After nightfall, Anqing city had quieted down. The core cadres of the Yue Wang Society gathered together to hold a meeting. Everyone first explained the "active attack" plan proposed by Lu Zhengping during the day. But what the attendees cared about more was the map provided by Lu Zhengping. This detailed map thoroughly aroused the enthusiasm of these people to point to the imagined world and steer the country. That feeling back then was so good, truly "returning to Jiangling in a day from a thousand *li* away." Imaginary troops, an imaginary world; everyone moved freely across them, transforming this world according to the ideals in their minds.

"Grand Commander Chen, if we act according to the People's Party's words and send all our elites out to fight for seven or eight days, what if the Qing infantry suddenly attacks Anqing? Relying on Anqing city is the best way."

"Circling behind the Hubei guys is also a way. But that really requires walking hundreds of *li*."

"Who leads the team? Who to take?"

No different from usual, waves of arguments unfolded. Apart from lacking specific plans with "feasibility," all kinds of "possibilities" were mentioned one by one, and everyone poured so much energy into these "possibilities" that everyone sounded reasonable.

Not long after, even plans like "assassinating the Governor-General of Liangjiang," "assassinating Manchu princes," and "assassinating the old hag Cixi" were proposed. Moreover, these bizarre plans were theoretically correct. Once the high-level figures were assassinated, the upper echelons would be shaken, and at least the Hubei New Army might not have the mind to continue fighting. This could also be called the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao."

Finally, even the plan of infiltrating the Hubei New Army and inciting them to rebel was formally proposed and discussed. If this discussion were seen by Chen Ke, he would definitely feel a very familiar sensation. Discussion threads on forums were mostly like this: "Talking about details when discussing strategy, talking about strategy when discussing details; possibilities are infinite, but never mentioning how to execute."

If it were before, everyone would talk until late at night, and then disperse back to rest with unfinished interest. But Chen Duxiu absolutely had no intention of letting this kind of daily discussion continue this time. He interrupted the conversation, "Gentlemen, talk about these things later. Are we going to send troops or not?"

Looking at the silent Shi Dekuan, Chen Duxiu asked, "Dekuan, what is your view?"

Shi Dekuan pursed his lips; it seemed he had summoned great courage before speaking. "Grand Commander Chen, if it doesn't work, let's just retreat to the People's Party's side. The People's Party definitely won't send troops to save Anqing. I went once, and the journey alone took almost ten days. Mr. Qiu returned from the People's Party this time and also took six days to reach our Anqing. Just the time spent on the road, plus preparing equipment and food... even if we set off now to contact the People's Party, by the time their reinforcements arrive in Anqing, it will take a month. I'm afraid we can't last until then."

"Dekuan, you are disturbing the morale of the army," Chang Hengfang immediately stood up to oppose.

"What Dekuan said makes sense." Xiong Chengji expressed his support. At this meeting, besides Shi Dekuan, Xiong Chengji was the only one who hadn't spoken. After a whole day of artillery battles with the Hubei New Army, Xiong Chengji no longer had his usual sharpness. "What's the use of us all dying in battle in Anqing? It might be better to withdraw to the People's Party's territory first. They are revolutionary comrades after all; it's better than us fighting to the death with the Manchu Qing here."

This plan was the most feasible plan so far. After Xiong Chengji expressed support for Shi Dekuan's idea, no one in the room spoke for a while.

"I think we still have to fight. Even if we retreat, we can retreat to Huaining," Bai Wenwei mumbled after a silence. Retreating gloomily without fighting a single battle—Bai Wenwei couldn't accept it no matter what.

Not many people echoed Bai Wenwei. Everyone didn't speak much. When it was really time to make a decision, the crowd lacked the courage instead.

Chen Duxiu asked, "Can we hold Anqing city?"

