The next morning, the two men discuss why the general has stationed himself in the city. The general was impressed by the young man's performance in battle, and he wanted to know why he was stationed there. The young man tells him that hangzhou is a prosperous city, and that if the general had not stationed himself there, the city would have accumulated a large fortune. He also tells the old man that the new president has taken away the general's authority, and sent him to Shanghai to monitor the movement of the Anhui army. The old man tells the younger man that he has no power to guard the city, because he is too naive to think that power is always at the disposal of the general. The two men decide that they should prepare for war, and they order large quantities of weapons to be shipped to Shanghai.