Zhang Zongchang's fortune history: born in a poor family, after his fortune, life was arrogant and luxurious

文/傅华轩

01, poor family background

In 1881, Zhang Zongchang was born in a peasant family in Ye County, Shandong. When he was seven or eight years old, his father died of excessive alcohol consumption. Zhang's mother was unable to feed his family alone, so she had to remarry Han Jia, a bachelor from the same village. Although Jia is a stepfather, he treats his stepson Zhang Zongchang very well, almost treating him like his own son. Zhang Zongchang is also very grateful to this stepfather after he developed. However, Jia is also a very poor family, and the whole family can hardly survive after the last meal. In order to survive, the young Zhang Zongchang was forced to go out to work. He has given off cows to landlords, worked as a hotel guy, and sold melon seeds and peanuts on the streets.

The impoverished life in his youth gave Zhang Zongchang the idea that he must stand out, and also helped him develop an eloquent eloquence.

In 1900, the "Gengzi Incident" broke out, and the Eight-Power Allied Forces burned, killed, looted and looted northern China. As the center of the Boxer Movement, Shandong was in constant war. He was only 19 years old. Seeing that he couldn't live in his hometown, Zhang Zongchang gritted his teeth and walked through the old road often taken by poor people in Shandong-through the Guandong. At that time, the Russians were using the unequal treaty signed with the Qing government to build the Dongqing Railway across the northeast, which urgently needed a lot of labor. Zhang Zongchang was hired by the Russians to work along the railway to do some heavy physical work. Although he had never received a standardized education since he was a child, Zhang Zongchang is an "unlearned" and ambitious guy. He believes that he has no chance of making a living in his life and must find a way to climb up. Soon, Zhang Zongchang began to learn Russian with Russian engineers, and within a few months he mastered the ability of spoken conversation, and he was quickly promoted to a foreman with a stable income. You see, this Zhang Zongchang is not an ordinary young man, he is a bit brainy. It can be seen that Zhang Zongchang is very smart, very talented in language, and fluent in spoken Russian. It only took a few months! Although he has a stable income, Zhang Zongchang’s life has not changed much. Instead, he has contracted the habit of gambling. He often loses the wages he earned for a month of hard work.

02, Zhang Zongchang during the Russo-Japanese War

In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War broke out. Because of the war on Chinese soil, the Russian army urgently needed a lot of proficiency in Russian. Chinese translation. Zhang Zongchang, who is fluent in Russian, had a good opportunity to sign up to join the Russian army and become an ordinary Russian translator. He followed the Russian soldiers to search for food, collect information from the Japanese army, and participated in the horse team organized by the Russians. He initially learned some military knowledge. Zhang Zongchang, who was agile, began to accumulate knowledge. One year later, Russia was defeated and Zhang Zongchang, who had once again become insecure, came to Vladivostok and Siberia to seek life. Because of his knowledge of Russian, he is much better than ordinary Chinese laborers and worked as a foreman in a local gold mine. At that time, there were many ferocious beasts in Siberia, so gold mine foremen were generally equipped with guns for self-defense. Zhang Zongchang was no exception. During this time, he practiced good marksmanship with one finger, which was good for his future warlord career. Played a big role. In addition, there were still many bandits and gangsters mingling on the Sino-Russian border. Zhang Zongchang met many such people in the casino, and soon he became a well-known local underworld leader. But the good times did not last long. Because of his addiction to gambling, Zhang Zongchang lost all the wages of his workers. He was afraid of the punishment of the Russians, so he had to escape from Vladivostok to China. At this time, Zhang Zongchang had been in Northeast China and Russia. One year has come.

03, hug Feng Guozhang’s thigh.

At this time, the Revolution of 1911 broke out, the Qing government's rule fell apart, and many horse thieves and bandits in the northeast formed the so-called "revolutionary army." Zhang Zongchang felt that the opportunity had arrived. He took a group of bandits he had met in the northeast to seek refuge with Hu Ying, the governor of the Shandong People's Army, and became a "revolutionary". At that time, the Shandong People's Army were all armed with militia groups, and basically no one knew military knowledge. When a general was selected from the gang, Zhang Zongchang, who knew a little about military knowledge, was promoted to a mid-level officer. Soon, Hu Ying pulled the militia to Shanghai again, and took refuge in Chen Qimei, the governor of Shanghai. Zhang Zongchang also took advantage of the trend and became the cavalry of the 3rd division under Chen Qimei.Regiment leader. In fact, Zhang Zongchang is not really a revolution. He is an old man who doesn't understand what revolution means. As long as someone gives him money and power, he is willing to die. In 1913, the Kuomintang launched the "Second Revolution" against Yuan. Zhang Zongchang saw that the Beiyang Army had great wealth, so he turned the corner and turned to Yuan Shikai's general and the governor of Jiangsu Feng Guozhang, becoming a division commander in the Beiyang Army.

