Zhou Yisheng did not know that his old acquaintances were nearby. His heart was filled with only one thought at this moment: he must compete with his older brother Zhou Yizheng in the digging competition. Last year during the flood, the People's Party saved his brother and sister, so Zhou Yisheng joined the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army with a heart full of gratitude. For half a year, Zhou Yisheng, who had been a soldier before, remained a platoon leader. Although he participated in many battles, his performance in combat could only be described as mediocre. On the contrary, his brother Zhou Yizheng, who had never been a soldier, performed extremely eye-catchingly and was now a company commander. Zhou Yisheng once asked his brother Zhou Yizheng for the reason, and even summoned the courage to ask the political commissar in the army. The answers of the two were surprisingly similar: "You think too much."

On this point, Zhou Yisheng did not deny it. He was indeed relatively afraid of death. In every battle, he hoped to win with minimal casualties. Of course, if the superiors of the unit issued an order, Zhou Yisheng could always complete the order. But when Zhou Yisheng commanded personally, he couldn't help but look ahead and behind. In comparison, his brother Zhou Yizheng was resolute and decisive, daring to fight and charge. And comparing casualties, the casualties of Zhou Yizheng's subordinates were not necessarily greater than Zhou Yisheng's.

After the Anqing Campaign, the troops turned fully to rural work. Because the work instructions were extremely strong, Zhou Yisheng also did quite well. This time reclaiming cotton fields, Zhou Yisheng learned that his brother had signed up for the digging competition. He also signed up, wanting to compete with his brother in the contest.

Meeting an acquaintance, Chang Hengfang wanted to see how capable Zhou Yisheng, this formerly inconspicuous "New Army comrade," really was, so he stood by to watch. He saw the hoe being wielded like a small windmill in Zhou Yisheng's hands. Under vigorous digging, Zhou Yisheng had already surpassed the people next to him by quite a bit.

"It seems Zhou Yisheng can win," Chang Hengfang couldn't help saying to Bai Wenwei beside him. Bai Wenwei didn't know Zhou Yisheng; he just casually agreed with Chang Hengfang's praise. Then his gaze turned to the people working hard on the broader land. Dark blue military uniforms were mixed with miscellaneous civilian clothes, same hoes, same labor. Thousands of people formed countless lines working in the fields. The bustling work scene looked very inspiring.

"The board inserted in every piece of land says 'Dig Facing East', right?" Bai Wenwei noticed a detail.

Chen Duxiu also noticed this detail. He also noticed that on the other side of every piece of land stood a board with another six characters written on it: "Dig Facing West".

The People's Party staff member replied, "Correct. This is our method of teaching everyone to read. Learning for application. When soldiers and common people dig, they can see these characters when they look up. During breaks, we will also specifically teach everyone these characters. After seeing them many times, they can always remember them."

"But these characters are all simplified characters," Chen Duxiu asked.

"This is the standard script currently being promoted in our base area, simplified characters. In the future, all official documents in our base area will be in simplified characters. For this purpose, we are compiling a *Xinhua Dictionary* as the general dictionary for the base area."

"What? You are even compiling a dictionary?" Chen Duxiu could barely control himself. In fact, he wanted to say a couple of profanities to express his mood at this moment. Only in a prosperous age are dictionaries compiled. Every time a dictionary is compiled, it creates great momentum and is known to the whole world. Such a big thing as compiling a dictionary was spoken by an ordinary staff member of the People's Party as simply as eating a meal. As a literati, Chen Duxiu felt this was simply an insult.

"Mn. It is being compiled. It is estimated that it will come out before long." The comrade from the People's Internal Affairs Committee didn't think this was a big deal. "Gentlemen, let's go see the logistical management work now. Physical consumption is high during labor, so logistical work is extremely important."

Chang Hengfang had no concept of dictionaries. Since Bai Wenwei was not very enthusiastic about the digging competition, he couldn't help asking the People's Party staff member, "Brother, who do you think will win the digging competition?"

The staff member looked up. Zhou Yisheng was in the lead, and Zhou Yizheng lagged at least two meters behind his younger brother Zhou Yisheng. The staff member smiled and said, "I think Zhou Yizheng can win. Gentlemen, let's go. The competition won't end now."

