Chapter 26 Twenty-five, pull up the big tree

In June of the 1911 Year, the Zhili Advisory Bureau petitioned again and again, demanding that the Congress be opened quickly, and at the same time opposed Yikuang's cabinet, arguing that using the royal family as the prime minister of the cabinet was not in line with the principle of a constitutional monarchy and violated the wishes of the people. And painfully.These requirements have nothing to do with revolutionary actions. The activities of the provincial council bureaus are dedicated to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. At that time, many provincial council bureaus sent representatives to Nantong, Jiangsu, to visit Zhang Jian, chairman of the Jiangsu council bureau, and invited Zhang to go to Beijing. Observing the trends of the Qing court serves as a reference for the future policies of the provincial councils.Zhang Jian readily agreed, so he went with Lei Fen and Liu Housheng, passing through Henan, and stopped by Zhangde to visit Yuan Shikai who was in hiding, exchanging views on the current situation.The two have not seen each other for more than ten years. In Yuan's mind, Zhang Jian has great social and economic power in the south. Although the two have had grievances in the past few years, in today's changing situation, the two must cooperate. Zhang Jian is in the south. There is strength to cooperate.Therefore, when the two said goodbye, Yuan sincerely said to Zhang: "If the imperial court calls me out of the mountain, I will do everything according to public opinion. I hope that Ji Lao will cooperate with me, and please convey my sincerity to the provincial councils."

After the Revolution of 1911, important figures from the Revolutionary Party, such as Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren, Chen Qimei, and Ju Zheng, all gathered in Shanghai. He is very attracted to Zhang.Zhang was also in favor of the republic at this time. Before and after the founding of the Republic of China, Zhang's social status was extremely high, and he implicitly became an important figure between the north and the south. During this period, Yuan Shikai really did a lot of tricks, turning his hands into clouds and turning his hands into rain.On the one hand, he declared that he was in favor of a constitutional monarchy; on the other hand, he had close contacts with Wang Jingwei, secretly expressing his support for the revolution.On the one hand, he ordered Feng Guozhang to oversee the troops to attack the revolutionary army in Wuhan; on the other hand, he sent people to Wuchang for peace talks.Sudden advance and retreat, complicated and confusing, making people unpredictable.Even his own origin is eager to advance and retreat, so that the Qing court does not know how to deal with him.

Since the Wuchang Uprising, people from Yuan Shikai's Beiyang clan have celebrated with their foreheads, thinking that this is a great opportunity for Yuan Gongbao to rise again, but these Yuan's cadres are also baffled by Yuan's tactics. Some people think that everything is a bit wrong with Yuan Xiyin for more than two years .One day Yang Du reported this kind of opinion to Yuan. Yuan laughed and said, "Xizi (Yang Du's name), you are a smart person. Why don't you understand my intention? You know how to pull trees." Is there a way to pull it out? It is impossible to pull out the root of the tree by pulling it out with force. If you twist it too much, the tree will definitely break. There is only one way to loosen the soil from the root by shaking it from side to side. It can be pulled up at once. The Qing Dynasty was a big tree, which was more than 300 years old. It was not easy to pull up this big and old tree. The revolutionaries were all young people. I have the strength but don’t know how to uproot the tree, and the constitutional monarchy knows how to uproot the tree but has no strength, I am shaking the big tree by advancing and retreating today, and now the soil has loosened, and the big tree will be pulled out soon.” From these words, we can see Yuan's cunning and cunning.

News of the Wuchang Uprising reached Beijing at 1:00 p.m. on August 20, 1911. The Qing court was at a loss for what to do. On the 21st, an order was sent to the Army Minister Yin Chang to lead the two Kinki Army towns to the south to conquer, and the Navy Admiral Sa Zhen Bing led the navy to help immediately. On this day, a secret guest came to Huanshang Village, where Yuan Shikai was "ordered to recuperate", and this guest was Feng Guozhang, who was sent south to fight, and he came here specially to ask Yuan for instructions.The six-character plan Yuan gave Feng was: "Go slowly, wait and see."These six words by Yuan immediately affected the Beiyang Army led by Yin Chang. They really moved very slowly to prepare for the battle. Yin Chang saw that something was wrong, so he stayed in Beijing and did not leave.

