Lu Zhankui, a native of Longshengzhuang, Fengzhen. During the Xinhai Revolution, Zhang Zhankui (Xiao Zhuangyuan), who had joined the troops of Guangfufeng Town, was greatly influenced by members of the Shanxi League, such as Xu Tongxi and Gong Fukui. Later, he became brothers with the local Five Elders Cui Yongsheng, the Xishen Old Fourth Zhang Yao, and the Gelji Old Five Wu Degong. In 1915, he led his Menghan to rob more than a dozen of his brothers, robbed more than twenty large and small guns, ammunition, and horses of the township soldiers in Longshengzhuang Town, pulled up the team, fled to Mongolia, and participated in the independence of Outer Mongolia. He called himself "Independence Brigade", which means not under the jurisdiction of any army. At that time, because there were very few guns, he asked for support from Outer Mongolia in guns and ammunition through various connections, but he did not succeed. In the autumn of the same year, he returned from Outer Mongolia with more than thirty people and went to Tongxinggong in the western district of Wuchuan to recruit troops and horses. Not long after, the number of people and horses grew to more than a thousand people, forming a huge Mongolian-Han coalition army, occupying large and small villages and towns such as Damao Qihe Church, Guyang County Guangyi Kui, WulaShan Hou Wulan Naaobao Town, and Da Shetai.
At this time, Gao Shixiu, the leader of the Brotherhood of Elders in Northern Shaanxi, sent his small leaders Yang Wanzhen (i.e., Xiao Wuyang) and Xi Xiaozhou to join Lu Zhankui's team, organize the Brotherhood of Elders within the team, set up incense halls, absorb members, and set up a dock. There are many code words and codes formulated within the Brotherhood, and those who join the Association can answer it and avoid robbery, and those who do not join the Association, known as the "white-headed cow", are oppressed in all kinds and cannot occupy their feet. This is one of the important reasons why Lu Zhankui's team can develop and grow rapidly.
In the winter of 1915, Lu Zhankui's troops surrounded the Suiyuan Army Mixed Brigade Zheng Jinsheng Regiment in Baotou Town, until the Beiyang government sent Feng Zhanyuan's fourth detachment to come to the aid of Sui, Zheng Jinsheng regiment dared to open Baotou, to houtao, and defend Wuyuan. The fourth detachment marched to Houshan, where the public welfare people at Guyang were defeated by the Lu army, and Feng Zhanyuan was dismissed from his post and punished, and his remnants of the army were defeated and withdrawn to Baotou led by Li Jichun. Martial law began in Baotou at the end of the year, and it was not until early February 1916 that the city gate was closed for more than fifty days before Xiao Hanjie's "Huai Army" arrived. Baotou and Guisui also cut off business travel.
After 1916, the wildfires lit by Lu Zhankui in the back mountains became more and more of a burning situation, and even the old and new cities imposed curfews. The Houshan area was remote and it was difficult to replenish funds and clothes, so Lu Zhankui decided to pull the team to the front mountain. Therefore, secret agents were sent to Baotou Town and Saraqi County to investigate the Beiyang government's garrison in the local area. According to the secret agent's reconnaissance report, Lu believed that the Sarazi County had a weak force and cut from here first. He selected five or six hundred elites and personally led them to attack the county seat. In order to contain the support of the garrison in Baotou Town, another group of cavalry, about 100 or 200 people, was sent south from Kundulungou and operated in the northwest of Baotou Town and the south of Daqingshan, making a gesture of pretending to attack Baotou.
The siege of the county seat of Saraqi took place on the night of January 6, 1917 (the second day of the first lunar month of the Old Calendar). Beforehand, he had sent people into the city, agreeing to set fire to it as a signal. The garrison in Sa County, because of its weak strength, saw that the city was set on fire and besieged outside the city, and did not dare to hold on, abandoning the city and fleeing. After Lu Zhankui entered the city, he first destroyed the county gate, released prisoners, burned pawnshops, opened warehouses to release grain, and killed several officials who were indignant. This is highly praised by the local people. There were also several incidents of robbery of merchants under Lu Zhankui's men, and after Lu found out, he shot four or five people.
