"Gentlemen of virtue, how is the discussion going?" Shang Yuan asked with a smile. As soon as he returned to the conference room, he saw the landlords huffing and puffing one by one, unexpectedly not saying a word. Presumably, they hadn't discussed any result. This kind of thing was also normal; although landlords were easily hoodwinked, when they thought about the ownership of their land being transferred immediately, even if only for a day, the landlords couldn't accept it.

As a "spy" planted among the landlords, seeing Shang Yuan and Chen Ke return, Ren Qiying said with a grave expression: "Lord Magistrate, the elders feel that just writing a document is not credible. Moreover, the elders are worried that some people will fish in troubled waters and want to take advantage of this matter to seek some benefits for themselves. The elders are all elders of clans in various places, and disaster relief is originally everyone's duty. So everyone hopes to be more cautious."

These words were spoken clearly. Shang Yuan and Chen Ke originally had a good impression of Ren Qiying. Listening to her few sentences, she had already explained the conflicts among the landlords clearly. Moreover, she didn't reveal any flaws at all. Ren Qiying had not received any People's Party lesson training, yet she could straighten out various contradictions so smoothly. Shang Yuan and Chen Ke couldn't help but look at each other. Both could see the same thought in each other's eyes: it was necessary to pull this girl in for further study.

The landlords obviously didn't hear Ren Qiying's hidden meaning. To them, whether Ren Qiying was tipping them off didn't matter; what mattered was that they indeed needed Ren Qiying to explain these worrying matters clearly. As soon as the two "outsiders," Shang Yuan and Chen Ke, left, the landlords fell into a great argument without direction. No one could come up with a plan to convince others, and everyone disagreed with others' plans. Timid small landlords worried that their land would never be returned after being lent out. Medium landlords were very worried about the authority of this People's Representative Congress; they were worried about what kind of benefits they could get from it. Big landlords, on the contrary, didn't speak much. Unlike the worries or expectations of other landlords, big landlords had big businesses after all. As long as the old order could be restored, the interests of these people could be guaranteed. They were not willing to get involved in these "changes." Big landlords just wanted to determine the reliability of the "land lending document."

These factions argued endlessly; some worried about each other, some mocked each other. It was rare that Ren Qiying could explain these things clearly.

Shang Yuan patted the table, and the landlords below immediately stopped making sounds, looking at Shang Yuan attentively. Shang Yuan said loudly: "Gentlemen of virtue, there are not many promises this official can give everyone now. However, this official returned to the yamen just now to handle a matter. This official has already fired Clerk Liu, who was originally in charge of collecting grain in the yamen. As for this People's Representative Congress, an important authority is collecting grain. This official guarantees one thing: who will do this job of collecting grain, the candidates will be elected by the People's Representative Congress. This official will not plant people myself. As for others, no matter who they recommend, this official will not agree. This Fengtai County must be decided by everyone. Only the People's Representative Congress can select people to collect grain and taxes. So this official feels that you gentlemen should hurry up and elect representatives so that these vacancies can be selected."

As soon as these words came out, the landlords were truly shocked. This Clerk Liu had connections in the Prefecture. Shang Yuan fired him just like that; such a vigorous and resolute approach would definitely offend the people above. Everyone was terrified by Shang Yuan's decisiveness on one hand, and on the other hand, they coveted the position of "collecting grain and taxes." This was a recognized fat job. Officials and clerks going to the countryside to press for grain and collecting taxes everywhere, that was sucking marrow from bones. Landlords had always suffered deeply from it. If this job of collecting grain could be elected by the landlords themselves, leaving aside other things, just this exploitation could be reduced a lot.

"Lord Magistrate, do you know you have stirred up a hornet's nest?" Hu Xingzhi asked. He was a prominent landlord in Fengtai. Moreover, Hu Xingzhi himself also opened shops in Fengtai. After the Insurance Corps came, they never extorted or blackmailed, and they were also relentless in striking hard at the hooligans on the market. So Hu Xingzhi was one of the few gentry who had a good impression of the Insurance Corps. Since the beginning of this meeting, he hadn't spoken much. Now, Hu Xingzhi finally opened his mouth.

"This official naturally knows," Shang Yuan answered, "Now the situation is extraordinary. If we can't manage the money and grain well, big trouble will happen. But you gentlemen know very clearly what kind of moral character those people in the past had. If I don't fire them, should I let them come to add trouble for nothing?"

"As the saying goes, orders issued in the morning are changed in the evening. Lord Magistrate fired them today; if Lord Magistrate leaves tomorrow, what should we do?" Hu Xingzhi was a person with land and shops after all; his insight was unusual. He was not confused by small greed. Shang Yuan's approach itself would offend very high officials. Looking at it now, Shang Yuan's days in the future wouldn't be easy.

"Clerk Liu only has a few people in the Prefecture. I won't say much, but I have quite a few teachers and friends in the Capital and the Provincial Capital. If it's for a Clerk Liu, presumably the people in the Prefecture dare not offend me. Moreover, not only me, this Mr. Chen Ke is a disciple of Mr. Yan Fu. Mr. Yan Fu, the Chief Instructor of the Beiyang Naval Academy, I think you gentlemen have probably heard of him."

