History lovers must have heard this sentence: A group of Hunanese, half of modern history.
Since Zeng Guofan in the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of historical figures have emerged in Hunan, including Tan Sitong in the Reform Movement, Huang Xing in the Revolution of 1911, and Cai E in the National Protection Movement.
But there may be someone who is not particularly familiar with everyone, he is Yang Du.
Yang Du
Speaking of Yang Du, Yuan Shikai has to be mentioned. Of course, Yuan Shikai is not from Hunan. Everyone knows that Yuan Shikai is the leader of the Beiyang warlord. He has also done a notorious thing, which is to restore the monarchy and become the emperor for 83 days. In the end, the betrayal of relatives died in the curse of the world.
According to his family's recollection, Yuan Shikai once yelled with regret and resentment before his death: Yang Du mistaken me! Who is this Yang Du who made Yuan Shikai complain to his death? The Yang Du he was talking about was Yang Chengzhan, a celebrity in Hunan. Yang Chengzhan, named Xizi, was born in Xiangtan, Hunan in 1875, and later changed his name to "Yang Du".
Xiangtan is a magical place. It is the hometown of a generation of great men, as well as General Peng who was standing upright with a sword, and Qi Baishi, a world cultural celebrity. Among these people, Yang Du and Qi Baishi are very close, and they are brothers in the same school. , Their teacher is called Wang Kaiyun.
Wang Kaiyun was a well-known scholar in the late Qing Dynasty. He has the talent of an emperor and can assist the emperor to smooth the world and govern the country.
He used to be Zeng Guofan's staff, and he also persuaded Zeng Guofan to become king so that he could use his emperor learning, but Zeng Guofan was timid and did not dare to stand on his own, Wang Kaiyun later returned to his hometown Guangna disciple.
Then, Qi Baishi and Yang Du went to his door one after another, Qi Baishi followed him to learn culture, and Yang Du learned his emperor art.
Yuan Shikai Restoration
Yang Du was a scholar himself before he entered the king's gate. The ancients said that "learning art and martial arts, goods and emperor's family", so Yang Du under the infection of Wang Kaiyun, also Determined to become a generation of emperor teacher.
At that time, it was in troubled times, and the number of clear aspirations has been set. If you want to achieve your own great career as an emperor, you must find a person with "the emperor's luck" to assist him, and finally help him reach the top of the emperor's career.
Then the person Yang Du found was Yuan Shikai. Before getting to know Yuan Shikai, Yang Du had traveled to Japan to study and was a classmate with Huang Xing. During his studies in Japan, Yang Du concentrated on studying and studying the constitutional systems of various countries in the world, and then combined with the emperor studies he had learned before, and determined his future. , To take the way of saving the country through a constitutional monarchy.
Yang Du during the restoration period
The so-called constitutional monarchy means that there is a symbolic king or emperor, but the power is in the hands of institutions based on the constitution. For example, the United Kingdom is such a constitutional monarchy. System of the country.
So after Yang Du returned to China, he found Yuan Shikai, who holds great power. He felt that this person was very suitable as a training target for his emperor's studies, and Yuan Shikai did have some conditions for a constitutional monarchy.
At this time, Yuan Shikai happened to be a little swollen. He wanted to be an emperor, but he didn’t dare to be, or he didn’t know how to operate to make himself sit on the dragon chair justifiably. Then Yang Du appeared at this time, for For Yuan Shikai, it was equivalent to someone handing a pillow over when he wanted to sleep.
Yuan Shikai
So Yuan Shikai and Yang Du hit it off. Yang Du took care of everything he called the Emperor's great cause, and operated on the basis of a constitutional monarchy. This was the reason for Yuan Shikai's restoration of this farce. .
History finally proved that the constitutional monarchy was not feasible in China, Yuan Shikai was ruined, and Yang Du, the instigator, became a target of public criticism. He was said to be the "remnant of the monarchy", and later had to choose to learn Buddhism and Zen to escape the world. .
and Yuan Shikai was suffocated with unwilling grievances when he died. He originally grabbed a good hand, but the game was sparsely played. The emperor was accused of "stealing the country" without being regarded as a success, so Yuan Shikai blamed Yang for everything. That's why he shouted: Yang Du mistaken me!
So what kind of person is Yang Du who "wrong Yuan Shikai"? We will announce it in a future article. Of course, if you are interested in Yang Du and his people, you may wish to read the legend of Yang Du by the famous writer Tang Haoming to understand the life of a generation of strange people in the late Qing Dynasty.
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