In the latter half of the night, the troops who had been staring wide-eyed guarding the Anqing city walls for most of the night finally looked forward to their replacements. The secret society members guarding the first half of the night were already sleepy, plus they had been on tenterhooks for half the night. With someone coming to replace them, everyone hurried down the city wall to return to the barracks to rest. It was early April now, and the nights were still very cool. No one noticed that the secret society members who went up to the North City wall were mostly wearing thick clothes.

Diao Dezhang's face still wore a depressed look. Since the Hubei New Army attacked, he had always looked like this. After getting on the city wall, Diao Dezhang first ordered his followers to find their positions behind the battlements, and then began to patrol. It took quite a while for the chaos on the city wall to subside. In the darkness of the night, only a dozen torches on the Anqing city wall showed a little vitality.

Zhou Xingchen had over forty men under him, while Diao Dezhang had over two hundred. These three hundred men occupied more than half of the city wall. It was pitch black below the city, but no one dared to light more torches. This was no longer the age of bows and arrows. These days, the secret society members had seen the range of rifles. Rifles that could kill people from such a long distance truly terrified them. If the city wall were brightly lit as storytellers described, it would only make themselves targets.

Zhou Xingchen secretly leaned close to Diao Dezhang. Seeing no one around, he lowered his voice and said, "Brother Diao, I want to ask you a favor."

Looking at Zhou Xingchen's sneaky appearance, Diao Dezhang frowned. "What is it?"

Zhou Xingchen leaned into Diao Dezhang's ear and said, "Brother Diao, when you take your brothers out of the city later, I hope you can take our brothers with you."

Diao Dezhang pushed away Zhou Xingchen, who was leaning close to his ear, then grabbed the clothes on Zhou Xingchen's chest and pulled him in front of himself, saying in a voice deliberately suppressed extremely low, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Zhou Xingchen's voice was filled with a kind of weakness and shame. "Brother Diao, our brothers don't want to die. This Anqing city is a death trap. Now the Hubei New Army hasn't surrounded the city yet, we still have a way out. Brother Diao, if you didn't want to leave, why did you make the brothers wear such thick clothes? Isn't what's stuffed inside those clothes the reward money from these days?"

Diao Dezhang never expected Zhou Xingchen's eyes to be so sharp. He had actually made up his mind to leave Anqing city long ago. But since the Hubei New Army arrived outside the city, the defenders at the city gates were all direct subordinates of the Yue Wang Society. It was absolutely impossible to leave the city legitimately, so he requested to guard the city in the latter half of the night. Even so, Diao Dezhang didn't dare tell his plan to all his brothers; he only told a hundred relatively reliable ones. For the remaining hundred or so, he planned to let the trusted aides left behind persuade them to leave after he had left the city. Suddenly having his mind spoken by Zhou Xingchen, Diao Dezhang felt a mix of shock and anger.

Although his collar was grabbed in Diao Dezhang's hand, Zhou Xingchen already knew he had absolutely not misjudged Diao Dezhang. He leaned into Diao Dezhang's ear again and said, "Brother, let's not speak like strangers. If we want to leave, we leave now. Any later and it will be too late."

The sorrowful look on Diao Dezhang's face had long flown to the nine heavens. He gritted his teeth slightly and pushed away Zhou Xingchen again. His voice also became calm and firm. "Zhou Xingchen, I'll take some brothers down first, and you follow me down. Then we go our separate ways. But I'll say this upfront: if you fight us for the path, don't say I'm impolite."

Zhou Xingchen nodded hurriedly. "Yes, yes. Brother Diao, I just think you are a sensible person, that's why I want to follow you. I absolutely won't fight with Brother Diao. Whatever Brother says goes."

Not long after, several ropes were quietly lowered from the city wall. Diao Dezhang first sent trusted aides down the wall to scout the path. Since the Anhui Revolutionary Army didn't plan to go out of the city to fight at all, there were no checkpoints below the city. The only thing to worry about was whether the Hubei New Army had an ambush outside. Diao Dezhang pursed his lips, standing in the darkness of the city wall, staring closely at the darkness outside the city. Zhou Xingchen couldn't help pacing back and forth. After an unknown amount of time, a few bird calls were heard from outside. A moment later, a few more.

