Warlord Wu Peifu can be said to be one of the rare generals at the time. He is known as the "Confucian General" and the reputation of "General Victory". His teachers Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin were both defeated generals. . He has a good strategy and uses soldiers like a god, but he is very incompetent in terms of stewardship. His mother has a long-term quarrel with his wife Li, but he is helpless. His two wives continued to quarrel, and he was even more at a loss.
Wu Peifu was born in poverty and lost his father at an early age. Their brothers depended on their mothers for their education. Wu's mother was kind and virtuous, and she was very strict in teaching her children. Mother Wu relies on her ancestral grocery store and her own textiles to support her family. Although Wu's mother was a farm woman, she strongly supported Wu Peifu to study. The conditions at home were not good, so Mother Wu put a wooden board on the stone mill and told Wu Peifu to sit on the mill neck to read and write. Wu Peifu lived up to his mother's high expectations and studied hard. His tutor was Li Pisen, a famous local scholar. Wu Peifu is diligent and studious in Li Pisen School, and he is very smart and enlightened. The teacher once praised Wu Peifu in this way: "Only the son stands out from the crowd, and does not go with the small group of people. He is a man of himself."
Unfortunately, Wu's family is too poor. Wu Peifu, who is a minor, has long been sensible, and he always thinks about it. The mother shared the pressure to support the family. It just so happened that the imperial court was preparing a naval camp in Penglai, and it wanted to recruit students, and there was a monthly payment of two to four dollars. Wu Peifu persuaded his mother to falsely report his age and refer to the recruitment examination, but he was admitted. All of Wu Peifu's income was given to his mother for the writer's use. Fortunately, the navy camp only trains two days a week, and he can study with Mr. Li Pisen in the other five days. The hard life has tempered Wu Peifu to be strong, sensible and filial, and learning from Mr. Li Pisen has laid a profound cultural foundation for him. The reason why he is called a "Confucian general" is because of his early education. It's open.
Wu Peifu studied hard, and of course he hoped to take the road of imperial examination. Later, he participated in the scientific examination, and his articles were praised by the chief examiner, so he was tested for talents with excellent results. But soon after he violated the criminal law, he was deported to show his fame as a talent and escaped from misfortune. In 1899, Wu Peifu passed the exam of Kaiping Wubei Academy. From then on, he began his military career and advanced step by step. Later, he became the first general under the direct warlord Cao Kun. At this time, Wu Peifu was accomplished.
When he was 15 years old, he married Wang Clan, but Wang Clan died of illness 3 years later and he never left him a man and a half girl. By the time he was 31 years old, he had already become a lieutenant. He had 50 ocean dollars a month, but he was still alone. Wu Peifu is a filial son who sends money to his mother every month. Mrs. Wu wanted to remarry a wife for her son. At that time, the conditions of the Wu family were already very good in the local area. As an officer, Wu Peifu had a generous monthly salary and a promising future. Therefore, the mediators can say that they have broken the threshold. Someone gave him a kiss. The wife's surname was Li, who was the daughter of a large family. After seeing each other, Mrs. Wu was very satisfied. Wu Peifu is a filial son. Since his mother likes it, he certainly has no objection. So he chose Ji to get married and married Mrs. Li in the door.
This Li is a rich daughter. When he arrived at Wu’s house, Fang Zhi’s husband’s house was too poor, and Mrs. Wu was used to being poor, although his son sent him monthly mailings. A lot of money, but she can't bear to spend it. Usually, her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have a rough tea and light rice, and Jingchai's sarong is very frugal. Li's family has to reach out to Mrs. Wu for every penny spent. Li is used to the life of a wealthy family, can't stand the hard life, and has to be supported by her mother-in-law every day, and of course resentment is inevitable in her heart. So she moved back to her natal house, and Mrs. Wu was naturally dissatisfied with her.
Later, Wu Peifu became a pipe belt, and his salary was increased to RMB 120 and 30 per month. He was stationed in Changchun at that time, so he picked up both his mother and Li. But Mrs. Wu has always had a heart attack, that is, Li has been unable to have children. So Mrs. Wu is even more dissatisfied with Li. In fact, Wu Peifu later married a wife and a concubine, and none of them gave birth. Could it be that all four wives and concubines have infertility? The only explanation is that Wu Peifu has a problem. But Mrs. Wu doesn't think so, so the conflict between Mrs. Wu and Li's is deeper. One day the cold war between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law finally broke out into a hot war. The two sides quarreled over a trivial matter, Wu Pei, who is all-powerfulFu was in a dilemma between his mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and did nothing. Finally, Mrs. Wu exposed Li’s scars and said, “I’m raising a mother and have to lay eggs. You entered Wu’s house for three or four years, and you didn’t even release a fart. What use does the Wu family want from you? A grandson comes out!" Li couldn't stand the humiliation, so he returned to his hometown in Shandong with a burden.
After the Li family returned to her family, Zhang Peilan came from Wu's family. This Zhang Peilan was from a good family. She recognized Mrs. Wu as a godmother, and ran to Wu's family if she had nothing to do. As soon as Li left, she came more often, sometimes she just didn't leave when she came, and stayed with her godmother. This Zhang Peilan is clever and clever. She specializes in picking up what the old lady likes, saying that the mother and the two have nothing to do with each other, so the old lady Wu said her own words: "I want you to be a daughter-in-law." Wu The old lady's idea was soon realized, and the Wu family married her in, and Zhang Peilan became Wu Peifu's third wife.
At this time, Li also came back from his hometown, the two wifes were living together under the same roof, and the first few days were still in peace. Soon, between Mrs. Li and Mrs. Zhang It opened the battlefield. Wu Peifu was sandwiched between the two wives. As always, he showed his incompetence in managing the family. He had to sigh: "It's hard for a villain to raise a woman."
In the year of Xinhai, the old lady Wu passed away and Li was there. Due to long-term contradictions and severe neurosis, Wu Peifu had to accompany him every day. At that time, the warlords were fighting, Wu Peifu had become Cao Kun's confidant general, and he needed to go outside to lead the war frequently. So Cao Kun's wife let Li live in a villa of Cao's family and found some maids to wait on her. In this way, Wu Peifu was able to get away and lead soldiers everywhere.
Lee's neurosis got worse and worse. Later, she was also addicted to drugs and numbed her nerves by smoking opium every day. Soon Lee actually died because of this. This Peilan became the only Mrs. Wu, who followed Wu Peifu for a long time. However, Zhang Peilan did not give birth. Later, in order to leave Wu Peifu offspring, Zhang Peilan accepted a maid to help Wu Peifu as a concubine, but this concubine never gave birth, which fully proved Wu Peifu's incompetence in reproduction. He later had to be his heir, Wu Daoshi, the son of his step-brother Wu Wenfu.
Wu Peifu is a more unusual one among the Beiyang warlords. He is elegant and versatile and has outstanding moral character. He pursued the "Four No Principles", that is, "don't live in the concession, don't accumulate private wealth, don't borrow foreign debts, and don't marry concubines." He pays particular attention to family relations, which is inseparable from his Confucian education. At that time, the warlords almost had their wives and concubines in groups, and Wu Peifu was the one with the fewest wives. But the backyards of other warlords were relatively calm. Only Wu Peifu always caught fire in the backyard, and whenever it caught fire, he acted incompetent and helpless. There is a huge contrast between his military genius and his inefficiency towards women.
Author: Soil old hat
References:
Dong Yao: "Man of the Northern Wu Pei-fu", China Yanshi Press, 2016
Chen Feng: "Secrets of the Eight Warlords", Unity Press, 2005
