The People's Party held many meetings; Chen Ke himself did not deny this. Without meetings, how could they communicate with each other? How could they confirm the completion of work? Although meetings were annoying, it was absolutely impossible not to hold meetings.

Early in the morning on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the meeting hall of the People's Party Central Committee in Fengtai County was already full of people. The main force of the troops returned to the base area two days ago. The comrades who went out to fight in the Battle of Anqing and the comrades who stayed behind in the base area met slightly. But everyone had their own urgent things to do, and only today could they gather together to talk properly. Because of worrying that some people in the refugee camp might have "their own ideas" after seeing large-scale troop movements, the troops were relatively low-key when they set out. Now that they had won a great victory, the comrades who participated in the battle were naturally in high spirits.

War can greatly purify the relationship between people. Whether it makes everyone recognize each other or makes everyone hostile to each other, after experiencing the life and death test of war, the relationship between comrades-in-arms participating in the war will change greatly. Chai Qingguo didn't get along well with Pu Guanshui before. But now he stood with Pu Guanshui and laughed to the comrades who stayed behind: "The operational plan was led by Pu Guanshui. I originally wanted to storm the West City, but this kid Pu Guanshui still said we must abide by the operational plan. I thought what he said made sense, so I took the horse team to the north of the city. Before our horse team went two li, Pu Guanshui started storming the West City himself."

Pu Guanshui knew Chai Qingguo was quite brooding about this matter. He could understand the regret of Chai Qingguo, a "fierce general," for not being able to command the storming of the West City personally. However, even now, Pu Guanshui didn't think storming the West City was necessarily correct. In the Battle of Anqing, the New Army's fighting will was very problematic, plus they were unprepared for the sudden war, so they were beaten into fallen flowers and flowing water. Even if the New Army had such problems of fighting will and battlefield maladaptation, when the remaining hundreds of New Army soldiers began to resist stubbornly in the military camp, the Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army was still blocked. If Chen Ke hadn't immediately come up with a solution, wanting to attack into the New Army military camp would not have been so smooth.

Although thinking so, Pu Guanshui didn't think he should pour cold water now. At least through the Battle of Anqing, the relationship between Chai Qingguo and Pu Guanshui had significantly improved. Pu Guanshui originally didn't plan to have conflicts with Chai Qingguo. It wasn't easy to stop being looked at with white eyes by Chai Qingguo; Pu Guanshui felt there was no need to speak his mind now.

Hua Xiongmao arrived relatively late. As soon as he entered the door, he heard Chai Qingguo bragging here. He laughed: "Brigade Commander Chai, listening to your meaning, are you saying the operational plan was not formulated well?"

This was not Hua Xiongmao agreeing with Chai Qingguo. In the siege of Anqing, Chai Qingguo and Pu Guanshui in the west of the city led one side alone. Hua Xiongmao and Zhang Yu fought under Chen Ke's direct command. And the performance of the West City Detachment could be said to be quite eye-catching. Not only did they subdue the Cavalry and Artillery Camp, but they also climbed onto the city wall with minimal cost, completely breaking the enemy's defense system. In this regard, Chai Qingguo's war merit could be considered number one. Although at the temporary combat summary meeting held on the way back, everyone agreed that this victory was built on the comprehensive superiority of the Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army from training to preparation, when Hua Xiongmao asked himself, he had to admit that he was a bit jealous of Chai Qingguo's war merit. Hearing Chai Qingguo bragging, he couldn't help pouring a little cold water.

Contrary to Hua Xiongmao's expectations, Chai Qingguo did not deny it arrogantly. He didn't boast reservedly at all, but said convincingly: "Chairman Chen formulated the operational plan really well. When I fought in Hebei and Shandong back then, encountering the Beiyang Army and foreign devils, everyone just buried their heads and charged; where was there any plan? As a result, every time fighting started, I felt I was wrong. I never encountered such a thing as in Anqing where the more we fought, the smoother it went. I, Old Chai, am convinced by Chairman Chen."

