When Chen Tianhua was called back to the Party Branch from Bengbu District, he had a rough guess about Chen Ke's purpose. Since evacuating from Xingtai County, Chen Tianhua's greatest hope was to fulfill his promise to the Peasant Association comrades: return to Hebei as soon as possible to promote the revolution. While in the base area, he worked hard on one hand and strengthened his study on the other, preparing to carry out revolutionary actions better. When he saw Shang Yuan and Chai Qingguo in the conference room, Chen Tianhua guessed that changes had occurred in Hebei.

"I plan to establish the Northern Bureau of the People's Party and the Henan Party Branch. The Northern Bureau will govern the revolutionary work in Shandong and Hebei. The Henan Party Branch will be directly led by the Party Central Committee. You three comrades have all requested to return to work in the north. I want to know if everyone still insists on their own ideas." Chen Ke's idea greatly exceeded Chen Tianhua's guess. Chen Tianhua always thought Chen Ke would focus on the south. Although he wanted to return to Hebei very much, Chen Tianhua had not mentioned this matter again in public or private. A Party member must first obey the Party's command; this discipline invisibly restrained Chen Tianhua's words and deeds. Hearing that Chen Ke actually wanted to expand the work of the People's Party to the entire Henan, Hebei, and Shandong, he surprisingly couldn't express his thoughts for a moment.

Chai Qingguo never shrank back in expressing his stance. After Chen Ke finished speaking, Chai Qingguo immediately replied, "I want to go back to work in Shandong." Chen Tianhua glanced at Chai Qingguo and saw that Chai Qingguo didn't have a look of joy on his face, but a magnanimous and serious expression. Chen Tianhua envied Chai Qingguo's attitude in his heart. In terms of frankness in words and deeds, Chai Qingguo never lagged behind others.

At this moment, Shang Yuan said, "I obey the organization's arrangement."

This highly organized speech made Chen Tianhua feel another kind of envy in his heart. Shang Yuan's calmness was something Chen Tianhua couldn't achieve. Because this was also Shang Yuan's heartfelt words; Shang Yuan didn't care about the organization's arrangement, he would do his best to practice the obligations of a Party member.

Seeing Chen Ke looking at him, Chen Tianhua didn't know how to express his stance for a moment. He wanted to be as frank as Chai Qingguo, and also wanted to be as organized as Shang Yuan, but these two attitudes couldn't be unified together no matter what. "Is this what is called 'you can't have both'?" Chen Tianhua thought annoyedly. Finally, he chose Shang Yuan's statement, "I obey the organization's arrangement."

Seeing that all three had clearly expressed their stance, Chen Ke said, "Comrade Wu Xingchen has established a certain organization in Shandong. This time I will first appoint everyone to go to Shandong to take over these forces in the name of the Shandong Party Committee. Comrade Wu Xingchen will assist everyone. Moreover, according to the intelligence provided by Comrade Wu Xingchen, Pang Zi has returned to Hebei. He has caused quite a stir in Xingtai. So Comrade Chen Tianhua, I plan to send you to restore contact with Pang Zi. I don't want him to turn into an out-and-out bandit in Hebei this time."

After going around in a circle, Chen Tianhua was actually going back to work in Hebei. Chen Tianhua thought depressedly, if he had known this earlier, he might as well have directly requested to work in Hebei.

Chai Qingguo didn't have so many thoughts. He asked in surprise, "Chairman Chen, you don't mean for us to take over Brother Wu's team, do you?"

Chen Ke looked at Chai Qingguo and could see that Chai Qingguo didn't want to seize the team in Wu Xingchen's hands. Chen Ke said calmly, "Comrade Wu Xingchen has arrived at the base area now. In a few days, he will go to Shandong with the comrades. Now you prepare to hand over the work at hand. The organization will select fifty comrades to go north with you."

Chai Qingguo hesitated to speak, but finally nodded. "Resolutely obey orders."

Shang Yuan asked, "Chairman Chen, what is the key point of work in Shandong this time? Is it to launch a large-scale people's revolution, or to commit to establishing a base area? Or simply to fight with the Beiyang Army?"

