In recent years, under the influence of some online literature or film and television works, many people feel that the Republic of China period was a "prosperous period" in Chinese history, and the "Republic of China fever" made many people highly respect the period of the Beiyang government in the early years of the Republic of China. Not only did it think that it was an era of abundant talents and culture, but it was also an era of heroes.
Therefore, under some one-sided propaganda and packaging, many warlords who were originally lackluster and even infamous during the Beiyang government have become "big heroes" in the hearts of many people. Some people even think that they are "excellent in martial arts" and can "fix the country and the state".
But is that really the case, and the answer is no. Because whether it is the witnesses of that year or the professional historical researchers of today, the impression and research results of the Beiyang warlords are generally negative.
When hearing negative opinions, some people may feel that posterity deliberately negates the predecessors for certain purposes. There is no need to argue too much about this, but it is advisable to understand the views of predecessors on the so-called "big heroes".
What we want to talk about today is the story of Mr. Qian Changzhao, a famous patriotic democrat, who visited various warlords when he was young.
Qian Changzhao (1899-1988), a native of Luyuan, Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province (formerly Changshu), vice chairman of the Seventh National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, and a well-known patriotic democrat. Qian Changzhao graduated from Pudong High School in Shanghai in 1918, went to England in 1919 to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and entered Oxford University in 1922 for further study. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as a member of the Financial and Economic Committee of the State Council and deputy director of the Planning Bureau, deputy head of the Financial and Economic Group of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, a member of the Drafting Committee of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the president of the Chinese Poetry He died in Beijing at 5:40 a.m. on October 14, 1988, at the age of 90.
In 1924, at the age of 25, Mr. Qian Changzhao returned from oxford university in the United Kingdom. Like many patriotic young people who returned from overseas at that time, the young Qian Changzhao also had a passion for "saving the country and helping the people" in his heart.
At that time, many people believed that the serious backwardness of industrial development was the root cause of China's long-term decline, so they set off a trend of "industrial salvation" in society. And Qian Changzhao is undoubtedly a supporter of this kind of thinking.
At that time, China was in turmoil, and the Beiyang government's ability to rule the whole country was extremely limited, and the whole country was divided and ruled by warlords of all sizes.
Qian Changzhao felt that if he wanted to realize his lofty ideal of "saving the country through industry," he had to obtain the support of these local powerful factions. So with his father's friendship with the famous industrialist Zhang Xiao at that time, he obtained a letter of introduction from him, thus starting his journey to visit various warlords.
Perhaps on the one hand, because Mr. Qian Zhaochang really has real talent and practical learning, and on the other hand, because he is to give Mr. Zhang Xiao a face (after all, he used to be a social celebrity who even Yuan Shikai had to buy), so wherever Qian Changzhao went, the warlords gave excellent treatment.
But when the one-year journey, which lasted almost half of China, was over, Qian Changzhao was completely chilled. Because after visiting, inspecting and understanding from all sides, he has clearly seen the true faces of the warlords of all walks of life.
According to his description, the warlords of the time can be roughly divided into the following types:
<h1>Insensitive, indifference type (representative figure: Zhang Zuolin).</h1>
After Mr. Qian Zhaochang's journey began, the first person he visited was Zhang Zuolin, the leader of the Fengzhi warlords who had been in the three eastern provinces for many years. This is probably because zhang Zuolin's soldiers at this time are strong and strong.
Although the northeast is located outside the pass, it is relatively stable. Therefore, Qian Changzhao very much wanted to carefully state his thoughts on "industrial salvation" to Zhang Zuolin.
Zhang Zuolin did not seem to be very interested in this new young man, probably because of the imminent war between the two factions of Zhifeng. Although he treated Qian Changzhao with courtesy, Zhang Zuolin did not seem to want to know much about his proposition at this time, and even to a certain extent, he was still a little disgusted.
Perhaps zhang Zuolin is more concerned about war than civil. Therefore, for the idea of national salvation and the like, in his opinion, it is all nonsense, and it is not as real as the cannon. Therefore, he refused to meet with Qian Changzhao on the grounds that he was entangled in official duties many times.
Although during this period, Qian Changzhao had the privilege of getting to know Zhang Xueliang and felt that he was quite promising. But at that time, Zhang Xueliang did not hold real power, so it was useless to say more to him.
Soon, due to the increasingly fierce impact of the Zhifeng War, Qian Changzhao had to leave, and the trip to the northeast ended in failure.
<h1>Rude and short-sighted (representative figures: Zhang Zongchang, Sun Chuanfang).</h1>
During his time in the northeast, Qian Changzhao also met the famous "dog meat general" Zhang Zongchang by chance. Although this "three don't know" (I don't know how many soldiers, how much money, and how many wives I have) is illiterate, he likes to be vassal and elegant in his daily life.
When Zhang Zongchang first saw Qian Changzhao, he seemed to be quite appreciative of this young man who behaved decently and talked extraordinaryly. So he greeted him without hitting, walked over to Qian Changzhao with a smile on his face, patted his chest and said to him: "If you want to be an official, it is absolutely no problem to tell me, I can help in any way." ”
This surprised Qian Changzhao, who did not expect that the important personnel appointment and dismissal work seemed to him like a child's play, as long as he was happy, he wanted to arrange anyone.
