The event of the Restoration Society withdrawing from the Tongmenghui in history also played out in the history where Chen Ke was. Moreover, the attitude of the Restoration Society was much more determined than in history. This was the influence caused by the rise of the People's Party. In this new space-time, not only did Chen Ke regard the Restoration Society as a semi-partner, but after experiencing the cooperation in Chizhou, the Restoration Society also regarded the People's Party as a potential major partner.

Originally, the Restoration Society paid more attention to military action than the Tongmenghui. The Restoration Society took over Chizhou and then retreated from Chizhou, seemingly gaining nothing. In fact, during the few months of governing Chizhou, the Restoration Society finally got enough practical training opportunities. How a revolutionary party should operate a city had always been the knowledge most lacking among revolutionaries. Besides lack of experience, they also lacked the mentality of a ruling party.

In this regard, the People's Party led by Chen Ke had no such problem at all. Not only did the education Chen Ke received include systematic knowledge of forming a government system, but from the beginning, the People's Party had Shang Yuan as the Magistrate of Fengtai County. Everyone knew in their hearts that they wanted to overthrow the Manchu Qing, but the identity of the magistrate allowed the People's Party to always exist in the form of a local regime. The People's Party, which should have been a "rebel," had ample experience in "operating a revolutionary regime." This was also an important reason why the People's Party could quickly issue orders with a "government" mentality in the newly liberated areas. The People's Party had always received training for a revolutionary regime.

The experience in Chizhou also gave the Restoration Society an opportunity for this kind of training. Because the Restoration Society retreated in an orderly manner, there was no loss of personnel. After being forced to withdraw from Chizhou, the Restoration Society also felt depressed in their hearts, but there was no blow of disastrous defeat like the Yue Wang Society.

When they first returned to Zhejiang, the Restoration Society had to enter underground work. Thanks to the terrible detective ability of the Manchu Qing, the Restoration Society did not suffer personnel losses. During the "dormant" period, the Restoration Society was not idle either. The treasury silver transported back from Chizhou effectively activated the operational capability of the Restoration Society, and the captured guns from Chizhou improved the military strength of the Restoration Society. More importantly, the Restoration Society had confidence.

In 1907 in history, the Restoration Society launched an uprising with a mindset of burning their boats. As a result, except for the assassination of En Ming, other actions were completely defeated. With the existence of the People's Party, the despair in the heart of the Restoration Society was swept away. Not only did they not launch an uprising like in history, but they calmed down and began to expand their influence and operate the organization of the Restoration Society. Although they didn't say it with their mouths, the main cadres of the Restoration Society all had an idea in their hearts that something like Chizhou might not necessarily happen a second time.

After the People's Party annihilated Li Yuanhong's troops and retook Anqing, the world was shaken. The notices calling the Manchu Qing the "Manchu Qing Bandit Gang" and Cixi the "Manchu Qing Bandit Gang Female Bandit Chief" were not only posted in Beijing but also posted in various scales in major cities. The Manchu officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were all terrified. All major cities shrank their troops to strictly prevent being raided by the People's Party. Under such circumstances, the activities of the Restoration Society immediately became active.

As a symbolic event, the Datong School resumed classes. The Restoration Society had announced its existence after capturing Chizhou. To gather strength to go to Chizhou, they temporarily closed the Datong School. Shaoxing Prefect Gui Fu also pretended to seal the Datong School.

After the People's Party retook Anqing, more than a dozen self-sacrificing Restoration Society members volunteered to tear off the seals and restationed in the Datong School. Regarding such things, Shaoxing Prefect Gui Fu adopted an attitude of "turning a blind eye." In the late Qing Dynasty, from officials to the people, there was a common understanding of the inevitability of the collapse of the Manchu regime. So even if the "rebels were so rampant," Gui Fu himself still had no reaction. He did report this matter to the Hangzhou Governor's Yamen. Although Hangzhou Governor Zeng Yun was a bannerman like Gui Fu, Zeng Yun was very smart. Since Gui Fu refused to act against the Restoration Society himself, how could Zeng Yun be willing to take the blame? He wrote three words on this official document: "Understood." Then he asked someone to take it back to Gui Fu. Gui Fu understood immediately upon seeing these three words. So he also "understood."

