The scouts of the Hubei New Army galloped between the fleet and Hefei city, searching outside the range of the city wall's fire. The People's Party troops inside the city had already begun to defend; all city gates of Hefei were tightly closed, and soldiers appeared on the city walls. What surprised these scouts was that they noticed seven or eight people on the city wall looking down with binoculars or monoculars. Binoculars were not cheap goods; in the Hubei New Army, only officers were equipped with them. Seven or eight people with binoculars appeared on just one side of the Hefei city wall, which indicated that the defending troops must be at least nearly a thousand strong.

News about the Hefei defenders was faithfully transmitted back to Li Yuanhong's headquarters. After listening to the scouts' report, Li Yuanhong frowned slightly. According to the original military plan, Li Yuanhong hoped to sail the gunboats to the foot of Hefei city and attack Hefei with infantry-artillery coordination. Now the navy obviously had no hope of continuing to advance. Sailors familiar with water had already gone down to check. The artificial undercurrent created by the People's Party in the Nanfei River looked very neat from the surface, but the underwater flow was actually very irregular. Of the eight Hubei New Army sailors with good swimming skills who went down, four were swept away by the undercurrent. Thanks to the timely rescue by the New Army navy, two had drunk their fill of water, while the other two actually drowned. This result gave Li Yuanhong an ominous feeling. Those who went underwater came up to report that the underwater obstacles were actually piled up with huge, neat stones. There were no good quarries near Hefei; heaven knows how the People's Party got so many big stones.

The scouts also captured some villagers from the surrounding villages. According to the villagers' confession, these river-blocking obstacles were actually created by the People's Party just a few days ago. There were also traces of large troops stationed near the river bank, but there were no traces of transporting stones. Did the People's Party people know magic? Could they create these big stones out of thin air? After another investigation and sampling, Li Yuanhong finally recognized that these things underwater were actually cement. The origin of the obstacles was finally clarified, but Li Yuanhong fell into new confusion. The People's Party could actually throw expensive cement into the river. If it was just to block the Hubei New Army, this was really sparing no cost.

Now there was no way to get the cooperation of the fleet's artillery, and there were at least a thousand People's Party troops in Hefei city. The original plan of advancing quickly to raid Hefei had fallen through. Li Yuanhong felt that his march could not be said to be slow, yet the news leaked so badly. The People's Party could actually get the news a few days in advance. Could there be People's Party spies in the Hubei New Army?

The staff officers didn't dare to respond after listening to Li Yuanhong's thoughts. This was not only because they dared not sing a different tune from Li Yuanhong, but also because the People's Party's practice exceeded these people's imagination. To block the Hubei New Army's navy, the People's Party actually built such a high obstacle in the wide Nanfei River.

Li Yuanhong let the New Army scouts come out in full force to search for the whereabouts of the People's Party. It had been more than a day now. Apart from the increasing number of defending soldiers on the city wall, the news sent back was exactly the same. There were no People's Party troops around Hefei; all People's Party troops were inside Hefei city.

The staff officers and officers all wanted to get promoted through this battle to attack Hefei, but this didn't mean they considered everything. Analyzing from the perspective of these people's experience and learned military knowledge, no matter what tricks the People's Party had, as long as the Hubei New Army could take Hefei city in one fell swoop, the People's Party couldn't play any tricks. So parking the Hubei New Army near the river channel, firstly, the troops couldn't get rest, and secondly, the People's Party would constantly increase troops.

They had to persuade Li Yuanhong in various ways. "Brigade Commander, it's not a solution for our army to stop here. Lord Zhang Zhidong ordered us to exterminate the rebels quickly. If we can't even take Hefei, we can't explain it."

"Commander, as far as we know, the number of bandits exceeds five thousand, mostly fierce bandit types. If we can't take Hefei as soon as possible, and the bandits coerce the common people to defend the city again, it will be even harder for us to fight Hefei."

"The purpose of the bandits blocking the river is nothing more than to confuse our army. Our army cannot advance or retreat now, which has too great an impact on military morale."

These persuasions guided Li Yuanhong's thoughts constantly towards the direction of continuing to advance troops, but the reason that finally made Li Yuanhong make up his mind did not come from the statements of the staff officers and officers. After the People's Party blocked the river, the water level of the Nanfei River gradually rose, and the river water began to expand to both sides of the river bank. If Li Yuanhong didn't decide to march, the original ferry crossing would be completely unusable, and Li Yuanhong would have to retreat to a ferry crossing twenty *li* away to land. These twenty *li* were still the distance by water. If changed to land, there would be an extra distance of more than forty *li* out of thin air. If marching fifty *li* to raid Hefei, Li Yuanhong still had confidence. Letting him lead troops to walk a hundred *li* first, Li Yuanhong knew this would be too unfavorable for the Hubei New Army.

