In the spring of 1931, in Tianjin, a funeral was being held in a spiritual hall, which was covered by the Youth Gang. The elegy poems piled up to the point where they could not be placed, and more than 4,000 people came to mourn.
After that, the funeral ceremony of this person was even more magnificent. In the funeral crowd, you can find government officials, cultural celebrities, monks, Taoists, lamas, as well as gang brothers, three religions and nine streams, and so on.
One of the funeral processions was particularly striking. They are more than 1,000 Qinglou women, mainly from Beijing and Tianjin, each with a white rope tied around their heads and wearing a badge of the image of the deceased on their chests.
There was a lot of crying at the scene, and the mourners volunteered to guard the spirits for him. The person buried under the loess soil is the second son of Yuan Shikai's family, Yuan Kewen.
Figure | Kevin Yuan
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="8" >01 The second son of the Yuan family</h1>
Yuan Kewen, who was buried with dignity, was born with many twists and turns. Yuan Shikai was a mercurial father, marrying 10 people with his wives and concubines alone, and as a result, he gave birth to 17 sons and 15 daughters.
Yuan Kewen's birth mother, Kim Yue-sin, is a native of Seoul, North Korea, and has traveled thousands of miles to the Yuan family, only to have the identity of a third aunt, and the depressed mood can be imagined. What is even more tragic is that in 1890, after the birth of his son Yuan Kewen, he was immediately adopted by Yuan Shikai to Shen Yulan.
At that time, this Aunt Shen was the most favored and often appeared as Mrs. Yuan, but unfortunately, after a serious illness, she lost her fertility. Now that a son has come from a white prostitute, he is naturally very doting, even to the point of no principle. Jin Yuexian was miserable, Shen Yulan treated her extremely badly, often tit-for-tat, beating and scolding, and before long, Jin Yuexian fell ill and died with hatred.
All of this, Yuan Kewen saw in his eyes, but he was powerless to change anything. The original family environment cast a shadow over his childhood, and also separated him from his father.
Yuan Kewen seems to have inherited the personality of his birth mother, and gradually revealed his untamedness. He didn't study well, but he had the skills to "never forget". He is extremely talented in literature and art, proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and determined to "be a soldier". In addition, he is a handsome man, so he has the favor of his father.
Yuan Shikai wanted to train Yuan Kewen to enter politics, so he took him to meet various big people. To his father's disappointment, Yuan Kewen was not interested in politics at all, and was only keen on filling in words and composing poems and singing harmony with people.
Without great ambition, Yuan Kewen began to lose his family, eating, drinking, gambling and smoking opium, often wandering in the wind and moon place, and not returning home for the whole night. He especially liked to make friends with women and write poems for them, like a friend of women.
Once, Yuan Kewen was targeted by a woman, who was none other than Cixi. On that day, ben was his father Yuan Shikai who took him to see the empress, and as soon as Cixi saw Yuan Kewen, she liked it very much, and said on the spot that she wanted to marry him and gave him her niece.
After Yuan Shikai listened, he was full of excitement, immediately fell to his knees, and explained with a hard scalp: Kevin already had a marriage contract. Cixi was shocked, believed it to be true, and had to give up.
In fact, Yuan Shikai had already heard that anyone who was married by Cixi did not have a good end. Moreover, if the other party marries in, it is equivalent to the surveillance personnel arranged by Cixi, and how can the shrewd Yuan Shikai be deceived.
But to lie in front of Lafayette is to kill the head. So as soon as Yuan Shikai returned, he quickly arranged the marriage of his son, and in this way, Liu Meizhen was married into the door and became Yuan Kewen's first wife.
Liu Meizhen was born in a famous family, his grandfather Liu Ruifen was a diplomat, and his father Liu Shangwen was a large salt merchant. Liu Meizhen herself is a typical talented woman, with poetry and song, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and is good at everything. Therefore, this marriage is called a door-to-door right.
Happiness was too short-lived, only at the time of the new marriage, and the chanting and harmony with his wife lasted less than a year. Yuan Kewen, who did not change his true colors, began to be happy and happy outside again. For this reason, Liu Meizhen always quarreled with him, and whenever this time came, Yuan Kewen just smiled and mixed up. Once there is a stalemate, he will directly stay in the hotel, or hide in the "old mother's hall" to play and disappear.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="75" >02 Cowardice and rebellion</h1>
In 1905, Yuan Kewen was arranged by his father to run errands in Jiangning, and at the age of 15, he did not stop pursuing beautiful women. In this land full of freshness, Yuan Kewen quickly became acquainted with local officials. Once, an official introduced him to a man named Ye Hao, who was 13 years old at the time, a lady from a large family, a native of Jiangnan.
