Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Changes in the City of Beijing

Cao Kun was imprisoned in Yanqing Building in Beijing, feeling extremely sad. He never dreamed that he would become a prisoner.For the first few days, he didn't eat, didn't sleep, and didn't speak a word to anyone.He hated Feng Yuxiang very much: "I didn't treat you badly, Feng Huanzhang. Wu Ziyu squeezed you out in Henan, and you had almost no place to stand. I transferred you to Beijing; your team has no salary, and I promised to solve it for you." ;I know that you have an opinion on Wu Ziyu, but how can you mess with me like this?" The more you think about it, the more annoyed you become, and the more you think about it, the more you hate: "One day I will do it again, and I must settle this account with you, Feng Yuxiang!"

Cao Kun was guarded by Feng Yuxiang's First Battalion of the 22nd Brigade of the 10th Division and the 44th Regiment.The battalion commander, Zhang Junsheng, is a very clever man. He is thirty-four or five years old. He has the temperament of a soldier, but he is not lacking in the modesty of a literati.In the first stage of the coup, his team was not only responsible for abolishing the head office of the Yongdingjing Telegraph Bureau, so that all Beijing telegrams could not be sent out, but the next step was to surround the presidential palace.That night, he guarded the presidential palace tightly, only saw a man coming out on a bicycle at about 1:00 in the morning, and Zhang Junsheng stopped him.

"What do you do?" Zhang asked. "The phone doesn't work at all," said the cyclist, "I told me to come out and check." "Come with me." Zhang Junsheng handed over the man to several brothers and took him to Zhantan Temple to guard him. At dawn the next day, Lu Zhonglin and Sun Yue led the team into the presidential palace. When Zhang Junsheng accepted the task of guarding Cao Kun in Yanqing Tower, Lu Zhonglin confessed to him: "Take care of him and don't let him run away." He also said: " But there is one level, guarding is guarding, you must treat them well, and don't be rude."

After Zhang Junsheng arranged the guarding task, he went to see Cao Kun. One was to understand his emotions so that he could report back to his superiors; the other was to get closer to him so as not to be rude.Cao Kun knew the identity of the person who came, and he was furious. He stood up and shouted, "I tell you the inspector, it is immoral and inhumane for him to treat me like this. He is sorry for me! He Feng Yuxiang and Wu Ziyu are at odds, how could he vent his anger on me, why would he do that?" Zhang Junsheng said modestly: "President, don't be angry, the inspector is still very concerned about the president."

"Well, I'll ask him to come see me." Cao Kun still said angrily, "Or, I'll go see him!" Zhang said: "Please excuse the president for a while. The inspection envoy is too busy. He wants me to take good care of the president and persuade the president not to worry. He will definitely come to visit you sometime." Cao Kun turned his back and didn't speak to him again. Not long after Cao Kun was imprisoned in Yanqing Building, his wives knew about it and came to see him one by one.Zhang Junsheng didn't dare to make a decision, so he reported it.Lu Zhonglin, the brigade chief, thought about it, and said, "They should be allowed to meet. It's just that Cao Kun has too many wives, and we don't know all of them. What if someone sneaks in and makes trouble?" So Lu asked Feng Yuxiang again, and Feng said : "Let them meet, we can have dinner together. We can have a heart-to-heart talk, and we can also play cards. As long as the cars don't drive into Zhongnanhai, you all need to strengthen: take precautions, and nothing serious will happen."

Cao Kun's wives then went in and out.Later, Cao Rui, the fourth child, also secretly moved in and lived in it. After Feng Yuxiang imprisoned Cao Kun, in addition to political and military purposes, he also had economic purposes. He wanted to get a sum of money from the presidential palace or the Cao family to pay the army's salary first.However, the Ministry of Finance is empty; most of the lucrative banks have been squeezed out by Wu Peifu. Now, the only hope is pinned on Cao Kun's private property. They think that "Cao Kun can come up with several million To buy the president, it must be backed by tens of millions!" So, he set his sights on the fourth brother Cao Rui.

