Wen 丨 Nirvana
Editor丨Nirvana
From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China, the political situation was turbulent, officials were corrupt, and it was impossible to effectively control society, especially the bottom society, coupled with the poor land in western Yu, heavy taxes and taxes, and frequent natural disasters, which made the rural economy on the verge of bankruptcy. The unrest in society gave birth to the prevalence of banditry, and finally broke out into a famous white wolf incident that shocked China and abroad.
01 From Bai Lang to White Wolf
White Wolf, surnamed Bai Lang, a native of Baofeng County, Henan, is tall and thin, with long legs and fast travel, so everyone gave him this nickname based on his real name.
There are many pseudonyms for the white wolf, and many times he has the pseudonym "Gao Yongcheng", so there were also legends at that time that the white wolf was not actually surnamed Bai, which is the reason.
Bai Lang has a bold temperament, a righteous and loose wealth, and quite a leader's temperament, so he has some reputation in the local area and can also convince the public. The village of Daliu, where it is located, is mainly populated by residents surnamed Wang, and the Bai family has only one family of white wolves in the village, and the population is thin. In daily life, he was often bullied by the Wang family, and when there was a conflict, the Wang family often gathered several or dozens of people to beat Bai Lang.
In this case, Bai Lang can only hope to use external forces to improve the situation of being bullied. From this point of view, the cultivation of Bai Lang's character of valuing righteousness over wealth and making friends is not unrelated to his situation in the village.
When Bai Lang transported salt for the government, he traveled between Baofeng County and Huixingtou (now Huixing Town), with rugged mountain roads and ravines. Whenever encountering a difficult road or banditry, the white wolf often stands up, protects the coachmen, opens the road in front of him, and waits for all the cars to pass safely, and then walks by himself.
During the salt transportation period, when the car owners and people had disputes, they often came forward to support them, once the salt transport convoy traveled to Wawu in Lushan County, it was late, the car owner in order to avoid being robbed by bandits, begged to stay in the village, the villagers did not allow it, Bai Lang came forward to negotiate, causing a spat, was beaten by the villagers, Bai Lang was "ashamed and indignant", but it was difficult to make a sound alone, so he could only give up.
Bai Lang was eager to be fair and righteous, willing to solve problems for his accomplices, showing his leadership skills, and soon his reputation grew, and many car owners joined the team organized by Bai Lang, and Bai Lang naturally became the leader of the team. In addition, Bai Lang likes to play with guns, and he can provide certain protection for everyone. Therefore, he soon gained the reputation of "big brother official" in Baofeng and had a certain appeal.
In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), Bai Lang again clashed with Wang Zhen, the landlord of his village, and was severely beaten by several members of the Wang family. When Bai Lang's friends heard the news, they rushed to the white wolf's house to cheer and theorize with the landlord surnamed Wang. The Wang brothers saw that the white werewolf was so powerful that they did not dare to come forward, so they pushed out the seventy or eighty-year-old Wang Zhen to block it. Between the spats, Wang Zhen was pushed to the ground by Bai Lang and died soon after.
The Wang family took the opportunity to report to the officials and bribed the county officials, resulting in Bai Lang's arrest and imprisonment for a year. Later, the family sold half of the family's land and scraped together enough money to get out of prison. After being beaten first, and falsely accused and imprisoned, Bai Lang was indignant. In prison, the jailer unsuccessfully demanded bribes from the white wolf and tortured Bai Lang in every way. The white wolf was hung from the girder and whipped, and then suffered many difficulties.
The old revenge has not been rewarded and new hatred has been added, and the white wolf, who has experienced such a change, has a desire for revenge, and Fa Zhe and the jailer are "incompatible, and they must take revenge." In the context of political turmoil and corruption among officials at that time, it was impossible to solve the problem through normal means.
At this time, joining the bandit team and relying on reckless power became a shortcut. After being released from prison, the white wolf also realized this, thinking that if he wanted not to be bullied, he had to "jump", so he developed the heart of being a thief (bandit).
