He was a prominent figure in modern history, Yuan Shikai was called emperor, he first raised the banner of righteousness, he was a hero to protect the country; he founded the Dian Army, held the military and political power in Yunnan for 14 years, and enjoyed state funeral treatment after his death; in his later years, he colluded with Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu and others to oppose progressives in Yunnan and was denounced as a reactionary warlord. This controversial modern figure is Tang Jiyao.
Tang Jiyao is a Huize native, and his tomb is in Kunming Yuantong Mountain, covering a wide area, large scale, magnificent momentum, and has been well preserved so far, which is really rare. Every time I take my children to play in the Yuantong Mountain Zoo, I will go to Tang Jiyao's cemetery to have a look, and sometimes I will wonder whether such a large tomb really hides treasures.
Say laugh! Let's get back to the point, today to talk about Tang Jiyao, a controversial figure.
1. Heroes of the Protectorate
Tang Jiyao was born in 1883 to the father of a local landowner. Although it is not a home of great wealth and nobility, it is also well-fed. Tang Jiyao's father attached great importance to the education of his children, and was sent to a private school to study at an early age. At the age of 15, Tang Jiyao took the middle school talent, which showed that he had a relatively deep foundation in the old school. In the late Qing Dynasty, social unrest, all kinds of new ideas constantly impacted the minds of young people. Tang Jiyao, like the young people at that time, was deeply influenced by various new ideas. At the age of twenty-one, Tang Jiyao came to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. Influenced by the trend of staying in Japan at that time, he took the exam to study in Japan soon after. Due to his better grades, he was admitted as a publicly-funded student in Japan.
During his time in Japan, he became acquainted with Sun Yat-sen, Yan Xishan, and others, and joined the League. During his study in Japan, although Tang Jiyao actively participated in various revolutionary activities, he did not fall behind in his studies. He first studied at the Zhenwu School in Japan, and later was admitted to the sixth phase of the Japanese Non-Commissioned Officer School, and was arranged to study in the Artillery Department.
In 1908, after Tang Jiyao graduated from the Study of Japanese Non-Commissioned Officers, he first traveled to the northeast to inspect the Japanese-Russian battlefield and increase his insight. Then he turned back to Beijing and watched the "Autumn Exercise" in Baoding, which was the military exercise at that time. In 1909, he returned to Kunming, Yunnan Province, and served as an instructor in the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall.
In today's parlance, Tang Jiyao is someone who has seen the world. He served as an instructor in the Yunnan Army's Daowu Hall, and soon won the trust of a group of young officers and gradually developed into an armed force.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, armed forces everywhere were eager to move. These troops are like a pile of dry firewood, and as long as there is a little flame, it will burn into a burning force. On October 10, 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, and the explosive news soon reached Yunnan. Tang Jiyao and his "little friends" began to secretly discuss and hold an armed uprising in response to Wuchang, Hubei Province.
At that time, Tang Jiyao was living in Honghuaqiao, Kunming, and he and a group of cronies held secret meetings in their residences, five times before and after, to discuss the details of the uprising. Together, they elected the more famous Cai Yi as commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army, planning an uprising on the night of October 30.
On the evening of October 30, 1911, at the Kunming North Campus, officers and soldiers preparing for the uprising shot and killed the non-commissioned officers on duty, and the uprising officially broke out.
The rebel army and the officer army fought fiercely, and after a day and night of bloody fighting, the officers and soldiers were repulsed, the rebel army occupied various important strongholds, and the armed uprising was declared successful. This uprising became known as the "Heavy Nine Uprising". After the success of the uprising, according to the plan, the rebel army established the Yunnan Military Government, Cai Yi was elected as the governor of Yunnan, and Tang Jiyao served as the military and political deputy director of the military government and the general office of the Army Lecture Hall.
The Chongjiu Uprising was one of the largest armed uprisings in the country after the Wuchang Uprising, which overthrew the Qing Dynasty's rule in Yunnan, promoted the independence of Guizhou, Sichuan and other provinces, and responded strongly to the Wuchang Uprising. Tang Jiyao, as the leader of the Chongjiu Uprising, had great merit.
After Cai Yi was transferred back to the capital by Yuan Shikai, Tang Jiyao succeeded Cai Yi as the governor of Yunnan. Since then, he has firmly grasped the military and political power in Yunnan for 14 years.
After Yuan Shikai became president, he constantly practiced dictatorial rule. Tang Jiyao, who was in Yunnan, secretly contacted Cai Yi in Beijing. Tang Jiyao told Cai Yi that Yuan Shikai had "the day of stealing the country" and asked him to return to Yunnan to "plan a big event."