As soon as Shang Yuan said this, many among the landlords were startled. Northern Anhui was the base camp of the Huai Army. Although these landlords didn't know much about those big figures in officialdom, they knew a lot about the big figures in the Huai Army, which was the later Beiyang clique. Many of their children served in the Beiyang Army. As the Chief Instructor of the Beiyang Naval Academy, many of these landlords knew Yan Fu. They never expected that the disciple of such a big figure as Yan Fu was actually Chen Ke in front of them. This made the landlords unable to help but feel awe and respect.

"How is Mr. Yan recently?" Hu Xingzhi stood up and asked Chen Ke.

"My teacher is in good health. My teacher went from Anhui to Shanghai last year and now serves as the President of Fudan Public School in Shanghai. I went to Beijing last year under my teacher's order and met Brother Shang Yuan in Beijing. At that time, I learned that Brother Shang Yuan was going to take office in Fengtai, so I came to Fengtai with Brother Shang Yuan," Chen Ke answered with a smile.

Hu Xingzhi said this, firstly to express respect for Yan Fu, and secondly, he also knew some of Yan Fu's recent situation, meaning to probe. Hearing what Chen Ke said completely matched the facts, he basically confirmed that Chen Ke's relationship with Yan Fu was indeed intimate. In these years, private teacher-student relationships couldn't be claimed randomly. Since Chen Ke dared to say so, there should be no problem.

"It is great that Mr. Yan Fu is in good health. Since the Lord Magistrate says so, I am willing to run for this People's Representative. what do the others think?" Hu Xingzhi was a straightforward person. He knew that since the Insurance Corps led by Chen Ke had made so many preparations, it looked like they were definitely going to do something big in Fengtai County. He originally had no intention of being hostile. Now learning that Chen Ke and Shang Yuan were both people with great backgrounds, he simply expressed his support directly.

Hu Xingzhi expressed his attitude. Although other landlords still didn't quite understand what was going on, they had always known that Hu Xingzhi was quite capable and not a person who did stupid things. The attitude of others obviously softened.

Chinese landlords were never an organization with their own organization and political program. They all had the characteristic of restricting their activities to a designated area. So as soon as an influential person among the landlords came out to express an attitude, others were easily influenced. Chen Ke never thought this was the final attitude of the landlords. Later, they would feel their interests were treated "unfairly," and then there would be various oppositions and complaints. Contradiction is something that exists eternally. Chen Ke would absolutely not think there was anything wrong with this.

Seeing Hu Xingzhi express support, Chen Ke followed Hu Xingzhi's characteristics and said, "Coming to Anhui this time, it's not just Brother Shang Yuan and me. Brother Pu Guanshui, who is now in the Anhui New Army, also came with us. He will come to our Fengtai County in a few days. I can introduce everyone to know him then."

Chen Ke and Shang Yuan threw out numerous names of high positions and heavy weights one by one. The landlords now really believed that these two people had huge backers behind them. Moreover, "the county magistrate is not as good as the current boss." Shang Yuan was the current magistrate, and Chen Ke led the Insurance Corps stationed in Fengtai County. These were decisive forces that could immediately form a realistic blow to the landlords. Under such pressure, the landlords succumbed again.

But after the landlords had a consensus, internal contradictions erupted immediately. Hu Xingzhi said: "Lord Magistrate, Mr. Chen Ke. I think since you want to recommend People's Representatives, then let's have a full public election. Just now Lord Magistrate said to give out two quotas from the government office; I think there is no need to be so polite."

As soon as these words came out, other landlords nodded one after another. And Liu Jinxue and Liu Yixuan, who had just been promised the status of People's Representative, immediately became angry. Everyone wanted a public election; this made it clear they wanted to deprive the two of their representative qualifications. There were a total of thirty-six representatives in the county, and there were more than thirty landlords attending the meeting this time alone. Among the thirty-six people, half had to be occupied by the Insurance Corps. Liu Jinxue and Liu Yixuan were not originally figures with prominent reputations locally. If they really had absolute confidence in being elected, they wouldn't have jumped out so anxiously to support Magistrate Shang Yuan. At that time, risking public anger to come forward, they finally obtained the qualification of People's Representative with great difficulty. Now Hu Xingzhi wanted to take away their qualifications with one sentence; the two immediately changed their expressions.

"That's not appropriate, right? Brother Hu, are you trying to make the Lord Magistrate change his orders issued in the morning by evening?" Liu Jinxue asked first. He was determined to get this position and would not let anyone take it away easily no matter what. Liu Yixuan also looked at Hu Xingzhi coldly, with a face full of dissatisfaction.

Hu Xingzhi didn't care about the performance of the two at all. He just said seriously to other landlords, "Everyone, I feel that since we want fairness, we must look like fairness. Either don't elect, or elect together. Arranging people in advance is not so convincing."

Chen Ke looked at Hu Xingzhi carefully. He couldn't quite figure out what exactly Hu Xingzhi meant. Hu Xingzhi seemed to be opposing Chen Ke and Shang Yuan, but actually, it was completely not the case. First, such opposition might not necessarily be effective. The biggest direct effect was to make Liu Jinxue and Liu Yixuan completely turn into Chen Ke's people. Secondly, the landlords might not genuinely care about those two People's Representative positions. As long as Shang Yuan and the others insisted slightly, the positions of these two representatives could still pass. And Hu Xingzhi had no other benefits besides showing his "fair" image.

Moreover, Hu Xingzhi was considered the first person to truly support Chen Ke and Shang Yuan, and could also be said to be a very helpful person. By doing this, he destroyed his image of "actively moving closer to the Party organization."

What exactly was Hu Xingzhi planning?