Qiu Jin banged on the table and cried in Chen Ke's office, but in the end, she was forcibly sent to the base area. This news quickly spread throughout the Central Committee of the People's Party. The middle and high-ranking cadres of the People's Party knew the relationship between Chen Ke, Hua Xiongmao, and Qiu Jin. Seeing two senior cadres stand so firm in their position, the comrades felt reassured. However, seeing these two senior cadres being so impersonal, the comrades also felt a bit uncomfortable. In everyone's view, even just for the sake of Qiu Jin's relationship with the two, they should at least symbolically support her with a few dozen people. If it was just this amount of support, as long as Chen Ke gave the word, the comrades in the Party could accept it. But when Qiu Jin left, apart from the two soldiers escorting her, she couldn't take away a single soldier.

Not long after Qiu Jin left, the People's Party's intelligence network began to send back more news. These were messages from ten days ago or even earlier. After the Manchu Qing lost Anqing and Chizhou, the revolutionary situation seemed to have been temporarily eased by the Spring Festival. But after the Spring Festival, large-scale chaos suddenly erupted in Jiangnan. The Restoration Society launched a new uprising in Shaoxing, and spontaneous food riots by disaster victims broke out in Nanjing and Wuhu. Meanwhile, the various New Army units underwent different degrees of purges, aimed at thoroughly eliminating the revolutionaries who had infiltrated the New Army.

At this time, members of the several small teams sent out a few months ago began to return to the base area. Japanese people do not celebrate the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year), and the Party members who had volunteered to return to Japan to gather local revolutionary youths returned to the base area in three groups. Chen Ke never expected that the five Party members, including Kuroshima Jin, who went to Japan, would actually bring back over five hundred Japanese revolutionary youths.

When Kuroshima Jin saw Chen Ke, he was about to subconsciously bow respectfully, but saw Chen Ke already extending his hand. Kuroshima Jin then realized that after returning to Japan for several months, he had reverted to the Japanese habit of bowing. He hurriedly straightened his back, took a step forward, and shook hands tightly with Chen Ke. Kuroshima Jin said excitedly, "Chairman Chen, we are back."

"Comrade Kuroshima, you've worked hard." Chen Ke looked at the dark mass of Japanese people behind Kuroshima Jin, feeling a bit off in his heart no matter what. Although Chen Ke knew it was 1907 and not 1937, the arrival of the first batch of over two hundred Japanese youths in the base area gave Chen Ke a feeling of a Japanese invasion of China.

Kuroshima Jin was not clear about the thoughts in Chen Ke's mind. He pointed to several Japanese youths in the front row, "Secretary Chen, let me introduce them. These are descendants of the Sekihōtai."

Kuroshima Jin's words surprised Chen Ke slightly. "Sekihōtai? Could they be the descendants of Sagara Sōzō?"

"That's not it. I couldn't contact Mr. Sagara Sōzō's descendants. At that time, I heard you talk about the Sekihōtai, so after returning to my country, I began to inquire about this matter. I really didn't expect your understanding of Japan to be deeper than mine. These are the descendants of the Sekihōtai."

The Sekihōtai in the war to overthrow the Shogunate propagated "rent and interest reduction," which was far from the level of "People's Revolution." As a result, after the Shogunate fell, the Sekihōtai was exterminated by the Meiji Restoration government. When Chen Ke was in Shanghai, he had talked about this with Japanese comrades in the Party, but he never expected to see the descendants of this Sekihōtai with his own eyes. He stepped forward and shook hands with these revolutionary youths one by one.

Chen Ke's Japanese was learned during his university days to play Japanese games, watch original Japanese anime, and listen to Japanese songs. Asking him to translate Japanese technical materials would definitely be insufficient, but he was barely competent in daily conversation. The only problem was that Chen Ke didn't understand the layers of "honorifics" in Japanese at all, so when Chen Ke spoke Chinese-style Japanese with a Kanto accent and no honorifics, the expressions of those Japanese youths became a bit strange.

