There is no evidence that the large-scale anti-Qing uprisings that took place on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders in the autumn of 1906 were directly related to Sun Wen and the uprisings, but it is true that the main cadres of the League were involved.

At the moment when the Qing court carefully organized the Zhangde Autumn Exercise and displayed the new army in an all-round way, an unprecedented armed uprising occurred on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders.

The autumn exercise in Zhangde has ended, and the first participating troops to leave Zhangde are the Shandong Army. This name is said to have been given by Yuan Shikai and was used in the upper echelons of the Qing army, which is enough to prove that the Fifth Town has completely become an armed force independent of Beiyang.

Jiang Yun, who had left Zhangde in advance, issued an order to activate his intelligence network that had begun to take shape in an effort to find out what was going on in the center, which led to Liangbi's early departure. Something must have happened, and Zhou Yi proved it, and at the meeting on the afternoon of the second day after the end of the autumn exercise on the supply and return of the army, Yuan Shikai and Tie Liang were missing, and the two important figures were gone. Jiang Yun believed in Duan Yongqing's intelligence, which proved to be a very reliable and capable high-level spy, and the information he provided had not gone wrong yet.

Presiding over the meeting that day was Xu Shichang, a squire of the military department. Tens of thousands of troops gathered in Zhangde Mansion, and the amount of grain and grass consumed every day was amazing, Xu Shichang was entrusted by Yuan Shikai and Tie Liang to arrange for all the soldiers and horses to return to their homes as soon as possible.

The Hunan and Jiangxi border incidents diluted the atmosphere brought about by the autumn exercises in Zhangde.

On the third day (October 27), the news was confirmed that a large-scale popular uprising broke out on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders after the collapse of the Twist Army, and the provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi were seriously unstable. What made the Qing court extremely frightened was. The rebels claimed to have inherited the unfinished business of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and openly raised the banner of anti-Qing rebellion.

In recent years, Sun Wen's anti-party has been tossing, and small-scale uprisings have occurred one after another in Liangguang and Lianghu, which has caused a great headache for the imperial court. If this large-scale popular uprising had been manipulated by Sun Wen's party, the problem would have been even more complicated. The imperial court recalled Yuan Shikai, Tie Liang and other important ministers to discuss how to quickly extinguish this sudden riot.

Before describing the reaction of the imperial court, it is necessary to give a brief account of the circumstances of the riot.

In October 1906, Liling, Liuyang, Hunan, and Pingxiang, Jiangxi, launched uprisings with the Brotherhood as the main force, claiming to be the successor of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and openly raising the banner of anti-Qing.

The strength of the uprising was mainly the Hui Party. But the members of the League played a leading role in it.

Before recounting this far-reaching uprising. It is necessary to first introduce the Presbyterian Church. The Elder Brotherhood originated in Sichuan, also known as the Elder Brotherhood, and together with the Tiandihui (Hongmen) and the Qingbang, it was called the three major gangs in the late Qing Dynasty. It originated from the Guild Organization formed by the sailors of the Sichuan River and the slender men. After going down the river. After the contact between the two lakes, Jiangxi and the Heaven and Earth Society. Transformed from an armed raiding group into a secret party. It does not have a certain political opinion, and its personnel are mainly poor people from the lower classes.

In the summer of the 32nd year of Guangxu (1906), Liu Daoyi (Liu Yuyi's brother) and Cai Shaonan, who had studied in Japan, returned to Hunan. Through the Mingde School, a person named Wei Zongquan established contact with the elder associations in Liling, Liuyang, and Pingxiang.

Liu Kuaiyi once established the Huaxing Association with Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren and others, and Liu Daoyi was also the backbone. Wei Zongquan was the son of a wealthy merchant who was influenced by the League while attending the Mingde School in Changsha. His hometown is Shangli in Pingxiang, near Liuyang, and he had made friends with the local elders' association, so Liu Daoyi and Cai Shaonan asked him to return to his hometown to open a pen and paper shop as an organ to contact the elders' association. Wei Zongquan organized more than 100 elders in the vicinity, established the Hongjiang Association in the form of a mountain hall, and elected Gong Chuntai, who was born as a peasant, as the eldest brother.

