"President, the current plan should be to temporarily suspend the expansion of the Beiyang New Army. Although the 18 divisions of the Beiyang New Army may lack offensive power, their defensive capabilities should still be sufficient." Although the mutinous troops were from the Northeast, Xu Shichang, who had once been the Viceroy of the Northeast, still offered this advice.

"Mmh." Yuan Shikai simply gave a curt response, expressing no clear attitude.

As the current Vice Premier of the Cabinet, Xu Shichang was actually in charge of the premiership. Even though he knew Yuan Shikai was furious, he had to offer his counsel. "Building the 36 divisions of the Beiyang New Army was already difficult; maintaining them is even harder. In the past, the national treasury's limit was supporting 200,000 troops. Now, with 500,000 troops, the finances simply cannot bear the burden."

"Juren, the People's Party has 600,000 men. We currently have only 300,000. If we don't expand the army, how can we fight them when we are outnumbered one to two?" Yuan Shikai asked, trying his best to suppress his anger.

Hearing Yuan Shikai's question, Xu Shichang fell silent. In fact, he really wanted to ask, "Even if it were one against one, could our Beiyang Army beat the People's Party?" But this could not be said under any circumstances, because the two commanders of the 3rd Division, who had once lost to the People's Party, were right there beside them.

Duan Qirui had remained silent since the beginning of the meeting. Hearing Yuan Shikai's angry remarks, he finally spoke up. "President, I'm afraid we really have to fight this time."

As soon as these words were spoken, all three pairs of eyes fell on Duan Qirui. Duan Qirui spoke calmly, "The People's Party now has a troop strength of 600,000, and it is clear they are pressing us step by step. If we don't fight now, are we going to wait until they increase their forces to 800,000, 1 million, or 1.2 million? By then, the People's Party will definitely attack. Therefore, the plan for now is that we must strike first."

"Absolutely not," Wang Shizhen immediately objected. "The People's Party currently has the advantage in military strength. We are in a disadvantageous position."

Duan Qirui smiled faintly. "At present, the People's Party seems powerful and holds an advantage over our Beiyang forces. But looking at the whole country, they only hold four provinces. They are surrounded by enemies. It's just that individual provinces can't do anything about the People's Party on their own. If we can unite the provinces, the People's Party will find it difficult to cope. The key to fighting lies in this."

All three knew that Duan Qirui was definitely not the type to act rashly on a hot-headed impulse. Just hearing this opening, they knew that Duan Qirui had been preparing this plan for quite some time. These were all men of high status; regardless of whether they agreed or not, they could listen quietly.

Whether it was the foreign ministers in China or the Beiyang group, faced with the current situation, they invariably turned their attention to the People's Party. The People's Party's reaction to what was happening with Beiyang was not overly intense.

After implementing the Rectification Movement throughout the party, the Third Plenary Session of the First Central Committee of the People's Party confirmed that Chairman Chen Ke's thought was the basic principle of the People's Party's ideology. This included "Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society," "On Practice," and "On Contradiction" as the core methods for all work. The meeting clearly proposed that the key point of recent ideological work was to comprehensively sinicize the core correct thoughts of Marxism, construct a theory of scientific socialism, and prepare for the construction of a theory of scientific communism. If Chen Ke's status in the past was merely that of a leader, now he had finally been promoted to the level of a "Mentor."

These were constructions in terms of ideology. In terms of specific execution, the People's Party began to emphasize the implementation of the "Theory of Labor," which was the style of "valuing practice over rhetoric" established by the party during its mature period. Chen Ke publicly proposed for the first time, "Old-style literati are unreliable. In terms of political and material interests, they have never stood on the side of the broad masses of working people. Our People's Party respects knowledge and adopts all methods to let the broad masses of working people learn and use science. But there is a prerequisite for this: if they are not laborers who are truly together with the people, but the kind of old-style literati gentlemen who think they can represent the working people just after reading a few sentences from a book, then they can go cool off somewhere else. People's Party members must firmly realize that we are not on the same path as those people."

