When disaster is imminent, most humans, or at least a significant portion of them, are able to see the true face of the disaster. Sometimes, when salvation attempts to arrive before the disaster, salvation is often seen as the disaster itself.

"In these past few years, whether it's the Discipline Inspection Commission or the People's Internal Affairs Committee, a considerable amount of energy has unexpectedly been used to correct unjust, false, and wrong cases. Revolution is a process of earth-shattering change, but since the revolutionary process cannot immediately expand everyone's living space, coupled with the limited working level, political level, and problem-solving ability of many grassroots cadres... In propaganda work, if they cannot maintain a style of seeking truth from facts, and just brag about it first regardless of whether it can be done or not... After raising the people's expectations, once reality and the situation these people bragged about do not match, the masses will naturally have grievances. There are some cadres who do not find the root of the problem, but just try to smooth things over and temporarily suppress the problem. Groups that are in a disadvantaged position due to policy reasons become scapegoats..."

"Moving these people away from their original residence seems very inhumane, but it can also avoid many problems..."

"From the situation we have collected now, the level of local cadres has directly led to new unfairness. This new unfairness directly damages our party's appeal and influence among the masses..."

Qi Huishen had rich work experience. The work experience accumulated from engaging in the work of the People's Internal Affairs Committee did not make Qi Huishen regard human life as grass; on the contrary, it made him hope to avoid meaningless killing even more. If the comrades below were given fewer opportunities to make mistakes, this would also be a true care for the comrades below.

Listening to Qi Huishen's implicit criticism of the People's Party's grassroots organization construction, no one was willing to make a sound. First of all, the issue discussed this time was not the grassroots organization issue. Secondly, the problem of grassroots organizations could not be solved overnight. The grassroots organization was not the army. Army life was simple and lively: war, war preparation, training, and labor. The grassroots had to face a terrible and complex situation, with various relationships intertwined. The People's Party had already exerted great effort on organization, and up to now, it could only ensure that orders from superiors could be guaranteed to be executed by subordinates. If one blindly nitpicked the errors within, many major tasks wouldn't even need to be done.

Qi Huishen would not be so stupid as to expand the topic infinitely. After stating the reasons for the suggestion of migrating some of the Jiangnan landlord relatives, he ended with, "Therefore, I believe that large-scale migration should be implemented for these people."

No one took up this conversation, and even Zhang Yu, who always dared to speak, remained silent. Chen Ke looked at the comrades and then said, "The two pillars of the socialist system are science and democracy. The science and democracy we, the People's Party, talk about are different from the science and democracy shouted by those scholars. Those guys who keep science and democracy on their lips mean that they themselves understand science and democracy, so they are naturally entitled to a superior status over others and the power to rule. But when we talk about science and democracy, it is to apply science and democracy to our work..."

Those who could sit in this position were all long-tested comrades. Everyone knew that Qi Huishen was right, and everyone knew that Chen Ke was right. The theory Chen Ke spoke of was very correct and had practical feasibility. The only problem was that many people simply couldn't understand what Chen Ke was actually saying. Or rather, comrades without a vast amount of work experience simply couldn't possibly understand what Chen Ke was saying. The comrades who could read and understand what Chen Ke was saying at the moment had almost risen within the organization like rockets; how could the grassroots possibly retain so many outstanding comrades? The current situation was that the upper echelons of the People's Party had gathered a large number of outstanding talents, and the operation at the entire strategic level was already relatively smooth. But with the expansion of the People's Party's liberated areas, various problems in grassroots operations could be said to be emerging one after another.

Qi Huishen could be considered a pillar of the state. As he said, a large part of the work of the Discipline Inspection Commission and the People's Internal Affairs Committee had unexpectedly become correcting problems, rather than severely striking at enemies.

Chen Ke actually knew this too, but what had to be said still had to be said. If even the correct theory couldn't be expounded, that would be even worse. "Our party's 'On Practice' is to teach everyone scientific methods, and our party's 'On Contradiction' is the method to establish a democratic system. Now we must strengthen the study of these two documents. Our party's three major styles of work must be implemented. regarding seeking truth from facts, I think Comrade Qi Huishen has done very well."

After confirming his support for Qi Huishen, Chen Ke said, "So I now suggest that we need to make adjustments in the system. Many times, it is the top party and government leaders in various places who are responsible for talent selection. I hear there are many people writing notes [recommendation letters]. The result is that the leadership responsibility system now has a strong tendency to turn into a bureaucratic leadership dictatorship, and the power of the Organization Department has been greatly weakened instead. I feel this situation needs adjustment. The Organization Department is the part that selects talents according to the party's policies and program. This department determines the orientation of our party's personnel at all levels. Since there are so many problems now, we might as well start by rectifying the Organization Department. what does everyone think?"

