As you may know, Feng Guozhang was the leader of the warlords directly under the Republic of China and acted as president. Together with Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui, he was known as the "Three Masters of Beiyang". People call it "Dog of the North Ocean".
The biggest feature of the dog is loyalty to the owner, as the "dog of the Beiyang" Feng Guozhang has always been very loyal to its "master" Yuan Shikai, but later experienced several incidents, Feng Guozhang found that he was deceived, and then he launched a Jedi counterattack against Yuan Shikai.
Let's talk about the story of Feng Guozhang and Yuan Shikai in this regard.
First, rely on real talent and practical learning, and defect to Yuan Shikai
The reason why Duan Qirui was able to be listed in the "Beiyang Three Masters" was related to the fact that he had a certain military talent after hard work. He studied more seriously since he was a child, studied at a private school in his hometown in his childhood, and graduated at the age of 17, ranking among the best in the examination. Later, after being recommended by others, he entered the Infantry Department of Tianjin Wubei Academy to study. During his studies, Feng Guozhang returned to his hometown to take the imperial examination and passed the Xiucai examination. Later, he returned to tianjin wubei academy to continue studying military affairs. Because he studied hard, was proficient in gun formations, was familiar with camp homework, and had excellent grades in various subjects, he was appreciated by the general manager of the school, Yin Chang, and the German instructor.
Feng Guozhang is also a person who is good at careful observation and more serious in doing things. There are two things that can be proved: First, Feng Guozhang once accompanied Nie Shicheng (the general whom Feng surrendered) to the northeast and Korea to investigate and map the terrain, and he used the new method to map and explain the mountain and river fortresses he inspected, and later compiled the collected data into the book "Journey to the East" in the name of Nie Shicheng, which later played a great guiding role when Nie Shicheng led his troops to fight against the Japanese army in Korea and northeast China.
Second, after the Sino-Japanese War, Feng Guozhang, who was favored by Nie Shicheng, was sponsored by him to go to Japan as an attaché of Yu Geng, the Qing Dynasty's minister in Japan. During his time in Japan, Feng Guozhang made friends with various well-known figures in Japanese military circles, and read a large number of modern military works, and also copied and sorted out several large "military books" on military training and the development of modern military science day and night, which made Feng Guozhang's military ability greatly improved.
Who knew that this "book of soldiers" would later become a stepping stone for Feng Guozhang to defect to Yuan Shikai. That was in the twenty-second year of Guangxu (1896), after Feng Guozhang returned to China, he submitted the carefully arranged notes to Nie Shicheng, who in turn forwarded it to Yuan Shikai. At that time, Yuan Shikai was actively preparing for the training of troops at the small station, and was in urgent need of military teaching talents, and when he saw that the military materials compiled by Feng Guozhang were the most precious treasures, he immediately recruited Feng Guozhang to enter the small station to assist him in the training of the new army.
Second, the faithful performance of the "Dog of the North Ocean"
Yuan Shikai had special trust in Feng Guozhang and others, and entrusted them with important positions, allowing them to train new recruits freely. Feng Guozhang is also very devoted, he combines theory with practice in teaching, and his lectures are in-depth and simple, so that he is deeply supported and loved by the students. Together with Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui and others, he also compiled 22 volumes of "Detailed Illustrations of Training Exercises", which became the standard textbook for the camp school and the main teaching material for China's military schools and the compilation and training of the new army at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Due to the enthusiastic assistance of Feng Guozhang and others to Yuan Shikai, the reputation of xiaozhan training troops was greatly enhanced, and Feng Guozhang gradually became "loyal" to Yuan Shikai. When Yuan Shikai invited the German governor in Jiaozhou Bay and his party to arrive in Jinan to observe the exercise, along with Feng Guozhang's loud password, the team "fired at the same time with one move, and ten thousand guns with one shot, and acted like a straight log." The German governor praised Feng Guozhang, Wang Shizhen, and Duan Qirui as the "Three Masters of Beiyang" in person.
Since then, Feng Guozhang, the "dog of Beiyang", has been extremely loyal to his master Yuan Shikai, which can really be described as "one glory and one loss!" ”。 See, when the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi died one after another and Puyi came to power. In order to centralize power and avenge his brother Emperor Guangxu, Zaifeng dismissed Yuan Shikai and drove him back to his hometown in Henan.
