Mawo Town was a small town by the Yangtze River, and usually a place where ships docked. The residents never expected such a magnificent fleet to arrive suddenly, followed by groups of people in dark blue clothes rushing over from all directions with swords and guns. Speaking of their clothes, they looked a bit like the new uniforms of the New Army. coupled with organized discipline and muskets in hand, the residents thought they were New Army soldiers they had never seen before. After all, Mawo Town was only a dozen li away from Anqing; the New Army wouldn't dare to loot on a large scale under the nose of Anqing. The common people with such reasonable cognition were originally not too afraid. But unexpectedly, these people first arrested the tax collectors and other government people in the town, and then those people looking kind and pleasant shouted with a Northern Anhui accent: "We are the People's Revolutionary Army, revolution has started! We are here to attack Anqing, rebelling!"

Hearing these people were here to rebel and attack Anqing, and seeing everyone had weapons in hand, the villagers were scared pale. They ran home as fast as they could. Once inside, the villagers closed their doors and windows tight. Thus, Mawo Town soon fell into the hands of the People's Party.

Tao Chengzhang was very puzzled by the People's Party's hasty handling method, but on second thought, he understood. According to Chen Ke, the People's Party would leave after attacking Anqing, so the People's Party simply wouldn't waste effort dealing with such a small town. Sure enough, after small troops occupied several key points, the main force began preparing to march to the east of Anqing city.

"Xingtai, is the war starting just like this?" Tao Chengzhang couldn't help asking. The Guangfuhui had also launched some uprisings, but the scale was far from comparable to the war scale before his eyes. Either it was a battle of a few elites flying like moths into the fire, or it was a relatively large form that completely belonged to inciting common people to "make trouble" in essence. Those backbones of the Guangfuhui couldn't even maintain basic order; once the official army moved out and suppressed slightly, the common people immediately scattered in an uproar, crying for their fathers and mothers. Such an orderly march of thousands of people before his eyes was a rare thing for Tao Chengzhang.

"Yes." Chen Tianhua answered simply, then continued to bury his head in walking. Seeing Chen Tianhua like this, it was inconvenient for Tao Chengzhang to ask more; he simply closed his mouth and continued marching. During the march, Tao Chengzhang paid attention to observing the surroundings. If the People's Party left after fighting Anqing as agreed, then this combat experience would be an extremely rare experience for Tao Chengzhang, an experience that could be used in future revolutionary military struggles.

But looking left and right, Tao Chengzhang couldn't see anything special. Because the people around were all in exactly the same dark blue military uniforms, all burying their heads in marching with the same attitude of keeping their mouths shut. Except for those soldiers wearing white armbands and a circle of white cloth sewn on their hats commanding the march of each column, no one spoke. Tao Chengzhang wore a black short coat today, which was specially prepared for convenience in combat; it wouldn't be conspicuous in other places. But inside the People's Party, everyone was in dark blue military uniforms; such a person in black clothes among thousands of soldiers in dark blue military uniforms appeared very conspicuous. Even Tao Chengzhang, who had no angle of comparison, could feel it.

"It seems I have to customize a batch of our own military uniforms," Tao Chengzhang thought. Thinking of this, his thoughts immediately ran elsewhere. Although the members of the Guangfuhui were not poor people and were considered wealthy households locally, none of these comrades was the head of their own family. Even if they had the heart to bankrupt their families to invest in the revolution, they couldn't do it. Moreover, revolution itself costs money; these people need to eat and drink, and travel expenses are needed to contact those revolutionary comrades. The number of revolutionaries in the Guangfuhui was extremely small, and they had no military capability; they had to hire people to fight, which was a large sum of money. Just a few uprisings in recent years had spent all the borrowed money. This time Tao Chengzhang gritted his teeth and made up his mind to gather nearly a thousand people. Bringing 300 people to Chizhou for the first time had already spent all the funds. Looking at the huge fleet of the People's Party and the thousands of people in front of him, how much money would this cost?

Tao Chengzhang once thought Chen Ke was not a real revolutionary; he had thought so since meeting Chen Ke more than a year ago. At that time, as soon as Chen Ke followed Xu Xilin to Shanghai, he immediately put aside the possibility of joining the Guangfuhui and buried himself in doing business, and the business was even very big. To do business, Tao Chengzhang saw Chen Ke getting along famously with compradors like Qi Huishen and You Gou, and hooking up with the British through these compradors. This was also one of the main reasons why Tao Chengzhang was unwilling to continue developing Chen Ke into the Guangfuhui.

