Chapter 13 Thirteen, Parachutist Cai E

Li Zongren, a famous general of the Anti-Japanese War, once said in his memoirs that when he was studying in Guangxi Army Primary School, the one he admired the most was General Cai E, the general manager of the school.According to him, Cai E "was only about 30 years old at the time, and he could be said to be both civil and military, with a dignified appearance". With a lift, when the horse has run more than ten steps, Shi Shi catches up with flying steps from behind the horse, kicks his feet on the ground, presses the horse's hips forward with both hands, and goes up."In the eyes of Li Zongren and these seventeen or eighteen-year-old students, "This big horse with its head held high seems to be majestic enough, and the ease and agility of Cai's jumping up is particularly amazing. We looked up at General Cai on the horse at that time. The feeling of 'Lv Bu among men, red rabbit among horses'."

Speaking of this, Li Zongren couldn't help sighing: "I was already very satisfied to be a student of Lu Elementary School at that time. I only hope that after graduation in the future, I can become a team leader of the middle captain rank. My life's wish is fulfilled. As for I never even dreamed of Cai E's "parachutist" character and status." The so-called "Don't be afraid of not being able to do it, just be afraid of not being able to think of it", General Li Zongren's words are too modest. In fact, his later deeds are not inferior to the general Cai E he admired, but this is a later story.Here, the author wants to talk about this General Cai E Cai who "looked straight at the students of Lu Elementary School and was astonished as a god".

In fact, how did those young students at that time know that this heroic and unattainable "parachutist" was a student who graduated from the cavalry department of the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer Academy. In today's words, he is a genuine returnee.Cai E, styled Songpo, was born in Shaoyang, Hunan in 1882. He was gifted and intelligent since he was a child.Shiwu School is a new-style school established by Tan Sitong, a member of the Reform Party, to promote the reform. It was also the headquarters of the Hunan Reform School at that time. Soon, the great talent Liang Qichao, a prominent figure in the reform movement, was also invited to the Shiwu School as the head teacher of Chinese. , although Cai E was young at the time, he was soon discovered by Liang Qichao and forged a deep teacher-student friendship.It is also a rare story in the history of the Republic of China that famous teachers produce outstanding apprentices.

After the Reform Movement of 1898 failed, Tan Sitong was killed, Liang Qichao went into exile in Japan, and the Hunan Current Affairs School closed down.Later, Liang Qichao learned that Cai E and other classmates were looking for him, so he managed to summon them to Japan, and entered Tokyo Datong High School where Liang Qichao was the principal to continue their studies. In 1900, Cai E secretly returned to Hunan to participate in Tang Caichang's self-supporting army uprising, but the uprising failed as soon as it was launched, and Tang Caichang was killed. Cai E sneaked back to Japan again and transferred to Chengcheng School to study military affairs.Under the activities of Liang Qichao (in order to train Cai E, Liang Qichao entrusted Okuma Shigenobu to guarantee), Cai E entered the third cavalry department of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy in 1903 and graduated with honors.Among the students enrolled at the same time, Cai E, Jiang Fangzhen, and Zhang Xiaozhun were collectively known as the "Three Heroes of Chinese Non-commissioned Officers". Jiang Fangzhen later became a famous military educator. After graduation, Zhang Xiaozhun was recommended by the governor of the three eastern provinces Xu Shichang to study in Germany for four years. But neither of these two people is as famous as Cai E in the history of the Republic of China.

When Cai E returned to China, it happened to be a good time for the Qing government to vigorously promote the New Deal, and the training of the new army was the top priority of the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty. Therefore, graduates who studied military affairs in Japan were reused after returning to China, and became The provinces competed for the target (Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army did not pay much attention to the non-commissioned officers studying in Japan, because they directly invited many German and Japanese instructors, and the anti-Manchu forces failed to intervene. one of the reasons for the stability).After returning to China, Cai E taught or trained the new army in military training schools in Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and other provinces. Due to his novel ideas and outstanding abilities, he quickly emerged in the southern military circles and became an important general of the new army. .