The reason why the name of the organization is called Hongjiang Society is to commemorate Ma Fuyi, the leader of the Hunan Hui Party, who was beheaded in Hongjiang Town, so the name of Hongjiang Society has the meaning of revenge.

After the establishment of the Hongjiang Society, Cai Shaonan and Wei Zongquan stayed in Shangli to help Gong Chuntai preside over the affairs of the conference and actively develop the congregation, while Liu Daoyi stayed in Hunan to be in charge of external relations, mainly with the League.

The organization of the Hongjiang Society completely continues the organizational form of the Elders' Association, and the membership is an oath of drinking blood and wine, and the oath is "swear to abide by the purpose of the Republic of China, obey the orders of the eldest brother, work with one heart and one mind, and destroy the Manchurian and Han Dynasty. ”

Judging from the oath, the Hongjiang Society has accepted the basic proposition of the League and openly rebelled against it.

Relying on the original foundation of the Elders' Association, the Hongjiang Association has developed quite rapidly in Jiangxi, and there is a large coal mine in Anyuan, Pingxiang, and there is a foreman named Xiao Kechang who is the leader of the Elders' Association, known as the "Old Dragon King", and is very prestigious among the miners. This person was a subordinate of Ma Fuyi, who was hunted and killed by the Qing army last year, and has been secretly plotting to avenge his old boss. Under Xiao Kechang's work, thousands of miners in the Anyuan Coal Mine secretly joined the Hongjiang Society, giving the uprising planned by Liu Daoyi and others a reliable basic force.

The uprising planned by Liu Daoyi and Cai Shaonan was originally scheduled for the end of the year, but on October 19, the Hongjiang Society in Liling was forced to launch in advance due to the situation, so that the headquarters of the Hongjiang Society fell into passivity. In this way, Gong, Wei, Cai and others had no choice but to take advantage of the situation to launch an uprising in advance.

In late October, the rebel army occupied Shangli and established a leading body, Gong Chuntai served as the governor of the vanguard of the Southern Army of the Chinese National Bureau, Cai Shaonan and Wei Zongquan served as the commanders of the left and right guards, issued a letter, claiming to be ordered by the government of the Republic of China to inherit the cause of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, enumerating the ten major evils of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and calling on the people to rise up to overthrow the imperial system and establish the Republic of China. His tone was completely Sun Yat-sen's, which made this uprising greatly shocked the Jiangxi and Hunan officialdom, believing that it was completely different from the ordinary party troublemakers, but was instigated by Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing and others who had fled overseas. Wu Chongxi, the governor of Jiangxi, and Cen Chunbei, the governor of Hunan, rushed to the imperial court with 100,000 troops on the one hand, and deployed suppression on the other.

Repression is certain, and it must be severely suppressed and will not be merciless. Liang Bi, who had returned to Beijing, put forward a plan at the Imperial Council to transfer the Fifth Town of Shandong to the south of Lianghu and cooperate with the Hubei New Army and the patrol battalion to march from the east and west, in order to completely cut off the uprising. Then Long Qian was appointed as the governor of Guangdong. It is still under the control of the fifth town, and the fifth town is stationed in Guangdong and will not return to Shandong.

This was a plan to kill three birds with one stone, and it was immediately appreciated by the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department, and Yuan Shikai was unwilling to object, and Cixi, who presided over the meeting, said that she would think about it and leave Tie Liang and Yi Liang to talk secretly.

Tie Liang's move is extremely vicious. As the most outstanding military leader of the Manchu Qing Dynasty today, after he received an express report from the Ministry of War in Zhangde about the Hunan and Jiangxi affairs, he had this plan. After perfecting it on the way back to Beijing, he had a secret conversation with Cixi after the Imperial Council. Tie Liang's reasons are very sufficient.

