The two major pillars of the Yue Wang Hui used to be the weapons and silver in their hands. After a series of defeats and retreats, there were still some usable weapons. When Chang Hengfang and the others left, they selected the best weapons, and each person took eighty rounds of ammunition. This was already all of the Yue Wang Hui's ammunition. The less than three thousand taels of silver were also distributed completely.

Having lost military force and financial power, the former Yue Wang Hui members who chose to stay in Anqing City, except for those who eagerly hoped to join the People's Party, inevitably felt empty in their hearts. After living a life without worry about food and clothing for more than half a year, and now having nothing again, this unadapted state was also a normal reaction. Regarding this state, Zhang Yu and the others had actually evaluated it in the Party Committee meeting long ago: "The people of the Yue Wang Hui have always felt they are very formidable. They never thought that in these few months of good life, they spent almost the entire fiscal revenue of Anhui Province for a year. Describing them as prodigals is not excessive at all."

Regarding the matter of the Yue Wang Hui wanting to join, Zhang Yu naturally wouldn't be unconditionally optimistic. Back then, Chen Ke opposed recruiting "bad elements" into the People's Party most. Since the founding of the base area, recruiting "honest family sons" had been a hard standard. Zhang Yu didn't understand it very well originally, but now he finally understood Chen Ke's "foresight." Honest family sons had families and careers; their purpose in participating in the revolution was very clear: "defend the fruits of the revolution." Although they lacked some unconstrained "imagination," honest family sons possessed a strong sense of belonging, and their attitude towards learning was very correct. If looking at the Yue Wang Hui from the perspective of "honest family sons," the Yue Wang Hui belonged to the kind of prodigals whose "hearts have run wild."

Chen Ke had made a very classic analogy between "honest family sons" and "prodigals": honest family sons who come out to revolutionize are great heroes (*Daxia*), while prodigals who come out to revolutionize are wanderers (*Langzi*). Great heroes make their home wherever they are; wanderers have no home to return to. Revolution is a big family, not a shelter. Revolutionary comrades will first have a family-like sense of belonging to the revolutionary team.

As the saying goes, "A prodigal son returning is more valuable than gold." If this saying is interpreted, it means that no matter how much gold the family spends, it is impossible to make a prodigal son truly return to the family. Now in the base area, let alone gold, even paper for making "spirit money" was very scarce. Zhang Yu was very afraid of the terrible job of reforming prodigals.

However, they couldn't just leave the Yue Wang Hui aside unconditionally. Zhang Yu ordered people to first organize the former Yue Wang Hui into a company unit, confiscated their weapons completely first, and then sent a new political commissar and life committee member. He didn't let the Yue Wang Hui undertake any special work either, just letting them learn to clean the camp sanitation first, and also learn to wash their own clothes on time. Good living habits meant identification with oneself. Whether prodigals showed arrogance or inferiority, firstly it was non-identification with themselves and hostility towards social order.

The comrades of the People's Party, especially those developed in Anhui, were not anti-government, let alone anti-society. Their anti-"Manchu" sentiment wasn't even very strong. These comrades' unwavering determination to overthrow the Manchu Qing wasn't because of hatred. After engaging in revolutionary work, these comrades confirmed one thing: "To be able to live a better life, we must destroy the Manchu Qing regime and the old order represented by the Manchu Qing regime. The Manchu Qing regime and the old order absolutely do not represent the interests of the broad masses of people."

As the saying goes, "Cutting off someone's wealth is worse than killing their parents." When the people masses realized that the interests represented by the Manchu Qing and the old order ran completely counter to the interests of themselves and their relatives, the revolutionary spirit that erupted was immeasurable. And this "political consciousness" was completely different from the political consciousness of old-style revolutionary parties like the Yue Wang Hui. The new and old political consciousnesses were even incompatible like water and fire. Zhang Yu felt he wasn't a god who could create the world with just a mouth. Only after the Yue Wang Hui treated themselves as part of the people masses would Zhang Yu have the confidence to persuade these people to walk on the true revolutionary path.

Of course, if the people of the Yue Wang Hui really treated themselves as the people masses, then Zhang Yu wouldn't need to waste his breath instilling revolutionary principles at all; the people masses would spontaneously seek revolutionary theory. When the base area propagandized tax policies, they never talked about nonsense like "paying taxes is glorious." The content of government propaganda was quite simple: "After handing over what belongs to the state, the rest is all your own."

So the common people asked, "How much do we have to hand over to the state?"

