Chapter 21 21. Duan Qirui, the "model" of warlords

Duan Qirui was an all-powerful figure in the early years of the Republic of China. Of course there is no doubt about this, but in detail, he really cannot be called a warlord.The so-called "warlord", theoretically speaking, should have at least two conditions: one is to have an army directly under its own control (at least have a title such as division commander or warlord, and have a large number of guns under it); A territory controlled by one hand (taxes can be raised to support soldiers, such as Zhang Zuolin in the Northeast).But when Duan Qirui was prime minister, he was actually a "three-no prime minister". Not only did he not have any of the first two conditions, but even the State Council he led did not have stable financial revenue (in the warlord era, except for the British-controlled customs Apart from providing some "Guanyu", the Beijing government has little income. Those local warlords mostly ignored the transfer of taxes to the central government. main cause of external debt).

Without an army directly under his control, without his own territory, and without money, how could Duan Qirui become prime minister?Speaking of it, Lao Duan still has a bit of capital, he relies on his own great reputation and the acquaintance of his disciples formed over the years.After Yuan Shikai's death, the warlords of the provinces needed a prestigious person to form the central government to show unity. At that time, most of the warlords who held heavy troops were Duan Qirui's former comrades or former students. Driven by their own interests, these warlords took Big Brother Duan or Teacher Duan as their leaders one after another, and it was only reasonable that they followed suit.

Lao Duan's reputation was not easy to come by, and his life was also full of hardships.Duan Qirui was born in a military family. His grandfather Duan Pei served as the commander of the Huai Army because of his meritorious service in suppressing the Nian Army in his early years. When he was young, he lived with his grandfather Duan Pei in the barracks and became familiar with military life since he was a child.When he was fourteen years old, his grandfather died suddenly in Suqian. Xiao Duan, who lost his asylum, took his grandfather's coffin to his hometown in Hefei for burial. And made a soldier under him.

Misfortune ensued.In the second year when Duan Qirui came to Weihai, his father, Duan Congwen, was killed by robbers on his way home after he rushed to Weihai to visit his son (only 30 miles away from home). Only thirty-nine years old.After the bad news spread to Weihai, Duan Qirui asked for leave to go to the funeral but was not approved.Eight months later, Duan Qirui's mother also died due to excessive grief.Within a year, both parents died, and Duan Qirui was only allowed to go home for the funeral this time. After returning home, Duan Qirui, who had just turned 18, looked at his younger siblings (big sister Qiying was 12 years old, second brother Qifu was 10 years old, and younger brother Qixun was 9 years old) with a heavy heart.Family changes and the burden of supporting the family made Duan Qirui, the eldest son, worried and frowning.As an ordinary soldier, Duan Qirui felt that his future was bleak and he could not see the hope of life.But as luck would have it, Li Hongzhang founded the Tianjin Armed Forces Academy in 1885 and planned to recruit students from the Huai Army. Duan Qirui was overjoyed when he heard the news. He was determined to seize this golden opportunity to change his destiny, so he signed up immediately. Enlisted and topped the exams and was eventually selected to study in the Artillery Division.

Two years later, Duan Qirui graduated from Tianjin Armed Forces Academy with "top grades", and was then selected to study abroad at the Berlin Military School in Germany for two years.After the other companions had finished their studies and returned to China, Li Hongzhang once again assigned Duan Qirui to go to the Krupp Arsenal for an internship to familiarize himself with and learn the manufacturing and use technology of the world's most advanced artillery.It was not until the end of 1890 that the 25-year-old Duan Qirui returned to China. He was the best army student in the Qing court at that time.

It is a pity that the Qing army at that time did not pay much attention to these military school graduates. Most of them were entrusted with idle jobs such as teaching and did not enter the barracks as military commanders.Based on the atmosphere in the military at that time, most of the old-school military officers who were born in the army looked down on graduates from military academies. They believed that these child soldiers had no actual combat experience and could not be entrusted with important responsibilities. The crowding out of old soldiers. It was not until Yuan Shikai's "small station training" that those military school graduates began to be reused.At that time, Yuan Shikai asked Yinchang, the general manager of Tianjin Wubei Academy, to recommend talents. Yinchang naturally thought of Duan Qirui, and then recommended him to Yuan Shikai's school.Yuan Shikai's new army is a new army with infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers and other arms. Among them, there are nearly 2,000 artillerymen. Great attention.Although the artillery team led by Duan Qirui is the first one, it already has 60 rapid-fire guns, heavy artillery, etc., and nearly 500 horses. This is also the first regular artillery unit in modern Chinese history. Duan Qirui also It can be called the originator of the Chinese artillery commander.

