At the end of the nineteenth century, after the failure of the Penghu Reform Law, the imperialist powers began to divide China, and the Qing government increasingly became a tool for the great powers to rule China. In this situation, the anti-imperialist and patriotic Boxer Rebellion broke out in Shandong, and under the influence of the Boxer Rebellion, a series of martial arts also broke out in various parts of Hunan
The pretend uprising formed another climax of the uprising in the modern history of Hunan, of which the patriotic uprising against foreign religions led by He Jinsheng was the largest.
He Jinsheng was born in 1853, Shaoyang County, Luanshanling (now Shaodong County, TanshanPu Township), in 1881 to take the Xiucai examination, after several times to participate in the township examination, the name of Sun Shan, he was at home bent on being a squire, because he was heroic and righteous, but also knew the book and reason, naturally became a local folk leader. It was during this period that he had contacts with the Brotherhood and was always sympathetic and supportive of the Boxer Rebellion and the anti-church aggressive struggle that had emerged at that time.
In 1900, the "Boxers" rebellion in the north, the Eight-Nation Alliance army entered the city of Beijing, Cixi fled to Xi'an with Guangxu, and the national crisis was unprecedented. The Hunan people, who had a strong personality since ancient times, were naturally not willing to be lonely, and in addition, among the missionaries at that time, there were indeed those who used extraterritorial power to run amok, and among the Xiang people who were still brave and brave, they were particularly prone to hatred for foreigners. During this time, the Hengzhou teaching case broke out in Hunan, and Hengyang and Shaoyang were adjacent, especially in the Shaodong area, which was closer to Hengyang. Many Shaoyang villagers were indignant and went to Hengyang to show their support.
Zhang Zhidong, the supreme commander of the two lakes, signed an agreement with the great powers on "southeast mutual protection" at this time, and of course did not want to see the spark burning in the wilderness, so that the results of the "southeast mutual protection" were destroyed, so he ordered Hunan Inspector Yu Lian to suppress the three bombs. The Governor of Hunan, Yu Liansan, was jealous of He Jinsheng's prestige and feared that he was involved, so he adopted a policy of recruiting security and recruited him as the right camp pipe belt of the patrol battalion.
After He Jinsheng took office, he put forward a series of proposals for "advocating hegemony," and put forward "anti-peace proposals," "saving the Beijing division," "rushing to the front," "saving Sangzi," and "painting the land to defend oneself and support the army and consolidate oneself," but they have not been adopted, and He Jinsheng is very dissatisfied with this. At this time, the situation of anti-church aggression in the province was getting higher and higher, and there were constant conflicts between people and religions in Chenzhou, Pingjiang, Qiyang and other places. Therefore, He Jinsheng resigned his provincial relatives to return to Shaoyang, organized a rebel army, and prepared for an uprising.
On September 18, 1902, He Jinsheng formally revolted at Yutian Bridge in Dongxiang, Shaoyang, declaring the rebel army as the "Annihilation Of Foreign Army" and making himself a grand marshal, with Su Daosheng and Zhao Zigui as the left and right army divisions. The rebel contingent was divided into four roads, with Qiao Zhichen, Zhao Tiezhao, Zhao Yi, and Jiang Wanglong as the four generals, and Liu Zhaopeng as the vanguard of the former enemy.
After the news of He Jinsheng's announcement of the uprising came out, zeng zudao, Zhao Zhanting, Li Jianting, Su Dejian, Li Yisheng, Peng Luxian, and other leaders of the Brotherhood in Shaoyang, Hengyang, Xiangxiang, Xinning, wugang, and other places led the crowd to defect. The peasant masses around them were also oppressed by the church and joined the army even more enthusiastically. Many lower-level intellectuals and officials also threw themselves into it. The rebel forces developed extremely quickly, and in a short period of time, the ranks had grown to tens of thousands. Yu Kangsan, the governor of Hunan, described in his report to his superiors that those who surrendered to the army were like "ants attached to the rice set".
At this time, the Hengyang missionary Zhu Er and others to spy on the rebels were captured by the rebels and the masses and executed. After receiving the favor, He Jinsheng also informed Pan Qing and Chen Yulin, the prefect of Baoqing, that "we will send our relatives to dispatch our relatives to the Place of Iraq and handle the crime of Burning Zhu Er, otherwise, we will certainly have about a few hundred people coming to the city to search for them on the seventeenth and eighth days!" Frightened, Shaoyang Fu County hurriedly sent away the German foreigner Kang Man and others in accordance with the instructions of the inspector to "protect the foreigners".
In order to expand the ranks, He Jinsheng issued a notice of recruitment, claiming to recruit 20 battalions, and then changed the number of battalions to 50, and the masses participating were quite enthusiastic. His old troops also led teams to return. He Jinsheng took advantage of the situation and led hundreds of pro-soldiers to enter Shaoyang County, searched for foreigners, and printed "Texts on Persuading Priests from Various Countries" and "Books on Taking Teaching Prisoners" and posted them everywhere. He Jinsheng's actions greatly angered Yu Liansan, who ordered BaoqingFu County to maintain the arrest of He Jinsheng and others.
On September 20, He Jinsheng learned from his friend's secret letter that Yu Liansan had secretly ordered the county government to spread a network everywhere with the intention of arresting him, and immediately convened a key secret discussion, ordering him to immediately dismiss the recruits and evacuate Baoqing City to avoid being implicated. On September 25, Pan Qing, the prefect of Baoqing, Chen Yulin of Zhixian County, and Wu Shusheng, the instructor of Zhixian County, falsely claimed to have invited He Jinsheng to discuss important matters and trapped He Jinsheng. Also arrested were Zhao Student, Su Daosheng and others. On September 26, He knew that he would die, so he wrote four letters overnight, one to Yu Liansan, one to his mother, one to his relatives and friends, and one to his people. And he wrote his own elegy: "Seeing death as a return as soon as it is, saying what force is sawn and cooked, it makes people afraid; and it is safe and regrettable, but the world is upside down and suffering, which makes me sad." After He Jinsheng and the others were trapped, Baoqingfu County, fearing that the rebels and the masses would rob and make trouble, immediately escorted them to the provincial capital, and the rebel troops and the brave ones they had recruited in the future were also disarmed and disbanded by the Qing army without any preparation, and some who tried to resist were brutally suppressed.
After Yu Liansan arrested He Jinsheng, fearing that the masses and the elder brothers would rob him, he secretly ordered the law to be brought to justice on the spot, and He Jinsheng was killed in Qingshuping, Xiangxiang, while being escorted from Shaoyang to Changsha.
Although He Jinsheng's uprising was nipped in the bud, his patriotic and anti-imperialist courage and spirit of seeing death as a homecoming are always worth learning. A generation has the responsibility of a generation, a generation has a generation of mission, in that era of serious national crisis, He Jinsheng bravely shouldered his own responsibility and mission, worthy of the "dare to be the first" Hunan people.