Chapter 8 8. The "Second Revolution" is just a revolution with ebb tide

After Song Jiaoren was assassinated, two completely different opinions formed within the Kuomintang. The moderate group advocated a legal settlement, while the radical group called for military force. Sun Yat-sen, who had just returned to Shanghai from Japan, clearly stood for the latter. He strongly advocated raising troops to challenge Yuan, and claimed that as long as there were two divisions, he would personally lead the army to question Yuan Shikai. However, the main problem at that time was that the Kuomintang did not even have two divisions of troops, and public opinion was quite unfavorable to the "discipline faction", because the "Song case" had not been fully clarified at that time, even though the Kuomintang had a thousand reasons to doubt Yuan Shikai , but it is not appropriate to directly determine that Yuan Shikai is the culprit behind the scenes. At this time, raising troops to fight against Yuan is suspected of rebellion of "local rebellion against the central government".Therefore, when Sun Yat-sen sent a telegram requesting the use of force against Yuan Shikai, the three major "powerful governors" of the Kuomintang (Jiangxi Governor Li Liejun, Anhui Governor Bai Wenwei, and Guangdong Governor Hu Hanmin) immediately replied that they had no strength to be independent.

When the "Song case" came to a standstill, Yuan Shikai quickly signed a "big aftermath loan" of 25 million pounds with a consortium of banks from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan. The loan has an annual interest rate of 5% and a term of 47 years. The bond is sold at a 10% discount, and the 6% commission is deducted, which is equivalent to only 21 million pounds, while the repayment of the principal and interest at maturity will cost 67.89 million pounds. The conditions are not harsh.However, Yuan Shikai, relying on his years of political experience, had already expected the final showdown with the revolutionaries, so this move was actually a precautionary measure. The so-called "soldiers and horses are not moved, food and grass go first", and it is also necessary to raise enough funds in advance to deal with future chaos. Move first.After all, no matter whether it is rebellion or suppression of rebellion, it is absolutely impossible without money.

After the news of the loan was announced, Huang Xing, Bai Wenwei, Li Liejun, Hu Hanmin and others also issued telegrams one after another, reprimanding Yuan Shikai for borrowing illegally and despising the legislature. The protests of the Kuomintang members instead aggressively reprimanded Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing and other Kuomintang members: "I can see through it now. People like Sun Wen are making trouble on the left and on the right. They have no other skills except making trouble. Listen Listen, what Sun Wen said was 'the public has no choice but to resign today', and he also said that 'the determination to oppose the monarch and the one who opposed the public will never turn back'...Sun Wen still wants to make up his mind to do it with Lao Tzu You can tell the Kuomintang people that I, Yuan Shikai, cannot listen to others making troubles. If he, Sun Wen, dares to use guns and cannons, or organize another government, I will send troops to conquer, and there is absolutely no room for condoning traitors."

Liang Shizhi, Secretary-General of the Presidential Office, hesitated for a moment: "President, isn't that too straightforward?" Yuan Shikai replied angrily, "Just say it was me, and I am responsible for it!" On June 9, 1913, Yuan Shikai acted preemptively and ordered Li Liejun to be dismissed from the post of Jiangxi governor, and Li Yuanhong was appointed concurrently as Jiangxi governor; on the 14th, Guangdong governor Hu Hanmin was dismissed; on the 30th, Anhui governor Bai Wenwei was also dismissed .As a result, the three governors of the Kuomintang were all dismissed by Yuan Shikai in the name of "incompetent" and "unpopular".

