Attacking the People's Party was an extremely easy thing to do. Beiyang officials originally believed that the People's Party was a brutal political organization. In the past five or six years, whenever the Beiyang Army fought with the People's Party, they were defeated every time. After Duan Qirui listened to Cai Yuanpei's suggestion and organized the Beiyang officials to study the "Constitution", "Criminal Law", and "Civil Law" documents of the People's Party, and read a batch of the People's Party's recent "study materials" that they had collected, all Beiyang officials completely believed that the People's Party was not only brutal, but also evil to the core.

Severely punishing those who embezzle and accept bribes was not such an outrageous thing. At any rate, Beiyang did not dare to admit verbally that embezzlement and bribery were correct. However, the People's Party proposed various targeted measures in response to various cases that had already occurred. These measures plugged the loopholes in the system. This could not help but make the Beiyang bureaucrats feel panicked.

Regarding these issues, the literati under Cai Yuanpei used the word "cold-blooded" to characterize the People's Party. The saying of those literati was, "Use a person without suspicion, suspect a person without using them; harmonious and blending with the world. This is benevolent governance. When the water is too clear, there are no fish. The cold-blooded policy implemented by the People's Party is essentially a complete distrust of the officials' integrity. The Discipline Inspection Commission and the People's Internal Affairs Commission are the East Depot and West Depot of today. This is a typical manifestation of the People's Party's coldness towards people. Officials are people who have read the books of sages and are all people of high moral character. If there are any deficiencies, it must be because they have their own difficulties. The People's Party ignores everyone's situation and blindly implements cruel politics. This is clear proof of their cold-bloodedness."

As for the People's Party's system of People's Representatives, the literati did not criticize the system itself. As literati, they also supported the "republican system" and the "parliamentary system". Moreover, although Beiyang respected literati, they were unwilling to hand over power to them. Criticizing the People's Party on this point would be criticizing Beiyang. After discussion, Cai Yuanpei and others believed that they must follow Confucius's Spring and Autumn Annals regarding "concealing the faults of the honorable". This attitude and method were necessary. Of two evils, choose the lesser; at least Beiyang was respectful enough to the literati. Therefore, regarding the People's Party's election system, the literati's arguments were directed strictly at the results.

"Under the rule of the People's Party, all landlords, gentry, literati, and relatives of officials are not allowed to be elected. Those elected are all illiterate commoners. These people do not understand politics at all, let alone respect Chinese tradition. All policies are short-sighted. The People's Party destroys ancestral halls, tears down temples, imprisons clans, and plunders clan fields. Not only that, but they also go against Feng Shui, forcibly destroying people's ancestral graves and moving people's tombs. It is truly a loss of morality and frenzied madness."

In this era, scholars cared quite a bit about ancestral graves. The People's Party did indeed have issues with moving graves during land reform. This was also unavoidable; during the great floods in Anhui back then, the vast majority of grave mounds were leveled. So during land reform, it was possible to implement large-scale land planning. However, this was not absolute; some places still encountered issues with moving graves. Chen Ke always believed that there was no reason to let the deceased compete for land with the living. So the People's Party implemented a grave relocation plan.

When the literati cursed the People's Party for moving graves, they did not dare to state a fact. In order to win over public opinion as much as possible, in addition to discussing the realistic argument that "the deceased must take care of the successors", the People's Party also widely publicized the funeral characteristics of the Confucius era. In Confucius's era, deep burials were practiced, but no monuments were erected, and no grave mounds were built. The purpose was not to affect normal agricultural production. If the old predecessors were so open-minded, there was no reason for future generations to "prove their existence by causing inconvenience to future generations". After the graves were moved, cemetery management was implemented. If farmers were willing to implement cremation, tomb pagodas were built everywhere to enshrine the ashes.

There were many trees in the cemeteries, and the environment was elegant. Coupled with the land reform policy, whether the masses were happy in their hearts was worth considering, but everyone could at least barely accept the "government's" advocacy.

What the literati feared most was not being able to "manifest their reputation" after death. If they could make their graves admired by others and substantially cause unavoidable trouble for future generations, they would actually feel very gratified in their hearts. The People's Party's new practice might conform to the traditions of the era of the "Great Sage and Teacher Confucius", but it completely contradicted the expectations of the literati. Therefore, attacking the People's Party's "funeral reform", the literati were completely speaking from their hearts and with utmost sincerity.

Officials also could not accept funeral reform. They tried their best to become officials just to show off themselves and bring glory to their families. The best way to prove one's existence was to cause trouble for others. Moreover, after struggling to become an official, if they didn't even have a grave mound after death, or if they lay in the same cemetery as those ordinary commoners, just imagining it was enough to make many Beiyang officials bristle with anger and roar at the sky.

Attacks on the People's Party's policies must be linked to reality. Cai Yuanpei and others also launched a grievance-venting meeting. Several surviving family members of "victimized literati" recalled their family history with snot and tears.

"My humble self's grandfather served as a local education official in Jiangxi. During the famine years, my grandfather delayed the collection of rent. When the harvest was good, he asked the tenant farmers to make up the owed rent. This was written in a contract and stamped with handprints. The tenant farmers refused to pay the rent and even rose up to make trouble. My humble self's grandfather had to ask the government to intervene, and the government arrested some unruly people. After some unruly people were released, they committed suicide. After the rebellious party of the People's Party arrived in Jiangxi, the unruly people filed a complaint, and they arrested my grandfather. After a public trial, he was beheaded in public. Those unruly people didn't even let my family collect the corpse, punching and kicking my grandfather's body. Boohoo..." Speaking of the sad part, the survivor of the "victimized literati" cried loudly, choking with sobs.

