"Comrades, why is class struggle incomparably cruel? Because class struggle is a naked struggle for benefits. This struggle is not a dispute of sentiment where you curse me once and I curse you twice, but a struggle to maximize the benefits of one's own class. Therefore, once class struggle becomes comprehensive, there will inevitably be extremely terrible slaughter. So do not think that the Guangfu Society will stop after driving away the West Zhejiang Branch. Even if they don't have a clear philosophy... No! Precisely because they don't have a clear philosophy, the struggle and slaughter will be incomparably cruel. Because they subconsciously want to establish an order for thousands of generations, they will rely on instinct to take advantage of this chaos to maximize their own benefits!" Li Shouxian tried his best to persuade the comrades of the West Zhejiang Branch, hoping they could provide a comprehensive list of the Guangfu Society.

The young comrades of the West Zhejiang Branch listened seriously, but no one dared to believe that the landlords and gentry could expand the scope of the slaughter for their own selfish interests. West Zhejiang was already strewn with corpses; if the killing continued, the result would only be that the entire Zhejiang province would become a sea of blood.

Even Ji Ye did not dare to easily express clear support for Li Shouxian's opinion. She asked with some hesitation, "Secretary Li, how insane must one be to do such a thing? My family comes from a landlord background, and it is true that we are unsparing towards tenants and peasants. But I don't believe in the kind of indiscriminate slaughter you mentioned."

Li Shouxian smiled bitterly. When he believed that so-called "human nature" dominated human behavior, Li Shouxian also thought there were too many incredible things in the world. Only after Li Shouxian studied materialism did he discover that all seemingly illogical things are driven by internal interests. The naked cruelty of these internal interests is so terrifying that people dare not face it; the darkness and tyranny of human nature are fully revealed within it. If one cannot view these things with materialist dialectics and historical views, most people simply cannot distinguish them with reason. They will even stubbornly deny that these things inevitably exist.

For example, these young cadres of the Guangfu Society before him resolutely refused to admit it.

Li Shouxian knew that the discussion of such issues must have a prerequisite of cognitive level. Discussing the matter on its own merits was useless. Forcing a discussion would only cause various confusions, so he did not continue to discuss these issues. "Comrades, I am not asking everyone to believe this now. I am just telling everyone our prediction for the future. Who can provide the list of the entire Guangfu Society outside of Zhejiang?"

The young cadres of the Guangfu Society looked at each other. Firstly, they indeed did not have a complete list. Secondly, they did not believe Li Shouxian's words. Plus, the Guangfu Society West Zhejiang Branch was not the People's Party West Zhejiang Branch after all, and there was no reason to provide such confidential intelligence to Li Shouxian. The whole situation remained deadlocked.

Li Shouxian did not want to urge them. The People's Party had no intention of implementing a comprehensive rescue. Since Chen Ke had already set the tone "to educate the whole party and the whole army through the performance of these counter-revolutionaries," Li Shouxian naturally would not act on his own. The reason he did this was to save the young comrades of the West Zhejiang Branch. This group of comrades might be the most likely allies of the People's Party in the whole of China. If their horizons could not be broadened, the cruel experiences they had gone through might not necessarily turn into wealth for these youths.

"Secretary Li, let us discuss it first to see if everyone knows this part of the list," Ji Ye answered Li Shouxian's request in the most tactful way.

"Okay," Li Shouxian replied. "If you need our help with anything, just ask."

When leaving the West Zhejiang Branch, Li Shouxian sighed gently with regret. The possibility of saving the Guangfu Society members as much as possible disappeared in this hesitation.

While Li Shouxian was making his last effort to save them, the actions to clear out the rebel party in the three provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong were also proceeding in full swing. In Guangzhou, there were some disagreements on how to draw up the list.

"Sun Wen of the Tongmenghui proposed the Three People's Principles, explicitly pointing out the equalization of land rights. I think this is birds of a feather with the People's Party and should be completely exterminated. What do you all think?"

"There are many members of the Tongmenghui, and Speaker Chen Jiongming is also a member of the Tongmenghui. If we don't let anyone from the Tongmenghui off, wouldn't it be inappropriate?" Someone also raised a different opinion.

"Back then, the revolutionary sentiment in Guangdong was extremely high. When we rose up, the People's Party was nowhere to be found! It's just that most of those who rose up back then belonged to the Guangfu Society and the Tongmenghui. It would be very troublesome if we implicate them."

The situation in Guangdong was complex. The revolutionary party in Guangdong was divided into local revolution and overseas Chinese revolution. Political views were actually not important; the key was that these people were deeply improved. If they were implicated blindly, it would be a complete mess. Some people, regardless of their stance, had backing forces that could not be offended. This made those responsible for listing the names feel quite troubled.

Three cobblers equal a Zhuge Liang. After some discussion, someone finally figured out the key point. "Why don't we do this? Let's first list all those suspected of being in the rebel party. We ourselves are reliable, so we will pick out those whose crimes do not deserve death. What do you all think?"

"That is excellent!" The group of people responsible for drawing up the list praised.

With such a main line of thought, the subsequent thinking became broader. "If we draw up the list, we still don't have enough manpower. Why don't we each recommend reliable local figures and let us review them first? These local figures know the local situation. Let them recommend the local lists, and we just need to review them. This is much faster than us doing it."

The new suggestion was approved by everyone. As long as these people controlled the power of review and did not kill the wrong people who should not be killed, the rest was extremely simple.

