On October 10, 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out. All over the country, the tide of uprisings has sprung up. The Xinhai Revolution in Jiangsu began in Shanghai (Shanghai was then part of Jiangsu). Then there are Suzhou, Jiangyin, Changshu and other places. Nanjing was relatively late, and it was not until November 8 that a dozen battles of Yuhuatai took place. At this time, Hankou had been lost, Wuchang was also in danger, and Nanjing became the key to the successful development of the Xinhai Revolution.
The Battle of Yuhuatai of the Xinhai Revolution killed Mazuka
The situation after the Wuchang Uprising
After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, the "Central General Association of the Chinese League" in Shanghai held an emergency meeting to discuss and instigate uprisings in Shanghai, Nanjing, and other places.
On November 3, Shanghai took the lead in launching an uprising. Chen Qimei organized a death squad to charge and attack the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. But he himself was unfortunately captured in battle, and by the morning of the 4th, the rebel army took down the manufacturing bureau and rescued him in a room next to the toilet, "Comrades opened the shackles, put down the braids, he was numb and could not move."
After that, Suzhou, Jiangyin, Changshu, Haimen, Tongzhou, and within a few days, hundreds of miles of strategically important places in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were successively taken by the revolutionaries.
Nanjing, then known as Jiangning, connected Wuchu and controlled the north and south, and was an important military town and political center in southeast China, and if this city was conquered, it would definitely have a great political and military impact.
However, the Qing court's strength in Nanjing was very strong, and inside and outside the city, there were patrol troops, the governor's guard, the flag battalion, and the Jiang defense army led by Zhang Xun, the viceroy of Jiangnan, a total of about 20,000 people, collectively known as the old army, most of whom were blindly loyal to the Qing court. Only the ninth town (equivalent to the division) of the New Army was stronger in the revolutionary forces.
After the Gengzi Incident in 1900, the Qing court was forced to implement the New Deal, and in 1905, the ninth town of the New Army was built in Jiangsu, using new weapons. But what the Qing court did not expect was that the new army became a hotbed of revolution. Many knowledgeable young people with revolutionary ideas in Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian and other provinces signed up for the army. Some revolutionaries joined in order to gain military power. They carried out activities in the forces of the Forces nouvelles, recruited comrades and recruited officers and men into the revolutionary Party organizations. As far as the New Nine Towns are concerned, its core figures are zhao sheng of the ninth town, the seventeenth association and the thirty-third standard commander (regiment leader) of the ninth town, and the Zhenjiang people.
Zhao Sheng successively recruited dozens of middle- and lower-level officers from the Ninth Town and teachers and students from Nanjing Jiangnan Lushi Academy and other schools, Bai Wenwei and Leng Suo, to join the League, absorbing more soldiers. However, in December 1906, after the Qing court bloodily suppressed the Ping, Li, and Liu uprisings, it strengthened its defenses against the provinces along the Yangtze River. Under the severe situation, Zhao Sheng had to leave the troops and go to Guangdong, Bai Wenwei went to Jilin, and the others either scattered in the clouds or in the invisible troops, and stopped moving. After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, the revolutionaries and middle- and lower-level officers and men in the Ninth Town were excited, eager to try, and tried to respond, but suffered from incompetent leadership.
In order to instigate an armed uprising in Nanjing, the "Central General Association of the League" sent Bai Wenwei and Fan Hongxian to Nanjing on October 25 by Huning bus. They took advantage of Bo Wenwei's old connections to contact the officers and men of the Ninth Town of the New Army and draw up plans for an uprising on October 31.
But at this moment, Zhang Renjun, the governor of Liangjiang, stepped up his defenses against the new army. On the one hand, he gave more ammunition to the old army, and ordered all the Zhang Xun River Defense Troops stationed in Pukou to cross the river and enter the city; at the same time, he ordered the collection of ammunition from the officers and men of the New Army, leaving only 3-5 bullets for garrison service and shooting training. He then ordered the new army of the Ninth Town to leave the city on October 29 and garrison Moling Pass, about 60 miles south of Nanjing. Xu Shaozhen, the commander of the Ninth Town, under the helplessness, sought perfection and organized the standard battalions stationed in Nanjing into a mixed association (equivalent to a brigade) during the First World War, about 7,000 people, who left the city on the evening of October 28 and arrived at Moling Pass at noon on the 29th to encamp. Bo Wenwei's plan for an uprising was shattered.
Nanjing became the key to the victory of the Xinhai Revolution
After the new army left the city and came to Moling Pass, the officers and men were all enraged, opened their bayonets and sabers, prepared for hand-to-hand combat, and were eager to rush to the battlefield immediately and show their skills. After the officers and men of the Ninth Town of the New Army were transferred to Moling Pass, the city of Nanjing was even more chaotic, and Zhang Xunjiang's defense army closed the gates and wantonly hunted down and slaughtered the revolutionaries and all suspicious personnel.