Regardless of how the comrades in the upper echelons who came from the wealthy backbone strata of the old society considered this statement, the understanding of the grassroots comrades was simple and clear-cut: "Scholars who don't work with us are just talking nonsense." The grassroots comrades were very happy with this perception. Their original envy and even admiration for scholars turned into an attitude similar to discrimination, or at least disregard, with the support of the party. Psychologically removing a certain lofty existence brought a sense of relief to the comrades.

During the Rectification Movement, middle and high-level cadres took turns entering party schools and cadre schools for study, while the grassroots perfected the system of the "Three Meetings": study meetings, Zhuge Liang meetings (brainstorming sessions), and mobilization meetings. While focusing entirely on self-construction, the People's Party's external response inevitably showed a certain degree of sluggishness.

The People's Party's various "enterprise" departments in the Beiyang region had their own armed forces. The mutinous Beiyang troops had also attempted to attack the People's Party's locations. When these fellows howled and rushed towards the People's Party companies, which had piled up large amounts of wealth, they were met with a dense hail of bullets. The leading mutineers were mowed down in rows right then and there. These people were originally out for money; the miserable state of their companions momentarily aroused the anger of a small portion of them, but it restored the reason of even more mutineers. There were so many unarmed merchants to rob; by comparison, risking death to rob the People's Party seemed like the loss outweighed the gain.

The intelligence agencies in Beijing and the enterprises stationed in Beijing and Tianjin sent the news back to the Party Central Committee in Wuhan. In the discussion at the party meeting, Lu Huitian put forward his own view: "The current work is to improve our own production capacity; this is the main thread. If taking the opportunity to do something fits this main thread, we will do it. If looting Beiyang while they are down does not fit this main thread, we can put it in a less important position."

Lu Huitian's speech effectively prevented some military cadres who didn't want to stay in the party school for study from objecting. Added to Chen Ke's support, the People's Party decided to temporarily continue observing the subsequent development of the situation.

The subsequent development of the situation came very quickly. On November 1st, Yuan Shikai invited Chen Ke to Beijing for negotiations via telegram. Since Chen Ke had negotiated with Yuan Shikai several times, some comrades thought Chen Ke would agree to Yuan Shikai's invitation this time. Unexpectedly, Chen Ke immediately refused on the grounds of being busy with government affairs.

By November 9th, the Beiyang representative Tang Shaoyi arrived in Wuhan to seek an audience with Chen Ke. Chen Ke received this Beiyang Foreign Minister. Tang Shaoyi's attitude was quite tough; he questioned Chen Ke why the People's Party was invading the provinces surrounding the base area. "Chairman Chen, as far as we know, the People's Party is constantly expanding and encroaching step by step at the borders of Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Guangdong. Although the four provinces of the base area have not yet joined the National Assembly, the People's Party has also sent telegrams expressing support for federal autonomy and peaceful nation-building. Such practices are really unacceptable. The Beiyang government has received appeals from various provinces and hopes to give an explanation to the People's Party on this issue."

Beiyang's attitude was tough, but Chen Ke was temporarily unable to answer this question. The expansion speed of the People's Party during the "peaceful period" exceeded Chen Ke's own expectations. The People's Party loved "economically backward mountainous areas." In the eyes of other political forces, mountainous areas produced little and the people were tough, making them difficult regions to govern. In the eyes of the People's Party, because productivity in mountainous areas was backward, various social contradictions were extremely intense. Coupled with the limited control of the provincial governments in mountainous areas, the People's Party's expansion of power here was truly like a fish in water.

As for the plain areas, after neighboring villages defected to the People's Party, their lives flourished day by day. As long as the local landlords did not occupy the main leadership positions, it was also common for villages in plain areas to defect to the People's Party. Some villages did it to avoid government taxes, and some villages did it to obtain goods provided by the People's Party's supply and marketing cooperatives. There were also some rarer villages where the whole village hoped their children could go to school for free like the villages under the rule of the People's Party. Although there were many reasons, the purpose was always to live a better life.

