On the night when all the assembly members with revolutionary party backgrounds in the Guangdong Assembly were rounded up in one fell swoop, Lu Rongting went to visit Zhang Mingqi. Both were former officials of the Manchu Qing dynasty, so they didn't stand on ceremony with official pleasantries. Lu Rongting simply congratulated Zhang Mingqi on ascending to the position of Speaker of the Guangdong Assembly, and then asked about the arrested assembly members. "Speaker Zhang, you arrested dozens of assembly members in one breath, but I wonder how you plan to handle things next?"

Zhang Mingqi smiled faintly, "Lord Lu, if these people have indeed committed unlawful acts, I can only enforce the law impartially."

In the language of the Manchu Qing bureaucracy, "enforcing the law impartially" implied punishing with the utmost severity. Coupled with Zhang Mingqi's cold smile, Lu Rongting fully understood the meaning within. He quickly said, "Speaker Zhang, setting aside others for now, Chen Jingcun is a revolutionary veteran with outstanding meritorious service. Can you show him some leniency?"

Zhang Mingqi knew why Lu Rongting was trying hard to protect Chen Jiongming. As a potential sympathizer of the "Revolutionary Party," Lu Rongting was a model of straddling two boats. During the Zhennanguan Uprising back then, Lu Rongting first supported Sun Yat-sen and even once guaranteed he would launch an uprising. However, seeing that Sun Yat-sen could not succeed during the uprising, and with the Imperial Court strictly ordering Liangguang to suppress the Zhennanguan Uprising, Lu Rongting personally led troops to attack Zhennanguan and drove Sun Yat-sen away. Throughout the entire affair, Lu Rongting kept providing information to Sun Yat-sen to ensure he wouldn't be caught. But when it came to destroying the Zhennanguan Uprising army, he was merciless. It seemed Lu Rongting wanted to use these same tricks on Chen Jiongming.

Sighing deeply, Zhang Mingqi said, "Lord Lu, Chen Jiongming is also a notable figure in Guangdong and enjoys considerable popularity. Moreover, I know that what Chen Jiongming seeks is the United Provinces Self-Government, which is still different from those rebels. It's just that Chen Jiongming is short-sighted; he only sees the benefits of United Provinces Self-Government but fails to see that in the current situation, if we cannot fight the People's Party with all our might, we are all dead men. Lord Lu, I don't intend to do anything to Chen Jiongming; I just can't let him continue to protect other rebels within the assembly."

"This is natural, this is natural." Lu Rongting already knew Zhang Mingqi's attitude, but at such a time, he needed a clearer statement from Zhang Mingqi. "Speaker Zhang, naturally I will not shield rebels, but since Jingcun is not a rebel, I still hope Lord Zhang can show him some tolerance."

"Since Lord Lu has spoken, I naturally must comply." Zhang Mingqi also received Lu Rongting's acknowledgement and naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to lack a sense of propriety. He laughed, "Lord Lu, how about we hand Chen Jiongming over to you for custody? What do you think?"

"That would be good." Obtaining custody of Chen Jiongming, Lu Rongting confirmed that Zhang Mingqi had no intention of confronting him. Although he felt something was slightly amiss about this matter, this was not the time to investigate.

And Zhang Mingqi did not hide what he intended to do. He continued, "Lord Lu, if you feel there are other assembly members who are excusable, you might as well speak up straight away. For those whom even Lord Lu is unwilling to speak for, I, your brother, will not be polite. Two days ago, Lord Zhang and the British handed the responsibility of clearing out the rebels to me, presumably valuing the fact that I never tolerate rebels. And clearing out the rebels is absolutely impossible to accomplish without Lord Lu's support."

Lu Rongting knew that Zhang Mingqi had been extremely hostile towards the Revolutionary Party since the Qing era. If not for this, the British wouldn't have supported Zhang Mingqi to be in charge of clearing out the rebels, and Viceroy of Liangguang Zhang Renjun wouldn't have so reassuringly handed the assembly over to Zhang Mingqi. Although he knew Zhang Mingqi would definitely not be soft on the revolutionaries, the current situation was so critical that if someone else were to be in charge of clearing the party, they would definitely be timid and overcautious, absolutely lacking Zhang Mingqi's merciless means. At least others wouldn't dare to so directly arrest assembly members, including Chen Jiongming.

Weighing the current situation, Lu Rongting finally made up his mind. "I'm afraid there might be some inappropriateness in how others handle things. I only felt that Chen Jiongming is indeed not a rebel, so I came to ask for a favor. As for the others, I will absolutely not tolerate them."

