"Mr. Zhou, we, the People's Party, would like to transport the members of the West Zhejiang Branch to Anhui." A young man in his twenties said frankly to Zhou Fengshan.

Zhou Fengshan, the Beiyang Army commander responsible for suppressing the "rebels" in West Zhejiang, listened calmly. A People's Party force of over four thousand men had crossed the border into West Zhejiang on March 11th and swiftly advanced towards Changxing. The Beiyang Army's reconnaissance network suffered significant losses upon contact with the People's Party forces. Upon receiving this news, Zhou Fengshan didn't act foolishly; he immediately ordered his troops to assemble and retreat. The People's Party then immediately sent a small unit, bringing along the Beiyang scouts captured over the past few days, to make contact.

Regarding the People's Party soldiers approaching under a white flag, Zhou Fengshan knew they were seeking contact, not surrendering. However, deep down, he truly hoped to see them coming to express genuine submission.

The People's Party representative didn't care what Zhou Fengshan was thinking. He continued his work, "Mr. Zhou, our goal is to take everyone from the West Zhejiang Branch to Anhui, not to engage in war with your army. I wonder if your army's orders before setting out included a fight to the death with our forces?"

If the People's Party representative had shown naked threats, Zhou Fengshan wouldn't have been so unhappy. What displeased him most was the People's Party's "we call the shots" attitude. Their goal was to take the Restoration Society members away, implying that if anyone tried to stop them, the People's Party would not hesitate to fight. Zhou Fengshan asked, "There's no one blocking you from Changxing to the Anhui border anymore, right? Who exactly does your army want to take away?"

"If possible, we also want to take away everyone from the other two locations who is willing to come with us," the People's Party representative replied.

"Hmph," Zhou Fengshan sneered with some bravado, "The rebels in other places are already dead. You don't need to waste your effort on that."

The People's Party representative's eyes widened abruptly. It was genuine shock, followed by intense anger.

Zhou Fengshan originally felt a sense of self-satisfaction from his bravado when he said that, but under the furious glare of the People's Party representative, he felt a wave of guilt. He knew very well that the representative understood what "the rebels are dead" meant. It meant tens of thousands of lives!

The People's Party representative didn't pause for long. He took out a map and placed it on the table. Zones were already marked on it. "Within four days, we will evacuate everyone willing to leave from this area. We will leave behind any supplies we cannot take. We hope Mr. Zhou can be tolerant for these few days."

Zhou Fengshan looked at the map and was greatly startled. The marked areas were regions the Beiyang Army hadn't fully controlled. It was very likely that some "rebels" still existed there.

"Four days is too long. Three days at most." Zhou Fengshan naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to agree immediately.

"We will evacuate as quickly as possible. We will strive not to cause trouble for Mr. Zhou if we can avoid it."

Although the People's Party representative spoke politely, Zhou Fengshan dared not fully trust him. But asking if the People's Party would honor the agreement at this point would show too much weakness. Zhou Fengshan said with a characteristic condescending tone, "Our Beiyang Army will wait at most three days."

This sounded murderous on the surface, but in reality, it explicitly agreed to the People's Party's request. Officialdom was like this; waiting three days meant not starting preparations for three days. Doing anything required preparation time, especially war preparations. The first two days would be entirely spent sending out scouts, and troop movements could only begin on the third day at the earliest. This time was actually one day more than the four days requested by the People's Party.

The People's Party representative was naturally no fool; he understood the meaning immediately. He stood up and said, "Then thank you very much."

Without any tea-serving rituals to see off the guest, the People's Party representative took his leave once the agreement was reached. Zhou Fengshan also liked such a crisp style. The order this time was to exterminate the rebels and retake West Zhejiang. As a Beiyang Army commander, Zhou Fengshan could "act according to circumstances" when facing the People's Party, so he wasn't afraid of people gossiping behind his back about contacting the People's Party. As long as the troops didn't suffer major losses, Zhou Fengshan would have completed his mission. In the current situation, no one wanted to fight those tough battles.

Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin didn't have much to say either. They knew equally well what kind of state West Zhejiang had been reduced to by the killing. The comrades who had fled to Changxing in scattered groups over these days had clearly described the bloody massacres in various places. The West Zhejiang Branch's organization in the localities could be said to have been uprooted, and the comrades who could retreat were basically all in Changxing County.

Perhaps the luckiest among the West Zhejiang Branch was the unit led by Ji Ye. Due to exhaustion reducing their mobility and lacking villages to rely on, this harassment unit had been surrounded by the Beiyang Army. Because of the People's Party's intervention, the Beiyang Army retreated, and Ji Ye's unit safely withdrew to Changxing under the People's Party's cover. However, as soon as she returned to Changxing, Ji Ye had to join an argument.

"We don't want all this equipment and supplies?" Comrades from the West Zhejiang Branch found the rapid evacuation hard to accept. Besides guns and ammunition, Changxing had dozens of factories, large and small. Some were state-owned, some private. Warehouses were piled high with various materials. If they retreated like this, these materials would definitely be left for the Beiyang Army. Even knowing these materials couldn't be taken away, everyone still couldn't accept it.

