Wei Guangtao: A famous courtier of the late Qing Dynasty who built roads and ran schools

"Source of this article: Learning Times"

In the 1870s and 1880s, Zuo Zongtang marched west to consolidate the frontier, and there were two capable generals, one wen and one wu, Liu Jintang and Wei Guangtao. As the first inspector of Xinjiang after the establishment of the province, Liu Jintang's military feats were well known, and Wei Guangtao was actually a very unusual figure in the political arena of the late Qing Dynasty. In the northwest to build a road to plant trees to build the city Wei Guangtao (1837-1916), the character NoonZhuang, Qing Dynasty Shaoyang County Jintan people. In the sixth year of Xianfeng, Xiang Yong, who joined the army of Zeng Guoquan, was promoted to prefect and added salt to the rank of envoy. In the years of turning to war, Wei Guangtao not only exercised a strong military ability, but also showed his excellent management skills. In the fifth year of Tongzhi, he went to the northwest with Zuo Zongtang and handled camp affairs in the army, and was deeply trusted by Zuo Zongtang because of his meticulous and efficient work. In the tenth year of Tongzhi, Zuo Zongtang left Pingliang to march west, and sponsored Wei Guangtao to the imperial court to serve as the Pingqingjing Gudaotai, which was in charge of Pingliang, Jingzhou, Guyuan and other places at that time, responsible for the aftermath, and Wei Guangtao began to transform from a military general to a local administrative official. Northwest road construction. Poor roads and inconvenient transportation were a long-term situation in the northwest region in China's history, and it was also a major obstacle for Zuo Zongtang's army to consolidate the northwest border defense at that time. The army led by Wei Guangtao was stationed for a long time on the Shaanxi-Gansu Avenue from Pingliang via Liupanshan to Dingxi, which was the most difficult section of the road in Jiayuguan and the most difficult to build, and Wei Guangtao led his soldiers to overcome various difficulties and open up more than 1,000 lanes of Chema Avenue from Jingzhou to Lanzhou, ensuring the smooth flow of the Western Expedition route and also benefiting the people's livelihood. As Zuo Zongtang played: "Pingqingjinggu belongs to the post road, and the yan road from Guyuan north to Pingyuan to Hui'anbao has been repaired and flattened." Wei Guangtao's achievements in building roads for the Western Expedition were commended by the imperial court. The ancient Silk Road at the throat of the Longdong region, Sanguankou, is an ancient road that has fallen into disrepair for many years, "the mountains and stones are indeed solid, mixed with the flow, the summer and winter snow, the walkers are bitter." Po Nan Old Pass Trail, West Out of Watting Station, Chaoshi Road, Riding Fu Front". In February of the first year of Guangxu, Wei Guangtao, who was the military and political commander of the Longdong region, decided to repair the Sanguankou Avenue for the military and the people, with the Three Passes as the center, to extend more than 20 miles to the east and west sides to build roads. The project was completed in May of that year, "pedestrians are blessed, go to be stable", Wei Guangtao's merits in building roads were praised by the officials and people, and Wu Dayi, who was then a scholar of Shaanxi and Gansu, specially wrote an article to record his events. Wei Guangtao led his army to build roads, which contributed to the construction of transportation in the northwest and the success of Zuo Zongtang's western expedition at that time. Plant trees to protect the road. Wei Guangtao's department not only sent special brave men to maintain the road, but also planted willow trees and other street trees to shade pedestrians and mules and horses. The inscription "Records of the Frequent Planting of Trees by the Battalions of the Wuwei Army" in the existing Kundong District Museum reproduces for us the social conditions and road conditions in the northwest at that time: "The western region created a disaster, longdong was fierce, and even the Trees in Daozhou were few survivors, full of desolation and unforgettable." Wei Guangtao, as the first Pingqingjing GuDaotai, on the one hand advised farmers to teach sang and restore the economy, while building roads and planting trees, "Zuo Houxiang (Zuo Zongtang) of the government made the various defense armies plant willows, which means that the residents gather materials and shelter pedestrians, so as to restore the peaceful scene and smooth the imperial wind." Starting from the twelfth year of Tongzhi, which lasted for 6 years, Wei Guangtao led his soldiers to plant no less than 