After Lu Zhankui originally planned to occupy the county seat of Saraqi, he returned to the west and attacked the town of Baotou. The Beiyang government was alarmed when it heard the news, and immediately ordered the fourth detachment to rush to the aid, Lu temporarily changed the plan, led the team to the east of Tuo County, and on January 15 captured the county seat of Tokto; another team crossed the Yellow River and captured the county seat of Dongsheng on January 28.
At that time, the suiyuan capital Pan Zhiyao, although he was a favorite of Yuan Shikai (Pan had sabotaged the uprising of the officers and soldiers of the twenty towns to cooperate with the officers and soldiers of the sixth town of Wu Luzhen in the north during the Xinhai Revolution), but when his master was about to ascend the throne, he lost three cities in a row outside the mouth, which could not be a mistake. Later, Pan stepped down.
After the fall of the three cities of Sa, To, and Dong, Lu Zhankui did not intend to hold it, and Li Jichun's fourth detachment was able to retake sa and to two counties. However, the strength of the fourth detachment was more dispersed, Baotou became more and more empty, and Gui Sui was shocked overnight, and the entire Suixi was completely controlled by Lu Zhankui's army except for a few isolated cities. In February, Xiao Hanjie, the defender of Duolun Town, was appointed as the suiyuan bandit association, and he rushed to Suiyuan with more than 800 cavalry in the night of the stars, showed the tenacious and reactionary strength of the "Huai army" to suppress the Taiping army and the twist army, and launched a fierce pursuit and attack on Lu Zhankui's "independent team", before driving Lu Zhankui's main force across the Yellow River and pressing from the Yikezhao League to northern Shaanxi and longdong.
Xiao Hanjie's party opened east in June, and at the time of the autumn harvest, Lu Zhankui led the main force back to Tongxinggong in the western district of Wuchuan. At this time, Lu Zhankui's team was even stronger, about 10,000 people. Because gao Shixiu's troops were absorbed in northern Shaanxi and eastern Longdong, Zhang Jiucai's "Brotherhood of Elders" team, And Xifeng sent the Bow Fukui Department, and the Baiyanshan Department, which was incorporated by Wang Chaolie, also defected. Because there were members of the Kuomintang inside, the Beiyang warlords regarded them as bandits. At that time, Yuan Shikai was dead, Pan Zhiyao had no support in the DPRK, could not control the situation, and Guisui was empty, so Lu Zhankui decided to attack Guisui and let the team move east after Daqingshan.
Duan Qirui's Beiyang government, seeing the serious situation in Suiyuan, appointed Jiang Yan as the governor of Suiyuan and led the Chu Enrong Brigade of Cai Chengxun's First Division to come with him. Jiang arrived in early October, completed the handover formalities, and immediately went to Suixi to supervise the battle. Lu Zhankui's various large and small "independent teams", because they were a ragtag group, were at a loss of command and could not coordinate their operations, and when they attacked south from the various ditches of Daqing Mountain, only Cui Yongsheng's men and horses descended from the vicinity of Chasuqi. After Cui Yongsheng was killed by the artillery of Wang Peihuan's army of the Suiyuan Army's mixed brigade at the mouth of the Black Bull Ditch, his morale was greatly affected, and the plan to attack Guisui was abandoned. Another army of several thousand people, when attacking the Palace of the Dalhan Banner and the Wulanhua, was also blocked by Wang Zhongchen's troops, which were absorbed by the Dynasty Lie, and did not succeed. Lu Zhankui saw that the situation was not good, and quickly reduced his troops and concentrated on the territory of Guyang County. After Cha Suqi's victory, Jiang Yanxing commanded his army to advance northwest across Daqing Mountain in an attempt to drive away Lu Zhankui's "independent team" with a single blow, but unexpectedly fell into the encirclement of Lu Bu. One of Chu Enrong's whole battalions was all settled in Mao Kuo Cave (a gong Ku Dong) and suffered heavy losses. Therefore, Jiang Yanxing withdrew and returned to Sui, Chu Enrong withdrew to defend Baotou, and the situation in Suiyuan returned to the situation a year ago.
