When Qiu Jin left the base area, she was full of resentment. Chen Ke's ruthlessness and Hua Xiongmao's betrayal of the family made Qiu Jin extremely annoyed. So she ignored the two People's Party comrades accompanying her back to Chizhou. But after just one day, Qiu Jin lost this spirit.

With her fierce personality, Qiu Jin initially walked with great vigor because of the anger held inside her. But after only half a day, she felt her physical strength couldn't keep up. The two comrades from the People's Party Reconnaissance Unit carried all the luggage, while Qiu Jin walked empty-handed, yet she still couldn't quite keep up with their pace.

This road was a very traditional route, going south from Fengtai County through Hefei and Luzhou to Anqing, then crossing the Yangtze River from Anqing to reach Chizhou. When they arrived in Hefei on the third day, looking at the red flag with the sickle and hammer flying at the head of the city, Qiu Jin didn't even have the mood for dissatisfaction. Regarding the Restoration Society leader Tao Chengzhang's experience of walking a hundred *li* a day, Qiu Jin always praised it sincerely. But when she herself walked over a hundred *li* a day, the immense consumption of physical strength even deprived her of the ability to think. Revolution, betrayal—none of it was important anymore. What Qiu Jin needed was rest. Her greatest wish was to lie down and sleep immediately.

On the fourth day, the two comrades hired a mule in Hefei for Qiu Jin to ride, while they continued to walk. Even so, these two comrades from the People's Party Reconnaissance Unit could still maintain a speed of marching over a hundred *li* a day. Qiu Jin noticed that whenever they rested, these two men would take out pencils and paper to record many things. Because Qiu Jin had been very rude to them at the beginning, apart from normal travel arrangements, they didn't speak at all. Qiu Jin was also embarrassed to ask them what exactly they were writing.

Rest times were very short. Logically speaking, being able to ride an animal should save a lot of energy, but long-distance travel didn't work like that. Sitting on the back of a swaying mule for over ten hours a day was also a huge drain on physical strength. Moreover, the fatigue accumulated from the first three days of walking hadn't completely recovered. Qiu Jin had long ceased to care about the scenery by the roadside; she only hoped to reach Chizhou as soon as possible and then have a good sleep. Never to endure the hardships of the road again.

In the afternoon of the sixth day, the squad finally arrived near Anqing. The two People's Party comrades took turns leading the mule, while Qiu Jin dozed off sitting on the moving mule. Between half-dreaming and half-waking, bursts of dull sounds from the distance felt very hypnotic. It sounded very much like the muffled thunder on the horizon on a summer afternoon in Shaoxing, followed by a heavy rain. On such days, taking a nap was very pleasant. This wonderful feeling was interrupted by the two comrades. "Mr. Qiu, Mr. Qiu." They woke Qiu Jin from her semi-sleeping state.

"Mn?" Qiu Jin didn't know what was going on and opened her eyes groggily.

"Mr. Qiu, there is fighting over in Anqing. Should we take a detour?" Reconnaissance soldier He Jinwu asked.

"Fighting? How do you know Anqing is fighting?" Qiu Jin had been traveling with the scouts the whole time; there was no reason for the scouts to know Anqing was fighting while she didn't.

"That noise is the sound of cannons," Reconnaissance soldier He Jinwu explained.

"Mn?" Qiu Jin listened carefully. It turned out the sound she thought was muffled afternoon thunder in her semi-sleep was the sound of cannon fire. Had the Hubei New Army started attacking Anqing? Qiu Jin's spirit roused, and her sleepiness instantly flew to the nine heavens.

"Mr. Qiu, should we bypass Anqing city?" Reconnaissance soldier He Jinwu asked.

"No, let's go to Anqing first to have a look. To see exactly what the fighting in Anqing looks like."

At the artillery position of Yingjiang Temple outside the East Gate of Anqing, Xiong Chengji was commanding the artillerymen of the Anqing Revolutionary Army to fire fiercely at the New Army naval vessels on the river. Since yesterday, Xiong Chengji had been commanding operations on the front line of the artillery. There were twelve gunboats on the river; four belonged to the Anhui New Army Navy, and the other eight were from the Hubei New Army Navy. They had been trying to destroy the artillery position of the Anqing Revolutionary Army set up at Yingjiang Temple with artillery fire, and then push into the Anqing docks. Xiong Chengji's combat mission was to block the New Army's naval vessels.

