If it were before, as long as Chen Tianhua heard someone say the word "revolution," he would definitely become inexplicably excited. In early 1906, Chen Tianhua dragged Pang Zi to talk about revolutionary principles all day long, so Pang Zi never expected that when he said personally "want to rebel, want to revolutionize" at the end of September 1906, Chen Tianhua didn't even blink an eyelid.

Seeing Chen Tianhua's reaction, Pang Zi was quite discouraged. Although he appeared extremely calm in front of his brothers, internally, Pang Zi was not optimistic at all. That was why Pang Zi sincerely found Chen Tianhua to seek help.

In the eyes of outsiders, Pang Zi had participated in the uprising led by Jing Tingbin before, and now he had built such a big family business; he was really a capable person who had seen the world. But Pang Zi knew his own affairs. Precisely because he had seen so many failures, Pang Zi's heart was full of fear.

Pang Zi wouldn't naively think that by defeating the Defense Battalion, he could become a king or hegemon in this Xingtai. The Yihetuan once had the power supported by the Imperial Court, mobilizing brothers and societies in many places in Hebei, but in the end, it was death. Uncle Jing Tingbin relied on no one, pulling up a scale of more than a hundred thousand people himself, but in the end, it was still death. These armed struggles Pang Zi personally participated in seemed to be vivid in his mind now. Regarding the ending without any suspense, Pang Zi felt as if there was an invisible thing pressing tightly on his body, preventing him from breathing, seeing, and hearing normally.

"Captain Pang, since you decided to rebel, what are you afraid of?" Chen Tianhua said unhurriedly: "Don't you believe the revolution can succeed?"

If it were before, Chen Tianhua revealing the true face of a "revolutionary party" as soon as he opened his mouth after a long silence, Pang Zi would at least sneer as ridicule. Now, after all, it concerned his life and death. Under pressure higher than mountains and deeper than seas, Pang Zi's thinking had been completely forced onto the narrow path of finding a way to survive, and he couldn't even squeeze out a bit of a sneer. Even so, Pang Zi still treated a dead horse as a living horse (*tried a desperate remedy*), asking reluctantly: "Mr. Chen, can there be a way to live after revolution?"

Looking at Pang Zi's face, deliberately pretending to be calm and barely looking calm, Chen Tianhua had absolutely no assurance whether he could make Pang Zi understand his whole plan. Since Pang Zi started to move against the salt field, Chen Tianhua knew things were wrong. Actually, the Peasant Association's information was even better informed than Pang Zi's network. Pang Zi could only get news by smoothing the joints above. If the other party was wary, for example, Jing Tinglie in Pingxiang strictly blocked his own news, Pang Zi couldn't get any internal news.

But the Peasant Association was very different. Farmers' networks were intertwined. Fatty certainly couldn't get news about Jing Tinglie, but Chen Tianhua did. The godfather of a relative of a Peasant Association member worked as a servant in Jing Tinglie's house. Usually responsible for serving tea and pouring water, not even a high-ranking servant. But he happened to hear Jing Tinglie's words about reporting Pang Zi's rebellion to the Beiyang New Army. And he passed the words back.

Discovering that local tyrants and gentry were so hostile to Pang Zi, Chen Tianhua hurriedly began to collect intelligence. Although landlords held meetings cautiously enough, their gatherings could never avoid the eyes of the masses. As long as landlords dared to use common people of servant origin in meetings, Chen Tianhua could always connect with these servants through the Peasant Association. At least until now, there had been timid servants afraid of retaliation who dared not speak the content of landlords' meetings. But there had never been servants who stood on the landlord's side dead set to oppose the Peasant Association's affairs.

But Chen Tianhua didn't want to tell Pang Zi all this intelligence now. This was not because Chen Tianhua looked down on Pang Zi, but because he didn't think Pang Zi could really know why the common people supported the Peasant Association so seriously.

As long as he had this information, Pang Zi could attack hostile landlords effectively, which could relieve pressure to a large extent. Even possibly avoiding direct confrontation with the government. But what was the significance of Chen Tianhua adopting this practice? If Pang Zi couldn't give an answer that satisfied Chen Tianhua himself, Chen Tianhua didn't want to share intelligence with Pang Zi.

Pang Zi asked if the revolution could succeed. Chen Tianhua immediately looked at Pang Zi's eyes very seriously, then answered: "The revolution will definitely succeed."

Hearing this, Pang Zi was not moved by Chen Tianhua's firm eyes at all. He finally smiled self-mockingly, and didn't even reply.

Chen Tianhua said seriously: "Captain Pang, you are just worried that you can't beat the Beiyang New Army. Although the Beiyang New Army has many people and great power, Xingtai is such a big territory; if they want to find a small group like the Transportation Brigade, I'm afraid it's not that easy."

These words made a lot of sense. Pang Zi's eyes lit up after hearing them. Actually, he just felt he really had no chance of winning. Before, Pang Zi followed others; even if failed, Pang Zi could start over himself. Now Pang Zi led people to do it himself. Once failed, Pang Zi should never think of turning over from here in Nangong County forever. How many times of going through life and death, seeing how many brothers fall beside him. If the result of all this was that Pang Zi could never return to his hometown, Pang Zi felt he might as well die in battle in Nangong County.

