Ma Hongkui, a once famous "King of Ningxia", fled to the United States in 1953 with his family and 7.5 tons of gold. This once powerful warlord spent his lonely and aging years in a foreign country in his later years. In the dead of night, he would always look in the direction of the east and murmur about his nostalgia for his homeland. Why did Ma Hongkui flee to the United States with so much wealth? How did he accumulate a huge fortune of 7.5 tons of gold? What was life like in the United States? Let's find out.
Ma Hongkui's family origins
Tracing Ma Hongkui's family background, it can be found that he was born in a military family. His ancestors served in the Qing Dynasty and made great contributions to the country and the royal family in that turbulent era.
Ma Hongkui's grandfather, who was originally an ordinary military attaché, was later rewarded and appreciated by the then general Zuo Zongtang for helping the Qing Dynasty persuade a rebel army to surrender. Zuo Zongtang not only wrote to the imperial court to add him to the rank of knight, but also personally inscribed a couplet for him to encourage him.
Shortly thereafter, artillery fire from the Eight-Nation Coalition attacked the gates of the Forbidden City. Ma Hongkui's uncle was killed in this war. At that time, he had already passed the Wujin Shi, and was awarded the rank of one and a half officers, responsible for commanding part of the army to resist foreign invasion. It's a pity that the sword and gun have no eyes, and he finally died in the flames of war.
Ma Hongkui's father was originally a businessman, but after seeing his brother's death, he resolutely inherited his mantle and took over his uncle's military position. Later, he personally escorted the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu all the way to the west, and made outstanding achievements.
It is with such a relationship that Ma Hongkui has been influenced by good family education and military literacy since he was a child. Since he was a child, he had heard many military stories from his ancestors, and he had also mastered some means of commanding the army. This laid the foundation for him to be able to become the "King of Ningxia" step by step.
Ma Hongkui's father once said to him: "Our Zhou family has served the country for generations, and you will also make your own contributions to the country and the people in the future." These words planted a revolutionary seed in Ma Hongkui's heart.
Ma Hongkui's experience after joining the League
Although Ma Hongkui was born in a military family when he was young, he had a revolutionary seed in his heart. He longed to overthrow the rotten old system and seek a new way out for the country and the people.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, Ma Hongkui resolutely joined the revolutionary ranks of the League. He started out as an ordinary revolutionary, responsible for spreading revolutionary ideas in the local area and mobilizing the masses to respond to the call of the revolution.
With the continuous development of the revolutionary movement, Ma Hongkui gradually grew into an outstanding revolutionary cadre. With his extraordinary wisdom and courage, he planned and participated in some important revolutionary actions on many occasions, and made significant contributions to the final victory.
However, the victory of the Xinhai Revolution did not bring long-term peace and stability to the country. On the contrary, warlords everywhere divided one side, plunging the entire country into a protracted civil war. Ma Hongkui wanted to use the power of revolution to completely change the fate of the country, but the reality was far from that.
In order to protect himself, Ma Hongkui had to join the ranks of the warlords. He first took refuge in some small warlords, and later switched to Duan Qirui, the most powerful Beiyang warlord at that time. With his outstanding military talent, Ma Hongkui quickly won Duan Qirui's appreciation and reuse.
In 1928, the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army reached the Ningxia region, and Duan Qirui's army was defeated one after another. Ma Hongkui saw the opportunity and resolutely betrayed Duan Qirui, and threw all the troops in his hands under Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek applauded Ma Hongkui's move, of course. In return, he appointed Ma Hongkui as the chairman of Ningxia, and all the military and political power on the Ningxia side fell into the hands of Ma Hongkui.
From an ordinary revolutionary to the de facto ruler of one side in the end, Ma Hongkui's life experience can be described as full of ups and downs and drama. However, his original ideal of joining the revolution has long since been lost in this warlord melee.
Ma Hongkui's means of accumulating 7.5 tons of gold
After taking control of the military and political power in Ningxia, Ma Hongkui began another of his actions - crazy wealth.
As a warlord, Ma Hongkui naturally has an endless need for financial resources. He needed the money to sustain his army, buy weapons and ammunition, and feed a large group of cronies and henchmen.
Ma Hongkui's initial means of accumulating money was smuggling tobacco and soil. At that time, Ningxia was one of the largest tobacco producing areas in China and an important channel for smuggling tobacco. Ma Hongkui relied on his power to monopolize the entire tobacco business in Ningxia and smuggled tobacco and sold it for profit.
This business brought Ma Hongkui considerable profits and became an important source of wealth for him. However, Ma Hongkui soon discovered that smuggling tobacco alone was not enough, and he needed more money to satisfy his desires.
As a result, Ma Hongkui began to plunder the people of Ningxia. He not only imposed high taxes on the peasants, but also monopolized the trade of wool, leather, and other major commodities in Ningxia.
