In October 1919, Xu Shuzheng sent troops to Outer Mongolia, forcing Outer Mongolia to cancel its "autonomy" and return to China, and also recovered the Tangnu Wuliang Sea, which had been occupied by Tsarist Russia for 7 years, which was a great and short-lived achievement of Xu Shuzheng. On December 30, 1925, Xu Shuzheng was shot and killed by Feng Yuxiang's subordinate Zhang Zhijiang at the Langfang Railway Station.
As a famous general of the Anhui clan of the Beiyang government, Xu Shuzheng's greatest achievement in his life was to recover Outer Mongolia.
Xu Shuzheng, a famous general of the Anhui clan of the Beiyang government
Xu Shuzheng (1880-1925), also known as Zheng, was a famous general of the Beiyang Anhui clan, who was deeply appreciated by Duan Qirui. From 1905 to 1910, he traveled to Japan to study military affairs. After returning to China, he served Duan Qirui and was Duan Qirui's confidant and adviser, assisting Duan Qirui in the "Three Creations of The Republic" during the Xinhai Revolution, the Hongxian Imperial System, and Zhang Xun's Restoration. Xu Shuzheng was a representative figure of the Anfu political clique of the Beiyang government, and in the struggle with Feng Guozhang, he lured the warlord Zhang Zuolin into the border in order to consolidate the strength of the Anhui clan and actively advocate "unifying the whole country by force."
When the Xinhai Revolution broke out in 1911, Outer Mongolia declared its independence and secession from the motherland under the coercion and inducement of Tsarist Russia and the instigation of a very small number of traitors to the princes. At that time, Xu Shuzheng turned to the northwest due to the defeat of the Southern Expedition and the discord between the warlords, so when he learned that Outer Mongolia had declared independence, he was extremely angry and determined to force Outer Mongolia to abandon its independence by force.
In 1917, the "October Revolution" occurred in Russia, the Tsarist regime was overthrown, the princes and nobles of Outer Mongolia headed by Jebtsundamba lost their patrons, and feared that the Russian redization movement would affect Outer Mongolia, so they decided to return to the motherland to safeguard their own interests. After a long and difficult period of negotiations, Chen Yi, then the protector of the capital in Outer Mongolia, signed the Sixty-Three Articles on the Future Status of Mongolia with the princes of Outer Mongolia, but this was immediately rejected by the "Parliament" of Outer Mongolia.
At this point, it is imperative to solve the problem of Outer Mongolia.
Xu Shuzheng received the princes of Outer Mongolia in Kulun
Xu Shuzheng was then the envoy of the Northwest Frontier and the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Frontier Defense Army, and his attitude toward Outer Mongolia was always to use force without talking, and he would never allow Outer Mongolia to openly break away from China. On October 23, 1910, Xu Shuzheng led a brigade of about 4,000 border guards out of the blockade and set out for Cullen. As soon as he arrived in Cullen on the 29th, he asked chen Yi, the envoy of the capital, to return to Beijing for his orders, and ordered the sergeant to control Cullen and not allow anyone to enter or leave at will.
Xu Shuzheng was both literate and strategic, and he knew that in order to solve the problem of Outer Mongolia, he must first force the princes and ministers who controlled Outer Mongolia to submit willingly. Therefore, as soon as he arrived in Kulun, he sent troops to "invite" Badmadolzi, the "prime minister" of the puppet regime in Outer Mongolia, to his headquarters, showed him the eight conditions for withdrawal that he had redrafted, forced him to sign, and warned Badmador: "One day of grace, and the night must be resolved, otherwise there will be more than one Buddha (i.e., Jebtsundamba Living Buddha) who will be taken to the rescue, and although the deacon is old, he should accompany him!" Badmador trembled with fear when he heard this.
Xu Shuzheng's tough attitude obviously played a role, and the next day Badmador called a meeting of the princes and lamas and drew up a petition for removal, which Xu Shuzheng sent to Beijing after receiving the submission. On November 22, President Xu Shichang approved the withdrawal of Outer Mongolia, and the entire territory of Inner and Outer Mongolia, including the Tangnu Uliang Sea, was put back under the direct jurisdiction of the Chinese central government.
