Since the battle in Huaiyuan County ended, it rained for five consecutive days. Working in the freezing autumn rain was truly very arduous work. Chen Ke didn't return to Fengtai County; his command post was set up in a straw shed hastily built on the street. At such times, as a leader, sitting in a clean and warm room issuing orders absolutely couldn't make the comrades of the troops feel that the troop leaders were sharing weal and woe with them.

Appearing on the front line also required attention to methods. If leading cadres just put on a show of "sharing weal and woe," it would be better not to go. Unable to solve practical problems, standing there acting as army supervisors would only have counter-effects. On this point, Chen Ke finally understood what "the fresh atmosphere of a nascent group" meant. Besides solving problems and proposing plans under the straw shed, Chen Ke mainly led the guards and logistics comrades to engage in the transportation of guaranteed materials, inspecting work along the way.

Seeing Chairman Chen personally pushing carts, carrying loads, and delivering hot water, food, and washed towels to them, the cadres and soldiers were all very excited. Chen Ke didn't say any bullshit about asking after their well-being either. "Comrades, hurry up and work! After finishing, we'll go back to the base area." These words were what everyone truly hoped for. Although the revolutionary cause was "making home wherever one is," having experienced fierce battles and facing the almost ceaseless autumn rain, everyone hoped to return to clean and tidy barracks. Hearing Chen Ke's words, the comrades immediately drummed up their enthusiasm and continued working.

Chen Ke delivered things while inspecting. Whether the People's Party or the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, some comrades indeed were unwilling to work so hard because of fatigue, but they just avoided it. At least that kind of old slicker hadn't appeared yet. Lazy comrades could still be counted as "honest people"; old slickers were the terrifying ones. Chen Ke believed that if he started a purge, he would have to get rid of the old slickers first.

Huaiyuan county town was ravaged miserably by the war. More than a hundred civilian houses collapsed completely just from the fighting. Even more were burned by the fire. The Beiyang Army also plagued quite a few houses, but these accounts were invariably recorded on the head of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. This was also human nature.

First, transport the Beiyang Army's weapons, ammunition, and military equipment back to the base area by ship, then transport the wounded of both sides by ship to receive treatment. The captives of the Beiyang Army were temporarily guarded. Once the rain stopped, except for officers, the soldiers would be repatriated after the rain stopped.

Lists had to be made for the war dead, and their belongings cleared. This was a method Chen Ke came up with. He wanted to post these lists in Beijing. People dying in war was something everyone could understand. Although it would inevitably accumulate hatred, this kind of hatred was generally "public grievance." If the families of the deceased wanted revenge, most would choose to join the Qing army and settle this account on the battlefield. If they were tortured to death or something, that would be a private feud. Then the families would seek revenge by any means necessary. Better to knot a public grievance than a private feud. This was the result of discussion within the People's Party.

Posting such lists in Beijing, on one hand, could very practically show how huge this victory was. On the other hand, it could also resolve the private feud problem to a large extent.

The posted text was transported to Beijing by rail. On a dark and windy night, quite a few of these things were posted inside Beijing city.

Due to several previous examples, the Beijing government office tore down notices as soon as they found them. But no one dared to tear down the notice this time. The news spread to the Ministry of Army immediately. When beacon fires link the sky, a letter from home is worth ten thousand gold. No matter what kind of regime, as long as it wasn't foolish beyond cure, low-level officials generally didn't dare to easily destroy such death lists. If the family members learned who destroyed this notice, causing them not to be able to learn the news of their relatives in time, this wouldn't be just a matter of being cursed for eight generations of ancestors.

The Ministry of Army in the capital soon learned this news. Almost at the same time, Cixi also knew about this list. The old lady immediately ordered a copy of the notice to be sent into the palace.

The notice was the same as before; the top still advised "Manchu Qing Bandit Gang Female Bandit Chief Cixi to recognize the situation and surrender quickly." The vigor of Cixi's anger had long passed. After coldly scanning these words, Cixi's gaze fell on the list behind.