Zhang Mingqi, the governor of Guangxi at that time, was also a young and promising person who was very happy with his achievements. After he came to power in Guangxi, he determined to recruit talents for the New Deal and set up many new schools, such as the School of Law and Politics, the School of Police, the Excellent Normal School, the Army Primary School, the Army Measurement school and so on.As a result, people who came back from Japan but were full of revolutionary ideas, such as Zhuang Yunkuan, Niu Yongjian, Li Shucheng, Cai E, Yin Changheng, Kong Geng, Zhao Hengti, etc., gathered in Guilin (the capital of Guangxi at that time was in Guilin, and after Lu Rongting took power in the Republic of China). Moved to Nanning), the weather is new.

At that time, Cai E served as the general office of Guangxi military preparations, the general office of the staff office, and concurrently served as the general office of the Army Primary School. He was in charge of the new army and the organization of the new army in Guangxi. Pay attention to.However, due to the strong local concept of the Chinese, Cai E, who is from Hunan, got along too well in Guangxi, which inevitably aroused the jealousy of the local people. As a result, a "dispelling Cai trend" was caused, and Cai E had to quit Guangxi . The thing is that at that time, many people from Hunan settled in Guangxi, and they were much better than local people in Guangxi in terms of customs and culture, so some conflicts of interest inevitably occurred. The "Driving Cai Trend" originally originated from the "cadre school", which was originally used to train military cadres for the new army in Guangxi, because Guangxi planned to establish one town and one association (that is, one division and one brigade) when it was training the new army in the late Qing Dynasty. Later, due to insufficient funds, it was only compiled into a mixed association.As a result, the oversupply of more than 200 graduates from the Cadre Academy greatly exceeded demand. Cai E, who was the general office of the Military and Military Affairs Bureau, decided to conduct a screening test among the more than 200 graduates. As a result, the scores of graduates from Hunan were far better than those from Guangxi. Among the 120 retained students, more than 90 are from Hunan, and most of those eliminated are from Guangxi.

Of course, the Guangxi people quit now. They believed that Cai E's evaluation was unfair because he favored his fellow countrymen. Therefore, a "Cai-dispelling movement" was set off in the cadre school and soon spread to other schools.Soon, members of the Guangxi Consultative Council also impeached Cai E, which further expanded the trend. Guangxi people even went on strike and strike, unanimously demanding that Cai E leave Guizhou.During the climax of the "Expelling Cai Movement", students from various schools lined up to go to Futai Yamen to petition, which made Zhang Mingqi helpless. In the end, Cai E could only leave Guangxi in despair under pressure.

As the old saying goes, "If you lose the east corner, you can reap the mulberry elm". After Cai E resigned in an unseemly way in Guangxi, Li Jingxi, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, then recruited him to Yunnan and served as the assistant of the 37th association of the 19th town. Tong (brigadier commander), this time he directly became the commander.At that time, the effects of leading troops and not leading troops were completely different. Most of Cai E’s previous work was instructors or military and political management. He did not have his own soldiers at hand, so no one was available at critical times. This time, it was a blessing in disguise. , Received the work of planting willows.

Half a year later, the Wuchang Uprising broke out; twenty days later, the revolutionaries in Yunnan also launched an uprising in response.At a critical moment, Cai E was promoted as the interim commander-in-chief of the rebel army. After a day and night of fierce fighting between the new and old armies, Zhong Lintong, the commander of the 19th town, was killed, and Li Jingxi, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, was captured (and later sent out of the country). Cai E of Xietong was promoted to be the governor of Yunnan. He was only 29 years old at the time.In the revolution that year, Jiangxi Governor Li Liejun (29 years old), Shanxi Governor Yan Xishan (28 years old), and Guizhou Governor Tang Jiyao (28 years old) were similar to what Cai E experienced. These people all graduated from the Japanese Military Academy. He returned to China and served as an important military post in the new army of each province.In this sense, the Revolution of 1911 was actually a national mutiny.

