"Did we hastily choose the plan to annihilate the Beiyang Army attacking Qingdao because we felt we could win?" Pu Guanshui was the first to realize this, and he offered his opinion. However, this hot-headed plan had been proposed by Pu Guanshui himself, so it took quite a bit of courage to say such things.

Other reasons couldn't explain this instruction better. And thinking carefully, as for how to annihilate the Beiyang Army attacking Qingdao, the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army just thought they should fight first, and judging by the current situation, the battle was favorable. This had a flavor of "defeated soldiers fighting first and then seeking victory".

"But we can't just let the Beiyang Army flee, right?" The Chief of Staff offered his opinion. "Annihilating the enemy's effective strength is our strategic guideline."

"How much combat capability can the Beiyang Army retain while fleeing? According to the previous plan, if we attack Dezhou directly and split the Beiyang forces in two, throwing them into greater chaos, wouldn't that consume their strength even more?" The Political Commissar held a different view.

Both choices had their characteristics. If the Beiyang Army were allowed to retreat on their own, given their current virtue, a slight pursuit would turn this large force into a group of stragglers by the time they retreated to Beijing, unable to reform any combat effectiveness in a short time.

Of course, the current plan to annihilate the Beiyang Army could greatly weaken their strength in a short time. After all, if this bunch of Beiyang troops were pulled up to defend a city wall, even if their combat power wasn't strong, they could still cause considerable trouble. The attack on Jinan proved this point; a group of panicked Beiyang troops could still continue to fire from the city wall.

"Regardless, let's analyze the current situation clearly and send a telegram to the Central Committee. And even if we don't go to annihilate the Beiyang Army in the east towards Qingdao, we still need to annihilate those Beiyang troops in the west. After the troops attack Jinan, they also need to rest for two days." Pu Guanshui compromised his thinking slightly.

After Pu Guanshui's telegram reached the Central Military Commission in Wuhan, Hua Xiongmao also felt this choice was rather tricky. The Northern Campaign had been smooth so far. After the Beiyang Army's strategic point of Jinan was captured, the entire strategy had entered a new phase. Although the situation of the Beiyang Army in Shandong was still unclear, they had a fortified city in front and their nest had been taken out. Collapse was just a matter of time.

The Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army had experience in military training and various civil-military projects, but there was one thing they had absolutely no experience in: the POW problem. Just in the previous few battles, they had captured tens of thousands of prisoners. How to handle these prisoners was a big problem. At present, they definitely couldn't release them, but they couldn't keep them locked up forever either. If not for the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention, the solution for prisoners would be ordinary: just don't starve them to death. How to implement the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention in the POW issue was indeed a big problem. What made Hua Xiongmao especially headache-prone was that Chen Ke himself didn't have a definite idea on resolving the POW issue. Hua Xiongmao supported this point; not only was Chen Ke worried about absorbing prisoners into the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army, but few people in the Military Commission could accept this concept either.

Naturally, Hua Xiongmao couldn't make the decision on such a matter himself. The Shandong Military Region's opinion sparked quite a debate in the subsequent Military Commission meeting. Chen Ke did not attend. After such a large-scale war began, economic problems, or more accurately, logistical problems, became very serious. Many factory orders had problems of various sizes. As the head of the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, You Gou suffered unprecedented pressure. Chen Ke had to personally step in to solve these problems.

"Is Chairman Chen still not coming to the meeting?" Logistics Minister Qin Wu'an asked.

Hua Xiongmao laughed, "Aren't we opposing valuing men over women? Chairman Chen is setting an example, valuing women over men."

The comrades knew Hua Xiongmao liked to pretend to be bad, and since he had already said the bad things about Chen Ke to the limit, everyone couldn't complain anymore. Everyone could only laugh or shake their heads with a bitter smile, and let the matter drop.

"The Shandong Military Region fought well. Comrade Pu Guanshui hasn't been dazzled by victory, and his subsequent plans and reasons are sufficient. So, should we prioritize annihilation on the spot, or prioritize a final total annihilation? What is the Military Commission's opinion?"

Everyone looked at each other. Actually, how to annihilate wasn't the problem; they were going to finish off the Beiyang Army anyway. What troubled everyone wasn't this. Seeing no one speaking up voluntarily, Hua Xiongmao asked, "Comrade Lu Huitian, what do you think?"

Lu Huitian hadn't switched to military administration yet, but Hubei was the People's Party's most important industrial province, and all of Hubei's industry had shifted into the military system. As the Party Secretary of Hubei Province, Lu Huitian also had to attend the meeting.

