Chen Ke could fool Shi Dekuan, but he didn't want to fool Qiu Jin. This might be because Chen Ke respected Qiu Jin more, or maybe because Qiu Jin had helped Chen Ke. Anyway, after dinner, facing the many requests raised by Qiu Jin, Chen Ke explained very seriously.

Qiu Jin's request was no different from Shi Dekuan's; summarized, it was "wanting money, wanting people, wanting guns."

"Teacher Qiu, are you still preparing to fight position warfare with the Manchu Qing?" Chen Ke tried to persuade Qiu Jin not to do such a foolish thing.

Qiu Jin was a revolutionary, but not a military expert. she asked somewhat puzzledly: "Without relying on the defense of the city wall, how do we fight?"

Chen Ke continued to advise: "Without troops outside that must be saved, there is no city inside that must be defended. If the Manchu Qing besieges Chizhou, where do the Guangfuhui comrades plan to get reinforcements? The *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* mentions the so-called pincer formation [horns formation] many times. It refers to the defending troops and the mobile troops outside the city forming an echo. Without such an echo, once the Manchu Qing adopts a siege, Chizhou is a dead place."

Hearing that Chen Ke actually didn't advocate occupying Chizhou, Qiu Jin immediately expressed denial. "Wen Qing, we finally occupied the city with difficulty. If we withdraw as soon as the Qing army comes, what will other revolutionary comrades in various places think? This is absolutely not okay."

Chen Ke could understand Qiu Jin's attitude, but he couldn't support Qiu Jin's strategic view. "Teacher Qiu, previously the Manchu Qing was in the open and you were in the dark. With calculation against lack of calculation, naturally you could fight many beautiful battles. Now you are in the open and the Manchu Qing is in the dark; you have to guard against the Manchu Qing all the time. Isn't this a bit too strenuous?"

"Why is Wen Qing unwilling to be our reinforcement? Are you prepared to watch the revolution fail helplessly?" Qiu Jin finally asked this sentence that made Chen Ke slightly disappointed.

If she wanted to sow discord between the Guangfuhui and the Yuewang Society, Chen Ke could have asked back: "Is the Yuewang Society farther away than us?" But Chen Ke knew very clearly that although the Yuewang Society and the Guangfuhui were close at hand, as long as the Manchu Qing naval forces cut off the channel on the Yangtze River, the two sides couldn't echo each other at all. In the earliest plan, Chen Ke didn't expect the two sides to cooperate effectively. Chen Ke was just a bit strange why the Yuewang Society and the Guangfuhui hadn't been able to fight their way out yet. The reason why the People's Party wanted to take down a city each in the north and south of the river was to let the Yuewang Society and the Guangfuhui each have a stronghold. Then the two sides would expand with their respective strongholds as the core. But looking at their current performance, neither side had the intention of fighting their way out. Was it because Anqing was the provincial capital and Chizhou was the prefecture capital, so the Yuewang Society and the Guangfuhui were blinded by these two big cities and insisted on occupying these two cities without letting go?

"Teacher Qiu, if I say I can send troops to echo, do you believe it?" Chen Ke tactfully put forward his own view.

"If Wen Qing can conquer such a large territory, if you say you can echo, I believe it." Qiu Jin didn't mean to let Chen Ke go.

"You believe, but I myself don't believe it yet." Chen Ke simply made it clear. "I can't beat the Manchu Qing warships on the Yangtze River. So I really can't help much."

Hearing Chen Ke speak so straightforwardly, Qiu Jin suddenly laughed. "Wen Qing is still the same as before, never deceiving people with big words. Mr. Tao sent me here this time not to ask Wen Qing to send troops, but just hoping Wen Qing could help. Since Wen Qing has said so clearly, I will talk about Mr. Tao's meaning. Mr. Tao wants me to ask Wen Qing, do you have any suggestions for our Guangfuhui's future strategy?"

regarding this question, Chen Ke answered without hesitation: "According to the current situation of the Guangfuhui, I think politically you should fight for the support of the gentry. Militarily, expand the territory to the south. I don't know much about the specific strength of the Guangfuhui, but the biggest problem of the Manchu Qing now is lack of money. As long as you constantly capture those inland county towns, the Manchu Qing will be exhausted, and finances will inevitably be tighter. It is unrealistic for the Guangfuhui to defeat the Manchu Qing head-on, but there is hope to drag down the Manchu Qing. Plus fighting for the support of the gentry politically, self-preservation is possible."