In November 1916, Feng Guozhang became the acting president of the Republic of China. Zhang Zongchang, who gained Feng Guozhang's trust by slopping his beard and horses, also rose to the top, and was promoted to the chief of guards and military attaché of the Presidential Palace.

04, warlord Zhang Zongchang

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Two years later, Feng Guozhang died of illness and Zhang Zongchang, who lost his patron, was defeated again in the Zhiwan War , Completely lost the opportunity to fly Huang Tengda among the direct warlords. Zhang Zongchang, who has milk and is a mother, did not hesitate at all, and switched to Feng Faction warlord Zhang Zuolin. In the beginning, Zhang Zuolin didn't trust Zhang Zongchang, the "three-surname domestic slave", and only gave him the position of battalion commander (from a teacher to a battalion commander). But Zhang Zongchang's luck was very good, and he soon found a chance to make a fortune. In 1922, the first Zhifeng war broke out. The Fengjun, who was negligent in training, was defeated and relied on the mediation of the great powers to reluctantly escape. Seeing Zhang Zuolin smashed a big somersault, the Fengjun brigade commander Gao Shizheng stationed in Jilin took the opportunity to join the bandit Lu Yonggui to publicly oppose Feng. At that time, Zhang Zuolin had just been defeated and was unable to suppress the bandits. Just when Zhang Zuolin was scratching his head, Zhang Zongchang volunteered to see Zhang Zuolin and said that he could persuade the bandits to surrender without a single soldier.

Zhang Zuolin was dubious, so Zhang Zongchang took a few of his men to the bandit's nest. In fact, there is a reason why Zhang Zongchang dared to boast about going to Haikou. The bandit leader Lu Yonggui was a wine and meat friend he knew when he was in the Northeast in his early years. His subordinates, big and small, and Zhang Zongchang are acquaintances. Zhang Zongchang is confident that he can use his three-inch tongue. Take it down. Sure enough, after the two sides met and talked in black words, Zhang Zongchang used the high-ranking official Houlu to talk to the fellow villagers to persuade the bandits. Not only did they solve the banditry without blood, but also organized three regiments for Fengjun. Seeing that Zhang Zongchang was so capable, Zhang Zuolin was very happy. With a stroke of his pen, he appointed Zhang Zongchang as the commander of the 3rd Mixed Brigade of the Jilin Provincial Defense Army and the guard envoy of Suining, Jilin Province. In this way, Zhang Zongchang jumped from a battalion commander to a brigade commander, and he also had his own territory.

The promotion to the third rank did not make Zhang Zongchang floating. At that time, there were more than 400,000 troops in the Feng army. There were nearly 30 mixed brigades in various places, and one brigade commander was far away. Unable to satisfy Zhang Zongchang's appetite, he yearned for greater authority in his heart. Soon, Zhang Zongchang got another good opportunity to expand his strength. At that time, the Soviet civil war was about to end. Kolchak and other white bandits were defeated by the Red Army and fled to the northeast of China along Siberia. A large number of arms were also discarded on the Sino-Russian border. Zhang Zongchang knew Russian and spent several years in Siberia. He also recognized the combat effectiveness of the Russian army. He took the opportunity to send people to the fleeing Belarusian soldiers to promote vigorously, declaring that he was willing to accept the Belarusian soldiers as his mercenaries. Promise to give good treatment. These Belarusian soldiers can do nothing but fight. After entering China, they are ordinary refugees. They have difficulty even supporting themselves. At this time, seeing that Zhang Zongchang was willing to take in himself and he had a generous military salary, there were thousands of Belarusians immediately. The soldiers joined Zhang Zongchang, including hundreds of Cossack cavalry.

That’s not even counted. A White Army artillery officer named Gerstlauf also revealed to Zhang Zongchang that a train full of White Army munitions was abandoned on the railway line along the Sino-Russian border. . Overjoyed, Zhang Zongchang took his men to the border and found a train of munitions, including thousands of rifles and dozens of wild artillery. Since then, Zhang Zongchang, who is greedy, has made repeated moves on the border and found tens of thousands of rifles, dozens of artillery pieces, large quantities of ammunition, and two armored trains. As a result, Zhang Zongchang's strength developed rapidly, and his troops quickly reached nearly 20,000, including a full-mandated White Russian infantry brigade and a cavalry unit. The Belarusian cavalry under Zhang Zongchang often galloped past Changchun Street. They wore knee-less riding boots, carried all kinds of firearms, and had big knives in the scabbard behind them.

There is no impermeable wall in the world, and Zhang Zongchang’s recruitment of Belarusian soldiers quickly spread. For this soaring foreign household, Zhang Zuolin had the heart to guard, and began to deduct Zhang Zongchang's military salary.