Zhou Xingchen guessed this was the signal. He leaned close to Diao Dezhang with a look of joy. Before he could speak, he heard Diao Dezhang shout in a low voice, "Shut your mouth." Zhou Xingchen obediently shut his mouth as if his throat had been choked.

A few more people went down the wall, and then there was no movement. After an unknown amount of time, the bird call signaling news came from below the city. Only then did Diao Dezhang relax. He hurriedly directed his trusted aides to go down the wall.

"Brother Diao, what about me?" Watching people go down the wall one by one along the ropes, Zhou Xingchen became anxious.

Diao Dezhang looked at Zhou Xingchen coldly, his tone full of contempt. "What's the panic? Hurry up and take your people to go down the wall here." After speaking, Diao Dezhang had already leaped onto the city wall, grabbed a rope, and started sliding down.

"Diao..." Zhou Xingchen wanted to ask more, but Diao Dezhang could no longer be seen from the city wall. He slapped his thigh and turned to call his subordinates.

If Lu Zhengping, who was currently in Chizhou, saw Diao Dezhang's practice, he would very likely not be able to help but offer a compliment. This decisiveness and caution were indeed qualities required for commanding a retreat.

In less than an hour, all the secret society members on the North City wall had gone down the wall, and then left Anqing city under the leadership of the scouts who had set off in advance.

After Zhou Xingchen's feet stepped on the land outside Anqing city, he immediately felt extremely relaxed in his heart. Finally free! Finally broke away from this death trap of Anqing. No longer need to feel fear amidst the sound of shell explosions and gunfire. After walking a short distance forward, Zhou Xingchen gathered his brothers and stopped in place. This action was extremely conspicuous in the flow of people trying their best to leave Anqing city, and these dozens of people stopping motionless also blocked the way for those behind.

"Why aren't you walking?" Diao Dezhang, who was walking in front, rushed back and asked in a low voice.

Zhou Xingchen took out a money pouch with a fake smile. "Brother Diao, you really helped me a lot this time. This little token is just a small gesture from me, your brother. Let's part ways here. The green mountains do not change, the green water flows forever. Next time Brother Diao has any instructions, I, your little brother, will definitely serve you faithfully."

"Are you stupid? The Hubei New Army is just outside. We have already scouted the path; you hurry up and follow us." Diao Dezhang said in a low voice.

Seeing his brothers already gathered together, Zhou Xingchen not only didn't look intimidated at all but even raised his voice. "That's not necessary, Brother Diao. For going down the wall with Brother Diao just now, I am very grateful. We left without saying goodbye, and the commotion just now wasn't small; I'm afraid the Yue Wang Society already knows. I'll cover the rear for Brother. If people from the Yue Wang Society chase us, we'll block them."

The place where Zhou Xingchen and others were located wasn't too far from the city gate. Diao Dezhang looked at the city gate, then looked at Zhou Xingchen and his followers who had completely gathered. Diao Dezhang smiled. "Then I'll trouble Brother Zhou. See you later." After speaking, he disappeared into the night with his subordinates.

After walking for a good while, Diao Dezhang suddenly stopped those trusted aides, while others continued forward. He quietly turned back with this group of people. But from afar, he saw Zhou Xingchen and others still gathered together, with no intention of moving at all. The two groups of people stood quietly separated by the night. Until there was a trace of light on the horizon, Diao Dezhang knew he couldn't hide any longer, so he unwillingly led his trusted aides to retreat quietly.

The sky brightened a few more shades. Zhou Xingchen looked around as far as he could see. Seeing that there was indeed no one around, he sent a few brothers to scout ahead before starting to retreat.

"What? The North City is empty now?" Chang Hengfang's voice was filled with doubt and shock.

