With Jiangsu's help, most of the culprits of the April 12th Massacre, especially the Western Zhejiang Massacre, were captured by the People's Party. Wang Youhong was right; the people he handed over were exactly those the People's Party needed most. The most important and critical trial in Western Zhejiang could now proceed smoothly.

Cai Yuanpei had engaged in revolution in his early years and had even carried out assassinations. He never imagined that one day he would be tried as a counter-revolutionary, nor did he expect that, as someone who had always insisted on local autonomy, he would hear thousands of Western Zhejiang commoners at the courthouse entrance shouting in their local dialect, "Kill Cai Yuanpei! Kill Cai Yuanpei!"

All the glory and the people he had once sworn to protect had left Cai Yuanpei. Even knowing that falling into the hands of the People's Party meant certain death, Cai Yuanpei still tasted despair. Of course, Cai Yuanpei did not want to bow his head to the People's Party. Even in the People's Party's court, Cai Yuanpei still attempted to use his own philosophy to refute the People's Party and expose their true colors.

Cai Yuanpei was not the only one on trial. Feng Guozhang, Wang Ziming, and other high-ranking officials from Zhejiang stood dejectedly in the defendant's dock. The gallery was packed. Although Cai Yuanpei knew these people were arranged by the People's Party, he felt no fear. Feng Guozhang, Wang Ziming, and the others were dejected, but Cai Yuanpei held his head high. When the court clerk began confirming everyone's identity, Cai Yuanpei answered, "I am Cai Yuanpei! But I am not the counter-revolutionary you speak of!"

The judge calmly interrupted Cai Yuanpei's attempted speech, and Cai Yuanpei calmly stopped to wait for the judge to speak. In Cai Yuanpei's experience, those condescending fellows often spouted nonsense. After they finished their nonsense, it would be a better time for rebuttal. Even if the audience was all People's Party members, Cai Yuanpei believed that refuting the People's Party judge in front of them was something of value.

"Cai Yuanpei, we brought you here today not because of what you thought, nor because of what you propagated. We brought you here today because of what you did!" The judge's voice echoed in the courtroom. It was not condescending, nor was it hysterical, but the judge's presence made everyone in the court, both the accused and the audience, feel a sense of pressure. "You are suspected of planning murder! You are suspected of participating in murder! You are suspected of directing murder! This is the reason we brought you here for trial today. You are being tried here as a murder suspect, not as a revolutionary. Please get this straight."

Being characterized as a murder suspect, Cai Yuanpei felt greatly insulted. If one were to discuss the organization that had killed the most people in China over the past decade, all other organizations combined could not catch up to the People's Party. Cai Yuanpei felt that for the People's Party, this killing machine, to try him in the name of a murder suspect could only be described as absurd.

Before Cai Yuanpei could figure out how to refute, the judge said amidst the whispers of the audience, "Prosecutor, please proceed with the indictment."

The prosecutor did not accuse Cai Yuanpei personally at all, but instead presented evidence one piece after another. After more than a year of intelligence gathering, and more than a month of investigation involving enormous manpower and resources, the full picture of the Western Zhejiang Massacre had been basically clarified. Case by case, from the collective massacres carried out by the Beiyang Army and the militia, to the lynching carried out by landlords and gentry. The prosecutor presented the full picture of the Western Zhejiang Massacre to the court.

Most of the audience were People's Party members, while a small portion were commoners from various parts of Zhejiang. Even so, everyone had heard more or less about the events in Western Zhejiang. Even if they hadn't heard of it, Zhejiang people knew something about the madness of killing in Zhejiang. Even so, the entire court was shocked by the tragic state of the Western Zhejiang Massacre. Exclamations rang out from time to time in the courtroom. Some audience members angrily shouted to kill the culprits of the massacre like Feng Guozhang and Cai Yuanpei. The bailiffs immediately stepped forward to stop these acts of disturbing the court order.

Cai Yuanpei could no longer deliver the speech he had prepared. The People's Party did not criticize the personal character of ringleaders like Cai Yuanpei, but pointed out exactly what they had done. After more than an hour of narration, the prosecutor began to call witnesses. The witnesses included officers from the Beiyang Army, gentry, and survivors of the massacre. Their testimonies, as well as the written orders produced, all proved that the April 12th Massacre was a premeditated, organized, and carefully planned massacre targeting the people of Western Zhejiang.

The three hours of the morning passed in a flash. The prosecutor's indictment was not yet over, but it was time for a recess. The judge announced a one-hour break for everyone to eat and rest, with the trial continuing in an hour.

To prevent collusion, the prominent figures on trial were all detained separately. Cai Yuanpei was taken to the toilet to urinate, and after washing his hands, he was taken back to the holding cell. The meal was ready, but no chopsticks were provided, only a very dull wooden spoon. Cai Yuanpei sat at the table in a daze, delaying his meal.

The morning's trial not only shocked the audience but also shocked Cai Yuanpei. Cai Yuanpei did not regret killing the members of the Restoration Society's Western Zhejiang Branch, nor did he regret killing members of the Peasant Association and Labor Union. Even at this moment, Cai Yuanpei firmly believed that the propositions of those rebels brought disaster to the country and the people and had to be eliminated. What shocked Cai Yuanpei was the massacre and abuse of women and children in Western Zhejiang. He was even more shocked that the People's Party had spent so much energy and effort to collect these materials so clearly.

