There are many strange things in the Republic of China, and it is not easy to be a commoner. Today I will talk about a strange incident that happened in the 8th year of the Republic of China, a bloody incident caused by two sweet potatoes...
rural
01
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 A seven or eight-year-old child is at the age of "not getting a house without timber for three days", and is very naughty. At that time, the boy secretly dug out two sweet potatoes from a sweet potato field.
It’s fine if you recruit cats and dogs every day, but after all, you are still children and no one cares about it. However, the sweet potatoes had not yet grown and had not yet reached the harvest season, which was considered a waste of food. It happened that the owner of the sweet potato field came to work. Seeing this situation, he slapped the boy several times in anger.
At that time, harming crops was not a trivial matter, and many children were beaten because of this, so it was not a big deal. After the boy's parents learned about this, they also understood the reason and just scolded the child. Such things happen often in rural areas, and the villagers never thought that they caused great trouble because of these two sweet potatoes.
More than a month later, the boy suddenly died of illness. It was not rare for poor medical conditions in that era, and the villagers could only express their regret. Unexpectedly, the child's father felt that the child's death must have something to do with being slapped twice in the face of stealing sweet potatoes. However, the boy's father did not make trouble, and the matter was over.
02
However, this father's special identity quickly made the matter a big deal.
Luoyang
The boy's father was named Li Zhigao, and he was originally from Anhui. In fact, Li Zhigao is an ordinary farmer in Qilihe Village, without money or power. The problem is that he is originally from Anhui.
To make this matter clear, we must talk about the background of the times. Let’s talk about Duan Qirui . He was the leader of Anhui warlord in the early Republic of China. After Yuan Shikai 's death, he was the actual ruler of Beiyang government for a long time. At that time, in order to enhance his strength, expand his sphere of influence, actively expand his army, and control important military areas in various places.
At that time, two brigades were stationed in Luoyang West Engineer Battalion . The sources of troops all came from Anhui. It was the " Imperial Army " that Duan Qirui wanted to train for himself. Both brigades are newly recruited, most of which are young farmers and gangsters in rural Anhui. This group of new recruits relied on Duan Qirui's "direct troops", had a bad temper, brave and fierce reputation.
More importantly, Duan Qirui vigorously expanded the army, but the logistics supply could not keep up. Not only did these new recruits from the Western Engineering Battalion not only couldn't keep up with their military pay, but half of the soldiers didn't even have military uniforms. Because of this, it is common for them to wander around in casual clothes and harass the people, and no one dares to care about them.
West Engineer Battalion and Qilihe Village are only separated by Jianhe , which is very convenient to travel. Li Zhigao, a villager from Qilihe Village, had a cousin who served in the Western Engineering Battalion and was also a platoon leader. He often brought a few fellow Anhui villagers to Qilihe Village to visit.
Li Zhigao's son died of illness, and he felt very painful. One day, his cousin came to chat, and he cried and told the story of his son stealing sweet potatoes and being beaten by the villagers. When the platoon leader heard this, he immediately slapped the table and angrily scolded the villagers for bullying Anhui people. Several other Anhui fellow villagers were also ready to take revenge and said that if they didn’t take revenge, it would be too easy to bully, so how could they stay nearby in the future?
03
The soldiers returned to the military camp that day and added fuel to the fire and exaggerated. A group of fellow Anhui villagers did not understand the truth. They thought Li Zhigao was really bullied by local villagers, so they clamored to take revenge. So, Li Zhigao's cousin led a group of soldiers to Qilihe Village, beating people when he saw them and robbing valuables when he saw them.
The warlord troops of the Republic of China
The people in Qilihe Village were confused. I didn’t know what was going on, and suddenly a group of soldiers fought and smashed. Why? The people at that time were timid and afraid of things. They saw the soldiers hiding, so they definitely did not dare to resist.Therefore, these soldiers had been struggling in Qilihe Village for a day, and the mess was so turbulent that they left with satisfaction.
The people of Qilihe Village are used to the troubles of these soldiers, and they think that this time the trouble was a little bigger. Today they fought and snatched things. It's time to be satisfied. Therefore, the villagers didn't think much about it and felt that life could continue.
However, these soldiers returned to the military camp and had new ideas.
smashed and looted all day, and the recruits were also very surprised because they did not encounter any resistance at all. The villagers of Qilihe Village were like "wooden people" and did not move. The new recruits felt that since this was the case, they would not be allowed to go again, and they would completely snatch Qilihe Village and exchange for some money.
In addition, the recruits also have a little concern. One or two people go to the village to grab things, which is just a "soldier who makes trouble". Today, a large group of people robbed in broad daylight. If they really spread it, they may cause big trouble. Therefore, the villagers of Qilihe Village must also "make a big mistake". Only in this way, there is a reason for new recruits to smash and loot.
04
That night, the group of soldiers got a body from somewhere, changed into military uniforms, and threw it at the Zhangjiafen south of Qilihe Village.
Rural
Early the next morning, villagers from Qilihe came out to work one after another, and soon someone found the body. Everyone surrounded him and was scared when they saw the body wearing military uniforms. Yesterday, a group of soldiers came to smash the enemy, and today one died outside the village. What's the matter!
Soon, the women and children in the village also heard the news and ran over to watch the fun. The Zhangjia Fen was full of people. Li Zhigao agreed with his cousin in advance, and in the middle of the night, he hid outside Qujiatun, east of Jianhe. When they saw the villagers of Qilihe Village watching the bodies, they rushed over and surrounded the crowd.
The people were confused again, what's going on? Li Zhigao's cousin came over and cursed, saying that the villagers beat the soldiers of the Third Brigade to death last night and must be severely punished. The people were frightened and quickly said that they were not beaten to death by the villagers, and no one knew what was going on.
These new recruits were framed and did not listen to the explanation at all. They rushed into the crowd and punched and kicked, shouting to avenge the dead soldiers. The scene was in chaos, and the villagers began to run into the village, and the soldiers chased after him. The man in the village was afraid of being beaten to death, so he ran out of the village and hid in a secluded place and did not dare to go home.
05
The women in the village felt that the soldiers would not beat them, so they all stayed at home and hid things in a panic. Unexpectedly, the new recruits ignored everything and kicked the door one by one, saying that they wanted to search the murderer. After entering the door, I snatched the food, bedding, clothes, pots, pans and spoons, and snatched almost everything I could move away.
Rural women in the Republic of China
Not only that, they saw that there were no men in the village and were braver, so they pulled out and insulted them when they saw the young woman. The whole village was filled with crying and hundreds of families in Qilihe Village were robbed.
After three days of disaster in the village, the new recruits were finally satisfied and pulled their things back to the military camp...
This incident soon spread to Luoyang, arousing the indignation of the citizens. Later, the matter spread to cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, and was featured in major newspapers, and people condemned the behavior of these recruits. However, because of the chaos of the current situation, the Northwest Frontier Defense Force was later transferred from Luoyang, and no one was punished...
So, the chaos in the Republic of China was hateful, and some soldiers were even more hateful than bandits.
