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Chen Qimei, the elder of the League, is known as the "King of Assassination", and Cai Yuanpei calls him "the first hero of the Republic of China". He manipulated a number of major assassination cases, and eventually died in the assassination of his opponents.
01, the king of assassination Chen Qimei
Chen Qimei was born in January 1878 in Wuxing Wuchangli, Huzhou, Zhejiang. He is the second eldest in the family, the eldest brother Chen Qiye, the younger brother Chen Qicai. He grew up unwilling to study, mischievous, and because of the early death of his father, he left home at the age of 15 to become an apprentice. In 1903, Chen Qimei went to Shanghai and worked as an accounting firm in a commercial bank. In 1906, chen Qimei, who was already 28 years old, traveled east to Japan to study under the financial support of his younger brother. In Japan, however, he did not study seriously, and six months later he joined the League and embarked on the road of revolution.
When he left Shanghai for Japan, he was just an unknown mr. bookkeeper. After returning to Shanghai, he intended to make friends with the Shanghai Youth Gang and add his wings. Due to his outstanding ability, he soon became the leader of the Green Gang in Shanghai. At this time, Chen Qimei ran a newspaper, made friends with business celebrities in Shanghai Beach, and organized and planned revolutionary activities. In November 1911, he launched an uprising in Shanghai, and after the restoration of Shanghai, he was elected as the governor of the Shanghai Army. During this period, his career was "flourishing". He also befriended a younger brother who was 10 years younger than him, and this person was named Chiang Kai-shek.
The reason why Chen Qimei is called the "Assassination King" is because in his short 10-year revolutionary career, he planned and manipulated many major assassination cases: he manipulated the assassination of Tao Chengzhang, the leader of the Guangfu Society, and commanded his subordinates to successfully assassinate Yuan Shikai's generals and Zheng Rucheng, the town guard envoy of Shanghai. Perhaps it was fate that Chen Qimei, who was good at assassination, was eventually assassinated by his opponent.
02, Chen Qimei killed Yuan Shikai's general Zheng Rucheng
Zheng Rucheng (郑汝成), courtesy name Zijing, was a high-caliber student who graduated from the Tianjin Admiralty School and was commissioned by the Qing government to study in England in 1886 and entered the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. Yuan Shikai trained troops at the small station, and Zheng Rucheng threw himself into Yuan Shikai's command and became Yuan Shikai's confidant.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai became the president of the Republic of China, and Zheng Rucheng was appointed as a senior military attaché in the presidential palace, and was awarded the title of rear admiral at the end of the same year.
Chen Qimei and Zheng Rucheng's feud began in Shanghai. In March 1913, Song Jiaoren was assassinated, and Yuan Shikai illegally signed a large loan for the aftermath, preparing to launch a civil war and eliminate the revolutionary forces in the south. In this case, the second revolution broke out, and Chen Qimei responded in Shanghai. Zheng Rucheng was promoted to vice admiral and led the 7th And 19th Brigade of the Army to Shanghai, where he commanded the armies stationed in Shanghai and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. During the Second Revolution, Zheng Rucheng led his army to firmly hold the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, resolutely suppressed the revolutionary actions of Chen Qimei and others, and firmly controlled the rule of Shanghai. In July 1913, Yuan Shikai appointed Zheng Ru as the town guard of Shanghai, plus the rank of admiral, and held the military and political power in Shanghai. In September 1914, Zheng Rucheng sent assassins to assassinate the revolutionary Fan Hongxian, which shocked the revolutionary party.
Zheng Rucheng was a close general of Yuan Shikai, loyal to Yuan Shikai, and resolutely carried out Yuan Shikai's instructions. As a result, he became a thorn in the eyes of the revolutionaries, and Chen Qimei hated Zheng Rucheng to the bone, and he wanted to get rid of him quickly.
