Chapter 44 second quarter
In Wuming, Guangxi, which is far away from the Central Plains and has beautiful mountains and rivers, there is a poor Zhuang family whose head is Lu Yexiu and housewife is Oushi. In 1859, this family gave birth to a baby boy, Lu Rongting, nicknamed Ah Yang and Ah Song.
The Lu family only has two acres of dry land, and Lu Yexiu is idle and idle, so the burden of family life rests entirely on the shoulders of Ou Shi.Oushi worked hard for a year, and his rations were only enough for more than three months. The rest of the time he lived by digging wild vegetables and wild yams.When Lu Rongting was born, the family didn't even have clothes to wrap him in.No one expected that Lu Rongting, who was born in such a poor family, could turn the whole of Guangxi into private property when he grew up.
Lu Yexiu wandered here and there, and often stole chickens and dogs, so he had a very bad reputation in the village. In 1860, when Lu Rongting was just one year old, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement swept Wuming, Guangxi. Shi Dakai's army drove straight in here, and the villagers fled in all directions - it was called "Running Chang Mao Rebellion" at that time.The Lu couple also hid in the dense forest with little Asong in their arms.
Afterwards, a rumor spread that brought disaster to the Lu family: "Long Mao" was conspired by Lu Yexiu to attack the cottage!As a result, the villagers who were already annoyed by Lu Yexiu's frequent theft were enraged and rushed forward.With fists and kicks, Lu Yexiu died.
Lu Rongting, who could only cry, was only one year old at the time, and he probably wouldn't remember the following scene: His family had no money to bury his father, so he wrapped his father's body in a bad mat and begged his brothers to carry him to bury him with a door panel. Lose.Halfway through the journey, my father's body slipped from the door panel. The brothers from the same clan got impatient and dug a hole on the spot and buried my father hastily...
Lu Yexiu's grave hadn't grown green yet. A Fengshui master saw the graveyard, his eyes widened, he clapped his hands again and again, and said excitedly that this grave is amazing. He has never seen such a good Fengshui. It must be greatly developed!
The young Lu Rongting didn't understand what this meant. His mother had remarried to a family named Wei in the county town. He was fostered at the same poor neighbor's special teacher's mother's house, and he worried about not having enough to eat all day long.But those who participated in killing his father were terrified when they heard that, they took advantage of the night to sprinkle dog blood on Lu Yexiu's grave to break the "feng shui", lest the Lu family will come to them for revenge if someone really big in the future.
Lu Rongting, who was fostered by a special education mother, lived like a puppy.The lonely old woman special godmother got up early every day and went out to work late at night, locked Xiao Rongting at home and left him a bowl of corn.Lu Rongting ate when he woke up, and went back to sleep after eating, until he woke up hungry again...
The future "King of Guangxi" is growing up day by day amidst the simple food and drink, and his body is still in good shape. The special teacher also thinks that this child is very easy to support.When he was seven or eight years old, his appetite increased sharply, and he had to eat three or four bowls for a meal, which his mother couldn't afford no matter how hard he tried.So, Lu Rongting went down the river to catch fish, climbed trees to catch birds, went to the ground to dig voles, and occasionally went to other people's vegetable gardens to steal melons and fruits... At the age when others were studying, he devoted all his time to belly problems.
Once, Lu Rongting caught a few nipples that hadn't fully grown in the bird's nest. He was overjoyed. He went home and stole a little sesame oil that his special education mother had accumulated so hard, and fried the nipples to enjoy.The special teacher's mother was furious when she learned that she was going to beat her hard when she took the shoulder pole.Lu Rongting scrambled and ran away, never daring to go back, wandering all the way to the county town to find his mother.
When Ou Shi saw his son, who was physically strong but shabby, he burst into tears and kept his son by his side.Fortunately, the folk customs in Zhuang village are simple and simple, so Lu Rongting is not bullied.The life of the stepfather's family was not bad, and Lu Rongting was sent to a rural school and became a student.
