Xu Niang was the wife of Xiao Yi, Emperor of Southern Liang Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Lyna is a ruthless figure who suppressed the "post-Beijing Rebellion". He was one of the few great talents among the emperors, but he was accidentally planted in Jingzhou, the home of his painstaking efforts, and was caught off guard by Yu Wentai, the powerful minister of the Western Wei Dynasty, and died.
In the face of the blow of national subjugation, he burned all the 140,000 books he had hidden, and then left those indignant famous sayings: "Tonight's civil and military skills are exhausted" and "thousands of books will return it today, so burn it".
It happened in 554 AD.
1300 years later, in Huaiyang, Henan Province, which is farther north than Jingzhou, there was also an angry youth who rushed to burn his poems. He is Yuan Shikai.
1859, when the Qing army and the Taiping army were in full swing, a generation of fierce Yuan Shikai was born.
Speaking of it, Yuan Jia was just an ordinary scholar in Xiangcheng, Henan Province. Like most reading families in China at that time, they all lived in simple living, where they plowed and studied.
According to Yuan's genealogy, there is a generation rule of "having nine ambitions and three honors to protect the family".
The rise of the Yuan family is precisely in the generation of "Three", that is, Yuan Shikai's grandparents.
If it is not surprising that Yuan Shikai's own grandfather, the oldest Yuan Shusan, only got a scholar, then Yuan Jiasan, the second grandfather of Yuan Shikai, a name that sounds familiar, is the real leader who makes this family prosperous. He successively won the fame that most literati in that era dreamed of but could not do at all. Since then, Yuan Jiacheng has become a local tycoon, and talents have repeatedly appeared.
After Yuan Jiasan, his two sons and Yolanda became famous one after another. The former took the Jinshi exam, while the latter took the Juren exam and became an official outside, all of which are quite famous.
Of course, some people may say that talents are always real, but they are all grandpa Yuan Shikai's. What happened to Yuan Shikai's family?
In fact, it matters a lot, because Yuan Shikai's grandfathers had a very long-lived mother who lived in vain 100 years old, so this big family has not separated for a long time, which can be described as sharing weal and woe.
And Yuan Shusan, Yuan Shikai's grandfather, is actually not bad. Yuan Baozhong, Yuan Shikai's biological father, is also a scholar. As the eldest son of Nagato in this big family with four generations living under one roof, he is basically taking care of his hometown. Yuan Shikai's own uncle, Yuan Baoqing, was admitted as a juren and became an official outside.
Therefore, Yuan Jia has the reputation of "father and son Jinshi, brothers Juren, a family of two generations and four big noble", which was once passed down as a much-told story.
Yuan Shikai's family background decided that he should first take the road that his parents and grandparents came out of, that is, the road of studying, taking exams and being an official, which was also the most mainstream road when he got ahead in that era.
Fate seems to have been pushing Yuan Shikai to the Imperial Examination.
When Yuan Shikai was 7 years old, he was adopted by his uncle Yuan Baoqing, the juren we just mentioned. Since then, Yuan Shikai left his hometown with limited educational resources, and then followed his stepfather Yuan, who regarded himself as his own, to the officialdom in Jinan, Shandong, Nanjing, Jiangsu and other places, which was an eye-opener.
In order to let his heirs concentrate on their studies, Yuan specially hired local famous teachers for him, including a learned man in Jinan and a scholar in Nanjing, Qu Berg. In addition, Yuan Shikai's black ox family is also born in a scholarly family, familiar with poetry and books, and often teaches Yuan Shikai's homework.
In this case, even if Yuan Shikai is naughty again, he will inevitably be influenced by some subtle influences, more or less restrained his wildness and began to write articles step by step.
And Yuan Shikai's articles often have amazing words. After reading them, people often have a feeling of extraordinary spirit. In the book Xiangcheng Literature and History Materials, we can get a glimpse of some spiritual characteristics of young Yuan Shikai:
It just didn't last long. 1873, Yuan died in office. Yuan Shikai, who was only 15 years old, was highly valued by his uncle Yuan Baoheng when he returned to his hometown in Henan. He was admitted to the imperial court in his early years and was already a second-class official. He thinks Yuan Shikai is a talented person, and his wealth is uncertain.
Therefore, Yuan Baoheng decided to let Yuan Shikai study in Beijing, and entrusted his second brother Yuan Lingbao, who had worked in Beijing for many years at that time, to supervise Yuan Shikai's study.
