Yuan Shikai knew that Chen Ke would surprise him, and for his own survival, Chen Ke, who had always performed well, was bound to do his best. Even with this kind of relatively adequate mental preparation, the official news of the death of Cixi and Guangxu still gave Yuan Shikai a shock from the soul. Yuan Shikai, who was full of joy and sorrow, immediately ordered the "whole army to be vegetarian" and organized a crying ceremony.

Yuan Shikai, who led the Henan officials and the Beiyang Army to cry bitterly, had very sincere tears. Sincere and joyful crying is also an extremely rare experience in Yuan Shikai's life. Among the two people who died, Guangxu's death made Yuan Shikai feel happy to get rid of the big trouble in his heart. As for Cixi, Yuan Shikai's loyalty came from the heart. Before the old lady died, Yuan Shikai became the governor of Henan, and commanded the four towns of Beiyang, and was also in charge of the governor of Jiangbei and the new army of Henan. The current situation is that Yuan Shikai wants to have territory, and he wants troops to have troops. Self-protection is absolutely no problem.

After the crying ended, Yuan Shikai immediately announced that he would work hard to defeat the Anhui rebellious party. In the past few days, the clan has worked hard to mix sand and infiltrate the Beiyang New Army. These guys that Yuan Shikai had wanted to get rid of for a long time were named one after another, and they formed a team and were ordered to attack the base area. After sending this group of thorns in the eyes to the front line, Yuan Shikai firmly believed that Chen Ke would continue to surprise him.

After the surface work was done, Yuan Shikai anxiously waited for the news of Beiyang's own people. Official information is only official information, and more accurate information can only rely on one's own people. When the real news was delivered to Yuan Shikai, although it was not to the point of being scared to death, Yuan Shikai still felt a strong chill on his back. As a Westernist and ruler, Yuan Shikai was by no means a superstitious person. Even so, the idea of "whether Chen Ke understands some demon methods" occupied Yuan Shikai's mind for a short time.

More than 300 copies of the bulletin and pamphlet were distributed by the People's Party in Beijing. The clans searched for these pamphlets like mad dogs. Because the implication is too great, even the people of Beiyang do not dare to keep this kind of thing privately. Due to the small number of contents, in a short period of time, the people who stayed in Beijing from Beiyang sent five sets of manuscripts. More than a dozen backbones of the four towns of Beiyang have finished reading these things at this time. Yuan Shikai really wanted to hear everyone's thoughts, but he didn't expect everyone at the meeting to have the same thoughts. Silence, silence, the core of the Beiyang New Army sat there like a bodhisattva.

"Pingqing, what do you think?" Yuan Shikai asked, looking at Wang Shizhen, who looked normal.

Wang Shizhen was rarely silent for a while, and then said a meaningless nonsense. "How did Yan Jidao teach such an apprentice?"

The nonsense resonated with the Beiyang generals, in fact, after reading "This Life of Cixi", everyone had great confusion and opposition in their hearts. Beiyang's feeling for Cixi is that of a "powerful old lady". They did not object to Cixi's wrist, but they were full of complaints about it. In essence, whether it was the Beiyang Army or other forces of the Qing court, everyone was ruthlessly fighting for political and economic resources and exchanging interests, telling nonsense to fool the gentry and taking strong repression against the people. The modus operandi they do is no different.

So the lie is like a soap bubble to these people, just burst one and blow the other. The promotion in this system is to see who can talk nonsense, to see who can integrate into the system, and to tell nonsense better.

The People's Party led by Chen Ke is completely different, and they have clearly explained the secrets passed down by word of mouth within the traditional ruling class in words that the people can understand. This is no longer a struggle for power, this is to turn the table of power now. Because Chen Ke is a disciple of Yan Fu, Yan Fu is a cadre of the former Li Hongzhang Beiyang, so the Beiyang Army also thinks that Chen Ke is a member of the Beiyang line. However, it must be explained that the biggest reason that can make these over-the-top backbones of the Beiyang New Army feel this way is that Chen Ke has shown strong strength. If Chen Ke is now unknown, the backbone of the Beiyang New Army will not regard Chen Ke as their own at all.

Others are quite self-contained, for example, Duan Qirui just snorted, but subconsciously crushed the ground a few times with the heel of his military boots, as if he wanted to crush something that he couldn't see.

