"Whether a regime has a place in the hearts of the people, the most direct standard is whether the people believe that this regime can exist for a long time. This compensation must absolutely not be turned into a short-term life-buying type of compensation. Systematic compensation must be formulated. Otherwise, we will let down these comrades who sacrificed for the revolution." Chen Ke's words were categorical. The cadres of the political work system listened with solemn faces; quite a few people couldn't help nodding slightly.

Lu Huitian managed civil affairs; he asked first: "Chairman Chen, what is the principle of this systematic compensation?" Comrades engaged in civil affairs and construction work agreed with this question very much. Everyone's eyes fell on Lu Huitian first, and then turned to Chen Ke. It was no longer a secret in the People's Party Central Committee that Shang Yuan, who was originally in charge of government work, was going to work in Hebei. Since the top leader of administrative work was leaving, someone must be promoted to this position. Lu Huitian and Yuwen Badu were both in charge of civil affairs work, but everyone knew clearly that Yuwen Badu could sit in a position of this level more because he was a native of Fengtai County; he was allowed to take this position to make the common people of Fengtai County feel close to the People's Party.

Whether in terms of seniority, prestige, or ability, Yuwen Badu was far inferior to Lu Huitian. Everyone believed that once Shang Yuan left the base area, Lu Huitian would inevitably become the new government leader. Especially in this Battle of Anqing, Chen Ke, Shang Yuan, and others left the base area; the comrades remaining in the base area were basically engaged in civil affairs and construction work, and everyone subconsciously followed Lu Huitian.

"I think the amount of compensation need not be too high. If the martyr is unmarried, the compensation will be issued to his parents. If married, the compensation will be issued to the martyr's wife. If there are no parents or wife, only children, the compensation will be issued to the martyr's children. Moreover, compensation should not be issued in silver or silver dollars. We are about to open a bank; compensation will be issued in Renminbi [RMB]. We will discuss the specific amount specially after the meeting. The key now is to reflect systematic compensation in the spring plowing that is about to start immediately. First, the troops must help the families of local martyrs cultivate land to make up for the losses of the martyrs' families. Second, we will soon establish some new government departments and open some factories. When recruiting new personnel, under the same conditions, priority should be given to recruiting martyrs' families. However, besides this, martyrs' families cannot have any political privileges. Since what we want to establish is a new system where everyone is equal and there are no people who gain without labor, there shouldn't be anyone possessing political privileges different from others."

The comrades felt there was no problem after hearing the method proposed by Chen Ke. Some comrades had already started asking Chen Ke for more detailed execution methods. Like other comrades, Lu Huitian agreed very much with the solution proposed by Chen Ke. But he couldn't help feeling a little lost in his heart. This time Chen Ke commanded the Battle of Anqing personally, and two of the seven Standing Committee members went. The civil affairs work of the base area was handed over to Lu Huitian and Yuwen Badu. In the eyes of others, it was only a matter of time before Lu Huitian took over Shang Yuan's position. But Lu Huitian didn't think so, because Chen Ke handed over the party affairs work to Qi Huishen. Qi Huishen had been responsible for work in Shanghai for the past year and had no influence in the Fengtai County Base Area; most new comrades in the base area hadn't even heard of Qi Huishen's name. But Lu Huitian knew very well that among the more senior comrades, Qi Huishen still had high prestige. What's more, Chen Ke assigned Qi Huishen to be responsible for party affairs, and the status of party affairs work was higher than government work. That is to say, if Chen Ke met with an accident in Anqing, Qi Huishen would take over the power of the People's Party.

Honestly speaking, Lu Huitian absolutely did not hope for any mishaps to happen to Chen Ke. But he couldn't fully accept the fact that Qi Huishen's status still overrode him no matter what. If Chen Ke hoped Qi Huishen would take over the position left after Shang Yuan left, Lu Huitian absolutely couldn't stop it either.

Because he had something on his mind, Lu Huitian didn't listen much to everyone's discussion. When his attention finally concentrated, he heard He Zudao ask: "Comrade Wu Liuyi only has a widowed mother at home; what to do in this situation?"

Chen Ke didn't even think and answered immediately: "Then recruit Comrade Wu Liuyi's mother into our government unit and arrange a job Mother Wu can bear. For Mother Wu, we will support her in life and bury her in death."

Fewer and fewer comrades asked questions. Lu Huitian gritted his teeth secretly, plucked up his courage, and raised a question: "Chairman Chen, now that the base area has expanded to this extent, should we consider moving the capital of the base area to another place?"