No one answered. On this issue, the crowd once thought Anqing could be easily held. High city walls, cannons, rifles—all these once made them think that as long as they occupied Anqing city, they could easily resist an enemy army of a hundred thousand. But the fact that the People's Party's three thousand troops conquered Anqing city overnight and annihilated the Anhui New Army ruthlessly told these people that Anqing city was not enough to be relied upon. The People's Party could do this with inferior forces, and the Anqing Revolutionary Army, whose strength was far inferior to the Anhui New Army, was now facing over ten thousand Hubei New Army troops. Unless a miracle happened, everyone knew they couldn't hold Anqing.

Seeing the Yue Wang Society comrades falling silent one by one, Chen Duxiu knew the result. He said without hesitation, "If we can't hold Anqing, we won't be able to hold Huaining either if we retreat there. Since this is the case, we will withdraw to the People's Party's territory. We will regroup there and make a comeback."

Hearing this, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although this result wasn't good enough, it was still much better than imminent destruction. But another practical problem appeared before the Yue Wang Society: how exactly to retreat? The People's Party's exemplary role in this aspect was also extremely powerful. They had once retreated cleanly from Anqing with a large amount of captured supplies and equipment in just one day. If the Yue Wang Society wanted to retreat, what to take and what not to take? This was a key point.

"Let's invite the two gentlemen from the People's Party to discuss it," Chen Duxiu said.

"Grand Commander, why ask outsiders to intervene in our own affairs?" Chen Duxiu's idea was hard for these true backbones of the Yue Wang Society to accept.

Chen Duxiu smiled. "Comrades, I led everyone to establish this Yue Wang Society. I originally didn't expect us to be able to occupy Anqing. Even less did I know that after occupying Anqing, we would face such a situation. I am unqualified as this Grand Commander; none of us were ready. But Mr. Yan Fu and Chairman Chen Ke of the People's Party are ready. We might as well go and join these two first. It is far better than dying meaninglessly in Anqing."

Bai Wenwei felt very unconvinced in his heart. "Grand Commander, Mr. Sun of the Tongmenghui has already asked us to hold fast to Anqing, saying reinforcements will arrive immediately. As long as we can hold on, there will be absolutely no problem."

Chen Duxiu was unwilling to explain. "Gentlemen, since everyone elected me as Grand Commander, I am issuing this order now. is everyone willing to obey?"

The crowd looked at each other. Everyone knew they couldn't come up with a solution to the problem, and destruction was only a matter of time if they persisted like this. At this point, although various "possibilities" flew through their minds, no one dared to say anything more.

Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu were somewhat puzzled about being suddenly invited to the Yue Wang Society in the middle of the night. They originally wanted to escort Qiu Jin away during the day, but the Yue Wang Society insisted on keeping them in Anqing to rest for a day. Now the Yangtze River was blockaded by the Hubei New Army, finding a boat to cross the river wasn't easy, and the ferry crossing on the other side of the river was also occupied by the Wuhan New Army, so everyone had to stay in Anqing city. Since they were there, they might as well take it easy. Both of them were tired too, so they lay down and slept after eating. Until they were woken up by people from the Yue Wang Society, looking at the dark sky outside, Lu Zhengping asked somewhat strangely, "How long have we slept?"

It was Shi Dekuan who came to call them. He replied, "About three *shichen* (six hours). Gentlemen, our Grand Commander Chen invites you."

Only Chen Duxiu received the two. He told them that the Yue Wang Society hoped to withdraw from Anqing and defect to the People's Party.

"The Yue Wang Society wants to defect to our People's Party?" Neither Lu Zhengping nor He Jinwu expected Chen Duxiu to actually make such a request. Before departure, Chen Ke had made some predictions about the situation in Anqing and Chizhou for the two. These predictions didn't include the Yue Wang Society wanting to defect to the People's Party at all. Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu looked at each other, and looks of surprise couldn't help but appear on their faces. What should be done? Notify Chairman Chen immediately? Or refuse immediately?

Before Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu recovered from their surprise, Chen Duxiu immediately threw out a new bombshell. "I asked you two to come because I want to ask for a favor. Your views on military affairs this afternoon were very insightful. Your party retreated from Anqing not long ago in an orderly manner. I want to ask you two to be responsible for the withdrawal matters of our Yue Wang Society. I wonder if you two can help?"

