"Hu Youdao must be killed, and his nephew Hu Congjian absolutely cannot be let off." Yuwen Badu, the only one among the current seven secretaries of the People's Party who was a native of Fengtai County, expressed his opinion. Attempting to make himself look more angry, Yuwen Badu even slapped the table and said loudly, "We must kill a batch. Let them know that we are not unaware of what they did!" But obviously, this effort failed. Yuwen Badu had a deep and solemn voice, a kind of low and thick feeling like a preacher, possessing a shocking power that pointed directly to the human heart. When such a voice sounded naturally and smoothly in the room, it would make people naturally give birth to a kind of sigh. But when this steady voice tried to become extremely emotional, a feeling of incompatibility made everyone feel an inexplicable urge to laugh.

This meeting was attended by the seven secretaries and Qi Huishen. Looking at Yuwen Badu, there was no malice in their eyes, nor any intention to hold Yuwen Badu responsible. There was even uncontrollable laughter in the eyes of quite a few people, but laughing at this time was really untimely. So the comrades did not make any sound that would embarrass Yuwen Badu.

The complaint written personally by Hu Youdao and brought to the gate of the Fengyang Prefecture Assistant Prefect's Yamen by Hu Congjian circulated among the secretaries at the table. When Hu Congjian fled from the yamen gate, his emotions were extremely agitated, so he lost the "serious and careful attitude" towards the preservation of the complaint. The wrinkles caused by gripping the complaint tightly, as well as the sweat stains printed on the complaint after Hu Congjian sweated profusely due to emotional agitation, made this once carefully written and preserved paper appear wrinkled and dilapidated.

When everyone passed it around, they were all somewhat absent-minded. Having such a reaction was not because of Yuwen Badu's actually untimely performance just now. Such a thing was not enough to disturb everyone's mind. Moreover, although Yuwen Badu was known as being responsible for local mass work, the one who actually undertook the most work was not him, but Lu Huitian, He Zudao, and others. To put it coldly, the significance of Yuwen Badu's existence was merely "buying horse bones for a thousand gold"; as a local, Yuwen Badu held a high position in the Insurance Corps, and the rallying significance of this fact was far greater than the practical significance.

The secretaries were actually not really terrified, and basically didn't even have angry emotions. If it really reached a critical moment, Chen Ke, who always had keen senses, would definitely set the tone first. And this time Chen Ke only said one sentence during the meeting: "Such a thing has happened; everyone, talk about your own views." Then he fell silent. based on the habits formed by the secretaries these days, everyone felt very at ease. Under such circumstances, no one was anxious to speak. The other six of the seven secretaries didn't speak, and Yuwen Badu's statement obviously didn't get everyone's response, so he became even more anxious. At least nominally, Yuwen Badu was responsible for the civil affairs of Fengtai County; with such a thing happening, he had a certain responsibility.

Chen Ke saw Yuwen Badu's face flushing red and knew that if he still didn't speak, it would be a bit difficult for Yuwen Badu. He smiled, "Comrade Badu, don't be anxious. We don't want to hold anyone responsible. Actually, as I see it, the comrades actually don't treat this matter as a big deal."

Hearing this, Yuwen Badu immediately felt much more relaxed in his heart. What he worried about most was being held responsible. If others didn't know, Yuwen Badu couldn't possibly not know what the People's Party was doing now. That was indeed rebellion. So Yuwen Badu was particularly sensitive to things within his work. "This... Secretary Chen, you let me be responsible for the base area's civil affairs..." Yuwen Badu still felt he had to express his attitude.

Lu Huitian was responsible for the work of the Insurance Corps Reclamation Brigade. As a secretary also responsible for civil affairs like Yuwen Badu, he felt he must speak at this time. "Comrade Badu, this kind of thing will definitely happen. Contradictions do not shift according to your or my personal will. The landlord class will absolutely not give up their stance easily. Our People's Party has its own stance; unless our People's Party stands on the landlord's stance and becomes the landlords' running dog. Otherwise, for this contradiction, there is only the question of when it will intensify, not whether it will intensify. Zhang Youliang opposed us, and now Hu Youdao opposes us. In the future, there will be more landlords opposing us. This kind of thing is not your responsibility."

Seeing Yuwen Badu's relieved expression, Chen Ke said, "Let's stop the heart-to-heart talk here for now. In the future, we need to exchange hearts frequently like this. Revolution is not to make us harden our hearts to kill people; revolutionary comrades are like-minded comrades. We have a common ideal, which is to make our fellow villagers live better, make the common people of all China live better. We Chinese cannot bully anyone. Foreigners cannot bully us Chinese either."

Speaking of this, Chen Ke paused. He sighed with a slightly regretful expression. "I'll make a self-criticism first. My work style these days has been very overbearing. I know it. Regardless of whether the comrades can understand or not, as long as it is something I have resolved to do, I must push it to the end. It made quite a few comrades feel wronged; I know it. Here, I apologize to everyone first." After speaking, Chen Ke lowered his head to the comrades.

The comrades never expected Chen Ke to apologize to everyone at this time. Everyone looked at Chen Ke's deeply lowered head with surprised expressions. When Chen Ke raised his head, everyone reacted.