But then his mother persuaded him bitterly. In view of the fact that the family could not stand on a vendetta with people, in order to avoid another conflict, the white wolf took a big green horse to the Yucheng Xiangde High Horse Team.
Unexpectedly, Xiang Degao saw that the horse brought by the white wolf was fierce and handsome, forcibly exchanged an old red horse with it, and asked the white wolf to return 50 taels of silver, and the white wolf returned home angrily. Soon the old red horse was robbed by the landlord's armed forces. A series of changes made Bai Lang feel cornered, and his desire for revenge became stronger.
At this time, Bai Lang's friends were already eager to try, in view of the white wolf's local appeal, they persuaded the white wolf to lead them to "jump", and threatened that even if the white wolf did not "jump", in order to achieve success, they would call the white wolf's brand when "jumping". Bai Lang then ignored his mother's repeated dissuasion and began to contact him.
In the second year of Xuantong (1911), the green forest was in full bloom, and looting was rampant. In order to avoid robbing her belongings at home, Bai Lang's mother sent her belongings to her daughter's home in the city after packing up her belongings. However, on the way, he encountered the Qingxiang army of the official government, his belongings were robbed, and the two people who delivered the property were regarded as bandits and imprisoned in a station box.
Subsequently, Bai Lang's sister's house was also raided because the identity of the white wolf "suspected bandit" was suspected of colluding with the bandits. At this point, Bai Lang had no way to retreat, and in the name of the white wolf, he officially entered the ranks of the generals, and quickly pulled up a pole headed by himself. But at that time, because the white wolf felt that he did not have many guns, he was not visible.
02 From robbing the rich to help the poor to suppress the capitals of the three provinces
In order to expand his power, the white wolf tied up the son of the county magistrate of Baofeng County and blackmailed ten new five-shot fast guns, and with weapons, natural development will be fast. In 1912, the white wolf led the crowd to attack Yu County, the richest county in Henan, and put forward the slogan of "robbing the rich and helping the poor", so it was a great shock for a while.
The white wolf's robbery first took the hound as the core force, which must have an obvious robbery nature, but the white wolf's robbery has a clear "robbing the rich and helping the poor", every time the white wolf hits a place, the poor follow like a gathering, like after beating Baofeng, the robbed money will cover the ground, let people pick it up, open the pawnshop, scatter silver, jewelry, clothes on the street, and tell the poor to pick it up.
And the white wolf is not like other generals, once he is a bandit, his banditry has greatly increased, he is not greedy for money and more lustful, and does not bully women, it is said that at that time "his subordinates wanted to find a girl for the white wolf, afraid that the white wolf would blame him, so they thought of finding a few people to surround him and talk, and some others secretly sent the girl into the white wolf house." After midnight, the white wolf returned to the room, and when he saw that there was a light in the room, he said, "Who is this, in my house?" When I went in, I saw a big girl sitting on the bed.
The white wolf asked, "Who let you come?" The girl said, "Your men called me."
When the white wolf heard this, he turned his head and left, looking for his subordinates and asking, "Who told you to send it?" Who does it?". None of them dared to speak.
The white wolf was strange for a while, returned to the room, and said to the girl: "Where is your home?" I'll send you back. ”
The girl was in front and the white wolf was behind, sending her home all the way. The white wolf said, "Call the door yourself, I will call it, your house will not open the door."
As soon as the girl shouted, the father and girl at home were in a hurry, heard the voice, and Xi Xian Huan opened the door.
The white wolf did not enter the door, and said in the dark shadow outside the door: "It is the old white wolf who sent your girlfriend back, whoever bullies you in the future, you will say that the old white wolf has come, and no one is allowed to mess around."
The behavior of the white wolf can be seen, so it has been fully supported by the poor local farmers.
Because the white wolf ruled the army relatively strictly, and from time to time it would consider the people at the bottom, so in a few months, it actually developed into the Nanyang, Runing, Xinyang, De'an, and Xiangyang areas of Henan and Hubei border areas.
