Chapter 12 Shaoxing: a revolutionary cause of a sports school

Students in the school are more likely to be influenced by revolutionary ideas, which is similar in all parts of the world.China before the Revolution of 1911 was certainly no exception.However, if there is a school built by the revolutionaries to launch an uprising, the things they teach are gun dancing, club shooting, and target shooting. Moreover, such a school can be officially approved by the Qing Dynasty. It survived for more than two years, which is still a bit unusual. In the summer of 1907, dissatisfied with the fact that the Tongmenghui had put all its power into Guangdong and Guangxi, people from the Tongmenghui Central Plains Restoration Association planned to launch uprisings in Zhejiang and Anhui.The core base of this uprising is a school, Shaoxing Datong Academy.

Shaoxing Datong Academy is actually a gymnastics school.The so-called gymnastics back then were not today's horizontal bars, parallel bars, vaulting horses and the like, but military exercises, standing at attention, resting and walking in unison, plus carrying guns, raising guns, and shooting targets.Let’s say it’s a military academy, but it’s not, because it’s not run by the government, and the government doesn’t allow civilians to run military academies.When Xu Xilin and Tao Chengzhang founded it, they only said that they were training militiamen, that is, militiamen, or reserve soldiers, which was tantamount to quasi-military academies.Civilians can run quasi-military schools?Back then it was okay.One of the fashions in the late Qing Dynasty was to advocate the spirit of martial arts and call on scholars to abandon literature and follow martial arts.When people went to Japan, they looked for the reason why Japan was strong. They said that the reason why the West and even Japan were strong was because of the martial spirit, while China was not good because it was too weak.Changing the weak from the weak to the brave, of course, requires the joint efforts of the government and the people.Teaching soldiers to practice was absolutely fashionable back then.Cai Yuanpei set up a Patriotic Society in Shanghai, and Zhang Shizhao and other students from Nanjing Lushi Academy dropped out to vote. Cai Yuanpei immediately asked them to teach military exercises.Therefore, the establishment of such a "gymnastics specialist" school can be approved by the Zhejiang government.Xu Xilin spent a large sum of money in Shanghai to buy fifty nine-shot breech-loading guns and 20,000 rounds of ammunition, and blatantly and openly shipped them to Shaoxing.The people in the school also openly carry guns for training and go up the mountain to shoot targets.As for Xu Xilin himself, he never leaves his gun and shoots every day.My eyesight is not good, myopia, but I can't stand practicing every day.In the end, it was said that the marksmanship was pretty good, but it seemed that it was not accurate enough to assassinate En Ming later.Every year when school starts and graduates, Xu Xilin invites officials from Shaoxing Prefecture and Shanyin County to have dinner together and take pictures. The students' graduation certificates must also be stamped with the official seals of the prefectures and counties.Therefore, although the local gentry disliked this kind of school that practiced target shooting all day long, they still had to endure it for the sake of the country's martial arts plan.

Later, Xu Xilin dragged his family and took a group of disciples to study in Japan. He originally planned to enter the military school to study military affairs, but because of his short-sightedness, he couldn't enter, so he stayed for some time indiscriminately, learned some police knowledge, and returned to China.Zhejiang is a place that produces rich people. Xu Xilin ran a school, and someone donated a large sum of money. Apart from buying guns to run the school, there was still some leftover money. Xu Xilin used it to donate a Taoist platform.At the same time, he lobbied and found an official to display his talents.Governor Yu Liansan of Hunan Province was somewhat related to Xu Xilin, and following his advice, he thought he was very talented, so he recommended him to work with his protégé, Governor Enming of Anhui Province. Deputy Director of the General Administration) and the supervisor (principal) of the Patrol School are deeply trusted by Enming.In this way, the leaders of the Restoration Association have two bases in Zhejiang and Anhui, so they can be launched at the same time in the future.

However, people in the Restoration Society, like Sun Yat-sen and others they dislike, like to contact the Party and use the power of this underground society to launch an uprising.For many years, the Gelaohui in the southern and eastern mountains of Zhejiang Province have been wilder than their comrades in Guangdong and Guangxi. From time to time, they set off a riot and declared themselves kings and emperors.They were broken up, their heads were taken, they lurked for a while, and then they came again.With the addition of well-informed and well-informed revolutionaries, the Gelaohui became even more powerful and bolder.In a school like Datong, the children of good local people naturally dare not come. Those who come are all rough and rich, and there are naturally many people who know the party.Congregation parties from all over the world use this place as a stronghold, shuttle here to scatter under the sea, eat wine and meat, and talk about rebellion.The students inside took to the streets to cause trouble from time to time, especially when Xu Xilin was away, the principal who succeeded him couldn't hold back, and the students often took to the streets to fight and use knives, scaring the frail Shaoxing people very much.At that time, this school was called "Robber's School" by the locals. At the beginning of 1907, Qiu Jin took over as the principal. Although the order was a little better, the female revolutionaries became more radical. They simply recruited the party leaders from Jinhua, Chuzhou, and Shaoxing to the school, practiced firearms openly, and prepared to be unstoppable. start day.But Qiu Jin himself openly wore a foreign dress, and rode a horse and carried a knife in and out of Shaoxing City.The local gentry not only didn't like it, but also felt threatened, so they filed complaints one after another.Datong Academy was on the verge of being exposed.Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin planned to launch an uprising in Zhejiang and Anhui on July 6, 1907, but later postponed it to the 19th.

In fact, at this time, Xu Xilin was far from ready in Anhui. Except for the two he brought with him, he didn't seem to have developed many members among the students of the police school.On the other hand, most of the students in Datong School in Zhejiang are members of the Restoration Association, and they have contacted a large number of grass heroes.However, these grassland heroes have always been known for being organized and undisciplined.When they heard that there was going to be an uprising, before the unified arrangements were made, they would make troubles one after another and expose them in large numbers in advance.Here Anhui has not yet been launched, and Duanfang, Governor of Liangjiang, has sent Enming the list of revolutionaries who have entered Anhui. The people on the list include Xu Xilin, but they are not real names.The confused Enming gave the list to Xu Xilin and asked him to check it.Xu Xilin knew that the matter was about to be exposed, so he hastily mobilized. Taking advantage of the graduation ceremony of the police school and the governor and other officials coming in person, he delivered an impassioned speech in advance, which confused the students.Then he took his two followers from Zhejiang and beat En Ming, who was also clueless, into a sieve on the spot.The uprising started, but few students followed. Xu Xilin was arrested and sacrificed.Next, the Datong Academy, which had been exposed for a long time, was besieged, and Qiu Jin refused to escape.Maybe she knows that she and this martial arts school have already offended the local scholars who are good at writing, and they can't escape.Maybe she wanted to use her sacrifice to wake up the people of the country.Therefore, this Jianhu heroine also died at Xuantingkou in Shaoxing.The only sports school revolution in history was aborted halfway.

It is worth mentioning that after Qiu Jin's death, Shanghai's newspaper circles exploded and published numerous articles calling for Qiu Jin's grievances. Unjust prison for false accusations.For a time, not only Zhejiang officials were scolded, but even the gentry in Zhejiang were also notorious.Someone also wrote a drama legend, Shan Biao Xuanting was unjustly imprisoned.Of course, in terms of rebellion, the case was not wronged at all, and Qiu Jin didn't think she was wronged either.But the death of a strange woman aroused widespread sympathy among intellectuals in Shanghai and greatly activated the freedom of public opinion.This made the Qing government much more cautious when handling such cases again. People who committed crimes, if they can not kill them, try not to kill them.Otherwise, Wang Jingwei, who plotted to assassinate the regent, would definitely not survive.