Chapter 19 Section five

Go back and continue talking about the Wuchang Uprising. Although the Wuchang Uprising was victorious, the Qing government would immediately mobilize heavy troops to encircle and suppress Wuhan. The society in Wuhan was in chaos, and the rebel army had to deal with various forces at home and abroad. It was urgent to establish a leading organization for overall planning, command, and management, which was the plan before the uprising. The Hubei military government in China.The question that Wu Zhaolin and Xiong Bingkun are now facing is: who is the right governor of the military government? Jiang Yiwu, who was agreed to be the interim commander-in-chief of the revolutionary army during the preparations for the uprising, climbed onto the roof when the headquarters was taken away on October 9, and was arrested after jumping off the roof of the neighboring house. Fleeing over the garden wall of the Department, now no one knows where he is;

Sun Wu, chief of staff, was caught in a fire by Liu Tong smoking while making bombs. Sun Wu was burned. He is now in Hankou, his face covered with gauze; Liu Gong, who had been selected as the governor before the uprising, is now also in Hankou, separated from Wuchang by the Dajiang River; The well-respected leaders Huang Xing, Ju Zheng, Tan Renfeng, Song Jiaoren and others were also not in Wuchang. So, what about Xiong Bingkun and Wu Zhaolin themselves?They took the lead in initiating the uprising, and they fought hard all night and made great achievements. Can they be governors? The few grassroots officers who took the lead thought that the company commander Wu Zhaolin had the highest rank among them, and Xiong Bingkun was just a squad leader.If everyone knows that the rebels are a few small soldiers, they will not admire and follow them, not to mention expanding the results of the war, even the rebel army will be in danger of disbanding and fighting among themselves; Gather hearts.

It should be said that their considerations are reasonable and very practical.For an operation with such a high risk, without a heavy host, it is difficult to gather people together, dispatch and direct.When Sun Wu was preparing for the uprising, because his name was exactly opposite to "Sun Wen", people said that he was Sun Wen's younger brother.Sun Wu made a mistake, he made a default, and for a while, the saying "Sun Wen sent his younger brother Sun Wu to lead our uprising" spread in the army, and the revolutionary soldiers were very excited, and their morale was greatly boosted.

So who is the right one to push out as the leader now?The uprising soldiers thought of Tang Hualong, the chairman of the Hubei Provincial Consultative Bureau, and asked him to come out and be the top leader. Tang Hualong calculated in his heart that the uprising was temporarily successful, and the Qing soldiers would rush in later.If he succeeds in the end, he will be the founding father, but if he fails, he will be the number one rebel who will undoubtedly die and implicate the nine clans; the founding father is certainly attractive, but the risk is too great.So he politely declined. At this time, Liu Gengzao, a member of the Advisory Council, proposed a person who he thought was very suitable to be the governor.

This person is Li Yuanhong. Li Yuanhong was the coordinator (brigadier) of the 21st Mixed Association, one of the four major military units stationed in Wuhan in the Qing Dynasty. He was only considered a mid-level officer in the country, but he was a giant in Wuhan.He has a long reputation, he is not talkative or meddlesome, he knows how to love soldiers, and he is well-known in the military circles of Wuhan. In addition, he has two major advantages: one is that he is from Huangpi, Hubei, and he is a member of the military government of Hubei. The governor has an affinity for Hubei people; second, he usually turns a blind eye to the activities of the revolutionaries in the army, and the revolutionaries do not resist him.

After several rounds of "investigation", everything is suitable, this Li Yuanhong exists in Wuchang simply to be the leader of everyone! So, everyone split up to find the Li Xietong at that time who disappeared after the uprising, and the Li Dudu tomorrow. What was Li Yuanhong, who was forced by the uprising soldiers to be governor of Chengdu and later became the vice president of the Republic of China, during the Wuchang uprising? After the Wuchang Uprising was shot, Li Yuanhong took command of the headquarters of his 21st Mixed Brigade and did not lead troops to encircle and suppress the uprising soldiers, but strictly prevented his own soldiers from participating in the uprising.An insurgent soldier who came to make contact was captured and taken to Li Yuanhong; Li Yuanhong personally killed this soldier named Zhou Rongfa in front of everyone in the conference hall.The soldiers of the 21st Mixed Association were eager to mutiny, but Li Yuanhong's bloody knife immediately frightened everyone.

Is it for the uprising or against the uprising?At that critical moment, Li Yuanhong, an officer of the Qing Dynasty, had to express his attitude. He no longer wanted to be troublesome and cared for the soldiers. As long as the Qing Dynasty did not fall, he had to do this. Otherwise, Shangfeng would be very angry and the consequences would be serious! Li Yuanhong listened to the sound of uprising guns and artillery outside the camp. He deployed soldiers to stand on the wall of the camp and waited in full force. The first order he gave was: "If anyone comes to attack, shoot!" After a while, the sound of guns outside the camp became louder, and he issued a second order: "If someone comes to attack, don't return the gun. You can only persuade them to leave with good words."

The sound of guns and guns is getting louder and louder. Obviously, the uprising has not been suppressed, and it is already going to become a reality.Li Yuanhong gave the third order: "If someone comes to attack, you will retreat to the barracks." After speaking, he withdrew from the headquarters, changed into civilian clothes, and ran to the house of staff officer Liu Wenji to hide. Li Yuanhong knew that Wuchang was over. Wuchang is over, but his old Li has grown up.The next day, Liu Wenji's home was surrounded by rebel soldiers, and Li Yuanhong was found.Surrounded by soldiers, Lao Li thought they were going to kill him, so he sweated profusely and said, "I don't treat you badly, why do you bother me today!" The soldiers told him that they were here to ask him to "preside over the big plan".

