At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai's military training at the Tianjin Small Station was very famous in history, and although the small station training did not train outstanding officers for the Qing Dynasty, it trained a group of "civil war experts" for the Beiyang Republic. It is undeniable that during the Beiyang warlord melee, most of the warlords in the small battle training came from the small station training.
Among the warlords who came from the small station training, there was a warlord with a good reputation, who had an unlimited career, but finally committed suicide. However, in the study of historical materials, later generations believe that this person did not commit suicide, but that he killed, and there was an unknown conspiracy.
Good reputation depends on the director
The warlord we just talked about is Li Xiushan, also known as Li Chun. He was born in Xiaozhan training and was also under Yuan Shikai. Li Chun initially served as an assistant commander in the sixth town at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and soon he entered the customs with the commander Wu Luzhen and garrisoned the army at Zhengtai Station in Shijiazhuang. Later, Wu Luzhen was stabbed to death by his subordinate Zhou Fulin, and the Qing Dynasty promoted Li Chun to the position of commander. Soon the sixth town was changed to the sixth division, and he was again the commander of the division.
During the Second Revolution, Li Chun fought with Feng Guozhang and others to the south, when Li Chun served as the overseer of Jiangxi, and together with Feng Guozhang and Wang Zhanyuan, he was known as the "Three Governors of the Yangtze River".
According to relevant records, although Li Chun was a military general, he was slightly literate, so among those military generals who stood out small, Li Chun was still a very literate person. At that time, after the abdication of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, those Beiyang officials were all unconvinced, often making remarks, and none of them could make a trip. Only Li Chun rarely speaks, so many people have a good impression of Li Chun.
After Feng Guozhang took over the presidency from Li Yuanhong, he wanted to give advice to various powerful factions and prepare to unanimously confront the south, but only Li Chun supported Feng Guozhang, and the others did not express their opinions. Because Li and Feng have intersected, Li Chun is also better than Feng Guozhang.
Part of Li Chunhao's reputation is also "guided". According to records, after Feng Guozhang was transferred, his Jiangsu overseer was taken over by Li Chun, while the jiangxi overseer was taken over by Chen Guangyuan.
Li Chun naturally wanted to go to the rich Jiangsu, but before leaving, he instructed some representatives of officials, merchants, farmers, scholars, and people in Nanchang to openly retain him. So these people called to ask Li Chun to stay. He even gave Li Chunjian a statue to the ancestral hall and gave Li Chunli a "monument to think". At that time, Ouyang Lin, an old Qing Dynasty official in his 80s, also imitated the ancient practice of retaining people.
Li Chun deliberately made the appearance of wanting to take up a new position. When Li Chun was preparing to go to Jiangsu, Yan Enrong, who was the police chief of Nanchang, would put on a show, and he sent patrol officers to ask each shop along the street to set up a table for the shops, and each table was given four yuan. But the people of Nanchang do not buy the accounts of the police officers, even if they do not pay for it. In the end, there were thirty or forty tables, and there was only one plate of fruit on the table, and some even put only a basin of water.
Li Chun led people from the street, and was very touched by Nanchang's setting up a table for him to send off, and also made a gesture to thank him. Why do you say that Li Chun has a good reputation for self-editing and self-directing? Because the warlords at that time did not have a good reputation like Li Chun, they did not want fame, as long as they took enough money. Therefore, in comparison, Li Chun is better than other warlord names.
Mysterious death
Li Chun's good reputation also made him a hot figure later. On December 28, 1919, Feng Guozhang fell ill and died, and Li Chun's status increased. In 1920, during the Zhiwan War, Cao Kun served as the inspector of Zhi, Lu, and Yu, and Li Chun served as the inspector of the chief parade, and later begged for the envoy of su, Anhui, and Gan, and was later appointed as the general representative of the Huihe, whose status was second only to Cao Kun.
When Li Chun's status improved, he also encountered hostile forces around him. For example, Chen Guangyuan in Jiangxi did not want to be attached to him, and his general Qi Xieyuan under Li Chun also had different aspirations.
It is said that Qi Xieyuan was Li Chun's confidant, and Li Chun consulted with him on everything, and at this time the situation changed too quickly, and Zhang Zuolin opposed the southern peace proposal, and the southwest did not recognize it, and at this time there were signs of war in the whole country.
In 1920, in the face of this situation in the whole country, Li Chun felt that there were enemies on all sides, Chen Guangyuan did not listen to him, and the old subordinate Qi Xieyuan was also foolish, so Li Chun resigned from the general representative of the council and the inspector to make a new life. A few days later, the news of Li Chun's suicide came. He even left a suicide note saying: For the sake of peace, he is willing to use death as a "corpse advice".
Caught by mistake?
But after Li Chun's death, it immediately shook the whole country, at that time many people thought that he should not die, most people thought that Li Chun's reasons for committing suicide for state affairs were untenable, and at this time the rumor that Li Chun was killed because of the rape, that is, the rumors in the early years of the Republic of China called "the private of the house".
According to Jing Shengqi's account of Pan Fu's investigation of the south: "Chun's death was not from the sword, but because of the favor of Donei, it was killed by Ma Ben by mistake. "This refers to Li Chun's death because his aunt committed adultery with Ma Ben and he was killed by mistake." From this record, it can be seen that Li Chun's death was not a suicide, but a death in the family scandal.
Assassinated?
But from the perspective of murder, Li Chun's death was designed too cleverly. And it is said that Qi Xieyuan is the most suspicious, why do you say so?
It is said that Qi Xieyuan is a person with a deep heart, and he is very likely to use Ma Ben as a substitute for the dead ghost. At that time, when Qi Xieyuan was fighting with Lu Yongxiang, Lu Yongxiang once said that he was "obscene and murderous".
According to Li Chun's aide Liu Haonian, he believed that Qi Xieyuan had already laid out li chun's death. One day a month before Li died, Qi Xieyuan went to Li Mansion, because he was used to entering directly, and then went to the signing room, when Li Chun was resting in the bedroom, Qi Xieyuan was waiting in the room, he suddenly heard someone coughing, Qi Xieyuan entered the suite to see an old man writing, and then looked at the handwriting quite like Li Chun, and was surprised in his heart. When I inquired, I learned that it was Li Chun's fellow countryman.
When Li Chun woke up and met him, Qi Xieyuan reminded Li Chun of the old man in the signing room to write like him, and persuaded Li Chun to hurry up and send this person away. Therefore, Li Chuncai sent the old man away, and later this old man was picked up by Qi Xieyuan and became Qi Xieyuan's person.
Two days before Li Chun's death, there was nothing unusual, but it is said that an old man came to ask for a meeting, and handed over a business card on a big red paper with Su Weng written on it. Li Chun saw the old man muttering to himself, thinking that he was a madman. So he sent someone away, and the old man sighed one after another.
On the night of October 10, 1920, Li Chun invited Hecheng Wenhu to drink several large cups of drunkenness, and the next day it was reported that he committed suicide. When Qi Xieyuan learned of Li Chun's death, he did not immediately send a funeral, and later arranged for a day before announcing Li Chun's suicide and martyrdom.
What is even more strange is that later Li Chun's fifth aunt was actually accepted by Qi Xieyuan and became Qi Xieyuan's woman, so Qi Xieyuan was even more suspicious.