The Guangfu Society (Restoration Society) was quite concerned about the movements of the People's Party. Although the Guangfu Society didn't have its own secret service intelligence agency, it still collected intelligence as much as possible every day. On the tenth day of the first lunar month, news reached Hangzhou about the movement of a large number of ships in Anqing during the Spring Festival, which really made the cadres of the Guangfu Society feel nervous. currently in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, only the People's Party had the ability to mobilize a large-scale fleet. The news said there were quite a few steamships in this fleet, which made the Guangfu Society even more certain that this was the People's Party's fleet.

Many Guangfu Society cadres suspected that the People's Party was preparing to go down the river to continue expanding its territory, but the news stated that this fleet only stayed in Anqing for a while, and a large part of the ships entered Chao Lake along the river. That should be going to Fengtai County via water routes. What puzzled the Guangfu Society cadres most was that this fleet actually came from Wuhan, yet no fighting occurred in the Wuhan area. It was said that the market was calm and people's lives were not disturbed in the slightest.

The Guangfu Society had a certain influence in the three towns of Wuhan. They all knew that Wuhan was now in a state of constant panic, and Governor of Huguang Zhao Erxun was most worried that the People's Party would forcibly seize Wuhan while the Hubei New Army's strength was insufficient. Yet such a huge fleet did not trigger war and panic; it was truly puzzling.

By the fifteenth of the first lunar month, more accurate news arrived. This fleet had moved a lot of steel from the Hanyang Iron and Steel Works, and although no fleet of such scale went to Hanyang afterward, small-scale fleets ran back and forth, continuously transporting steel.

The Guangfu Society cadres exploded after confirming this news was true. Regardless of their perception of the People's Party, everyone in the Guangfu Society believed the People's Party was resolutely anti-Qing. Facts also proved that the People's Party had adopted a policy of firm military struggle against the Manchu Qing. The People's Party, which had been beating the Manchu Qing violently for a year, not only didn't attack Wuhan with arms this time but moved a lot of steel like bandits instead, obviously starting to enjoy the dividends of war. As the saying goes, "If you take from others, your hand is short; if you eat from others, your mouth is soft." The People's Party transported supplies peacefully, making it clear they had reached some agreement with the Manchu Qing, or at least with the Wuhan side.

Indignant emotions spread at the Guangfu Society meeting. Tao Chengzhang's purpose in convening the meeting was not to discuss the People's Party, but ever since the fact of the People's Party moving supplies was recounted at the beginning of the meeting, abuse against the People's Party occupied the vast majority of the content in the following hour or so. There were many Jiangsu and Zhejiang dialects, and various accents and local terms differed quite a bit, but Tao Chengzhang had traveled all over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so he could understand everyone's words. The words in the venue, which buzzed like a big beehive, made Tao Chengzhang feel a bit dizzy. The only thing certain was that everyone's abuse could be summarized in three words: "Envy, Jealousy, Hate."

Just as Tao Chengzhang was considering how to calm this indignation, the indignant emotions automatically slid towards some unified understanding. "If we conquer Nanjing, we'll have whatever we want too!"

"Right, the People's Party conquered many big cities, that's how they can have whatever they want. Didn't we conquer Hangzhou, and the surrounding places followed in being recovered? If we conquer Nanjing, let alone Jiangsu, even Shanghai could be easily recovered."

"Correct, let's attack Nanjing now. Nanjing has plenty of good things, and an arsenal too. At that time, our weapons and ammunition will absolutely not be worse than the People's Party."

Tao Chengzhang originally wanted to discuss attacking Nanjing. He didn't expect the People's Party's success to actually greatly promote the Guangfu Society's consensus on attacking Nanjing.