200,000 willow trees along the yilu road, which became a unique historical and cultural scenery on the yilu road from the interior to Xinjiang and the Shaanxi-Gansu Avenue, which not only protected the Chema Road, but also facilitated the pedestrians. Repair the city walls. Wei Guangtao built and repaired the newly established prefecture and county town yuan in his jurisdiction, as well as the original prefecture city wall, the ya office, the ancestral temple, the fortress, and the post office, respectively, so that the important towns that led to the northwest at that time had a new look. At that time, there were four gates in PingliangCheng, where Daotai was stationed—Heyang Gate, Laiyuan Gate, Wan'an Gate, and Dingbei Gate—all of which had fallen into disrepair, and Wei Guangtao led his subordinates to repair Pingliang City. In the "Record of rebuilding the Four City Towers of Pingliang and repairing the city walls", Wei Guangtao recounted the process of repairing the city: "Rebuilding the fourth floor, Rao will ben Xi, and will be imprisoned in the ink of the rope... Forty-six houses were built along the mound. "The repair of the city walls has greatly enhanced the defensive ability of Pingliang City, and the city's appearance has also suddenly increased. It is worth mentioning that the funds for these construction projects were all raised by Wei Guangtao's organization with the support of Zuo Zongtang, and zuo Zongtang once went to the imperial court: "The funds needed for [construction] are donated by the battalions at any time, and Wei Guangtao has successively donated more than 8,700 silver funds. "Building walls and building public houses without spending public funds was a rare thing at that time. In general, when Wei Guangtao served as the Pingqingjing Gu Daotai, he had the courage to do things and had a good official reputation. After several years of comprehensive management, Pingliang City has shown a gratifying situation of "the people are gradually gathering, the land is getting wider and wider, the years are prosperous, the people are safe, the people are safe" and "the merchants and travel are radiating, and all the wastes are thriving". Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, who was then the highest military and political governor in the northwest region, commented: "(Wei Guangtao) spent many years practicing the leisure of protection and transportation, building castles, flattening roads, building bridges, dredging rivers, planting official trees, benefiting the people's government, and rejuvenating all kinds of wastes." "Wei Dao (Guangtao) was peacefully trained and practiced, and was chosen for a while." In the seventh year of Guangxu, Wei Guangtao was promoted to gansu envoy. In the tenth year of Guangxu, under the impetus of Zuo Zongtang, Xinjiang was established as a province, and Liu Jintang served as the first inspector, and after being strictly selected as a political envoy in charge of a province's finances and civil affairs, Wei Guangtao, who had both culture and martial arts and outstanding achievements, was held. Wei Guangtao's school-running complex, which advocated culture and education in local schools, was influenced by Zuo Zongtang. During Zuo Zongtang's tenure as governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, despite his cumbersome military affairs, he attached great importance to culture and education and actively advocated the restoration and establishment of a college. According to historical statistics, Zuo Zongtang led his subordinates to build at least 15 academies and repair nearly 20 academies during his time in Shaanxi and Gansu. Among them, Wei Guangtao's Liuhu Academy, which was built in Pingliang, was the most prominent, "the scale was grand, the interstitial frame was neat, and the newly planted trees were forested, especially the victorious realm", which was praised by Zuo Zongtang. After serving as Xinjiang's first envoy, Wei Guangtao personally founded Xinjiang's first public middle school, Xinjiang Boda Academy, which is the predecessor of the current Urumqi No. 1 Middle School. In the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu, Wei Guangtao was promoted to the post of Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. In November 26, Guangxu was transferred to the governor of Yungui, and later the governor of Yunnan, during which time he practiced the new policy, founded the Martial Arts Academy, recruited a new army, organized regimental training, and consolidated border defense. During his tenure as Governor of Yunnan-Guizhou, he initiated the establishment of a number of primary and secondary schools in Kunming, Guiyang and other major cities, and