Zhou Zhentao finally decided to go to the grassroots troops to observe the meeting. Before he went to observe the meeting, he formally received a notice from the Central Military Commission that all units had formalized and planned the grassroots organization meeting. Grassroots meetings are held twice a week, and the content of the meetings is linked to life and work, and the style of formalism is resolutely opposed.

What the Party Central Committee's propaganda wants to support and oppose, Zhou Zhentao doesn't care anymore. After being severely criticized by Chen Ke, Zhou Zhentao was a little disheartened about his "future". The problems that will be encountered in the future are at most just being removed from office and investigated, what else can be afraid of? Zhou Zhentao had the idea of being a monk for a day and hitting the clock for a day, and he would implement how the organization was arranged. The Central Military Commission (CMC) asked all commanders of all units to "listen" to the grassroots units instead of "talking." With his mouth tensed, Zhou Zhentao began the grassroots audit work.

"X long, you don't usually talk about how to work."

"X long, you just talk about practicing, how to practice, and to what extent, you have to say it more clearly."

"X long, usually some comrades work less, why do they get as much as we get it?"

X is mainly a grassroots commander, and squads, platoons, and companies are the main objects of questioning by the soldiers. Of course, there are also grass-roots commanders who question commanders at the battalion and regiment level at democratic meetings. Because the commanders have to listen, they can't speak. Under the one-sided situation, the grassroots comrades were "arrogant", and the events of the first three years and the next five years were brought up one after another. Zhou Zhentao was quite unhappy about this, unhappy and unhappy, and he also deeply felt the phrase "the eyes of the masses are bright".

The basic allowance of the troops is not very high, and the rewards after labor have been very generous recently, and since merit is evaluated according to work performance, it is natural that some troops have more and some have less. Some comrades do not care much about this part of the reward, and many more comrades are extremely concerned about this part of the reward. Enamel jars, soap, military rubber-soled shoes, everything is available locally. But the price of each one is not low. In the latest awards, the comrades of the troops use the prize money to purchase these daily necessities directly after each award, and the purchase price is cheaper than in the cooperatives. For the sake of their own labor interests, the grassroots fighters are quite dissatisfied with the commanders who cannot lead the comrades in the troops to work better.

"We also do it for a day, and they also do it for a day, there is no reason why we do less than them!" This sentence is the most common one in criticism.

After two days of auditing, Zhou Zhentao no longer ignored his "identity as a criminal", and couldn't help but ask political commissar Yang Deshui, "I think how comrades are like long-term workers now, just thinking about evaluating merit and getting rewards." Is this going to be revolutionary? ”

Yang Deshui knew what Zhou Zhentao had encountered recently, and Zhou Zhentao intervened in this issue, and Yang Deshui also felt a little surprised. It's just that as far as Yang Deshui knows, Chairman Chen Ke didn't mean to send Zhou Zhentao down, and Chen Tianhua, director of the Political Department, was strongly dissatisfied with Zhou Zhentao, but he never said anything about Zhou Zhentao. Zhou Zhentao is still a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the division, and Yang Deshui could not refuse to answer Zhou Zhentao's question: "Master Zhou, participation in labor will naturally be rewarded. This has nothing to do with long-term labor. ”

"But comrades are now looking at remuneration, will it have an impact on the next step of military training?" Zhou Zhentao did not give up his sense of responsibility as a division commander.

Yang Deshui patiently explained: "In cultivating the concept of learning in the troops, commanders and political commissars at all levels should not only do their own work well, but also have the responsibility to let comrades learn more knowledge and technology. The new round of commander selection stipulates that commanders and political commissars at all levels must teach the soldiers of the troops well. In this regard, those who have not been able to get the approval of their comrades are afraid that they will all lose the election. If you do not excel in this area, it is basically impossible to get the opportunity to continue to be promoted. ”

Zhou Zhentao did not study the new regulations too carefully, and after listening to Yang Deshui's introduction, Zhou Zhentao was speechless for a long time. The rectification is no longer an adjustment of certain unqualified cadres, and the entire structure of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army has also undergone profound changes. It is no longer the commanders who decide everything, and the grassroots have an unprecedented voice.