The Beiyang Third Town and 13th Mixed Brigade totaled more than eighteen thousand troops who went to suppress the bandits. As of the time the notice was issued, there were a total of seven thousand seven hundred and sixty-four dead. More than five thousand wounded, and more than six hundred missing. Arranged by surnames and places of origin, the dense list made Cixi feel a chill in her heart as she read. Every name meant a life. This could be considered Cixi's first true contact with military affairs. In previous military content, Cixi just listened to her subordinates saying a pile of bullshit she could understand or couldn't understand. She had absolutely no concept of what a battlefield was like or what war was like. When this long list was placed in front of Cixi, she finally knew how many dead there would be in a war.

The characters on the paper weren't big. The People's Party had to protect the safety of their own comrades anyway. If they wrote so many big characters, the time needed for the person posting the notice would be long, the workload large, and the possibility of being caught also very high. Cixi didn't know the People's Party's considerations. she closed her eyes slightly, thinking about the ratio of these small characters to real human size. The old lady shuddered. If so many corpses were spread out, Cixi couldn't imagine how large an area of land this would occupy. Opening her eyes and glancing at the paper in front of her again, Cixi's body couldn't help crumbling.

The eunuchs and palace maids beside her were frightened bad. "Old Buddha..." Li Lianying screamed and stepped forward to quickly support Cixi. The little eunuch already sensibly put away the notice on the table hurriedly.

Cixi gasped weakly a few times. She opened her eyes and said: "Summon Tie Liang."

"Old Buddha, Tie Liang is already waiting outside the palace gate." Because of worry, Li Lianying's sharp eunuch voice became even sharper, only Li Lianying's throat was obviously extremely dry, and the voice sounded like sweeping over a rough stone surface.

"Let him in." Cixi became agitated. The old lady's voice became rarely strong and powerful. "Let him in!"

Tie Liang didn't know what he was thinking all the way. He had also seen the notice. Having built the Beiyang Army together with Yuan Shikai, Tie Liang was very familiar with Beiyang Army soldiers, especially the names of officers. The names on the notice weren't made up by the People's Party. If they hadn't really fought the battle of annihilation mentioned in the notice, it would be impossible for the People's Party to write such a list.

The reason Tie Liang became the Minister of Army was very unusual. Yuan Shikai purged Manchu forces in the Beiyang Army; Tie Liang naturally bore the brunt. Moreover, Yuan Shikai almost succeeded at that time. As a result, the Dingwei Political Struggle arose; Cixi wanted to suppress the Beiyang faction, so Yuan Shikai's attack on Tie Liang fulfilled Tie Liang instead. To balance the power between factions, Cixi promoted Tie Liang to Minister of Army. Yuan Shikai had to hand over the Beiyang Army afterwards, and Tie Liang became the powerful figure controlling China's most elite troops.

In this aspect, Cixi had "gratitude of recognition" (*Zhiyu zhi en*) to Tie Liang. The destruction of the Third Town and the 13th Mixed Brigade proved that Tie Liang failed Cixi's high hopes. Following the eunuch walking in the Forbidden City, Tie Liang simply didn't know what he was thinking. There seemed to be thousands of thoughts in his head, yet it also seemed there were no thoughts at all. Tie Liang knew he had no room for rebuttal at all, but he was also unwilling to assume responsibility, leaving Cixi to dispose of him as she pleased.

In this groggy feeling, Tie Liang entered the main hall. As soon as he entered the door, he knelt on the ground. "Slave Tie Liang pays respects to Old Buddha." After speaking, Tie Liang's forehead pressed against the cold floor, daring not lift it again.

"Tie Liang!" Cixi popped this name out word by word from between her teeth. "A good errand you handled."

"Slave deserves ten thousand deaths!" Tie Liang didn't argue at all, just saying this sentence.