The white wolf also has its own set of tactics in the long-term struggle, such as the officials and troops to encircle and suppress, he will let the looted wealth scattered on the ground, the officials and troops are greedy for money, often abandon guns to fight for property, at this time, the white wolf led the crowd to counterattack, the officials and troops were greedy for money and life, lost their equipment and fled. In this way, the white wolf also earned a lot more weapons and equipment to replenish the team.
In a short period of time, it has unexpectedly expanded to tens of thousands of people, crisscrossing the Hubei-Yu border region, frequently fighting against officials and troops, and its strength has only increased.
Bandits from near and far saw that the strength of the white wolf was gradually getting stronger, and they came to join forces to belong, and the power of the white wolf became even stronger. In August 1913, the White Wolf gathered men and horses in the area of Wujiadian in Xinyang, and on August 22, suddenly attacked Suixian, Lianke Suixian and Zaoyang, and after looting on a large scale, he also plundered thirteen Western missionaries from Henan and took them hostage, and then saw that the officials and troops did not dare to attack, so they released these missionaries on September 8.
Then the brigade captured Xinye, besieged Deng County, and divided its troops to Tang County (present-day Tanghe County) and other places to plunder. In late December, the White Wolf led the army to conquer Nanyang, and the two provinces of Henan and Hubei were shocked, so the two provinces hurriedly met and prepared to coordinate to suppress the White Wolf bandits.
In January of the following year, the two sides encountered in Xin'andian on the Beijing-Hanhan railway line, and a big battle began, the White Wolf Department triumphed all the way, the officials and troops actually retreated, the White Wolf plundered several counties, and also surrounded the Hubei overseer Wang Zhanyuan and his second division in the area of the Shangcheng, fortunately, at this time the 6th Mixed Brigade was aided by the starry night of Macheng, tearing a gap in Songziguan, and Wang Zhanyuan had the opportunity to break through and escape.
And a group of white wolves besieged Suixian all the way, and after successively breaking through Lishan, Tangxian Town, Wanjiadian and other places, they attacked Suixian County on March 6, but because the officers and soldiers were already prepared this time, they did not hit Suixian County, so they divided a team to attack the old estuary below Gwanghwa County.
Laohekou is the most prosperous place in the Xianghe River Valley, and the Hubei army stationed here at that time has just been discharged, so there is a regiment stationed here with an incomplete structure, and the regiment's regiment commander Zhao is addicted to gambling and does not pay attention to military affairs on weekdays. And the battalion commander under his subordinates also went to the Huangzhou Guild Hall to watch the play.
When the White Wolf Army arrived at the Black Dragon Set, which was only thirty miles away from the mouth of the old river, Regiment Commander Zhao was still playing cards with peace of mind, but he just sent someone to Huangzhou to recall the battalion commander surnamed Cai to go back and intercept it.
As everyone knows, there have long been people in the White Wolf Army who are familiar with these veterans of the Hubei Army, and the veterans returned to the old estuary, so they went to persuade the garrison not to act rashly, and the garrison heard that the other party was powerful and invincible, and actually agreed, and many soldiers were willing to guide the White Wolf Army. So the old estuary was not attacked.
At this time, the White Wolf Department once again raised the slogans of "robbing the rich to help the poor" and "anti-foreigners", and killed a missionary at the mouth of the old river. For a time, the counties were tense and martial law, and in mid-March, Jingzi Pass was captured, and the 13th Battalion of the patrol brigade of Jingzi Pass all joined the white wolf's team.
In late March, the White Wolf Army moved to Anhui and approached the city of Lu'an, the city patrol team was unfavorable, the county governor's guard actually took advantage of the chaos and began to flee after looting in the city, at this time, the White Wolf Army invaded Lu'an and killed another French missionary.
The three provinces were shaken, so they met again to coordinate the requisition, and asked the Anhui overseer Zhang Xun to send troops to help, and the Beiyang government sent Lu Jianzhang as the superintendent of the bandits, and commanded an army of more than 200,000 to come to the conquest.
