China was ruled by a feudal monarchy for more than 2,000 years, and while the bourgeois revolution in the West was in full swing and further developing industry, China had just finished another cycle and began the rule of the Qing government.
Until October 10, 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out and successfully occupied the three towns of Wuhan, which sounded the mourning for the end of the Qing Dynasty, known as the Xinhai Revolution.
The Xinhai Revolution has been called an important turning point in China's modern history, forcing the deposed emperor Puyi to announce his abdication and establish China's first republican government.
As the starting point of the Xinhai Revolution, the Wuchang Uprising was the first success of the League after nine failures, including the Zhennanguan Uprising and the Huanghuagang Uprising. However, after the occupation of Wuhan, Li Yuanhong, a non-league member and commander of the Qing Court's Provisional Army, the 21st Army, was elected as the governor of the capital, and came forward to preside over the overall situation.
On the eve of the uprising, Li Yuanhong, who had also executed revolutionaries in the army, gained fame and fortune, and was also appointed vice president in the later established Republic of China.
It can be said that although Li Yuanhong had a new army in his hands at that time, if it were not for the sudden position of governor of the Wuchang military government, he could not have won such a high position in the later Republic of China government.
You know, since then, he has been appointed vice president twice, appointed president for the second time, and even had a far-reaching dispute with Duan Qirui.
In fact, this time for many reasons to make up a historical accident.
01. Ill-fated democratic revolution
The League was founded in Tokyo in 1905 and was initiated and led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. At the beginning of its establishment, it was aimed at "expelling the Tartars and restoring China".
Although it is bourgeois revolutionary in nature, it is also very nationalistic, as can be seen from the representation of the delegates to the inaugural meeting of the League, all from the 17 provinces of Kannai - except for Gansu, where there are no students in Japan.
Since its second year, the League has become one of the most influential democratic parties in China, and Sun Yat-sen has committed to uniting party associations and promoting a series of armed uprisings across the country.
From the Pingliu Uprising in December 1906, the Huanggang Uprising in May 1907 to the Huanghuagang Uprising (Guangzhou Uprising) in April 1911, the League promoted nine armed uprisings, including the forces of the New Army.
However, although the influence of the Qing government at that time had declined sharply, and the local governments had long been in a state of yin and yang, the revolutionary atmosphere was not strong enough, and the various ruling factions mainly watched the fire from the other side, and these uprisings were suppressed. During the Huanghuagang Uprising, Huang Xing, the elder of the League, was even seriously injured and fled to Hong Kong to recuperate.
After the failure of the Huanghuagang Uprising, there was a lot of controversy within the League, reflecting on the direction of the revolution and the location of the uprising. Due to the large number of parties united by the League, the organization is not very tight. Some of these forces decided to shift the targets of the uprising.
Among them, the revolutionaries, mainly the Literary Society and the Communist Progressive Association, after repeated consideration, planned to promote an armed uprising again in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the location was set at Wuchang.
At that time, the Qing government had just announced the results of the "preparatory constitution" that had been prepared for 5 years, and among the 9 cabinet members, there were 7 royalty. At the same time, the Qing court also nationalized the railways in various provinces, but sold them to "foreign friends".
This series of actions completely detonated domestic public opinion, led to the excitement of the crowd, and even broke out a vigorous "road protection movement". The dormant revolutionary groups also took the opportunity to guide this public opinion in the Hubei New Army and propagate revolutionary ideas.
02. The Wuchang Uprising that was forced to be launched
With the development of the "Baolu Movement", the Qing government transferred a large number of new troops from Hubei to Sichuan to suppress Rong County, which had declared independence.
Hubei's defenses became relatively weak.
Under the guidance of the League, the Literary Society and the Communist Progressive Association took advantage of the situation to establish a leading organ to launch the Wuchang Uprising. Among them, the premier is Liu Gong, president of the Communist Progressive Association, the military commander-in-chief is Jiang Yiwu, president of the Literary Society, and the chief of staff is Sun Wu, chairman of hubei of the Communist Progressive Association.
In the original plan, the League would send Huang Xing, who was recuperating in Hong Kong, and the elder Song Jiaoren to wuchang to personally lead the uprising, and at the same time, plan a riot in Hunan to echo it, and launch it at the same time on October 6.
By September 28, news came from Hunan that it was not yet fully prepared, and asked that the launch time be postponed to October 16. The Wuhan side is also preparing ammunition in a hurry, waiting for the arrival of the leaders of the Alliance.
However, on October 9, when Sun Wu personally led people to make explosives, he accidentally caused an explosion, and in addition to being seriously injured, he also attracted a patrol and search in the Russian concession, and the uprising plan and the list of leaders were leaked!
