Cao Kun [kūn] (December 12, 1862 – May 17, 1938), known as Zhongshan, later known as Le Shou Lao, Bosuo, Weiren, was a native of Dagu, Tianjin (now Tanggu District, Tianjin), the fifth official president of the Republic of China (with the provisional ruling general eighth), the leader of the direct warlords of Beiyang, and the first-class general of the National Revolutionary Army.
1, Cao Kun has a fate with dogs all his life. When he was born, it was a snowy winter, the north wind was blowing, and his grandmother looked at the baby who was croaking to the ground, and couldn't help sighing: "Alas, in this poor and cold day, the family is so poor, and it can only be raised as a dog." "That year was also the Year of the Dog. Later, Cao Kun rose all the way, and one day he was bribed to become president, and he was not afraid of others calling him "Cao Gou", and he also said happily: "My grandmother said that dogs are rich and cats are poor!"
3, Cao Kun before his career, was a cloth seller in Baoding Mansion, and he was not attentive to selling cloth, but he could not sell it, as long as someone asked him for help, he left the stall and walked with people, and people gave him the nickname "Cao San Fool". But the fool is also thick-skinned, as long as he sees the person he has helped is eating, he will rub it first, and then he will eat as soon as he walks up to him and sits down, and even says hello.
4, Cao Kun took refuge with Yuan Shikai, who was training at a small station. In the barracks, this person is honest and stupid, and he will do whatever the commander tells him to do, and he doesn't even talk about the price. With this stupid energy, Cao Kun is getting better and better, not because he has the ability, but he is chubby and stupid and honest, like a mascot, and later he was favored by Yuan Shikai.
5. Cao Kun inspected the army, and when he walked through the ranks of soldiers, he suddenly saw a soldier crying secretly. Cao Kun walked up to him and asked him, "What are you crying for?!" The soldier was very aggrieved, it turned out that he had just received a letter from home, saying that his father was dead, and he was far away in the army, and he could not go back to see his father again. Cao Kun kicked over: "M! Give you fifty pieces of ocean, go back and bury your father well, and then give Lao Tzu back to fight!"
6. Cao Kun likes to listen to operas and often invites big stars in the theater industry to perform. Once, Cao Kun, who was the governor of Zhili at the time, wanted to invite Mei Lanfang to perform, Mei Lanfang agreed, and Cao Kun was very happy. In order to show respect for the idol, Lao Cao personally prepared a few carriages to make an atmosphere to greet him. As a result, Mei Lanfang actually came by car, Lao Cao's face couldn't hold it, and he felt tasteless watching the play, and as soon as Mei Lanfang left, he reluctantly bought a few cars at a high price, and finally felt good.
7, Cao Kun has several brothers, and among Cao Kun's brothers, Cao Kun and the fourth brother Cao Rui have the deepest relationship. Cao Kun handed over his financial power to Cao Rui, and Cao Rui also passed on his only son to Cao Kun. Later, Feng Department and Cao Kun went to war, Zhang Zuolin and Cao Kun were in-laws but fought a warlord civil war, Zhang Xueliang secretly ran to Tianjin, saw Cao Rui, and said: "Four masters, I am now at war with the three masters, it is very chaotic outside, the society is not peaceful, don't go out." Cao Rui couldn't laugh or cry.
8, although Cao Kun has no ability, he has a great temper. When he was in charge of the Third Town, there was a report that an ordnance officer had embezzled public funds. Cao Kun was very angry, and immediately tied up the man and rewarded him with a board. Later, after checking, he wronged others, so he raised the pipe belt for others, and comforted them: "I beat your ass, I didn't mean to, is your ass better now? As the saying goes, 'the more you beat, the more you fight', look, isn't this your official promoted!"
9. When Feng Yuxiang was serving as an army patrol envoy, he once went to see Cao Kun and said angrily: "On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the people in the presidential palace beat up the soldiers, and the president didn't know about it? If you don't deal with it, it will be a protection for the shortcomings; if the president does not know, you will be deceived by others." ”
Cao Kun said: "Boy, the presidential guard beat the soldiers, as a commander, why don't you investigate clearly and punish the perpetrators, I am the president, do you have to deal with such a thing?"
Feng Yuxiang was speechless and silent.
10, after Feng Guozhang's death, Cao Kun became the new head of the direct line, and he also had capable generals such as Wu Peifu and the three governors of the Yangtze River, controlling Jiangxi, Zhili and other four provinces, and Zhang Zuolin of the three northeastern provinces also became a giant outside the two departments of Anhui and Zhili.
Cao Kun felt that his master Feng Guozhang's revenge could not be avenged, and there was also a conflict of interests, so it was necessary to fight. So he united with Zhang Zuolin and several other big bandits to find Duan Qirui to wrestle his wrists, launch a melee, rely on Wu Peifu, defeat the Anhui system, and force Duan Qirui to step down. At this point, Cao Kun's strength reached its peak.
11, although Cao Kun and Wu Peifu have a superior relationship, they are as close as father and son. In the first Zhifeng War, Cao Kun did not want to fight with his in-law Zhang Zuolin, while Wu Peifu resolutely fought the main battle. Although Cao Rui and others kept dissuading him, Cao Kun still decided to listen to Wu Peifu's words. Cao Kun said: "You are me, I am also you, although my in-laws are close, but there is no kiss from you! "Even Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang in history are just so close.
