Pei Gaocai (center) witnesses the encounter between Sun Yat-sen's great-nephew Sun Bida and Li Yuanhong's grandson Li Changjin (right).
After the success of the Wuchang Uprising, the "non-partisan" Li Yuanhong (1864-1928, songqing, because he was a native of Huangpi, Hubei, historically known as "Li Huangpi" or "Huangpi") was forced by the revolutionaries to be the governor of the capital. Then, Lai became the first politician of the Republic of China with two presidents and three vice presidents. However, the rumors about the "governor under the bed" over the past hundred years are different. The author spent thirty years searching for relevant people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, searching for first-hand historical materials, and after careful examination, in the first biographical literary work of Li Yuanhong, "Li Yuanhong, The Governor of Shouyi Dadu Li Yuanhong" (by Pei Gaocai, the first edition of the China Literature and History Society, the revised edition of the Hubei Education Publishing House), for the first time, the "Du Under the Bed" was "fried" out of the Minchu novel.
cause
The cause of the incident was that before the "Second Revolution", Li Yuanhong colluded with Yuan Shikai to deceive Zhang Zhenwu (a former deputy director of the Military Affairs Department of the Hubei Military Government, together with Sun Wu and Jiang Yiwu, called "Sanwu") to Beijing, and killed Zhang on August 16, 1912. After the incident, the whole country denounced "Yuan Min Thief" and "Li Butcher". The Wuhan regional press has also triggered a public opinion war about the "governor under the bed".
In early February 1912, the League and the Literary Society founded the Minxin Bao and the Aurora Minbao in Doujieying Street in Wuchang City, the main purpose of which was to support Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing, and rebuke Yuan Shikai and Li Yuanhong; the Shanghai Minsheng Daily was in direct opposition to them, supporting Yuan and Li and belittling Sun and Huang. In early August of the same year, the Shanghai Minli Bao published a message from Hubei: "The Wuchang Nanhu Artillery Brigade launched a campaign to overthrow Li and was suppressed. The message came from a telegram from the Hubei News Agency. On August 5, Li Yuanhong arrested Ran Jianhong, head of the Hubei News Agency, on charges of "spreading rumors by telegraphs and shaking people's minds," and prepared to "bring the law to justice" immediately. Later, due to protests in Various Newspapers in Shanghai, Ran Jianhong was sentenced to only two years in prison.
The "Dajiang Bao" was also criticized because the chief writer He Haiming constantly exposed the corruption of Hubei's military and political circles, especially the article "The Current Situation of the Evil Government", which sharply attacked Yuan Shikai's government. Therefore, Li Yuanhong fabricated charges such as "undermining the republic" and ordered the arrest of people on August 8. The next day, he sent a telegram to the whole country accusing the "Dajiang Bao" of exclusively adopting anarchism and, in order to plot against the organs that deviate from the law, demand that all localities strictly arrest He Haiming and Ling Datong, the chief writers of the "Dajiang Bao," and bring the law to justice on the spot.
To this end, Cai Jiou, a veteran newspaperman, indignantly published an article in the "People's Heart Daily" entitled "Lamenting the Great River News", "Fu Li Yuanhong is just a mediocre person's ear." The hero did not come out, so he made Shuzi famous", mocking Li Yuanhong for fleeing to Gedian after the fall of Yangxia, and was the "escaped governor" who was "good at singing the empty city plan". After Li Yuanhong saw this, he ordered cai ji'ou to be arrested and taken to the governor's mansion for questioning.
The "People's Heart Daily" was led by Jiang Yiwu, the founder of shouyi, who rushed to intercede. Li Yuanhong had to let people go, but the "People's Heart" was stillborn.
hype
After the "Zhang Zhenwu case" occurred, the two major newspapers in wuhan, "Aurora Minbao" and "Qunbao", were very active, and today you made a move, and tomorrow he responded to the battle and launched a public opinion war against Lebanon and pro-Lebanon.
"Aurora Minbao" was co-hosted by the famous party members Wan Siyin and Zhang Yuntian. After Cai Jiou was hired as the chief writer, he first published an editorial in the "Aurora Minbao", accusing Li Yuanhong of hiding under the bed at the time of the uprising, known as the "Governor under the bed"; after the fall of Hanyang, he abandoned the city and absconded, becoming the "Fleeing Governor". In this regard, the "Qun Bao" vigorously defended, saying that Li Yuanhong "hid under the bed, feeling the inadequacy and conspiracy of the shaft; abandoning the city and fleeing was to imitate Kong Ming's empty city plan."
The two main writers, Ma Yema and Cai Jiou, also wrote two satirical novels in a documentary manner, in a literary or half-written and half-white style, respectively, "The Legend of the Hero Under the Bed" and "The Legend of the New Empty City Plan", which were continuously published in the "Aurora People's Daily".
In the "Biography of the Hero Under the Bed", Ma Yema wrote in vernacular: The day after the success of the Wuchang Uprising, the soldiers rushed to the inner room of Li Yuanhong's staff officer Liu Wenji to search the inner room, and found no trace of Li Yuanhong everywhere, only the trembling sound of the wooden bed could be faintly heard. The light under the bed was so dim that they couldn't see clearly, so they shouted in a frightened tone, "What man?" If you don't come out again, I'll shoot!" Li Shi, who was hiding under the bed and shivering, hurriedly said: "Don't, don't, don't, I, I, I'm Li Yuanhong, Li Mou is not mean when he usually leads soldiers, why do you want to be embarrassed with me?" Li still refused to come out. The soldiers had no choice but to lift the bed, pull the people out, and drag Li out from under the bed.
