On the eve of the great battle, even the Guangfu Society had quite a few meetings. Since being injured in the attack on Hangzhou, this was the first time Qiu Jin attended a Guangfu Society operational meeting. The wound sutured after the military doctor's surgery was no longer in severe pain; replacing it was an occasional stinging pain plus a numbing and itching sensation. The military doctor said this was the feeling of healing. Qiu Jin was impatient; since the wound had started to heal completely, she actively requested to come out and work. Tao Chengzhang and Xu Xilin naturally disagreed. After much persuasion, Qiu Jin finally managed to attend the meeting.

Time was tight now, and there was no time to say much more. Tao Chengzhang just introduced everyone to each other briefly and immediately convened the operational meeting. Unlike the last operation to attack Hangzhou, Qiu Jin didn't know half of the members attending the meeting. Hearing their titles like Chief of Staff, Intelligence Bureau, etc., Qiu Jin assumed the Guangfu Society must have established a General Staff Department, Intelligence Department, Logistics Department, and other departments. The People's Party also had similar institutions. Chen Ke had once told Qiu Jin that this organizational structure itself was not unique; China had similar military institutions since ancient times.

Qiu Jin sized up the crowd in the conference hall. Most people felt a bit dispirited, while the few who looked spirited were obviously restless and agitated. Besides those in plain clothes, some wore New Army uniforms with the collar badges and hat insignias removed. Xu Xilin had said that Rui Fang, the Governor-General of Liangjiang in Nanjing, ordered Zhang Xun, the Admiral of Jiangnan, to slaughter revolutionaries heavily. Recently, quite a few revolutionaries in the Jiangnan New Army escaped the tiger's mouth and arrived in Hangzhou, which greatly increased the Guangfu Society's military strength.

While sizing up the venue, Qiu Jin heard a cadre ask, "Duke Tao, it's time to contact the People's Party and ask them to dispatch a medical team to assist in the battle, right?"

Unlike last time, no cadre gossiped about the People's Party anymore. The Guangfu Society crowd seemed as if they had never spoken ill of the People's Party; they just simply and seriously proposed this quite reasonable request.

"Mm, Bosun, who shall we send for this matter?" Tao Chengzhang asked with a rather majestic expression.

Qiu Jin felt this expression and tone seemed familiar. After thinking for a while, she remembered it was actually somewhat similar to Chen Ke. However, Chen Ke didn't do it intentionally; he just had a colder temperament. When talking about official business, he had a calmness completely disproportionate to his age. When speaking, he involuntarily carried a bit of questioning tone. Plus Chen Ke's status, it gave people an illusion of being relatively majestic. In fact, Qiu Jin knew that Chen Ke often revealed a heartless smile, looking like a teenager. Compared to Chen Ke, Tao Chengzhang really had some majestic appearance.

Tao Chengzhang didn't know Qiu Jin's perception. In his heart, he didn't have any thought of imitating Chen Ke. During the first Battle of Anqing, Tao Chengzhang followed in Chen Ke's headquarters. When Chen Ke commanded the battle, his words were neither too many nor too few, and that look of having a well-thought-out plan opened Tao Chengzhang's eyes. Storytellers were used to describing capable commanders as "calm and composed" when commanding thousands of troops and horses. This was the first time Tao Chengzhang could connect the imagined content with a real person. After that, when giving orders, Tao Chengzhang often thought of Chen Ke's appearance. If asked if he was imitating intentionally, naturally he wasn't, but if one said Tao Chengzhang wasn't influenced by Chen Ke, that wouldn't be completely correct either.

Hearing Tao Chengzhang raise the question, Xu Xilin pondered for a moment before replying, "Let Chen Beping go."

Tao Chengzhang nodded. "Good. Let Chen Beping go. Bosun, you go arrange it now."

As soon as Xu Xilin left, Tao Chengzhang began to continue issuing orders, actually not caring at all whether Xu Xilin, this main cadre, was present. This surprised Qiu Jin considerably. Qiu Jin actually didn't understand military affairs. Asking her to rectify discipline, implement military training, and lead the Dare-to-Die Corps to charge, Qiu Jin could do it. But Qiu Jin couldn't quite understand the arrangement of the entire military plan. She listened seriously, but didn't understand many places. When Tao Chengzhang finished speaking, someone stood up and asked, "Duke Tao, will firearms and ammunition be distributed before this battle?"

"The march is already quite tiring for everyone. Transporting firearms and ammunition to Nanjing collectively, and distributing them when we reach Nanjing. Let's dispense with unnecessary toil." Tao Chengzhang answered very simply.