Zheng Rucheng is an old politician who has been groping around in the political arena and military circles for many years, and Lao Cheng is heavy and vigilant, and it is not easy to assassinate him. After a long conspiracy, Chen Qimei decided to do it at the end of 1915. November 10, 1915, was the day of the coronation ceremony of Emperor Taisho of Japan. Chen Qimei inquired and learned that Zheng Rucheng was going to the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai to pay tribute on this day. Therefore, Chen Qimei and others destroyed the plot and assassinated Zheng Rucheng on the road. They ambushed more than a dozen people on Zheng Rucheng's road, each equipped with a pistol and two bombs, known as the "dead soldiers". One of the backbones of this group is named Wang Xiaofeng and the other is named Wang Mingshan, both of whom are right-hand men in the assassination group led by Chen Qimei.
At 11:00 a.m. on November 10, Zheng Rucheng's car appeared in the sight of the assassins on time. When the eyeliner saw the vehicle, he shouted: This is the car. As soon as the sound fell, Wang Mingshan first broke in and dropped two bombs in a row, blowing up the car and making it impossible to start. Wang Xiaofeng jumped into the car and took out a pistol and aimed it at Zheng Rucheng's head and fired ten shots in a row. Zheng Rucheng was killed instantly. Wang Mingshan and Wang Xiaofeng failed to escape in time, were arrested on the spot, and were later killed by Yuan Shikai's orders.
03. The death of Chen Qimei
When Yuan Shikai heard the news that Zheng Rucheng had been killed, his teeth trembled with anger. Knowing that the mastermind behind the scenes was Chen Qimei, he instructed Feng Guozhang of Jiangsu to get rid of Chen Qimei. Feng Guozhang did not take matters into his own hands, he entrusted this task to his own subordinate Zhang Zongchang.
Why Zhang Zongchang? Because he was Chen Qimei's old subordinate, he knew Chen Qimei very well.
Zhang Zongchang defected to the Revolutionary Party during the Xinhai Revolution and served as the head of the Guangfu Army under Chen Qimei. In the second revolution, Zhang Zongchang was ordered to Xuzhou to defend the Beiyang Army from moving south. However, Zhang Zongchang turned against the enemy and surrendered to the beiyang army general Feng Guozhang as Feng Guozhang's bodyguard.
After Zhang Zongchang received the order, he received a large amount of funds from Yuan Shikai, and he was very excited. He hoped that through this assassination operation, he would be reused by Yuan Shikai. So he gathered a group of brothers and secretly arranged it. In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, they also spent a lot of money to buy the people around Chen Qimei. When they learned that Chen Qimei was worried about funding, they lied that there was a project that could make money, and asked Chen Qimei to talk about it in detail. Since it was his own people who delivered the message, Chen Qimei did not have doubts. On the afternoon of May 18, 1916, Chen Qimei gladly went to the agreed No. 14 Saposai Road, expecting to negotiate this big business. However, as soon as he entered the house and sat down, he saw several mermaids entering, and without saying much, he took out his pistol and shot at him. Before Chen Qimei could fight back, he died on the spot. Among those who were assassinated, one was killed by Chen Qimei's entourage, and the rest all fled.
After the assassination was exposed, the Shanghai Patrol House arrested a plotter and a windster and sentenced him to life imprisonment and 15 years in prison, respectively.
04, if Chen Qimei does not die
The case was hastily closed in this way, and it now seems somewhat inconceivable. However, the assassination of Chen Qimei was ordered by Yuan Shikai himself, and with the support of Feng Guozhang, Chen Qimei was doomed.
Less than a month after Chen Qimei's death, on June 6, 1916, Yuan Shikai died amid a nationwide outcry. Feng Guozhang, who supported the assassination, later acted president of the Republic of China and died of illness in Beijing in 1919 at the age of 60. Zhang Zongchang, who personally commanded the assassination, later switched to Zhang Zuolin's men. On September 3, 1932, Zhang Zongchang took a car from Jinan Railway Station to Beijing, and when he boarded the train, he was assassinated by the Qiu family and died immediately, at the age of 45.
Chen Qimei was only 39 years old when he was killed, in his prime, which can be described as an early death. After Sun Yat-sen learned the news, he burst into tears and wrote down the four words "Lost My Great Wall". If he does not die, he will certainly have great achievements in the future changes, and may even change the direction of history. However, the Si people have passed away, and future generations can only sigh.