In the latest grass-roots selection process promulgated by the Central Military Commission prior to this, grass-roots commanders adopt the method of self-recommendation and recommendation, and the evaluation criteria are announced by the superiors, and the list of candidates and evaluation criteria are publicized. In the end, it is the open elections at the grassroots level that decide the candidates. In other words, unless the higher authorities exert strong pressure on the grassroots, the higher authorities do not know who will be elected in the end.

The best way for a division commander to effectively control the troops is to have absolute personnel authority over commanders at and above the platoon level. A division can have almost twenty thousand troops. The number of commanders, including platoon commanders, was just over 400, and if it was a company commander, there were only more than 100. If we manage these more than 100 or 400 people and ensure that these more than 100 or 400 people are our own people, we will be able to firmly control the command of the entire division of 20,000 people.

The new selection system reduced the authority of division commanders in the troops to a minimum. If the division commander wants to establish absolute authority in the troops, he must first overwhelm the division party committee, and he must also make the company commanders and platoons absolutely obey him. Zhou Zhentao knew that this was absolutely impossible to succeed in this work, and that the guards of commanders at all levels had to go to the Political Security Department for "one day of training" every month. If Zhou Zhentao really wanted to do this, he was afraid that the guards would first "betray" Zhou Zhentao.

Zhou Zhentao couldn't admire Chen Ke's "strictness of the emperor", this system fundamentally cut off the possibility of anyone having absolute authority over the troops, and even if there was, it could only be Chen Ke alone. As long as one of the commanders and political cadres remains loyal to Chen Ke and the People's Party, their strong influence on the troops will be very limited.

"Does Chairman Chen Ke just want all the commanders and soldiers to be just part of the troops? Is this the revolutionary army that Chairman Chen Ke envisions? After thinking about this, Zhou Zhentao couldn't help but continue to think along this line of thought. The hard disk of iron is the soldier who flows the water, and the soldier who flows the water is the soldier and not the commander. If the value of a commander is only reflected in his work, and without the command position, is the value of the commanders equal to zero? The value of the heroes of the revolution lies only in the period of service to the revolution, and once they are no longer in active service, are they nothing? Zhou Zhentao finally got such a result.

While thinking fiercely, Zhou Zhentao heard Yang Deshui ask: "Division Commander Zhou, the selection of grassroots commanders this time is different from the past, and the troops will soon resume military training. I believe that the evaluation should take into account not only the performance of the work that has already ended, but also the military training that is about to take place. After all, we are troops, not only to work, but more importantly to fight. I think the divisional party committee also has to start discussing this aspect. ”

Zhou Zhentao didn't care too much about Yang Deshui's words, he replied a little absent-mindedly: "I know." ”

In the next few days, the discussion of the troops in the Huai Naval Region began to change from the soldiers' speeches to the stage of the commanders explaining the work to the comrades. In response to the problems raised by the comrades a few days ago, the commanders of the troops and the political work cadres gave targeted explanations and discussed solutions with the comrades.

With the precedent of Gu Lu's regiment, all units have formulated the idea of being close to the grassroots level and putting forward the idea of "officers teaching soldiers and instructors."

Chen Ke lost no time in writing an article entitled "The Feudal Power Separation System Is Never Allowed in the Revolutionary Army." Chen Ke pointed out that the reason why the feudal system lagged behind the times was that the feudal system itself had a strong idea of "hierarchical solidification". Dragons give birth to dragons and phoenixes, and rat sons will make holes. In the army of the people's revolution, the idea of such a solidified hierarchy is absolutely not allowed. There is only one criterion for measuring the revolutionary army, and that is "work". All promotions or dismissals are related to work only. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army must continue to make progress, not rest on its laurels, let alone allow it to go backwards. This is because this kind of complacency harms the interests of all members of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, and even if some people gain temporary benefits from it, these benefits are based on the common loss of the interests of the broad masses of comrades.