Qiu Jin saw clearly that a look of disappointment immediately appeared on that person's face. While on the faces of quite a few old Guangfu Society cadres, there was a faint look of mockery. The speaker was a newly recruited secret society leader from Quanzhou. He had over three hundred men under him, which could be considered a not small force. But they only had forty-something guns. So among those who wanted to replenish weapons most, he was a representative figure.

If it were before when he lacked experience, Tao Chengzhang might really have replenished weapons for these local armed forces. Now the situation didn't allow Tao Chengzhang to do so. Even though a large amount of weapons and ammunition was captured in Hangzhou, it was still insufficient to provide unified equipment for the nearly ten thousand troops gathered. At the previous meeting, Tao Chengzhang revealed a little bit of the idea of distributing weapons to other armed forces, and the old cadres of the Guangfu Society exploded. Everyone's reason was very sufficient: "These weapons were captured by everyone risking their lives in Hangzhou; why give them to those who came later to pick up bargains?"

This was very reasonable. Even if Tao Chengzhang knew the cadres saying this had their own selfishness, he couldn't refute it in principle. This was indeed a fact Tao Chengzhang couldn't deny. The result of the final discussion was: if you want weapons, establish merit in battle. The Guangfu Society gave other revolutionary comrades the opportunity to participate in combat equally.

"Then how do we march? When do we start attacking Nanjing?" Seeing they couldn't get weapons and equipment before the battle, the leaders of other secret societies very simply began to ask about the attack time.

"Troops will be dispatched starting three days later. At that time, everyone will be distributed grain. Once you get the grain, everyone sets off for Jinling. In Hangzhou, except for the wounded and the troops remaining to guard the city, no one will be left in Hangzhou at that time. Either kill the enemy at the front, or go directly home. Hiding in the back is absolutely impossible." Tao Chengzhang's method was crisp enough. The teams from various places didn't bring their own food. As long as the Guangfu Society could choke off the food supply, absolutely no one could stay in Hangzhou and freeload.

Qiu Jin didn't know what exactly happened. In the Hangzhou campaign two months ago, Tao Chengzhang still had enough tolerance before the campaign started. At that time, Tao Chengzhang would rather suffer some losses himself than do things so absolutely. But that was Tao Chengzhang doing it this way now. And what surprised Qiu Jin was that Tao Chengzhang actually publicly appointed generals to solve this matter. "Xuanqing, you are injured and can't go to Nanjing. I want you to be responsible for Hangzhou affairs together with Mr. Zhang Taiyan. If anyone doesn't listen to Mr. Zhang's dispatch or refuses to fight, let them leave Hangzhou. For those who don't leave, we don't need to be polite."

"Understood." Qiu Jin replied somewhat hesitantly. After saying this, Qiu Jin couldn't help looking outside the door. Xu Xilin not being here made Qiu Jin feel extremely uneasy. Tao Chengzhang's performance was really too unexpected.

Xu Xilin was currently talking with Chen Beping. To avoid other people's eyes and ears, they specially chose a secluded room. There were six youths participating in the meeting, and Xu Xilin was obviously their leader.

"Gentlemen, this time going to Anhui, I want you to go together. Whatever differences there are between the People's Party in Anhui and your concepts, I hope you can abandon these thoughts. After asking Chairman Chen Ke to dispatch the medical team, you don't need to come back for the time being. Concentrate on learning the knowledge and methods of how to govern a locality in Anhui."

The youths didn't express any surprise at Xu Xilin's words. On the contrary, they all nodded to show they heard.

"If Zhejiang continues like this, something big will definitely happen. Duke Tao is now determined to implement the election system. If it were a time of peace, his method might still work. Now everyone can see that in the places under Manchu Qing rule, no one responds to the revolution at all. This time, whether we can conquer Jinling or not, the places in Jiangsu will absolutely not rise up in rebellion. If the Manchu Qing sends troops to Zhejiang, the only ones we can rely on are ourselves."

Xu Xilin spoke hurriedly. This was the only thing he could do now. Learn the method of governing a locality from the People's Party and build a strong government like the People's Party. In the internal meetings of the Guangfu Society, Xu Xilin suggested learning from the People's Party many times. Tao Chengzhang didn't completely oppose Xu Xilin's suggestion, but Tao Chengzhang himself opposed "strong government." Chen Ke's kind of super-strong government had a fundamental conflict with the "small government" in Tao Chengzhang's ideal.