First. The soldiers are fast, and the rebellion should be cut off as soon as possible, and there should be no mercy. Theoretically, the first troops to be used were the Hubei New Army, but the main force of the Hubei New Army was still stranded in Henan. And Zhang Biao lacked military talent. Zhang Zhidong is not in good health again. A general is needed to lead the army. This person should be Long Qian, who Lafayette has always valued and has proven to be very capable. Since Gengzi Nian Qin Wang rescued, it proved this person's loyalty to the imperial court. After that, he commanded the right wing of the Victorious Army and the Fifth Town. Sweeping away the bandits in Shandong, training troops to raise salaries, and organizing and training patrol troops in many aspects can be of great use, and they are the military talents that can be counted in the imperial court.

Second, the Zhangde Autumn Drill has proved that the elite soldiers and horses stationed in the fifth town of Shandong are really useful. The situation in Shandong is thriving, and Xiangma has already been pacified by Long Qian, so there is no need to stay in an elite town.

Third, because the situation in Hunan and Jiangxi is eroding rapidly and the territory involved is vast, it is necessary to march troops from all sides, rather than driving them from one direction in Hubei, so that they can achieve full success. Therefore, relying solely on the soldiers and horses of the two lakes seems to be insufficient, and from a geographical point of view, it is most appropriate to transfer troops from Shandong.

Fourth, the south has always been unstable, especially in Liangguang. Sun Wen is a native of Guangdong, and his main strength comes from Guangdong, and a strong army must be stationed in Guangdong to protect southern Xinjiang.

The reason is sufficient. But Cixi still needs to think about it.

After Tie Liang and Yi Liang left, Cixi thought alone for most of the night. She has been in charge of the government for 40 years, and although she is basically a layman in the military, she has perfected the so-called imperial mind to balance the strength of all parties. What is the true intention of the iron conscience, Cixi is already very clear. But Tie Liang's suggestion was in the interests of the Qing Dynasty, and she agreed with it very much.

What is the most difficult problem for the imperial court at the moment? It is not the weakness of national strength, let alone the hardship of people's livelihood, but the greatest crisis since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Overseas, Sun Wen and others held high the banner of nationalism, calling for the expulsion of the Tatars and the restoration of China, creating more and more influence through repeated unscrupulous actions. Domestically, since the imperial court implemented the military revival plan after the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, with the complete decline of the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion, the new army has become the only military force that can influence the political situation. But the command of this armed force, which cost the imperial court countless financial resources, fell into the hands of a group of ambitious Han Chinese. Now the Eight Towns Army and several mixed associations have been built, except for the first town, the commanders are all Han Chinese. What is the combat power of the first town controlled by the banner people, Cixi does not ask. Although she has been in the deep palace for a long time, she knows exactly what the children of the flag people look like, where is there still a little legacy of the ancestors' bravery, in addition to visiting the opera garden and holding the play, carrying the bird cage and walking the birds and bragging, what else can she do? Adopting the Han people to control the Han people has become the only feasible strategy. Tie Liang is a loyal minister and a capable minister, completely different from the greedy and stupid Yiliang, he saw the crisis of the Qing Dynasty, and it was completely correct to target the four towns of Beiyang under Yuan Shikai (excluding the first and fifth towns). Cixi fully supported Tie Liang to gradually take back the command of the four towns of Beiyang. Of course, to properly settle Yuan Shikai, it is not a problem of one person, Yuan Shikai stands behind the huge Beiyang bureaucracy, it is okay to take power, but it is not possible to force the Beiyang system. According to reports, the vast majority of the officers in the four towns of Beiyang knew about Yuan Dashuai but did not know about the imperial court, and this was absolutely intolerable.

