In late January 1895, Sun Wen arrived in Hong Kong. After a month of gatherings and discussions, on February 21, Sun Wen, together with Chen Shaobai and Zheng Shiliang (Sun Wen's former classmates), Yang Quyun, Xie Mutai, and others, decided to merge the Honolulu Xingzhong Association with the Furen Cultural Society to establish the Hong Kong Xingzhong Association, and to make it the first revolutionary organization founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen ——— the "Xingzhong Association" including the Honolulu Xingzhong Association.
The Xingzhong Association was established
But it is not easy to overthrow the corrupt Qing Dynasty, and although the Xingzhong Association was established at this time, it has neither money nor people, no money and no weapons, and no one has a revolutionary contingent to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.
First of all, Sun Yat-sen led the members of the Xingzhong Association to carry out extensive propaganda and speeches on the revolution in places where there were many overseas Chinese, such as Honolulu and the United States, exposing the corruption and backwardness of the Qing court, and calling on everyone to donate charity.
Sun Yat-sen with overseas Chinese
Most of the overseas Chinese left their hometowns and came abroad to work hard to earn a living, most of them formed families, but there were still family members and relatives in the Qing Dynasty. Under the propaganda of Sun Yat-sen, a considerable number of overseas Chinese were very enthusiastic, and the wealthy businessman Huang Yongshang not only joined the Xingzhong Association, but even sold a house in Hong Kong, and all the money obtained was handed over to the organization.
The problem of money can only be regarded as partially solved, after all, the number of overseas Chinese at that time was limited in number and economic ability. So Mr. Nakayama thought of another way - to find rich people to help.
In 1892, Dr. Sun Yat-sen practiced medicine in Macau and met Liu Xueyuan. Liu Xue consulted the Xiangshan people, the son of a comprador, a wealthy family, in our words today, a veritable "rich second generation". Although Liu Xueyuan also passed the entrance examination and became an alternate official at the imperial court level (alternate Dao), he did not go to the official field, but his son inherited his father's business and went to the sea to do business. Liu Xueyuan once had a sore on his crotch, and it was obvious that it was not very convenient for this kind of secret disease in the private part to find Chinese medicine. So Liu Xueqian found Sun Yat-sen, who was practicing medicine at that time, under the introduction of his friends, and was cut by Sun Yat-sen with a knife, and he had a good feeling for Sun Yat-sen from then on.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Liu Xueyuan, a famous merchant during the Republic of China period
So Sun Yat-sen returned to Guangzhou from abroad, preparing to get some revolutionary funds from Liu Xuequan, and he gave Liu Xuexuan and his plan for the Guangzhou uprising. Unexpectedly, Liu Xueyuan was very supportive of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause, and Lord Liu mobilized rich friends to donate money for Sun Yat-sen, totaling "more than 30,000 silver sponsors."
The question of money has finally been temporarily solved, and the next step is the question of the revolutionary contingent. Therefore, the main members of the Xingzhong Association were divided into three roads, and Yang Quyun, who was familiar with Hong Kong, continued to raise funds and form a revolutionary team in Hong Kong. Zheng Shiliang sneaked back to his hometown in Guangdong and formed a rebel army in shantou's coastal area. Sun Wen and Chen Shaobai sneaked back to Guangzhou, plus Lu Haodong, who had specially arrived from Shanghai, and the three of them prepared to set up a general headquarters for the uprising in Guangzhou, and in the future they would command the revolutionary uprising in a unified way!
In September 1895, the total number of the Three-Way Revolutionary Brigade soon increased to more than 3,000.
In the early morning of the ninth month of September 1895, Sun Wen quietly waited for the arrival of the planned Third Route Army at the general headquarters in Guangzhou. According to the original plan, the Three Route Army should have arrived, but there was no trace of the results. At about 8 o'clock in the morning, a thunderbolt-like secret message came on a sunny day. Zheng Shiliang reported: On the way, he was intercepted by (officers and men), and it was difficult to advance. Another telegram from Hong Kong from Yang Quyun was also sent to Sun Wen: Goods (i.e., people) cannot come! What Sun Wen didn't know was that their wind and noise had already leaked out, and Li Jiazhuo, the fast catcher in Guangzhou, had already set his sights on the general headquarters. Although there were some small-scale fierce battles that followed, the first uprising had by this time actually failed—because of a man's outright betrayal. (There may be other people, but this person is the most critical)
Wong Wing Sang, a member of the Hsing Chung Association, has a very famous and wealthy brother-in-law, surnamed Wei, named Tingjun, and the character Bao Shan, who is a bank comprador in Hong Kong, and his titles include Justice of the Peace of Hong Kong, Squire of the Youth League Defense Bureau, Prime Minister of Tung Wah Hospital, Prime Minister of Po Leung Kuk for life, and so on. In short, this is a figure who is in and out of Hong Kong's high society. Wei Baoshan knew that Huang Yongshang joined the Xingzhong Association, and even many secret meetings of the Guangzhou Uprising were held at Wei Baoshan's home. It can be seen that everyone did not regard him as an outsider, and Wei Baoshan supported the uprising.
On the day before the uprising, on the eighth day of September, Zhu Qi, a member of the Xingzhong Association who was responsible for drafting the text for the uprising in Guangzhou, was discovered by his brother Zhu Xiang. Zhu Xiang was not a member of the Xingzhong Association, so he surrendered himself to Li Jiazhuo in the name of Zhu Qi. In fact, Zhu Xiang's voluntary surrender did not play a decisive role, and people spoke softly, and at that time, the governor of Liangguang did not believe that there were any revolutionary troops who wanted to revolt. However, because of Zhu Qi's self-surrender, Wei Baoshan, who originally supported the uprising, could not sit still, he was a "red-top businessman" in the two places, and if the failure of the uprising was found to involve him, then his business would be difficult to do in the future.
Sir Wei Baoshan
Therefore, Wei Baoshan, on the one hand, reported the revolutionary uprising to the British government in Hong Kong, and on the other hand to the governor of Liangguang in Guangzhou, so that Lord Wei could continue to play a good role as a two-sided detective in Guangdong and Hong Kong, curry favor with both places, and make new contributions. The governor of Liangguang was thoroughly convinced that there was a revolutionary uprising, and the plan for the first revolution was completely leaked.
Lord Wei completed his task and played the role he should play. A year later, he was elected to the Hong Kong Legislative Council and in his later years (1919) he was knighted by the British Royal Family as a rare Chinese, known as "Lord Wai".