"When throwing hand grenades, you need to use force from your upper arm and swing outward. Your body movement shouldn't be so large."

"The first action in aiming is to press the butt of the gun against your shoulder. You must press it against your shoulder first."

"When doing push-ups, don't stick your butt up. Lower your stomach."

On the training ground, commanders were constantly correcting the soldiers' incorrect movements. Although their voices might have been a bit rushed, no one was truly angry, and there was certainly no scolding. The young soldiers performed physical training according to the commanders' orders. Under the high-volume training, everyone's face was flushed red, and their backs were soaked with sweat.

Even as a Division Political Commissar, Gu Lu did not relax the requirements for himself. The Sports Science major of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was all about scientific training. Through vast accumulation of figures and practical observation, a most basic daily training volume had been established. Commanders at all levels, including Gu Lu, had to complete this workload every day during military training periods.

First came 100 sit-ups, followed by 100 push-ups. During the break in between, they did leg presses and splits. After doing 30 pull-ups, it was followed by a 3000-meter run. During morning exercises every day, Gu Lu had to complete this volume of exercise with the comrades, then take a cold shower before starting his office work.

Once the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army crossed the Yellow River, it would be tantamount to formally assuming an offensive posture against Beiyang. Although the Yellow River couldn't be spoken of as a natural barrier like the Yangtze, it was no small ditch either. Logistics and supplies would rely extremely heavily on the Beijing-Hankou Railway. As for the safety of the railway bridge spanning the Yellow River, it could not be ignored. This meant there must be security troops stationed along the railway to guarantee the most basic safety.

"Commissar Gu, when will we fight the Beiyang Second Division?" Comrades from the Division Political Department were eager to know the next military plan.

"We haven't even crossed the Yellow River yet, and you're already thinking about attacking Anyang?" Gu Lu laughed.

"Commissar Gu, after the soldiers visited their families this time, their morale is very high. Speaking of wiping out the Beiyang Second Division, the newly enlisted comrades are all very spirited." At the Division Political Commissar meeting, the political commissars at all levels were very optimistic.

"Then I'd like to ask, aside from thoughts of repaying kindness, exactly how much have the comrades progressed in their class consciousness?" Gu Lu asked.

"Down with the Beiyang exploiting class, liberate all of Henan. We are propagating these principles," a company political instructor said loudly.

Gu Lu smiled bitterly after hearing this. Beiyang was the government, and could be counted as a member of the exploiting class, but Beiyang really wasn't worthy of being called the exploiting class. The company instructor's political concepts were still not clear enough; this really couldn't be considered good news. But Gu Lu himself was very clear that more than a year ago, he and this company instructor were at the same level. When entering Henan, the 4407th Division Gu Lu belonged to had now been expanded into the 504th Corps, expanding from over twenty thousand men to a force of one hundred thousand. Gu Lu had also gone from Division Political Commissar to Political Commissar of the 504th Corps and concurrently Political Commissar of the 4407th Division. Even though they had received supplementation of quite a few commanders from other base areas, expecting the overall quality of the troops to improve vastly while rapidly expanding was also a delusion.

Originally, the People's Party's plan was to cross the Yellow River in May 1914. However, after the army expansion, the quality of the troops dropped severely, so this plan had to be changed to June, after the summer harvest. But after the summer harvest in June 1914, the army's preparatory work was still not completed. Because the troops were invested on a large scale to help the rural common folk near various stations, especially helping military families and state-run farms with the harvest, the entire training plan was delayed again. So by July 1, 1914, the army finally decided to cross the Yellow River after August.

Just as Gu Lu was preparing to assign work to the comrades, a guard ran in. "Commissar Gu, Secretary Zhang and Commander Chai order you to immediately put down all work at hand and go to the Provincial Committee for a meeting at once!" After speaking, the guard handed an order to Gu Lu.

