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after the founding of the people's republic of china, the once extravagant life of the qing nobles gradually fell into the predicament of wearing silk and eating bran with the fall of the qing dynasty. even zaitao, the commander of the qing dynasty's imperial guards, was forced to sell food on the street in beijing deshengmen to make a living, and even performed on stage for a living. in 1954, this former qing noble attended the first national people's congress as a representative of the manchus. during the break of the meeting, zaitao met the enthusiastic premier zhou.

"zai lao! long time no see!"

after a conversation, zaitao, led by premier zhou, met chairman mao. the chairman shook zaitao's hand cordially and said, "i have long heard of your great name, mr. zaitao!" during the conversation, chairman mao said with a smile, "you don't look like an old general who has been on the battlefield for a long time, but rather a gentle and elegant scholar."

why did chairman mao have such enthusiasm for this former royal relative? why did the former nobleman become a street vendor? after the founding of the people's republic of china, why did chairman mao and premier zhou value zaitao so much? what happened to zaitao?

the glorious lord belle

aixinjuelu zaitao was born in 1887. after his father passed away, zaitao was appointed as the duke of fuguo at the age of three. in 1902, zaitao was conferred the title of beile and granted the beile mansion at the age of five. zaitao loved reading, riding and archery, and loved horses as his life. he often studied the tricks of raising and training horses carefully by himself. his horse-judging skills were so good that he could accurately judge the age of a horse and whether it was an imported or local horse as long as a horse passed by him.

on weekdays, zaitao often went to the palace to accompany empress dowager cixi to listen to opera. after a while, zaitao fell in love with opera and would hum a few lines when he was free. later, by chance, zaitao became a disciple of zhang qilin, a peking opera master in the forbidden city, and yang xiaolou, a master of the peking opera, and became a master of peking opera. in 1910, in order to better assist the emperor in governing the country, zaitao studied in eight countries including the united states, japan, and germany. during this period, he actively absorbed advanced western ideas and technology.

after returning to china after completing his studies in 1910, he took charge of the top force of the qing dynasty - the imperial guard, and was responsible for the daily training of the imperial guard. in the late qing dynasty, zaitao was appointed minister of military advisory, but because he had never led troops in battle, the title of minister of military advisory was just a nominal title.

the decline of baylor

in 1911, one year after zaitao took office, the xinhai revolution broke out. empress dowager cixi wanted zaitao to lead the army to fight as a last-ditch effort. however, zaitao refused to lead the army because he was timid and afraid of trouble. he petitioned to be relieved of his military power and handed over his power to yuan shikai. the xinhai revolution led by sun yat-sen in 1911 overthrew the qing dynasty, the last feudal dynasty in my country. the nobles of the dynasty, who were once courteous to everyone, became prisoners. at that time, the republic of china government would give subsidies to the nobles of the dynasty, but half of these subsidies were hijacked by puyi, who "covered the sky with one hand", and when they reached the nobles, they were only enough to maintain their basic living needs.

zaitao was unwilling to see his wealth and honor disappear, so he went to the beiyang warlord zhang xun to discuss the restoration of the dynasty. during the preparations for the restoration, zaitao once again took charge of the imperial guard and became the commander of the imperial guard. however, the restoration plan failed after only twelve days. this failure also made zaitao realize that the qing dynasty had become history, and the corrupt dynasty rule could not reverse the trend of history. zaitao accepted the reality and no longer participated in the struggle between warlords. he understood that although the qing dynasty had been overthrown, the power of the dynasty nobles was still the target of the beiyang warlords, especially since he was a high-ranking military talent in the manchu family, and was the focus of their competition.

in 1924, zhang zuolin, who was born in the outlaws, heard that the military talent zaitao was good at horse riding, and he insisted on competing with him. zaitao was far ahead of zhang zuolin in the whole competition. zhang zuolin was shocked and admired zaitao spontaneously. after zaitao won the championship, zhang zuolin held a banquet in his own courtyard. after three rounds of wine, zhang zuolin told his real purpose: to invite zaitao to come out of retirement to be an official and help him. but zaitao had already seen through zhang zuolin's real purpose of horse racing during the conversation with zhang zuolin, and rejected zhang zuolin's invitation because of his lack of talent and knowledge.