At this time, the revolutionary army in Wuhan was fiercely attacked by the Qing Court Beiyang Army, and on November 2, it lost Hankou, and the situation was critical. Once Wuchang, the land of righteousness, is lost, it will certainly deal a heavy blow to the revolutionaries throughout the country, and may even reverse the revolutionary situation in the whole country.
Chen Qimei, the Central General Association of the Allied Association in Shanghai, and others in Wuchang demanded that Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang regions raise a righteous act as soon as possible to relieve the danger of Wuchang. Nanjing became the key to the victorious development of the Xinhai Revolution.
At this critical time, the Central General Association of the League successively sent Tao Xun, Fan Hongxian, Bai Wenwei, and others to the Ninth Town to carry out work against Xu Shaozhen and other senior officers. The officers and men of the Ninth Town also continuously sent representatives to the town headquarters and asked Xu Shaozhen to "please raise things quickly." Although Xu Shaozhen was a general in the Qing court, he was also influenced by the revolutionary atmosphere long ago, and his heart was long moved. His son Xu Chengshu, who studied at Meiji University in Japan, also wrote to him, saying: "Chinese people, 40,000 people in China, China that is not a surname, rather than being loyal to one surname and one person, how can it be loyal to 40 million people." The martyrs of the ancient loyal subjects, there are those who kill themselves to become benevolent, and their intention is to save the country and save the people, and they are not designed for a surname at the beginning." Xu Shaozhen was determined to revolt. The officers and men of the Ninth Town were further mobilized.
After November 4, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou and other places were conquered one after another and declared independence. After the news came, Xu Shaozhen thought that "the time has come." On the one hand, he sent Hua Yanyun and others to Shanghai to find Chen Qimei, the governor of the Shanghai Army, and asked for help with bullets; on the other hand, he sent people into the city of Nanjing in disguise, secretly contacted friends in the old army, and mobilized them to do a good job in the internal response of the uprising, which lasted for the night of November 8.
On November 6, the officers and men of the Ninth Town received the news that the officers and men of the Eighteenth Association of the Ninth Town, stationed in Zhenjiang, would revolt on November 7, and were greatly encouraged and asked for battle. Xu Shaozhen ordered Shen Tongwu to be the commander-in-chief of the front, led the Mixed Association, and ordered the battalion to be moved down at 1:00 p.m. on November 7, and attacked Yuhuatai on November 8.
Since the ammunition received by the Shanghai side had not arrived, and there was very little ammunition left in the troops, Xu Shaozhen ordered that all the bullets be concentrated and sent to the thirty-fourth standard of the middle road attack unit. But only 5 bullets were fired per person.
On the night of November 7, the day before the officers and men of the Ninth Town decided to revolt on the night of November 8, an uprising by Su Liangbin and others suddenly occurred in the city of Nanjing, disrupting their plans.
Su Liangbin was originally a platoon leader in Mabiao, Ninth Town, but was dismissed from his post for some reason and defected to Wuchang. After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, Su Liangbin, as a liaison officer for the Wuchang Revolutionary Military Government, was sent to Nanjing on November 3 to mobilize the New Army in response to the Wuchang Uprising. In the city of Nanjing, Su Liangbin contacted the patrol battalion and some members of the inspector's guard to prepare for an uprising on the night of November 7. He sent a letter to the New Army of the Ninth Town of Moling Pass outside the city. After the officers and men of the Ninth Town received Su Liangbin's letter, the governor was not good, that is, the original person replied to the letter, and the incident was still about the night of November 8. However, the person who replied to the letter was unable to enter the city that night and could not inform Su Liangbin.
Therefore, under the command of Su Liangbin, the uprising in the city continued on the night of the 7th. At 3 o'clock in the morning of the night, Su Liangbin used the arson and artillery as a trumpet to supervise the rebel officers and men in the guards near the office and the patrol battalion of Han Ximen, a total of about 400 or 500 people, mistakenly believing that the new army had attacked the city, and responded at the same time. The strength of the rebel officers and soldiers was too small, and they were bloodily suppressed by Zhang Xun, and most of them were killed in battle. The military forces in the city that could have responded were broken by each one and almost completely destroyed. At dawn on November 8, Zhang Xun ordered the gates of Nanjing to be closed tightly, searched door to door, and killed people with suspicious appearances, with a total of more than 700 people killed.
The Qing army in Nanjing City entered a state of full alert, increasing its troops to various fortresses and holding heavy places such as Yuhuatai. The officers and men of the Ninth Town Of the New Army did not know the situation in the city of Nanjing, but proceeded according to the original plan. In the afternoon of the 8th, the advance cavalry of the Zhonglu Army, under the leadership of Captain Li Duo, arrived at the northern end of the Flower Temple, encountered the rebels from the city and were defeated and withdrew from the Governor's Guard, mistakenly believing that the Neiying army had succeeded, so they raised the white flag and marched north from the main road, and found that the Defenders of Yuhuatai for zhangxunjiang defense camp were immediately bombarded by heavy artillery, fortunately, the enemy shooters hit the shells to Niushou Mountain, causing no major casualties. The cavalry retreated to the high ground on the west side of the Flower Temple. However, the officers and men of the thirty-third and thirty-fourth standards continued to advance, encircling the Yuhuatai Qing fort from three sides, unfolding a battle formation and fiercely attacking.
