"Mr. Chen, does your base area really not collect taxes?" A voice suddenly popped up from the group of captives. It was a wounded soldier with a bandage wrapped around his arm.

"May I ask, regarding the 'not collecting taxes' you refer to, when did I say that?" Chen Ke asked.

"You said just now that you don't collect taxes," the excited captive shouted loudly.

"Just now, regarding taxes, I only said two things. First, there are no landlords collecting rent. Second, there are no officials extorting money. But our base area still has to collect taxes. If we don't collect taxes, our base area also has officials; everyone has to eat too." Chen Ke couldn't say the base area didn't collect taxes, because that wasn't the fact. Rebels of all eras always loved to shout about not collecting taxes, like the slogan of the rebels at the end of the Ming Dynasty, "When the Dashing King comes, we don't pay grain tax." It sounded very cool, but in actual operation, that was nonsense.

"Since you collect taxes, what's the difference between you and the Great Qing?" the wounded soldier continued to shout. Hearing such inflammatory words, quite a few wounded soldiers who originally had looks of longing on their faces immediately looked as if they had suddenly seen the light.

It seemed this person was a spoiler. Chen Ke looked at this wounded soldier's clothes; he looked like an officer. He probably felt indignant after hearing Chen Ke's words, so he wanted to stir up trouble.

Chen Ke wasn't afraid of this level of provocation at all. One doesn't know the cost of fuel and rice without running a household. When Chen Ke was a commoner in the 21st century, he was very unhappy about paying taxes. Once this identity changed, he now felt that collecting taxes was mandatory. No one was willing to pay taxes. If taxation was called a "vice" of the state, then this was a "necessary evil."

Chen Ke said loudly: "Most of you are injured. I won't talk about the blood donation thing for now. If there were no doctors, if there were no syringes for drawing blood, even if I cut an opening on my body with a knife and let out a big bowl of blood, this blood couldn't be transfused into the bodies of the wounded. Everyone saw this with your own eyes, right?"

Hearing this, the attention of the captives who had started to disapprove began to concentrate again. In fact, over half of the people these days had experienced injections, and the vast majority had seen scenes of others getting injections. These exquisite needles and large quantities of transparent glassware surprised the officers and men of the Hubei New Army very much.

"These medical devices are all manufactured by our base area ourselves. We have specialized factories to produce and manufacture these medical devices. The workers manufacturing these devices need to eat and drink; we must pay wages to these workers. They themselves don't farm, but everyone has to eat every day. We don't steal or rob; if we don't collect taxes, what will these people eat? These doctors all need to learn the knowledge of curing sickness and saving people. When they learn this knowledge, they can't farm while learning; they also have to eat, and they also have to wear clothes. Without the taxes of the base area, it would be impossible to have such a large group of people. Without such a large group of people, who would treat everyone's illness? Everyone is a soldier; having suffered such injuries, if no one treated you, what would be the result? To treat everyone, our base area spent a large sum of money. Where did this money come from? It came from taxes."

After hearing this, the New Army wounded soldier who came out to pick a quarrel just now also stopped making a sound. No matter how deep their feelings for the Manchu Qing or Zhang Zhidong were, the ones who saved this group of people now were the People's Party. The Manchu Qing and Zhang Zhidong only drove them to this deadly battlefield, and then Li Yuanhong led them from failure to destruction. The diehards in the Hubei New Army, having reached this point, might have the courage to pick flaws with Chen Ke, but they didn't have the courage to point directly at Chen Ke and shout abuse.

Seeing that he had made the Hubei New Army wounded soldiers accept his statement again, Chen Ke continued: "We collect taxes, but we don't collect exorbitant taxes and levies. The agricultural tax is thirty percent, and you don't need to pay silver, just paying grain is fine. The tax for doing business is ten percent, and apart from this, there are no other taxes. Most importantly, our base area has no landlords, no tax collectors who live by collecting taxes. The government collects taxes directly from the common people; everyone basically doesn't need to suffer layer upon layer of exploitation."

A major problem of the tax system in the Manchu Qing era was not collecting goods in kind, but wanting money. This tax model led to grain being cheap and money being expensive. If farmers wanted money, they could only rely on selling labor power or selling grain. In a society with a small-peasant economy, how could making money be that easy? After the First Opium War, China's silver flowed out in massive amounts, which further led to the bankruptcy of the rural economy. Wait until foreign goods began to impact the Chinese market; first, the outflow of metallic currency accelerated, and second, rural handicraft industries continued to go bankrupt. The entire small-peasant economy began to go bankrupt at an accelerated pace.