So far, the Kuomintang people in the south can only abandon their illusions and rise up to fight.After Li Liejun was dismissed by Yuan Shikai, he did not raise troops to challenge Yuan immediately. Instead, he sent a telegram to the field and went to Shanghai to discuss with Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing, Chen Qimei and others.As a result, the "Second Revolution" officially broke out (also known as the "Battle of Gui Chou" or "Battle of Ganning"). After Li Liejun declared independence, Huang Xing rushed to Nanjing to reorganize the first and eighth divisions stationed in Ningxia into Yuan Jun, and then telegraphed Jiangsu's independence in the name of Jiangsu Governor Cheng Dequan; Hunan Governor Tan Yankai also declared independence under pressure from all parties. And sent troops to Jiangxi to support Li Liejun; Anhui Governor Bo Wenwei also subsequently declared independence, forming a corner with Nanjing and Jiangxi; Fujian Governor Sun Daoren also joined the camp against Yuan because his division commander Xu Chongzhi announced an uprising; The resigned Hu Hanmin and the new governor Chen Jiongming did not fall into Yuan Shikai's scheme of alienation, and they also united to declare independence; in addition, Xiong Kewu, the commander of the Third Division of the Sichuan Army, also declared independence in Chongqing... On the surface, the posture has the atmosphere of the year 1911, But Yuan Shikai at this time is no longer the Yuan Shikai of the past.

Long before Li Liejun declared independence, the Beiyang Army had begun to infiltrate the southern provinces. In the autumn of 1912, a small number of Beiyang troops entered Hubei successively at the invitation of Li Yuanhong, the governor of Hubei; after mid-May 1913, the confrontation between the North and the South became increasingly obvious, and the Beiyang Army also began to move south in large numbers. By the end of May, the Beiyang Army stationed in Hubei Already more than 20,000 people. Yuan Shikai's strategic plan was not complicated: the Beiyang Army divided into two routes along the Beijing-Hanzhou Line and the Jinpu Line. One route used Hubei as a base to attack Jiangxi and Hunan; Jiangsu marched.After Li Liejun declared independence in Hukou, the First Army of the Beiyang Army, under the leadership of Li Chun and Wang Zhanyuan, went south along the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway and soon arrived in Jiujiang, Jiangxi; at the same time, Feng Guozhang, Lei Zhenchun, Zhang Xun and other troops They also marched along Jinpu Road, approaching Nanjing.

A year ago, when Huang Xing abolished and reorganized the Southern Revolutionary Army at the Nanjing Left Guards, he paid special attention to it. While abolishing those teams with low-quality soldiers, he secretly absorbed the middle and lower-level officers to enrich them to other places. One unit, this is the Eighth Division.The basic troops of the Eighth Division came from the Guangxi New Army (originally gathered in Nanjing to participate in the Northern Expedition). After the reorganization, the cadre team of the division was extremely strong. It is composed of members of the alliance who have graduated or returned from the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer Academy; in addition, the division's weapons are also sufficient, not only fully equipped with the current troops, but also a pre-stored armory.

The Eighth Division is an elite unit carefully preserved under the leadership of Huang Xing, but because of the reorganization, there is not much unity among the upper and middle officers. For example, Huang Xing allocated his guard regiment to the Eighth Division , but because the troops led by regiment leader Lin Hu came from Guangdong and had conflicts with the Guangxi soldiers and officers in the troops, the regiment was later transferred to Jiangxi (Lin Hu and Li Liejun were classmates at the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer School) and became the leader of the Jiangxi battlefield. The main force fighting the Beiyang Army.Similar to Lin Hu's situation, Zhao Hengti, the brigade commander of the Eighth Division, also brought one of the regiments to Hunan due to conflicts in the army (this unit basically played no role in the "Second Revolution").

After entering Jiangxi, Li Chun's Department of the Beiyang Army first fought a fierce battle with the forward Lin Hu's Department of the Yuan Army. A few days later, the Yuan Army won the first battle and forced the Beiyang Army to retreat temporarily.After Li Chun was frustrated, he mobilized follow-up troops to counterattack and captured Hukou. Li Liejun led the rest of Yuan's army to retreat to Wucheng, and then to Nanchang.Due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, under the siege of the Beiyang Army, Li Liejun had to withdraw from Nanchang and disband the remaining troops, and finally went into exile in Japan secretly with Lin Hu and others.

