Ma Hongkui was reviewing the soldiers
"Long-term integration, long-term integration must be divided" This is the inevitable trend of the development of the general trend of the world since ancient times, and it is also the inevitable need of the development of the times. From the beginning of the Xia Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the end of each great unification dynasty was accompanied by one war after another, a situation of warlord chaos after warlord.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, although there was the leadership of the Republic of China government, it was still common for various warlords to fight each other.
The outbreak of a series of wars, such as the Zhiwan War, the Zhifeng War, the Second Zhifeng War, and the Northern Expedition War, all showed the chaos at that time. In this chaotic background, it can be said that some people are losing, some people are winning, and even some people are "lazy", so today we will understand this "lazy" warlord, Ma Hongkui, one of the "four horses" in the northwest.
Ma Hongkui was born in 1892 in Hezhou, Ningxia (present-day Linxia). As a young man, Ma Hongkui was influenced by the wave of learning new ideas at that time and joined the League very early. And because Ma Hongkui's family has been practicing martial arts for generations, Ma Hongkui, who has followed his father to learn martial arts since he was a child, has trained a good skill.
Ma Hongkui, who practiced martial arts
In Ma Hongkui's juvenile life, he also received good training after following his father's military career for a long time, and was successfully admitted to the Lanzhou Army School.
In the later period, when the Xinhai Revolution was successful and all parts of the country were carrying out liberation, Ma Hongkui's father Ma Fuxiang also very wisely chose to support the republican system. This also laid the foundation for the development of Ma Hongkui's military career.
In 1912, Ma Hongkui became the capital of the new army in Ningxia, and in 1914, Ma Hongkui successfully became a military attaché of Yuan Shikai and Li Yuanhong by virtue of his martial arts. It was also because of the influence of these merits that Ma Hongkui was promoted to brigade commander in 1919.
In 1926, with the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Feng Yuxiang also announced that he had joined the Northern Expedition. At the same time, Ma Hongkui was appointed commander-in-chief of the Fourth Route Army of the National Coalition Army, and later promoted to commander because of military merit.
Before the outbreak of the Central Plains War in 1930, Ma Hongkui, who understood the situation, resolutely broke away from the northwest warlords at that time and joined the Nationalist Central Army.
The Great War of the Central Plains broke out
It was also because of this choice that Ma Hongkui laid a solid foundation for his rule in the Ningxia region. At the beginning of 1933, Ma Hongkui was officially inaugurated as the chairman of Ningxia Province of the National Government and began to take charge of the power of a province.
It was not until October 1949, when the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan, that Ma Hongkui reluctantly gave up everything in Ningxia and withdrew to Taiwan.
At the same time, Ningxia finally has a time to "see the light of day again".
"The house is the signboard, the field is tired, and the raising of a son is a hypnotic ghost" This is a sentence widely spread among the people of Ningxia at that time.
As for why I said this, everything had to start with Ma Hongkui taking office in Ningxia.
In November 1929, Ma Hongkui, who was then in Xinyang, Henan Province, received orders to go north to take up his post. Before going to Ningxia, Ma Hongkui chose to leave his troops in Henan to show his loyalty.
But after arriving in Ningxia, Ma Hongkui began his own path of dictatorship.
Ma Hongkui in Ningxia
Around 1930, the Nationalist government was actively preparing for a war with various warlords, and Nanjing was also busy dealing with various affairs. Therefore, I don't understand the development of Ningxia, and this is also a later story.
At that time, Ma Hongkui aimed at the opportunity, and as soon as he took charge of Ningxia, he promulgated the Regulations on Qingzhang Mu Mu (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations) and the Regulations on the Service of Armor Protection Personnel in Ningxia Province (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations), and began to implement the governance policy throughout the province.
The reason why the new official took office and took office with three fires is still known to the masses, so the people in Ningxia did not think too much about it, and actively responded to the policy.
Ma Hongkui
This also provided conditions for Ma Hongkui's rule.
The introduction of the regulations helped Ma Hongkui know the actual tax acres in Ningxia; the establishment of the regulations helped him know the size of the population of Ningxia.
At this point, Ma Hongkui's true face was revealed.
"Everything is taxed, only farts have no donations" In Ningxia under Ma Hongkui's rule, the people have to pay taxes on everything they do, and this kind of exploitation, which is tantamount to killing chickens and taking eggs, is still miserable for the people of Ningxia.
Some people may think that they can evade taxes by information asymmetry, but they have already reported their land and population before, and tax evasion is impossible.
If Ma Hongkui had chosen to use these taxes for the development and construction of Ningxia at that time, the complaints of the people of Ningxia would have been less. However, Ma Hongkui, who received these taxes, only chose to enrich himself with his own pockets, except for a small part of the army building, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the people in Ningxia.