"The situation in the north is different from Anhui. Shandong and Hebei are both territories heavily managed by the Beiyang clique. The enemy's power is very strong, so the focus of work in the north is to compete for the masses. To snatch the masses from the hands of landlords and gentry. This cannot adopt the work model of Anhui. Regarding work methods, I will specifically explain to comrades later. You hurry up and hand over the work at hand now. We can't leave a pile of unattended stalls just because you left."

Hearing that Chen Ke had already formulated work methods, Chen Tianhua immediately felt much more at ease. He said, "My work can be handed over quickly. Then I'll be ready to set off at any time."

"Chairman Chen, Brother Wu, oh, will Comrade Wu Xingchen also go to Shandong with us?" Chai Qingguo was somewhat worried about this.

"Correct, Comrade Wu Xingchen will go to Shandong with everyone. But the forces established by Comrade Wu Xingchen now are not completely revolutionary forces. So after comrades arrive in Shandong, you must pay attention to the establishment of the organization. We are a revolutionary party, not common people falling into banditry. Chai Qingguo and Shang Yuan comrades have both worked their way up from the Anhui base area. You are not unfamiliar with how to establish an organization. But don't be dogmatic, thinking that doing it this way in Anhui was successful, so you do it exactly the same in Shandong. This approach cannot have good results. I will discuss the work methods in Shandong with everyone specifically."

"Then how is the work distributed?" Shang Yuan didn't care much about theoretical training, but he was not sloppy at all about organizational arrangements.

"You three comrades will first take office as Shandong Special Commissioners. After the special detachment is formed, you will set off for Shandong. After Shandong is sorted out, Comrade Chen Tianhua will work in Hebei as a Special Commissioner."

"What if that kid Pang Zi can't hold out during this period?" Chai Qingguo asked.

"According to the intelligence provided by Comrade Wu Xingchen, Pang Zi is now a roving bandit; if he can't win, he can still run, right? If he really can't hold out, it can only be said that his luck is bad."

Chen Ke rarely used the word "luck." Hearing him use bad luck on Pang Zi this time, Wu Xingchen couldn't help but chuckle.

After the three received the notification, they immediately began handing over work. Two days later, the three met with Wu Xingchen. They also conducted a two-day training with the selected fifty comrades. Then the Hebei Special Detachment set off quietly.

During the training, Chai Qingguo didn't have time to chat much with Wu Xingchen. After getting on the boat, the two old brothers could finally sit together and talk.

"Brother, you look thinner." Chai Qingguo didn't dare to say directly that Wu Xingchen was haggard, so he had to change to a gentler word.

Wu Xingchen just smiled but didn't speak.

"Brother, why didn't you notify me when you arrived at the base area? What have you been busy with these days?" Chai Qingguo insisted on getting to the bottom of it.

Wu Xingchen's face changed, but he finally just said, "I talked about some things with Comrade Qi Huishen. Haven't seen each other for a long time; some things are more troublesome to talk about."

Seeing that Wu Xingchen didn't want to explain clearly to him, Chai Qingguo didn't pursue these questions anymore. "Brother, what exactly did that kid Pang Zi do in Hebei?"

Regarding this question, Wu Xingchen smiled bitterly. "After returning to Nangong County from the Taihang Mountains, Pang Zi went on a killing spree. Pang Zi didn't spare any of the landlords who betrayed him back then. He killed the whole families of these people, young and old. He caused a huge mess in Xingtai County. This news even reached Shandong."

Even a hot-tempered person like Chai Qingguo couldn't help sucking in a cold breath hearing that Pang Zi actually engaged in exterminating families. "There are quite a few people from the Pang family there; could he bring himself to do it?"

"I don't know where Pang Zi got the news, but Pang Zi killed those who betrayed him. I just heard he killed a lot of people. As for whether there were members of the Pang clan, I'm not clear. But this guy Pang Zi is crazy. After killing people, I heard he forcibly distributed the clan fields to the local common people. But I sent people to Nangong County to find Pang Zi, but couldn't find his whereabouts no matter what. This matter is very strange."

Chai Qingguo didn't have any surprised reaction to distributing fields. If talking about distributing fields, the base area distributed them much more ruthlessly than Pang Zi. At this time, he had recovered from the matter of Pang Zi exterminating families. Seeing no one nearby paying attention, Chai Qingguo said in a low voice, "Brother Wu, our People's Party's regulations and methods are very different from when you were still here. When we get to Shandong, Brother Wu, you'll have to bear with many things."

