Cao Kun already knew that whether he could lead the vanguard was a flashpoint of internal debate within the Beiyang clique. But no matter how much they argued, it was only a matter of leaving a few days early or late. Although he had already married his fourth concubine—a female student from a girls' school, following the trend of other big Beiyang warlords—who was pure and literate, she was far behind in serving people. So before setting out, Cao Kun didn't stay at home, but went with a group of his officers to the Eight Great Hutongs to drink flower wine. Professionals were different; the women coquettishly leaned into the arms of Cao Kun and other officers, flirting and bantering, feeling much happier than at home.

Beside him, an officer's face was flushed with drink. His hand reached into the wide-open lapel of the woman next to him to knead and pinch. The woman let the officer do as he pleased, giggling as she raised her cup to feed him wine. The officer didn't look relaxed at all; he had a tragic look of one going to his death. He pulled his hand out of the woman's lapel, took the wine cup, drained it in one gulp, pushed the woman away, and shouted loudly to Cao Kun: "Commander, this time in battle, your subordinate will fight to the death! Death is death! We absolutely won't let Wu Peifu look down on us!"

"Good!" A circle of officers around them cheered together.

Someone filled the officer's cup, and others began to express their stance to Cao Kun under the influence of alcohol, "Commander, your subordinate will absolutely not lose face for our Ninth Army. We will fight the rebel party to the bitter end!"

Hearing these words from his subordinates, Cao Kun was moved. He stood up with his wine cup, "Brothers, you have been good brothers following me for so many years. We shouldn't say unlucky words before fighting, but being able to sit here and drink together means we are loyal friends. If any brother has a mishap on the battlefield, his family is my, Cao Kun's, family. I will ensure they are provided for in life and death! Come, come, come, drink this cup!"

The officers stood up one after another. Some clever ones had already pushed away the women beside them. Some who had been promoted recently and hadn't participated in such happy banquets before, held onto the girls in their arms and wouldn't let go. Seeing others standing up, they released the girls and stood up a bit slower. This delay met with complaining and dissatisfied looks from their colleagues. Cao Kun turned a blind eye to this completely. After everyone stood up, he took the lead in draining his wine. After drinking, Cao Kun laughed: "We have booked this half of the floor. Everyone must enjoy themselves to the fullest! Before the battle, I, Cao Kun, cannot let everyone be unhappy. Brothers, eat, drink, and play!"

Beiyang officers liked good omens before fighting. After setting out, they would face a future of licking blood from blade points and uncertainty of life and death. Cao Kun's words shouldn't have had hints about death, but these officers didn't feel unhappy because of it. After all, they were facing the People's Party. Even Duan Zhigui had died on the battlefield; death was no longer a vague imagination but a real possibility. Cao Kun's straightforward declaration gave people a feeling of honesty and reliability.

For normal people, really, except for death, there are no major issues. Since they had the realization of dying in battle before the war, indulging in pleasure was the most instinctive thought. Cao Kun wanted everyone to eat, drink, and play to their heart's content, so everyone sat down and indulged. If it were in the past, even if Beiyang military discipline wasn't good, a general of Cao Kun's rank wouldn't dare to gather crowds and mess around like this. But right now, they were about to go to war immediately, so everyone lost their scruples and just played freely.

Cao Kun didn't lie; he had booked this half of the floor. After drinking with the officers in this room, Cao Kun went to other rooms to continue drinking and talking with everyone. Morale boosting work was really physically demanding.

There were quite a few soldiers who held the same idea as Cao Kun and the others. There were guards standing at the entrances of brothels everywhere in the Eight Great Hutongs. Seeing guests not wearing military uniforms, they immediately chased them away. Even those wearing military uniforms would be asked "which unit" they were from. The sounds of singing and dancing inside the walls could be faintly heard. From the outside, it looked like the Eight Great Hutongs had turned into a military camp.

Once high on drink, men loved to look for trouble, let alone these Beiyang soldiers who were about to fight. Among Cao Kun's subordinates, someone first drank too much, went to the toilet, and came back to the wrong door, crashing headlong into another room. Inside the room, several women were already topless, but they were wearing Beiyang military caps on their heads, looking quite nondescript. The officer looked at a group of strangers, men and women, with drunken eyes, trying to identify them. After identifying for a while and realizing he didn't recognize anyone, man or woman, and thinking that Cao Kun said "we booked this floor", this officer loudly questioned: "Who are you people? What are you doing running into our room?"

The people in the room were playing happily. Suddenly someone rushed in from outside and sized everyone up with a gaze like interrogating a thief. This was disappointing enough. And the person who came in from outside didn't think he went to the wrong door, but instead questioned who the people in the room were. The Beiyang officers inside naturally wouldn't explain humbly to such unwarranted questioning. Someone couldn't help but shout: "Where are you from? Don't know your way?"