On August 23, the Qing court appointed Yuan Shikai, who had been deposed for more than two years, as Governor of Huguang.Yuan Shikai's resurgence was recommended by Prime Minister Yi Kuang. Although the regent Zaifeng didn't like the old Yuan, he had to rely on the Beiyang Army to fight the war. The Beiyang Army was trained by Yuan alone, so he had to use Yuan.Yuan was not only the governor of Huguang, but also took care of the suppression and appeasement affairs. According to this order, he was Yinchang's deputy.Yuan didn't have foot disease at first, but when the regent Zaifeng exiled him, he insisted that he had foot disease and ordered him to ask for leave to recuperate. Now Yuan just retaliated with foot disease.It means: "I am obviously not sick, but you told me to recuperate, and now I am begging you urgently, so I have no choice but to give you a reward for being unable to recover due to illness."

When Yikuang saw Yuan's call, he sent Xu Shichang, an assistant minister of the cabinet, to visit Yuan in Huan Shang Village, Zhangde, Henan Province, on August 29th. Frustrated and angry, he said to Yikuang and the relatives of the Manchu Dynasty: "I really don't know what to do. He actually put forward conditions. He said: It's okay to ask me to do it, but you must listen to my opinion. I think it's better to ask the commander-in-chief to go quickly." Go to the front line, without Yuan Shikai, you may not be able to fight." Yi Qiang asked Xu what the conditions were, and Xu faltered and said Yuan's six conditions:

(1) Convene the National Assembly next year; (2) Organize a responsible cabinet; (3) Open the party ban; (4) Tolerate the revolutionary party; (5) Grant full power to command the front military; Yuan Shikai and Xu Shichang played a double act, Yuan's condition is true, Xu's anger is false, Yuan's intention is to use the revolutionary party to deal with the Qing Dynasty, and then keep the Qing Dynasty to deal with the revolutionary party, he has the Beiyang Army as his capital, and reaps the benefits of fishermen .Yuan's condition was equivalent to taking over the military and political power of the Qing Dynasty. Before the Qing government refused to agree, he ended up "watching the capsized ship from the Yellow Crane Tower".

Yuan dared to "make a statement" like this, naturally he had confidence and no fear, because at this time, the Qing court had to rely on the Beiyang Army. Since the Wuchang Uprising, the Qing government has fully understood the seriousness of the situation and knew that a single spark can start a prairie fire, so they had to use soft skills to ease the expansion of revolutionary forces, and dared not use high-pressure bloodshed to suppress it.Therefore, on August 29, an edict was issued to the governors of the provinces and told the soldiers and civilians: "Those who follow the chaos should not blame the past, and if the roster is found, it should be destroyed immediately." The gentleness of the Qing court is compared with Yuan Shikai's six conditions Of course, it was much worse. After Xu Shichang announced Yuan's conditions, the important officials of the Qing court did not agree. According to Yuan's conditions, not only Yikuang's cabinet ministers would not be able to do it, even the regent would not be able to do it.

Yuan Shikai calculated that the Qing government would not accept his conditions in one go, so he secretly ordered the generals of the Beiyang Army to stand still and not listen to Yinchang's command. After Yinchang went south, all the Beiyang army stayed between Xinyang and Xiaogan, and the military vehicles were blocked.From the end of August to the beginning of September, Yin Chang's order was completely ineffective, and Xiaogan was sweating profusely, jumping around and cursing others.And the independence of each province is as terrible as the spread of an infectious disease. The momentum of the revolution is getting stronger day by day, and the northern provinces are also planning to learn from the southern provinces.

On the fourth day of September in the Xinhai Year, the revolutionary army launched an offensive in Hankou and advanced to Sandaoqiao. The panic-stricken Qing court had to give way to Yuan Geng. Yuan Shikai, as the imperial envoy, controlled Feng Guozhang's first army and Duan Qirui's second army (the second army was distributed in Wushengguan area at this time, serving as a backup force), as well as the land and water armies. Yuan Shikai rose again, and on the day when his new order was announced, the Beiyang armies received Yuan's secret instructions to show some color to the revolutionary army, so the revolutionary army in Hankou was attacked fiercely like never before.Zhang Jingliang, former commander-in-chief of the revolutionary army, collaborated with the enemy.Zhang Yuan served as the 29th Commander of the Qing Army. After the Wuchang Uprising, he was promoted to be the temporary chief of staff of the Dudu Mansion. However, he had no confidence in the revolutionary cause. He once persuaded Li Yuanhong to abandon his post and abscond.Because Cai Jimin and others were Zhang's former subordinates, they tried their best to excuse them, and recommended him as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, and asked him to take the blame and make meritorious service.He held a grudge, and when the Beiyang Army launched an offensive on September 6, Zhang actually sent people to set fire to the ammunition and storage depot.

