During the warlord melee, there were two big figures in Chinese politics surnamed Xu. One is Xu Shichang, who once served as the president of the Republic of China, and the other is Xu Shuzheng, a major minister of the Beiyang Anhui clan. At that time, in order to distinguish between the two, people called Xu Shuzheng "Xiao Xu".
As Duan Qirui's confidant, Xu Shuzheng's life was full of legends, but his evaluation in history has always been mixed. So, what kind of life does Xu Shuzheng have?
(Xu Shuzheng old photo)
Xu Shuzheng character and Zheng, the number is Lin. He was born in 1880 to a family of rural intellectuals. Xu Shuzheng thus received a good Confucian education from an early age, he was able to compose poetry at the age of seven, and he was talented at the age of thirteen, which was much higher than his peers.
At the age of 17, Xu Shuzheng failed the test. As an intellectual, he soon realized that reading could not solve the problems of China at that time. So he showed his parents the idea of joining the army, but was stopped by his parents.
In 1900, Xu Shuzheng took the family's money and left home to join the army, but was eventually chased back by his parents. In order to prevent his son from running away again, Xu Shuzheng's parents forced their son to marry him, hoping to make him completely dispel the idea of joining the army.
However, his wife supported him to become a soldier. Xu Shuzheng eventually went to Jinan in 1901. He wanted to defect to Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong at that time.
Yuan Shikai was worried about his mother's funeral at that time and could not personally receive Xu Shuzheng. He sent Zhu Zhongqi, an observer from Shandong, to inspect the young man on his behalf. In the end, because Zhu Zhongqi and Xu Shuzheng did not speculate, they missed a talent.
Just when Xu Shuzheng was in distress, he met Duan Qirui, a subordinate of Yuan Shikai. Xu Shuzheng's heroic spirit was deeply appreciated by Duan Qirui, and the two saw each other as they were. Since then, Xu Shuzheng has become Duan Qirui's most powerful assistant, gradually showing his prominence in the chaotic world.
In 1905, Xu Shuzheng, with the support of Duan Qirui, traveled east to Japan and began to study Japan's advanced military.
After returning to China in 1910, Xu Shuzheng became Duan Qirui's most trusted think tank. After Duan Qirui became the chief of the army, Xu Shuzheng was promoted to deputy commander of the army in 1914. At that time, most of the affairs of the War Department were actually responsible for Xu Shuzheng.
Since Duan Qirui resolutely opposed Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne, Yuan Shikai poured his anger on Xu Shuzheng. In his opinion, Duan Qirui's opposition must have been influenced by Xu Shuzheng. Yuan Shikai had tried many times to weaken Xu Shuzheng's power, but the matter soon disappeared with his death.
(Yuan Shikai's old photo)
After Yuan Shikai's death, Xu Shuzheng became the secretary general of the State Council and held great power in his hands. Although he once became arbitrary, he was always loyal to Duan Qirui. In the ten years after his return from Japan, Xu Shuzheng contributed many tricks to Duan Qirui, and finally helped Duan Qirui reach the peak of power.
Duan Qirui was able to "create a republic in three ways" in the early years of the Republic of China, and Xu Shuzheng was definitely the first hero.
In 1918, the Anhui clan established the Anfu Club to control the National Assembly, and Xu Shuzheng was the behind-the-scenes operator of this club. Under the planning of Xu Shuzheng, the Anfu Club won more than 7 floors of parliamentarians, and the presidential election was completely controlled by the Anhui family. In planning the election, Xu Shuzheng killed Duan Qirui's political enemy Lu Jianzhang, causing dissatisfaction among warlords from all sides. Although this matter could not be resolved under the protection of Duan Qirui in the end, it laid the groundwork for Xu Shuzheng's later death.
In the context of the people's prayer for peace at that time, Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng's idea of "reunification by force" soon became the target of public criticism. The roof leaked during the overnight rain, and just when the Anhui system was being questioned, Duan Qirui was exposed to the scandal of mortgaged the land and borrowed money from the Japanese, and the reputation of the Anhui system fell to the bottom.
In order to find a way out, Xu Shuzheng focused on the issue of Outer Mongolia.
As early as the Xinhai Revolution, Outer Mongolia declared its independence with the support of Russia. Although independence was later abolished and it was changed to autonomy, in practice China only had the name of a suzerainty. After the October Revolution in Russia, the top brass in Outer Mongolia, in order to avoid being affected, gave birth to the idea of returning to China.
Therefore, in April 1919, Xu Shuzheng drafted the "Outline of the Northwest Border Preparation Method", in which he advocated the immediate withdrawal of Outer Mongolia and the consistency of the policy in the interior.
(Duan Qirui old photo)
In October 1919, Xu Shuzheng personally went to Ulaanbaatar. He rejected the plan of the capital envoy Chen Yi to withdraw the government, and put pressure on the "prime minister" of Outer Mongolia, BadmaDorji, with the conditions for his own withdrawal. Under the intimidation of Xu Shuzheng, Badma Dolji quickly yielded, and the whole territory of Outer Mongolia returned to the jurisdiction of the Chinese government.
In the following year, Xu Shuzheng traveled to Outer Mongolia twice. However, as the contradictions within the Beiyang warlords escalated, Xu Shuzheng was relieved of his post as a frontier envoy in the northwest. This also made Outer Mongolia independent again a year later, with the support of Soviet Russia.
In July 1920, the Zhiwan War broke out. The Anhui army was swept away by his immediate family within 5 days, and Xu Shuzheng fled back to Beijing, after which he had to take refuge in Japan.
After returning to China the following year, Xu Shuzheng also offered secret tricks to Duan Qirui many times to stir up the storm, but it was difficult to reach the heights it had been.
In 1925, Xu Shuzheng went to Beijing to meet Duan Qirui. At that time, the situation in Beijing was very dangerous, and Duan Qirui advised Xu Shuzheng to leave Beijing as soon as possible. On the eve of Xu Shuzheng's departure, Duan Qirui received a note that "Xu Shuzheng will die if he goes south". Duan Qirui quickly sent someone to hand over the note to Xu Shuzheng, but Xu Shuzheng did not care.
On December 29, 1925, Xu Shuzheng's train was hijacked in Langfang. Lu Jianzhang's niece and son-in-law, Feng Yuxiang, sent someone to arrest Xu Shuzheng into the military camp, and Xu Shuzheng was subsequently killed.
(Reference: History of the Reign of the Beiyang Warlords)