"Mr. Tao, now we occupy the fertile lands of Wu and Chu. As long as we raise an arm and call, it will immediately be a situation where the whole world responds. Even if our Guangfu Society does not covet power and position, this merit of advocating the founding of the nation will certainly not be buried." The young man sitting opposite Tao Chengzhang said with saliva flying everywhere.

Even knowing these words were thorough nonsense, Tao Chengzhang still felt these words sounded pleasing to the ear. The only dissatisfaction was the word "our" in these words, but Tao Chengzhang didn't criticize anything. Moving his body slightly, Tao Chengzhang changed to a more comfortable sitting posture and continued to listen to that person speak.

Fundamentally speaking, Tao Chengzhang's cultivation wouldn't indulge in flattery, but flattery could indeed soothe people's pressure sometimes. Reality was too cruel; this was Tao Chengzhang's greatest feeling recently. When striving for the revolution, what everyone saw was often that high peak of revolutionary success. After climbing up this mountain with all kinds of hardships and difficulties, two different feelings surged up at the same time. The coldness at the high place was certainly one of the feelings, but more importantly, countless extremely realistic problems rushed towards him mercilessly.

For any regime, nothing was more important than two things. First was grain, second was money. The cadres of the Guangfu Society and the troops of the Guangfu Army all needed to eat, drink, and be paid. Even if the high-ranking cadres could sympathize with the current difficulties one by one and not ask for pay, how many high-ranking cadres were there? This bit of saved salary silver was just a drop in the bucket for the current scale of the Guangfu Society. Tao Chengzhang once thought the situation would take on a new look after the success of the revolution. Even after experiencing the painful lesson of having no grain and no silver in Chizhou, Tao Chengzhang still felt that if it were in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other places which were the base areas of the Guangfu Society, the Guangfu Society could solve the problem of grain and pay.

In fact, Tao Chengzhang was very disappointed with the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.

There were quite a few people coming to ask to see Tao Chengzhang. Now Tao Chengzhang didn't need to work hard to visit various places at all. The number of people actively asking to see him every day was quite large, and he had to receive several people at the same time for each reception.

The young man who spoke just now praised Xu Xilin greatly. Tao Chengzhang knew the purpose of this young man very well. He laughed: "I am clear about Young Master Zhao's purpose. Since Young Master Zhao supports the revolution so much, there should be no problem with the money and grain of Mozhuang this year. On behalf of the Guangfu Society, I thank Young Master Zhao very much."

Hearing Tao Chengzhang's words, Young Master Zhao was like being struck by lightning; he opened his mouth wide and couldn't speak. Not only Young Master Zhao, but several people beside him also had uneasy looks on their faces. They were all landlords near Shaoxing. The purpose of coming to visit Tao Chengzhang was hoping to persuade Tao Chengzhang not to levy grain taxes this year. Unexpectedly, Tao Chengzhang spoke first and sealed this issue dead. Everyone was both shocked and angry in their hearts. But Tao Chengzhang was now the biggest "rebel" in Jiangsu and Zhejiang; they simply didn't have the courage to resist to his face. The fierce momentum of the Guangfu Society's rise was completely unimaginable to these landlords and gentry beforehand.

The People's Party posted notices in Hangzhou. On the third day after the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army completely annihilated the Beiyang Third Town and the New Army 13th Brigade, the troops prepared by the Guangfu Society in various places immediately raised flags and attacked various prefectures and counties in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Before this, the rebellion preparation of the Guangfu Society was almost open. In Shaoxing, Zhuji, Yiwu, Jinhua, Lanxi, and other places, the Guangfu Army under the banner of the Guangfu Society recruited soldiers and bought horses, and also constantly threatened the government office and lobbied Qing troops in various places. In Shaoxing, the core area of the Guangfu Society, the headquarters of the Guangfu Society was set up in the Datong School not far from the Shaoxing Prefect's Yamen. Shaoxing Prefect Gui Fu simply dared not make any move.