So no matter how Xu Xilin suggested or lobbied, Tao Chengzhang remained unmoved. Xu Xilin settled for the second best, asking to postpone launching the Nanjing campaign and complete the integration of Zhejiang first. Tao Chengzhang resolutely opposed this; he even accelerated the pace of organizing and launching the Nanjing campaign. In many places, it looked a bit like forcing too much. This was obviously expressing opposition to Xu Xilin's attitude in another way.

The divergence between the two giants within the Guangfu Society also affected the main cadres of the Guangfu Society. In this regard, Xu Xilin didn't get the support of the majority, which made Xu Xilin feel extremely disappointed. Since he couldn't realize his ideas with Tao Chengzhang or within the Guangfu Society, Xu Xilin could only rely on the youths he trusted to go to Anhui to "learn the scriptures." Xu Xilin decided that as soon as this Nanjing campaign ended, he would leave the center of the Guangfu Society. Whether going to Shaoxing or elsewhere in Anhui, in short, Xu Xilin definitely wanted to build a firm base area.

"Mr. Xu, since Duke Tao refuses to accept advice all along, why must you participate in the Battle of Jinling? Now the various places below are very chaotic; wouldn't it be better for you to go down and straighten out these places?" Chen Beping asked.

"Beping, I must participate in this Battle of Jinling. At this time, Duke Tao needs people; I absolutely cannot quit at this time." Xu Xilin answered categorically.

Chen Beping couldn't help saying, "Mr. Xu, do you not understand? Why are the suggestions you propose at the meeting always opposed? Those cadres with no opinions don't know how to integrate local forces, so they can only adopt this model of local autonomy. Those cadres who have considerable influence locally, if there is a strong government governing the whole of Zhejiang now, they won't be able to guarantee their own strong positions locally in the future. Mr. Xu, these people put their own benefits first now. You are known as the commander of the Restoration Army now, but in reality, there are many people below who don't submit to you. Why do you ask for trouble like this?"

These words could be counted as heartfelt advice. Chen Beping was Xu Xilin's die-hard supporter. Not only had he followed Xu Xilin closely since the Anhui period, but he also firmly supported Xu Xilin's political views. Regarding the struggle within the Guangfu Society, Chen Beping saw it very clearly.

The youths with Chen Beping didn't have Chen Beping's insight. Hearing this, their faces all changed greatly.

"Beping, you are never allowed to say such words to me again in the future." Xu Xilin stopped Chen Beping's speech without a second word. Looking at Chen Beping's agitated expression, Xu Xilin couldn't help saying, "Beping, since I have dedicated myself to the revolution, I no longer care about my own safety. Quite a few people already say I hide behind greed for life and fear of death. This time I must go to the front line. Everyone can die; why can't I, Xu Xilin, die?"

"Mr. Xu..." Chen Beping couldn't bear it anymore. Just after saying the beginning, he was interrupted by Xu Xilin again.

"Beping, I just have different views from Duke Tao, but it's not that Duke Tao suppresses me out of selfishness. You absolutely cannot mistake this point, nor can you be instigated by others. Although Duke Tao does things a bit domineeringly, he is definitely not a person with selfishness. You are not allowed to go out and talk nonsense in the future either."

"Even if Duke Tao has no selfishness, it's not like he can do whatever he wants." Chen Beping still couldn't accept Xu Xilin's statement.

"That's why I let you go to Anhui to learn for me. After learning, we will implement our ideas locally. If you really think we are right, then you shouldn't think so much. Do the things I entrusted to you well."

Having finally persuaded Chen Beping and the others with great difficulty, Xu Xilin hurriedly rushed back to the council hall. The meeting at this time had already ended. Tao Chengzhang was waiting for Xu Xilin. Seeing him return, he pulled Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin to discuss matters privately together. Also sitting with them was Zhang Taiyan; the main cadres of the Guangfu Society were basically all present.

Xu Xilin originally thought Tao Chengzhang would go straight to the topic and criticize Xu Xilin's views again. Unexpectedly, Tao Chengzhang first briefly introduced the content of the meeting. Tao Chengzhang expressed that he didn't care much about the medical team problem. Compared to the medical team destined to arrive on time, the things Tao Chengzhang had to care about were piled up like a mountain. Dispatching troops required provisions, and the Restoration Army couldn't fight with broadswords and spears either. At least weapons and ammunition had to be distributed to the main force troops. Because Tao Chengzhang himself simply wasn't clear how many people he actually had under him. Even for a hero like Tao Chengzhang who had traveled all over Zhejiang, he still hadn't been able to remember the names of all the troop leaders under the "Restoration Army" banner completely.

Tao Chengzhang certainly didn't know that Chen Ke, whom he couldn't help comparing with subconsciously, had a rough understanding of all commanders and commissars above the company level in the People's Party. Chen Ke could also roughly know the names of most company-level commanders. This wasn't because Chen Ke had the ability of photographic memory, but simply because names appearing repeatedly in a large number of documents, and the events connected with them, made it easier for Chen Ke to remember these commanders and commissars.

But Tao Chengzhang also admitted that not being able to manage all the troops under the Guangfu Society's command was indeed bad. However, Tao Chengzhang himself had no choice. He traveled all over the place; although he met many people, more news was heard. Even if he heard the name of a certain hero, because these heroes were also running all over the place, the news obtained wasn't accurate. Not to mention that regarding names, titles, and nicknames, these heroes were very "particular" in these places. It was very likely that heroes with different images in several places were actually the same person. For example, the hero Zhou Congwen from Wenzhou. In Wenzhou, he was the leader of a merchant corps guard team locally, and everyone called him Fourth Master Zhou. In Jinhua, he was known as Zhou Zhiyong, mainly in the medicinal herb business. In Hangzhou, he was a traveling merchant named He Yongshan, selling everything. There were also opposite examples. There was a hero named Liu Xuhu in Ningbo, famous for being heroic and chivalrous. In reality, there were two heroes using this name. One was a local enlightened faction member who was a successful candidate in the military examination, and the other was a Jianghu figure with some flavor of a chivalrous thief, doing some business of escorting goods and also doing some business that couldn't quite see the light.

Out of various reasons and thoughts, heroes mixing outside wouldn't easily tell their real information to others. Tao Chengzhang himself traveled all over and also had quite a few aliases. Many times, he heard others say there was a hero XXX in XXX, but it was actually Tao Chengzhang himself. Various far-fetched stories were pinned on Tao Chengzhang's head, even if Tao Chengzhang didn't know about these things at all.

When a large number of heroes who used to wait and see gathered in Hangzhou, Tao Chengzhang initially wanted to meet them one by one, probe, persuade, and integrate. Soon he found he simply didn't have so much time and energy. Before deciding to dispatch troops, Tao Chengzhang had to adopt a more generalized method, which was to publicly announce rewards and punishments. Whoever was willing to be the vanguard would be heavily rewarded. Whoever exerted themselves bravely in battle would be heavily rewarded afterward.

After saying these, Tao Chengzhang finally told Xu Xilin and others his true thoughts on why the Nanjing campaign must be launched. In Xu Xilin's view, a group of rabble, unorganized and undisciplined, launching a revolutionary war purely on a burst of passion, would have great losses and might not necessarily succeed. This was a meaningless huge waste. But Tao Chengzhang precisely believed that this kind of anti-Qing action from the folk itself conformed to the Guangfu Society's tenet of "Recover the Han nationality, return our rivers and mountains, dedicate oneself to the country, and retire after success." Zhejiang people spontaneously overthrowing the Manchu Qing, and then spontaneously establishing a Zhejiang government of Zhejiang people in Zhejiang—this was Tao Chengzhang's true thought, and this kind of thing was also the best. Tao Chengzhang hoped to become a revolutionary founding father admired by everyone in Zhejiang, but didn't hope to establish a government led by himself. For Tao Chengzhang, this was a moral issue.

If someone else said this, Xu Xilin might not believe it. But when Tao Chengzhang said it concerned a "moral issue," Xu Xilin believed it. "Brother Huanzhang, rest assured, I trust you," Xu Xilin said firmly.

"Many thanks, Bosun. I have a matter to entrust to you now. In this attack on Nanjing, our Restoration Army should be the vanguard. Since Xuanqing is injured, can you lead the troops?" Tao Chengzhang said to Xu Xilin.

"Okay," Xu Xilin replied. He actually also knew Tao Chengzhang's thoughts. Tao Chengzhang had always doubted whether Xu Xilin was a true revolutionary; Tao Chengzhang even suspected that Xu Xilin wanted to be a high official himself and didn't dare to undertake combat tasks at all. Xu Xilin originally also felt he might as well fight to the death on the front line. Even if he died in battle, he could prove that he was simply not a person greedy for life and afraid of death.

Without waiting for Qiu Jin and Zhang Taiyan to interject, Tao Chengzhang made the final decision. "Then I'll hand our Guangfu Society's Dare-to-Die Corps over to Bosun."