In the autumn of the twelfth year of the Republic of China (1923), Zhang Zuolin took advantage of the military exercises and sent review committee member Guo Songling to the third brigade of Zhang Zongchang, which was called the review, but was actually dismissed. Once, Guo Songling inspected Zhang Zongchang's troops. Guo was looking for faults. During the inspection, something went wrong. Guo Songling pointed at Zhang Zongchang and cursed, "Fuck your mother!" This is an angry curse! Under the public, ordinary people will surely turn their faces when they hear this curse! Unexpectedly, Zhang Zongchang was not in a hurry, and immediately said: "Fuck my mother, you are my father!" He knelt down to Guo Songling and said repeatedly, "Father, don't be angry." Younger than Zhang Zongchang Many years old Guo Songling made a big red face, and there was no need to purge. Later, Zhang Zongchang said to his cronies: "Father is just a name, I call him father, anyway, he is not my real father." So after hearing this, Zhang Zuolin pampered Zhang Zongchang and allowed him to do anything wrong.

Zhang Zongchang was audacious, but now he sees Dashuai Zhang playing tricks with himself on the military pay, even more disregarding him, he openly planted a large number of opium in his jurisdiction, playing the trick of raising the army with poison. This move caused an uproar in the Northeast media circles, and newspapers referred to Zhang Zongchang as a "drug general." Zhang Zongchang, who is so skinny and indifferent, doesn't care, with a shameless face that laughs and scolds me and I am contented.

Later, Zhang Zongchang became the chairman of Shandong Province and concurrently served as the military supervisory office of Shandong Province, starting his history of poisoning Shandong.

05, the arrogant Zhang Zongchang

For warlords, there is nothing more beautiful than returning home. In just a few years in Shandong, the complacent Zhang Zongchang was arrogant and extravagant. It was during this period of time that he got the nickname of the "Three Unknown" general, that is, I don't know how many soldiers, how much money, and how much his wife does not know.

Zhang Zongchang knows that in troubled times, there is a gun and is the grass head king. If he wants to maintain his position, he has to expand his force. In order to strengthen his strength, Zhang Zongchang conscripted at all costs. At that time, banditry was extremely rampant in Shandong. There were no less than 100,000 bandits in the province. Under Zhang Zongchang’s policy of recruiting security, a large number of bandits were transformed into regular troops under Zhang Zongchang’s command. Because of the eagerness to ask for soldiers, as long as the bandits and militiamen who came to defect, Zhang Zongchang would accept them all, and reward them by head. In order to get more money, the bandits lied about the number of their subordinates. Hundreds of people exaggerated to thousands, and 1,000 people exaggerated to thousands of people. So many soldiers under Zhang Zongchang did not know how many soldiers he had. I know that in some troops, there is only one battalion in a regiment, and a company in a battalion, and this company has only a few dozen people. Not to mention, Zhang Zongchang's army is extremely poorly disciplined. Even if it is fighting in Shandong, it will rob and buy and sell. It is simply a band of bandits in military uniforms. Stilwell, who served as the chief of staff of the Chinese theater in the War of Resistance Against Japan, was the US military attaché in China. He once observed Zhang Zongchang’s army up close. According to him, only 30% of Zhang’s soldiers had rifles, and the other 70 % Of soldiers are either holding cold weapons or simply with their bare hands. In this regard, the public opinion in Shandong at the time mocked Zhang Zongchang's army as having more officers than soldiers, more soldiers than guns, and more guns than bullets.

Zhang Zongchang's expansion of military strength indiscriminately, and his life so lewd and luxurious, he naturally needs the support of large sums of money, and the pressure of this batch of money is naturally transferred to the people of Shandong. During the three years when Zhang Zongchang reigned in Shandong, he levied aggressively in the local area and did everything he could, even more fierce than the bandits. During his administration, there were as many as sixty or seventy kinds of taxes for famous purposes alone. In addition to land tax, deed tax, tooth tax (tax imposed on brokers), pawn tax, livestock butcher tax, tobacco and alcohol tax, mineral tax, salt tax, luxury tax, banquet tax, land tax, stamp tax, post office Parcel tax, license tax, no smoking tax, fishing boat tax, vegetable tax, etc. There are also many kinds of "donations", such as salt tax red donation, house donation, special donation of tobacco and alcohol, special donation of tea, donation of wealthy gentry, garrison support, donation of barracks, donation of army shoes, donation of ordnance, market stalls Donation, special donation for trucks, price increase for salt, price increase for train tickets, Prostitute donation, drama donation, head donation, pot donation, dog donation, chicken donation, etc. Basically, Zhang Zongchang levied all the taxes he could think of, and the people even had to pay for raising a dog. The most absurd thing is that Zhang Zongchang also levied big dung donation and birthday donation. The so-called big dung donation is to ask for money from farmers who come to the city to pick up big dung. Zhang Zongchang can think of it.