The expansion of the base area brought huge benefits, but looking at it now, the enemy counterattack brought about by these benefits had also formally arrived. Letting Tang Shaoyi wait at his residence first, Chen Ke immediately convened a party committee meeting.

Tang Shaoyi's son-in-law, Gu Weijun, came to the base area with Tang Shaoyi this time. Seeing the People's Party guards tightly guarding the gate outside, Gu Weijun felt a little uneasy. "Father-in-law, has the People's Party received some news?"

Gu Weijun, who was quite appreciated by Yuan Shikai, had heard some rumors. Not long ago, Yuan Shikai invited Chen Ke to Beijing, and it was said that there was a plan to put Chen Ke under house arrest. Whether this was true or not, the appearance of such rumors itself meant a trend: Beiyang was prepared to adopt strong measures against the People's Party. With the People's Party guarding so heavily, there was no need to specifically ask about the unfriendly message within.

"Chen Ke is not that petty. If he doesn't plan to fall out with the Central Government, he naturally can't put us under house arrest. If he plans to fall out with the Central Government, there is even less reason to put us under house arrest." Tang Shaoyi was quite open-minded. After answering the question, Tang Shaoyi asked Gu Weijun, "Shaochuan, we Beiyang will deal with the People's Party a lot in the future. What do you think of Chen Ke's attitude?"

Hearing Tang Shaoyi's question, Gu Weijun was silent for a while before saying in a low voice, "Weak countries have no diplomacy."

Tang Shaoyi never expected his son-in-law to be completely pessimistic about this negotiation. Even if he knew early on that the result of the negotiation could not be satisfactory, Tang Shaoyi did not think it could be so bad. He asked, "Shaochuan, why do you think so?"

Gu Weijun sorted out his thoughts and said slowly, "I see that Chen Ke was very surprised that we raised this matter. He himself does not think there is anything wrong with what he is doing. This mentality is the same as the mentality of the Great Powers treating China. I don't think Chen Ke is a man of deep schemes, which means Chen Ke will definitely not back down on the matter of expansion."

Tang Shaoyi was also skilled in negotiation. Upon hearing Gu Weijun's analysis, he agreed greatly in his heart. Before Beiyang sent him, they had already contacted the forces in the provinces surrounding the People's Party. This time, Tang Shaoyi was not only ordered to negotiate with the People's Party, but if the negotiation failed, he would also negotiate in Jiangsu, Hunan, and Guangdong surrounding the People's Party. They strove to form a situation of "joint denunciation" by the provinces around the People's Party base area. "Then, Shaochuan, how do you think this matter will develop?"

"If there is no joint denunciation, the People's Party may just be tough in attitude. If this situation of joint denunciation is achieved, the result will probably be joint subjugation," Gu Weijun replied.

Hearing the words "joint subjugation," Tang Shaoyi did not make a sound for a long time. Tang Shaoyi had always admired Gu Weijun's keenness, but he found that he still had insufficient understanding of Gu Weijun's keenness.

Chen Ke hadn't expected what exactly Beiyang was preparing to do; in fact, he didn't care much about what Beiyang was preparing to do. Grandpa Mao said an earth-shattering sentence at the founding ceremony: "The Chinese people have stood up!" The New China that Chen Ke lived in was such a country that stood up bravely facing the world. As for some people who were willing to kneel down again themselves, that was purely a personal choice. But the country of China had never submitted to other countries again. So it was with the base area; Chen Ke had absolutely no thought of submitting to any force.

After introducing the current situation, Chen Ke smiled and said to the comrades of the Central Committee, "I'm afraid Yuan Shikai has itchy skin. This is a sickness; it needs to be cured."

"How to cure it? Where to start curing?" Hua Xiongmao was the first to understand Chen Ke's meaning, and he asked excitedly.

