Li Yuanhong did not expect the rebels in Anqing city to decide to retreat. Without any special reason, Li Yuanhong firmly believed that those rebels would not be willing to leave Anqing city. Under such judgment, Li Yuanhong ordered a temporary halt to the shelling. Although Li Yuanhong appeared to be conducting the war methodically, he actually had far more confusion and doubts in his heart than outsiders could see.

This battle to recover Anqing was not just a military operation; it also had a deeper political background. Li Yuanhong was just a soldier and knew very little about what exactly happened in the court. He only knew what happened in Hubei. After the fall of Anqing, Lord Zhang Zhidong suddenly went to Beijing. Before leaving for Beijing, Lord Zhang spoke: without Lord Zhang's personal order, no matter whose order it was, the New Army was not allowed to "act rashly." The meaning of this phrase "no matter whose order" was very rich. Theoretically, the Hubei New Army was the court's army and also under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Army. If these two issued orders, the New Army must obey. But Lord Zhang's meaning, put plainly, was "If I don't give the order, the Hubei New Army is absolutely not allowed to move."

Li Yuanhong didn't know exactly what happened in the court, nor did he have much impulse to know. The Hubei New Army was an army created single-handedly by Lord Zhang Zhidong, so naturally, they followed Lord Zhang's lead. Whether it was the court or the Ministry of Army, without Lord Zhang's order, not a single soldier of the Hubei New Army would move. After everyone prepared for more than a month, Lord Zhang Zhidong's personal order finally arrived in Hubei. The content was very simple: "Caution is the priority. Retaking Anqing and Chizhou is the main point. Do not be greedy for merit."

Li Yuanhong's understanding of this passage was: "Few deaths, no rush, fight slowly." The only thing Li Yuanhong didn't understand was that when the New Army sent troops, the court usually gave money, but this time the Hubei New Army was sent without a penny. But since Lord Zhang had spoken, it was impossible for the Hubei New Army to make a fuss over this little money. So Li Yuanhong proceeded with the battle step by step and did not adopt the tactic of surrounding Anqing city on four sides. He didn't know that his "conservatism" gave the rebels in Anqing city a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Because there were no Hubei New Army troops outside the North Gate, Chen Duxiu set the breakout route at the north of the city.

Of course, even if Li Yuanhong knew that the rebels in Anqing city were preparing to break out, he would not change his deployment. Lord Zhang Zhidong had explained very clearly: "Retaking Anqing and Chizhou is the main point." As for the rebels in the city, Li Yuanhong believed that Lord Zhang's words had already made it very clear: "Do not be greedy for merit."

When Chen Duxiu led more than nine hundred core members of the Yue Wang Society to leave the North Gate of Anqing, the situation was surprisingly smooth. Without any obstruction, they left Anqing city carrying the remaining hundred thousand taels of silver from the silver vault and over thirty thousand *jin* of grain from the granary. Two hundred backbone soldiers were left in Anqing city; Chang Hengfang led them to be responsible for the rearguard. Watching the high Anqing city getting farther and farther away, these Yue Wang Society backbones felt a strong sense of loss in their hearts. When could they return to this big city? None of these people had any idea. Just at this moment, the Hubei New Army's cannons fired again. The rumbling sound of cannons seemed to be a bugle call, encouraging these Yue Wang Society personnel who had withdrawn from Anqing to turn their heads north and walk quickly.

Chang Hengfang was extremely indignant about the betrayal of the secret societies. The reason he accepted the order to cover the rear was, on the one hand, that as a military commander, he was considered very capable and prestigious. On the other hand, Chang Hengfang had a burst of evil fire in his heart that he wanted to vent; he volunteered to be responsible for the rearguard himself.

"Commander Chang! We can't go up this city wall." The secret society leader cried and knelt down, then hugged Chang Hengfang's legs tightly. "Commander Chang, the Hubei guys' shelling is so fierce; going up the city wall means death. If you make us go up the wall, that's asking for our lives. Commander Chang, this wall cannot be climbed."

"Are you trying to betray the revolution?" Chang Hengfang roared. Behind him, two hundred fully armed Yue Wang Society backbone soldiers glared at the secret society leaders in front of them. They also knew about Diao Dezhang and Zhou Xingchen fleeing. Regarding the betrayal of the secret societies, these soldiers were as angry as Chang Hengfang. As long as Chang Hengfang gave an order, these soldiers would shoot the secret society members without hesitation.

