As Hong Kong's famous action star Sammo Hung, everyone is naturally familiar with it. However, his great-grandfather, Hong Shuzu, I believe few people know about him in modern times. However, in the early years of the Republic of China, he was a figure who influenced the course o

As Hong Kong's famous action star Sammo Hung , everyone is naturally familiar with it. However, his great-grandfather, Hong Shuzu, I believe few people know him in modern times, but in the early years of the Republic of China, he was a person who influenced the course of Chinese history. figure.

Hongshuzu

Hongshuzu had a rough first half of his life. He traveled around the country, and his life journey was quite bumpy and accomplished almost nothing. Especially at the beginning of the Republic of China, he served as secretary of Yuan Shikaifuzhong and secretary of the General Affairs Department. He was inconspicuous. In order to advance further in his career, he even took the initiative to hug Yuan Shikai's thigh.

The Kuomintang at that time was led by Song Jiaoren. Under his wise guidance, it also won a resounding victory in the election, and then planned to reorganize the government cabinet in order to break Yuan Shikai's political monopoly. Faced with this situation, Hong Shuzu began to worry that his position would not be preserved after Yuan Shikai's downfall, so he secretly guessed Yuan Shikai's intentions in private, and began to plan how to assassinate Song Jiaoren.

Song Jiaoren

When Song Jiaoren was successfully assassinated, the truth slowly emerged in front of the world. At that time, Hong Shuzu was shouted and beaten like a rat crossing the street. Although he had fled to the German concession in Qingdao, it was only Although he escaped disaster for the time being, he could not escape the punishment of justice in the end, and ended up being hanged.

1. Nothing accomplished in the first half of his life

Hong Shuzu was a native of Yanghu, Jiangsu, and his ancestral home was She County, Anhui. He was born in 1859, and his original name was Hongxi.

He changed his name to Hong Shuzu only in 1897, the 23rd year of Guangxu's reign. When many descendants recorded his life and deeds, they initially ignored the change in his name, so he was always named Hong Xi. Almost no one knows about his half-life story.

It was not until recently that the veil covering the first half of my life was lifted one by one through the research of a group of historical scholars.

Hong Liangji

It turns out that Hong Shuzu's great ancestor was once a famous writer and historian in the Qing Dynasty - Hong Liangji, and he was even a famous literary giant during the Qianlong period.

In 11860, the 10th year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army successfully broke through the Qing army's camp in the south of the Yangtze River, and soon attacked Changzhou. At that time, Hong Shuzu's father, Hong Jinggong, was also assisting Qing officials in organizing regiment training to resist resistance. Taiping Army.

Unfortunately, his father died in battle after the fall of Changzhou under the fierce offensive of the Taiping Army. At that time, a total of 17 members of the Hong family jumped into the river, hoping to die. Fortunately, Hong Shuzu and his mother were rescued by others and escaped death. Hong Shuzu was only 9 months old at the time.

The Taiping Army broke into Jiangnan Camp for the second time

At that time, his mother only had one child like him, so he became the only child whom her mother loved so much. In order to survive, Hong's mother had to take him back to her parents' home and make a living by spinning and weaving all day long. You can't be rich, but you can still make ends meet.

Even under such difficult conditions, his mother still paid close attention to his education. From time to time, he would use the story of his ancestor Hong Liangji's mother who often urged her young children to study, hoping that one day he would learn something. Cheng, the number one scholar in high school.

But the reality of development often backfires. Unfortunately, Hong Shuzu did not inherit any of the bookishness of his ancestors. In fact, he was not a good reader and had no interest in poetry and songs.

Even though he was studying in a private school at home, he still failed to pass the scientific examination after taking it several times. It was a pity. Some more interested people have calculated that from the time he started taking exams until 1888, the 14th year of Guangxu's reign, he took part in the provincial exams five times, but failed in all of them.

Qing Dynasty Imperial Examination

Seeing that the career path was not going to work, in order to make a living, he had to give up this path. Hong Shuzu began to take advantage of his previous connections with his father's generation and wanted to find a job with the staff of local powerful officials in the Qing Dynasty in order to save the country.

He once served in the shogunate of Zuo Zongtang and Chen Baochen . Although he was not good at reading, his mind was flexible, so he was appreciated by these big shots.