The logistical work of the People's Party seemed simple, nothing more than drinking water, sweat towels, and food. The Yue Wang Society didn't pay much attention when they first saw it, but when the two thousand people started the first round of rest, they realized the power of the logistical work. Several large barrels of water were drunk clean by two thousand people, one bowl per person. To prevent catching a cold, everyone had to wipe the sweat off their heads dry. This required dozens of people to observe and remind. The work of the cadres required considerable seriousness and meticulousness. The cadres of the Yue Wang Society were only used to shouting a couple of times, and the rest was done by the subordinates themselves. In their view, if disobedience led to illness, it was actually a good educational method; after suffering once, everyone would know better. The meticulous work style of the People's Party seemed to them simply looking for trouble. The common people weren't that delicate.

Special water carts brought water, which was boiled in large iron pots. At the same time, people began to cook. After working for more than three hours, everyone rested and began to eat. Everyone first washed their hands in front of a dozen hand-press wells, then lined up to receive food. The Yue Wang Society people were surprised to find that the food for the troops and the common people was exactly the same as what they ate yesterday: pumpkin and potato rice mixed with rice, cabbage stewed with duck meat, and everyone could also get a duck egg.

"You feed soldiers this?" Chang Hengfang found it incredible.

"Our base area only has these to eat now. Our People's Party talks about officers and soldiers being one; everyone is the same. But for those doing manual labor, more duck meat is given. For those not doing manual labor, the ration of duck eggs is one every two days. For those participating in manual labor, one per meal."

Hearing the staff member's introduction, Chang Hengfang suddenly remembered that there were no duck eggs in the meal provided by the People's Party yesterday. His face immediately turned ugly.

Staff members selected by the People's Internal Affairs Committee were extremely sharp. Seeing the change in Chang Hengfang's face, the staff member smiled and said, "Not only did you not have duck eggs, but Chairman Chen Ke also didn't have duck eggs. This is our People's Party's rule: reducing supply starts from the leading cadres. The first to be cut is Chairman Chen Ke's ration. Priority is given to guaranteeing the food of front-line workers."

"This is a bit too harsh," Bai Wenwei murmured.

"Chairman Chen Ke said that our People's Party engages in a people's revolution. Since it is a people's revolution, how can there be a reason for those who work personally not to get food to eat?" Although the staff member tried to keep his tone calm, the pride and self-esteem from the heart couldn't be hidden no matter what.

The Yue Wang Society people were clear that this was the People's Party setting rules for them. However, the Yue Wang Society people couldn't accept such harsh rules in their hearts. So they didn't respond, just washed their hands with everyone, and then went to receive their meals.

The afternoon visit was mainly about the storage and scheduling of materials. Although the Yue Wang Society people greatly admired the strict style of the People's Party system, they really didn't figure out the knack inside. The only three words these people could understand were "managed strictly."

"Why is this military reclamation only carried out now? I see other farmlands were reclaimed long ago. Why not let the common people help with military reclamation?" Bai Wenwei was very puzzled that the People's Party only started reclaiming cotton fields now.

"The farmlands were plowed by our Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army helping the common people, so only now can we reclaim the military farming fields."

Bai Wenwei was even more puzzled. "Why help the common people plow the fields first? Do you collect land tax?"

"We collect thirty percent land tax. But the common people only need to pay thirty percent land tax; the other harvests belong to the common people themselves. Thirty percent land tax is already a lot. If we don't help the common people plow the fields, I'm afraid the common people will be very unhappy in their hearts."

Bai Wenwei completely couldn't understand what the People's Party was thinking at this moment. Logically speaking, soldiers eating grain and officials collecting grain were matters of course. But the soldiers of the People's Party not only had to plant grain and cotton themselves but also had to worry about whether the common people were happy when collecting taxes. It was natural for common people to pay taxes; they hadn't been seen happy about it for thousands of years. The People's Party really stopped at nothing to win the people's hearts. Bai Wenwei asked, "Aren't you afraid that the brothers following you will be chilled by doing this?"

