Chapter 21 Wu Luzhen: The Death of the Three Heroes of Non-commissioned Officers

History often turns corners due to some accidental events. If there was no Wu Sangui at the end of the Ming Dynasty who "became a beauty in anger" and led the Qing soldiers into the pass, the Manchus who did not have the ambition of the Central Plains at that time obviously would not have replaced the Ming Dynasty so quickly.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, if Wu Luzhen had not died, the situation in the north of the 1911 Revolution would have been very different.Even if Beijing had not fallen into the hands of the northern revolutionaries, Yuan Shikai's role would not have been so pivotal.The world after the revolution will probably belong to the revolutionary party. In fact, as long as the world is not surnamed Yuan, the fate of the Aixinjueluo family in the Qing Dynasty is hard to say. The possibility of the emperor being guillotined is not out of the question.

The early morning of November 7, 1911 was a turning point in history.For the previous day and night, Wu Luzhen was in a state of extreme excitement. On November 5, he had just met Yan Xishan, the uprising governor of Shanxi, and discussed the matter of organizing the Yan-Jin coalition forces.A little earlier, he was appointed by the Qing court as the governor of Shanxi. Although it was his long-cherished wish to be a feudal official, this appointment was clearly for him to lead troops to fight desperately to recover Shanxi, which had just declared independence.Of course, Wu Luzhen did not do this. He crossed the border between Zhili and Shanxi, and met Yan Xishan at Niangziguan in Shanxi.Tell Yan Xishan that he will never snatch his territory in Shanxi, but will take Beijing.Therefore, the two sides negotiated to form the Yan-Jin coalition army, turned around, and went straight to Huanglong to complete the great cause of the revolution.In addition, Zhang Shaozeng, the commander of the 20th Township stationed in Luanzhou who had always been congenial to him, and Lan Tianwei, the commander of the Second Mixed Brigade Association stationed in Fengtian, joined forces three times. , Good thing, really promising.Therefore, on November 6, he did not rest all day, and everything was in full swing. The next day, the whole army tied white cloths on their arms (this is a sign of rebellion) and marched into Beijing.The order has been issued, and many subordinates who are still loyal to the court feel puzzled, but they still carry it out, but people are panicked.At night, he didn't go back to the camp either, but stayed at the Shijiazhuang Railway Station without sleep all night. In the early morning of the 7th, his guard captain Ma Huitian suddenly led someone in. Wu Luzhen was caught off guard and killed by the horse.When Wu Luzhen died, Zhang Shaozeng, who had always looked up to Wu Luzhen, had no idea what to do, and was immediately dismissed by the Qing government. In the Northeast, Lan Tianwei, who was suddenly rebellious, had to flee to Dalian.The history of the Revolution of 1911 has just turned a corner.

From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the vast majority of Chinese who studied military studies came out of Japanese non-commissioned officer schools. There were hundreds of them, but very few graduated before the New Deal of the Qing Dynasty.Among these few people, Wu Luzhen is one.Generally speaking, due to the beginning of the New Deal and the time when the imperial court employed personnel, all overseas students who graduated around 1903 were often reused.This is true of Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang and others who study literature, and the same is true of Wu Luzhen, Zhang Shaozeng, Lan Tianwei, Liang Bi, and Cai E who study martial arts.These few, among the non-commissioned officer students in the late Qing Dynasty, had relatively high positions.In history, Wu Luzhen, Zhang Shaozeng and Lan Tianwei were known as the Three Heroes of Non-commissioned Officers.In fact, the more famous non-commissioned officers should be Cai E and Jiang Fangzhen, followed by a large group of brilliant stars who influenced history, such as Yan Xishan, Sun Chuanfang, Zhang Qun, Zhao Hengti, Liu Wenhui and so on.It's just that at that time, Cai E's position was too biased, while Jiang Fangzhen made his debut a little late, and the others were even later, so they had to be ranked behind.

