On March 7, 1944, grain sales in Dublin, the capital of the Irish Free State, were completely exhausted, and all grain merchants began to raise their prices. Three days later, on March 10th, the price of grain in Ireland had risen to more than three times its previous level.

With the rise in grain prices, the prices of other commodities followed suit, beginning to skyrocket; the prices of daily necessities rose by at least 70%.

At this time, the ruling political party in Ireland was the Liberal Party. The reason for the Liberal Party's rise was simple: after gaining Free State status, most people in Ireland no longer considered the liberation of the entire island. The original national liberation movement began to disintegrate from within, and the Liberal Party quickly rose from a small faction to become the largest political party in Ireland.

Faced with soaring grain and commodity prices, Liberal Party members of parliament cursed Sinn Féin members during parliamentary sessions. The Sinn Féin MPs were not willing to take the abuse lying down and immediately fired back: "Which one of you doesn't have ties to the landlords and profiteers who are selling grain to Britain? If we in Sinn Féin had the ability to make grain and commodity prices soar to this level, you wouldn't dare curse us; you would surely be kneeling like dogs at our feet, licking them."

"If you're really so tough, then find a way to stop the British from buying grain from us! On one hand, you sell massive amounts of grain to the British for blood money, and on the other, you curse us patriots. Your consciences..."

Before the words were finished, the Liberal MPs opposite jumped up like cats whose tails had been stepped on, rushing over to swing their fists at the Sinn Féin MPs.

In terms of internal strife, humans are the same the world over. The anger of the Liberal MPs was not because they had been slandered by Sinn Féin, but because Sinn Féin had pointed out the Liberal Party's true colors. The Liberal Party, which relied primarily on Irish landlords and elites for campaign funds, didn't mind making money by selling grain to Britain.

Although the Sinn Féin MPs were significantly outnumbered, their origins were more grassroots. In terms of physical fitness and fighting ability, they were not inferior to the Irish upper class. More importantly, Sinn Féiners loved a fight. If it weren't for this innate "fight if you disagree" spirit, they wouldn't have been able to form the Irish Republican Army to wage a sustained struggle against Britain.

The result of this massive brawl was that while the Sinn Féin members were all battered and bruised, they relied on their ruthless grit to drive the Liberal Party out of the parliament.

The MPs from both sides left the parliament with their injuries and immediately launched a propaganda offensive through their respective newspapers. The Liberal Party, which controlled a large number of newspapers, pinned the entire responsibility for the brawl on Sinn Féin.

However, the Liberal Party soon discovered that the Irish public was not at all affected by the newspapers they controlled. Instead, at the reminder of the Sinn Féin MPs, people began to hoard goods.

Since the Liberal Party was the ruling party, this massive surge in grain prices had a huge impact on the lives of the Irish people, causing public support for the Liberal Party to plummet.

The Liberal Party's major donors then made a demand of the MPs: "You must lower the price of grain!"

Not all Liberal MPs were from major landlord backgrounds; many were local intellectuals and cultural celebrities. The demands of the major Irish landlords were unacceptable to this portion of Liberal MPs. While they were unwilling to engage in armed struggle with Britain, these intellectuals also did not want to strike at the ordinary merchants who were caught up in this price surge.

Ordinary merchants were indeed making money from the skyrocketing grain and commodity prices, but the money they made could not be compared to that of the Irish landlord class. These ordinary merchants were making money from local Irish people, whereas the Irish landlords had created this massive price surge by exporting Irish grain to Britain.

Misfortunes never come singly. As a sharp confrontation emerged within the Irish Liberal Party, Britain increased its efforts to purchase grain from Ireland. The grain merchants who came to buy grain began to enter the Irish countryside, an action that directly triggered the vigilance and anger of the ordinary Irish public.

Sinn Féin had long warned the Irish people that Britain was coming to plunder Ireland's grain. Seeing the British merchants finally arrive, their anger was tinged with a certain glee.

