Late Qing Army. 01 Nanjing
October 20, the third year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty (1911), Nanjing, Jiangsu.
Nanjing Railway Station is bustling, whether it is the waiting room or the platform, it is crowded with people who have moved with their families. The dense crowd pushed and shoved each other, scrambling to rush into the carriages, preparing to flee to Shanghai and other places.
There is only one reason for such a big commotion: the Battle of Nanjing is coming!
With the recovery of Shanghai and Zhejiang, Jiangsu Governor Cheng Dequan also followed anyway, and only Nanjing was left in the free shipping area. Soon, the revolutionary armies of the provinces began to gather their forces and march straight to the capital.
In the face of the menacing revolutionary army, Zhang Renjun, the governor of Liangjiang, who was past his prime, felt that the general trend had gone and just wanted to leave. But looking at Jiangning General Tie Liang, Zhang Renjun's words to his lips were no longer easy to say, contrary to him, Tie Liang at this time vowed to live and die with Nanjing.
As a leader among the banner people, Tie Liang was once deeply appreciated by the Empress Dowager Cixi and was entrusted with an important position in the military. Now, he has lost his position and has been sent to Nanjing, and he has been holding back a breath in his heart, in his opinion, the defense of Nanjing is an excellent opportunity for him to sweep away the decline and become famous.
The reason why Tie Liang dared to boast of Haikou was not only because of his self-confidence, but also because he had Zhang Xun, the hardcore governor of Jiangnan behind him.
Seeing Tie Liang's posture of killing himself, Zhang Renjun had no choice but to dispel the idea of running away, Lao Zhang couldn't help but sigh, what is that sentence called?Yes, to die is to suffer the sin.
Since it is impossible to abandon the city, it can only hurry up and prepare for war.
In view of the fact that the revolutions in the provinces were all provoked by the new army, at Tie Liang's suggestion, Zhang Renjun urgently ordered the new army of the Ninth Town, which was stationed in Nanjing, to move outside the city, and only five bullets were distributed to each person, thus removing the hidden danger from within.
After that, Tie Liangqin led 3,000 banner soldiers, and 15,000 people under Zhang Xun's command, including the Jiang Defense Army, to deploy defenses in various passes in Nanjing, waiting for the arrival of the revolutionary army.
On 24 November, the revolutionary coalition army, composed of soldiers and horses from Zhen, Suzhou, Zhejiang, and Song, completed its assembly on the outskirts of Nanjing and began to clear the Qing strongholds outside the city one by one. Within two days, Wulong Mountain, Shogunate Mountain, Maqun and other places were captured by the revolutionary army. Subsequently, the revolutionary army and the Qing army fought fiercely over the strategic Tianbao City.
Zhang Xun's third battalion of the Jiang Defense Army was responsible for garrisoning Tianbao City, and its unit was equipped with 20 artillery pieces and 60 machine guns, and its firepower was powerful. In this way, Tie Liang was still not at ease, so he sent the flag battalion to assist in the defense, and specially distributed 200 flowering bombs for the flag battalion.
This battle was fought extremely hard, the revolutionary army attacked Tianbao City, and under the heavy firepower of the Qing army, every step forward had to pay a great price. Some soldiers had their jaws slashed by stray bullets, and their uniforms were soaked with blood, but they were still moving forwardEven when a soldier dies with an injury, he is often simply bandaged and then continues to fight. Newspapers at the time commented on the battle after the war: "The bravery of the revolutionary army in battle is rare in the world. ”
In the end, after a day and night of fierce hand-to-hand combat, the revolutionary army lost more than 160 people and conquered Tianbao City with great difficulty.
After capturing Tianbao City, the revolutionary army quickly set up artillery to bombard the Qing army's position on Fugui Mountain, and the Qing army was dispersed. At the same time, the headquarters where Tie Liang, Zhang Xun, and Zhang Renjun were located was also shelled, and for a while, shells smashed like a storm, filling the air with gunpowder smoke and flying flesh and blood. At this point, all parts of Nanjing were within the range of the revolutionary army's artillery.
Tie Liang and the others knew that they were powerless to return to the sky, so they decided to surrender. On 1 December, Tie Liang and Zhang Renjun invited the American consul Ma Lin to go out of the city to negotiate peace with the revolutionary army on behalf of the Qing army.