Cai Jiou wrote in the "Legend of the New Empty City Plan": "Capture the revolutionary head-grabbing merits, repay the royal knighthood, earn 20,000 yuan in silver, and repair the golden house." "For a time, it sensationalized the three towns, affected the whole country, and the circulation increased again and again."
After Li Yuanhong saw it, he was extremely angry and sent Chen Heqin, commander of the gendarmerie, and Xu Zhongzhong, general manager of the Yangtze River Minsheng Bank, to the newspaper hall to threaten and induce them to stop loading. Unmoved, Cai Ji'ou said, "Freedom of speech, enshrined in the covenant law, Junwude interferes with the ear!" Chen took out a bank check and a pistol and forced Cai to take a stand. He replied calmly, "The check is not a remnant, and the gun is not feared by yu, and it is okay to do whatever you want!" ”
In January 1912, the French magazine reported that Li Yuanhong, the governor of Shouyi, was the governor. Courtesy of Chen Yong
Since the Aurora Minbao was located in the British Concession of Hankou, the Lê clan was out of reach. He then used the "Improvement Regiment Incident" to weave a prison sentence, arrest cai jiou, Deng Fanyan, and Ma Yema, and ask the British consul to extradite them. Cai Jiou and others were forced to leave Jiangxi, and the Aurora Minbao was finally shut down. However, Li Shi was said to be the "governor under the bed", so he did not shy away.
The truth
So what exactly is the "Governor under the bed"? Hu Zushun, who participated in the Wuchang uprising and served as the military staff officer of Li Yuanhong's Ejun Governor's Office, said in the "Records of the Founding of Wuchang" that after the success of the first uprising, Li Yuanhong learned that he was asked to serve as the governor and resolutely refused. After good words and persuasion, he was still indifferent, "The crowd is impatient, but some people know: I wait for good intentions to come, but respect the commander- and command; if I insist on not going, I will take trouble!" Li hesitated: I will go and I will go! ”
Another party in the first righteousness, Li Xiping (formerly known as Li Yidong), wrote an article entitled "Chronicle of the Wuchang Uprising", which listed three kinds of rumors: "Some are said to have been taken out of his room, some are said to have been taken out from under his bed, and some are said to have been blackmailed from the staff officer's house..."
On October 20, 1911, Li Yuanhong himself wrote to Admiral Sa Zhenbing of the Navy, claiming that he was "after the hiding room, when he was asked to be executed".
There are two people who really record the "Governor under the bed" in the official history of the Kuomintang: one is the "Draft History of the Kuomintang in China" written by Zou Lu, an elder of the Kuomintang and former president of Sun Yat-sen University (Shanghai Minzhi Bookstore, the eighteenth year edition of the Republic of China); the other is "The History of the Revolution of the Republic of China" edited by Wen Zhen (Gongzhi) (all one volume, Shanghai Yixin Book Bureau, January 24th edition of the Republic of China). Both books refer to him as a revolutionary who was found under his bed in his apartment.
Feng Tianyu of the "Jingchu Bunko" "History of the First Righteousness of Xinhai (Upper and Lower Volumes)"
The relevant statements of Hu Hanmin, the elder of the Kuomintang, are inconsistent. On April 12, 1912, when he accompanied Sun Yat-sen on a visit to Wuhan, he praised Li Yuanhong, saying: "If there is no call for vice president Li's situation, the provinces will not respond like a storm; and if it is not the prudence of vice president Li, the Northern Army will not be easy to sponsor the republic." Later, however, he said in his autobiography: "Li Chu came out with the help of a revolutionary party, and he was called 'the governor under the bed.'" ”
Mr. Feng Tianyu, a famous historian, pointed out in the "History of Xinhai" that Zou, Wen, and Hu were not witnesses of The First Yi of Wuchang, and what they said was only rumors such as "saying it" or "knowing", and did not list any evidence. Scholars believe that the early records of the first righteousness of Wuchang are most famous for Cao Abel's "True History of the Wuchang Revolution", Zhang Nanxian's "Record of Hubei Revolution Knowledge", and Hu Zushun's "Sixty Talks about the Past".
Yu Jiaju, an educator with rigorous academic discipline, said: "These writers all participated in the actual activities at that time, and their knowledge was more real. Cao Jun's collection of documents at that time was very rich, Zhang Shu's examination was very thorough, and Hu Shu's narrative was extremely vivid. None of the above three books has the term "governor under the bed". Well-known experts and scholars on both sides of the strait also questioned the "Governor under the bed" at the academic seminar on "Li Yuanhong, Governor of Shouyi Dadu," from the perspective of historiography and common sense of the human body. Because at this time, Li Shi, whose body was already blessed, could not have slipped under the bed to hide. Therefore, the saying of "governor under the bed" has a cause and there is no solid evidence.
Zhang Kaiyuan Preface Pei Gaocai wrote the manuscript of "Li Yuanhong, the Governor of Shouyi Dadu"
At the end, let's take Mr. Zhang Kaiyuan's words as the conclusion of this article. Mr. Zhang wrote in the preface to the humble work "Li Yuanhong":
"Wuchang is the district of Xinyi, Li Yuanhong on the road to the Chinese to the republic, although the steps are faltering, bumpy and tortuous, but after all, he is also one of the forerunners of the first step, we should give the necessary respect." At the same time, as Zhang Xiao said, we must also look at this historical figure with a "fair mentality and a broad vision", "do not love his strengths and protect his shortcomings, do not hate his transgressions and fail to do anything; cherish talents for the world, and save justice for all generations." ’”