12, Cao Kun has no ability, but he is not suspicious of employing people. In 1913, Cao Kun took the Beiyang Army to Hunan and met Tang Qianming, the overseer of Hunan. Tang Qianming found out that Cao Kun had a low-level officer named Wu Peifu under him, and he borrowed someone from Cao Kun. Cao Kun didn't know Wu Peifu, but he felt that Tang Qianming's vision was still good, so he promoted Wu Peifu to be the brigade commander. Later, after he became a warlord with Wu Peifu, Cao Kun often said to others: "Wu Peifu is my biggest capital." ”
13, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu went to Tianjin and talked with Zhang Zuolin. During the conversation, Wu Peifu often expressed his opinions. Zhang Zuolin sarcastically mocked him: "I have something to discuss with the third brother (Cao Kun), and a little teacher will follow him and mix a bird!"
Wu Peifu hurt his self-esteem and turned around and left. Within a few years, Zhang Zuolin became the owner of Zhongnanhai and became a partner with Wu Peifu. Zhang Zuolin went to greet Wu Peifu and shouted affectionately: "Big brother, just forgive the little brother!"
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14, Cao Kun is kind-hearted, and it can even be seen from the bribery incident. In order to become president, Cao Kun bribed 480 legislators, and each of them gave a gift package of 2,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan according to their status and role. He did not force the congressmen to elect him with a gun, nor did he force others to collect money, nor did he retaliate against those who did not vote for themselves after receiving money, which fully reflects that Lao Cao is actually not the worst compared with some officials.
On October 6, 1923, Cao Kun was elected president with 480 votes and more than 3/4 of the legal votes, but was ridiculed by the people at the time as "pig president" and "bribed president". Later, the Constitution of the Republic of China, known as the "Cao Kun Constitution" and the "Constitution of the Republic of China", was drafted and adopted by the bribing parliament, which was promulgated and implemented on October 10, 1923 (the Qing Dynasty before the first formal constitution of China was completed before the constitution could be established, and Sun Yat-sen only introduced a provisional constitution).
15, in the Zhifeng War, Wu Peifu asked his subordinate Dong Zhengguo to take Changxindian within 24 hours, otherwise he would come to see him with his head. As a result, less than half a day later, the correspondent came back and said: "Brigade Commander Dong has passed. Cao Kun was taken aback, thinking that Lao Dong was hanging, and looked at Wu Peifu sadly, and was about to discuss who would succeed him as brigade commander, when the correspondent said again: "Let you go over together!" Cao Kun knew that he had won the battle, and jumped up: "Ziyu, let's go too!"
16, Cao Kun's Beiyang predecessor Wang Shizhen once said that if you want to harm someone, let him be president. When Cao Kun came to power, he was in a difficult situation at home and abroad, and Cao Kun's life was not easy. One day, Cao Kun was depressed and complained to his subordinates: "You must bring me to the stage and tell me to come and suffer the crime!" The people under him did not dare to say him to his face, so they had to secretly say: "He is self-inflicted, and he has fought hard to live and suffer!"
17. When Cao Kun was president, his confidant Wu Yulin wanted to appoint Huang Rongliang as minister to London, and Foreign Minister Gu Weijun said that it was being considered, and Wu thought it was a refusal. Wu Yulin asked Cao Kun to intervene, and Cao Kun sternly said to Wu Yulin: "Brother, do you know what diplomacy is? Because we don't understand diplomacy, we asked Mr. Gu to be the chief of foreign affairs." Mr. Gu has experience in diplomacy, so why should you intervene?"
Gu Weijun wrote in his memoirs: "Although Cao Kun never went to school, he was a natural leader. ”
18, in May 1923, Kang Youwei passed by Baoding, and Cao Kun held a banquet to entertain him. During the banquet, he talked about Wang Senran, who was implementing the vernacular language course in Baoding at this time, and Kang said to Cao angrily: "This traitor of the Tongcheng faction who engages in vernacular literature is really a scum. Cao Kun said: "Why don't I arrest him and reward him with a board in the name of preventing 'redness'?" Kang Youwei said: "This is very good!" So Cao Kun sent someone to tie Wang Senran over, but Wang Senran ran ran away.
19, although Li Yanqing is only equivalent to Cao Kun's bathing master (some other newspapers say that it is a male pet, which is not credible), but he is very concerned about the affairs of the old Cao family, and he is very lenient, and he takes care of the duties of the janitor by the way. Once, Sun Muhan, who was the prime minister of the cabinet at the time, came to Cao Kun to talk about business, and Li Yanqing actually warned Sun Muhan and said: "Boy, you can see the third master, the third master has been in a bad mood recently, you better not talk about politics with him!" Sun Muhan got angry: "What do you talk about!"
20. In October 1924, Feng Yuxiang put Cao Kun under house arrest after launching a coup d'état in Beijing, and after his release, he went to Henan to join Wu Peifu, and then went to Tianjin to work as an apartment and run industry and real estate. During the outbreak of the September 18 Incident and the Japanese occupation of Tianjin, Cao Kun refused to take up a false position. On May 17, 1938, Cao Kun died of illness in his apartment in Tianjin, at the age of 76, and was posthumously awarded the first-class general of the Republic of China Army by the National Government.