"Division Commander Zhou, this is today's study material." The guard placed a stack of documents in front of Zhou Zhentao, the commander of the 4406th Division. The documents were freshly printed and gave off the smell of fresh ink.

Zhou Zhentao took the documents and said to the guard, "You can go now."

Watching the guard leave, Zhou Zhentao let out a small sigh of relief, feeling a bit lighter at heart.

Since several incidents of conflict between cadres and subordinates or soldiers where orders for guards to intervene were refused, the fact that guards actually belonged to the "Political Security Department" had been "clearly recognized" by the cadres. In thousands of years of tradition, guards were the confidants of officials and should be their die-hard loyalists. But his own "loyalists" turned out to be "someone else's men." This caused considerable dissatisfaction among many cadres.

That guards must be managed by the Political Security Department was a rule established by Chairman Chen Ke. At the time, Zhou Zhentao hadn't thought much of it, but now, he felt that Chen Ke was perhaps being "too untrusting" of his comrades. These days, Zhou Zhentao tried to spend as little time as possible with his guards, which was the only way he could feel a bit better.

He opened the study materials. The first page featured a signed article titled *"We Are Comrades, We Must Be in Sync."* This was a recent trend; the Political Department was vigorously carrying out grassroots education, and Chen Ke was constantly writing articles to conduct ideological education throughout the entire Party and army.

Zhou Zhentao was a comrade who had followed Chen Ke since the Fudan Public School days in Shanghai and was one of the earliest Party members. He knew he was absolutely no match for Chen Ke when it came to writing articles and reasoning. Without even thinking, he knew Chen Ke must be asking everyone to prioritize discipline, work hard, and study well. It had been almost half a month since the New Year, and Chen Ke had been writing articles on this subject continuously. Zhou Zhentao felt a bit weary; facing the study material before him, he really didn't want to read it. He closed the file and simply leaned back in his chair to close his eyes and rest.

As a native of Shaanxi, Zhou Zhentao had always valued *yiqi* (loyalty and brotherhood). In Shaanxi, if a person only talked about reason but not *yiqi*, they simply couldn't get by. Valuing *yiqi* and moral principles was the foundation of Zhou Zhentao's life. In fact, not just in Shaanxi, even in the south, one had to talk about *yiqi*. But in his recent propaganda, Chen Ke had slapped a label called "Mountain-topism" on "valuing *yiqi*." Forcibly linking *yiqi* with forming cliques and factions made Zhou Zhentao quite disappointed.

When comrades made mistakes, instead of covering for them, they had to dig deep into the ideological roots and find the so-called "source of erroneous thought." Zhou Zhentao considered this "unreasonable," or even framing people. Comrades worked hard to become cadres; if they occasionally did something wrong, they should at least be given some face. Making them admit their mistakes in front of their subordinates—how could they lead troops or work in the future? A man lives for his face, just as a tree lives for its bark. If face is lost, where does prestige come from?

But Zhou Zhentao really couldn't say these things out loud. He knew very well that he was no match for Chen Ke in a debate. Moreover, Chen Ke never used twisted logic; he would lay out the grand principles, and Zhou Zhentao would be unable to respond. What made Zhou Zhentao even more puzzled, or rather unhappy, was that while Chen Ke was conducting massive education at the grassroots level, he didn't relax the work requirements one bit. Many cadres faced the rectification movement with fear and trepidation while still having to work themselves to death. This was simply treating people like draft animals. Thinking of this, Zhou Zhentao felt dead tired. As a division commander, he had to manage work at all levels and worry about trying to protect others. He suddenly felt that everything he was doing wasn't worth it. What was he working so hard for?

Just as he was feeling upset and distracted, the guard entered the office. "Commander, Comrade Chu Shiliang is here. Do you want to see him?"

Chu Shiliang was Chu Shifu's cousin and also a relative and confidant of Zhou Zhentao's subordinate, Chu Deli. Zhou Zhentao replied, "Let him in."

Chu Shiliang had a look of obvious excitement on his face. As soon as the guard went out, Chu Shiliang said happily, "Commander Zhou, I heard some news. Things are starting to stir up in Gu Lu's regiment."

Zhou Zhentao didn't like Chu Shiliang; he felt that Chu Shiliang's character was quite poor. However, there weren't many people who were willing to stand firmly on his side now, so Zhou Zhentao didn't have much choice. "What's going on?" Zhou Zhentao asked.

"Gu Lu is holding some kind of mass supervision in his regiment, asking the soldiers to give their opinions. I heard that regarding the distribution of rewards before the New Year, many soldiers feel that Gu Lu's distribution was unfair, and they've started to make a fuss. They have democratic meetings every night. I heard that many comrades are going to seek justice at today's democratic meeting. It should be a big scene."