After the Sino-French War, the imperial court sent Liu Mingchuan as the governor of Taiwan. In 1885, Hong Shuzu also moved to Taiwan and then served in the shogunate of Liu Mingchuan. It is interesting to say that Hong Shuzu was not a scholar, but he was in the officialdom Mix and thrive like a fish in water.

When Hong Shuzu first came to Taiwan, he was Liu Mingchuan’s guest. He acted honestly at first. Unfortunately, due to lack of greed, he embezzled public funds and used public funds for personal gain. He accumulated a lot of savings for himself, but there is no airtight wall in the world. ? Soon his corrupt behavior came to light. After learning about this, Liu Mingchuan was furious and quickly made him a prisoner.

Taiwan's first governor Liu Mingchuan

In 11888, Hong Shuzu was imprisoned in Tamsui Prison in Taiwan on two major charges by Liu Mingchuan. This imprisonment lasted for 5 years. The two major charges were fabricating and reimbursing the Bureau of Commerce's shipping expenses, totaling more than 20,000 taels; the other charge was bringing in materials and parts for the purchase of machinery and embezzling public funds for the purchase of the machinery.

However, after Liu Mingchuan left office and Shao Youqian succeeded him as the governor of Taiwan, in 1892, the Hong case was reviewed again. Based on the report and investigation, Liu Mingchuan's conclusion was overturned, and it was believed that Hong Shuzu had misused funds when purchasing machine materials abroad. Although he had embezzled public funds without authorization, he did not embezzle any money. Subsequently, a detailed investigation was conducted at his home and no hidden property was found.

We don’t know what methods Hong Shuzu used to carry out this deliberate cover-up re-investigation. It has long been impossible to verify, but in history, in 1893, Hong Shuzu regained his freedom after being imprisoned for 5 years.

However, this lesson not only failed to make him reflect deeply, but instead aggravated the resentment in his heart and made him become more ruthless in the officialdom in the future.

After he was released from prison, Hong Shuzu did not defect to Liu Mingchuan. In view of the lessons learned from his past experience, he would probably not reuse him again. After careful consideration, he chose to go north to Tianjin and seek refuge with his fellow countrymen who served here.

Sheng Xuanhuai

Soon he was hired by Sheng Xuanhuai of Jinhai Guangdao, probably because he wanted to help him as a fellow countryman. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, he was sent to Korea by this fellow countryman, but after the Qing army was defeated, He returned home again.

Since then, Hong Shuzu has been living in Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places for a long time as an alternate official or aide, but has never achieved any great achievements.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, he ushered in the turning point of his life, that is, hugging Yuan Shikai's thigh tightly.

2. Plotting to assassinate Song Jiaoren

Talking about his first meeting with Yuan Shikai, it happened in Seoul before the Sino-Japanese War of 1888-1894. At that time, Yuan Shikai had a very good impression of him and even wrote to Sheng Xuanhuai to ask him to take special care of him, but then For more than 10 years, the two did not have a close relationship.

Yuan Shikai

But when the rule of the Qing Dynasty was in danger and on the verge of collapse, Yuan Shikai decided to come out again. This was also an opportunity for them to reconnect.

In 1911, a road protection movement broke out in Sichuan. Due to dissatisfaction with the state-owned policy of railway trunk lines, a series of movements were launched. Seeing that the Minister of Posts and Communications, Sheng Xuanhuai, could not quell the anger, the Qing government dismissed him. Enable Tang Shaoyi .

Hong Shuzu, who had known Tang Shaoyi for many years, both of whom lived in Tianjin at the time, had reminded Tang Shaoyi not to take up this post, and asked him to meet Yuan Shikai to secretly discuss the peace talks between the north and the south of , and then take this opportunity to make peace with . The Qing government was overthrown. Then implement a democratic republic with Yuan Shikai as president and Tang Shaoyi as prime minister.

As the wheel of history rolled by, Yuan Shikai later became the interim president, Tang Shaoyi also served as the Prime Minister, and Hong Shuzu was recommended to the Minister of Internal Affairs Zhao Bingjun and successfully served as secretary.

Yuan Shikai and representatives from various countries

This also became Hong Shuzu's capital to brag to others in the future. To the effect, he returned from the south to the north and was kindly invited by President Yuan to serve as Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was also appointed as the Presidential Palace. consultant.