At that time, Ningxia was the largest wool producing area in the country, and Ma Hongkui was very strong in the wool business. He stipulated that if a farmer sells 100 yuan of wool, he will have to pay a tax of more than 70 yuan. This is nothing short of naked robbery and exploitation.
In the face of Ma Hongkui's gun, the people of Ningxia had no other way but to swallow their anger. Ma Hongkui's violent rule has left the people of this once rich land living in poverty.
In addition to exploiting the people, Ma Hongkui also bought and sold official positions on a large scale to profit from them. His cronies and confidants all rose to power by giving him heavy gifts in exchange for an official position.
With these dirty methods, Ma Hongkui has amassed a huge fortune of 7.5 tons of gold in just a few years. And the land of Ningxia has also become a purgatory on earth because of his poison.
The reason why Ma Hongkui fled to the United States
In 1949, the War of Liberation entered the final decisive stage. Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang army was losing ground and the tide was gone.
At that time, Ma Hongkui's army was also on the verge of rout. As a warlord, he could have chosen to "abandon the darkness and turn to the light" and join the revolutionary ranks of the Communist Party. But Ma Hongkui was hesitant about this.
On the one hand, he did not have much identification with the revolutionary cause of the Communist Party. Years of warlord career have given him an endless thirst for power and money. On the other hand, he is also deeply afraid that once he "surrenders", he will be liquidated and retaliated.
After all, during Ma Hongkui's time in Ningxia, he committed many crimes, exploited the people, bought and sold official positions, and the degree of corruption was outrageous. He feared that he would be severely punished for it.
Most importantly, Ma Hongkui is unwilling to give up the huge fortune of 7.5 tons of gold he has accumulated over the years. This money was plundered from the people of Ningxia by all means, and for him, it was more important than life.
Just as Ma Hongkui was in a hurry, Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan with the remnants of the Kuomintang troops and cronies. Ma Hongkui saw the opportunity and resolutely took his family and 7.5 tons of gold to Taiwan to defect to Chiang Kai-shek.
However, Chiang Kai-shek did not treat Ma Hongkui very well. In his eyes, Ma Hongkui is just an incompetent warlord who can't even hold his own territory. What's more, Ma Hongkui does not belong to his descendants.
Neglected by Chiang Kai-shek, Ma Hongkui began to feel an unprecedented sense of crisis. He feared that Chiang Kai-shek would hold a grudge against him and anger himself. In order to get out of this predicament, Ma Hongkui began to pretend to be sick at home and went to the United States for "treatment" under the pretext.
Chiang Kai-shek saw this, but did not stop it much. As long as Ma Hongkui can fly away, he can completely solve this trouble. So, Ma Hongkui took 7.5 tons of gold and went to the United States with his family.
Ma Hongkui's later life in the United States
After coming to the United States with 7.5 tons of gold, Ma Hongkui originally thought that he could live a free life, but he did not expect that his old age would fall into hardship and loneliness.
The first is that there are constant family strife. Ma Hongkui married five wives in his life, and there were many wives and concubines in the back house. When they were in Ningxia, although they would have some small frictions, they were suppressed by Ma Hongkui's authority after all.
After coming to the United States, these contradictions completely erupted. Ma Hongkui handed over the financial power of the family to one of the most favored aunts, and as a result, she began to squander them and take them from the other aunts.
The other aunts and wives naturally couldn't accept this kind of treatment, and they complained to Ma Hongkui one after another, asking for an equal division of the family property. Ma Hongkui originally wanted dictatorship, where can he control so many rights and wrongs. As a result, the family was caught in a long period of quarrels and conflicts.
In addition to the rights and wrongs of his wives and concubines, Ma Hongkui's sons also began to turn against him. They felt that Ma Hongkui was a bit favoritist in the distribution of family property, so they demanded redistribution through legal means.
This made Ma Hongkui a laughing stock in the United States, as a former "king of Ningxia", he couldn't even govern his family well, which shows that his authority has disappeared.
On the other hand, Ma Hongkui's investment business in the United States has also failed repeatedly. He originally wanted to use the gold in his hand to show his strength in the United States, and opened a number of industries such as ranches and factories.
However, Ma Hongkui is not familiar with the business environment and operating model of the United States, and because of his advanced age and limited energy, these investment projects are all operating at a loss. He had to watch as his hard-earned wealth drained little by little.
In this way, Ma Hongkui's old age in the United States was quite unruly. He has to deal with the disputes between his wife and concubines and sons every day, and at the same time he has to worry about those failed investment projects, and his life is really difficult.
Perhaps because of this, Ma Hongkui's homesickness has become stronger and stronger. He would often stand in front of the window of his home in Los Angeles, looking in the direction of the east, muttering about his nostalgia for his homeland.