"Is there going to be a war?" Lu Huitian reacted a bit slower.

"It won't come to war right now. I plan to tell Tang Shaoyi that the people around the base area have the freedom to defect to our People's Party. Yuan Shikai cannot infringe upon the people's freedom to choose to defect to the People's Party. He does not have this power." Speaking of this, Chen Ke put away his smile. "At the same time, we want to make our People's Party's political platform public to the whole country, especially the political platform of land reform."

The People's Party Central Committee was extremely clear about how much resistance land reform could arouse. In the four provinces of the base area, tens of thousands of landlords were killed or committed suicide, and over a hundred thousand landlord armed forces were killed. For the people who were willing to become laborers, regardless of their background, Chen Ke had infinite patience and confidence. For the enemies who refused to surrender and admit defeat, Chen Ke also had an unforgiving side.

"What if the enemies unite?" Shang Yuan was a little worried. The People's Party had never shown such a tough attitude externally.

"If they are all enemies, what else is there to say? Just wipe them out." Hua Xiongmao's attitude was very tough.

"Then how is the military plan arranged?" Lu Huitian asked.

"Whoever moves first, we hit them!" Chen Ke answered decisively. "One punch to open the way, to avoid a hundred punches coming. Those people are very afraid of death; seeing someone suffer, they will immediately behave."

Lu Huitian simply expressed his agreement and did not continue to speak. The People's Party had bumper harvests for both summer and autumn grain in 1912, plus the planned conscription scale reached 600,000; even the government system had no fearful attitude towards war.

After the Party Committee passed the response measures, Chen Ke did not go out personally. He asked Propaganda Minister Zhang Yu to meet Tang Shaoyi. Zhang Yu participated in the whole meeting and even participated in the voting. Since he knew the People's Party's current and future response measures, Zhang Yu naturally spoke with full confidence. "Mr. Tang, after the republic was established, the people have the power to choose for themselves. The people have the right to choose the life they like. I think you should be very clear about this."

Tang Shaoyi knew that Zhang Yu was a Propaganda Minister with a military background, and he originally looked down on Zhang Yu a bit in his heart. However, hearing Zhang Yu actually talk about the people's freedom, he felt even more strange. Just as he didn't know how to respond, Gu Weijun cut in. "Since the people have chosen the republican system, the people have the obligation to abide by the laws formulated by the central government. Absolute freedom does not exist!"

Zhang Yu was slightly stunned. He originally thought it would be relatively easy to hoodwink an old-style civil official like Tang Shaoyi. They liked to talk about grand principles; as long as he stuck to the word "freedom," how to elaborate next would just depend on what Zhang Yu wanted to say. Unexpectedly, Gu Weijun, who was from a law background beside him, keenly grasped the main point and actually blocked Zhang Yu's subsequent words.

"May I ask how to address you?" Zhang Yu smiled.

"I am Gu Weijun."

"Oh, so you are Mr. Tang's fast son-in-law," Zhang Yu said with a smile. He actually knew Gu Weijun, but he put on a bureaucratic tone first to interrupt the negotiation, saving Gu Weijun from continuing along Zhang Yu's previous words, which would instead disrupt Zhang Yu's train of thought.

Gu Weijun did not give Zhang Yu time. He said seriously, "In the Republic of China, the affairs of each province are decided by the province itself. The affairs of every village are the internal affairs of each province; the People's Party also expressed approval of this principle. The current situation has become the People's Party bypassing the provincial governments to directly intervene in the internal affairs of various provinces. This violates the People's Party's own promise."

