On the third day after the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had completely occupied Henan, Chen Ke and a portion of the comrades from the General Office set out for Henan. For any province newly liberated by the People's Party, Chen Ke would stay in the provincial capital for a period of time.

Before setting out, Chen Ke ordered the provincial capital of Henan to be changed from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou, which surprised quite a few comrades. Regardless of what speculations the comrades might have had, Chen Ke still did not believe there was any issue. As the transportation hub of Henan, Zhengzhou was far more suitable than Kaifeng or Luoyang to be the provincial capital. Additionally, as a new city, Zhengzhou had tremendous advantages in urban planning. Both Kaifeng and Luoyang faced troublesome demolition and relocation work; once they became the provincial capital, these problems would become exceptionally troublesome.

Upon arriving in Zhengzhou, what greeted Military Commission Chairman Chen Ke was a mountain of documents. Aside from the Beiyang 2nd Division led by Duan Zhigui, the Henan Military Region of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had also completely annihilated the Beiyang 20th and 21st Divisions near Anyang. "Fight battles of encirclement, fight battles of annihilation, do not fight battles of routing"—this was the core ideology of mobile warfare. Of course, the work following the annihilation of enemy units was also particularly extensive.

Of the three brigade commanders of the three Beiyang divisions, one was killed in action, and two were captured alive. Duan Zhigui was the unfortunate one who was killed. The documents contained photos of the scene of Duan Zhigui's death. Perhaps the quality of the black and white photo was poor, but in a depression in the ground, Duan Zhigui lay twisted like a broken humanoid toy. According to the report from the anatomy group of the Henan Medical College, Duan Zhigui's body showed signs of injury from artillery shell fragments, bullets, and hand grenade fragments. The cause of death was organ failure due to excessive blood loss. The autopsy found that two bullets had damaged Duan Zhigui's chest, and an artillery shell fragment had severed the artery in his leg. As for whether internal bleeding or external blood loss caused Duan Zhigui's death, the military doctors of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had somewhat conflicting opinions.

After the troops learned of the autopsy report, some comrades hoped to determine Duan Zhigui's cause of death in more detail. If he was killed by bullets, then the credit would go more to the frontline infantry. If artillery fragments took Duan Zhigui's life, then the artillery units would claim greater credit. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had not yet researched military trauma deeply enough, and coupled with the fact that it was summer, the corpse decomposed quickly after the autopsy. They could only bury the body as soon as possible. In the end, this became a historical mystery. In the war history of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the infantry and artillery shared the honor of killing Duan Zhigui.

These were minor matters. When Chen Ke read the reports, although he didn't say it aloud, one of the issues he was quite concerned about in his heart was the equipment retention rate of the troops. Chen Ke himself had led troops in battle, and before every battle, much equipment had to be unloaded—backpacks, canteens, luggage. Once this equipment was lost, it had to be replenished; it was best not to lose it. The base area's industrial level was far from as powerful as the Americans'; for the Americans, the cost of recovering equipment and shipping it back home was higher than issuing new gear. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had to be meticulous in calculation; if it could be saved, it shouldn't be wasted.

After reading the post-battle work reports of the troops, Chen Ke felt quite satisfied. After the battle, the troops immediately began a comprehensive recovery of packs and magazines, and the loss rate was very low. Moreover, the commanders personally led the comrades in the recovery, and did not use criticism or other high-pressure means, but rather adopted methods of education and encouragement. The soldiers were all from ordinary peasant backgrounds, and diligence and thrift were also their instinctive style.

After finishing with this issue, Chen Ke began to examine the prisoner of war issue. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had captured nearly forty thousand Beiyang troops. The actual investigation results regarding these forty thousand people formed a thick stack. The composition of the Beiyang Army had firstly undergone a tremendous change. After reading the report, Chen Ke convened a Military Commission meeting.

The troop commanders had fought such a victorious battle, annihilating over sixty thousand Beiyang troops while the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army suffered fewer than a thousand casualties. Before Military Commission Chairman Chen Ke, everyone was beaming with joy. The comrades who spoke were full of pride, listing their unit's combat achievements at great length. Even the comrades who hadn't had their turn to speak showed their joy on their faces, waiting to go up and speak.

Self-promotion is human nature. Chen Ke only gave one prompt: "Comrades, when you speak, I will ask some questions and interrupt slightly, so please cooperate."