You know, the home school run by Yuan is staffed by famous teachers in Beijing. Writing, writing poetry and writing articles all invited juren, and Yuan Shikai was really lucky to go there to study.
It may be that Yuan Shikai experienced the bad news that his stepfather and biological father died one after another, and suddenly became mature from a prodigal son. His attitude towards learning has changed 180 degrees. He was not forced to study, but took the initiative to study hard. He may expect to be promoted in the exam and even admitted to the imperial examination like his father and ancestors in the future, so as to gain fame and support the appearance of the Yuan family.
Yuan, who lives far away in Beijing, originally thought his nephew was a literary talent with average qualifications, but seeing his nephew working so hard and making progress, he couldn't help praising Yuan Shikai to his eldest brother Bao Heng, thinking that he had made great progress and was worth making friends with, and actually belonged to the upper-middle class.
Seeing that the triennial provincial examination is coming, Yuan Shikai is almost ready. In order to obtain the qualification after having obtained the provincial examination, he embarked on the road of "donating a Guo Jianzi" and directly crossed the threshold of being a scholar. Everything is ready, except for a try.
According to this trend, it should not be a problem for Yuan Shikai to get a juren.
Two disappointments in the examination room
/kloc-in the autumn of 0/876, the curtain of the rural examination of the subject of C was slowly opened, and Yuan Shikai returned to Henan from Beijing to take the autumn examination with anxiety and excitement.
Yuan Shikai was greatly disappointed by the result of the exam-he lost his reputation in Sun Shan.
However, in the imperial examination era, there were very few people who became famous in World War I, and the road to senior high school entrance examination was very long. Even Yuan Shikai's great-uncle, Yuan Jiasan, took the exam many times until he was 29 years old. Therefore, the second uncle urged Yuan Shikai to continue studying in Beijing, looking forward to it for a long time.
Unfortunately, Yuan Shikai only stayed in Beijing for about a year, and then went back to Henan on business with Yuan Baoheng.
At that time, Henan was thousands of miles away, and it was there that the legendary drought intensified during the Guangxu period. The purpose of Yuan Baoheng's return to his hometown is to be ordered to provide disaster relief. Catastrophes are often followed by pandemics, which is how Yuan Baoheng finally died. Since then, Yuan Shikai has never returned to Beijing to study.
After returning to his hometown, Yuan Shikai did wander for some time, but his two uncles have led him to the right path of "imperial examination". Soon, Yuan Shikai used the property obtained from his separation to settle in Huaiyang, Henan Province, and established two "literary societies", namely "Li Ze Shan Fang" and "Mo Qi Shan Fang". He studied poetry with a group of literary friends all day, and even the local satrap was attracted by him. For a time, he was famous as a "literary leader".
As a result, Yuan Shikai, who was more confident, began to take an active part in the second provincial examination-1879.
How was the exam result? You must have guessed!
In the early years of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai's state of mind was recorded in the book Disciples of Rong 'an:
At that time, Yuan Shikai, who boasted, was furious when he saw that his two schoolmates were not as good as himself on the list on weekdays, and he once again lost his mysterious name in Sun Shan. Under the grievance, the scene at the beginning of this article was produced. Like Liang Wudi in history, he vented his anger on poetry and then burned the once proud words.
It's just that the perished Emperor Liang Yuan is really powerless to return to heaven, while the angry Yuan Shikai may be reborn from nirvana.
Martial arts is better than literature.
The late Qing Dynasty was a special era. Scholars such as Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Yuan Jiasan who passed the imperial examination were ordered to engage in military tactics, and a number of powerful figures were born.
Yuan Shikai was born under the general trend of the times when his father, grandparents, Nian Army and Taiping Army attacked each other. Even the origin of his name is related to military and political events. It was after receiving the news that Yuan Shikai's great-uncle Yuan Jiasan successfully captured Fengyang, the important town of Nian Army, that the Yuan family named him "Shikai" in combination with the word "Shi".
It is said that when Yuan Shikai was five years old, he was fearless when he saw the scene of the Nian army besieging Yuan Zhai, and he was born a heroic soldier.
When his stepfather Yuan was in Nanjing when he was a child, Yuan Shikai benefited a lot from his teacher, Mr. Qu Numa, who taught him fist and fist kung fu. This is in line with Yuan Shikai's hobby, and Yuan Shikai's mastery of swords and horses is not a problem.
