After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, all parts of the country responded positively, and the Qing ** fell into extreme panic, and immediately ordered the governors of all provinces to suppress it. However, the governors had their own plans and did not want to die for the Qing court.
During the Xinhai Revolution in the third year of Xuantong (1911), there were three main manifestations of the governors of various provinces: first, a little resistance; the second is to abandon his post and flee; The third is to declare independence.
Qing ** had hoped that the feudal officials could solve the problem of local governors**, but found that they were seriously out of control. The culprit of all this is none other than himself.
During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing Dynasty had used Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and other loyal ministers to quell the war, but they were promoted to governors or governors in the process, and since then local governors have begun to form.
Although the Qing ** attached great importance to this and was very vigilant, the corrupt Manchurian aristocracy could not solve this problem and could only let it develop. Finally, during the Boxer Rebellion in the 26th year of Guangxu (1900), Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kun and other governors openly rebelled against the imperial court, and even called the imperial court's edict a "false edict", and the signs of local secession were already very obvious.
Qing ** realized the seriousness of this situation, but in the absence of anything to be done, he began to prepare for the constitution in the 31st year of Guangxu. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the political system of a modern country needs to maintain strong centralization, while at the same time requiring appropriate local autonomy.
A constitutional monarchy is clearly the best option. However, the young Manchurian aristocracy, led by the regent Zaifeng, had a different idea, and their aim was to take back the power of the governors, in other words, to take back the power in the hands of the Han Chinese.
This made the Han governors dissatisfied and disappointed with the Qing court, and they chose not to be in the same boat with the Qing court, which was about to come to an end. At the most critical moment, these governors either chose to flee or chose to support the revolution and declared their independence.
The performance of the governors was often influenced by the revolutionary situation and the attitude of the revolutionary party. During the Xuantong period, the premonition of the collapse of the Qing Dynasty was clearly visible, with revolutionary armed uprisings occurring one after another, and popular uprisings could occur at any time, making the governors clearly aware of the imminent collapse of the Qing court.
After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, the governors chose to flee or join the revolution based on the judgment that the Qing ** was about to fall. Although some criticized the pro-revolution governors for speculating in the revolution, there was another side to this, namely, that the revolutionaries needed their support.
Although the aim of the revolutionary party was to overthrow the old feudal forces, they also had their own difficulties, and they had no choice but to force the governors to participate in the revolution and give them the position of the "governor", the supreme power of a province.
Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary party encountered difficulties in establishing a unified national party, and the League dispersed its forces in the early days of its establishment, leaving the revolutionaries in the provinces fighting on their own, with weak influence and strength, and lacking the support of prominent figures.
Therefore, after the uprising broke out, they needed to find powerful anti-Qing alliances and well-known figures to strengthen their power and expand their influence, and the local governors became their best choice.
It was not difficult for the Governors, who had originally supported the constitutional monarchy, to turn to the Revolutionary Party when there was a disagreement or conflict between the Qing court during the constitutional movement, while the Han Governors could expand their influence by propagating the slogan "Pai Manchu Revolution".
When Guangxi and ***, they all called themselves "Great Han Army**", which made the Han people form a unified entity in a short period of time, whether it was high-ranking ** or civilian.
The support of the governors facilitated the course of the revolution and relieved the pressure on the revolutionaries, but the revolution did not achieve the goal of radical change and ended in failure.