One day, Lu Zhonglin sent two assistants, Chen Jiyan and Li Xiangyin, down to Yanqing Building under the guidance of Zhang Junsheng.Cao Kun was sitting in a chair and taking a nap, but when he saw someone approaching, he deliberately closed his eyes tightly. "President," Zhang Jun said, "the brigade commander was ordered by the reviewer to come to see you." "Why do you see me? I don't see you!" Cao Kun was angry. At this time, Chen and Li had come to the front, and they said: "We are here to visit the president." "What are you looking at?" Cao Kun was still angry. "Do you want to see if I'm dead or not? Tell you inspectors that his purpose of opposing me is to execute me. He might as well send someone to kill me and that's it. He will be relieved if he kills me."

"The reviewer didn't mean that," said Chen and Li, "he just wanted to invite Fourth Master to talk." "What do you want him to do?" When Cao Kun heard that Feng Yuxiang wanted to see Cao Rui, he became even more angry.Said: "Talk to me about something! He is sick and can't go." Zhang Junsheng also said on the side: "The rumors about Si Ye are not good in all aspects, please ask Si Ye and Feng Xianxuan to talk about it face to face, it will only be beneficial, there is absolutely no other meaning." Cao Kun stood up abruptly, stared at him and said, "My brother lives here with me out of brotherhood. I'm the only one responsible for the crime, and he has nothing to do with it!"

Seeing Cao Kun's resolute attitude, everyone persuaded together: "President, don't misunderstand, we will come back after we talk!" Cao Kun stopped talking. Chen continued: "If the fourth master doesn't go, how can we tell us to go back?" At this time, Cao Rui came out from the back room and said, "I am Cao Rui. I heard everyone's intentions clearly in the room. I will bring something, and let's go." Cao Rui went back to the room, put on Coat, go out and get on the car together.The car went to Lu's brigade, then transferred to Zhantan Temple, waiting for Feng Yuxiang to meet him.Due to the urgent military situation, Cao Rui had to be arranged in an empty room with only one bed board.Zhang Junsheng asked someone to find tables, chairs and spittoons, and he went with the others temporarily.When someone came to the house again, they found that Cao Rui had taken poison, so they rushed him to Xiehe Hospital for emergency treatment.

The rescue was ineffective, and he died--Cao Rui, who had killed countless people because of plundering people's wealth, fell into a natural end. During the period of warlord chaos, the situation changed rapidly. In the spring of 1925, Feng Yuxiang announced his resignation, and when Lu Zhonglin's troops withdrew from Beijing, Cao Kun was free.On this day, Zhang Zuolin sent his son Zhang Xueliang, accompanied by Zhang Zongchang, Li Jinglin, Wang Tan, etc., to Yanqing Tower. When Zhang Xueliang saw Cao Kun, he knelt down and said, "Third Master, I will always apologize to you for coming. My father said I am sorry. We will definitely support you to restore the throne, and the president is still yours."