The reason for restarting the Datong School was actually mainly to cover the real meeting place of the Restoration Society, the Tongyi School in Donghu (East Lake), Shaoxing.

Donghu Tongyi School was a new-style school run by Shaoxing gentry Tao Junxuan. In 1901, he converted the Donghu Academy he donated into Donghu Tongyi School. The school hired "six Chinese and foreign teachers, teaching mainly the Five Classics and Four Books, supplemented by history and foreign politics and art, and also teaching mathematics, physics, and foreign languages," which is the so-called "Tongyi" (Mastering Arts). Tao Chengzhang, Shou Xiaotian, He Langxian, Zhou Zuoren, and others taught at the school successively. Tao expanded the school, added dormitories, and built a library to donate various books from his family collection. All the Nine Classics, Official Histories, Nine Encyclopedias, Philosophers, and Collections were roughly available, and new books translated from the East and West, maps, instruments, and surveying tools were purchased for students to examine. A wooden seal was carved for office documents and giving students diplomas in the future. The school regulations were drafted by Cai Yuanpei.

Now the school was on "vacation," and it only became lively after the cadres of the Restoration Society used it as a gathering place. The founder of the school, Tao Junxuan, was relatively supportive of the revolution. Although he resolutely refused to join the Revolutionary Party, he was willing to lend the school to the Revolutionary Party for use. Tao Junxuan's attitude towards the revolution was self-evident.

Xu Xilin returned relatively late. After returning from Chizhou, he went to Jinhua to contact and train secret societies under the order of Tao Chengzhang. Returning with him this time were also the local secret society leaders of Jinhua. As soon as he entered the Tongyi School, he only saw some other Restoration Society cadres, but Tao Chengzhang and others were not there. Upon inquiry, he learned that Tao Chengzhang and Qiu Jin accompanied Zhang Taiyan for a walk by the East Lake.

At this time, the three actually had the mood to take a walk; Xu Xilin knew there must be something strange in it. Just as he was preparing to find the three, Chen Boping, who had worked with Xu Xilin in Anqing, stopped Xu Xilin. "Mr. Xu, I have some unclear points reading Mr. Chen Ke's book recently. I wonder if Mr. Xu has time."

Since Chizhou, Chen Ke's books had become must-read books for Restoration Society cadres daily. The Restoration Society all believed they could find the secret of the People's Party's success from this set of books, and all cadres were studying intently. The circulation of this set of books was not large originally; the only good thing was that there were many volumes, so everyone could exchange them to read. When Xu Xilin was in Jinhua, he even encountered Restoration Society cadres running from Chuzhou specifically to ask to exchange different volumes with him.

If it were normal times, Xu Xilin could also explain to Chen Boping, but he was anxious to tell Tao Chengzhang about Jinhua now. He asked Chen Boping to wait until the evening, and then hurried out.

The location of Shaoxing East Lake was originally a bluestone mountain. When Qin Shi Huang toured the east, he once stopped here to feed horses, so it was called Ruokui Mountain. After the Han Dynasty, Ruokui Mountain became a stone quarry in Shaoxing. After thousands of years of chiseling and axing, and adopting a special stone quarrying method, half of the green mountain was moved away, forming a cliff more than 50 meters high. Laborers quarrying stone also generally went deep underground for more than 20 meters, some even forty or fifty meters. Over time, a clear water pond more than 200 meters long and about 80 meters wide was formed. Tao Junxuan, the founder of Tongyi School, had a unique vision. He used the quarry to build a wall and slightly widened the water surface, thus forming East Lake with mountains and rivers reflecting each other, becoming a wonderful landscape bonsai created by nature and man.