Xu Xilin was usually quite impassioned, but ever since he returned to Hangzhou after inspecting the People's Party base area, he had become somewhat depressed. On his usually shrewd and capable face, his brows always furrowed inadvertently. Some people thought Xu Xilin was worried about Qiu Jin, who was injured in the Hangzhou campaign, and those Restoration Army soldiers of the Dare-to-Die Corps. After all, these people all came from the Guangfu Society's initial military school, the "Datong School," and Xu Xilin was the founder of the Datong School. Many of these people had a very close relationship with Xu Xilin.

Some more mature people thought Xu Xilin was worried about the battle to attack Nanjing. The battle to attack Nanjing itself wouldn't be easy. Leaving aside the disparity in numbers between the Guangfu Society and the Nanjing garrison, the gap in weapons between the two sides was even larger. Most of these more mature people were old cadres of the Guangfu Society; they had experienced more things. Unlike those new participants who felt the Restoration Army had the power to fight the New Army just because they got rifles and saw artillery, these cadres had a level of understanding that "training is needed for weapon use." Getting weapons didn't equate to gaining combat effectiveness. Battles of blood and fire gave these people a more advanced cognition.

These guesses could only be said to have guessed a small part correctly. Xu Xilin himself didn't fully understand his own troubles, and this was where Xu Xilin was most troubled. Among the cadres of the Guangfu Society, Xu Xilin was an extremely distinctive one. If Cai Yuanpei was number one in learning within the Guangfu Society, and Tao Chengzhang was number one in action, then Xu Xilin was undoubtedly the extremely rare number one "administrative talent." The reason he didn't devote himself to pursuing official rank was that Xu Xilin believed working for the Manchu Qing was absolutely unacceptable. But Xu Xilin's capability was beyond doubt. When he was with En Ming, Xu Xilin won En Ming's appreciation with extremely flexible political skills and outstanding handling ability, becoming the main person in charge of a series of newly run schools in Anhui. Because of jealousy, surrounding "colleagues" gave Xu Xilin a nickname, "Xu Xiaodao" (Xu the Driller). The general meaning was that Xu Xilin was good at social climbing. However, En Ming accepting Xu Xilin as a disciple was really not just because Xu Xilin had social climbing ability; being a solid "administrative talent" was the fundamental reason Xu Xilin could be put in an important position.

After experiencing a series of battles, liaisons, training, and uprisings, Xu Xilin found his feelings towards the Guangfu Society becoming increasingly complex. The young comrades' enthusiasm to overthrow the Manchu Qing was real, but the disorder, or rather the ridiculousness, of the young comrades' handling of affairs was equally real. The experience with En Ming made Xu Xilin realize just how large the investment needed to manipulate relatively large projects was. The inspection at the People's Party made Xu Xilin see even more what "governing the world" meant.

Whether military administration or civil administration, what was needed was precisely not impulsive revolutionary enthusiasm, but ruthless order. Even if ruthless wasn't needed, it had to be meticulous and rigorous. As for why it had to be done this way, Xu Xilin actually hadn't fully figured it out either. Xu Xilin's experience was not yet enough to raise his revolutionary theoretical knowledge to the level of thinking about problems systematically, and his revolutionary consciousness hadn't been able to go "from spontaneous to self-conscious." Despite this, this "number one administrative talent" in the Guangfu Society still felt uncomfortable all over. His train of thought jumped east and west, his attention couldn't concentrate, and the things he saw before his eyes always made him involuntarily give birth to many associations. One moment he thought of the shrinking so-called inspection at the People's Party base area, and the next he thought of the days being an official in Anhui.

"Comrades, who among you is willing to take the lead?" Tao Chengzhang didn't want to waste this morale that had risen spontaneously with great difficulty. He asked loudly.

"We comrades from Jinhua dare to take the lead!" Someone immediately shouted in response.

"Good! Any comrade who dares to take the lead will be given a settling-in allowance first, and will definitely be heavily rewarded after conquering Nanjing." Tao Chengzhang immediately gave monetary stimulation.

Hearing Tao Chengzhang, who could make decisions, say this, Guangfu Society comrades from other places immediately got excited.

