According to Chu Shifu's confession, the "leak" component of the "leak incident" became increasingly diluted. Long before the military conference began, Zhou Zhentao had instructed Chu Shifu to contact several cadres who were being investigated during the Rectification Campaign, revealing the People's Party's strategic forecast for the offensive into Henan. In addition to boosting their morale, Zhou Zhentao also contacted some military commanders, hoping they would do their best to "rescue" the comrades who were being "attacked".

When the comrades from the Political Department reported this to Chen Tianhua, their attitude was quite subtle. Chen Tianhua's expression didn't change much at first, but as the scope of Zhou Zhentao's activities was gradually revealed, his brow furrowed tighter and tighter. The development of the matter had greatly exceeded expectations.

From leaking secrets to loose talk, it seemed the problem was becoming smaller, but the nature of Zhou Zhentao not raising opinions at the Party Committee meetings and instead engaging in private liaison actions was simply lawless. Coupled with his reckless predictions of the Central Committee's strategic decisions, it added even more negative factors to the matter.

"Have the Political Commissar control Chu Shifu, and the Political Security Department strengthen surveillance on those cadres based on the list provided by Chu Shifu. Inform Commander Wu of the Military Region that we will speak with Comrade Pang Zi immediately. I am going to see Chairman Chen now to report this to him." After arranging a series of tasks, Chen Tianhua prepared to get up but then stopped. "This matter is classified. Everyone must strictly abide by the relevant confidentiality regulations. Hold a Party Committee meeting, gather all comrades involved in this matter, and convey the confidentiality regulations again. Comrades, wait for me to return before adjourning."

The comrades knew this was no small matter. Chen Tianhua issued a secrecy order, and all comrades answered seriously: "Yes."

On the way to see Chen Ke, Chen Tianhua felt his legs go a bit soft, and his hands couldn't help but tremble slightly. He could still feign calm in front of the comrades in the Political Department, but once he came out, he felt unable to hold it together. It wasn't that his body couldn't hold up, but that his heart had received too great a shock. The core organizational model of the People's Party was the Party Committees at all levels. Within the Party and the army, only the Party Committees at various levels had actual power. All resolutions could only be implemented after being decided by Party Committee meetings. Zhou Zhentao's actions were a complete betrayal of organizational discipline.

In these days, people pleading for mercy and seeking connections not only sought out Chen Ke and various leaders, but even more came to the Political Department to plead. Chen Tianhua's ears were calloused from hearing about "brotherhood," "comradeship-in-arms," and "fellowship." He didn't want to pursue these comrades too excessively; after all, such sentiments were understandable. But based on the current information, there was already a group of people who no longer trusted the organization. Instead of openly raising opinions at Party Committee meetings, they relied on private liaisons and collusion, attempting to resist organizational resolutions through other means. Chen Tianhua had not followed the People's Party from the beginning. Long before joining the People's Party, Chen Tianhua had participated in the revolution with the Huaguang Society in Hunan and was a key figure in the formation of the Tongmenghui.

The events before him made Chen Tianhua feel an incomparable familiarity, and also a great terror.

Back in 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War, private students favored Japan and wanted the Yellow race to confront the White race, while the Qing court's attitude was to ally with Russia to resist Japan, so their stance was ambiguous. Chen Tianhua, Qiu Jin, and others bamboozled those Chinese students with patriotic angry youth sentiments to cause trouble in Japan and organize an anti-Russia movement, which was actually deliberately opposing the Qing court. However, Chen Tianhua received an invitation from Chen Ke at that time, and under Qiu Jin's persuasion, he first returned to Shanghai to see Chen Ke.

Receiving a lot of revolutionary education from Chen Ke, Chen Tianhua felt he couldn't talk to the Tongmenghui crowd after going back. Moreover, rumors of a romantic scandal between "student leader" Chen Tianhua and Qiu Jin were flying everywhere. Plus, Chen Ke's sincere invitation made it impossible for Chen Tianhua to refuse, so he had to leave Japan and return to China.