At that time, the domestic situation was: Duan Qirui dreamed of unifying the whole country by force and focused his attention on dealing with the south, while the Beiyang warlords were split within the faction, and Jiang was from Feng Guozhang's clan, and it was impossible to get more support from Duan. In Suiyuan Territory, Chu Enrong and Li Jichun were both guest troops, and the troops in this area were only the Manchurian Mongol soldiers of Suiyuan City and Tumut Banner, as well as the mixed brigade of the army formed by the Outer Eight Banners Patrol Brigade and the four-way garrison of Yulu, all of which were mainly based on each other and were not subordinate to each other. It is difficult for Jiang Yanxing to command these complex armies with a bare pole, and if Lu Zhankui insists on doing his work, I am afraid that the consequences will be even more difficult than that of his predecessors. Therefore, when he ate this blow, the original dream of eliminating the Suiyuan bandits was completely disillusioned, and he was forced to adopt the method of annexing Lu Zhankui.
At this time, the imperialist forces and local feudal forces such as Father Nan Huaiyi (Belgian) of the Catholic Church and Wang Tongchun, a large landlord of houtao, came out to mediate peace. Jiang Yanxing invited them to Naturalization City to negotiate. After the talks, Nan and Wang went to Tongxing to see Lu Zhankui and conveyed Jiang Yanxing's sincerity.
After more than a year of fighting, Lu Zhankui also needed to stop and rest, to wait and see the evolution of the situation, and decide on the next move, so Nan Huaiyi and Wang Tongchun negotiated peace on behalf of both sides, which was very in line with the wishes of most people in his troops.
After accepting the peace talks, Liu Wan,a large landowner in the western district of Wuchuan (who later became a grand gentleman of Guyang), vouched for his life, and asked Sun Ban Dazi, a large landlord in Guangyi Kui, to accompany Lu Zhankui's representative Jinfu (a Mongolian of the Suihua Bantu Mote Banner) to Baotou to conduct preliminary negotiations with Zhou Liangcai, the chief of general staff of Jiang. After the Spring Festival in 1917, Sun Banzi accompanied Jinfu to Guisui, accompanied by two representatives, one was Zhang Jingshan, a Henan native who had served as the director of receiving and sending to Guisui County governor Xue Weixiu, and the other was Wang Zhongyi, a Henan native. They came to Guisui and were settled in the "Suiyuan Hotel" opened by Lan Zhupo, a Tianjin native, who had been stationed in the "Yanmei Garden" (now the Daguan Theater) on Xiaodong Street in the old city, and Zhang Fengchao, the deputy director of Jiang Yanxing, personally served as a receptionist and negotiated.
After more than ten days of consultation, it was finally decided to integrate Lu Zhankui's army into the Suiyuan Guerrilla Cavalry Brigade, under the direct command of Jiang Yanxing's commander-in-chief of the Suiyuan Garrison, and to ask the Beiyang government for permission to allocate 200,000 yuan as a conscription and dispatch expense. A point committee was formed by Zhou Liangcai, chief of staff of the Security Command, Zhang Fengchao, deputy director of the department, Suo Jingbin, staff officer of lieutenant colonel, and Liu Jingqiao, a military judge of major, and Guan Zhonglin was appointed as the copywriter.
The members of Lu Zhankui's unit left Guisui with Jiang Yanxing on the second day of the second month of the first month of the lunar calendar. Jiang Yanxing was accompanied by Jin Fu and others on horseback, and the copywriter and the two secretaries sat in a two-mule sedan, protected by the soldiers of the Capital Command and Lu Zhankui. The car carried 200,000 yuan of "Bank of Communications" cash, more than 10,000 printed "death certificates," and the uniform of the blue woolen army major general that Lu Zhankui had customized from Beijing, in addition to three official seals, which were the seals of "commander", and the seals of the left and right divisions , (the organization was the "Suiyuan Guerrilla Cavalry Brigade", why the printing was the commander, it is not clear). On the first day, the team was stationed in Wuchuan County, the second day was stationed in Wulan Bulang, and on the third day, it arrived at the He church. After being harassed by the "independence brigade" and officers and soldiers in 1916, many peasants fled, and many landlords and "cattle calves" who bought and sold brands became a ruined circle where no one lived.