"Secretary Chen, don't say that. It has now been proven that your arrangements at that time were all correct. I am now convinced from the bottom of my heart." Yuwen Badu said hurriedly.

Qi Huishen had not been in the base area all along, so naturally he wouldn't speak. This Shanghai youth quietly watched the expressions of other secretaries.

Hua Xiongmao, You Gou, and Shang Yuan did not make a sound. They had always been Chen Ke's staunchest supporters. The three of them knew that Chen Ke's self-criticism was actually not directed at them.

Qin Shou did manpower deployment and judicial work; this usually reticent youth didn't make a sound either. Only Lu Huitian looked quite moved under his surprise; he also couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief gently. Everyone's gaze was torch-like; except for Chen Ke, the gazes of several people fell on his face.

Originally, Lu Huitian didn't intend not to speak. Seeing everyone's gaze looking over, he simply spoke crisply. "Secretary Chen, I want to say something. Originally I was an impatient person, wishing I could overthrow the Manchu Qing court right now. But I think now is not the time. We are about to distribute land soon; after attacking Shouzhou, the news will definitely spread here. What will the common people think then? Our previous work foundation was built on the basis of not publicly raising the banner of revolution. Otherwise, there would be no need to let Shang Yuan be responsible for suppressing the landlords. That land distribution contract was also written in the name of the government. Now, before mobilizing the masses to start the revolution, we attack Shouzhou. Isn't this going to stir up trouble?"

These words made a lot of sense, but Shang Yuan suddenly asked a sentence, "Comrade Lu Huitian, is this your own meaning, or the attitude of the comrades below?"

Hearing this, Lu Huitian's face became unsightly then and there. But Shang Yuan was usually this calm. Although Lu Huitian was very unhappy in his heart, he managed to suppress his dissatisfaction after all. He tried his best to seek truth from facts and said, "This is my view. Some comrades below support my view, while some feel we should have attacked Shouzhou long ago."

After saying this, Lu Huitian originally thought Shang Yuan would say something. Unexpectedly, Shang Yuan just nodded and actually didn't say a word. This made the fire in Lu Huitian's heart immediately flourish again. What does this mean? Really want to find fault? Or interrogate me?

Shang Yuan obviously saw Lu Huitian's emotion. He said faintly, "Let's not be emotional. Among the party members I developed, there are also different views, so I wanted to ask. See if it's like this on your side."

Although this explanation was very reasonable, Shang Yuan's expression made people unhappy no matter what. Chen Ke quickly interrupted the possible continuing conflict. "Comrade Lu Huitian, the common people actually don't care about the existence of the Shouzhou government at all. If they cared, these people would have run to Shouzhou long ago; it's impossible for them to continue staying in Fengtai County. On this point, you manage the Reclamation Brigade, so you are definitely the clearest."

Hearing Chen Ke's words, Lu Huitian nodded.

Chen Ke saw that Lu Huitian had somewhat accepted his statement, so he continued: "In that case, as long as we don't announce with great fanfare that we have breached Shouzhou, do you think the common people will really care whether the sky has changed in Shouzhou?"

"Ah?" Lu Huitian stared at Chen Ke. "Secretary Chen means, we just pretend nothing happened in Shouzhou, and continue doing whatever we should do?"

"Mm." Chen Ke nodded.

"This... this... isn't this 'covering one's ears while stealing a bell'?" Lu Huitian never expected Chen Ke to actually propose such an answer. Does Chen Ke treat the common people of the base area as blind and deaf?

Hearing "covering one's ears while stealing a bell," Hua Xiongmao simply couldn't help laughing out loud. Lu Huitian looked at Hua Xiongmao and saw that Hua Xiongmao had no intention of opposing at all, but simply found the idiom cited by Lu Huitian funny.

Chen Ke explained, "First, as long as we don't publicize it with great fanfare, let alone the common people of Fengtai County might not know what happened, I'm afraid even the common people of Shouzhou might not know what happened. Do you really think the common people know exactly what the structure of the government is? How do they know that the one taking over the Shouzhou government is not the imperial court, but our own people? Second, the common people have no interest in this kind of thing at all. Everyone is thinking about how to distribute land now. Third, even if there are landlords who know what happened and then oppose us, do you think they dare to oppose us in public? Aren't they looking for death? We even hit Shouzhou; what else dare they do? Rise up to rebel against us?"

Lu Huitian listened to Chen Ke's words dumbfounded. Although every sentence was so reasonable, the whole thing felt very unreasonable. No, it should be called "absurd."

"So, we do whatever we should do. Just pretend nothing happened." Chen Ke said very seriously. Seeing Lu Huitian's shocked look, Chen Ke said earnestly: "Comrade Lu Huitian, for the common people of Fengtai County, any rumors outside are fake. But even if one person from the government steps onto the land of Fengtai County and then declares we are rebels, that is real. As long as no government official can enter the base area, whatever we say is what it is."

Lu Huitian watched Chen Ke calmly expounding on such a major event and only felt very puzzled. Suddenly, he finally understood one thing. Chen Ke has been able to stand in the position of the leader of the People's Party until now; the biggest gap between him and Lu Huitian is not ability, but that kind of spirit [daring/vision]. Chen Ke fears nothing at all. And Lu Huitian knew that he really didn't have this kind of spirit.