More than a month ago, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army defeated the Hubei New Army, and then crossed the Yangtze River to attack Wuhu. The entire Jiangnan was shaken. In 1907 when communication was extremely backward, except for a few big cities with telegraphs that could still get relatively accurate news, the news obtained in other areas was mostly rumors and hearsay. Landlords and gentry naturally couldn't get accurate battle reports. What they saw with their own eyes was the Guangfu Society's completely open rebellion preparation. Facing these blatant rebellion preparations, the government offices in various places not only didn't send troops to suppress them but shrunk back instead. Completely looking like turtles with today but no tomorrow. As for the runners, petty officials of various government offices, and soldiers in various places, they asked people to establish connections with the Guangfu Society early on, lest they suffer collateral damage in the upcoming wave of rebellion.

The landlords didn't know that under the deterrence of the People's Party, troops in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area were gathering towards the cities where the Governor-General and Governors were located to cope with the People's Party that heaven knew when would attack. Big cities like Hangzhou had sensitive news. The Hubei New Army troops attacking the People's Party were completely wiped out within Hubei territory. The People's Party, which annihilated the Hubei New Army, had already begun attacking Wuhu. And the Beiyang Army dispatched by the court out of Xuzhou was fighting with the People's Party. This situation didn't look optimistic no matter how you looked at it. Even out of tradition, they had to gather troops to cope with future wars. Hangzhou Governor Zeng Yun was very clear about the Guangfu Society's rebellion preparation. He was even clearer that if the military operation to suppress the Guangfu Society failed, Zhejiang would immediately change color completely. Hangzhou Governor Zeng Yun wanted to see the battle results of the Beiyang Army first. If the Beiyang Army won, he could mobilize troops to deal with the Guangfu Society.

After the results of the complete annihilation of the Beiyang Army and the capture of Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui reached Hangzhou, Hangzhou Governor Zeng Yun was scared cold in hands and feet, but also felt lucky that he had already gathered the troops of Zhejiang, so he could defend Hangzhou at any rate. As for what would happen in other places, Hangzhou Governor Zeng Yun felt that since the Beiyang Army had been annihilated, the court simply had no time to pay attention to him.

The Guangfu Society learned the war results through the liaison officer with the People's Party. They immediately raised troops to attack the prefecture cities in various places. Rather than attacking, it was more accurate to say taking over. Tao Chengzhang still remembered the situation at that time clearly. when the "Guangfu Army" formed by the Guangfu Society pounced on Shaoxing aggressively, no one resisted at all. The officers and soldiers guarding the city gates, as well as the runners and petty officials of the Shaoxing locality, either hid without a trace or simply defected to the Guangfu Society through connections.

When attacking the Shaoxing Prefect's Yamen, the tree fell and the monkeys scattered from inside out long ago. Learning that the Guangfu Society was entering the city, several petty officials waited at the city gate early. Seeing the Guangfu Army with white bands wrapped around their heads, these few people trotted over bowing their waists and asked to lead the way. When the Guangfu Army arrived at the entrance of the Prefect's Yamen, the gate of the Yamen was wide open. Shaoxing Prefect Gui Fu had run away without a trace long ago.

Within a few days, the Guangfu Society occupied a large piece of territory. The core of these territories was naturally Shaoxing city. With the experience in Chizhou, the Guangfu Society's ability to rectify local government affairs improved a lot. Posting notices to reassure the people and restoring order in the locality generally didn't cause any big problems. However, Tao Chengzhang's plan to start levying taxes in various places spread like wildfire. The gentry who originally held an attitude of fear and watching from the sidelines towards the "revolution" began to come to the door to lobby one after another.

Most members of the organization Guangfu Society gathered under the banner of "anti-Qing." Tao Chengzhang didn't know Chen Ke's evaluation of the Guangfu Society at the People's Party meeting. Chen Ke believed the Guangfu Society was "a group of anarchists, a group of quasi-reactionary forces demanding landlords and gentry implement thorough local autonomy. If anti-Qing is the standard, they can be temporarily classified as revolutionaries. If viewed from the perspective of people's revolution, the Guangfu Society is also quite reactionary."