Hearing the issue of Party discipline, Wu Xingchen frowned immediately. "Qingguo, I know what you mean. But you and I are both members of the People's Party. Don't worry about me. Since I dared to come back this time, I have no other thoughts. After arriving in Shandong, the Party Committee decides the work arrangement. I am also just a Party member. Brothers are brothers, but on Party discipline, let's not make mistakes. It's enough for me to make a mistake once."

Hearing Wu Xingchen's words, Chai Qingguo confirmed that the Party Committee had punished Wu Xingchen severely this time. Otherwise, Wu Xingchen wouldn't need to say such distant words to him. But since Wu Xingchen said so himself, Chai Qingguo felt it was useless to say more. He grabbed Wu Xingchen's hand. "Brother, I absolutely won't let you suffer grievances."

Looking at Chai Qingguo's firm gaze, Wu Xingchen could only pat the back of Chai Qingguo's hand to express his gratitude.

This topic couldn't continue here. Chai Qingguo turned the topic back to the forces Wu Xingchen built in Shandong.

"The situation in Shandong is okay now. There are more and more people opening factories and doing business, and more and more foreign goods. Shandong has had several incidents of boycotting foreign goods in a row. But I wasn't in the city, just heard about it. I have now united several teams in the Yimeng Mountains. It's just that this group of people still have that virtue. Letting them be bandits is okay, but letting them do some serious work is extremely difficult. I see that continuing to stay in Shandong is no different from before. That's why I made up my mind to come back."

"Secret society bandits are unreliable." Chai Qingguo agreed. "I used to think those people weren't loyal enough, but now I feel even more that these people are bastards. Brother, these people are unreliable. That kid Pang Zi finally took the path of banditry; he can't go on like this."

Wu Xingchen couldn't tell whether Chai Qingguo was talking about Pang Zi or himself. Looking carefully at Chai Qingguo's expression, he couldn't see any clues, so he inevitably felt some resentment in his heart. He perfunctored, "This time the Party Committee wants to rectify these people properly."

"Brother, rectification is useless. I see it clearly now. As long as they only think of themselves in their hearts, rectification is useless." Chai Qingguo couldn't help sighing. "That kid Pang Zi suffered on this point."

Unknown if it was telepathy, when Chai Qingguo mentioned Pang Zi, Pang Zi couldn't help sneezing loudly.

Not long after, a cloak carrying body warmth was draped over Pang Zi's shoulders from behind. "Master, don't catch a cold."

Pang Zi turned his head and said to the woman who put the cloak on him, "I'm fine. You should be careful of your body. It's still too cold in these mountains."

"Master, I've been in the mountains for so many years; I'm more resistant to cold than you." The woman also laughed.

Although it was late spring, it was still very cold in the Taihang Mountains. Pang Zi wore a single layer of clothes sitting in the hastily built hall of the mountain stronghold and still felt very cold. After putting on the cloak, he soon felt somewhat warm and comfortable. Just then, the woman beside him asked, "Master, seeing you haven't spoken all morning, what are you thinking about?"

Hearing this, Pang Zi's body stiffened slightly, then he said, "I remembered things from the past. I met a few people at that time."

"Did they offend you?" The woman's voice immediately became fierce.

"They didn't offend me. It's just that they wanted me to work with them back then, and I didn't agree. thinking about it now, I should have learned more skills from them at least."

"Hehe, Master, your skills are already not small; what else do you need to learn? In terms of riding horses and shooting guns, who in our mountain stronghold is your opponent?" The woman leaned against Pang Zi and said with a smile.

Pang Zi pushed the woman outward. "It's broad daylight; letting others see you sitting like this will only make people laugh." Seeing the woman unwilling to leave his side, Pang Zi simply stood up from the chair.

As if to prove Pang Zi's foresight, several people hurried into the door. Seeing Pang Zi standing in the middle of the hall, they hurriedly stepped forward to salute and said happily, "Master Pang, the people in the village have sent several cages of chickens over. They keep praising your method."

"Yes, Master. The people in the village see us like seeing relatives. Really a thousand thanks. Do you want to meet them?"