Yuan was still in Huanshang Village in Zhangde at that time, and he showed his hand, on the one hand, to taste the sweetness of the Qing Dynasty, and on the other hand, to show a little color to the revolutionary army.Yuan is not satisfied with the imperial envoys and the command of the front military. He wants to take advantage of this situation where the claws and claws are fighting each other.Therefore, he is still holding his "sick foot" in the Yangshoutang of Huanshang Village, drinking and composing poems, with a leisurely attitude.For the Qing court, this was really Ji Jingfeng meeting Slow Langzhong. Of course Yuan knew how to support the enemy to maintain self-respect. He wanted to use the revolutionary army to threaten the Qing court, and he also wanted to temporarily preserve the Qing court to deal with the revolutionary army. On September 21, 1911, two secret figures crossed the river from Hankou to Wuchang and asked to meet the Governor General Li.These two people were Jiang Tingqian and Liu Chengen sent by Yuan Shikai. They brought a letter of introduction from the British Consul in Hankou and crossed the river to negotiate peace, just like Cao Cao sent Jiang Gan across the river during the Three Kingdoms period. Unfortunately, Li Yuanhong was not like Zhou Yu, but Also sang a section of Heroes Meeting.Because when Li received these two "peace envoys", he had to think a lot, and Li really wanted to know what Yuan's peace conditions were?However, they were afraid that the revolutionaries around him would scold him for having no confidence in the revolutionary cause, and the revolutionaries around him also had two different opinions on this issue. They talked, but Wu Zhaolin and Zhang Zhenwu objected. Li adopted the opinions of Sun and Hu, and met the two "peace envoys" Cai Tingqian and Liu Chengen in the Dudu Mansion.When they saw Li Dudu, they presented the letter from the British consul and Yuan Shikai to Li.Li slowly opened it and looked at it slowly. At this time, there was a tense atmosphere in the large living room of the Dudu Mansion, and there was no sound.Li looked at it and thought about how to deal with this situation. He happened to see the revolutionary army accepting a constitutional monarchy as a prerequisite for peace, so Li turned his face down, folded the letter and handed it to Cai and Liu, saying, "It's too late." It's strange, Yuan Weiting still speaks for one person and one surname today, and there is no need to talk about constitutional monarchy at all." At this time, three people flashed out from behind the screen behind Dudu Li. It was Zhu Shulie, Fan Yixia, and Xiao Heming who ran in, drew out their command swords and said fiercely: "Who dares to make peace? The Lord is a traitor, please eat us first." One knife." Cai Tingqian and Liu Chengen saw this scene, their faces changed with fright, Li Yuanhong said slowly at this time: "Don't be afraid, the two countries are fighting, if you don't kill them, I will send someone to send you over Jiang." Cai and Liu fled across the river just like that. After seeing Yuan Shikai's two envoys go, Li said to the revolutionaries in the Dudu's mansion: "Yesterday, the American consul came to see me, and he said that Dr. Sun Yat-sen was about to leave from the United States. I think there will be a way for him to come back. Li's words were a boost to the revolutionary situation at that time, because the word "Sun Wen" at that time represented a kind of magic power, which was a great encouragement to the revolutionary cause. On the seventh day of September, Huang Xingkai, Li Shucheng, Geng Jinwen, and Zeng Kelou rushed from Shanghai to Hankou, and Huang and others were left in Hankou to command the revolutionary army.At this time, Hankou was in danger, and people in Wuchang were also floating.Li Yuanhong sent someone to take Huang across the river, chose a big horse, and asked a tall man to hold a flag with the words "Huang Xingdao" written on it, and rode the horse around in a big circle outside Wuchang City.Huang Guojiang talked with Li hastily, then returned to Hankou to direct the war, and set up the last line of defense in the Yanchun tea garden.On September 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, while wiping his sweat, Huang called all the troops to the front line, but morale was low, and some people refused to obey the command.Huang personally killed a few, and the situation was settled, but Hankou fell on the 12th.Huang Xing crossed the Hanshui River to Hanyang, still full of arrogance, Yu Yong was on his way, Li Yuanhong urged him to cross