Chapter 45 The flood of people after April 4th and May 4th

After Peking University students marched in Tiananmen Square and "burned the Zhao family building and beat up Zhang Zongxiang", Anfu politicians were very dissatisfied with Cai Yuanpei, the president of Peking University. They believed that the reason for the students' disturbance was mainly because Cai Yuanpei had encouraged students to participate in social activities too much. This triggered the outbreak of the "May 4th" Incident.In the eyes of these people, Cai Yuanpei, an old revolutionary party, actually "talked like an old man and turned into a teenager mad"... The evil heart is not dead!

The accusations made by Anfu politicians are not groundless. After the end of World War I, President Cai was indeed very excited and enthusiastic. He publicly called on students to get out of the campus and actively participate in national and social activities. Students in the society were punished by sitting together, which undoubtedly contributed to the enthusiasm of Peking University students for social activities in the future. In fact, before the "May 4th" parade, Peking University students had already staged protests against Duan Cabinet's loans to Japan, and some student organizations such as the National Socialist Society, Xinchao Society, and the Civilian Education Lecture Group also developed and expanded. Movement plays an important organizational role.

Under such pressure, Cai Yuanpei tendered his resignation three days after the students were released, and quietly left Beijing.Also being blamed is Education Minister Fu Zengxiang, who was forced to resign for also encouraging students to celebrate after World War I, at a time when the Beijing government is preparing to nominate Anfu politician Tian Yinghuang as Education Chief. After the news of Cai Yuanpei's resignation came out, Peking University students used the method of "suspending classes to punish them" that night to retain the principal they admired.Afterwards, the principals of various tertiary schools in Beijing also announced their resignation, united, and marched with Mr. Cai.At this time, Guo Qinguang, a Peking University student who actively participated in the "May 4th" activities, died of illness due to anger. The mourning for his classmates led to a general strike on May 19 by students above secondary schools in Beijing. The total number of students involved reached two. More than 15,000 people.

The general strike of Beijing students on May 19 was much more mature than the "May 4th" parade. They clearly put forward demands such as "refusal to sign the peace treaty with Germany, punishment of traitors, and retention of Chief Fu Zengxiang and Mr. Cai Yuanpei". These demands were later summarized into eight One word, that is, "struggle for national power abroad, and punish national thieves at home!" The actions of Beijing students soon won the support of students from Shanghai, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Nanjing and other places. They also took to the streets one after another, which made the school strike trend intensify at that time.However, the Chinese have always wanted face. If the Beijing government agreed to the students' request so easily, where would their face go?So Prime Minister Qian Nengxun replied to the question of "punishing national thieves": "If the students have evidence of their treason, the government should punish them according to law; if it is just empty words, the government can't do it."

On the 20th, Yuan Xitao, the deputy minister of education, went to Peking University in person to hold a meeting of principals of schools above junior colleges, but none of the principals of government schools attended the meeting.Not only that, the students also carried out more active activities. They organized a large number of lecture groups, each group of ten people, which was called "Ten People Group" at that time... You will have a "Ten People Group" at the Paris Peace Peace Conference, and we will There are "groups of ten"...these lecture groups initially gave speeches on the streets on Sundays. After the general strike, more lecture groups appeared on the streets, under overpasses, and even amusement parks. There were students everywhere. figure.The speeches given by the students were warmly welcomed by the general public. A large number of people came to listen to each speech. Many people followed the students and wiped their tears when they heard the anger of the country's imminent subjugation.There were also some enthusiastic citizens who brought tea and water to the students, and even donated money and goods on the spot to show their support for the students.

Not only that, the students also set off a movement of "boycotting Japanese products and promoting domestic products". At first, Peking University students took out all the Japanese products from the consumer agency on campus and burned them in a centralized manner in the playground of the University of Arts; later, Tsinghua University and other schools also adopted similar measures. action. On May 18, students from various technical secondary schools in Beijing took the Japanese goods they had bought to Xiannongtan and burned them together.Although it was still raining that day, the lecture group still gave speeches in the rain, and some elementary and middle school students were also very enthusiastic. They not only burned their own Japanese goods, but also actively spoke on stage.