Shells exploded into splashes of water on the river surface. Every splash was very close to the New Army's gunboats, but they just couldn't hit the targets. Xiong Chengji stood inside the bunker of the battery, standing straight, holding binoculars to look at the New Army fleet on the river. Beside him, almost everyone was pressing against the bunker of the battery, or bending over as much as possible to expose themselves as little as possible. Because of the water mist raised by the artillery battle, plus the steam from the ships, visibility on the river was very poor. The New Army gunboats seen through the binoculars were small and unclear, let alone for the gunners responsible for shooting at the artillery position. They simply couldn't see the movements of the New Army ships clearly. Moreover, the commander of the New Army fleet was also very smart. The twelve gunboats spread out their formation as much as possible, exchanging fire with the Yingjiang Temple artillery position from the farthest distance. The command of each gunboat was quite effective; they fired in turns, and shells fell on the Revolutionary Army's artillery position almost every moment. Although their accuracy was about the same as the Anqing Revolutionary Army's artillery, the gunboats were moving back and forth, while the Yingjiang Temple artillery position could not move. Up to now, under the attack of the New Army fleet, the Revolutionary Army's artillery had lost four cannons, with over fifty dead and over a hundred wounded. The artillery position had reached a precarious situation.

Watching the New Army gunboats moving at irregular speeds on the river surface, because the speed and position of the ships could not be accurately judged, the shells always failed to hit the enemy effectively. The deputy artillery commander cursed loudly, "Damn it, it's all because the People's Party took away so many people and so many guns. Otherwise, we would have sunk these sons of bitches into the river long ago."

Honestly, Xiong Chengji did not agree with the deputy artillery commander's view. After this day of artillery battle, Xiong Chengji found that the Anhui New Army and Hubei New Army were worthy of being New Armies. So far, both sides had a common characteristic, which was that they refused close combat. The strategy of the Hubei New Army was obvious: they definitely wanted to knock out the Yingjiang Temple artillery position first. Xiong Chengji could roughly figure out that the New Army was preparing to rely on the naval gunboats to cover the siege. Just on this point, Xiong Chengji felt that neither the Anhui New Army nor the Hubei New Army could compare to the People's Party's army.

The People's Party's army fought in a different mode from the New Army. The People's Party simply did not adopt the mode of long-range shooting, although they also had some strange mortars that could fire powerful shells. But the People's Party simply didn't engage in any "infantry-artillery coordinated operations." Their artillery was entirely for supporting infantry close combat. The Anqing Revolutionary Army also had some "post-war summaries" because after the war, many officers and soldiers of the Anhui New Army defected to the Yue Wang Society. When they mentioned the Anqing Campaign launched by the People's Party, fear appeared on their faces. In the darkness, either they couldn't see the People's Party troops at all, with only annoying shooting harassing the New Army non-stop, giving them no peace; or People's Party troops would suddenly appear beside them. These soldiers wearing dark blue uniforms would shoot at close range while attacking the Anhui New Army officers and soldiers with powerful hand-held bombs. As long as they encountered the People's Party, it was immediately a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Xiong Chengji had also witnessed the battle of the People's Party attacking the West City with his own eyes. With a single order, the troops launched the attack in an extremely skilled manner. Needless to say for the Anhui New Army, Xiong Chengji himself admitted that even the Anqing Revolutionary Army, which called itself revolutionary, would absolutely not perform better than the Anqing New Army if they encountered an attack by the People's Party. It was precisely for this reason that the Anqing Revolutionary Army now placed heavy troops on the defense of the city walls to prevent the Hubei New Army's assault, preventing the Hubei New Army from adopting the same tactics. But facts proved that the Hubei New Army was not the People's Party's army; they still adopted the most common tactic of New Armies: "Use firepower to strike the enemy from the farthest safe distance."

Not long after the deputy artillery commander's cursing ended, Xiong Chengji breathed a sigh of relief. The New Army fleet began to turn their bows, avoiding the firing range of the Anqing Revolutionary Army, and sailed upstream along the Yangtze River. For the past day, the New Army fleet had consistently followed this pattern: shell, replenish ammunition, continue shelling. Since Hubei had an arsenal, ammunition supply was no problem. But Anqing didn't have this condition. After fighting for only one day, shells began to appear insufficient. If the People's Party hadn't taken away a few guns, and the Hubei New Army hadn't destroyed a few more, if the artillery were fully equipped now, with the firing frequency of the past day, the shells would probably have been used up by now.