The propaganda personnel informed them clearly, "Hand over thirty percent."

The people continued to ask, "Why hand over thirty percent instead of ten percent?"

If they were officials of the old era, they would naturally view the people asking such "treasonous and heretical" questions as "unruly people." Even not necessarily Manchu Qing officials, the people of the Yue Wang Hui would probably also view the common people this way.

The propaganda personnel of the People's Party were overjoyed upon hearing this question. If the people asked this, it meant the people treated the People's Party as their own. They immediately explained the use of taxes. The common people had no patience to listen to these complicated financial statements and number games. What they truly cared about was actually whether the base area's army could guarantee the safety of the common people, guarantee the current life from enemy harassment, guarantee factories continued to open, guarantee income from working in factories, guarantee the continued supply of cheap goods in cooperatives, whether hospitals could treat the common people's illnesses, whether schools and nurseries could continue to let all children enroll like now, and provide a lunch.

After obtaining these guarantees, the common people willingly handed over thirty percent of their grain harvest to the government. This was the great Chinese people; this was the true greatness of the Chinese people. They firmly believed in living a normal good life first. They didn't live for ideals, they didn't live for propaganda; they lived only for life. When the people truly lived a good life with hope, they would sincerely defend the fruits of the revolution.

This was the revolution of the People's Party. Those who thought they stood above the people couldn't possibly understand this, nor could they sincerely defend the people's interests. Zhang Yu was extremely sure of this because when he asked himself, he knew he wasn't fighting for the people's interests. Zhang Yu hoped to realize his life value of "establishing merit and career" through this revolution. To realize his life value, Zhang Yu had to tangibly realize the people's interests first.

Zhang Yu's understanding of the Yue Wang Hui was far deeper than other comrades. In a sense, Zhang Yu and the Yue Wang Hui were fellow travelers. It was just that Zhang Yu knew the path chosen by that bunch of fools in the Yue Wang Hui could absolutely not succeed. Zhang Yu only needed to follow Chen Ke closely, implement the revolutionary theory pointed out by Chen Ke, and carry out the revolutionary methods proposed by Chen Ke to the letter, and then he could easily obtain the great success that old-style revolutionaries envied and were jealous of. So Zhang Yu was very vigilant about the harmfulness of these former Yue Wang Hui members.

But even so, Zhang Yu couldn't put his current energy on the Yue Wang Hui. He had more urgent work; he must take the initiative to attack and repel the offensive of the Hubei New Army. As the former commander of the Water Detachment, Zhang Yu's rank was equivalent to a brigade commander. His level of cognitive understanding of strategy was deeper. To ensure no problems occurred on the Hubei New Army front, Chen Ke stationed the elite of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army in Anqing. The main regular army forces of the base area were only twenty thousand now. Once the Hubei New Army could be made to stop sending troops—don't look at Anqing having only 1,200 troops—once these 1,200 elite troops had the opportunity for free action, their influence on the war situation would be considerable. Depending on the changes in the war situation, this elite force of 1,200 could choose to cross the Yangtze River south to seize vast areas, or choose to attack east against the Jiangnan New Army. At critical moments, they could also return to the base area to participate in the battle against the Beiyang New Army. If Chen Ke intended to expand the base area towards Henan, he could even transfer Zhang Yu north to enter Henan for combat.

These various possibilities all meant Zhang Yu could establish greater merit. Of course, to achieve these, he must complete the first combat mission: annihilate or at least severely damage the Thirty-first Regiment, which acted as the vanguard of the Hubei New Army.

Other comrades in the Anqing troops didn't understand Zhang Yu's deepest inner thoughts. Everyone focused on the fact that after annihilating the Thirty-first Regiment of the Hubei New Army, they wouldn't have to worry about Qing troops from the Hubei direction anymore. And the Thirty-first Regiment just happened to give the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army an excellent opportunity. From the three towns of Wuhan to Anqing, the best way was to take the water route. This was also why Chen Ke's earliest idea was the military plan of abandoning Anqing and using guerrilla warfare outside Anqing to block the Hubei New Army.

