The Beiyang warlords have a very special status in Chinese history. The Beiyang Group was established by Yuan Shikai. By learning the advanced training mode from abroad, the new army formed is extremely powerful, and among them are fierce generals. That's why Yuan Shikai has The confidence forced Puyi to abdicate, and the Qing Dynasty was submerged in history.
In the Beiyang Group, which is like a cloud of fierce generals, Wu Peifu is the most special one. He was born in a scholar, with knowledge and demeanor. He seems a little out of place among such a group of big and rough.
Beijing Group
There is an allusion about the origin of the name Wu Peifu. In 1874, before Wu Peifu was born, his father dreamed that Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty, came to his home. In order to show respect and remembrance for Qi Jiguang, Qi Jiguang's character "Peiyu" was used as the child's name. So the father named his son Peifu, the word Ziyu.
Wu Peihu has been smart and diligent since childhood, with a good family background. So he entered the best private school in the area at the age of 6. In the private school, Wu Peifu is very diligent, has outstanding achievements, and is deeply loved by teachers.
Unfortunately, the good times don't last long. When Wu Peifu was 14 years old, his father died of illness. Since then, the Wu family's family background has fallen thousands of miles, from a well-off family to a poor family struggling on the line of food and clothing.
At this time, Wu Peifu wanted to drop out of school to find a job so that he could support his family. Just in time for the Dengzhou Naval Division to recruit young people aged 16 to 20 as soldiers. Moreover, there is a monthly salary of two or four dollars in silver. Wu Peifu is determined to join the army, not because he really likes to be a soldier.
However, it is stipulated that only people between the ages of 16 and 20 can join the army, and Wu Peifu is only 14 years old this year.So he falsely declared his age to be 16 years old and signed up to be a student soldier in the naval battalion.
Because of the monthly salaries in the barracks, Wu Peifu used the money to serve as his teacher, Li Pichun, a famous scholar in the state capital. In this way, Wu Peifu's studies have not been interrupted. At the age of 22, he was admitted as a scholar.
html At the age of 123, Wu Peifu was wanted by the government for offending a local rich man. He had no choice but to flee to Beijing overnight.
When he first arrived in Beijing, Wu Peifu was unfamiliar with where he lived, and eating became a problem. In poverty, he had no choice but to rely on his ancient literary background, while studying the "Book of Changes", while helping people fortune-telling, and relying on this to earn a little money to maintain a living.
Private School
In the second year, Nie Shicheng, the Huai Army stationed in Tianjin, was ordered to recruit troops in order to expand his team due to his heavy losses in the Sino-Japanese naval battle a few years ago. Wu Peifu decided to join the army after learning the news.
So he came to Tianjin and went to Nie Shicheng's barracks. Because he was a student soldier of the Navy Division Battalion in his hometown, he successfully became a soldier in the Nie Shicheng Battalion.
When Wu Peifu was in the barracks, he was just a slobber. He was essentially a weak scholar. Therefore, when he first entered Nie Shicheng's military camp, Wu Peihu was always the worst performer in every military training. The instructors often punished him, but every time Wu Peifu didn't say a word and silently listened to the instructor's insults and everyone's ridicule.
Therefore, people in the military camp called Wu Peifu "Wu fool". Seeing this situation, the boss had to make Wu Peifu an orderly.
The military camp of the Republic of China
Once, when Wu Peifu sent an official document to Guo Xudong, a staff member of the patrol battalion, he found that an allusion was wrong in the official document.He pointed it out to Guo Xudong, and then Guo Xudong knew that Wu Peifu was a scholar.
After some conversations, he believes that Wu Peifu is not a thing in the pool, and one day he will ride the wind to the sky. Therefore, he and Wu Peifu became brothers and often helped Wu Peifu's life.
902, Wu Peifu entered the Baoding Army Academy for further studies, graduated with excellent grades a year later, and served as a lieutenant in the staff office of the Beiyang Supervision and Training Institute. Since then, Wu Peifu has officially become a member of Beiyang Group.
In February 1904, Japan and Russia went to war for control of the Northeast. Originally, Russia and Japan were at war, but the battlefield was chosen on the territory of the Qing court. Even so, the Qing court did not know how to deal with it.
If it is inclined towards Japan, Russia will send the army to attack the northwest border of the Qing court. If it is inclined towards Russia, Japan will send the navy to interfere with the southeast Shanghai of the Qing court. After much deliberation, the Qing government, in order to break the Russian monopoly of the Northeast, maintained its neutrality, but secretly helped Japan and provided intelligence to the Japanese army.
