Piles of dark gray clouds pressed low on the earth. The merciless autumn has stripped the trees of their beautiful clothes, and they can only stand bare, gloomy.

The autumn rain kept hitting Tao Chengzhang's face, but he never slowed down. He wore hemp rope around his waist and shoes on his feet, but he did not show the slightest decadence and frustration on his body and face.

Tao Chengzhang, once used the name Hansi, Qidong, Zhige, Xunyan, Shaoxing Huiji Taoyan West Shangtang people. Although his family was poor when he was young, he was gifted and intelligent, and he received a good education in the old school. At the age of six, he entered the Tao School in the village to study, and at the age of fifteen, he set up a museum in his hometown as a teacher, and wrote books such as "The History of the Growth and Decline of Chinese National Power" and "A Brief History of Zhejiang Cases".

The Boxer Rebellion in 1900 inspired his patriotic consciousness to save the nation from peril, and gradually coincided with the democratic idea of "overthrowing the monarchy and establishing a democratic republic". Father Tao Pin was afraid of disaster and warned him many times, but his will remained the same.

As early as after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War, Tao Chengzhang was so worried that he made up his mind to follow Rong. After the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, he went to Beijing twice to assassinate Cixi without success. Later, Tao went to Mukden, Mongolia and other places to inspect the terrain and thought it was a plan. On the way back, the road passed through Xuzhou, lack of funds, walked for seven days and nights, and almost died of hunger.

In 190, Tao went north again to assassinate him, but to no avail. In August, with the help of Cai Yuanpei, he went east to Japan and entered Tsinghua School, and a few months later transferred to Chengcheng School, where he worked diligently in the army class and achieved excellent results. In 1903, the superintendent of studying abroad tried to persuade him to return to China and cancel his study status in Japan, but his revolutionary spirit became stronger and stronger, and he often wore hemp rope around his waist and wore mango shoes on his feet, and traveled all over Zhejiang to "walk 110 miles a day, tirelessly and tirelessly, and go to his hometown in Hangzhou four times without returning", and actively contacted the local associations and parties in order to plot against the Qing Dynasty.

Although Tao Chengzhang now believes that "revolution is rebellion...... change the dynasty, restore the Han family, and establish a regime ruled by the Han people", but in him, there are the epitome of many revolutionaries at that time, who would rather give up a comfortable life, leave a warm family, and abandon personal happiness, and chose a revolutionary road full of hardships and thorns.

Revolution lies in practice and implementation, which is also Tao Chengzhang's proposition. Judging by his experience and deeds, he can be called a revolutionary puritan and ascetic.

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Yueke came to the teahouse, and the business was very cold, but everyone in the rivers and lakes knew that this teahouse was used by people in the gang to contact the joints, or where outsiders came to sign up. People in the rivers and lakes, when they first arrived in an unfamiliar territory, do not know the situation of the local gang, let alone who the boss of the dock is, how to explore the gang? Under normal circumstances, it is not appropriate to publicly reveal the identity of gang members, and of course, it is inconvenient to ask around. If you want to contact the joint, you have to go to the dock teahouse to sign up. Listing is to show the action of the gang rules and speak the language of the gang rules in the teahouse.

Tao Chengzhang walked into the teahouse, and after sitting down, he greeted: "Cousin, make a bowl of tea." ”

The teahouse was stunned for a moment, looked at the shopkeeper behind the counter, and after getting his nod, he immediately sent a bowl of brewed green tea, carefully paying attention to Tao Chengzhang's demeanor and words.

Tao Chengzhang gently removed the bowl lid and placed it on the left side of the tea bowl, with the top of the bowl facing outward and the bottom of the lid facing inward. The cousin was expressionless, reached out and handed over a pair of chopsticks, which were placed vertically on the right side of the tea bowl, and Tao Chengzhang immediately placed the chopsticks horizontally in front of the tea bowl.