How could Zhang Mingqi not guess Lu Rongting's thoughts? He stood up and said seriously, "Lord Lu understands the great cause deeply. Zhang acknowledges this."

With Lu Rongting, who held the military power in Guangdong, giving his final stance, the various forces in Guangdong no longer had any scruples and began to attack with full force.

Lin Xiaofeng was the captain of the Merchant Corps Guard in Jiangmen, Guangdong. On April 10th, he received an order from the Merchant Corps to participate in the military action to clear out rebels in Guangdong. Lin Xiaofeng was very puzzled by this. He cautiously asked the President of the Jiangmen Chamber of Commerce, "President, I haven't heard of any Manchu Qing remnants rebelling?"

The President of the Jiangmen Chamber of Commerce replied grumpily, "What Manchu Qing remnants? The ones to be killed this time are those rebels who call themselves the Revolutionary Party!"

"To kill the Revolutionary Party?" Lin Xiaofeng was stunned.

"Xiaofeng! You are my niece's husband. You must do well this time; it concerns our family business!" The President of the Jiangmen Chamber of Commerce said earnestly. Like other large households in Guangdong in this era, apart from those remaining in Guangdong, the Chamber of Commerce President's family had branches developing in Shanghai and Nanyang. And the Chamber of Commerce President's niece in Shanghai, Yue Lianyi, had married Xiaofeng as his primary wife.

"President, what is going on?" Lin Xiaofeng felt that President Yue of the Chamber of Commerce definitely had words he hadn't fully explained. Even without killing the Revolutionary Party, President Yue of the Chamber of Commerce was a local hegemon, and usually, the Revolutionary Party and President Yue didn't have much conflict.

President Yue was very satisfied with Lin Xiaofeng's astuteness. "The Zhou family are rebels. We must get rid of them."

"The Zhou family?" Lin Xiaofeng felt he understood somewhat. This Zhou family was also a powerful family in the Jiangmen locality and had always been unconvinced by the Yue family. If the Zhou family could be eliminated, the Yue family could become the true overlord of Jiangmen.

President Yue stroked his beard and sneered, "I have already contacted the provincial authorities. The Zhou family are Tongmenghui rebels who have always advocated nonsense like the equalization of land rights. We must respond to the province's order and exterminate them."

"The Zhou family's guards have quite a few guns," Lin Xiaofeng said very implicitly. In fact, if not for the Zhou family's own armed forces being strong enough, Lin Xiaofeng would have long ago led the Merchant Corps Guard to exterminate the Zhou family.

"What use is having many guns? Faced with the cannons of the provincial army, they are nothing!" President Yue answered this question smugly.

"Cannons?" Lin Xiaofeng was stunned. He hadn't expected President Yue to have already negotiated this with the province.

"Among the people responsible for clearing the party this time, there are our people, so the Zhou family was put on the list. However, the military expenditure for the suppression is huge. I'm afraid we won't get the Zhou family's floating wealth this time, but we are definitely taking the Zhou family's land. When you lead people to encircle and suppress this time, you must guide the government troops well!" Speaking of the Zhou family's floating wealth, a look of regret appeared on President Yue's face.

Lin Xiaofeng thought for a moment before suggesting, "President, let's not talk about the money for now. But it's unlikely the government troops can transport all of the Zhou family's goods, right? Why don't we buy them at a low price?"

President Yue was noncommittal about this. He said seriously, "You are still thinking too much. Fight the battle well. Go scout immediately now; don't let the Zhou family members run away."

By April 16th, just as President Yue had said, a large force of government troops arrived in Jiangmen. Led by Lin Xiaofeng, the government troops lunged straight at the location of the Zhou family's trading firm. The Zhou family's Chamber of Commerce compound was built quite solidly, especially since the Zhou family had produced a few Tongmenghui members and had become "arrogant" in the Jiangmen locality. After being surrounded by government troops, the Zhou family was frightened out of their wits. But the Zhou family obviously had no intention of surrendering. Instead, they began to shout across the wall. "Government troop masters outside, our family has a member of the assembly in Jiangmen, and we also have a member in the provincial assembly. Is there some mistake?"

The leading officer laughed loudly. He ordered someone to shout to the Zhou family, "Your family's assembly member in the province has already been taken down. Now the province has issued an order to first exterminate the rebels among these assembly members! If you know what's good for you, surrender obediently to save us brothers from having to take action!"