Hearing Chen Tianhua's words, Pang Zi's eyes really lit up. If it was mobile warfare, as a local, he indeed had a lot of room for maneuver. But on second thought, Pang Zi felt this idea was very unrealistic. Before Pang Zi raised his own idea, Chen Tianhua asked: "Captain Pang, you definitely feel that even a character like Mr. Jing Tingbin was blocked by the Beiyang Army just the same. Then I want to ask you, if local common people don't reveal your news to Beiyang, do you say it's easy for Beiyang to find a small team like yours?"

Even in low spirits, facing such a childish question from Chen Tianhua, Pang Zi still couldn't help sneering, "Humph, sounds nice. These fellow villagers are usually close only with their mouths. At this critical moment, it would be good if they don't take the initiative to sell you out."

Chen Tianhua answered tit for tat: "Yo ho, Captain Pang is blaming the common people for not talking about *Jianghu* loyalty. You say the common people are not sincere to you; then Captain Pang, pat your chest and ask yourself, when have you sincerely done anything for the fellow villagers and elders?"

Pang Zi frowned. Chen Tianhua's words were already extremely impolite. Sizing up Chen Tianhua up and down, Pang Zi couldn't help asking: "Mr. Chen, which side are you speaking for exactly?"

Chen Tianhua answered neatly, "As the President of the Peasant Association, I definitely speak on the side of the common people of the Peasant Association."

Pang Zi grunted and was about to say something. But he heard someone knocking on the door. Before Chen Tianhua responded, a young man outside had already rushed in. After entering the door, he shouted regardless of anything: "Mr. Chen, something happened. The Defense Army has set off to attack the Transportation Brigade."

Both people in the room widened their eyes after hearing this. Chen Tianhua bit his lip slightly, considering countermeasures. Pang Zi stood up abruptly, went up and grabbed the lapel of this young man's chest, "Who did you hear it from?"

Scared by this, the young man spoke unsmoothly, "This..., someone asked me to tell Mr. Chen that the Defense Army wants to attack the Transportation Brigade's station in the county town."

Pang Zi was not stupid at all. After hearing this, he pondered for a moment and suddenly understood one thing. He turned his head abruptly, raised his finger pointing at Chen Tianhua, "Surname Chen, damn you, you set me up (*yin wo*)! You know no less than me at all, but you told me nothing! Loss I still treated you as one of the family, you white-eyed wolf (*ingrate*)!"

Chen Tianhua was not angry or annoyed. Although being seen through by Pang Zi was a bit embarrassing, this was not too big a deal. He waited for Pang Zi to finish scolding, then asked: "Captain Pang, we brothers can quarrel anytime. How do you plan to deal with the Defense Army?"

This question instantly sobered Pang Zi up. Even if Chen Tianhua knew the news, so what? Chen Tianhua had only a group of common people farming and raising chickens and ducks under him. Asking them to fight war was a joke. He could talk with Chen Tianhua anytime, but if the nest in the county town was destroyed, then everything would be finished.

"Mr. Chen, your news is not nonsense, right?" Pang Zi asked.

"Should not be nonsense." Chen Tianhua answered.

Hearing this guarantee, Pang Zi walked out of the room without turning his head.

The young man who came in just now was very anxious in his heart. He asked urgently: "Mr. Chen, that harrow my family borrowed money from the Peasant Association to buy hasn't arrived yet; this won't be a problem, right?"

"Don't be afraid. The Peasant Association said that as long as the things bought with money borrowed from the Peasant Association haven't arrived, the Peasant Association won't calculate interest for everyone. You rest assured about this."

Although the young man knew the Peasant Association always stressed credibility, facing the matter of Pang Zi's Transportation Brigade being attacked by government troops now, he was also somewhat panicked. Chen Tianhua sent the young man away and took out a pamphlet to start studying. On the cover was written a line of words—*How Long Can the Red Flag Fight? Deduction of Revolutionary Guerrilla Warfare*.

When Pang Zi rode back to Nangong County town, his heart was full of confusion. Why could Chen Tianhua know so much? This was something Pang Zi couldn't understand no matter how much he thought. The matter of the Defense Army wanting to act against him, Pang Zi only told a few confidants. And these people usually didn't deal with Chen Tianhua at all; presumably, they didn't betray intelligence. Then there was only one reason: Chen Tianhua established an intelligence network himself. But usually Chen Tianhua never interacted with famous figures in Xingtai, always only dealing with those ordinary common people. How did he know so much news?

However, thinking blindly about this kind of thing was useless. Pang Zi forcibly withdrew his mind and considered how to deal with the Defense Battalion. Actually, everyone had made a plan long ago, just didn't know when the Defense Battalion would move. After all, everyone didn't really want to rebel. If the Defense Battalion didn't come to attack them, everyone would thank Heaven and Earth. In the Escort Agency, there was not a single one who wanted to attack the Defense Battalion on their own initiative.

Returning to the county town, everything in the city looked no different from usual. Fatty suddenly suspected whether the news from Chen Tianhua's side was fake. He hurriedly called Pang Tianshuo over and asked: "Did those brothers you sent out to watch the Defense Battalion send back words?"

"Big Brother Pang, no words sent back yet." Pang Tianshuo laughed.

"I asked them to send one person back and one person go every two hours regardless of any news. What did these brothers say?" Fatty continued to ask.

Hearing this question, Pang Tianshuo answered: "No one has come back yet."