"What use is your deserving ten thousand deaths?" Cixi asked. In the decades she held power, Cixi had heard "deserve ten thousand deaths" too many times. None of these men who claimed to "deserve ten thousand deaths" died. They jumped around alive outside doing what they should do, that is to say, continuing to create various messes for Cixi, making Cixi rack her brains to wipe these people's asses. In this instant, Cixi really wanted to order people to drag Tie Liang out and chop him. But this thought was only a matter of an instant. Cixi knew that at this time, she couldn't do this. The situation outside was chaotic like this. She managed to strip Yuan Shikai of military power with great difficulty and replaced him with Tie Liang, who still counted as understanding military affairs, to control the Ministry of Army. If Tie Liang was chopped, enable Yuan Shikai again? Or hand the Ministry of Army to that group of Imperial Clan members who had long been eyeing military power with red eyes? Doing so would be worse than letting Tie Liang continue to control the Ministry of Army.

"How exactly was this battle lost?" Cixi asked.

Hearing this question, Tie Liang felt a burst of confusion in his heart. Yes, how was this battle lost? He completely didn't know. Since Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen led troops leaving Xuzhou, the front line matters were truly thousands of *li* away from Beijing. Regarding the "telegram communication" formulated before the war, Tie Liang didn't take it seriously, and Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen didn't take it seriously either.

But not answering at this time wouldn't do either. Tie Liang said: "Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen advanced lightly and rashly, falling into an ambush. Leading to the complete defeat of the whole army."

This very standard answer didn't make Cixi able to accept it directly. She shouted angrily: "The court spent so much silver to build the New Army. Several drills were praised by Chinese and foreigners as the New Army having proper training methods. Facing a group of bandits, you could also lose the battle. Defeated again and again. Anhui New Army, Hubei New Army, Jiangbei New Army, Beiyang New Army. Having spent tens of millions of taels of the court's silver, could it be you only know how to lose battles when encountering bandits?"

Cixi's anger made cold sweat break out on Tie Liang's back. Cixi's question was also Tie Liang's problem. The intelligence of the People's Party wasn't some completely ungraspable secret for the Manchu Qing either. Chen Ke took a hundred or so people running to flood-ravaged Anhui, and in just over a year pulled up a team of tens of thousands, attacking cities and seizing land, building a government by himself. Dealing with such a group of completely native Anhui bandits, the court's elite New Army was powerless to resist. Now even the Beiyang Army Third Town was destroyed. Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen, the names of these two major military generals highly praised since Li Hongzhang's former Beiyang times, were listed at the top of the captured personnel. Cixi didn't understand what was going on, and Tie Liang didn't understand either.

"Old Buddha, slave failed Old Buddha. Slave will immediately send people to check the situation, and mobilize New Armies from all over the country. Slave will personally lead the troops this time; I will definitely exterminate the Anhui chaotic party." Tie Liang spoke very sincerely. This was actually Tie Liang's only choice too.

Cixi took a breath. Tie Liang's words were indeed a method, but had no operability at all. Cixi knew clearly in her heart the magnitude of the cost of sending troops. Only the Third Town was dispatched this time; wasn't it because the court had no money to send troops? Tie Liang doing this was just a stance.

"First find out the true situation of the Anhui chaotic party!" Cixi said coldly. "What exactly is this Chen Ke's background? Check it clearly for me."

"Zha!" Tie Liang answered.

"In addition, Chen Ke married the daughter of the He family, right? Put the He family in prison." Cixi ordered.

Tie Liang completely didn't figure out why Cixi thought of implication (collective punishment), but this kind of question wasn't something he dared to ask either. Tie Liang couldn't even protect himself now; what did the life or death of the He family have to do with him?

