The six-dimensional pictures of emperors of all dynasties were exposed, and the ancestors panicked

Chapter 811 Wuchang Uprising: The End of the Imperial System
The period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty
Liu Heng looked at the Qing Dynasty, which had completely entered a dead end, and said calmly:
"The Qin system has been followed in all dynasties."

"But there are two fundamental things in the Qin system that cannot be shaken."

"First, the rule based on officials is to pursue the principle that all under heaven belongs to the king and all the people are his subjects, rather than to rule by feudal aristocracy."

"Under the Qin system, the nobles and bureaucrats were merely tools to implement the will of the emperor. They could own land, have titles, and receive salaries, but they could not own the land, govern the people on the land, or handle government affairs in the fiefdom."

"Life and death, honor and disgrace are entirely dependent on the mood of the imperial power."

"They are tools that the imperial power relies on, and they are also targets of the imperial power's attacks."

Liu Qi thought about it carefully, and realized that from the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, it was indeed as his father had said.

"What about the second one?"

Liu Heng looked at the little emperor in the sky and said quietly:
"Second, maintain a steady intake of human and material resources, and do everything possible to avoid responsibility."

"In order to achieve this goal, the Qin system will strive to eliminate those influential people and organizations to create a flat structure of loose sand."

"Neighborhood Watch and the military household system, that's what it is."

"This structure can greatly reduce the extraction cost."

"Under the premise of not affecting stability, the court will also be willing to introduce new technologies to improve the intensity of extraction and increase the total amount of extraction."

Liu Qimang was a bit reckless, but he was not stupid.

Unlike the emperors who came after him, this time was not many years away from the Qin Dynasty, and the trauma inflicted by the Qin Dynasty was still vivid in people’s minds.

He compared the issues analyzed by his father with the statements in the sky curtain and immediately understood.

"So, the demise of the Qin dynasty also follows a pattern."

"Or they may perish from the oppression and invasion of foreign enemies."

"Or it may perish due to the division of its internal ruling foundation."

"Or it may be destroyed when the lower-class people break away from the scattered state and become an organized force, just like refugees."

"The Qing Dynasty is a typical example, and its demise was also like this!"

Liu Heng nodded, leaning against the couch and said:
"The Advisory Council can represent local public opinion, but this public opinion cannot be transformed into power. Whether it is accepted depends entirely on the court's preference."

"The imperial examination system has been abolished. These gentry who have transformed from juren, gongsheng, and xiucai to parliamentarians all hope to find their new position in the new era to maintain their social status."

"And if the opinions of the members in the Advisory Council are just complaints and cannot be transformed into policies, the social status of the gentry will be out of the question."

"But the identity of the central council members is determined to be a royal family member, which means that civil rights cannot interfere with royal power. Cixi's various policies also confirmed this."

"Local gentry and scholars had no channels to move up, which led to the Qing Dynasty losing the support of local gentry."

"And the restriction on royal family members being central councillors also cuts off the path to promotion for local governors."

"The imperial court has lost the support of officials."

"As for the military..."

Liu Qi could guess it without Liu Heng saying anything.

“The people are organized.”

Liu Heng nodded and added another sentence.

"Moreover, the organizations of the people may not be driven by local officials and gentry."

"Ever since the Gengshen Rebellion, Emperor Xianfeng lost the capital and the Old Summer Palace was burned to ashes, it was already an invasion and oppression by foreign enemies."

"The Taiping Army started the uprising in the form of refugees and has been separatist in the south of the Yangtze River for many years. It was precisely because the people were freed from the state of disunity that they were in a state of disunity."

"Local governors and governors-general who came from militias such as the Hunan Army and the Huai Army began to have military, financial and personnel power, which led to the emergence of new interest groups within the region. This was the change in the foundation of rule."

"In other words, the Qing Dynasty should have fallen long ago."

“Now, it’s just a matter of getting back to where we should be.”

……

[In May 1911, the Qing Dynasty's imperial cabinet promulgated the "nationalization of railway trunk lines" policy, and the Guangdong-Hankou Railway and Sichuan-Hankou Railway, which had been run by private enterprises, were nationalized. At the same time, Duan Fang was appointed as the Minister in charge of the Guangdong-Hankou and Sichuan-Hankou Railways, and the "Hu-Guang Railway Loan Contract" was signed with the banking groups of Britain, France, Germany, and the United States.]