Hearing these words, silence fell inside the Zhou family compound. With the backer they relied on having fallen, they had no moral high ground to speak of in the face of government troops.

The government troops had not come to reason this time. Although the Zhou family's walls were solid, the government troops came prepared. The column dragged two cannons along. The first shot only blasted a large hole in the wall, but the next two consecutive shots directly hit both sides of the large hole, and the solid wall collapsed with a crash. Holding their rifles, the government troops shouted and charged towards the collapsed breach.

Lin Xiaofeng dared not compete with the government troops. He ordered his men to strictly guard every passage to prevent the Zhou family members from escaping. There was not much gunfire inside the compound; presumably, the Zhou family dared not truly put up a desperate fight. Soon, women's screams were heard from inside the compound, and Lin Xiaofeng was startled. He knew that with his status, it would be difficult to get a share of the spoils inside, but the Zhou family had a concubine who was very pretty, and Lin Xiaofeng had been eyeing her for a long time. It just so happened that his wife had taken the children to Shanghai to visit relatives, and Lin Xiaofeng only thought about getting his hands on the Zhou family's concubine to have some fun for a while. Listening to the women's screams in the compound, Lin Xiaofeng felt as uncomfortable as if a cat were scratching at his heart.

However, the government troops seemed very busy this time. After breaking into the Zhou family home, they only plundered the money and valuable soft goods, selling the land and goods to the Yue family at a discounted price. Lin Xiaofeng did get his wish and got his hands on the Zhou family's concubine. He was just worried that if the Zhou family had a chance to turn things around in the future, it would be difficult to deal with. But while drinking with the government troops, he heard the government troop commander say as if drunk, "We were ordered to exterminate rebels this time and were told to take the rebels back to Guangzhou. But taking so many rebels with us is too troublesome. If we kill them here, we're afraid the locality will be shocked..."

How could President Yue misunderstand the meaning of the government troop master? He quickly said, "These rebels are particularly detestable and should be executed on the spot in the locality to awe the lawless."

"Awe the lawless? Are there still other lawless elements here?" The government troop master said drunkenly, as if intoxicated.

"How could there not be! If the master wants to know, I can list a name list," President Yue said quickly. Being able to borrow the government's hand to thoroughly eradicate the Zhou family was a great good thing that President Yue could only hope for but not reach. If he could borrow the government's hand to eradicate the other thorns in the Yue family's side, that would be an extra joy.

"Then list a name list for me tomorrow." The government troop master looked even more drunk.

The next day, President Yue produced a long list, detailing the deeds of these people's collusion with the Revolutionary Party. Of course, a stack of bank notes was naturally not missing either. After carefully sealing them in an envelope, President Yue sent this envelope to the government troop master. Lin Xiaofeng had also seen this list, and among them were two people who had absolutely no connection with the Revolutionary Party usually. He couldn't help but ask President Yue about it.

"Humph! You only know about that concubine of the Zhou family!" President Yue glared at Lin Xiaofeng with an expression of hating iron for not becoming steel.

Lin Xiaofeng was startled. He thought he had kept the matter quite secret, but he didn't expect it to be discovered by President Yue. Seeing that President Yue had no intention of pursuing the matter, Lin Xiaofeng quickly recovered from his panic. Then he suddenly understood; the wives of those two people were famously pretty.

The government troops worked with high efficiency. Led by Lin Xiaofeng and others, the government troops began to continue arresting the Revolutionary Party members in Jiangmen on a large scale. With local snakes like Master Yue leading the way, all Revolutionary Party members, people with connections to the Revolutionary Party, and people identified locally as "rebels" were quickly arrested cleanly.

Before the government troops left, a major execution took place outside Jiangmen city. Lin Xiaofeng had never seen killing like this. Right by the river, rows of "rebels" were dragged over, bound with ropes. The government troops shot them in the chest or head at close range. Hitting the chest, the bullet would punch a large hole. Hitting the head, the skull cap could fly far away, with red and white flying all over the sky.

Although frightened to death by this scene, a thought unexpectedly popped up in Lin Xiaofeng's mind, "Killing people by the river like this makes it easier to clean up. If they killed people like this in the wild fields, creating such a huge patch of corpses and blood, who would dare to go clean it up!"

On April 20, 1915, in Jiangmen alone, the Guangdong government troops shot and killed over 900 people. The Revolutionary Party in Jiangmen was swept away.

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