As soon as he returned to Sui, he passed through the centipede dam and entered the area controlled by Lu Zhankui. At that time, there were many troops attached to Lu Zhankui, and there were forty or fifty who claimed to be "in command", and the so-called "two wolf mountains in Daqing Mountain and the Black River in Shalamu, Tuocheng, Helin, and QingshuiHe, the bandits were gathered", which was not exaggerated and fictional. Jiang Yanxing simply incorporated Lu Zhankui into a brigade commander, with Zhang Yao (Xishen Laosi) and Wu Degong (Gelji Laowu) as regimental commanders, called the left and right capitals. Among Zhang Yao's three battalion commanders were Duan Chenggong (Erchang Tiao) and Bai Yanshan, and among Wu Degong's three battalion commanders were Bayin Leopard and Xie Zijin (a native of Hebei). Lu's brigade chief of staff was Zhang Jingshan, and the deputy was Jinfu, who was appointed as a clerk by Li Zicai, a native of Jining Prefecture, Shandong Province, who had served as section chief to the governor of Guisui County. The brigade had a total of more than 1,500 officers and men, including Gong Fukui, Gao Shixiu, and Zhao Youlu, all of whom were hired by Jiang Yanxing as senators of the Metropolitan Administration.
Lu Zhankui's inauguration ceremony was solemnly held in the Church in mid-February of the lunar calendar. In advance, Suo Jingbin taught Lu Zhankui and the two regimental commanders the etiquette of receiving the seal, and the soldiers built a five-foot-high earthen platform with a red and blue cloth tent on it and a five-color national flag on both sides. The red and blue cloth and the national flag were borrowed from the "Daxing" (Chamber of Commerce) in Baotou, and Chu Enrong also sent a team of trumpet soldiers. Zhan Zhankui took off his large black velvet leather pants, pressed his braids into his uniform, put on the general's military hat with the phrase "sweeping the sky", carried a command knife, and wore riding boots to the "general stage". On behalf of the Beiyang government, Jiang Yanxing took an oath and spoke to the officers and men, but Lu Zhankui did not say anything, and seemed to "sigh" and shed tears. The foreigners in the church took many pictures with their cameras.
After Lu Zhankui took office, Jiang Yanxing took Zhou Liangcai and Suo Jingbin back to Baotou. Before leaving, Lu Zhankui selected three or four hundred soldiers in the same costume and lined up in an honor guard to bid farewell, and the two mule cars that followed him when he came carried a whole cart of lu gifts and big cigarettes (the big smoke soil was held in a large wooden box containing rifles). After Jiang left, Zhang Fengchao, the deputy director of the department, and Liu Jingqiao, a military judge, stayed in the church for more than a month with three civilian personnel, and then followed Lu Zhankui's brigade headquarters through Gaotailiang into the rear set and went to the town of Wulan Naaobao at the bottom of wolf mountain to live in a large camp. This battalion, which could accommodate a brigade, was built in 1913 by Wang Jianping, the governor of Saraqi, and Wang Tongchun, a large landlord in houtao, to prevent the Outer Mongolian army from moving south, for kong Geng's troops of the First Division of the Shanxi Army. Before Lu's team left, Wang Tongchun had already sent someone to paint the repairs with a new look. The people who compiled the committee lived in the Baotou Guangheng Ximao Shop on the cabinet in Wulan Naaobao Town.
The 200,000 yuan that the Beiyang government sent to Jiang Yanxing to recruit and dispatch Lu Zhankui's troops was only half spent. Originally, it was recruited according to the command of 10,000, 8,000, and the battalion commander 5,000, and those who were not included in the establishment were dismissed according to 100 yuan for officers and 20 yuan for soldiers, and horses were also bought at an official price of 20 yuan. The money was handled by Zhang Fengchao, and the two secretaries were only responsible for making the Jidou booklet. Whether Zhang Fengchao gave the money to Lu Zhankui and his left and right divisions and the six battalion commanders is unknown. The Suiyuan guerrilla cavalry brigade was only composed of more than 1,500 people, and the remaining 7,000 or 8,000 were among those who were dispatched. However, these seven or eight thousand people were not disbanded, including the troops of the Dalai Gong, who had been collected by Wang Zhaolie, the governor of Wuchuan County, and later pulled to the vicinity of Ulan's brain. At that time, the various "independent teams" to which Lu Zhankui belonged, some of them took the severance pay, and some simply did not submit the registration book, completely listening to the statements of Zhang Jingshan and Jinfu, and Zhang Fengchao did not dare or willing to check outside the Wulan brain bag. This large sum of money was sloppily reimbursed in the case of mutual deception.