The first time he saw Ye Hao, the heart of the young Yuan Kewen jumped, and Ye Hao also had a good feeling for this dancing prince. Soon, the two fell in love and were privately engaged for life.
When the errand was finished, Yuan Kewen wanted to go back. When she was reluctant to part, Ye Hao took out her own photo and stuffed it into the other party's hand. Yuan Kewen swore to heaven that he would come back to marry her after handing over the mission.
Later, Yuan Shikai inadvertently saw Ye Hao's photo and asked his son who it was? Yuan Kewen was momentarily instigated, afraid that his affair would be discovered, and hurriedly lied: "This is the local beauty of Jiangning that I found for my father, are you satisfied?" ”
Only to see Yuan Shikai smile, nodded, and did not continue to ask questions. Yuan Kewen was glad that things had passed like this, and who knows how long it was before Yuan Shikai ordered his men to rush to Jiangning and found the Ye family. Ye Hao thought that it was a person sent by Yuan Gongzi, and he was ecstatic and agreed to come down. As a result, the scene that Yuan Kewen least wanted to see happened.
On the wedding night, Ye Hao, who had lifted the hijab, frightened the scene in front of him, which was a face full of wrinkles. Where is Yuan Kewen, who is clearly a bad old man. Only then did Ye Hao understand that it was Yuan Shikai who came to the door to propose to him. On the other hand, Yuan Kewen regretted it, but it was too late.
Between yin and yang, Ye Hao became Yuan Kewen's sixth aunt.
Figure | Old Father Yuan Shikai
In dealing with Ye Hao's problem, Yuan Kewen showed his cowardice. But on the other hand, he is also very rebellious, for example, in the matter of Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne, he is the only one who opposes his children.
Yuan Kewen, who accepted the new ideas at that time, naturally could not agree with his father's approach. He did not participate in the so-called preparations for the title of emperor at all, so he had a deep contradiction with Yuan Keding, the eldest brother of the pro-emperor faction.
At that time, Yuan Shikai prepared British royal dresses for all the "princes" and "princesses", and everyone else was overjoyed and competed to wear punch cards to take photos. Only Yuan Kewen was dismissive and refused to try on it. He even made a seal with the inscription "Second Son of the Emperor" to mock himself.
What surprised Yuan Shikai even more was that Yuan Keding informed that Yuan Kewen published a poem "Feelings" and openly opposed the feudal imperial system.
The poem is written like this: "At first glance, the slight sponge is strong and self-victorious, and the yin and the sun are not clear to the dawn." The cold geese in the south cover the lonely moon, and the proud wind in the west is 90% dark. The gap colt stayed for a moment, and the stinging sounded like a dream. It is absolutely windy and rainy in the high places, and it is not necessary to go to the top floor of the Qiong Building. The words are full of exhortation. In particular, the last two sentences, advising my father not to go to extremes, directly labeled the poem as "anti-poetry".
"Feelings" was widely circulated in all walks of life, causing a great impact, and major newspapers reported in a prominent position: "Yuan Shikai's son is opposed to his title of emperor. The news quickly reached Yuan Shikai's ears, and he was even more angry. The honest child who originally thought he was an honest child has now become a contrarian son, and Old Yuan is very angry, and the consequences are very serious. He ordered his son to be captured, imprisoned in the North Sea wall, and forbidden to associate with his friends.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="76" >03 From otaku to green gang characters</h1>
Suddenly reduced to an otaku, I always have to find something to kill time. Yuan Kewen and his concubine Xiao Taohong began to study collections, calligraphy and painting.
He likes to collect The Song edition books the most, there are as many as 200, most of which are orphan books, resulting in the price of the Song edition books soaring. Later, Yuan Kewen renamed his library building "Hundred Hundred Song Louzang".
It was also during this time that Yuan Kewen's calligraphy progressed rapidly. True grass seals, exquisite in everything, later from the Cheng family, especially famous for calligraphy and calligraphy. Regarding Yuan Kewen's writing, there is also a passage that says that he can directly suspend rice paper in mid-air without a desk, and then splash ink and ensure that the paper is not broken.