Gu Lu was full of wonder about what had happened to require convening such an emergency meeting. When he rushed to the outside of the Provincial Committee, he found no signs of a large-scale assembly of comrades. Even after entering the Provincial Committee, he didn't see the number of people that would match such an order. In fact, only six people came to attend the meeting. Zhang Yu and Chai Qingguo were naturally there; Henan Military District Political Commissar Yang Baogui, 504th Corps Political Commissar Gu Lu, and 504th Corps Commander Lv Zhonglin also attended the meeting. The other one was someone Gu Lu hadn't expected—Kang Dingyong, Director of the Henan Branch of the People's Internal Affairs Committee.

Even though Zhang Yu usually looked indifferent, right now he had an agitated appearance. "The Central Committee orders that from now on, we can act freely against Beiyang and the foreign devils."

This news frightened the other comrades at the meeting. The Party Central Committee had never displayed such naked hostility toward the foreign devils until now. Chai Qingguo and Gu Lu at least knew of Chen Ke's worries and expectations, but as for the other three comrades, they simply hadn't thought that the situation would undergo such a tremendous change.

"Secretary Zhang, what exactly happened?" Henan Military District Political Commissar Yang Baogui asked in astonishment.

Zhang Yu's eyes shone. "A few days ago, on June 28th, that Austrian Crown Prince was killed by a bomb in Sarajevo. The Party Central Committee believes a European war will start before long. Once the European war begins, the British and French naturally won't be able to wage war directly against our base areas anymore. Since they can't free up their hands to hit us, we naturally can free up our hands to deal with this bunch of foreign devils!"

"Secretary Zhang, was this judgment made by Chairman Chen?" Yang Baogui cared very much about this key question. Years ago, after Chen Ke wrote *Killing Cixi*, Yang Baogui was still a division commander. He had accompanied Chen Ke to meet Feng Xu and Shen Zengzhi. Since then, he had never harbored any doubts about Chen Ke's strategic judgment.

Zhang Yu handed a telegram to Yang Baogui. The content of the telegram was exactly the same as what Zhang Yu had said, and the final signature was Chen Ke. Seeing this signature, Yang Baogui completely relaxed his heart. "Then how does the Central Committee prepare for us to fight?"

"Regardless of whether the troops are ready or not, move one division across the Yellow River first," Zhang Yu replied.

While Zhang Yu was giving strategic instructions at the Party Committee meeting, Chen Ke also convened a Central Committee meeting. The heaviness that had pressed on Chen Ke's heart for several months was swept away. As long as World War I started, Chen Ke could determine who the enemy before his eyes really was. He had to admit that even though he strove to build relations with the United States, Chen Ke still didn't dare to truly offend the British. Learning that China's greatest enemy finally had no time to look east, Chen Ke's mood was as light as if it had sprouted wings.

The comrades of the Central Committee could also see Chen Ke's mood. A large batch of People's Party cadres had gone abroad for inspection the year before last and last year; everyone at least knew some of the basic situation in Europe. Germany and Austria were allies. The Austrian Crown Prince and his wife had been killed by a bomb, so war was unavoidable.

More detailed intelligence had reached the base area via telegram in the past few days. At the end of 1912, in the First Balkan War, the Balkan League drove out the Turks. But when negotiating the peace treaty terms, the European powers each supported one side, almost expanding this war into a war between the great European powers. In order to obtain access to the Adriatic Sea, Serbia demanded to enter northern Albania. Austria-Hungary opposed this with German and Italian support, while Russia and France did their utmost to support it. Both Russia and Austria carried out partial mobilization, and the situation was unusually tense. But considering its weak strength and poor combat preparations, Russia had to make concessions to Germany and Austria. The Balkan issue was submitted to an international conference for discussion. In December 1912, a peace treaty conference was held in London, and a conference of ambassadors from the six European countries of Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Germany, and Austria was held at the same time. At the ambassadors' conference, the Entente Powers supported the Balkan League, while the Central Powers supported Turkey. At this time, a coup suddenly occurred in Turkey, and a pro-German government took the stage. With German support, it refused to give up Adrianople, and negotiations broke down. On February 3, 1913, the Balkan League started military operations again. In March, they captured Adrianople, and Turkey had to sue for peace again. The London Conference resumed in May, and the belligerents signed a peace treaty. Turkey ceded all territory west of the Enos-Midia line to the Balkan countries, retaining only a small area near Istanbul. The Albanian people, after long-term struggle, finally won independence.