The team of thousands appearing in front of Tao Chengzhang now undoubtedly proved that Chen Ke was a revolutionary. Tao Chengzhang also saw with his own eyes that the eldest young master of the Qi family, Qi Huishen, appeared in the team wearing a dark blue military uniform. Miss You Gou, who was once very famous on the Shanghai Bund, disappeared without a trace with Chen Ke a year ago; there were many rumors that You Gou eloped with Chen Ke and the others. Presumably, You Gou had also joined the People's Party and officially became a member of the revolutionary party. This person Chen Ke could actually develop party members through doing business, delaying neither making money nor revolution. Thinking again about the embarrassment of the Guangfuhui revolutionary comrades, Tao Chengzhang suddenly wanted to grab Chen Ke right now and ask carefully how exactly Chen Ke managed the revolution!

Chen Ke didn't know what Tao Chengzhang was thinking at all; he even forgot that there was such a person as Tao Chengzhang in his team. An hour ago, Chen Ke could already see the outline of Anqing City. The city wall like a thin line on the horizon looked very low, and the big flags erected on the city wall looked as slender as toothpicks. As they marched, Anqing City became clearer and clearer. Chen Ke had very good eyesight; he could even faintly see small black dots moving on the city wall. The scouts of the reconnaissance troops had already been sent out, and the sky was gradually darkening; war could start at any time.

Because he had never received formal military training, Chen Ke naturally couldn't be good at formulating operational plans, especially formulating a military plan for an expedition thousands of miles away. Just before the battle started, Chen Ke looked up at Anqing City from time to time, and a sudden extreme lack of self-confidence arose in his heart. He had a feeling that perhaps the plan he formulated might suffer a huge setback.

Up to now, the campaign of the expedition to Anqing was completely within the scheduled plan, and no errors occurred in any step. It could even be said that the process of the war was proceeding completely according to the plan. But aren't countless big jokes in military history just like this? Starting with smooth sailing, when it came to the time determining the final fate, due to a neglected factor, the war situation immediately became jaw-dropping. Perhaps he was also repeating the mistakes of history that left eternal jokes?

Thinking of this, Chen Ke felt unable to continue breathing; his legs felt heavy as if lead weights were attached, and he almost couldn't take a step. The guard beside Chen Ke keenly discovered these; he hurriedly whispered with concern: "Chairman Chen, eat something, right? From yesterday until now, you haven't eaten a thing."

Eat something? At first, Chen Ke simply didn't understand what this phrase meant. After understanding the meaning of this phrase, Chen Ke couldn't remember how to eat no matter what. He had long forgotten when the last time he really ate was; probably before entering Sanhe from Hongze Lake. From that time on, Chen Ke entered a state of tension. When intelligence came in, Chen Ke focused on processing intelligence and studying operational plans with comrades. When no news came in, Chen Ke combed through the operational plan in his mind over and over again, trying his best to make the operation completely conform to the military common sense he knew. In such a tense and busy state, Chen Ke didn't know if he had eaten at all.

When his thinking finally connected with the nerve of "eating," Chen Ke suddenly felt a burst of discomfort in his stomach. He immediately covered his mouth tightly, suppressing the sound of retching to the minimum. Chen Ke was the commander of the whole army; if he suddenly bent down and retched, what would the officers and soldiers of the whole army think and see if they knew?

Despite physical discomfort, Chen Ke's brain immediately reacted instinctively and remembered a common sense. He was exhausted to the point of collapse. Collapse leads to the weakening of physical function and thinking ability; one of the manifestations in spirit is indecisiveness and doubting oneself. It seems the old saying that appears many times in *Journey to the West*, "The Emperor doesn't send hungry soldiers," not only has political significance but also more practical common sense.

However, Chen Ke only let his thoughts drift for a moment, then forcibly intercepted the thinking that was about to diverge and expand. The battle was about to begin immediately; Chen Ke determined in his gradually sobering mind that he had no qualification to put his train of thought on those meaningless things. Eating at this time would affect everyone's emotions too much. Chen Ke strode forward, catching up with the marching speed. The battle would break out at any time; the curtain deciding the future fate of Anhui was about to be officially pulled open. Chen Ke raised his head again; in the twilight, the outline of Anqing City could already be seen quite clearly.

Far ahead, a gunshot rang out!