Seeing the expressions of the comrades, Kuroshima Jin immediately darkened his face and said loudly in Japanese, "You are very rude like this. His Excellency Chairman Chen is not familiar with Japanese; do not be so unruly."

Hearing Kuroshima Jin's rebuke, those Japanese youths immediately stood straight and said respectfully, "Hai!"

"Alright, Kuroshima-kun. Everyone is a revolutionary comrade. My Japanese level is not very good; everyone will get used to it slowly." Chen Ke hurriedly stopped Kuroshima's scolding.

Facing Chen Ke's criticism, the feelings of being accustomed and unaccustomed collided violently in Kuroshima Jin's heart at this moment. This was the attitude he had become accustomed to over the past year. People's Party members were used to finding problems in themselves first. But as a Japanese, a superior would never admit to subordinates that he was wrong, let alone admit that he caused inconvenience to subordinates. Kuroshima Jin's loyalty to the revolution largely stemmed from this atmosphere of the People's Party. Kuroshima Jin wanted to apologize to Chen Ke, but Chen Ke asked Kuroshima Jin first. "Comrade Kuroshima, regarding our People's Party's program that labor is the most glorious, have you explained it clearly to these comrades?"

"I have already explained it clearly," Kuroshima Jin replied immediately.

"Then after arranging their accommodation and eating, can these comrades go to the livestock farm to start work tomorrow?" Chen Ke asked further.

Kuroshima Jin didn't expect Chen Ke to be so anxious to arrange work for the Japanese comrades. After hesitating for a moment, Kuroshima Jin replied, "No problem. I have already told the comrades about these things."

Chen Ke did not want to make things difficult for Kuroshima Jin and these Japanese comrades. From his observation, the demeanor and behavior of these Japanese youths did not look like Japanese farmers. If Kuroshima Jin had the ability to incite hundreds of farmers, then Kuroshima Jin could well have started a revolution in Japan. These people were very young and judged to be of the petty-bourgeois type. To have the courage to cross the ocean to come to China to participate in the revolution, they were either determined revolutionaries or having an outburst of petty-bourgeois impulsiveness. Regardless of the background of this group, the best way to identify revolutionaries was to let them start from the most basic work. As long as they could persist in long-term and serious work, any kind of petty bourgeoisie could be transformed into qualified laborers.

Seeing Kuroshima Jin indicate there was no problem, Chen Ke then turned to the Japanese youths, only to see them looking at him with an expression Chen Ke couldn't read. Chen Ke had never been to Japan and didn't know what Japanese people looked like in daily life. He wasn't in the mood to figure this out either. With the base area so busy now, how could he have time to worry about this idle matter? Chen Ke shouted to the Japanese youths, "Welcome everyone to the base area to join the Chinese revolution. Our revolution is first of all about working diligently and steadily. Spring is here; if we don't hurry to work now, everyone will go hungry. I hope everyone can realize their revolutionary ideals through serious work in the base area. Now, everyone go rest and eat first."

The Japanese youths never expected Chen Ke to use such plain words as a welcome speech. Although they had various thoughts in their hearts, no one objected. They had traveled a long way to reach the base area; rest and food were what these youths needed most now.

The standard military barracks built of red bricks in the base area surprised the Japanese youths greatly. Seeing the standard eight-person dormitories with glass windows moved these Japanese youths even more. In 1907, although Japan had won the First Sino-Japanese War, the standard of living was far from surpassing China. The living conditions of the Japanese people were still very poor. Most common people lived in traditional wooden houses. Living in a multi-story building, and a brick one at that, was a very luxurious living condition in Japan.

In the meal provided by the base area afterward, there was sweet potato rice mixed with some rice. In addition, everyone was actually allocated two duck eggs. This made the Japanese youths feel that their life was approaching or even exceeding the average standard of living of Japanese landlords. When five large basins of oily cabbage stewed with duck meat were brought to the table, the Japanese youths looked at Kuroshima Jin and didn't even dare to move their chopsticks.