Chu Shiliang knew that Zhou Zhentao didn't like showy people. When he first started telling this news, he managed to restrain himself slightly. Because Gu Lu and Chu Deli had had fierce conflicts in the past, Chu Shiliang detested Gu Lu. As he spoke of the soldiers in Gu Lu's regiment "making trouble," Chu Shiliang was beaming by the end. It wasn't until he saw Zhou Zhentao staring at him with disgust that Chu Shiliang finally managed to wipe the smile off his face.

Zhou Zhentao knew that Gu Lu had organized this "Democratic Meeting" in his regiment. Democratic meetings were nothing new in the People's Party. Back when Chen Ke founded the "Insurance Corps," there were democratic meetings in the army. At that time, Zhou Zhentao was a subordinate and on the "democracy" side, while Chen Ke and the Party Committee leaders were the ones accepting the democratic supervision of the comrades. Later, due to war and construction, democratic meetings gradually faded away. Hearing this term again, Zhou Zhentao couldn't help but feel a sense of distant memory.

"Feigning enthusiasm," Zhou Zhentao said in his heart. Democratic meetings consumed a lot of time. Whenever there was major work, everyone was fully occupied with combat prep or labor. If there was any spare time, it was better to hurry up and sleep. Holding democratic meetings for ten days or half a month was just a formality.

However, he couldn't say this to Chu Shiliang. Zhou Zhentao didn't like Chu Shiliang's habit of treating a chicken feather as a warrant arrow. He asked coldly, "Is there anything else?"

Seeing that his report didn't make Zhou Zhentao happy, Chu Shiliang dared not show any more expression of claiming credit. He quickly said, "Commander Zhou, nothing else for now. If there's any situation, I'll report to you in time."

Zhou Zhentao was completely unmoved by Chu Shiliang's diligence. He said in a stern tone, "Platoon Leader Chu, you are a platoon leader and have to lead a whole platoon of men. Labor is so tight right now; you should be working more on the construction site."

"Commander Zhou, don't worry. The work has been arranged, and it absolutely won't delay the progress," Chu Shiliang answered quickly.

Zhou Zhentao knew that Chu Shiliang had definitely arranged the work, otherwise he wouldn't dare run over to report the situation. Moreover, Zhou Zhentao knew even better that Chu Shiliang came to report partly to prove his loyalty to Zhou Zhentao, and partly because he didn't like manual labor and coming to report gave him a dignified excuse to escape his work. This was what you called a "petty person" (Xiao Ren).

As a member of a prominent family in Fengxiang, Shaanxi, Zhou Zhentao had received a lot of internal family education since childhood. One absolutely could not put this kind of petty person in an important position, but one also couldn't be without them. How exactly to use them depended on the development of the current situation.

***

As an ordinary middle peasant from the Henan region of the Dabie Mountains, Gu Lu had not received this kind of "ruling class education." It wasn't until several days after he decided to promote "Democratic Life Meetings" in the regiment, when he occasionally met Political Department Director Chen Tianhua and they chatted about recent work, that Gu Lu learned Chairman Chen Ke had once promoted this kind of democratic life meeting in the army.

Gu Lu felt neither pride nor fear that he had unintentionally copied Chen Ke. He asked Chen Tianhua how Chairman Chen Ke's democratic life meetings were conducted back then. Chen Tianhua actually didn't have much experience either; he suggested Gu Lu ask Chai Qingguo. Chai Qingguo had a lot of experience with this.

After listening to Gu Lu's inquiry, Chai Qingguo scrutinized Gu Lu carefully for a while before answering, "At democratic life meetings, only one thing was discussed: how to work. Back then, it really was about pooling wisdom. Later, it was gradually replaced by various professional research institutions. Now, it's mentioned as if it exists, but in reality, it's just a saying."

Gu Lu didn't expect Chai Qingguo to give such a complete introduction to the history of democratic life meetings. He didn't think much of it and just asked, "Chief Commander Chai won't oppose my doing this, will he?"

"Why would he oppose it?" Chai Qingguo asked back.

"Because I've only participated in soldiers' committees, not this kind of democratic life meeting. So I don't know if doing this will meet with opposition," Gu Lu replied frankly.