"Mr. Chen, what exactly do you mean by this?" Lu Zhengping asked. He strongly suspected that Chen Duxiu was setting some trap for him. How could there be such an easy retreat?

Chen Duxiu looked at Lu Zhengping's face full of doubt. He smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, in your opinion, can our Yue Wang Society hold Anqing city?"

"..., I'm afraid it won't be that easy." Since Lu Zhengping didn't know what exactly Chen Duxiu meant, he simply told the truth.

At this point, Chen Duxiu didn't care about saving face anymore. He said frankly, "Since we can't hold it, why should we defend it to the death? Moreover, our Anqing Revolutionary Army is a newly built army, far inferior to your party's army. We hope Mr. Lu, on the basis of being revolutionary comrades, can help us formulate a retreat plan."

Lu Zhengping and He Jinwu looked at each other again. Although Chen Ke hadn't anticipated the Yue Wang Society wanting to retreat, he had specifically instructed that if the two saw that the Restoration Society in Chizhou obviously couldn't hold out, they should advise them to give up Chizhou and withdraw back to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Unexpectedly, the Yue Wang Society here saw the situation clearly even earlier. Helping the Yue Wang Society formulate a retreat plan wasn't impossible, but neither of them was clear about Chen Ke's attitude towards the Yue Wang Society. Compared to the Restoration Society, the Yue Wang Society was more estranged from the People's Party. The two simply didn't know what the Yue Wang Society's attitude towards the People's Party actually was. If they rashly led the Yue Wang Society people to the base area without clarifying this point, and something happened, whether the two would be punished wasn't that important, but causing irreparable bad consequences for the base area would be terrible.

Chen Duxiu didn't press Lu Zhengping. Watching Lu Zhengping's uncertain expression, he waited quietly. Chen Duxiu could see that Lu Zhengping was not a literati. Lu Zhengping didn't have the feeling of self-control strictly trained into literati. What Lu Zhengping had was a focus peculiar to people who do practical work. This focus was different from the straightforward, clear-purposed "philistinism" of secret society members like Diao Dezhang. Diao Dezhang's straightforwardness stemmed from only caring about benefits and nothing else. Lu Zhengping didn't have a trace of this philistine flavor, but rather a very simple and honest feeling. Chen Duxiu hadn't had much contact with Lu Zhengping, only meeting him once today. In this contact, Lu Zhengping neither bragged nor pretended to be polite. Chen Duxiu hadn't seen many people like this. Although Yan Fu could reach this level, Yan Fu relied on long-term accumulation. Lu Zhengping looked only twenty-three or twenty-four, yet this young man had a temperament very similar to Yan Fu. If it had to be described, it was a feeling that made people feel convinced. Chen Duxiu heard Lu Zhengping's self-introduction; he was not a senior cadre of the People's Party. And a cadre undertaking the task of escorting Qiu Jin wouldn't have too high a rank. If the middle and low-ranking cadres of the People's Party had such quality, Chen Duxiu became more and more curious about the true strength of the People's Party.

"If Mr. Chen wants me to organize the retreat, how much of the plan I formulate can Mr. Chen obey?" Lu Zhengping finally broke the silence and spoke.

"As long as it's not excessive, I will definitely follow your advice," Chen Duxiu replied.

"If that's the case, forget it. The plan I want to propose will certainly be considered extremely excessive by the Yue Wang Society," Lu Zhengping replied, and after speaking, he stood up preparing to leave.

"Wait," Chen Duxiu hurriedly called Lu Zhengping back. "Mr. Lu, there is nothing greater than reason in this world. If Mr. Lu feels his request is correct, you might as well reason with me. Although I am dull, I consider myself a reasonable person."