"Why would our troop warriors be chilled following us? The army of our People's Party is the army of the people's sons and brothers. Most of the warriors are locals. Helping the common people farm is helping their relatives. The parents, brothers, and sisters of the warriors are all in the base area. If everyone's relatives can finish farming earlier, they will have time and energy to do more work and earn more money. Life at home will be much better. What are they unhappy about? Moreover, the common people know that their sons in our army neither eat, drink, whore, nor gamble, nor learn bad things, but do things for the common people solidly. They are naturally reassured handing their sons to us. The common people are happy, and the soldiers naturally won't have any complaints."

Listening to the staff member's explanation, Bai Wenwei suddenly understood one thing: the People's Party troops were all locals. That meant the People's Party was basically a local armed force. Having figured this out, Bai Wenwei felt extremely lost. He originally thought Chen Ke and others were outsiders, and even if they started a revolution in Anhui, they were an external force. But now he discovered that Chen Ke had already deeply taken root in Fengtai County. If Chen Ke did this in the vast base area, the People's Party would be rapidly localized. Compared with Chen Ke, although the Yue Wang Society originated from Anhui locals, compared with the People's Party led by Chen Ke, they became out-and-out outsiders instead.

Couldn't beat them in fighting, couldn't beat them in revolutionary construction, and now even the advantage of being Anhui natives had become a disadvantage. Bai Wenwei only felt that the Yue Wang Society had failed completely and utterly. Bai Wenwei fell into great frustration and completely turned a deaf ear to what the People's Party staff member said later.

The sun began to slant westward. Chang Hengfang remembered the digging competition and urged everyone to go back and have a look. Chen Duxiu and others had never seen thousands of people digging together and also wanted to see what result thousands of people could produce in a day. Returning to the edge of the military reclamation fields, the Yue Wang Society people were dumbfounded. Five thousand *mu* of land had actually been dug. And the digging competition had also entered the final stage. The older brother Zhou Yizheng was far ahead. Since the morning, his movements had always been stable and powerful like that. With every hoe strike, the sharp hoe blade cut deeply into the ground. After working for six or seven hours, his movements didn't seem to have changed at all. Except for sweating profusely and breathing much heavier, one couldn't tell that Zhou Yizheng had been digging for a day. While Zhou Yisheng sweated more, his breathing was almost disordered. Besides falling behind Zhou Yizheng by a very long ridge, his movements were completely out of shape. Although the hoe was still swinging, it could only insert a shallow layer into the ground, obviously reaching the point of exhaustion. Someone was specially wiping sweat and feeding water to the contestants.

"How can the difference be so big?" Chang Hengfang completely didn't expect the result to be like this.

The staff member of the People's Internal Affairs Committee replied calmly, "Comrade Zhou Yisheng is not incapable, he thinks too much. What's the use of just thinking about surpassing others? With a mind full of others, where is the mind to think about one's own affairs? Comrade Zhou Yizheng just thinks of nothing and concentrates on doing his own work. Using as much ability as he has. Instead, he can excel."

While speaking, a gong sounded. It turned out Zhou Yizheng had taken the lead in completing the work of four *mu* of land. He leaned on his hoe and stood in front of the "Dig Facing West" sign, taking deep breaths according to the mode in the military education of the troops to let his body recover as soon as possible. Other contestants also stopped their hoes, panting one by one. Someone immediately rushed up to deliver water and wipe sweat. At this time, the troops had assembled. A simple commendation ceremony was held in front of the team. Comrades who dug more than three *mu* were commended and given a prize of "four duck eggs." And the top three comrades were also put on big red flowers besides the prizes, accepting the warm applause of all officers and soldiers.

The troops sang songs and lined up to return to the barracks. The majestic singing voice of "Forward, forward, forward! Our team is like the sun..." made the Yue Wang Society group turn their heads frequently to look at the queue of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.

"Grand Commander, why didn't we think of developing in North Huai back then?" Chang Hengfang whispered to Chen Duxiu with considerable regret.

Chen Duxiu didn't make a sound. What he saw and heard today gave Chen Duxiu an extremely unreasonable idea: this is not China; this is a completely different country. Chen Duxiu accidentally came to another world. Although he knew this idea was absurd, Chen Duxiu couldn't get rid of it cleanly no matter what. It wasn't until he returned to the county town that this strange feeling subsided a lot. Many of the common people still wore queues, and the familiar traditional characters on the street were constantly proving that this was still an ordinary county town in China called Fengtai County.