In his spare time, Yuan Baoqing will also tell Yuan Shikai about his own experience in officialdom, and he has also written various articles to let Yuan Shikai know the officialdom doorway early in his youth.
When he was studying in Beijing, he loved reading military books and books, especially Zuo Zhuan, and was famous for telling soldiers. Usually, my uncle Yuan Baoheng often handles some daily affairs. He worked hard and dealt with the government left by Yuan Baoheng in an orderly way during the disaster relief in Henan.
In fact, compared with Yuan Shikai's early deeds, it is not difficult to see that Yuan Shikai is a figure whose martial arts are better than literary accomplishment. He has a mysterious interest in military and political affairs since he was a child. As the saying goes, interest is the best teacher. With this interest, an able man who knows both soldiers and politics has gradually emerged.
When the road to the imperial examination was blocked, he could still turn around and change his mind. Why not follow his father and ancestors and embark on the road of joining the army? For Yuan Shikai, who is well versed in officialdom and has many contacts, this is a practical and economical way.
The fate of going to North Korea
One year after the failure of scientific research, in the winter of 1880, Yuan Shikai went to Wu Changqing, which was stationed in Penglai, Shandong.
Wu Changqing was the sworn brother of Yuan Baoqing, the stepfather of Yuan Shikai. 1873, Yuan died in office, Yuan Shikai was young and still relied on the funeral of others. For Yuan Shikai, Wu Changqing naturally took good care of him.
At first, Wu Changqing asked Yuan Shikai to do a business meeting, but in fact it was nothing, which was equivalent to a temporary job. Why are you doing this?
Wu Changqing himself was actually a juren. When he was in troubled times, he formed an army and became the leader of the Qing army, known as the Confucian general. He hoped that Yuan Shikai could continue to gain fame and take the road of imperial examination, so he did not add any burden to him. He also recommended Zhang Jian, a scholar of his shogunate, to Yuan Shikai to guide his study. It is worth mentioning that Zhang Jian won the first prize in the future.
At that time, Yuan Shikai was actually holding the psychology of watching and betting on both sides. On the one hand, he wanted to make a difference in the military, and on the other hand, he was unwilling to take the imperial examination. This can be seen from his letter to his family:
This letter was sent by Yuan Shikai in Dengzhou Military Camp, Shandong Province. It was March 1882, and he had been away from home 1 for many years. In half a year, it will be another big exam after the provincial exam. He hopes to get rid of some unimportant things in the military camp and concentrate on preparing for the exam. Then I will recommend someone in the exam. The heart of boxing is beyond words.
It's just that things change In July, the political situation in North Korea changed suddenly. After receiving the distress message, the Qing court decided to ask Wu Changqing to lead the Qing army to board a ship to deal with the situation on the peninsula, fearing that the Japanese would lose their lives. At that time, things were very urgent, and Emperor Guangxu personally ordered it. Wu Changqing is also an occasion for employing people. Yuan Shikai, who has military and political talent, can't stay out of it. So when Wu Changqing arrived in North Korea.
Unexpectedly, this trip to North Korea opened a new direction in life, completely broke his road to the imperial examination, and finally opened his road to success in the military.
From this point of view, Yuan Shikai, who was born in a scholarly family and bent on taking the old family road and getting ahead, finally abandoned literature and took a new path. The reason cannot be taken lightly.
Frustration in the field of science inspired Yuan Shikai, who was eager for fame, to try his own interest-the direction of military exploits. At the right time, this attempt really opened Yuan Shikai's life, which he never expected.
Main references:
[1] [Northern Song Dynasty] Sima Guang. Purple tongzhi sword? Jiliang 2 1
[2] Su Quanyou, edited by He Kewei. Biography of Yuan Shikai. Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press
[3][ Republic of China] Shen Zuxian, Wu Kaisheng. Disciples' Records of Rong 'an (Volume I)120000.100000000805
[4] global person Magazine. The past is like smoke: memoirs of the descendants of politicians in the Republic of China. Beijing: People's Publishing House.2013.
[5] Fu Wenyong, editor in chief. General Collection of Xiangcheng Literature and History Materials 16 Yuan Shikai's family poems.
[6] Gu Qing, edited by Lin Yanjiao. Yuan Shikai. Sanlian publishing house
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