the river to discuss matters, and Huang Nai arrived in Wuchang on the afternoon of the 12th. At this time, Wuchang was in danger due to the fall of Hankou. Someone in the Dudu Mansion suggested that Huang Xing be appointed as the commander-in-chief.There is a high table on the general platform, covered with yellow cloth, surrounded by valiant armed soldiers. The entrance of the platform is senior military officers above the battalion commander. From the Dudu Mansion to the Jiangtai aisle, there are full of civil and military officials. The two came out side by side, the civil servants took off their hats, the military officers swung their knives, and the soldiers raised their guns. After Li Dudu Commander-in-Chief Huang took office, the ceremony began, and Li Yushan read out Li Dudu's letter of appointment.This letter of appointment is a well-written article: "Huang Junxing prepares for dangers and obstacles, and his merits are in the Republic of China. All armies should listen and dispatch them." Commander-in-Chief Xing replied with a salute and a speech.After Governor Li withdrew from the table, Commander-in-Chief Huang rode the tall horse he had already ridden around the field, and all the officers and soldiers raised their guns to salute. When Huang Xing took office as the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army during the war, he took the defense of Hanyang as the main task, set up the headquarters in Zhaozhong Temple, and appointed Li Shucheng as the chief of staff.Li Yuan worked in the Military Counselor Office in Beijing, and Zai Tao sent him and Huang Yu to the south.Li and Huang were determined to revolution after they left Beijing.Huang arrived in Shanghai and stayed with Chen Qimei to help him; Li Ze came to Hankou part-time. When Hankou arrived in Hankou, Hankou had fallen, so he went to Huang Xing.One of the deputy chiefs of staff was Yang Xizhang, the other was Wu Zhaolin, and the staff included Yao Jinyong, Cai Jimin, Xu Daming, Gan Jixi, Gao Jianxi, Bin Shili, Jin Longzhang, Wu Xinghan, Xia Weishan, etc.The task of the staff office is to dig trenches and build forts along the Xianghe River and below the Heishan Mountains, employing thousands of civilians to work day and night.At that time, the two armies fought hard, facing each other across the river and Han River.The revolutionary army suffered heavy losses due to the Battle of Hankou, and most of the officers and soldiers of the newly formed troops were untrained, so they were unfit for a big battle. On September 18, it was reported that there were more than 10,000 Qing troops in Hankou, and they deployed defenses near Liujiamiao to Qiaokou in Hankou, Shangguan, Hualou, the opposite bank of Heishan and along the river.The revolutionary army defended in the area from Nan'anzui to Sanyan Bridge in Hanyang.On the 23rd, it was decided to cross the river and attack Hankou. At that time, it was estimated that the strength of the Qing army in Hankou was about one town or more.The attack plan of the revolutionary army: Zhang Tingfu of the Fourth Division attacked Hankou City; Yang Zaixiong of the Sixth Division landed at the Dragon King Temple in Hankou and attacked the left wing of the Qing army. The Wuchang Phoenix Mountain Artillery Team supported the attacking troops and fired at Hankou. Crane Tower, Phoenix Mountain, Dabie Mountain, etc.On September 26, they crossed the left bank of the Xiang River to attack. During the attack, the Hubei army was on the left, and the Hunan army was on the right. The Hubei army was recruited temporarily, so they had no combat experience. .The revolutionary army suffered heavy casualties, including 57 officers, 792 soldiers, 18 mountain cannons, more than 600 rifles, and more than 2,300 boxes of bullets. The revolutionary army failed to attack Hankou, so they defended Hanyang with all their strength. The Qing army aggressively attacked Hanyang because they knew that the revolutionary army's combat strength was not strong and their military orders were not unified.From September 28th to October 6th, 1911, during the eight-day battle, the revolutionary army killed 137 officers and injured 85; soldiers died 2,693 and injured more than 400.At ten o'clock in the morning on the seventh day of October, Hanyang fell. When the Qing army attacked Hanyang, it dispatched a powerful force, equipped with several new German cannons, and its strength was higher than that of the revolutionary army.The revolutionary army guarding Hanyang is the army of Hubei and Hunan provinces. Although the number is more than 50,000, they lack combat