Why didn't Huang Xing leave successfully? In fact, the reason is simple: no money. At that time, Yuan Shikai in the north and the revolutionaries in the south didn't have enough funds. Without money, we can't mobilize troops and wage war. Huang Xing, who stayed in Nanjing, lived like a year because he had no funds. Huang Xing tried various methods to improve the situation, but in the end he failed.
Nanjing chaos:
The man who asked for money pushed the door open.
19 1 1 After the recovery of Nanjing in, because of the "Northern Expedition", various armies were stationed inside and outside Nanjing. There are more than 6,543,800 troops in the city, including Zhejiang Army, Shanghai Army, Guangfu Army, Iron Blood Army and Garrison Army. If you add reinforcements from Jiangsu and other places, there will be no fewer than 200 thousand people.
Xu Chonghao (Xu Chongzhi's younger brother and former manager of the Ninth Town), then commander of Nanjing Temporary Wei Wu and brigade commander of the first independent Hunchenglv, recalled: "After the recovery of Nanjing, there were 26 divisions. The situation is extremely mixed. Although the name is Shi, there are only thousands of soldiers. These teachers who claim to have made contributions to the revolution run around the left-behind gate in Nanjing all day, demanding reimbursement of equipment, and they are everywhere. They even used various means to lure other people's battalion commanders to join them in order to consolidate their position. For the battalion commander, every time there is a purpose of promoting to a higher position and making a fortune, the revolutionary spirit is completely obliterated. "
Two hundred thousand insurgents gathered in Jinling, of course, is the inspiration of revolutionary justice. However, revolutionary soldiers are not immortals after all. They also need food, clothes, salaries, weapons and various daily necessities. The daily maintenance fee is not small, and these people want far more than the daily expenses.
According to the revolutionary Li Shucheng, one of the reasons why Sun Yat-sen was elected as the interim president was that people thought that he had good foreign relations and could make the revolution recognized and return home with huge sums of money. "But the results are all gone, so I don't know much about Sun Yat-sen."
Without money, the days of Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing and others in Nanjing are simply like years. Zhang Jian, who was nominated as Minister of Industry, initially pinned his hope of solving financial difficulties on Sun Yat-sen, saying that Sun Yat-sen "has been abroad for a long time, and his contribution is always there". If he can raise1.20 thousand yuan or at least 50 thousand yuan in foreign debt, the temporary problem will be solved. However, borrowing money is not easy. Sun Yat-sen ran around and spared no effort until he was temporarily dissolved, but he still found nothing.
According to the investigation, the Provisional Ministry of Finance of the Republic of China spent 9.75 million yuan in March, of which the War Department spent 893 yuan, accounting for the vast majority of the total expenditure. Due to financial difficulties, the revolutionary army is generally in arrears and short of pay. Every day, people come to the War Department to ask for money, ranging from a dozen to dozens. As the head of an army, Huang Xing was overwhelmed and struggled to cope with it every day during this period. According to his son Huang Yiou, "I was the late director of the army chief, chief of staff, and the base camp overseer. He wants to pay for arms, because his salary is not settled, and he often runs between Nanjing and Shanghai, so he is too tired to vomit blood. I want to borrow hundreds of thousands of emergency loans from Shanghai through Zhang Jian. He has been dragging on for a month, and he is desperate. "
Financial crisis:
Temporary * * * is facing disintegration.
In order to alleviate the economic embarrassment, Sun Yat-sen and others also thought of many ways, such as issuing military debts, mobilizing donations from Nanyang expatriates, and borrowing from foreign banks. But the money raised is a drop in the bucket. 1 October 8, 19 12,1100 million yuan military bonds were issued temporarily, and the results were not satisfactory. Only * * * raised 5 million yuan, many of which were supported by overseas Chinese in the United States and Southeast Asia. Later, temporary * * * issued another 654.38+0 million banknotes, but because there was no guarantee, the merchants refused to go on strike, and the loans of China Merchants and Han Yeping also failed.
At this time in Nanjing, soldiers were everywhere inside and outside the city. They were in droves, clamoring for arrears, and almost mutinied. In private, Sun Yat-sen once reluctantly admitted that if there is not enough money to solve the urgent need within a few days, the army will be dissolved and the revolution will face the fate of disintegration. Hu also said that the revolution at that time was * * *, "the army was exhausted and worried about collapse", and there was the possibility of mutiny at any time. As the chief of the army, Huang Xing even claimed that if the peace talks failed, he could not issue a mobilization order, but had to have a caesarean section!
