"Mr. Tao would be a good choice for the Governor of Zhejiang, but the current situation is so uncertain..."

"We must act with caution, with caution."

Regarding who would be elected as the Governor of Zhejiang in 1915, the General Assembly of the Guangfu Society quickly became a hornet's nest, with most representatives discussing it incessantly. Because of Tao Chengzhang's seniority and prestige, no one dared to oppose him directly, but there were few explicit supporters. Tao Chengzhang's expression gradually changed as he listened to the discussions. He had originally anticipated the general development of the situation, but the current ambiguity was still somewhat different from what he had expected. These Guangfu Society representatives were even more hesitant than he had imagined.

Tao Chengzhang stood up abruptly, and the buzzing in the venue vanished instantly. This veteran, one of the most senior members of the Guangfu Society, still held his own influence.

"Gentlemen, you dare not nominate me, Tao Chengzhang, and I can guess the reason. The Beiyang Army has strong forces in Zhejiang, and everyone is afraid that the Beiyang Army won't agree. But I find it strange. We people of Zhejiang are electing our own Zhejiang Governor; why must the Beiyang Army agree? This is Zhejiang, not Beijing," Tao Chengzhang said loudly. His words made sense, but the gentry attending the meeting were not truly moved.

Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin looked at each other, and they both saw helplessness in each other's eyes. This kind of thing had happened more than once or twice in Western Zhejiang. If one believed that saving the country and the people was the most important principle in China at present, then the gentry never spoke of this principle. In Western Zhejiang, whether in the past or present, whether engaging in production or running education, whether building infrastructure or setting up enterprises, the greatest resistance came not from the common people, but from the gentry.

When these things that were beneficial to the entire Western Zhejiang came before the gentry, they would have a good talk with the Western Zhejiang Branch about the principles of "property owners." The Guangfu Society Western Zhejiang Branch was also mostly made up of property owners. At the beginning, they tried to compromise, attempting to use revolutionary principles to influence the landlords and gentry. The landlords and gentry were initially afraid of the Western Zhejiang Branch's military force and were "willing to accommodate" on some small matters. But as social production expanded, there were more and more things that required the gentry's "accommodation," and the gentry also discovered that the Western Zhejiang Branch was unwilling to use force to forcibly push policies. Various confrontations began to increase.

One thing failed, two things failed, three things failed, until later almost everything failed. What the Western Zhejiang Branch wanted to do was seen by the gentry as either "competing with the people for profit" or "extorting the gentry." In the end, there were even people crying and shouting that the Western Zhejiang Branch was "destroying people's ancestral graves" and "ruining people's feng shui." That was when the Western Zhejiang Branch tried to build an irrigation system. All members had undergone special ideological education beforehand, preparing to learn from the People's Party and lead the masses in voluntary labor. This incident thoroughly angered the young people of the Western Zhejiang Branch, and for the first time, everyone decided to cast aside the landlords and mobilize the masses.

The masses naturally hoped to have better irrigation. At the People's Assembly, everyone voted, and the resolution allowing the Western Zhejiang Branch to lead the masses in building the irrigation system was passed with over 90% of the votes. With the support of the masses, the Western Zhejiang Branch forcibly implemented the water conservancy irrigation project with the backing of guns. That year, grain tax revenue increased by ten percent.

With this beginning, the Western Zhejiang Branch relied more and more on the common people and cast aside those landlords and gentry. The common people had no money, only this strength. For those projects where they could earn money to improve their lives by working, the Western Zhejiang Branch insisted on not making empty promises beforehand and insisted on not pretending to be generous when paying. They operated the government and public production with the calculation of a small household. There were no common people who wouldn't follow along.

The Guangfu Society General Assembly before them dared not directly nominate Tao Chengzhang as the next Governor of Zhejiang. Those who genuinely opposed Tao Chengzhang were actually in the minority. The majority, or the vast majority of the gentry who dared not state their position, were afraid that the Beiyang Army would be dissatisfied. If the Beiyang Army was dissatisfied, they would make things difficult for the gentry. Before the barrel of a gun, this bunch of gentry would swallow their broken teeth into their bellies and absolutely dare not resist. If Tao Chengzhang could not protect their interests, then sayings like "Zhejiang is the Zhejiang people's Zhejiang" were just nonsense. No matter how beautiful the future might be, if the risk exceeded a certain range, it was absolutely impossible for these people to abandon their immediate interests to struggle for the future. Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin had seen such things countless times in Western Zhejiang.