The former is beyond doubt, but no one knows whether the latter has actually served as an adviser to the Presidential Palace. Yuan Shikai's high regard and extraordinary trust in him is beyond doubt.

In February 1913, Hong stated that his ancestors "The President of Mongolia was awarded the third-class Jiahe Medal, and he was the most distinctive among the secretaries of various ministries." At that time, according to the provisions of the "Medal Order", only the President could wear the Grand Medal. , and the Jiahe Medal is located under the Grand Medal. It is divided into levels 1 to 9. Most of the people who can get this medal are those who have made meritorious contributions to the country or to knowledge and career.

As the only secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at that time who had won the third-class Jiahe Medal, it is not difficult to see that Yuan Shikai valued him.

People's hearts are always greedy. He was not satisfied with serving as secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a long time, so he engaged in massive corruption and abuse of power. In addition, he had many conflicts with his colleagues in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Only a few months after taking office, he was sent by his immediate superior, Zhao Bingjun, to Jiangnan to investigate the water police . Shortly after he left Beijing, the Song Jiaoren case quietly occurred.

In March 1912, a group photo was taken when the first cabinet of the Beijing government was established (the second from the left is Song Jiaoren)

As the founder of the Kuomintang, Song Jiaoren led the Kuomintang to overthrow the Chinese empire, and later won unanimous votes in the Kuomintang's parliamentary election. Through it, it is planned to reorganize a political party cabinet, but this may pose a great threat to the rights of Yuan Shikai's faction.

Hong Shuzu was like a mirror in his heart, knowing clearly that the reason why he had his current status was entirely because he was Yuan Shikai's man. Only by maintaining Yuan Shikai's rule and status quo could he expand his status and rights.

Because of this, he was very worried about the political party cabinet advocated by Song Jiaoren. He was worried that once it was successfully formed, it would exclude dissidents, damage Yuan Shikai's strength, and thus monopolize the political world, and he would also be subject to it. If he is implicated, his official status will also be destroyed.

At that time, Hong Shuzu was already in his 50s. He had gone through many ups and downs in the officialdom and encountered many twists and turns, but he never achieved his ideal official position. To be appreciated and reused by Yuan Shikai, he needed to eagerly make new contributions for him so that he could take a further step in his political career.

worked hard on this in private, secretly guessing Yuan Shikai's intentions and how he would deal with the Kuomintang. He believed that Yuan Shikai would prepare to kill Song Jiaoren, in order to stifle Song Jiaoren's move to rebuild the cabinet, and also fundamentally Solve the signs that he wants to attack the power of Yuan Shikai's faction, thereby ensuring his personal interests.

The situation of the Revolution of 1911

After making up his mind, he quickly contacted Ying Guixin, the chief inspector of Jiangsu stationed in Shanghai. The two men worked together. After many discussions, they decided on the plan to assassinate the Song Dynasty, that is, Ying Guixin would go there. Hire Samurai Ying as a gunner to carry out the assassination operation.

On the night of March 20, 1913, a man arrived at the Shanghai Railway Station. This man was in a suit and leather shoes and looked very impressive. He was Song Jiaoren. He was taking the train to go north to discuss with everyone how to reorganize. Responsible for cabinet matters. Shortly after he got off the train, gunshots rang out. Song Jiaoren had to fall to the ground, clutching his bullet-hit waist, in great pain. Frightened by the gunshots, people fled in all directions, and the entire train station became a mess. .

There were many accompanying people at that time, such as Yu Youren, Liao Zhongkai, Huang Xing, etc., and they immediately decided to send him to the nearest Shanghai-Nanjing Railway Hospital. Surgery was performed that night and the warhead was successfully removed. Unfortunately, the warhead was Containing venom, he eventually died in the early morning of the 22nd. It was the first sensational case in the Republic of China at that time, and was also known as the assassination of Song Jiaoren. As a popular politician at the time,

was assassinated and died on the street at the critical moment when he was heading north to form a cabinet. For a while, major media rushed to report on it and public opinion was in an uproar.

Song Jiaoren was assassinated

As the president, Yuan Shikai only pretended to order a reward to solve the case. He originally just wanted to go through the motions. Unexpectedly, Samurai Ying, as an assassin, failed to succeed but failed, and was captured by the patrol room. Yuan Shikai, who was the Beiyang warlord , was originally a major suspect, but now it seems that this suspicion will be confirmed.