"The Hubei New Army's fleet has retreated." Xiong Chengji put down his binoculars and said to the deputy artillery commander.

After cursing the People's Party, the deputy artillery commander was preparing to curse the Restoration Society as well. Hearing Xiong Chengji's words, he couldn't bother cursing anymore. He hurriedly straightened up and raised his binoculars to look at the river. Seeing the retreating New Army fleet, the deputy commander shouted excitedly, "Comrades, comrades! We beat back the Hubei guys' fleet."

This shout, which should have greatly inspired morale, now had very few responders. Every time the Hubei New Army's fleet was beaten back, it wouldn't take long for them to make a comeback. After experiencing the excitement of "beating back the enemy" the first few times, the artillerymen turned a blind eye to such encouragement.

The soldiers of the Anhui Revolutionary Army, who had been hunching over to avoid the shells from the New Army gunboats throughout the battle, finally tried to straighten up at this time. Xiong Chengji hadn't said anything yet, but the deputy commander, who had been following Xiong Chengji—although he was close to the bunker wall, he was standing after all—scolded, "Are you so afraid of death? Hurry up and clean up. The Hubei guys' fleet has already run away."

Under the deputy commander's scolding, the soldiers began to clean up the position. Because everyone was getting better at taking cover, this round of attacks produced no dead or wounded. Everyone didn't feel there was anything that needed cleaning up. They straightened up and looked at the deputy commander with a strange look.

"Move those stones that are in the way. Find some soil to fill the pits on the ground." The deputy commander had begun to roar.

Hearing the deputy commander's roar, the soldiers of the Revolutionary Army began to work in a disorderly manner. But due to a lack of organization and management, the people working were also in a rush and completely missed the point. This immediately triggered stronger anger from the deputy commander. He jumped over, gesturing and issuing orders to the soldiers. But from beginning to end, the deputy commander didn't do a single concrete thing himself.

The reorganization work proceeded extremely slowly; a few craters hadn't been filled after a long time. Then a signalman was seen running over, "Commander Xiong, have we beaten back the Hubei New Army's attack?"

"Yes, they went back to replenish shells." Xiong Chengji told the truth.

This answer made the signalman's face look ugly. "Then when will they come back?"

Xiong Chengji looked at his pocket watch. "They probably won't come again today, right?"

The signalman's face immediately regained its radiance. "Then I'll go back and report to Grand Commander Chen." After speaking, the signalman immediately turned and ran.

Chen Duxiu, Bai Wenwei, and other senior cadres of the Yue Wang Society were meeting in the former Anhui Governor's Yamen. Rather than a meeting, it was better to say they were waiting for news. Since the Hubei New Army attacked, everyone had been sitting in the Yamen issuing orders. The rumbling sound of cannons tortured everyone's nerves. Apart from sending "heavy troops" to defend the city walls, everyone kept sending signalmen to the Yingjiang Temple artillery position located at the front line of the battle to "grasp" the latest situation at all times. But as for what to do after grasping the situation, everyone could only grasp it first and then see.

Fortunately, Xiong Chengji at Yingjiang Temple performed well. He had held out for over a day, preventing the Hubei New Army from attacking Anqing city. Every time the news that "the Hubei New Army has been defeated" was heard, there would be a burst of activity in the Anhui Governor's Yamen. Everyone either sighed with relief holding their chests or bragged, mocking the Hubei New Army as unable to withstand a single blow. This scene was enacted many times, yet everyone showed no sign of boredom at all.

Hearing the news that Xiong Chengji had "beaten back" the Hubei New Army once again, there was another burst of celebration in the Anqing Governor's Yamen. Regarding Xiong Chengji's judgment that "the Hubei New Army will not come again today," this excitement reached an even more intense level. Chen Duxiu was still relatively sober; he asked, "It's about to get dark soon. We have to guard against the Qing army launching a sneak attack in the dark."

"Don't worry, Grand Commander Chen. I have already made arrangements on the city wall. We will absolutely not repeat the same mistakes (*chongdaofuzhe*)." Bai Wenwei said loudly.