without a job, zaitao's family lived in great difficulty. in order to survive, he sold the luxurious prince's mansion to fu jen catholic university, and the family moved to a small courtyard in a beijing hutong.

patriotic passion in the heart

after the japanese invaded china, they established the puppet state of manchukuo and assisted puyi to become the puppet emperor of manchukuo. the former royal relatives tried to please puyi for wealth and glory, so as to satisfy the pleasure brought by money. puyi missed his seventh uncle zaitao who lived in seclusion, so he wrote to him, hoping that he could come out of retirement to serve and continue to enjoy the honor of being a prince, but zaitao rejected puyi's invitation.

in his reply to puyi, he wrote: i would rather die than become a slave of a conquered country, and he also persuaded puyi not to be a puppet emperor in the letter. zaitao's letter aroused puyi's dissatisfaction. puyi felt that zaitao was disrespectful to the emperor and ignored his concern and care for him, so he severed his relationship with zaitao. at that time, kenji doihara heard that zaitao was a timid military talent and visited zaitao in person. he used both soft and hard tactics, tempting zaitao with a high position and high salary, and threatening zaitao with his life. but zaitao didn't give him face and vowed to never become a slave of a conquered country. although he was timid, he absolutely stood up straight in the national sentiment and vowed to never be a lapdog of the enemy.

kenji doihara put down his hand angrily, as he did not dare to shoot zaitao, who was highly respected in the manchu family. he had to leave zaitao's residence in dismay. during the anti-japanese war, zaitao had been paying attention to the changes in the country, and he also clearly realized that under the leadership of the party, china would get better and better, and he supported the party's spirit even more.

on the eve of japan's surrender, the puppet regime in north china

wang yitang visited zaitao and wanted to ask him to come out of retirement to clean up the mess left by the japanese army. zaitao knew clearly that japan's surrender had become a reality and the new china was about to come. asking him to come out of retirement at this time was nothing more than wanting to find someone to take the blame. after zaitao saw through wang yitang's thoughts, he decisively rejected his invitation.

the "beile ye" of new china

in early 1949, after the liberation of peking, zaitao and his wife's life became increasingly difficult. in desperation, zaitao and his wife had to bring antiques, calligraphy and paintings and other treasures to beijing deshengmen to set up a street stall to earn some money to support the family. his wife thought it was shameful to set up a street stall, "a dignified prince is actually setting up a street stall now." "so what? prince is a thing of the past, we have to look forward." later, the director of the street police station personally visited him and asked him to come out of retirement. "zai lao, although you are a royal family, you have advanced ideas. unlike those old naughty boys who stick to feudal ideas, you are the head of the family among the masses, so i would like to ask you to come out of retirement and join us."

this job came at the right time and solved the difficulties faced by zaitao's family. from then on, zaitao followed the police officers of the police station to check household registration and do sanitation. he gradually integrated into this large group and seemed to forget that he was once a beile who had never done housework. slowly, colleagues at the police station also accepted zaitao and changed their name from "beileye" to "lao zai". this seemingly simple change of name has extraordinary significance to zaitao. in his opinion, this is a sign that he has truly integrated into the lives of the people. from this moment on, he has drawn closer to the people.

in early 1950, zaitao's old friend, li jishen, vice chairman of the kuomintang committee, came to visit him. li jishen held his friend's hand and said, "i mentioned you to premier zhou. premier zhou is very concerned about your situation and wants you to give suggestions for the construction of new china."

li jishen knew zaitao very well. in the late qing dynasty, zaitao was the minister of military advisory and the respected patriarch of the family. after the founding of new china, zaitao's thoughts also changed greatly. so li jishen recommended zaitao to zhou enlai. after repeated consideration, premier zhou decided to invite zaitao to attend the second session of the first cppcc.

on june 14, 1950, the second session of the first cppcc was officially held. zaitao met premier zhou at the meeting. premier zhou took zaitao's hand and said, "i'm sorry, mr. zaitao. it's our negligence that we forgot about you, the head of the manchu race who represents hundreds of thousands of people."

zaitao was flattered by premier zhou's enthusiasm. when premier zhou asked him to make suggestions for the construction of new china, zaitao looked embarrassed. he had not been involved in the political field for more than 30 years. how could he make good suggestions for the construction of new china?

