At the time of the confrontation between Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army and Sun Wei's Hubei Revolutionary Army, China's fifteen provinces were separating themselves from the Qing dynasty one after another. Among the eighteen provinces in Guannai, only the three provinces of Gansu, Henan, and Zhili were loyal to the Qing court.

The independent provinces were mainly led by members of the provincial advisory bureaus, with a few areas dominated by the revolutionary party. Among them, the most far-reaching influence on Chinese politics at that time were the Shanghai Uprising and the Nanjing Uprising.

What is different from history is that it was not Chen Qimei but Huang Xing who led people from all walks of life to liberate Shanghai. When Huang Xing arrived in Shanghai on October 24, the Qing government imposed a particularly strict blockade on Hubei, especially the three towns of Wuhan, and Zhang Zhujun, who had the great power to help Huang Xing smuggle people in history, arrived in Wuchang early to support the revolution because of the great success of the revolution, and missed the meeting with Huang Xing, so Huang Xing was stranded in Shanghai.

Huang Xing's reputation is too great, and he has been embraced by people from all walks of life in Shanghai as soon as he arrived in Shanghai. Huang Xing then settled in Shanghai, and under the recommendation of Chen Qimei, he visited people from all walks of life in Shanghai, including the pro-revolutionary businessmen Li Pingshu, Wang Yiting, Shen Manyun, Ye Huijun and others, as well as the major bosses of the Green Gang.

At this time, the Shanghai revolutionaries lacked both weapons and ammunition and funds for their activities, and Huang Xing came to Shanghai alone this time without bringing any funds, and the form was very unfavorable to the revolutionaries.

In view of the embarrassment of the revolutionaries, the merchant gentry Li Pingshu, Wang Yiting, Shen Manyun, Ye Huijun and others organized a total of about 5,000 merchant groups in the name of the revolutionary party to respond to the revolution.

Taking advantage of the fact that most of the officers and men of the Shanghai military camp, the manufacturing bureau, the fort battalion, and the patrol battalion were Hunanese, the revolutionary Li Xiehe successfully plotted against the Qing army and police in various activities, and mastered most of the Qing armed forces in Shanghai and Wusong. Huang Xing sent people to contact the officers and men of various departments of the Qing army, and after efforts, the Wusong Fort, the patrol battalion, the Ji army, and the naval generals all expressed their non-opposition to the uprising, but Zhang Shiheng, the general office of the Manufacturing Bureau, was stubborn.

In response to Huang Xingtian's call to train a new army for deployment, Li Zhengwu, the earliest Qinggang tycoon in Shanghai, donated millions of private property and recruited 5,000 recruits to form the Guangfu Army and appointed himself commander-in-chief.

Now Huang Xing has more than 10,000 people in his hands, and most of the battalions of the Qing army are pro-revolutionary, and the prospects of the revolution have suddenly become better.

On October 31, 1911, Huang Xing and Chen Qimei, as well as representatives of the gentry and merchants, Li Pingshu, Wang Yiting, Shen Manyun, Ye Huijun, and others held a meeting at the home of Li Pingshu in Zhenjili, Baike Road (now Fengyang Road), and decided to launch the Shanghai Liberation Uprising on November 3, and determined that the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Taibing Beidao Yamen should be the target in Nanshi, and the Shanghai Patrol Police General Bureau (located in Gonghe Road, Zhabei) should be the target.

On the morning of November 1, the Shanghai business group held a review ceremony in nine acres of land in Nanshi, and Li Pingshu's nephew Li Xianmo served as the review officer (later commander-in-chief). Li Xianmo graduated from the Japanese non-commissioned officer school and served as the commander of the first battalion of the Mabiao in the ninth town of the New Army.

On the evening of the business group's review, Huang Xing, Chen Qimei, Li Pingshu and others held an emergency meeting at the city autonomous office, at which the two strategies of "Shanghai moving first" or "depending on Nanjing's move" were disputed. Finally, we respect Li Pingshu's opinion that "the minority obeys the majority" and "Shanghai moves first".

On the evening of November 2, Huang Xing, Chen Qimei, Li Pingshu and others discussed the specific steps of the next day's uprising at the city autonomous office. After the meeting, Li Pingshu convened a meeting of the heads of various business groups overnight to arrange issues related to the uprising.

On the morning of November 3, Huang Xing, Chen Qimei, Li Pingshu and others held a meeting in the West Park of the Xieqiao Bridge outside the West Gate, and agreed to announce the uprising at 2 p.m.

At 2 p.m. on November 3, the Shanghai uprising troops gathered on nine acres of land in Nanshi City to hold a pledge meeting. Subsequently, the soldiers were divided into two routes, one was led by Huang Xing and Chen Qimei to attack the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau; On the other hand, Li Xianmo led a merchant group to capture Shanghai Road and the county yamen. At the same time, Li Xie led the Qing army of the Surrender Revolution to attack Zhabei and Wusong, and conquered Zhabei and Wusong at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

At that time, Huang Xing and Chen Qimei only had more than 200 revolutionaries in their hands as death squads to attack the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and after the attack was blocked, Huang Xing wanted to personally enter the Manufacturing Bureau to persuade the defenders to surrender. In fact, his persuasion was ineffective, and he was detained.

