"Pinqing, why must we deploy troops in May?" Yuan Shikai asked gently. Over the last year or so, due to overwork, Wang Shizhen's originally graying hair had turned completely white. Combined with the deep wrinkles on his face that looked like they were carved by a knife, he looked even more aged. Every time Yuan Shikai saw Wang Shizhen's white hair, he would think of his own rapidly graying hair. There were so many state affairs, and the war with the People's Party was imminent. Yuan Shikai was burning with anxiety and hadn't been able to sleep all night recently.

Wang Shizhen saw Yuan Shikai's hesitant look and was afraid he would say something like "let's wait and see." After a lot of debate and suppression in the Ministry of Army, and with Duan Qirui's help, they had finally agreed on the plan to deploy troops in May. In such a situation, even without Yuan Shikai objecting, as long as Yuan Shikai hesitated slightly, saying "let's study it more, let's prepare more," it would be good if they could deploy troops by September. If it dragged on until September, there would definitely be people hoping to deploy troops in 1916. So Wang Shizhen said firmly, "President, the later our army deploys, the more fully prepared the People's Party will be. Chen Ke is extremely insidious; we absolutely cannot let him strike first."

Yuan Shikai did not answer. He was silent for a long time before asking, "Pinqing, what do you think our chances of winning are?"

Hearing this question, Wang Shizhen didn't know if he should feel relieved or heavy-hearted. What Yuan Shikai voiced was actually the heartfelt thought of the entire Beiyang organization. Everyone wanted to win battles, not lose them. Everyone wanted to put themselves in an invincible position first, and then calmly destroy the enemy. This idea was originally beyond reproach, but where in the world are there such good things?

Wang Shizhen didn't want to say anything more about the People's Party being too crafty. He had heard such words countless times. Because of defeat, Wang Shizhen had once been captured and had seen Chen Ke. Judging by that young man's lack of decorum in speech, he was a hundred and eight thousand miles away from being crafty. If Chen Ke hadn't led a rebellion but had instead joined the Beiyang, the grass on his grave would be tall by now.

Facing such a young man, Beiyang was defeated again and again. Wang Shizhen discovered that it wasn't how strong Chen Ke actually was, but that the People's Party led by Chen Ke was like other forces that started from scratch: those with bare feet aren't afraid of those wearing shoes. They strike when they should, and they are absolutely not afraid of being scolded by others. Now the whole world is scolding the People's Party, but the saying "a thousand pointing fingers will make one die without an illness" doesn't work on the People's Party.

Beiyang's problem was caring too much about other people's evaluation, afraid of damaging their reputation, afraid of bad timing. Every time they fought against the People's Party, they chose a time when they could "advance or retreat" as a last resort, and then after being soundly beaten by the People's Party, they would shrink back. It was this mindset of worrying about gains and losses that allowed the People's Party to seize every opportunity to develop calmly.

"President, chances of winning are fought for. If we don't fight, we will never have a chance of winning. If we want to have victory in our grasp before we fight, then we might as well not fight at all." Wang Shizhen's words were already quite blunt.

"So Pinqing can also get angry at me." Yuan Shikai suddenly smiled.

Wang Shizhen was not moved by Yuan Shikai's words. "This is not getting angry; the arrow is on the string and has to be fired. President, you insist on asking me about the chances of winning. I think our chances are only fifty-fifty. If we drag it out until August, the chances of winning will be less than thirty percent. If we drag it out until the People's Party strikes first, we will have zero chance of winning."

"Then let's do as Pinqing says." Yuan Shikai answered calmly.

Wang Shizhen was prepared to argue strongly with Yuan Shikai, but he didn't expect Yuan Shikai to agree so easily, which surprised Wang Shizhen quite a bit.

Yuan Shikai didn't mean to speak in riddles. He said frankly, "Pinqing, Xu Shichang has already come to see me. The matter of military provisions is far more troublesome than we thought. Last year we bought a large amount of grain, but now we can't collect any grain at all from the localities. Grain prices have skyrocketed, and unscrupulous merchants are hoarding for profit. Now everyone from top to bottom is waiting for the summer harvest. Zhang Jian of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Agriculture actually threatened me saying he wanted to resign, saying that even if the summer grain is harvested this year, there won't be any grain to buy. What others say isn't wrong either. If we don't deploy troops now, I'm afraid the grain will be used up after August. At most, we can fight for another two months. How can we defeat the People's Party in two months?"

Wang Shizhen had heard some rumors about grain, but last year Beiyang issued a large amount of silver dollars, changed the money tax to a grain tax, and took advantage of low grain prices to buy a batch of grain, so military provisions shouldn't be a problem. But he absolutely didn't expect things to have deteriorated to this extent. A look of fear rarely seen appeared on Wang Shizhen's face.

"Pinqing, if we don't deploy troops in May, we will lose the opportunity. I regret it quite a bit now. If only we had deployed troops in March as you said." Yuan Shikai replied.

"Then I will go back and prepare." Wang Shizhen wouldn't act like a whining child either; he answered with a firm tone.

Yuan Shikai stopped Wang Shizhen, however. "Pinqing, between Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, who do you think can be the vanguard?"

Wang Shizhen answered without even thinking, "Wu Peifu. Wu Peifu is resolute and decisive, and his military discipline is very strict."

"No, let's let Cao Kun be the vanguard. Wu Peifu can serve as a killer mace; it would be a pity to use him too early." Yuan Shikai replied.