"What are you staring at? Start distributing," Kuroshima Jin shouted. Looks of joy appeared on the faces of the Japanese youths, but they still dared not move. No Japanese youth would resist eating meat. But these people strongly suspected what kind of lies Kuroshima Jin had told them. Living in red brick houses, having duck eggs and meat to eat every day. How was this a revolutionary base area suffering hardship? This was simply the happy life of a great Japanese landlord.

Kuroshima Jin looked at the Japanese youths who dared not move their chopsticks. He remembered that Japan had a system of individual servings. Although the duck was chopped into chunks, it was hard to compare which piece was bigger. Someone needed to distribute the food. These people all came with him; in their view, Kuroshima Jin should preside over the distribution work.

According to the method learned from the People's Party, Kuroshima Jin shouted loudly, "Everyone, don't just stare. Hurry up and elect representatives to distribute the food and divide the dishes evenly. By the way, the representatives distributing the food must be the last to receive their meal."

After the first half of the sentence, many among the Japanese youths were eager to try, but after hearing the second half, many froze on the spot. However, smelling the fragrant scent of cabbage stewed with duck meat, appetite conquered reason. The youths either recommended themselves or recommended others, and soon five people were selected to start distributing the food.

As soon as the dishes were distributed, the youths immediately started to fetch rice. Some checked which bowl suited their appetite, while others just took a bowl and left, sitting back in their seats to wolf down the food. After finishing the rice, sweet potato porridge was served. Everyone served the porridge in the bowls that had held the meat dish and slurped it down.

After the meal, Kuroshima Jin held a temporary meeting. A Japanese youth had obviously grabbed a bowl of stew with duck leg meat. biting on the duck leg bone, he asked, "Kuroshima-kun, is the food in the base area usually like this?"

Other Japanese youths looked at Kuroshima Jin with empathy, their eyes filled with the same question. When Kuroshima Jin gathered these revolutionary youths, he had said that life in the base area was extremely hard. Everyone needed to be sufficiently mentally prepared. For these Japanese youths to have enough courage to cross the ocean and travel thousands of miles to the base area, they were either completely despairing of the Japanese Meiji government or forced into a desperate situation by life. They were even prepared for life in the base area to be more cruel and difficult than in Japan. Red brick houses and duck eggs had already exceeded the highest hopes of these youths for living conditions, and the cabbage duck stew made them feel extremely satisfied. So, was this meal just an occasional improvement in diet, or was it the daily fare? This question was really impossible not to care about.

"I told you long ago, when we first started building the base area, life was extremely hard. How could everyone get enough to eat?" Kuroshima Jin said loudly. But mentioning not getting enough to eat, he felt a bit guilty. Japanese people didn't have large appetites. Even when the base area was at its hardest, Kuroshima Jin couldn't say he went hungry. After the duck raising in the base area showed some results, and duck eggs began to appear frequently in the food supply, Kuroshima Jin felt he could eat very full. On the contrary, during the few months he returned to Japan, the "big stomach" he developed in the base area was mocked by many Japanese compatriots.

"Gentlemen, this meal will appear frequently in the base area now because this is the fruit of the revolution." Kuroshima straightened his back and said loudly, "I told everyone, not long after I arrived at the base area, there was a huge flood here. The refugees everyone saw in the Manchu Qing territory along the way were the common people who were still displaced after the flood last year. Even now, they are still suffering from hunger and cold."

The Japanese youths indeed saw many refugees along the way, and even saw many corpses of refugees who had died on the road. It wasn't until they entered the base area that the whole situation looked better. The closer to the core base area, the better the situation looked.

"Then how do the comrades of the People's Party make everyone live a good life within the territory?" the Japanese revolutionary youths couldn't help but ask.