Tao Chengzhang hadn't learned Grandpa Mao's thought, let alone understood what class struggle was. He had absolutely no scientific analysis method for the class nature of the Guangfu Society. But Tao Chengzhang was very clear that within the Guangfu Society, there were quite a few cadres advocating that the government office shouldn't levy taxes on the locality. In the view of these people, after overthrowing the Manchu Qing, they could return to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to govern the countryside. Whether landlords, gentry, or guild leaders and secret society leaders in various places, each occupied their own one *mu* three *fen* of land (small territory) and managed it well.

The purpose of the Guangfu Society was "Restore the Han nationality, return our rivers and mountains, dedicate oneself to the country, retire after success." In this regard, the leaders of the Guangfu Society spoke sincere words. They originally believed that after overthrowing the Manchu Qing, China could be strong, and the new Chinese government would no longer continue to forfeit sovereignty and humiliate the country. As for what exactly New China would look like, the Guangfu Society had no real consideration at all. Anyway, the Guangfu Society would go home to play autonomy by then. As long as the new government didn't affect their own interests, the Guangfu Society was unwilling, or rather they were unable to consider what exactly a new government should look like.

If not for the few months of painstaking management in Chizhou, if not for seeing the bleak ending of the once powerful Yue Wang Hui, Tao Chengzhang would still think so now. But after being in charge and knowing how arduous governing a place was, Tao Chengzhang had to face terrible practical problems.

Relying on the grain and money obtained from the government treasuries, the ten thousand or so people of the Guangfu Army would eat up the mountain in less than a year. As for fighting, the grain and pay of the Guangfu Army simply couldn't support three months. If a tax system belonging to the new government of the Guangfu Society couldn't be built quickly, the performance of the Guangfu Society wouldn't be much better than the Yue Wang Hui.

Tao Chengzhang was considering how to build this system when he heard the elder among the several local gentry visiting this time say: "Mr. Tao, national tax burden, taken from the people, used for the people. I heard Mr. Tao talk about these before and agreed deeply. Now the common people, not to mention having no clothes to cover their bodies and no food to fill their stomachs, their livelihood is also quite arduous. This regime of the Guangfu Society has just been established; it is precisely the time to win people's hearts. Even if not opening granaries to release grain, at least delay tax collection for a year. Only then will there be the atmosphere of a new government."

These words stimulated Tao Chengzhang greatly. In Chizhou, Tao Chengzhang had heard exactly the same gentry suggestions. These people reasoned sonorously, but inside they all had only one purpose: "No handing over grain, no paying taxes."

"Gentlemen, listening to your words, presumably you all support the revolution." Tao Chengzhang sneered.

The gentry were all silent as cicadas in winter. They all had big families and businesses in Shaoxing. At this time, they had to come to negotiate with Tao Chengzhang. Actually, these people knew clearly in their hearts that Tao Chengzhang would definitely extort a sum from them. It seemed this was the time for Tao Chengzhang to open his mouth.

Tao Chengzhang scanned the crowd once before saying: "Now the Manchu Qing might send troops to attack in a blink of an eye. If I, your brother, can't withstand the siege of the Manchu Qing, then I will let down the revolution and the tens of thousands of revolutionary comrades following me. Fighting without money and grain won't do. Since gentlemen support the revolution, then I, your brother, want to discuss with gentlemen how much gentlemen want to contribute to the revolution. Let's set a number. Of course, I, your brother, won't take yours for free either. These money and grain will be deducted from gentlemen's taxes next year."

Hearing these words, the landlords and gentry were no longer silent as cicadas in winter, but faces ashen like death.