"Even if we burn the stuff, we can't leave it for the Beiyang Army!" Some people already expressed a tough stance.

The People's Party representative didn't think so. "There must be people in Changxing County town who refuse to leave. Leaving the things behind means the Beiyang Army has things to loot, which can at least lower their hostility. You need to take a long-term view."

"Why try to please the Beiyang Army now?" The West Zhejiang Branch representative was furious at such logic. "Are you thinking they'll go easy on us when we fight them later?"

"Who are the people still staying in Changxing now? They are all the ones who oppose us. Leaving things for them, isn't that getting slapped on the left cheek and then offering the right cheek to be slapped again?"

Seeing the comrades starting to get agitated, Qiu Jin slammed the table and stood up. "All evacuation work this time is the responsibility of the People's Party comrades. Everyone must obey, no objections. This is an order!"

Xu Xilin also clearly expressed his support at this moment. Lacking sleep, Ji Ye's eyes were as red as a rabbit's. She also stood up to express support, but when she opened her mouth, she realized her voice was completely hoarse. She managed to say in a voice everyone could understand, "Disobedience is absolutely forbidden!"

With several key cadres speaking up, the West Zhejiang Branch was finally suppressed.

The evacuation proceeded very smoothly. Everyone in Changxing city who supported the West Zhejiang Branch followed the main force to retreat. Weapons, ammunition, and various currencies were taken away. Including grain, all property that could be immediately liquidated was taken if possible. Conversely, raw silk and other materials requiring long-distance transport that were inconvenient to carry were all left behind after simple sealing.

Not only the comrades and masses in Changxing County town, but also members of various grassroots organizations in the surrounding rural areas not yet attacked, as well as members supporting the West Zhejiang Branch, joined the column. A stream of people surged, leaving their homes and heading towards Anhui with whatever supplies they could carry. A long column of tens of thousands of people retreated to Anhui within four days under the cover of the People's Party.

The Beiyang Army didn't foolishly rush in. After sufficient reconnaissance confirmed the People's Party indeed hadn't left an ambush, they marched rapidly towards Changxing County.

Upon entering the county town, the Beiyang Army saw people on the streets moving supplies from various warehouses to their own homes.

"Daring to touch our stuff! You don't want to live!" Cursing, the Beiyang Army unceremoniously shot these people on the spot. After clearing out the "bad people looting a burning house" according to habit, the Beiyang Army began to break into and search every household. Wherever they saw hoarded wealth, they immediately conducted a thorough looting.

Those who dared to stay in Changxing city were those opposed to the West Zhejiang Branch. Regardless of whether they hung banners supporting the Beiyang Army, the Beiyang Army personally carried out the looting based on the principle of "do it yourself to have ample food and clothing." Resisters were beaten, and those who fought back were executed on the spot. These guys, who once thought Changxing County town would return to a bright and clear sky after the Beiyang Army arrived, found that what greeted them were dark clouds composed of black gun muzzles. They once thought that the West Zhejiang Branch not allowing looting and guaranteeing the normal operation of social order was a policy all regimes would execute. The Beiyang Army used factual actions to educate this bunch that this was completely a delusion.

If the crying in Changxing city during the retreat a few days ago stemmed from the pain of leaving home, the crying in Changxing city now was the despair they couldn't help but emit while being thoroughly plundered.

On March 20, 1915, the news of "completely annihilating the West Zhejiang rebels and recovering West Zhejiang" reached Hangzhou. Even knowing that Zhou Fengshan had ultimately allowed the West Zhejiang remnants to escape into Anhui, neither Zhejiang Military Governor Zhu Rui nor the Beiyang Third Army Commander thought Zhou Fengshan had done anything wrong. In this period, preserving the army meant preserving oneself. So even if Cai Yuanpei complained very implicitly, the military figures just glossed over it. Zhu Rui and the others cared more about how much booty they had raked in from West Zhejiang. The news of capturing over ten thousand piculs of raw silk made them almost unable to close their mouths. A picul of raw silk could sell for at least 50 taels now. Ten thousand piculs of raw silk shipped to Shanghai would be worth hundreds of thousands, not to mention the equipment of the rebel area's silk reeling factories and other factories. Hangzhou factory owners had long wanted to buy this equipment. Making millions from one expedition was a rare good deal.

Cai Yuanpei hadn't considered the issue of these spoils at all. Upon returning to the Restoration Society headquarters, Cai Yuanpei convened a meeting to discuss the next steps. A considerable number of people in the headquarters remained silent. The bloody massacres by the Beiyang Army and militias in West Zhejiang had already spread back to Hangzhou. The killing, originally targeted only at the West Zhejiang Branch, had now turned into a massacre of the entire West Zhejiang region, which greatly exceeded the initial imagination of the Restoration Society cadres.

