Chapter 60 Shen Zangshou: Swindling Haimen

In the Qing Dynasty, Haimen was a Zhili Office, which was at the same level as the Fu, but the chief was not called Zhifu, but Tongzhi, and his official rank was lower, from the fifth rank.Such a place was originally an agency of the provincial government, and over time it formed an independent administrative region directly under the provincial government. In fact, the scale is as large as a county.Although Haimen belongs to Jiangsu, it is only separated by a river from Chongming Island, which later belonged to Shanghai.Shanghai is also part of Jiangsu, but since its opening as a port, it has gradually formed an independent region and become the leading metropolis in the country. Every move affects the whole of China.Haimen has always belonged to the radiation area of ​​Shanghai, and its living habits have been greatly influenced by Shanghai, basically following the trend.During the period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Yangtze River were devastated, but Haimen was spared only because of Shanghai's asylum.Gentlemen from the north of the Yangtze River gather here, and it is called heaven.But on the other hand, due to the existence of Zhang Jian, as the leader of the gentry, the entire political circle of Jiangsu was affected by him. Nantong, where his business is located, also radiated energy to Haimen. Most of the gentry in Haimen have always followed the leadership of Nantong.This was not only the case in Haimen, but also in many areas in the Yangtze River Delta at that time.

The beginning of a revolution, for most participants, is a change of dynasty.The big deer is Beijing, while the small deer are scattered all over the place. Local lords compete for the throne, and whoever gets the power will own it.Revolutionary parties are fighting, constitutional parties are fighting, and some reckless heroes are also fighting.Some careerists with quick eyesight but no strength dare to take advantage of loopholes.In a place like Yangzhou, Sun Tiansheng, a street gangster, took a few gangsters and pretended to be a revolutionary party to "recover", and they were "emperors" for several days.Such a good thing was also thought of by a councilor in Haimen.His name is Shen Zangshou. Judging from his name, he is less quack and cultured than Sun Tiansheng, but his work is similar to Sun Tiansheng's.Since he had the idea of ​​grabbing power, he took a few people to Shanghai, spent money to engrave the seal of the Haimen military sub-government, and wrote several circulars.However, these things alone are not enough, there must also be the legendary death squads and bombs. These two things have become the symbols of the revolutionary party in people's minds. Without these things, people will think you are fake.So he hired a rickshaw driver for ten yuan. Without the uniform of the Revolutionary Army (he really couldn't figure out what it would be like), he asked the driver to wear a blue and white livery and pretend to be a member of the Death Squad.After all, the bomb should be made of metal, but he didn't know that he actually used two pockets filled with newspapers to pretend to be a bomb and let the fake death squad resist.I borrowed some knives and guns and equipped them.A group of people took the ferry back to Haimen, went straight to the office, smashed the furnishings in the yamen as soon as they came up, including Master Zhi's sedan chair.Just like the Yangzhou story, Master Tongzhi had already slipped away before they came in with great fanfare.Shen Zangshou and the others arrested Tingcheng and forced him to take out the big seal, and then went to the department office, and had to perform a ceremony and hand it over to Shen Zangshou solemnly.Shen Zangshou accepted the seal with his bow, clapped his hands and laughed, announcing that he would be the Chief of Civil Affairs.Right, just like that.

Using fake bombs to force people to submit was a common occurrence during the revolution. Who said that the Qing army did not have such weapons?However, fake bombs are used in other places, at least they still have the appearance of a bomb, and some can emit puffs of smoke. I have never heard of two bags of newspapers being faked.However, it was this extremely fake thing, plus a hired driver, that took away the power, partly because they came from Shanghai, making the townspeople mistakenly think that they were ordered by the Shanghai navy government.It should be said that this is the cleverness of Shen Zangshou and the others. In fact, whether it is looking for pockets or stuffing newspapers, it can be done in the countryside of Haimen. You only need to hire a foreigner, but you are going to Shanghai , hire a Shanghainese, come from Shanghai, let people have such an illusion.

However, I don't know whether Shen Zangshou is not popular or the Haimen gentry don't like being politically affiliated with Shanghai. Anyway, although he hosted a banquet for the gentry in the city that night, everyone was not interested in him, and no serious people attended.In addition, the hired coachman ran away immediately after taking the money, and the trick was seen through.No one listened to Ren Shen Zangshou's explanation.The gentry sent envoys to Nantong to ask for troops to recover, and Nantong sent a group of soldiers. Shen Zangshou fled in embarrassment, and the new regime was established for the second time.An incident of power fraud was called a comedy by the "Minli Daily" run by the Shanghai Revolutionary Party.

During the Revolution of 1911, we saw that local governments in various places in the Qing Dynasty were too neglectful of their duties in guarding the soil.Hearing the sound of the wind, he fled.Even if you don't escape, you are just keeping the seal, and you will give it to whoever wants it.Strictly speaking, even if the North-South peace talks are successful, it cannot be said that the independent or liberated provinces will definitely have the upper hand.In the course of the revolution, officials from all over the country were disintegrated upon hearing the rumors. Strictly speaking, they did not follow the trend, but lost confidence in the dynasty they belonged to long ago.On the one hand, the unremitting propaganda of the revolutionaries for many years has indeed had an effect. The image of the Manchus as an "alien regime" has been highlighted, and this image has been greatly strengthened by the Manchus who are in charge.On the other hand, relatives and dignitaries deliberately tilted towards the Manchus in office, which greatly hurt the hearts of the Han bureaucrats, and most of the Manchu bureaucrats in office were not up to date, and they did not allow the Han people to escape.Most of the Han bureaucrats, in fact, quite a few agree with the Constitutionalists' constitutional proposition, and of course they are dissatisfied with the Qing government's false constitution and real power grab.In such an atmosphere, folk legends about the exhaustion of the Qing Dynasty also became popular along with the spread of folk prophecies such as "Tui Bei Tu".Therefore, if there were still people willing to help before the Queen Mother died in 1908, but after the young relatives and nobles did the opposite, as long as someone stood up and pushed, there would be no one to support the stinky mud wall in the Qing Dynasty.

The fall of the Qing Dynasty was actually a matter between the upper classes of society. People in the court lost confidence in the court to which they belonged, and those in the opposition wanted to subvert it. When the Revolutionary Party ignited, the building collapsed.It is only natural that Xiaowannao took the opportunity to seize power during the period.Of course, the political power is not a burden, and it is natural to be able to snatch it for a small game, but it is also enjoyable if you can't.