There are many heroes in the Gui clan, if you ask who is the first big man of the Gui clan, it is undeniable that it is Lu Rongting. Mention the Gui warlord Lu Rongting can have a big book of inspirational stories, this person was just a bandit in the jianghu earlier, who expected to eventually become a powerful feudal official.
Lu Rongting's original name was Lu Yasong (陸雅宋), and he was originally from Wuyuan County, Si'en Province, Guangxi Province (Note: Wuyuan County is now Wuming County). This family was poor, lost his father at an early age, his mother then remarried someone else, and Lu Rongting, who had nothing to rely on, lived on the streets and often associated with street scoundrels.
In the fourth year of Qing Guangxu (1878), Lu Rongting wandered to the mouth of Longzhou Shuikou and found a ferry errand. Tan Taiyuan, the ferry "head", saw that he was diligent, wise and ambitious, and thought that "strange goods can be lived", so he gave his daughter Xu to him.
There are quite a few French people stationed in Shuikou, these French bananas are very brutal, once for some reason in the street to beat Lu Rongting, Lu Rongting was humiliated, killed the French bananas, gathered more than 20 strong men to form a "three-point meeting", long-term activities on the Sino-Vietnamese border, relying on smuggling and transportation to make huge profits, during which he also robbed the French guns and materials, Lu even hand-bladed two Frenchmen. Many good men saw that he was in a big position and turned to him, and supported Lu Rongting as the leader of the dragon. At the peak of the "Three Points Society", there were hundreds of brothers, and Lu Rongting was called "righteous thieves".
In the eighth year of Guangxu, Lu Rongting followed the example of Song Jiang in Liangshan, and was recruited by the imperial court to lead his brothers to join the Shuikou Guanqing army. In the tenth year of Guangxu, the Sino-French War broke out, and Lu Rongting and his brothers fought with the French. He Cheng wanted to be ostracized, and after the war ended, Lu Rongting was dismissed by the Qing soldiers and reverted to a thief. During this period, he repeatedly attacked the French, and he was quite prestigious on the rivers and lakes.
In the twelfth year of Guangxu, Su Yuanchun, the viceroy of Guangxi, summoned Lu Rongting for the second time, and Lu Rongting led the team to defect and was given the post of pipe belt. After that, Lu Rongting devoted himself to serving the imperial court. In the 29th year of Guangxu, there was a party uprising in Guangxi, Lu Rongting led troops to participate in the suppression, and because of his outstanding merits, he was appointed by Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Liangguang, as the commander of the "Rongzi Battalion" of the Guangxi Border Defense Army, with 5,000 elite soldiers, and these people became the core force of the Gui clan in the future.
In the thirty-third year of Guangxu, Lu Rongting and Long Jiguang suppressed the uprising of the revolutionary army town of Nanguan, and made meritorious contributions here, and were rewarded by the imperial court with the title of "Jieyong Batulu", and the official was promoted to the general of Youjiang Town, and later concurrently served as the chief soldier of Zuojiang Town.
In the first year of Xuanun, Lu Rongting was promoted to The Inspector of Border Defense in Guangxi; in the third year of Xuanun, he was promoted to the Viceroy of Guangxi. At this time, Lu Rongting had become a well-deserved imperial court feudal official, and it could really be said that he had only one hand to cover the sky and was mighty.
On November 7 of that year, Shen Bingkun, the governor of Guangxi, responded to the Wuchang uprising, declared the independence of Guangxi, and co-opted Lu Rongting to join him and persuade him to adapt to the new situation. After Shen Bingkun left Guangxi, Lu Rongting fully grasped the real power in Guangxi, and although he claimed to be revolutionary, he was at odds with the revolutionaries, and he gave pressure to the revolutionaries for a long time, taking this opportunity to establish his own prestige and provincial political dominance.
On February 8 of the first year of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai officially appointed Lu Rongting as the governor of Guangxi. In order to show his loyalty to Yuan Shikai, Lu Rongting suppressed the revolutionary activities in 1913, which was further appreciated by Yuan Shikai, and in June 1914 he was awarded the rank of general of Ningwu. In 1915, he was promoted to the rank of major general, and his eldest son was promoted to the rank of major general.
But what happened next made him estranged from Yuan Shikai. First, in 1915, when Yuan Shikai was enfeoffed as emperor, Long Jiguang was made a first-class duke, and Lu Rongting was a waiter, which made him very angry. And the next thing that happened made Lu Rongting directly turn his face to Yuan Shikai.
Lu Rongting's beloved son Lu Yuxun was appointed by Yuan Shikai as a military attaché, ostensibly giving him a special honor, but in fact taking him hostage. On the way back to Guangxi, Lu Yuxun was violently killed for no reason, and Lu Rongting believed that Yuan Shikai had done it, so he was determined to oppose Yuan. The revolutionaries saw the signs and sent someone to contact him, and Lu Rongting said that he would "absolutely do his best."
Lu Rongting did not say a big word, and after extorting Yuan Shikai a large amount of military expenses and 5,000 long guns, he suddenly turned his eyes and joined the army of Yuan Yuan. It declared the independence of Guangxi on March 15, 1916, and then entered Guangdong. In the following years, Lu Rongting repeatedly lost control of Guangxi several times, and his Gui forces were also opposed by the new Gui clan led by Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, and eventually became a three-legged power.
In August 1924, Lu Rongting was forced to abandon Guilin, and was subsequently expelled from Guangxi by Shen Hongying, and under pressure, he issued a declaration on Yongzhou on October 9, and from then on completely broke away from politics and became the Duke of Taiping in Shanghai.
On November 6, 1928, Lu Rongting, a generation of tyrants, died in Shanghai at the age of 70. The following year, the coffin was transported back to Guangxi and buried in Lion Mountain, west of Wuming County.
Throughout his life, from a nameless thief to a feudal official, it is really wonderful. Later generations called him "Beggar Marshal", or compared it with Zhu Yuanzhang. Whether his people are good or bad, they can also be regarded as composing a period of Republican style.
Oh yes, go!