Introduction: Duan Qirui is known as the "Tiger of beiyang", the leader of the Anhui warlords, who once held the position of head of state. His life is very exciting, and it is a lotus flower that comes out of the mud and is not stained. It should be known that at that time, warlords amassed all kinds of wealth, and millions of dollars abounded. However, the head of state was incorruptible all his life, and in his later years he could not eat after going to the wilderness, and he still relied on the relief of the National Government to solve his living problems. After death, there was no money to be buried, or it was temporarily placed in the Xishan Reclining Buddha Temple with the help of Song Zheyuan, and the tomb was not repaired for 28 years, and finally moved to Wan'an Cemetery with the assistance of his friends before his death.
Duan Qirui had two nobles in his life who had a deep influence on him, one of which was Li Hongzhang, who sent him to study abroad. As the governor of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang sent him to study abroad was more than enough. The hand-picked promotion of the big man deeply changed the fate of Duan Qirui, and it should be known that there were only five places to study abroad at that time. While studying in Germany, Duan Qirui received an education in advanced ideas, which had a great influence on him in the future. If it were not for the experience of studying in Germany, it would be difficult for him to meet the second noble man in his life - Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai urgently needed high-end talents when training the new army in Tianjin, and Duan Qirui, an artilleryman with study abroad experience, naturally became the preferred choice.
Yuan Shikai, who attached importance to modernizing the army, appointed Duan Qirui as the commander of the third battalion of the army's left wing artillery and supervised the martial arts academy. In the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu, Yuan Shikai took him to Shandong to suppress the Boxers, and since then Duan Qirui has become Yuan Shikai's confidant and an important helper in expanding the Beiyang Army. Many of the chapters in the Beiyang New Army are from Duan Qirui, who has made indelible contributions to the construction of the Beiyang New Army, and is called "Beiyang Three Jies" together with Wang Shizhen and Feng Guozhang. In order to win Duan Qirui over, Yuan Shikai married all his righteous daughters to him. Duan Qirui also repaid Yuan Shikai in the future, and when Zaifeng wanted to kill Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui did not hesitate to launch a mutiny in order to protect Yuan Shikai, forcing Zaifeng to stop killing Yuan Shikai.
The ideas that Duan Qirui accepted in the West had a great influence on him, and the most important thing was to let the republican thought penetrate deeply into his heart, so Duan Qirui "created a republic in three ways". When the Qing Dynasty ruled, he jointly named 46 generals and called the Qing Dynasty that it must establish a republican form of government, otherwise it would wait for death. Yuan Shikai declared himself empress, and Duan Qirui refused to go out of the mountains. With decades of knowledge and in-law relations, Rao was so Duan Qirui did not support Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne and adhered to republican ideas. When Zhang Xun was restored, Duan Qirui led people into Beijing to restore the republic. However, the political views of the warlords at that time were different, the republic did not develop smoothly, the Anhui clan was devastated by the direct lineage, and Duan Qirui was forced to go to the wilderness.
After Feng Yuxiang launched the Beijing coup, he overthrew Cao Kun and once again invited Duan Qirui to come out of the mountains as head of state. When Duan Qirui was head of state, he announced the abolition of the National Assembly and the establishment of the Senate. However, he was eventually expelled from power by Feng Yuxiang and Lu Zhonglin, and lived an old age from then on. The republican system was aborted, but Duan Qirui's political views were still recognized by history. In his later years, the Japanese co-opted Duan Qirui and tried to split China, but Duan Qirui refused this righteous remark and quietly moved to Shanghai. Although Duan Qirui served as head of state, he was incorruptible all his life, never embezzled, never accepted gifts, so that in his later years, his life was very embarrassing, and he could not even eat.
During the warlord melee during the Republic of China period, you sang and I took the stage, many people desperately embezzled for the sake of their later life, and there are really not many people like Duan Qirui who insist on themselves. In 1928, Duan Qirui's embarrassing life was reflected in the Nationalist government. Taking into account Duan Qirui's contribution, and the fact that it does not provide relief to Duan Qirui, the National Government estimates that there is a real possibility that people will starve to death. If this kind of thing were to spread out, the impact would not be very good. With the approval of the National Government, Duan Qirui received 20,000 relief funds, and since then, he has a sum of money for his pension every year. Corrupt warlords singing night and night, and incorruptible heads of state who cannot afford to eat, these two very different lives make people sigh.
At that time, the pension money given to Duan Qirui was tens of thousands, and he could only barely maintain his food and clothing needs. After Duan Qirui died, there was no money to be buried, and the National Government specially approved 200,000 yuan. As a result, the money was squandered by his son, and Duan Qirui's coffin could not be buried for a long time. Finally, with the help of Song Zheyuan, 2,000 yuan was raised and duan qirui coffin was temporarily placed in the Xishan Reclining Buddha Temple. For 28 years, Duan Qirui's tomb was not repaired, until 1964, when Duan Qirui's former friend Zhang Shizhao came forward to assist the Duan family in burying Duan Qirui's coffin in Wan'an Cemetery in Xiangshan, Beijing.