[The Qing government's act of selling the right to build roads aroused opposition from people in various places.]

[People from all walks of life in Hunan used the railway company and the Advisory Council as their bases to actively fight for the railway, forcing the Hunan governor Yang Wendi to petition the Qing government to revoke its decision.]

[After being reprimanded for submitting the memorial, the people went on strike, stopped business, and stopped attending classes, refusing to pay taxes. The Hubei Advisory Council also held a meeting to protest, calling for "saving the country by preserving the road."]

……

{I don't understand, can someone explain it to me?}
{In the late Qing Dynasty, the construction of railways initially relied mainly on foreign capital, which was more efficient and the speed of railway construction was faster, such as the Beijing-Hankou Railway and the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, but the control of the railways often fell into the hands of foreigners.}
{After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, nationalism was on the rise in China, and local gentry proposed that local merchants raise funds to take back the road and mining rights, which is the so-called "building roads without borrowing foreign debts". Many commercial railway companies were established in various places, such as the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Co., Ltd.}
{But national sentiment alone cannot solve practical problems. At that time, the country was seriously lacking in railway construction technology and talents, and funds were in short supply. What was more serious was that corruption was everywhere, so the slogans for commercial railways were often loud, but very few were actually built.}
{The Qing government was too radical in its actions. Less than half a month after announcing the policy, it signed a huge loan contract with the banking consortiums of Britain, France, Germany and the United States to build roads, completely ignoring the intense national sentiment at the time.}
{What's even worse is that these railways built by private investors have already invested huge amounts of money in the early stages. Now that the state has taken back the right of way, if they don't give appropriate compensation, won't the local gentry suffer a huge loss?}
{According to the decision of the Qing government at the time, Sichuan Railway only returned the remaining 7 million taels of silver, and the government did not care about the more than 10 million taels spent in the previous years. The shareholders had to accept the bad luck.}
｛The shareholders of Sichuan Railway resolutely disagreed, so they established the "Railway Protection Comrades Association" and demanded that all the previous capital be returned.｝
……

Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period
"A bunch of idiots!"

Kangxi turned into a desktop cleaning master, cursing as he cleaned:
"What a bunch of short-sighted insects!"

It was a very stupid thing for the imperial court to set up consultative councils in each province but not allow them to become real organs of power.

This approach could neither appease the gentry nor use the Advisory Council to restrain local governors.

On the contrary, it brought together the gentry who were previously scattered all over the country and provided them with legal organizations and legal venues for activities.

The Advisory Council can communicate with other provincial advisory councils horizontally, contact the Privy Council vertically, and communicate with gentry in various states and counties.

The gentry, whose influence was originally limited to their own province, county, and township, were integrated into an organized and powerful national political entity due to the emergence of the Advisory Council.

Not only did the imperial court ignore this group of people, it also provoked them.

"A bunch of xxx! Fuck you xxx!"

Kangxi pointed to the sky and cursed.

I don't know whether it was scolding the Qing royal family for being incompetent, or scolding the gentry for being rebellious, or scolding the common people for being unwilling to submit.

……

[Yichang commercial shareholders demanded the return of their capital from the railway company, and railway workers and nearby farmers rose up to support them, engaging in bloody clashes with government troops.]

[Guangdong Railway shareholders opposed the Qing government's seizure of the Guangdong Railway and insisted on operating the railway in a commercial manner. Overseas Chinese shareholders declared that they would "never submit". The people refused to use paper money and ran on the bank to show their resistance. Under the high pressure of Guangdong Governor Zhang Mingqi, shareholders went to Hong Kong to establish the Railway Protection Society and continued their struggle.]

[On May 6 (June 17), Sichuan constitutional gentry and merchants first initiated the movement to protect the railway and organized the Railway Protection Comrades Association. Farmers who held shares rushed to join the association, and the number of participants reached hundreds of thousands.]

[The Qing government sent people to forcibly take over the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Yichang to Wanxian section project, and the anger of the Sichuan people was instantly ignited, and a large-scale strike and market boycott occurred in Chengdu.]

