The Character and Glory of Beiyang Soldiers: Wu's Life

At that time, the war between China and Japan had burned all over the country, and the people were displaced and everyone was in danger. However, Wu Mansion, located in Nanxiangxiang Hutong, Beijing, is a lively and extraordinary atmosphere.

From 193 1, the front door of Wu Mansion has been full of traffic and people coming and going. The owner of this mansion is none other than the former immediate leader Wu.

Wu, known as the "Jade Handsome", is also an alternative among Beiyang masters.

At that time, the northern warlords were either Duan and Feng, or Zhang, but Wu was the only real Confucian general.

The Beiyang "ever-victorious general" was once the closest person to the peak of power in China, but for various reasons, he finally stepped down from the altar.

Wu, born on April 22nd, 2004, 1874, is from Penglai County, Shandong Province.

His father, Wu Kecheng, is the owner of a grocery store in Cary. Although he was a civilian, Wu Kecheng was very concerned about state affairs, especially about the poverty and weakness of the country in the late Qing Dynasty.

Wu Kecheng admired Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese soldier in Ming Dynasty, so he named his son Wu, because Qi Jiguang's word was "Wu Kecheng", from which we can see that Wu Kecheng and Wu had great hopes.

Wu 14 years old, his father Wu Kecheng died of illness, and the originally well-off family suddenly fell into poverty. In order to make a living, Wu also had to join the army and serve as a soldier in the naval school, using 224 yuan a month to support his family.

Wu was trained in the Naval Academy, but in the evening, he was still a yellow light and studied hard. At the age of 22, he took part in the imperial examination and won the eighth place in the draft.

This experience has created Wu's traditional moral concepts and thoughts, which are particularly obvious in his life activities. Decadence, loyalty and heroism are concentrated in his chest.

In his early years, Wu witnessed Japanese warships ravaging the coast of China and deeply felt the harm caused by the poverty and weakness of the country. At that time, Wu made up his mind: one day, he must lead troops to unify the old rivers and mountains and drive away the enemy.

Therefore, Wu studied hard for many years, hoping to devote himself to his career and realize his ambition. However, after he was admitted as a scholar, he did not enter Longmen as he hoped, and then made a fortune. Instead, they offended local officials and gentry, and did not survive in the local area, so they had to run to Beijing, live in an alley and set up a fortune-telling booth.

But in troubled times, it is not easy for Wu, a poor scholar without any background, to make a living in Peiping. One day, Wu was sitting in front of his booth. A man patted him on the shoulder and looked up. It turned out that my cousin Wu came to Beijing to handle goods.

Wu was also sad to see his brother down and out. The two brothers went into a small hotel and had a few drinks. After that, Wu Shuo said, "The world today is in turmoil, and there are wars everywhere. You used to be a soldier in Shandong Naval Academy. You might as well join the army and have a bright future. "

After listening to my cousin's words, I also feel that this seems to be the way out for Wu Wei Yi. After the brothers broke up, Wu immediately set out to join the Nie Shicheng Department of Huai Army stationed in Tianjin as a soldier. Later, he entered Kaiping Military Equipment School founded by Li Hongzhang and Army Crash School founded by Yuan Shikai in Baoding respectively.

As the saying goes, trees die when they move, and people live when they move. When Wu came to the military camp, he soon showed his extraordinary military talent.

1909, Wu went out with the troops to suppress bandits. In this process, Wu was appreciated by Cao Kun, the general of Beiyang Department, because of his ingenious tactics, and was promoted to the rank of Sixth Brigade of the Third Division.

19 16 in the "national protection movement", Cao Kun was ordered to lead the third division to Zhaozhou South to fight against Cai E's national protection army, and the Sixth Brigade of Wu, as a pioneer, fought fiercely under his command, and repeatedly made meritorious deeds.

Wu saved Cao Kun's life twice in a crisis. In order to thank Wu for saving his life, Cao Kun later came to power and gave the throne of the third division commander to Wu.

19 17 paragraph came to power, ready to unify the south by force, with Cao Kun as the commander-in-chief of the Xiang offensive and tachileik as the first commander-in-chief.

In the process of fighting south, he fully demonstrated his military talents. He first divided the Hunan-Guangdong-Guangxi allied forces by deviant means, and then concentrated his forces and defeated them one by one. Finally, the allied forces were forced to give up Yueyang and seize the city without bloodshed. Later, even Changsha and Hengyang were once famous.

From then on, he became the leader of Wu's direct warlord, even surpassing Duan and Cao Kun.

Even in September 1924, Wu appeared on the cover of Time magazine in the United States, which was the first time that China people appeared in Time magazine.

On the cover, Wu is dressed in a military uniform, with short hair and a slight beard, and his eyes reveal a little toughness and coldness. At that time, Time magazine commented on Wu: General Wu was the strongest in China.

