today." During this phase, Mao's image was identified with that of China's first emperor, Qin Shihuang (glossed as an anti-Confucian Legalist). Praise was given to Qin based on his popular association with Mao. The revolutionary operas (yangbanxi) were used as an ideological tool during the campaign, and their promotion through official state channels surged in 1974. The third phase began after Zhou Enlai reorganized the State Council during the 4th National People's Congress, in January 1975. At the People's Congress, Zhou brought many cadres back to work who had been forced out of power during the 1966-1969 phase of the Cultural Revolution. In comparison with the first stage of the Cultural Revolution, the rehabilitated leaders led by Zhou were able to exercise significant influence. Feeling strong support from his supporters on 31 January 1974 at the enlarged meeting of the Politburo, Zhou was able to strongly request not to involve the armed forces in a campaign for "four great freedoms", namely, writing, free expression of opinions and extensive discussion, and general criticism. Deng Xiaoping, who was among those rehabilitated under Zhou, sought to turn the campaign back against the radical faction by linking Confucius to resistance to modernisation and better education – goals that Deng was pursuing at the time, against the radicals' opposition. Because they had supported the purging of many career Communist Party veterans during the early Cultural Revolution, the radical faction, now dominated by the Gang of Four, opposed Zhou's efforts and began to subtly criticize him and his policies. In particular, they used the ongoing anti-Confucius campaign to attack the 12th century BC Duke of Zhou, a major figure in Confucianism, whose name recalled that of Zhou Enlai. The fourth and final phase of the campaign coincided with Zhou's illness and hospitalization. After 1974, the campaign against Lin Biao and Confucius reached its climax, and soon subsided. However, beginning in the summer of 1975 the Gang of Four started a new campaign, introducing public debates on The Water Margin and the "war on empiricism" as a tool to criticise Zhou and their other enemies, notably Deng, which sidelined "criticism of Confucius." Deng Xiaoping then took many of Zhou's responsibilities, acting as premier in Zhou's absence until Deng was again forced out of power, in 1976. After Mao died, the Gang of Four also directed a campaign against Hua Guofeng, who was named Mao's successor. The campaign