The headquarters of the Guangfu Society was set up in the Shaoxing Prefect's Yamen. Sending away those gentry, Tao Chengzhang returned to the front hall with a gloomy face. Unlike Tao Chengzhang, the Guangfu Society cadres coming in and out still looked happy and full of spirit. The uprising was really too easy. The Manchu Qing was like a broken house; the Guangfu Society just kicked it, and the Manchu Qing's rule in Zhejiang collapsed by half. The Guangfu Society crowd worked in the Shaoxing Prefect's Yamen. Going out to handle affairs, the common people in the city all looked up to everyone. This pleasure of being high above simply couldn't be described in words.

"Huanqing, how did the talk go?" Xu Xilin was considered the most experienced senior cadre in the Guangfu Society; he didn't get carried away like other young cadres.

Tao Chengzhang didn't answer. He looked at the crowd in the room, frowned, and asked: "Why aren't everyone here? I said let everyone have a meeting. I was just delayed for a while; can't you wait for even this little time?"

The crowd looked at Tao Chengzhang, their faces not looking very good. Tao Chengzhang was very smart; he soon understood the meaning of these faces. Tao Chengzhang's eyes widened round. "Could it be that the few people not here haven't arrived yet?"

No one dared to answer. This silence already proved Tao Chengzhang's judgment was correct. Tao Chengzhang looked left and right, veins almost popping out on his forehead. "Send someone to tell those few people now that they don't need to come in the future."

The young cadres were scared into silence one by one. The youths who had good relations with the few people who didn't come all looked at Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin. These two were cadres with status second only to Tao Chengzhang. If they persuaded Tao Chengzhang, Tao Chengzhang couldn't reject their face. But Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin also looked dissatisfied and had no intention of persuading at all.

Tao Chengzhang ignored those few people anymore. He waved his hand. "Gentlemen, is there still no news from the Jiangnan New Army side?"

"Zhang Xun sent the Green Standard Army to block the four gates of Nanjing city. Seeing anyone without a queue, they immediately arrest them as revolutionaries. It is said quite a few people were beheaded. Inside the Jiangnan New Army, there were even massive searches and arrests. Quite a few of our comrades were arrested." The cadre responsible for contacting the Jiangnan New Army answered.

Failing to incite the defection of the Jiangnan New Army was a huge setback in the Guangfu Society's plan. In the original plan, the Guangfu Society thought they could easily incite the defection of the Jiangnan New Army and then seize Nanjing. After the uprising Jiangnan New Army was incorporated into the Guangfu Army, the large troop would head straight for Hangzhou, and the entire Zhejiang could be taken.

However, the progress of things was completely unsatisfactory. No matter how the lobbyists of the Guangfu Society and the Guangfu Society members infiltrated into the New Army lobbied, and how the mood in the New Army was excited, this uprising just couldn't be launched at all. With great difficulty, the Guangfu Society members inside the New Army decided to rise up, but this time was postponed twice again. The reason for the two postponements was very simple. Before Zhang Xun sent troops, he gave the Jiangnan New Army a sum of troop dispatch reward money, so the originally enthusiastic New Army felt embarrassed. And when Zhang Xun returned troops to Jiangnan to go to Wuhu, the People's Party troops immediately withdrew troops and returned to Anhui. Since no war was fought, the Jiangnan New Army felt the People's Party was nothing special instead, and this uprising enthusiasm dropped greatly. Moreover, the day for paying military pay was coming soon. The revolutionary officers and soldiers in the New Army all hoped to take one more month of military pay before talking.

As a result, as soon as the New Army returned to Nanjing, Zhang Xun immediately mobilized the Green Standard Army to monitor the New Army, and killed "revolutionaries" in Nanjing on a large scale. The revolutionary situation immediately entered a freezing point. Tao Chengzhang couldn't understand why the well-equipped and well-trained New Army could actually be watched by the Green Standard Army, whose number and combat capability were far inferior to the New Army. As long as these New Armies could strike back, Jiangnan would change color completely. But just for two payments of salary, these officers could be indecisive. Now not only could the revolution not be launched, but they themselves might also be unable to protect themselves.