That night, the Qing government wantonly searched for the revolutionary party, a large number of rebel leaders, including the chief planner Liu Fuji, were arrested, and the commander-in-chief Jiang Yiwu was forced to flee from Wuhan, while Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren and others had not yet entered Wuhan, and for a time the crowd was leaderless!
Sun Wu, who was seriously injured and hiding in the hospital, eagerly said to his close confidant Deng Yulin: The arrow is on the string, and it is indispensable to send it. For now, only by risking death can we survive.
After this instruction was issued, the rebel forces secretly contacted themselves and agreed to launch an uprising "by the sound of gunfire" on the evening of October 10.
In this way, the Wuchang uprising was launched in advance without external forces and unified command at home. Of all the rebellious new armies, Wu Zhaolin, the most senior, was only a left officer of the Eighth Town Engineering Battalion guarding the armory—the equivalent of a company commander.
03. Li Yuanhong, the official from heaven
After the Qing government transferred a large number of troops, the Twenty-first Association led by Li Yuanhong became one of the few regular troops in Hubei, at least in Wuhan, he was a well-deserved military leader, and his attitude towards the revolution had always been ambiguous.
In early October, officials had noticed the smell of gunpowder brewing within the Forces nouvelles and had proposed to change the defenders of Chuwangtai, the general arsenal of Hubei Province, from engineering battalions to flag soldiers, but Li Yuanhong refused.
Looking back, Li Yuanhong's refusal this time was crucial to the Wuchang uprising, because without the help of the arsenal defenders on the night of the uprising, the rebel troops could not get enough ammunition, and the defender Officer Wu Zhaolin happened to be Li Yuanhong's student.
However, on the evening of October 9, after the uprising was exposed, Li Yuanhong still ordered the execution of three revolutionaries under his command against the roster. Although there are reasons for the order of The Governor of Huguang, Rui Zheng, it also shows that he himself is not bent on supporting the revolution.
To everyone's surprise, after the Wuchang Uprising was hastily launched, Rui Zheng, the supreme commander of the Qing government in the city, was frightened to abandon the city and flee to Shanghai, and the headquarters of the eighth town of another new army in the city was quickly occupied, and overnight, the rebel army occupied Wuchang City.
The uprising was successful! Perhaps even the revolutionaries did not expect this result, and only after continuing to advance to Hankou and other places did they begin to discuss the election of the post of governor.
Since the revolutionaries in the city at that time really did not have the big people who could handle the scene and hold the scene, at the suggestion of Wu Zhaolin, everyone unanimously decided to elect Li Yuanhong as the governor of the Hubei military government. What they didn't know was that the rebel governor was hiding in his bedroom trembling for fear of being liquidated.
04. Li Yuanhong, who was forced to revolutionize
Li Yuanhong was found under the bed. But when he heard several armed rebels shouting "Governor" and "Commander-in-Chief", he felt like he was dreaming, and it was a nightmare.
Obviously, although he was afraid of retaliation from the rebels, he did not think that the rebels could hold out. This position of governor is simply a deadly poison.
Therefore, he refused to cooperate, and was promptly put under house arrest by the revolutionary party, and he did not let up. But it was clear that his student, Wu Zhaolin, had a way of dealing with the teacher. In this case, Wu Zhaolin proposed the term "public push".
What is called "public promotion" is not the open election of the governor, but the result of the election of their revolutionaries. In this way, every time a place was occupied, the rebel army posted a notice of an people in the name of "Hubei Military Government Governor Li Yuanhong", and the effect was very remarkable.
Li Yuanhong, who heard this news, was desperate, and within two days, the rebel army had captured the three towns of Wuhan like a bamboo, so he took the initiative to call the revolutionary soldiers and said indignantly: "I want to cut this braid for a long time!" ”。
Not to mention how the revolutionaries felt, but the next day, October 13, Li Yuanhong, who had been the "Governor of the Hubei Military Government" for three days, finally issued a revolutionary speech publicly, calling on the rebel army and the provinces to "overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore Han rule; abolish autocracy and establish a republic."
The effect of Governor Li Dadu's personal appearance was indeed unusual, and more and more people felt that this revolution "had a head", while some of the remaining enemies were "terrified, disguised as absconders, and had no chance of winning."
It can be said that withdrawing from Li Yuanhong to become the leader of this Wuchang uprising, the governor of the Hubei military government, was a very necessary step under the circumstances at that time, and greatly stabilized the situation of the revolution.
Although, under the vigorous counterattack of the Qing government, the Wuhan rebel army was once suppressed, and Li Yuanhong even left Wuhan to hide outside. However, without his appearance during the critical period, the rebel army may not have been able to persist until Huang Xing and others arrived in Han, let alone the subsequent provinces would have responded and negotiated the establishment of the Republic of China government.
In this way, President Li Yuanhong and Li Da can indeed be called the "hero of the first righteousness" of the Xinhai Revolution.