The one replying was a petty officer of the New Army. He said somewhat anxiously, "Commander Chang, we don't know when all the people on the North City left. We don't know if they were captured by the Hubei New Army."

"I..." Hearing this, Chang Hengfang wished he could go up and slap this petty officer twice. This was obviously the secret societies fleeing privately; how could this petty officer think it was the Hubei New Army going up the city to catch people in the middle of the night? If the Hubei New Army could do this, why would they retreat? Killing their way down directly from the North City would be more effortless, and they could take Anqing immediately.

But this wasn't the time to scold his own people. Chang Hengfang shouted, "Have the troops defending the city all gone up to the wall now?"

"Yes. Commander Xu Yingxin has already taken brothers up to the North City."

Chang Hengfang roared, "You tell Commander Xu now, absolutely no one is allowed to enter or leave the city gates. If there are still secret society members wanting to go up the wall, drive them down immediately. Go now!"

After the officer left quickly, Chang Hengfang felt he had nowhere to vent his depression. He suddenly grabbed a chair beside him, raised it high, and then smashed it onto the table with all his might. Chang Hengfang used all his strength, as if in front of him was not a table but Diao Dezhang's head. The hardwood chair smashed onto the table surface, first making a loud bang, followed by a series of cracking sounds. A large hole was smashed into the table surface, and three of the chair's four legs were broken. Chang Hengfang was still not relieved. He waved the broken chair and continued to smash it onto the table surface non-stop.

The orderly outside saw Chang Hengfang so angry and hurriedly rushed in to hold Chang Hengfang's arm. "Commander Chang, no need for this. No need for this."

Blocked by the orderly, Chang Hengfang smashed a few more times before throwing down the disassembled chair, panting heavily. "These treacherous bastards. I absolutely won't spare them." Chang Hengfang roared. But he knew this was impossible. Before long, the Hubei New Army's new day of attack would begin. It was already extremely difficult to cope with the Hubei New Army's attack; where would there be troops to chase the secret society members who fled out of the city? And even if they caught up, so what? Persuade them to come back? Or simply kill Diao Dezhang and the others?

As if to prove Chang Hengfang's judgment, the sound of cannons suddenly came from outside. This was not the cannon sound from the river south of the city, but from the direction of the West City. The Hubei New Army began the formal siege battle.

Among the many New Armies of the Manchu Qing, the Beiyang New Army naturally ranked first. But the Hubei New Army also had its own many strengths. For example, Hubei's arsenal could manufacture firearms and ammunition itself. Moreover, when Zhang Zhidong established the Hubei New Army, he paid considerable attention to education. New Army generals mostly came from modern military academies, and their cultural quality was relatively higher than soldiers. In the early days of Zhang Zhidong's establishment of the Hubei New Army, it was explicitly stipulated that "only those under twenty who can also read are allowed to be recruited." He also listed "half of the soldiers entering the camp must be literate" as the first article of "Essentials of Hubei Troop Training." At the same time, Zhang Zhidong also attached great importance to the education of soldiers after entering the camp. Zhang Zhidong set up large and small "lecture halls" and "reading rooms" in each banner and battalion of the New Army, which was undoubtedly conducive to improving the cultural quality of soldiers. In particular, Zhang Zhidong showed ingenuity by creating the Hubei Army Special Primary School, selecting those "fluent in writing and reasoning" from the soldiers, ordering them to "come to the hall to study subjects during the day and return to camp at night," "graduating in turns and entering camp in turns," thereby "embedding the meaning of universal education in troop training." So in the Hejian Autumn Maneuvers of 1905, the Beiyang New Army "won with courage," and the Hubei New Army "won with learning."

Able to manufacture armaments themselves and having relatively high cultural literacy, the level of the artillery troops, which had the most technical content in the Hubei New Army, was outstanding among the New Armies. With an order from Li Yuanhong, the ready artillery troops began to bombard the West City wall of Anqing. After several rounds of test firing, the Hubei New Army's artillery constantly adjusted firing data. Shells began to fall accurately on the city wall.

