" With that she hurled
herself at the eldest wife who was occupying the post of honour
and assailed her bitterly. Amidst the general confusion the would-
be-Emperor hastily descended from his Throne and vainly
intervened, but the women were not to be parted until their robes
were in tatters.
In such childishnesses did Peking indulge when a great disaster
was preparing. To explain what had occurred in Yunnan it is
necessary to go back and tell the story of a remarkable young
Chinese-General Tsao-ao, the soul of the new revolt.
In the revolution of 1911 each province had acted on the
assumption that it possessed inherent autonomous rights and could
assume sovereignty as soon as local arrangements had allowed the
organization of a complete provisional government. Yunnan had been
one of the earliest provinces to follow the lead of the Wu-chang
rebels and had virtually erected itself into a separate republic,
which attracted much attention because of the iron discipline
which was preserved. Possessing a fairly well-organized military
system, largely owing to the proximity of the French frontier and
the efforts which a succession of Viceroys had made to provide
adequate frontier defence, it was amply able to guarantee its
newly won autonomy. General Tsao-ao, then in command of a division
of troops had been elected Generalissimo of the province; and
bending himself to his task in very few weeks he had driven into
exile all officials who adhered to the Imperialist cause and made
all local institutions completely self-supporting.
Pages:
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328