To be asked questions, the comrades were happy enough; they certainly didn't feel inconvenienced. Chen Ke's questions weren't numerous. The statistics department comrades had summarized the basic situation of the Beiyang Army based on the base area's standard investigation report forms. In each Beiyang unit, what was the percentage of old Beiyang troops? What was the percentage of officers? How long had they been established? What was the personnel composition? Targeting these issues, Chen Ke began to ask questions.

All three Beiyang units had suffered surprise attacks by the People's Party during mobile warfare and had been thrown into disarray from the very beginning. These questions were highly targeted but difficult to pinpoint. The comrades of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army also found it hard to give direct answers regarding the characteristics of the Beiyang troops. The general opinion was that their tactics were backward and rigid. They liked to deploy in long snake formations, and as soon as they encountered a flank attack or their frontal position was breached, it would immediately trigger a total collapse. Their shooting level was low, and they only knew volley fire. In shootouts with the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, no unit had been able to persist for more than twenty minutes.

Defensively, the Beiyang Army had an obsession with city walls, houses, and other buildings where they could completely hide to avoid bullets. In a disadvantaged situation, they would flee there regardless of casualties. They had absolutely no concept of quickly converting these buildings into a combat defense system. They had even less training in using terrain to implement defense.

In contrast, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had a complete tactical system and effective tactical training, presenting an overwhelming advantage over the Beiyang Army.

After listening to the comrades from various units greatly praise themselves during the day, Chen Ke convened a higher-level military conference in the evening. This meeting was much more efficient. Military Region Commander Chai Qingguo reported several key issues with a tired face: "The composition of the Beiyang Army is vastly different from before. Previously, the Beiyang Army conscripted sons of good families from Hebei. In this battle, aside from the 2nd Division which came from the old Beiyang Army, the newly established 20th and 21st Divisions had bandits making up thirty to even forty percent of their ranks. These bandits don't have a strong will to fight. When they see an advantage to be taken, they appear quite daring. When they encounter a situation unfavorable to them, they start to run away. Fortunately, these battles were all encirclement and annihilation battles, and the Beiyang units had nowhere to run. Even so, there is the problem of scattered small units escaping the encirclement."

Gu Lu was also extremely annoyed when he heard Chai Qingguo talk about the composition of the Beiyang Army. "Those routed soldiers who escaped have been running amok along the way, harming quite a few common people. After we received reports from the localities, we sent out all the cavalry, and only then did we wipe these bastards out clean. After tallying it up, the four hundred or so who escaped looted over a thousand households along the way and committed over two hundred cases of rape and murder. We have already publicly tried and executed them in the areas where the crimes were committed. I hope that in future investigations of the Beiyang Army, a more detailed investigation into the Beiyang Army's composition can be done. These bandits are too detestable."

Hearing Gu Lu finish speaking filled with rage, Chen Ke couldn't help but laugh: "We haven't formally torn off the mask with Yuan Shikai yet. After we formally go to war, we can use 'bandits' to refer to the Beiyang. For example, the Yuan Bandits."

As he spoke, Chen Ke picked up a pen and wrote the two characters "Yuan Fei" (Yuan Bandits) on a piece of paper and passed it around. Many comrades laughed heartily after seeing it. "Let this day come a bit sooner!" Chai Qingguo said through gritted teeth.

"That is a matter for later," Chen Ke waved his hand to let the comrades quiet down temporarily. "Comrades, on August 1st, Germany declared war on Russia. The European part of the First World War will break out within a month."

"First? Will there be a second?" Zhang Yu asked.

"Before a balance of terror is achieved, world wars will continue to break out," Chen Ke laughed. He no longer cared about being caught on such small "prophecies." As long as WWI broke out, the outbreak of WWII was just a matter of time. Although China would likely achieve true national independence and sovereignty during WWI, China would inevitably participate in WWII.

"If the European part breaks out, will the Asian part also break out?" Gu Lu was more interested in this direction.

"The Asian part is first and foremost China's War of Liberation. I don't wish to go to war immediately right now, but we also cannot fear war. In this true War of Liberation, we have only one object we can rely on, and that is the broad masses of the people. All political forces other than this are our enemies. The only difference between them is whether they dare to jump out directly and be hostile to us."

"Chairman Chen, didn't you want to form a united front before?" Zhang Yu asked.