The Battle of Nanjing was the most tragic battle of the Xinhai Revolution, the revolutionary army suffered great losses, and the Qing army defending the city had a deep grudge, especially Zhang Xun and his Jiang Defense Army, how could the revolutionary army easily let go of the enemy. Because of this, the two sides are destined to be unable to reach an agreement on the terms of peace.
In the evening of the same day, Tie Liang and Zhang Renjun abandoned their troops, escaped from Nanjing lightly, and took refuge in the Shanghai Concession by Japanese shipZhang Xun led 2,000 remnants of the army to break through from the south gate and fled to Xuzhou.
After Tie Liang and other generals abandoned the city and absconded, the army in the city was suddenly in turmoil, and the revolutionary army took the opportunity to launch a general attack. On December 2, after seven days of bloody fighting, Nanjing was finally recovered.
The Wusong Guangfu army that will attack Nanjing.
In this battle, the revolutionary army suffered too heavy casualties, and after entering the city, some of the revolutionary army launched a crazy revenge on the banner people in the city, burning, killing and looting, and doing all kinds of evil. Tie Liang and the others escaped, but what they left behind was a catastrophe for the banner people in the city.
Afterwards, Zhang Xun was rewarded by the Qing court for his heroic death and was promoted to the governor of Liangjiang, while Tie Liang and Zhang Renjun, who lost their cities and land, were dismissed.
After that, Tie Liang spent his life for the restoration of the Qing Emperor, and even did not hesitate to cooperate with the Japanese until he died of old age.
02 Xi'an
September 20, 1911, Xi'an, Shaanxi.
Early in the morning, the front of Xi'an Yongning was surrounded by a lot of people who watched the excitement, sometimes talking about each other. Overnight, Yongning Gate, Anding Gate, Changle Gate, and Anyuan Gate were all pasted with the same leaflets, which threatened to wash the city with blood on the sixth day (that is, the Mid-Autumn Festival) and slaughter the flag people.
Soon, the soldiers of the patrol battalion were ordered to go out and rush to the four gates to tear up the leaflets and disperse the crowd. Although the leaflet was torn, after this toss, Xi'an General Wen Rui's worries couldn't help but increase a little more.
As early as last month, the tide of the pro-road movement in the neighboring province of Sichuan had already reached Shaanxi, and the revolutionary party lurking in Xi'an began to be eager to try. Now that the revolutionary party is openly inciting emotions, how can Wen Rui and other military and political leaders in Shaanxi sit idly by?
Instead of sitting back and waiting, it is better to take the initiative. After many discussions with Qian Nengxun, the governor of Shaanxi, Wen Rui decided to arm the flag battalion to deal with the turmoil that could occur at any time.
At that time, there were more than 20,000 bannermen in Xi'an, but most of them were old, weak, women and children, and there were only a few thousand soldiers who could really be used. Wen Rui is negligent in management on weekdays, and the armament of the flag camp is relaxed, and at this critical time, even the new ** cannot be deployed. For this reason, the deputy capital of the flag battalion, Kemeng, repeatedly urged, but did not get a response, and in the end, most of the flag soldiers were only distributed to some old front-loading rifles, and their combat power can be imagined.
Soon after, news of the Wuchang uprising came, and the Xi'an Revolutionary Party was encouraged to begin planning an armed uprising. After Wen Rui received the news of the Wuchang Revolution, he was even more frightened and could not sleep well, at this time he knew that the weak combat power of the banner camp was not enough to hold Xi'an, so Wen Rui and Qian Nengxun had another plan and decided to strike first.
On 20 October, the second standard of the Shaanxi New Army suddenly received an order from the governor of Shaanxi, Yamen, ordering it to go to Baoji and other places in batches. You must know that the second standard of the new army is the core armed force of the Xi'an Revolutionary Party, and once it is transferred out of Xi'an, the uprising will lose its pillar. Immediately afterwards, the Revolutionary Party received another report that the Governor Yamen had drawn up a list of arrests and decided to arrest the Revolutionary Party immediately after the second standard was opened.
At the last moment, the leaders of the Xi'an Revolutionary Party, Zhang Fenghui, Qian Ding, Zhang Fu and others, decided to quickly cut through the chaos and launched an uprising two days later.