The good times don't last long.Lu Rongting had only been studying for a year, and his mother, Ou Shi, became ill from overwork and passed away forever.He lost his last support and became an orphan.
The underage orphan Lu Rongting had to work as a child laborer in an umbrella shop surnamed Huang.Boss Huang knew his father well, so he was okay with him; but the lady boss was very mean, she treated him like a slave and beat him up whenever things went wrong.Lu Rongting, who was beaten bruised from time to time, could only go to his mother's grave and cry loudly.
Unbearable to be abused by the boss wife, Lu Rongting borrowed fifty-six copper coins from Boss Huang, and began his wandering career.His job was to steal in crowded markets. His dormitory was a Guanyin Pavilion, and his bed was an empty coffin in the Guanyin Pavilion.During this period, because he dared to climb the wall of the county government office to steal clothes to dry inside, he was chased and ran for more than 50 miles, never daring to return to the county seat.
A family surnamed Ruan saw that he was tall and handsome, and intended to adopt him as a foster son for the future.Lu Rongting, who had just landed, liked to gamble, lost all his money but reneged on his bills, and was stripped naked by the locals and returned home.Lu Rongting was so ashamed that he bid farewell to Ruan's adoptive parents and found another way out.
Lu Rongting, who went to Longzhou on the border with Vietnam, first worked as a handyman in a casino. Because of his height and strength, he had the opportunity to work as a servant in Longzhou Prefecture for two years.In the past two years, he has emphasized friendship, loyalty, and a flexible mind, and he is very popular.Unexpectedly, there was another catastrophe: there is a French Catholic church in Longzhou, and a vicious dog is kept as a guardian; this dog barks wildly at everyone, and the residents are often frightened to death by it, and are even bitten and injured. Word.One day when Lu Rongting passed the Catholic church, the vicious dog rushed over and barked at him. Without thinking about it, Lu beat the dog with a stick so hard that its brains burst.
The French went to Longzhou Prefecture to question the crime, and Lu Rongting lost his job.With resentment towards the French, Lu Rongting found a new job: showing the family cemetery to the chieftain (the leader of the local government of the ethnic minorities).The chieftain gave Lu Rongting a gun. In the gloomy night cemetery, the bored Lu Rongting only spent time practicing marksmanship.During this period of visiting graves, he has greatly increased his courage, and he has practiced a good marksmanship with every shot.
The French seem to be specifically against him.One day, Lu Rongting bought a fish and was carrying it in his hand. He happened to come across a Frenchman's clothes. The Frenchman was furious and cursed at him; Unexpectedly, the French didn't respond when he saw him being scolded, thinking that he was easy to bully, and followed him all the way, insulting him in every possible way, until he got on a boat.Lu Rongting couldn't bear it anymore, and yelled "Mom sell!" (Zhuang language: your mother) punched the Frenchman into the water, and then took a bamboo pole to stab it until there was only a string of bubbles left on the water surface.
Lu Rongting, who committed a murder case involving a foreigner, first fled to Vietnam, then returned, and joined the local secret group "Three Points Meeting" with the purpose of "anti-Qing and restoring the Ming".With his marksmanship and courage, he soon became the "big brother" in the Shuikou area.
In 1883, when the Sino-French War broke out, Lu Rongting thought he had a chance in life, so he went to serve as a soldier.In the war, he was extremely brave and made many contributions.
The Sino-French war was the only war that China won in modern wars with foreign powers. However, in the case of victory, the Qing government signed a peace treaty with France. The result of military victory was political failure.
At the end of the war, Lu Rongting's anti-French troops were disbanded.Lu Rongting and the soldiers who had no normal way of life after leaving the army knelt down in front of Qing army general Tang Jingsong, begging to stay.Although Tang Jingsong sympathized with them, he had no choice but to send them out of the barracks, but gave them some guns.