During the North-South peace talks, Huang Xing once said to Geng Yi, a revolutionary who led Gui Jun to aid Korea, "I don't want the Northern Expedition to sweep the country of Lu and take Huanglong directly. However, in collusion with the revolutionaries, they either occupied the local area or recruited soldiers to defend themselves, only seeking immediate fame and fortune, regardless of future disasters, and some even secretly interacted with Yuan Shikai. Li is not a revolutionary. If I am too reluctant, he will make peace with Yuan Shikai alone. This is the general trend. How can I disagree with it alone? When President Sun returned to China for the first time, he didn't know what was inside. He accused me of being too weak, so I had to put up with it. " Li Shucheng, then chief of staff of Huang Xing, felt the same way. He listed seven or eight governors and generals of the People's Army, and thought that once the revolutionary army went to war with Yuan, it was "likely to turn against him".
It is hard to stay behind:
The biggest problem of disarmament is the lack of funds.
19 12 In March, Nanjing was temporarily dissolved and the provisional Senate moved northward. After the Senate went north, the Nanjing issue remained unresolved, because the revolutionary armies of all walks of life could not go north with it. After the peace talks, the southern army was useless militarily, and their number was so huge that it was far beyond the financial capacity of the provinces.
In this regard, the People's Daily, a revolutionary newspaper, also criticized: "There are soldiers everywhere in Jiangnan! The number of officers is a dime a dozen! The war department not only doesn't know whether these soldiers are enough, but also doesn't know how many soldiers there are! There's no way to investigate or demobilize. If you want to compile these troops, it is not easy to compile this and not that. " The army asked for a salary, but the War Department dared not refuse.
As long as the revolutionary army does not go, the situation in the south will not be peaceful, and its legacy will make Yuan Shikai a headache. After careful consideration, Yuan Shikai thought that it was necessary to untie the bell and tie the bell, leaving this burden to Huang Xing. Therefore, after the establishment of the Tang cabinet, Yuan Shikai issued an order at the same time, appointing Huang Xing as "staying in Nanjing", the purpose of which was to deal with the problem of Huang Xing abolishing the southern revolutionary army. There is no doubt that this position is a hot potato.
Huang Xing is a loyal person. He readily accepted the appointment and sent a telegram saying: "It is urgent to maintain and organize the two rivers forces. I am eager to retire, and I will never dare to ignore the unfinished business, so as not to lose my compatriots in the army. " On April 6, Huang Xing officially took office and stayed in Nanjing to deal with the demobilization of the revolutionary armies in various provinces.
Unusually, Yuan Shikai gave Huang Xing the power to maintain and organize the revolutionary army, but did not give corresponding financial support. In desperation, Huang Xing can only use "patriotism" as a call to encourage soldiers to leave their jobs automatically, thus helping the times. It's easier said than done-who will lay down their weapons easily without reasonable compensation?
Think that year, Li Zicheng peasant army overthrew the Ming court, and 400,000 Shunyi troops gathered in Beijing. After the victory, these people quickly deteriorated. "Thieves will live in big rooms and take pleasure in having no children." At that time, Commander-in-Chief Liu Zongmin was reminded that this would lead to mutiny, but Liu Zongmin bluntly replied: At this time, the people are only worried about mutiny, so what can they say? What does Ann get from the daily expenses of the army?
At the time of Dingge, the lack of pay made the Beiyang Army mutiny frequently, and the revolutionary army mutinied many times because of the lack of pay. Huang Xing's main task is disarmament, and the biggest problem is that without money, the army can't be maintained, and it has to be demobilized at a low price, which has aroused strong dissatisfaction among some revolutionary soldiers.
Unexpected events:
The rebels defected late at night.
According to Li Shucheng, a revolutionary who fought side by side with Huang Xing, when Nanjing stayed in the government, it was necessary to change the rations from dry rice to porridge, and even porridge could not be maintained in the future. Instead, it borrowed 200,000 yuan from Japanese businessmen in Shanghai to temporarily maintain the status quo. One night, Jiangxi's army, Yu, suddenly mutinied and robbed in Nanjing. After asking the commander of Gui Jun, Wang Zhixiang, to send a team to suppress it, it was not settled until dawn. All the soldiers were repatriated except those who were punished by the military judicial department with conclusive evidence.
The mutiny mentioned by Li Shucheng took place on the evening of April 1 1. The troops participating in the mutiny were mainly the 27th and 28th regiments under the jurisdiction of the 14th Brigade (Deng) of the 7th Division of the Jiangxi Army. More than 2,000 people affiliated with it suddenly launched a mutiny when Huang Xing went to Shanghai for a salary increase. After the rebels rushed out of the barracks, they robbed shops and killed people in Baimanqiao and Taiping Bridge.
After the incident, Wang Zhixiang, the garrison outside the city, was transferred to the city to suppress the chaos in the name of the deputy commander of the general affairs director of Nanjing Government. By the next morning, the mutiny had basically subsided. Different from Li Shucheng's understatement, the treatment after the mutiny was extremely cruel, except for the killing that night. As many as 7,800 revolutionary soldiers were executed afterwards, most of them were not tried by court martial, and some were even dragged to the pond behind the left-behind mansion and shot.
After getting the news, Huang Xing rushed back after burning the midnight oil. But when he returned to Nanjing, it was already dawn and the mutiny had been brutally suppressed. In this regard, Huang Xing did not feel extremely guilty: at that time, some revolutionary troops in Nanjing not only owed wages, but also had extremely meager supplies, and some troops even did not have enough to eat.
Afterwards, Huang Xing called Yuan Shikai: The situation in Nanjing is extremely critical. Not only are the troops in arrears unable to pay wages, but food can no longer be supported. The urgent voice is endless. Like this, there will be great danger in a day or two. Two days later, Huang Xing sent another telegram: the rations here have not been distributed for several days. Today, there are only one porridge in several places every day, and the people who get porridge every day are blocked. Danger, * * * a day. If it is urgent, it will take dozens of days. The trend of collapse has gradually begun. If there is no money to save Ning within two days, the chaos will come to an end.
In this regard, Yuan Shikai turned a deaf ear. Because Yuan Shikai had no money at that time. Of course, even if he had money, Yuan Shikai would not give it to the revolutionary party. In Yuan Shikai's view, he just wanted to set Huang Xing on fire and watch the jokes of revolutionaries!
Abolish the army:
Huang Xing is physically and mentally haggard.
Under such difficult circumstances, Huang Xing tried his best to shrink the Northern Expedition troops stationed in Ning, Su and Anhui into five armies: the first army (the town army), the commander Bai, and later served as the governor of Anhui, leading troops to Anhui; The Second Army (Yang Jun), commander Xu Baoshan, directly under the Central Committee; The 3rd Army (Gui Jun), commander Wang Zhixiang and his men were sent back to Guangxi; The Fourth Army (Guangdong Army), commander Yao Yuping, was composed of the Guangdong New Army, some of which were repatriated to Guangdong, and most of the rest were dissolved on the spot; Zhu Rui, commander of the Fifth Army (Zhejiang Army), later became commander of Zhejiang, and led troops back to Zhejiang.
Felisaz, a reporter from The Times, once said that Huang Xing, who stayed in Nanjing, "had six governors at the same time" and "ruled about a quarter of China". Therefore, many people think that Huang Xing was in charge of the southern armies at that time and had hundreds of thousands of troops in his hand, which really could compete with Beiyang Army. Ren Zheng Zheng, a revolutionary, also said: In the bones of the League of Nations, although the president retired, he stayed to maintain this power. Over time, the arrangements were ready, but Yuan Shi, though cunning, would not dare to have other plans.
On the surface, the revolutionary army seems to have reason to be optimistic, but Hu is pessimistic. He believes that the Nanjing Army is known as the 17 Division, but in fact only the Guangdong Army and the Zhejiang Army have fighting capacity. The Guangdong army was stationed in Xuzhou at that time, confronting Zhang Xun's troops, while the generals of Zhejiang army had been opposed to Huang Xing, and they were not ordered. Other ministries and commissions, worthy of mob, shall not engage in the enemy.
After the mutiny of Jiangxi Army, Huang Xing accelerated the pace of disarmament. However, due to the instability of the revolutionary army itself, it is difficult to come up with accurate data on how many soldiers were laid off during this period. According to the estimation afterwards, some people say that the disarmament will be 200,000, and some people say that the whole south (Jiangsu, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Anhui and Fujian provinces) will lay off 27 divisions and 360,000, and so on.
As a special case, at the end of the left-behind government, Huang Xing reorganized the outstanding officers in the revolutionary army into a division to preserve the revolutionary forces. This unit, from the division commander to the battalion commander, is mostly Japanese cadets and Baoding Military Academy League students, and the guns are also duplicated. This is the eighth division that played an important role in the "second revolution" in 19 13. However, while Huang Xing called on other troops to demobilize themselves, he also recruited backbones and soldiers for the Eighth Division. This practice caused chaos in the revolutionary army and dissatisfaction of laid-off workers, and was finally forced to stop. As a result, the quality of the reorganization of the eighth division has been greatly reduced.
When the downsizing affairs were not completely handled, he repeatedly asked Yuan Shikai to resign from his post in Nanjing despite the opposition of fierce factions of the League, and his mind was made up. Because the task of sorting out and abolishing the army really made Huang Xing feel physically and mentally haggard and overwhelmed.
Resign and stay:
Indifferent to fame and fortune, no official is light.
1912 May 13, Huang Xing called Yuan Shikai and requested to cancel Nanjing Mansion. Yuan Shikai had long anticipated this result. In fact, he wanted to stifle the revolutionary's fighting spirit by this means. Therefore, after Huang Xing resigned, Yuan Shikai deliberately retained him. It was not until May of March1year that Cheng Dequan, the governor of Jiangsu, agreed to take over the Nanjing Mansion, and Yuan Shikai approved Huang Xing's resignation. Half a month later, Huang Xing issued a notice of dismissal and dismissal, and then quietly left Nanjing.
After leaving office, Huang Xing was relieved and the revolutionaries understood better. Zhang published the editorial "On Huang's Stay" in People's Daily, in which the evaluation was very high: Huang Xingben, a scholar, was famous for his tactics and attached it sincerely; But you can serve your country with death, cover the world with righteousness, and believe in the place where the man of God lives. Huang Xingben, a soldier (keeping pace with his friends), has studied the current situation and jurisprudence, and his heart is open and aboveboard. In Ming Dow, he can still be regarded as a gentleman, which journalists have never doubted.
Huang Xing was indifferent to fame and fortune all his life. His motto is "fame is not self-made, merit is not self-made, and success is not alive". He can be called a moral model among revolutionaries, and his character is well known. Hu Ceng commented that Huang Xing was "brave, but meticulous in handling things ... regardless of the size, he needed to say' slow and cautious' (Changsha proverb, meaning leisurely)". Zhang claimed to have made friends all over the world since he became a weak champion, and Huang Xing was the easiest friend to make. In addition to "indisputable", he is "tireless".
In September of that year, on the way to his 39th birthday, Huang Xing returned to his hometown in Hunan after a long absence. After enjoying the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, Huang Xing recalled the revolutionary career of more than ten years, and couldn't help feeling deeply, and wrote a poem:
It is better to return to the wind than to know forty wrongs in thirty-nine years; Amazing career, such as running water, loves my garden and wants to shine.
At night, the fish and dragons are silent, and the apes and cranes are reluctant; Without a sense of independence, sometimes the breeze will shake my clothes.
At this time, Huang Xing reached the age of no doubt. For him, the previous revolutionary cause has become a smoke cloud of yesterday. After years of living without a fixed place and drifting overseas, it is reasonable for Huang Xing to resign successfully now that the Republic of China is newly established.
However, for Sun, Huang and others, they are puzzled. After Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing went north to talk with Yuan Shikai, Tan Renfeng, a revolutionary veteran, said with great emotion: "Once upon a time, someone wrote a poem saying,' Duke Zhou was afraid of rumors, and Wang Mang was inferior to a corporal'. These two sentences should be given to Sun Yat-sen and Huang, but after some negotiations, they fell into the trap of Yuan Shikai. Sun Yat-sen also said that he wanted Yuan Shikai to be president for ten years, and even Huang Xing immediately changed his mind. Does Yuan Shikai really have magic power? How can these people be fooled by him and not know it? It's really strange! "
In fact, there is no love for no reason, and there is no hate for no reason. Why did Huang Xing resign from his post in Nanjing? I think the reader already has the answer in mind.
Huang Xingben thought that the revolution had been successful and he could join the industry, so he became the overseer of the Sichuan-Han Railway. 19 12 In August, he wrote in the preface of Railway Magazine: "Today's people are * * * and established. If you want to fall into Su Min, you will be rich in Qiang Bing and give up your business. " It is advocated that "the railway should be the first strategy to save the country, and it should catch up quickly to follow the footsteps of advanced countries and make the industry flourish!" Unfortunately, due to the political turmoil and changes, he himself had to devote himself to the second revolution and the movement to defend his country, and died young, which made his idea of developing industry and education fail to come true.