The actions of the students aroused the anger of Japan. They sent warships to Tianjin, Wusong and other places for military intimidation, and even sent Japanese ronin to sabotage the students' speeches.When Chinese students studying in Tokyo staged protests, the Japanese military and police brutally suppressed them and arrested many students. Due to the growing unrest of the students and the pressure from Japan, the Beijing government sent military police and cavalry to disrupt the students' speech activities. When they saw the students gathering, they used the cavalry to attack, dispersed the onlookers and confiscated the students' flags , leaflets, etc.In addition, they used methods such as early holidays and examinations for civil servants, diplomats, and judicial officers to divide the movement, which made some students withdraw from the movement, and the student movement at this stage came to an end.

Unexpectedly, on June 1, the Beijing government issued two inappropriate orders at an inappropriate time. One was to defend and persuade Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang, and Lu Zongyu to stay, and the other severely reprimanded the students for disrupting order. Call for the banning of all kinds of street activities and the immediate resumption of classes. One stone stirs up a thousand waves, everyone, how can there be any reason in this world that "patriotic is guilty, traitor is meritorious"?The students are all passionate patriotic youths, how can they bear such treatment?They immediately resumed street speeches on June 3, and on this day, the military and police in Beijing were also in full swing. If you come, I will catch one, and if you come two, I will catch a pair. Raging thunder and thunder, flying sand and rocks on the ground, black clouds billowing, and no daylight, what a gloomy and bleak scene of hell on earth!

According to statistics that night, more than 170 students were arrested, of which Peking University students accounted for the majority, and there were also Tsinghua School, Higher Normal School and other schools.Because of the large number of students, these students were not sent to the detention center, but were collectively locked up in the lecture hall of the Peking University Law Department. From morning to night, the students were not even allowed to drink saliva. However, government personnel obviously underestimated the ability and perseverance of the students. On the second day, more students walked out of the school quietly. The masses began to speak.On this day, there were more soldiers and police than in the past. When they saw a crowd gathering, they let their horses over and dispersed the audience first. Then, like an eagle catching a chick, two strong police officers carried a weak student The baby was sent to the Peking University Law Department in Beiheyan and detained.

On the 4th, more than 700 students were actually detained. In the end, Peking University's law department couldn't accommodate them, and they were sent to the science dormitory of Mashen Temple as a temporary prison. On the 4th, the weather was also very bad, with strong wind, heavy rain, heavy thunder and heavy dust. A pair of students were taken in, while teams of military police set up camp along the Beihe River. The 9th Division of the Army sent a With the strength of a regiment and a battalion, it turned a dignified school into a barracks. The viciousness of the military and police did not frighten the students. On the 5th, more students packed their luggage and even prepared toothpaste, toothbrush and bread. On this day, they set off in a large group and gave lectures in separate directions. The number reached more than 2,000.At the same time, they sent telegrams to various places, asking for support.