experience, are not coordinated with each other, and are all used on the front line, so they feel extremely tired.The defeat of Hanyang cannot be blamed on Huang Xing alone, but because Huang Xing had commanded the Battle of Zhennanguan, the Battle of Hekou, and the Battle of Huanghuagang, all of which were on the verge of failure, it gave people the impression that Huang You was brave but unable to fight.Huang himself also has the feeling of being defeated every year. He and Tan Renfeng wrote in a poem: "Huaihammer does not meet the poverty of Guangdong, Lu Bufei spreads the way of Shu, Wu Chuying is heroic and directs the sun, the rivers and lakes are chivalrous and sword like a rainbow; can compete for Han Shang This is the first work, this is the first achievement in restoring China, I am ashamed of my frequent defeats every year, and I will rush forward and dare to rule the roost." After the fall of Hanyang, Huang Xing retreated to Wuchang, and the military government held a military meeting. Chairman Li Yuanhong asked Huang to report the progress of the Battle of Hanyang.In Huang's impromptu speech, he failed to elaborate on the reasons for Hanyang's failure, but regarding the future military evolution, he believed that Hankou and Hanyang had been lost, and Wuchang was difficult to hold on. He advocated leading the Hubei and Hunan armies to attack Nanjing.Huang's proposition was opposed by the majority of the military government. Staff Fan Tengxiao said angrily: "Since Hanyang has not been defended, Wuchang is planning to give up. Let me ask you what ability is there to attack Nanjing. If the two armies of Hunan and Hubei are still available, then Wuchang can certainly be defended. "As soon as he finished speaking, everyone applauded warmly, and the proposal to stick to Wuchang became the decision of this meeting.At that time, Li Yuanhong moved to Zhuodaoquan outside the city to work because the governor's mansion was bombarded.After the meeting, Huang Xing went to Shanghai by ship with Li Shucheng, Tang Hualong, Hu Ruilin, Chen Dengshan and Huang Zhongkai.Wuchang decided to redeploy troops to guard Wuchang, with Deng Yulin and He Xifan to defend Wuchang, Luo Hongsheng to guard Dajun Mountain, Liu Zuolong to guard Xiaojun Mountain, Wang Xiling's battalion to guard Jingkou, Chen Longzhang's death squad to guard Ciji Mountain, and Zhang Tingfu and Xie Liufang, Zhang Jiefu and other remnants guarded Baishazhou, Liu Tingbi of Biaotong, Guandai Li Zhongyi and others guarded Qingshan. On the eighth day of October, the second day after the Qing army conquered Hanyang, the Qing government awarded Feng Guozhang a second-class baron. The defeat of Hanyang was a big blow to the revolutionary army.But a few days later, the Soviet, Zhejiang, and Shanghai coalition forces captured Nanjing, which made the revolutionary activities flourish again.The representatives of the independent provinces in Shanghai believed that Wuchang was in danger and that the cause of the revolution must be expanded. They held a meeting on the 14th and decided that Nanjing would be the seat of the provisional government. They elected Huang Xing as the Generalissimo and Li Yuanhong as the Deputy Organize the government of the Republic of China.During this period, Wuchang had turned the corner. It was not because Wuchang had the strength to stick to it, but because Yuan Shikai did not want to completely defeat the revolutionary forces. The twenty-one outline of the organization of the provisional government was drafted, and there was a secret resolution that if Yuan Shikai turned his back on him, he would publicly elect Yuan Shikai as the interim president of the Republic of China.Yuan Yi heard the news, so when the Beiyang army was able to cross the river and capture Wuchang in one go, he suddenly braked and sent representatives to Wuchang to negotiate peace. At the very beginning, the two revolutionary centers of Wuchang and Shanghai had disagreements. Huang Xing was very humble to the comrades in Shanghai who recommended him as the generalissimo, and repeatedly pleaded.The subsequent compromise was to re-election on October 27, with Li Yuanhong as Grand Marshal and Huang Xing as Deputy Marshal. Li was unable to go to Nanjing because he was stationed in Wuchang, so Huang Xing acted as Deputy Marshal. Li and Huang did not necessarily have a grudge, but the Wuchang revolutionary group and the Shanghai revolutionary group had disagreements. This was an unfortunate event during the early revolution, and it was also a great opportunity for Yuan Shikai to take advantage of.