At that time, Chen Qimei went in and persuaded Zhang Shiheng to surrender to avoid bloodshed, and said that the revolutionary party had besieged outside, and the momentum was great. Under both soft and hard treatment, Zhang Shiheng was unmoved, but tied him up with all kinds of flowers, and scolded: "You outlaws, wait for me to beat these foxes and dogs outside to death, and then come to kill you." Chen Qimei saw that the persuasion method did not work, so she had to wait for death.

The persuasion failed, so he had to attack hard. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the death squad took advantage of the end of the manufacturing bureau and crowded into the bureau. At that time, some of the defenders sympathized with the revolution, but a small number of people resisted stubbornly under the supervision of Zhang Shiheng, the general office. The defenders first released empty guns as a warning, and when the death squad saw that there were no bullets, they rushed forward to throw bombs, and the defenders fired live ammunition, killing one person and wounding two on the spot, and the death squad attack was thwarted. After repelling the revolutionaries, the triumphant Zhang Shiheng came to kill Chen Qimei, who was now a prisoner waiting to be executed, and was in danger.

At that time, there was a soldier named Zhang Xingcun in the manufacturing bureau, who secretly supported the revolution and acted as an internal response in the bureau. ”

Zhang Shiheng was still stiff-mouthed: "I'm not afraid of them, let alone death." Zhang Xingcun replied to the benefits: "What the general office said is very true, but the young master and young lady of the general office are all living outside, and their lives and property should also be worried. That is, we are here to contribute to the General Office, and if the revolutionary party succeeds, they will not forgive us. Please think about it, why not wait until the big thing settles down, and then it's not too late to kill him, how can he run away here. ”

Zhang Shiheng listened to Zhang Xingcun's words and felt that there was some truth, so he gave up the idea of killing Chen Qimei immediately, but he still wanted him to suffer a little, tied Chen Qimei to the pillar, and ordered someone to inject cold water from his mouth to make him uncomfortable, but fortunately he did not hurt his body.

The news of Chen Qimei's detention spread all over Shanghai, and the vast number of soldiers and civilians came to rescue Chen Qimei. The singers Xia Yueshan and Xia Yuerun also led dozens of friends who performed martial arts on the same class and stage, carrying knives, guns and sticks, and rushed to help first.

Huang Xing saw that Chen Qimei could not be released, so he decided to attack the game again with a death squad. At first, the game was resisted by machine guns, and the defense was tight, and it was not allowed to enter.

Hearing that Chen Qimei had been captured, Li Pingshu hurriedly went to the Manufacturing Bureau with Li Yingshi to meet Zhang Shiheng, saying that Chen Qimei was a reporter of the "Minli Daily" and asked for his release. Where can Zhang Shiheng listen, saying that scholars don't know the stakes, think about revolution in vain, and die in vain! Li Pingshu observed his words and saw that he could not be released immediately, so he had to return first.

Late at night, Li Pingshu and Wang Yiting, a famous gentleman in Shanghai, went to the Manufacturing Bureau again to bail Chen Qimei in the name of the Shanghai City Autonomous Office and the Shanghai County Chamber of Commerce. Zhang Shiheng stubbornly said that since he claimed to be a reporter of "Minli Daily", he asked the newspaper to issue a letter of guarantee to guarantee that he would not come to the bureau to disturb him in the future.

In less than midnight, Zhang Shiheng received news that the revolutionaries had united all the military and police in Shanghai to attack the manufacturing bureau. At first, Zhang Shiheng didn't believe it, but then he heard reports one after another that Shanghai Daotai and county officials had fled, and the whole city was hoisting white flags! This news made Zhang Shiheng flustered and frightened. Unexpectedly, it didn't take long for the revolutionaries to really come and attack the manufacturing bureau.

On the other hand, the merchant group was orderly in attack and defense, and Feng Shaoshan led the Huxi merchant group to occupy the south and west cities; Shang Yu, Qing Halal, Yangbu, Yun Huai (Zhuyu Industry), Lingye and other merchant groups led by Yin Cunfu and Feng Runsheng occupied Dongcheng and Beicheng; Liu Shunqing led a group of book merchants to occupy the Sulphur Bureau (gunpowder factory). By four o'clock in the afternoon, all the city towers are hung with big white flags, and the city gates are guarded by merchant groups. At this time, the overall situation of the county seat of Shanghai has been decided, and it is only a matter of time before the entire county seat is occupied. By 8 o'clock in the evening, the county seat of Shanghai had been controlled by the patrol police of the merchant group, and the city was peaceful as usual, with white flags hoisted and notices of the people's army posted everywhere.

Liu Yanyi of Shanghai Dao and Tian Baorong of Shanghai Zhixian County fled into the concession, and the officials in the city fled without a trace......

On the day of the Shanghai attack, Huang Hanxiang, a member of the alliance who served as the inspector, with the support of the defenders of the fort and the local gentry, changed banners anyway, set up the Wusong military and government sub-office, and became the commander-in-chief......