"Since the President says so, I will listen to the President." Wang Shizhen replied. As long as the troop deployment in May could be confirmed, it didn't matter who was the vanguard. In fact, this vanguard was just a term. Jiang Yanxing, Zhang Shaozeng, and Lu Jin, the three people commanding the 7th Army, 8th Army, and 10th Army, were stationed on the long border line from Henan to Shandong. If war broke out, they would definitely bear the brunt of launching the offensive. The so-called vanguard was just the direction of the main attack.

Zheng Wenjie, the chief of the Army Ministry's Intelligence Office, soon received news that the Beiyang Army was about to move. In the past, he would have felt that he had grasped extremely confidential news. But the clerk the People's Party planted in the Army Ministry's Intelligence Office had completely dispelled Zheng Wenjie's self-righteous thoughts. This was just the People's Party spy that Zheng Wenjie knew about; Zheng Wenjie felt that everyone around him looked like a spy, not knowing how many unknown spies there were.

"Copy this document." Zheng Wenjie handed the document to the spy clerk with a very casual attitude. The clerk responded obediently and began to copy the document. Even seeing that one of the pages was Beiyang's military movement arrangement, he didn't show any surprised expression, but just used a very natural movement to put that page at the very end.

The People's Party soon received news of Beiyang. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was very appreciative of Beiyang's ability to make such a crisp decision. Deploying troops in May was still somewhat regrettable. If Beiyang could move troops a little later, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army could help the common people finish harvesting the crops. This kind of work could bond the military and civilians, and secondly, it could more specifically obtain the harvest situation of the main grain-producing areas, which was killing many birds with one stone. But since Beiyang used their last strategic initiative to decide on war, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army ordered the Henan Military Region to enter a state of war.

The enemy facing the Henan Military Region was the Beiyang 8th Army stationed in Handan. The corps commander was Zhang Shaozeng.

Zhang Shaozeng was from Dacheng, Zhili (now Dacheng County, Hebei Province), and lived in Tianjin. A student of the Tianjin Military Academy, he was selected by the Qing court and sent to the first class of the Japanese Army Academy's artillery department. After graduation, he ranked first, and "deeply associated" with his classmates Wu Luzhen and Lan Tianwei at the time, and was known as one of the "Three Heroes of the Shikan Academy". Later he served as the commander of the artillery regiment of the Beiyang 3rd Division.

In history, in the 31st year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1905), Zhang Shaozeng served as the Chief Supervisor of the Training Department of the Zhili Training Office. In the second year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1910), Zhang Shaozeng accompanied Beile Zaitao abroad to inspect the armies of Europe and America, and later served as the supervisor of the Army Noble School. The young nobles Zaitao and Zaixun were both his students. In the third year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1911), he was transferred to the post of commander of the 20th Division, stationed on the line of Shenyang and Xinmin. When the Wuchang Revolutionary Army rose, he was ordered to enter the pass and stationed in Luanzhou. Zhang presented 12 articles to the Qing court, advocating constitutionalism and returning power to the people. In September of that year, the Qing court awarded him the title of Vice Minister, removed him from the post of commander, and appointed him as the Minister of Pacification. Zhang petitioned to be relieved of his duties and returned to Tianjin for medical treatment, which was quickly granted.

In 1912, Yuan Shikai appointed Zhang Shaozeng as the Minister of Pacification for the Yangtze River, running around for the peace talks between the North and the South. In that year, he served as the main minister of the Zhili Progressive Party. In 1913, he was transferred to the post of General of Suiyuan and Supervisor of Land Reclamation. At that time, Outer Mongolia rebelled and invaded the interior. Zhang Shaozeng commanded three armies to meet the enemy and repelled the rebel Mongol army, making great contributions to defending the motherland's borders and maintaining the motherland's unity. President Yuan Shikai commended his achievements and awarded him the rank of Army General, the third rank of nobility, and the First Class Order of the Striped Tiger. In April 1914, Zhang Shaozeng was transferred back to Beijing and was given the title of "General of Might".

In the summer of 1915, in response to Yuan Shikai's restoration of the monarchy, Zhang Shaozeng and Cai E privately discussed Yuan Shikai's conspiracy and organized forces to prepare for an uprising. When Cai E raised the banner of the National Protection Army in Yunnan, Zhang Shaozeng responded vigorously.

But in this timeline of Chen Ke, Zhang Shaozeng was captured in Anhui along with Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui, and was later released. When organizing the new troops, he became the commander of the 8th Army with the support of Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui.

When stationed in Handan, Zhang Shaozeng reorganized and trained the troops with remarkable results. However, hearing that Cao Kun might be the vanguard this time, and attack Henan together with Zhang Shaozeng, Zhang Shaozeng did not show any intention of sincere cooperation. He simply suggested directly to Wang Shizhen to let Wu Peifu be the vanguard.

Wang Shizhen knew that Zhang Shaozeng didn't like Cao Kun. In fact, people in Duan Qirui's faction didn't like Cao Kun. This wasn't entirely because of Cao Kun's so-called "big cannon" personality. It was because Cao Kun was the one among the Beiyang generals who most directly advocated supporting Yuan Shikai to proclaim himself emperor.

Yuan Shikai's desire to proclaim himself emperor this time was known to everyone. Wang Shizhen himself didn't care about fame and fortune and had no interest in this matter. But Cao Kun acted as a trumpeter, declaring everywhere that as long as the People's Party was wiped out this time, they must support Yuan Shikai to become emperor. What's more, every time Cao Kun met Yuan Shikai, he would refer to himself as "your subject". This made those who actually opposed Yuan Shikai proclaiming himself emperor very dissatisfied.