As soon as this article came out, Zhou Zhentao already knew that Chen Ke had made up his mind to rectify. Sure enough, all the middle and senior cadres who did not participate in the selection of grass-roots commanders were studied in a concentrated manner by all the comrades who had begun the selection and promotion work. After all, Zhou Zhentao is a division commander and an old comrade, and some old comrades-in-arms told Zhou Zhentao privately despite Zhou Zhentao's "mistakes". Chen Tianhua, director of the Political Department, wants to establish Chen Ke's people's revolutionary thinking as the party's ideology at this study meeting. All Party members must establish the idea of the people's revolution as their own.

The old comrade-in-arms anxiously advised Zhou Zhentao, "Old Zhou, we are all following Chairman Chen to make a revolution together. Everyone admires Chairman Chen very much. Even though Chairman Chen's discipline requirements are strict, Chairman Chen has never been sorry for everyone. So far, there are a lot of people who want to get you down, and Chairman Chen has carried a lot of things for you. You just bow your head and admit your mistake, and we will do whatever Chairman Chen tells us to do. Chairman Chen asked us to think about the problem, and we will think about it. As long as you take a stand, Chairman Chen will never do anything to you. You haven't said a word until now, we just want to speak for you, and we can't speak. ”

Zhou Zhentao looked at his old comrades-in-arms and suddenly laughed, "Yes." Now our group of people take Chairman Chen's people's revolutionary thought as our thinking. In the following cadre selection, in accordance with Chairman Chen's instructions, the grassroots comrades selected the people they identified. And then what? Let's just shout long live Chairman Chen, long live, long live? So what are we? When I opposed the Qing Dynasty, I wanted to oppose this kind of thing. I myself can't watch an emperor overthrow and then rise up again. ”

The old comrade-in-arms really didn't expect Zhou Zhentao to say this, he was stunned, and the anxious look on his face gradually turned into annoyance, "You asked me to shout long live Chairman Chen, long live, long live, long live, I feel at ease." Why, are you still going to let people call you Master Zhou Chitose before Chitose? ”

"I don't want to hear people shout about Chitose, Chairman Chen told me last time, who ruined the future of so many sacrificed comrades? Now I feel that so many comrades who have sacrificed their lives will not agree with this kind of approach, and if we fight the world, we will have to sit in this world. Even for the sake of those comrades who sacrificed, we have to sit in this world. I can't accept the dismissal because of a trivial matter. This is unfair to those of us comrades who have followed the revolution early on. ”

When the old comrade-in-arms heard this, his expression softened. Most of the comrades who were dismissed this time were old comrades. Zhou Zhentao's "rescue work" is not something that no one agrees with in their hearts. The reason why no one stood up to speak for Zhou Zhentao was simply because Chen Ke didn't want to do anything about Zhou Zhentao.

After thinking for a while, the old comrade-in-arms asked, "Old Zhou, what are you going to do?" ”

"Since Chairman Chen has given me this face, I can't let this face fall to the ground. If I don't mention this stubble in this study, I won't say anything. If I mention this stubble this time, I'll have to speak. ”

The old comrade-in-arms knew Zhou Zhentao's temper, and he thought for a while before he said helplessly: "It's best if you don't speak." If you do, I won't say anything to help you, but I will never let you bully you. Whoever dares to move out of Chairman Chen to pressure you, I will never agree. ”

The old comrade-in-arms said so, and Zhou Zhentao simply thanked him. Zhou Zhentao was very moved by the comrade-in-arms for many years, and with such firm support at the critical moment, Zhou Zhentao also felt that he had better not speak. After all, this is not only for yourself, but also for your comrades.

In the same situation as revealed by old comrades-in-arms, the study of the army this time did not talk about military affairs at all, and went straight to politics. Chen Ke made a speech entitled "Revolution in No Particular Order." As soon as the report ended, Zhou Zhentao stood up, "Chairman Chen, according to what you said, is it true that the revolution is in no particular order, and the revolution has no heroes?" ”

There was silence in the venue, and everyone's eyes were focused on Zhou Zhentao, some were surprised, some were anxious, some were approving, some were disgusted, and some were admired. Each of the comrades present at the meeting did not speak, and they had different moods under the same silence.