"It's very simple. In the base area, no one can deprive others of what they produce for their own private gain. During disaster relief, all food was distributed evenly. Chairman Chen Ke ate exactly the same food as us. After the rush-planting and disaster relief were completed, the grain produced by the people was all distributed to the people to eat, without anyone intercepting even a single grain. These duck eggs and duck meat were not seized from the people, but raised personally by the comrades of the People's Party and the troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. In the base area, no one can reap without sowing, and the people can eat what they produce. That's why life in the base area can get better day by day. This is the revolution!"

Hearing Kuroshima's impassioned words, a youth said excitedly, "Kuroshima-kun, can one go from not having enough to eat to frequently eating meat in just one year? If the revolution can really be like this, wouldn't it be too easy to mobilize the common people in Japan?"

Looking at the excited Japanese youths, Kuroshima Jin immediately poured a bucket of cold water on them. "Then you have to be able to defeat the army fed by the Japanese zaibatsu first. Gentlemen, we all know very well what the lives of the Japanese people are like after the Meiji Restoration. Which year has there been no Rice Riot? But which time has it succeeded? The blood of the people has flowed into rivers and gathered into lakes. But the power of the Japanese reactionaries is too strong, so it is absolutely impossible without a revolutionary army. My purpose in gathering everyone to come to China to participate in the revolution is to learn how to build a revolutionary organization, and then cultivate an army formed by our Japanese revolutionary youths. When the Chinese revolution succeeds, we can return to Japan, and even invite Chinese comrades to return to Japan with us, overthrow the corrupt Japanese government, and liberate all the suffering people in Japan."

The Japanese youths stared at Kuroshima Jin and looked at each other. Some could accept Kuroshima Jin's words, and some could not. But these people were a group completely disappointed with the Japanese government after the Meiji Restoration. Not to mention the descendants of the Sekihōtai, most of these youths came from the petty bourgeoisie. Coming from backgrounds of small landlords, rich peasants, and small workshop owners, their family livelihoods were constantly deteriorating under the expansion of big capitalists and zaibatsu. They also became the most radical group, most opposed to the Japanese government. But even so, these Japanese youths still couldn't quite accept the idea of borrowing troops from China as Kuroshima Jin suggested.

"If the goal of China's revolutionary party becomes conquering Japan, what then?" a youth asked. This was also the worry of these youths. In the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan defeated China, forming Japan's self-confidence towards China. But on the way to the base area personally, what these people saw was a vast and populous China. The People's Party had occupied a territory of several hundred *li* in just one year. For Japan's small land area, this was already the power of a super-feudal lord. If, as Kuroshima Jin said, the People's Party ruled the whole of China, would China have no ambition to conquer Japan?

This was not the first time Japanese comrades asked this question. Many youths who asked this question chose not to follow Kuroshima Jin to the base area. Kuroshima Jin didn't expect that even after arriving at the base area, there were still people worried about this problem. He said loudly, "Gentlemen, I don't think Japan and China need to fight a life-and-death war for hegemony in Asia. The purpose of the People's Revolution is to liberate the people. And if a liberated Japan and China join hands, we can definitely drive away all colonialists and liberate the entire Asia. Japan has no future isolated on a small island. If Japan launches a war, it might be able to defeat a government like the Manchu Qing, but the invading army can absolutely not win against an organization like the People's Party. Only by integrating into Asia and the world can Japan have a bright future. If everyone feels this or that worry, you might as well observe and learn diligently in the upcoming work to see if the People's Party is a political party with aggression as its goal. If everyone feels uneasy about the People's Party, you can choose to leave. I will not stop you."

Hearing these words, the Japanese youths didn't say anything more. Everyone expressed their willingness to work in the base area for a while and see the situation.

After the meeting, Kuroshima Jin went to find Chen Ke to report on his work. His purpose in returning this time was not simply to find comrades; Chen Ke had also entrusted Kuroshima Jin with other important tasks. The land in Japan is relatively barren, but earthworms grow big and fast, making them very suitable for feed. In the materials Chen Ke had seen, the name of feed earthworms contained the word "Japan." Chen Ke himself didn't know exactly what species they were, so he asked Kuroshima Jin to collect various earthworms after returning to Japan. Kuroshima Jin had indeed completed the task.