Cao Kun sneered and shook his head. "Condolence, I can't do it anymore, I am weak in morality, and I will rely on you young people for major national affairs in the future." Zhang Xueliang got down on his knees and said, "My father said, just reset yourself and be your big president. With him always standing by, let's see who dares to say anything." Li Jinglin also said: "We support you unanimously. Don't worry, no one is obedient." Cao Kun still shook his head fiercely and said, "I haven't done anything for more than a year. You see, I can still be president?" Kneeling, Zhang Xueliang took a step in front of him and said, "Third Master, don't talk about it, if you talk about anything else, you won't forgive us." Wang Tan is one of Cao Kun's confidantes, and it was his "credit" to buy members of Congress back then. He said to Cao Kun: "Don't think so, relatives and friends will quarrel, brothers and sisters will quarrel, father and son sometimes quarrel, husband and wife quarrel More often. It's nothing, let's not talk about the past." The meeting place was deserted, and no one spoke anymore. After Zhang Xueliang left Yanqing Building, he said to Wang Tan: "Yangyi (Wang Tan, styled Yangyi), come back tomorrow and talk to the third master, and we will definitely do it this way." Wang Tan nodded, thinking to himself, this matter is easy to handle.At the beginning, I was afraid that I would not be able to buy the president with the vain silver dollars. Today, someone gave it to me, but I still can't accept it.So, he said, "Okay, it's all on me." The next day, Wang Tan came to Yanqing Building early in the morning.Sure enough, Cao Kun did not have the same attitude as yesterday. As soon as he saw Wang Yangyi, he said, "This kid Zhang Xueliang, is what he said reliable?" Wang Tan said, "It's reliable, no problem. Zhang Zuolin asked him to come here, and I know that." "Before this, Wang Tan had been to Northeast China twice, and Zhang Zuolin had expressed his attitude to him, so he dared to speak for sure. Cao Kun sighed and nodded silently. Cao Kun was not reconciled to stepping down. Zhang Zuolin gave him a ladder, and he decided to go up again! So, on the one hand, he sent Wang Yangyi to Wuhan to meet Wu Peifu, hoping that he would continue to support him as before; Secretary Zhang Qian'er secretly sent a telegram, telling the provinces: "Feng's Ministry has withdrawn from the capital, and Beijing is quiet as usual." The intention is to hope that the provinces will support him in restoring the presidency.Cao Kun still has confidence, feeling that he has not enjoyed being the president yet, and he has to be a president for a while. After the power was sent out, there was no response for several days.Cao Kun was a little puzzled: "The post and telecommunications have been unblocked for a long time. Could it be that all the provinces can't receive my telegram?" How did he know that after this turmoil, the heads of all provinces were waiting and watching, and they still couldn't see clearly "Who will die?" Besides, everyone also wanted to see Wu Peifu's attitude.Because, everyone knows that the strength of the direct line all these years is actually in the hands of Wu Peifu. So, what is Wu Peifu's attitude towards Cao Kun? Now let's talk about Wang Tan and Wang Yangyi's trip to Hankou-- The wars are still frequent, and the traffic is also destroyed beyond mentioning.Wang Yangyi set off for Beijing, took a section of train, rode a section of donkey, took a section of train, and sometimes took a section of a large cart. After working hard for seven days and nights, she finally arrived in Wuhan. As soon as Wu Peifu saw Wang Tan's arrival, he knew about it.He smiled and said, "The gunner is here. Didn't you smash your bastard in this paragraph?" Wang Yangyi smiled. "It can't be smashed. Not only is it not smashed, but it is ground into iron." Wu Peifu looked at him and said, "It's not easy for you to come here. If you want to do something, just say it." "You can do anything." Wang Tan said, "However, it's not too busy. I think it's better to finish the president's business first, and then talk about my personal affairs." Wang Tan reset Cao Cao and Zhang Zuolin had agreed to support him After repeating Cao's words, he asked Wu Peifu: "Yu Shuai, what do you think?" Before he could speak, Wang Tan said again: "There are no big problems in all aspects. It only depends on your attitude now? Therefore, the President asked I" Wu Peifu gave a cold "hey" and said after a long time: "Your thoughts and actions are all right. However, I'm afraid it will be difficult to realize." "Why?" Wang Tan asked urgently. Wu Peifu said: "When I came down from Shanhaiguan, as soon as I arrived in Hankou, I dialed the power to protect the