If anything could unite the Irish, it was British atrocities against the ordinary Irish people. Moreover, Britain's massive purchase of Irish grain this time was not essentially different from the Great Famine Britain had manufactured in Ireland 100 years ago—both were plundering the food of the ordinary Irish people to feed the British.

However, Sinn Féin had underestimated Britain. Before the British grain merchants entered the Irish countryside, the British side had already made preparations. With the help of the major Irish landlords and elites, a list of Sinn Féin members, their residences, and their places of activity had long been sent to the British.

When the British merchants entered the Irish countryside and Sinn Féin began its propaganda centered on the Great Famine, British agents and troops set out from Northern Ireland, swept into Ireland, and raided the Sinn Féin headquarters, arresting everyone inside.

Fortunately, Sinn Féin had considerable experience in struggle and had received word to evacuate just as the arrests began. Ultimately, they only lost half of their headquarters staff.

But Britain had been fighting the Irish for centuries, and its experience was equally rich. British agents and troops began entering various towns in Ireland, continuing to arrest Sinn Féiners with the secret support of those MPs who had been beaten by them.

Once a Sinn Féiner was caught, they were sent to prisons in England for detention. There, they were subjected to torture and interrogation, with demands that they confess to being under the dual leadership of China and the Comintern, conspiring to overthrow the British government and assassinate the British Royal Family.

The arrested Sinn Féiners knew that as long as they admitted to these charges, they would be sentenced to severe crimes—at least life imprisonment, if not execution. While these Sinn Féiners were not particularly afraid of becoming martyrs, Sinn Féin was indeed not the Communist Party, and they still had their own resistance to communism.

Thus, the brutal torture continued, and many Sinn Féiners were soon near death under the ordeal. The intelligence departments responsible for the torture quickly reported to their superiors in the Colonial Office and the Home Office.

The Colonial Secretary and the Home Secretary listened to the report. The Colonial Secretary asked the Home Secretary, "What do you think of these people's intentions to commit suicide?"

"Aren't those Irishmen Catholics? If they commit suicide, they won't be able to go to heaven," the Home Secretary replied.

The head of the intelligence department who had come to report knew he hadn't said anything about the Irish Sinn Féiners wanting to commit suicide. But with the two powerful figures speaking this way, he understood perfectly: the British Colonial Office and Home Office had no intention of caring about whether the Sinn Féiners lived or died. This time, they were out to eradicate the Sinn Féin MPs.

Once the two high officials finished their conversation regarding the Sinn Féiners' "suicides," they looked back at the head of the intelligence department. The head of the British intelligence department immediately said, "Your Excellencies, the Sinn Féiners will choose to commit suicide after confessing to their crimes of murdering the British Royal Family and overthrowing the British government. We will do our best to ensure the confessions are obtained."

The Home Secretary nodded with satisfaction, saying in a compassionate tone, "Some sinners simply cannot achieve redemption."

With instructions from above, not only did the intensity of the torture remain unchanged, but the confessions for the Sinn Féiners were prepared by the British intelligence department. Those Sinn Féiners who died "signed" the confessions. After all, forging signatures was one of the basic skills of the intelligence department.

As Britain applied heavy pressure, the confrontation and divergence within the Irish Liberal Party were not reconciled but rather intensified. Many of those Liberals who did not come from elite backgrounds were former Sinn Féiners who had left the party.

If it were only a matter of making the Irish people suffer a little to maintain the Liberal Party's status, they might feel uncomfortable but would not stop it.

However, Britain's current approach looked for all the world like draining the pond to catch the fish—wanting to take all of Ireland's grain. What was even more shocking to these nationalist-leaning Liberals was that the MPs of elite origin, based on the current situation of skyrocketing grain prices in Ireland, proposed a bill to freeze grain prices and increase agricultural taxes.

Doing it this way meant that the grain of the Irish people would be subject to massive extortion. These Liberals were beginning to lose track of what these elites were actually trying to do. They surely didn't think they would be able to continue governing after this, did they?