Xu Shuzheng was originally very dedicated to the northwest side, but the contradiction between the Beiyang government and the direct worship has intensified to an irreconcilable point. In June 1920, Xu Shuzheng was urgently recalled to Beijing by Duan Qirui, and on July 4, President Xu Shichang dismissed Xu Shuzheng from his post as envoy to the northwest, and Xu Shuzheng's operations in outer Mongolia came to an abrupt end. A year later, Outer Mongolia became an independent state with the support of Soviet Russia.
Booby-trapped Lu Jianzhang and offended Feng Yuxiang
Shaanxi Overseer Lu Jianzhang
On September 14, 1918, Xu Shuzheng booby-trapped and killed Lu Jianzhang, the shaanxi overseer, at the Zhongzhou Guild Hall in Tianjin.
Lu Jianzhang traveled from Shanghai to Tianjin on June 13, and the patriarch was on his way to a meeting in Tianjin because of the Overseers' army. Lu Jianzhang was a behind-the-scenes activist of the Lord and Faction, and had some direct and indirect relations with the Beiyang warlords in various provinces, and Feng Yuxiang's main peace was related to him, and the Anhui clan had long regarded him as a dangerous person.
Lu Jianzhang, as the main peace faction, was quite influential among the Beiyang warlords, and Xu Shuzheng, who had always advocated "unifying the whole country by force," knew very well that his arrival would be detrimental to the main war faction, so he recklessly lured Lu Jianzhang to the headquarters of the Fengjun Army stationed in Tianjin and killed him in the garden.
Why Xu Shuzheng wanted to kill Lu Jianzhang, this is also related to another person, that is, Feng Yuxiang.
After Yuan Shikai's death, the Beiyang warlords fell into a group of dragons and were leaderless, acting independently, forming three major factions: direct, Anhui, and Feng. After Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng expelled Zhang Xun from Beijing, Grand President Li Yuanhong blamed him, and Feng Guozhang, a direct descendant of Feng Guozhang, went north from Nanjing to become the grand president.
As the leader of the Anhui clan, Duan Qirui had difficulty cooperating sincerely with other factions, and the "dispute between the government and the court" with The Great President Li Yuanhong almost caused both defeats. When Li Yuanhong was blamed, he also had a very poor relationship with Acting President Feng Guozhang. After Duan Qirui was reinstated as prime minister, he and Xu Shuzheng actively advocated "unifying the whole country by force", organized a military government to protect the law, and secretly communicated with the warlords in the southwest under the military government of the protector. In order to achieve the goal of military unification, Duan Qirui insisted on going his own way and sent the Anhui army south to prepare for a decisive victory with the southern revolutionary army, but the Anhui army suffered major defeats in Sichuan and Hunan, and the losses were extremely miserable. Duan Qirui's policy failed, and his vitality was seriously injured, so he had to go to the wilderness. And this was exactly the result that Feng Guozhang wanted, and while he approved Duan Qirui's resignation, he asked Wang Shizhen to reorganize the cabinet.
Xu Shuzheng, as Duan Qirui's confidant, was naturally implicated and dismissed from the post of army deputy commander, which made Xu Shuzheng hate Feng Guozhang even more, and always thought of ways to drive out Feng Guozhang, dissolve Wang Shizhen's cabinet, and let Duan Qirui return to power.
Duan Qirui
In order to appease Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng and avoid infighting between the Zhiwan and Anhui clans, Feng Guozhang promised the Beiyang Army to go south to solve the southern problem by force, and sent Cao Kun as the commander of the First Route Army, south along the Beijing-Han Line, with Zhang Huaizhi as the Second Route Army, and south along the Jinpu Line. Duan Qirui served as the war supervisor, overseeing all matters involved in the war, and his power was almost equal to that of Wang Shizhen's cabinet.
Although the Beiyang Army was actively preparing for war, the direct line controlled by Feng Guozhang was obviously not very concerned about the war between the north and the south. Feng Yuxiang's brigade of the Second Route Army stopped moving to Pukou, and was later transferred to Hubei, where it sent a telegram to openly advocate peace. Feng Yuxiang's approach suddenly disrupted Duan Qirui's layout, making Duan Qirui angry enough, scolding Feng Yuxiang for not being interesting enough, and preparing to teach Feng Yuxiang a good lesson after the war subsided.
