Speaking of Wu Peihu, people's first impression is that he was a warlord who plagued the people, and he launched wars many times, bringing many disasters to China at that time, and was a national sinner. But when we revisit that history, we find that this character is far from being as simple as we think.
In 1919, the May Fourth patriotic movement against the "Paris Peace Treaty" broke out throughout the country, and in the face of the national peril, the Anhui clan strongly advocated the signing of the contract, and the direct family resolutely opposed it, and Wu Peifu directly electrified President Xu Shichang: "Qingdao gains and losses are for the survival of our country." If signed, drinking duck suicide also. He also said, "Defending the country is the duty of a soldier, and rather than signing a sign to shame all the nations, it is not difficult to borrow one from the city." ”
If the country is in a hurry and is useful, it is willing to lead the ministry to act as the backing of the government and prepare for the forewarn" When the Beiyang theory government carried out a large-scale arrest of patriotic students, he believed that the students disregarded their own lives and served the country and the nation, "their hearts are merciful, their aspirations are commendable, and their feelings are even more excusable", so that the president released the students. Wu Peifu's behavior was deeply praised by the Chinese people.
On September 8, 1924, he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in the United States as a Portrait of a Chinese Warlord, and he was the first Chinese to appear on the cover of Time Magazine, which coincided with the second Zhifeng War and the fiasco of his immediate family. Wu Peifu led the remnants of more than 2,000 people to Tianjin, and Wu Peifu was sent to a warship and drifted on the sea. His subordinates suggested fleeing into the concession to save their lives, but Wu Peifu did not ask foreigners for help on the grounds that "a dignified officer, sheltering outsiders, and injuring the national body".
He was a warlord, and the people he most admired were Guan Yu and Yue Fei. When the blonde beauty courted, he replied: The old wife is still there; when he is desperate, he refuses to enter the concession; when the Nanjing Massacre, he goes on hunger strike for 1 day. Because of his refusal to join the Japanese army, he was assassinated by Japanese dentists in 1939 when he was treated with dental disease. After his death, the people sent their own way, and the whole country mourned.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in recognition of his late observance, the Nationalist government posthumously awarded him the rank of general of the army. Dong Biwu made a pertinent assessment of Wu Peifu in his book "Japan's Attempt to Move New Puppets": As a warlord, Wu Peifu "has two points but is completely different from other warlords." First, he has admired the great figures in the history of our country, Guan and Yue, and when he failed, he did not go abroad, did not live in the second place in the concession, Wu shi was an official for decades, ruled the territory of several provinces, led hundreds of thousands of soldiers, he had no private reserves, did not buy land, had a clean name, compared with the warlords at the same time, tens of thousands of dollars, it is finally valuable."