As expected, things developed just as the two had predicted. No matter how eloquently Tao Chengzhang tried to gain the support of these gentry councilors, the results were futile. At first, some councilors could still listen patiently, but after a while, some councilors couldn't help but yawn. Tao Chengzhang's effort to become the Governor of Zhejiang could be said to have failed completely.

When Tao Chengzhang sat down with a dry mouth, someone brought up the matter of taxation in Western Zhejiang again "to ease the atmosphere." Qiu Jin immediately re-emphasized the attitude of the Western Zhejiang Branch: "Taxation is fine, but a suitable Governor of Zhejiang must be elected. Otherwise, there is no need to mention this matter again."

Parliament was actually a game between various interest groups, and this game was the most inefficient method. After fussing for a day, all parties had merely stated their own positions and current bottom lines. The content discussed had made no substantive progress at all. Although they had sufficient psychological preparation before coming, Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin still felt very regretful. One must know that it was now early spring, and farm work was piling up like a mountain. If they were in Western Zhejiang, the two could at least do a lot of practical work in a day. There would be no need to waste a day's time in vain.

In the evening, Tao Chengzhang came to find the two of them in a huff. Today's situation had exceeded Tao Chengzhang's imagination. Qiu Jin and Xu Xilin originally thought Tao Chengzhang was going to ask them to make more concessions, such as agreeing to the taxation in Western Zhejiang, in exchange for more people supporting Tao Chengzhang. Tao Chengzhang did not make such a meaningless request at all. He said, "Bosun, Jianhu, at this time, the timing cannot be determined within the General Assembly. Since we are to organize a militia, I must ask for your help to send some reliable personnel to me. I don't have to be the Governor of Zhejiang, but the militia absolutely cannot be allowed to let these people do as they please again."

Qiu Jin asked tentatively, "Mr. Tao, what is the situation at Datong School now?" Datong School was the most important cadre school of the Guangfu Society and was once even the military academy of the Guangfu Society. In recent years, Qiu Jin had not gone back to Shaoxing at all. She had only heard that the recent situation at Datong School was quite subtle, but she wasn't clear on exactly how subtle it was.

Sure enough, Tao Chengzhang sighed, "Beiyang is extremely wary of Datong School. After opening a military academy in Zhejiang, they strictly forbade Datong School from having any military-related training. Mr. Cai has already taken the concurrent post of principal of Datong School, and all teachers inside are determined by Mr. Cai. The current Datong School is completely different from our time."

Hearing that the Datong School she had once led had undergone such changes, Qiu Jin felt quite uncomfortable in her heart. She changed the subject and said, "Mr. Tao, it is fine for you to send people to our place to receive military training. But we in Western Zhejiang simply do not have surplus manpower to dispatch to various places."

"That works too," Tao Chengzhang answered readily. "I will speak frankly with you two. In my heart, I don't want to fight a war at all. I don't care who wins or loses between the People's Party and Beiyang, but the system of provincial autonomy cannot be abolished. So I ask you two to help me train these people well. Currently, Beiyang has strong military power in Zhejiang, and these gentry councilors dare not act rashly. We will endure for now. Once the situation in Zhejiang changes, we can use the militia to seize military power in Zhejiang. I don't care at all about being this governor. But the affairs of Zhejiang must be decided by the people of Zhejiang. In any case, we cannot let outsiders manipulate the future of our Zhejiang."

Qiu Jin nodded. "As long as you send the people over, I can train them well. Mr. Tao doesn't need to worry."

Xu Xilin also expressed deep agreement with this. "Mr. Tao, the Beiyang Army must be driven out of Zhejiang. If Wenqing wins, as long as we still have a breath left, we will do our best to request Wenqing to maintain the status quo in Zhejiang."

"Then I entrust it to you two," Tao Chengzhang said gratefully.

"By the way, Mr. Tao, I have a little trick I want to discuss with you," Xu Xilin laughed.

The next day, Tao Chengzhang did not continue to try to seek the position of governor. As soon as the meeting started, he asked, "Since a militia is to be built, who exactly will control this militia? Will the Beiyang Army control it? Or will the Guangfu Army control it?"

If yesterday everyone still dared to offer various opinions on whether Tao Chengzhang could be the Governor of Zhejiang, making the entire conference hall like a beehive, now the room was quite quiet. Everyone dared not make a sound regarding Tao Chengzhang's question today. Being afraid of offending Beiyang was one thing, but directly handing over guns to Beiyang was another. However, with Tao Chengzhang stating his position so aggressively, everyone knew that Tao Chengzhang was determined to seize this military power. This was not the time to talk nonsense.

Tao Chengzhang disregarded everyone's silent expression of some kind of non-support. He said loudly, "Whoever opposes, please stand up."

