"Little Li, show me the file on Bai Lang again," Chen Ke said to his secretary. The Bai Lang Uprising was a major event in Henan after the late Qing Dynasty. Aside from that, the only thing that could match it was probably Chiang Kai-shek blowing up the Huayuankou dyke, turning southern Henan into a flooded area. The 1942 Henan famine was an inevitable consequence of that flooded area.

The People's Party did not have many records on Bai Lang, and Chen Ke didn't want to intentionally make the comrades pay too much attention to him. First of all, Bai Lang was just one of many local armed forces in Henan. A few years ago, when Yuan Shikai confronted the People's Party, he raised taxes in Henan sky-high. Even after Yuan Shikai took his troops back to Beijing to seize power, the taxes in Henan did not come down. This had already caused the counties bordering the base area to rebel en masse, demanding to join the base area. Local armed forces everywhere in Henan were resisting Yuan Shikai's rule, and the pile of materials on famous forces collected by the People's Party intelligence agency was half a person high. If Chen Ke didn't know the name "Bai Lang", Bai Lang's file would be completely inconspicuous in this thick stack of materials.

Chen Ke already had an image of "intelligence bordering on the demonic" among the comrades; he didn't want to display any "prophetic" style anymore. Moreover, the current situation was very different from history. Whether Bai Lang could set off a monstrous wave in Henan and Shaanxi like in history was still uncertain.

Although he warned himself repeatedly like this, Chen Ke still couldn't get rid of the deep impression history had left on him. "Bai Lang" sounded like "White Wolf"; Chen Ke was also a guy who had watched Japanese anime for many years, so he couldn't just ignore this name no matter what.

After getting the file, Chen Ke looked at the cover and found that a new report had been added inside. Flipping to the attached report, Chen Ke was slightly stunned. The intelligence department's investigation work was quite thorough. The new intelligence mentioned that a southerner had joined Bai Lang's team. Bai Lang called him "Mr. Wang" and said that Mr. Wang was a student returned from overseas and a member of the Tongmenghui. Combining these few pieces of information with what Chen Ke knew about Wang Jingwei, Chen Ke strongly suspected that this Mr. Wang was Wang Jingwei, who had escaped from Beijing.

"Very interesting," Chen Ke muttered. Wang Jingwei was a guy who had offended Chen Ke. Upon learning that Wang Jingwei might be colluding with Bai Lang, Chen Ke was not only not angry but actually had some expectations for such a combination. At this stage, Wang Jingwei could count as a hot-blooded man of action. If this person beside Bai Lang was really Wang Jingwei, Bai Lang was extremely likely to launch an attack on the Beiyang forces just like in history. The People's Party hadn't reached the point of tearing off all pretenses with Yuan Shikai yet, but once Henan fell into great chaos, the People's Party would have a reason to march into Henan.

After occupying Henan, the People's Party could even demand to build a steel group in Handan. Anyang in Henan and Handan were only separated by the Zhang River. With military force as a background, whether Yuan Shikai was willing or not would no longer be important.

"Little Li, find the recent intelligence related to Bai Lang," Chen Ke ordered.

"Yes," Secretary Li answered simply and clearly.

Chen Ke leaned back in his chair. Since he was wearing thick clothes, the hard chair back actually felt quite comfortable. Chen Ke's fingers tapped lightly and nimbly in the air. The secretaries had seen this action many times, but they couldn't understand the meaning of this action at all, so they turned a blind eye to it. If the secretaries were proficient in computer keyboards, perhaps they could have understood. What Chen Ke was typing was one of the basic database query commands, "Select * From".

No network, no shared database; the difficulty of obtaining the latest intelligence was extremely high. Even now that there were telephones, it took at least ten minutes to get a piece of intelligence from more than ten *li* away. And the speed of information sharing was even slower. This was Chen Ke's greatest regret regarding the People's Party's current intelligence work.

Wang Jingwei didn't know that he had already become a target of Chen Ke's calculations. On this New Year's Eve, even though Wang Jingwei was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, he was still frozen stiff. After blowing in the cold wind for several hours at night, he only felt that his whole face was numb from the cold. Snot kept running out; Wang Jingwei no longer had the demeanor of a graceful young gentleman. Every time he felt the snot about to flow onto his lips, he would use his cotton jacket sleeve to wipe it hard.

A tall, thin man beside Wang Jingwei didn't make a sound either. He casually handed over a piece of cloth, and Wang Jingwei hurriedly used the cloth to cover his face. Generally speaking, robbers liked to cover their faces when committing crimes. Wang Jingwei had an inexplicable resistance to this, but after staying in this freezing wild field for half the night, he finally discovered that robbers wearing face masks might not just be to prevent others from seeing their appearance.

After covering it for just a moment, Wang Jingwei felt much better on his face. He asked in a low voice, "Brother Bai Lang, are we ready to make a move?"

The man beside Wang Jingwei didn't make a sound, just quietly staring at the village in the distance, which was brightly lit and occasionally had the sound of firecrackers. Just as he thought they had to continue waiting, Wang Jingwei heard Bai Lang speak next to him, "Brothers, grab your guys [weapons] and get ready to go up."