Following severe torture and interrogation, the truth was soon revealed. It turned out that the person who hired him was Ying Guixin. Later, the patrol room followed the clues and learned that Ying Guixin's boss was Hong Shuzu, who was serving as the secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the time, and his In the background is Zhao Bingjun, the then Prime Minister. This explosive discovery once again caused the media of the Republic of China to launch reports one after another. The call for catching the real culprit was increasing day by day. In the end, public opinion pointed directly at Yuan Shikai.

learned that the incident was exposed, and three people, including Zhao Bingjun, Ying Guixin, and Samurai Ying, died unexpectedly. However, there was one exception, and that was that Hong Shuzu actually escaped temporarily.

3. Escape to the Concession

After the truth about Song Jiaoren's assassination was made public, Hong Shuzu, seeing that the situation was not good, received Yuan Shikai's asylum and fled to Qingdao overnight, temporarily hiding in the German concession in Qingdao.

Qingdao German Concession

And Yuan Shikai was also unanimously condemned by the whole country and was required to thoroughly investigate the assassination of Song Dynasty, and the real culprit must be brought to justice. Faced with the turbulent public sentiment, Yuan Shikai at first just wanted to pretend to fool everyone. In order to make the performance realistic, he asked the Ministry of Justice to issue a wanted order and expressed his hope to the German Embassy in China that he hoped to extradite Hong Shuzu, but he was rejected by the German Embassy at that time. , making it clear that there are no extradition regulations between the two countries, so people cannot be surrendered.

You must know that Hong Shuzu's choice of Qingdao as his escape destination was not a blind choice. At that time, the German Concession was a paradise for most of China's fugitives. It not only had a beautiful environment, but also could get shelter. It was really an incomparable place. A great place for the picky.

Especially after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty and Manchu nobles came to live there. Many of them were old acquaintances of Hong Shuzu, such as Li Jingmai - Li Hongzhang's son, Sheng Xuanhuai and others. At that time They were all active in Qingdao, and Hong Shuzu could be like a fish in water when he fled here.

As soon as he fled to Qingdao, Hong Shuzu purchased a building from the German police chief Wiltz for a high price of 15,000 yuan, which was quite eye-catching.

The "Guanchuantai" villa

purchased by Hong Shuzu was able to withdraw a huge amount of money during his escape. What if it didn't receive financial support from Yuan Shikai? As Hong's brother-in-law, Shi Rongsheng, made it clear in Beijing that Hong Shuzu received a reward of 200,000 from the government precisely because of his successful assassination of the Song Dynasty, so it is not surprising that he was generous during his escape.

This seemingly unintentional move to buy a house was actually Hong Shuzu's attempt to establish a certain connection with the German Concession and add a protective umbrella for himself. This was also his shrewdness.

Seeing that extradition was unsuccessful and his life was not in danger, he relapsed into his old habits and became rampant. He publicly boasted that he helped Tang Shaoyi establish the republic during the Revolution of 1911 and that he was the top hero. He even criticized Song Jiaoren for forming a political party and cabinet. Criticize and belittle it as forming a clique for personal gain.

As everyone knows, the evidence that he was the mastermind of the assassination of Song Dynasty is irrefutable and has been widely exposed. The evidence is the telegrams exchanged with Ying Guixin, which were seized one by one, and they contain clear words to destroy Song Dynasty.

Faced with overwhelming evidence, Hong Shuzu even argued that he just wanted to destroy Song Jiaoren's reputation, which could not be used as evidence that he wanted to assassinate him. He said so, but he felt guilty in his heart.

You must know that there are many passionate people who follow Song Jiaoren. If someone wants to sacrifice his life for righteousness and take the life of a dog, it is impossible to prevent it. For this reason, Hong Shuzu often lives in seclusion and never shows off to others easily. Even if he had to go out occasionally, he would disguise himself and shave off his beard, and would not hesitate to use the pseudonym Wang Lanting to deceive others.

Qingdao German Concession

In order to seek safer asylum, he did not hesitate to bribe German officials with large sums of money.