This was the method Xu Xilin had suggested yesterday. If you are worried that others won't support you, then simply force others to directly express opposition. Sure enough, as Xu Xilin had said, at least no one stood up directly. Everyone really hadn't expected Tao Chengzhang to say this. If they stood up, that would be open opposition. With Tao Chengzhang's influence, even if everyone disagreed, no one was willing to be the first to stand up and express opposition. Someone tried to speak while sitting, but Tao Chengzhang immediately pointed at that person and said, "Either stand up and oppose, or sit there and don't talk. If you chatter on like yesterday, there will be no result even if we talk until tomorrow."

That person had originally intended to do just that, but seeing Tao Chengzhang's attitude was so tough, he simply stopped making a sound.

"If no one opposes, I, your brother, will be responsible for organizing the militia. I wonder what Mr. Cai's opinion is?" Tao Chengzhang said to Cai Yuanpei.

Everyone's eyes fell on Cai Yuanpei. In recent years, Cai Yuanpei had completely established his status as the leader of the Guangfu Society. If Cai Yuanpei opposed, these councilors wouldn't care about offending Tao Chengzhang.

"Then let's hand the matter of organizing the militia to Mr. Huanzhang," Cai Yuanpei said calmly. A portion of the councilors couldn't help but show disappointed expressions on their faces after hearing this.

With this major event determined, the meeting's discussion turned once again into a struggle session against the Western Zhejiang Branch. Various accusations were unleashed. The core content was criticizing the peasant associations being promoted by the Western Zhejiang Branch. In order to improve social production capacity, after repeated setbacks and attempts, Western Zhejiang, led by a group of radical members, finally opened the path of the mass line. Moreover, the folk customs in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions were very different from the north; the masses generally liked litigation. After the Western Zhejiang Branch promoted the construction of peasant associations with military force as a background, the dignity and prestige of the landlords were swept away completely. With the landlord power toppled, the peasant association became the only organ of power, truly achieving what people called "all power to the peasant association." Even small matters like a quarrel between a husband and wife had to be resolved at the peasant association. For all matters, if people from the peasant association were not present, they could not be resolved. The peasant association was simply dictating everything in the countryside; it was truly "what they say, gets done."

The peasants' main targets of attack were local tyrants and evil gentry, lawless landlords, and collaterally various patriarchal thoughts and systems, corrupt officials in the cities, and bad habits in the countryside. The momentum of this attack was simply like a violent storm; those who submitted to it survived, and those who defied it perished. The result was that the privileges of the feudal landlords of thousands of years, even if not beaten to a pulp, were at least thoroughly swept away in prestige. Outsiders could only say the peasant association was good, not that the peasant association was bad. Local tyrants, evil gentry, and lawless landlords were completely deprived of the right to speak, and no one dared to say half a word of "no." Under the power of the peasant association, the local tyrants and evil gentry in the areas of the Western Zhejiang Branch all ran to Hangzhou, and the remaining ones simply surrendered to the peasant association in the villages.

In recent years, as the Western Zhejiang Branch dared to mobilize the masses more and more, the relationship between the Guangfu Society General Assembly and the Western Zhejiang Branch had also plummeted. Being criticized meant nothing to Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin. Anyway, every increase in social production would always bring one or several victims running to Hangzhou to cry and complain. With too many lice, one doesn't itch; with too much debt, one doesn't worry. They didn't take this to heart at all. Some councilors, when speaking to the point of agitation, even had foam at the corners of their mouths, pointing their fingers straight at Qiu Jin and screaming shrilly, "You are driving people to their deaths!"

Qiu Jin slammed the table fiercely and stood up abruptly. "Driving them to their deaths? Their land is still there, their lives are still there, and they haven't earned any less money. How are we driving them to their deaths? Who exactly said that? Bring those gossipers out and let them say to our faces exactly how we drove them to their deaths?"

Whether one has crossed the line of life and death, or experienced a battlefield like a Asura field, has a completely different effect on people. Don't look at the councilors appearing filled with righteous indignation; the fierce killing intent when Qiu Jin was angry made this group unable to speak for a moment. Moreover, Qiu Jin's attitude made one thing clear to this group: the Western Zhejiang Branch would absolutely not compromise on these matters.

"Forget it, stop arguing." Cai Yuanpei finally came out to smooth things over. "With a great enemy before us, what is everyone arguing about? There will be plenty of matters later. I think we should just end the discussion here for this time."