When Chai Qingguo said this, Hua Xiongmao didn't know what to say; saying more would be superfluous. He could only laugh loudly. "You, Old Chai, are indeed better at fighting than us; after all, you were a person who led thousands of brothers a few years ago. Under the leadership of our Chairman Chen, Old Chai, you will definitely become a famous general of the current age."

"I don't care about being a famous general or not. As long as I can destroy the Beiyang Army in the future and beat all foreign devils out of China. Avenging the brothers of those years, I, Old Chai, will be satisfied."

"There will definitely be this day. Old Chai, rest assured." Hua Xiongmao said.

While speaking, Chen Ke had already entered the conference hall. The comrades of the People's Party Central Committee immediately terminated their conversation. Those originally sitting all stood up, and those originally standing immediately stood straight facing Chen Ke. The military officers saluted Chen Ke seriously in unison.

The Battle of Anqing could be said to be a battle promoted by Chen Ke single-handedly. Before fighting, the comrades of the troops in the Central Committee only knew that this battle would be very difficult, but exactly how difficult it could be was only realized from paper when the Military Commission led the Staff Department to formulate the operational plan. Quite a few comrades in the troops were uneasy when setting out. Most cadres and soldiers had never experienced a battle with such a long march and such complex combat deployment and unfolding in their lives. Many people still felt as if they had a dream today, returning to the base area after the Anqing campaign won a comprehensive victory. Did I really travel a thousand li? Marched with sails and oars in the Yangtze River where I had never been? Fought bloody battles in a big city called Anqing by the Yangtze River, and won a great victory? Although it was only an experience more than ten days ago, many people could only clearly remember various difficult details in specific actions, but the feeling of this battle itself was a very vague concept.

But the spoils transported back were real. More than three thousand rifles, one hundred thousand jin of gunpowder, hundreds of thousands of bullets and more than a hundred thousand shell casings—these were all real. Those mechanical equipment, various metal objects, as well as hundreds of thousands of taels of gold and silver and millions of silver dollars—these were also real. The comrades participating in the battle worked incredibly hard along the way to transport these materials. And the comrades staying behind in the base area were equally dumbfounded when receiving this batch of materials. The warehouse, which always kept no overnight materials, was now piled full.

The root of all this was that the comrades followed the Chairman Chen Ke in front of them to engage in revolution, so everyone could experience such an incredible experience. Seeing this Chen Ke who created mythical achievements, everyone couldn't help feeling deep respect.

"Happy New Year, everyone." Chen Ke didn't mind the attitude of his subordinates. He walked to the chairman's position, first cupped his hands, "Happy New Year, everyone. I pay a New Year call to everyone."

"Happy New Year, Chairman Chen." The comrades immediately said all at once.

"Sit, sit, hurry up and have the meeting. There are as many things behind as hairs on a cow; we have to hurry up." Chen Ke sat down while speaking. The comrades of the People's Party Central Committee originally wanted to say more New Year greetings, but hearing Chen Ke say this, they hurried to their seats and sat down. There was a rumbling sound of tables and chairs in the conference hall.

Chen Ke's opening remarks were very urgent. "The plan for a year lies in spring. Although everyone has just finished fighting and is very tired and hard-working. But I can't let everyone rest; we have to hurry up and work. Before attacking Anqing, I said that if we don't attack Anqing now, we are dead for sure. Having attacked Anqing, we have a year of strategic initiative time. Comrades, if we don't do well this year, everyone will fall into a very dangerous situation. At that time, the Manchu Qing will besiege us on all sides, and we ourselves will lack clothes and grain; life will be unspeakably bitter. So everyone must work hard to survive this year first."

If it were before, someone would always ask questions about Chen Ke's words. But after Chen Ke finished speaking this time, the conference hall was silent; all participating comrades listened with rapt attention. Since the comrades followed Chen Ke, Chen Ke's predictions were all fulfilled, and all planned actions succeeded. Especially the success of the Battle of Anqing gave everyone an indescribable sense of trust in Chen Ke. Everyone knew that they simply couldn't formulate such a huge plan themselves; without Chen Ke, they couldn't even imagine such a plan.

