Chapter 40 Shanghai One: Changing Flags of the Largest Commercial Port in the Far East

During the Revolution of 1911, the recovery of Shanghai was a very critical link.Without the changing flag of the largest commercial port in the Far East, and without the continuous supply of arms from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Nanjing would probably not be able to take it down, and the subsequent fall of Hankou and Hanyang, if there is no victory for Nanjing to recover in time, maybe The entire revolutionary situation fell into a trough.Whether the revolution will succeed is hard to say.The recovery of Shanghai has always been recorded in the accounts of the revolutionaries. The leaders of the revolution, Chen Qimei and Li Xiehe, are undoubtedly members of the revolutionaries. However, in fact, the main force of the revolution is the business group. , formed and directed by formerly less revolutionary Shanghai merchants.

The business associations in Shanghai started from the New Deal.The New Deal is not only being moved by the court, but also by the people.One of the more prominent folk echoes is to practice martial arts to strengthen the body and advocate the spirit of martial arts.Sports clubs have been set up in various places to study sports, and schools offer physical education classes. The sports at that time were military exercises.Everyone put on military uniforms, carried wooden guns or real guns, stood at attention to the sound of drums, took a rest, and walked in unison. What's more, they had to shoot real targets.Some chambers of commerce in Shanghai also established several sports associations. Later, the various sports associations were merged into the initial business group, and a temporary headquarters was established to unify the command. Zeng Shaoqing is in charge.In Shanghai, the government has always followed the businessmen. In 1906, Cai Naihuang, the then Shanghai Daotai, asked the governor of Liangjiang to distribute 120 seven-nine rifles and 5,000 rounds of bullets.There is an order from the government that the business group is responsible for the security patrols in all districts of the Chinese world. During the patrol, if they encounter gangsters who resist stubbornly, they can be shot and killed.In other words, although the police in Shanghai is handled by official personnel, it is actually done by business groups. With business groups, it means that the people have a certain scale of self-defense forces.As soon as the business group came out, its development was like a snowball.All regions and all walks of life are doing it, and soon, it will grow to twenty-four.According to the industry, there are pearl and jade industry, foreign cloth industry, fruit industry, bean and rice industry, book industry, ginseng medicine industry, miscellaneous grain industry, pied garment industry, paper industry, engraving industry, the first industrial and commercial group business group, and the Sports Department of the Commercial Press.According to the region, there are Shanghai West, Zhabei, Shanghai City, South District, Gaochang Temple, Shipu, Shiwupu, 19pu, 23pu, 27pu and other business groups, and there is also a halal shop composed of Muslims. Business groups, the government does not issue guns, they buy them themselves.The organization of businessmen is different from the mere play of school sports, it must be effective.As a result, the business group was integrated with the original fire fighting organization, and at the same time, it was also connected with the establishment of police in various places.The business group, the fire brigade, and the police, a trinity, undertake the function of maintaining law and order in Shanghai's Chinese community.

The Wuchang Uprising broke out, and the citizens and businessmen in Shanghai were eager to try it. Li Pingshu and others began to enamor the revolution. They took the opportunity to unite these business groups and agreed that the bell tower of the Nanshi Fire Fighting Association would ring the bell, and all business groups would act in unison. After Chen Qimei, a fiery revolutionary and leader of the Youth Gang, came back, he accelerated the pace of business group operations.To win Shanghai, the manufacturing bureau is the key. If you master the manufacturing bureau, the merchant group will have this huge arsenal, and Shanghai will be in your hands.Previously, the revolutionaries also organized death squads on the basis of business groups. On the afternoon of September 13, 1911, Chen Qimei led the Death Squad and began to act. Some policemen and even entertainers joined in. The famous revolutionary entertainers Pan Yueqiao, Xia Yueshan, Xia Yuerun brothers, and Liu Yizhou, who later led people to fight in Dengzhou, all participated action.Revolution is a fashion, and at that time, everyone was willing to join in.In addition to the rifles, the Death Squad also had more than a dozen bombs, all of which were made by Chen Qimei and the others with cigarette cans filled with explosives and iron sheets.They rushed into the bureau when the workers of the manufacturing bureau were off work.The guards of the manufacturing bureau fired warning shots, but they couldn't stop them, so they opened fire, killing one and injuring the other on the spot.Although it is a death squad, after all, it has never done anything with real swords and guns. Once a person dies, everyone retreats with a huff.Chen Qimei didn't retreat, took out the bomb, and wanted to risk her life, but before she could throw it out, she was caught by Ju Yong.There is also a saying that Chen Qimei saw that the raid failed and voluntarily entered the manufacturing bureau, trying to persuade the general office of the manufacturing bureau to surrender with her three-inch tongue, but was tied up.