At that time, Wu Zheng was at the peak of his life, but no one expected that only two years later,1August, 926, the once strongest man in China was wiped out in a bloody battle between Tingsi Bridge and Heshengqiao, and the defeat was like a mountain.

In this way, history mercilessly and mercilessly drove Wu off the stage.

China has countless stories of success and failure. There is nothing to say. If you lose, you have to admit it After the defeat, Wu led his cronies to retreat to Sichuan and sought refuge in the fourth army overseer Yang Sen.

Between the mountains and rivers of Sichuan and Sichuan, although it has been a good way for thousands of years, there were warlords and factional struggles in Sichuan at that time. Wu, caught in it, leads a miserable life.

While in Sichuan, Wu re-examined her life for decades. She used to be majestic, but in just two years, she went from the peak of power to the point of becoming a sponsor. Recalling past years, Wu wrote such a poem.

"Once unified brave millions of soldiers, suffered the Long March when Shu Road declined. Diligence is the mistake of heroic career, and adversity increases the feelings of husband and wife. Zhang Chu's sad songs are endless, and Wushan's sad geese sing solo. Where is the unfinished home of Xiongnu? Wangqiufeng Baidicheng. "

From this poem, we can see that Wu has a strong and immortal heart at this time. After all, accepting reality is always the hardest thing for losers, and Wu is no exception.

So when he was in Sichuan, he also tried to recruit and prepare for a comeback, but the reality slapped him in the face. His plan failed again and again, and Wu was disappointed again and again.

In this way, after staying in Sichuan for several years, Wu had to flee from Sichuan to Peiping in 193 1 and began a public life like others.

Being a hermit was the best choice for many people at that time. Even the last emperor Puyi began to live in seclusion in Tianjin after being driven out of the Forbidden City. It is a pleasure to spend the rest of my life in peace and away from right and wrong.

But Wu is different from others!

In Beijing's Wufu, Wu not only brought all his family members, but also brought a full set of staff organizations in eight departments, including government affairs, staff, secretaries, communications, military law, military supplies, military doctors and adjutants, plus a huge guard.

In Peiping that year, Wu's security assorted garden was a spectacular sight. They are not wearing the uniform hat badge of the National Army in the future, nor the traitor badge of the North China Security Army, but a special badge with the word "Fu Wei" embedded in it.

These two words not only represent Wu's once dignity, but also his pride as a scholar.

When Wu first came to Beiping, the September 18th Incident had just happened. Because of his father Zhang, Zhang Xueliang invited Wu to be his nephew.

It stands to reason that Zhang Xueliang is in a high position at this time, and Wu is just an old warlord who stepped down. But when Wu saw Zhang Xueliang, he asked directly, "Why didn't you resist the Fengtian incident?"

Zhang Xueliang's face changed at that time: "I have a central order."

After listening to Zhang Xueliang's words, Wu took a firm attitude and continued: "Even if you have an order, you will not be subject to your life outside. You don't even understand this truth. This is a disgrace to your father. "

Looking at Zhang Xueliang's face getting ugly, the people next to him quickly pulled Wu's skirt. After all, it's on somebody else's turf now, and I have to save face for my master. Otherwise, if Zhang Xueliang is annoyed, I'm afraid he can't stay in Peiping.

But obviously Wu doesn't think so. He opened his sleeve and said, "National enmity is not reported, personal enmity is not reported. Your father's coffin has been erected! "

After listening to Wu's question, Zhang Xueliang couldn't answer a word. He can only say respectfully, "Yu Shuai is right. I really humiliated my father." Later, he gave Wu the mansion of Dongsi Shijinyuan Hutong as his apartment and gave him 4,000 yuan a month.

After the "September 18th Incident", Zhang Xueliang had his own difficulties in not resisting in his own position, but in Wu's view, it was an extremely cowardly act. Fortunately, Zhang Xueliang is a tolerant person, and he has been very respectful to Wu ever since.

After coming to Peiping, Wu resumed his studies in his own residence and devoted himself to Buddhism in his later years. Although Wu himself has put down the heart of fighting, it is absolutely impossible to spend his life quietly.

After the full-scale outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Beiping fell, and many people moved south for their own safety.

However, in the face of persuasion from people around him, Wu disagreed, saying that he would never leave Beiping.

In Wu's view, leaving Beiping and going south means living under the protection of Chiang Kai-shek in the future. You have been defeated by Chiang Kai-shek, but now you can't give in to Chiang Kai-shek and the National Government under any circumstances.

Therefore, even if the city of Peiping is full of Japanese, Wu will live his own life as usual, unmoved.

However, Wu was a golden signboard at that time, and the Japanese army could not ignore his existence. Especially after the downfall, Wu had no real power, but his reputation was still very high, and he was really the best choice for the Japanese army to win over.