"Mr. Chen, our Party Chairman Chen Ke said: The truths in this world are actually just those few, but it depends on what standpoint you view these truths from. Where your butt sits, you will naturally consider problems from there. According to the words of our People's Party, this is called 'the butt decides the head'."

"The butt decides the head? Haha, well said." Chen Duxiu was amused by these simple words. Although the words sounded a bit crude, they gave Chen Duxiu a sudden feeling of enlightenment. "Where does Mr. Lu think our butts should sit now? Sit over to the People's Party's side?"

Regarding Chen Duxiu's teasing, Lu Zhengping didn't find it funny at all. "No, Mr. Chen, your butts should sit over to the people's side."

Chen Duxiu was very puzzled by Lu Zhengping's accusation. He asked strangely, "Sit over to the people's side? Our revolution is originally for the people, for China."

"You are for the people, yet you let the entire Anqing soak in shit and piss? This is your revolution?"

"This..." Chen Duxiu completely didn't expect that Lu Zhengping's reason for criticizing him turned out to be public hygiene. "We indeed did not do well in this. But the situation is so tense; we really have no leisure to pay attention to this point."

"Do not fail to do good even if it's small; do not do evil even if it's small. Our People's Party talks about principles. Our Chairman Chen said that thousands of years ago in China, there was a senior named Xunzi who said, 'There are not two Ways in the world; the Sage does not have two hearts.' If you are really a revolutionary, then every single thing will meet the standards of a revolutionary. Revolutionaries are for making the common people live better. Don't look down on a small matter like defecating anywhere; for true revolutionaries, they would absolutely not let themselves do such a thing. If you don't have others in your heart, of course, you can just pull down your pants and shit or piss anywhere. If you have others in your heart, if you have the people's interests, then you absolutely wouldn't do this."

Hearing this, Chen Duxiu's face had become extremely grave. He was also a famous scholar and naturally knew the words cited by Lu Zhengping better than anyone. This was the first time he heard someone discuss revolution from such an angle. Speaking as Lu Zhengping did, not only did it not violate the teachings of the sages, but it sounded like the sages were educating those who studied sage books on how to be revolutionaries more than two thousand years ago. Chen Duxiu found that he surprisingly had no room for rebuttal. If he insisted on quoting classics to use excuses like "expediency" or "circumstances compel," Chen Duxiu knew very well that even if his tongue bloomed with lotuses, he was merely sophistry. Because standing from the standpoint of the people of Anqing city, during the month or so the Yue Wang Society was in Anqing, the people had indeed suffered. The people didn't enjoy any benefits of the revolution at all, nor did the comrades loyal to the revolution enjoy any benefits. The only ones enjoying benefits were those secret society members who attached themselves to the revolution, then divided money and grain, and urinated and defecated everywhere.

Facing a youth several years younger than himself, Chen Duxiu frankly admitted his mistake. "Mr. Lu, your reasoning is correct. I was wrong. According to what you say, what should we do?"

"Being particular about doing things means having a beginning and an end. Before every battle, our People's Party must unify our thinking, and after the battle, we must also unify our thinking. Where is this thinking unified? Unified on whether this matter should be started, and whether it is finished. I don't know how Mr. Chen sees it, but in my view, from the perspective of our People's Party, you have failed in Anqing. Even if you fight back next time, occupy Anqing, and the Hubei New Army attacks again and is annihilated by you, you have already failed this time. To retreat effectively, you must unify this thought. In this battle of Anqing, you have already lost." This was the working method Chen Ke repeatedly emphasized during the political commissar training. Seeking truth from facts means first facing reality. Even if reality makes people despair, one must face reality squarely. Refusing to face reality will inevitably lead to telling lies. As lies pile up one by one, the revolutionary cause will irretrievably head toward destruction.

Even an excellent literati like Chen Duxiu, who had read so many books and had such prestige, when Lu Zhengping made him face the reality of failure in Anqing, Chen Duxiu still couldn't do it. He only felt his face burning and his mouth dry. Chen Duxiu could admit he made a mistake, but Chen Duxiu strongly wanted to deny that he had failed in Anqing. Mistakes can be corrected, but failure cannot be repeated. This meant admitting that the matter of capturing Anqing, for which he had prepared for so long and spent so much effort, had ended in complete failure. This was a fact Chen Duxiu absolutely could not accept.