selected scholars to study abroad, which contributed to the opening of people's wisdom and the improvement of cultural education in Yunnan-Guizhou. In February of the 29th year of Guangxu, after Wei Guangtao became the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Nanyang, he paid more attention to the new policy and education, rectified the water teacher school, promoted the machine and water and electricity manufacturing bureaus, expanded the teachers' schools, gezhi, and translation and telecommunications schools, and especially built the Sanjiang Normal School during his tenure, which made him the "founder of modern education". Sanjiang Normal School is the largest and most recently designed normal school after the implementation of the new type of education in the late Qing Dynasty, and it is also one of the earliest normal schools established in modern China, and now Nanjing University, Southeast University, Nanjing Normal University and other universities regard it as the historical starting point of their schools. The initiators of the Sanjiang Normal School were Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, and Zhang Zhidong, the acting governor of Liangjiang, while the main organizer was Wei Guangtao. Wei Guangtao, who has rich experience in local administration, is well aware of the social shortcomings of the late Qing Dynasty, and realizes that The rise of China must first rely on education, and he once said a very insightful sentence: "State affairs are rationalized by talents, and talents are formed by schools." Wei Guangtao's enthusiasm for running schools has a great relationship with Zuo Zongtang's idea of "rejuvenating education and persuading learning", and at the same time it is also quite related to his life experience. When Wei Guangtao was a child, his family was poor, he had not read any books, and he did not have any meritorious names, but after years of hard self-study, his articles were clear and smooth, and his knowledge was increasing day by day. When Wei Guangtao moved to Xinjiang and his friends were separated, he wrote a poem: Jiayu Mountain Head Gu Guan, six years twice remember the same tour. Natural miles in the middle and west, independent three-sided ethereal building. The mangy rivers and mountains enter the painting in spring, and the years of Qin and Han are like a stream. Returning to Madden to look high, the Great Wall is far away. This poem has a grand pattern, a remarkable text and ink, and a very artistic conception, which shows that it is good to learn. Wei Guangtao also has a major highlight in the history of modern culture: as the nephew and grandson of Wei Yuan, a famous thinker, historian and writer in modern times, he published and printed 100 volumes of Wei Yuan's book "Chart of the Sea Country", which not only inherited the family style, but also made contributions to the cause of modern culture. At the same time, Wei Guangtao is also a very bloody national hero. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, Wei Guangtao recruited troops to the north and engaged the Japanese army in Haicheng and other places in Liaodong Province. Especially in February of the 21st year of Guangxu, the Japanese army invaded Niuzhuang, Wei Guangtao led the Qing army to fight fiercely with the Japanese army, heroically killed the enemy, and inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese army, although in the end due to the excessive casualties of the troops and retreated, Wei Guangtao's courage to fight for the country was praised by the whole country. In the later period, Wei Guangtao's career was not smooth. In the second year of Wei Guangtao's tenure as governor of Liangjiang, he was impeached by Tie Liang, a powerful minister of the Qing court, and was first deprived of the leadership of the Yongying armed forces in the Liangjiang area, and then transferred to the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, until Guangxu was expelled from his home in the thirty-first year. Three years after the reunification, the Qing government reappointed Wei Guangtao as the governor of Huguang, but Wei Guangtao did not take office. In 1916, Wei Guangtao died in his hometown in Hunan. Whether it is consolidating the northwest or running schools at the local level, Wei Guangtao has done his best to be loyal to the country, benefit the people, and show outstanding talents. Wei Guangtao inherited the mantle of Zuo Zongtang and was able to write and use martial arts, whether it was "building roads and roads" or "governors of running schools", he left extraordinary political achievements and was an important historical figure in the study of the political situation in the late Qing Dynasty.