constitution, and people ignored it. How can I mention it again? You don't know the third master: he can't sing well at the front desk. I Let's ask him to stay in the background. Let's discuss it after I have established the overall situation." Wang Tan wanted to fight again, so he quickly said, "It's not what it used to be. It's different now from when you came down from Shanhaiguan. The overall situation of Xuheng is up to us to decide. Everyone will stick to you." Wu Peifu shook his head fiercely, and said, "Cough, don't mention it again. As the saying goes: A good horse will never turn back, and a soldier will never serve! I think it's better to let go of this matter!" Wang Tan saw that Wu Peifu's attitude was very firm, so he stopped insisting.However, he was entrusted by Cao Kun. Can Cao Kun make a comeback? Is there a big tree for the "hozen" who lost their way? It all depends on Wu Ziyu: No.Therefore, he can't give up, he still wants to find someone to work together. Wang Tan went to look for Wu Jinglian.The former speaker of Congress shook his head and said, "Don't mention this matter. I have talked with Wu Ziyu, and he is not generally indifferent to the restoration of the president, but he directly refuses to agree. I heard that he also talked with some People have talked about it, and I will never support Cao again!" "Why is Wu Ziyu so abnormal?" Wang Tan asked Wu Jinglian, "This is too unexpected." "There is nothing abnormal." Wu Datou said, "It's just that he doesn't want to wear another hat on his head." Wang Tan went to look for Xiong Bingqi again, and the teacher under Cao Kun's command also said: "The future is bleak!" Wang Tan was discouraged.He hurried back to Beijing, and hurried to see Cao Kun. "How was your trip?" Cao Kun asked impatiently. Wang Tan said: "There are more bad luck than good luck!" "How to say!" Cao Kun's heart sank. "Feng Yuxiang didn't turn against you, but Wu Peifu really turned against you!" Cao Kun was stunned.Quickly asked: "What did he say?" Wang Tan described in detail how he met Wu Peifu in Wuhan, and at the end he only sighed deeply. After Cao Kun heard this, he was stunned for a moment, as if he was making fun of himself or comforting Wang Tan, and said, "Ziyu will not disbelieve you, nor will he disbelieve me. I have thought a long time ago that he would doubt Zhang Zuolin. Do you have bad intentions for being so humble to me? You don't have to blame him. Needless to say, you can take a good rest." In this way, everything that should be over is over, and Cao Kun also secretly left Beijing and returned to Baoding.During this period, there were rumors that Cao Kun entrusted Liu Chunlin, the number one scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, to Hankou, and discussed with Wu Peifu about his restoration, but he did not get Wu's consent.Cao Kun had no more hope, so he had to send a telegram to the whole country in May 1926 to leave the field. After Cao Kun left the field, he went to Kaifeng to join Wu Peifu.However, he can only be Wu Peifu's diner, visiting Daxiangguo Temple every day. In February 1927, when the Northern Expedition attacked Henan, he fled back to Tianjin to live in peace.At this time, Cao Kun finally realized his enlightenment. He began to believe in the word "emptiness" in Buddhism. Not only did he join the Layman Forest, but he almost spent a lot of money on his family to buy a golden Buddha and put it in the "Great Depression" in Tianjin. A master draws a picture ": Map of Holy Sites" and worships it every day.His fourth concubine, Liu Fengwei, also believes in Buddhism, and often accompanies her husband to worship the Buddha.When she was ill, she also sent her second sister to Mount Putuo in Zhejiang Province and Mount Wutai in Shanxi to worship for her, praying for Buddha to bless her and her husband. On May 17, 1938, Cao Kun died of illness in Tianjin.Later, the national government posthumously awarded him the rank of general of the army. The Zhili warlords who had been making waves in the northern half of China for decades, just fend for themselves! However, Wu Peifu, a prominent figure in the period of warlord melee, did not die because of the elimination of the Zhili lineage.For many years to come, he roamed the southwest and northwest regions of China like a wandering spirit, and he still had the ability to stir up turbulent waves. We will continue to write about it in the next chapter. Feng Yuxiang really wanted to show his grand plan of saving the country and the people. He saw through that the root of China's backwardness lies in feudal rule and bureaucratic corruption.He believes that as long as "the army does not become a lord, and the lord does not replace the lord", China can "never eliminate the scourge of future