"We from Yiwu absolutely dare not fall behind others."

"We comrades from Wenzhou are willing to send a Dare-to-Die Corps!"

Watching the increasingly swelling passion of the Guangfu Society comrades to attack Nanjing, Xu Xilin felt an indescribable discomfort. Even now, Xu Xilin still hadn't found a reason why they had to attack Nanjing. In the news coming from Nanjing, a panic-stricken atmosphere pervaded the Jiangnan New Army and Nanjing city. They absolutely couldn't attack actively in the short term, and the Guangfu Society was unlikely to be attacked from Nanjing in the coming months. Why not use the precious time to rectify the order in the areas currently recovered? Thoroughly eradicate the remnant forces of the Manchu Qing and unite the gentry class. In fact, Xu Xilin had already sent his trusted aides to start doing some liaison work. The results were quite good; at least the enlightened gentry who were relatively supportive of the Guangfu Society before expressed considerable interest in "convening a Zhejiang regional assembly."

And there was another even more important matter, which was that the Guangfu Society had occupied most prefectures and counties in Zhejiang and controlled quite a number of money and grain warehouses. How to effectively utilize this money and grain, especially avoiding this money and grain being embezzled, was the thing Xu Xilin cared about most. Tao Chengzhang sent reliable old cadres of the Guangfu Society to take over these money and grain warehouses, but the results sent back were not optimistic. In some places, the money and grain warehouses had already been embezzled for private use by a large portion. And exactly who embezzled it, there was no definite news even now. Even more serious was that the "Guangfu Society" in some places simply refused to cooperate with the people sent by Tao Chengzhang. Although everyone was a member of the Guangfu Society, and those local Guangfu Societies also admitted that Tao Chengzhang and these people were the leaders of the Guangfu Society, facing the reality of controlling "money and grain," the local Guangfu Societies didn't care much about wrestling with Guangfu Society leaders like Tao Chengzhang.

Tao Chengzhang originally also thought they needed to hurry up and rectify the gentry in Zhejiang and unite various forces. But because of the problem with the money and grain warehouses, he had to send all the capable cadres to the localities first, and the original plan to integrate Zhejiang was thoroughly stranded. Moreover, in the Hangzhou campaign, most of the Guangfu Society's backbone threw themselves into the war, and casualties were quite heavy. This was undoubtedly adding frost to snow for solving internal problems.

Even so, Tao Chengzhang still insisted on conquering Nanjing, and Xu Xilin couldn't dissuade him no matter what. Tao Chengzhang's opinion was simple: without conquering Nanjing, it wasn't enough to grasp huge economic benefits. Even the current fiscal revenue of Zhejiang Province was not as much as Nanjing alone. As long as they occupied Nanjing, the Guangfu Society could use Nanjing as a base to build a strong army. Then turn back to tidy up Zhejiang.

Xu Xilin felt this reason seemed reasonable but couldn't stand scrutiny at all. If occupying big cities could achieve such an effect, then Fengtai County where the People's Party started was a truly poor place. And after occupying Anqing, why did the People's Party view it as a hot potato and hurriedly throw it to the Yue Wang Society? After the Yue Wang Society, as the local snake of Anqing, occupied Anqing, didn't it still collapse within a few months? Except for over a hundred die-hards who were forced to leave their homes and run to Hunan, the Yue Wang Society that once claimed a hundred thousand members could be said to be no more. Saying the "lesson from the overturned cart ahead" was not far, could it be that this lesson was only "resolutely not getting involved with the People's Party"? If they had such backbone, why did the Guangfu Society beg the People's Party bitterly to dispatch a medical team? Xu Xilin simply couldn't see what the difference was between the Guangfu Society's current actions and the Yue Wang Society.

However, such words couldn't be said so bluntly.

