Baidi City is surrounded by water on three sides and leans against a mountain on one side. It stands alone and towering, with a desolate atmosphere, appearing exceptionally beautiful amidst the magnificent and precipitous mountains and waters of Kuimen. To climb up from the foot of the mountain, one has to ascend nearly a thousand stone steps to reach the gate of Baidi Temple at the top of the mountain. From here, one can view the majestic momentum of Kuimen. Going around to the back of the temple, one can see the winding and beautiful Caotang River flowing into the Yangtze River from the foot of Baidi Mountain.

Sichuan's shamanistic culture is prevalent, and various folk mythological figures since the Tang Dynasty can basically find certain origins in Sichuan. The most famous one is Erlang Shen, the True Lord of Illustrious Sage. When ships leaving Sichuan arrived below Baidi City, they saw that the familiar Yanyu Pile was missing on the broad river surface, but a huge rock several people high, which more than ten people might not be able to encircle with their arms, appeared by the river. Many "big steel nails" were nailed on the big rock, and a stone tablet was erected in front of it. Before the Yanyu Pile was blown up, there was a pavilion on it, and in the pavilion was a stone tablet engraved with the foolish essay "Ode to Yanyu Pile" written by Su Shi, who had never studied fluid mechanics. This tablet was also knocked down and transported to be erected beside the remnant rock. Destroying the Yanyu Pile, suppressing evil with steel nails, and erecting a tablet as proof—these elements that artists "loved to see and hear" greatly stimulated the shamanistic culture and mythological story plots in their hearts.

After the People's Party blew up the Yanyu Pile, rumors were rife in Fengjie, and the incense of Baidi City also flourished accordingly. However, on April 14, 1918, a group of people wearing dark blue clothes appeared on the mountain path of Baidi City. Dark blue military uniforms, dark blue military caps, but the leather shoes were black. No one dared to block the way of these people. The news from down the mountain said that these people came down from the fleet that blew up the Yanyu Pile last time.

The troops lined up rigorously in a column and went up along the mountain path, led by Fleet Commander Zhu Yao. The Naval Political Department praised them for their neat completion of the task of blowing up the Yanyu Pile. Through actual sailing, they accumulated experience for large ships to navigate to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. At least the Military Commission passed an emergency plan, and a fuel supply plant and a machine repair plant were expanded in Yichang.

The task Zhu Yao received this time was to continue advancing to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River along the previous route. However, the scientific research ship in the fleet was collecting new hydrological data after the Yanyu Pile was blown up, so the fleet temporarily anchored in the Fengjie area. Zhu Yao had a somewhat restless nature, so he simply organized officers and soldiers to visit Baidi City. This could not only exercise their bodies but also show off the demeanor of the People's Party army.

There was nothing particularly good to see in Baidi Temple; the mountain was quite high, but the temple was very small. The People's Party opposed feudal superstition. After visiting the statues of Shu Han figures, the naval officers and soldiers lined up to prepare to go down the mountain. At this time, a woman with red eyes and a pale face leaned forward tremblingly and said something in the local dialect of Fengjie.

Zhu Yao was from Hebei. As a descendant of Beiyang, his father admired Yan Fu's great name very much, so Zhu Yao was sent to the People's Party to study in 1909. After political review, he was assigned to the Naval Academy. After graduation, he did a lot of naval work and now served as the fleet commander of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army marching into Sichuan. Zhu Yao was used to Mandarin and couldn't understand a word of the local dialect of Fengjie. Fortunately, comrades from Hubei could understand a lot. He asked the woman a few sentences. During the question and answer, he saw a look of excited joy appear on the woman's pale face, and even her complexion seemed much ruddy.

The Hubei comrade turned his head and said to Zhu Yao: "Commander Zhu, this aunt's son is sick. She asked if we have doctors and if we can treat him. We said we could at most help take a look, but we couldn't promise her any treatment effect."