hidden dangers and establish a sound foundation for the rule of the people."Cao and Wu were overthrown. He breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself: "In this way, the people of the country can be made aware of the inadequacy of force, and a new opportunity for fundamental reform will be opened. With this political reform, we will complete the unfinished business of the reforms over the years and resolve the root of the disputes over the years." He once thought about it very seriously. He advocated "quickly holding a peaceful reunification conference, bringing up all unresolved issues and discussing them together. Hope to get the best results, implement with strength, avoid internal strife, and take safety as the basis." These views and ideas of his were expressed most clearly in the telegram when his teacher returned to Beijing. These thoughts of Feng Yuxiang are very similar to those of Sun Yat-sen.Therefore, he also saw very wisely that those corrupt warlords, bureaucrats, and politicians cannot realize this wish. Only by inviting Mr. Sun Yat-sen to preside over everything can this situation be opened.However, Feng Yuxiang was still vacillating after all. For a temporary expediency, he made the mistake of asking Duan Qirui to come out and take charge.Everyone knows that Duan Qirui's thoughts and Sun Yat-sen's thoughts are inconsistent, which adds a new turbulent factor to the turbulent situation in China-burying a deep gully of Feng and Duan's rupture! Another headache that Feng Yuxiang encountered when he entered Beijing was Zhang Zuolin's change of face.Zhang Zuolin originally promised that "after this war is over, the Feng army will never enter the pass".At that time, the victory of Zhi and Feng was uncertain, and Zhang Zuolin was reluctant to cope with the situation; once Wu Peifu was defeated, Zhang Zuolin saw that several provinces were at his fingertips, and his previous promises would naturally become empty words.In this way, another conflict arose between Feng and Zhang.The two contradictions combined into one became the contradiction between Feng, Duan and Zhang.This made Feng Yuxiang increasingly isolated! His excitement immediately cooled down. --After Cao Kun was imprisoned, Huang Yu formed a cabinet to deal with all matters during the transition period. In order to show his "selflessness", Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi, and Sun Yue did not participate in the cabinet.Sending out calls again and again, making generous statements, and painstakingly.However, due to many contradictions, how can his beautiful vision be realized? After the Huang Yu cabinet was established, Feng Yuxiang also wanted to do his best and did some practical work.For example, the infantry commanding yamen of the old Qing government was abolished, and the Beijing Garrison Command was established; the preferential treatment conditions for the Qing Dynasty were revised; the little emperor was expelled from the palace;How did he know that when he was actively promoting the New Deal, Duan Qirui had already launched private activities; A telegram from him.Duan Qirui called a meeting in Tianjin before Sun Yat-sen arrived in Beijing to study the overall situation.At such a meeting, the long-defeated backbones of the Anhui Clan, Lu Yongxiang and Wu Guangxin, and Yang Yuting, the backbone of the Feng Clique, joined forces to squeeze out Feng Yuxiang.Feng Yuxiang fell into depression. When Sun Yue saw him in Tianjin, he said with a heavy heart: "Inspector, the situation is not right! Did you see it?" Feng Yuxiang nodded. "They have already decided to form an interim executive government, with Duan Hefei in charge. The executive government will appoint a prime minister, and even the state council will be presided over by the executive government." "Don't talk about it, I know everything." "Why didn't you resist?" Feng Yuxiang shook his head: he had a hard time in his heart! Duan Qirui was invited by him, and he Trust him to ask him.Now, no matter what he is doing, there is nothing against him about what to do.Otherwise, won’t people say that Feng Yuxiang backtracked? Feng Yuxiang said helplessly: “I believe Hefei will deal with things fairly. We can’t let others say that we are also keen on disputes of personal interests.” One day, Duan Qirui asked Feng Yuxiang to comment on the cabinet candidates.Feng said: "Everyone can figure it out. As long as everyone thinks it is appropriate, I have no objection." Feng Yuxiang has already expressed his frustration about forming a cabinet. What upset Feng Yuxiang the most was that Zhang Zuolin not only perfidiously occupied the Guannei territory, but also first incorporated one of the direct main forces in Tianjin, the 20th: Third Division, the division