At 12 o'clock in the evening, Zhu Baosan sneaked to the Maojia Lane Merchant Association Club in Nanshi City and reported to Li Pingshu secretly: Liu Yanyi of Shanghai Dao had secretly telegraphed Zhang Renjun, the governor of Liangjiang, saying that the Shanghai revolutionaries had rebelled and the merchant group had rebelled; Zhang Renjun also replied to the secret telegram, saying that he had transferred the Qing army to march towards Shanghai, and ordered both the revolutionaries and the members of the merchant group to be punished immediately after being captured.

When the situation was critical, the merchant group was not afraid of danger, and Wang Yiting generously stated: "The matter is urgent, there is no retreat, advance or die, retreat will die, wait for the dead ear, rather than lead the neck to be killed, rather than die for the country." The vast number of members of the merchant group outside the council hall were also excited, shouting: "If we don't launch (the attack), we will wait for the blood to be spilled today, and we will not disperse." Li Pingshu issued an order to march to the Manufacturing Bureau......

Shen Manyun and others cried bitterly to the crowd and swore to the people, wishing that all the members of the league would hold the ambition of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat at this critical moment, and succeed immediately, "I wish you a successful return!" After the oath was completed, the merchant group marched towards the manufacturing bureau.

The merchant group charged into battle, and the commander-in-chief of the merchant group, Li Xianmo and Feng Shaoshan, rode horses and led the horse team of the Huxi merchant group to command the battle. Gao Yimou and Zhu Shaoyi stayed at the headquarters of the merchant group to be responsible for liaison work. Li Pingshu sat in charge of the city's firefighting federation and controlled the overall situation.

After the news of Chen Qimei's trapped manufacturing bureau reached Li Xiehe's ears, Li Xiehe hurriedly led the Shanghai military camp and patrol police from Zhabei to come to support, and joined the merchant group outside the manufacturing bureau......

At two or three o'clock in the morning of the 4th, Li Pingshu's merchant group, Huang Xing's death squad, and Li Xiehe's military and police surrounded the manufacturing bureau on three sides (one side was the Huangpu River), and under the command of Huang Xing, the military and police attacked the front door, and the merchant group and the death squad attacked the back door. The military and police who attacked the front door head-on held each other for nearly two hours. Pan Yueqiao, the leader of the Lingye merchant group who attacked at the back gate, jumped to the wall, set fire to the wooden fence on the side of the door, the merchant group and the death squad poured in, so far the front and rear doors were overcome, Zhang Shiheng saw that the general trend had gone, so he led a few cronies to flee by steamer, most of the Qing army surrendered, and Chen Qimei was released......

After several hours of fierce fighting, the last reactionary bastion of the Qing government in Shanghai was finally overcome, and Shanghai was victoriously recovered. The People's Army took the Manufacturing Bureau as its headquarters, and everyone elected Huang Xing as the commander-in-chief, and Li Xiehe was promoted to the deputy commander-in-chief because of his merits in the Manufacturing Bureau.

The revolutionary army inspected the storage of ordnance in the manufacturing bureau, including 20,000 new fast guns, and the rest were artillery shells. The bureau had two large silver vaults, one of which stored millions of copper dollars, and the other was inside the iron gate, and because there was no key, it had to be guarded. The white flags of the Chinese merchants in the railway stations and concessions are flying. The people of Shanghai were immersed in celebration. On Nanshi Road, white flags are like forests. Groups of people's troops marched through the streets chanting the slogan "Long live the revolution", and passers-by also chanted slogans in response. Due to the protection of the revolutionary army, the city of Shanghai is stable, pedestrians come and go as usual, and shops are open as usual. As a result of the revolution, the characters of the firms were also changed, and some enthusiastic masses eliminated the characters "Manchu" and "Qing" on the names of the shops and markets, or replaced the characters "Qing" with the characters "Hua" in order to show that they were not in opposition to the Manchu Qing Dynasty......

The liberation of Shanghai accelerated the process of revolution in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. All counties near Shanghai were handed down and more than 50 official seals were confiscated. Hangzhou and Zhenjiang were successively recovered under the instigation of the Shanghai party, and Suzhou also declared independence under the instigation of Shen Enfu, Yuan Xiluo and others.

On November 5, the Shanghai Military Governor's Office was established, Huang Xing was elected as the Shanghai Military Governor, Li Pingshu was the Minister of Civil Affairs, Chen Qimei was the Minister of Military Affairs, Wu Tingfang was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shen Manyun was the Minister of Finance, Wang Yiting was the Minister of Communications, and Li Xiehe was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Shanghai Army and Commander-in-Chief of the Shanghai Army Death Squad. The recovery of Shanghai is of far-reaching significance, because Shanghai is the most important industrial and commercial city in China, the media is extremely developed, and international and domestic public opinion is mostly based on Shanghai's reaction. Shanghai's success in freeing itself from the rule of the Qing government boosted the revolutionary army, and the people of the whole country increasingly favored the revolutionary army. (To be continued.) )