Later, Qian Changzhao also visited Sun Chuanfang, the "commander-in-chief of the five-province coalition army, who "dominated Jiangnan." What made him feel speechless about this visit was that Sun Chuanfang actually had to smoke opium before meeting the guests even when someone was visiting.
Therefore, the whole process of talks was accompanied by Sun Chuanfang's mouth full of opium smoke, as well as immersion in the state of "cloud mountain fog cover" and "fluttering immortality" and constantly "nonsense". In this way, Qian Changzhao felt extremely embarrassed, and he could only end the conversation as soon as possible and leave quickly.
<h1>Unrealistic and rhetorical (representative figures: Feng Yuxiang, Wu Peifu).</h1>
In fact, after Qian Zhaochang left the northeast, the first stop was Zhangjiakou, where he met with "Christian General" Feng Yuxiang.
Although Feng Yuxiang ruled the army very strictly, was not greedy or possessive, and looked quite authoritative, he did not have any decent ideas for governing the country. Moreover, in the course of the conversation between the two sides, Feng Yuxiang only knew how to talk endlessly about a bunch of great principles for saving the country and saving the people, and even disdained Qian Changzhao's propositions, but he himself did not have any practical and feasible specific measures.
In the face of a person who was so unable to listen to the opinions of others, Qian Changzhao also felt that it was useless to talk more, and eventually the two broke up unhappily.
After Qian Changzhao entered Henan, he also paid a special visit to Wu Peifu, the "General of Xiucai".
Although he was stationed in Luoyang, he once even had to look at his face and act every move of the Beiyang government, so he was once called "the strongest in China" by foreign media.
However, in the process of talking with Wu Peifu, Qian Changzhao found that although this former Qingxiu-born warlord seemed to be very polite and elegant in his conversation, he seemed to be somewhat approachable, but after talking more, he found that he had the same problems as Feng Yuxiang, could not listen to the opinions of others, and liked to flaunt his own set (the two were originally superior and subordinate relations, I don't know who influenced whom) The only difference is that Feng Yuxiang likes to talk about the great principle of saving the country and saving the people, while Wu Peifu prefers to flaunt his "Confucian scholar-doctor" general strict principles of life.
After talking with Wu Peifu, Qian Changzhao felt that this person was more pedantic and conservative, not a person with a long-term vision. So I soon said goodbye.
<h1>Sinister and cunning, hidden evil heart type (representative figure: Yan Xishan).</h1>
Among the many warlords, the one that Made Qian Changzhao feel most untrustworthy was probably Yan Xishan, who had been occupying Shanxi for a long time.
When Qian Changzhao went to the meeting, Yan Xishan seemed to be very unwelcome in his arrival. Although on the surface he was also a polite face, he treated them much worse than the previous warlords.
In the later talks, although Yan Xishan also asked Qian Changzhao to speak out his thoughts, he did not seem to be interested in the process, and even often appeared as if he was going to fall asleep.
After Qian Changzhao finished speaking, Yan Xishan did not express his position on his proposition, but inexplicably said a bunch of words such as "to build Shanxi into a national model province and become a national model." But when it came to the key points, Yan Xishan kept flashing his words, as if he didn't want to say it too clearly at all.
In this way, giving Qian Changzhao a feeling as if he was guarding against him. Therefore, he also realized that a person like Yan Xishan, who seemed to be "old and calculating", was actually small in measurement and had hidden evil intentions, and should not be too deeply related to him. So not long after, he hurriedly resigned and left.
Although in this process, Qian Changzhao met General Hu Jingyi in the Henan area, he had made him feel that this person had insight and ability, which was probably related to Hu Jingyi's long-term followers of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his active participation in revolutionary activities.
But unfortunately, at this time, Hu Jingyi was already seriously ill and could not continue to control the overall situation, and even died young soon after, which was really regrettable.
In this way, Qian Changzhao, a great talent who studied in both China and the West, spent a year visiting the vast majority of china's very powerful warlords at that time, and the result was only one conclusion, that is, "none of the warlords are reliable."
Judging from what happened to Mr. Qian Changzhao, the period when the Beiyang government and its subordinate warlords ruled China was not as good as we think today. The warlords, big and small, may have achieved some success in some areas, but in general, they are all a bunch of warriors who have no long-term vision and social responsibility.
The purpose of all their actions is only to gain more advantages in the war for their own interests, hoping that they will save the country and the people, which is simply wishful thinking.
In the end: In the semi-colonial and semi-feudal old China, those large and small warlords who rose up with the help of imperialist forces actually hindered the unity and development of the country to a certain extent. Although some of them had some patriotic feelings, they were counterproductive to the development of the country at that time.
As readers of the new era, we must not follow the crowd of historical issues, but still have to uphold a rigorous and serious attitude to study. Otherwise, you can only be led by some brainless remarks and become a confused worm with no discernment ability.
(The picture comes from the Internet, and the infringement must be deleted)
The author Xiao Zhou thanked everyone for reading, commenting and paying attention. If there is any inaccuracy in the text, please be gentle and criticize and correct