The centre of the planning appeared to be the Nui Cam Pagoda in Châu Đốc, while many participants also appeared to have been sympathisers and affiliates of Prince Cường Để, who was living in exile.
Cường Để changed the course of his life and began studying history, economics and geography and thought admiringly of the heroic achievements of Trần Hưng Đạo, Zhuge Liang, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Saigō Takamori, Cavour, Otto von Bismarck, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln.