In view of the importance of Wuhan's geographical location, the Qing government has always attached great importance to its fortification. 1895, Zhang Zhidong, governor of Huguang, imitated western methods and trained well-equipped and well-trained Hubei New Army in two towns. 1906, according to the order of the national army, the first town was renamed the eighth town of the army, and Zhang Biao was in charge; The second town was renamed Army No.21Hunchengxie, and Li was in charge. Two officers and men 17259 (eighth town 1207 1 person, 21st mixed society 5 188 person). In addition, Wuhan, Hubei and other places are still stationed with a considerable number of old-fashioned troops such as reconnaissance barracks and naval divisions. The scout camp is managed by Zhang Biao; Chen Delong, commander of the Navy Battalion, is subordinate to Cheng Yunhe, the prefect of the Yangtze River Navy. On the eve of Wuchang Uprising, the deployment of the new army in Wuhan was as follows: about 3,000 people were stationed in Wuchang City, and 4,000 people were stationed in Nanhu and Tangjiao outside Wuchang City; There are about 1000 troops stationed in Hankou; About 500 people are stationed in Hanyang. In addition, there are 2,000 armed police officers and soldiers, patrol battalions, monitoring guards and other old troops stationed in Wuchang City. At that time, Ruicheng, governor of Huguang, stationed heavy troops in Wuhan to suppress the revolution. In fact, a considerable number of new troops have been controlled by revolutionaries, and civil and military officials such as Ruicheng have been sitting on a powder keg without knowing it.
In order to suppress the Sichuan Railway Protection Movement and the anti-Qing people in Hubei, in early September, Ruicheng and others were ordered to transfer two battalions 3 1 and 32 in Bazhen to Sichuan (a few people stayed in Wuchang), and two battalions 4 1 and 29 were transferred to Yichang, Xiangyang, Yunyang and Yueyang, Hunan respectively. The mobilization of the new army, of course, dispersed some revolutionary forces, but it also made the forces in the hinterland of Hubei reactionary rule empty, which was conducive to launching an uprising. On September 14 of the same year, under the impetus of the Central Committee of the League (②), the Literary Society and the * * * Progressive Association decided to eliminate their views and unite to resist the Qing Dynasty. The two revolutionary organizations established a unified uprising leading body. On the military side, Jiang Yiwu is the commander-in-chief and Sun Wu is the chief of staff. Politically, Gong Liu is the Prime Minister, with military, Senate, internal affairs, foreign affairs, financial management and other departments. Responsible for making bombs, drafting proclamations, printing letters and making flags and symbols. At the same time, people were sent to Shanghai to invite Huang Xing and Song Laihan to preside over the uprising. After learning about the favorable situation in Wuhan, Huang Xing called Sun Yat-sen abroad, introduced the fruitful work and determination of Hubei Revolutionary Party, and put forward the uprising policy of "taking Wuchang as the center, Hunan and Guangdong as the stamina, and Ningxia, Anhui, Shaanxi and Sichuan responding at the same time to contain it". He thought that "it is not difficult to make a big deal in one fell swoop" and asked Sun Yat-sen to raise money to help. Huang Xing's assessment of the situation was basically in line with the objective reality, but he did not go to Wuhan in time to lead the uprising. At this time, Ruicheng and others have smelled the news of the uprising and started to search for revolutionaries everywhere to strengthen their prevention. In this emergency, Sun Wu and others held a joint meeting of more than 60 cadres on September 24, discussed the date of the uprising and the general mobilization plan, and formulated the uprising plan. The meeting decided to hold an uprising on June 6th (Lunar Mid-Autumn Festival) on 10, and elected Jiang Yiwu as the temporary commander-in-chief and Sun Wu as the chief of staff. The tasks of each standard battalion are determined as follows:
(a) composite mechanical ditch, engineering team 2 is responsible for setting the fire in the pond corner as a signal; At the same time, cover the artillery battalion of the Association to occupy the Phoenix Mountain Fort and Castle Peak and intercept naval vessels.
(2) Eight Battalion of Eight Towns Project is responsible for capturing the armory of Chuwangtai in Zhonghemen, and occupying Zhonghemen to welcome the South Lake artillery team into the city.
(3) Students from the 29th Battalion, 30th Battalion, 1st Battalion, 3rd Battalion and Surveying and Mapping School in Eight Towns rushed to Chuwangtai immediately after seeing the signal, and cooperated with the 8th Battalion to attack the Governor's Mansion.
(4) Under the cover of the 32nd bid (left-behind troops), the Eighth Bid of the Eight Towns Artillery entered the city from Zhonghemen, occupied the launching positions of Chuwangtai and Sheshan, and shelled the Governor's Office.
(5) Eight Town Cavalry and Huncheng Association are responsible for the alert and communication outside the city.
(6) Eight Towns 3 1 Bid and Mixed Society 4 1 Bid (left-behind troops) are responsible for occupying Snake Mountain and covering the artillery team to occupy the launching position.
(7) Forty-two regiments stationed in Hankou occupied Wushengguan; Forty-two troops stationed in Hanyang Arsenal took control of the Arsenal and occupied the Kameyama Fort.
(8) The insurgents of the gendarmerie battalion are responsible for reconnaissance of official information and reporting the combat readiness of each military point to the uprising headquarters at any time.
In addition, send someone to inform Hunan Jiao Dafeng, ask him to keep the appointment as scheduled, and then respond to the uprising.
On the day of the meeting, a few soldiers of Nanhu Artillery Corps who participated in the revolutionary group rebelled against the oppression of the chief executive and attempted to riot, which attracted the attention of the ruling authorities in Hubei. 10 On June 3rd, Rui Cheng, Governor of Huguang, called an emergency meeting of the military and civilian officers of the pipeline in the first county (1) and above, and decided to deploy patrol battalions, coaching staff and other places to the Supervision Department and nearby main roads. Zhang Biao and Li led his men to patrol the city day and night; Send a boat to cruise on the river; Send additional personnel to guard the armory of Chu Wangtai; Collect soldiers' bullets and separate the machine from the bullets. In view of the alert of the Qing army, the revolutionaries decided to postpone the uprising and sent people to urge Jiang Yiwu, who was accompanying the team to Yueyang City, to return to Wuhan quickly.
On October 9th, 65438/KLOC-0, Sun Wu accidentally caused an explosion while preparing explosives in Baoshan Li 14, a Russian concession in Hankou. Sun Wu was injured and sent to hospital, and the others were hastily transferred. Russian police rushed to the scene, searched out the list of revolutionaries, uprising declarations, flags, seals and other things, and handed them over to the Governor's Office. Ruicheng immediately ordered the closure of the four cities, sent patrol battalions to guard the streets and lanes, and went out to search for revolutionaries. When the situation changed suddenly, Jiang Yiwu rushed back to Wuchang Uprising General Organ from Yueyang, and immediately studied countermeasures with Liu Fuji, Peng Chufan and Yang Hongsheng. The Book of Liu Fu holds that "it is better to do justice in time than to wait and die". Jiang Yiwu also thinks that "there is no other way, but to do it before, or to survive in the dead" (2) It is decided that the South Lake artillery team outside the city will launch an uprising on the night of 12. According to the original plan, Jiang Yiwu issued an uprising order in the name of the temporary commander-in-chief, and redefined the specific tasks of each standard camp. Unexpectedly, on the same day, Yang Hongsheng was unfortunately caught delivering explosives to the eighth operation of the project. The uprising headquarters was suddenly surrounded by military police, Liu Fuji, Peng Chufan and others were arrested, and Jiang Yiwu escaped and left Wuhan. Wuchang was heavily guarded, the traffic inside and outside the city was cut off, the order of the uprising failed to reach the artillery team outside the city in time, and all the troops in the city did not receive the order. As a result, the gun in Nanhu didn't go off, the standard camp didn't act, and the uprising plan aborted.
10 10 in the morning, Ruicheng ordered the killing of Peng Chufan, Liu Fuji and Yang Hongsheng. Strengthen the defense of the regulatory authorities and patrol the main roads; Order all standard camps to stop classes, hand in all bullets, and prohibit officers and men from leaving the camp. Under the raid of the patrol, some revolutionary organs were destroyed, more than 30 revolutionaries and many innocent people were arrested and imprisoned, and Wuchang City was shrouded in white terror.
(1) The engineering battalion first put on record and sealed up the armory.
Ruicheng took severe repression measures, and some leaders of Wuhan Revolutionary Party were arrested and some fled, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the armed uprising. Ruicheng proudly telegraphed to the Qing court, claiming that he was "quietly trying to calm down", "I'm afraid I will suffer at first, and it will soon be chaotic" and "everything in Wuchang and Hankou is quiet now". The stupid Ruicheng made a completely wrong estimation of the situation.
Because the work of the revolutionaries in the new army is relatively in-depth and the organization is relatively hidden, the revolutionary organizations in the standard camp have not been destroyed and the revolutionary forces have not suffered great losses. At a critical juncture, the revolutionaries Cai and Wu Xinghan of the 29th and 30th blocks in Eight Towns secretly contacted Jin Zhaolong of the 8th Battalion of the Project, and agreed to take the gunfire as the number on the evening of June 10 as originally planned, and immediately notified the battalions of each block respectively. The revolutionary army of the mixed-race trench team stationed outside the city also made righteous arrangements and got in touch with the revolutionary army of the artillery battalion and engineering team nearby.
That night, the revolutionary representative of the eighth battalion of the project distributed several boxes of bombs collected to revolutionaries, killed the officers who opposed the armed uprising and fired three shots as a signal of the uprising. Dozens of people, including Xiong Bingkun, rushed to the Chu Wangtai armory near Zhonghemen, and the left-wing revolutionary army immediately responded and successfully occupied the armory. Chuwangtai Armory is an important armory of Hubei New Army, with more than 10,000 double-barrel muskets 1 0.5 million single-barrel rifles, tens of thousands of rifles produced in Hanyang, dozens of guns purchased from abroad and hundreds of thousands of bullets. The rebels first occupied the library, which played an important role in the victory of Wuchang Uprising.
After the Eighth Battalion of the Project occupied Chu Wangtai, more than 200 people were assembled one after another, and Wu, the original notification officer and team officer (equivalent to the company commander), was elected as the temporary commander in chief. Wu arranged the team and made the following arrangements: two platoon guards armory; Two platoons attacked the thirty marks on the east and west sides of the armory and the flag soldiers of the gendarmerie battalion; Take the neutralization gate with a team and welcome the artillery team into the city; Send a few people to spy on the enemies around Tongxiangmen and Zhonghemen, and cut off the enemy's telephone lines; Send separate messengers to urge the battalions to reply; Headquartered at the southern end of the armory, the reserve team assembled at the northern end of the armory. At the same time of the uprising of the engineering battalion, Li, the revolutionary army of the 2 nd1mixed trench team stationed outside the city, also signaled the uprising with a torch. The artillery battalion and the engineering team responded immediately and advanced to Vu Thang Gate together with the trench team. Because the gate was closed, the first one bypassed Zhonghemen and went straight to Chu Wangtai.
(2) The standard battalion responded immediately and quickly captured the Governor's House.
When the Eighth Battalion of the Project started the gunfire of the uprising, the mixed trench team lit the flame of the revolution, and the revolutionaries of other standard battalions responded one after another. Twenty-nine Mark Cai and thirty Mark Wu Xinghan led some soldiers, respectively, and rushed out of the camp gate to Chu Wangtai. Nearly 100 students from Surveying and Mapping School also quickly gathered in Chuwangtai. Revolutionaries from other standard camps also led the uprising one after another. Most officers of the Qing army fled, and some soldiers left automatically. At this time, there were nearly 3,000 people who participated in the Wuchang Uprising, in addition to defending the old army of the Supervision Department and other organs. But most of them are scattered all over the country, and only about seven or eight hundred people are concentrated in Chuwangtai. Wu consulted with Cai and thought that it would be dangerous to simply defend Chu Wangtai and not attack quickly. Until dawn, the Qing army gathered its troops to fight back, so it was decided to divide the troops into three ways and attack the Governor's Mansion and the Eighth Town Command near the Governor's Mansion at night.
Wuchang city is about five miles long from east to west, six miles long from north to south and twenty-two miles around. The snake mountain runs through it, dividing the urban area into two parts: the south and the north of the mountain. To the east of Shannan, there is a standard camp, the headquarters of the governor and eight towns in the west, and the princes (the seat of envoys) in the north. At that time, there were three battalions of patrols, one battalion of coaches, one battalion of armed fire brigades, one battalion of cavalry, one battalion of machine guns, some guards and policemen. Ruicheng and Zhang Biao, after learning the news of the uprising, quickly transferred eight battalions of the trench into the city, with a total strength of about 3,000 people. Its deployment is as follows: the Eighth Battalion of the trench is on the left, with the long street as the main defense line, and the front extends to Wangfukou Street and South Building to defend the insurgents who entered the city from Vu Thang Gate and advanced westward from the cavalry training ground; The patrol team and fire brigade are on the right, with Baoanmen Street as the main line of defense, and the frontier extends to Jinshuimen area to prevent the insurgents from the South Lake in the imperial city; The police are distributed in the streets north of the Governor's Office and east of Changjie, and the front line extends to the cavalry training ground and Ziyang Bridge.
The offensive deployment of the rebel army is as follows: the first road project consists of eight battalions, one team, twenty-nine targets and a row of other sporadic troops, attacking the backyard of the governor's house from Ziyang Bridge through Wangfukou Street; The second road project consists of the eighth battalion and the first team, attacking the eight town headquarters and the flank of the Ministry of Supervision from Shuilu Street; The third road project consists of No.1 Team of No.8 Battalion, No.29 Bid and No.30 Bid, and attacks the front door of the Ministry of Supervision from Tianjin Sluice via Bao 'anmen Street. At the same time, eight cannons that had entered the city quickly occupied the launching positions of Zhonghemen and Sheshan and shelled the Governor's Office. The rest of the staff were organized as reserve teams, and stood idly by at Chu Wangtai.
In the afternoon 10: 30, the insurgents began to attack. Because the enemy's deployment was not detected clearly in advance, and the strength was limited, the Nanhu artillery team had not fully entered the position and could not give strong support to the infantry, so the initial attack was frustrated. When the first road entered the vicinity of Ziyang Bridge, it was heavily shot by the enemy, causing heavy casualties, and all the way back to Chuwangtai. Part of the third road entered the Tianjin sluice and was blocked by the enemy; Although another film arrived near Baoanmen, it was also repelled by the enemy.
Just when the rebel attack was frustrated, some uprising soldiers came to the war automatically, and the artillery team also entered the Sheshan position to start shooting, and the morale was even higher.
In the afternoon 12, the insurgents launched the second attack. The first road stormed Ziyang Bridge, and the fighting was extremely fierce. Part of the third road turned to Dachao Street, posing a flank threat to the defenders of Ziyang Bridge, forcing them to retreat to the west. The rebel army took advantage of the situation to pursue, broke through the enemy's defense lines in one fell swoop and advanced to the governor's office. At this time, the 4 1 Biao' an uprising team has captured the official money bureau and the Francisco department, and then divided the army into the southern attack and supervision department; The second and third roads have entered the west exit of Shuilu Street, close to the Governor's Office; The other side of the third road was ambushed by the enemy when entering the sympathetic lane of Baoanmen Street, and the attack was blocked. In order to break through the enemy's defense lines, the Third Route Army organized a death squad of more than 40 people (said to be 100 people) and rushed forward. The rest of the troops climbed the Bao 'anmen Tower and marched westward along the city wall, cooperating with the death squads to attack from top to bottom, forcing the enemy on Bao 'anmen Street to retreat. At this point, the second road has entered the street outside the west entrance of Shuilu Street, joined with the first road, attacked the viceroy to the south, contacted the third road, and set fire to the back door of the viceroy, the town headquarters and the bell and drum tower at the front door, so that the artillery teams of Sheshan and Zhonghemen shot the viceroy more accurately. The three-way rebel army tightly surrounded the headquarters and the town headquarters. With the support of gunfire, they rushed into the office door and lit the lobby. The defenders who tried to rely on the fence to fight back saw that the general trend was gone. One surrendered and most of them broke up, and the headquarters and town headquarters were occupied by the rebels.
When the rebels approached the Governor's Mansion, Ruicheng hurriedly led several guards to dig holes from the back wall and fled to the warship "Chu Yu". On the boat, he called the patrol camps in Hunan and Henan provinces to "suppress" Hubei, and also called the Qing court to "please send big shots and bring more powerful people to Hubei to suppress". Zhang Biao also led his troops to the Liujiamiao in Hankou, while Li hid in his home and arranged to escape. The Qing army lost its command and was in chaos.
1 1 at dawn, all the yamen and gates in Wuchang city were controlled by the rebels. On the morning of the same day, some soldiers of the Qing army who were in a wait-and-see state also concentrated on Chu Wangtai one after another, obeying the command of the revolutionary army. The 18-star flag of the revolutionary party fluttered on the Yellow Crane Tower, which declared the victory of Wuchang Shouyi.