In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a rare "collective resistance" incident in history, that is, the famous "Southeast Mutual Protection". During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the Eight-Power Coalition launched a war of aggression against China. An angry Cixi heard that the foreigners were going to kill her in Beijing and ousted her from power, so she issued an edict declaring war on the eleven countries (now the Internet likes to say that it is declaring war on the world). At this time, Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, and others who were serving as governors in the southeast jointly launched the "Southeast Mutual Protection" together with the governors of various places in the southeast region, claiming that the edict under Cixi was "chaotic" and refused to be carried out. As a result, the war between the Eight-Power Alliance and the Boxers was mainly controlled in Hebei, Tianjin and Beijing, and did not spread to the whole country (or to the southern provinces).
Resistance was exchanged for the addition of officials to the knighthood
During the "Southeast Mutual Protection" period, the governors and inspectors of the southeastern provinces jointly resisted. This can be said to be a felony in other dynastic periods that will be prosecuted anyway. As a result, the weak Qing government not only could not question these "anti-will" overseers, but instead added officials to these overseers afterwards.
After the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked Beijing and Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor fled to Xi'an, Cixi had already begun to abandon the Boxers and the conservative ministers and began to show favor to the governors in the southeast. After the signing of the Xinugu Treaty and the return of Cixi and Guangxu to Beijing, they began to give large rewards to the overseers who participated in the mutual protection of the southeast. It seems that these overseers are not rebellious "resistance", but rather like they are collectively commanded to save the king.
The outcome of the overseers involved in the mutual protection of the southeast
The basic people involved in the mutual protection of the southeast were Han bureaucrats of the Xianghuai and Huai dynasties. Among them, the main representatives were Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, Li Hongzhang and Sheng Xuanhuai, and 5 others were involved, including Yuan Shikai and Xu Yingqi. Although Duan Fang, Kui Jun and others did not participate, they also supported southeast mutual protection.
Among the main delegates, Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, and Li Hongzhang served as the governors of Liangjiang, Huguang, and Liangguang, respectively. After the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing, Li Hongzhang was entrusted with full authority to negotiate peace with the coalition forces, and died of illness shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Xinugu, and the Qing government posthumously awarded him a marquis of the first rank. Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong remained in their original posts, and in 1902, Liu Kunyi fell ill and died in office. Zhang Zhidong became the most powerful feudal official within the Qing government until Cixi entered Beijing before his death, and died of illness on the eve of the fall of the Qing Dynasty while serving as a scholar of Tirenge University. After the incident subsided, Sheng Xuanhuai, the postal minister who contacted the superintendent in the southeast mutual protection, also rose all the way, and was rewarded with the title of prince and the minister of posts and communications. After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, he was dismissed from his post by the Qing government because of Sheng Xuanhuai's policy of suppressing the "Road Protection Movement".
Among the overseers involved in the "Southeast Mutual Protection", Yuan Shikai, who was then the governor of Shandong, was young and talented. More importantly, he mastered the last strength of the Wu Wei Army, making him soon the most powerful minister in the late Qing Dynasty, and finally forcing the Qing Emperor to abdicate during the Xinhai Revolution. Deokshou, who served as governor of Guangdong, was the only Manchu official to participate in the mutual protection of the southeast, acting as the governor of Liangguang when Li Hongzhang went north to negotiate peace, and later died of illness in 1902 while serving as the governor of Caoyun. Xu Yingqi, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, was not so lucky, and in 1902 he was expelled from his home in 1902 because of the abuses of the imperial history impeachment of the ruling Fujian zhejiang, and he died of illness at home the following year. Wang Zhichun, who was then the governor of Anhui, was later transferred to the governor of Guangxi, and in 1903, he was dismissed from his post for provoking public anger by preempting the French army to suppress the uprising. The most tragic was Liu Shutang, who served as the governor of Zhejiang, who hesitated to protect each other in the southeast, which led to the intensification of the conflict between the militia and foreigners in Zhejiang, and was eventually abandoned by the Qing government, but was dismissed from his post because of his inability to protect foreigners. He was also the only local overseer to be questioned for his involvement in the Southeast Mutual Protection.
Duan Fang and Kui Jun were acting Governors of Shaanxi and Governors of Sichuan, respectively. Although the two did not participate in the Southeast Mutual Insurance, they also openly supported it. Later, both of them continued to move in peace, and Kuijun was transferred from local governor to central official, successively serving as the Punishment Department, the Official Shangshu, and later the Minister of Internal Affairs. After the abdication of the Qing Emperor, he was dismissed by Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government. Duan Fang, on the other hand, served in Huguang, Fujian, Zhejiang, Liangjiang, and Zhili, and on the eve of the Wuchang Uprising, he was ordered to suppress the Road Preservation Movement in Sichuan, and was eventually killed by the mutinous New Army.
In summary, in addition to hesitation, the supervisors who participated in and supported the mutual protection of the southeast were basically not prosecuted. Later, several were dismissed for other reasons, but most of them were not directly related to southeast mutual insurance.
Blatantly resisted why the Qing government was powerless to pursue the matter
In the southeast mutual protection, these local governors openly resisted the order, which was very rare in China's feudal dynasties. At least unique in the history of the Qing Dynasty. And why did Cixi, the de facto ruler of the Qing Dynasty government, not be able to pursue the matter, but instead openly acknowledge the legitimacy of the mutual protection of the southeast?
The Qing government was too weak: during the period of mutual protection in the southeast, the Qing government led by Cixi was estimated to be unable to compete with these local governors in any way, except for its great righteousness. First of all, as mentioned economically, the territory controlled by these governors was the richest area of the Qing Dynasty. Secondly, politically, after the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the local governors, especially the governors in the southeast region, were basically controlled by Han bureaucrats, especially the two major forces of the Xiang and Huai clans were entangled in various parts of the southeast, and even in the central government because of Li Hongzhang and others, the status of Han bureaucrats was greatly improved. Finally, it is more obvious militarily, from the beginning of the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing government's national defense forces were basically replaced by the Xiang army and the Huai army from the southeast, these troops were brought out by Li Hongzhang, Liu Kun and others, and the Qing government really did not necessarily have complete control over these armies. Although the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War caused the Huai army system to suffer heavy setbacks, and the Qing government also established a standing army directly under the Commando, the Wu Wei Army, but the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded the first battle, and the Wu Wei Army was almost completely destroyed, and only Yuan Shikai's Wu Wei Right Army became the only one left because he brought him to Shandong to participate in the southeast mutual protection. Cixi turned around and found that her return to Beijing from Xi'an required the protection of Yuan Shikai, who was involved in the mutual protection of the southeast.
To sum up, during the period of southeast mutual protection, the Qing government fully exposed its weakness, and compared with the local governors who "sat in the southeast", Cixi had no way to pursue them, so she had to openly recognize the legitimacy of the southeast mutual protection and avoid these southeast governors from becoming independent from the Qing government.