On October 22, the shouts of "Xinghan and Destroying the Flag" in Xi'an City shook the sky, and the Xi'an Uprising officially broke out.
Xi'an Uprising. The ammunition depot was located in the Bureau of Uniforms, which naturally became the primary target of the offensive. Due to the suddenness of the incident and the fact that it was Sunday, the defensive strength of the Military Uniform Bureau was weak, and in the face of the first part of the revolutionary army led by Zhang Fang, the Qing army was about to collapse at the first touch, and immediately gave up resistance, and the revolutionary army successfully captured the Military Uniform Bureau.
At the same time, Zhang Fenghui was leading a large group of men and horses to charge the Qing army strongholds in the city with bayonets. When he heard the news that Zhang Fang had conquered the Military Uniform Bureau, Zhang Fenghui was ecstatic and shouted: "It's very good!."Subsequently, Zhang Fenghui, Qian Ding and other troops successively went to the Military Uniform Bureau to replenish ammunition and continue to fight.
The words were divided into two ends, and the sudden uprising obviously caught the Qing army off guard. On the day of the uprising, all parts of Shaanxi were attending the meeting in the Consultative Bureau, and in the case of leaving their posts, the Qing court ** could not effectively organize the army to resist, so they had to flee for their lives.
However, Wen Rui, the general of Xi'an, still wanted to resist stubbornly, hurriedly fled back to the flag camp, and quickly organized the flag soldiers to resist. As mentioned earlier, the flag battalion was poorly equipped and lacked training, and was defeated by the revolutionary army after a few rounds of firefighting, and the banner people of the whole city retreated into the city under the command of Wen Rui, determined to defend to the end.
Soon, the revolutionary army surrounded the city and brought in a large number of heavy artillery, ready to attack the city at any time.
In the face of a revolutionary army several times larger than himself, Wen Rui was unwilling to be captured, and organized death squads to go out of the city to counterattack many times, trying to recapture the military uniform bureau and destroy the artillery position, and the two sides once fell into a bitter battle. In the end, several counterattacks by the Qing army ended in heavy defeats, and Kemeng'e, the deputy capital of the banner battalion, was also killed in the fierce battle.
On the evening of October 24, the revolutionary army finally broke through the city walls and poured into the city, leaving the Qing army in no danger to defend and completely collapsed. The revolutionary army opened fire on the bannermen, and the city experienced a night of terror.
At this moment, Wen Rui was the only one left by his side, and he felt powerless to return to the sky, and he fell into despair, and the two stumbled to a well, and both threw themselves into the well to die.
On the same day, Xi'an announced its recovery.
03 Ili
On a certain day in August of the third year of Xuantong (1911), Lanzhou, Gansu.
On this day, Chang Geng, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, personally waited for a distinguished guest outside the door of the government office, and he was accompanied by Shengyun, the governor of Gansu. What kind of character is that, who can make the two feudal officials descend to meet each other?
This person is none other than the new Ili general Zhirui.
A team of people and horses came with a carriage, Chang Gung and Sheng Yun warmly welcomed Zhirui into the house, and then, Chang Gung retreated, and the three of them talked in the study until late at night.
It wasn't until later that the world knew that the conspiracy of these three people that day was actually to connect the northwest provinces to support the westward migration of Emperor Xuantong Puyi, in a vain attempt to renew the life of the Qing Dynasty!
By the third year of Xuantong, the revolution was surging, and the rule of the Qing court was already in jeopardy. Ordinary people still know the way back, let alone the Qing royal family, so the northwest of Bi'an is gradually included in one of the retreat options of the Qing court.
Shaanxi has Chang Gung, Gansu has Shengyun, Xinjiang has Yuan Dahua, and Mongolia also has a group of black cat lords who have been married for hundreds of years, these people are all trustworthy, but only this Ili still lacks a reliable person. After some investigation, Zhirui, who was the general of Hangzhou at the time, entered the field of vision of the highest decision-making level.
The Zhirui family has been an official for generations, and his grandfather Yutai is an official to the governor, which can be said to be deeply favored by the emperor and absolutely supports the Qing emperor ideologically. What's more, Zhirui is still the cousin of Emperor Guangxu Jin and Concubine Zhen, and he is also a legitimate relative of the emperor, and his ass will never sit crookedly, it's him!