Watching Tie Liang leave with the order, Cixi supported her body forcefully so she wouldn't collapse into the seat like suffering collapse. Putting the He family in prison wasn't actually a decision Cixi made to vent anger. Tie Liang suffered such a big defeat; there were definitely many people who wanted Tie Liang to step down. The He family was Beiyang's people. Arresting the He family was making a stance. There were quite a few people in Beiyang related to the He family. If they didn't want disaster to extend to themselves, Beiyang people had better shut their mouths and say nothing. Just dealing with that group of Imperial Clan people was headache enough for Cixi; Beiyang absolutely shouldn't add more chaos. Cixi believed that with Yuan Shikai's intelligence, he could understand the meaning of this order.

A notice was placed in front of Yuan Shikai; his face was iron blue. None of the family members dared to touch bad luck at this time. The servants held their breath and concentrated their attention even more, daring not let Yuan Shikai notice their existence at all.

However, these people worried too much. Yuan Shikai really had no mind to find someone to vent anger on at this time. When the Hubei New Army suffered heavy damage, Yuan Shikai watched Zhang Zhidong's extremely ugly face, feeling great in his heart. He felt that even if the Beiyang Army couldn't win, they wouldn't lose. But he was wrong. Chen Ke proved the combat power of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. Ever since Wang Shizhen left the capital to be the Provincial Commander of Jiangbei, Yuan Shikai had no one to discuss with confidentially. Looking at the two names Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui at the top of the captured list again, Yuan Shikai felt like his heart was being cut by a knife.

"Someone, invite Mr. Sheng Xuanhuai." Yuan Shikai ordered. He must redeem these two people back; Yuan Shikai made up his mind. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army announced this time that they would release all captured soldiers, but not a single officer. Yuan Shikai could understand Chen Ke's idea. As long as there was money, there were as many soldiers as wanted. But these officers were the backbone of Beiyang. Not only were they fed full with countless silver, but they were also cultivated by Beiyang with great effort. Losing these officers, Yuan Shikai couldn't control the Beiyang Army effectively. No matter what, he had to think of a way to get Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui back first, and then talk about redeeming other officers. Redeeming people required giving money. The only one who could take out this money was Sheng Xuanhuai.

The news spread extremely fast; soon everyone in the capital knew about this great defeat. Although the notices were torn down quickly, the matter of the list could no longer be concealed. The Ministry of Army and the Police Bureau now faced countless visitors. Those coming were the Beijing family members of the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Third Town who sent troops. They demanded to see the list, to see if the names of their relatives and old friends were on the list.

The Sun family was already burning with anxiety. He Qian's mother-in-law sat crying in the hall; the Sun family sat here waiting anxiously. Sun Yongsheng's father had already taken people to the Police Bureau to find people, hoping to see the list. He Qian stood in the room without saying a word. The Sun family cursed the Anhui chaotic party and Chen Ke loudly, and also spoke coldly and sarcastically to He Qian. He Qian's face was ashen; she let these people talk nonsense as if she hadn't heard.

On the contrary, He Qian's mother-in-law didn't say much. Before this troop dispatch, He Qian sincerely persuaded Sun Yongsheng not to send troops with earnest words. For this, Sun Yongsheng made a big scene at home; Sun Yongsheng's parents were very clear about this. So no matter what others said, Sun Yongsheng's parents didn't say a word to He Qian. If they criticized He Qian again, that would be wanting He Qian's life.

A burst of footsteps outside the door; Sun Yongsheng's father had already strode back. "Did you find it?" Sun Yongsheng's mother immediately stood up and shouted.

"Found it. Yongsheng is injured." Sun Yongsheng's father said anxiously. He took out a stack of papers; this was the announcement he copied, and a part of the list.

Hearing this, Mother Sun wailed loudly immediately. Her son didn't lose his life; this was a good thing. But her son was injured and still in the hands of the bandit army. As a mother, Mother Sun still couldn't accept it.

Hearing this, He Qian, who had been silent all along, walked to Sun Yongsheng's father and knelt down quietly. "Father, I have a request. Please let me go to Anhui and bring Yongsheng back. I am a member of the Sun family, and I know Chen Ke. If I don't go, it would be better to let me die."