At that time, there were a little more than 22 battalions of Qing troops stationed in the Wuhan area, and except for five battalions that participated in the uprising and completely became a revolutionary army, there were still 17 battalions, which was about three times the size of the rebel army. Among them, the fire power of the guard unit of the Governor's Yamen was the most fierce, because there were many machine guns, and most of them were veterans, with good shooting skills and rich experience in actual combat.

Although these people did not contribute to the Qing court, most of them must have taken a wait-and-see attitude at first. That is to say, the uprising is strong, and it is likely to go to the revolution. If the imperial court is powerful, it may follow with it to suppress the uprising.

After all, the insurrectionary forces were not tightly organized and commanded.

At this time, Zhang Meisheng, the master of the governor's mansion, suggested that he should stick to the official office. He said to Ruizi: The New Army mutinied for a reason. Now it is just a moment of restlessness, not only is it unstable, but also the group of dragons has no leader. As long as you wait for reinforcements to arrive, and then try to reassure the soldiers that they are not to blame, the overall situation can be safe.

However, Ruizi's Han concubine Liao Keyu persuaded Ruizi to leave the governor's office and go to command the Chuyu soldier ship on the Yangtze River. The reason is also very sufficient: if you are on the wheel of troops, you can attack and retreat, and you can defend. The body of the old man's gold, once there is anything wrong with staying here, how is the family good? What's more, if you don't leave at this time, you won't be able to leave after a while!

From the perspective of the governor and the Qing court, what the master Zhang Meisheng said this time was undoubtedly right, how could the commander leave the commander's position without permission.

The highest military and political commander of Hubei Province in the Qing Dynasty, Borzigit Ruizi, did not listen to his master Zhang Meisheng this time. In the case of the Wuchang Uprising, he always had trouble with the correct opinions, and led the whole family to withdraw from the backyard to the warship on the Yangtze River.

Borzigit Ruize, minister of the late Qing Dynasty. The word Xinru, the number of the heart is like that, Mongolian, Manchuria is the Yellow Banner people. The grandson of the university scholar Qishan and the son of the Heilongjiang general Gong Bo. In 1900, the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded Beijing, and because of his meritorious service in staying in Beijing, he was promoted to Jiujiang Province. In 1905, he was transferred to Shanghai Road. In 1907, he successively served as the Inspectorate of Jiangxi, the Political Envoy of Jiangsu, and the Governor of Jiangsu. In October of the same year, he was promoted to Governor of Liangjiang, and in 1910 he was promoted to Governor of Huguang.

Ruizi is an open-minded person, and he still has a set of politics, but when dealing with emergencies, he really doesn't dare to compliment. It can be said that everything he did was in favor of the rebel army, and it can be said that he cooperated tacitly with his opponent. On the heroes of Wuchang's first righteousness, should Borzigit Ruizi be counted as one?

At this time, the 40-member death squad set up by the rebel army on the spot was moving forward bravely, and everyone knew in their hearts: if we don't capture the superintendent office tonight, we will see you on Huangquan Road tomorrow morning.

And the soldiers guarding the Governor's Office ran away when they saw Ruizi, what are we still guarding here?

The rebel army is large and large to fight for the republic, and small and small to fight for its own survival, and the combat effectiveness of such a force is conceivable. What are the soldiers guarding the Governor's Office fighting? For the sake of an official, he has fled for his life and left behind the empty yamen?

Ruizi left the Governor's Mansion and boarded the ship, but his command failed, and the Qing army was in chaos. At 1:30 a.m., the whole of Wuchang was under the control of the rebel army. The next day, all three towns of Wuhan fell into the hands of the rebels.

After the Wuchang Uprising, it was easy to believe that the uprisings in various places were unbelievable; And before the Wuchang uprising, the uprising was a very difficult thing.

From 1906 to 1911, Sun Yat-sen led ten armed uprisings, none of which were successful. Especially in the battle of Huanghuagang in Guangzhou, the sacrifices of elites such as Lin Juemin and Yu Peilun caused heavy losses to the revolutionaries.