Chang Hengfang stared closely at those trembling secret society leaders. "In the past month or so, each of you has earned at least fifty taels from us. When it's time for you to go into battle, why don't you have that vowing vigor from back then? Was everything you said back then just farting?"

None of the secret society leaders dared to make a sound. The loud noise and violent vibration of the exploding shells completely deprived these people of their courage. They dared not go up the wall no matter what, but facing the angry Chang Hengfang and the group of angry Anqing Revolutionary Army soldiers behind him, they also dared not refuse.

Chang Hengfang originally wanted to scold the secret societies again, but at this moment, he really didn't have the extra time. "It's fine if you refuse to go up the West City wall. You go guard the East City and South City for me right now. There are no Hubei guys under the East and South walls."

Hearing Chang Hengfang show mercy, this group of people nodded repeatedly. Chang Hengfang didn't say more; he ordered the soldiers to escort this group of people, making them take their followers up the city walls of the South City and East City. Under the wall, Chang Hengfang called the secret society leaders together again. "We have now circled from the north of the city to behind the Hubei guys. This is to fight a decisive battle with the Hubei guys. You must guard the East and South of the city for us. Do you hear me?"

"Commander Chang, we can definitely hold it, we can definitely hold it." Regardless of what they thought in their hearts, the secret society leaders said non-stop with their mouths.

"When we come back after winning the battle, if you are not on the wall, don't say I'm impolite." Chang Hengfang made the final threat, then led the troops towards the North Gate.

By midnight, Chang Hengfang finally caught up with Chen Duxiu and the others who had already left the city. The combined force of more than one thousand one hundred people didn't care about anything else and marched overnight with torches. Everyone knew that the Hubei New Army had cavalry. If they couldn't get out of the cavalry's attack range as soon as possible, just these one thousand one hundred people really wouldn't be enough for the New Army Cavalry Battalion to fight. Urged by fear, plus having a clear destination, the troops burst out with unprecedented marching ability, actually walking more than forty *li* in one night.

Li Yuanhong learned that Anqing was already an empty city that night. Several gentry who ran out of Anqing city cried and asked Li Yuanhong to enter the city. After the secret societies left in Anqing city discovered that the Yue Wang Society had run away, some began to retreat, while others with great courage had already begun to loot in Anqing city. These gentry came to find Li Yuanhong to ask for rescue troops.

Whether by torture or gentle questioning, since the gentry told the truth, naturally no other result would be asked. Li Yuanhong readily sent out scouts. The scouts soon returned to report that the situation in Anqing city was indeed as the gentry said. Li Yuanhong kept the regiment left to him by Division Commander Zhang Biao to guard the main camp, and sent two regiments under his own command to "rescue the people of Anqing." This was a fat job. Since Anqing was already an empty city, everything left in this city could be taken arbitrarily by these Hubei New Army soldiers. Especially those secret society members; they definitely had valuable things on them. Killing these rebels, firstly, heads could be exchanged for rewards; secondly, the property on these secret society members would completely belong to the New Army.

There were no defenders on the city wall long ago. Li Yuanhong's troops didn't lose their reason because of this huge profit in front of them. They first went up the city wall, then quickly occupied the various city gates. Looking down from a high position at this time, they saw fire and wailing rising together in the city. After guarding the city gates and walls, these rebels in the city found it hard to escape even with wings. Some Hubei New Army soldiers watched the secret societies looting and were anxious to go down and get rid of these misbehaving "rebels." The officers calmly stopped the soldiers' impulse. "What's the rush? Let them rob for a while longer."

The soldiers didn't figure out the twist in this, but the officers knew it clearly. As long as these rebels were annihilated, the property carried by the rebels would all be obtained by the New Army. Under such circumstances, the more the rebels robbed, the better. The Hubei New Army had absolutely no reason to save money for the people of Anhui.

The Yue Wang Society's backbone troops fleeing towards Hefei had good luck. The Hubei New Army's choice gave them a night's time. And the Yue Wang Society's good luck continued. After dawn broke, the Hubei New Army killed their way down from the city wall and annihilated the secret societies. Although the captured secret society members didn't know where the Yue Wang Society went, they knew where other secret societies went. The Hubei New Army cavalry dispatched immediately and began to pursue those fleeing secret societies. To survive, the secret society members told the truth, and the Hubei New Army Cavalry Battalion gained extremely rich harvests. To get more money, the Hubei New Army cavalry adopted a policy of extermination towards the secret societies they caught up with. The property searched from the secret societies made the cavalrymen eclectic with joy.

