In the China of 1914, no one other than the People's Party could understand the concept of industrialization. Even Zhou Shuren, intelligent as he was, could not do so; after all, he did not live in an industrial age, which left him without even a foundation for imagination.

Zhou Shuren could not understand the content expounded in *The Communist Manifesto* at all. Even words that could universally resonate with humanity, such as "liberation," "opposition," and "freedom," though seemingly impassioned, were actually empty talk to him. That was Marx speaking to Europe in 1848; it had no meaning for China, which was still an agricultural country. Even though Zhou Shuren had always valued scholarship, he was completely bewildered when reading the history of European thought written by Marx.

For example: "German philosophers, would-be philosophers, and beaux esprits (men of letters), eagerly seized on this literature, only forgetting that when these writings immigrated from France into Germany, French social conditions had not immigrated along with them. In contact with German social conditions, this French literature lost all its immediate practical significance and assumed a purely literary aspect. Thus, to the German philosophers of the Eighteenth Century, the demands of the first French Revolution were nothing more than the demands of 'Practical Reason' in general, and the utterance of the will of the revolutionary French bourgeoisie signified, in their eyes, the laws of pure Will, of Will as it was bound to be, of true human Will generally. The work of the German literati consisted solely in bringing the new French ideas into harmony with their ancient philosophical conscience, or rather, in annexing the French ideas without deserting their own philosophic point of view."

Guys like Chen Ke, who came from an industrial age and had the time to read a lot of related books just to brag to others, could probably understand what had happened. Zhou Shuren had no conditions to understand what this passage was talking about. Moreover, for the current Chen Ke, what he valued was the attitude of Marxist materialist dialectics: "In contact with German social conditions, this French literature lost all its immediate practical significance and assumed a purely literary aspect."

As for the massive tomes of the Germans, when Chen Ke read Nietzsche, he could barely manage to be patient, but when he saw Kant's stuff, Chen Ke felt that the torture he suffered was only slightly better than discrete mathematics. The first part of discrete mathematics, about how to determine true and false propositions, was the only thing that could make Chen Ke fall asleep just by looking at it.

If Chen Ke, who had received a full modern education, was like this, then Zhou Shuren, who had no such educational background at all, was even less likely to appreciate what these words were saying. Therefore, after Zhou Shuren finished reading *The Communist Manifesto* in a fog, he felt his eyes light up when he saw Chen Ke's corresponding manuscript on the manifesto.

"There are many paths for China's future, but the only path to survival is to implement industrialization in China." Chen Ke's article was very blunt, cutting straight to the chase from the start. "China's problem is fundamentally not about monarchy or republic, nor is it about national character as some people bullshit about. Only an industrial country can defeat an industrial country; as an agricultural country, China cannot defeat an industrial country no matter what. An industrial country does not just have dozens or hundreds of factories; the industrialization promoted by an industrial country is a lifestyle, a cultural system, a brand-new social system and moral system. If we cannot understand that the whole world has irreversibly entered the industrial age, if we think that China's failure is merely because our weapons are inferior to the enemy's, if we only think that foreigners are more barbaric than China, instead of realizing that an agricultural country has a comprehensive and systemic disadvantage compared to an industrial country, then we cannot save China no matter what. To save China, to save ourselves, there is no other way but to start the process of China's industrialization."

Although the beginning was a call to arms that sounded like bragging, what followed combined the arguments of *The Communist Manifesto* and was quite practical. An industrial country is a social model that combines every laborer with the entire social production. Any private ownership of means of production that restricts activities to a designated area will hinder industrial development. This was the theoretical basis for Chen Ke explaining why state ownership of land must be implemented.

Zhou Shuren finally completely understood why the People's Party was so "ruthless" towards landlords and the gentry. In the political philosophy of the People's Party, there was absolutely no living space for private land owners. This was not a matter of personal like or dislike, but a matter of basic political philosophy.

Regarding China's existing national industry, Chen Ke's attitude was very simple. If small producers could survive under the impact of the People's Party's large-scale industrialization, they naturally had a reason to exist, and there was no need to forcibly eliminate them. If they could not survive, the People's Party had no reason to lend them a hand either. It was an inevitable process for small capital to be crushed by large-scale industrial production. Chen Ke quoted Marx's original words: "You reproach us, us Communists, with desiring to abolish the right of personally acquiring property as the fruit of a man's own labor, which property is alleged to be the groundwork of all personal freedom, activity and independence. Hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned property! Do you mean the property of petty artisan and of the small peasant, a form of property that preceded the bourgeois form? There is no need to abolish that; the development of industry has to a great extent already destroyed it, and is still destroying it daily."

As for the literati class, Chen Ke revealed the fullest contempt in his words: "Industrialized society has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage laborers. In the future era of universal compulsory education in China, all labor is merely labor, and every position is the result of competition and selection. Those guys who think they are noble just because they have read a few sentences and recognized a few characters, who think they can ride roughshod over other laborers, will either become vassals of foreign or Chinese bourgeoisie, or they will all fall into the garbage dump of losers in the cruel industrial competition."

"There will definitely be a bunch of guys who cling to the past and refuse to let go, shouting that dignity is lost and public morality is not what it used to be. But the complete leveling of the status of all laborers, where everyone becomes an equal member of society, will inevitably bring true dignity, self-worth, and a sense of responsibility to all laborers in China."