"That is already not very realistic. The basis of a united front is a common enemy. More specifically, it is the attitude towards imperialism. But the British aren't stupid; they will offer a huge price. The possibility of using anti-imperialism as a united front no longer exists. As for anti-feudalism, we have only the people as an ally. The others are all running dogs of the feudal forces. The difference between them is whether they want to become feudal rulers themselves or go and pledge allegiance to feudal rulers. In essence, they are all birds of a feather."

Just as they were speaking, a guard delivered a report. Chen Ke read it and laughed: "Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives. The British are chasing very closely. They've chased from Wuhan to Zhengzhou."

"What does Chairman Chen plan to say to the British?" Zhang Yu asked.

"That depends on what the British say to us," Chen Ke replied.

British representative Sir Humphrey was aggressive; as soon as he saw Chen Ke, he questioned why the People's Party wanted to disrupt the situation in China. Chen Ke gave a hearty laugh: "Sir Humphrey, who do you think you are? Did your parents and teachers not teach you the basic manners of being a human being? You've come to my door; it's not your turn to act wild with me. How is your current behavior different from a drunk hooligan on the streets of Britain? With just this kind of quality, you still come to work as a diplomat?"

Sir Humphrey never dreamed Chen Ke would say this, and he froze on the spot. Chen Ke didn't mean to kick him out, and continued to laugh: "Sir Humphrey, I am formally notifying you now. I demand that British warships withdraw from the Yangtze River within a month. If you do not leave, our People's Party will take mandatory measures."

Watching Sir Humphrey's dumbstruck appearance, Chen Ke continued to laugh: "Our People's Party welcomes any normal commercial activities, so your merchants will not suffer any infringement in our base areas. If they encounter any problems, they can seek out our government and judicial organs. But our base areas only have the laws of the base areas; there is no possibility of the existence of any foreign extraterritoriality. On this point, I hope you can think it through clearly."

Sir Humphrey was a diplomat after all. Even though he was somewhat dazed by Chen Ke's head-on blow, he still maintained basic calm. Sir Humphrey's lips trembled slightly as he asked: "Does your People's Party want to join the German side?"

Facing Sir Humphrey's inquiry, Chen Ke replied sternly: "Our People's Party has no intention of joining your imperialist war. We will neither throw in our lot with Germany nor with Britain. From beginning to end, what we pursue is China's independence and liberation. On this point, whoever blocks China's independence and liberation is our enemy."

Sir Humphrey had come full of anger to demand an explanation. After the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army easily annihilated the three Beiyang divisions, the British people's little bit of confidence in Yuan Shikai had flown completely beyond the highest heavens. Yuan Shikai naturally couldn't make it public, but the British had their own intelligence system. Three divisions, sixty thousand field troops, completely wiped out—the British simply could not accept Beiyang's incompetence.

The British knew very well that the People's Party was currently smug with success. Easily expressing support for the People's Party would only expand the People's Party's appetite and make them demand more benefits from the British. So half of Sir Humphrey's aggressiveness was feigned, and the other half was mostly anger at Beiyang's incompetence.

However, Sir Humphrey hadn't expected Chen Ke's appetite to be this big. Based on the conversation just now, Sir Humphrey already understood that Chen Ke was demanding that British power get the hell out of China. As for "the People's Party welcomes any normal commercial activities," these were just polite words. No one had a grudge against money; people doing legitimate business would receive relatively fair treatment anywhere. But the British believed that fairness in China first had to guarantee British privileges.

Even though Chen Ke had spoken so clearly, Sir Humphrey still felt Chen Ke might just be bluffing. He stared at Chen Ke seriously: "Mr. Chen, to be enemies with Britain is to be enemies with the world."

Chen Ke laughed heartily: "Sir Humphrey, you should say these words to Yuan Shikai of Beiyang, and after saying them, apply greater pressure on him. Our People's Party isn't saying this to blackmail you; our goal has always been to liberate all of China. So don't harbor any illusions about us. We have already explained clearly to you what we are going to do."

Sir Humphrey no longer had any feigned expressions. He sized up Chen Ke seriously: "Mr. Chen, have you already destined yourself to choose war?"

Chen Ke replied sternly: "Sir Humphrey, what our People's Party chooses is not to fear war. We are not madmen, and we do not have any pathological infatuation with war. But we are Chinese, and our People's Party loves China. We have an obligation to safeguard China's interests. Even if safeguarding China's interests requires sacrificing our lives, we are willing to accept such a cost."

