Chen Qimei was a veteran figure of the League, but later generations had mixed evaluations of him, some calling him "the staunchest revolutionary" and some calling him a "rogue leader", in short, there were mixed reviews, so what kind of person was he?
(Old photo of Chen Qimei)
1. Join the League.
Chen Qimei was born in 1878 to a small merchant family in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province.
Due to the economic sufficiency, Chen Qimei studied private school for 7 years. But with his father's death, he had to drop out of school to apprentice in a pawnshop. He did this until he was 27 years old, and then he went to a silk warehouse in Shanghai to work as an accounting assistant.
At the age of 29, Chen Qimei, who had achieved nothing, was sponsored by relatives to study in Japan, and successively studied police, law and military disciplines. However, these are not the main points, the point is that he joined the League during his study abroad, and although he was unknown in the League, he introduced Huang Gao, Jiang Zhiqing (later Chiang Kai-shek) and other fellow villagers to join the association.
Second, emerge.
In 1908, due to its lack of experience, the League held many uprisings in the country without success, but lost the blood of many revolutionary volunteers, so it was criticized by the Chinese people. Some royalists even ridiculed the leaders of the League for eating and drinking abroad and letting the revolutionaries die in vain, which undoubtedly made the revolutionary work of the League even more difficult to carry out.
In order to boost morale, Chen Qimei returned to Shanghai and began to open up the situation and prepare to promote revolutionary activities.
Chen Qimei was eloquent, fierce, and sociable, so he quickly opened up a situation in Shanghai.
For example, Chen Qimei befriended the Qinghong Gang and became the leader of the "big" generation of the Qinggang, often going in and out of restaurants, theaters, tea houses and other places, while absorbing disciples, while attracting the disciples of the Qinggang to join the revolution.
For example, in order to cultivate armed forces, he founded the Jingwu Martial Arts School, and specially invited Huo Yuanjia, who was famous at that time, from Tianjin to serve as the head of the head of the sect.
For example, in order to win revolutionary funds, Chen Qimei broke the traditional idea of recruiting members and instead absorbed a large number of Jiangsu and Zhejiang capitalists to join the association. In this way, not only did the revolutionary funds be solved, but also indirectly controlled the local chambers of commerce and the armed regiments of the chambers of commerce.
In addition, in order to publicize the League and revolutionary ideas, he also founded the "China Bulletin" and the "People's Livelihood Series", and he also actively founded the headquarters of the League.
In short, at a time when the momentum of the national revolution was dismal, Chen Qimei, who had always been unknown, made outstanding achievements in Shanghai, and his achievements not only impressed Sun Wen, but also greatly improved his status in the League.
(Wuchang Uprising)
3. Compete for the governor of the Shanghai Army.
In October 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, Chen Qimei immediately led troops in Shanghai to respond, he led dozens of elite soldiers to attack the manufacturing bureau, wanting to seize the arsenal.
Unexpectedly, due to the disparity in strength, it was impossible to break through. In the end, there was no way, chen Qimei listened to the other side's request for peace talks, and went inside alone, intending to talk about peace. The result is controlled by the other side.
At the moment of crisis, Li Xiehe, a member of the League, rushed to the aid of the revolutionary army and rescued Chen Qimei, who was tied to the toilet, after seizing the manufacturing bureau and occupying the ammunition depot.
After the restoration of Shanghai, the selection of who to be the governor of the Shanghai Army became a major event.
Because Li Xiehe made his first contribution in the restoration of Shanghai, and because he was very prestigious in the Guangfu Army, many people thought that he deserved to be the governor of the Shanghai Army.
However, Chen Qimei obstructed from it, secretly ordering the Qing gang disciples to make a scene. And took out a grenade and threatened not to choose Chen Qimei, and no one should think about it.
Li Xiehe did not want the revolution to start, and infighting broke out, so he vigorously resigned, and finally Chen Qimei finally sat on the position of governor.
After the success of Wu Song's restoration, Li Xiehe also assumed the post of "Governor of the Military and Political Sub-Government".
Chen Qimei believed that Li Xiehe wanted to share power with him, so he sent someone to assassinate Li Xiehe. However, in the process of assassination, due to Li Xiehe's timely escape, he escaped a disaster, but due to the situation, he had to leave Shanghai.
(Tao Chengzhang old photo)
Fourth, assassinate Tao Chengzhang.
After the restoration of Zhejiang, Chen Qimei again took a fancy to the post of governor of Zhejiang. But this time he met Tao Chengzhang, who was more difficult to deal with than Li Xiehe.
Tao Chengzhang is one of the founders of the Guangfuhui and Chen Qimei is also an old acquaintance.
After the establishment of the Restoration Society, it became a branch of the League. Later, due to differences in revolutionary political views, he parted ways with the League.
Compared with Chen Qimei, Tao Zhengzhang was an upright person, lived frugally, and was even more enthusiastic about revolutionary work, running around for the revolution over the years.
Coupled with Tao Chengzhang's upright personality, serving people and righteousness, and being trustworthy and honest, tao chengzhang had a high prestige among the revolutionary armies in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
On the other hand, Chen Qimei is very different.
He often went to casinos and brothels, so he had a reputation for gambling and prostitution, and he also got the nickname of "Bayberry Governor". Coupled with the fact that his struggle for the governor of the Shanghai Army was very unruly, his reputation in the revolutionary army was really not very good.
