Chapter 54 The revolution in the eyes of Er Sanye

Revolutions, at all times, are a feast for some and a disaster for others.Although the Revolution of 1911 was a great upheaval of regime change, the goal of this revolution was to establish a Western system.The disaster of the Boxer Boxers is not far behind, and the revolution itself is actually the result of the cooperation between the Revolutionary Party and the Constitutional Party.Therefore, this is a low-intensity revolution, the intensity of the war is not great, and the process of seizing power in many places is relatively peaceful.Therefore, quite a few people were basically not affected by the revolution.Some country gentlemen who were far away from politics also became spectators during the revolution, and they were spectators who could speak out.Seeing the revolution through their eyes is a different story.

Jiangsu is a peaceful province, the governor Cheng Dequan has always been popular, and Zhang Jian, who is very powerful, assisted him. Once he changed, most of the province changed.In the Jiangnan area, except for Nanjing, there is basically no fighting.The biggest damage was a few tiles that were deliberately smashed off the eaves of the governor's yamen in Suzhou.At this time, a Hanlin gentleman came back from Changshu, named Xu Zhaowei.Xu Zhaowei said in his diary that he returned to his hometown out of concern for the safety of his hometown and his family.In fact, it is more likely that he himself wants to hide from the wind.Since the Wuchang Uprising in Beijing, people have been panicked, and those who are powerful have hid in the foreign concessions in Tianjin, or in the Liuguo Hotel in Beijing.He is a poor Hanlin, without the capital, he can only hide in the countryside. After returning to his hometown, Xu Zhaowei has indeed done something.Because the Suchang area is a blessed place for imperial examinations, Jinshi can be found everywhere. He, the Hanlin Gong of the current dynasty, only became the deputy civil affairs chief of a county, which is equivalent to the deputy county chief, but it is enough.He is a Hanlin public official, and while he was in office, he didn't work hard on culture and governance, but he did a lot of things to buy firearms, organize militias, and suppress rent resistance.As a bureaucrat of the central government who returned to his hometown, it is impossible for him to have too much favor for the revolution.Regarding the occurrence of the revolution, he often lamented the confusion of the imperial court and the nonsense of the party members, but he was more worried about the uncivilized partisans of the revolutionaries. Zhang Luo buys guns and organizes militia groups.He was full of expectations for the constitution, and even went to the Zizheng Yuan to attend before leaving.But I also know that when the revolution happens, constitutional legislation is out of the question.However, he felt that the realization of the republic was unreliable. When he mentioned the republic, he always spoke with sarcasm, thinking that the level of the people was so high, "how can we talk about the republic?" , to clean up the mess.The diary is always Yuan Gongchang, Yuan Gong short talk non-stop.We know that Hanlin Gong is by no means alone in having such expectations.

Shanxi is a relatively chaotic province in the revolution.During the revolution, military force was used. After the revolution, the Beiyang army came to attack the door again. Soldiers came and went, causing considerable disturbance.Liu Dapeng is a Juren, and he was a member of the Provincial Consultative Bureau during the revolution.At the time of the revolution, his diary was blank. It is not clear whether it was because of the chaos of the war that he had no time to record it, or whether it was lost later.From his later diary, it can be seen that he did not have a good opinion of the new party, and hated Yuan Shikai, who had become the president, and denounced him as a "thief minister".Seeing students not reading the scriptures, I feel very afraid, and feel that there will be chaos sooner or later.On the contrary, I miss the collapsed Qing Dynasty very much, and I have a "this dynasty" every bite.It seems that Liu Dapeng is not qualified enough, and the capital is not much, otherwise he can hide in Qingdao and do poetry with a group of old and young.

Wang Kaiyun, who lives in the countryside of Changsha, is famous enough but not rich enough.When the revolution came, he was calm and stayed at home quietly.When I saw the Wuchang Uprising reported in the newspaper, I just wrote it down lightly, keeping my face.Next, he would laugh at Prince Regent Zaifeng for being at a loss and "messing up his marksmanship".When his disciples reported the revolution in Hunan to him, he felt helpless about the possible turmoil, and felt that chaos might also come, "Jade and stone will be destroyed, and cattle will be destroyed together."But he didn't take precautions at all, and he put on a posture of not dying, surrendering or leaving, and let it go.Zhou's mother, who has been inseparable for a moment, is already by this old man's side.There are often records in the diary, what is Zhou Yu, and how is Zhou Yu.Amidst the turmoil outside, his life, his enjoyment, remained undisturbed.When Jiao Dafeng died, Tan Yankai took over, and things in Hunan stabilized, he said with emotion, "We have been burdened by autocracy, and we have been trapped in a republic. We are not free, so we cannot stand on our own." The situation has to make you feel that this old man is really insightful. In this case, it is impossible to tell without insight into the world, especially the situation of the gentry in the era of great changes.It is said that after Tan Yankai became the governor, he once went to see him wearing a Western-style dress.This old man actually came out to meet him wearing a robe with flower feathers and braids.At first sight, Tan felt embarrassed.Wang Kaiyun smiled and said: "Don't be surprised, what you wear and what I wear are just clothes, and they are all foreign clothes."At this time of great change, this old man still does not change his nature of funny jokes.However, he neither looked forward to Yuan Shikai like Hanlin Gong Xu Zhaowei, nor hated him like Juren Liu Dapeng.After Yuan Shikai took over as interim president, he changed two lines of his previous poem: "It's even more lamentable that a child can't achieve anything. Who respects a group of children who are self-respecting?" I can see Yuan Shikai's later tragic ending, which feels a bit like prophecy.

However, after Yuan Shikai became the president firmly, he invited this old man to Beijing to be an official and the curator of the National History Museum, and he and Zhou Ma happily agreed.Along the way, no matter which warlord invited him for dinner, he would take Zhou's mother there, and kept bringing the old woman to Yuan Shikai's Xinhua Gate.After becoming an official, she let Zhou's mother control the affairs of the library. Anyway, the library has nothing to do, except to provide food for the widows.He didn't care if he won the name of "old rascal" that was widely circulated in the press.When Yang Du launched the meeting to prepare for security and Yuan's imperial system showed its tone, he used the excuse of "not repairing the curtain" (in ancient times, it means that housekeeping cannot be cleaned up and women are allowed to behave indiscreetly), regardless of Zhou Ma's willingness or not, he hung up the crown and left. .You can be an official of President Yuan, but you are not willing to be a minister of Emperor Yuan, and you are resolutely unwilling to step into this muddy water.

During the Revolution of 1911, some gentry were spectators, and farmers were also spectators. All spectators did not seem to have much influence on the subsequent political changes.Whether you like it or not, just follow along and wait and see.However, spectators such as the gentry can speak out. Their voices tell people that they are not happy, tell people about the problems of the revolution and the problems of the Republic of China, but no one listened at that time.However, history does not always go according to the intention of the hero standing in the foreground. Yuan Shikai came out of the mountain and became president, but he was full of internal and external troubles, and he did not end well.The Republic of China, which the gentry did not take a fancy to, has been in turmoil year after year.The legend is that Wang Kaiyun's pair of pairs said it quite coincidentally: the people are the same, the country is the same, there is no distinction between north and south; in a word, in general, it is not east or west.