Differences occurred among the Balkan League countries when distributing the spoils, and quarrels ensued. Because Bulgaria obtained the most land, Serbia demanded that Bulgaria hand over a part of Macedonia to it. Greece demanded southern Macedonia and Western Thrace. Montenegro also wanted to obtain part of the land from Bulgaria. Even Romania, which had not participated in the alliance, demanded Southern Dobruja from Bulgaria. All were refused by Bulgaria. Turkey also wanted to take the opportunity to retake the Eastern Thrace region. As a result, these countries with territorial demands united to deal with Bulgaria. The Central Powers did their utmost to destroy the Balkan League, while the Entente Powers openly stood on the side of Greece, Serbia, and the others. On June 1, 1913, Serbia and Greece signed an anti-Bulgarian alliance, and Romania subsequently joined this alliance. In order to strike first, Bulgaria declared war on Serbia first on June 29. Montenegro and Turkey soon joined the anti-Bulgarian war. Bulgaria suffered defeat in the war. On August 10, the two sides signed a peace treaty in Bucharest, Romania. Romania obtained Southern Dobruja, Serbia obtained the greater part of Macedonia, and Greece obtained southern Macedonia, Western Thrace, and Crete. Turkey used the internal strife of the Balkan countries to retake Adrianople.

The two Balkan Wars promoted the national movement of the Slavs in Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austro-Hungarian rule. They demanded to merge with Serbia and establish a Greater Serbia state. The Austro-Hungarian Empire resolutely opposed Serbia's expansion and decided to annex Serbia. The conflict between Austria and Serbia was bound to cause a conflict between Austria and Russia, as well as a conflict between the Central Powers and the Entente Powers. The Balkans had become the focus of the contradictions between the European powers and the powder keg of Europe.

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, participated in commanding a military exercise. The exercise was held in Bosnia, controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and took neighboring Serbia as the imaginary enemy. A secret organization in Serbia sent multiple killers, lying in ambush within the city of Sarajevo, preparing to assassinate him. After the exercise ended, Ferdinand and his wife entered the city area in an open-top automobile. An assassin threw a bomb at the automobile, and the entire automobile was blasted into a ball of fire.

The event of Franz Ferdinand's assassination in Sarajevo was utilized by the two major military blocs pushing for war. The militarists of Austria-Hungary clamored loudly, "Draw the sword, aim at Serbia," to thoroughly destroy the obstacle to Austria-Hungary's hegemony in the Balkans. A Vienna newspaper wrote: "For six years we have been waiting for all the serious tensions to finally explode... We want war, because this is our inner conviction. Our ideal can only be realized through a war, in a radical and sudden manner: that is a powerful Austria." The day after the incident occurred, Austro-Hungarian Chief of General Staff Hötzendorf and Foreign Minister Berchtold both believed that the time to "solve the Serbian problem" had arrived, demanding immediate military mobilization to declare war on Serbia. But they also worried about Russia's intervention, so they asked Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany for help.

The People's Party currently did not know that this bomb actually had a huge relationship with the People's Party. Due to the development of synthetic ammonia technology, the People's Party's production volume of nitro-high explosives surged. Chen Ke had liked chemistry since childhood. Perhaps it was a boy's nature, or perhaps Chen Ke himself had antisocial tendencies at that time; in any case, he was once very keen on the research of illegal chemical stimulants and explosives. The People's Party's gel explosive production was decent. aside from being used in various mines and engineering projects in China, a portion was even sold to India.

Merchants under heaven all had the same virtue. For the sake of making a profit, a small portion of gel explosives was actually sold from India to the Balkan region. During the investigation of the assassination case, a small piece of iron with "Made in China" written on it was found in the wreckage of the Crown Prince's automobile. That was the trademark the People's Party adopted on all gel explosives.