So when Sun. Middle. When Shan received a telegram in the United States that Wuchang was about to revolt, he actually refused in his heart. He wanted to call back to ask the Hubei New Army not to move for the time being, and he must wait cautiously for the opportunity to avoid repeating the mistake of Huanghuagang.

On October 12, Sun was about to call back after breakfast. Middle. Shan bought a copy of the morning newspaper, glanced at it, and felt that the blood all over his body was gone: a line of eye-catching black-fonted large-character special telegram "Revolutionaries occupy Wuchang".

On the same day, the Governor's Office of the Republic of China Army, Li Yuanhong was elected as the governor, changed the name of the country to the Republic of China, and called on the people of all provinces to revolt in response.

On October 10, 1911, when the Wuchang Uprising broke out, Yuan Shikai was celebrating his 52nd birthday with his relatives, friends and old subordinates. (Yuan Shikai's birthday is the 20th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar.) This date was the 16th day of September in the Gregorian calendar in 1859, and in the year of Xinhai, that is, in 1911, this date was the 11th day of October in the Gregorian calendar, the second day of the first uprising in Wuchang. ）

On this day, Huanshang Village was full of guests and friends, and Yuan Shikai's confidants Zhao Bingjun, Zhang Xiluan, Ni Sichong, Yuan Naikuan, Wang Xitong, etc. all came to congratulate him on his birthday. Yuan Shikai held a banquet in Yangshouyuan, and invited the opera troupe to help the fun.

During the banquet, a telegram was suddenly received: the revolutionary party had revolted in Wuchang, and Wuchang had been lost.

Almost all of them were loyal subjects of the Qing Dynasty, and the guests in the hall were overwhelmed. In the panic, people had no intention of celebrating their birthdays, so the drama banquet was stopped, and the guests turned to talk about the chaos in Wuchang.

Some people say that the soldiers of the uprising are only a few battalions, and Ruizi and Zhang Biao will definitely be able to calm down.

Some people say that the troublemakers are just to rob the property, and for three days and two days, the army will press the border, and they will scatter the birds and beasts.

Some say that the leader of the revolutionary party, Sun . Middle. Neither the mountain nor Huang Xing is in Wuchang, people have no head, birds have no head, no birds, no head, no leader, how can they succeed.

There was a lot of discussion and different opinions. But one thing is the same, that is, Wuchang's actions will not succeed in the climate.

Listening to everyone's discussions, Yuan Shikai kept smiling and didn't say a word.

Ni Sichong saw it and asked, "I don't know what Yuan Gong has to say about this?" ”

Yuan Shikai said amazingly: "I know that Ruizi and Zhang Biao are both incompetent, and I expect them to be unable to do anything." Zaifeng is less and nothing more, and the cabinet is always there. Minister Yi Xuan is incompetent and incompetent, and has no ability to preside over the overall situation. I heard that the revolutionaries were marching into Hanyang and Hankou after occupying Wuchang, and the momentum should not be underestimated. Coupled with the chaos caused by the battle for the right of way, it is difficult! ”

Yuan Shikai sighed as he spoke, looking at his facial expression, it was not so much a sigh as a schadenfreude.

Zhao Bingjun took the opportunity to say: "The world is in chaos, except for the palace guards, who can turn things around?" ”

Yuan Shikai hurriedly stopped, he didn't dare to say nonsense, he was already a mountain man far away from the rivers and lakes, and state affairs were already outside his body.

Yuan Shikai said this in his mouth, he didn't think like this in his heart, he had a hunch that he should be out of the rivers and lakes again.

For the next few days, he barely left the telegraph room, keeping a close eye on the news everywhere.

After making a series of arrangements, he sent someone with a large amount of silver tickets to honor the cabinet president. Minister of Justice. Why did he send silver at this time, of course Yixuan knew it.

Yuan Shikai knew that Yixuan would not let him down, and waited for good news with confidence.

The news that the revolutionaries captured Wuchang and Ruizi and Zhang Biao abandoned the city and fled reached Beijing, and the Qing court was in a panic.

After some research, on October 12, the Qing court ordered the Minister of War Yin Chang to lead two army towns to Wuchang to suppress the uprising. At the same time, he ordered the naval commander Sa Zhenbing to lead the warships and join the Yangtze River Naval Division to help.