The Anqing Revolutionary Army's initial idea was to rely heavily on the city wall for defense. Li Yuanhong knew this basic idea clearly. He held binoculars and looked at the city wall, only to see that after every shell landed on the city wall and exploded, sandbags, sand and soil, and shattered human limbs flew in the air. There were even scenes of whole people being blown into mid-air. Li Yuanhong put down the binoculars with satisfaction. Those on the city wall now should all be the elites of the rebels. Such a round of shelling would definitely cause heavy casualties to the rebels.

"Brigade Commander, should we attack the city?" The staff officers also saw the appearance of the city wall and asked with joy.

Li Yuanhong waved his hand. "What's the rush? Wait until the navy captures the Yingjiang Temple battery."

"If we press on now, we will definitely be able to capture the city wall." The staff officers advised.

Li Yuanhong sneered. "The rebels only have the city wall to rely on; they will definitely not give it up. Attacking the city now will only waste troops for nothing. No rush. After fighting for a while longer, we will stop and give the rebels time to climb the city wall. When they stabilize their footing on the city wall, we will use cannons to bombard again. Isn't this much better than fighting hard?"

"Brigade Commander has brilliant foresight." The staff officers quickly began to flatter him.

"Contact the navy quickly and ask them to capture the Yingjiang Temple artillery position today. Without the artillery position, let's see what the rebels use to hold this Anqing." After finishing, Li Yuanhong sat steadily on the folding chair. Although he was the Brigade Commander of the 21st Brigade of the Hubei New Army, Li Yuanhong was not from a military academy. He was a graduate of the Beiyang Naval Academy and also a student of Yan Fu. Li Yuanhong had participated in the naval battle of the First Sino-Japanese War. After the war, he defected to Zhang Zhidong and was highly regarded, so he rose all the way in the Hubei New Army. From his heart, Li Yuanhong trusted the navy more. As long as the navy took the Yingjiang Temple artillery position and then captured the water gate of Anqing, under the pincer attack from the south and west, Li Yuanhong firmly believed that the Anqing rebels couldn't last long.

The staff officers were somewhat puzzled. "Commander, a pincer attack from two sides is certainly good, but the rebels guarding the Yingjiang Temple battery are still resisting stubbornly."

Li Yuanhong came from the naval academy and had participated in the naval battle of the First Sino-Japanese War. There was one thing his attention and sensitivity far exceeded others in the Hubei New Army. "Even if the rebels can stick to the Yingjiang Temple position, they don't have that many shells. By this afternoon at the latest, they will have no shells to use. At that time, the naval warships will shoot at close range. No matter how stubborn those rebels are, they can't stop the shells."

"Brilliant foresight, brilliant foresight!" The staff officers flattered him again.

This time Li Yuanhong didn't pay attention to the staff officers anymore. He steadily picked up his teacup and began to sip.

Everything was almost the same as Li Yuanhong predicted. The defenders on the city wall were all the core troops of the Yue Wang Society. This dense shelling caused heavy casualties to the defenders on the city wall. Seeing this posture of the Hubei New Army, the Anqing Revolutionary Army worried that the Hubei New Army was preparing to take advantage of the situation to seize the West City wall. So they had to rush to send more troops to the city wall. In this back and forth, the number of casualties exceeded three hundred. When the army officers ordered reinforcements again, cases of disobedience had already appeared among the subordinates.

When this news reached the headquarters of the Yue Wang Society in the Anhui Governor's Yamen, Chang Hengfang, who was apologizing to Chen Duxiu and Bai Wenwei, roared furiously at the signalman, "First the secret societies fled, now is it the turn of the New Army?"

"Commander Chang, you can't say that." Bai Wenwei immediately stopped Chang Hengfang's loss of composure. At this point, everyone had to pull together. Chang Hengfang's words were obviously intensifying conflicts.