As the white wolf galloped through Yu and Anhui, the personal experience of the white wolf was raised to a new height by rumors. The newspaper at the time said: "The white wolf Qing studied military science and served as a staff officer of the Sixth Division, but because Wu Luzhen was killed, he became a bandit." Some people even swear that the white wolf returned from studying military affairs in Japan in his early years.
In the face of the Beiyang government's army, the white wolf was not only not extinguished, but like a snowball, its power became more and more powerful, shocking China and abroad. It seems that only the white wolf can explain this phenomenon by branding experts with specialized military training and military proficiency.
03 Westward to Shaanxi and Gansu
The white wolf judged the hour and sized up the situation, and on the grounds that the army was about to press the situation and the Central Plains region was based on difficulties, he decided to lead his troops to the northwest. On March 18, 1914, the White Wolf Army entered and occupied Shangnan, and the next day captured Longju Village. On March 21, more than 10,000 White Wolf troops attacked and seized commercial tools, and Zhang Fengxiang, the governor of Shaanxi who came to reinforce, "was ten miles away from the city, saw the flames rushing into the sky, and the bandits were blazing" and "did not dare to come to the rescue, and Shang County was broken."
Shaanxi Overseer Zhang Fengchong
On March 23, the White Wolf Army immediately withdrew because the Shaanxi army approached Shang County, all the way back to Zhanlongju Village, and all the way to Shanyang County in the southwest. The next day, because the governor of Shanyang County fled out of the city, the White Wolf Army went straight into Shanyang County. In early April, the White Wolf Army combined its men and horses to occupy Zhen'an and Xiaoyi (present-day Zhashui), and then the White Wolf "with more than 20,000 bandits, had already fallen into filial piety, approaching the provincial wall, and the situation was extremely tight", Xiaoyi (now Zhashui) was only more than 100 miles away from the provincial capital of Xi'an.
Knowing that Xi'an was heavily guarded, the White Wolf Army evaded the truth and went west out of Meridian Valley on April 4, crossing the town of Qinling to Yan County (present-day Hu County). Then he attacked Lu Jiao (now Zhou Zhi) in the west, turned north to Weishui, passed through Wugong Keqian County, and advanced east to Liquan (now Liquan) and Sanyuan. The White Wolf Army was surrounded by Dang Zhongzhao, Chen Shufan, Zhao Wei, and Zhang Guangjian in the area of Fengxiang, broke through the siege in a dead battle, and once again rushed west, occupying Guguan on April 24 and entering Gansu.
At that time, Zhang Guangjian's main force had not yet returned from Shanxi, Gansu's troops were empty, and the White Wolf Army was in full swing, "wrapped in more than 20,000 people, all of them cavalry, and drifting abnormally." On April 28, the governor of Longxi County fell in anticipation.
It was not until May 2 that the White Wolf Army really encountered resistance, and the Gan army Chen Zhengkui fought fiercely with the White Wolf Army, but the result was outnumbered, Tan Wen, the sentry officer Shi Henian and others were killed, more than 100 soldiers were killed, the White Wolf Army snatched guns, ammunition and silver, went straight to Tianshui, and killed Ma Guoren, the commander of the Shaanxi army, and planned to enter Sichuan from the Baishui River.
Old photos of Gansu
However, since the White Wolf Army entered Shaanxi and Gansu, it has also suffered a lot of losses, especially after entering Gansu, which is much more desolate than the Central Plains, and the population is not as dense as Henan, and it is not easy for the army to be fed with drinking water, coupled with the problems of customs and religious ethnicity, the resistance is also great.
But at this time, the White Wolf Army became more and more complex, burning and plundering along the way, and rape of women often happened, causing great panic and hostility among the locals. After entering the Minji and Tao ethnic minority areas, they encountered fierce resistance from local armed forces such as Tibet and Hui.