As soon as these words came out, the comrades of the Central Politburo couldn't help but whisper to each other. The Party Committee had once unified all powers, especially the important personnel power. Now in Chen Ke's plan, preparing to elevate the Organization Department's personnel decision-making power was a very important change for the party organization. How great its impact would be simply couldn't be seen right now. Moreover, the establishment of more authority for the Organization Department meant that a management system needed to be established. Who would be responsible for this construction work was a big question. Currently, Qi Huishen was the Organization Minister, but his status and authority came more from his identity as a Politburo member. The implications here seemed quite subtle.

However, the People's Party had established a brand-new political system in these ten years. No matter what twists and turns there were, this system was constantly improving. Anyone who could perform outstandingly within it could be said to have a meteoric rise. The People's Party internally formulated an emergency response ranking list. It was about who would take over urgently in case leaders at various levels could not fulfill their work. The current Director of the General Office of the Central Committee, Ren Qiying, had become an important cadre ranked in the top one hundred in the People's Party's liberated areas from a landlord's daughter. That is to say, in case the top few dozen cadres died suddenly at the same time, Ren Qiying would leap to become the temporary supreme leader of the People's Party. Although the vacant position would soon be filled by a new successor through elections by party committees at various levels, this was enough to prove the importance of organizational construction work.

Many comrades looked at Qi Huishen with eyes containing some unconcealable envy and jealousy. Originally, no one thought Qi Huishen would launch such a sudden attack so "unwisely," but the result was that Qi Huishen quickly obtained more authority. Of course, more experienced comrades also began to suspect if this was a play performed by Chen Ke and Qi Huishen. Of course, no one dared to say so, or even hint at it. Everyone was very clear about the troublesome degree of grassroots work. If strengthening the work of the Organization Department could improve grassroots work, everyone would absolutely welcome it. So this proposal was passed very quickly.

After temporarily solving the problem raised by Qi Huishen, the meeting content returned to the Jiangnan issue discussed just now. If the landlord families were forcibly moved away, then how to deal with the militia corps as participants? This was also a thorny problem. In principle, the People's Party adopted a zero-tolerance attitude towards any independent armed forces existing under its rule. The problem was, if a policy of extermination was adopted against the militia corps participating in counter-revolutionary actions, many areas where counter-revolutionary atrocities were extremely rampant would be killed into uninhabited zones.

The Central Committee of the People's Party was very confident in the executive power of the People's Party. This confidence was built on the experience that any order would be carried out to the end. Once the conclusion of this meeting was out, it would determine the lives of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people. No one dared to take this lightly.

"The militia leaders must not be let off, but the guys below who were forced to obey should still be screened."

"If the masses' families demand that the killers pay with their lives personally, what do we do?"

"Some killings were not seen by the masses at all. If they demand that all participants pay with their lives, then what?"

"But what if there are participants who have repented? Do we not give them a chance to turn over a new leaf?"

"If someone is willing to atone for their crimes, and the victim's family also agrees, what about this?"

"Atone? For the victim's family, the perpetrator should atone for a lifetime. But for the redeemer, once they have saved their life, how long can this mood of atonement last? There are no filial sons before the bed of the long-sick, let alone for people who are not related by blood."

"If we kill them all, how many must be killed?"

"Then let's consider it in reverse. How about giving a reason not to kill them?"

Every opinion had certain reasoning. Similarly, this kind of counter-revolutionary act based on class struggle also had reasons to force people to death.

Later in the discussion, due to emotional numbness, more direct viewpoints also came out, "Cost! Cost! Any social behavior cannot be without cost, let alone the cost of such large-scale social action!"

No one loved killing people. Depriving a person of their life required great courage and motivation. For the counter-revolutionary leaders, the People's Party Central Committee would not consider giving them any chance to live. Similarly, for those who participated in the counter-revolutionary massacre because they were forced by life or just to live a better life, the central leaders, including Chen Ke, could not harden their hearts to determine a policy of physical elimination.

After a very long discussion, the Central Committee finally reached a compromise temporary measure: first establish concentration camps to lock all these people up. Of course, for those who still refused to surrender when the People's Party marched into Jiangnan, there was only the countermeasure of merciless elimination. Although such a decision still had to pay a huge social cost, compared to large-scale massacres, this choice still obtained the approval of the central comrades. Some things could be delayed for a day, so delay them for a day first.

