Republic of China joke: Why does Feng, who loves money like life, cry for poverty?

When von was president, he made a big joke, which was the "fish selling incident". It is said that the fish of * * * were stocked by the royal family of the previous generation, including a three-foot red fish and a big carp with a gold ring and gold medal, and have never been caught. When Feng entered * * *, he sent people to catch all the fish in the lake, and then ordered people to sell them at high prices in the market. For a time, "Presidential Fish" was sold everywhere in Beijing, and all the money sold went into Feng's private pocket. At that time, someone wrote a sarcastic remark: "The Prime Minister of Dongling cut down trees and the Fuehrer sold fish in the South China Sea!" Of course, during the period of warlords' scuffle, it was really difficult for the president of the Republic of China to do it, because there were few local taxes normally handed over to the central government, but many people asked the central government for money. Due to the unstable political situation, the Republic of China * * * achieved a balance of payments for two years except Yuan Shikai's period, and most of the time it relied on debt to maintain a balance of payments. Feng Yuxiang recorded in his memoirs that when Li was president, he often complained: "Alas, the president is really not human. I lost more than 30,000 yuan this month! This will cost me 360 thousand a year. In the long run, I really can't hold on. Well, you see, this month, I almost lost all the interest on my coal mine stocks and salt coupons. East also donated money, and West also raised money, overwhelming. It is not enough to donate 65,438+80,000 a month! " The unstable income of the Republic of China will inevitably affect the personal interests of the president. When Feng was a local official, he was always sensitive to financial problems. He knows that the president is actually a good man. Once the economy is poor and there is no money to spend, it will be unpleasant. Therefore, before entering Beijing as the contemporary president, Feng made a special condition to Duan, that is, the post of Chongwen door supervisor should be in his own name, because Chongwen door supervisor is a well-paid job, and he can get a stable business tax of 200,000 yuan per month, which can be used for the expenses of the presidential palace. However, a monthly income of only 200,000 can certainly solve the expenses of the presidential palace, but it is of no help to many national events. Therefore, it is inevitable that Feng, like Li, sometimes has to pay for himself. According to Yun, Feng's assistant, Feng and his old brother Wang Shizhen have been fighting for money for many years. The thing is, Wang Shizhen was the prime minister at that time, and Feng asked him to send someone to find Lu Rongting, the governor of Guangxi, to mediate the contradiction between the North and the South. But when Wang Shizhen asked Sichuan for instructions on how to spend the money, Feng refused to pay the money, but let the State Council solve it himself. Hearing this, Wang Shizhen lost his temper in private. He said angrily, "This is not for him. I don't covet anything! I am a dog all day. Who is it for? He won't take out this little money! " In the end, the State Council spent the money, but Wang Shizhen had a lot of complaints about Feng's meanness, which was probably one of the reasons why he didn't serve as prime minister for long. Feng likes to collect money, which is related to his experience. During Feng's grandfather's time, Feng's family was well-off, but after Feng was born, his family began to decline. It was not easy to make a living by farming and reading, supplemented by reading. Feng entered a private school when he was young, and his grades were not bad. When he was old, he went to the most famous Lotus Academy in Baoding, but he soon had to give up his studies and go home to farm. Later, Feng joined the team of Nie Shicheng, governor of Zhili, and became a chef first. Later, it was discovered by the management team and promoted to the orderly around him. Coincidentally, in the second year of Feng's enlistment, Li Hongzhang founded the Beiyang Military Academy in Tianjin, and Feng was successfully recommended to enter the first step study (Wang Shizhen and Duan are both artillery subjects). After Feng graduated from armament school, the general manager stayed on as a teacher because of his excellent academic performance. At that time, the Huai army didn't pay attention to military school graduates, and Feng was eager for promotion. Later, he joined Nie Shicheng's army and participated in the Sino-Japanese War, during which he performed well. After the war, Nie Shicheng was recommended to Japan as the attache of Chinese Ambassador to Japan Yu Geng, from which he paid attention to Japanese military affairs and wrote several books on the art of war, which he presented to Nie Shicheng after returning home. It's a pity that Nie Shicheng is a redneck with limited knowledge of modern military, so Feng's achievements have not been taken seriously. After training in Yuan Shikai's resident, Feng was recommended as a teacher by the old headmaster, so Feng presented another book. This time, he hit the nail on the head, but he met a big bole. After reading the book, Yuan Shikai won a treasure and praised Feng as "the first student in the army" many times. From this, Feng was also highly valued by Yuan Shikai and took on a heavy responsibility in the new army. During this period, all the footwork exercises of the new army in the station were completed by Feng, and Feng found a good place to display his skills. Because Feng lived a hard life since childhood, he valued money more. Compared with Yuan Shikai and Duan, he is a man who loves money. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, when the national industry and commerce developed rapidly, Feng, like other great men of the same period, also used the surplus accumulated for many years to make various investments. He bought a large number of properties in Shijing Village, Hejian County, his hometown, and co-founded a saltworks company with Zhang Jian, covering an area of several hundred thousand mu. He also made more investments in Kailuan Coal Mine, Qixin Cement Company and China Delta Bank. Although some investments also failed at a loss, on the whole, Feng benefited a lot from them. As a local official and even the head of state, Feng still cares about his own interests. At that time, some people accused him of being "good at self-cultivation", and Feng defended himself: "Xiangcheng (that is, Yuan Shikai) is the master. I learn from Xiao He's farmhouse music, mostly for business, taking the words of those who avoid it." Interestingly, Feng carved a seal for himself: "I want to have plenty of food and clothing all my life." But the real truth may not be the case. There is also a reason why Feng runs all kinds of businesses, because after he became famous, some relatives, fellow villagers and friends came to defect, hoping that he could arrange an errand. Feng can't refuse directly, but he can't arrange official positions for these people, so he arranges these people by investing in some businesses, which is also public and private. It is said that when Feng was in Nanjing, most of the logistics materials of the troops, such as rations and clothing, were supplied by his own enterprises. However, most of the enterprises he runs are privately owned. Once Feng loses power, it will inevitably get into trouble. Of course, Feng is not stingy. He still has many gifts for his relatives who follow him all the year round. For example, his aide Yun once said that Feng gave his confidant Shi Jingyun 8000 yuan to serve his old mother, and Yun himself received a 15000 yuan ticket (equivalent to about 8000 yuan) from Feng when his father was ill. Yun followed Feng for many years, and he also lamented that it was "unusual" for a person who valued money very much like Feng to give him and Shi Jingyun such a sum of money. After Feng Yu 19 19 died, according to the statistics at that time, the total value of Feng's legacy was less than 3 million yuan, which was caused by Feng's savings and investment for many years, including fields and stocks. It should be said that although Feng likes to collect money, he has no name of taking bribes and bending the law. After Feng's death, the funeral and inheritance were entrusted to his old friend Wang Shizhen. Under the auspices of Wang Shizhen, the money was distributed to his children in different shares. Duan did not take part in Feng's housework, but he later came to offer his condolences. According to Feng's children's memories, Duan went straight to Feng's body as usual, opened the curtain, glanced at his old friend's body, and turned and left. Later, Duan sent someone to send a personal couplet, one of which said, "We are going to help each other in the same boat. When shall we go our separate ways?" . This is probably what happened when they were president and prime minister respectively.