The matter did not end there. In the subsequent developments Chen Tianhua learned about, the Japanese student riots in 1905 blew things up too big. The Qing court contacted the Japanese Ministry of Education to issue a regulation strengthening monitoring of student gathering activities. Most students participated in the anti-Russia movement wanting China to benefit, not to become determined anti-government elements and delay their own futures for no reason. Under this general trend, the prestige and momentum of the student movement that Chen Tianhua, Qiu Jin, and others had stirred up were instantly suppressed.

After Chen Tianhua and Qiu Jin returned to China, Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen utilized the grievances of some students to encourage all students to return to China collectively, attempting to create momentum to force the Qing court to retract its order and salvage the defeat. This goal was actually asking for the impossible and was very difficult to achieve. One of the students who explicitly opposed the collective return was named Zhou Shuren, who would later be the world-renowned Lu Xun.

Just as Song Jiaoren was stubbornly holding out like a dead duck with a hard beak, Sun Yat-sen, seeing the general trend, secretly instructed Hu Hanmin, Wang Jingwei, and others of the Sun Yat-sen faction within the Tongmenghui to stand up and declare they could endure humiliation and stay in Japan. In this way, the students who were first incited by Chen Tianhua and Qiu Jin, and later followed Song Jiaoren in persisting with the strike, were completely betrayed. Their study abroad careers were ruined, and upon returning to China, they became rebels in the eyes of the Qing government, with no good outcome awaiting them.

Such actions, completely disregarding organizational discipline and acting entirely on internal factional interests, made Chen Tianhua heartbroken, and he drew a clear line with the Tongmenghui from then on. Chen Tianhua never talked to Song Jiaoren later, and he wasn't sure how much Song Jiaoren's departure from the Tongmenghui had to do with this matter.

The subsequent development of this matter in history was that the rumors of an affair between Chen Tianhua and Qiu Jin became rampant. The betrayed students, in their indignation, fiercely attacked Chen Tianhua. The outcome was that the always proud Chen Tianhua committed suicide by jumping into the sea, and Qiu Jin was forced to return to China after holding a public memorial for Chen. Hu Hanmin, Wang Jingwei, and others of the Sun Yat-sen faction took real power in the Tongmenghui. Although Chen Ke didn't know the ins and outs of this matter at the time, he strongly invited Chen Tianhua to return to China for the revolution, allowing Chen Tianhua to escape death.

Chen Tianhua had suffered and endured hardships. He strongly agreed with the People's Party's strict organizational discipline and was extremely disgusted with the style of other revolutionary parties. Unexpectedly, the People's Party now had to face such a situation. Even without knowing about his "suicide," Chen Tianhua sometimes thought back that if he hadn't followed Chen Ke but stayed in Japan, he felt he would have found no other path but death.

So, as the Director of the Political Department of the Huaihai Provincial Committee, what situation would he face this time?

Having finally regained some composure, Chen Tianhua found Chen Ke and reported the latest situation to him. Chen Ke's elbows rested on the table, fingers crossed, chin resting on his two thumbs. His eyes didn't look at Chen Tianhua but were slightly narrowed as he listened quietly. Many comrades described this as "Chairman Chen wandering beyond the material world." From Chen Tianhua's contact and feeling, he believed this was one of the signs of Chen Ke's high concentration. Sure enough, just like usual, from the beginning of the report to the end, Chen Ke didn't say a word. This silence lasted for quite a while before Chen Ke looked up, leaned back in his chair, kept his hands crossed but dropped his shoulders, naturally placing his hands on his lower abdomen.

"Xingtai," Chen Ke spoke. Chen Tianhua was highly sensitive inside at this moment. Hearing this address, his heart skipped a beat. Chen Ke rarely addressed comrades by their courtesy names directly. Whenever this happened, it was either a very harmonious conversation atmosphere or Chen Ke was establishing a stance. It seemed Chen Ke had already clarified his thoughts and was now going to ask for Chen Tianhua's true thoughts. Chen Tianhua couldn't help but straighten his back, waiting for Chen Ke to continue.

"With the matter developing to this point, there are already quite a few comrades who no longer support the organizational system. The more it is like this, the more I feel that we comrades who still support the organizational system must talk about principles and stance. Since you are the Director of the Political Department, I want you to figure it out for yourself first. What exactly do you think?"