"My family's uncle passed the Jinshi exam. One day while walking on the road, a commoner blocked the way. My grandfather's subordinate scolded the commoner, but that commoner actually ignored hierarchy and spoke disrespectfully. My family's uncle had no choice but to order someone to teach the commoner a lesson. He himself was physically weak and died of a sudden illness. After the People's Party arrived in my hometown, they actually said my grandfather killed someone and wanted him to pay with his life for the commoner. My family's uncle, a dignified Jinshi with knowledge filling five carts, actually had to pay with his life for a cart-driving commoner? Is there such reason in the world?"

Case by case, piece by piece, the scholars cried about their history of blood and tears, denouncing the People's Party for ignoring hierarchy and tradition, and equating noble scholars with illiterate unruly people. A life for a life and paying back debts is a rule that applies within the same class. How could this be done between different classes?

"The People's Party shouts about equality, but in reality, they absolutely have no intention of equality. They just want to use the excuse of equality to instruct these commoners to bully the gentry and slaughter officials. This is the greatest inequality. We absolutely cannot just watch them act so recklessly!"

"Gentlemen, wherever the People's Party goes, they hold some public trial meeting. As long as it is something the unruly people advocate, they accept it all without regard for the facts. If the unruly people falsely accuse our officials' families of killing their family members, the People's Party will listen to the unruly people and kill the officials' family members or even the officials themselves to pay for the unruly people's lives. If the unruly people falsely accuse our officials and their families of buying something from them, the People's Party will go to the officials and their families to seize these things and give them to the unruly people. There is a distinction between high and low, and an order between old and young. Punishments do not apply to high officials, and rituals do not extend to commoners. This is a tradition of thousands of years, but the People's Party completely disregards tradition and actually wants the unruly people to climb on top of our heads to domineer. If the People's Party gains power, gentlemen might be spared at the time. But even if the People's Party does not do it themselves, the unruly people will not let gentlemen off. At that time, the People's Party will instigate the unruly people to falsely accuse gentlemen and gentlemen's families. That is when the real great disaster befalls everyone!"

Which Beiyang official's family did not have matters of oppressing the common people? Which family did not have matters of forcibly seizing land and property, or lending money and forcing people to death? The People's Party's land reform policy had already made the officials unable to accept it, regarding the People's Party as the greatest enemy. Coupled with these various "atrocities" actually implemented by the People's Party, the officials all felt a shudder. They became officials to bring glory to their ancestors and back up their families. If becoming an official instead became the reason for the ruin of their families, the officials naturally refused to accept it.

"Down with the rebellious People's Party!" "Oppose radicalism!" "Restore tradition!" The officials began to reach a consensus in politics.

The officials still had quite a few schemes in mind, but the officers in the Beiyang Army were much more straightforward. The literati knew that the vast majority of these soldiers were not from literati backgrounds and had strong envy and jealousy towards literati. If they spoke of the miserable plight of the literati, the soldiers would probably not be able to empathize. Therefore, regarding the Beiyang Army, the thinking had to be adjusted.

"Gentlemen are all the defenders of the country, heroes who brave death. Many in the Beiyang Army are from Anhui. When the People's Party stole Anhui, not a single fortified village in Anhui was left. Almost all the landlord gentry in the fortified villages were slaughtered. You gentlemen must know these things. Many of your relatives were also unfortunately killed. A person living between heaven and earth should be both loyal and filial. If one cannot be both loyal and filial, then at least one must occupy one end. Now, if the People's Party can be slaughtered, gentlemen will first be loyal to the President, and second, can also take revenge. This is what a true man should do. This is the behavior that can be respected by later generations and praised by later generations!"

Soldiers were relatively straight; listening to the instigation of these literati, their morale was high.

Yuan Shikai did not care much about the propaganda of the literati among the officials, but he kept a close eye on the propaganda of the literati in the army. Duan Qirui gave the propaganda draft to Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai read it in detail and asked about the reaction of the entire Beiyang Army. After confirming that this propaganda was centered on "loyalty to the President", "taking revenge", and "exterminating the rebellious party", Yuan Shikai felt somewhat relieved. He smiled and said: "Now that the military pay is sufficient, it is best that everyone can work together."

Duan Qirui had long been suspicious of Beiyang's diplomacy. He took this opportunity to ask: "President, I heard that Britain has already declared war on Germany. Britain insists that we join the Entente Powers. I wonder what thoughts the President has?"

Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly: "Even if I don't want to join the Entente Powers now, can I not join the Entente Powers?"

Duan Qirui said: "President, Germany is a rising star, and Britain may not necessarily be Germany's match. The People's Party is currently forcing us to join the Entente Powers. Presumably, there is a huge conspiracy. This cannot be ignored."

Regarding whether Britain or Germany could win this war, there were many arguments within Beiyang. Many high-ranking Beiyang military officers believed that Germany could win. Coupled with the worry about what tricks Chen Ke was playing in this, there were actually fewer people in the Beiyang Army who supported joining the British camp. More opinions were to "wait and see".

Yuan Shikai was not suspicious this time, "Zhiquan, right now, is it Britain or Germany who can support us? If we figure this out, we have nothing to hesitate about."

Hearing this, Duan Qirui stopped making a sound. He knew what Yuan Shikai had left unsaid. If the People's Party could not be completely eliminated, what significance would a British victory or a German victory have for Beiyang?