"It was already 3:20 a.m. and our train was less than 10 miles an hour. Suddenly, a gunshot came from mid-air, followed by a series of shots. I poked my head out the window and saw that in the dark mountains, and in the wilderness beside the train, there seemed to be a lot of men with guns. They fired their guns haphazardly as they ran toward the train. When they got closer, I realized that this was a large group of bandits with pigtails hanging from the back of their heads. They jumped on trains, looted property, kidnapped passengers, and were unimaginably vicious. ”
The above sentence came from the handwriting of Powell, the editor-in-chief of the Shanghai Miller's Review in 1923. What he said was something he personally experienced on May 6 of that year.
In the early hours of that day, a train was traveling in the middle of the night. There were more than 200 passengers on board. Most of them went to visit the inauguration ceremony of the Yellow River Gongjiaba embankment. When the train was about to reach Lincheng Station in Shandong, the driver reduced the speed according to the usual operation. Suddenly, by the moonlight, he noticed that a bunch of dark shadows had appeared on the track ahead! The driver thought it was an ignorant goon, so he quickly pressed the whistle. But the crowd ahead was unmoved and still stood straight.
The distance was too close and the driver had to brake urgently. With a harsh sound of friction, the train jolted violently and then derailed. Due to the huge kinetic energy, the locomotives, mail cars, and third-class bus cars at the front of the train all overturned! Although the carriage behind did not overturn, it was quickly besieged by those dark shadows. Soon, all the passengers were hijacked!
The news quickly reached the ears of the Beiyang government, and immediately set off an uproar. These more than 200 passengers are nothing, the most important thing is that there are 39 foreigners with heads and faces! These people came from Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Belgium, all of whom were extraordinary. The Powell editor-in-chief mentioned at the beginning of our article is not the most honorable of them!
In that era, the status of "foreigners" in China was very high. Every foreigner's accident can become the reason for a war! Now that 39 foreigners have been kidnapped, who knows if it will cause another "Eight-Power Alliance"-style catastrophe? Li Yuanhong, the president of the Beiyang government at the time, almost fell from his chair in shock after receiving the news!
Sure enough, the ministers of the United States, Britain, France and other five countries soon raised the most solemn protest to the Beiyang government! The most ruthless is the United States, whose secretary of state even said that it has considered sending troops to China! What is even more disgusting is that Japan actually took the opportunity to stir up dissension in this matter, and was worried about forming an international coalition army to jointly manage the railways to China!
Li Yuanhong was already very big at this time, and quickly instructed diplomats to negotiate. The end result was that the United States promised not to send troops, and countries no longer mentioned the management of the railway. However, they offered an outrageously high amount of compensation. Moreover, it is said that this matter is limited to three days to be resolved, otherwise every day, the compensation will increase!
Of course, this is already a relatively good result for the Beiyang government. Since ancient times, weak countries have no diplomacy, who makes your country weak and can't stop others from bullying! So Li Yuanhong quickly ordered the relevant departments to solve the case within a time limit and rescue 39 "foreign lords."
The matter soon had a clue, and the bandits who had kidnapped Chinese and foreign tourists began to contact the government on their own initiative and offered to negotiate. Originally, they were king in Baoligu (present-day Zaozhuang Shanting District), headed by a man named Sun Meiyao. Not long ago, the Shandong authorities sent troops to suppress bandits and beat Sun Meiyao to hide in Tibet. Later, he listened to the dog-headed military division's plan and robbed the train, hoping to show off his "muscles". Unexpectedly, this time, 39 foreigners were hijacked! So Sun Meiyao decided to use foreigners as chips to negotiate with the Beiyang government!
I have to say that Sun Meiyao was still a bit ashamed, and soon released the four women among the foreigners. The four women returned to Zaozhuang and conveyed to the authorities Sun Meiyao's three conditions: first, the officers and men withdrew and the encirclement was lifted; second, the bandits were given the status of a regular army, and he himself should be the brigade commander; third, the corresponding salary and silver and guns and ammunition must be sent to the mountain first!