But Cao Kun was the first to scold: "What the hell is Yan Jidao going to do!" Did he read too many foreigners' books, and his brain was stupid! ”

As soon as Cao Kun's words fell, a few cold snorts sounded in the room.

Yuan Shikai didn't come to listen to these people scolding Yan Fu or Chen Ke, he waved his hand to stop Cao Kun from scolding him very likely to continue, "Everyone has their own ambitions in this matter, don't worry about them." The queen mother and the emperor died, what do you think? ”

Who here doesn't know what Yuan Shikai meant, the situation is so chaotic now, but it is full of various opportunities. Yuan Shikai's purpose in convening everyone was first to see the attitude of the people. Cao Kun immediately replied: "I am the first to look forward to the Yuan Gongma. Wherever Yuan Gong asked me to fight, I would hit it! Brothers here, we have all been with Yuan Gong for so long, what do you think. ”

"Humph!" Duan Qirui sneered, but he was noncommittal. He is Yuan Shikai's hardcore, and there is no need to make such a tough statement.

"Duke Yuan, you have to leave some dignity for the imperial court." Wang Shizhen's statement is the most gentle and the most meaningful.

The others expressed their positions, and between the imperial court and Yuan Shikai, they all chose Yuan Shikai.

With the support of everyone, Yuan Shikai was both a little relieved and a little disappointed. Although he now has heavy troops, Yuan Shikai has no intention of being Dong Zhuo. Or that he has no intention of repeating Dong Zhuo's mistakes at all.

In Chen Ke's book "The Inheritance of Chinese Culture and the Rise of Materialism," several books are devoted to political change. When it comes to Han politics, Chen Ke does not think that Dong Zhuo is a traitor. The Ten Standing Servants and their relatives killed each other in the capital, and Dong Zhuo took the Xiliang soldiers into Beijing to support the crumbling regime. Of course, it triggered the local autonomy that began to swell in the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Dong Zhuo may be arrogant, but he himself is still attached to the vine on the big tree of the imperial court. The imperial court is gone, and Dong Zhuo has no way to exist independently. The princes of the Eighteenth Route against Dong Zhuo were actually local forces taking advantage of their resistance to Dong Zhuo to carry out military and political actions to legitimize their own secession.

After Yuan Shikai read this paragraph, he was amazed at the time. The situation in the world is similar to that of the late Han Dynasty, and the central government seems to be able to dispatch officials smoothly, ostensibly maintaining normal operation. In fact, it is already full of holes and crumbling. Yuan Shikai is now the governor of Henan, commanding the army. If he dares to lead troops into Beijing and promote the journey of power against the background of military force, the governor of the world will immediately be "full of enemies". It may not be true that the princes of the Eighteenth Road will discuss Dong Zhuo, but "what the thousand people pointed out will end without a problem". If Yuan Shikai was scolded by the world, it would not feel good at all.

Especially now the little emperor on the stage is extremely unjust, and it is not enough to convince the public. Yuan Shikai was in no hurry to return to Beijing at all. But if you don't go back to Beijing, you can't do it. Now it is necessary to launch a nationwide tandem, and when Beijing has an opportunity, at that time, Yuan Shikai is leading the troops back to Beijing in a bright light, which is "the expectation of the public", and no one can shake Yuan Shikai in the slightest.

In fact, Yuan Shikai wanted to let his backbone put forward suggestions in this regard, but Yuan Shikai was disappointed. Aside from a simple oath of allegiance, no one has mentioned them in business. "If Chen Ke is under me, this consideration should be a piece of cake." Yuan Shikai thought regretfully.

However, Yuan Shikai didn't realize that in fact, this kind of thing needed to be planned by the group leader himself. Since Yuan Shikai wanted his subordinates to take the initiative to talk about this matter, it had already proved that he had no confidence in the Beiyang group, especially that Yuan Shikai himself lacked firm belief in resisting the Manchu system. After being a slave for a long time, it is not so easy to change the mentality to the position of the master first.

"Let's talk about how to fight the BJP." Seeing that no one said the core issue, Yuan Shikai had to put forward another topic that cut into the problem.

After Cixi's death, Yuan Shikai Beiyang "swore to exterminate the rebellious party", but the Qing army in Shanghai, which had attacked the Zhejiang Guangfuhui, immediately withdrew to Shanghai.