According to a reporter from "Weekly Review": "On the morning of the 5th, the reporter passed by the front door and saw three students standing on the side of the road giving a speech. Several policemen came, like Hades of the Town God's Temple, and arrested the three students one by one. Although the three students were caught by them with both hands, they kept talking, and countless people who listened to them shed tears. Outside the back door, there were two groups of students, one going west and the other going east. There are only a dozen or so students in this place. A policeman went to the east to drive people away, and the west side started giving speeches; when he went to the west to chase people away, the east side started to give speeches again. After a long commotion, everyone who listened clapped their hands, and the few policemen didn’t dare to do anything.” Another reason why the police are afraid to take action is that there are more and more students, and there will be no place to lock them up if they are arrested again... If they are not careful and kill people, it is not fun. What is touching is that many students brought their own luggage and came to the law department of Peking University to ask for detention. When the students who were banned found out, they boarded the law building and waved their flags. There is nothing to do.Even the female students took action. They organized the Federation of Fifteen Schools and collectively petitioned the presidential palace, demanding the release of the imprisoned male students. The principals and staff of the schools were also extremely angry. Not only did they run up and down to rescue the students, but they also issued a joint telegram accusing the government of "waiting for the students to be gangsters, using the school buildings as prisons, ravaging education and undermining the judiciary. How can the future of the country be imagined?" Organizations from all walks of life in Beijing also expressed sympathy for the students' detention. For example, the People's Diplomatic Association, Beijing Education Association, and the Red Cross all went to condolences to show their support for the students. After the news that a large number of Beijing students were arrested and arrested, the people of the whole country were shocked. On June 5, in order to support Beijing students, people from all walks of life in business and academia in Shanghai, for the first time, realized the joint action of "strike, market strike, and class strike".Shanghai is a metropolis with a developed economy, convenient transportation, and trendy ideas. When the "May 4th" parade broke out in Beijing, students in Shanghai also responded in groups and carried out strikes and other activities. Later, Huang Sunkui and other Beijing student leaders also came to Shanghai to carry out joint operations. Therefore, after the Beijing students were detained, the Shanghai students also took action immediately. Implement a strike.During the mobilization on this day, some students even adopted the method of "kneeling and begging along the street" to beg, and many pedestrians and businesses also promised to support the students' actions the next day. After the news of the "strike and strike" came out on the 5th, the workers in Shanghai were the first to respond.Moved by the enthusiasm of the students, some workers in Japanese companies such as the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 Cotton Mills in Japan first went on strike in the morning, followed by workers from the Rihua Cotton Mill and the Shanghai Cotton Mill. , Then workers from the Commercial Press, Zhonghua Book Company, Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway and other places went on strike. On the morning of the 5th, various businesses also went on strike as agreed. The bustling streets soon became deserted. Most of the businesses closed their doors and stopped doing business. Dumen also thanked the guests.On the street, only college and middle school students were running up and down, distributing leaflets, while policemen were patrolling the street to prevent people from making trouble. When the news of the "Three Strikes" in Shanghai reached Beijing, the authorities realized that the situation was serious, so the military and police who surrounded the campus of Peking University withdrew that night, and the detained students were freed again. However, the resulting trend did not stop. Six days later, the "Three Strikes" in Shanghai not only did not stop, but also increased in scale. There was a strike, except for a few shops on the street who bought breakfast and opened their doors half-closed, selling some pastries to passers-by for convenience. Other businesses were still closed like yesterday.The Shanghai authorities sent police to intervene and force the opening of the market, but the merchants replied "freedom to buy and sell", and the police officers could do nothing. After the "Three Strikes" were implemented in Shanghai, Tianjin, Nanjing, Anqing, Wuhan, Jinan, Jiujiang and other places followed Shanghai as an example and implemented "strikes, strikes, markets, and classes", and the "May 4th Movement" became the "June 3rd Movement". ", the former took the students in Beijing as the guide, but the latter began to follow the lead in Shanghai. Merchants have always been considered to be profit-seeking, but in this campaign, the merchants showed impressive patriotic enthusiasm: first, some large commercial companies took the initiative to strike, and then all small and medium-sized shops also closed their doors to thank customers. There are slogans posted on the gate: "All people are united, appeal with one voice, resist the traitors, wake up the government", etc. Even the barber shop has posted the slogan "This is the state affairs, I have no intention of plastic surgery, please don't patronize".As for those entertainment venues, they also stopped selling tickets and no longer entertained.Some storytellers have even initiated voluntary storytelling, donating all proceeds to the student union. Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, once said, "Business women don't know the hatred of the subjugation of the country, and they still sing flowers in the backyard across the river." They printed leaflets at their own expense and distributed them and appealed to compatriots in the flower world to donate to the Student Union.When students held parades and publicity activities, these female compatriots set up tea breaks at the intersection to show their support for patriotic students...Prostitutes have never been more shameless than those bureaucrats. Under pressure from all walks of life, the Beijing government had no choice but to dismiss Cao Rulin, Lu Zongyu, and Zhang Zongxiang on June 10.After the goal of "punishing national thieves internally" was achieved, the wave of "strikes and strikes" in various places came to an end. Immediately afterwards, whether Chinese representatives should sign the peace treaty with Germany at the Paris Peace Conference became the focus again. Students and social groups from all over the country sent representatives to Beijing to petition the presidential palace, demanding that the government promise not to sign the peace treaty.As a result, the third stage of the May 4th Movement, that is, the "Refusal to Sign the Peace Treaty Movement" was carried out in full swing again. At this time, Duan Qirui, who had been silent on the student movement, suddenly expressed his opinion. He said: "Students have patriotism, which is gratifying. But there is a word of advice, study hard, become a talent, and reform politics and business in the future." Industry, so that the country can be strengthened." At this point, Duan Qirui changed the subject: "If you are fooled by others, it will only encourage some people's arrogance, and it is wrong to harm yourself and the country." What Duan Qirui probably meant was to agree to sign the peace treaty, because if China does not sign the peace treaty, China will not be able to join the League of Nations. At that time, some favorable conditions will not be guaranteed. The two evils are equal to each other. Students should not continue to exert pressure on the government on the signing issue. .Old Duan’s words were not only refuted by the students, but even his political opponents attacked him one after another. For example, the direct general Wu Peifu publicly telegraphed support for the students and said: "The great rivers and mountains are at the mercy of others. If there is a little support, who has no righteous indignation?" In fact, the Chinese representatives in Paris were not reconciled to signing this. They first proposed a plan of "retaining the signature", that is, China signed the peace treaty, but they had reservations about the solution to the Shandong issue and could not recognize it.However, this plan was also rejected by the peace conference. At that time, the Chinese representatives had no choice but to sign unconditionally or refuse to sign. The Beijing government was inclined to sign at first, but under the opposition from all walks of life, it had no choice but to kick the ball to the special mission, saying: "The domestic situation is tense, the people want to refuse the visa, and the government is under great pressure. The signing of the matter should be done by Director Lu himself. Decide." At 3 pm on June 28, the Paris Peace Conference held a signing ceremony for the peace treaty with Germany at the Palace of Versailles.On this day, the Chinese delegation wrote to the chairman of the peace conference, stating that China would not send a representative to attend, that is, to refuse to sign the peace treaty.On this day, from the morning, the outside of the residence of the Chinese delegation was surrounded by Chinese students and laborers. They openly declared that if the delegation went to sign, a fatal action would be launched. That being the case, there is no need to blame diplomats.After all, in an international society where "power is king", if you are not as powerful as others, you will inevitably be humble. The so-called "weak country has no diplomacy" is the truth.In this way, it is even more difficult to be a diplomat in a weak country! In any case, "refusal to sign the peace treaty" can be considered to have completed the goal of "struggling for national power abroad", while "removing the three thieves" has completed the task of "punishing the national thieves internally".However, the Shandong issue was not resolved. It was not until the Washington Conference held at the end of 1921 that the Japanese army finally withdrew from Shandong and returned it to Qingdao. The later "Jinan tragedy" laid the groundwork. For China, 1919 was a year of turmoil. One of the important results was the awakening of the people, especially the young