Even if there was news, the Beiyang government was relieved and immediately said that it had agreed to all the conditions of Sun Meiyao! Therefore, Li Yuanhong hit the iron while it was hot, and ordered the bigwigs from all walks of life in Shandong to gather in Zaozhuang to discuss countermeasures. Among them, the more famous ones are Shandong Governor Tanaka Yu, Shandong Governor Xiong Bingqi, and General Director of Transportation Wu Yulin. For a time, the Zaozhuang area was "unprecedentedly grand".
Sun Meiyao looked at this posture and knew that she had caught a big card and could knock a bamboo lever fiercely. So he immediately changed his mind and put forward three more demands: First, the bandit army should not be reorganized into a brigade, but should be changed into two divisions, and the corresponding guns and grain should be paid; second, the area around Teng County, Zou County, and Yi County should be divided into the bandits' sphere of influence; third, the regular army must not only withdraw, but also retreat to a hundred miles away from the three counties!
If this condition can be agreed, Sun Meiyao will become the emperor of the earth with 3 counties in his hands. However, helplessly, the Beiyang government was eager to solve this matter, so it agreed again. Unexpectedly, the bandits were bandits, and immediately changed their minds again, proposed to pay them 6 months of military salaries first, and appointed the infamous Zhang Jingyao as the overseer of Shandong!
At this moment, it is really beyond the scope of the Beiyang government. They realized that if they easily agreed to the bandits' demands, the other side would become more and more aggressive. So what to do? Drag it down, the foreigners' side of the compensation can not afford ah!
At this time, the warlord leader Cao Kun remembered a person, that is, Xu Haizhen's envoy Chen Tiaoyuan. Chen Tiaoyuan is indeed very suitable for solving this matter, he has courage and strategy, and he is also aware of the rules of the underworld. More importantly, there is someone behind him- Jin Jinrong, the leader of the Green Gang in Shanghai, who is also his friend. However, Chen Tiaoyuan was not in Shandong at this time, and he had to go through a formality to negotiate. Of course, this was not a difficult task, and Cao Kun quickly completed it.
A new round of negotiations began on May 31. As soon as Chen Qiaoyuan struck, it was indeed extraordinary. He invited Jin Rong to sit in person, and the negotiations naturally went smoothly. When the conversation was almost over, Chen Tiaoyuan personally hugged the calf and interviewed Sun Meiyao directly. With his many years of experience in the jianghu, Chen Tiaoyuan quickly won the favor of Sun Meiyao. On June 2, Sun Meiyao followed Chen Tiaoyuan down the mountain. By June 12, all the hostages had been released and things had been perfectly resolved. Chen Tiaoyuan's reputation was greatly enhanced, and he was known as the "Hero of the Yellow Heavenly Hegemony".
Although the matter was resolved, the aftermath was not settled. Cao Kun used the theme to play, drove out Li Yuanhong, and himself became the president of the Republic of China Congress through "bribery". Chen Tiaoyuan was also appointed by the Beijing government to become the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression in the four provinces of Anhui, Suzhou, Lu, and Henan. The Beiyang government did not renege on its promise, and incorporated those bandits who were willing to enlist in the army; those who were willing to go home were paid for the journey. Later, the remaining people were reorganized into the newly organized 11th Brigade in Shandong, and Sun Meiyao served as the brigade commander. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and only 6 months later, Sun Meiyao was executed by Zhang Peirong, the envoy of Yanzhou Town.
This incident was called "the first major diplomatic case of the Republic of China" and was very famous at that time. Sun Meiyao, the leader of the bandits, also became a hero in the mouths of Lu Xun, Bingxin and other literary artists because they dared to think and dare to do it. At this juncture, the toughness of Chinese scholars and the weakness of the Beiyang government form a sharp contrast. Those high-ranking officials of the Republic of China who have heavy troops do not even have the minimum courage in the face of foreign powers. That period of black history is really hard to look back on.