The shopkeeper slowly walked out from behind the counter, clenched his fists, and said to Tao Chengzhang: "Dare to ask, where are you the boss?" ”

Tao Chengzhang stood up respectfully and replied, "Don't dare, it's just the scenery of the ancestors!"

The shopkeeper continued to ask, "Who is your predecessor?" What kind of gang is your gang? ”

Tao Chengzhang replied: "I don't dare to speak about my father at home, and I don't dare to speak about my teacher when I go out. ”

After the two sides answered each other like this, they knew that everyone was in the help, but the question and answer between each other was not over. The shopkeeper wanted to know more detailed information, so he asked, "Which word is the boss?" ”

Tao Chengzhang replied: "The head is twenty generations, the body is twenty-one generations, and the feet are twenty-two." ”

The shopkeeper nodded, sat down opposite Tao Chengzhang, and said, "I don't know if the boss is passing through the land, or is he going to open another dock?" ”

"In Xia Jiu Yang and Yitang Zhao Mountain's prestige, I came to see you." Tao Chengzhang replied truthfully.

When the shopkeeper heard this, his face became solemn, he looked Tao Chengzhang up and down carefully, and then said lukewarmly: "This place is no longer under the control of Heyitang, boss, please eat first, and the details will be discussed later." After speaking, he beckoned the cousin to entertain Tao Chengzhang according to the rules, and turned around and left.

…………………

At this time, it is noon, and although the sun is not as good as summer, it also drives away a lot of the cold of late autumn...... Tao Chengzhang washed his face, squatted in the shadow of the wall, picked up the rice bowl, and ate in a big gulp.

The food provided at the construction site is quite good, with multigrain noodles and steamed buns, and vegetable soup with oil stars, which is really rare and delicious for the workers who come to work. The only bad thing is that the construction period is very strict, and if it is not completed, the salary will be deducted.

Today is Sunday, and many students of the Patriotic Society have come to work-study, pushing sand, moving bricks, and I heard that only doing these odd jobs earns more money a day than real workers. Since Cai Yuanpei joined the Revival Association, the Patriotic Society quit the house and moved to Lujiawan.

"These student babies are going to eat!" A worker looked at the students' backs and reluctantly took a small piece of fat from the soup bowl into his mouth and chewed it carefully.

"We earn more than us, and we eat better than us." Another worker shook his head and said enviously: "I have seen white rice and several dishes on an iron plate!" ”

"It's better to read!" I don't know who made a heartfelt sigh.

An overseer came over and beckoned to Tao Chengzhang, who quickly put down his job and ran over.

"Brother Tao, let's go see the dragon head now, remember, don't say that I brought you here." The overseer instructed.

Tao Chengzhang traveled around Jiangsu and Zhejiang, liaising with the Hui Party and rebelling against the Qing Dynasty. The rest of the place was relatively smooth, but I ran into a nose of dust in the teahouse. also blamed him for choosing a bad time, Zhao Jinghu "committed suicide in fear of crime" in prison, and Yitang had become a trend of collapse under the suppression, so he was naturally very vigilant about him, an outsider who suddenly arrived, and sent him away with some travel expenses.

After suffering a setback, Tao Chengzhang came to Xingyitang with a glimmer of hope, but unexpectedly learned that Jin Sanye, the owner of Xingyitang, basically didn't care about things, and Xiangchang Li Yapu went to the sea to open a company, and most of the brothers went to work as workers, which made Tao Chengzhang and the second monk puzzled.

Just when he was wandering, he happened to meet this fellow villager from Hongmen, and after begging, this fellow reluctantly agreed to help him meet Jin Sanye.

Under the guidance of this fellow villager, Tao Chengzhang came to Jin Sanye's residence in Lujiawan, a two-story small building under the shade of green trees.

"This is it." The little fellow pointed and said in a low voice, "I have to go, don't delay too long." ”

Tao Chengzhang nodded, and saw the little fellow go away, before he stepped forward to call the door.

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