Chen Ke still didn't receive the Yue Wang Society people, and the Yue Wang Society didn't care about this at all. They talked all night but couldn't figure out what the People's Party was doing no matter what. The next morning, the Yue Wang Society people got up early again, preparing to go see Chen Ke like yesterday. Before they went out, the People's Party comrade who accompanied them yesterday arrived. He brought Chen Ke's order: asking the Yue Wang Society cadres to return to Hefei immediately now. It was said that Li Yuanhong was preparing to advance on Hefei. Chen Ke wanted the Yue Wang Society to prepare for military farming on one hand and await instructions on the other.

Hearing that the Hubei New Army was preparing to attack Hefei, the Yue Wang Society cadres were anxious. Chen Duxiu asked what Chen Ke was doing, and the reply he got was that Chen Ke was preparing for military operations and really had no time to see the Yue Wang Society people. At this time, Chen Duxiu and others couldn't care so much anymore. They hurriedly followed the People's Party comrade to the dock by the Huai River. If the Yue Wang Society's troops were wiped out by Li Yuanhong again, they would have no capital left.

"Wenqing, is it appropriate for you to deceive the Yue Wang Society like this?" Yan Fu asked Chen Ke. The main cadres of the base area had gone down to the local areas. Now the only senior cadres left in the base area were Chen Ke and Yan Fu, who was in charge of the education system.

"Mr. Yan, we can't rule out the possibility that Li Yuanhong is obsessed and attacks Hefei." Chen Ke laughed. "Moreover, if Chen Duxiu doesn't leave, he will definitely pull us to ask this and that. Everyone is so busy now; where is the leisure time to receive them?"

"Chen Duxiu is also a talent; why not recruit him to our banner?" Yan Fu still hoped to pull more "famous scholars" into the People's Party.

Chen Ke disapproved of this. "Chen Duxiu is still following the path of upper-level revolution, nothing more than seizing political power and then commanding the people to serve them. Our people's revolution follows a bottom-up path. Basically, different paths cannot make plans together. talking is also useless talk."

"But we lack cadres now." Yan Fu mentioned a very realistic problem.

"With so many people, how can we lack cadres?"

"Then why prioritize literacy when selecting cadres?" Yan Fu asked jokingly.

"We choose cadres firstly because these people meet our standards for cadres. Literacy is just for assigning different work. Literacy is a tool, not a status." Chen Ke explained. Speaking of this, he remembered something. "How is the compilation of the *Xinhua Dictionary* going?"

"About four thousand common characters have been compiled, but the annotations are still incomplete."

"Are the Pinyin writing and radical search completed?"

"This is completed."

Chen Ke breathed a sigh of relief lightly. "That's enough. You might as well hand it over to the students of the Normal School and let them help proofread. After proofreading, show me the manuscript. Once our paper mill is set up, we are ready to start printing."

Seeing Chen Ke so anxious, Yan Fu hurriedly stopped him. " The matter of the dictionary cannot be rushed. If there are omissions, wouldn't it be a joke?"

"Let it be a joke. What matters in this kind of thing is speed. It will be constantly modified in the future. How can a dictionary remain unchanged for thousands of generations? The key is that we want to popularize education on a large scale. Without a general dictionary, it will delay things extremely."

Seeing Chen Ke's attitude so firm, Yan Fu didn't prepare to oppose. He actually had his own question. "Wenqing, I am very puzzled about the finance in the base area. I want you to explain it in detail."

"Mr. Yan, one of the theoretical foundations of our revolution is labor power. So the core concept of finance in the base area is that currency corresponds to the sediment of products produced by labor power."

"I am already clear about this. But I am very curious about the method of calculating currency issuance by the bank and the Ministry of Finance newly built by Wenqing. I wonder if Wenqing can describe it." Yan Fu was knowledgeable, but like other scholars of this era, he was rich in theory and lacked practice. Compared with others, Yan Fu already possessed considerable professional literacy. But Yan Fu was very puzzled by Chen Ke's practice of "creating many departments out of thin air," especially the base area financial department created single-handedly by Chen Ke, which made Yan Fu feel amazing. In the Manchu Qing era, finance was always a big problem. The "Renminbi" issued by the People's Party out of thin air was already the currency in circulation in Fengtai County. Yan Fu really couldn't help but want to figure this out.