The People's Party didn't like to engage in secret plans. As long as they were comrades of a certain level—more specifically, the Central Committee comrades who could sit in this conference hall today—they could contact the full content of the plan. This plan was formulated and perfected by these comrades painstakingly personally after Chen Ke filed the case. So they knew even better that without Chen Ke, relying solely on these people in the conference hall, they absolutely couldn't do it. That was not only a gap in ability, but also a gap in strategic view and spirit. Because they knew these clearly, the comrades were truly sincerely convinced.

regarding such changes, Chen Ke didn't know whether he should be happy or unhappy. He always thought the People's Party still lacked sufficient cohesion. The cohesion of a revolutionary party should be produced by loyalty to revolutionary concepts. That is, the "Communist's broad mind" that appeared countless times in novels, TV dramas, and movies of later generations. When Chen Ke watched these film and literary works back then, every time he encountered such "heroic words," he inevitably felt some goosebumps. After he personally embarked on the road of revolution, Chen Ke suddenly discovered that his request for comrades was actually just for them to become a true party member and possess the "Communist's broad mind."

The two major foundations of the socialist and communist systems are science and democracy. Despite being very tired of "revolutionary heroic words," Chen Ke finally chose Marx and Grandpa Mao as the objects of his pursuit in political and philosophical views. Wasn't it because in the existing ideological system, what these two pointed out was the most correct?

Chen Ke's parents had a friend who did business, and the business was huge. Whenever encountering setbacks in business and feeling at the end of their rope, the couple would secretly sing *The Internationale* at home. "There has never been a savior, nor do we believe in gods or emperors. To create the future of the people, we can only rely on ourselves." If they couldn't drum up courage after singing once, they would sing again. Until they could cheer up. After singing the vigorous and self-improving *The Internationale*, the couple would read Grandpa Mao's *On Contradiction* and *On Methodology* aloud again, and begin to look for principal contradictions and secondary contradictions calmly. They started from a small ordinary shop, and later sat on billions of assets. When talking about the secret of their wealth, the evaluation was "We just learned the thoughts of Marx and Grandpa Mao."

Even a businessman with only a high school education knew to get rich by following the concepts of scientific socialism. If these revolutionary party comrades in front of him were just confused by superficial success and fell into the wrong path of blind faith or unwarranted worship, then Chen Ke couldn't help but be disappointed.

But if one must say, that senior businessman also experienced countless difficulties and hardships, countless reflections and struggles, to have the achievements later. Compared with him, these young party members of the People's Party in front of him were still too tender and experienced too little. Mencius said: "Thus, when Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies." Up to now, these comrades hadn't even experienced the feeling of despair. Expecting them to really possess the "Communist's broad mind" now was absolutely unscientific. This was against Marx and Grandpa Mao's thoughts.

Chen Ke swallowed the words about ideological education he originally wanted to say back into his stomach and continued to arrange work. First was the summary meeting. The Battle of Anqing ended victoriously, and the military summary meeting was held on the way back from Anqing to the base area. More detailed summary work was expected to end in a month. The comrades of the Military Commission expressed agreement without objection.

Next was the commendation meeting. Now that even Anqing had been fought, pretending to be "good citizens" was meaningless. In this commendation rally, the emerging combat heroes would be draped in red and colorful sashes, leading parades in the base area. Tell the common people of Fengtai County that we can not only attack Anqing but also win. But Chen Ke himself didn't like holding celebrations very much; he hoped comrades could volunteer to do this job well. The vast majority of the People's Party were young people. Hearing about holding this commendation rally, the mood of worshiping Chen Ke was immediately replaced by the expectation of being in the spotlight. After all, the meeting habit in the People's Party was democratic speech. The comrades gradually returned to their usual habits and began to propose many ideas.

After listening enough to the various irresponsible ideas proposed by the beaming young comrades, Chen Ke simply made the final decision forcibly, entrusting this work to Shang Yuan. Comrades could discuss with Shang Yuan after the meeting if they had suggestions. Since Chen Ke made the decision, the comrades didn't argue anymore.