Under such good luck, the Yue Wang Society gained another day of marching time. Li Yuanhong didn't have the idea of catching up with the Yue Wang Society to exterminate them. Of course, if the Yue Wang Society was only thirty or fifty *li* away from Anqing, Li Yuanhong wouldn't easily let go of the Yue Wang Society remnants. But by the time the Hubei New Army began to search for the whereabouts of the Yue Wang Society, the Yue Wang Society had finally escaped the attack range of the Hubei New Army.

While triumphantly ordering the news of retaking Anqing to be sent back to Wuhan, Li Yuanhong gathered troops to start attacking Chizhou. When he arrived at Chizhou, he discovered that the gentry of Chizhou were already waiting respectfully at the gate to welcome him. The Restoration Society followed Lu Zhengping's suggestion; before retreating, they specifically organized the Chizhou gentry to maintain order in Chizhou to avoid the Hubei New Army rushing into Chizhou to loot.

As the saying goes, one doesn't slap a smiling face, not to mention there were quite a few *Juren* (provincial graduates) among these gentry. Li Yuanhong couldn't go too far. Chizhou finally escaped a calamity.

The news that Li Yuanhong, Brigade Commander of the 21st Brigade of the Hubei New Army, led troops to recover Anqing and Chizhou in two days quickly reached Beijing. This should have been good news for the Qing government, but at the end of a dynasty, the effects brought by any good news were negative. The political dispute that had already begun to intensify did not subside because of this; on the contrary, the struggle in the capital became increasingly fierce.

Yuan Shikai knelt and kowtowed respectfully before the spirit tablet in the mourning hall. As a filial son, Wang Shizhen also knelt in mourning dress to return the salute. Wang Shizhen's great-grandfather Wang Chaozheng was skilled in medicine and good at calligraphy. His grandfather Wang Lü'an was a *Xiucai* (county graduate); besides medicine, he was good at martial arts and was known as a "military scholar." Wang Shizhen's father and uncle died early. He and his widowed mother depended on each other for survival, living in his aunt's natal home inside the East Gate of Zhengding city, relying on his mother doing needlework for others to make a difficult living. Wang Shizhen was the heir to two branches of the family. He entered a private school to study poetry and books at the age of 9. Because he was smart and eager to learn, when Wang Shizhen was 15, he was favored by Ye Zhichao, the Brigade Commander of Zhengding, and taken under his command as an orderly. Only then did he embark on the military path.

His birth mother passed away a few days ago, and Wang Shizhen immediately applied to stay at home for mourning. Mourning was originally a mandatory thing for officials. Even if Yuan Shikai was now deep in party struggles, he couldn't forcibly make Wang Shizhen continue to come out to work. So after Yuan Shikai learned the news, he immediately rushed to offer condolences. With his status, after paying homage, Wang Shizhen had to invite him to sit in the back for a while.

As soon as the two sat down, Yuan Shikai spoke. "Pinqing, restrain your grief and accept the change. Your mother raised you so hard, and you also had to take care of your aunt. Today you are the Admiral of Jiangbei; your mother can also be at peace."

Wang Shizhen knew that Yuan Shikai's purpose for this trip was by no means simple condolences. Although he was very sorrowful in his heart, Wang Shizhen had always served by his mother's side when she was critically ill, so he wasn't completely overwhelmed by grief at this moment. "Many thanks, Duke Yuan. Duke Yuan coming here, presumably there are other matters."

"Pinqing, Li Yuanhong of the Hubei New Army retook Anqing and Chizhou in two days. This matter has shaken the court and the public." Yuan Shikai introduced the latest situation changes.

Wang Shizhen listened quietly. Since the fall of Anqing, although Wang Shizhen was serving his sick mother, he still immediately sent people to investigate the situation in detail. The news sent back truly shocked Yuan Shikai and Wang Shizhen. The Yue Wang Society and the Restoration Society had long shown their banners, which wasn't hard to investigate. But the spies reported that the People's Party, which had disappeared in Shanghai, actually appeared in the Fengyang Prefecture area. Not only that, from Fuyang to Hefei, the People's Party quietly occupied a vast territory in northern Anhui. Moreover, it was the People's Party that conquered Anqing and Chizhou, not the Yue Wang Society and the Restoration Society.

Yuan Shikai simply dared not believe it after getting this news. But these spies were personally trained by Wang Shizhen; it was absolutely impossible for them to get some fake intelligence to fool him. Chen Ke, who had once disappeared without a trace, silently caused such a big event in Anhui. Yuan Shikai still dared not believe it even now.