Qiu Jin frowned. "What Wen Qing said actually means we should avoid the sharp edge of the Manchu Qing? Does Wen Qing look down on us so much? You used only one year to have such a scale. I see that within a hundred miles, Wen Qing's power has fully entered the countryside. Why can you capture Anqing thousands of miles away, while we have to run around here and there? You have to explain this matter clearly to me."

Chen Ke originally intended to explain clearly. If the Guangfuhui could hold on for a while longer, it would be greatly beneficial to the People's Party. He said seriously: "Teacher Qiu, because we don't rely on the gentry; we rely on the common people. What the common people want in a disaster year is to survive. Since the Manchu Qing government can't save them, and we sincerely want to save the common people, then the common people naturally support us."

"Wen Qing you words are wrong. You want to save the common people; don't we want to save the common people?" Qiu Jin was very dissatisfied with Chen Ke's attitude. This was clearly mocking her.

"Teacher Qiu, as the saying goes, injustice provokes outcry. Your revolutionary propositions are simply not what the common people want. The common people want to survive, to eat, to wear clothes, to live better. But your propositions are all long-term when talked about, like overthrowing the Manchu Qing, the people can do this and that. What does this have to do with the common people? The gentry want to hear this, because after overthrowing the Manchu Qing, they can be in power. But the common people don't care about this at all. What does the fall of the Manchu Qing have to do with the common people having enough to eat and wear?"

"Eh? Wen Qing, you are talking nonsense. Overthrowing the Manchu Qing and knocking down those who bully the common people, how can the lives of the common people not become better?"

"What the common people want is for their lives to improve immediately now, or at least not get worse. But Sister Qiu, you want to overthrow the Manchu Qing and drive away foreign invaders. To do these things, the people must tighten their belts to support you. Not only will the lives of the common people not get better, but they will get worse in the short term. Do you think the common people are stupid?"

Hearing Chen Ke's words, Qiu Jin was furious. She glared at Chen Ke and scolded: "This is short-sightedness."

"If the Manchu Qing doesn't fall today, it will fall tomorrow; if not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow. But the stomach, if you don't eat for a day, you will be hungry. If you don't eat for three days, you will be too hungry to walk or work. The common people have a deep understanding of this." Chen Ke could only speak to this extent. Saying more, he felt it would be too much.

Qiu Jin was a character after all, and before coming to Fengtai County, Tao Chengzhang repeatedly instructed her to get methods from Chen Ke. She suppressed her anger and continued to ask: "Then why did Wen Qing start your family by relying on supporting the common people, but let us rely on the gentry?"

"Because Teacher Qiu, you are gentry yourself. The gentry can understand your set of things, and only the gentry are interested in accepting it. What the common people think is completely different from the gentry. Teacher Qiu has contacted so many secret societies; presumably, you should be extremely clear."

Hearing this, Qiu Jin was temporarily silent. The realistic degree of secret societies could be said to be haggling over every ounce; no matter what they were asked to do, it would eventually fall on money and grain. This was also the biggest puzzlement of Qiu Jin and Tao Chengzhang about how Chen Ke could command thousands of elites. If Qiu Jin and Tao Chengzhang were to command thousands of subordinates, they would have to scatter at least hundreds of thousands of silver dollars. Tao Chengzhang asked Qiu Jin to ask Chen Ke for advice; the most important point was how to build a force like the one Chen Ke had when attacking Anqing.

Qiu Jin pondered for a long time before continuing to ask: "Wen Qing, exactly how much money did you spend to build the team under your command?"