However, it never rains but it pours. Not long after, Xiong Chengji, the commander at the Yingjiang Temple artillery position, also sent an emergency report saying that the shells at Yingjiang Temple were few and far between. He hoped Chang Hengfang could send people to help defend the battery. The Yingjiang Temple battery had been the psychological pillar of the Anqing Revolutionary Army for the past two days. Hearing the rumbling sound of cannons, everyone felt they were using powerful artillery to persist in fighting the enemy. Because Xiong Chengji commanded well, amidst the chaos, no one had paid attention to the shell problem. If people were lacking, everyone could still transfer troops, but there was nowhere to get things like shells. Receiving Xiong Chengji's news, everyone looked at each other in dismay, not knowing what to say. Without cannons, should they use rifles to shoot against the enemy's cannons? Heaven knew how many shells the Hubei guys had and how long they could fight.

In this silence, Chang Hengfang roared, "Let's go out of the city and fight it out with these Hubei guys!"

"Hengfang, calm down." Bai Wenwei hurriedly advised.

Chang Hengfang threw caution to the wind at this moment. His eyes were wide open in anger as he shouted at Bai Wenwei, "Calm down for what? How did the People's Party win? They had no cannons and no guns. Wasn't it by close combat? letting the Hubei guys fight like this, we are simply waiting for death. Since we die anyway, we might as well fight to the death."

"What's the use of you fighting to the death? You can only take about a thousand people out now. Can you beat the Hubei New Army?" Bai Wenwei also got angry. "If you fight to the death, who will defend this Anqing?"

Regarding Bai Wenwei's words, Chang Hengfang immediately retorted, "Anqing is a pit dug for us by the People's Party. The People's Party knew they couldn't hold Anqing, so they simply pushed us out. The Manchu Qing attacked our Yue Wang Society with all their strength, and the People's Party watched the joke from behind. If you ask me, we shouldn't have wanted this Anqing at all. Let the People's Party give it to whoever they want. Isn't there still the Restoration Society? We didn't need to stick our necks out."

"The People's Party didn't plan to want Anqing from the beginning; it was I who insisted on occupying it." Seeing the comrades almost losing their reason, Chen Duxiu finally spoke. Hearing this, the comrades couldn't help but shiver. Although Chen Duxiu's words were the truth, no one was willing to admit it. And Chen Duxiu didn't mean to let everyone reflect. He knew that if he didn't make up his mind and sat watching the situation develop naturally, the final result would be meaningless destruction. "I thought as long as we occupied Anqing, the situation would change immediately. Looking at it now, I was completely wrong. If we can't completely defeat the Manchu Qing, occupying one or two cities is meaningless. It only lets everyone die in vain. Gentlemen joined the revolution for the success of the revolution, not to let the Manchu Qing use our heads to scare other revolutionary comrades. We retreat, retreat to Hefei which the People's Party just conquered."

Chen Duxiu's words shocked everyone. They never expected Chen Duxiu to make such a decision. "Grand Commander, can the People's Party tolerate us?" Bai Wenwei hurriedly advised.

"What is there to tolerate or not. We rose in revolution to overthrow the Manchu Qing and establish a new China. The so-called tolerate or not is just us wanting to swallow the People's Party, or the People's Party wanting to swallow us. Such partisan struggle is very meaningless. Comrades, what is the purpose of our Yue Wang Society?"

Hearing Chen Duxiu's question, the cadres of the Yue Wang Society stiffened their necks one by one and refused to answer.

Chen Duxiu didn't continue to force everyone. He said frankly, "The purpose of our Yue Wang Society is to emulate Yue Wumu resisting the Liao and Jin, unchanging until death. We must inherit his will and do our best to expel the Manchus. If the People's Party also has this purpose, what does it matter if we obey the People's Party's orders?"

"Grand Commander, we are in danger now, and the People's Party has no intention of rescuing us at all." Chang Hengfang was still relentless.