Seeing everyone agreed to this idea, Chen Ke continued: "These celebration activities can be discussed slowly, but there is one thing we cannot delay. We must hold a memorial service for the comrades who died in battle. The memorial service must be planned immediately and held before the celebration. In the campaign to attack Anqing, one hundred and twenty-two cadres and soldiers sacrificed in Anqing City. Among the more than two hundred injured cadres and soldiers, another fifteen people died due to serious injuries up to now. To mourn these one hundred and thirty-seven sacrificed comrades, a memorial service must be held."

Mentioning this issue, the originally beaming comrades looked much dimmer. When the troops attacked Anqing City, 3,000 troops were invested, and the casualties exceeded one-tenth. Because the battle presented a one-sided mode, everyone's blood boiled during the battle. After the comrades around fell, it only aroused the emotion of sharing hatred of the enemy among cadres and soldiers, and stimulated the will to fight. At the post-war summary meeting, everyone really felt a kind of fear after seeing the numbers. One out of every nine people was injured, and one out of every twenty-one people sacrificed their lives. Moreover, the assault team bore the greatest casualties; the proportion of party members and activists for joining the party in the assault team was extremely high. It almost reached sixty percent. The number of formal party members and formal probationary party members of the People's Party was less than a thousand now. That is to say, nearly one-tenth of the formal and probationary party members of the People's Party sacrificed in this battle.

The People's Party was small in scale now, and party members almost all knew each other. This proportion of sacrifice made everyone feel very uncomfortable in their hearts.

Lu Huitian managed civil affairs; he spoke first: "We must give generous compensation. We can't let the families of these martyrs feel we are not meaningful enough."

Quite a few people expressed agreement directly. Some even began to propose how to compensate and what the amount of compensation should be. Quite a few people also looked up at Chen Ke, hoping to judge what the amount of compensation should be from Chen Ke's expression. A large sum of money was transported back from Anqing this time; Anqing had a Coinage Bureau, and millions of silver dollars alone were transported back. Everyone could afford this bit of compensation money.

But what everyone saw from Chen Ke's expression was a coldness only present when denying. This made quite a few comrades even suspect if they saw it wrong. For a time, the discussion actually stopped slowly. The comrades all looked at Chen Ke, waiting for him to speak.

"We revolutionize to establish a new system. The basis of this new system is developing productive forces and making everyone's life better. If a life can be bought with a few coins, then are the lives of these sacrificed comrades only worth this much money? Did the parents of the sacrificed comrades work hard to raise their children just to let them receive this bit of compensation after losing their lives? Moreover, we cannot but admit one thing: money is useful. Some people can take risks for a little money. Just to sell their lives for this bit of money. If our team is filled with such a group of desperadoes, do you think it is appropriate?"

Some comrades thought Chen Ke's words were quite reasonable, while some thought that with the joining of desperadoes, the army might not lack combat effectiveness. Moreover, if compensation could solve the problem, things would be much easier. Instead, the comrades of the political work system were responsible for ideological work; they supported Chen Ke's words quite a bit. He Zudao spoke first: "I support Chairman Chen's attitude. The sacrificed comrades were for establishing a new society, a new world where everyone doesn't starve or freeze. If compensation is just treated as buying lives, that would be underestimating these comrades too much."

Xiong Mingyang performed extremely well in this battle. He led the assault team to climb the city and fight, and defeated the enemy's troop concentration in the west of the city. He killed and captured many enemies. The assault team of more than twenty people originally had only twelve people left in the end, and these twelve people were almost all wounded. The casualty ratio was second to none in the entire army. Even Xiong Mingyang's arm was hit by a stray bullet; now the arm was still bandaged with gauze and hung in a sling on his chest.

"Correct. Our People's Party members and troop officers and soldiers all believe that following our People's Party has hope, so they went to fight. If they were just plotting to sell their lives for money, how good it would be to stay safely in the base area. Why go to fight, why bleed and sacrifice? I don't agree with compensating sacrificed comrades by buying lives."

Hearing this, everyone's eyes turned back to Chen Ke's face.