As a matter of fact, as early as the defeat just fled into Sichuan, the Japanese army threw an olive branch. When Major General Arakawa Jiro, commander of Japan's first dispatch fleet, learned that he was hiding in Sichuan, he immediately sent his spy chief to contact him, saying that in addition to helping millions, Japan could also support "100000 rifles, 2,000 machine guns, 500 cannons and several bullets" to help make a comeback.

If you were someone else and saw the Japanese conditions in front of you, I'm afraid you would have rolled your tail and invited Taijun to sit down.

But this is Wu's, and Wu's failure is by no means due to arms and money. Before, he had more than100000 guns. But what can we do?

Wu knew that the Japanese would never be so kind. Behind these attractive conditions, there are more ambitions. Therefore, the direct harsh words refused the Japanese help.

It is really commendable that an old warlord was not persuaded by Japanese inducements when he was defeated and displaced and needed economic support badly.

However, the Japanese didn't let Wu go so easily. Wu is a key soul figure in order to carry out the policy of "controlling China with China" in North China, so Japan has even formulated a "Wu Work" plan.

After the occupation of Peiping, he visited Wu many times, and even pushed Kenji Yuan to personally persuade him, but he remained unmoved.

In order to establish relations with Wu, the Japanese specially transferred Wu's good friend Okano Yoshijiro to Beiping as "please express". Daisaku Kawamoto, the head of Japanese spy, took over Seiji Maehara's job as Wu.

In order to get close to Wu, Kawamoto's masterpiece even worshipped Wu as a teacher, asking Wu to "learn the master's life and moral articles", and even made three kneels and nine knocks in an attempt to win Wu over through the relationship between master and apprentice.

But at this time, Wu showed high national integrity and was indifferent to the temptation of the Japanese.

Wu often said to his family: "I can't forbid others to intimidate me, but I will never be intimidated by others." It used to be like this, it is like this now, and it will be like this in the future. "

Wu not only refused the temptation of the Japanese themselves, but also faced this old friend who defected to the Japanese army and was not polite to Wu.

According to Wu Dao, Wu's adopted son, "After returning to Peiping, Jiang Chaozong, who was Yuan Shikai's infantry commander and then Prime Minister for several days, asked my father to be the president of Wushan Society in Peiping. There is an altar in the club. Several times a month, they sing to each other. "

When Peiping and Tianjin just fell, Jiang Chaozong was the president of Peiping Maintenance Association and welcomed the Japanese army into the city. Wu cursed: "You are older than me, but I am a running dog. That day, I betrayed my country and sought glory. It' s really white-haired and old. " So I bid farewell to Jiang Chaozong and never came back.

Later, after Wang Ching-wei publicly voted for the future, Japan adjusted its policy of "peace movement" and planned "cooperation between Wang Ching-wei and Wu" in an attempt to make Wang Ching-wei the head of government and then let Wu take charge of the puppet troops.

Encouraged by the Japanese, Wang Jingwei first wrote a letter to woo the traitors. After Wu refused to reply, Wang Jingwei personally went to Beiping and invited Wu to meet at the official residence of the commander-in-chief of the North China Army in Japan to discuss cooperation.

Wu wrote back: "We are from China; Is talking about China, want to talk about it in China's home ".

Japanese army commander Banxi suggested that Wu cooperate with Wang Jingwei to become the head of the puppet army department and rule five provinces in North China. Wu replied: "Since Japan needs peace, why not withdraw its troops first and make peace with the National Government?"

"This is impossible at present," said Banxi.

Wu Shuo: "If you can't do this, why do you need me?"

Wu is not only not afraid of being hard, but also not soft. He will not be fooled by anyone's rhetoric and flattery. Dohihara once tried to flatter Wu Shuo: "Please save Japan and come out to preside over China's state affairs."

Wu replied rudely, "I'm from China. I should save China first. "

Then, Wu said:

I believe that there are only three preconditions for peace between China and Japan: first, Japan needs to withdraw its troops from North China unconditionally; 2. The Republic of China should safeguard its territorial and sovereign integrity; Third, Japan should regard Chongqing as an opponent in comprehensive negotiations and negotiations.

In the face of Wu's refusal to eat hard and soft, the Japanese gradually lost patience. Since there is no way for Wu to work for them, Wu's existence will severely hit the Japanese in the face, making more people resist the Japanese.

Based on the principle that it cannot be used by me, it can only be destroyed. In the face of Wu, who doesn't eat hard or soft, the Japanese finally showed their fangs.

Wu eats with his family at home as usual. Wu always likes to eat jiaozi. As usual, there is a dish of mutton jiaozi, which is Wu's favorite.

But this time, when Wu ate jiaozi, his teeth were accidentally blocked by a small broken bone in the mutton. Wu accidentally broke his gums while brushing his teeth.