At this time, Feng Guozhang, Zhang Xun, Lei Zhenchun and other units of the Second Army also entered Jiangsu and set up a posture to encircle Nanjing.After Huang Xing got the news, he immediately ordered the Lengyu 3rd Division stationed in Xuzhou to attack the neighboring Beiyang garrison, and ordered the 8th Division cavalry regiment, machine gun company, artillery battalion, and engineer battalion to form a mixed detachment, and went to the Xuzhou front to support the 3rd Army. Division, the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division also followed up; the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division went to Linhuaiguan to assist Anhui Discuss Yuan Jun and defend the Ni Sichong Division of the Beiyang Army; the rest of the 1st Division and the 8th Division were temporarily stationed in Nanjing.

Under the pressure of the superior forces of the Beiyang Army, Leng Yu's troops withdrew from Xuzhou soon.The fighting spirit of the senior generals in Yuan's army was very depressed, and Huang Xing, who was in Nanjing, was also helpless. The entire headquarters was full of sadness and failure.At this time, Cheng Dequan, the former governor of Jiangsu who fled to Shanghai, issued a telegram canceling Jiangsu's independence and secretly ordered Huang Xing to be arrested.Under such circumstances, Huang Xing felt that there was nothing he could do, so he left Nanjing by boat at night and walked away. After Huang Xing left Nanjing quietly, other senior generals Hong Chengdian and Leng Yu also left immediately, and the situation fell into chaos.At this time, He Haiming, Zhang Yaoqing, Han Hui and others from the revolutionary camp established the "Iron Blood Surveillance Group". After they learned that Huang Xing had left Nanjing, they rushed from Shanghai Starry Night to try to restore the decline.Like the Wuchang Uprising, in the absence of senior generals, revolutionary soldiers once again took the initiative to stand up.Instigated by He Haiming and others, the soldiers of the First Division drove away the division commander Chen Zhiji (a member of the alliance and son-in-law of Feng Guozhang), and joined forces with the Eighth Division to occupy the Dudu Mansion and declared independence again. At this time, the vanguard of Zhang Xun's troops had arrived outside the city of Nanjing. Although the "Discussing Yuan Army" led by He Haiming in the city could not even choose a division commander, the revolutionary soldiers' fighting consciousness was still very high. They stood guard on the street every day. When the enemy attacks, they rush forward without orders; even at the front of the battle, they advance without command.These soldiers are the remnants of the Eighth Division reorganized by Huang Xingren's Nanjing Left-Barrier Office, and the temporary leader He Haiming is also a person with a strong revolutionary spirit. Bespierre style. After Feng Guozhang led the Beiyang Army to Nanjing, the disparity in power between the two sides became even greater. However, even under such circumstances, the Nanjing Defense War lasted for 20 days. This is inseparable from the arduous revolutionary spirit of He Haiming and others and their revolutionary soldiers. of.During these 20 days, the Nanjing garrison and the Beiyang army fought fiercely in Yuhuatai, Zijin Mountain, Tianbao City, Mufu Mountain and other places, and the "discussing Yuan army" did not obviously lose the wind. During this period, Bai Wenwei, commander-in-chief of the Anhui "Discussing Yuan Army", led about 1,000 people from the 1st Battalion of the Guards and Gendarmerie to Nanjing from Wuhu, which greatly encouraged the Nanjing "Discussing Yuan Army".However, there was a discord between He Haiming, Zhang Yaoqing and Bai Wenwei. Bai Wenwei led a few people to leave from Shuiximen, but most of the people he brought voluntarily stayed in Nanjing to continue fighting, which shows how revolutionary the atmosphere in the city was at that time. strong. On the morning of September 1, the Beiyang Army launched a general attack on Nanjing City.Zhang Xun's braided soldiers dug tunnels in the Chaoyangmen area, and used explosives to blow down the city wall by more than two feet (the Hunan army also used this trick when they captured Tianjing, mainly because the city wall built by Zhu Yuanzhang was too thick). After that, the braided soldiers Immediately swarmed in.At this time, the Taiping Gate, Tongji Gate, and Shence Gate were also breached one after another. He Haiming and others led the soldiers to engage in brutal street battles with the Beiyang Army at the Bell Tower, Neiqiao, Pigeon Bridge, Huapailou, etc. After fighting all day and night, they still did not give in. , and fought