With Yuan Shikai's continuous promotion, Duan Qirui also followed suit. He successively served as the general office of various military academies such as the Artillery Academy and the Armed Forces Academy, and the command of the six Beiyang towns.During the Revolution of 1911, Duan Qirui, under Yuan Shikai's instigation, took the lead in sending out the "Republic Power" and made the inexorable feat of "creating a republic". The emperor lived in seclusion in Xishan.Before Yuan Shikai died, he ordered Duan Qirui to be found and entrusted to him with state affairs. Duan Qirui thus became the prime minister of the cabinet, the so-called "two-made republic"; And quickly defeated the braided army, the so-called "three-made republic".

The father of the "three republics" gave people the impression that he was extremely rigid and serious, and he was not easy to deal with.Lao Duan usually has a straight face and a serious face, even his family members don't dare to approach him easily.Like Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui's life is very rigid, basically unchanged for 365 days a year.When he was the prime minister, he always had breakfast at home, then went to the study to read official business, went to the Yamen after reading the official business, and came back for lunch at noon; When they are guests, they play Go or cards (Mahjong) with the players.

Duan Qirui likes to play Go very much. At that time, he specially raised a group of chess players and paid him a salary every month to play Go with him.When playing chess with Duan Qirui, those chess players are very familiar... You can't win Duan Qirui, because the old Duan has a strong self-esteem, and he will be very unhappy if he loses; but he can't lose too much, because if you lose too much, It will make Duan Qirui look down on him. According to legend, Duan Qirui once played chess with his son Duan Hongye. At the end of the game, Duan Qirui lost a lot. As long as you know how to play this game, what will you do in the future?" After Duan Hongye was reprimanded, he had no choice but to retreat. (Presumably if his son loses to him, Duan Qirui will laugh and scold again: "You boy, you can't even play chess well, what can you do in the future?") Duan Hongye is Duan Qirui's eldest son. He has no ambitions, and has always been extravagant outside, but seeing Lao Duan is like a mouse seeing a cat, and he dare not make a sound.

There is only one young chess player who is not afraid of Duan Qirui, and this is Wu Qingyuan who later became famous for a while.Wu Qingyuan was very young when he was a chess player in the Duan family, and he was also the most loved by Duan Qirui. He was not polite when playing chess with the old Duan, and the two were often evenly matched.But as Wu Qingyuan's level continued to improve, Duan Qirui often lost more than he won when playing chess with him, and later he stopped playing against him.Wu Qingyuan later became a Japanese citizen and became a top player in the Japanese Go world.

