It is said in the "Augmented Sages" that "endure the calm of the wind and waves for a while, take a step back from the sea and the sky", those who can achieve great things must be people who can bend and stretch. Zhang Zuolin, a warlord in the northeast who was born from a bandit, was such a person who could "Taoguang and cultivate obscurity", and under the control of Yuan Shikai, he tried his best to hide his sharp edge, so that he could preserve his strength and become a generation of influential figures.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai stole the revolutionary fruits of the revolutionaries and became the president, in a vain attempt to restore the imperial system in China. Zhang Zuolin saw that Yuan Shikai had the heart to be called emperor, so he took the initiative to call Yuan Shikai to show his loyalty to him. Under Zhang Zuolin's rhetoric, Yuan Shikai appointed Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Army's 27th Division.
▲ Yuan Shikai was delusional about restoring the imperial system
Yuan Shikai, who was suspicious by nature, would not let go of his guard against Zhang Zuolin, and if this extremely capable soldier had a rebellious mind, it would become a major problem for Yuan Shikai, so he repeatedly looked for opportunities to test Zhang Zuolin, wanting to test whether Zhang Zuolin was completely loyal to himself.
In 1913, Yuan Shikai summoned Zhang Zuolin, and Zhang Zuolin, who received the news, was trembling, he knew that this meeting was a feast at the Hongmen Gate, and if he dealt with it properly, he could gain Yuan Shikai's trust, and if he misbehaved, he was likely to die. Despite his doubts, Zhang Zuolin quickly rushed to Beijing to meet with Yuan Shikai.
▲Old photo of Yuan Shikai
Under the leadership of Yuan Keding, The son of Yuan Shikai, When Zhang Zuolin saw this great president who was running amok in the world, Zhang Zuolin was immediately in awe, and for a while he did not know how to deal with it. When Yuan Shikai heard this, he was full of joy and hurriedly let Zhang Zuolin get up.
Yuan Shikai, who was scheming and calculating, took the opportunity to test Zhang Zuolin and said, "How did Master Zhang meet the emperor like he did?" Now that it is the Republic of China, there is no need to perform this great gift. Zhang Zuolin replied frankly: "The subordinate is a rough person, he doesn't understand anything, the subordinate only knows that you are the great president, and in the eyes of the subordinates, the great president is equal to the emperor." This remark was watertight, and Yuan Shikai was very satisfied to hear it.
During the conversation, in order to completely eliminate Yuan Shikai's suspicions about himself, Zhang Zuolin deliberately pretended to be a stupid look that had never seen the world, and he stared at a beautifully made gold watch on Yuan Shikai's antique shelf from time to time. This watch is very delicately made, the dial is embellished with white jade pearls, and the back is a beautiful portrait of a sunset woman, Zhang Zuolin deliberately pretends to be interested in this watch.
▲Zhang Zuolin stills
Yuan Shikai saw Zhang Zuolin's thoughts on this gold watch, so he asked him again: "Now that the situation at home and abroad is complicated, does Commander Zhang need to increase the strength of his troops and expand the area of the garrison?" Zhang Zuolin hurriedly said that he didn't need anything, but if the president could borrow the gold watch on the antique shelf to watch, he would be grateful.
Yuan Shikai laughed when he saw his greedy face and directly gave the gold watch to Zhang Zuolin. Zhang Zuolin was satisfied with Xie En's retreat, knowing that he had passed Yuan Shikai's pass. Yuan Shikai, who had always been very deep in the city government, was fooled by Zhang Zuolin's methods.
▲Old photos of Beijing city
In order to further confuse Yuan Shikai, Zhang Zuolin did some stupid things from time to time, adding some rude words between his words, and even wrapped up the entire Wind and Moon Land of the Eight Hutongs, indulging in wine all day and singing at night, and this matter reached Yuan Shikai's ears, which further alleviated his suspicion of Zhang Zuolin.
When Zhang Zuolin left Beijing, Yuan Shikai said to his son Yuan Keding: "Zhang Zuolin is a complete rural villager, and even a gold watch can coax him to be happy. After that, Zhang Zuolin was released back to the northeast by Yuan Shikai, and although Yuan Shikai looked down on Zhang Zuolin's stupid appearance in front of him, he still relied heavily on his military strength.
When Zhang Zuolin wanted to return to the northeast, Yuan Shikai also specially gave Zhang Zuolin a carved lacquer vase from the Qianlong period, and also gave his mink coat to show his weight for Zhang Zuolin. Since then, Zhang Zuolin has thoroughly gained yuan shikai's trust, continuously developed his strength in the northeast, and eventually dominated the three eastern provinces and became the "king of the northeast" who shocked the whole country.
▲Old photos of the army during the Republic of China period
Later, when Yuan Shikai fell, Zhang Zuolin finally waited for the best time to overthrow Yuan Shikai, so he took the opportunity to raise an army and attack Yuan Shikai, at which time Yuan Shikai realized that Zhang Zuolin's stupid and stupid appearance before was just his Taoguang and obscure strategy, and in the end he could only resent himself for believing in the wrong person and ending up with hatred.
The "Lang Kou Zhi" wrote, "The wise nephew Hugh blamed the old man and said, like you, a character like you, do not argue about it." When you go, you must cultivate obscurity, and then look at the achievements of the heavens." If Zhang Zuolin had not done these absurd things, how could he have successfully deceived Yuan Shikai's trust and finally realized the revolution and overthrown Yuan Shikai? Therefore, if you want to achieve great things, you can only achieve the final victory by hiding the sharp edge and silently accumulating strength.