Chen Ke previously thought the Manchu Qing government "was just rotten, just rotten," but Chen Ke wasn't too clear on why it was so rotten. Only after returning to this era did he begin to understand where the Manchu Qing was rotten. The corruption of the Manchu Qing's own personnel was a major reason, but the fundamental problems of the Manchu Qing system were a more primary factor.

"The most critical thing is not just collecting taxes, but where the state uses the tax revenue. The government of our base area opens factories, and we have to pay wages to the workers. Our base area opens schools, and we have to pay wages to the teachers. Our base area builds bridges and paves roads, having specialized engineering troops. We also have to pay wages to the engineering troops. In this place where we all are now, the doctors, nurses, and those workers hired to wash bandages, I also have to pay wages. Where is the money collected from taxes used? It is used in these places. If you don't believe what I say, you can go ask. If you don't believe the staff of our People's Party, you can go ask those female workers hired to wash bandages. See if we gave money. Of course, you are soldiers eating rations, and the Manchu Qing also paid you money. But apart from you people, how many common people in your Hubei can be provided employment and given wages by the state? You might as well think about it properly."

After these words were finished, the wounded soldiers of the Hubei New Army made no more sounds. Everyone actually wasn't unreasonable; it was just that no one had ever reasoned with everyone like this before. The Manchu Qing regime's propaganda on "hierarchy" was extreme; officials could easily decide the life and death of common people. An official who bullied people less was a good official. Who dared to ask Manchu Qing officials where the taxes they paid went?

After Chen Ke finished saying these things, he suddenly thought of the Republic in the 21st century. The Republic was also far from being some paradise on earth, and the transparency of taxation wasn't that great either. But to give a simple example, Chen Ke himself went from elementary school to finishing university, and his family's finances were also very relaxed. Compared to the situation in Europe and America where one had to pay back student loans for decades after finishing university, Chen Ke and his peers were happy beyond bounds. Although not in the 21st century, Chen Ke's "Wumao" (50-cent party/patriotic) nature was still there; he couldn't help defending the Republic a few sentences in his heart.

The guy who tried to spoil the situation just now triggered this association in Chen Ke. Once the people at the bottom had revolutionary ideas, such ideas would instinctively seek to overthrow everything currently oppressing them. The pain felt by the people was nothing more than taxes and the people who bullied them in reality. History proved one thing: the spontaneous disorderly power of the people basically represented destruction. This power could destroy an old world. But revolution did not equal destruction; the great meaning of revolution lay in creating a new and better world. If this power couldn't be guided correctly, the situation would be even worse after the destruction work was completed. The fall of the Manchu Qing was a clear proof. In the 38th year after the fall of the Manchu Qing, China was truly unified by a political party unparalleled in Chinese history. In those 38 years, the regions outside the Party's rule were filled with wailing victims.

Chen Ke knew he was actually powerless to stop the occurrence of this historical inevitable process. He only hoped to rely on his own efforts to make this stage as short as possible. To pass this stage early and enter the new stage of China's strong revival. If one hoped to shorten this painful process, then one must give more explicit guidance. This was Chen Ke's work, and this was also where Chen Ke's mission lay.

Seeing that what he said had touched the hearts of the captives to some extent, Chen Ke didn't want to "draw feet on a snake" (ruin the effect by adding superfluities). Whether others accepted his reasoning was their own business. Pulling up seedlings to help them grow was harmful and useless. Chen Ke said one last sentence: "Everyone rest well and recover early. During this period, everyone might as well think properly about why exactly you are selling your lives for the Manchu Qing, and whether this selling of lives is worth it or not. Especially after you return to Hubei, it is very likely you will have to fight us again under the drive of the Manchu Qing. I think everyone should think this question through clearly. The troops of our People's Party know that entering the war is for ourselves, for our fathers and elders and relatives, and for the common people of the world. Who are you fighting for?"

After saying this, Chen Ke got off the platform. After checking the basic work of the POW camp, he returned to the command headquarters.

Back at the command headquarters, He Zudao had already brought several political commissars to wait for Chen Ke. They weren't anxious at all because of the wait; instead, they were discussing some work matters enthusiastically. Seeing Chen Ke enter the door, the political commissars stood up and saluted, and Chen Ke returned the salute. Just as everyone sat down, He Zudao said: "Chairman Chen, regarding the work of this election, we political commissars held a meeting. Now we want to report our work to you."