Duan Qirui has a big temper and strict family management. His subordinates are all cautious and dare not make mistakes, especially dare not ask for door bags from guests.According to the rules of the former Qing Dynasty, the concierges of general high officials have a bad rule, that is, to collect the door bag, otherwise they will not be able to enter the door.During the Qing Dynasty, Duan Qirui probably suffered from this "door bag", so he hated others to take the door bag the most. If he heard of someone who took the door bag, he would really pull him out and shoot him. However, according to the custom of the Chinese people, after all, there must be reciprocity during the New Year and festivals, and local officials usually give some gifts to important Beijing officials when they come to Beijing to handle business. This is a common thing, but this rule, only When it comes to the old paragraph, it doesn't work here.Whenever someone sent a gift to the Duan mansion, the concierge would put it on the note at the entrance of the inner living room, and wait for Duan Qirui to see it in person before making a decision.Every time Duan Qirui passed by, he always looked carefully and carefully, and finally picked one or two of the least valuable ones to keep, and sent all the rest back. Once, Qi Xieyuan, governor of Jiangsu Province, presented Duan Qirui with an exquisite screen inlaid with various gemstones, colorful and very beautiful. Duan Qirui also appreciated it and kept it.That night, the members of the Duan family liked it so much that they secretly got up to watch it in the middle of the night.When everyone thought that the screen would be left behind, Duan Qirui had someone send it back early the next morning.Zhang Zuolin once sent an adjutant to give Duan Qirui some specialties in Northeast China, such as river fish and yellow sheep. Duan Qirui did not accept two river fish until the adjutant begged again and again. This is already a great face. .But once, Feng Yuxiang gave him a few big pumpkins, and Lao Duan liked them very much, so he didn't send them back. Feng Yuxiang also recorded such a gift-giving story in his memoirs. It is said that when Mr. Wang Tiezha of the Hanlin Dynasty in the late Qing Dynasty was a magistrate in Guan County, Sichuan Province, he once went to see Fantai and waited for several hours. The door bag; the second time I went, I paid eight taels of silver, but I still couldn't see it. It turned out that the two shares from the uncle and aunt were not paid.Wang Lao cursed angrily: "I am a Hanlin. I came to be a magistrate. I am a wronged official. I will not pay the wronged money!" I don't accept it, I'll just go!" Suddenly, there was a commotion, Fantai ordered to summon him, and after only three words, he served tea to see off the guests.It turned out that the interview time was also determined according to the number of gate rules.The corruption in the late Qing Dynasty can be seen. Although Duan Qirui is the prime minister, he doesn't even have his own house.In the early years, Yuan Shikai played cards with others and won a house. Yuan gave it to his adopted daughter, Duan Qirui's wife, to live in.I didn't want to wait until after Yuan Shikai's death, the original owner came to the door and asked Duan Qirui, who was the prime minister at the time, to move out and return the house.It turned out that the house deed was not handed over to Yuan Shikai at that time... If Yuan Shikai was in power, of course no one would dare to ask for it back, but it would be hard to say if Yuan Shikai died...Duan Qirui is worthy of being a law-abiding prime minister. After going round and round, I finally reluctantly returned the mansion that I had lived in for two years.Duan Qirui had no money to buy a house. Except for his salary, he did not use his power to invest in order to obtain extra income like other warlords. Therefore, after he completely resigned, the family's finances were very tight. The old man who never cared about housework before In the end, it was reduced to keeping accounts by myself. When Duan Qirui was an official, it was strictly forbidden for family members to talk about personal affairs. Once an old woman in the mansion asked Duan Qirui's concubine to find a job for one of his relatives. As soon as he opened his mouth, Duan Qirui's nose burst Angry.He cursed: "Okay, so what if you want to sell your official position? How much money did you take from him? Tell me!" Therefore, in front of Duan Qirui, no one dared to ask for favors, otherwise he would definitely look good on himself. Duan Qirui is not only strict with himself, but also very strict with his subordinates.He had a quartermaster surnamed Su under him, and his family bought a little girl, and his wife often abused the little girl, beating her to the point of crying and howling.After this matter was reported to Duan Qirui, he immediately became furious, and immediately sent someone to bring the Su military supplies and the little girl, while he waited in the living room angrily for questioning.The scene at that time was full of murderous intent, just like going to court in the old yamen. After the Soviet army's supplies arrived, Duan Qirui slapped the table and cursed, and ordered his subordinates to use military sticks to severely punish the forty sticks.Su Junshi was so frightened that he trembled all over, begging for mercy again and again.After Duan Qirui scolded for a long time, his anger subsided, and then he ordered his subordinates to send the little girl to the backyard to be adopted by his family. It is true that Duan Qirui has a bad temper, and