During the Guangxu period, a Hui uprising broke out in Gansu that shocked the Central Plains. This turmoil, caused by religious contradictions, eventually turned into a brutal national war. In the smoke of this war, a reckless general walked to the pinnacle of life step by step with his outstanding military talent and ruthless skills. He is the most ruthless general in the late Qing Dynasty - Dong Fuxiang. How did this impoverished Dong Fuxiang emerge in the flames of war with his enthusiasm? How did he establish a great reputation in this tragic war? More importantly, what kind of heavy price did he pay in order to become famous? Let us embark on this bloody and legendary journey and explore the crazy life of this fierce general of the late Qing Dynasty.
The rise of a reckless hero
Maojushijing, Huanxian County, Gansu Province, is an obscure small village. It was here that a figure who later became a famous general of the late Qing Dynasty was born - Dong Fuxiang. Born into a poor peasant family, he showed great courage and leadership from an early age.
In the early years of Tongzhi, a rebellion broke out in Shaanxi that shocked the Central Plains. The unrest soon spread to Gansu and other places, bringing untold disasters to the local people. In order to defend his homeland, Dong Fuxiang was elected as the head of the township regiment and led the villagers to form a militia group to fight against the rampant Hui bandits.
At first, Dong Fuxiang's militia was only a temporary armed force to defend the homeland and expel harassment. However, as the war spread, the displaced people joined the Dong clan one after another, and the scale of the militia group expanded rapidly. By the fifth year of Tongzhi, Dong Fuxiang's subordinates had gathered 300,000 displaced people, becoming the largest armed force in Shaanxi and Gansu.
Despite this, Dong Fuxiang has not forgotten his original goal. Although his troops were roaming around, they never burned and killed on a large scale, but only demanded rations from the castle to survive. This style won the hearts of the people and made the Qing court see the value of using Dong Ministry.
In the seventh year of Tongzhi, Liu Songshan, the general of the Hunan army, conquered Zhenjing Fort, Dong Fuxiang's base camp. Faced with a strong official army, Dong finally decided to surrender. Since then, the rise of him and Gan Jun has begun. The Qing court left behind more than 5,000 elite members of the Dong Department, which were organized as the "Three Armies of Dong Zi". Subsequently, Dong Fuxiang embarked on the road of conquest.
In the sixteenth year of Guangxu, Dong Fuxiang was promoted to the governor of Kashgar, from a reckless hero to a famous general in the late Qing Dynasty. His legendary life began in this small village.
The national catastrophe caused by religious contradictions
The Hui and Salar people in the Hehuang area of Gansu have believed in Islam since ancient times, but due to the large number of sects and geographical barriers, there are some differences in religious rituals and customs between the two ethnic groups. These seemingly minor differences, like a burning fire, finally ignited a national catastrophe that swept Gansu.
The cause of the incident has to start from the tenth year of Guangxu. That year, Ma Rubiao, the son of Ma Yongrui, the head of the third room of the Huasi Gate, went to Mecca for Hajj and studied there for three years. After returning to Hezhou, Ma Rubiao advocated the reform of the Huasi sect, and put forward new ideas such as "reciting the Hui Sutra, shaking the dora, opening the turban, satirizing the scriptures and dancing, ordering the young Hui to wear sideburns and beards around their ears, and forbidding women to bind their feet".
However, Ma Yonglin, the leader of the Huasi sect, stuck to the old ways and rejected Ma Rubiao's innovative ideas. As a result, Ma Rubiao took the Protestant idea to Xunhua, which gradually became popular there. The Salar tribe of Xunhua was also divided into two factions, the old and the new, and the leaders of the old and new religions, Han Musa and Han Nule, had many disputes over this.
In the nineteenth year of Guangxu, the two sides clashed again due to differences over the turban wrapping method, and Han Nule took the opportunity to expand the situation and led the congregation to loot the property of the Protestants. The following year, the old and new churches fought again over different interpretations of the scriptures, and the old churches gained the upper hand and burned down the Protestant premises. Protestants had no choice but to turn to the government for help.