"If calculated according to the mode Teacher Qiu experienced, I spent at least tens of millions of taels of silver. But in reality, I spent about a million taels of silver."

Qiu Jin was scared by the number Chen Ke said. "How can the difference be so big?"

Chen Ke slowly calculated this account for Qiu Jin. "We have about two million people under our rule now. Even if one person eats half a jin of grain a day. Two million people eat one million jin of grain a day. For these two million people to eat for four months, they need 120 million jin of grain. Converted, it is one million piculs [dan] of grain. Now selling one picul of grain for ten taels of silver in the disaster area is not much. Isn't this spending more than ten million taels of silver?"

regarding this calculation, Qiu Jin was already dumbfounded. It took a long time before she continued to ask: "Then what is the algorithm for the more than four hundred thousand taels of silver spent?"

"We only had a total of one million taels of silver, and up to now we only had this much money, all spent completely." Chen Ke gave the answer. "Of course, Teacher Qiu must be strange, where did we get these one million piculs of grain? Because the forts on both banks of the Huai River were breached by us. We raided those people's homes, so we had so much grain."

"You... how many people's homes did you raid in this year?" Qiu Jin no longer had the imposing manner just now. Chen Ke's attitude was gentle, but the words he spoke were full of the smell of blood.

Chen Ke said calmly: "Including Anqing, we killed about ten thousand people and raided more than seventy forts."

"Killed ten thousand people?" Qiu Jin was always known as heroic in the Revolutionary Party, but after hearing Chen Ke's words, her first feeling was confusion. What is the concept of killing ten thousand people? There were only tens of thousands of people living in Shaoxing City; if calculated according to the people living inside the old city wall, it was only ten thousand. The number of people Chen Ke killed in one year was as many as the people in Shaoxing City. The refined young man in front of her was actually a "butcher" with hands stained with blood? This gave Qiu Jin a great shock.

"Teacher Qiu, it is true that ten thousand people died, but how many people survived? At least hundreds of thousands. The vast majority of those who died were gentry and the thugs they kept. At least in the view of our People's Party, using the deaths of these people in exchange for the survival of hundreds of thousands of common people is a kind of justice. But the situation Teacher Qiu and you face now is different from ours. Jiangnan has not suffered such a big disaster, and the common people do not have such a high demand for revolution. In addition, if you want to get money and grain from the common people, it is far less fast than getting money and grain directly from the gentry. Moreover, your conscription of common people to fight might not be as convenient as directly using secret societies to fight. That's why I suggested you seize county towns and win over gentry. You are already influential among the gentry; uniting the gentry is easier for you."

Listening to Chen Ke state the suggestion calmly, Qiu Jin felt that if Chen Ke had a ferocious face at this time, perhaps it would make her feel more adapted. Chen Ke's attitude contained a disregard for the lives of the gentry. Whether killing gentry or uniting gentry, for Chen Ke, it was just a means to achieve the goal. This cold attitude made Qiu Jin shudder.

Looking at Qiu Jin's shocked expression, Chen Ke was actually quite helpless. He sincerely wanted to help Qiu Jin and the Guangfuhui, but the program and route of the People's Party were of no help to the Guangfuhui. Since the Guangfuhui was an old-style revolution, adopting a more pragmatic attitude was the most effective method. If the Guangfuhui were allowed to learn the People's Party's set, that would be true deception. Although he knew his image was completely destroyed in Qiu Jin's eyes. But out of a kind of true goodwill, Chen Ke had to propose such a suggestion to Qiu Jin.

Next, everyone felt very speechless. Qiu Jin went back to the dormitory to rest on the grounds of travel fatigue. Chen Ke continued to start work in the office. Because of receiving these two, a lot of work was delayed today; he could only work overtime to make up for this time. Now was a very critical moment. The People's Party must maximize the expansion of the base area before spring plowing, and complete the first harvest before the enemy attacked. Otherwise, the days in the second half of the year would be very difficult.