Once, Tao Chengzhang returned from collecting revolutionary funds from abroad. Chen Qimei proposed that the revolutionary funds should be used jointly, and that he should be responsible for managing and controlling the revolutionary funds. As a result, Tao Chengzhang not only rejected him one by one, but also reprimanded him very severely, saying that this was the hard-earned money that overseas Chinese abroad used to support the revolution, not money for your prostitutes.
Since then, Chen Qimei has deeply hated Tao Chengzhang.
Chen Qimei knew that he could not compete with Tao Chengzhang for the post of governor, so he decided to assassinate Tao Chengzhang again.
Chen Qimei found Jiang Zhiqing, who had been following him, and secretly entrusted him with the assassination mission.
Jiang Zhiqing has always regarded Chen Qimei as his Bole, so he naturally obeyed this matter. After tracking and investigating, after finding out Tao Chengzhang's residence, he tricked Tao Chengzhang into opening the door at night, and then shot and killed Tao Chengzhang.
After the case, the revolutionaries were indignant and demanded that the murderer be punished.
Sun Wen was also extremely shocked and strongly stated that he must "strictly and quickly investigate and correct his crime."
Chen Qimei was worried that the truth would be revealed, so he deliberately posted a high reward announcement to show his "innocence". At the same time, on the pretext of "going abroad to study military affairs," Jiang Zhiqing was sent to Japan to study.
Although the revolutionaries were indignant, due to the political chaos at that time, the assassination of Tao Chengzhang was eventually solved.
(Yuan Shikai's old photo)
Fifth, teach Yuan Shikai a lesson.
Yuan Shikai was credited with persuading the Qing court to abdicate, and Sun Wen ceded the post of president to Yuan Shikai as agreed. Chen Qimei, as a sign of loyalty, also voluntarily resigned from the post of governor of the Shanghai Army and followed Sun Wen to continue the revolutionary cause.
Subsequently, Yuan Shikai dissolved the National Assembly and abolished the Provisional Law of the Republic of China, and his desire for restoration was also revealed. In order to oppose Yuan Shikai's perverse behavior, Chen Qimei, who continued to stay in Shanghai to carry out revolutionary activities, decided to teach him a lesson.
At that time, Yuan Shikai's confidant Zheng Rucheng led the Beiyang Army stationed in Shanghai, responsible for suppressing the revolutionaries.
After secret planning, Chen Qimei sent sharpshooters into the crowd on the day zheng Rucheng celebrated the Long Sky Festival to the Japanese. When Zheng Rucheng's car passed, he shot and killed Zheng Rucheng.
After the assassination was successful, Chen Qimei planned the Zhaohejian uprising. However, due to the fierce firepower of the Beiyang Army and the emergence of traitors among the revolutionaries, it eventually ended in failure.
6. Killed.
Chen Qimei's move made Yuan Shikai grit his teeth in hatred, but Yuan Shikai still saluted first and then soldiered.
He first sent someone to find Chen Qimei, expressing his willingness to contribute 700,000 yuan, hoping that he would study abroad and take less care of state affairs. After being rejected, he threatened that the 700,000 yuan would either be accepted by him or would be used as a bonus to buy the murderer.
After Chen Qimei heard it, he laughed incessantly. In his opinion, he had always been the only one who assassinated others, and he had not yet seen who dared to assassinate him. Therefore, he thought that Yuan Shikai was telling jokes and did not pay attention to it at all.
Yuan Shikai saw that Chen Qimei was toasting and did not eat the penalty wine, so he sent Zhang Zongchang, who was stationed in Shanghai, to assassinate Chen Qimei. However, Chen Qimei had always been cautious, and Zhang Zongchang had failed to assassinate him twice in succession.
Therefore, Yuan Shikai found Li Haiqiu, who had always been in contact with the revolutionary party, and asked him to think of assassinating Chen Qimei.
When Li Haiqiu heard that Chen Qimei was worried about the funding of the revolution, he organized the "Hongfeng Coal Mining Company" with the help of Yuan Shikai. Then, he asked a friend to find Chen Qimei, saying that he needed to borrow money from a Japanese bank because he wanted to buy Japanese machinery. In order to be able to get a smooth loan, I hope to get a guarantee from Chen Qimei, who has social status. He also said that once the loan is successful, he is willing to pay 200,000 yuan as Chen Qimei's remuneration.
Although some people advised Chen Qimei not to be careless, Chen Qimei thought it was worth taking a risk. So he and Li Haiqiu agreed on a place and prepared to sign a contract.
Just after the two sides met, the two friends brought by Li Haiqiu suddenly pulled out their guns and fired several shots at Chen Qimei's key parts. Chen Qimei fell in response to the sound and was killed on the spot, dying at the age of 38.
After Chen Qimei was shot, Jiang Zhiqing was the first to get the news, rushed to the scene, and cried bitterly.
After Sun Wen heard this, it was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and he couldn't help but write down the four words of "losing my Great Wall" with sadness.
A few years later, Jiang Zhiqing's Northern Expeditionary Army occupied Shanghai, and he immediately held a grand commemorative meeting for Chen Qimei on the eleventh anniversary of his death, and affirmed Chen Qimei's revolutionary merits. He said that if there were no revolutionary achievements made by Chen Qimei before, there would be no mention of the national revolution that followed.
(Reference historical materials: "Biography Series of Famous People in Xinhai: Chen Qimei")