The proposal did not receive sufficient support in parliament. As the results of the vote came out, those Liberal MPs who had voted against it breathed a sigh of relief.

But the MP who had proposed the bill said coldly, "Do you think that by opposing this proposal you can stop Britain from buying grain? Are you prepared to let British troops enter Ireland once again for slaughter? To all you MPs who voted against it, the slaughter caused by your irresponsible voting will all be on your heads."

For a moment, the opposing Liberal MPs were stunned. They couldn't understand where these elites got the courage to ignore the possibility of losing the upcoming parliamentary elections.

That night, these Liberal opposition members held a meeting, still unable to figure out what the elites were thinking. They talked until nine o'clock, but the opposition MPs still couldn't come up with a reasonable line of thought. Just as everyone was yawning and considering ending the meeting to talk again tomorrow, a doorman came in to report: "A returned overseas student is asking for an audience."

There were many overseas students in Ireland, and the fact that the doorman emphasized the "overseas student" status puzzled the MPs. Someone followed up: "An overseas student from which country?"

"From China."

The doorman's answer stunned all the opposition MPs. A returned student from China—this identity was indeed worth mentioning specifically. Ireland had not joined the Allies at this stage, and the Irish people had a very good impression of China. This wasn't because there were any extraordinary interactions between China and Ireland, but simply because the Irish appreciated any country that could beat the British.

Ultimately, the opposition MPs invited this Irish student who had studied in China to enter.

The one who came was indeed Valle. As a follower of He Rui, Valle loved hearing stories about him. For example, when He Rui first arrived in the Northeast in 1915, he went alone to the Japanese Kwantung Territory Headquarters and persuaded the high-ranking officials there, ultimately resolving the conflict between China and Japan.

Faced with these Liberal MPs, even if they were the opposition faction within the party, they could be seen as enemies to some extent.

Standing before the crowd of Liberal MPs, Valle silently repeated to himself: "In his conduct of himself, he maintains a sense of shame; sent to the four quarters, he does not disgrace the lord's commission. Such a man may be called a scholar." Only then did he greet the Liberal MPs.

The Liberal MPs looked at Valle with suspicious eyes. This student looked to be in his early twenties, quite young. Moreover, Valle had shaved his beard. Although there was no local Irish proverb about "a hairless lip means an unsteady hand," this clean-shaven look indeed didn't inspire much reliability in the local Irish.

Valle was prepared. He began: "Gentlemen, do you think those in the elite faction haven't considered at all the possibility of Sinn Féin winning more seats in the next parliamentary election?"

The MPs did not answer. They had indeed discussed this possibility tonight, and ultimately everyone felt it wasn't that likely, because the intelligence of those elites couldn't possibly fail to consider this. The MPs just couldn't figure out what those elites were thinking.

Valle continued: "Those elites surely know that Sinn Féin's seats will increase, but they have definitely been threatened by Britain that troops will be stationed to suppress the Irish. Britain is currently under immense pressure on the battlefield, to the point where even if Britain understands that the Irish people have a deep memory of the Great Famine, it still must come to Ireland to plunder grain. Because Britain can now only continue to extort Ireland; the other colonies have already been liberated by China."

Valle knew this wasn't strictly accurate, but it was enough to fool these local Irish provincial MPs. Moreover, it was only lacking in precision; it wasn't far from the specific facts.

Seeing the expressions of the MPs finally change, Valle continued: "Precisely because the British are at the end of their rope, they have gone mad. And have you considered that even if Sinn Féin wins more seats, will the British allow Sinn Féin MPs to perform their duties smoothly?"

"Therefore, the elites' view is simple: they believe that even if they lose some seats, they can still maintain their position as the number one political party in Ireland."

"As for the lost seats, those elites have likely already considered it. All of you sitting here are the ones they intend to sacrifice."

With these words, the opposition within the Liberal Party finally couldn't sit still. Some among them had already sensed the elites' attitude but still felt that they were, after all, Liberal MPs and had influence locally. The Liberal Party surely wouldn't push them to the opposing side. Valle's words shattered their illusions, presenting a part of the cruel reality to these MPs.