Tie Liang stared at Beiyang, but he didn't forget Shandong. That's good. The Fifth Town was not favored by the imperial court, and the imperial court did not spend much money on it. At the beginning, Cixi advocated the expansion of the right wing of Long Qian's Weisheng Army into the fifth town of Beiyang, Cixi had two considerations, the first was to contain Yuan Shikai, Long Qian's troops and Yuan Shikai's troops fought several battles in Shandong, and Yuan Shikai suffered a big loss in disgrace. Cultivating an anti-Yuan armed force would be beneficial to the imperial court. The second is that Long Qian saved himself, and he can't chill the hearts of heroes. Although the origin of this person is somewhat unknown, he is too young. But the panic and helplessness on the night she escaped from Beijing and stayed at the ruined temple has always been remembered by Cixi. Long Qian appeared when he needed it most, and his performance was perfect, he was the hero of the rescue. In the future, he did a good job in Shandong, managing the army and managing finances, setting up industrial education, harnessing the Yellow River, and leveling the ringing horses everywhere, all of which were the first achievements. Moreover, none of the newspapers said that Long Qian had any connection with Sun Wen's chaotic party. On the issue of constitutionalism, Long Qian was one of the few courtiers who made Cixi feel particularly warm, a military general, and it was really rare to stand on his own position against the constitution. This is what makes Cixi the most satisfied.

But the Fifth Town is not without its problems. There is more and more evidence that this army, which is not weaker than the four towns of Beiyang, is actually outside the system of the imperial court. The military system decided on its own, the officers appointed themselves, manufactured and procured weapons on their own, established more and more relations with the foreign powers without the permission of the imperial court, hired foreign military instructors, held military exercises with foreign armies, reorganized the patrol battalion without authorization, and transferred a large number of officers from the fifth town to fill it, so that it was completely out of the control of the governor of Shandong, and only obeyed the governor of the yamen, that is, himself. Moreover, it has mastered Shandong industry, so that it has a stable financial source. In the imperial court, he helped Yixuan and others in the court, and it was difficult to ask. In Shandong, a large number of local officials have been wooed, and now even Yang Shixiang is speaking ill of him less and less. It is Tie Liang's judgment that a new warlord group has been faintly formed in Shandong. Taken together, the news made Cixi feel more and more uneasy.

There was always a suggestion to transfer Long Qian out of Shandong, but Cixi always thought that the time was not right. Now Tie Liang took the opportunity of the rebellion on the border of Hunan and Jiangxi to transfer the fifth town out of Shandong, first, to let Long Qian leave the territory he had carefully built, second, to force Long Qian to completely turn against the rebels, and third, to strengthen the military control in the south. It is indeed a good plan to kill three birds with one stone.

After thinking about it for half the night, Cixi made a decision. Early the next morning, Cixi summoned the Minister of Military Aircraft, and Yuan Shikai was also summoned. She directly made the decision to agree to the Fifth Town to go south to Hunan and Jiangxi to quell the rebellion and move to Liangguang.

"Long Qian has made great contributions to the country. The decree was to be appeased, and to satisfy him as much as possible in relation to military expenses. In addition, you have to consider giving Long Qian a promotion. Cixi said to the military planes.

"The Queen Mother, Weichen thinks that it is better to be promoted than to be promoted. Moreover, it should be after Long Qian put down the rebellion. Qu Hongzhen, the minister of military aircraft that Cixi admired very much, replied.

"The minister seconded the proposal." A group of ministers spoke almost in unison.

"Lafayette, after Long Qian's department went south, how did he arrange things in Shandong? I hope Lafayette will make it clear. Yuan Shikai seized the opportunity to ask.

"Shandong is very calm at the moment, so we don't want to send troops over. The slave thought that whoever took over as the governor of Shandong had to give Long Qian a face, and he couldn't let him have other ideas. Yixuan actually stood on the opposite side of Yuan Shikai.

"King Qing played very well. So be it. "Of course Cixi will not hand over Shandong to Yuan Shikai, how can you do the stupid thing of rejecting the tiger at the front door and entering the wolf at the back door? (To be continued......)