A big reason why these Guangfu Society comrades from various places gathered in Hangzhou had such passion now was that they didn't get benefits from the local regimes in various places after the political power fell into the hands of the "Guangfu Society" in Zhejiang, or the local benefits were limited and not enough to satisfy these comrades. They gathered in Hangzhou in small or large groups under Tao Chengzhang's call. These days, Tao Chengzhang encouraged everyone's morale with the wonderful situation after conquering Nanjing. Plus the stimulation from the People's Party today, these comrades' will to fight surged. If Xu Xilin said discouraging words now, it would really be extremely inappropriate.

Not only could he not say discouraging words, but Xu Xilin had to stand up and say some words to encourage morale against his will to everyone. For Xu Xilin, this "hypocrisy" was just a basic skill; when he was under En Ming, his performance was even more flexible than now. Tao Chengzhang encouraged the Guangfu Society comrades on one side while staring at Xu Xilin with a slightly blaming look. Xu Xilin immediately cheered up and spoke words contrary to his heart even more devotedly.

Since it was decided to attack Nanjing, the attack route had to be arranged. There were quite a few merchant corps in Zhejiang, and the number of merchant corps possessing armed forces or hiring armed forces was quite large. Among the armed forces gathered under the Guangfu Society banner this time, some were dispatched by merchant corps, and some were independent armed forces wanting to come and make a profit.

Tao Chengzhang said loudly, "Comrades, to attack Jinling this time, let me say it beforehand. Jinling is a key place; there are quite a few who established capitals and founded states here. Not to mention far away, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Jinling and established a state. In our attack on Jinling this time, we still need everyone to do their best and not fear sacrifice. I, your brother, will say it again: after success, perhaps because of necessity, a president will be temporarily established, publicly elected by everyone, for a term of five years or eight years. Although the time limit is not fixed, it cannot be passed down to sons and grandsons. Or use a civic polity, or even determine it as anarchy with no president—it is unknown. However, we must look at the level of our nationals at that time. But no matter what, the imperial throne can never be occupied forever. You who have great ability come out and do things for everyone, and the rest of the common people will absolutely not be like today, suffering to the extreme, poor to the extreme, while those who are emperors and high officials are still happy to twelve thousand degrees. At that time, there will be no land [ownership?], no big rich people, no bitter common people, taxes will be light, likin taxes and customs will all be abolished, soldiers will be fewer. From then on everyone will have food to eat, not worry about cold, and thus can be peaceful and never need to rebel or revolutionize forever. This is the long life of our Chinese nationals."

This was the viewpoint on the political system in Tao Chengzhang's "Statutes of the Longhua Society." Tao Chengzhang spread this text everywhere, and it had great influence in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Many local forces were willing to defect to the Guangfu Society precisely because they agreed with this organizational concept of the new government. Most of the crowd had been bullied by local government offices. Although they were bent on revenge, they were deeply afraid of the Manchu Qing coming to suppress them. So quite a few comrades responded to the call and came to gather to attack Jinling together. Now hearing Tao Chengzhang reiterate the Guangfu Society's purpose in public, everyone knew Tao Chengzhang would absolutely not break his promise. Thinking that once they could conquer Nanjing, they could not only make a big fortune but also return home to become local leaders. It was a good thing for both the country and the individual, so they clamored together.

"Conquer Jinling City, establish a New Republic!" Someone shouted. This was actually shouted by someone Tao Chengzhang instructed beforehand at this moment.

Hearing this slogan, everyone felt it fit their intentions perfectly. Quite a few people couldn't wait to shout along.

"Conquer Jinling City, establish a New Republic!"

"Conquer Jinling City, establish a New Republic!"

For a time, the sound of slogans shook the sky. Comrades waved their fists or vigorously waved whatever they could wave in their hands. Some young and aggressive ones simply stood on the stools, shouting loudly from a high position. Soon their faces turned red and their necks thick. In such an atmosphere, the comrades' mass emotions quickly reached a level near madness.

The military operation to dispatch troops to Jinling was officially determined.