However, Cai E, who became the governor, was once again squeezed out by the locals in Yunnan after the Republic of China (the so-called "Dian people ruled Yunnan", which was popular in the provinces at that time, that is, the governor of the province must be served by a native of the province). It happened that Yuan Shikai ordered in 1913 He was transferred to Beijing, so Cai E left Yunnan along the river, and Tang Jiyao, the former governor of Guizhou, took over.Tang Jiyao was from Yunnan. He was both Cai E's junior and his subordinate. In the 37th Association of the 19th Town of the Yunnan New Army before the revolution, Cai E was the Xietong, Liu Cunhou was the standard, and Tang Jiyao was the battalion leader.During the 1911 period, the Guizhou revolution was not very successful. At the request of the local gentry, Cai E sent Tang Jiyao to Guizhou to quell the chaos, and Tang Jiyao became the governor of Guizhou. Yuan Shikai admired Cai E very much. His original purpose of transferring Cai E to Beijing was to let him serve as the head of the newly formed "model regiment" to reform the Beiyang Army and create a new army.It is a pity that Yuan Shikai's proposal to introduce "outsiders" was strongly resisted by the Beiyang faction, and he had to give up in the end.After Cai E arrived in Beijing, although he also served as a clerk in the General's Mansion, participated in politics in the Senate, and supervised the Economic and Trade Bureau, they were all empty positions. Unhappy. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Cai E believed that only "strongman politics" could maintain the unity of the country and achieve prosperity, and the "strongman" in his mind was Yuan Shikai.Therefore, Cai E has always stood by Yuan Shikai's side in the early years of the Republic of China, and did not support the "second revolution" of the revolutionary party.However, after Cai E arrived in Beijing, he found that the new atmosphere of the Republic of China was dying out quickly, and Yuan Shikai, the strongman he valued, was not his ideal candidate. Yuan Shikai was extremely disappointed. According to the later Barnyard Official Romance, Cai E often indulged in wine and sex during this period, was nostalgic for prostitution, and got acquainted with the famous lady Xiaofengxian in Goulan.Xiaofengxian is the top girl in the eight major alleys in the capital. She is beautiful and quite chivalrous, with a pair of eyes that can recognize heroes in the world.After Cai E met Xiao Fengxian, the hero and beautiful woman cherished each other, and General Cai often indulged in Xiao Fengxian's gentle hometown.After getting along for a long time, Xiao Fengxian also saw Cai E's depression and aggrieved.Especially after Yuan Shikai's proclaiming the emperor became more and more rampant, Cai E sighed and sighed all day long, so Fengxian girl tested him: "General Cai, the petition movement is becoming more and more prosperous, and some of my sisters also want to form a group to participate. Look at this How is it?" Cai E sighed a few times after hearing this, and Xiao Fengxian had guessed about seven or eight points when she saw this, so she said: "General Cai, I think you are also a person with ambition, why don't you stand up and do something big?" E sighed: "The whole country is raging, even if I have the heart to kill thieves, but in the capital, it looks like a prison, and there is no escape!" Xiao Fengxian said: "Since the general intends, then I have a way here." After that, Xiao Fengxian whispered in Cai E's ear for a while, Cai E was overjoyed after hearing this, and then acted according to plan. Cai E first went to his teacher Liang Qichao to ask his views on the imperial movement. After learning that Liang Qichao was determined to oppose Yuan, he explained Xiaofengxian's strategy of getting rid of him, and Liang Qichao also agreed.Afterwards, Liang Qichao left Beijing and published the famous article "The So-Called National System Problem", while Cai E deliberately ridiculed Mr. Liang's pedantic and fallacious in public, and had a heated fight with the imperialists. into the camp of the imperialists. Regarding Cai E's movements, Yuan Shikai sent spies to follow him very early. He did not dare to believe Cai E's sudden change easily, but strengthened his surveillance.A few days later, the spies heard a sudden violent noise coming from Cai E's house.It turned out that Cai E's original wife had