Chapter 15 Road Protection Movement: It's all the fault of the railways

When it comes to the road protection movement, textbooks generally follow Sun Yat-sen's statement, saying that the road protection movement in Sichuan was the herald of the 1911 Revolution.However, in terms of the cause and effect of the incident, although the Road Protection Movement and the Wuchang Uprising occurred in the same year, they were not directly related.The textbook said that as a result of the road protection movement, some Hubei new troops were transferred to suppress it, which brought convenience to the Wuchang Uprising.In fact, there is no way to talk about this, because the part of the new army that entered Sichuan was also infiltrated by the revolutionaries, and they were not stubborn patrol battalions. The number of revolutionaries was no less than that of the remaining ones.However, in terms of the general political climate, the Road Protection Movement did have something to do with the success of the Wuchang Uprising of 1911.Since the young relatives of the Qing court came to power in 1908, there have been many perverse actions. The most influential one is the collection of power.The so-called railway state-owned policy is the most influential action of this power collection policy.The Han gentry who originally launched the constitutional petition wanted to use the constitution to further divide power with the Manchus. As a result, not only did they not get the power, but they even took away the power they already had. In a fit of anger, they sympathized with the revolution and refused to help the court. Help the gang.In this sense, the road protection movement is related to the Wuchang Uprising of 1911.

The road protection movement is actually not just a matter of Sichuan.Wherever railways are built or are being planned to be built, there is such a thing as road protection, such as Lianghu and Guangdong involved in the Guangdong-Han Railway, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang involved in the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway.Moreover, all the gentry involved in this matter were very angry and very angry, but in comparison, the people from Sichuan were even more angry.In turn, the imperial court seems to be more harsh on Sichuan people. The people of Sichuan built the railway, which began with the initiative of the governors of Sichuan and Han. In 1903, Xiliang, then governor of Sichuan, and Zhang Zhidong, governor of Huguang, agreed to build the Sichuan-Han Railway.The railway goes up from Wuhan along the Yangtze River, first to Chongqing, and then from Chongqing to Chengdu.Taking Yichang as the boundary, the area above Yichang will be repaired by Sichuan, and the area below Yichang will be repaired by Hubei. In 1904, the Sichuan Railway began to be built and raised funds by means of stock offerings.Due to the relatively flexible method of raising shares, by 1909, Sichuan had raised more than 10 million taels. Not only the gentry participated in the shares, but also the peddlers and pawns also participated in the shares. Since a considerable amount of shares was collected by renting shares, not only the landlords, but also the Even ordinary farmers have shares.Pao Ge's leading figures in Sichuan naturally have a role to play.Moreover, although the Sichuan Railway is nominally a commercial operation, it is inextricably linked with the local government. When raising equity, each county relied on the power of the government, and even apportioned it through money and grain collection.In this sense, the right of way in each province belongs to a typical local sphere of influence, and officials at all levels below the governor to gentry, big and small, all belong to a community of interests.

The road to Shu is difficult, and road construction is not easy.People in Sichuan built the railway, but from the very beginning, they chose the wrong route.From Wuhan to Chongqing, there is the Yangtze River waterway, so there is no need to build roads.Moreover, along this section of the river, the mountain roads are steep and the geological conditions are complicated, so it is too difficult to repair. Even with today's technical conditions, it is difficult to repair, but the people in Sichuan at that time had to face the difficulties.Construction of the Sichuan-Han Railway began in Yichang in 1910. After a year of repairs, the roadbed between Yichang and Xiangxikou was built for more than 100 kilometers, and it has not yet entered Sichuan.The house leaked and it rained all night. The Sichuan Railway Company had millions of taels of silver in several banks in Shanghai, and because the banks suddenly declared bankruptcy amid the rubber stock boom, they lost everything.It is obvious that someone in the Sichuan Railway Company wanted to make a profit, but he was cheated by cannibalism.

When the news of the state-owned railway reached Sichuan, it did not cause a violent backlash like it did in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Lianghu.As long as the people in Sichuan are willing to bear the cost of starting the construction, and bear the repayments, part of the shares they have raised will be repaid in cash, and part of them will be offset by stocks.It seems that people in Sichuan are really tired of gnawing hard nuts to build railways.However, the imperial court's attitude towards various places was often differentiated according to the achievements of road construction. It was the most polite to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, because their railways were almost completed, followed by Lianghu and Guangdong, and the least polite to Sichuan.Not only do they refuse to pay back the debts of the people in Sichuan, but even the project funds for the Yichang section have to be checked.The rest of the shares are only willing to be exchanged for official shares, and all the cash of the Sichuan Railway Company must be withdrawn.

At that time, the governor of Sichuan, Zhao Erxun, had already left office, and Zhao Erfeng, Zhao's younger brother, took over the vacant post.Wang Renwen knew the interests of Sichuan people in this matter, so he sat on the side of Sichuan.He has been speaking for the people of Sichuan and fighting with the imperial court.The major shareholders of the Sichuan Railway Company also submitted petitions to the imperial court one after another.But the domineering imperial court refused to make even the slightest concession, and its attitude became more and more tough.As a result, the Baolu Comrade Association was established in Sichuan Province.In the streets and alleys of Chengdu, Emperor Guangxu's "imperial platform" was erected, and he wrote to Guangxu during the Reform Movement of 1898 that "the railways should be returned to commercial offices".Pao brothers were unprecedentedly active, and the whole river was moving.During the mobilization of road protection, the imperial court borrowed money from foreign countries to build roads, which was arbitrarily tyrannical, and was labeled as a traitor to the country and Sichuan.In addition, the imperial court's state-owned railway policy was strongly implemented in Sichuan, which indeed damaged the rights and interests of large and small shareholders (although this right was also damaged a lot by the gentry who presided over the matter in secret), so the whole Sichuan quickly broke out. Every time there is a meeting, there are loud cries (although in the eyes of some foreign observers, there are more and more people from the lower class and even local hooligans in the meeting).At this time, the imperial court was still obsessed with their obsession, and responded with a tougher attitude. They drove away Wang Renwen and replaced him with Zhao Erfeng, who didn't know the benefits or benefits.In the end, it was tough enough. Faced with wave after wave of petitions and city strikes, Zhao Erfeng arrested Pu Dianjun and Luo Lun, the principal and vice presidents of the Baolu Comrade Association who were petitioning, and shot and killed them.As a result, the Baolu Movement, under the operation of the Revolutionary Party and Brother Pao, turned into an armed resistance. The constitutional gentry who originally led the movement were also forced to rebel, and the Baolu Comrade Army blossomed everywhere.In the end, Baolu merged with the torrent of the Revolution of 1911 and overthrew the Qing Dynasty.Both Zhao Erfeng and Duanfang were decapitated in this torrent.Of course, after this incident, the railway in Sichuan also completely disappeared, not an inch left.

Interestingly, after the Revolution of 1911, Sun Yat-sen, the outgoing interim president, was appointed by Yuan Shikai as the supervisor of the national railway, a position that was obviously fooled.But Sun Yat-sen, who was fooled, claimed to build a railway of 200,000 kilometers.However, Sun Yat-sen, like the people in Sichuan, was forced to launch another revolution before the railway was built.However, this time it was the turn of those who started the revolution to be unlucky, and they would be defeated if they did not immediately follow.After all, it's all the railway's fault.