Even if this does not involve the world, the eldest brother Yuan Keding still regards him as the biggest threat to "imperial succession". Yuan Keding even said, "If Yuan Kewen is made crown prince, I will kill him immediately!" ”
When Yuan Shikai heard this, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, and he came to Yuan Kewen and proposed: "Or, you go out to relax?" The clever Yuan Kewen immediately understood that his father was implying that he was in danger. He rushed to the station at the first time, passing through Tianjin and arriving in Shanghai.
Although it is far from the capital, Shanghai is not a safe place, and Yuan Keding really wants to get rid of him, but it is only a matter of minutes. Unless Yuan Kewen can find a strong backer here. After thinking about it, Yuan Kewen decided to join the Shanghai Youth Gang.
During the Years of the Republic of China, the situation was turbulent, and the social organization of the Green Gang was very common. Under the recommendation of friends, Yuan Kewen visited Jin Rong and presented Yuan Shikai as the commemorative gold coin of the president, a total of ten. These gold coins were custom-made in the UK, rare in number, extremely precious, and full of sincerity.
Then, Yuan Kewen met Zhang Shanting, the boss of "Xingwu Sixth", and worshipped the other party as a teacher. In fact, before that, Zhang Shanting had already announced that he would no longer accept apprentices, and for yuan Kewen, he actually broke a case.
At that time, the Qing gang formulated the so-called family tree, which was ranked according to "pure morality, Wencheng Dharma, Noh benevolence and wisdom, nature from nature, enlightenment and reason, and great enlightenment." In terms of generations, Zhang Shanting is the "rational" generation, Zhang Xiaolin is the "Tong" character generation, Du Yuesheng is the "Wu" character generation, and Jin Jinrong is not even ranked. Because of the special status of the "second prince", Yuan Kewen was classified into the "big" generation, which was higher than many people's generations.
Figure | Yuan Kewen in his youth
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="77" >04 Kryptonian players</h1>
With the status of his grandfather, Yuan Kewen began to widely accept disciples and establish himself. However, his bookish atmosphere could not be hidden in the Extremely Heavy QingGang. In addition to the daily affairs of the gang, he is more like a literary youth.
He often threw thousands of dollars, collected antique calligraphy and paintings, sealed the brick table, and in the blink of an eye, he got tired of playing for a few days, and gave them to others as he wanted. He enjoys collecting coins, ranging from all over the world, including small, notorious ones. There are also stamps from various countries, Yuan Kewen also saved up, at that time can be regarded as the first person to collect stamps.
Of course, Yuan Kewen is not an ordinary collector, but a collection expert, he is willing to study, he wrote "Guyi Coin Zhi", "Qian Jian", "Say Mail", "Que Notation" and other works. Even the disciples he received were mainly literary and artistic youth, from the fields of literature, journalism, and opera.
When it comes to opera, Yuan Kewen loves to sing Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera, and the most skilled programs are "The Hall of Eternal Life" and "Dream of Visiting the Garden", and the usual friends are also famous celebrities.
Mei Lanfang is his good friend, and the two have performed on the same stage. Another time, Yuan Kewen's birthday, more than a dozen opera artists, together made a folding fan for him. On that exquisite fan page, there are both calligraphy and paintings, especially Yang Xiaolou's sentence "Friends must be three points of chivalry, and people should save a little plain heart", which is particularly eye-catching.
On the father's side, it was a different story. Knowing that Yuan Kewen and the Qing gang were mixed together, the Yuan family was deeply humiliated, and the teacher Fang Dishan was angry and annoyed, and even Xu Shichang, an old subordinate of his father, shouted to break Yuan Kewen's leg with a crutch.
Figure | Yuan Kewen (character Hanyun)
On March 22, 1916, Yuan Shikai, who had been emperor for 83 days, was forced to step down amid a chorus of opposition. Soon after, he suddenly suffered from uremia and cried out for his life. Regarding the location of his father Yuan Shikai's cemetery, Yuan Kewen and Yuan Keding had a disagreement, and the brothers turned against him. In desperation, Yuan Kewen had to leave the capital and continue to wander the world.
After Yuan Shikai's death, all his children received inheritance. Yuan Kewen, who received more than 100,000 cash, plus gold bars, stocks and real estate, continued to live a hedonistic life in Shanghai. He also opened a kunqu opera special for himself, each costing up to three thousand oceans.
Once Yuan Kewen and his friends co-performed "Dream of Visiting the Garden" at the Xinmin Grand Theater, which alarmed the eldest brother Yuan Keding. Yuan Keding thought that this kind of drama behavior was insulting to the family style, so he asked the local police station to go to the theater to arrest people. At the scene, Yuan Kewen said very calmly that there is another performance tomorrow and hopes to have a perfect ending. As a result, the matter was closed.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, and some officials set their sights on Yuan Kewen's collection of ancient jade, and that person was None of Zhang Zongchang's secretary general Wu Tongyuan, who wanted to take all of Yuan Kewen's jade for himself.