Xu Xilin knew that if Tao Chengzhang chatted, he would probably go to Xiachuan Bridge. Sure enough, he saw Tao Chengzhang and the other two standing by the bridge from a distance. Seeing Xu Xilin rushing over, Tao Chengzhang laughed, "We were just talking about Bosun, and Bosun arrived."

After everyone greeted each other, Zhang Taiyan also laughed, "Seeing Bosun so anxious, presumably there is good news."

Xu Xilin said, "There are far more secret society leaders joining our side in Jinhua than expected. I can't handle it. I want Huanqing to transfer people over to help."

Hearing Xu Xilin's words, Tao Chengzhang laughed, "But no rush."

Tao Chengzhang was usually the most radical, always afraid of any delay in launching revolutionary uprisings. Hearing "but no rush" from his mouth, Xu Xilin even suspected if he heard wrong.

"Bosun, I just returned from Nanjing. The People's Party and the Manchu Qing are bound to have a big battle in the near future. As long as we wait for the People's Party to win, we will first take Shaoxing, then take Hangzhou, and finally march on Nanjing. At that time, there will be the People's Party in Jiangbei and our Restoration Society in Jiangnan. The two sides echo each other; the Manchu Qing will inevitably perish." Tao Chengzhang's voice contained extreme enthusiasm, not looking like "no rush" at all.

"Oh? But when?" Xu Xilin also became excited.

"When is unknown. Now Jiangnan Admiral Zhang Xun is leading his defense army to monitor the Ninth Division of the Jiangnan New Army, fearing that the Ninth Division will rebel. Seeing them like this, even if they cross the river, they will probably collapse at the first touch. Our comrades in the Ninth Division said that this time not only the Ninth Division, but the Jiangnan Admiral, Jiangbei Admiral, Beiyang New Army, and Hubei New Army will jointly attack Anhui. It is even said that the Sichuan New Army and Henan New Army will also participate. It seems like a big battle array." Talking about the four-sided siege the People's Party was about to face, Tao Chengzhang didn't feel nervous at all. Since he learned that the People's Party annihilated Li Yuanhong's troops, he had extreme confidence in the combat effectiveness of the People's Party.

Qiu Jin laughed after hearing this, "Wenqing is going to work hard."

Zhang Taiyan hadn't met Chen Ke. Seeing these three comrades actually had such confidence in Chen Ke, he was also somewhat surprised. "Is Mr. Chen Ke really less than 30 years old?"

"Although Wenqing is young, he is a hero. In fact, just looking at Wenqing's appearance, it wouldn't be strange to say he just turned 20." Qiu Jin said with a smile.

Tao Chengzhang nodded. "Wenqing is not only a hero; I think he has an Imperial air (*Di Qi*)."

These words changed the faces of the other three. The purpose of the Restoration Society was to overthrow the Manchu Qing regime. As for whether the future China would be a republic or a monarchy, the Restoration Society might actually prefer a monarchy. The meaning in Tao Chengzhang's words was very profound.

Xu Xilin asked tentatively, "Mr. Tao, do you..."

Tao Chengzhang waved his hand. "It is still early to talk about some things, but our Restoration Society should not contend with the People's Party in Jiangbei. The Yue Wang Society overestimated themselves and suffered a great defeat in Anqing. There is no need for the Restoration Society to follow their example."

Zhang Taiyan was very puzzled by Tao Chengzhang's words. Tao Chengzhang had a fierce temper and his style was even a bit domineering. Moreover, Tao Chengzhang always regarded himself as a revolutionary predecessor. If younger revolutionaries dared to conflict with Tao Chengzhang in stealing the limelight, Tao Chengzhang would not give face. Unexpectedly, this "revolutionary predecessor" also had times when he softened.

Seeing that everyone might have misunderstood his meaning, Tao Chengzhang explained, "Wenqing knows propriety and will absolutely not be like those people in the Tongmenghui. As long as we don't contend in Jiangbei matters, we can definitely coexist."