Originally, some comrades of the Central Committee were asking Chen Ke questions, and some were discussing in low voices. Hearing Lu Huitian's words, everyone fell silent. Quite a few people looked at Lu Huitian with surprised eyes. Lu Huitian knew he had become the focus; suppressing the excitement and a little unease in his heart, he looked at Chen Ke intently.

This was the first time Lu Huitian proposed a suggestion after his own careful consideration. In the past, it wasn't that no comrades took the initiative to raise questions about strategy, but at that time everyone had no practical work experience, plus encountering an unprecedented flood, the views proposed by everyone were quite unreliable. Chen Ke could easily refute these views every time, and then execute his opinions unwaveringly. These things accumulated one by one, achieving Chen Ke's status today. Even for a plan as unreliable looking beforehand as the thousand-li raid to attack Anqing, comrades dared not oppose when Chen Ke proposed it.

Of course, the victory of the Battle of Anqing took Chen Ke's prestige to a higher level. The little bit of opposition in comrades' hearts originally had now turned into a mentality of supporting Chen Ke even more.

Lu Huitian, a student by origin, had the same attitude towards these things as everyone else, from trusting Chen Ke to trusting him more. But after working in government affairs for so long, Lu Huitian suddenly realized one thing. In government work, at least within the People's Party, there are only two ways to gain status. The first is to become a firm diehard of Chen Ke like He Zudao. In this regard, Lu Huitian felt he couldn't compare to He Zudao. It wasn't that He Zudao had any special ability to flatter, but Lu Huitian knew he could absolutely not accept the things proposed by Chen Ke completely like He Zudao.

For example, Chen Ke repeatedly mentioned "Serve the People." Lu Huitian didn't oppose this concept either. But what Lu Huitian accepted was the concept of "Serve the People" interpreted by Chen Ke from an administrative perspective: "Only by mastering the power to serve the people and making the people unable to leave the services provided by our People's Party can we master the hearts of the people and political power."

And He Zudao executed the concept of "Serve the People" from another angle, that is, from the angle of politics and party spirit. He always had extreme patience to understand the people, understand the ordinary soldiers in the army, and really could look at problems from the perspective of the ordinary grassroots, and then solve problems. Lu Huitian admitted he absolutely couldn't do this point.

For Lu Huitian, what he had to maintain first was the smooth operation of government departments, so that the government-led work in the base area could be executed smoothly. From this perspective, what Lu Huitian had to do was to order, to dominate. So Lu Huitian didn't think he could gain status by becoming Chen Ke's diehard like He Zudao.

If he couldn't be like He Zudao, then the only way to gain status was to become a representative figure leading a certain policy. That is to say, Lu Huitian must become a figure representing the ideas of some comrades in the Party. And the migration of the People's Party's capital was the policy most likely to change greatly at this stage.

After seizing Fengyang Prefecture, the main work of the People's Party that followed was to conduct the Anqing campaign. Now that the Anqing campaign ended smoothly, and after the ruling center of the Manchu Qing in Anhui was uprooted, it was very necessary for the administrative center of the People's Party to move to a new area. During the days when Chen Ke led the troops away from the base area, the party cadres staying in the base area discussed this a lot in private. The comrades staying behind had a general "consensus" on this: Fengtai County was not suitable to be the capital of the new base area. The general view was that Fengyang Prefecture was the suitable new capital. Even if not moving to Fengyang Prefecture, at least the capital should be moved to Shouzhou City. On this matter, a large part of the comrades hoped to enter the city rather than stay in the countryside. Of course, this reason was also very sufficient. If Fengyang Prefecture was too far, Shouzhou City was close at hand to the Fengtai County Base Area. Fengtai County was originally a territory carved out from Shouzhou; setting the capital in Shouzhou was far more appealing than in Fengtai County.

From Chen Ke's expression, it could be seen that Lu Huitian's suggestion was greatly beyond Chen Ke's expectations. And the uncontrollable joy on the faces of many comrades also let Lu Huitian know that his suggestion indeed had many supporters.

Chen Ke frowned slightly, elbows on the table, ten fingers slowly crossed together, supporting his chin with two thumbs. Watching Chen Ke's appearance, the comrades all thought Chen Ke would fall into deep thought. Unexpectedly, Chen Ke just breathed heavily twice and returned to his upright sitting posture. "No. We don't have the capital to enter the city yet. Rural areas encircling the cities; build the new countryside well first before talking about entering the city."