Speaking of Feng Yuxiang, he can also be regarded as a descendant of the Beiyang system of the Eight Classics of Zheng'er, and in his early years, he also served as a junior officer in the sixth town of Duan Qirui's Beiyang New Army, and was deeply appreciated by Duan Qirui, which can be said to be the old department of Duan Qirui. However, Feng Yuxiang was born straight, did not engage in mountain factions, and was unique within Beiyang, and each faction was very open.
Lu Jianzhang, the Shaanxi overseer killed by Xu Shuzheng, was closely related to Feng Yuxiang. When Feng was in the sixth town, Lu served as the co-commander, and rewarded and promoted Feng Duojia, which can be described as Feng's Bole. Feng Yuxiang was a man of integrity, talent, and a very good set of military training, so Lu Jianzhang admired him very much, and also married his niece to Feng as a wife, and the two became relatives.
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang was arrested after the failed Luanzhou Uprising, and Lu survived under the cover of it. When Lu Jianzhang was the overseer of Shaanxi, Feng Yuxiang also led his troops into Shaanxi, and was promoted to brigade commander by Lu You, and since then he has his own army, and later developed into the Northwest Army, the main military faction in the Republic of China. Lu Jianzhang was directly from the family, so his political stance tended to support the direct lineage, which was also a major reason why Xu Shuzheng hated him and even killed him. In 1916, Feng Yuxiang responded to the nationalist army led by Cai Yi in Yunnan province to attack Yuan Shikai in Sichuan, and Xu Shuzheng believed that his annexation to the south as a Northern Yang was a great act of rebellion, and he hated Feng Yuxiang to the bone.
When Duan Qirui heard that Xu Shuzheng had killed Lu Jianzhang, he was shocked and said, "Zheng Zheng's disaster this time has caused a big disaster, Lu Jianzhang was killed, but he was afraid that his direct family would not give up and give up!" However, Xu Shuzheng had no fear, and also instructed Fang Shu, secretary general of the State Council, to draft an order claiming that Lu Jianzhang had colluded with bandits to incite rebellion and had been shot.
Of course, Lu Jianzhang is by no means a good kind, during his tenure as the overseer of Shaanxi, he wantonly slaughtered revolutionaries, progressives and innocent people, and was called "Lu Tubo" by the Shaanxi people, and his deeds aroused the dissatisfaction and righteous indignation of people from all walks of life, and the Shaanxi people repeatedly broke out the "anti-Yuan and expelling the land" movement. Therefore, Xu Shuzheng's booby-trapping of Lu Jianzhang can also be regarded as eliminating harm for the people, which can be described as a great pleasure.
However, Feng Yuxiang hated Xu Shuzheng from then on and vowed to avenge his life-saving benefactor Lu Jianzhang.
It is easy to enter Beijing and difficult to get out of Beijing, and Langfang Station was finally killed
In October 1924, Xu Shuzheng traveled abroad on a British steamship to travel abroad to Various European countries. During his stay in Hong Kong, he learned that Feng Yuxiang had launched a coup d'état in Beijing and that Cao Kun, the president who had come to power by bribery, was placed under house arrest, Duan Qirui re-emerged from the mountains to serve as the provisional ruler of the Republic of China, and Xu Shuzheng opposed Duan Qirui's ruling power, emphasizing that this was only a puppet status, but Duan Qirui finally chose to take office as the provisional ruler.
Xu Shuzheng visits Russia
On January 4, 1925, Duan Qirui appointed Xu Shuzheng in Paris as a political envoy to inspect Europe, the United States and Japan, he visited 11 European countries, and before returning to China, he also visited Japan, met with the heads of state of these countries, including Emperor Hirohito, Stalin, Mussolini, etc., and was honored as a guest of honor abroad and made a name for himself.