At that time, toothpicks were not wooden toothpicks now, but iron toothpicks that were used many times. When Wu saw that his gums were broken, he didn't take it seriously at all.

However, I don't want to be infected by the gums that were punctured during the day, and Wu's whole right face is swollen and painful. When his family saw Wu, they were a little panicked. At that time, they wanted to send him to the nearby German Concession for treatment by German doctors.

However, Wu was decisively rejected. Wu has his own "three noes" in doing things, that is, "not living in the concession, not accumulating private wealth and not raising foreign debts". For decades, I have never set foot in Wu Concession.

Just as the family was at a loss, Wu's student and Japanese spy Kawamoto suddenly broke into Wu Mansion with Japanese military doctors and a dozen gendarmes.

Despite the opposition of Ya's family, Daisaku Kawamoto and Japanese military doctors forced their way into Wu's bedroom to treat him. Subsequently, the Japanese doctor cut off the trachea and vein under the right cheek with a scalpel, bleeding profusely, and Wu died on the spot.

After confirming that Wu had completely died, Daisaku Kawamoto and the Japanese military doctor walked out of the room, told Wu's family that he had recovered, and then quickly left with the gendarmerie.

However, when the Wu family came to Wu's bedroom, his body was already cold, and at this time, there was a continuous cry in Wu's mansion.

A generation of heroes is over.

For a long time after that, the Japanese denied the fact of assassinating Wu, but the truth will come out one day. No matter how you hide it, there is no way to turn the black into white.

After Wu's death, the whole country was impressed by the former Beiyang warlord's integrity, and "Yu Shuai" was worthy of the name after all.

When "Yu Shuai" was alive, various forces gave him different opinions, but after "Yu Shuai" died, all sides gave him high opinions.

Because "Yu Shuai" is a traditional China scholar in his bones, his funeral was also held according to the tradition of China. He was buried in a coffin all the way. His left and right hands each put a gold and silver ingot the size of a jujube, a medal that he valued very much before his death and a white jade finger symbolizing noble virtue. There is an unfinished annotation of Spring and Autumn Annals more than a foot long on the pillow.

However, there was no way to bury the bones of "Yu Shuai" in Penglai's native land at that time, so we had to temporarily park the coffin in the east lateral courtyard of Nianhua Temple in gulou west, Beiping, and borrowed land to build three large-crowned north houses named Wusheng Temple.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the National Government held a grand state funeral for Wu. Li Zongren personally presided over the state funeral ceremony, accompanied by Sun Lianzhong, commander of the 11th Kuomintang war zone, chairman of Hebei provincial government and Xiong Bin, mayor of Beiping. Yu Shuai's former friend and former chairman of the Kuomintang Sichuan Provincial Government, Yang Sen, made a special trip to Beijing to pay tribute to the coffin.

Wu's funeral was very grand. Eighty porters carried Wu's coffin, followed by a long series of carriages, in which the mourners' wives, close relatives and wives of Wu's former subordinates sat.

Coupled with the funeral procession of military police and gendarmerie, it is vast. The front team has arrived at Xizhimen, but the back car is still in Dongdan. It provoked Beijingers to stop on both sides of the road to watch the excitement, saying that it was a rare million people in 80 years to see the big funeral.

Looking back on Wu's life, he joined the army at the age of 28 and died at the age of 66. He explored things all his life, which can be described as "outstanding achievements". However, in the era of warlord melee, Wu's personal goal violated the interests of the people and the trend of historical development for a period of time, which brought him many accusations.

However, in the face of Japanese aggression, Wu saved his last integrity and won people's respect for him by "not raising money"-"not borrowing foreign debts, not living in concessions, not accumulating private wealth" and finally "not being a traitor".

For Wu, there is no better result!

With such a pride and hard bones, it is doomed that there will only be sadness after Wu Fengbo. However, under the sad circumstances, in such a chaotic world where wolves, tigers and leopards compete for profits, few people will stick to the loyalty and birthright in China's traditional moral values.

Wu's life is tragic. In him, we saw the most shining place of traditional China people. This alone is enough for us to remember.

Finally, I attach a song "Man Jiang Hong" by Yu Shuai to show my memory:

Looking north at Manzhouli, the Bohai Sea is choppy. In retrospect, Jijiang was very remote and the people were very happy. There are walls in front of Changbai Mountain and battlements along the coast of Heilongjiang. So far, the enemy situation is vertical and horizontal, and the situation is sinister! Sino-Japanese War, land cession, Chen Jia War, weak sovereignty. Mountains and rivers remain unchanged, and people are scattered. When I was ordered to strengthen my strength and restore the old mountains and rivers in World War I, I came back for an eternal trip to Pengshan and read Tommy.