaiwen's organizational error..." Chai Qingguo reminded him.

"Then let everyone first discuss what merit is actually being assessed this time. That is the focal point of the contradiction."

Chai Qingguo listened to Chen Ke's answer, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Chairman Chen, if we boldly use Comrade Gu Lu this time, will other comrades feel it's unfair?"

"There is never absolute fairness in this world. Was it fair to Comrade Gu Lu when he was investigated? Definitely not. But should we not investigate him just because he might feel wronged? That's definitely not right. We must be sure of one thing: we are using Comrade Gu Lu not to compensate him, but because after testing, he has proven to have merit and is very motivated. That is enough. As for the comrades' doubts, that can only be proven by time."