The Restoration Society knew the true strength of the People's Party. Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin both nodded in agreement.

Zhang Taiyan was a literati and didn't understand military affairs. Seeing these cadres organizing the army had a consistent attitude, he couldn't interrupt. But Zhang Taiyan had his own ideas about Chen Ke's revolutionary thoughts. "Gentlemen, I have read Chen Ke's book; it is refreshing. But I feel he talks about the past but not the present. He only said half of the words, making people feel unsatisfied."

This was not just Zhang Taiyan's personal view. Now that the People's Party rose strongly, people who read Chen Ke's set of "Chinese Cultural Heritage and the Rise of Materialism" indeed felt refreshed looking at China's past from a "materialist" perspective. But the purpose of knowing the past is to change the fate of the present. Chen Ke didn't say a word about how exactly to change the world today. Many revolutionaries hoped to see Chen Ke point out a new path, letting themselves, who didn't know where the future lay, see the true direction of China.

Looking at the comrades feeling the same, Tao Chengzhang laughed, "Although Wenqing didn't write it, he did it solidly in Anhui. He is very secretive; he absolutely refuses to take out such good things for everyone to see."

This couldn't be said to wrong Chen Ke. Chen Ke indeed had no intention of showing the "Selected Works" copied from Grandpa Mao to the revolutionaries of this era. The internal construction and educational materials of the People's Party were not passed on to outsiders. Although not strictly guarded, there was absolutely no intention of making them public. And the fact that the People's Party achieved great success itself proved the advanced nature of the People's Party's own thoughts and systems. Other revolutionaries of this era were extremely curious and envious of the People's Party's "Success Science."

Hearing this, Zhang Taiyan's face became a bit ugly. Tao Chengzhang hurriedly said seriously, "Mr. Taiyan, I was joking. Wenqing helped us a lot. On the way back from Chizhou, the two revolutionary comrades he sent specially could be said to have taught us everything they knew. Mr. Taiyan, please don't misunderstand."

On the way retreating from Chizhou to Anhui (base area), Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu of the People's Party commanded the retreat. Although the Restoration Society also engaged in military training, it was all low-level training like queuing, and they knew nothing about relatively deep things like how to arrange tactics effectively. The extremely scientific and effective command of Lu Zhengping and the others opened the eyes of this group of people, really giving a feeling of sudden enlightenment. Tao Chengzhang was convinced by Chen Ke in the first Battle of Anqing, and after this great retreat, he was completely convinced by the strength of the People's Party.

Just as they were talking, a Restoration Society cadre ran over in a hurry. "Mr. Tao, Mr. Huang Xing and Mr. Song Jiaoren of the Tongmenghui are asking to see you." Hearing this, the main cadres of the Restoration Society all darkened their faces.

Zhang Taiyan couldn't help asking, "What are they here for?"

"These two said they have important matters to discuss."

Huang Xing was a doer in the Tongmenghui, while Song Jiaoren had strong party operation capabilities. Sun Yat-sen was neither good at political party operation nor armed struggle, but he had a "sensing" ability for the situation. Regarding the direction of changes in the situation, Sun Yat-sen had a very strong sensing ability. He could feel "who is Sun Yat-sen's friend, and who is Sun Yat-sen's enemy."

Historically, the climax of the uprising in 1907 was originally led by the Restoration Society. Now the People's Party became the one standing on the cusp of armed struggle. Historically, the Yue Wang Society started another wave of uprising climax in 1908, but now the Yue Wang Society, as a member of the Tongmenghui, was completely finished and had to take shelter under the banner of the People's Party.

In the old space-time, the failure of the uprisings in 1907-1908 made the Tongmenghui gradually become the core force of the revolution. In any case, the Tongmenghui headquarters in Japan had never suffered losses. In many competitions, it is not necessarily the person who pays the greatest sacrifice who can win, but the person who can stand at the end when the curtain falls on the stage becomes the winner.