"Tao Gong, the Qing army has really withdrawn to Shanghai!" I listened to the report of the spies who came back. Tao Chengzhang stood at the head of Hangzhou, and no trace of the Qing army could be seen in the telescope. In fact, this is redundant, and the range of activity of the spies is much greater than that of a telescope. Tao Chengzhang suddenly felt that his legs were weak, and he almost wanted to sit at the head of the city.

After the defeat under the city of Nanjing, the large army of the Restoration Society was defeated all the way back to Hangzhou. This time it was a defeat, so naturally there could not be any benefits such as booty, and many troops passed near their hometowns and went home directly from the large army of the Liberation Society. Often after a night's rest, many of the camps that were once supposed to be manned are empty. This attrition continued until Hangzhou, and the original force of tens of thousands of people was left with less than 4,000.

This loss was not actually the most important, and in several key battles south of Nanjing, the Guangfuhui lost most of its elite troops. During the retreat, even their own wounded and the BJP medical team were left behind. That's the real loss.

Although in the later news, the People's Party medical team alone resisted the onslaught of the Qing army Wang Youhong, and finally with the response of the People's Party's large army, thousands of wounded Guangfuhui were safely evacuated to Anhui. But the elite troops are now wounded, and it is impossible to get them back to fight anytime soon.

This time, the Liberation Society began to scold the People's Party again, "Why didn't the troops who can fight the war send out to help early, and it is impossible not to give the People's Party a share when the spoils of war are divided." "These people have completely forgotten that many of them once insisted that when the People's Party came to Zhejiang with weapons, they had to hand over the weapons to the Liberation Association first.

However, no matter how you scold the People's Party, it is all false, and the Qing army in Shanghai attacked all the way, because the forces of the Liberation Society were concentrated in Hangzhou, and the Qing army was "like a bamboo" along the way, and more than 3,000 Qing troops fought all the way to the city of Hangzhou before stopping. Fortunately, the Liberation Society experienced the brutal training of the Battle of Nanjing. Whether or not you have experienced the war is very different, after the fierce shooting of the Qing army in Shanghai, they will be afraid to attack the city. The Restoration Society was even able to hide on the walls without firing, waiting until the Qing army approached the walls before firing a disciplined salvo. The Qing army often suffered more than a dozen casualties, and then the attack was defeated and retreated.

After attacking several times, the Qing army in Shanghai immediately changed the pattern and began to shell the city. The Restoration Society adopted the method of staying under the city and placing a small number of troops at the head of the city. As soon as the Qing troops were within range of the outside of the city, the Qing artillery stopped firing. The troops of the Liberation Society hurried up to the head of the city to defend against the enemy. The number of Qing troops was not as good as that of the Guangfuhui, and the tactics of the Guangfuhui were reasonable, so the Qing army could not defeat Hangzhou, and the two sides simply fell into a war of confrontation.

However, as the Beiyang New Army moved south, Cixi also strictly ordered the Qing army in Shanghai to attack Hangzhou, and the Qing army increased by 2,000 troops, and the battle became a little fiercer. There were not many weapons and ammunition in the early stage, and the consumption in the early defensive battle was extremely high, and in the face of the Qing army's attack, each gun was less than ten bullets. Although the siege war did not improve, the Qing army effectively blockaded Hangzhou. The Liberation Society was deprived of food, weapons and ammunition, and the situation in the city was precarious.

At this time, it was Qiu Jin who stood up, and Qiu Jin executed more than a dozen deserters in public, and took over the command in person. All bullets are managed in a unified manner, and no shots will be fired until the critical moment. The Qing army was still the same bear, and there was no progress except for firing artillery. Each attack is not resolute. Even so, in order to create enough momentum to fire guns, the Restoration Society continued to consume ammunition. It wasn't until Qiu Jin finally remembered that the People's Party used firecrackers in iron barrels to create "gunshots", which finally greatly improved the utilization rate of bullets.

After Cixi's death, the Qing army retreated. In the entire city of Hangzhou, the total number of bullets left in the Guangfu Army was less than 3,000 rounds. If the Qing army really made a fierce attack, the Guangfu army would soon have to fight the Qing army with broadswords and spears.