But these were not the most important things. In 1905, five ministers including Zai Ze and Duan Fang went abroad for investigation. Returning home the following year, Zai Ze submitted the "Secret Memorial on Petitioning the Qing to Announce Constitutionalism," pointing out that constitutional monarchy could make "the imperial throne solid forever," "foreign threats gradually lighter," and "internal rebellion eliminable." As soon as this memorial came out, the court and the public were shaken. On September 1, 1906, the Qing court finally promulgated the edict of "Preparing for Constitutionalism." The Beiyang clique led by Yuan Shikai was originally the successor of the Westernization Movement. Since the court had made up its mind to "establish a constitution," Yuan Shikai felt this was a good opportunity to display his ambitions. Yuan Shikai, who had always advocated "reform," began to strive to promote the Beiyang clique to lead the "constitutionalism."

Starting from September 1906, on the one hand, Yuan Shikai gradually handed over part of the power in his hands to befriend the Manchu nobles in the court and alleviate the suspicion Cixi might have towards him. On the other hand, Yuan Shikai presided over the compilation of the "Outline of Constitutionalism," attempting to occupy the theoretical guidance of future constitutionalism. For this reason, Yuan Shikai had even thought of summoning Yan Fu, a famous idealist figure, and Yan Fu's "disciple" Chen Ke to Beijing to participate in the editing work of the "Outline of Constitutionalism."

Chen Ke had already proved with practical actions that he was simply a thorough great rebel. There was no trace of Yan Fu and his whole family. Presumably, they either went to avoid disaster, or Yan Fu was simply the commander behind Chen Ke. Yuan Shikai now had absolutely no thought of figuring out the relationship between the two. The threat he faced now did not come from Yan Fu and Chen Ke at all, but from another extremely powerful force within the court.

As the Beiyang Minister, the Beiyang clique led by Yuan Shikai himself started in 1895. Within ten years, it rapidly expanded from a purely military group into a huge bureaucratic group encompassing politics, economy, military, and diplomacy, unprecedented in the history of the Manchu Qing. Monarchical power and ministerial power are a pair of natural contradictions that wax and wane. Against the growth of the Beiyang power, under Cixi's intentional or unintentional support, three forces contending with Yuan Shikai's Beiyang clique appeared visibly or invisibly within the Manchu court.

The one launching the attack on Yuan Shikai was among these three forces, another "New Policy Constitutionalist Group" that firmly supported constitutionalism like Yuan Shikai but denounced Yuan Shikai's Beiyang clique as a "Turbid Stream" while regarding itself as a "Pure Stream." The leaders of this group were Cen Chunxuan, the "Official Butcher" known as the last incorruptible official of the Manchu Qing, and the famous New Policy official Zhang Zhidong.

Wang Shizhen saw clearly these matters in the Manchu court. Whether it was the Beiyang clique led by Yuan Shikai or this "Pure Stream" preparing to drive Yuan Shikai completely out of power, their attitude towards "constitutionalism" was completely consistent. They all believed that only through "reform" and "constitutionalism" could China's crisis situation be saved and the Manchu court be saved. If these two forces could cooperate fully, they could absolutely overwhelm all conservative forces and completely dominate the court's "constitutionalism." But these two forces had no idea of cooperation. At least the force as the "Pure Stream" had no intention of cooperating with Yuan Shikai at all. Not only that, the "Pure Stream" tried its best to overthrow Yuan Shikai and then seize the dominance of "constitutionalism." This fact could not but make Wang Shizhen feel sincere regret.

Unlike Yuan Shikai, Wang Shizhen had absolutely no idea of participating in this matter. What Wang Shizhen wanted to be loyal to first was the Manchu court, so Wang Shizhen's thoughts fell on the latest situation in Anhui. He asked, "After retaking Anqing and Chizhou, what does Lord Zhang Zhidong say?"

Yuan Shikai sneered. "What does he say? Zhang Zhidong immediately impeached En Ming for dereliction of duty in his post, actually causing the situation of collective rebellion of the Anhui New Army."

En Ming's whereabouts were unknown now. The only thing that could be confirmed was that En Ming did not defect to the rebels. Zhang Zhidong impeaching En Ming at this time pointed directly at En Ming's father-in-law, Prince Qing Yikuang. Everyone in the court knew that Yikuang and Yuan Shikai had formed a solid alliance. Zhang Zhidong's impeachment was simply making a statement against Yuan Shikai.