He ordered Ruizi to be dismissed from his post and retained, temporarily appointed as the governor of Huguang, and made meritorious service for his crimes.

Although Yin Chang had studied military affairs in Germany, he had never led troops to fight, had no combat experience, and had no actual combat experience in dispatching troops.

Since the War Department did not directly control a single soldier and a single soldier, he asked Zaifeng for an order to make Feng Guozhang the commander of the army, and transferred the fourth town under the jurisdiction of Wu Fengling, the third mixed association of the second town under the jurisdiction of Wang Zhanyuan, and the sixth town and the eleventh association under the jurisdiction of Li Chun, which had gone to Yongping in Zhili to participate in the autumn exercise in Luanzhou, and these main forces of Beiyang were newly reorganized into the First Army.

Seeing that the conquest army was well-armed and well-trained, Yin Chang did not take the matter of Wuchang very seriously, and he believed that the army was overwhelmed and the rebellion would be just around the corner.

When he led all his staff to board the train at Beijing West Railway Station and headed south, Sheng Xuanhuai, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, chased him to the car. Submit the map of Hanyang to Yinchang on paper, and ask the front-line officers to protect the iron works when attacking Hanyang, that is, a reward of 100,000 taels of silver.

When Sheng Xuanhuai got out of the car to say goodbye, Yin Chang said to him proudly: "You should prepare a reward." ”

But when it was time to really arrange the troops and march to fight, Yin Chang knew that he was calling the heavens and the earth to be ineffective. Troops were rushed to dispatch troops without any preparations, and it was difficult to raise and allocate food, ammunition, and other materials in a short period of time, and the vanguard troops entering Hubei were unable to advance because they were waiting for ammunition. What's even more headache is that the Beiyang Army led by Yuan Shikai has been operating for many years, from top to bottom, only knowing that there is Yuan Shikai, but not others, Yin Chang can't command at all.

It can't be done without Yuan Shikai, this is exactly what Yuan Shikai needs most.

While the Wuchang Uprising made the imperial court panic, the great powers of various countries were also frightened. They did not know the purpose of the Wuchang Uprising, and feared that it would be the same as the Boxers, and that it would be unfavorable to foreigners.

In order to protect their respective interests in China, on the one hand, they sailed their warships into the waters of the Yangtze River, ostensibly waving the banner of strict neutrality, but in fact they were spying on the revolutionaries.

On the other hand, he actively provided advice to the Qing court.

Yixuan, who had just received Yuan Shikai's silver ticket, had a close connection with the powers, and it should be that he hinted at something to the powers. And Yuan Shikai is indeed favored by the great powers and has high hopes.

As a result, ministers and representatives of various countries almost unanimously appealed: Yuan Shikai should be activated.

The U.S. representative of the British, French, German, and American banks, and the French representative Justner, both said: "The Qing court must choose strongmen to turn the tide and promote constitutional reform. ”

The bank strongly demanded: "There must be someone like Yuan Shikai to guarantee the government. Stability of the house. In particular, he emphasized: "Yuan Shikai has done a lot of work in training the new army, and he is the only person who has stopped the rebellion, summoned back the disloyal army, and reached an agreement with some of the leaders of the uprising to defuse the crisis." ”

The British Minister to China, Zhu Erdian, was a good friend of Yuan Shikai, and since Yuan Shikai was expelled, he has been complaining about Yuan Shikai, and this time he shouted the most fiercely.

The U.S. Minister to China, Galler, proposed that the ministers take joint action to put pressure on the Qing court to reap the reinstatement of Yuan Shikai, which was unanimously approved by the U.S. Legation in Beijing.

The United States also personally sent people, such as palace audiences, to demand that the Qing court "not appoint Yuan Shikai as an ordinary high-ranking official, but as an adviser to the imperial court and an executor of imperial power"

The prime ministers of the Qing court, Yi Xuan, and the assistant ministers Na Tong and Xu Shichang, had a deep friendship with Yuan Shikai and spoke for Yuan Shikai whenever he had the opportunity. This time I had a rare opportunity to put pressure on Zaifeng together.