The entire troop seemed to have been cast with a body-freezing spell; everyone was startled. Then another shot, and then another. Everyone was used to hearing gunshots. They could roughly judge it was near the East Gate of Anqing.

"Run forward!" All commanders shouted the same sound. With the order, the rumbling sound that could only be formed when thousands of people ran together became louder and louder, soon becoming the loudest sound east of Anqing City.

The victors of war are mostly the side that can best grasp the process of war. At least until now, the Qing troops in Anqing City had no expectation of war. Until the gunshots rang out, many Qing troops still didn't know what happened. From dusk, the Qing troops on the city wall saw the large group of the People's Revolutionary Army in the distance. But they didn't feel the threat, because this team was really too orderly. Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Anqing hadn't experienced war for nearly half a century. Not even civil uprisings had occurred.

Small-scale civil rebels absolutely dared not attack Anqing, so when that orderly large team appeared on the horizon, the guess result of the soldiers on the Anqing city wall was that it was the Court's troops. But why did the Court's troops come to Anqing? Whose subordinates were this troop marching from east to west? The soldiers and officers on the city wall were also confused. They even discussed for half an hour without remembering to report to the higher-ups. It wasn't until a battalion officer responsible for patrolling the city passed by that this problem could continue. The battalion officer ordered a small cavalry team to go out of the city to meet this team and ask which New Army unit they were.

Then came the exchange of fire, then the total annihilation of the small cavalry team, and then that battalion officer knew the hostility of the troop opposite. The city gate was closed immediately, and the news was reported upwards. The funniest thing in the initial exchange of fire was that the reason the Anqing New Army duty officer executed the correct order was a hundred and eight thousand miles away from being correct. He did this not because he clearly realized that the troop opposite was his enemy. Instead, he thought it was very likely that some trouble occurred with the New Army in the city, and the Court sent troops to arrest some New Army officials. Out of the instinct of a "military officer" rather than a soldier, this battalion officer issued the "correct" order. In his view, no matter what, these people couldn't be allowed to rush in and arrest people.

Night fell. In the view of this battalion officer, the people under Anqing city became increasingly indistinguishable. Not knowing how long passed, suddenly a burst of firelight exploded from under the wall, followed by bright gunshots. Bullets hit the battlements of the city wall, knocking out chips of bricks. And several soldiers guarding the battlements screamed and fell to the ground. Everyone on the city wall subconsciously lay on the city wall. A few of the hit soldiers weren't killed immediately; their screams were exceptionally shrill in the night.

En Ming was alarmed by that burst of sound like firecrackers. Spring Festival was coming soon. The sound of setting off firecrackers was not strange, only this burst of "firecracker sound" was exceptionally strange. En Ming didn't pay too much attention either. A moment later, the guard hurried to report that a strange army appeared outside the city, numbering more than a thousand. En Ming was greatly puzzled by this; he hadn't received any document saying such an army would pass through Anqing by land. Where did this army pop out from?

"My Lord, I'm afraid this is the rebel troop Liu Shicheng mentioned last time." The guard said anxiously.

"Nonsense! Thousands of people, can they pop out from underground? Scouts were sent out a few days ago, and haven't heard of any people gathering to make trouble around." En Ming couldn't help scolding.

Theoretically speaking, the judgment En Ming deduced according to the common sense of this era was correct. If it were the revolutionary party of this era, it would be impossible to organize a team of thousands of people silently and then suddenly appear near Anqing City. If they had this strength, these revolutionary parties could definitely not be unknown near Anqing.

En Ming's guard also felt he might be too nervous and wanted to establish merit too much. He even reflected on whether he should restrain himself. Since the abolition of the imperial examination, the promotion of domestic slaves became easier instead. When the old imperial examination existed, En Ming couldn't create any good opportunities for domestic slaves. But now that the imperial examination was abolished and the new school system hadn't been established, this was the best opportunity to use power in hand at will to place his own people. Once this village is passed, this shop is gone; En Ming's guard also wanted to use the opportunity of the New Policies to get himself an official position. He came from Prince Qing's Mansion after all; for this domestic slave proficient in officialdom ways, he firmly believed that even an inconspicuous small official position, he could make a name for himself.

While master and servant were considering the future based on their own standpoints, a new notification arrived. The first notification being slow wasn't because someone deliberately interrupted information. But passing news to the Governor really had to go through too many procedures and pass too many gates. And the second one to notify was a company officer. Perhaps because someone had already gone in to notify, the Governor's Yamen paid enough attention; or perhaps the strange "firecracker" sounds constantly ringing outside the city indeed effectively improved the efficiency of the Governor's Yamen notification system. In short, when this company officer stumbled in to report that rebels were attacking Anqing City, En Ming finally believed that indeed rebels had come to attack.