Being said to not know the way, the intruder immediately flew into a rage. He shouted: "What did you say?"

"Said you don't know the way, and you really don't know the way!" The officers inside the room had also drunk a lot. Although they weren't Cao Kun's subordinates, their tragic mood before going to the battlefield was the same. Seeing someone looking for trouble, and adding that they hadn't done anything wrong, the officers stood up one after another, pointing at the intruder and cursing.

Just then, other officers sharing the room with the outsider also returned from the toilet. Hearing someone quarreling, they immediately came to watch the excitement. Both groups were very emotional. Playing with women only relieved part of the emotion, but the fear of death was not eliminated. Because of embracing charming women and feeling the stimulation brought by life, the feeling of death was reinforced instead. Since someone rushed in to look for trouble, this cavity of hostility turned into evil fire and spewed out.

Thus, cursing turned into pointing noses and scolding, scolding turned into stepping forward and shoving, and shoving turned into exchanging fists and kicks. Cao Kun's subordinates were few in number and were at a disadvantage in a blink of an eye. Not all of Cao Kun's subordinates were drunk and dizzy like the first one. A clever one stopped resisting, escaped from the storm of fists and kicks, ran out of the room, pushed open the door of the nearest room in the half-floor booked by Cao Kun, and shouted loudly, "Our people are being beaten, go help quickly!" Seeing the stunned expressions of a roomful of people, he shouted again, "What are you standing there for, go help quickly!" After shouting, this guy rushed to the next room to continue calling for help in the fight.

The thing Beiyang army lacked least was guys who feared the world wouldn't be chaotic. Immediately someone followed and rushed out. Amidst the screams of women, they indeed saw someone beaten out of the room and falling in the corridor. Looking closely, it was indeed Cao Kun's subordinate. And several other stranger Beiyang officers had already rushed out to continue punching and kicking this person. Encountering this situation, there was no need to say anything more. Cao Kun's subordinates howled and shouted, rushing towards the perpetrating stranger Beiyang officers. The situation in terms of numbers immediately reversed between the two sides. In a blink of an eye, Cao Kun's side beat the opponents back into the room.

After rushing into the room, Cao Kun's subordinates saw that inside the room, those stranger Beiyang officers were surrounding and beating several guys who had fallen to the ground. Additionally, at the far end of the table, a stranger officer was watching the excitement with keen interest. He laughed heartily while forcefully kneading the chest of the woman beside him. This woman was topless and wore a Beiyang military cap on her head. Although she wanted to force a smile, her chest was grabbed very tightly, and the expression on her face was extremely ugly.

Some of Cao Kun's subordinates immediately went to save their comrades. One was extremely dissatisfied with this laughing stranger officer. He stepped forward in a stride, lifted his leg, and kicked towards that stranger officer. The stranger officer was also extremely agile. He pulled the woman beside him over, blocking in front of him like a shield. The woman's reaction was still quick; even in this sudden situation, she raised her arms to block. But arms couldn't twist thighs; blocking with all her might only slowed down the force of the flying kick. Her chest and abdomen still took a solid hit. The woman's face immediately twisted. Because she was firmly propped up by the officer behind like a shield, the woman stood fixed on the spot as if struck by lightning. The one who made the move didn't expect such a change and was also stunned on the spot. But he saw the woman roll her eyes, her bare upper body convulsed a few times, and then she opened her small mouth and sprayed out the wine and food she had just eaten like a water column. It sprayed right onto the face of the Beiyang officer who had accidentally kicked the woman.

The officer behind saw this scene, and seeing the sprayed officer's face full of filth, scrambling to wipe his eyes, he immediately threw the woman aside, ignoring her body twitching rigidly. The officer grabbed a stool and joined the battle group.

Cao Kun could never have imagined that things would develop into this. Just now, his subordinates were drinking and having fun in harmony, and in a blink of an eye, these people started brawling like mad dogs. Cao Kun had a bold personality and was also a famous "muddle-head" in Beiyang. In his youth, he mixed in Taku, nicknamed "Cao the Third Fool". But after all, he became a soldier at 20, plus Yuan Shikai's military discipline was harsh, so he could still observe discipline. The brothel Cao Kun booked in the Eight Great Hutongs this time was a two-story building with a traditional "Hui" character structure. In the center of the house was a hall going straight up and down. There were two staircases leading to the second floor on the left and right. The second floor had a circle of railings facing inward. Cao Kun watched dumbfounded as four people grabbed an unlucky guy who had been beaten immobile and threw him from the second floor into the hall inside. There were also wine tables in the hall. That unlucky guy fell straight onto a table, smashing cups, plates, bowls, and chopsticks, sending them splashing everywhere.