Pang Zi nodded with satisfaction. "No need. Go tell them, in the future, the chickens and pigs raised, everyone splits half. If they encounter anything, let them come directly to us. We'll stand up for them."

"Yes." Those few people went out immediately.

Seeing the minions leave the hall, the woman leaned over immediately. "Master, when my father was in charge of this stronghold, the surrounding villages were scared to death one by one. After you became the leader, this filial piety has increased, and the villages are even willing to come to the door to offer filial piety to us. I say you are capable, and that's not wrong at all."

Hearing the woman's flattery, Pang Zi's face turned ugly instead. "Capable? If I were capable, how could I be driven here from Xingtai by others? If I were capable, I would have gone all out in Xingtai. I learned some superficial knowledge from others, and I can make the common people pay tribute to me obediently. You can imagine how great those people's abilities are!"

Seeing her words made Pang Zi unhappy instead, the woman hurriedly grabbed Pang Zi's arm. "Master, I don't know those people you mentioned. I don't care if they are capable or not; I just need to follow you."

Pang Zi pushed away the woman beside him. "Follow me shrinking in this mountain gully? Even if you are willing, I am not willing."

"Master, wherever you go, I will follow you. Didn't I follow you when you went back to Xingtai to do such a big job last time? If you find it boring in the mountains, I'll follow you to Xingtai again."

The woman's intention was still to please Pang Zi, but her words obviously made Pang Zi even more unhappy. Pang Zi pulled off the cloak on his shoulder, stuffed it into the woman beside him, and left the stronghold hall without looking back.

The sun was shining outside, and the temperature was actually warmer than inside the house. Pang Zi saw the minions arrogantly sending a few mountain people out of the stronghold gate. Then they gathered around the cages of chickens on the ground, smiling broadly. Pang Zi couldn't help cursing in his heart, "Things with no experience, what have you seen? Just a few cages of chickens make you so happy. These few cages of chickens are not enough for the banquet I used to hold at the entrance of a village."

Recalling the glorious days of the past, Pang Zi felt a burst of pain in his heart. At that time, hundreds of brothers were lively and vigorous, engaging in business that took both black and white paths. There was also the Peasant Association in his hometown providing endless wine and meat, and the escort agency business was making money hand over fist. Mentioning his name, King Pang, was resounding for a hundred *li* around. That was the good life. Now Pang Zi only had forty or fifty men under him, and the territory controlled was just a dozen villages. Although it wasn't starving, his subordinates could be so happy seeing a few cages of chickens. Pang Zi felt a kind of sorrow from the bottom of his heart. Is this the so-called end of a hero?

Looking at the unpromising appearance of his subordinates, Pang Zi didn't want to join in their fun at all. He wanted to relax, so he turned and went towards the back mountain.

Since being scattered by the Beiyang Cavalry Battalion, Pang Zi fled west desperately with the remaining brothers. Relying on having many horses and knowing the road, Pang Zi actually shook off the Beiyang pursuers and fled to the Taihang Mountains in one breath. He didn't dare to stop much and drilled directly into the Taihang Mountains. There are multiple east-west transverse valleys in the Taihang Mountains. Such transverse valleys used as passages are called *Xing*. The eight throat passages crossing the Taihang Mountains between the three provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan in ancient times were called "Taihang Eight Xings." They have always been important military passes on the borders of the three provinces. Famous ones include Jundu Xing, Puyin Xing, Feihu Xing, Jing Xing, Fukou Xing, Bai Xing, Taihang Xing, Zhiguan Xing, etc.

Pang Zi ran directly into Fukou Xing from Xingtai, and then ran all the way into Wangwu Mountain. At this time, only eight people were left by his side. Everyone hid here for a few days first, then felt it was unsafe here, and had to summon up courage to run out again. Along the way, they didn't encounter Beiyang pursuers. After running fearfully for a few days, they finally arrived at a stronghold they knew before. Pang Zi was extremely fortunate to escape with his life. He didn't know at all that the reason he survived was actually that the Peasant Association cadre Jing Tingwen assassinated two officers of the Beiyang Cavalry Battalion, so the Beiyang Army had to stop the plan to exterminate Pang Zi.