Qiu Jin walked to Tao Chengzhang's side, these days she patrols day and night with the newly formed death squad, and has to participate in battles during wartime. Qiu Jin's whole person has lost a lot of weight. The once plump complexion now gives people a withered feeling, and a lot of gray hair has appeared on the sideburns, and Qiu Jin, who is in her thirties, now looks ten years older.

"Tao Gong, ask the People's Party for help." Qiu Jin's voice had been hoarse for a long time, and her voice sounded as rough as sandpaper at this time.

"Who to send?" Tao Chengzhang asked a little sluggishly. This once energetic and enthusiastic revolutionary leader is no longer what he used to be. Most of his anger had been drained of his daily battles and hardships, and the rest was only enough to maintain normal speech and patrol.

Qiu Jin glanced at the Restoration Society soldiers in the city, the long-term siege of the city had tormented these people and made them sluggish. Qiu Jin was very puzzled by this, the People's Party had actually experienced more battles, and its bloody and cruel level was not comparable to that of the Liberation Society, but why couldn't the People's Party see these things at all. From Chen Ke to the officers and soldiers below, everyone looked focused and full of vitality.

"Where are we from them?" Qiu Jin thought silently. These days, in fact, many people are privately scolding Xu Xilin for hiding in the safety of Anhui and not coming back, so that the brothers of the Restoration Society in Hangzhou will be sent to death. Every time Qiu Jin heard this, she scolded bitterly.

Xu Xilin and the others have already done their best under the city of Nanjing, leaving behind Xu Xilin and others and fleeing back to Hangzhou, the members of the Guangfuhui are not qualified to make irresponsible remarks. Without Xu Xilin and others, Guangfu will be chased and killed by the new military rank in Jiangnan, and it is not impossible to be afraid that the whole army will be annihilated. The People's Party also fought brutally to stop the Qing army, and the wounded fled for their lives after fighting, but they still had to suffer this kind of slander. Qiu Jin's dissatisfaction can be imagined. In fact, Qiu Jin even hoped that Xu Xilin would not come back rashly, if Hangzhou unfortunately fell, Xu Xilin's elite troops would be the last contacts of the Liberation Society.

"Tao Gong, if there is no one, I will go now." Qiu Jin pleaded.

"No, you can't. Xuanqing, as soon as you leave now, I'm afraid that this city will be scattered immediately. Tao Chengzhang seems to be sluggish, but in fact, he can still effectively judge the situation.

"Tao Gong, everyone is now full of resentment, send them to God knows what the comrades will say." Qiu Jin also has enough thinking ability.

Tao Chengzhang glanced at the members of the Restoration Society who were crooked everywhere, and it was a good thing that the Qing army should be happy about when they retreated. But these people only have the appearance of the rest of their lives after the catastrophe, some people are a little timid to hold on to the city wall and look out, and some people simply cover their faces and cry with joy. There was no excitement after the victory in the battle to defend the city.

"Xuanqing, you stay and straighten out the troops. I went for help. Tao Chengzhang said tiredly.

"Tao Gong!" Qiu Jin never expected Tao Chengzhang to choose like this.

"Xuanqing doesn't have to refuse, these days, you are the only one who can lead everyone to persevere. I can't do anything but die like other comrades. I can rest assured that Hangzhou City will be handed over to you. This time I went to see Chen Ke, and I went in person. Since I am the leader of the Restoration Society, and I died on my knees at Chen Ke's place, I will definitely ask for help back. Tao Chengzhang's tone was extremely flat, as if he was going on an outing.

"Tao Gong, it's better for you to stay in Hangzhou. Apart from you, who else can contact the comrades of the Liberation Association in various places? Qiu Jin still opposed Tao Chengzhang leaving.

