Both brought up by the traditional education system, Cai was a close friend of Zhang Binglin, and, together with a few others, they established the Guangfu Club (光復會) - another major anti-Manchuria force at that time.
Cai joined the Tongmeng Group soon afterwards, and actively toke part in several uprising activities. In fact, there are slightly conflicting records about his hand-on involvement in those incidents. Nonetheless, his contribution must had been substantial, because, although he was not officially wanted, he had to left for the Qing Empire in 1907 and spent his time in Germany as a part-time student until the Xinhai Revolution was successful.
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Of course, with hindsight, Cai played a critical role in the history of modern China, not for his work in the Tongmeng Group, but for a few seemingly irrelevant decisions when he was the president of the Peking University: In 1917, he invited Chen Duxiu (陳獨秀) to join the university as a professor of Chinese literature. Next year, he recruited Li Dazhao (李大釗) as the chief librarian of the university, and another young man from Hunan as a junior helper - rather than some more important position - in the library.
Under the pressure of Cai, Chen was forced to resign from the university in 1920 - not for his support to communism, but his frequent appearance in the red-light district.
The influence of the latter two incidents was profound - albeit Freudian.
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