The good fellows beside Bai Lang were originally squatting on the ground in groups. Hearing Bai Lang give the order, they whispered to the brothers beside them, "Make a move, get up quickly," while standing up. A moment later, more than a hundred people gathered in a dark mass inside the earthen ridge.

"Brothers, I won't say much else. Today is New Year's Eve. The rent collected by the He family and the ill-gotten gains they grabbed are all stored in the warehouse. I won't say much, I'll just say one sentence. Break into the He Family Fortress, and live happily for more than half a year," Bai Lang shouted to this group of good fellows.

"Break into the He Family Fortress, and live happily for more than half a year!" The group of good fellows responded in unison. Bai Lang immediately strode forward, taking the lead to run towards the village. Wang Jingwei didn't stay either; he tightly gripped the firelock issued to him and followed the good fellows, running forward quickly.

The He family's village was no different from ordinary villages. The periphery was houses of poor families. In the middle, where the terrain was higher, a rather sturdy large compound had been built. Brick and stone courtyard walls, with watchtowers at all four corners. Usually, the He Family Fortress was cautious with gate guards, and even more so during the New Year; the main gate had been closed early. With more than a hundred people swarming over, the inside of the courtyard was immediately filled with a hubbub of voices. The guard dogs barked non-stop.

Wang Jingwei carried the firelock used for hunting, closely following the main group straight for the main gate. It was unknown what year this firelock was manufactured; it was very different from the rifles Wang Jingwei was used to. It felt extremely inconvenient to hold this thing while running. Seeing other good fellows running as if flying while carrying broadswords and long spears, Wang Jingwei sped up and ran.

The peasant families on the periphery had gone to sleep early, so the wooden doors on the thatched huts were tightly closed. Hearing such a noisy sound of killing shouts, no one dared to open the door even more. Without any obstruction along the way, everyone rushed to the front of the He Family Fortress main gate. Bai Lang had originally rushed at the very front; at this moment, he had already stood firm. He was seen holding a torch in his left hand and raising his right hand high. Without an order, the good fellows stopped behind Bai Lang.

The inside of the courtyard continued to be in a mess. After a good while, someone shouted from the top of the wall, "Which path's good fellow is outside? Report a name."

"I am your Grandfather Bai Lang," Bai Lang shouted loudly.

Hearing the title "Bai Lang", a burst of screams immediately came from the courtyard. Wang Jingwei faintly heard someone scolding, "Everyone fucking stop shouting. I'll beat whoever shouts." After a while, the courtyard barely returned to quiet. Just as Wang Jingwei didn't know what to do next, someone in the courtyard shouted again, "Bai Lang, we have no grievances or enmity in the past, why did you come to us?"

Hearing this, Bai Lang shouted, "No grievances or enmity? Your He family acts as the *baozhang* [head of the pao-chia system/security group] quite well. Zhang Zhenfang asked to collect seventy percent tax, you added it to ninety percent. Even a black heart shouldn't be black like this. Those who can't pay the tax, you arrest them. This is pushing people to death."

Wang Jingwei knew that Zhang Zhenfang was the Governor of Henan and also Yuan Shikai's subordinate. After Yuan Shikai left, he guarded Henan and could be said to be plundering by force or trickery. The leader of the He Family Fortress, He Chengge, was the *baozhang* in this place. His family was originally from a tax collector background and was a local tyrant. When Yuan Shikai was there, he gained appreciation by collecting taxes frantically. Once the Manchu Qing fell, He Chengge's power in the Baofeng area became even greater. Now he was already a councilor of the Baofeng local area and a councilor of the Henan Provincial Assembly.

The person inside didn't seem to care too much about Bai Lang's words. He shouted, "Bai Lang, you walk your open road, we cross our single-log bridge. Everyone doesn't eat from the same pot, why fight? It's the New Year, it's not easy for you brothers to come for a trip. How about this, we'll give you fifty *shi* of grain and five hundred silver dollars, and brothers can disperse."

Bai Lang laughed loudly after hearing this, "In your grain warehouse right now, let alone fifty *shi* of grain, I'm afraid you wouldn't even let go of one thousand *shi* of grain. Not to mention how much money there is. I know your master isn't here, why do you have to sell your lives for them? If you know what's good for you, obediently open the door. We'll give you a share when we leave. If you don't open the door, when we get in, I'm afraid you'll all lose your heads."

The guy who originally had no reaction to Bai Lang's righteous words fell silent after hearing these words from Bai Lang. Although he didn't know the exact situation inside, Wang Jingwei clearly felt that the people inside had become nervous.

The inside didn't make a sound, but Bai Lang didn't wait any longer. He waved his hand backward. The good fellows were brothers who had followed Bai Lang for at least several months; everyone retreated without needing words. Bai Lang threw the torch in front of the He Family Fortress and also slowly retreated.

This action made the people inside the large compound nervous, "Bai Lang, we'll double it for you. You leave. If you provoke our master, the official army won't let you off."

These words contained both begging and intimidation. Bai Lang had absolutely no reaction to this. He patted Wang Jingwei beside him. Wang Jingwei knew his task. Watching the torch in front of the He Family Fortress main gate gradually extinguish, he and a dozen or so brothers holding firelocks didn't follow in retreat but walked forward. Arriving within the approximate range of the firelocks, Wang Jingwei shouted in Cantonese-accented broken Henan dialect, "Fire!"