Seeing Chen Ke nod to express agreement, He Zudao expounded on the political commissars' ideas. The main view of the political commissars was that the area where elections were implemented must be the old areas of the People's Party; there was no need to rush in the newly liberated areas. The People's Party's actual influence hadn't entered the entire base area. If elections were held, they were afraid dregs would float to the surface. The political commissars all believed there were still some forces in the locality that needed to be eradicated first, and these forces happened to be quite influential locally. If this bunch were elected as representatives of the people's government, eradicating them later would be too much trouble. Moreover, the common people's view of this would also be very poor.

From the perspective of control, the political commissars' view made a lot of sense. For example, the Jianghu secret societies Chen Ke always wanted to eradicate actually didn't have too bad a reputation right now, and some landlords were far from being some pardonably wicked people. If this bunch became officials, even Chen Ke felt it would be relatively troublesome.

"I know the comrades' views, but I don't agree with some of everyone's views. In the short term, elections will indeed cause some chaos. The common people don't have any election experience. And I also believe that one-person-one-vote elections will become very nonsensical things a lot of the time." This was Chen Ke's heartfelt word. He knew quite a few local grassroots cadres. Ever since village-level elections were promoted, many "vote-buying" incidents had occurred, and local gang forces in many places also began to pop up. This election stuff was actually an action dominated by "personal interest." It had quite a flavor of "After me, let the floodwaters roar!"

Seeing the political commissars nodding secretly in agreement one by one, Chen Ke poured a basin of cold water right on their heads next. "But have comrades considered a problem? Elections aren't just those bastards participating; our People's Party, and the people masses, are also participating. Comparing numbers, the number of the people masses is overwhelming. Do everyone feel that our People's Party comrades can't get the support of the people masses?"

The political commissars stopped making sounds after hearing this. "Speaking from the angle of political struggle, letting that bunch of ox ghosts and snake spirits jump out isn't a bad thing. Especially at this current stage, that is simply a good thing."

"Chairman Chen, why do you say that?" Even He Zudao didn't quite understand Chen Ke's meaning.

"The common people elect representatives they identify with because they believe these people can bring them benefits. But do everyone think anyone in this bunch really starts from the perspective of the people's interests? They will definitely scoop up gains for themselves. I've said many times, the eyes of the people masses are snow-bright. Whether this bunch is scooping for themselves, the people masses see clearly. Similarly, our People's Party stands on the people's interests; the people masses will know once they compare. Now our People's Party is doing it all ourselves, and the people masses have received tangible benefits; this is true. But the current view of the people masses is that as long as they meet a good official, it's fine. It doesn't necessarily have to be your People's Party. We will let everyone see through elections that in this current world, only the People's Party stands together with the people."

The political commissars were dumbfounded. Normal people prioritized reducing current troubles. Chen Ke not only didn't try to reduce troubles, but now even actively took on troubles.

Looking at the appearance of this group of political commissars, Chen Ke knew he had scared this bunch. Because although all of Chen Ke's thoughts were inherited from Uncle Karl and Grandpa Mao, Chen Ke came from the downstream of history. Uncle Karl and Grandpa Mao certainly had the greatness of founders, but they couldn't see the process the cause went through. Speaking from a seek-truth-from-facts perspective, Chen Ke was located downstream in history; he had seen all those things that actually happened. Naturally, he had a bit less of the theoretician's passion and a bit more of the doer's grimness. Most importantly, regarding the "unhappened" things of this era, Chen Ke had seriously seen countless manifestations of them, so he naturally acted with a kind of calmness and confidence.

The People's Party established by Chen Ke wasn't a "magic stick" (charlatan) organization; Chen Ke himself always explained the development of things and reasons clearly. This was also the reason Chen Ke could establish huge prestige in less than two years. Facing the future revolutionary prospects, these comrades couldn't see clearly and couldn't understand, but the revolutionary situation Chen Ke "predicted" turned into reality almost without distortion. After this happened a few times, no comrade in the Party dared to oppose anymore. Big matters and small details were all correctly predicted by Chairman Chen Ke; everyone didn't have time enough to follow, so except for ambitionists, who would think of opposing?

Since the People's Party wasn't a "magic stick" organization, Chen Ke had the obligation to explain the reasons for his considerations clearly.

"Comrades, let's still consider according to the basic line of thought. First, on material preparation. The land in the base area now is divided into land owned by the masses themselves and state-owned land. State-owned land belongs to the State-owned Asset Management Committee. It is currently temporarily attached to the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. This means that through land reform, we have already obtained the ownership of the majority of the land. So the grassroots government organizations can only manage the people functionally; they don't have extra land to carry out extraction. Our People's Party talks about people's interests. That other bunch considers themselves; they don't have extra land to utilize, so apart from exploiting the common people, what other tricks can they play?"