Especially to the border of Qinghai, crossed to the Gan army Cui Zhenwu's double horse team (one horse and two people, fighting with the enemy on foot, one fighting, one controlling the horse), at this time the Eastern Road Shaanxi army had arrived, the two sides fought fiercely for a whole day and night, the white wolf army gradually lost support, had to move to the direction of Hanzhong, as a result, the Hanzhong town defender Zhang Jun had strengthened his defense against Hanzhong, the white wolf army saw that Tuchuan's chances were slim, so they had to discuss, taking advantage of the emptiness of Henan now, it was better to return to Yu.
Therefore, the White Wolf Army was surrounded and blocked by hundreds of thousands of troops, and with a false shot, passed through Baoji, Meixian, and out of Jingzi Pass, except for a slight battle with the officials and troops in Baoji, Guoduzhen, and Ziwuyu, no one dared to fight everywhere.
04 Bai Lang's death
After the white wolf returned to Yu, all the armies also followed, at this time, during the battle, the officers and soldiers found that the white wolf army was short of guns and bullets, and saw the white wolf army raise their guns without hearing the gunshots during the battle, knowing that the bullets were exhausted. If it was said that when they were in Shaanxi and Gansu, they could still unite to go home, then once they returned to their hometown, the people who had returned alive for thousands of miles had completely lost their fighting spirit, and they left the white wolf one after another and scattered.
At this time, the vigorous white wolf army only had more than a hundred people left, and then when it reached the mouth of the Xixia in the inner countryside, the white wolf army fell into the Beiyang Army surrounded by many times, fought bloody battles several times, and finally escaped to the tiger and wolf climbing ridge.
The second from the right is the first level of Bai Lang
The army of the official army has surrounded the remnants of the white wolf in three layers and three layers outside, and the white wolf was wounded by a stray bullet in the bloody battle between the two sides, and died soon after at the age of 41. After the death of the white wolf, he was betrayed by his subordinates and sacrificed the head of the white wolf to Zhang Zhigong, the Zhensong army, and was later confirmed by the eldest daughter of the white wolf.
Since then, the vigorous white wolf uprising has finally failed.
epilogue
Banditry, as a special social phenomenon, has existed since ancient times. Whenever society is in turmoil and the people's lives are in difficulty, banditry activities will run rampant. During the Republican period, although the bandit activities in Henan were more rampant and more typical, the situation in the whole country was the same. Banditry has always been a tumor that the Republic of China society cannot get rid of, it is a derivative of the transformation from traditional Chinese society to modern society, and it is the inevitable result of modern China's economic backwardness, political chaos and social disorder.
From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, with the decline of the social ecology in southwestern Henan, both the squire landlords and the ordinary people had to struggle in a chaotic and disorderly environment and tight resources in order to survive, and all kinds of social groups were playing games in the vortex of the times. They seek survival in many ways, but the ultimate goal is the promotion of power and wealth.
"Banditization" was an important way to seek power and wealth under the conditions of that time, and once the time was ripe, such as the unfavorable suppression of bandits by officials and troops, and the banner of appeasement was raised, those bandits at the head of the pole could smoothly rise to the rank and make a fortune.
Just like the songs and proverbs circulating in southwest Yu at that time, reflecting the living conditions and voices of the local people, "If you want to be an official, go and pull the rod; The suspects are small, but there are few people." "A quick gun pulls the bolt, and the silver circle is two or three thousand. Go to the lever early in the morning, and become an official in the evening."
Like bandits in modern Chinese society, the development process of bandits in modern Henan went through several major stages: the germination of the late Qing Dynasty, the heyday of the Beiyang government, the decline of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, the differentiation during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the collapse of the War of Liberation, and finally eradicated in the large-scale struggle against bandits launched during the War of Liberation and the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The history of bandits is also a history of people's disasters, which not only shows us the deep suffering of ordinary people in that era, but also exposes the cruelty of bandits and the helplessness of their lives. Bandits are a special marginalized group in society and are inextricably linked with all sectors of society, and studying the life of bandits will help us further understand the living conditions of the lower classes in old China.
(End)
Bibliography:
Ji Bai Lang Shi - Qiao Xu V
Bai Lang Research - Li Hongguang
1912-1936 Research on bandit problems in Henan - Zhang Xiaobo