As a result, the Qing court urgently transferred Zhirui as the general of Yili and immediately went west to take up his post.
Huan Hai has been up and down all his life, and the danger of this trip is clear, but even so, he still readily accepted the arrangement and was willing to serve the Qing court.
Before taking office, he once sighed to his younger brother: "I am now ordered to go out of the customs, and the current situation is far from being comparable to the past, but I have decided to promise the country with my body, and I don't plan to return to Yumen Pass alive." ”
When Zhirui was still on his way to Xinjiang, the news of the Wuchang uprising came, and some people advised him not to rush to his post, but he could wait and see how the situation changed, and Zhirui categorically refused. After contacting the governors of the northwest about Xuantong's westward move, Zhirui quickly stepped up and rushed to Ili in just over two months.
Although Zhirui was dedicated to serving the Qing court, after taking office, he made a lot of tricks, offending everything that could and couldn't be offended, and finally went farther and farther on the road of cocooning and self-restraint.
After the governor of Xinjiang, Yuan Dahua, extinguished the Dihua uprising, Zhirui deeply felt that the Ili New Army was no longer available, so he disbanded the non-local residents of the New Army on the spot to prevent future troubles, and at the same time began to recruit and train local Xibe native soldiers.
Zhirui did not make arrangements for the aftermath of these soldiers, neither paid them salaries, nor allowed them to return to their hometowns, and even the winter clothes previously distributed were required to be collected and put into storage. The Ili New Army was so embarrassed that they gritted their teeth with hatred for Zhirui.
After offending the new army, Zhirui continued to die, and this time his target was changed to the land snakes in Ili.
Zhirui wanted to train native soldiers, so he naturally couldn't do without sufficient food and salary, but Ili's serious financial deficit made it difficult for him to move an inch. As a result, the angry Zhirui counted all the deficits of Ili on the heads of He Jiadong, the prefect of Yili, and Yang Zhangxu, the commander of the New Army.
After Zhirui's investigation, it was found that He Jiadong had accumulated a deficit of no less than hundreds of thousands of gold during his tenure, and Zhirui naturally refused to give up. He Jiadong was supposed to be transferred to another place, but Zhirui forcibly detained him, and he was not allowed to leave until he filled the gap, and the contradiction between the two deepened.
As for Yang Zhangxu, the military leader who also had a huge deficit, Zhirui showed no mercy and ordered him to repay the arrears within a time limit, otherwise he would be severely punished.
When Zhirui thought he was full of ambition and drastic governance, he didn't realize that he was approaching the crater step by step and was about to bring about his own destruction.
* At the beginning of January of the first year (1912), Yang Zhangxu and others received a secret telegram from Li Yuanhong: "Chang Gung, Shengyun, Zhirui, Yuan Dahua and others conspired to support Puyi's westward migration, and Ili should quickly revolt and respond to Wuchang in order to sabotage its conspiracy to favor the northwest and complete the national revolution." ”
This secret telegram undoubtedly became the fuse of the Ili Uprising, and all forces that had long been dissatisfied with Zhirui gathered and decided to launch an armed uprising.
On the evening of January 7, Feng Temin, Yang Zhangxu and others led the Ili New Army to launch a surprise attack on Huiyuan City in five directions, and the Ili Uprising officially broke out.
Group photo of the officers of the Ili Uprising.
Counting the new accounts and the old accounts together, the first target of the revolutionary army was Zhirui's Ili General's Mansion.
At this time, Zhou Yukui, the chief soldier stationed in Suiding, wanted to lead the army to help Zhirui, but He Jiadong arrived in time and deliberately said to Zhou Yukui: "There are few people in the Ili Revolutionary Party, General Zhirui is enough to deal with it, you should strictly guard your defensive ground, so as not to make a big mistake." As soon as Zhou Yukui heard the reason, he dispelled the idea of going to Huiyuan.
In this way, the revolutionary army soon captured the weakly defended General's Mansion, and Zhirui fled in a hurry. The next day, the revolutionary army pulled Zhirui out of the middle of a house, and Zhirui swore not to surrender, so he was escorted to the drum tower and publicly executed.
Afterwards, the Qing court thanked Zhirui for his loyalty, posthumously awarded him the title of prince Taibao, and gave him the nickname Wenzhen.