It just so happened that Zhang Zongchang allocated 20,000 oceans to Yuan Kewen and asked him to help run a newspaper. Wu Tongyuan immediately withheld the money and told Yuan Kewen that every time he was given a piece of jade, he could get a part of the appropriation. Yuan Kewen, who was in urgent need of money, all the good jade was replaced again and again.
There are also Jin Rong and Du Yuesheng, who also look at Yuan Kewen's silver ticket. So they jointly set up a game and invited Yuan Kewen to play mahjong. A few days later, Yuan Kewen, who had released himself in the casino, lost all the money on his body. In the end, even his travel expenses back to the capital were sponsored by Jin Rong's friendship.
Yuan Kewen, who did not want to reduce the quality of life, began to mortgage the collection of books. Including his Song engraving of the Fish Mystery Collection, it soon flowed into the book circle at a price of 3,000 silver dollars. Another copy, "Falling Water Lan Ting Ti", also went through several twists and turns, and finally fell into the hands of Yu Youren.
In just three or five years, yuan shikai's legacy was squandered by the son of the loser. Yuan Kewen, the prince, was completely reduced to the poor man Yuan Kewen.
Figure | Yuan Kewen small photo
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="78" >05 Decent outcome</h1>
In order to make a living, Yuan Kewen ran to write for the newspaper, not only earned a good fee, but even became a special author of "Crystal News".
He also used his calligraphy expertise to sell words to make money, attracting many fans to ask for words. When the market is not good, it will take half price sales. Various tabloids have also invited Yuan Kewen to write inscriptions.
Once, Yuan Kewen proposed the title of the book for the "History of the Republic of China", and when the sample magazine was sent to him, Yuan Kewen was shocked, because the contents of the book were all scolding his father Yuan Shikai. Since then, Yuan Kewen did not dare to easily give the book inscription.
In fact, as Yuan Kewen's identity, there is another way out. At that time, Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Zongchang both wanted to close him, throwing out the position of senior consultant, and the monthly salary was quite generous, but the specific affairs were basically nothing. The other party's purpose, Yuan Kewen could not be more clear, that is just to borrow his fame. Therefore, his reply was very resolute, "The second master is not a waiter", in a word, it is all clear.
In the face of natural and man-made disasters, Yuan Kewen revealed a warm side. In 1922, the Chaoshan region of Guangdong was hit by a typhoon and flood, which killed more than 100,000 people. Yuan Kewen learned the news from the newspaper and immediately sold a pair of precious ancient character posters and an ivory folding fan. After that, it was not enough, and invited friends Mei Lanfang and other artists to hold charity performances. All the money raised was donated to the disaster area.
Later, Yuan Kewen settled in Tianjin and became the leader of the Tianjin Youth Gang, and it is said that he received more than 100 disciples. Yuan Kewen once wrote an announcement "Doorman Inscription", which was published in the "Crystal News". The text names 16 people, who are his publicly admitted disciples.
Yuan Kewen, who was at ease and had no intention of fighting, suddenly contracted scarlet fever in the first month of 1931, and the fever did not go away. He finally died on March 22 in Tianjin at the age of 42.
Because Yuan Kewen spent money like water before his death, after his death, his family only found a 20 yuan inheritance in the pen holder on his desk, and even the funeral could not be done. Fortunately, Yuan Gongzi made friends all over the world, had many disciples and fans, and spontaneously organized a funeral procession that was longer than Yuan Shikai's. This scenery was sensational, and it earned enough face for the poor and destitute second master.
Yu Youren's pair of bangs described Yuan Kewen as follows: "The wind flows with the same son, and the materialization of Zhuang Zhou." And the teacher Fang Dishan wrote an inscription for Yuan Kewen: "The talented army is short-lived, and the first british name is Ghost Xiong." ”
Yuan Kewen's life can be described as a dashing and flowing style, he left four sons and three daughters, all of whom received excellent education. One of the sons, Yuan Jialuo, later joined his wife Wu Jianxiong in the ranks of world-renowned physicists. Even Zhou Enlai sighed: "You Yuan family, you are progressing more and more from generation to generation!" ”
Although Erye Yuan has gone, his true disposition is still enjoyable, no matter how the future generations judge, this happy life story is ultimately difficult to copy.
Text | Shinobu bow