But Hong Shuzu’s happy days soon came to an end. In 1914, Japan officially declared war on Germany, the Qingdao concession changed hands, and Japan became the occupier.

changed his master, and his attitude was not as kind as before. In 1915, the Japanese unceremoniously drove him out of his original place of residence, and his life became difficult from then on.

Another two years passed. In 1917, I felt that four years had passed since the assassination of Song Dynasty. Even my former thigh, Yuan Shikai, had gone to the west. No one would still remember me, so I quietly Sneak back to Shanghai to carry out activities.

Even if he returned to Shanghai, he could only hide in the concession, but he was afraid that something might happen, and he actually got into a lawsuit, and this lawsuit became his talisman.

Map of the Shanghai Concession

4. Hanging

It turned out that during those days in Qingdao, Hong Shuzu borrowed a sum of money from the German merchant Xiangfeng Yang Company, which he has not paid back yet. He secretly left Qingdao for Shanghai without saying hello to the merchant house, fearing that he would not be able to get it back. The foreign bank that paid the money sued him in Shanghai.

Although he was successfully released on bail from the court on April 30, 1917, shortly after leaving the court, he was pounced on by a strange boy and pulled tightly by his collar, accusing him: "Hong Shuzu, repay my father's blood debt."

Song Jiaoren’s son——Song Zhenlu

This strange young man is Song Jiaoren’s son——Song Zhenlu. Although he is still underage, his father’s blood debt has always been kept in mind, and he has never given up on Hong Shuzu. Tracking, even his father's former friends and subordinates have not given up revenge. He has been collecting information for many years just to find out the whereabouts of Hong Shuzu.

The news that Hong Shuzu quietly returned to Shanghai and got into a lawsuit spread like wildfire, and soon reached their ears. They believed that the opportunity for revenge was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In order to capture Hong Shuzu and bring him to justice, Song Jiaoren's former secretary Liu Bai also joined the crusade. The army conspired together to discuss.

After a series of complicated negotiations, Hong Shuzu was finally extradited to Beijing. Even though he was tried in Beijing, Hong Shuzu never gave up hope. He did not hesitate to mobilize old friends who had been in the Beiyang government to smoothen the relationship, just to escape sanctions. .

At that time, it happened to coincide with the rising national anti-imperialist and anti-feudal movement. Public opinion and media in various places strongly condemned the once-protected mastermind of the assassination of the Song Dynasty. Finally, on March 27, 1919, the Dali Temple of the Beiyang Government was He was forced to go to trial and sentenced to death.

Beiyang government dignitaries

It belonged to the Republic of China at that time, and the inhumane criminal laws of the Qing Dynasty had long been abolished. Therefore, executions were not carried out by beheading, but by hanging. Even the hanging machines were imported from abroad.

Before going to the gallows, Hong Shuzu was still crying unwillingly, and his voice was hysterical, indicating that he was just executing the order of the former president.

But his cry was so weak that no one paid attention. The executioner directly put the rope around his neck, and then pressed the button, and his fat body jumped into the air, leaving only his legs weak. Struggling and screaming could be heard endlessly.

Originally, this criminal law was intended to leave a whole corpse for the prisoner. However, Hong Shuzu's body was too fat and his head could not support the weight of the body. He actually tore off his head alive, causing the head to be dislocated and covered with blood. Yu was beheaded.

The Beiyang government prepares for the gallows

To this end, the Beiyang government specially invited three students from the Beijing Medical College to sew his original head and body, and even applied Bengsha plaster, and finally allowed his family to take it back. Buried.

Hong Shuzu was already over 60 years old when he was executed. I don’t know if he was influenced by his father. None of the remaining sons got involved in politics. Instead, they entered the film industry with the development of the times. From here on, the family started Established the model of a film and television family.

The one with the highest achievement is Hong Shen , while the other son Hong Ji has many descendants. Among these descendants is a famous Hong Kong action star-Sammo Hung.

Hong Kong film and television star - Sammo Hung

Judging from the photos left over from history, some netizens jokingly said that Sammo Hung's body shape is quite similar to that of his great-grandfather. Although our ancestors were immoral, fortunately, they did not affect future generations.

Sammo Hung has a very high reputation in Hong Kong's film and television industry, and his status is unmatched by others. There are many king-level stars that everyone is familiar with today, and they must be respectful in front of him.