The veterans and big shots of the Guangfu Society knew that arguing further would not produce any result. They all turned their faces away and no longer glared at each other like fighting cocks. The Guangfu Society General Assembly meeting ended in this atmosphere filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Qiu Jin and Xu Xilin naturally refused to stay any longer in this hostile Hangzhou City. The situation the Guangfu Society General Assembly presented to the two at this meeting was almost incompatible like water and fire. The gentry, under the leadership of Cai Yuanpei, had thoroughly grasped the real power of the Guangfu Society. If Tao Chengzhang could become the next mutually elected Governor of Zhejiang, the Western Zhejiang Branch would still have something to rely on. This personnel arrangement was ruthlessly rejected because the gentry considered their own interests. As the commander-in-chief of the Guangfu Army, Tao Chengzhang was almost rejected even as the commander-in-chief of the newly built militia. The severity of the situation greatly exceeded the imaginations of Qiu Jin and Xu Xilin.

Every time they came to Hangzhou, Qiu Jin and Xu Xilin felt that the city would become much more prosperous, with more people dressed in bright and decent clothes. However, the number of coolies in ragged clothes and beggars also increased greatly. The population of Huzhou controlled by the Western Zhejiang Branch increased rapidly because many new factories were set up. But those who had no food to eat could at least make a living by their own strength because the Western Zhejiang Branch had opened many silk reeling and silk factories, as well as other public institutions needed by society. Unless they were so lazy that they refused to work even if they died, even a street sweeper could barely make ends meet. The marketplace of Hangzhou, especially the constantly increasing brothels, made Qiu Jin extremely dissatisfied. Seeing the heavily made-up women soliciting customers at the doors, Qiu Jin gave a cold snort.

Seeing the two to the gate of Hangzhou City, Tao Chengzhang said gratefully, "Many thanks for your help."

"Mr. Tao, originally we thought that Mr. Tao would never be treated like this in the Guangfu Society, but we have caused trouble for Mr. Tao." Xu Xilin spoke very carefully, afraid of stinging Tao Chengzhang's sad matters.

"You haven't been here for a year either. The Guangfu Society has changed a lot. No wonder you didn't know. No wonder you." How could Tao Chengzhang not understand Xu Xilin's meaning?

"Mr. Tao, if there are any requests, just give the order. Although we can no longer speak in the General Assembly, we can still do a little something in Western Zhejiang." Qiu Jin also sympathized with Tao Chengzhang in her heart. In the first few years when the Guangfu Society was established, Cai Yuanpei was the president in name, but all actual work was led and done by Tao Chengzhang, Xu Xilin, and Qiu Jin. Unexpectedly, the three now held such positions in the Guangfu Society.

Tao Chengzhang saw Qiu Jin and Xu Xilin to the city gate but did not want to part. They simply led their horses and continued walking forward. Tao Chengzhang asked, "I wonder what you two plan to do after going back?"

"We plan to go back and try the unified purchase and sale of grain," Xu Xilin answered.

The unified purchase and sale of grain was a new policy recently implemented by the People's Party in the old base areas. With the completion of land reform in the old base areas, the People's Party had begun to continue policy adjustments according to the characteristics of the industrial age. The Western Zhejiang Branch had also studied the documents in this regard. In the industrial age where transactions were fully socialized, grain transactions, as the most basic of life, also had to be more socialized and more planned economy-oriented. If the government could not control the flow of grain, it was simply impossible to supply the grain needs of the entire society.

The People's Party stabilized grain prices through strong management of the countryside. Renminbi was paper money, and the People's Party did not have enough precious metals as collateral for the currency. Fortunately, the People's Party had to eat every day, so the Renminbi's value was pegged to grain prices, almost creating the Renminbi's credit out of thin air. With the development of the economy in Western Zhejiang, the problem of insufficient currency also appeared. The People's Party could issue paper money, but Western Zhejiang could not do so at all. As a last resort, they had to imitate the People's Party's method and try to implement strong government control over grain in Western Zhejiang first. However, doing so would greatly offend the gentry and landlords again. So Xu Xilin's spirits were not high.

Although Tao Chengzhang could not fully understand the meaning of "unified purchase and sale" mentioned by Xu Xilin, he knew it was definitely not an easy task. But Tao Chengzhang also knew he couldn't help much. He patted Xu Xilin on the shoulder. "Bosun, if you feel it should be done, then go do it. It is incredibly difficult to get others to agree with you in life; as long as you can have a clear conscience, that is enough."

Xu Xilin nodded. "Many thanks for your parting words, Mr. Tao."

Walking further, there was nothing else to say. The three of them did not act like sentimental children. After cupping their hands in farewell, Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin led the guard unit towards the direction of Huzhou.