Ma Hongkui during his tenure in Ningxia
Supposedly, in those chaotic times, if the ruler was not bent on serving the people, sooner or later he would be overthrown. But why was there so little in Ningxia during Ma Hongkui's reign?
The reason is because of the influence of Ma Hongkui's series of policies.
In Ningxia, where there were only 700,000 people at that time, the number of Ma Jiajun reached 70,000, which was a terrifying number. Similarly, with the "Instructions on Punishing Corruption and Discipline" promulgated by Ma Hongkui after he became chairman, a large number of officials who opposed him were regarded as "corrupt officials" by the "Instructions" and executed, and their original positions were replaced by Ma Hongkui's people.
In this way, Ma Hongkui, who single-handedly covered the sky, ruled Ningxia for 17 years.
It was not until 1949, with the momentum of the People's Liberation Army, that Ma Hongkui began to think of escaping.
Ma Hongkui before escaping
After the liberation of Lanzhou in August 1949, Ma Hongkui ordered his subordinates to die on the one hand, using Yan Xishan's failure as the chief executive, and on the other hand, he tried to escape to Taiwan.
Finally, at the end of September 1949, he went to Taiwan with his three wives and family plus nearly 8 tons of gold.
After arriving in Taiwan, Ma Hongkui thought he could enjoy his old age in peace, but when he arrived and did not find a place to stay, he received a complaint.
Guo Jiyao, then vice minister of Taiwan's "Ministry of National Defense," and Ma Bufang's father and son accused Ma Hongkui of merely seeking pleasure and not preparing for war during the battle, and held him responsible for the defeat in the northwest.
Soon after, the Taiwan authorities also issued a punishment of "removing Ma Hongkui from his post and investigating the office."
Ma Hongkui and his wife Liu Muxia
Disheartened, Ma Hongkui sent his fourth aunt, Liu Muxia, to Hong Kong for "medical treatment," and soon lied that he was critically ill and used this as an excuse to leave Taiwan for Hong Kong. After arriving in Hong Kong, Ma Hongkui chose to "go to the United States for medical treatment" on the grounds that the Medical Techniques in the United States were more advanced, and eventually settled in Los Angeles, usa.
In January 1970, Ma Hongkui was critically ill in Los Angeles, and after instructing his wife, Ms. Liu Muxia, to return to his homeland after the instructions were completed. After that, a generation of "adulterous males" came to an end.
This can't help but remind people of Ma Bufang, who is also one of the "Four Horses of the Northwest".
Similar to What happened to Ma Hongkui, the young Ma Bufang was also influenced by his father Ma Lin to join the army, and gradually gained the right to rule Qinghai by virtue of his strong strength.
When Ma Hongkui ruled Ningxia, he was most famous for his sacking of the people's fat and people's ointment, and his smooth and sophisticated way of handling things, but Ma Bufang was known for his fierceness and absurdity.
Ma Lin (left) and Ma Bufang (right)
In the process of learning military affairs with his father Ma Lin, one day a new type of motorcycle came to the barracks.
At that time, many officers in the battalion were afraid of accidents and did not dare to try easily, ma Bufang, who heard about this, saw the car and stepped directly on the motorcycle, jumped out of the accelerator, turned around and returned along the outside of the camp, and the speed was so fast that even the horse could not catch up. Ma Bufang's fierceness can be seen.
Speaking of Ma Bufang's absurdity, there is also a ridiculous story here.
In Ma Bufang's later life, Ma Bufang, who believed in Islam, chose to go on a pilgrimage as soon as he arrived in Saudi Arabia. But after arriving at the place of the hajj, the host at the time was surprised to see ma Bufang's many aunts and wives.
He thought that a man with so many wives and concubines must have robbed someone else's wife, so he pointed at Ma Bufang's nose and scolded: "You take someone else's wife to make a pilgrimage, which is a blasphemy against the Kaaba!" I'm going to slap you, I'm going to report to the chief, and I'm going to banish you!" "
Frightened, Ma Bufang quickly sent his wives to the nearest person, and others said that they could not afford to raise them, so he put a little money on it. When the hajj was over, he begged back.
In his later years, such a "figure" became Taiwan's ambassador to Arabia and died in 1975.
Ma Bufang (left) and Ma Buqing (right)
It is reported that on the occasion of his death, he believed that the saddest thing in this life was that there was no place between heaven and earth. With heavy nostalgia, Ma Bufang eventually died of illness in Arabia.
Looking back at the lives of "Ning Ma" Ma Hongkui and "Qingma" Ma Bufang. Although they both did something to apologize to the country and the people, the two still had their hearts set on the motherland at the time of their deaths, expecting that their bodies could be buried in the motherland.
Their deeds cannot be forgiven; but their homesickness deserves our sympathy.