Hearing Chen Ke's words, Chen Tianhua didn't understand for a moment. His mind was in a mess right now, and he really didn't have the energy to think too much. He simply said bluntly, "Chairman Chen, my mind is very chaotic right now. There are only two points I can be sure of. I can't think of a way to deal with it at all right now, and at the same time, I firmly support Chairman Chen. So Chairman Chen, please tell me directly what you want me to think and do."

These words were sincere. Chen Ke smiled after hearing them. "Comrade Tianhua, I have said many times what I want you to think and do. The People's Party must have iron discipline. Since you are so opposed to the actions of some comrades, I consider you to be upholding the organizational system. Then what is there to say about how to think? You have already established your stance."

This was somewhat unexpected for Chen Tianhua. He thought for a good while before he finally understood. "Then what should we do? Chairman Chen, please clarify the specific execution steps. What to do first, then what. If you don't say it and let me consider it myself, I will worry about gains and losses, and my heart won't be at ease."

Chen Ke straightened his back, resting his elbows on the table again, but without resting his head on his thumbs. He asked, "Director Chen, as the Director of the Political Department, I want to ask you, where do you think the foundation of our organization lies?"

"...It is the masses," Chen Tianhua answered.

"It is the grassroots," Chen Ke corrected Chen Tianhua. "Why have I always opposed feudal power sharing, that is, opposed feudalism, since a few years ago? Because the characteristic of feudalism is layer-by-layer infeudation and layer-by-layer isolation. As the foreign saying goes, 'The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal.' The Chinese saying, well, is probably 'The county magistrate is not as good as the current boss.' The direct result of this power sharing system is that a regiment commander has the power of life and death over his subordinates, and the regiment commander's subordinates, such as battalion commanders, have the power of life and death over their subordinates. A company commander has the power of life and death over a company. A squad leader might be killed by the company commander at any time, but the squad leader can decide the life and death of the soldiers in the squad. We, the People's Party, are engaging in a people's revolution, so we must inevitably oppose feudalism. We must break this system of feudal power sharing. The core of the people's revolution is Science and Democracy. The characteristic of this political system is bottom-up, not top-down. Every level in the system is the masses supervising the work of the leadership, not the leadership deciding the life and death of the masses. Why do we build Party branches at the company level? Why do we organize Soldier Committees? It is to break the old system and build a new system."

From the start of reporting to Chen Ke, Chen Tianhua's mind had been quite chaotic. Listening to Chen Ke's theoretical explanation, he felt it was very correct, but he couldn't figure out how Chen Ke would ultimately arrange things. Seeing Chen Ke pause temporarily, Chen Tianhua asked again, "Chairman Chen, specifically what should be done?"

Chen Ke still didn't answer directly. He asked, "Why have so many comrades started to oppose the organizational system? This is the superficial contradiction highlighted after investigation, but what is the deeper point?"

"Chairman Chen, please explain it," Chen Tianhua asked.

Chen Ke stared at Chen Tianhua and said seriously, "Because they are afraid."

This answer was too far beyond Chen Tianhua's imagination. He was stunned, then suddenly laughed out loud. Many comrades who were taken down refused to admit their mistakes, their stubborn attitudes leaving Chen Tianhua dumbfounded. A large number of comrades didn't understand the Rectification Campaign and came to plead for mercy, making Chen Tianhua feel extremely helpless. As for some comrades daring to cast aside the Party Committee to engage in liaisons, daring to recklessly guess the Party Central Committee's strategic arrangements, and hoping to skillfully obstruct the Party organization's rectification through strategic changes.

Such daring actions were described by Chen Ke as "because they are afraid"? Even with his utmost respect for Chen Ke's ability, the chasm-like gap between reality and Chen Ke's words made Chen Tianhua feel it was "ludicrous." Chen Tianhua liked reading books, and in his youth, he particularly liked reading historical romances. If this were a historical romance novel, Chen Ke would now have the flavor of being surrounded by enemies on all sides (Chu songs on four sides). If someone raised their arm and shouted, there would probably be people daring to follow these people to cause trouble.

Chen Tianhua laughed and said, "Haha, they are afraid? If they were really afraid, would they do this?"