Regarding the future of China's industrialization, Chen Ke had no intention of outlining any beautiful fantasies. "The result brought by industrialization is that the entire China will feel great pain. Every step of industrial progress, besides bringing a more convenient life, will also bring repetitive mechanical labor, forcing everyone to constantly master more skills and abilities, and to integrate more into social life. All methods of survival that could still work in an agricultural society will quickly become invalid in the industrial age. Apart from becoming a social person, there is simply no other way to survive. There is the pain of being lost, the pain of encountering a strange world, and the pain of making everyone look directly at their own essential nature. The feeling industrial society gives people is a pain that may not be escapable, but without industrialization, life is worse than death. Therefore, laborers of all China, unite!!"

Reading these articles with stern wording and no tolerance, and seeing the industrial age clearly described by Chen Ke, Zhou Shuren had a feeling that Chen Ke was very likely a person who had grown up in this industrial age. If he hadn't experienced this era and felt the pain brought by it, Chen Ke could never have described the industrial age so arrogantly and firmly.

What surprised Zhou Shuren was that he knew Chen Ke's attitude could be described as "mean," but he couldn't bring himself to use this word on Chen Ke no matter what. Like those outstanding people from the backbone class of the old society, Zhou Shuren was not afraid of hardship. From his childhood education, Zhou Shuren understood that pain was the eternal theme of life, and hard work was the only path in life. "Diligence is the path through the mountain of books, and bitterness is the boat across the endless sea of learning." This was not strange to true scholars.

The only thing Zhou Shuren couldn't be sure of was whether the People's Party could fulfill what they promised, or if Chen Ke had the chance to complete the ideal he constructed. In the People's Party's industrialization concept, everyone, including scholars, had to be transformed into "laborers of the industrial age." Chen Ke held an even more distrustful attitude towards scholars of the old era. " The broad masses of working people in China do not detest labor; they look forward to changing their destiny through labor. As long as the prejudice against laborers from the old era is broken, they will definitely be able to become excellent laborers. But the nature of China as an agricultural country determines that the old upper class not only has contempt for laborers but also has a deep-rooted persistence in the hierarchy. To transform this attitude and make them proud of their identity as laborers, unless the future industrial society develops to the point where these people are at the end of their rope, develops to the point where these people understand that if they don't join the ranks of laborers, they will fall into a miserable state of having no way out, otherwise it will be very difficult."

Chen Ke never cared about the attitude of old literati. History has proven that it is basically impossible to eliminate the mindset of being superior to others that these old literati cultivated under the feudal system. Moreover, the fact that the disciples and grand-disciples of these people could still set off a wave of "Republic of China Style" even in the 21st century proved the problem even more. If they could be completely excluded from the new era, the positive significance would far outweigh that little loss of manpower. If these birdmen could stand on the enemy's side and fight to the death with the People's Party, Chen Ke would be even happier.

How could Zhou Shuren not see such an attitude? But his evaluation of old literati was basically the same as Chen Ke's. The only thing he wanted to finally confirm was just one thing: where did Chen Ke's confidence come from? And this problem could not be solved without meeting Chen Ke in person.

However, Zhou Shuren was never arrogant. He could completely imagine how busy Chen Ke was now. Zhou Shuren would never imagine that time would be specially set aside for a small figure like him.

"Let's wait and see if the People's Party can implement their program first." Zhou Shuren decided to stay with the People's Party for a while longer.

Being a military doctor is a hard profession; there are many preparations to be made before the battle, and hard work to be done after the battle. In the days that followed, Zhou Shuren clearly felt the hardship of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army Field Hospital. He also confirmed one thing: the People's Party's program was implemented extremely thoroughly, at least in the military hospital. Everyone only addressed each other by their duties. The young military doctors and nurses of the People's Party also had a system where they had to have a meeting every day, especially the summary meeting at night. At the meeting, they didn't complain, but only proposed methods on how to improve efficiency more effectively. What surprised Zhou Shuren was that this improvement in efficiency was accompanied by minimizing labor time as much as possible.

When the military hospital first started, there were too many wounded, and no one talked about shortening labor time. After the initial treatment ended, the hospital began to arrange time rationally, hoping to let the comrades rest well through more effective work.

Zhou Shuren knew that in the Hangzhou Hospital, everyone wanted such things, but they were never said publicly. The fact that the People's Party dared to speak openly and clearly about these issues made Zhou Shuren feel great admiration.

And the doctors of the People's Party who pursued progress also left Zhou Shuren dumbfounded. When he inspected the patients, he saw more than one doctor practicing tying knots. This was one of the necessary skills for surgery. In the People's Party's regulations, one had to tie more than 60 knots a minute to reach the standard. A surgeon in the Hangzhou Hospital who could tie 20 knots a minute would be top-notch. These doctors would sit there practicing tying knots after ward rounds or during free time at work. Zhou Shuren asked them why they tried so hard, and a young doctor smiled and replied, "I also want to be an attending physician. The next exam is coming soon."

Such an answer meant that the People's Party's medical system was primarily evaluated entirely through skill exams, and these exams were open to all doctors. Zhou Shuren asked about the background of this young doctor, and the answer he got was: "I am from Lijiapu, Shouzhou, Anhui. My parents are both farmers."

Here in the People's Party, children of farmers could become doctors. This fact was enough to prove too many things. At least Zhou Shuren knew very well that less than 10 years ago, none of the people around Zhou Shuren studying Western medicine were children from poor families.