Fortunately, the people below had already seen the fight above and all stood up to watch. Seeing a person flying over, everyone started to dodge, and finally, no more people were injured. Seeing their feast smashed to pieces, the soldiers below cursed while grabbing plates, bowls, and chopsticks to throw up to the second floor. Some with fierce tempers simply picked up benches and rushed up the stairs.

As the scope of the brawl continued to expand, more people kept joining the battle group. A moment later, a fight also started on the first floor. Soon, the people on the first floor fought from inside the hall into the courtyard. Then noise was heard in the courtyard, and the fight went out onto the street.

"This bunch of bandits!" Cao Kun cursed in his heart. In the era of the Beiyang Six Towns, conscription recruited sons of good families. Now during the great expansion of the Beiyang army, where were so many sons of good families to join the army? So Beiyang recruited bandits and hooligans from everywhere, offering amnesty to some and forcefully grabbing others. Generally speaking, get enough people first. Among those who made a move, there was not a single middle or high-ranking Beiyang officer; they were all middle and low-ranking new officers exposing their original hooligan nature.

"Commander, what should we do?" The division commander of the Ninth Army asked anxiously from the side.

"What to do? Call up everyone of our own that we can call, and leave quickly." Cao Kun didn't even have the strength to be angry.

"This..." The division commander felt unconvinced.

"Look, there are people from the Third and Fourth Armies in there. Who are you going to reason with?" Saying this, Cao Kun laughed out of anger.

The division commander looked and indeed saw acquaintances from three or four armies already starting to gather their own people respectively. A hundred or so people were actually divided into seven or eight groups, large and small. With middle and high-ranking officers holding the line, the momentary chaotic situation finally improved.

"Don't just stand there, hurry up!" Cao Kun ordered. Letting officers go out to rectify order, Cao Kun called his personal guards in again, whispered a few instructions, and the guards left with the orders.

The commanders of various units all began to make efforts. Twenty minutes later, the situation was finally temporarily brought under control. The various groups of troops finally gathered in their own piles. Many people had bruised noses and swollen faces, covered in bloodstains. Some were beaten so they walked with a limp. Those who were beaten immobile were also carried aside for treatment. The tables in the hall had long been completely overturned. Cups, plates, bowls, and chopsticks, plus various wine and dishes, were all over the floor. The various aromas of wine and dishes filling the room mixed together, making the smell disgusting instead. As for that unlucky guy who was thrown down from the second floor, when he smashed onto the table, his face happened to land right in a bowl of pork with preserved vegetables. Thick brown sauce covered his face, almost suffocating him. But everyone couldn't see clearly which unit this person was from for a while. After some wiping, they recognized he was a battalion commander of the Fifth Army.

In this chaotic battle, everyone had made a move, and in the mutual chaotic fighting, there were conflicts between almost every unit. This bunch of people glared at each other like fighting cocks, but didn't know who to look for to continue fighting first.

Just then, three or four soldiers suddenly rushed in from outside. They shouted in panic: "The inspectors and police are about to arrive, everyone leave quickly."

Even if military discipline wasn't strictly enforced before the war, Beiyang's military discipline wasn't completely a decoration. Every unit had many examples of people beheaded for violating military discipline recently. These officers' faces all changed color, only hindered by face they didn't dare... Hearing this, Cao Kun shouted to his subordinates: "Is everyone waiting to be caught by the inspectors and get military batons?"

After speaking, Cao Kun took the lead and walked out. With the army commander taking the lead, the people of the Ninth Army carried the heavily wounded and supported the lightly wounded, and began to move. The Ninth Army had many people and great power, so no one dared to block them. With Cao Kun leading the Ninth Army taking the lead, plus everyone was afraid of the inspectors, they began to retreat one after another.

The procuress and male servants of the brothel saw the shop smashed like this. Although they wanted to block, how could these officers be blocked by these people? The various units acted collectively. They pushed over the guys blocking the way and all ran away cleanly.

This sudden incident affected seven or eight venues, seriously injuring five or six, and lightly injured were not counted at all. When Yuan Shikai heard this news, he was furious and strictly ordered all units to rectify military discipline. As the Minister of the Army, Wang Shizhen couldn't refuse such a request either. The result was that the Beiyang Army's plan to send troops originally scheduled for May was forcibly postponed by half a month. Cao Kun's unit, as the chief culprit, was severely rectified. The task of leading the vanguard was given to Wu Peifu.

By June 1, 1915, the Beiyang Army, with Wu Peifu of the Fourth Army and Zhang Shaozeng of the Eighth Army, finally converged. Duan Qirui was the frontline commander-in-chief, personally commanding these two units to launch an attack south against the People's Party.