04 Chengdu
September 7, 1911, Chengdu, Sichuan.
Pu Dianjun, president of the Sichuan Baolu Comrades Association, Luo Lun, vice president and other backbone Baolu cadres were invited by Zhao Erfeng, the governor of Sichuan, to attend the meeting at the governor's office early in the morning.
As soon as they entered the door, Pu, Luo and the others had a premonition that something was wrong, and they saw countless soldiers with loaded guns rushing out of the back hall of the government office, and instantly surrounded everyone. Subsequently, the sergeants were fierce, tied everyone up and detained, and waited for Zhao Erfeng to give an order, and they were to be executed immediately.
At this moment, someone suddenly came to report, and Chengdu General Yukun came uninvited, and he was about to break into the inner hall. The words did not fall, but when he saw Yukun pushing open the door of the hall, he was immediately shocked when he saw the scene in the hall, and hurriedly advised Zhao Erfeng not to act rashly. And Zhao Erfeng also had to put Pu, Luo and the others aside for the time being, and deal with Yukun first.
Yukun:These arrested people are all local gentlemen, not bandits, the two sides just have political disagreements, they also have responsibilities, they are not rebellious, do you have a request for today's matter?
Zhao Erfeng:The matter has been played, and the imperial court has not yet approved it.
Yukun:This matter must be requested, otherwise my brother will not dare to take this responsibility!
Zhao Erfeng:
Without waiting for Zhao Erfeng to continue to speak, Yukun turned around and left, with Yukun's timely stop, Zhao Erfeng was forced to dispel the idea of killing everyone, and Pu, Luo and others saved the day.
However, the two sides did not shake hands and make peace, and since then, the conflict has intensified and gradually escalated into violent conflicts. Zhao Erfeng saw that Comrade Baolu would be powerful, and tried to unite with Yukun to suppress it many times, but Yukun always stood still and ignored Zhao Erfeng's instructions.
A gunshot rang out in Wuchang, and the revolutionary tide swept across the country. With the foundation of the Baolu Movement, the revolutionary situation in Sichuan was very good, and the Sichuan Revolutionary Party quickly announced that it had established the "Great Han Army" at the same time, the bannermen of Chengdu were terrified and hid in Shaocheng (that is, Chengdu Mancheng) and formed a village to protect themselves.
Naturally, the army ** would not allow such a city within a city to exist under its rule, so the two sides gathered troops inside and outside the city, and a big war was about to break out. For a time, the people of Shaocheng were panicked, and most of the banner people did not have hope for the future, and began to slaughter all the livestock in the family, and they also wanted to be a full ghost on the Huangquan Road.
As the saying goes, if you plant good causes, you will get good results. Just when the two sides were tense, the leaders of the army, Pu Dianjun, Luo Lun and others, took the initiative to contact Yukun to discuss the peaceful recovery of Shaocheng.
In order to save his own life and the lives of the Mancheng Banner people, Yukun immediately accepted the persuasion of Pu, Luo and others, and after agreeing on the conditions, he personally led the Shaocheng Banner Battalion to submit the "Sichuan Manchu Surrender" to the army, thus avoiding a bloody battle.
Yukun not only saved the life of the banner man, but he actually thought more long-term. According to the terms of surrender, the army must pay the flag camp six months of silver, in addition, it is better to give people fish than to give people fish, he asked the army ** to allocate 200,000 silver dollars to open a factory, specifically to accommodate the flag people to learn Xi skills.
Chengdu Shaocheng Park (now Chengdu People's Park) presided over by Yukun
During the peace talks between the two sides, the patrol army under Zhao Erfeng mutinied, and Chengdu experienced three days of turmoil before the chaos was quelled, and Zhao Erfeng was also publicly executed, but Yukun was always able to stabilize the situation in Shaocheng until it was peacefully restored.
* In March of the first year (1912), Yukun left Chengdu and returned to Beijing, when Yin Changheng, the governor of Sichuan, and Zhang Peijue, the deputy governor of Sichuan, thanked Yukun for his contribution to the recovery of Chengdu, and jointly sent a telegram to ** and the governors of various provinces, publicizing Yukun's deeds and asking all parties to give Yukun preferential treatment.
Since then, Yukun has withdrawn from **, and his merits and demerits have been commented ......on by his own descendants
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