"Haha," Tao Chengzhang laughed nervously when he heard this, "Contact the comrades of the Liberation Association in various places? It's been a few months since the siege of the city, and who of the people we sent out to contact brought people back? It's the comrades from Shaoxing who came, but Shaoxing was already empty by us, so what's the use of so many dozens of people coming? Now the only people who can be relied on are the comrades in Anhui, and I heard that Bosun asked the comrades to follow the people's party to carry out the revolution in Anhui and study seriously. I think they've learned a lot, too. If we continue to do this, we will definitely not succeed. The Liberation Society must learn from the methods of the People's Party. ”

Qiu Jin agreed with this, and she no longer stopped it, but smiled as heartily as possible: "Then Tao Gong doesn't have to worry about me here, as long as I am still here, I will definitely be able to defend this Hangzhou City." Don't be in a hurry, come back after you're done. Guns and ammunition, all kinds of aid, as much as you want. Don't be polite to Wenqing. ”

When Tao Chengzhang left for Anhui, the Central Committee of the People's Party also reached an agreement. The second batch of 15,000 troops from the Dabie Mountains were mobilized to Fengtai County. The 106th Division was formed with the remaining 5,000 troops. The 104th and 105th Divisions, which had completed their training, marched into Wuhan in the name of disaster relief. From July to August 1908, Hubei summer "obscenity is a disaster", "Wuhan three lakes and townships have no harvest, and the residents in the city are in many places in the water", the disaster area covers 29 prefectures and counties, Huanggang, Macheng, Huang'an, Qianjiang, Huangpi and other hard-hit areas, "most of them are Zeguo, the drowning population is not counted, and the disaster is all over the wilderness", because of the disaster for five consecutive years, the people are in unspeakable hardship.

Before Cixi's death, the People's Party troops had to confront Beiyang and were powerless to move. As soon as Cixi died, the Central Committee of the People's Party approved the plan to march into Hubei after discussion. The purpose of this dispatch was to seize all the areas north of the Yangtze River in Hubei. In particular, the steel mills in Hanyang and related military industries are determined by the People's Party. In order to achieve this goal, the elite troops of the People's Party poured out of their nests and went to Hubei under the leadership of General Political Commissar He Zudao to "provide disaster relief".

The troops remaining in the base area were the 106th Division, which was about to be formed on paper, with Pu Guanshui as the division commander and Xiong Mingyang, the outstanding political commissar. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Chen Ke personally commanded this army to confront Beiyang. With Chen Ke in charge, it seems to give the comrades the confidence of the five divisions. The comrades who originally opposed the entry of the main forces into Hubei also compromised for the time being.

Not only was the Anhui base area moving, but Hua Xiongmao, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and some comrades of the Central Military Commission and the General Staff Department went to the Shandong base area. The four towns of Beiyang fought externally, and Beijing was empty of troops. After a year of construction, the gradually stabilized Shandong base area has the ability to fight against foreign countries.

Chen Ke demanded that the Shandong troops violently harass the Manchu city of Beijing during this period and create chaos. Let Yuan Shikai's attention be more focused on Beijing. to alleviate possible threats to the base areas.

After three years of revolutionary experience, this revolutionary party, which started with eight people and grew up through countless temperings, fought for the first time in a large-scale decentralized operation. Although Chen Ke didn't say it, he had great trepidation in his heart. If he was faced with a complicated situation and danger himself, he might not even have raised an eyebrow. However, these cadres and fighters were all brought out by Chen Kexin, and Chen Ke once used all his ability to protect them. And now that protection has come to an end, they have to stand alone.

No matter how he tried to convince himself of "this is an inevitable process", Chen Ke couldn't let go. The first to set off was Hua Xiongmao, although their troops were not many, but they were all elites in the command system that the People's Party had accumulated over the past few years. Chen Ke held Hua Xiongmao's hand and didn't want to let go.

Hua Xiongmao showed a resolute smile, "Wenqing, don't worry." I will definitely cooperate well with the comrades in Shandong and turn Hebei and Beijing upside down. ”

"Zhenglan!" Chen Ke wanted to say something to this comrade-in-arms who always followed him, but it didn't feel right to take care or be careful. In fact, what Chen Ke wanted to say was, "Don't die." "But how bad you think about it. Chen Ke finally let go of Hua Xiongmao's hand.

"Zhenglan, work hard." This was the only thing Chen Ke felt he could say smoothly.

Hua Xiongmao didn't expect Chen Ke to hold back such a sentence at the end, his expression instantly became solemn, and he saluted Chen Ke seriously, Hua Xiongmao replied: "I will definitely listen and learn more, and I will not cause trouble to the comrades in Shandong." ”

Chen Ke also returned the salute with a serious expression, and the two shook hands again, but neither spoke. Letting go of Chen Ke's hand, Hua Xiongmao and the other elated comrades walked towards the dock.