"The Hubei New Army has landed." This news soon reached the frontline command post of the People's Party. The comrades of the Military Commission became excited one by one. The People's Party's combat plan was carried out relying on the changes of the Hubei New Army. The slowness of Li Yuanhong's orders was really anxious. Chen Ke looked at the comrades of the Military Commission; he wanted to see who was more qualified from the expressions on these people's faces.

Although observing words and expressions was relatively unreliable, Chen Ke could no longer be in the troops as often as before. His method of judging and grasping his own side was the report on the execution of orders, and the rest was various monitoring agencies. The last remaining thing was the observation of these comrades.

Before, Chen Ke didn't understand what exactly observing words and expressions meant. After being a "leader" for so long, Chen Ke finally gained some insight. Observing words and expressions also had different scopes of application. Generally speaking, the more scientific the comrades, the more loyal to their duties and serious in their work, the more they could master the general laws of things.

Taking military affairs as an example, the strategy of the troops is built on the characteristics and power comparison between the enemy and us. The so-called knowing oneself is to figure out what one has, and what material and human resources one can possess in the near and long term. On this basis, targeted military tactical training must be carried out. The training of the People's Party troops stressed science more: marching, shooting, grenade throwing, and attention training. These could not be done just by talking; without boring repetitive training time and time again, it was fundamentally impossible for soldiers to master.

Human nature hopes for comfort. Such strict repetitive training consumes too much of the energy system, so this is the work of the political commissar. Political commissars must let soldiers know why they fight and for whom they fight. This is the real magic weapon for the invincibility of the people's army.

If they are qualified military commanders and political commissars, their energy is focused on work; preparation and training are never too much. These people generally have a strong look of focus. And when speaking, they generally answer with specific numbers. Talking with them is very relaxing. Those unqualified military commanders and political commissars generally have louder voices and speak more emptily. And after encountering problems, because they cannot solve them very well, there is often a tendency to consciously or unconsciously avoid talking about some key issues. The so-called "key issues" are thorny problems that everyone finds hard to solve. If those responsible commanders and political commissars find it hard to solve, those irresponsible comrades are even less able to solve them.

These were just Chen Ke's initial feelings. He knew that today, as he increasingly detached from the grassroots, he must learn "Commanding generals" (*Jiang Jiang*) instead of "Commanding soldiers" (*Jiang Bing*).

After observing his comrades, Chen Ke couldn't help thinking of his current opponent Li Yuanhong again. Chen Ke knew some things about Li Yuanhong, so this made it harder for Chen Ke to be objective. Knowing oneself and knowing the enemy are not compatible things.

On the morning of the second day of the Wuchang Uprising, the revolutionary army found Li Yuanhong at Huangtupo, immediately took him to Chuwangtai, and then escorted him to the Consultative Bureau, asking him to serve as the Governor. But Li Yuanhong insisted on refusing. He said: "This matter is of great importance and must be cautious. I am not a revolutionary; I am not qualified to be the Governor. The one qualified is Sun Wen; why don't you pick him up to serve as the Governor?" At this time, the revolutionary army took out the pre-drafted notice to reassure the people and asked Li Yuanhong to sign it. Li Yuanhong said repeatedly like being afraid of a snake bite, "Don't harm me, don't harm me!" Li Yuanhong's passive resistance attitude angered the surrounding revolutionaries. They scolded angrily, "Li Yuanhong doesn't know how to appreciate favors; he is a faithful running dog of the Manchu Qing," "Let's just give him a bullet to eat." Li Yidong, who was present, was also furious. He raised his gun at Li Yuanhong and roared: "You are originally a Manchu Qing slave and deserve to be killed! We don't kill you but elect you as Governor, yet you are unwilling. If you are willing to be a Qing dynasty slave, I will shoot you and elect another Governor." Saying this, he was about to pull the trigger, scaring Li Yuanhong pale and sweating all over. For the next few days, Li Yuanhong had no appetite and remained silent. He made up his mind not to be a Qing official anymore, nor was it appropriate to hold a position in the revolutionary army. Until October 13, Li Yuanhong still refused to take office as Governor, so the revolutionary army had to put him under house arrest in the military government. He had a sad face all day long, heavy with thoughts. Thinking, this is the end; the court treats me as a traitor, the party people treat me as a prisoner; wife, concubines, and children cannot meet. If I had a pistol on me, I might as well shoot myself to end it all. This shows how great Li Yuanhong's determination of passive resistance was at that time.

However, with the development of the revolutionary situation, and with the recovery of Hankou and Hanyang successively, the revolution centered on Wuchang had a tendency to form a magnificent momentum. Under this situation, Li Yuanhong saw that the three towns of Wuhan were under the control of the civil army, so his attitude also began to change. The primary sign of this change was cutting off the long queue.

Li Yuanhong had a very strong duality. Chen Ke wasn't quite sure which kind of performance the Li Yuanhong he faced now would tend more towards.