At that time, Zhang Xun's Jiang Defense Army defended Yuhuatai, and the commander Zhang Wensheng was a veteran general. He first waited to move, ignored it, and when the new army was about to make contact with the new army charging forward and the outpost, he suddenly ordered the concentrated artillery fire to be fired in front of him, and then strafed left and right with machine guns on both sides, which was as dense as rain, causing great damage to the officers and men of the rebel army.
At 5:00 p.m. on the 8th, Shen Tong only received the news that the city had been attacked and routed first, that is, the order could only be attacked at night, and all the guns and ammunition of each standard battalion were concentrated to the Thirty-four Standards of the Middle Route Army, and 8 bullets per person of the death squad and 5 bullets per person of the combat team. Shen Tongwu also ordered all the route armies to concentrate on attacking the Qing army forts on the commanding heights of Yuhuatai.
In the night, the Zhonglu Army advanced under the Yuhua Platform, launched an attack, was suppressed by the fierce artillery fire of the Qing army, and the officers and men of all standards advanced in hand-to-hand combat, suffering heavy casualties, and vowed not to retreat under the condition of exhaustion and serious sacrifice. Zhu Luxian, the former enemy commander, wielded his command knife and led the crowd to charge and fight many times, but none of them succeeded. By 1:30 a.m. on November 9, more than 100 people of the Thirty-Four Biao Death Squad, armed with grenades, were crawling from Jinling Yizun to the rear of the enemy fort; at 2:30 a.m., at 200 meters south of Yuhuatai, they suddenly shouted, which could not be prohibited, and were fiercely strafed by the machine guns of the defenders, so they had to retreat to the hidden place behind the tiangeng, reorganize a little, and return to the strong advance, so repeatedly three times, the leader of the vanguard, Tang Youtai, was shot and killed. Finally, Han Hui and other officers and men, one of the left wing of the Thirty-fourth Standard, were determined to fight the enemy to the end, "stripping off their equipment, marching forward, climbing the East Rain Flower Platform, grabbing the second gate of their machine guns with their bare hands, and losing contact with friendly troops and unable to defend." Forty-seven people, including officer Han Ming, died."
By 5:30 a.m. on November 9, dawn was approaching, and the officers and men of the Central Column were exhausted to the point of no longer fighting. When the commander-in-chief Shen Tong saw this situation, he had no choice but to order the whole army to retreat to Zhenjiang under the cover of heavy fog.
Regarding the uprising of officers and men of the Ninth Town of the New Army against nanjing, the Shanghai "Minli Bao" reported on November 13, 1911: "Counting the service, the horse team suffered more than ten casualties, more than 34 standards killed more than 100 people, more than 33 standards and more than 200 gun marks, and more than 200 artillery marks, and no less than 200 projects and heavy loads. More than a hundred defenders were killed. ”
"The Overall Situation of the Revolution Is Revitalized by Virtue"
Although the molingguan new army uprising failed, they held high the banner of righteousness and supported the spirit of the republic, which inspired the hearts of the whole country. Soon, the Shanghai "Central Association of the League" contacted the forces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai to form the "Jiangsu-Zhejiang Coalition Army", elected Xu Shaozhen, the former commander-in-chief of the Ninth Town, as the commander-in-chief of the coalition army, attacked Nanjing again, fought a bloody battle for 7 days and nights, and finally restored Nanjing on December 2, 1911.
The capture of Nanjing made all the provinces south of the Yangtze River owned by the revolutionary army, and at the same time boosted the morale of Wuchang and revolutionaries throughout the country, stabilized the situation of the revolutionary army after the fall of Hankou and Hanyang, and further pushed the dying Qing court to its downfall. Sun Yat-sen said: "After the loss of Hanyang, our party will have to win Nanjing to compensate for it, and the overall situation of the revolution will be revitalized."
It can be said that the conquest of Nanjing was an important turning point in the Xinhai Revolution. Before the Wuchang Uprising, the center of the uprising was mainly in the southeast coastal area; after the Wuchang Uprising, Hunan was the first to respond, and the Two Lakes region became the center of anti-Qing; while Nanjing was conquered, the revolutionary center of gravity shifted east again, from Wuhan to Nanjing, laying the foundation for the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing on January 1, 1912.
After nanjing was conquered, the revolutionary army buried more than 200 martyrs and warhorses who died in the Battle of Yuhuatai, the officers and men of the Ninth Town Uprising of the New Army, in Yuhuatai Donggang, and built two granite enclosures of people and horses to commemorate the tombs and monuments, which became an important memorial site of the Xinhai Revolution in Nanjing.
Contributed by Sheng Hong
Proofread by Xu Heng
Source: Purple Cow News