Tao Chengzhang stood up. A large map hung in the conference hall. This was one of the materials the People's Party supported to the Guangfu Society. He pointed to the map, his voice almost squeezed out from between his teeth. "The Jiangnan New Army is in Nanjing, and a part of Zhejiang Green Standard Army is in Hangzhou. If they send troops, how do we deal with them?"

No one answered this question. Not that these cadres dared not fight; they just didn't know what to do facing this situation. After a while, Qiu Jin stood up. "Huanqing, let me lead the Guangfu Army to attack Hangzhou."

With Qiu Jin taking the lead, several cadres responsible for training the Guangfu Army also stood up and said: "We will attack Hangzhou together with Commander Qiu."

Tao Chengzhang shook his head slightly. He knew the Guangfu Army hadn't even fully equipped rifles yet. Thousands of people relying only on rifles basically couldn't attack Hangzhou. "Bosun, what do you think." Tao Chengzhang asked Xu Xilin.

Hearing Tao Chengzhang's question, Xu Xilin directly threw out two choices: one was for the Guangfu Society to attack Hangzhou with full force, and the second was to ask the People's Party to send troops.

This proposal triggered a silence in the conference hall. Just at this moment, a person rushed in from outside. It was the late cadre. Before he stood steady, Tao Chengzhang shouted, "Get out!" That person still wanted to argue, but Tao Chengzhang ordered him to stand outside the door without saying a second word. Everyone dared not persuade, and the late cadre dared not disobey Tao Chengzhang either, so he had to go stand outside the door with a look of grievance.

Tao Chengzhang looked up at the map again. Hangzhou was in the center of Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing was south of Hangzhou, and there were only a hundred or so *li* between the two cities. If the Guangfu Society couldn't take Hangzhou, it was fundamentally impossible to advance into northern Zhejiang. Let alone Nanjing, which was north of Hangzhou and close to the Yangtze River. But if the Guangfu Society didn't attack Hangzhou, the Green Standard Army in Hangzhou could go south and arrive in Shaoxing in two or three days. The current situation couldn't even be talked about as being beside the couch; it was simply a situation where a dagger was pressed against the ribs.

While thinking, he heard a Guangfu Society cadre muttering: "Why should Anhui people intervene in our Zhejiang people's affairs." The voice wasn't loud, but everyone could hear it.

Tao Chengzhang felt a shock in his heart but couldn't say anything. The Guangfu Society's attitude towards the People's Party underwent a great change in the days of great success after the Guangfu Society raised troops. This was unexpected to Tao Chengzhang.

The cause was that not long ago Tao Chengzhang discussed tax matters with comrades. In between, the importance of money and grain to the troops was naturally mentioned. Young cadres lacked financial concepts; they asked if the People's Party being so brave and skillful in battle had a close relationship with grain and pay.

"The People's Party has people, money, and guns; traversing Anhui is no problem at all. While the Yue Wang Hui, which rose with the People's Party, had nothing after leaving Anqing city. No amount of money could withstand such spending. Let's not say whether we can gather ten thousand Guangfu troops; even if gathered, bringing these people under Nanjing city, there would be no grain." The one speaking was an old cadre who had participated in the first Battle of Anqing; he was very clear about the situation in Anqing and Chizhou.

"Where did the People's Party's grain come from?"

"The People's Party seized all the landlords' land and then distributed it equally to the common people. The People's Party's new government manages directly to the villages; the People's Party can levy and allocate the harvested grain immediately. Of course they don't lack grain."

Many Guangfu Society cadres heard of such things for the first time. Looks of surprise and astonishment appeared on the faces of these cadres. The People's Party's policy of completely eliminating landlords made most cadres in the Guangfu Society feel cold air on their backs. They mostly came from landlord and gentry families. If the People's Party occupied Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and then did this once in Jiangsu and Zhejiang...

Thinking of this, quite a few Guangfu Society cadres shuddered.