intellectuals. They quickly became a new political force and rose on the Chinese stage.Some student leaders in the "May 4th" Movement, such as Zhang Guotao, Zhou Enlai, etc., as well as intellectuals in the New Culture Movement such as Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, etc., and even the newly rising second-generation Beiyang figures such as Wu Peifu, etc., they will soon It will shine brightly in the future political process, and students, as a newborn group, will also change the historical process of China to some extent. "May Fourth", they did it; in the future, they can do it too. In stark contrast to this, apart from Duan Qirui who also came out to say a few words, other figures of the older generation of the Beiyang family were eclipsed in this movement.Obviously, their original views on students were nothing more than "you don't need to care about national affairs, and if you don't study hard, you are rebelling." Therefore, when the student movement suddenly rose, their performance was mostly in a daze. Ignorance and lack of means may also reveal that their time is about to pass. On December 28, 1919, Feng Guozhang died in Beijing at the age of 62.Before he was in danger, Feng Guozhang dictated his last words to President Xu Shichang, hoping that "peaceful reunification" would be realized as soon as possible.The reason for Feng Guozhang's illness is said to be due to the imperial guards.When the Qing Emperor abdicated, Feng Guozhang promised not to break away from the imperial guards for the rest of his life, so when this unit was reorganized into the 16th Division of the Army, it was still led by Feng Guozhang, and this division has always sent a battalion to Feng Guozhang as a guard , Wherever Feng Guozhang went, they followed him. Later, when Feng Guozhang became the President, the Sixteenth Division was also split into the Fifteenth Division and the Sixteenth Division. The two divisions still sent teams to take turns guarding the Presidential Palace.After Feng Guozhang resigned and returned to his hometown in Hejian, the 16th Division sent a company to follow him to show the special relationship. In October 1919, Feng Guozhang returned to Beijing again in order to mediate the issue of the 15th Division and the 16th Division's dispute with the Ministry of the Army. However, for unknown reasons, Wang Tingzhen, the commander of the 16th Division, suddenly used the order of the Ministry of the Army as an excuse to send Feng Guozhang to follow Feng Guozhang. The soldiers of this company were transferred back, and Feng Guozhang was very angry. He felt that he had just resigned not long ago, and he had promised to never break away from the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Guard. As his subordinate for many years, how could Wang Tingzhen do such a thing? Unfeeling thing.At this time, he took a cold shower at home, which resulted in acute pneumonia and died not long after. After Feng Guozhang's death, his old friend Wang Shizhen was entrusted with the responsibility for the funeral and inheritance distribution.Duan Qirui also came to express his condolences later. As usual, he walked straight to Feng Guozhang's body expressionlessly, lifted the curtain, looked at the face of his old friend, and then turned and left.Later, Duan Qirui sent someone to send a personally drafted elegiac couplet, one of which was "We are planning to help each other in the same boat, when will we part ways". Because Feng Guozhang had a hard life since he was a child, he put more emphasis on money matters. Compared with people like Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui, he is a person who loves money.It is said that when Feng Guozhang was the president, he once ordered people to fish out the fish in Zhongnanhai and sell them for money, which was a joke for a while.According to his staff member Yun Baohui's recollection, Feng Guozhang had an awkward fight with Wang Shizhen over money matters.The thing happened like this. At that time, Wang Shizhen was the prime minister and wanted to send people to the south to mediate, but he hoped that the presidential palace would provide the funds, but Feng Guozhang ordered them to solve it by themselves. Like, who is it for? He won't take this little money out!" According to the statistics at that time, the total value of Feng Guozhang’s inheritance was about 3 million yuan. The money was the result of Feng Guozhang’s savings and investments for many years, including land and stocks, which were converted into Wang Shizhen’s money later. Under the auspices of the distribution to his children.Of course, although Feng Guozhang likes to make money, he is not accused of being corrupt and perverting the law. Feng Guozhang, the "Three Heroes of the Beiyang", completed his journey first, while Wang Shizhen, the "Dragon of the Beiyang", left politics alone after resigning as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and retired willingly.Wang Shizhen's style is clean and honest, and he doesn't do extravagance. He has no son, only two daughters. When he died in 1930, he only had two properties and more than ten hectares of land. The Beijing property was bought for him by students Bao Guiqing and Lu Yongxiang. . As a result, there is still an old Duan who is still strong and strong, relying on his own bravery to do a great job.However, in the face of the challenge of Beiyang's second generation, can Lao Duan handle it?