the final decisive battle with the Beiyang Army at Yuhuatai in the morning of the next day, and finally collapsed when there were exhausted casualties. He Haiming and others fled in small boats under the Wuding Bridge. After the city of Nanjing was broken, the "Second Revolution" basically ended.In Shanghai, although Chen Qimei had declared independence and repeatedly attacked the manufacturing bureau, she was repeatedly defeated because she was not a regular army.After Yuan Shikai brought a large number of Beiyang troops with warships, the Yuan army in Shanghai disintegrated and completely disintegrated; Anhui's independence was "false independence" from the beginning. , but the army is actually controlled by the division commander Hu Wantai and the civil affairs chief Sun Duosen.When the soldiers of Ni Sichong and Zhang Zhenfang of the Beiyang Army suppressed the border, those who advocated false independence in Anhui immediately tore off their veils and announced their support for Yuan. This is the reason why Bo Wenwei led the guards to leave Nanjing. As for Fujian, the governor Sun Daoren originally declared independence under the coercion of the division commander Xu Chongzhi and others. When Xu Chongzhi proposed to send troops to aid Jiangxi and the Northern Expedition, Sun Daoren always refused on the grounds of lack of payment and equipment.When the overall situation became clear, Sun Daoren naturally sent a telegram, stating his "grievances" to Yuan Shikai and announcing the cancellation of independence.In Guangdong, Yuan Shikai's tactics were also very successful. He not only arranged two wedges, Long Jiguang and Lu Rongting, to force Guangdong to be immobile, but also used money to buy off the generals in Guangdong, making Hu Hanmin and Chen Jiongming lose control of the army. Hu and Chen were also forced to leave.The situation in Hunan is similar to that in Fujian. After the failure of Jiangxi and Nanjing to challenge Yuan Jun, the governor of Hunan, Tan Yankai, announced the cancellation of independence.As for Sichuan, Xiong Kewu announced his resignation a month after independence. After successive failures in various places to challenge Yuan Jun, Yuan Shikai pointed out that "Huang Xing, Chen Qimei, Niu Yongjian, He Haiming, and Cen Chunxuan" were the first-class criminals in this war. "The others are also on the wanted list.Before or after that, Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing, Li Liejun, Bai Wenwei, Chen Qimei, Ju Zheng and others also fled to Japan successively and restarted their exile career. Regrettably, most Chinese people at that time did not seem to understand or support the revolution initiated by the most determined revolutionaries.Liang Shuming, an old member of the League who was a reporter at the time, said in a public speech: "Now it is very clear that what is on the outside is the situation of the military force. As for the reasons for the encouragement of this military force, we have to blame the revolutionary ancestors. They In any case, the means of the "Second Revolution" should not be used. The "Second Revolution" really started the political struggle with force. From then on, anyone who wants to do political activities must go to the sect of the warriors, and the authority of the warriors has never been more powerful. It has grown step by step, reaching its culmination now." Xu Xueer, a well-known reporter who has been tracking and reporting the "Song Case" and identified Yuan Shikai as the mastermind of Song's murder, also published an article in "Minli Daily" saying: "Today is the Republic of China, and if Gou plots chaos against the Republic of China, he will kill himself." In the country, the crime is unforgivable. That is to say, the government is evil, and the law and the Congress should eventually have the ability to solve it. There is no time to plan chaos to disturb the common people. Therefore, the businessman and the people look down on the matter of planning chaos, and they are also wisely rejected. and also." Later, Cai E, the governor of Yunnan, who showed great power in the war to protect the country, also made an unequivocal public statement at the time: "The Song case should be sanctioned by law, so the outcome of the trial is judged by its own law. Just ask the current situation in our country, weak If there is only interest left, the people of the country and the gentlemen will work together to save the nation, and they will not be able to fight in the same room and call for a split! Whoever is the culprit is the enemy. If someone makes trouble, he should be regarded as a public enemy of the whole country." What the radical factions in the Kuomintang never imagined was that