In the assault on the Manufacturing Bureau, though, two facts were definitely true.One is that Chen Qimei was indeed arrested, and the other is that the people in the manufacturing bureau are not so determined to resist.In this place of Shanghai, since the opening of the port, any place called a yamen is not a place to fight desperately.Although the guards have machine guns and plenty of ammunition, there are not many guards, and the staff and workers inside are all of one mind with the business groups outside, eager for revolution.In fact, Chen Qimei's death squad behavior was not discussed with the business group, but when he acted, everyone followed.Of course, the head of the Manufacturing Bureau was not a staunch royalist. When the soldiers of the merchant group who were besieging outside got the inside response and set fire inside, he fled.All the business groups went to the manufacturing bureau, put on the new guns in the bureau, marched into the city in line, sang military songs along the way, and held a city entry ceremony.The Songhu garrison has already gone anyway, and the Shanghai police, who were originally united with the business group, have already revolted at this time.Daotai and Zhixian fled to the concession a long time ago, and Shanghai was recovered in this way.In Shanghai, there have always been a lot of idlers, a lot of white people, and more hooligans. After the liberation, all the people came out, everyone commanders, and heroes, rushing into the manufacturing bureau to grab things. The remaining Mauser was snatched up, and he asked Li Pingshu, the commander of the merchant group, for money and salary.Fortunately, Li Pingshu has a business group in his hands, and he can still control the situation.Soon, it was heard that the Beiyang warships had arrived, and there were rumors that the Northern Army had gone south. The commanders and heroes scattered like birds and beasts, but the merchant group did not disperse.Facts have proved that the Beiyang Army did not come.Next, teams of business groups arrived at the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce. At this time, the dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty was still hanging on the flagpole in front of the General Chamber of Commerce Square. Chen Qimei and the others tore down the dragon flag and replaced it with a five-color flag, and announced on the stage that Shanghai was restored. , The Shanghai Military Governor's Mansion was established, and the overall situation was decided.

During the Revolution of 1911, many cities in developed regions were recovered by business groups, but Shanghai was the most critical.The recovery of Shanghai directly led to the recovery of Zhejiang, making Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai united.Since the largest arsenal in the Jiangnan area fell into the hands of the Revolutionary Party, and there were still a large number of foreign imported weapons in Shanghai Port, although the Customs was ordered by the Qing government not to hand over the weapons to the Revolutionary Party, the Chinese staff who could not stand the Customs should cooperate internally and externally. The weapons ended up in the hands of the revolutionaries.These weapons and ammunition supported the siege of Nanjing by the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai Allied Forces. For example, the Ninth Town, which originally had guns and no bullets, revolted. advantage.In the past, the recovery of Shanghai was generally recorded under Chen Qimei's account.Of course, Chen Qimei's adventure and hardship did have some effect, but this effect was mainly fermented when he later robbed the governor.To a large extent, businessmen don't like to be on the front line of such major political issues, so Chen Qimei took advantage of it.At the moment of the revolution, it was the Shanghai business group that really played a decisive role. In fact, it was the Shanghai businessmen behind it.The Qing government's perverse actions at the last moment, not only the constitutional gentry, but the entire emerging business community.Citizens and merchants in the developed coastal areas mostly supported the revolution, while farmers, merchants, and gentry in the interior were the opposite.However, in that era, the loudest groups happened to be the citizens and businessmen in the developed coastal areas, and of course the intellectual circles.In a period of great change, the role of groups of voices will always be amplified and play a role in determining the current situation, and the Revolution of 1911 is of course no exception.However, it was precisely because the recovery of Shanghai was dominated by businessmen, so although the revolutionary Chen Qimei, who served as the governor, was very vocal and had a great effect during the revolution, once the revolution was successful, the revolutionaries could only walk.Nanjing can be the base of the second revolution, but Shanghai is not and cannot be.