Before the war between Japan and Russia, Aoki, the Japanese military adviser in China, personally selected 16 young officers, including Wu Peifu, from the Beiyang Supervision and Training Institute, and formed a Sino-Japanese mixed espionage team with 31 Japanese espionage personnel. Major commander unified command.
The task of the espionage team is to go to Dalian, Lushun and other places to spy on the specific situation of the Russian fleet. During this period, the Japanese people's impression of Wu Peifu was: "confident, gentle, not eager for quick success, not vain, flexible in mind..."
Therefore, the Japanese gave Wu Peifu a nickname, calling him "always have Mr. Way".
Wu Peifu
The treatment of an army lieutenant at that time was 40 taels of silver, plus 30 yuan for business trips. The sum of the two is as much as 100 yuan. Besides, what they do is intelligence, and there are fees and bonuses at any time. with allowances.
Among the 16 colleagues, all of them are dressed in fresh clothes and angry, spending money like dirt. There is Wu Peifu, who has been used to hard work since he was a child. He doesn't understand and doesn't bother to enjoy it. His casual clothes are a set of gray cloth jackets and trousers. , Wu Peifu is accustomed to walking back and forth, and he never travels by carriage.
Shoutian sent people to spy on Wu Peifu's living habits. It is simple and simple. He always eats at small noodle restaurants and small rice stalls.
Clothes are even easier to wear. I wear and wear one piece of clothing again and again, and I have never been able to buy new clothes. In addition, Wu Peifu lives a simple life. When he has work, he works steadfastly. When he is free, he goes back to the storehouse and closes his home to study. The kerosene money from the kerosene lamp goes to the store owner. Wu Peifu always twists the wick low and gives it to the store. The boss saves some fuel, as long as the light can reach the book, it is good.
Wu Peifu's actions made the Japanese Morita impressed him very well.
Russian-Japanese War
In addition, Wu Peifu's excellent espionage work has won the respect of Japanese spy personnel and the appreciation of his superiors. The leaders of the Japanese espionage office rewarded Wu Peifu 500 oceans and made an exception to allow him to take a week off to visit his family.
After the Japanese-Russian war, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack on the Russian fleet, but with the persistence of the Russian army, the Japanese army could not attack for a long time. At this time, the commander of the Japanese army, Togo Heihachiro, decided to blockade the Russian army.
But what he did not expect was that the Russian army had multiple lines of defense, and the Japanese army could not block it at all. After a battle, the Japanese army was severely damaged.
Faced with this situation, Wu Peifu proposed that the Japanese army send a number of ordinary fishing boats to harass the Russian fleet day and night. Accurate information is sent back. Wu Peifu's suggestion provided great help for the Japanese to destroy the Russian fleet.
The Japanese-Russian naval battle
Soon, Wu Peifu was promoted to captain. One day, he took important information to Fengtian to attend a secret meeting, and was captured by the Russian army on the way. The Russian army regarded Wu Peifu as a spy. During the interrogation process, Wu Peifu refused to admit his identity as a spy. When the Russian army escorted him to Harbin, Wu Peifu jumped out of the car and fled.
In September 11905, the Russo-Japanese War ended with a victory for Japan, and the Russian army suffered a crushing defeat and was severely damaged. Wu Peifu's excellent espionage work throughout the Russo-Japanese War was highly praised by the officers and soldiers of the Japanese army.
During the espionage work for more than a year, Wu Peifu began to show his edge, and his talents gradually came into play. Even so, Wu Peifu did not make his fortune until many years later, and he can be described as a late bloomer.
The reason for this is mainly that the core leaders of the Beiyang Group at that time were people in the small circle around Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai's senior generals were either his protégés, such as Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and others.
Either a servant in the family, such as Wu Fengling, the son of his nanny, Wang Zhanyuan who later became the governor of Hubei, or Feng Guozhang's water carrier, or someone who was born in the military and easy to control, such as Cao Kun, Zhang Huaizhi, Duan Zhigui, etc.
A person like Wu Peifu has a virtuous face, full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, citing classics and classics, acting strictly and upright, coupled with his national and national thinking, which makes him incompatible with many high-ranking Beiyang officials under Yuan Shikai.
In this way, Wu Peifu has always had little chance of forging in the Beiyang system. It was not until he met Cao Kun that Wu Peifu's fate began to change significantly.