their actions would be met with general resentment from all walks of life. Some people directly accused them of using anti-Yuan as an excuse, which was actually a struggle for power. Some even accused them of using revolutionary Kidnapping the people of the whole country in the name, the so-called "second revolution" does not deserve to be called a revolution at all. Even within the Kuomintang, there are many people who disagree with the use of force to solve the "Song case", and the "big loan case", after a little rational thinking, most people will know that it is inevitable to get rid of financial difficulties.It is worth mentioning that after the Tongmenghui was reorganized into the Kuomintang, due to the joining of some miscellaneous small parties, although the momentum was large, the composition was not pure, and many old comrades of the Tongmenghui also believed that the revolution was complete, and thus they made a fortune in official careers. There are not a few, for example, many people elected to Congress do not support the continuation of the revolution. In a word, the situation at that time was very different from that of the Xinhai Revolution. In addition, Yuan Shikai’s power was stronger than that of the Xinhai Revolution. Except for a few people, most of the Kuomintang members had no hope for the outcome of the revolution. The leader Huang Xing later left without saying goodbye in Nanjing may be a manifestation of this attitude. At the beginning of the outbreak of the "Second Revolution", officials, chambers of commerce and their groups in many places issued telegrams opposing the use of force. Yuan Shikai also used this atmosphere of general support for the government to maintain the authority of the central government as an excuse, which eventually intensified the conflict. , triggering the first war after the Republic of China.Fortunately, this revolution ended quickly because it did not gain popular support. In fact, the revolution initiated by the radical elements of the revolutionary party, instead of giving himself points, gave Yuan Shikai a good opportunity to establish his authority.As Tang Degang, a historian in the United States, said, "At that time, all the provinces in the country were basically occupied by the local chieftains, and all kinds of local taxes that should be paid to the central government were all withheld under excuses. , It can be said that there is no way, neither writing nor using force, and the result is that the central government has no money and can only rely on debts to survive.” The so-called "better to be a dog of peace than to be a person in troubled times", the social turmoil has made people look forward to a strong leader and the emergence of a central government.As a result, Yuan Shikai just became the symbol of stability and peace that the people of the whole country were looking forward to.The ordinary people in the market did not take the initiative to accept any revolutionary righteousness. What they hoped most at that time was that Yuan Shikai could set things right, restore order as soon as possible, and continue to live in peace.Therefore, it is not surprising that the "Second Revolution" was similar to the "San Francisco" rebellion during the Kangxi period, and Sun Yat-sen and others became "chaotic parties" in their eyes. The "Second Revolution", or the "Battle of Ganning", was not only the first Civil War after the founding of the Republic of China, but also the continuation of the unfinished war in the Revolution of 1911, but unfortunately, it was only the ebb tide of the revolution or Endless epilogue.The final result of the war was that the military and political group represented by Yuan Shikai won a complete victory, and the Kuomintang's forces in Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Anhui were all eliminated one by one. After the "San Francisco" was eliminated, the bigwigs in other provinces became silent, but Yuan Shikai obeyed.Yuan Shikai originally had the desire to unify the whole country. Now that Sun Yat-sen called for the independence of the provinces, isn't it a god-sent opportunity? History is always full of irony. After the Revolution of 1911, the truly unified Republic of China was the two years under the rule of Yuan Shikai after the "Second Revolution".In the sinister situation where great powers surround us and the country is weak and the people are poor, centralization of power can indeed bring efficient administration to the country, and this requirement is also in line with practical needs.Therefore, Yuan Shikai won the support of the people during the "Second Revolution", and his status of justice and legitimacy was not accidental, but was expected by all.