Yan Xishan, known as the King of Shanxi, is undoubtedly a villain in history. He once supported Yuan Shikai as emperor, and even secretly contacted the Japanese and became a traitor.

Yan Xishan , known as the King of Shanxi, is undoubtedly a villain in history. He once supported Yuan Shikai as emperor, and even secretly contacted the Japanese and became a traitor.

But everyone has two sides. Although Yan Xishan is a villain, he is also quite dedicated to love.

He also treated his subordinates sincerely. Yan Xishan only married one concubine to continue the family line, but his subordinates insisted on guarding the tomb for 56 years and are still there today.

Dedicated to love

Yan Xishan's wife is named Xu Zhuqing. She is from Wutai County, Shanxi, and is from the same hometown as Yan Xishan.

Xu Zhuqing's family is a well-known family in the local area. Although she is six years older than Yan Xishan, the two still got engaged with the help of her parents.

Yan Xishan's father runs some small businesses locally. Although the family's economic conditions are acceptable, there is still a certain gap compared with a large family like the Xu family.

The marriage between the Yan family and the Xu family is quite high-profile.

Although Xu Zhuqing is six years older than Yan Xishan, Yan Xishan himself doesn't care much about it.

Shortly after the two made an engagement, they held their wedding in the presence of their parents.

15-year-old Yan Xishan and 21-year-old Xu Zhuqing are officially married.

After getting married, the two were very loving and never had a quarrel.

Although Xu Zhuqing comes from a famous family, she does not have the temper of a young lady at all.

is very decent at serving his parents-in-law at home and handling family business outside.

The good times after marriage did not last long, and Yan Xishan owed a lot of debt because of business failure.

As a last resort, Yan Xishan had no choice but to flee to Taiyuan with his father to avoid debts.

and Xu Zhuqing did not blame Yan Xishan at this time. On the contrary, she has been encouraging Yan Xishan to make a comeback.

In order for her husband to have no worries when working outside, Xu Zhuqing has been taking care of her mother-in-law who is in poor health at home and handling all the big and small things at home.

This move also greatly moved Yan Xishan, lamenting that he should marry Xu Zhuqing when he wanted a wife.

Later, Yan Xishan was able to gain a foothold among the warlords, largely due to Xu Zhuqing's contribution.

During the Republic of China, there were too few men who could be single-minded, let alone a big warlord like Yan Xishan?

Yan Xishan is indeed rarely single-minded in his treatment of love.

If it weren't for the pressure from his parents, Yan Xishan might really be a couple with Xu Zhuqing for life.

Although Xu Zhuqing and Yan Xishan are very loving, God will always arrange some unsatisfactory things for them.

The couple had been married for more than ten years and still had no children of their own, which made Yan Xishan's parents extremely anxious.

Not to mention the Republic of China period, even today, couples who have been married for more than ten years and have no children will still be criticized by their parents.

In order to have their own children, Xu Zhuqing and Yan Xishan visited famous doctors, but to no avail.

Later, the doctor diagnosed Xu Zhuqing as having fertility problems.

This made Yan Xishan's parents even more anxious. As the saying goes, "There are three types of unfilial piety, the worst is not having children." Using this as an excuse, his parents forced Yan Xishan to marry a concubine.

Marry a concubine to continue the family line

Yan Xishan's parents forced their son to marry a concubine to continue the family line.

Yan Xishan couldn't resist his parents, so he could only agree to their request.

Xu Zhuqing knew that he could not have children, so he felt very sorry for Yan Xishan, so he did not stop him from taking concubines.

Yan Xishan only had one requirement for marrying a concubine, which was to be healthy and able to have children. He had no requirements for appearance or anything like that.

In this way, at the request of his parents, Yan Xishan took a woman named Xu from Shanxi as his concubine.

In order to show respect for his wife Xu Zhuqing, he asked his concubine to change her surname from Xu to Xu.

Yan Xishan gave his concubine a new name, Xu Lansen.He asked Xu Lansen to recognize Xu Zhuqing's father as his adoptive father and treat Xu Zhuqing as sisters.

What moved Xu Zhuqing the most was that Yan Xishan asked the child born to Xu Lansen to call Xu Zhuqing his mother and Xu Lansen his aunt.

While touching one person, it also makes another person sad.

Xu Lansen not only had his original surname and first name changed, his children could not even call themselves mother, but could only call themselves aunt. This is unacceptable to any mother.

But what can Xu Lansen do? They have a deep love for each other, and she is just a concubine from beginning to end, a tool for the Yan family to continue the family line.

When she chose this path, she should have known that this would be the situation waiting for her.

At first, Xu Zhuqing and Xu Lansen were in harmony, and there was no issue of jealousy.