[The Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company shareholders' meeting notified the whole of Sichuan, launching a campaign to resist grain and taxes. Tax collection agencies such as local tax collection bureaus, likin bureaus, and patrol police bureaus were attacked. The anti-grain and anti-tax movement spread throughout Sichuan.]

【Therefore, the Qing court urgently dispatched Zhao Erfeng, known as the "butcher", to Sichuan and asked him to quickly suppress the unrest. 】

【Zhao Erfeng lured Pu Dianjun and other leaders of the Railway Protection Association and the Shareholders Meeting and shut down the railway company and the Railway Protection Association. Tens of thousands of people in Chengdu gathered at the Governor's Office to protest and demand the release of the arrested people.】

【Zhao Erfeng ordered the shooting, killing 32 petitioners on the spot, leading to the "Chengdu Massacre."】

[Afterwards, the Tongmenghui and Gelaohui in cities around Chengdu, such as Huayang and Xinjin, launched the "Comrade Army Uprising", besieged Chengdu, and trapped Zhao Erfeng in the city for more than ten days, forcing the Qing government to urgently dispatch Qing troops from Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places to Sichuan.]

……

On the sky, Wuchang is under martial law.

In a military camp, officers with rifles on their backs were checking rooms one by one.

When the officer walked into the room, he saw several soldiers cleaning their guns with a pile of bullets next to them.

The officer immediately asked nervously:
"What are you doing!"

The man cleaning the gun replied in a low voice:
"Just in case something unexpected happens."

The officer grabbed him.

"Are you planning to rebel?!"

The captured man threw him away with his arm and said sternly:
"So what if you rebel!"

The officer immediately shouted outside:

"Someone! Catch him!"

Then he got hit on the back of his head with the butt of a rifle.

The officer, knowing something was wrong, turned and ran.

The soldier who had hit him with the butt of his rifle raised his hand and shot the officer right in the waist.

The scene changes.

Two large flags crossed to greet each other.

The flag is red with eighteen stars embroidered on it.

……

【The "Chengdu Massacre" triggered a province-wide anti-tax riot, and the Tongmenghui and Gelaohui rose up and besieged Chengdu. The Qing government urgently dispatched Duan Fang to lead the Hubei New Army to Sichuan to quell the riot.】

[The revolutionaries in Huguang region saw that the local new army had been transferred away and the defense was empty, so they decided to launch an uprising in Hubei and Hunan provinces simultaneously on October 10, which was the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 6th day of the eighth lunar month.]

[But the news leaked out, and the Governor of Huguang, Ruicheng, heard about it and declared martial law throughout the city on Mid-Autumn Festival. At the same time, Hunan said that the 6th was too late, so it could only be postponed to October 10th.]

[On October 10, Sun Wu and others were preparing explosives in the headquarters of the Russian Concession. Liu Tong, the younger brother of Liu Zhongwen, the Prime Minister of the Hubei Uprising Army, was smoking a cigarette while watching. As a result, the cigarette butt ignited the gunpowder, causing an explosion. The Russian police station immediately rushed over, searched out the uprising list, notices, flags, etc., and handed them over to the Governor of Huguang.]

[Huguang Governor Ruicheng immediately began arresting people according to the list and issued a notice requiring all new officers and soldiers to stay in the camp and be arrested according to the list and executed on the spot.]

[At 10:10 p.m. on October 7, Tao Qisheng, the sentry commander of the th Army Battalion, was on patrol when he saw squad leader Jin Zhaolong and soldier Cheng Zhengying cleaning their guns with a box of bullets. He approached them and asked if they were planning to rebel. Tao Qisheng was knocked to the ground and Cheng Zhengying was shot in the back.]

[This is how the first shot of the Wuchang Uprising was fired. ]

……

Datang.

Everyone understood that the Qing Dynasty had no chance of recovering this time.

"In the beginning, the king's power was very strong and the court's authority still existed."

Li Shimin put one hand on the armrest and twirled his beard with the other, his eyes blurred.

"The Boxer Rebellion completely destroyed the Qing dynasty's authority, caused Cixi's reputation to plummet, and also greatly destroyed the recognition of the Qing dynasty within and outside the court."