Chen Ke also smiled. "Comrade Tianhua, they are not afraid of me. What is there to be afraid of about me? What they are afraid of is the current organizational system, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army built using this organizational system, and the government built using this system. What they fear most is the vast number of comrades who have begun to awaken under revolutionary education."

"They would be afraid of grassroots comrades?" Chen Tianhua felt Chen Ke was being too optimistic.

"Why wouldn't they be afraid? Of the comrades removed from office this time, apart from Lu Kaiwen and those few comrades who initially triggered the incident, which of the others wasn't exposed and reported by grassroots comrades and finally stepped down? Oh, Comrade Pang Zi wasn't. But why was Comrade Pang Zi removed? It wasn't me, Chen Ke, who wanted to remove him. It was comrades upholding organizational discipline who discovered Comrade Pang Zi made mistakes and struggled against Comrade Pang Zi, leading to his removal. He didn't come to me to plead for mercy, let alone to talk to me about strategic direction development," Chen Ke answered with a smile.

This was indeed the truth. As the Director of the Political Department, Chen Tianhua knew this very well. None of these removed comrades were ordered to be removed by Chen Ke. Even Lu Kaiwen was removed because comrades like Gu Lu, who upheld organizational discipline, engaged in a serious struggle with him. As for Chu Deli, who once had a fierce struggle with Gu Lu over the merit assessment system, he was removed because he directly violated discipline and conflicted with grassroots comrades. Up to now, no one who fell during the Rectification Campaign was removed because they offended the upper echelon.

It had to be said that even as the Director of the Political Department, Chen Tianhua still felt that the People's Party was a political party established by the leader Chen Ke, and he was Chen Ke's comrade and also Chen Ke's follower. The one with power was Chen Ke, and these powers were established even through Party Committee resolutions, through organizational discipline, and even through laws.

"We did not create the revolution; the people need revolution, and we, the People's Party, are merely complying with the people's revolutionary demands." This passage of Chen Ke's was regarded as a classic by Chen Tianhua, recited fluently and ready at any time. Often he could even use these words as a guiding program for his actions.

But truly facing this matter, and after Chen Ke's repeated reminders and explanations, Chen Tianhua discovered that his understanding of the people's revolution was not as profound as he had imagined.

"Comrade Tianhua, the essence of history has always been the upper strata fearing the lower strata, not the lower strata fearing the upper strata. 'Are kings and generals born of a special breed?' Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, insignificant little figures, raised their arms and shouted these words, and didn't the powerful Qin Dynasty perish all the same? Therefore, the feudal power sharing system is very taboo about such things, very afraid of them. They have to fabricate lies saying that when the self-interests pursued by the broad laboring people conflict with the interests of the rulers, it must be the laboring people who are wrong. At the same time, they use various means to intimidate and strike at the laboring people who dare to rise up and struggle. We, the People's Party, as the revolutionary vanguard of the broad laboring people, how can we ourselves believe the lies of the exploiting class?" When saying these words, Chen Ke's expression had changed from a smile to a bitter smile. Looking at this helpless smile, Chen Tianhua blushed with shame.

"If the Party organization does not represent the interests of the broad grassroots comrades, and the Party organization detaches itself from the grassroots, then even if the Party organization opposes the feudal power sharing system, how many people are in the Party organization? The number of opponents is not small either. In a struggle, who wins and who loses is yet unknown. If the Party organization is not built well, and the broad grassroots comrades believe the words of the supporters of the feudal power sharing system and believe their reasoning, then the Party organization will probably fail. Why? Because in history, it has always been that a just cause attracts much support, while an unjust cause finds little support. If you yourself cannot unite the masses, cannot mobilize the masses, then failure is inevitable. Similarly, if the Party organization can unite the masses, mobilize the masses, and lead the masses. What is there to be afraid of about that small handful of supporters of the feudal power sharing system? It can only be that they fear the masses, fear the Party organization standing together with the masses. How can there be any talk of us fearing them?"

Listening to these words, Chen Tianhua felt as if his heart suddenly brightened. His face had regained its radiance. Taking a deep breath, Chen Tianhua straightened his back and said loudly, "I think I know what to do! I will go now to organize the Party Committees at all levels to begin in-depth discussions among the grassroots on the recent events."