In costume dramas, we can often see scenes of former courtiers sighing at the country that has changed hands. Due to the limitations of the historical view, for these feudal remnants, changing dynasties is tantamount to the destruction of the country and the death of the family, and there will naturally be no destination emotionally. Therefore, in order to restore the glory of the previous dynasty, the widows with temperament will fight the last bit of strength to fight the new dynasty to the end.
Like the late Qing Dynasty, in fact, when Tongzhi came to power, the foundation of the Qing Dynasty was already quite shaky. Later, the power fell into the hands of Cixi, which undoubtedly accelerated the demise. And those important Qing dynasty ministers who were in the whirlpool of the times, such as Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan, could they not feel the collapse of the Qing Dynasty? The answer is clearly no.
Therefore, in order to avoid the demise of the Qing Dynasty, they also exhausted their efforts. For example, Li Hongzhang spent most of his life wandering for the Qing Dynasty, and also engaged in a vigorous foreign affairs movement, created the Beiyang Marine Division, and jokingly called himself a framer of the Qing Dynasty. However, with personal strength, how can we stop the rolling wheel of history?
With the defeat of the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, the Beiyang Marine Division was completely destroyed. Li Hongzhang was also completely dead-hearted, and soon after the signing of the Treaty of Maguan on behalf of Cixi, Li Gongtang died. The only comforting thing is that Li Hongzhang did not see the fall of the Qing Dynasty in the end.
However, for Doroth Shengyun, everything is a bit cruel. He was the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and in 1912, when Puyi abdicated, he was still trying to continue his life for the Qing Dynasty, and almost laid a foundation for Puyi. However, the emperors have all surrendered, and to whom should Doroth Shengyun's painstaking efforts be entrusted? It can only be turned into unwillingness and bear it alone. In the year of Puyi's abdication, what did Doroth Shengyun specifically do?
Doroth Shengyun was considered a late bloomer, and it was not until 1900 that he sat on the Shanxi Order. However, in the year of Puyi's rise to power, Doroth Shengyun was dismissed from office for respecting imperial power and opposing constitutional monarchy. It was not until the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising that he was appointed and dismissed by the Qing court as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, responsible for the qing suppression of the revolutionary army.
However, the good times did not last long, and while Doroth Shengyun was leading the Eight Banners Army on the front line to fight in bloody battles, news came from Beijing that Empress Longyu had issued an edict, and Puyi had abdicated. This meant the complete demise of the Qing Dynasty, but Doroth Shengyun was reluctant to accept this fact. He sent a series of urgent reports to prevent Puyi from abdicating, but did not get a response.
After Puyi abdicated, the grief and indignation in Doroth Shengyun's heart immediately turned into a powerful fighting force. In the name of King Qin, he launched a general offensive against the revolutionary army in Xi'an City, and even won back 10%. At first, he wanted to open up Xi'an for Puyi as a base for reviving the Qing Dynasty, but he did not expect that a few months later, he had recovered more than a dozen cities of all sizes in Shaanxi. Almost the whole of Shaanxi was taken back from the hands of the revolutionary army.
However, Puyi did not pay attention to him, and according to the Regulations on Preferential Treatment of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi was still happy and happy in the palace after his abdication. After all, Doroth Shengyun was alone, and even if he briefly captured Shaanxi, he was finally beaten back by the mighty revolutionary army.
Even so, Doroth Shengyun did not give up hope of restoration. In 1913, he traveled alone to Japan, trying to seek overseas power to restore the Qing Dynasty. In Japan, he also joined the Zongshe Party, a party made up of remnants of the Manchu Imperial Family dedicated to restoration. However, as the domestic situation changed, the Japanese side decided to abandon its support for the Zongshe Party, and the party was dissolved.
Disheartened, Doroth Shengyun eventually returned to China, but he still did not give up, and he always wanted to restore the Qing court through the hands of the Japanese. Later, during World War I, the Japanese drove out Germany and became the new colonists in the Qingdao area of Shandong. Doroth Shengyun also deliberately ran to Shandong to join the Japanese army, hoping to form an army to restore.
However, Doroth Shengyun did not wait for the day of the Qing court's restoration. Shortly after the outbreak of the September 18 Incident in 1931, Doroth Shengyun died, and when he was dying, he not only did not see the revival of the Qing Dynasty, but even Puyi later became a puppet emperor.
Doroth Shengyun's life perfectly interprets the former dynasty's widow's grief over the fall of the dynasty, compared with Li Hongzhang, Doroth Shengyun's misfortune lies in the fact that he fully witnessed the demise of the Qing Dynasty and became a true former dynasty widow. Even though he foresaw the fall of the Qing Dynasty and went to great lengths to stop it. Perhaps in the feudal era, this kind of behavior can still be respected by future generations. But in modern times, it can only be regarded as an old stubbornness.