But the persecution of surrendered soldiers by the Thirty-first Regiment led them to become the public enemy within the New Army. To banish this black sheep far away as soon as possible, Zhang Biao, the Commander of the Hubei New Army, let the Thirty-first Regiment exit Huangpi Pass and take the route south of the Dabie Mountains. That is to say, the Thirty-first Regiment had to cross continuous mountain ranges to reach the base area. Many comrades stationed in Anqing were old troops of the Water Detachment; they knew the complexity of naval preparation. Zhang Biao doing this probably had another layer of meaning: Zhang Biao, lacking troops, didn't want to send troops in a hurry either. Letting the Thirty-first Regiment dawdle on the road could prove the Hubei New Army had already moved out, and also drag out the time of this dispatch very long. It was truly an excellent bureaucratic trick.

With a major enemy before them, they were still playing such tricks of internal strife; the commanders of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army couldn't understand it. However, they didn't need to understand so much. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army now had to fully utilize the opportunity actively delivered by the enemy to complete the victory of the battle.

"Do not fight a battle without preparation, do not fight a battle without assurance." This was the benchmark for the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army when establishing combat plans. Ever since arriving in Anqing, the reconnaissance troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had begun reconnaissance of the surrounding areas. The mapping department provided a large number of maps, and the reconnaissance troops relied on these maps to determine the terrain and road conditions around Anqing. Especially regarding land routes, the reconnaissance troops had even sent small reconnaissance teams directly to Huangpi Pass. The paper supply in the base area was relatively good; the reconnaissance troops used up more than four hundred *jin* of paper and more than six thousand pencils in a month. The initial intelligence work for combat was prepared relatively fully.

Now the Staff Section needed to complete their work.

"Report, the marching plan for the Fifth Zone has been drafted."

"Make another plan for passing through the Fifth Zone with light equipment."

"Report, the marching plan for the Third Zone has been drafted."

"Make a plan for temporary stationing and rest in the Third Zone."

"Report, the plan for the Eighth Combat Location has been drafted."

"Report, the plan for the Ninth Combat Location has been drafted."

...

...

To surprise attack the enemy, one must determine how to march and where to fight. The determination of marching routes and stationing locations were all the work of the Staff Section. Whether the battle was conducted during the day or at night required adopting completely different combat methods. Different combat methods required different equipment. "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat." Leaving aside "knowing the enemy," just "knowing yourself" was absolutely not an easy task. Once the combat plan exceeded expectations, the physical strength and energy of the troops would have different situations. These changes could very likely turn the original combat plan into waste paper.

The Staff Section divided the road between Anqing and Huangpi Pass into twelve sections, and formulated corresponding marching plans for each section. Moreover, quite a few sections had county towns. How to pass through county towns, and pass through county towns without leaking news—whether to attack by force or sneak past—all needed careful consideration.

Most participants in the Staff Section were Party members, and the rest were probationary Party members. The Party Committee meeting was simply held together with the Staff Section meeting. At the meeting, tired comrades asked a question: "This operation and the first Battle of Anqing are both exterior line operations. So where lies the difference between the two operations?"

"Although the first Battle of Anqing was an exterior line operation, for the water route march, Comrade Pu Guanshui was responsible for organizing the official ship fleet. When returning to the base area from Anqing, the more we walked, the closer we were to the base area. For Anqing city where the actual fighting took place, we had sufficient understanding of the city defenses. There were even some insiders. So the many disadvantages of exterior line operations were weakened to the greatest extent. And the element of surprise attack was very high." Speaking of this, Zhang Yu smiled. "Comrades, in terms of formulating strategy and grasping strategic timing, I indeed cannot compare to Chairman Chen."

Zhang Yu told the truth, and everyone took it for granted that Chen Ke's level of warfare exceeded Zhang Yu's. No one laughed along with Zhang Yu at his last joke.

Zhang Yu originally just cracked a joke casually; he didn't feel it was a big deal that no one responded. He stood up and pointed to the marching route map which was already marked densely. Zhang Yu continued: "This operation, we are completely in exterior line operation. Leaving aside that we don't know much about the Thirty-first Regiment, the Thirty-first Regiment is also marching. Their position is also changing at any time. What we need to determine now is where to fight the Thirty-first Regiment. Considering from combat preparation, the combat location is of course the closer to us the better. But the closer the Thirty-first Regiment is to us, the more vigilant they will be. Considering from actual combat, the combat location is actually the farther the better. Because the farther the Thirty-first Regiment is from us, the faster their marching speed, the faster fatigue accumulates, and the formation won't be maintained too well. What choice exactly should we make? Do comrades have any opinions?"

The comrades were also thinking. Whether to consider from combat preparation or from specific tactical implementation was indeed a difficult matter. This was no longer a part that could be calculated with paper and pen and intelligence accumulation. The moment to determine combat determination had arrived.