From then on, Lu Rongting began his career as a "righteous thief" who was later praised by others.He gathered a group of brothers and became a bandit on the Sino-Vietnamese border, specializing in robbing the French.He set a rule of "three don't rob" for his subordinates: first, don't rob the Chinese, second, don't rob the poor, and third, don't rob people nearby.Once his subordinates robbed a nearby Vietnamese, Lu Rongting became angry and said: "We eat here, so don't shit here!"
This well-disciplined bandit team abides by the "three no-robbing" principle, so not only does it have no public anger, but it also has the support of local residents, who often provide them with cover and report letters.But the French were out of luck, being beaten by the elusive Lu Rongting team and couldn't survive.
One time, Bi Yayi, Lu Rongting's capable subordinate, was beaten to death by the French.In order to avenge him, in 1892, Lu Rongting attacked the French army in Nalanwei, Vietnam, killing 22 French soldiers and capturing one alive.This is Lu Rongting's biggest victory against the French.
The unlucky captive was pierced by Lu Rongting with a wire through his nose, and led to Bi Yayi's grave to beheaded and sacrificed.Later, the French Governor-General in Vietnam erected a stone tablet there, on which was written in French "commemorating the 22 officers and soldiers of David's army in Duowei who were suddenly killed by Lu Yasong".
Lu Rongting's marksmanship became a legend during his time as a "righteous thief".His descendant Li Zongren once told such a story: Once Lu Rongting was chased by the French army in the mountains, the commander of the French army suddenly saw a cloth strip hanging from a branch and wrote a letter, "If you don't stop moving forward, you will be killed. Today Try the small trick first, shoot your left arm without hurting the bone."The commander had just finished reading when a shot rang out, and he was shot in the left arm. Sure enough, as the cloth said, he bled without hurting his bones.The French army did not dare to pursue any more, and returned in frustration.
Lu Rongting's activities on the Sino-French border were of course targeted by the Qing government, but their erratic movements made it difficult to suppress them. In 1894, Su Yuanchun, the governor of Guangxi, and Ma Shengzhi, the commander of the border guards, thought that it would be better to recruit Lu Rongting instead of expropriation and suppression.Wu Zhongwei, Lu Rongting's cousin, volunteered to persuade him.
Wu Zhongwei said to him: "With your ability, it is a pity that you are in trouble. Although you can rule the roost for a while, you will end up dead in the end. Look at any grassroots bandit in history who did not end up like this? From the Yellow Turban Army in the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Yellow Chaos in the Tang Dynasty , to Li Zicheng, to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it is hard to escape the doom of overthrow. It is only a matter of time before you join the imperial court, get promoted, get rich, and honor your family."
Lu Rongting has never fought against the Qing army of "his own people". He has a light ideological burden, and he yearns for fame and fortune after being recruited, so after careful testing and confirming that he will not be ensnared by the recruit, he accepts the recruit. In the first battalion, Lu Rongting served as the supervisor (battalion commander).
Lu Rongting, who entered the system of the Qing Dynasty, was given the task of "suppressing bandits", which happened to allow him to show his talents, because he had just come down from the mountain and was familiar with "bandits".After his work, most of the local bandits also accepted the recruitment, and the few who were unwilling to accept the recruitment were all wiped out by him one by one.
The three-point meeting he had attended with the purpose of "anti-Qing and restoring the Ming Dynasty" saw that Lu Rongting had now defected to the Qing court and became an eagle dog, so he immediately made him a public enemy.The ceremony of joining the Three Points Club used to be: the old member held a knife rest on the neck of the new member and asked: "Can Emperor Guangxu be killed?" The new member answered loudly: "Yes!" Now a new sentence is added: "Lu Can Ah Song kill it?" The new member replied loudly, "Yes!"