Chen Ke knew that there would definitely be people who would stand up like this, and he said that a political party like the People's Party, which had only been established for six years, even if it was a party in history, could not completely get rid of the idea of "meritorious heroes" after the victory of the revolution. Needless to say, at that time, even in the 21st century, the role of Li Yunlong created in "Bright Sword" was also appreciated by many people? Although in fact, it is only the appointment of guards privately, and people like Li Yunlong have long been purged by the party's discipline, let alone such things as privately organizing battles for his wife.

Zhou Zhentao stood up, Chen Ke was both relieved and regretful, with a feeling that is difficult to describe, Chen Ke replied: "Everything has a beginning and an end, and the evaluation of merit is never to evaluate the credit of the future, but to evaluate the credit of the past." The past is over. But we don't live in the past every day, we live in the present, in the present, in the present every day. So at this moment, who do you say is the hero? We can't always live in the past. ”

"Comrades have accumulated so much credit, you must give it another chance, right?" Zhou Zhentao said.

"Even if a comrade who has been dismissed from his post can realize his mistakes, he certainly has a chance. Everything has a beginning and an end, and no one does not allow them to continue to participate in the revolutionary work. ”

"Participate in the revolutionary work from scratch? After so many years of hard work, just one thing has become the most basic soldier? They did not have problems at military posts, but because of something else that violated discipline. I don't think we can help but see the performance of these comrades in military posts. You can't just go through the mistakes to the end. It's not fair. ”

Zhou Zhentao's words expressed the hearts of many comrades, and some comrades nodded approvingly. The practice of pushing to the end was indeed quite excessive, and the intensity of the subsequent drastic personnel adjustment at the grassroots level was beyond the imagination of the comrades. Quite a number of comrades are very unaccustomed to the new selection system, and even have a considerable sense of resistance.

"So far, nothing has happened. The comrades who were removed from their posts are now reorganizing themselves to study. Your view is too one-sided. Chen Ke replied.

After listening to Chen Ke's words, Zhou Zhentao had already determined that Chen Ke would definitely not support the reinstatement of those comrades, and at this point, Zhou Zhentao had nothing to fear, he said loudly: "Then what about coming out after they finish studying?" At present, the grassroots level is being selected, and middle and high-ranking cadres are coming here to study. By the time the study is over, all the positions will be selected. Even if you want to arrange the work of these comrades again, where to arrange it. If those comrades don't start from scratch, will they still let them eat idle meals? ”

Sitting on the rostrum with Chen Ke, Chen Tianhua couldn't hold back any longer, he stood up, "Comrade Zhou Zhentao, speaking of which, you still don't accept the removal of these erring comrades from their official positions. If you criticize a few words after making a mistake, then where is the organizational discipline? When we talk about punishing the former and treating the sick and saving people, there is no difference between this and not saying anything. ”

Zhou Zhentao sneered, "I'm afraid it's not these comrades who want to rectify this time, I think it's us old guys who want to rectify this time." Chairman Chen, I think your skills are much stronger than I thought. First stabilize us, and then replace the people below with the people you fancy and empty us. If we are brought together to do this study, if we fail to learn, it will be time to rectify us. We're only a few of us, and our own guards will clean us up without you tidying up. Zhao Kuangyin released the military power with a glass of wine, and he also knew that everyone should have a drink. We don't even have to drink wine, and we have to obediently hand over the power when one person pours a glass of water. ”

While lashing out at Chen Ke, Zhou Zhentao pointed to the tea jar in front of him. At this meeting, every cadre had a tea jar in front of him, Zhou Zhentao didn't like to drink tea, and there was only white water in the tea jar. Hearing this parable, some comrades laughed out loud. It added a touch of comical feeling to the solemn atmosphere in the venue.

Chen Tianhua was angry by Zhou Zhentao's words, and when he heard this laughter, Chen Tianhua's hands trembled with anger. Chen Ke held down Chen Tianhua's hand and said, "Comrade Chen Tianhua, you sit down for me." If Chen Tianhua couldn't help but say something angrily, Chen Ke would feel troublesome. According to the ordinary mode of political struggle, Chen Ke should have let some comrades appear to preside, and he manipulated it behind the scenes. In this way, Chen Ke can ensure his transcendent status and will not hold grudges against others. But Chen Ke knew that that was the method of real personnel struggle, and he opposed this method. This kind of struggle will definitely happen in the future, and this is not at all subject to Chen Ke's personal will. But Chen Ke did not want the rectification movement he presided over to also engage in such inferior means.