every time he gets angry, his nose is crooked to one side, so some people say that Duan Qirui was lucky to be the head of state, but because his nose is not straight (actually it is a little crooked when he is angry), so he can only Achieve the Premier level.In fact, Duan Qirui was the head of state for a period of time, that is, after Feng Yuxiang launched the "Beijing Coup" in 1924, Duan Qirui was appointed as the "temporary ruling" of the Republic of China. Although this position is not the president, it actually has the functions of both the president and the prime minister. . When it comes to the matter of "temporary governance", there were still some people who opposed it at first, and that was Sun Yue, the commander-in-chief of the national armed forces who launched the coup with Feng Yuxiang.According to Xu Yongchang, who was a subordinate of Sun Zhi and later served as the Minister of Military Order of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, when Feng Yuxiang held a meeting to discuss who would preside over the country, Sun Yue said, "Anyone can do it, but Duan is not." The shape of the nose means that the nose should not be crooked (but Feng Yuxiang also said in his memoirs that Sun Yue invited Duan Qirui to come out of the mountain, so let’s doubt it). Sun Yue disliked Duan Qirui for a reason.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Duan Qirui was the commander (teacher commander) of the third town, and Sun Yue was the third-class staff officer (that is, the captain's staff officer) of the town, and Duan Qirui was later promoted to the second-class staff officer.One day, when Duan Qirui was reviewing the army, Sun Yue also accompanied him on horseback, but his horse passed ahead of Duan Qirui's horse from time to time, so Duan Qirui half-jokingly and half-blamingly said to Sun Yue: "Your promotion is too high. Hurry up!" Because of this, Sun Yue became disgusted with Duan Qirui.However, Sun Yue also told Xu Yongchang that in a certain year of Guangxu, when Duan Qirui was in charge of the third town, he didn't remember whether it was Henan or Zhili. Afterwards, many people went to welcome them and express their congratulations, but Duan said, "What is there to congratulate when your own people beat your own people?" Sun Yue was very convinced by this.Although Sun Yue often accused Duan Qirui of improper employment in private, such as Duan Zhigui's corruption and Wu Guangxin's incompetence, he had nothing to say and admired Duan Qirui's integrity and general knowledge. In fact, Duan Qirui only looks serious on the surface, but in fact he has a true temperament in his heart.Duan Qirui was in the Suqian military camp with his grandfather when he was a teenager, and he met several friends of the same age when he was studying in a local private school. Later, Duan Qirui became prime minister and became prosperous. One of his friends, Shen Mengda, tried to come to Beijing to find him. .At the beginning, Shen Mengda was afraid that Duan Qirui would no longer recognize him, so he first wrote a letter and asked someone to send it to Duan's residence. He never thought that Duan Qirui would immediately send someone to send 200 silver dollars after receiving the letter. , Duan Qirui came to pick him up in person, and a dozen cars drove up all at once, and he was treated nicely. Several old people who followed Duan Qirui's grandfather, Duan Pei, were later brought into the house by Duan Qirui.One of them was Xing Baozhai. Whenever he mentioned Duan Qirui, he often said that Duan Qirui had a snotty nose all the time when he was a child. They don't like to be clean!" Xing Baozhai often told people in the mansion about this, and some people got tired of hearing it, and asked back: "Don't you look down on him? But now he has done some earth-shattering careers. You are still buying brooms for him now!" Xing Baozhai was so blocked that he could only stammer, "I didn't know he would have this day, I want to know, I treated him better back then!" Although Duan Qirui is a soldier, he doesn't kill people easily.During the crusade against Zhang Xun, the rebellious army captured several braided troops, and their subordinates asked for instructions to execute these people to strengthen the army. Duan Qirui said very unhappy: "Zhang Xun is the one who is guilty. These officers and soldiers have What crime? What's the use of killing a few people? You are always easy to kill, and the murderers are always killed. Which person who is good at killing will have good results?" That's why some people say that although Duan Qirui is a "tiger of the North Sea", he actually has the appearance of a tiger but not the power of a tiger.Duan Qirui was not successful in politics. After the defeat in the Zhiwan War in 1920, he retired to the Tianjin Concession, began to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddha, and even named himself "Zhengdao Jushi".Every day on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar new year, Duan Qirui would go to the temple to perform rituals in person. Since Duan Qirui was a prominent figure in the early years of the Republic of China, the monks were proud that Duan Qirui came to their temple to perform rituals. Flattery Duan Qirui is the reincarnation of the Bodhisattva, who came down to save all living beings. After being flattered for a long time, Duan Qirui is also a little smug.When the Zhifeng war broke out, the old Duan cursed at the lecture meeting: "These warlords are full of militarism, causing harm to the country and the people. They are all reincarnated by King Ashura to cause catastrophe!" Speaking