Zhu Yao frowned slightly. The medical level in the liberated areas of the Republic was far higher than in other regions of China. If the fleet's medical team started treatment in Fengjie, it would very likely trigger a frenzy of seeking medical treatment locally. The incense in Baidi City was flourishing. Apart from the inherent tradition of praying to gods and worshipping Buddha, the psychological emptiness caused by the People's Party blowing up the Yanyu Pile was also one of the reasons. It was just that the purpose of praying to gods and worshipping Buddha was to solve problems that reality could not solve, especially the desire for the treatment of diseases.

Whether there is a political commissar present means whether there is political leadership for the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. Zhu Yao knew very well that medical treatment could greatly promote the influence of the People's Party, but he didn't want to spend precious manpower on meaningless things at this time. However, Zhu Yao also knew very well that the political commissar would probably choose to provide medical services to the masses in Fengjie.

Things turned out just as Zhu Yao expected. The group went down the mountain, and the political commissar agreed to diagnose the local woman's son. The diagnosis came out quickly; the teenager had acute appendicitis and needed surgery immediately. Hearing that the doctor wanted to cut open her son's body and remove an organ, the woman was terrified. However, the subsequent development greatly exceeded Zhu Yao's expectations. The mother's face was as white as paper. After biting her lips tightly and hesitating for a while, she suddenly knelt down and shouted: "Masters, please save my son properly."

The subsequent development was very simple. The doctor with rich surgical experience performed a successful operation, removing the swollen appendix and carefully stitching the wound. The weak child soon fell asleep with the help of anesthetics. The appendix was on the verge of ulceration, but it had not ulcerated. After the anti-inflammatory liquid medicine was hung up, the child's complexion gradually recovered from greenish-white to a more normal skin color.

The political commissar naturally saw that Zhu Yao had no enthusiasm for saving lives, but it seemed inappropriate to question whether the fleet commander lacked the revolutionary humanitarian spirit of healing the wounded and rescuing the dying. At least it was indeed inappropriate without conclusive evidence. So the political commissar just asked Zhu Yao, "Do we want to continue advancing?"

"Advance now." Zhu Yao replied immediately, with no thought of staying in his tone.

This attitude made the political commissar a bit unable to stand it, "Commander Zhu, why do I feel that you have no interest in helping the masses at all?"

Zhu Yao was not frightened by the political commissar's attitude at all. He said frankly: "Our action this time is not a civil affairs action. If we were responsible for establishing a hospital, then of course we could vigorously propagate and work hard in Fengjie. But the purpose of our action is to go up the river. You say we treated a few people incidentally; of course, we can lend a helping hand. But if work is delayed because of these rescue actions unrelated to the purpose of the action, I don't think this is a responsible attitude towards the revolution."

The political commissar was actually not old either, only in his early thirties. Zhu Yao was only twenty-six years old. Moreover, as the representative of the Party Committee, the political commissar was actually above Zhu Yao in both status and authority. The political commissar was quite dissatisfied with Zhu Yao's attitude of "despising" political work. He asked: "Then what does Commander Zhu mean?"

"I mean to set sail immediately and continue up the river before the news spreads. Our task is this, and our purpose is also this. And..." Zhu Yao stopped here.

"And what?" The political commissar really wanted to know what exactly Zhu Yao's attitude towards treating the masses was.

Zhu Yao was young after all. Although he knew he shouldn't say this, he couldn't help but speak out his thoughts: "Political Commissar, my attitude is that the humanitarian spirit of healing the wounded and rescuing the dying does not equal buying popularity. We unite the masses, but it doesn't mean we have to get good reviews from the masses all the time. I think that is not the attitude of making a revolution."

Daring to speak out such a view so straightforwardly, Zhu Yao could actually be considered an honest person. But these words made the political commissar's face turn a bit pale. He said seriously: "Commander Zhu, you are opposing the mass line!"

Zhu Yao also said seriously: "Then are we going to obey the orders of the Military Commission now, or follow the mass line and mobilize the masses? Give me a choice between the two."