"Our Jiangsu and Zhejiang affairs should be handled by us Jiangsu and Zhejiang people ourselves. Letting Anhui people intervene in Jiangsu and Zhejiang affairs may not be appropriate." A cadre had already put forward his own view. This view immediately received the approval of quite a few Guangfu Society cadres. The Guangfu Society also had policies to restrict land annexation, although such policies hadn't been fully discussed, being merely the ideas of Tao Chengzhang and others. Everyone couldn't directly oppose this policy, so the evaluation of the People's Party became "Zhejiang people's affairs, not Anhui people's turn to intervene."

Actually, most Guangfu Society cadres knew that most of the main cadres of the People's Party were not Anhui people. They came from all over the country, and there were even quite a few People's Party cadres who were Zhejiang people. But these Guangfu Society cadres who opposed the People's Party's land policy would rather classify the People's Party all into the ranks of Anhui people. Absolutely not allowing the People's Party to promote "Anhui people's land reform" in Zhejiang; this became a quite powerful consensus within the Guangfu Society. Even facing the current crisis situation, these Guangfu Society cadres first instinctively opposed the People's Party intervening in Zhejiang revolutionary matters.

Qiu Jin didn't have such strong opposition. She had been to the People's Party base area. In the eyes of Zhejiang people, Anhui was a poor place. But what Qiu Jin saw and heard was that the livelihood of the common people in the base area was generally much better. The revolution didn't cause the base area common people to suffer any losses, and the People's Party also controlled local tax revenue through land reform, directly solving the problem of grain and pay. Although Qiu Jin didn't plan to carry out land reform in Zhejiang too, Qiu Jin didn't think Anhui was a scourge.

"Asking the People's Party to attack Hangzhou together isn't a bad thing either. The People's Party is also quite reasonable. As long as we discuss it beforehand, they won't stay in Zhejiang either." Qiu Jin actually wanted the brave and skillful People's Party to participate in this war very much. Carrying the remaining prestige of annihilating the Beiyang Army, the Green Standard Army in Hangzhou would naturally be unable to withstand a single blow. I'm afraid the Jiangnan New Army in Nanjing would also rise up following the trend.

"As far as I know, the Yue Wang Hui also raised troops with the People's Party. Where is the Yue Wang Hui now? Already vanished without a trace. We can't repeat the same mistake." The opponent's view also had many supporters. The Yue Wang Hui claimed a hundred thousand members and once occupied Anqing. Yet such a huge force was completely destroyed in just a few months. Mentioning the Yue Wang Hui, Guangfu Society cadres inevitably felt like the fox mourning the death of the hare.

At this point, Tao Chengzhang could only make a decision relying on his identity as the leader of the Guangfu Society. "I've decided. Still send someone to ask the People's Party to send troops to recover Zhejiang together first."

As soon as the voice fell, someone already stood up to oppose. "Mr. Tao, as the saying goes, it's easy to invite a god but hard to send him away. In case the People's Party stays in Zhejiang and refuses to leave, how do we explain to the common people of Zhejiang?"

Before Qiu Jin could stand up to oppose, Tao Chengzhang already said loudly: "The People's Party will absolutely not be like this. As long as we talk well beforehand, they will still keep their promise. I guarantee this for the People's Party. Bosun, please go see Chen Ke this time, how about it?"

"Good." Xu Xilin stood up and answered.

"Mr. Tao, I'll go too." Immediately a cadre volunteered to be an envoy to Anhui.

The corners of Tao Chengzhang's mouth pursed slightly. He laughed: "Going to find the People's Party this time, I won't decide on my own to cede Zhejiang land to the People's Party. I will discuss the negotiation conditions properly with everyone."

This statement finally received the tacit approval of the Guangfu Society crowd. So the Guangfu Society began to discuss the requirements for the People's Party.

In the evening, Xu Xilin found Tao Chengzhang when no one was around. As soon as he entered the room, Xu Xilin said: "Brother Huanzhang, everyone's request this time is a bit too excessive."