Feng Guozhang was afraid of being affected by Zhu Lian, so he requested to resign and return to his hometown on the pretext of being injured in a fallen horse, the illness and death of his original wife Wu, and the death of his mother and sun, although it was not approved (the Qing court still assigned him to handle daily military affairs), but Feng Guozhang was grateful to Yuan Shikai, still secretly communicated to him, expressed loyalty, and tried his best to create conditions for Yuan Shikai's comeback.
Looking at it again, after the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, Yuan Shikai was activated, and he sent Feng Guozhang south to suppress the revolutionary army, and the six-character policy given to him by Yuan Shikai before setting out was "go slowly, wait and see." However, on the battlefield, Feng Guozhang only wanted to win the battle and save the Qing Dynasty, and did not understand the political intentions of yuan shikai (he did not want to really fight, but wanted to use the revolutionary army to force the Qing emperor to step down). But when he arrived in Wuhan, he went down to two towns (Hankou and Hanyang) with a single blow.
Just as he was hitting Xing's head, Feng Guozhang received a secret order from Yuan Shikai: "Press the soldiers and do not move", which made him unable to touch Yuan Shikai's intentions for a while. After that, Yuan Shikai ordered Duan Qirui to quickly arrive in Hankou and take over Feng Guozhang's command of the Beiyang Army. Then he awarded Duan Qirui the post of "Governor of Huguang", who was not his own. Feng Guozhang fought desperately on the front line, but the official let Duan Qirui, who had never fought a battle, be a pawn. This made him resentful of his master for the first time.
Third, found deceived, Jedi counterattack
After Yuan Shikai became the president of the Republic of China as he wished, Feng Guozhang was very surprised to hear the news that Yuan's father and son were planning an imperial system in Beijing. He hurried to meet Yuan Shikai in Beijing and asked: "I have heard that the president wants to change the imperial system, but I don't know if it is true?" ”
Yuan Shikai made up two grandiose reasons, falsely claiming that he would never be called emperor: first, I was nearly 60 years old, my sideburns were white, and my energy was not as good as before; second, I did not have a good son to inherit the inheritance. However, at the same time that Yuan Yuan shikai "swore to heaven and argued that he was fine", his cronies were actively preparing for the imperial system.
When Yuan Shikai officially restored himself as emperor, Feng Guozhang woke up like a dream, and finally found that he had been deceived by Yuan Shikai, so he immediately began to fight back. He made a clear statement to the envoy who invited him to oppose the imperial system and maintain the republic: Although Yuan Shikai has the grace of knowing me and I should support him in terms of personal friendship, but in terms of planning for the country, it is impossible to do so, and it may not be beneficial to him if he does it, and once the people of the country rise up and attack him, the disaster will be even worse. Therefore, I decided to send a telegram to persuade Yuan to abdicate.
After sending a telegram to persuade Yuan to abdicate, Feng Guozhang also took the initiative to contact the generals in Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Shandong, and other places, and jointly sent a secret telegram to the generals of various provinces to solicit the opinions of the generals on cleaning up the situation, then called the "Five Generals Secret Telegram", demanding that the southerners: abolish independence, withdraw from the theater, and protect the people in the battlefield; and demand that the northerners: abolish the imperial system, punish the culprits of the imperial system, and ask the fuehrer to resign on his own to wait for the will of the people of the whole country.
In the end, Yuan Shikai not only ended the dream of emperor for just 83 days, but also died in fear on June 6, 1916, the fifth year of the Republic of China (1916). In this process, Feng Guozhang played a certain role.
In short, the "dog of Beiyang" Feng Guozhang had always been very loyal to his "master" Yuan Shikai, but later, after experiencing several incidents, Feng Guozhang found that he had been deceived, and then he launched a Jedi counterattack against Yuan Shikai and took effective measures to force Yuan Shikai to step down.
The inspiration given to us by Feng Guozhang's behavior is that all acts that vainly attempt to oppose the trend of history are unpopular, and even the original so-called cronies will have no hesitation in stopping them once they awaken. Feng Guozhang's wise performance and courage in this matter are still worth learning.
Of course, the crimes he committed against the people were unforgivable, such as the wanton burning and plundering of innocent people after the Beiyang Army led by him entered the city of Nanjing in the suppression of the "Second Revolution"; and the beiyang army commanded the Beiyang Army to set fire to the shops and houses on both sides of the streets of Hankou during the Suppression of the Revolutionary Army in the Xinhai Revolution, so that the rebel army could not survive and commit evil deeds. They are to be condemned and judged historically.
This article is original by "Such as Day Zhongtian 54", welcome to pay attention, learn together, and improve together!
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