After Lu Zhankui's army entered the rear set, it was completely supported by Wang Tongchun's "calf" to support grain and grass. As for the salary item, it is not a problem. Because Lu Zhankui's men turned around from Longdong in northern Shaanxi and opened a lot of solid Shangzhen forts, every soldier returned with a full load. Some even use one or two empty horses to carry yuanbao smoke and valuable clothes, and it is enough to spend money for three years and five years without pay, which shows its richness. This is also one of the reasons why discipline has remained good after the incorporation of the Lu Ministry. After the stationing of Ulan Brain, the officers and men of the Lubu Department, some wearing military uniforms and some still wearing plain clothes, took out money to work with the peasants to plant big cigarettes. After Zhang Fengchao and Liu Jingqiao returned to Guisui, the two secretaries stayed there for a long time in order to covet the wine and food there.
After Lu Zhankui was incorporated, many people were recommended by various quarters, and Gong Fukui and Zhao Youlu, also dressed in military uniforms in the name of the Senate of the Metropolitan Administration, began to communicate and socialize in Guisui and Baotou, and ate, drank, and had fun with Jiang Yanxing and Chu Enrong's officers all day long. Gao Shixiu and Zhang Jiucai went to Ningxia from the back with a big-eared living Buddha after they were incorporated.
In the autumn of 1917, Lu Zhankui was named the commander-in-chief of the Sixth Route of cavalry of the Protectorate Army, and was ordered to lead his troops to leave Houtao, cross the Yellow River, and move toward Shaanxi. However, the internal officers and men were uneven in good and bad, secretly instigated by the Brotherhood of elders, some vainly tried to set up another mountain and set a unique story, some were unwilling to give up their wives and parents, and were far away from their hometowns; some did not change their bad habits, robbed and secretly stole, insulted women, and so on, so the military was scattered and discipline was lax. Zhao Youlu, the commander of the regiment, led more than 400 people to the north, and in the three-sided area, he was recruited by the Emperor of Northern Shaanxi and jing Yuexiu, the commander of the Eighty-sixth Division, and appointed as the commander of the Northern Shaanxi Security Cavalry Regiment. Soon, The commanders of the Zhao Company, Su Yusheng and Wang Anrenfu, rebelled again and sneaked into the Yi League as bandits. Lu Zhankui was unable to control the troops, and in desperation, together with Jinfu, he secretly disguised himself and fled to Fengtian to join the great warlord Zhang Zuolin. His brothers, such as The Fifth Elder of The Tooth and the Fourth Elder of the Xishen, were surrounded and suppressed by Jing Yuexiu's troops and local vigilante groups, and each of them was broken up and scattered and fled. The Suiyuan cavalry guerrilla brigade was now completely wiped out.
Lu Zhankui was appointed by Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Fifth Brigade of the Northeast Cavalry Brigade, and he continued to collect old troops and recruit troops. In the autumn of 1923, he led a whole brigade to the Church of He, took away all the gold, silver, treasures, and smoke that had been deposited in the hands of Father Nan Huaiyi, and collected more than 200 people from the old department. In order to curry favor with Lu Zhankui, The Suiyuan governor Ma Fuxiang ordered the counties of Guyang, Wuchuan, Taolin, Jining, and Fengzhen to provide people with military grain and grass fed by horses. The two also exchanged gifts. After Lu Zhankui returned to Rehe Chengde, he took advantage of the Spring Festival to give heavy gifts to military and political dignitaries such as Kan Chaoxi, the governor of Rehe, to win over relations. Na Zhi Kan Chaoxi had already sent a telegram to Zhang Zuolin, saying that after Lu arrived in Suiyuan, he had colluded with Ma Fuxiang, that the military discipline of the troops was terrible, that they had robbed the Mongol and Han people along the way, and that they were trying to occupy Rehe. Zhang did not investigate, and Kan Chaoxi sent a telegram to Lu to bring the law to justice, collect his firearms, and dismiss all the officers and men. Therefore, on the fifth day of the first lunar month, Kan Chaoxi invited Lu to a banquet, arrested him, and immediately shot him. He was in his fifties. It is said that several regimental commanders of Lu were also killed at the same time.
(This article is based on the fifth series of "Inner Mongolia Literature and History Materials" Guan Zhonglin's "Several Events During Jiang Yan's Tenure as the "Suiyuan Capital" and the materials provided by Han Xiangfu and others)
Excerpted from the fifth series of Baotou Historical Materials, June 1981