As a cadre in charge of the Party committee, Lu Huitian naturally considered government affairs more. He said frankly, "Henan has already sent word. Detaining so many people makes them feel very strained. I don't understand military affairs, so I can't say how to fight the battles specifically. But, consuming precious resources and transport capacity on prisoners of war, I really can't accept that."

None of the attending comrades could accept it, so no one raised an objection. Lu Huitian said, "But Chairman Chen has no confidence in reforming prisoners. If he has no confidence, I have no faith either. Comrade He Zudao, you captured the most prisoners in Jiangxi back then, can you give some advice?"

Seeing the ball kicked to his feet, He Zudao didn't shirk it. "I have no way either. Prisoners and our Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army have completely different mindsets. The Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army isn't just a revolutionary army, it's the people's army. Everyone fights not just for themselves, but for a bright future, for the elders of their hometowns. Even if prisoners defect to us, it's purely for their own interests. I'm not optimistic anyway. Being able to do the political work for our own troops well is already an extremely difficult thing. With such a group of people coming in, I don't approve."

After these words, all Military Commission members nodded in agreement. The Chief of the General Staff couldn't help but say, "Our army itself, besides dedication, also possesses a natural status advantage. After they retire, they are also backbone elements in the localities. A considerable portion will be directly recruited into the cities, becoming new urban residents. If a group of prisoners joins such an army with outstanding status and obtains the identity that only the people's army can possess, I don't support it either. Most importantly, if we recruit these prisoners, we must treat them equally; we can't have any discrimination. This is too hard. These people aren't Comrade Pu Guanshui. Comrade Pu Guanshui is an early old revolutionary; he didn't choose our People's Party because he had no way out. So I cannot agree to recruit prisoners."

Hua Xiongmao nodded. Although they were actually making an issue out of prisoners during wartime, as the Minister of National Defense, Hua Xiongmao naturally couldn't accept the idea of absorbing prisoners into the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army. Especially in the current situation, defeating the Beiyang clique was almost a certainty, so they couldn't give these prisoners any chances.

The logistical pressure was huge, and the attitude towards prisoners was quite consistent. This non-military consideration couldn't help but dominate the strategic judgment. Hua Xiongmao said, "If we look at it from this angle, we support attacking Dezhou, threatening Beijing, and thoroughly disrupting the Beiyang strategy. Moreover, after our investigation, these Beiyang troops are mostly from Hebei and Shandong, and a considerable part are bandits or something. Let them scatter themselves. If the final die-hards insist on fleeing back to Beijing to be buried with Yuan Shikai, we'll fulfill their wish."

This opinion was agreed upon by all attendees. The clerk took notes, writing down this resolution, the main points of the resolution process, and the reasons clearly, preparing to hand it to Chen Ke for final review.

After finishing the northern issue, Hua Xiongmao brought up the southern issue. "The Beiyang troops in the south are fighting desperately, but to no effect. Until now, they haven't even been able to break our border. Once the northern problem is solved, we will solve the southern problem. This time we are the 'Homecoming Legion'. For those reactionary landlords and gentry, we cannot be polite at all. We must pull them up by the roots. This involves a public security war issue. When we attacked the fortified villages in Anhui back then, we did exactly this; there is no reason for tolerance in this. This point is mainly about ideological work, and collecting the crimes of those people."

This topic appeared murderous. Hua Xiongmao didn't hide it at all, telling the comrades one thing: for Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, the People's Party would conduct a bloodbath. Since that group of traditional upper-class people had already revealed their fangs in April 12th, all the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army could do was kill these guys to the last man.

"There is no problem with the strategy, the problem lies in the technique." He Zudao couldn't possibly care about killing some people, especially since the targets were those counter-revolutionaries who had slaughtered the masses. He Zudao could absolutely not have a shred of pity. "Executing these people still requires public trials and formal punishment. In terms of collecting criminal evidence on this bunch, I'm afraid it won't be that easy."

Hua Xiongmao said, "Those people from the Restoration Society definitely can't be kept. Besides, everyone in the Restoration Society has dirty hands now. The landlords who support the Beiyang clique can't be kept either. Zhejiang is easier to handle, but in Fujian and Guangdong, the intelligence we've collected is really insufficient. But what if they run away after we march in?"

"Implement a strict household registration system at the same time as land reform. Then conduct a massive manhunt. Anyone without identity papers, arrest them and screen them. Although these people can't be screened clearly in a short while, the labor camps never lack people." Logistics Minister Qin Wu'an had no doubts about this at all.

This suggestion had strong operability. Amidst a burst of laughter, this topic also ended.