After handing over the matter of earthworms, Kuroshima Jin did not hide the content discussed by the Japanese youths in the meeting today. He introduced the situation to Chen Ke in full detail. Chen Ke nodded, "Comrade Kuroshima, I indeed have no intention of invading Japan. If the Japanese revolution succeeds, I hope the two countries can coexist peacefully and develop together. But there is one thing I have to say upfront. The current Japanese government is a thug for the British in Asia. Once we have a war with the British, the Japanese government will inevitably participate in the war. I am also a patriot first. As a patriot, I believe one should not belittle the patriotism of people from other countries. Chinese people have Chinese patriotism, and Japanese people have Japanese patriotism. If our People's Party and the Japanese government go to war, I hope you can determine your stance."

"Chairman Chen, I oppose all wars of an aggressive nature. You said before that wars between imperialist powers are to divert internal contradictions. If the Japanese government launches an imperialist war, I personally will absolutely not support it."

Chen Ke nodded, "Then let me change the question. Competition exists between any countries. The base area is about to start trying to produce raw silk and silk fabrics. You also know that since the base area does not consider production according to the capitalist way, then in order to be competitive, the price of our raw silk and silk fabrics will be very low. In Japan's exports to the United States in recent years, raw silk is a major part. Once our commodities compete with Japan, Japanese enterprises will definitely be affected. Maybe some people will lose their jobs or even starve to death. What do you think of such a situation?"

The question Chen Ke raised was quite sharp. This was not a theoretical discussion, but an extremely realistic problem. Kuroshima Jin was stumped by Chen Ke, but the silence in the office didn't last too long. Kuroshima Jin spoke, his voice trembling, but this trembling was not due to helplessness, but due to the passion brought by being overly firm. "Chairman Chen, after following you in the revolution, I finally understand one thing. As long as the man-eating system exists, people will always starve to death. I also once cheered for Japan winning the First Sino-Japanese War, thinking that Japan could become a powerful country from then on, and the lives of the people would also get better. But the fact was not like this. Under the rule of the Japanese government, people starve to death every day in Japan. People die if we win, and people die if we lose. Without overthrowing this system, the people cannot be saved. So I will absolutely not attribute this responsibility to the People's Party's revolution. If we want to save the Japanese people, the root lies within Japan."

"Hehe, haha." Chen Ke suddenly covered his mouth and laughed.

"Chairman Chen? Do you not believe me?" Kuroshima Jin asked excitedly.

"No, no. It's not that I don't believe you, Comrade Kuroshima. I completely believe that what you said is your sincere words. I just lament that I can meet such a firm revolutionary like you. How many of the Japanese comrades who came with you do you think can reach your level?"

Facing Chen Ke's question, Kuroshima Jin said loudly, "As long as they participate in the revolution truly to liberate the people, I believe they can all have my understanding."

Seeing Kuroshima Jin's face looking full of vitality due to being filled with firm conviction, Chen Ke couldn't help but praise in his heart: It's so good to be young! It is precisely because of believing in justice that one can have such a pure mentality. Chen Ke didn't think he was old. He knew that he was only because he came from the downstream of history, having seen more and understood more, so he inevitably felt constrained when solving the realistic problems he faced. It was precisely because he stood on the shoulders of those great men in history that Chen Ke's vision became broader. That was why Chen Ke knew how arduous it was to want to surpass these unparalleled historical great men and to let the people get more true liberation on the basis laid by these great men. There was one thing Chen Ke could be sure of: if he and Kuroshima Jin swapped places, Chen Ke himself would very likely not have Kuroshima Jin's consciousness.

Looking at Kuroshima Jin, Chen Ke suddenly remembered a sentence. "Those who put the burden of the times into their own hearts and unwaveringly shoulder their responsibilities—if they have such self-awareness, they are great men; if they do not have such self-awareness, they are saints."