Chai Qingguo looked at Gu Lu with bright eyes. After a good while, he said, "You are the regiment political commissar; the political work in the regiment is your responsibility. You don't need to care what the higher-ups say. Chairman Chen has repeatedly emphasized one thing: our Party organization is a bottom-up structure, not a top-down structure. There was a reason for what happened back then; Chairman Chen was too dominant. Whether meetings were held or not, he could point out the correct path, so discussion meetings turned into sermons. At that time, our base area was small and our strength was weak. We didn't have the situation we have now; it wasn't even clear if we could survive. If we really engaged in democratic discussions, it would have delayed things. Later, democratic life meetings had to be cancelled. That wasn't a question of whether democratic life meetings were right or wrong; the circumstances at the time compelled it. Now that you're organizing democratic life meetings in the regiment, if anyone gossips, you don't need to pay them any mind. Just do it according to your ideas."

Gu Lu was an extremely rule-abiding person. Since the Political Department Director didn't object, and Chai Qingguo had explicitly expressed support, he started organizing democratic life meetings in the regiment. The meetings mainly discussed two issues: first, discussing with everyone how to work better; and second, discussing various issues encountered in work that made comrades unhappy.

In the first few days, no one knew what to say. What they could bring up were trivial matters, like whether the cadres' attitudes were correct or if they were happy at work. It wasn't until the Party's organizational discipline had been publicized to a certain extent that fierce conflicts truly appeared in the democratic life meetings.

The "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention" were executed quite well in the regiment. Plus, after Lu Kaiwen was removed from his post, the cadres were quite shaken; they barely dared to speak loudly, let alone violate discipline. When the issue of "Labor and Equality" was explained to the comrades, a comrade stood up and asked, "Cadres are often not at the construction site, yet when rewards are distributed, cadres get the same as soldiers. Does this count as equality?"

This question immediately received the approval of a considerable number of comrades. Of course, there are always outliers everywhere. For example, in a company democratic life meeting that Gu Lu attended, after this question was raised, a comrade made a cynical remark, "Troop education used to say we oppose absolute egalitarianism. Cadres and soldiers' work naturally can't be averaged out."

Opposing absolute egalitarianism was something Chen Ke had proposed in the past. At that time, the troops started talking about equality, and some soldiers thought that since they were talking about fairness, everything had to be exactly the same. Officers and soldiers had to have equal living quarters, and commanders couldn't ride horses. When the fuss got big, even carrying stretchers had to be equal. At that time, Chen Ke had criticized this way of thinking as "One monk carries water to drink, two monks carry water to drink, three monks have no water to drink." After education in the troops, this trend finally calmed down. Although comrades didn't say it out loud, they hadn't forgotten the events of a long time ago.

The commanders naturally couldn't wholeheartedly agree with this accusation. Plus, with Regiment Political Commissar Gu Lu present, the cadres began to explain in a bit of a fluster. As soon as they started explaining, the comrades stopped pressing the issue. The meeting returned to its usual calm state.

Gu Lu just listened quietly at first. It wasn't until the democratic life meeting was about to end in a lifeless manner, with neither cadres nor soldiers having anything more to say and just waiting to disperse, that Gu Lu stood up and walked to the center of the venue. He was less than 1.7 meters tall and not physically robust. Walking silently among the comrades, he really had no imposing presence.

But when Gu Lu spoke, his voice was loud and crisp, sounding somewhat like a bell. "I am going to criticize comrades today. Not the commanders, I am going to criticize our soldiers!"

The commanders' faces turned ugly. What was the difference between criticizing soldiers and criticizing commanders? In any case, the leadership responsibility couldn't be escaped. The soldiers weren't familiar with the newly appointed Regiment Political Commissar Gu Lu either. Hearing Gu Lu's loud voice and clear attitude as he directly started criticizing people, the soldiers felt a real pressure from this commissar who was neither tall nor burly. No one dared to make a sound; everyone just quietly listened as the commissar began to criticize them.

"Comrades, our organizational discipline requires everyone to speak up openly when they encounter unsatisfactory things. This is the organizational discipline of our Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army. If what you say is right, everyone will naturally support you. If what you say is wrong, everyone will tell you where you are wrong. This is our organizational discipline. Work is already very hard; if everyone is unhappy inside but doesn't say it, how can the work be done well? On this matter, I have to say everyone is doing it wrong. After I criticize everyone today, there's no need to fear anything. If you have something to say, say it openly. You can't be like you were in the meeting today—complaining a couple of times when you have the chance, and saying nothing when you don't. Say whatever you have. What are you afraid of?"

Both commanders and soldiers were stunned. No one expected that Regiment Political Commissar Gu Lu would actually criticize this. Soldiers listening to officers had been the way for thousands of years. The comrades couldn't quite understand what Gu Lu meant for a moment.

After a while, the comrade who had made the cynical remark earlier suddenly laughed once, then said, "If I speak straight like that, I'm afraid the commanders won't be happy. If they aren't happy, naturally I can't be happy either."

