Chapter 35 Northern Jiangsu One: A Revolution Forced Out by Qing Soldiers

Yancheng in northern Jiangsu is now famous for being the new headquarters of the New Fourth Army. It belongs to the second level of the old revolutionary base area, and has now become a star-level medium-sized city in northern Jiangsu.But at the end of the Qing Dynasty, this small city was neither important nor rich, and it was unknown. Therefore, when the revolution came, no one paid attention to it.There are no revolutionary parties in the local area, and revolutionaries from outside don't even bother to come.Cheng Dequan, governor of Jiangsu, declared independence. Zhang Renjun, governor of Liangjiang, was still stubbornly resisting. Neither side was in the mood to manage Yancheng, and let it fend for itself.

However, disregarding the revolution and counter-revolution does not mean that everyone ignores it. There are still some people who have the idea of ​​Yancheng.The revolution came, and the world was in chaos. For the local area, it meant that there was no order and no one was in charge.Whenever this happens, someone will take the opportunity to do something and fish in troubled waters.At that time, there was no regular army in the area, only three anti-private soldiers stationed outside the city, one navy battalion and two infantry battalions.One of the fourth infantry battalions has the largest number of people, and its firearms are better. The other two battalions are only in charge of leading the horse.This kind of private suppression is mostly adapted from the green battalion. The old army has a lot of habits, and the soldiers are hereditary. They are soldiers from generation to generation and are isolated from society.Once there is a war, there is no intention to fight, and there is a part in robbery.The revolution came, and for them, it was a chance to make a fortune.After the Wuchang Uprising, they put forward two demands on the local gentry and merchants. One was to pay the previous wages owed, and the other was to pay double wages from now on. The reason was that the world was too chaotic and it was difficult for them to maintain local law and order.Of course, if you don't agree to their request, it's nothing, it will be a little bit harder, but they may not be able to restrain their subordinates.Any fool would know what such a threat meant.

Originally, the garrison was to protect the local area, but in this troubled world, it has become a time bomb that threatens the security of the local area. The fuze is controlled by others, and if no bribes are given, they will go to the city to rob.what to do?There was no other way, so the gentry and merchants in Yancheng had no choice but to agree.Although Yancheng is considered a small commercial port, it is not rich, so the chamber of commerce had to come forward to borrow money from the local Yuning government money bureau. Not only did it pay the previously owed wages, but it also paid the three "smugglers" on schedule. Bandit soldiers" pay double wages.At ordinary times, he served carefully, entertained attentively, and rewarded cattle and wine from time to time in order to stabilize the morale of the army.

However, if this continues, it is not the end after all.On the one hand, the appetite for arresting private individuals is getting bigger and bigger. On the other hand, the amount of loans is increasing, and the government money bureau is about to dry up. Who knows when the situation will stabilize?Once the money is gone, Yancheng's disaster will come.Therefore, after the establishment of the Nanjing Provisional Government, the Yancheng gentry and merchants immediately sent people to Nanjing to petition, found the Army Department of the Provisional Government, and asked to send troops to guard it.But the Ministry of the Army is also empty-handed. It can't transfer troops to manage the affairs of a small town, so it pushes the petitioners to the Jiangsu provincial government, and the provincial government can't do anything about it.They went to the famous gentleman Zhang Jian, but they couldn't get anything.In the end, with the feeling of being a dead horse as a living horse doctor, when they passed by Yangzhou, they went to Xu Baoshan, the governor of Yangzhou and a certain army commander who was born in Yanxiao, and presented a gift, asking Xu to help Yancheng.Xu Baoshan, who was born in the rivers and lakes, agreed without hesitation and wrapped it on him.

After the representatives returned to Yancheng, they waited for Xu Baoshan not to come, and waited for no letter from them.There was really no way out. In desperation, everyone discussed together. The three cobblers were really worthy of Zhuge Liang, and finally they came up with a trick of fake revolution.They found a few people with relatively unfamiliar faces, shaved their heads, and pretended to be revolutionaries (in fact, revolutionaries do not shave their heads).At this time, the bomb is needed.I went to the blacksmith's shop overnight to make some fake bombs. Each fake revolutionary party was covered with bombs and walked on the street.Let the word go, saying that the revolutionary party outside has come.Then there was the Restoration Conference, where people of all colors came to the stage to give speeches. They made a big show of speaking about revolution, and they talked about the truth. But in such a remote place, who can tell the truth from the false?On the stage, the fake revolutionaries put their hands on the fake bombs and stood around with a murderous look on their faces.Following the Congress, a new government was announced.All of a sudden, all the news indicated that a foreign revolution had already occurred in Yancheng.Not only that, the new government also brought out two allegedly dishonest prisoners from the prison, executed them on the spot, and killed chickens for monkeys to see.A vigilante group was also set up to patrol the city. Of course, the leader must be bald and wear a bomb.

Apparently, this revolutionary drama was specially staged for private arrests.The anti-private daring to blackmail the gentry and merchants in Yancheng, but they don't know what the revolutionary party is.They were originally local troops that were half police and half army, reorganized from the Green Battalion, and they didn't have much combat effectiveness at all.It's more than enough to bluff people, but it's useless to really fight.I heard that the Revolutionary Party entered the city, and there were bombs (at that time, the bomb was the symbol of the Revolutionary Party).They also knew a thing or two about the legend about the power of the bomb, and they were even more afraid.Although I was a little skeptical, because I had never heard of outsiders coming in after all.But from then on, he didn't dare to act rashly, and he didn't dare to ask for money.

The empty city plan of the fake revolution has been sung like this for a while, and it seems to be exposed. At this time, perhaps out of the need to expand the power, Xu Baoshan, who is sitting in Yangzhou, personally led the troops, hula la, confiscated the weapons for the private sector, and the soldiers were dismissed , took the leader of the gang away for interrogation, and the threat of Yancheng disappeared completely.The anti-private investigation that has been held back for a long time and only intends to make money for the country has no use in the end.The fake revolution also turned the fake into the real, and started a new government.All the dignitaries, the officials did as usual, and everything remained the same.The only change is that Yancheng, which originally belonged to Huai'an Prefecture, was temporarily transferred to Yangzhou and became an enclave of Yangzhou.

The independence and restoration of various places during the Revolution of 1911, Yancheng belongs to a unique type.Although it is somewhat ironic, it also reflects the true attitude towards revolution in some places in China at that time.These places that have not been infiltrated by the revolutionary party and have not been influenced by revolutionary propaganda are actually resistant to the revolution.However, the revolution still came.Worst of all, the Qing Dynasty abandoned them, and the Revolutionary Party did not come.The temporary vacuum provided opportunities for local soldiers and bandits to rebel.The local gentry and merchants don't know revolution and don't like revolution, but in order to deal with this kind of unreasonable disaster, they can only resort to the fake drama of revolution and sing empty plans to scare the coveters.