Yan Xishan Life in Taiwan in his later years was quite down and embarrassed. After being undermined by power, he built several caves, but was severely investigated by Chiang Kai-shek . Therefore, the appearance of the caves changed. He liked to write elegy couplets to himself in advance and left a will. After his death, the tombstone had to be engraved with paragraphs 100 and 128 of his diary, giving people a feeling of being confused and treacherous.
1949, after Yan Xishan, the "King of Shanxi", went to Taiwan, he was the President of the Executive Yuan at that time. When "acting President" Li Zongren was not there and Chiang Kai-shek did not restore his position as "president", in theory, Yan Xishan was the top leader of Taiwan.
When he first went to Taiwan, Yan Xishan was indeed in a good fortune for a short period of time, delivered speeches many times, summarizing the lessons of failure, criticizing various problems such as disunity and corruption within the Kuomintang , and having the ambition to lie on firewood and work hard.
But he underestimated Chiang Kai-shek's tolerance for him and his desire for power. In history, Yan Xishan defeated Chiang several times, and Chiang Kai-shek never liked him. After coming to Taiwan, he criticized all kinds of criticisms. If Chiang Kai-shek said these issues himself, it would be nothing. If others say it, especially Yan Xishan said it, it would be a point, so Chiang Kai-shek was naturally dissatisfied.
At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek began to plan to restore the position of "President" and installed his own troops in key departments. Yan Xishan was also forced to resign from the " Minister of Defense " who was on the same side. He was completely emptied from the top leader of the name.
On March 1, 1950, Chiang Kai-shek officially resigned as the "President" and Yan Xishan also tactfully resigned from the position of "President". Chiang Kai-shek pretended to keep him and agreed to Yan Xishan's resignation, and his confidant Chen Cheng succeeded as the "President".
After Yan Xishan had no choice but to enter his retirement life, he immediately moved his home to the remote Lishui Street in Taipei City.
Half a year later, Yan Xishan may feel that Lishui Street is still not quiet enough, so he moved directly to the Jingshan Thatched House in Yangming Mountain, the suburb of Taipei City. It was particularly remote at that time, and it was not an exaggeration to say it was a wilderness ridge. After living there for a while, Yan Xishan, who missed his hometown, and built three caves in a fantasy manner, and named it "Zenneng Cave".
It is said that at the beginning, Chiang Kai-shek did not know Yan Xishan's "feat". Once when Chiang Kai-shek was checking his body at Rong General Hospital in the suburbs of Taipei, he was idle and looked at the green mountains outside the window with dark green mountains and black Yangming Mountain , wanting to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Who would have thought that something bad about the scenery would happen, and suddenly he saw a few scar-like red spots in the mountains. At that time, Yangming Mountain had been marked as a protected area and no one was allowed to destroy it.
Chiang Kai-shek was furious when he saw it, thinking that someone was secretly digging gold mines and so on, so he ordered a strict investigation.
people angrily rushed to the Jingshan hut of Yan Xishan, and were stopped by fully armed servants. They also knew that this was the residence of the former "Premier of the Executive" Yan Xishan, so they did not dare to act rashly, so they could only restrain themselves, and "suggest" that the red exterior wall of the cave could be coated with a thick layer of asphalt , not so conspicuous, and then left.
The servants did not dare to tell Yan Xishan, because they were afraid that he would be angry, so they secretly bought asphalt and painted the red wall black. Yan Xishan asked in surprise and said that the paint was to prevent air strikes and made the matter come true.
Chiang Kai-shek learned that Yan Xishan lived in the cave, and followed his wife Soong Mei-ling to visit him. After Yan Xishan learned that the road outside his residence was too bad, was afraid that Soong Mei-ling, who liked to wear high heels, sprained her ankle, so he quickly sent someone to put on a straw bag . Soong Mei-ling saw that Yan Xishan's life was so simple, and after he went back, someone put on a military phone.
Originally, Yan Xishan was undercut and lived in a poor wilderness, and it was already very down and outdated. What was even more embarrassing is that he didn't have much money. According to his subordinates' recollection, after Yan Xishan retired, the "Executive Yuan" allocated him 50,000 yuan in funds every month. This was a huge sum of money at that time, but Yan Xishan's subordinates and his family had dozens of people. This money was enough for their lives, but not enough for their salary.
As for Yan Xishan himself, he did not have much savings. The reason for this is that although he fled to Taiwan, although he brought a lot of gold bars, he was later confiscated by Chiang Kai-shek.
so Yan Xishan's retirement life in a cave was actually very embarrassing. The servants followed him and could see the future of their heads at a glance. It can be said that there was no future. After all, this "King of Shanxi" had no power at all. If you don't want to go for a career, you can make money. Yan Xishan couldn't give them much money, so the servants' motivation to follow him was only "loyalty".
Although these people were brought by Yan Xishan from his hometown in Shanxi, loyalty is fine, over time, many people couldn't hold on and ran away secretly. Even his secretary Yuan Futing once wanted to make another way to make a living, but he really couldn't bear to leave secretly.
So he explained to Yan Xishan that according to Yuan Futing's recollection, Yan Xishan lowered his head and didn't look at him for a long time. Finally, he said in a very old voice, "Anyone of them can leave, don't leave me." Yuan Futing wanted to cry when he heard this, but his heart softened and he didn't leave.
Yan Xishan lived in the cave for another 10 years in this down-and-out and embarrassing situation.
During this period, Yan Xishan's hobby was to write books, and he kept writing. At the same time, he also had a special hobby, which was that he loved to write elegy couplets for himself for no reason. He wrote a lot and told his family members that after his death, he posted these elegy couplets in the cemetery. One of the elegy couplets read:
When there is a big need, he can achieve great things;
left without a great confidence, and he finally had a great opportunity.
In his later years, Yan Xishan not only liked to write elegiac couplets, but also liked to write wills, and he often revised them. He also explained 7 points in his will.
The sixth point is very interesting. It requires that the tombstone after death be engraved with paragraphs 100 and 128 of his diary, which is quite a bit ridiculous.
The two paragraphs are:
meaning is to be the quality, to be polite, to be inferior to be inferior, to be faithful to be accomplished, to be a way to do things, and to be good things, because there are many good things, because of the incomplete etiquette, to be rude, to be unfaithful, to be unfaithful, to be unfaithful, to cause obstacles.
There must be hidden information when something suddenly happens. However, it is not easy to examine the hidden information. If you do not examine the real thing, you will suffer a loss. But such hidden information will not be a truth, it must be a profit or a disadvantage. You should seek hidden information based on the other party's interests and judge it.
On May 23, 1960, the lonely Yan Xishan passed away at the age of 77.
After Yan Xishan's death, Chiang Kai-shek appointed He Yingqin to preside over the funeral and personally came to pay tribute, giving a plaque with "Sad and Sorrowful Honors".
According to some information, after Yan Xishan's death, his cemetery was also very shabby. Because of the long-term discontinuation of incense, it seemed particularly desolate and cold.
But fortunately, Zhang Riming, the personal bodyguard who had been with him for 10 years, missed the old commander and insisted on taking a bus from his home at the north end of Yangming Mountain every day, voluntarily managed the former residence and cemetery for Yan Xishan, and burned incense and fruits. He insisted on guarding the tomb for half a century, which is also a good story.
However, there is no latest news at the moment. I don’t know if this veteran is still alive or not. If he passes away, then the cemetery of the former “King of Shanxi” will definitely be even more desolate and cold, which is really sad.
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