On December 19, 1925, Xu Shuzheng entered Beijing by steamship from Shanghai and arrived in Beijing from Tianjin on the 23rd. On the 27th, duan Qirui was dressed in a large dress full of medals and presented the process of visiting Various European Countries and Japan. Duan Qirui was worried that Xu Shuzheng had entered Beijing without communicating with him, Xu did not know that the situation in Beijing at this time was extremely dangerous, Feng Yuxiang defeated Li Jinglin of the Feng clan, Zhang Zuolin executed the traitor Guo Songling, and there was bound to be a vicious fight between Feng and Zhang. What's more, Xu Shuzheng swung into Beijing, and all major newspapers in Beijing reported his activities in Beijing with headlines, which naturally attracted Feng Yuxiang's attention.
Xu Shuzheng booby-trapped Feng Yuxiang's wife and uncle Lu Jianzhang, and the two had a feud with each other, and Feng Yuxiang would let him go. Duan Qirui advised Xu Shuzheng to leave Beijing early to avoid retaliation from Feng Yuxiang. Xu Shuzheng did not know at this time that Lu Chengwu, the son of Lu Jianzhang, had also entered Beijing and wanted to avenge his father's murder, and was assassinating him.
On the afternoon of December 29, Xu Shuzheng, who had been staying in Beijing for ten days, left Beijing by car under the farewell of everyone, and before leaving, someone put a note in Duan Qirui's office, which read: "Zheng Zheng must not go south, he will die" Ten words, Duan Qirui governor was not good, hurriedly sent someone to hand the note to Xu Shuzheng, but he did not mind after reading it, quite conceited: "Whoever stopped me, do I believe this rumor?" ”
Shoot Xu Shuzheng's subordinate Feng Yuxiang and commander of the Nationalist Fifth Army, Zhang Zhijiang
At that time, Feng Yuxiang was organizing his army in Zhangjiakou, and Lu Zhonglin, Feng's confidante, the commander of the Gyeonggi garrison, found xu shuzheng leaving Beijing, told Feng about the situation, and asked for instructions on how to deal with it. As soon as Feng Yuxiang heard Xu Shuzheng's name, he was furious, and the new hatred and old hatred should be counted together, instructing Lu Zhonglin to intercept Xu Shuzheng and shoot him on the spot after being caught. Lu Zhonglin followed Feng Yuxiang's instructions and asked Zhang Zhijiang, commander of the Fifth Division of the Nationalist Army stationed in Langfang, to carry out the execution.
In the early morning of December 30, Xu Shuzheng's special train arrived at Langfang Railway Station, the station was already heavily guarded inside and outside, Zhang Zhijiang asked Xu Shuzheng to get off the train on the grounds that there was something to discuss, and Xu Shuzheng, who was sleepy-eyed, said lazily: "I have been very tired for several days, what is the matter to talk about later!" ”
Zhang waved his hand, and the two soldiers directly got into the car and took Xu Shuzheng away, and Governor Xu was not in a good situation, shouting: "I am the special envoy of the ruling government, and you are doing this to rebel." When he arrived at an empty place, before Xu Shuzheng could react, the soldier with the gun aimed at his head and fired two shots, and the Beiyang monster Xu Shuzheng was killed on the spot, only 46 years old when he died.
Lu Chengwu, the son of Lu Jianzhang, who had arrived from Beijing, saw that Xu Shuzheng was dead, looked happy, and loudly said to Xu Shuzheng's entourage: "This is my personal grudge with Xu Shuzheng, Xu killed my father, I kill Xu now, and the great revenge has been repaid." ”
A few days later, major newspapers in Beijing and Tianjin reported the news of Xu Shuzheng's murder on the main page. Duan Qirui was distraught at Xu Shuzheng's murder and exclaimed, "Break my humerus, break my humerus!" He very much wanted to seek justice for Xu Shuzheng, but he was under Feng Yuxiang's control at the moment and could not do anything.
The death of The Beiyang monster Xu Shuzheng is indeed regrettable, he is one of the few talents among the Beiyang warlords who is both literate and martial. As a representative figure of the Anhui clan, Duan Qirui's hardcore confidants served as Duan Qirui's pawns during the period when Duan Qirui and the Anhui clan were in charge of Beijing, and advised Duan. However, Xu Shuzheng's shortcomings are also obvious, he is arbitrary, rigid and conceited, so he is extremely popular among the warlords, booby-trapping and killing The Shaanxi Overseer Lu Jianzhang, offending Feng Yuxiang, and finally laying the foundation for himself.