If someone could observe the world from an omniscient perspective, they would definitely see many very interesting things. For example, the Zhang family scions carrying Zhang Youliang's complaint boarded a boat, while Hua Xiongmao and Xu Dian boarded the Insurance Corps' boat almost at the same time. The two parties set off from Yuezhangji and the county town respectively, aiming for the county town and Yuezhangji.

The two youths of the Insurance Corps First Company sat casually on the bow of the large black-awning boat. It was a tailwind now; the sails behind caught the wind, so the red sickle and hammer flag of the People's Party at the bow just swayed gently in the wind.

"Brother Zhenglan, why did you think of revolution?" Although Xu Dian was the Political Commissar of the First Company, he hadn't talked much with Hua Xiongmao. Xu Dian studied law and thought his train of thought was quite meticulous, but he never knew that real revolutionary work was so complicated. And every time he got used to the work intensity, more work would press over. Being able to go to Yuezhangji with Hua Xiongmao today, the weather was good, and there weren't too many things on the way. Xu Dian wanted to chat with Hua Xiongmao.

"This world will have a revolution sooner or later. After meeting Wenqing, I followed him to start doing it." Hua Xiongmao always answered this question this way.

"Brother Zhenglan, do you think we can make the revolution happen?" For some reason, Xu Dian spoke his true thoughts.

"Afraid that Zhang Youliang will use force on us when we arrive at Yuezhangji?" Hua Xiongmao asked.

Xu Dian just had a kind of uneasiness in his heart; he hadn't considered in detail where this uneasiness came from. Suddenly asked by Hua Xiongmao, Xu Dian was tongue-tied and couldn't answer.

"Political Commissar Xu, how do you view Wenqing?" Hua Xiongmao didn't mean to mock Xu Dian at all; he actually wanted to enlighten Xu Dian a bit.

"Wenqing is indeed very capable. No one I've met can match him," Xu Dian replied. Everyone knew Hua Xiongmao was Chen Ke's die-hard supporter, so Xu Dian spoke somewhat conservatively.

"You don't need to use these words to fool me. Wenqing is extremely disciplined in doing things, even meaning somewhat harsh and impersonal. I decided to follow him because Wenqing never does things for his own selfish interests." Hua Xiongmao answered Xu Dian's previous question.

"Harsh and impersonal is not the word. Wenqing always does the most. If talking about harshness, he is harshest to himself." This was Xu Dian's sincere words; he admired Chen Ke's self-discipline very much.

"Wenqing only has revolution and saving the Chinese people in his heart. Although I haven't fully understood his reasoning yet, I am certain about this aspect. By the way, Political Commissar Xu, why do you want revolution?"

"Me? I hope China can rise and not be bullied by foreigners. That's why I want revolution. After we met Wenqing in Beijing, we felt what he said about industrialization construction made a lot of sense, so we followed him to Anhui."

"The common people are so bitter, bullied all day long," Hua Xiongmao replied.

"Yes, besides being bullied by the government and landlords, the common people are also bullied by foreigners. It is because China is weak. When China becomes strong, we must drive the foreign devils out of China so they can never bully Chinese people again." Xu Dian got angry when talking about foreigners.

Hua Xiongmao continued to ask tentatively: "Political Commissar Xu, who do you think is more hateful, the Manchu Qing or the foreign devils?"

"Equally hateful. The foreign devils are unreasonable, but the Manchu Qing humiliates the nation and forfeits its sovereignty; I'm afraid they are even more hateful." Xu Dian was filled with indignation.

"If the common people can all become strong, then we can definitely drive the foreign devils out of China." Hua Xiongmao persuaded earnestly. The people's revolution must first liberate the people; only when the people are liberated can China be liberated. This was the concept old Party members were instilled with most by Chen Ke. But Hua Xiongmao discovered that Chen Ke educated new Party members much less in this regard. Of course, Hua Xiongmao thought this might be his illusion. So he was unwilling to say too much about this.

"The common people, how to say it... We need a capable government to save the common people." Xu Dian's view was actually the attitude of a considerable number of people in the People's Party now. Especially among Party members with high academic qualifications, this attitude was actually the mainstream. Of course, Shang Yuan never said this. A big reason Xu Dian came to Anhui was his admiration for Shang Yuan. Now Shang Yuan seemed somewhat of a misfit with everyone; Xu Dian was quite surprised by this situation.

Xu Dian was not clear that Chen Ke and Shang Yuan had long reached a consensus on purging internal Party issues. Both of them believed that the People's Party must take liberating the people as the core idea. But now there was simply no way to show the power of the people. If this issue was emphasized blindly, it would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble instead. So only old Party members like Hua Xiongmao could feel some subtle changes in Chen Ke.

Hua Xiongmao didn't like talking about revolution much in ordinary times, but this didn't mean his understanding of revolution was worse than people like Xu Dian. Even if Chen Ke planned to purge, this calculation absolutely couldn't be said now. The contradiction of lines within the Party was far from reaching the point where the dagger must be revealed. So Hua Xiongmao didn't know Chen Ke's plan. What Hua Xiongmao could feel was the subtle difference between these new Party members and old Party members. Old Party members had followed Chen Ke for a long time; at any rate, they learned some attitude of "serving the people" from Chen Ke. In the People's Party and the Insurance Corps, officer cadres must serve subordinates and soldiers. It was said so, but practically only old Party members could do it. Among new Party member cadres, treating subordinates and soldiers equally was the maximum.

Now that the army had been established for several months, Hua Xiongmao fully understood why Chen Ke wanted to establish the Soldiers' Committee. If not for the checks and balances and confrontation of the Soldiers' Committee, if not because these new Party members were outsiders, plus the strong suppression of Chen Ke and old Party members, I'm afraid the army building policy of "officers and soldiers as one, equal treatment" proposed by Chen Ke would have gone out of shape long ago. Since he was partnered with Xu Dian, Hua Xiongmao hoped Xu Dian could lead by example more.