been fooling around with Xiao Fengxian recently, but after a few words of persuasion, Cai E took advantage of the situation and wanted to divorce his wife and beat him back to his hometown.After this matter got to Lao Yuan's ears, he couldn't help but be amused.Later, Cai E took the opportunity to send his wife back to his hometown. In fact, this was also part of Xiaofengxian Jinchan's plan to escape. After his wife left the capital, Cai E hung out with Xiao Fengxian all day long, and the detectives gradually relaxed their vigilance when they saw that Cai E was indulging in sensuality.One day, Cai E and Xiao Fengxian went to the first stage to watch a play, and the detectives naturally followed behind as usual.After Cai and Feng entered the box, there was no movement. Cai E also took off his coat and hung it on the hanger, so that people outside could see clearly.When the detectives saw Cai E's coat hanging outside, they were much more relaxed, and they didn't have to spy on it from time to time.After the middle of the play, Cai E suddenly got up and went to Xiaojie, but the detectives saw that the coat had not been taken off, so they didn't care. Unexpectedly, the play was over, but Cai E never came back. The detectives knew that something was wrong. When they caught up with Xiao Fengxian and asked Cai E's whereabouts, Xiao Fengxian smiled and said, "My lords, I am A man in the world, what business does General Cai have, is it something we can ask, and what can we know?" After hearing this, the detectives shouted that they had been fooled, but they had no choice but to admit that they were unlucky. In fact, by the time the detectives woke up, Cai E had already boarded the train to Tianjin.While the detectives were still searching everywhere in Beijing, Cai E had already crossed the sea with the help of his friends and sneaked to Japan.After arriving in Japan, Cai E sent Yuan Shikai a power call, saying that he had a throat disease and was being treated in Japan.The treacherous and cunning Yuan Shikai couldn't believe it at this time, he immediately ordered the local officials along the coast, especially in Yunnan and Guangxi, to strictly arrest Cai E, and not allow Cai E to sneak back into the country.As expected of Lao Yuan, he was much better than those stupid detectives. At this time, Cai E was indeed on his way to Yunnan, and he entrusted his friend to send this telegram after he left Japan. This story was later made into a movie, and the story of Xiaofengxianyi helping the flying general Cai E became a household name.However, although the story is beautiful, it is the history of barnyard officials and unofficials. According to Mr. Cai Duan, the eldest son of Cai E, although Cai E set foot in the Eight Great Hutongs at that time, he did not go there often; his biological mother, Mrs. Pan, also said that Cai E once accompanied his family to When watching a play, he once pointed to a beautiful young woman in the box and said: She is Xiaofengxian.It can be seen from this that although Cai E and Xiaofengxian have contacts, they have not reached the point where they are in a relationship after all, and they have not betrayed their family members.More importantly, the main reason why Cai E sent his wife back to his hometown was that Mrs. Pan was pregnant with Liujia and wanted to go back to her natal family to give birth, and she did not deliberately design to leave Beijing. As for Cai E's departure from Beijing, it is also different from the rumors.In fact, Yuan Shikai did not restrict Cai E's freedom of movement, because Cai E did suffer from throat disease at the time, and his reason for asking to go to Japan for medical treatment was also fair and aboveboard. Why is Yuan Shikai not allowed?Therefore, Yuan Shikai approved Cai E's three-month leave, which was recorded in the government bulletin at the time. The so-called "hide and seek" game between Cai E and Yuan Shikai did not happen in history, but was just a dramatic processing by a novelist. That's all. But in any case, Cai E left Beijing and arrived in Kunming, and Yuan Shikai did follow Cai E's way, allowing this opponent to easily escape his control.After Cai E arrived in Kunming, he and Tang Jiyao raised the banner of "protecting the Chinese army", and called a mass meeting to declare the independence of Yunnan and raise the banner of anti-Yuan.After hearing the news, the people of Kunming burst into cheers and took