In order to quell this religious infighting, the Qing court first sent two brothers, Ma Yongrui and Ma Yonglin, to mediate, but Ma Yonglin secretly instigated Han Nule to take tough measures against Protestantism. The Protestants had no choice but to report to the Shaanxi and Gansu Governor's Mansion again, and the Governor Yang Changjun sent personnel to Xunhua to investigate. Unexpectedly, Hannul and others not only did not appreciate it, but instead killed the servants who came to investigate, and even carried out frenzied destruction and killing of the manors of the Protestant congregation.
In the face of the comings and goings of the old and new sects, the Qing court decided to strike hard and sent a large army to "purge and cleanse". After Chen Jiaji and others arrived in Xunhua, they not only arrested the leaders of the old sect, but also "showed their heads to the public", putting on a posture of suppression. This undoubtedly aimed the spearhead at the old sect members and completely intensified the contradictions between the two sides.
In this way, a religious infighting that could have been resolved through mediation turned into a brutal national war because of the heavy-handed methods of the Qing court. In the name of religion, new and old believers supported their respective eunuch leaders, setting off a huge wave of anti-Qing struggle.
The Qing court's repressive rule over the Hui people
The rulers of the Qing Dynasty have always maintained a high-pressure control attitude towards the religious beliefs and living customs of the Hui people. In order to strengthen its rule over the northwest region, the Qing court constantly sent officials to Gansu and other places to exercise jurisdiction. Most of these officials ignore the religious customs of the local Hui people and grossly interfere in their internal affairs, leading to intensifying conflicts.
As early as the Qianlong period, the Qing court ordered that the Hui people should not wear burqas and headscarves in public. This move seriously offended the religious feelings of the Hui people and triggered a series of riots. In the nineteenth year of Qianlong, the Northwest Rebellion broke out, and the Qing army had to dispatch hundreds of thousands of troops to quell it.
During the Jiaqing period, the Qing court issued a series of draconian prohibitions restricting the religious activities of the Hui people. For example, it is forbidden to chant during the day, to build minarets outside mosques, to wear burqas in public, etc. These bans are undoubtedly a flagrant violation of the religious rights of the Muslims.
During the Daoguang period, in order to prevent the occurrence of a situation of "all people are united", the Qing court further strengthened the control of the Hui people. Some local officials have abused their power by arbitrarily demolishing mosques and grabbing land for the Muslims' memorial services, leading to ongoing clashes.
The Hui Rebellion in Shaanxi during the Tongzhi period was triggered by local officials' wanton interference in the religious activities of the Hui people. In the decades that followed, the Northwest was engulfed in war.
In the Guangxu period, although the Qing court had some restraint, its control over the Hui people was not completely relaxed. The trigger for the Hehuang Incident was triggered by the local officials' excessive meddling in the contradictions between the old and the new religions. Ma Yongrui, Ma Yonglin and others were sent to mediate, but the result was counterproductive, and the contradiction was infinitely magnified.
Overall, the Qing court's repressive rule over the Hui people in the northwest was an important source of unrest in the region. The brutal intervention of the officials not only failed to resolve the contradictions, but instead ignited the flames of war again and again, and eventually led to disastrous consequences.
Bloody repression and ruthless methods
After the outbreak of the Hehuang Incident, Dong Fuxiang was ordered to go to Gansu to "supervise military affairs". As the most ruthless general of the late Qing Dynasty, he showed a ruthless side in suppressing this unrest.
In March of the 22nd year of Guangxu, Dong Fuxiang immediately began to make military arrangements after he took office. He first gathered the Qing troops stationed in various places, including the Hunan army, the Green Camp Mabu Army, and the Fan Army, totaling more than 30,000 people. Then reinforcements were transferred from Shaanxi, Shanxi, Zhili and other places, with a total of 60,000 troops.
In April, Dong Fuxiang personally commanded the army along the north bank of the Yellow River to force Hezhou. On the way, he ordered his army to massacre the Muslim villages along the way, burning down the houses and razing everything. Any suspects, etc., are executed as "bandits", men, women, young and old.
At the beginning of May, Dong's army conquered the twin castles outside Hezhou and surrounded the base camp of Ma Yonglin and others. In order to get out of the predicament, Ma Yonglin and others decided to take a breakthrough strategy. They first sent people to send gold in an attempt to buy Dong Fuxiang's henchmen. Unexpectedly, Dong Fuxiang was not moved by this at all, and still tightly surrounded Hezhou City.