There are many revolutionaries among students studying in Japan. This is a law summed up by later generations.Those who study military affairs are of course no exception.Therefore, the three outstanding non-commissioned officers are all revolutionaries.However, it is difficult to say whether these revolutionary parties will still persist in the revolution after they return to China.The Tongmenghui is a loose group, and the degree of connection among party members is lower than that of the Huidang. The so-called party discipline is even more empty talk.Most of the fashion when studying abroad cannot constitute a constraint on later behavior.If you return to your country and you are reused, and domestic politics change for the better, you don't necessarily have to be a revolution.Textbooks say that in the 20th century, after debates, the revolutionaries have defeated the constitutionalists, but this may not be the case.The so-called victories of the revolutionaries overseas were only achieved by the revolutionaries with sticks, and they did not persuade people with reason.Therefore, it is hard to say whether the many elites who came to study abroad really agree with the truth of the revolution in their hearts, and do not listen to the truth of the constitutionalists.At that time, Wu Luzhen was a recognized talent and had been appreciated by Zhang Zhidong, Zhao Erxun and even Prince Qing Yikuang.A classmate of the non-commissioned officer, Liang Bi, the only one among the Manchu relatives and nobles who knows soldiers, has a deep friendship with him.Because of this, Wu was promoted step by step.Of course, Wu Luzhen's own management is also involved in this.He once bribed Prince Qing Yikuang with 20,000 yuan to worship under the most famous corrupt official of the year.It is said that the rule of the sixth town came about in this way.The Qing court appointed him as the governor of Shanxi. After the audience, the regent Zaifeng gave Wu Luzhen a small box. When Wu went home, he saw that it was full of letters accusing Wu of being a revolutionary party.It can be seen that as a talent, Wu Luzhen was very trusted and reused in the late Qing Dynasty.Unfortunately, for an ambitious elite like Wu Luzhen, personal fortunes are closely related to the overall political future.When Wu Luzhen really let go of using it, the Qing court was already precarious due to perverse actions.At this time, of course he would not choose to be buried for the Qing court.

However, the seemingly optimistic revolutionary situation in the north actually has many hidden worries.The sixth town under the command of Wu Luzhen was originally compiled and trained on the basis of Yuan Shikai's military guards and belonged to Yuan Shikai's basic army.And Zhang Shaozeng's 20th Town and Lan Tianwei's Second Mixed Association are also troops developed from the Beiyang Army.In these troops, the officers are all from the Beiyang branch, some are old men from the Huai army, and the soldiers are peasants from the north. The officers and soldiers are quite conservative in their thinking, and they are completely incomparable with the new army in the south.Later, when Yuan Shikai won a high position, the officers and soldiers of these troops were not very satisfied. They also called Yuan Shikai behind Cao Cao's back, and said that they wanted to cut their braids, but they all refused to die.On the other hand, these troops, the basic officials and assistants, were all promoted and trained by Yuan Shikai himself, and Yuan Shikai had a deep foundation in it.It is actually very difficult to lead such an army to rise up, rebel against the Qing Dynasty, and fight to Beijing.Wu Luzhen and Zhang Shaozeng were able to obtain these positions of real power, to a large extent, because the young relatives in charge of the Qing court wanted to further eliminate Yuan Shikai's latent power in the Beiyang Army because they drove away Yuan Shikai.But since Wu Luzhen led the sixth town, Wu Luzhen's attempt to reform the army was almost impossible.Only a small number of military officers who were not from Beiyang, such as He Sui, Kong Geng and others, were influenced by him.The others could neither be influenced nor replaced. Although Yuan Shikai was gone, Prince Qing Yikuang, who controlled the government, was inextricably linked with the Beiyang faction. People promoted by Yuan Shikai would move anyone he wanted. no.The three outstanding non-commissioned officers, all of whom have the style of celebrities, disdain to work hard, starting from the mobilization of soldiers.According to Li Shucheng, Wu Luzhen's good friend, although Wu Luzhen was in control, she spent less time in the army, but more time at home in Beijing. She liked to sing poetry and wine with a group of literati.Lan Tianwei was not much better, he planned an uprising in Fengtian, before the action started, his subordinates disclosed the news to Governor Zhao Erxun.A meeting was held to discuss, and some of the subordinates opposed it, but none agreed.Only Zhang Shaozeng was better, and he only trained a few small battalion commanders who were inclined to revolution. After Zhang resigned, he dared to revolt rashly.In fact, among the three, Wu Luzhen is the one with the worst environment. Even the captain of the guard is not one of his own. The captain of the commanding guard remained in office.It is inevitable to encounter assassination.The assassination of Wu Luzhen was of course not a so-called personal grievance, because the murderer killed someone and also cut off Wu Luzhen's head, obviously asking for a reward from the instigator.At that time, people suspected that the messenger was Liangbi, because he was a Manchu and insisted on resisting the revolution, so that Peng Jiazhen, a revolutionary who had a close relationship with Wu Luzhen, stabbed Liangbi to death with a bit of revenge.In fact, in terms of the situation, the biggest suspect should be Yuan Shikai.If it was Liangbi, even if he knew that Wu Luzhen was going to rebel, the most likely thing was to persuade the higher-ups to withdraw him, not to assassinate him.The biggest beneficiary of Wu Luzhen's assassination was Yuan Shikai.Only Yuan Shikai, with this condition, instigated the old department to complete the task.

Finally, I need to mention the murderer Ma Huitian.This person has made great contributions to Yuan Shikai, so naturally he will not be held accountable later, but after spending the reward money, no one dared to use him.After all, as a captain of the guard, killing one's own chief was a professional taboo in that era when old morality was still emphasized.As a result, this person who had made great contributions to the Beiyang faction had no place in the Beiyang faction, and eventually died of poverty.