to the streets one after another, holding a grand parade.At the mass meeting, Cai E delivered a speech and said: "What we are fighting for is not the power and status of individuals, but the national character of 400 million compatriots! We would rather die by beheading than living on our knees!" After hearing this, the audience Applause together, public opinion is clear. After declaring Yunnan's independence, Tang Jiyao, Cai E and others immediately formed an army to protect China and sent troops to challenge Yuan.At that time, there were three armies in the Chinese army. The commander-in-chief of the first army, Cai E, led the army westward to Sichuan; the commander-in-chief of the second army, Li Liejun, marched into Guangxi and went straight to Guangdong; . At the end of 1915, Cai E's First Army and Li Liejun's Second Army marched to the front in batches, kicking off the prelude to the War to Protect the Country. Cai E's First Army consisted of three echelon regiments and six detachments (Zhu De was the captain of the sixth detachment at the time, that is, the original commander of the tenth regiment of the Yunnan Army's infantry), with a force of less than 10,000, and only two months of troops when they set out for the expedition. Food and pay, and basically infantry, only a cavalry company and a small amount of heavy weapons, light and heavy machine guns.At the time of departure, each soldier carried only 300 rounds of ammunition and fewer shells. It can be said that the army went deep alone, which was very tragic. Two months after Cai E's troops defended the Chinese army to fight in southern Sichuan, they were exhausted, and Tang Jiyao failed to provide assistance in time, so that they fell into great difficulty.Cai E once said in a letter to his friends during this period that "the guns of the victims were damaged and could not be repaired within a few days, the clothes were shabby and could not be replaced; the ammunition could not be fully replenished, and the salary was exhausted, and the prayer for spirits was invalid"; "Since the departure from Yunnan, I have only received Yunnan's salary for two months. In the past six months, there has been no supplement for the rear, so that I have no clothing, no food, and miscellaneous food and fire every month. They all move here and there temporarily, and are struggling Live the day". Fortunately, the War to Protect the Nation lasted only half a year, and Yuan Shikai died in internal and external difficulties (however, Yuan Shikai died of illness because he could not sustain himself, not because he was defeated by the War to Protect the Nation), and Cai E's "moves to protect the Nation" were accomplished.Having said that, the world is inherently impermanent. If Yuan Shikai had appointed Cai E as the head of the "model regiment" back then, there would have been no such troubles.Fortunately in the end, Liang Qichao and Cai E's masters and apprentices have one article and one martial arts, and the pen and gun are put together. The emperor's dream of the old Yuan's family and the splendid country will come to naught in the blink of an eye? It is a pity that, less than half a year after Yuan Shikai's death, two well-known "great men of the Republic" passed away one after another, one was Huang Xing and the other was Cai E.As mentioned above, Cai E left Beijing under the pretext of medical treatment, and he was indeed suffering from a serious throat disease at the time, and the conditions for combat were extremely difficult. Life and death"; "On average, I sleep for less than three hours a day. The food I eat is half rice and half grain", which made the disease protracted and worsened day by day.After the War to Protect the Country, Cai E immediately went to Japan for medical treatment, but it was too late, and died of illness in Fukuoka, Japan on November 8, 1916, at the age of 35 (Huang Xing was 43). "National people rely on the public's personality, and heroes have no life but the heart of heaven." After Cai E died of illness, his teacher Liang Qichao wrote this elegiac couplet for his beloved disciple with great grief. On April 12, 1917, Cai E was buried in his hometown, and the national government held a state funeral ceremony for him in Yuelu Mountain, Changsha. This is also the "first person in state funeral" in the history of the Republic of China.Accepting this honor, General Cai Quan knows, and he must also feel gratified.