Last year when Chen Ke proposed the allocation standard of three *mu* of land per person, quite a few comrades felt this land given was a bit much. Some even proposed giving two *mu* was enough. Now listening to Chen Ke's explanation, everyone finally suddenly saw the light. The reason Chen Ke gave more land was that the People's Party actually obtained control of more land. In the later stages, they would have more advantages. Some comrades looked at Chen Ke with eyes that weren't quite right. At that time, Chen Ke didn't mention these current reasons at all, only saying how three *mu* of land was necessary for the people masses; it simply had the meaning of telling lies with eyes open.

Chen Ke didn't care about this kind of gaze at all. Although he marked this political commissar's name in his heart—Chen Ke planned to record it in his diary after the meeting adjourned later to save himself from forgetting it later—his heart was calm and unruffled, and his tone continued to explain equally calmly and unruffled: "Second, speaking from employment means. Everyone already understands the situation in the countryside very well. Apart from farming, the common people go out to work. Our state-owned enterprises have already basically unified the factories up and down the base area. Moreover, there are many workers working in our state-owned enterprises, so we accumulate fast. What's more, private enterprises want to earn profits, so their exploitation will inevitably be much fiercer than ours. I'll say the same sentence again: the eyes of the people masses are snow-bright; everyone knows how to compare. Under comparison, who do comrades think can win the final competition?"

As the saying goes, with grain in hand, the heart doesn't panic. Money was hard currency. After Chen Ke finished explaining these, the political commissars were already convinced that state-run enterprises could master the largest and most wealth. Having grain, money, and guns, there was fundamentally no need to fear those "ox ghosts and snake spirits" playing any new tricks.

"Third point, on the organizational model. Our People's Party's organizational model stresses science the most. We treat problems with scientific methods and thinking. And those people haven't learned this, haven't experienced this. Their organizational model will inevitably be unscientific. Unscientific things will inevitably be defeated by scientific ones. So I actually hope they jump out now. They haven't learned the things our People's Party promotes; they are even hostile to them. Since they are hostile, naturally it's impossible for them to learn our scientific attitude and methods. If we wait until these people have contact and learn it, our struggle with these people will be more difficult instead. At that time, the situation will be much harder than now. So I hope they jump, and I hope they jump as high as possible."

The political commissars were speechless by this point. They originally felt that once people's elections were promoted, it would immediately be a matter full of hidden dangers and difficulties. After listening to Chen Ke's explanation, this situation looked bright instead. This one-hundred-eighty-degree turn in thinking was so rapid; the beautiful prospect and huge contrast made the political commissars grin foolishly one by one, unable to speak.

"Fourth point, I also want to talk about the issue of settling accounts after the autumn harvest. Some people, they just want to come be this official and satisfy their craving. This is also human nature. But everyone can imagine, once power is in hand, they will exercise it. How they will use this power is imaginable. They will commit crimes; at least they will offend people. At this time, we should settle accounts after the autumn harvest. We know they will definitely do these bad things, but when they haven't actually done them yet, if we get rid of them, the common people will think they are pitiful, and think we are tyrannical and unreasonable. Wait until they have done these bad things, and then we get rid of them; the common people will only feel happy and glad. We removed harm for the people. So wait for them to jump themselves; why let these guys be martyrs? They aren't worthy."

Xiong Mingyang was relatively tough. After hearing this, his face was full of joy and a ferocious smile. "Chairman Chen, I know. Now I know how to speak to the soldiers."

Chen Ke stopped Xiong Mingyang's enthusiastic statement right then. "You, ah, you don't know. Let me ask you a question. Do you think my way of considering the problem is playing conspiracies?"

"How could it be! Chairman Chen, I don't feel this is a conspiracy at all." Although he said this with his mouth, Xiong Mingyang's expression had already betrayed his thoughts.

Chen Ke said to Xiong Mingyang with a serious expression: "Comrade Xiong Mingyang, all these deductions of mine are not me deliberately luring those ox ghosts and snake spirits. It is that as long as there is a chance, the ox ghosts and snake spirits will jump out themselves to do this. This is their nature. They didn't do this only because they didn't have the chance to do this."

Xiong Mingyang obviously just wanted to put Chen Ke at ease now, so he agreed repeatedly. "Correct, correct."

Chen Ke didn't have the slightest intention of perfunctory politeness. "Comrade Xiong Mingyang, and the comrades attending this meeting. First, you must keep the content of this meeting confidential. Second, starting tomorrow, you must come to me to participate in the meeting discussing mobilizing the soldiers. Whichever of you can't truly understand it, that person cannot participate in the propaganda activities to mobilize the soldiers. I'm waiting to see your performance."