commander Wang Chengbin, an important figure in the coup, fled to the foreign concession.Feng Yuxiang went to question Duan Qirui. Duan Qirui was the one who served as a security guard to enter the customs. Now, Duan Qirui shirks his responsibility and refuses to speak again.Feng Yuxiang became angry: "So, I'll quit. I won't ask any more questions!" In this way, Duan and Zhang's collusion was hit.Soon, on the one hand, the Feng army continued to march into Jinpu and along the Beijing-Tianjin two roads, in an attempt to take advantage of the victory and sweep through the customs. On the other hand, the following resolutions were made through a meeting: 1. The Feng army marched on the Jinpu line until it reached Dezhou; 2. Not using troops in the southeast; 3. To allow Wu Peifu to leave the country peacefully, and not to issue an arrest warrant; 4. Hold a national political conference to discuss the organization of the government and all the aftermath question. Although these several resolutions belonged to Duan Ruling's arbitrary decisions, Zhang Zuolin was still extremely dissatisfied with one or two items.He used the excuse of "giving a sigh of relief for Lu Yongxiang" that Jiangsu must be acquired, and at the same time recommended Duan Qirui's brother-in-law Wu Guangxin as the governor of Anhui.With the acquiescence of Duan Qirui, Lu Yongxiang, the disastrous governor of Zhejiang, led Zhang Zongchang and Wu Guangxin to drive south to attack Jiangsu.Under the circumstances that all kinds of situations were extremely unfavorable to Feng Yuxiang, Feng submitted his resignation to Duan Qirui on November 25, 1924, and sent a telegram to go down to the field. Duan Qirui is a treacherous and cunning man. In order to divide the relationship between Feng Yuxiang and Sun Yat-sen, he is determined to draw Feng to his side.Therefore, he came to the door in person, repeatedly persuaded him to stay, and took Chahar, Suiyuan and Jingzhao as the territory of Feng Yuxiang's national army, and allowed him to expand his troops into six divisions and three brigades.After several considerations, Feng Yuxiang accepted Duan Qirui's arrangement out of the idea of ​​"having his own territory", and quietly went to Zhangjiakou in January 1925, and began to implement his plans and facilities for the Northwest Frontier Supervision Office to develop the Northwest. After Sun Yat-sen went north, he died of illness in Beijing before he could deal with major issues.Therefore, Feng and Sun had the same views and measures on the political situation at the beginning, but they had to go to waste! Here, there is a very important episode to mention: When Feng Yuxiang returned to Beijing from Tianjin, his subordinates Yue Weijun and Deng Baoshan went to see him.At that time, Hu Jingyi from Feng's department and Li Jichen from Fengzhang were fighting fiercely in Zhangde.Feng said to Yue and Deng: "Hurry up and send troops to reinforce Zhangde, otherwise, I am afraid that the Hu department will make mistakes." Both Yue and Deng said: "The matter in that respect is small, and we have a greater responsibility for it." "What is it?" " asked Feng. "Because Zhang Zuolin and his son live in Beijing, we are going to take action tonight and capture them and shoot them!" "It's absolutely impossible. Feng Yuxiang waved his hand resolutely." Just caring about the momentary pleasure is bound to cause great confusion.You must not do that!" Yue and Deng insisted on doing it, Feng tried to dissuade them again and again, but finally no accident happened. Feng Yuxiang went to the wilderness to live in seclusion in the northwest desert. On the one hand, because of the complexity of the situation, he was quite difficult to deal with. It is better to take refuge for a while and watch the development and changes of the situation from the sidelines; on the other hand, it is also the main aspect. On the issue of status, Feng was unwilling to make his own demands directly, so he had to express this negatively.In 1926, when Feng Yuxiang took the vows in Wuyuan, he made this review of Beijing’s changes in history: Because I only have general ideas about revolution, but no clear propositions; I have never considered the meaning of revolution or the method of revolution before, so I only have one or two reform-style revolutions, but no thorough approach.I also said it nakedly, so that people in the country would know that what I did was sometimes revolutionary, and sometimes not like a revolution, and how did I come back.From a revolutionary point of view, I am not worthy of being a Chinese revolutionist or a Sun Yat-senist; as for Marxism, Leninism and world revolution, I am even more unworthy.Unexpectedly, someone said that I had turned red, and now I look really ashamed.