After all, in Yan Xishan's eyes, the status of the two people is basically one in the sky and one on the earth, so there is no need to compete for favor.

Xu Lansen’s belly was quite impressive, and she gave birth to five sons for Yan Xishan in one breath.

As the number of children increased, Xu Lansen's resentment grew stronger.

Xu Lansen couldn't bear to hear his biological child calling him aunt every day.

Xu Lansen, who had been waiting for so long, finally got his chance. Yan Xishan failed in the Central Plains War , and their family had to be forced to embark on the road to escape.

Xu Lansen thought that on the way to escape, Xu Zhuqing would not pay much attention to the children, she taught the young fourth and fifth to secretly call her mother.

Originally, it was only natural for a child to call his biological mother mother, but their family had an agreement in advance, and Xu Lansen's move was not kind enough.

When the children secretly called Xu Lansen’s mother, Xu Zhuqing overheard them.

Xu Zhuqing was very angry at this time. She felt that Xu Lansen was not so courageous and it must have been instructed by Yan Xishan.

She lost her temper at Yan Xishan regardless of the matter. She was so angry that she threw a lot of things.

At this time, Yan Xishan had just suffered a defeat and was in a bad mood. He had no energy to argue with Xu Zhuqing, so he sent her back to his hometown.

This made Xu Zhuqing so angry that he ignored Yan Xishan for a long time.

Later, Yan Xishan went back to ask Xu Zhuqing to come back, but Xu Zhuqing still refused to come back. Yan Xishan had no choice but to live with Xu Zhuqing in his hometown.

But Xu Zhuqing still takes care of any major events at home, such as sacrifices, weddings and funerals.

In 1931, Yan Xishan, who had a conflict with Xu Zhuqing, wrote in his diary: " It is easy to be a parent to the right one, but it is difficult to be a wife to the right one. It is easy to be acquainted with others, but it is difficult to make friends with the right one."

It can be seen that in Yan Xishan's heart , how high Xu Zhuqing’s status is.

As Xu Zhuqing returned to his hometown, Xu Lansen thought that his good days were coming.

But what she didn't expect was that Yan Xishan did not value herself because of Xu Zhuqing's departure.

She is still the humble concubine she was before, the same Xu Lansen who cannot have her own surname, and the same aunt who cannot be called mother by her children.

Even if she gave birth to so many children for Yan Xishan, they were still not one thousandth as many as Xu Zhuqing's.

How could Xu Lansen not be sad? But there was nothing she could do. You can only be the most unnecessary person in this relationship between three people.

Due to long-term depression, Xu Lansen passed away at a young age in 1946. It can be seen that mood can really affect a person's life span.

If given the chance to choose again, Xu Lansen might not want to live such a life anymore. She might marry an ordinary person as his wife and have several children who can call her mother.

In 1949, Yan Xishan and his wife Xu Zhuqing fled to Taiwan.

In 1960, Yan Xishan, who had been idle at home for many years, also reached the end of his life.

Three years later, Xu Zhuqing also passed away, and the couple were buried together in Yangmingshan, Taiwan.

Yan Xishan and Xu Zhuqing, who have been in love all their lives, can always be together after death.

And that poor woman Xu Lansen was buried alone in Shanxi.

Yan Xishan's Duality

During the warlord melee period, because Yan Xishan maintained the principle of neutrality most of the time, Shanxi was protected from the flames of war.

Shanxi during that period also became a paradise in the eyes of people from other provinces. Many people chose to flee to Shanxi to avoid the war.

Yan Xishan also vigorously develops Shanxi's medical care, education, transportation, basic industry and other things that are beneficial to people's livelihood.

For the people of Shanxi during the Republic of China, Yan Xishan was undoubtedly a "good man" in their hearts, allowing them to have a home to escape the war in that troubled time.

He also treats his subordinates very well. When they are in trouble, he will spare no effort to help them. Even

even if the subordinates misplaced it, as long as it was not a matter of principle, Yan Xishan would forgive them leniently.

treats the family members of his subordinates, and he will help them as long as he can.

Zhang Riming was Yan Xishan's personal attendant and followed Yan Xishan from Shanxi to Taiwan.

Yan Xishan even said to Zhang Riming: "I will take you wherever I go."

Yan Xishan did fulfill his promise and took Zhang Riming with him to Taiwan.

And Zhang Riming was also a man who repaid his kindness and stayed with Yan Xishan until the last moment of his life.

It has been 62 years since Yan Xishan passed away in 1960, and Zhang Riming still insists on guarding his tomb.

Zhang Riming said that he is now over 90 years old and may pass away in the near future, but he will let his descendants guard Yan Xishan's tomb.