Zhang Yu actually really wanted to tell Tang Shaoyi and Gu Weijun, "Everything you say is nonsense." But if he said such satisfying words, he would definitely be severely scolded and disciplined by the Central Committee, so Zhang Yu didn't dare to act so willfully. "Mr. Gu, the Constitution of the Republic of China first points out that the Republic of China is a country established to realize the happiness and freedom of the people of the republic. As for the federal autonomy you mentioned, it is merely the organizational structure of the government and has no direct relationship with the people's happiness. Which province of the Republic of China they choose to join is the people's power and the people's freedom. These people are not joining a foreign country and becoming traitors. They are just making the choice most beneficial to themselves in order to realize their own interests. Why must Article 1 of the Constitution rank above Article 2 of the Constitution? Because this is to reflect which has more priority. Between the polity of federal autonomy and the people's power to pursue happiness, which is more prior? This needs no discussion."

After listening to Zhang Yu's explanation, both Tang Shaoyi and Gu Weijun changed their expressions. What needed no discussion right now was definitely not the constitution, but the People's Party's attitude. That Zhang Yu could use twisted logic to such an extent, his level of shamelessness was comparable to that of the European and American powers.

"Mr. Zhang, that is to say, the villages in your base area also have the power to choose whether to join our provinces?" Tang Shaoyi asked coldly.

"There is no such clause in the constitution of our base area, so they cannot do this," Zhang Yu replied.

Tang Shaoyi asked with a dark face, "That means no matter what we say, your side will continue to act according to your own train of thought?"

Zhang Yu looked at Tang Shaoyi with a very regretful expression. "Mr. Tang, we will definitely act according to our own ideas. This has nothing to do with whether you come to our base area, or whether you speak in our base area, or what you say. We have the power to act according to our own ideas. You came this time, and I hear your meaning is to discuss with us the issue of villages in other provinces actively choosing to join our People's Party base area. This issue is the choice of the common people in these villages themselves. It has nothing to do with us. The content you described and the object you are facing have a problem of mismatching behavioral subjects. If you do not wish for local villages to spontaneously join our base area, you should talk to the common people of those villages, not to us. can you distinguish this clearly?"

Tang Shaoyi was almost driven mad with anger by Zhang Yu. He suppressed his anger and asked, "Then on what basis does your side think you are qualified to accept the applications of villages actively requesting to join the base area?"

Zhang Yu replied, "Our side judges based on this Constitution of the Republic of China. We believe that the Constitution endows these common people with the power to freely choose a happy life. For the common people's legitimate exercise of their power, our side believes we should give support."

Tang Shaoyi's face turned black with anger. He hadn't expected that a "soldier" of the People's Party could speak such twisted logic so seemingly plausibly. Tang Shaoyi's mission was to negotiate, not to declare war. Although he wanted to drag Zhang Yu out and hack him into a thousand pieces, Tang Shaoyi couldn't directly tear up his face.

Gu Weijun studied law. Seeing Tang Shaoyi being confused by Zhang Yu, even though he knew there could be no result no matter how they talked, he absolutely could not accept being justified by a military officer in a legal dispute. He said loudly, word by word, "Your side does not have the power to interpret the Constitution of the Republic of China."

"We indeed do not, but neither do you!" Zhang Yu knew he had gained a comprehensive advantage, so he deliberately roughened his voice, making it sound more like a solemn oppression. "Not only do you not, the Beiyang Cabinet does not have this power, and the current President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, does not have this power either. According to the Constitution of the Republic of China, only after the National Assembly is formally convened can the Constitutional Interpretation Committee be elected by the National Assembly, or the Court be entrusted to form the Constitutional Interpretation Committee, to interpret issues related to the Constitution. After interpretation, it must still be passed by the National Assembly's vote. If you really prepare to talk to us about this constitutional interpretation, then go complete this set of procedures first."

Being rebuffed to such an extent by a diplomat from a "soldier" background, Tang Shaoyi was dizzy with anger. But the People's Party's military strength completely overrode Beiyang's, and even if it was twisted logic, one couldn't say Zhang Yu was pestering endlessly. In a burst of embarrassing awkwardness, Tang Shaoyi suddenly remembered Gu Weijun's words from not long ago: "Weak countries have no diplomacy!"