Although Zhang Zongchang, who later went into exile in Japan, took away a huge amount of money, he was a gambler and lived a life of spending money every day, so he quickly sat in the sky. Seeing that there is less and less entanglement on his body, Zhang Zongchang, who is unwilling to be lonely, is ready to make a comeback and live a life of enjoyment as a warlord. In 1932, he found Zhang Xueliang, who was stationed in Peiping, hoping to find a job. Zhang Xueliang knew that he had the nature of being a mother if he had milk. He was afraid that he would collude with the Japanese again, so he gave him a false title and allocated him 30,000 ocean living expenses every month. But Zhang Zongchang himself felt that the days were not so good, and planned to return to Shandong to convene the old ministry. But the chairman of Shandong Province at that time was already the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Third Route Army and the rebel general of the Northwest Army Han Fuju. He was also a perverse and cruel warlord. How could he allow others to make trouble on his own territory? A contest is inevitable.

06, Brother's Hand

In August 1932, Han Fuzhe went to Peking to participate in a military meeting. After being introduced, he met with Zhang Zongchang. Under the illusion and conspiracy, Han and Zhang became brothers with different surnames. Zhang Zongchang is 9 years older than Han Fuju, and he takes himself carelessly as his elder brother. From time to time, he shows to Han how many old men are still all over Shandong, and how many people he can pull up with a hello. Han Fuju laughed on the surface, as if he was okay, but in reality he was very jealous and had the idea of ​​getting rid of Zhang Zongchang. After the military meeting, Han Fuju returned to Jinan. A few days later, he wrote a letter to Zhang Zongchang, inviting him to go to Jinan to discuss major issues. In view of Han Fuju's past reputation, Zhang Zongchang's old ministry and old friends Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang and others opposed his trip to Shandong, thinking that Han Fuju was obviously unkind. But Zhang Zongchang had already lived a life without power and money. He wanted to relive the old dreams of warlords who had been calling for the wind and rain. He ignored everyone's dissuasion and returned to Jinan at the end of August.

On September 3, after meeting with Han Fuju, Zhang Zongchang went to Jinan Railway Station, preparing to return to Beiping. Just as he was about to get into the car, two men suddenly rushed out of the crowd, raised their pistols and shot at him. Among them, the young man shot and cursed: "I killed you bastard!" Zhang Zongchang had been in the army for many years, and he was not afraid of marksmanship. But at this time, he had just finished drinking from Han Fuju's mansion, and the gun he was carrying was also taken by Han Fuju to leave. There was no resistance at all, so he had to jump on a train parked on the platform to escape. The two killers chased after him, shooting at Zhang Zongchang with random guns along the way. Seeing that Zhang Zongchang was about to escape successfully, Han Fuju's soldiers suddenly appeared. They shot at the assassin, but the assassin was unscathed, but Zhang Zongchang was hit by several strange rifle bullets on the spot, and soon died.

Then the two assassins were arrested, one of whom claimed to be his father for revenge, and would rather fight with his life. It turned out that this was another public case. In 1927, when Feng Yuxiang's army expedition to Henan province, Zhang Zongchang had repeatedly defeated, so he came up with a poisonous scheme and lured Feng's brigade commander Jiang Mingyu. This Jiang Mingyu is also a villain. Not only did he turn himself in, he also betrayed his boss, Zheng Jinsheng, the deputy commander of the 8th Front Army of the Feng Department, to Zhang Zongchang. "General Dog Meat" was being beaten into anger by Feng Jun, and he ordered Zheng Jinsheng to be shot to the public due to the Republican practice of having to kill senior prisoners. The current assassin is Zheng Jicheng, Zheng Jinsheng's son, and he is justifiably avenging his father.

After Zhang Zongchang was assassinated, public opinion was in an uproar. Because Zhang Zongchang was full of evil and did too many bad things, public opinion in Shandong and even the whole country turned to Zheng Jicheng, thinking that Zhang Zongchang's death was more than guilty, and Zheng Jicheng's father's revenge was excusable. People from all walks of life in Shandong also called on the Nanjing government to pardon Zheng Jicheng for his murder. In January of the following year, Zheng Jicheng was pardoned and then sent to the Army University general class to study. After Zhang Zongchang was killed, no one was willing to collect his body because of his reputation. It was only a day after his violent corpse station that Han Fuju ordered to be placed in Anhui Xiangshi. On September 11, 1932, Zhang Zongchang’sThe coffin was transported to Peiping by a train of iron-skinned stuffy tankers. After consultation with Zhang Xueliang and others, he was buried in Xiangshan, the western suburb of Peking. The most ridiculous and shameless warlord in the history of the Republic of China quietly faded out of people's vision.