Li Yuanhong was stunned for a long time, and finally turned his head around. It turned out that he was forced to become the leader of the rebellion!He hurriedly said: "This is a serious matter, so we must be cautious. I am not a revolutionary party, and I am not qualified to be a governor. The one who is qualified is Sun Wen. Why don't you accept him as the governor?" The soldiers tried to persuade him repeatedly, but Li Yuanhong just shook his head like a rattle.One is that he is afraid of taking the huge responsibility of treason, and the other is that he was also "trained" by the Qing Dynasty. As a mid-level military officer in the Qing Dynasty, he always has the idea of ​​​​loyalty to the emperor.Rebellion is treason, and he really couldn't do it if he wanted to subvert the feudal morality he had accepted all his life in a blink of an eye.

Li Yuanhong never let go, just not being the governor, the uprising soldiers stopped talking and "hugged" him to Chuwangtai.Wu Zhaolin led the troops to salute him, but he admonished Wu Zhaolin: "Why are you messing around like this? The revolution will kill the whole family. You are very knowledgeable and qualified. You should never start a revolution!" The soldiers were all dumbfounded: Didn't they say that our uprising was led by Li Yuanhong?Wu Zhaolin hurriedly explained to everyone: "Captain Li loves us very much, what he said just now is actually to take care of us, let me talk to the governor."

The revolutionary army put him under house arrest in the military government (in the former Hubei Provincial Consultative Bureau).Until October 13, Li Yuanhong still refused to take office.During the house arrest, he didn't say a word, nor did he eat or drink.The revolutionary soldiers gradually lost their patience, saying that the governor of Li was like a bride; some people even became angry, saying that in this uprising, all the officials of the Qing Dynasty ran away, and they were not addicted to killing dog officials. If you don't know how to flatter, kill him! The revolutionary army wanted to issue an Anmin Notice and asked Li Yuanhong to sign it.Li Yuanhong's face was ashen, his hands trembling, and he kept saying: "Don't harm me, don't harm me!" Li Yidong ignored him, picked up a pen and signed the word "Li" for him. With the recovery of Hankou and Hanyang successively, the three towns of Wuhan were all in the hands of the revolutionary army.Guessing that the situation in the revolution was good, and fearing that the revolutionaries would kill him if he insisted on resigning, Li Yuanhong's heart began to loosen, and he took the initiative to chat with the soldiers guarding him.Gan Jixi, who accompanied him, said: "It's flattering you to be the governor. If the revolution succeeds, you can be Washington; You." Li Yuanhong replied: "You young man, don't speak too fiercely. I have been here for nearly three days. What can I do to you?" Another rebel soldier, Chen Lei, said sharply: "The governor did not apologize to us, but your braids have not been cut off. As the governor, you should set an example and show your determination by removing your braids. Since you have not eaten in the military government, Today I have a word of advice. Now it is the Republic of China. If you are loyal to the Republic of China, you will be the founding father of the country. If you are loyal to the Qing Dynasty, you should die early. The two must be one of the two. It is really puzzling to pretend to be so pretentious. Today, the governor There are a lot of people, it doesn't have to be you, think twice." At this time, Li Yuanhong said smoothly: "Don't be so violent, I'll let you play with my life. You said you want to cut your braids, and that's what I meant a long time ago. Find a barber and I'll cut off your braids." ." Cutting braids is a sign for anyone to draw a line with the Qing Dynasty.When Li Yuanhong's braid fell to the ground, it was tantamount to cutting off his retreat, and the revolutionary soldiers "forced" him successfully. On the evening of the 13th, Li Yuanhong presided over the military meeting of the revolutionaries, and delivered his first speech: "The party members and most comrades in the military and academic circles recommended Brother Dai as the governor. I have no morals and no education, so how can I take on this great responsibility? But everyone agrees. , I should be ordered. As soldiers, we must hold the spirit of breaking the boat from now on, remove all worries, and do it resolutely!" Li Yuanhong's speech drew heartfelt applause from the participants. From then on, Li Yuanhong began to ask questions and exercise power, and he was serious as the governor of his Hubei military government. An officer of the Qing Dynasty who was still fighting revolutionary soldiers on the night of the Wuchang Uprising, became the first governor of the Republic of China within three days, and then was elected vice president from this "high starting point", becoming a very small number of people second only to Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing and others This is also a miracle in the history of the Republic of China. It should be said that forcing Li Yuanhong to be the governor was very insightful and he did a very good job: internally, he united the hearts of the people; externally, it was seen that the commanders of the first brigade of the Qing army were all revolutionaries. It can be seen that the Qing Dynasty still has a few days left. ?This blow to the Qing Dynasty was much more severe than a single battle. After the notice signed by Li Yuanhong was posted, there was a sensation in Wuhan. People watching the notice blocked the traffic, and there were old people with white hair who came down to the notice with the help of their family members, wanting to see it for themselves.The remnants of the Qing army who stayed in Wuchang, seeing that the uprising was actually led by Li Yuanhong, hurriedly fled the city. The title of "Captain Li Yuanhong of the First Uprising" has indeed strengthened the prestige of the revolution.