"The way that everyone discusses politics in the parliament is intended to replace the model where one or two people like Empress Dowager Cixi make decisions in the deep palace."

"It also allows the military ministers and local governors to enter the central decision-making level and have decision-making power."

Fang Xuanling and others remained silent.

Li Chengqian said in a complicated tone:

"China only rules the world with the power of the monarch."

Li Shimin also admitted that this statement was true.

Although the people are like water, the king is like a mountain.

But the problem is...

"Things have changed to this point. If the country doesn't survive, how can you survive?"

……

[Everyone is familiar with the following story: the rebels occupied the arsenal, bombarded the Governor's Mansion, fought fiercely all night, and occupied the entire city of Wuchang.]

【One day later, the Hanyang Uprising was successful. 】

【Two days later, the Hankou Uprising was successful. 】

【Forty-eight days later, fourteen of the eighteen provinces in the Qing Dynasty declared independence.】

[Eighty-one days later, on January 1912, 1, the first republic in Asia, the Republic of China, was established, and Sun Yat-sen became the provisional president.]

【Change the era name, change clothes, and use the Gregorian calendar. 】

[On January 1912, 1, under the instruction of Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui led 26 Beiyang New Army generals to send a joint telegram to the Cabinet, the Military Advisory Office, the Army Department and various princes and ministers, stating that the Southern Revolutionary Army had already agreed to preferential treatment for the Qing imperial family and princes and nobles, and that the revolutionary army was developing rapidly and the Beiyang Army could not defeat it, and asked the Qing court to issue an order quickly to announce the implementation of a republican system.]

[On February 2, Duan Qirui and other generals issued another telegram, demanding the immediate implementation of the republic. Otherwise, they would "lead the entire army to Beijing to discuss the pros and cons with the princes."]

[On December 1912, the third year of the Xuantong reign (February 2, 12), the widow of Emperor Guangxu, Empress Dowager Longyu, issued the "Abdication Edict of Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty" to the whole country in the name of Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who was six years old at the time, announcing her abdication.]

【This edict not only announced the demise of the Qing Dynasty. 】

[It also announced the official end of the 221-year feudal monarchy era since Qin Shihuang proclaimed himself emperor in BC.]

……

{It just ended like this... Why do I suddenly feel a sense of loss?}
{Because this is the weight of history.}
{Do you think the Wuchang Uprising was an accidental event?}
{Coincidence, there are not so many coincidences in history.}
{In the historical context of the time, China was like the room full of gunpowder in the Russian Concession, which only needed a spark to ignite.}
｛Moreover, the Wuchang Uprising had been prepared in advance. Although the night before and the day of the uprising were chaotic, the general direction of history is definitely not changeable. If it is not October 1911, 10, it will be some day in the near future. If it is not this group of people, it will be another group of people.｝
{That revolution was real and tragic.}
{Liu Fuji, Peng Chufan, and Yang Hongsheng, three of Jiang Yiwu's companions who were arrested that night but failed to escape, were tortured and refused to reveal any information. They were all beheaded in the early morning.}
{The names that became well-known that night: Jiang Yiwu, Sun Wu, Cheng Zhengying, Jin Zhaolong, Xiong Bingkun, Deng Yulin, all of whom had unhappy endings in life.}
{This is the real history.}
{History is always so cruel and ruthless, so all those who have firm ideals and are brave enough to fight for them or even sacrifice their lives for them deserve our respect and remembrance.}
……

On the canopy.

The word "Qing" slowly faded.

The word "people" appeared in the white sun.

……

【The feudal monarchy era officially ended. 】

[As for the two major tasks accomplished by the Xinhai Revolution: expelling the Tartars and establishing the Republic of China, there is nothing much to say about the former, the focus is on the latter.]

What is "establishing a republic"? Simply put, it means "changing the monarchy for the people's rights."

【The monarchy is a "medieval" system, and the people's rights are a "modern" system. 】

[In politics, replacing the "medieval system" with the "modern system" is called "political modernization" using an abstract term.]

【“Political modernization” is not unique to any country; it is a common phenomenon in world history. 】

【Due to differences in historical and social conditions, the political modernization process of each country also varies in length, urgency, speed, and speed.】

……

(End of this chapter)