Valle struck while the iron was hot: "If you don't believe me, you can wait and see. Will the support you used to get during elections be there in the upcoming ones? And will those elites make demands of you—that if you want to be re-elected, you must support certain proposals from the elites?"

The Liberal MPs said nothing. Although Valle's words gave them a huge shock, they felt there was no need to discuss such matters with an outsider.

Someone asked: "So, what is your purpose in coming here? To be a lobbyist for Sinn Féin?"

Valle smiled and said: "I am not here for Sinn Féin. I only want to ask you: do you really want Ireland to always remain as it is now? If you also look forward to the Irish people leading better lives, why not choose to cooperate with China when China liberates Europe?"

Hearing mention of China, these Liberal MPs fell silent again. They liked a China that beat Britain, but China was, after all, a socialist country. This made the Liberal MPs feel a very large sense of unease.

Valle then continued: "The biggest problem in Ireland at present is that land reform has not been carried out. If all land in Ireland were bought out by the state and the Irish people henceforth gained the freedom of land use rights, do you think the current elites could continue to restrain you? The current power base of those elites does not come from Britain, but from the fact that they control 80% of the land in Ireland. Ireland is currently still an agricultural country; whoever owns the majority of the land holds the dominance over Ireland."

"Britain dares to treat Ireland so crudely because the British know that the Irish people might dare to oppose Britain, but they don't dare not pay land rent to the landlords. As long as these Irish elites continue to receive huge land rents, they will not fall. Because social elites like yourselves are also forced to rely on the money given by these elites for your campaigns. Only without these elites can you gain true freedom."

"Communist, get out!" an MP cursed.

Valle smiled and turned to leave. He knew the current view of communism in Ireland: the Irish elites naturally hated the Communist Party to the bone. And the Irish were Catholics; the Roman Curia also basically regarded communism as an enemy. Those bishops would very skillfully preach hatred of communism to their congregations during various religious occasions.

Once outside, the waiting comrades quickly covered Valle's departure. Once in a relatively safe place, a comrade asked in a low voice: "How was it?"

Valle replied confidently: "I've made those MPs believe that the elites are going to conduct an internal rectification by abandoning some of the disobedient MPs."

"Will they really believe it?" the comrade asked skeptically.

Valle replied readily: "It doesn't matter; as long as it happens, it doesn't matter whether they believe it or not. The most important thing now is to quickly spread the idea of land revolution throughout Ireland. As long as we still want to unify Ireland, we must make the ordinary people understand that so-called Catholicism or Protestantism are just tricks played by colonizers and elites. If the people can't even fill their stomachs, what's the use of religion?"

These comrades had all gone to China to study when they were very young. During their years in China, they had seen with their own eyes that the Chinese people, without religious influence, lived quite happily.

Although Ireland was a European region, under British colonial rule and the oppression of local Irish feudal landlords, the Irish people lived quite poorly. Their standard of living simply could not compare to that of ordinary Chinese people after the 1930s.

Throughout the 1930s, the Chinese economy developed rapidly, and cities grew at an astonishing pace. In just a year or two, Chinese cities underwent huge changes.

During their social investigation courses and practices, the Irish youth saw that although the changes in the Chinese countryside were not as fast as in the cities, huge changes had also occurred there.

When they returned to Ireland after seven or eight years of study, they had long since become accustomed to the rhythm of high-speed national and social change. Seeing their hometown, Ireland, which had been somewhat blurred in their memories, undergo no change whatsoever in the past seven or eight years—perfectly overlapping with those blurred memories—the shock was unbearable for the Irish youth.

Even those youth who had originally been unsteady about launching a social revolution in Ireland became "radical."

Valle said confidently: "Whether in Ireland or Northern Ireland, the enemy of the ordinary people is the same: Britain and the local elites! Only by overthrowing them can Ireland be saved!"