However, there were always those who couldn't hold back. When the West Zhejiang Branch retreated, they didn't detain those two tax police officers. They had run back to Hangzhou and told Zhao Hanqing everything they had seen and heard. Seeing the joyous looks of some Restoration Society members and thinking of the cruel acts he had heard about, Zhao Hanqing couldn't help but stand up. "Mr. Cai, there is one thing I don't understand. The West Zhejiang Branch defected to the People's Party and betrayed our Restoration Society. Eliminating them is nothing. But the common people of West Zhejiang were just bewildered. Why was it necessary to kill so many people?"

These words were spoken with righteousness. Someone in the Restoration Society couldn't help but voice support. Cai Yuanpei hadn't expected the slaughter in West Zhejiang to be so tragic either. Being questioned by Zhao Hanqing to his face, his expression hesitated for a moment, but he didn't make a sound.

"Zhao Hanqing, I see you are also a rebel!" Liu Zonghan, one of the Restoration Society's Committee of Six who had participated in Zhejiang Military Governor Zhu Rui's massacre plan, didn't explain. He came up and slapped a rebel hat on Zhao Hanqing. "Anyone who sympathizes with the rebels is a wing of the rebels. How many people were in the West Zhejiang rebels? To grow to their current size, the new recruits were all bewildered commoners. Moreover, when the government army went to suppress them, these people didn't abandon the dark for the light and strike back, but instead resisted with all their might. If these bewildered commoners aren't rebels, who is?"

Zhao Hanqing never expected Liu Zonghan to view the problem this way, and simply slapped the hat of attaching to rebels on his head. After all, he had privately supported Xu Xilin, so being spoken to like this naturally made him feel uneasy. So he simply sat back down and fell silent.

Zhao Hanqing sat down, but Wu Huiqiu stood up. This Restoration Society elder was a woman. She was also Qiu Jin's female student who had left home to participate in the revolution because she opposed arranged marriage. She had participated in almost all the battles in the early period of the Restoration Society and was now the Deputy Director of the Hangzhou Education Department and the principal of the Hangzhou Girls' School. Her students came from all over Zhejiang, and the parents of many students from West Zhejiang had been massacred by the Beiyang Army and militias in West Zhejiang. Holding a chest full of anger, she stood up to speak.

"Comrades, didn't we rise up against the Manchus back then to save the people from fire and water? Even if the West Zhejiang Branch defected from the Restoration Society, it was just a difference in political views. And as far as I know, most of the commoners massacred this time didn't join the West Zhejiang army at all. Even if they were bewildered, how can we talk about resistance? Mr. Cai, your virtue is high and noble, you absolutely cannot turn a blind eye to this matter."

"Wu Huiqiu! Are you crying injustice for your teacher?" Since Liu Zonghan had already stated his attitude, he showed no sign of backing down now.

Wu Huiqiu had a rather fierce personality. Even facing Liu Zonghan's threat, she had no fear. "I am indeed crying injustice! If it had been explained from the start that expelling the West Zhejiang Branch meant killing people like this, I would absolutely never have agreed!"

Although these distinct and powerful words didn't garner vocal support from many people, the number of people nodding slightly wasn't small.

Cai Yuanpei's face darkened. Even now, he didn't think there was anything wrong with the party purge. Being accused by Wu Huiqiu in public like this, the displeasure on Cai Yuanpei's face was revealed without omission. But this was something that had already happened. Although everyone had different opinions, time couldn't flow backwards. So the argument wasn't very intense. So Cai Yuanpei at least didn't get angry in public.

The meeting broke up in unhappiness. Liu Zonghan and others found Cai Yuanpei. "Duke Cai, since the West Zhejiang Branch has been eliminated, we need to strike while the iron is hot. We must thoroughly eliminate this bunch within our Restoration Society who have been bewildered by the People's Party according to the original plan."

"Brother Liu is right. Judging by the situation today, there are quite a few people within our Restoration Society who are inclined towards the rebels. These people have close relationships with Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin. Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin were in West Zhejiang, so they were easy to deal with. But these people are all inside our Restoration Society; they can be called a disease in the vitals. If we don't act quickly to get rid of them, they will definitely be a huge trouble in the future."

"Duke Cai, Beiyang was ineffective in suppressing the bandits this time. They actually let the West Zhejiang rebels escape to Anhui. If they delusionally want to counterattack Zhejiang in the future, they will definitely contact these people first. That would be an unforeseen disaster."

Cai Yuanpei knew these people were right. Since they had completely broken with West Zhejiang, anyone within the Restoration Society who sympathized with West Zhejiang would be a huge threat in future wars. Even having seen the true face of the party purge, Cai Yuanpei still believed the party purge was absolutely necessary. Thinking of this, Cai Yuanpei said, "The party purge must be completed. However, everyone needs to be more careful this time. A list must be carefully drawn up; it's best not to implicate the innocent."

The few people answered almost in unison, "Duke Cai, rest assured, we will absolutely not act sloppily."