Once there was a method, someone would do it. Guangdong lacked militias the least; every chamber of commerce maintained its own armed forces. Western Guangdong was a mountainous area with even more bandits and militias. Militias at least had some local consciousness, while bandits had always been a scourge to the area. Not long ago, the armies of Guangdong and Guangxi suffered a devastating blow, and the locals in Guangdong did not like to serve as soldiers. The military had no choice but to recruit bandits, rebuilding the Guangdong army with these recruited bandits as the main force. These "heroes" who lived by licking blood on the blade might have unpredictable performance on the battlefield, but they were quite skilled at suppressing ordinary people.

By the morning of the agreed date, April 12, 1915, the Guangdong New Army, which had already been deployed, blockaded cities like Guangzhou, and the British troops in Hong Kong also blockaded the border. The entire city not only dispatched troops, but foreign patrolmen also received lists for the concessions. After knocking on the doors of the "rebel party" residents, they arrested people without saying a word. The Guangdong New Army was even more unscrupulous; they directly rushed into the "rebel party residences" and started arresting people. After arresting people, the New Army, composed mainly of these bandits, resumed their old trade and carried out "home confiscation" against the rebel party. In just three days, 20,000 people were arrested in major cities in Guangdong, and the targets of arrest were all former revolutionaries.

Chen Jiongming, Speaker of the Guangdong Assembly, never expected that the plan was to arrest the Guangfu Society rebels, but few Guangfu Society rebels were caught, and instead, the Tongmenghui members were arrested completely. He hurriedly went to find Guangdong Governor Lu Rongting. Lu Rongting was also once inclined towards revolution; during the Zhennanguan Uprising led by Sun Yat-sen, Lu Rongting had tipped off Sun Yat-sen.

But Chen Jiongming was disappointed. Lu Rongting had a look of difficulty on his face. "Jingcun, the Tongmenghui has been shouting about equalizing land rights. It's unjustifiable to say they have nothing to do with the People's Party. And you also know that the landlords and gentry in the Pearl River area have been dissatisfied with the Tongmenghui's charter for a long time. It's just that most of them are revolutionary pioneers, so these landlords and gentry didn't dare to touch them before."

"What?" Chen Jiongming thought he heard wrong, his eyes widening round. "Lord Lu, this time is to exterminate the People's Party. Why act against the Guangdong Revolutionary Party?"

"The landlords and gentry insist on this. What can I do?" Lu Rongting looked innocent.

"Lord Lu, this is not right!" Chen Jiongming got a bit angry. "If we handle it like this, isn't it avenging private grudges with public office?"

The proportion of Tongmenghui members in the Guangdong Assembly was not small, which was entirely thanks to the Guangdong Revolutionary Party. Chen Jiongming was not stupid; he knew that this mass arrest had become a seizure of power. The traditional Guangdong gentry wanted to regain their traditional dominant position through this arrest.

"Jingcun, I know what you are thinking. But I think you shouldn't talk nonsense for the time being. It's not like no one is targeting you." Lu Rongting didn't want Chen Jiongming to continue making trouble, so he "admonished" him neither softly nor hard.

Chen Jiongming did not agree with Lu Rongting's advice. He said loudly, "If they have ideas about me, they can come at me. I, Chen Jiongming, have always acted openly and aboveboard. I have nothing to be afraid of."

Seeing that Chen Jiongming wouldn't listen to advice at all, Lu Rongting could only speak kind words to comfort Chen Jiongming.

But Chen Jiongming was a person who refused to admit defeat. Seeing that he couldn't persuade Lu Rongting, Chen Jiongming went to find Zhang Renjun, the Admiral of Guangdong and Guangxi. Zhang Renjun was old and cunning; how could he wade into this muddy water? Not to mention that the Guangdong local faction trying to purge the Tongmenghui had long won Zhang Renjun's support.

Chen Jiongming couldn't find reinforcements. Fortunately, he convened an assembly meeting in the capacity of the Speaker of the Guangdong Assembly. At the meeting, Chen Jiongming's attitude was heavy and his expression painful. After briefly introducing the situation to the members of the Guangdong Assembly, Chen Jiongming demanded a stop to the arrests and that all of Guangdong's strength be used to oppose the People's Party.

How could the councilors of local Guangdong origin agree? Most of these councilors of revolutionary party origin were not rich people, so they did not entirely lean towards the rich in policy. These local gentry finally got this opportunity to eliminate dissidents. Facing Chen Jiongming's challenge, the gentry immediately demanded a re-election of the Speaker of the Guangdong Assembly. Chen Jiongming never imagined that this group of councilors would seize power so openly. The assembly's demand to re-elect the speaker only required the agreement of a simple majority of more than half of the councilors. These councilors obviously came prepared; in the blink of an eye, half of the councilors signed their names on the motion, demanding an immediate re-election.

On the afternoon of April 18, the Guangdong Assembly re-elected the speaker. Chen Jiongming lost the election, and the local gentry chose the former Guangdong Provincial Administration Commissioner Zhang Mingqi as the new Speaker of the Assembly.

As soon as the election ended, Zhang Mingqi stood on the podium with satisfaction. Cupping his hands to the councilors, Zhang Mingqi said loudly, "Fellow councilors, the country is currently in a time of turmoil. if we fully rely on the so-called order of the assembly, we will be bringing disaster upon ourselves. Therefore, I suggest that the assembly immediately investigate the crimes of colluding with the enemy committed by some councilors."

Chen Jiongming was frightened by these words. Losing the speaker election might not be surprising enough, but Zhang Mingqi's statement showed that he had long been prepared. Just as the revolutionary councilors, including Chen Jiongming, were surprised, the gate of the assembly hall suddenly opened wide. A group of heavily armed troops rushed in.

Zhang Mingqi sneered, "Arrest all those rebels!"

The leading officer agreed, and then they lunged at Chen Jiongming and others like wolves and tigers.