Chen Duxiu was a very excellent scholar. He heard that Bai Wenwei's use of the word "repeat the same mistakes" was obviously incorrect. Bai Wenwei was referring to the People's Party's night raid on Anqing, but at that time, the Yue Wang Society was not the defending side. However, at such a time, Chen Duxiu naturally wouldn't care about such trivial matters. The current Anqing Revolutionary Army had an almost frightened bird-like alertness to night raids. They even specifically arranged for rest during the day to guard strictly all night long.

"Then Commander Bai Wenwei will be responsible for this matter," Chen Duxiu replied. "In addition, have the branch societies everywhere sent people to Anqing?"

Hearing Chen Duxiu's inquiry, Bai Wenwei's face turned somewhat ugly. After occupying Anqing, the Yue Wang Society began to recruit manpower from "branch societies everywhere." It wasn't that there were no secret societies bringing people to "enter the city" happily; this group of people was actually quite numerous. But the purpose of these people was not for the revolution, but to "become officials, divide money, and divide grain." There was indeed some money and grain in Anqing city, but the People's Party had taken away a large part. The remaining money and grain were not small in amount, but how could it be enough for these green-eyed secret society members to divide? At the beginning, Bai Wenwei and others felt they could rally multitudes with a single call, so they were very generous in spending. Now the imagined situation did not appear, while the money and grain in the treasury were consumed rapidly. Bai Wenwei had to reduce expenditures, and recently secret society leaders had already left Anqing with their followers.

"Not for the time being. But they will come," Bai Wenwei said bracing himself.

Chen Duxiu was a smart man; he could see Bai Wenwei's embarrassment. Chen Duxiu was very clear about the embarrassed status quo they faced. He frowned and suddenly said, "A few days ago, Comrade Shi Dekuan brought back news from People's Party Chairman Chen Ke, willing to cooperate fully with our Yue Wang Society. And Comrade Shi Dekuan also looked around in the People's Party's territory. The People's Party now has a huge territory, and numerous troops and people. I think we should cooperate with the People's Party. What does everyone think?"

These words sounded very pretty, but the people of the Yue Wang Society all understood the content Chen Duxiu didn't say explicitly. This "full cooperation" meant borrowing troops from the People's Party. No one supported it, and no one opposed it. The People's Party acted extremely strangely. After they captured Anqing, they actually retreated on a large scale immediately according to the agreement, without staying at all. Even though they moved away a lot of things, in all fairness, compared with the secret societies under the Yue Wang Society, the People's Party's degree of self-restraint was really too good.

The people of the Yue Wang Society were deeply impressed by the elite troops of the People's Party. If they could get the support of such an army, Anqing could absolutely be held. The problem was, judging from the status quo of the People's Party, they had no intention of occupying Anqing before the war. Since Anqing had no attraction for the People's Party, and the distance between the two sides was so far, even if the People's Party cooperated, it was unlikely they would really send troops.

Just then, a signalman ran in. Seeing the signalman, the cadres of the Yue Wang Society all felt a burst of fear. Could it be that something happened?

"Reporting to the Grand Commander and all Commanders. At the North Gate, female Mr. Qiu Jin of the Restoration Society requests an audience."

The signalman's news surprised everyone somewhat. Everyone knew that Qiu Jin and Shi Dekuan arrived at the base area together. This could also explain why Qiu Jin appeared at the North Gate. But why did Qiu Jin think of visiting the Yue Wang Society at this time?

"How many troops did Mr. Qiu Jin bring?" Bai Wenwei asked.

"Mr. Qiu Jin only brought two people." The signalman provided accurate news.

Everyone looked at each other. Chen Duxiu said, "Dekuan, go and welcome Mr. Qiu Jin."

"Yes!" Shi Dekuan stood up and went with the signalman.

"Do you think Qiu Jin didn't borrow troops from the People's Party?" Bai Wenwei asked first.

"This is hard to say. But looking at it now, I'm afraid she didn't borrow any. If she borrowed troops, why would Qiu Jin need to come to us?" The one answering the question was former New Army officer Liu Daying. He was also an old Yue Wang Society cadre.

"I actually hope they could borrow some," Chen Duxiu voiced his own hope.