These words heavily struck the enthusiasm of many comrades; it was obvious that a look of disappointment slid across many people's faces. Chen Ke didn't want to say more critical words either. Young people all want to enter the city. If Chen Ke were not a transmigrator, in his eyes, the cities of 1907, regardless of scale, were really crude and vulgar; Chen Ke himself might want to enter the city even more.

"Next task, we need to establish a new economic system led by banks. All comrades must receive theoretical knowledge training tentatively scheduled for two days. What is small peasant economy, what is the idea of industrialized capital operation. This training is very important. All comrades in the Party, government, and military departments must receive training. No leave is allowed for any excuse. So everyone hurry up and arrange your work; training starts officially the morning after tomorrow."

The effect of Chen Ke's words was not too great; quite a few comrades were still immersed in the disappointment of not being able to enter the city. The reaction to the important training was not strong. Seeing that the basic work was over, Chen Ke announced the meeting adjourned.

Under the overtime work of the engineering troops, plus the use of bricks and cement, a simple Martyrs' Cemetery was finally built before the memorial service began. In the small square in front of the Martyrs' Cemetery, the memorial service was held on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. The memorial service was solemn and simple. All leaders of the Party, government, and military, the families of sacrificed officers and soldiers in Fengtai County, and all troop officers and soldiers in the Fengtai County Base Area attended the memorial service. Besides these people, there were also the remains of the martyrs at the venue.

After the Battle of Anqing, there was a small internal debate in the frontline Military Commission regarding the issue of martyrs' remains. In previous battles attacking forts, because the overall scale was small and the number of sacrificed soldiers was very limited, the soldiers' remains were transported back to the base area. The remains of soldiers in the Battle of Anqing couldn't be counted as particularly many, but because the distance from the base area was far, and the fleet was already stuffed with captured materials, it was simply impossible to transport more soldiers' remains. The land transport troops also had a huge transport volume, making it very difficult to carry soldiers' remains. Should they cremate the soldiers' remains and transport them back, or simply bury them near Anqing temporarily? Although everyone wanted to transport comrades-in-arms home and let parents take one last look. But facing practical difficulties, the Military Commission had to consider more effective operational methods. Finally, for those whose homes were not in the base area and whose parents could not rush over in time, the soldiers' remains were cremated on the spot, and the ashes were transported back to the base area for burial. And the remains of more than forty soldiers whose homes were in the base area were treated with lime for preservation and sterilization, and the troops transported them home. For this, the troops paid great hard work.

When Chen Ke delivered his speech, he faced rows of martyrs' remains and rows of soldiers holding ash boxes. Seeing this dense existence, Chen Ke truly felt a sense of heaviness. In the 21st century, Chen Ke always had a sense of resistance to this kind of officialese [bureaucratic jargon]. But when he stood in front of the stage himself and delivered such a speech to the broad officers and soldiers and the families of martyrs, this heaviness facing the sacrificed soldiers had completely overwhelmed the feeling of resistance and ridicule towards those officialese in Chen Ke's heart. Chen Ke no longer felt these clichés were ridiculous. He suddenly found he wanted to say something; he felt he had something to say.

If not for Chen Ke's appearance, these people would not have ended their young lives in such a way. Perhaps these people did not fully understand what the future described by Chen Ke looked like, but these martyrs indeed sacrificed their lives because they firmly believed that following the People's Party led by Chen Ke could lead to a better life. So they sacrificed their lives. And their sacrifice bought the victory of the Battle of Anqing. Bought the strategic initiative of the People's Party for the next year or even longer.

If they hadn't met Chen Ke, hadn't met the People's Party, these officers and soldiers might have disappeared silently in the flood, disappeared silently in the long river of history. No one would remember them, nor would so many people come to mourn them. But such thoughts couldn't give Chen Ke any sense of relief. If he just treated these martyrs in front of him as tools that could be discarded after use? The former Chen Ke might have been able to think so, but the current him could no longer accept such a practice.

Straightening his military cap, Chen Ke began his speech: "Today, we hold this memorial service with a heavy heart. To commemorate the one hundred and thirty-seven cadres and soldiers who sacrificed in the Battle of Anqing..."

