Chapter 27 Zai Mu: A Martyrdom Manchu Vice-Captain

At the time of the Revolution of 1911, there were many Manchus serving as officials in various places, at all levels.In a sense, this is the result of the intentional withdrawal of power by the Manchu relatives.As for the garrison of the Eight Banners in various places, it is the monopoly of the Manchus. No matter the generals or the governors and vice-dutongs, they are either Manchus or Mongols.Moreover, the Qing government deliberately improved the equipment of the Eight Banners, and some of the equipment stationed in the Eight Banners were even better than the local new army.However, after the revolution, the bannermen and bureaucrats in various places basically had no resistance, and they surrendered without leaving.The leaders of the Eight Banners stationed in the garrison walked the most, followed by the surrender. There were not many people who died in the war or said they would fight.It's actually not easy to die by yourself, "I want to die, but my concubine won't do it?" To a certain extent, even if you want to die, you may not be able to die.A big family is too burdensome.Moreover, people in the late Qing Dynasty had shaken their traditional concepts. Who still cares about loyalty, filial piety and righteousness?

The Eight Banners Defense Battalion in Zhenjiang is very famous. It is the famous Jingkou garrison, commanded by a deputy capital, and Changchuan stationed more than 1,600 soldiers.In the first Opium War of that year, Hailing, the deputy governor of the capital, led the Eight Banners stationed in Beijing to fight bloody battles with the British. According to Mao Haijian’s research, the arrogant British paid 39 people to death, 130 people were injured, and 3 others missing loss.More than the sum of British casualties in all previous battles in the entire Opium War.In view of the medical conditions at that time and the overseas operations far away from the mainland, the battle loss caused by the wounded British soldiers was more than the death, and most of them would not survive.Therefore, Engels, who was proficient in military affairs, commented that if the British army encountered the same resistance everywhere in China, they would never reach Nanjing.Of course, Zhenjiang’s garrison of the Eight Banners also paid a heavy price. According to Mao Haijian’s statistics, 225 people were killed, 226 were injured, and 48 people were missing, three times the number of the British army.After the fall of the city, the Eight Banners soldiers fought street battles with the British army, and many fought to the last breath.Hailing, the vice capital, set himself on fire and died.When the Opium War broke out, public opinion recognized that the Eight Banners had been corrupted, but the Eight Banners stationed in Zhenjiang were able to achieve such a record, which is indeed extraordinary.

Of course, the record of the year is just the last glimmer of the Eight Banners.Perhaps all the disciples of the Eight Banners who were able to fight died in that fierce battle, and in the subsequent Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War, the Zhenjiang Eight Banners did not have any glorious performances.The Eight Banners, like the Green Camp, suffered repeated defeats in front of the Taiping Army.By the time of the Revolution of 1911, the Eight Banners garrisoned in Jingkou had swelled to nearly ten thousand people. It is said that most of them were the Eight Banners of the Mongolian Army, and there were still less than two thousand people who could hold guns. Slack, people have no fighting spirit.Everyone thinks about how to live, and how to live is a day.

A few months before the outbreak of the revolution, Zai Mu, who was a clan member, was promoted to the deputy capital of Jingkou. He wanted to do something, and tried his best to rectify the Eight Banners Defense Battalion, but with little effect.During the Wuchang Uprising, the Zhenjiang New Army had five battalions, which were stronger than the banner battalions, but had no heavy weapons.Both heavy artillery and machine guns are in the hands of Qiying.The new army was unstable, and it happened everywhere. Zai Mu had heard about it for a long time. After the Wuchang Uprising, he ordered the whole battalion to be on alert, and at the same time ordered the cannons to be pulled up on the city wall, and the muzzles of the cannons were pointed at the new army camp.The new army was very panicked, and many people advocated moving the camp and leaving. Although they did not leave in the end, many soldiers did not dare to return to the camp and lived outside.As the leader of the uprising, the battalion manager Lin Shuqing (who served as the governor of the town army after the uprising) also went to the surrounding area of ​​​​the banner camp in disguise to investigate the terrain many times.And through the relationship, a large amount of ammunition was obtained from Shanghai, which had already revolted.It can be seen that the new army still attaches great importance to the banner battalion and has made preparations for a fierce battle.

However, this vicious battle never happened.Pulling cannons on the city wall and putting the whole battalion on guard, actually not only frightened the new army, but also frightened their own people.The Jingkou Eight Banners Defense Battalion, which had not fought a battle for more than half a century, could no longer smell gunpowder.Before the new army revolted, the flag soldiers here discussed a "peaceful settlement" with the local business people many times. Under the mediation of the local gentry, the flag soldiers agreed to disarm in private.Such discussions and negotiations have actually been going on without the knowledge of the Vice President.Seeing his subordinates like this, Zai Mu had nothing to do, "At the beginning, tears flowed down my face, and I was choked up and unable to speak. Afterwards, I listened to everyone's requests, and there was no objection." Finally, he gritted his teeth and made three demands, one. To preserve the lives of the bannermen; second, to protect the property of the bannermen; and third, to escort Zai Mu's family members out of the country.Of course, the gentry and merchants here agreed to all of them (in fact, these conditions had already been determined during the negotiation), and then the deputy governor went back to the inner room and hanged himself with a hemp rope.All this happened before the new army was launched.The tense situation between the two sides, which was on the verge of daggers, disappeared without a fight.The new army who planned to revolt did not fire a single shot, and there was no chance to fire it.In the whole process, only one Manchu nobleman was killed, and he ended it by himself.As for Zai Mu, the Qing dynasty clan who had never been very successful, although he had no way to return to heaven, he really cared about the rules of being responsible for the imperial court and the concepts passed down from previous generations. If he didn't leave or surrender, he had no choice but to die.

The Zhenjiang gentry was very moved by Zai Mu's death.Yang Zhensheng, the principal of Zhenjiang Middle School, the leader of the local gentry, launched a fundraising campaign to commemorate him.After the peace talks between the North and the South were completed and Yuan Shikai became the interim president, Yang Zhensheng also wrote to Yuan Shikai, requesting to build a special temple for Zai Mu.It is believed that he not only prevented the war from happening, but also sacrificed his life to fulfill the duty of allegiance.Obviously, even though the Republic of China is underway, people who can die for righteousness can still move people.It's a pity that in the year of 1911, there were too few such martyrs.As a dynasty that ruled China for nearly 300 years, when it collapsed, the tree fell and the monkey scattered, and not many people cared about its life and death.The old and the young, the one who really felt the "deep benevolence and generosity" of the Qing Dynasty was after the Qing Dynasty collapsed and the Republic of China did not improve.For most people in the upper class at that time, the Revolution of 1911 really meant not only a change of regime, but a system change that conformed to the axiom of evolution.With the role model of the West, not many people will doubt the legitimacy of this change.Even those who supported the Qing Dynasty, deep down in their hearts, did not have much confidence in the dynasty they supported.The best they can do is to end their own lives like this die-hard Zai Mu, to save the last bit of face for the dynasty.