of this, he couldn't help saying dejectedly , "Although I am a bodhisattva, I have the power of compassion and vow to save all living beings, but the Tao is one foot tall, and the demon is one foot tall. Although the magic power is great, it is difficult to defeat the demons!" Asura is an evil god in ancient Indian mythology and one of the eight dragons in Buddhism. Because it often fights with the gods, the battlefield is also called "Asura Field".Lao Duan called the warlords "Asura Kings", but when he was in power, he also promoted the policy of "unification by force", but he thought that the melee of warlords was militarism, while his "unification by force" was for "salvation of all sentient beings" That's all! After the defeat in the Zhiwan War, although Duan Qirui had eaten fast and recited Buddhism, he didn't really see through the world of mortals and achieved nothing.Every time students, former ministries, and friends came to visit him and talked about the raging domestic wars and the displacement of people, Lao Duan always kept a straight face and said nothing, but they said, "We must clean up the situation, and it is not the teacher who makes a comeback." " At that time, Lao Duan's face, which was always as cold as ice, showed a somewhat gratified smile. Four years later (after Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin jointly defeated the direct forces of Cao Kun and Wu Peifu in 1924), Lao Duan came out again to serve as the temporary ruling of the Republic of China and returned to the political arena.Same as before, Lao Duan still works in the morning, plays chess or poems in the afternoon, and plays cards in the evening. The only difference is that the old Duan has added a content, that is, he must go to the special Buddhist hall in the mansion to chant sutras in the morning . A year and a half later, the "March 18" tragedy occurred at the gate of the ruling government, which shocked China and the world. Duan Qirui rushed to the scene of the murder after hearing the news.Not long after, Lao Duan went out again, and since then he has completely stayed away from the ever-changing political vortex, and only eats fast at home and prays to Buddha, or plays chess, writes and writes, and never cares about worldly affairs. After the "September 18th" Incident in 1931, the Japanese extended their aggression to North China and tried to win over Duan Qirui to act as an agent.In order to prevent Duan Qirui from being used by the Japanese, Chiang Kai-shek sent someone to take Duan Qirui from Tianjin to Nanjing on January 21, 1933. When he was crossing the Yangtze River by boat at Pukou, Chiang Kai-shek led a group of senior generals to meet him and greet him in person. Hold the disciple gift (the former Beiyang Accelerated Armed Forces School sent out uniformly from Chiang Kai-shek’s Japanese Non-commissioned Officer School, and Duan Qirui was the supervisor of the school at that time, which can be regarded as a teacher-student friendship).Since then, Duan Qirui has settled in Shanghai. On November 2, 1936, Duan Qirui died of hemorrhage caused by gastric ulcer at the age of seventy-two.Before his death, Duan Qirui wrote his own will and earnestly warned future generations: "Although the country is dangerous and weak, there must be hope for revival. The road to revival is also very simple. Don't lighten up political disputes because of my opinion, and don't believe in radical statements. And shake the country itself. Those who talk about diplomacy should not abandon the inherent ethics, and those who seek scholars should not focus on the variety of fashion. The so-called self-reliant is here, and this is also where the weak become strong." Because Duan Qirui believed in Buddhism during his lifetime, his funeral was also simplified according to his will.Among the condolences of celebrities from all walks of life, there are several elegiac couplets that are particularly conspicuous. One is Feng Yuxiang's: "The white-haired villagers have nothing to cry, and the yellow flowers still want to make meritorious deeds"; the other is Wu Peifu's long couplet: "There is no public in the world, and it is unknown how many people will be called emperors and how many people will be called kings. They will make great achievements in founding a country, and the great rivers and mountains will be rebuilt; At this point in the current situation, all mistakes are due to discord today and no war tomorrow, worrying about the people has become a chronic disease, and the mainstay has lost its heroes. " After Duan Qirui's death, because his eldest son Duan Hongye insisted on sending his coffin to Beijing for burial, but because of the changes in the current situation caused by the Japanese invasion of China, it was impossible to find a suitable burial place for more than ten years, and finally he could only be buried hastily in the The cemetery that Duan Qirui's third brother bought before was located next to the avenue where people come and go.In this regard, Duan Qirui couldn't help sighing some of his past life: "Unexpectedly, the old man lived a vigorous life, and there is no place to bury him after death!" It was not until 1963, with the efforts of Duan Qirui's former friends Zhang Shizhao, Li Sihao, Zeng Yujun and others, that Duan Qirui's remains were finally exhumed and reburied in Wan'an Cemetery near Xiangshan in the western suburbs of Beijing.As a big man in the Republic of China, Duan Qirui never accumulated personal wealth, did not show favoritism, and did not support the self-respect of soldiers in his life. This is extremely rare among warlords.