"Commemorating the 110th Anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution Series" Wuchang Shouyi Historical Saying No. 4 - Li Yuanhong came to power

【Editor's Note】 On October 10, 1911, a gunshot rang out in Wuchang City, kicking off the prelude to China's modern national democratic revolution in its entirety. Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the Xinhai Revolution he led are the common historical memory of all sons and daughters of China, including Taiwan compatriots. On the occasion of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait commemorating the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution in various ways, starting from today, this website will serialize a series of articles on "The First Uprising of the Wuchang Revolution of the Xinhai Revolution" to reveal the historical truth, remember the revolutionary ancestors, inherit patriotic feelings, and feast on readers on both sides of the strait.

Wuchang Shouyi History No. 4

Li Yuanhong came to power

The "Eighth Battalion of Workers" fired a shot, and the new army's various standards and battalions responded to the wind, fighting fiercely overnight, and recovering the whole city of Wuchang. At this time, the urgent task facing the revolutionaries is to establish revolutionary power in a timely manner. The Alliance was unprepared for the rapid arrival of victory in the Wuchang Uprising, with Sun Yat-sen in the United States and Huang Xing stranded in Hong Kong. The joint command organs of the Literary Society and the Communist Progressive Association, which directly prepared the uprising, were destroyed on the eve of the uprising, and their leaders were either killed, imprisoned, or forced to flee. The rapid development of the situation urgently requires someone to come out and preside over the major government. As a result, Li Yuanhong, the commander of the Twenty-First Mixed Association of the Qing Army, who was originally opposed to the revolution, was pushed onto the revolutionary stage under this special circumstance.

Li Yuanhong, a native of Huangpi, Hubei Province, graduated from the Tianjin Beiyang Marine Division, participated in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, was deeply appreciated by Zhang Zhidong, a major bureaucrat of the Western Affairs Faction, and was "jianba" as the twenty-first mixed association (brigade) of the new army. Li Yuanhong paid attention to recruiting intellectuals into the army and adopted new methods to train troops, which had a certain influence among soldiers, especially among some intellectual officers and soldiers. When the uprising broke out on October 10, Li Yuanhong immediately gathered all the officers and men of the 41st Biao (Regiment) of the 41st Battalion in the conference hall to prevent and prevent them from participating in the uprising, and killed two revolutionaries with his own hands. When he learned that Rui And Zhang Biao had fled one after another and that the Qing court's general situation in Wuchang had gone, Li Yuanhong hid in the home of a staff officer. On the morning of the 11th, several rebel soldiers found Li Yuanhong and forcibly took him to chuwangtai, the temporary headquarters of the uprising. At that time, the insurrectionists only thought that the uprising was sudden and leaderless, and that they needed to use Lai's fame to promote the revolution, but they did not and did not have time to examine Li's attitude toward the revolution. On the afternoon of the 11th, Li Yuanhong looked depressed and listlessly sandwiched himself in the crowd and walked into the Hubei Provincial Consultative Bureau set up in the horse parade. The revolutionary party and the constitutionalists discussed the establishment of a military government here, and Li Yuanhong was elected as the governor of the military government as soon as he arrived. Li Yuanhong was attached to the Qing Room and insisted on resigning. Revolutionary Li Yidong took out the "Notice of Anmin" that had been drawn up long ago and signed it to Li, and Li Lian shouted "Don't harm me, don't harm me" and refused to write it. Li Yidong picked up a pen to write a "Li" character, and Li Yuanhong was then taken care of.

The revolutionaries elected Li Yuanhong as the governor of the capital, subjectively only to expand the influence of the uprising through Li Yuanhong's position and momentum, not to give real power to The Lai clan. As early as April before the uprising, the main leaders of the Literary Society and the Communist Progressive Association, Jiang Yiwu and Sun Wu, discussed in the Hongshan Pagoda that once the matter was completed, Li Yuanhong was temporarily elected as the temporary governor, and then he was replaced according to the development of the situation. After Li Yuanhong was elected as the governor, the revolutionaries immediately organized a strategic office to work in the governor's office and handle all military and political affairs. The constitutionalists, on the other hand, "embraced Li," but had other plans. They had close ties with the feudal forces and vigorously opposed the armed "overthrow of the Qing" in an attempt to restrain and restrict the revolution through the "Li DuDu". If the revolutionaries gain power, they will be in the revolutionary field and rely on The Lê to gain an official and a half-post. Tang Hualong, speaker of the Hubei Consultative Bureau of the Qing Dynasty, was the leading figure of the Constitutionalists in Hubei, and was the minister of civil affairs when the Hubei military government was established. Within a few days, Tang Hualong changed the Ministry of Civil Affairs into the Ministry of Political Affairs, covering seven bureaus of foreign affairs, internal affairs, finance, justice, transportation, clerical affairs, and organization, and the military government was controlled by all old-school figures. The revolutionaries soon saw through the tactics of the Constitutionalists, abolished the Ministry of Political Affairs, and changed the bureaus to which they belonged into ministries, with the revolutionaries in charge, leaving only Tang Hualong with the idle post of a director of the establishment.

Li Yuanhong was pressed by the revolutionaries on the seat of the governor, and his soul did not guard the house, and he did not say a word all day long, like a "bodhisattva" in the Guiyuan Temple. However, Li Yuanhong was not a clay sculpture of wood, he watched the wind and steered the rudder, saw the rapid development of the revolutionary situation, and actively began to move. Taking advantage of the political immaturity of the revolutionaries, he firmly grasped the Great Seal of the Governor of the Capital, fought and pulled within the revolutionary ranks, and gradually consolidated his political position.

On October 12, the new qing dynasty troops stationed in Hanyang and Hankou were reversed one after another, and all three towns in Wuhan were restored. On the same day, Liu Ying, the leader of the Communist Progressive Association, revolted at the Yonglong River in Jingshan County, gathering tens of thousands of people to ride between Jingshan and Tianmen, and successively recovering Qianjiang and Jianli. On the 13th, the Hanchuan uprising, the outskirts of Wuhan tended to consolidate. The rapid development of the revolutionary situation enabled Li Yuanhong to see clearly the future of his soaring and soaring. He cut off his braided hair, indicating that he would break with the Qing court and join the revolution. In order to raise his stature, Li Yuanhong held an antique swearing-in ceremony at the parade. On October 17, Li Yuanhong dressed in military uniforms, "royal horses" left the palace, surrounded by guards on stage. The revolutionary Tan Renfeng gave him a banner and a sword. Li Yuanhong offered sacrifices to heaven and earth and took the oath of office. Since then, Li Yuanhong has regarded himself as a revolutionary leader, commanded the overall situation, and has become deeper and deeper, and it is impossible for the revolutionaries to replace him anymore.

When Li Yuanhong came to power, the leadership of the district where the Xinhai Revolution was headed fell into the hands of former imperial court officials and old-fashioned soldiers. The bourgeois revolutionaries charged into battle, stained their clothes with blood, and followed by their predecessors, singing and weeping. However, the weakness and naivety of the Chinese national bourgeoisie have made them ridiculed by history. At that critical moment when the first righteousness was victorious over Wuchang and the Nationalist Army lacked the need for seniors to command the overall situation, Li Yuanhong came to power, and although it played a certain role in promoting the rapid expansion of the revolution, it caused a large number of old bureaucrats and old soldiers to mix into the revolutionary camp, laying deep hidden dangers for the Xinhai Revolution. (Author Shan Wu)

(This article is a submitted work and does not represent the views of Taiwan.com)