At this point, Sir Humphrey knew there was nothing more to discuss today. Requesting a temporary recess, Sir Humphrey left the People's Party headquarters. The People's Party headquarters was located in the center of the military camp, which stretched for several li. Sir Humphrey estimated there must be at least fifty thousand soldiers in this camp. Looking at the neat formations and the high spirits peculiar to the aftermath of a war victory permeating the camp, Sir Humphrey felt very uneasy in his heart.

If Chen Ke were a brute who knew nothing of the world, no matter how brave and skillful in battle he was, the British wouldn't find him that hard to deal with. In Britain's few hundred years of expansion, brave and skillful enemies had appeared before. But Chen Ke himself was a person with his own profound understanding of the world. If one cast aside Chen Ke's identity as a Chinese person, he was no different from those rulers in London, Berlin, Paris, and Moscow. Skillfully using the period before the outbreak of war between the Entente and the Allies to launch an attack on Beiyang—this point alone made things extremely difficult for Britain. Britain was currently powerless to punish the People's Party. If Britain mobilized its forces, the Germans would die of happiness.

With strong unease, Sir Humphrey had originally wanted to contact the Peking Legation via telegraph, but changed his mind. He prepared to rush back to Beijing immediately to personally discuss the attitude towards the China issue.

The People's Party didn't care what the British thought. Chen Ke immediately ordered a telegram to the whole country, informing the entire nation of the People's Party's stance. Thinking of the money that would be spent on telegraphing the whole country, Chen Ke felt a pang of heartache. The People's Party's objects of cooperation were the working people, and a telegram to the whole country could not possibly be known by the working people no matter what. Spending so much money only let the propertied classes of the whole country know Chen Ke's stance and attitude. Spending money on this bunch, Chen Ke felt it would be more economical to put a bullet in each of their heads. History proved that this bunch couldn't stop themselves from eating shit; they thought they were born to be rulers. If this bunch all died, the positive effect on China would be far greater than the negative effect.

But Chen Ke checked his killing intent. Grandpa Mao had believed back then that this bunch could be reformed. Chen Ke also needed to learn from Grandpa Mao's policies. After all, human heads weren't chives; they wouldn't grow back after being cut.

Returning to report the negotiations with the British to the comrades, the comrades in Henan were all a bit surprised. But the next day, August 3, 1914, after Germany declared war on Russia, it formally declared war on France. This newly arrived intelligence completely put the comrades' hearts at ease. Britain, France, and Russia had already reached an entente; Britain declaring war on Germany was only a matter of time. Once Britain and Germany came to blows, there would be only one Japan around China that might invest in a war against China. Facing Beiyang, the comrades were full of confidence in victory. Facing Japan, even if the comrades didn't have enough confidence, they didn't think they would fail.

"Chairman Chen, what is our main direction now?" Chai Qingguo asked. "Is it to continue striking Beiyang?"

Chen Ke replied: "The task right now is to continue carrying out the People's Revolution and liberate the working people. I will emphasize one more time: without the support of the people, we ourselves are nothing. If we don't continue to push the People's Revolution, we cannot continue to receive the people's support. Our revolution is not to overthrow anyone, but to liberate the people. Whoever does not allow the Chinese people to be liberated, we will overthrow them!"

"Then where is the next operational direction?" Chai Qingguo continued to ask.

"The next operational direction is to first complete land reform in the newly liberated areas," Chen Ke answered simply and briskly.

The People's Party, from top to bottom, had rich experience in land reform. Since Chen Ke had determined the direction, the Henan Military Region immediately began assigning tasks and discussing key points.

Chen Ke fell silent. He had once thought the People's Party might not catch the situation of WWI, and the War of Liberation might very well be dragged out until after WWI, or at least until after Yuan Shikai died. But the situation hadn't evolved to that stage, and this also brought many other factors. Because they hadn't experienced WWI, nor the humiliation and pain inflicted on China by the Paris Peace Conference after the war, the anti-imperialist sentiment of the intellectual class was far from that profound. The current situation was actually more similar to the Party's Jiangxi era. Class struggle became the sharpest and principal contradiction in China. In this period, Chen Ke did not have enough confidence in who exactly would choose to stand on the side of the working people.

This confusion about the future only lasted for a short moment. Chen Ke quickly took back his thoughts and began to participate in the discussion of land reform in Henan. After all, Chen Ke had been to too many places in Henan and seen too much of Henan's actual appearance. He felt it was necessary for him to sketch out a part of the blueprint.