If the People's Party wanted to convict Cai Yuanpei on these charges, Cai Yuanpei knew very well that he could not refute them at all. Although Cai Yuanpei had never ordered the killing of women and children, he was very clear when he issued the order to purge the party that when the nest is overturned, no egg is left intact; the relatives of those rebels would certainly not have a good end. When considering these women and children, Cai Yuanpei had held the malice of letting them die however they might.

The People's Party prosecutor did not believe that Cai Yuanpei had issued the order to kill women and children, but believed that Cai Yuanpei had an inescapable responsibility for this. Faced with these irrefutable facts, Cai Yuanpei really could not refute. As a scholar, Cai Yuanpei did not care about killing commoners. After all, it was not him doing it personally, and he would not go to the front line. History books were full of records of all the commoners in a certain place being killed during wars. Dead commoners were just a fact on paper, not a reality that could move Cai Yuanpei.

But when the People's Party placed the reality of the Western Zhejiang Massacre in front of Cai Yuanpei, he finally realized that he could not argue. But inability to argue meant he had to plead guilty and accept punishment, which was precisely what Cai Yuanpei originally thought was absurd. What crime was there in killing rebels? This was a great and good thing that benefited the country and the people! As an early rebel and a famous scholar, Cai Yuanpei fell into a dilemma. His heart could not prove that he was innocent, yet he could not believe that he was guilty. But reality unambiguously made Cai Yuanpei understand that if he remained silent like this, he would definitely be executed as a murderer and nailed to the pillar of shame for the rest of his life.

The hour passed quickly, and the guards did not persuade Cai Yuanpei to eat. Their task was to monitor Cai Yuanpei to prevent suicide, not to take care of his daily life. When the time was up, they dragged up the still-dazed Cai Yuanpei and took him to the court.

The prosecutor continued the morning's work. The atrocities of the Western Zhejiang Massacre were simply too numerous. The targets were also numerous. Just stating the facts was an extremely arduous job. Not to mention that stating these facts themselves was a challenge to human nature. Sometimes, while speaking of those criminal facts, the prosecutor himself could not help but burst into tears and sob. The audience in the court also wept. The people of Western Zhejiang had suffered too much pain, too heavily. No human could remain unaffected. The bailiffs maintaining order quieted the wailing audience members or took them out of the court to avoid affecting the trial. They themselves also had red eyes, or simply had tears hanging on their faces.

Just the statement took a day and a half. The trial was broadcast externally via microphone. After the first day ended, the masses in Hangzhou who listened to the broadcast from the loudspeakers gathered at the courthouse entrance. When Cai Yuanpei, Feng Guozhang, and others left the court under the layered protection of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the masses outside shouted angrily at them. If not for the army's protection, the masses would have rushed up and torn Feng Guozhang, Cai Yuanpei, and the others to pieces.

"Kill Feng Guozhang!" "Kill Cai Yuanpei!" "Avenge the common people!" These slogans were shouted louder and louder. Feng Guozhang, Cai Yuanpei, and the others had never been surrounded by so many commoners. That roar, though chaotic, was condensed with the same anger, making them feel as if their marrow had been frozen.

During the trial the next morning, the bailiffs took great effort to stop the shouts of "Kill Feng Guozhang!" and "Kill Cai Yuanpei!" from the gallery. After the prosecutor finished his statement, he requested the judge to sentence these people to death for murder.

"I am not the mastermind! The mastermind is Cai Yuanpei! The party purge was planned by Cai Yuanpei alone!" Feng Guozhang suddenly clamored.

The whole court was stunned; no one expected Feng Guozhang to pull such a move. Finding this opening, Feng Guozhang continued to shout loudly, "We in the Beiyang Army are outsiders; how would we know the inside story of the Restoration Society? Cai Yuanpei came to us himself and asked us to send troops, and President Yuan Shikai also ordered us to act. That's why I was forced to send troops to follow Cai Yuanpei and do these things. I am not the mastermind! I am not the mastermind!"

Zhejiang Governor Wang Ziming immediately followed suit and shouted, "It was Zhu Rui who participated at the time! I only became the Governor of Zhejiang after Zhu Rui was blown up! I didn't participate in this at all! I... I am wrongly accused! Your Honor, I am wrongly accused!"

With these two taking the lead, everyone other than Cai Yuanpei immediately followed. They shouted one after another that they were coerced into this matter, and the masterminds were Cai Yuanpei and Yuan Shikai. They were forced to participate, and even if they participated, they did not put in any effort.

However, with a dozen people speaking at once, the voices of various local accents mixed together, making nothing audible. The judge hurriedly banged the gavel violently, and a roar came from the gallery, "You are all farting!" The masses then stood up and cursed at the group of defendants together, and the entire courtroom fell into chaos.

The judge waved his hand helplessly. The bailiffs took the suspects out of the courtroom temporarily while trying to calm the emotions of the audience.

Seeing Feng Guozhang, Cai Yuanpei, and other suspects leaving, someone, in a fit of rage, took off a shoe and threw it over. This reminded the audience members. Shoes, bits and pieces from pockets, coins, and some even took off their jackets and rolled them into balls to throw at Cai Yuanpei and the others. In an instant, colorful fabrics flew across the courtroom.