"Invite New Army Commander Yu Dahong to come." En Ming shouted, trembling almost all over.

Almost at the same time, at the riverside about five li west of Anqing City, a troop jumped off the boat. The troop didn't rest at all and began to reorganize immediately.

The People's Revolutionary Army attacking Anqing this time had a total of 3000 people, organized into three teams. Except for the military hospital and logistics units, each team had nearly 900 people. Hua Xiongmao, Chai Qingguo, and Zhang Yu each led a team. Chen Ke simply didn't keep any reserve team. Chen Ke had made it clear before the war that the command headquarters and the guard company were the reserve team. Whichever unit couldn't hold up, Chen Ke would lead the team up personally. To tell the truth, this posture of striking with full force actually made the three commanders agree very much, but none of the commanders of the three teams hoped to become the object of "support." This distribution method, in a sense, pulled out the three giants in the army respectively; whoever fought this battle well meant who could have higher prestige. If Military Commission Chairman Chen Ke was allowed to personally lead the guard company to "reinforce," the end need not even be thought about.

Responsible for attacking the west of the city were Chai Qingguo and Pu Guanshui. At the Military Commission meeting, Chen Ke said clearly. The Horse and Artillery Camp [Cavalry and Artillery Camp] in the west of the city must be neutralized, especially the Artillery Camp. The Artillery Camp of the Anqing New Army did not store shells; the shells were all in the armory inside the city. Once the Artillery Camp was allowed to enter Anqing City, the plan to attack Anqing could be considered failed basically. The People's Party troops had not received training in artillery warfare; engaging in an artillery battle with the enemy during siege warfare would be a nightmare. So Chai Qingguo, who acted most decisively, and Pu Guanshui, who was familiar with the Anhui New Army, received this task. Because in the People's Party troops, Chai Qingguo and Pu Guanshui were people who had seen artillery. Moreover, Chai Qingguo had even personally experienced the taste of being bombarded by cannons.

As soon as the troops finished reorganizing, Chai Qingguo strode to the front of the team and shouted loudly: "I, Old Chai, manage military affairs; I won't talk about military administration matters. If everyone dies here, the family will naturally be supported and buried by our People's Party. What I want to say is, whoever says they are not afraid of death, I, Old Chai, am the first not to believe. I fought with the Beiyang Army and foreign devils. I also tell everyone, I lost at that time. Thousands of brothers around me died. How did I, Old Chai, survive? I told everyone long ago: I am not unafraid of death, but I simply don't think about death. When fighting starts, the only way to not die is to eliminate the enemy opposite. Then fight according to the methods taught to everyone on ordinary days, go kill the enemy."

The impassioned voice spread extremely far; 900 soldiers heard it clearly. Everyone had experience of breaking forts at least three times or more; they were not new recruits. Now attacking such a big city as Anqing, everyone's breathing became rapid. And Chai Qingguo talking about death straightforwardly stimulated everyone's nerves even more.

"Our task is to knock out the Anhui New Army Horse and Infantry Camp [Cavalry and Infantry Camp]; we absolutely cannot let those cannons enter the city. The Anqing New Army is not prepared at all now; their camp is not even as strong as the landlords' forts. Everyone has fought so many battles; standing there motionless is being a target for others, certain death. Everyone charge in with one vigor. Fighting, charging forward you might die, running back you will definitely die. I, Old Chai, will absolutely not let deserters without balls live. But after we beat the enemy to death and make them surrender, everyone will absolutely not die. Those who don't want to die, charge forward. Heard it?"

"Heard it!" the soldiers shouted subconsciously.

Chai Qingguo was a fierce general; he never hid behind when attacking forts. Of course, it must be stated that the party members and cadres of the People's Party never hid behind soldiers either. Being called a fierce general in such a general environment was not easy. This was not unrelated to Chai Qingguo's strict enforcement of battlefield discipline.

Now that this fierce general had spoken, the troops knew this was absolutely no joke. Just looking at the high city walls of Anqing City, everyone also understood what kind of arduous battle they were facing.

"Now! Set off!" After a roar, Chai Qingguo took the lead to start advancing towards the destination, the Anhui New Army Horse and Infantry Camp.