Military preparations were already in place, but political decisions dragged their feet a bit. After the Politburo determined the overall plan to screen and cleanse Jiangnan, Qiu Jin and Xu Xilin were invited to Wuhan. After all, as the "long-tested" ally of the People's Party, the Western Zhejiang Branch of the Restoration Society could not be left behind at this time.

Similar to what Chen Ke thought, after Qiu Jin learned of the People's Party's counter-revolutionary suppression plan, her first reaction was "unbearable." Qiu Jin could accept the suppression of the "chief evils" among the middle-level executive personnel. Although it was an ironclad fact that Cai Yuanpei was the mastermind, Qiu Jin still said, "Wen Qing, regarding Mr. Cai... can you let him off?" If it were according to Qiu Jin's attitude, she would let off the upper echelons of the Restoration Society if possible, but instead deal a killer blow to the lower levels of the Restoration Society. As for the Beiyang Army behind the Restoration Society, Qiu Jin gritted her teeth and said, "Not one of those people can be left!"

Xu Xilin frowned and said, "Xuanqing, you still say such words at this point? If we let these people go, what will the tens of thousands of Restoration Society comrades killed by them think? Who will uphold justice for the hundreds of thousands of people killed in Western Zhejiang? In all matters, the chief evils must be executed! Mr. Cai's crimes..."

Speaking of this, Xu Xilin also couldn't go on.

Chen Ke listened quietly without making a sound. Xu Xilin was only 43 years old this year. Before April 12th, he still had a head of black hair. Now Xu Xilin's hair was almost completely white. He looked fully 20 years older. Qiu Jin was not much better; she was 41 years old this year and also had graying hair. The April 12th counter-revolutionary massacre launched within the Restoration Society was too great a psychological blow to these two revolutionary seniors. Not only their appearance, but the original sharpness of the two had also been exhausted. If it were 1905 when Chen Ke first met them, presumably these two would seek revenge on Cai Yuanpei and others regardless of life or death.

However, there was one point where the two were very consistent. After a period of silence, Xu Xilin said to Chen Ke, "Wen Qing, are you going to catch all the gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang in one net?"

"Whoever owes a blood debt to the people must pay it back." Chen Ke's attitude and statement were consistent from beginning to end. "We won't touch a finger of the gentry who did not participate in April 12th."

Qiu Jin frowned and looked at Chen Ke, "But if Wen Qing wants to carry out land reform in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the gentry will absolutely not agree."

Chen Ke smiled. "Whether they agree or not is not up to them. The Agrarian Revolution is the policy of our People's Party. Wherever we go, from Guangxi to the Northeast, land reform has been implemented. The people's living standards have improved significantly, and social productive forces have been greatly liberated. From the perspective of China's interests, this proves that there are no problems with the land reform policy. Those who try to stop land reform are like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; if they encounter misfortune, it can only be said that they have brought it upon themselves."

Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin naturally knew the firmness of the People's Party's attitude toward the Agrarian Revolution. Seeing that persuasion was useless, the two stopped doing this useless work. Xu Xilin said, "Wen Qing, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have already suffered a great disaster, and so many people have died. I still hope Wen Qing has the virtue of caring for life and can show mercy. If you kill so many people, how will others comment on you when they mention you a hundred years later?"

If it were before, Chen Ke was still somewhat concerned about his reputation a hundred years later. But now he didn't care about this matter at all. The leaders of the communist revolution in history saved over a billion people, but as a result, they were slandered as unprecedentedly great demons in human history after their deaths. Chen Ke felt, what did he count as? If the Chinese revolution could succeed, he would at most be just one member among the numerous demons. If it really were so, Chen Ke felt this was still his glory.

As for eliminating counter-revolutionaries, Chen Ke didn't even worry that he had no supporters. At least among the people Chen Ke knew, when discussing this matter, as long as they weren't deliberately changing the subject, he really hadn't seen many people who denied the correctness of land reform and opposed demanding blood debts from those who slaughtered the common people.

However, Chen Ke was no longer the youth of the past who thought he could say whatever he wanted after mastering the correct theory. He smiled gently, "What the two of you reminded me is correct. If I can kill one less person, I will absolutely not kill one more. On this point, I think exactly the same as the two of you."

August 1, 1916, was the Army Day of the Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army. The Central Military Commission of the People's Party formally issued the order to march into the three southeast provinces. The Fifth Field Army of the Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army set out from Anhui, and the Sixth Field Army set out from Jiangxi, attacking into Zhejiang and Guangdong respectively. The Southeast War of Liberation officially began.