Addressing this common understanding among the Yue Wang Society cadres, Chen Duxiu asked, "Then when we occupied Anqing and were riding high, when did we ever care about the People's Party? Our Yue Wang Society occupied Anqing, but what did we do for the local people of Anqing? What benefits did the people get from our revolution? Did the people eat a grain of our rice? Or spend a penny of ours? Just the money we spent on Diao Dezhang and Zhou Xingchen could benefit how many common people? But did we do it? Now when we are defending the city, can we see the common people on the street? Comrades, being a person always requires talking about some morality (*daoyi*). Since we cannot establish China above, nor save the people below, then at least don't let revolutionary comrades die in vain with us."

Chen Duxiu's spirit at this moment overwhelmed the despairing Yue Wang Society cadres. Especially when Chen Duxiu mentioned morality, the cadres felt speechless. One of the foundations of the establishment of the Yue Wang Society was "morality." Like other "Revolutionary Parties" of this era, the Yue Wang Society had neither a comprehensive revolutionary concept nor specific revolutionary methods. They felt the misery of China and then directed all their resentment at the Manchu Qing government. But this passion born of justice could only be maintained in reality by "morality" and "Jianghu loyalty" in Chinese tradition. And the secret societies were undoubtedly unreliable, and Chen Duxiu personally criticized the "morality" that the Yue Wang Society prided itself on. For these revolutionaries, nothing was more drastic than this denial.

Seeing everyone silent, Chen Duxiu continued, "Everyone blaming the People's Party is blaming the wrong person. The one who was impatient to take Anqing into his hands back then was me, this Grand Commander. If comrades feel that I am still the Grand Commander, then listen to my order. We retreat to Hefei now. As long as we can preserve our backbone, the Yue Wang Society will surely have a day to make a comeback."

The cadres actually knew that if they didn't retreat now, when the Hubei New Army's infantry moved, it would be too late to retreat. And now the only one they could defect to was the People's Party. But for over a month, because of occupying Anqing, the Yue Wang Society had developed an arrogant mentality. Everyone felt that no matter how powerful the People's Party was, with one word from the Yue Wang Society, the People's Party would still hand over Anqing city obediently. Although everyone knew this thinking was wrong, the Yue Wang Society crowd had formed this concept in their hearts. Being driven out of Anqing by the Hubei New Army at this time and defecting to the People's Party gloomily—everyone found it unacceptable psychologically.

Chen Duxiu didn't care so much anymore. He began to issue orders. "If no one has any objections, we will start retreating now. Hengfang, you let the comrades on the various positions withdraw. Commander Bai, you take people to the silver vault now and bring all the gold and silver. Dekuan, you go and bring as much grain as possible from the grain depot. It must be enough for us to eat on the way to Hefei. As for the secret societies, tell them to disperse. Let those who want to leave go. For those willing to follow us, explain clearly to them that following us this time, there is no pay or provisions."

"What about the cannons and machine guns?" Chang Hengfang asked angrily.

"Leave them for the Hubei New Army to loot. Without these things for them to loot, I'm afraid the New Army won't let us leave so easily."

Everyone stood in place, wanting to raise objections. But facing the future of doomed destruction if they stayed in the city, no one could come up with a better way. After a long while, Chang Hengfang responded angrily, "I'll go gather the troops now." After speaking, he went out angrily.

"Grand Commander..." Bai Wenwei wanted to step forward and persuade him further.

"Commander Bai, whether we can retreat from Anqing unscathed is still uncertain. If we are caught up by the Hubei New Army on the road, it will be a bloody battle. Bring the money well. If we can reach Hefei, this will be the capital for our Yue Wang Society's revival."

Hearing that Chen Duxiu hadn't given up on the revolution, Bai Wenwei finally felt relieved. "Grand Commander, I will definitely guard our military funds well on the road."

"Dekuan, you go too." Chen Duxiu said to Shi Dekuan who stood dumbfounded in place.

"Grand Commander..."

"Go now, Dekuan. If we have no grain, are we going to be bandits robbing grain along the way?" Chen Duxiu said unquestionably.

"Yes." Shi Dekuan obeyed Chen Duxiu's instruction.