Bai Lang Uprising The Chinese peasants finally revolted, and it ended in failure
The Bai Lang Uprising was a peasant rebellion led by Bai Lang, a native of Baofeng, Henan. The northern provinces under the control of Yuan Shikai ** were not peaceful, and spontaneous armed resistance of the masses occurred from time to time, and the situation became more and more active.
Bai Lang is tall and thin, with long legs and fast legs, so he is nicknamed "White Wolf" because of his name, and the official also falsely calls him "Wolf Bandit". He returned to his hometown because of "absconding for breaking the law", and later because he was inspired by the anti-Yuan struggle in the south, he pulled the rod to start an incident and became the leader of the green forest in the mountains and forests.
Under the banner of "fighting the rich and helping the poor", he encouraged the poor to rebel, and won the support of many people. By the spring of 1913, he had two or three thousand men. Blanc was mainly used for economic struggles, and his political goals were not clear.
In May and June 1913, when the southwest of Henan was empty, Bai Lang used the theory of "second revolution" to call on the masses to carry out activities, and the momentum was greatly boosted.
The white wolf is vertical and horizontal, and the arrogance is soaring. Excellent archery skills, flying to the upper room. With two guns in hand, it is like a tiger with wings. The people cheered and were amazed. **Frightened, dispatch troops. The wisdom of the white wolf strikes the west.
The officers and soldiers were exhausted, and the white wolf had already escaped. Avoid the encirclement and head straight to the west. Day and night, finally broke through. To the south of Xinyang, the Shuanghe River crosses the river. The officers and soldiers were at a loss and at a loss.
The pride of the white wolf will forever be recorded in the annals of history.
After the Jinghan Railway, Bai Lang's army attacked Yingshan and Anlu in Hubei respectively, showing the situation of attacking Wuhan in the south. In addition, they also passed through Suixian and other places, and successfully occupied Laohekou, an important town in western Hubei on March 7, eliminated a battalion of the garrison, and captured a large amount of equipment such as shells and bullets.
Laohekou is the cargo distribution center of the upper reaches of the Han River, known as the third commercial port in Hubei, and there are many wealthy merchants and foreign enterprises, such as branches of British American Tobacco, Mobil & Co. and Asia Kerosene Company, as well as missionaries from Britain, the United States, Italy and other countries.
Everywhere Bai Langjun went, he would rob the rich and raise military salaries. In Laohekou, too, foreign-invested enterprises have also been looted. However, the White Lang Army did not target foreign missionaries and churches, so the old estuary church remained relatively safe, although it suffered some losses.
The attitude towards the church may have been influenced by the bourgeois revolutionaries. However, in the old estuary, a Norwegian doctor, Ferran, was shot for refusing to operate on a soldier of the White Rang Army, which may be an isolated incident and does not reflect the policy of White Ron.
The victory of the Bai Lang army surprised Yuan Shikai** and the envoys of the imperialist powers in China. The envoys of various countries in China held successive meetings and sent a note to Yuan *** saying that ** sent troops to suppress the "white wolf", but so far it has not succeeded.
If they can't exterminate the Bai Lang Army as soon as possible, they plan to ask their own country to send more troops to participate. Yuan reacted violently to this, and Yuan Shikai sent several urgent and secret telegrams, urging the army to extinguish the Bai Lang army as soon as possible to avoid triggering diplomatic disputes.
Yuan ** was worried that the activities of Bai Langjun had affected **'s prestige and control of law and order, and at the same time caused difficulties in borrowing money. Yuan ** hoped that the minister could make proper arrangements and return to Beijing as soon as possible.
The Bai Lang uprising reached its climax in the spring of 1914 and attracted the attention of all strata and factions throughout the country. Although Yuan ** invested tens of thousands of Beiyang Army, he still could not control the activities of the Bailang Army in a vast area.
Title: The Failure of Shaanxi-Gansu and Huiyu between Bai Lang and February and March General Bai Lang decided to march into Shaanxi and Gansu at the Laohekou Conference, but mobile warfare is not a long-term plan, and base areas should be established, taking Liangshanbo as an example.
However, the main leaders opposed this idea, arguing that mobile warfare should continue to raise food and expand the ranks. Brown adopted the latter statement. Due to Yuan's increase in troops in Henan, the Central Plains region was not suitable for a foothold, so he decided to avoid the real and attack the weak, and waited for the opportunity to enter Shaanxi.
At the same time, Bai Lang reorganized the team, calling himself the "Citizen Thief Army", also known as the "Fuhan Army", and appointed himself as the "Metropolitan Governor of the Central Plains Fuhan Army". Some bourgeois revolutionaries also came to Bai Lang's army, such as Wang Shengqi, Han Shichang, and Bai Blind Man.
Bai Langjun issued a manifesto against Yuan, which affirmed the merits of the Xinhai Revolution and reprimanded Yuan Shikai for stealing the country. However, the political level of Bai Lang and his important advisers and fierce generals remained at the stage of the traditional peasant war, and they did not reach the political level of the bourgeois-democratic revolution.
Eventually, the Bai Lang army suffered setbacks in Shaanxi and Gansu and failed to achieve their goals.
Title: The Bai Lang Uprising: The Tragedy of the Peasant Revolt After the Bai Lang army occupied the towns, they usually only robbed the property of the officials and the wealthy gentry, mainly in foreign dollars and silver, and discarded copper coins and paper money.
It was strictly forbidden for the Bai Lang army to burn people's houses and commit adultery with women, but if the town was willing to surrender, the Bai Lang army would not commit any crimes. When Bai Langjun was in Wugong County, because the officials absconded, the merchants killed cattle and slaughtered pigs and sheep to welcome them, Bai Langjun stayed in Wugong County for one night and accepted a gift of thousands of taels of silver.
In Tongwei County, because there were no soldiers and no weapons in the city, the county order had no choice but to invite the gentry to go out of the city to welcome Bai Langjun. Bai Langjun was overjoyed, and said that they came west to seek great things, and they would not waste misery indiscriminately.
Bai Langjun restrained his subordinates to live in the higher elementary school and asked the county magistrate where they could buy coal. Bai Langjun went to the classroom after dinner, checked the students' textbooks, and told them that the town was too small, the people were poor, and they were not able to educate the students.
So, Bai Lang donated two thousand taels of silver to the county order to be used as funds for the purchase of books. However, if the town resists, angering the White Lang army, they will loot and set fires on a large scale.
After the capture of Taozhou by Bai Lang's army, most of the houses in the city were burned down, many people were killed, and the merchants' shops were also burned. At the military meeting, Bai Langjun decided to return to his hometown in Henan, but they encountered enemy interceptions in Zhangxian, Ningyuan and other places, and suffered a heavy blow.
The Bai Lang army finally broke through the encirclement of the enemy army and returned to Shaanxi. Most of the leaders of the Bai Lang Army at all levels were from Henan, and the long battle made them homesick, so they decided to return to their hometown.
The Bailang army was attacked by the enemy in Shaanxi, many soldiers, but they finally broke through the enemy's defense line near Baoji and entered Shaanxi. The Bailang army was surrounded by the Beiyang Army in Shaanxi, but they managed to break through the defensive line and enter the eastern region.
Bai Lang's army passed through several counties in the Meridian Valley, but due to insufficient provisions, they were exhausted and finally retreated to Henan. Bai Lang's army was finally defeated in the area of Pingdingshan, and the troops disintegrated and scattered.
Although the Bailang Rebellion struck at the local feudal forces and impacted Yuan Shikai's rule, because they did not have a clear political program, they could not survive the fate of defeat in the end.