The draft of the memorial service was written by Chen Ke personally. He highly praised that the sacrificed officers and soldiers firmly believed during their lifetime that the revolution would definitely be able to create an equal and happy New China. The martyrs fought bravely for this goal in the Battle of Anqing and dedicated everything to the revolutionary cause. These martyrs lived gloriously and died greatly. Chen Ke called on the whole Party and the whole army to inherit the martyrs' legacy and carry the revolutionary cause through to the end.

These time-honored official articles have been tempered thousands of times; whether political correctness or the exposition of facts, they are precisely the most correct. The eulogy that once made Chen Ke shudder did not make Chen Ke feel uncomfortable at all now. Not only that, Chen Ke felt this eulogy appropriately said what should be said.

When writing this eulogy, Chen Ke felt very embarrassed, but now he no longer felt that way. Delivering the eulogy was Chen Ke's obligation. Chen Ke felt this was not only his responsibility but also his obligation. He had the obligation to pay tribute to these martyrs, the obligation to convey the thoughts and spirit of these martyrs to the whole army and the families of the martyrs; he had this obligation.

The officers, soldiers, and military martyrs' families below listened quietly. Everyone didn't feel Chen Ke's eulogy was hypocritical. Because there was not a single sentence in the entire eulogy about martyrs sacrificing out of loyalty to Chen Ke or the People's Party. Chen Ke told everyone that the martyrs fought bravely regardless of life and death because they believed in the people's revolutionary program of the People's Party, believed that a good life could be lived through revolution, and believed that this good life could continue.

These words resonated greatly with the officers and soldiers. Everyone was loyal to Chen Ke and the People's Party willingly. And the initial reason for this loyalty was that the People's Party indeed saved everyone, and led everyone through the disaster year that could not have been passed originally. Even providing housing and land in the disaster year. In this world of natural and man-made disasters, when is it not death? So everyone was willing to believe that the new world described by Chen Ke and the political commissars existed. At least they felt it was necessary to follow Chen Ke and the People's Party to try before dying silently in this desperate world. Follow behind Chen Ke and the party members and political commissars to see if there is that new world at the end of the struggle. Then, everyone won.

When Chen Ke announced the content of compensation—although the compensation money was not high, the families of the martyrs could receive benefits including the army helping to plow land, and families could be recruited into the base area for work limitedly—the soldiers even felt very gratified in their hearts. Being a soldier in a disaster year was for the family to live better. Knowing that if they died in battle, their families could enjoy the treatment of being supported in life and buried in death, the soldiers truly felt very satisfied.

The eulogy was not long. After Chen Ke finished speaking, the next step was firing guns to pay tribute. Twenty-one soldiers fired three shots into the air to express respect to their comrades-in-arms.

The next step was to cremate the remains. Wood was scarce after the flood. Because of worrying that putting the remains of these martyrs directly into tombs made of cement and masonry might cause a plague, it took a lot of effort to persuade the martyrs' families to cremate the remains beforehand. But when the health team wearing masks carried the remains wrapped in white cloth to the cremation coal pile, the families immediately cried and shouted to see the remains one last time. The guard troops held the families back. When the remains were sent onto the coal pile and burned, the crying shook the sky even more.

Some soldiers couldn't bear it; they went up to help persuade the families of martyrs they knew well. But when the martyrs' families turned around and questioned the soldiers head-on why it was their family members who died and not others, the soldiers' faces couldn't help changing. The soldiers could understand this mood of the martyrs' families, but this approach was unbearable for many people. The soldiers had to retreat sheepishly. Fortunately, the political commissars saw the situation was wrong and quickly took the families of several households who were too emotional down. Only then could the memorial service continue.

A simple monument stood at the gate of the Martyrs' Cemetery. It was also a brick-stone-cement structure. A piece of marble was embedded in the front, with the big characters "People's Heroes are Immortal" written and carved by the captured person Shen Zengzhi, who was proficient in Bronze and Stone inscription. The names and birth and death dates of the martyrs were carved on the marble on the back. No one felt good at the memorial service, especially when families made such a fuss at the scene. Chen Ke was even considering whether his arrangement was wrong. The troops and families should have been separated. But things having reached this point, even if improvements were needed, it could only be discussed next time.

Buried this time were not only the one hundred and thirty-seven officers and soldiers who sacrificed in the Battle of Anqing; the ashes of officers and soldiers who died in battle before were also moved here. Amidst a gloomy and depressed atmosphere, the memorial service finally ended.

On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the theoretical class within the People's Party officially began.