The current situation had changed greatly. The forces that the Tongmenghui could still contact all suffered defeat. Instead, the People's Party, which had nothing to do with the Tongmenghui, rose strongly. The Restoration Society, which broke away from the Tongmenghui, although failing to get Chizhou, didn't suffer any personnel losses. On the contrary, the Tongmenghui, after losing the Yue Wang Society, plus the success of the People's Party and the growth of the Restoration Society, saw its influence sliding all the way down.

Sun Yat-sen assessed the situation and first wrote a letter to Chen Ke, inviting Chen Ke to join the Tongmenghui. As a person who could see where his own interests lay, Sun Yat-sen didn't think the People's Party would really be interested in joining the Tongmenghui, but Sun Yat-sen had to use the success of the People's Party to expand his influence. The purpose of his letter was just a stepping stone. Without waiting for Chen Ke's reply, Sun Yat-sen sent Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren back to China together.

When Tao Chengzhang and others returned to the Tongyi School, Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren had been waiting for a while. Huang Xing had an impatient temper and was already a bit impatient after waiting for such a while. Song Jiaoren sat there steadily, not caring at all whether he was treated coldly.

Seeing Tao Chengzhang and others come in, Song Jiaoren stood up enthusiastically and stepped forward. "Huanqing, long time no see." If one didn't know, one wouldn't think that the two sides had officially parted ways not long ago.

Everyone was an acquaintance, so they were not so polite. After sitting down as hosts and guests, Tao Chengzhang asked, "What advice do you two have for coming here?"

Song Jiaoren looked at Tao Chengzhang sincerely. "Huanqing, I think it is inappropriate for the Restoration Society to withdraw from the Tongmenghui. If revolutionary ideals are different, I think everyone can discuss frankly and honestly. Facing a formidable enemy, unity leads to victory, division leads to defeat."

Although Tao Chengzhang didn't have much dissatisfaction with Song Jiaoren, he had long been impatient with the Tongmenghui. He laughed, "Some things are not just about different ideas. I really can't stand the style of many people in the Tongmenghui. With national disaster looming, everyone doesn't say doing their best to overthrow the Manchu Qing. I don't know how much revolutionary work the Tongmenghui has done, whether in Japan or Shanghai, but they are keen on visiting brothels and playing with women. Is this the appearance of a revolution?"

Song Jiaoren knew that Tao Chengzhang was not making a fuss over a trifle. Most members of the Restoration Society were locals from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and their personal integrity was much better than that of the Tongmenghui. Shanghai, mentioned by Tao Chengzhang, referred to Chen Qimei. As for Japan, there were many international students in the Tongmenghui. Finally free from family control, young people indulging themselves was definitely not limited to one or two people.

"These are all minor details." Song Jiaoren had to refute weakly.

Tao Chengzhang sneered. "Minor details? With money and time, why not use them on the revolution? If it is like this before the revolution, what will happen after the revolution succeeds?"

Huang Xing had never been pointed at the nose and scolded for his character. Hearing Tao Chengzhang say this, Huang Xing was so angry that his face changed color.

Tao Chengzhang glanced at Huang Xing. "Speaking of unity leads to victory. When the Yue Wang Society and I were on both sides of the Yangtze River, we defended Chizhou. Chizhou city is small, Anqing city is big. Instead, the Yue Wang Society came to our Chizhou all day to ask for money and goods. On the contrary, the People's Party, I haven't seen anyone help them, but they can succeed. I have also met people from the People's Party. Chairman Chen Ke commands such a large place in Anhui, yet his clothes are the same as ordinary soldiers. He eats what soldiers eat. I have never seen him different from others, nor have I seen Chen Ke ask for anything from others. Maybe this integrity and independence are not minor details at all, but the main cause."

Hearing this, not only Huang Xing but also Song Jiaoren's face changed. The meaning in Tao Chengzhang's words was very clear: the Restoration Society would absolutely not cooperate with the Tongmenghui again. Not only that, the Restoration Society had completely denied the positive significance of the Tongmenghui.