The soldiers were all from rural backgrounds and were quite simple and honest people. Many comrades took quite a while to understand the meaning behind these words. Some comrades, waiting until others laughed out loud, asked other comrades with faces full of confusion what was so funny about that statement.

"You don't need to fear retaliation. If comrades feel they told the truth but were retaliated against, they can bring it up publicly at the democratic life meeting. I don't know if the commanders have explained it clearly to everyone, but I believe the commanders will explain it clearly according to the regulations. I am repeating it here again: everyone has the right to participate in this democratic life meeting. No one can use any excuse to deprive comrades of their right to participate in the democratic life meeting. If anyone does this, you can report it to the commissar, and we will definitely deal with it seriously. Do you understand?"

The comrades looked at each other in astonishment, not knowing how to answer for a moment. Gu Lu didn't wait too long; he continued to say loudly, "Time is up for today. Comrades, hurry and go rest. Tomorrow's work won't be easy. When the democratic life meeting starts tomorrow, I hope everyone can speak out loudly what they want to say. I will come to attend the meeting again."

For the next day's democratic life meeting, Gu Lu happened to be called by Chen Tianhua to discuss some work. Gu Lu, who usually didn't like riding horses, specifically found a horse and rode quickly to Chen Tianhua's place to explain clearly that he wanted to attend the democratic life meeting. Chen Tianhua said nothing more and told Gu Lu that not only would work be suspended for now, but Chen Tianhua would also personally attend this democratic life meeting.

When the two appeared at the venue, the cadres and soldiers were already waiting there early. Gu Lu could see looks of unease in the cadres' eyes, and even some disappointment upon seeing Gu Lu arrive on time. The soldiers' eyes, however, held anxiety and unease, but seeing Gu Lu attend the meeting on time, a great enthusiasm immediately appeared in everyone's eyes.

At this meeting, the comrades really didn't say anything unreasonable. Everyone's questions focused generally on one issue: why were the cadres often not seen during labor? Comrades worked every day, while cadres were often away for two or three days a week.

Seeing that Gu Lu was clearly backing the soldiers, the cadres looked dejected. Some cadres mumbled a few words of explanation, which not only failed to get the soldiers' agreement but led to even fiercer criticism because they stood out.

After such a round of criticism, the cadres were wilted. The soldiers, on the other hand, were emotional, shouting continuously for the cadres to say what they had been doing.

Chen Tianhua had really never attended this kind of grassroots democratic life meeting. Seeing the severe confrontation between cadres and soldiers, with a strong sense of tit-for-tat, he just looked at Gu Lu but didn't make a sound. Chen Tianhua didn't think there was anything wrong; Chen Ke had long said that faced with united masses, a small handful of cadres were no match at all. He really wanted to see how Gu Lu would handle this scene.

Sure enough, Gu Lu stepped forward. His voice remained loud. "Yesterday I criticized the soldiers; today I am going to criticize our cadres. What are you afraid of? Say what you did. As far as I know, everyone has to attend meetings at the regimental headquarters. Since Comrade Lu Kaiwen had his incident, there have been a lot of meetings. What is there to be embarrassed about saying? If you are afraid comrades will know that you weren't entirely at meetings but were slacking off, then I have to tell you, look at the questions comrades are raising now—they are just short of directly asking if the cadres are slacking off. Since it's reached this point, what is there to be afraid of? Tell the truth!"

Gu Lu's words triggered a roar of laughter from the soldiers, while the cadres' faces turned even uglier.

"Comrades, don't laugh!" Gu Lu turned and shouted to the soldiers. As soon as the shout fell, the soldiers immediately stopped laughing.

"Comrades, I haven't been in our regiment for long. I don't know about things before I came, and I can't say much about them. But now I ask comrades to limit the matters to be discussed to the period after I arrived. Let's not dig up old scores; let's discuss matters on their own merits and seek truth from facts. Do you agree?"

"Agreed!" the soldiers answered almost in unison.

Gu Lu turned his head and said to the cadres, whose faces were full of awkwardness and shame, "Comrade cadres, we are all men. What is this shyness? Since the comrades have asked, just lift your heads and answer the questions loudly. Losing face isn't about doing something wrong. It's about not daring to take responsibility—that's what makes people look down on you. I used to listen to Chairman Chen Ke's meetings. People talked about how Chairman Chen Ke went out rowing with comrades to provide disaster relief back in the day. At that time, no one knew how to row, and the boat capsized when it hit a wave. A whole boatload of comrades fell into the water. When speaking of these things, Chairman Chen admitted that everyone makes mistakes. Making mistakes is inevitable. Chairman Chen dared to admit what he had done; what don't you dare to admit? If you don't admit what you've done, does it count as you not having done it?"

With Gu Lu's encouragement, the democratic life meeting finally continued.