Rong Lu pinned its main hope of resisting the declaration of war on the local governor. As soon as he decided to "declare war", he told Li Hongzhang privately: "There is no need to continue to pay attention to Beijing's decrees." This change in Rong Hong's attitude has aroused great concern of the embassy in Beijing. They think: "Rong Lu wants to cooperate with the Governor of the Han Dynasty and oppose Duan Wang."

Liu Kunyi: The Cixi government is finished. On the eve of the declaration of war, Sun Deya, British consul in Nanjing, visited Liu Kunyi who had just returned from Beijing. In a report to his superiors afterwards, Sun Deya claimed that the governor of Liangjiang whom he met was very depressed about the expansion of the main battle force. Liu Kunyi told Sun Deya privately that the Cixi government was finished, and she could no longer maintain the imperial order.

Zhang Zhidong: "If you sit in the southeast, you will die if you don't believe it."

Xu fancheng recorded in article 16 of the humble room poem: "there is a saying:' I dare not serve a letter for the sin of the southeast.' Nanpi (Zhang Zhidong) threw a pipe and said,' This old widow (referring to Empress Dowager Cixi) is trying to scare her! Change: I sit in the southeast and die without trust! -at that time, the minister said this to Cixi privately. "

Gu Hongming: I once proposed "Jiangnan independence"

According to Zhao Wenjun's article "Mr. Gu Hongming told me the past", in 1900, Gu Hongming proposed the Jiangnan independence plan to Zhang Zhidong. Gu Hongming said: I put forward the plan of Jiangnan independence as a temporary buffer ... so that we can take the opportunity to prepare for the war as soon as possible and arouse the people of the whole country to fight against the enemy for a long time, defend our country, go north and be loyal to the monarch, and strive for final victory.