Tao Chengzhang smiled bitterly. This request was indeed extremely excessive. Everyone thought the People's Party absolutely couldn't occupy any territory in Zhejiang. Not only that, the People's Party also needed to provide grain and munitions themselves. Captured munitions and materials would all belong to the Guangfu Society. Moreover, the People's Party troops must obey the command of the Guangfu Society and couldn't act on their own.

Even so, there were still Guangfu Society cadres who didn't trust the People's Party. They even proposed that the People's Party's weapons and ammunition be controlled by the Guangfu Society. Tao Chengzhang didn't want to trigger serious differences within the Guangfu Society, so he didn't say anything about the previous requirements for the time being. Hearing this requirement that almost asked the People's Party to disarm, he directly expressed opposition clearly.

Actually, the Guangfu Society cadres also knew this requirement was very excessive, and most expressed support for Tao Chengzhang. Under such circumstances, the cadre who proposed this requirement actually spoke plausibly: "Since they are friendly troops, these requirements cannot be accepted. Where is the logic of friendly troops being so suspicious of the main army?"

Xu Xilin saw Tao Chengzhang's bitter smile. He hurriedly said: "Brother Huanqing, that person Chen Ke will absolutely not compromise on such major issues because of personal friendship. If we propose such requirements, it is absolutely impossible to make the People's Party send troops."

"Do you think I don't know? If someone dared to propose this requirement to us in Shaoxing, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to leave the room alive." Tao Chengzhang expressed complete agreement.

"Then why didn't Brother Huanqing speak at the meeting?" Xu Xilin couldn't help asking.

"I don't want our comrades to sacrifice for nothing. Although comrades speak unreasonably, they are our comrades after all." Facing Xu Xilin, Tao Chengzhang revealed his heartfelt words. "Besides, letting you go negotiate, I'm afraid I have to let you, Bosun, tell some lies. Even if we cede some places to the People's Party, we have to agree now."

"Brother Huanqing, my personal reputation is nothing. But back then the Yue Wang Hui asked for Anqing, and the People's Party gave them Anqing. We wanted Chizhou, and the People's Party gave us Chizhou. What was the result? Neither the Yue Wang Hui nor we could hold it. Now Anqing and Chizhou both belong to the People's Party; no one fights with them anymore. Even if we wanted to cede land, the People's Party might not necessarily want it. Offending the People's Party completely now, if there is any crisis in the future, what face do we have to beg at the People's Party's door again?"

Tao Chengzhang actually fully supported Xu Xilin's view. He asked: "Then what does Bosun think?"

Xu Xilin said frankly: "The plan for today is either we rely completely on ourselves to take Zhejiang. No matter how many people are sacrificed, we fight it down ourselves. This is the best. If we can't do it, then simply let the People's Party send troops to help. Whatever they want, we give them. Looking at it now, the People's Party didn't want Anqing and Chizhou at the beginning of the year at all; it was just the Yue Wang Hui and us who couldn't hold our breath and revealed the bottom first. As a result, the People's Party occupied the moral high ground, and later we couldn't hold it. The result was the People's Party owed us no favors at all. Instead, we ourselves can never mention Chizhou matters again. This is a lesson from the past; we absolutely cannot repeat the same mistake this time."

"Comrades will absolutely not agree," Tao Chengzhang answered.

"If they don't agree, then let these people fight Hangzhou. As the saying goes, inviting a general is not as good as goading a general. Since they are unconvinced, they will exert their full strength instead. Since we decided to rise up, naturally we put life and death aside. Brother Huanqing cherishes the lives of comrades, but for the People's Party to have today's situation, which time wasn't it fought out by themselves? If Brother Huanqing is determined to fight ourselves, I am willing to personally lead troops to march on Hangzhou."

Xu Xilin spoke decisively. Tao Chengzhang couldn't bring out other reasons either. Thinking for a while, Tao Chengzhang nodded heavily. "Then let it be decided so. Fight Hangzhou; we Guangfu Society will fight it personally."