The Political Commissar is a political representative. Xu Dian wasn't undisciplined, but the flavor of superiority revealed in his bones was completely different from Chen Ke's strict requirements for soldiers. This could be seen from the attitude of soldiers towards the two. When Chen Ke passed by soldiers, the soldiers showed respect and love; to satisfy the respected Battalion Commander Chen Ke, soldiers showed a more disciplined appearance. But when Xu Dian passed by soldiers, the soldiers showed a disciplined appearance to avoid Xu Dian's blame. Hua Xiongmao didn't think Xu Dian had more appeal in the army. But Hua Xiongmao himself wasn't good at words, so although he knew this in his heart, he didn't know how to say it to Xu Dian clearly.

After thinking for a while, Hua Xiongmao said, "Political Commissar Xu, do you think I am very loyal to Wenqing?"

"Hehe." Xu Dian just smiled without answering this question. Now the recognized four iron-core supporters of Chen Ke in the People's Party were Hua Xiongmao, Shang Yuan, You Gou, and He Zudao. Hua Xiongmao ranked first. Xu Dian had heard of the three important cadres outside: Qi Huishen, Chen Tianhua, and Wu Xingchen, who were equally loyal to Chen Ke. As Chen Ke's die-hard supporter, Hua Xiongmao saying this was naturally to win people's hearts for Chen Ke. Xu Dian didn't want to be loyal to anyone. Although he didn't dislike Chen Ke at all and quite agreed with Chen Ke's ability, he couldn't do it at all if asked to bow his knees to Chen Ke.

"I am loyal to Wenqing because I am loyal to Wenqing's way of doing things. In my view, what Wenqing asks everyone to do is not wrong at all." Hua Xiongmao felt he had reached the limit of what he could say; saying more would be inappropriate.

After hearing this, Xu Dian not only didn't get angry but nodded, "Wenqing is indeed very unusual. To be honest, if I encountered this big flood, I would definitely be helpless. How could I be like Wenqing, always able to find a way?"

Hearing this, Hua Xiongmao really couldn't say anything more. Xu Dian's words were so high-sounding and completely conformed to the People's Party's way of pursuing righteousness. If Hua Xiongmao opposed again, it would appear he himself was not authentic. Actually, Hua Xiongmao had never thought about how his loyalty to Chen Ke was different from others. No one had discussed this aspect with him either. Talking with Xu Dian for a while, he somewhat understood. For Xu Dian and others, they would only obey orders and listen to commands after fully or basically agreeing with Chen Ke's ideas. But Hua Xiongmao obeyed orders and listened to commands first, and then considered whether Chen Ke's orders could be executed better. As for whether what Chen Ke said was right, Hua Xiongmao hadn't cared too much.

After figuring this out, Hua Xiongmao suddenly became puzzled: when did he start to be so obedient to Chen Ke? He couldn't figure it out after thinking about it, so he simply gave up pursuing this matter. "Political Commissar Xu, let's sort out how to negotiate with Zhang Youliang this time again," Hua Xiongmao said.

Zhang Youliang learned that Hua Xiongmao came again this time, and with two large black-awning boats, he immediately became alert. Last time the Insurance Corps' boat wasn't big, and there was only one. What did the Insurance Corps mean by coming with such great fanfare this time? Could it be they knew he had sent someone to file a complaint in the county, so they specially came to demonstrate?

But after thinking about it, the fortified village had been guarded very strictly recently, not letting people in and out at will. Presumably, there should be no problem. And last time the Insurance Corps let out words that they would come to Yuezhangji at this time. It seemed this group of petty thieves and bandits didn't give up.

The more critical the moment, the less one can show weakness; this was the experience Zhang Youliang gained from the battlefield. He let people bring the Insurance Corps visitors in. Not daring to even see the Insurance Corps people would be too shameful. At this time, it was precisely necessary to intimidate these blind little thieves.

The lackey didn't go out for long before bringing two people in. The person in front was tall, with handsome features, wearing a queue. The person behind was of medium build, looking quite sturdy. Moreover, this person actually had the center-parted short hair of a "Fake Foreign Devil." The two behaved calmly and composedly, with no roguishness of bandits in their expressions.

Seeing Zhang Youliang, the person in front said clearly: "I am the Commander of the First Company of the Insurance Corps, Shaoxing Prefecture Military Provincial Graduate (*Wu Juren*) Hua Xiongmao. Greetings, Mr. Zhang."

Hearing this, Zhang Youliang wondered if he heard wrong. Just as he was about to ask, he heard the youth behind follow up: "I am the Political Commissar of the First Company of the Insurance Corps, Tokyo University Law Department graduate Xu Dian. Greetings, Mr. Zhang."

Although the two were polite in words, they just nodded simply. Not even a cupped-hand salute. According to the current official system of the Manchu Qing, Hua Xiongmao was a Provincial Graduate (*Juren*), and Xu Dian was a university undergraduate recognized by the Manchu Qing, equivalent to a Metropolitan Graduate (*Jinshi*) background. Both of them were people with degrees and titles; they didn't need to bow to Zhang Youliang, this local tycoon, at all.

Although Zhang Youliang was a landlord, he was not a country bumpkin. He could understand the terms used by these two to introduce themselves. Learning the identities of these two, one a Military Provincial Graduate, one a student returned from abroad, really gave him a jump. In an instant, Zhang Youliang finally understood why the magistrate was polite to the Insurance Corps. If what these two said was correct, with their backgrounds, the magistrate couldn't touch a hair of these two people at all. Zhang Youliang, who was originally arrogant, although still calm on his face, was already somewhat shaken in his heart.