Chen Duxiu's face turned red and white by turns, looking even a bit hideous under the late-night lamp light. Lu Zhengping felt a bit scared in his heart; he worried what if Chen Duxiu suddenly went crazy? Looking at it now, making Chen Duxiu truly admit defeat seemed a bit too difficult. While worried, Lu Zhengping was also a bit strange. In the People's Party, those comrades who hadn't read many books found it very easy to accept the fact of failure. And they could conduct criticism and self-criticism very well. Wasn't it just admitting a failure? The facts were there; what was there not to admit? Comrades who hadn't read much and only learned knowledge in the People's Party could face failure. Yet Chairman Chen Ke, with such great learning, absolutely didn't cover up failure. Seeing that Chen Duxiu was also an educated person, he seemed to be harmed by reading books. A three-year-old child who couldn't read could admit they couldn't do something or failed at something. On the contrary, someone like Chen Duxiu who had read books and was already an adult couldn't even do a small thing like admitting failure.

Fortunately, Lu Zhengping had already slept for a while, so he didn't feel sleepy late at night. He exchanged a glance with He Jinwu. Lu Zhengping saw a very helpless feeling in He Jinwu's eyes. Lu Zhengping sighed slightly; no wonder Chairman Chen Ke would rather not have Anqing and quickly draw a clear line with these "Revolutionary Parties" like the Yue Wang Society. Cooperating with such an organization required worrying about so much nonsense. Lu Zhengping admired Chen Ke's vision from the bottom of his heart.

After waiting for a long time, Chen Duxiu's expression returned to normal. "Mr. Lu is right. Our Yue Wang Society has indeed failed. I will post notices in the city tomorrow to explain this matter to the common people. Then we will withdraw from Anqing."

He Jinwu couldn't stand it anymore after hearing this. He asked, "Mr. Chen, why post notices?"

"Eh? We have to explain this matter to the people. We made the people suffer so much..."

He Jinwu had an impatient temper, so he blurted out unpleasant words on the spot. "Explain my ass. Hurry up and clean up Anqing city, then pack up and run. Explain what? Post what notices? Do you think the common people don't know you can't hold on? What are you thinking?"

Compared to Lu Zhengping's words which were at least polite, He Jinwu's words were much more frank and straightforward. This confused Chen Duxiu instead. "Just now this Mr. Lu said we must stand on the people's standpoint and admit failure."

He Jinwu was the Commander of the Second Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion. The reason he didn't become a political commissar was that He Jinwu thought being a political commissar meant talking all day long, and his impatient temper couldn't handle it. But this didn't mean his view on problems would be any different from Lu Zhengping. Chen Duxiu's actions originally made He Jinwu angry beyond belief. Hearing Chen Duxiu say he wanted to post notices, He Jinwu could no longer hold back. He smiled and said, "Mr. Chen, if you want to stand on the people's standpoint, then clean up the shit, piss, and garbage in the city. If you want to stand on the people's standpoint, keep enough grain left in the official granary for yourself to eat on the road, and then distribute the remaining grain, no matter how much, to the common people. This is called standing on the people's standpoint. You can't beat the Hubei New Army; do you think the common people don't know? If you run now, the common people will definitely know you were scared away, beaten away. Is there any need to post any bullshit notices?"

If Lu Zhengping's words only made Chen Duxiu feel a kind of reflection and despair, He Jinwu's words made Chen Duxiu feel a great shame. He replied with a blushing face, "We'll do as Mr. He says. We'll do as Mr. He says."

"Wait." Lu Zhengping hurriedly stopped the flushing Chen Duxiu. "Mr. Chen, don't rush. Let's first consider clearly who you want to take away and who will go with you. This matter must be clarified first."