Tang Gui, leader of the Majiatun Work Team, was like other cultural instructors from Tianjin—a child of a poor family.

On the way to the home of Master Ma, the richest man in the village, Tang Gui calculated how to issue the ultimatum. According to regulations, Master Ma was not classified as a local tyrant or evil gentry, so force could not be used. But even with the government's policy of purchasing excess land, Tang Gui knew the other party wouldn't give it up.

Several hundred *mu* of land; who would be willing to part with it? If Tang Gui's family had several hundred *mu* of contiguous land in Tianjin, they would be out-and-out big landlords.

In the Ma family's living room, Tang Gui sat face-to-face with Master Ma. Ignoring Master Ma's ugly expression, Tang Gui went straight to the point. "Master Ma, you must know the situation. According to regulations, with so many people in your family, you can still keep over a hundred *mu* of arable land. Calculating the taxes you'll save each year, plus the government's compensation, you're not losing out. Besides, the grain on your land this year still belongs to you. You really aren't suffering a loss."

Hearing Tang Gui's arrogant words, Master Ma was furious. *I worked hard to accumulate this family property; by what right do you say you'll take it and just take it? You even calculated the account for me and said I'm not losing out? Pah!*

Even with ten thousand grievances in his heart, looking at the work uniform on the other party, Master Ma still lacked some confidence. "Brother Tang, what exactly did I do wrong? My family has a lot of land, but that was accumulated bit by bit starting from my grandfather's generation, with sweat drops smashing into eight pieces on the ground!"

As he spoke, Master Ma wiped his eyes, forcing out a tear.

Tang Gui pulled a long face.

At the land reform preparatory meeting, He Rui clearly explained the current situation to the cadres: the land obtained from land reform was actually not valuable; what was truly valuable was the direct control over the grassroots rural areas.

Land reform was not a power struggle to make the upper class submit, but a system struggle, a political struggle. The result of the struggle was for landlords and gentry to stand aside, allowing the government to directly control rural manpower and taxation, seizing grassroots power from the gentry and landlords. This was the starting point for changing Siping and also for changing China in the future. There could be absolutely no ambiguity; all forces hindering land reform had to be overcome.

Since Master Ma had made his attitude clear, Tang Gui could only issue the ultimatum. "Saying all that is useless. Master Ma isn't the only one whose sweat smashed into eight pieces. You don't work the fields yourself; the ones working the fields are those tenants. If anyone should cry, it's not your turn, Master Ma."

Seeing his sob story had no effect on this fledgling youth who might not even be twenty, Master Ma's anger surged. He slammed the table and stood up. "I just won't agree! Kill me or cut me, do as you please!"

Seeing Master Ma, who was snot and tears just a moment ago, suddenly toughen up, Tang Gui chuckled. "No need to kill or cut. We'll come over tomorrow morning to process the new land deed for Master Ma. We'll bring the purchase payment too. Farewell."

After speaking, Tang Gui stood up and left. Walking to the door, he suddenly stopped and turned back. "Master Ma, your land deed has expired. In the future, every household and every person will have a new Land Use Certificate. If you don't let people farm the distributed land, the Village Committee will deal with you."

Once Tang Gui left, Master Ma punched the table in anger. This government kid was too arrogant. Give him money, he stuffs it back into the giver's collar. Send him women, he drives them out directly. Now he forcibly wants to distribute the family's land to others; what to do?

Returning to the station and seeing He Rui, Tang Gui had some realizations. "Governor, doing work really requires theoretical support in the heart. Otherwise, you really can't explain the principles clearly, and it's easy to waver."

Hearing Tang Gui's realization, He Rui smiled.

As the saying goes: *First you see a mountain as a mountain, then you see a mountain not as a mountain, finally you see a mountain still as a mountain*. One must go through such stages to grow.

Tang Gui continued, "Governor, I used to think those landlords and gentry were unreasonable guys. Now I understand they really have their own set of rules. To smash all this, we must rely on a more advanced system."

He Rui didn't want to discuss the new system because some things weren't finished yet. "The Master Ma you just talked to—what do you think he will do next?"

Tang Gui smiled. "He doesn't dare make a big scene, but small disturbances will be constant. We must establish the Village Committee and militia organization as soon as possible, letting village people solve village problems."

Just as they were speaking, a guard came in to report, "Governor, it seems a group of Ma family people has arrived outside."

He Rui smiled at Tang Gui. "Go meet them."

Tang Gui understood and walked out of the station.

For this trip to the countryside, a Work Team had 40 people. A Work Group had 8 people. The Work Group responsible for going into the village consisted of one cultural instructor, one propagandist, two staff members, and four military personnel. The Work Group was equipped with two rifles and two pistols.

The military personnel stood at the door, rifles held horizontally across their chests. Although the pistols were still in their belts, hands were already on the grips, poised to draw and shoot at any moment.

A large crowd of the Ma family approached mightily from a distance. The Ma family thought that with their numbers, the Work Group would be at a disadvantage. Unexpectedly, as soon as they met, they saw the Work Group was already prepared for battle.

The Ma family members froze in place. Although some of them had weapons, they really dared not attack rashly. Everyone's eyes turned to Master Ma.

Master Ma had also acted on impulse. Halfway there, he already felt he couldn't really fight. The other party was the government after all; as soon as fighting started, he would be a criminal. Besides, even if he drove off this small squad of the government, so what? Could he win against the official army?

Seeing the Work Group flash their weapons, Master Ma sighed heavily. With a wave of his hand, the Ma family turned and walked back mightily.

Early the next morning, Tang Gui went to Master Ma's house. Master Ma didn't show his face. The steward smiled apologetically and handed the land deed to Tang Gui.

With the land deed, Tang Gui immediately gathered the villagers for a meeting. Showing the land deed to the villagers, they all showed expressions of admiration.

A big stone fell from Tang Gui's heart. As far as Tang Gui could see, He Rui never had any intention of bullying people. The toughness towards landlords this time wasn't targeted at landlords per se, but to let the masses understand that the ones who could truly be masters in Siping were no longer the landlords.

That the masses could understand this meant the first phase of work was completed.

Tang Gui took out the arrangement for organizing village-level grassroots organizations and began explaining to the villagers. At this stage, there were two major posts in the village: Village Head and Militia Captain.

The Village Head was responsible for propagating and executing the government's rural policies. The Militia Captain was responsible for establishing the village militia organization and arranging personnel dispatch during collective work involving large amounts of labor.

Therefore, the village needed to recommend candidates, and the government would select six people.

"Officer Tang..."

"Don't call me that. I am the Captain responsible for land reform work in the village. Call me Captain Tang."

Seeing Tang Gui being so polite, the villagers were curious. Someone asked, "Captain Tang, what official are you in the government?"

"I serve as a scribe for Governor He."

"What does a scribe do?"

"It means every time Governor He holds a meeting, I record the meeting content."

Although the villagers still didn't understand Tang Gui's work, they knew Tang Gui was a trusted aide of Governor He Rui. Besides holding Tang Gui in high esteem, they also felt Tang Gui was relatively reliable. "Captain Tang, why six people? Didn't you say only a Village Head and a Militia Captain are needed?"

Tang Gui didn't hide anything and explained the arrangement for these six people. "Two people will stay in the village first to do the work of Village Head and Militia Captain. The other four will go to the Cadre School in Siping City to participate in study. There is still a month before the autumn harvest. Of the four going to Siping, they will study for half a month first, then send two back to replace the two remaining in the village. When the harvest starts in early September, farm work will be plentiful and busy, and all six will return to the village to work together."