Lu Rongting's military rank is getting higher and higher. In 1906, under the sponsorship of Cen Chunxuan, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he was sent to Japan to study military affairs.Lu Rongting's cultural background is weak and he doesn't know Japanese, so he can't talk about gaining much during his stay in Japan, and he left the impression on the Japanese that he is lazy and doesn't learn. However, the shooting he performed during class surprised the Japanese officers and soldiers. He didn't dare to underestimate it too much.During his stay in Japan, he also established a relationship with Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui. Whether he joined the Tongmenghui like Tang Jiyao of Yunnan, another warlord in the southwest, is still controversial.
In 1907, Lu Rongting made another great contribution to the Qing Dynasty: he suppressed the Zhennanguan Uprising initiated by the Tongmenghui on the Sino-Vietnamese border.Originally, the Tongmenghui had made an agreement with him, and he would be the internal response to the uprising; unexpectedly, after weighing the balance, he felt that the Qing Dynasty had not yet come to an end, so he changed his mind temporarily.
When the uprising broke out, the Qing Dynasty was shocked, and ordered the Longzhou military preparations, Long Jiguang and Lu Rongting's troops to crusade, within seven days to recover the forts occupied by the revolutionary army. The law before the army.
Lu Rongting worked very hard, resulting in the failure of the uprising.However, at the end of the battle, he waited for the insurgents to evacuate the fort before ordering his subordinates to rush over, which was considered a small cover for the uprising.Lu Rongting often uses this kind of shrewd behavior of weighing the situation, standing on which side to see which side is strong, but making some gestures to the side that may later gain power, so as to leave a way for himself.
After suppressing the Zhennanguan Uprising, Lu Rongting was conferred the title of "Jieyong Batulu" by the Qing court, and was promoted to be the commander-in-chief of Zuojiang Town and Guangxi Frontier Defense Supervisor, while Long Jiguang was promoted to Guangxi Admiral. In June 1911, Long Jiguang was transferred to Guangdong, and Lu Rongting was promoted to Admiral of Guangxi, becoming the first military officer in Guangxi.
On October 10, 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, and then the anti-Qing tide swept across the country.Lu Rongting was not mentally prepared for the sudden revolutionary fury, and watched the development of the situation quietly.The revolutionaries in Nanning wanted to win him over to respond to the Revolution of 1911, and sent representatives to negotiate with him; Lu Rongting was on guard, and asked his brother-in-law Tan Haoming to stand beside him with a big knife during the negotiations.Regarding the demands made by the revolutionaries, he did not say yes or no, but said: "I agree with the revolution, but it depends on the timing. I will act only when I have the opportunity." On November 7, Guilin declared independence and promoted Lu Rongting as the deputy governor of Guangxi. , he saw that the Qing court was indeed exhausted, but he still had high officials to do, so he followed the wind and expressed his "approval of the republic" to the revolutionaries, and held a meeting on November 9 to declare Nanning's independence.
On the eve of declaring Nanning's independence, he put on the yellow mandarin jacket bestowed by the emperor, burned incense and lit candles, kowtowed three times and nine times in the direction of Beijing, saying: "The old minister deserves death, and he will repay the grace of God in the future." Then he hesitated and cut off his braid.
After the Revolution of 1911, there was an upsurge of local self-government in various places.Shen Bingkun, who was promoted as the governor at that time, was not from Guangxi, and his military strength was very limited. Therefore, under the slogan of "Guangxi people rule Guizhou", Shen Bingkun was quickly excluded, and the Guangxi Provincial Council elected Lu Rongting as the governor. In October 1912, Lu Rongting moved the provincial capital of Guangxi from Guilin to Nanning, which is close to his hometown Wuming.The military and political power in Guangxi was in his hands, and the Lu Rongting era began in this southwestern frontier province.
In the early years of the Republic of China, there were not a few warlords who were born recklessly, but I don’t know who else was like this Marshal Lu Rongting. In the early years, orphans, beggars, thieves, and bandits were often called the "Four Big Bastards" in one body.It's rare to be so humble.