Ma Yonglin and the others had to decide to attack Dong Jun's camp at night. They carefully selected thousands of warriors to attack the Dong army camp under the cover of night. However, Dong Fuxiang had already taken precautions, and he not only strengthened his vigilance at night, but also dug a circular trench and arranged a machine-gun position. The surprise attack of the Hui army was quickly beaten back by the rain of bullets and bullets of the Dong army.
In the early morning of the next day, Dong Fuxiang ordered the whole army to march forward and launched a general attack on the city of Hezhou. The artillery fire was fierce, and the Hui army at the head of the city was defeated one after another. Ma Yonglin and others saw that the general trend had gone, so they had to lead the remnants to break through. However, Dong Jun had already surrounded Hezhou City, and there was no way to escape.
Ma Yonglin and the others led the sect to fight in the twin castles outside Hezhou City. Dong Fuxiang ordered the twin castles to be completely besieged, and no Hui people were allowed to escape. In the twin castles, Ma Yonglin and the others quickly ran out of food, grass and ammunition. Dong Jun kept throwing incendiary bombs into the city, burning the buildings in the city.
In this way, the two sides faced off for months around the twin castles. During this period, Dong Fuxiang did not allow anyone to surrender, and shot anyone as soon as he tried to escape. Eventually, the Hui army in the Twin Castles fell into a desperate hunger and thirst, and could only live by eating bark and grass roots.
By September, more than half of the Twin Castles had been killed or wounded. Ma Yonglin and others were finally powerless to resist and had to surrender to Dong Fuxiang. Dong Fuxiang ordered them all to be captured and escorted back to Hezhou City. There, Ma Yonglin and others were tortured and finally sentenced to death.
In this way, the Hehuang Incident ended under Dong Fuxiang's bloody suppression. He ruthlessly slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent civilians and quelled the unrest with bloody means. Since then, Dong Fuxiang has been famous in the northwest and is known as "the most ruthless general in the late Qing Dynasty".
The last madness and the pinnacle of life
After pacifying the Hehuang Incident, Dong Fuxiang did not stop there. His ambition and madness go far beyond that.
In the twenty-third year of Guangxu, Dong Fuxiang was entrusted with an important task and led the army to Xinjiang to quell the rebellion. It was an important turning point in his life.
After arriving in Xinjiang, Dong Fuxiang immediately set about straightening out military discipline and strengthening training. He severely punished military discipline and punished those who violated the order with death. At the same time, he also vigorously recruited strong men to expand his troops. In just a few months, Dong Jun reached the scale of more than 100,000 people.
In the following years, Dong Fuxiang led his army to fight everywhere and conquered Aksu, Khotan, Kashgar and other important towns. His army was incomparably fierce and invincible. Everywhere he went, Dong Fuxiang would order the slaughter of the city and kill all the resistants.
In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu, Dong Fuxiang conquered Yarkand and controlled the whole of Xinjiang from then on. He was named "Lu Xiangguo Gong" and became the highest-ranking martial artist in the late Qing Dynasty. But Dong Fuxiang was still not satisfied, and he began to plot a rebellion in an attempt to establish his own regime in Xinjiang.
In order to achieve this goal, Dong Fuxiang did not hesitate to eradicate dissidents. He first framed the Xinjiang general Yang Zonglin for rebellion and executed him. Then, by the same means, he framed Feng Qiu, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and others, causing them to fall to the ground.
By the thirtieth year of Guangxu, Dong Fuxiang's army had reached the scale of more than 200,000 people. He built dozens of castles all over Xinjiang, stockpiled a large number of weapons and ammunition, and made sufficient preparations for rebellion.
However, just as Dong Fuxiang was preparing to launch a rebellion, the Qing court learned of his plot. In order to prevent Xinjiang from getting out of control completely, the Qing court decided to strike hard and sent a large army to quell the rebellion.
The two armies met in the vicinity of Aksu, and the two sides engaged in a fierce decisive battle. Although Dong Fuxiang's army was outnumbered, it was ultimately suppressed by the firepower of the regular army. In the end, Dong Jun was completely defeated, and Dong Fuxiang was also captured.
In the thirty-first year of Guangxu, Dong Fuxiang was escorted back to Beijing and was righteous at Ling Chi. This once commanding fierce general has come to an end. His life is legendary, from a reckless hero step by step to the pinnacle of life, but in the end he was ruined because of his ambition.