What's more, Zhou Zhentao didn't talk nonsense, he had considered what Chen Ke said. Historically, the most important purpose of the Rectification Movement was to establish "Mao Zedong Thought" and establish the party's organizational discipline in an extremely clear way. The purpose of rectification is not to rectify people, but to completely eliminate internal strife within the party organization by establishing leaders and ideology. Therefore, there are many people who have not been able to graduate from the Yan'an Party School, and many comrades have waited for a long, long time to wait for the assignment of work after completing all the courses. If we look at it from the perspective of personnel struggle, if we look at it from the "wrist" mentioned by Zhou Zhentao, this kind of trick of depriving power can be said to be extremely clever. All comrades who did not support Mao Zedong's ideas were indeed cleverly stripped from the organization. Yan'an Party School is not a place where you can easily graduate with a few words of "long live Mao Zhuxi".

Zhou Zhentao accurately grasped the core of this rectification, and the completion of the grassroots democratic model came into contact with the worries of the fierce chaos in the party, government, and army, and Chen Ke was finally able to let go of the rectification of the middle and high-level levels. Just like the Yan'an rectification, no matter how much the middle and high-level leaders of the People's Party chant "Long live Chairman Chen", they will not be able to graduate easily.

The situation in which Chen Ke finds himself now is very different from the situation in which Mao Zhuxi found himself in the past, and Chen Ke has always been the leader of the People's Party, the founder of the base area, and the founder of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. There is simply no figure in the party who can compete with Chen Ke. However, just like people like Zhang Guotao back then, Zhou Zhentao also stood up and expressed his firm opposition.

When Chen Tianhuaqiang held back his anger and sat down, Chen Ke cheered up and asked seriously: "Then Comrade Zhou Zhentao, are you simply opposing the way of dealing with some comrades this time, or are you opposing the entire rectification movement?" ”

The comrades saw that Chen Ke was not angry in the face of unprecedented doubts, but first controlled the situation, and then had a one-on-one discussion, everyone felt a lot more relieved in their hearts, and their eyes immediately turned to Zhou Zhentao.

Zhou Zhentao originally thought that he had "exposed" Chen Ke's wrist, and Chen Ke would at least hesitate if he was not angry. Unexpectedly, Chen Ke not only controlled the situation well in the face of this attack, but also kicked the ball back to his feet. Zhou Zhentao found it difficult to deal with. His outburst did have a relatively long-term consideration, but this consideration was only aimed at Chen Ke's approach, not a systematic and comprehensive negation of Chen Ke's thoughts. Even if there is a denial, it is far from rising to the point of framing Zhou Zhentao's own ideological system. As the right to speak was skillfully thrown to Zhou Zhentao by Chen Ke, Zhou Zhentao felt that there were many things he wanted to say in his heart, but none of them could be universally recognized by the participating comrades.

Provoked such a big topic, and then found that I was far from being able to navigate the topic. Zhou Zhentao's eyes looked at the comrades around him with antiquity, and with Zhou Zhentao's silence, they began to slowly turn into doubts. He was anxious in his heart, and the more anxious he was, the more he couldn't find a word that could fully say what he really wanted.

Chen Ke, who was opposite Zhou Zhentao, didn't say a word, just calmly looked at Zhou Zhentao's slowly suffocated blushing face and thick neck, but he never said a word. There was a kind of silence in the room.

PS: I didn't want to explain, but this time I had to replace a few forbidden words with pinyin, so I couldn't help but say a few words. It's not that I'm numb, I must use the word Grandpa Mao, and compared with many pinyin alternatives, the author would rather use the word Grandpa Mao as a tribute to the great man. In the author's opinion, in terms of age, it is also in line with the facts to use this title for the revolutionary predecessors born in the last century.