In December 1915, Yuan Shikai declared himself emperor and changed his name to "Hong Xian". Cai Yi, who had already made preparations, secretly returned to Yunnan from Beijing, and together with Tang Jiyao and others, "revived the uprising and swore to destroy the national thieves", and the National Defense Movement officially broke out. Under the leadership of Tang Jiyao, Guizhou and Guangxi responded one after another, and the protection of Yunnan was vigorously launched throughout the country.
As the first to fire the first shot to protect the country and seek Yuan, Tang Jiyao won the "first merit of defending the country".
Shiren commented: "The Yunnan uprising advocated the practice of strategy and the father of the country; and the decision-making preparation came from the Tang Gong." Tang Jiyao, together with Cai Yi and Li Liejun, was known as the "Three Masters of Defending the Country", and his reputation in the country increased greatly.
Reactionary warlords
Tang Jiyao, as a warlord with heavy troops, is essentially a speculator. Unlike Sun Yat-sen and others, he did not have firm revolutionary ideals, lacked revolutionary will, and the criterion for his action was political interests. This was the fundamental reason for his later reactionary tendencies.
In the summer of 1917, Sun Yat-sen launched the Dharma Protection Movement against duan Qirui's government's destruction of the Provisional Covenant. Sun Yat-sen had no soldiers in his hands, and he wanted to "protect the Fa" and had to rely on Tang Jiyao and Lu Rongting, who had soldiers in his hands. After weighing the pros and cons, Tang Jiyao decided to support Sun Yat-sen and electrify the whole country to support the republic. At that time, Tang Jiyao's real purpose was to expand his power in the Sichuan area in the name of "protecting the Fa". Therefore, he did not obey the unified command and dispatch of Sun Yat-sen, but marched into Sichuan on a large scale. Lu Rongting of Guangxi also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a big profit and dominate the southwest, ignoring Sun Yat-sen's words. Tang Jiyao and Lu Rongting even refused to accept Sun Yat-sen's appointment.
Sun Yat-sen was helpless against the fragmented status quo of Tang Jiyao and other local powerful factions. After seeing through the face of Tang Jiyao and other warlords who were called protectors of the law and were actually fighting for territory, they finally realized that it was impossible to rely on warlords to achieve the purpose of protecting the law and saving the country, and they were deeply saddened. He left Guangzhou in disgrace, and the Dharma Protection Movement ultimately failed.
In addition, there is one more thing worth mentioning. At that time, there were also contradictions within the Dian Army. After Tang Jiyao sent an army into Sichuan, he did not successfully control Sichuan, and the double-engine was a melee. Later, the Dian army had to return to Yunnan. In the process, the generals of the Dian Army, led by Gu Pinzhen, became increasingly dissatisfied with Tang Jiyao's rule, and they united to expel Tang Jiyao. Tang Jiyao fled to Hong Kong in early 1921 to avoid disaster. In this process, a very important figure later, Mr. Zhu, was involved in the expulsion.
However, Gu Pinzhen, the "King of Yunnan", did not do it for too long, tang Jiyao's power in Yunnan was entangled, and it was not easy to completely overthrow him. The following year, Gu Pinzhen was expelled from Yunnan by Tang Jiyao's cronies, and Tang Jiyao returned to Yunnan to resume his duties. And Zhu Laozong, who had participated in the expulsion, was regarded as a dissident by Tang Jiyao and ordered to be wanted. Mr. Zhu had to leave Yunnan.
In his later years, Tang Jiyao became increasingly reactionary. He colluded with warlords such as Sun Chuanfang and Wu Peifu to oppose the Northern Expedition. It is also a mass hunt for progressives in Yunnan. Thus, the hat of the reactionary warlord was firmly fastened on his head.
3. Enjoy the treatment of state funeral for ten years after death
On February 6, 1927, Tang Jiyao's four town guards Hu Ruoyu, Long Yun, Zhang Ruji, and Li Xuanting joined forces to carry out military advice and force Tang Jiyao to resign. Under the muzzle of his subordinates, Tang Jiyao had no choice but to resign and walk down the stage of history. On May 23 of the same year, Tang Jiyao, who was in his prime, suddenly fell ill and died in Kunming at the age of 44. After his death, the Yunnan authorities held a public funeral for him. Ten years later, in 1936, the government of the Republic of China, in recognition of Tang Jiyao's contribution to protecting the country, changed the public burial to a state burial, and made up for his state funeral ceremony.