premier zhou saw zaitao's embarrassment and said with a smile: "why don't you give some suggestions on military horses?" when he mentioned his area of ​​expertise, zaitao's eyes lit up, and he patted his chest and said: "i will definitely think carefully about the suggestions on military horses. this is what i am good at." after a while, a proposal entitled "proposal to improve horse breeds for military benefit" was handed to premier zhou.

after premier zhou read it, he gave it to chairman mao, who agreed with zaitao's suggestion and appointed him as an advisor to the horse administration bureau of the artillery command of the chinese people's liberation army. when zaitao received the appointment letter, he read it for a long time and said to his wife, "chairman mao understands me. the one who knows me is chairman mao."

after that, he was determined to work hard to repay chairman mao's kindness. zaitao's suggestions on military horses played a huge role in the battlefield of the war to resist u.s. aggression and aid korea. in the early days of the war to resist u.s. aggression and aid korea, zaitao personally conducted research on horse farms in many places, expanded 26 horse farms, improved 56 horse breeding stations, and always implemented the central government's instructions to transport military horses to korea for combat.

in november 1950, because we had no air superiority, many of our transportation vehicles were bombarded by the enemy. the central military commission decided to implement the "fight each against their own" plan and immediately transported 25,000 military horses to the korean battlefield.

after receiving the order from the central military commission, zaitao immediately took his subordinates to inner mongolia and other places to purchase horses, and successfully transported 25,000 horses entrusted by the central military commission to north korea, winning the opportunity to fight against the us and aid korea. on september 19, 1954, the first national people's congress was successfully held, and zaitao attended the meeting as a representative of the manchus. during the break of the meeting, premier zhou had already strode in his direction, and zaitao immediately stood up to greet him after noticing it.

"mr. zai, long time no see. how are you feeling recently?" premier zhou shook his hand warmly, greeting him like an old friend he hadn't seen for a long time, and was concerned about his health.

"thanks to the prime minister's care, my health is fine now."

after a few greetings, premier zhou took zaitao to see chairman mao with a smile. chairman mao shook his hands warmly and said with a smile: "you don't look like an old man who has been through many battles. instead, you look like a polite and elegant scholar." the lively conversation with chairman mao had already made zaitao's nervousness disappear without a trace. at this time, chairman mao suddenly took his hand and asked: "have you visited puyi? are you still in touch?"

hearing the word puyi, zaitao's heart trembled and he became nervous. he pretended to be calm and said, "since puyi made a mistake, we have severed our relationship and have never seen him again."

zaitao became even more nervous when looking at chairman mao, fearing that he might say something wrong. unexpectedly, chairman mao just patted him on the shoulder, looked at him kindly and said, "go and see your nephew. he is studying very hard there and is also working hard to live. go and see him when you have time." after the meeting, zaitao received a special task from chairman mao: to visit his nephew puyi.

on march 10, 1956, zaitao took his family to the fushun war criminals management institute to visit his nephew puyi, whom he had not seen for many years. puyi, who was studying hard in the institute, was full of disbelief when he heard that his seventh uncle came to visit him.

when he saw his seventh uncle zaitao, he ran over tremblingly, hugged his seventh uncle and cried. this was the first time they met since they severed their relationship. zaitao and puyi shared the trivialities of life and talked about the current situation of the country, the acceptance of the people and the party's policies.

"puyi, you must reform yourself and take good care of yourself, and we will definitely be reunited."

on december 4, 1959, puyi was selected as one of the first special personnel. with the help of zaitao and his brothers and sisters, puyi gradually integrated into the new life.

zaitao died in beijing on september 2, 1970. under the instruction of premier zhou, zaitao was buried in the babaoshan revolutionary cemetery in beijing, becoming neighbors with the founding fathers.

end

zaitao was appointed as the duke of fuguo when he was only three years old. he went abroad for further studies in 1910 and was in charge of the imperial guards. however, he was timid and gave up power to yuan shikai because he had never been on the battlefield. after the establishment of the puppet manchukuo, puyi, kenji doihara, zhang zuolin and wang yitang invited him to take up a post, but he decisively refused, showing his firm national stance and noble national spirit. death is a small matter, but the nation is the most important. such national sentiment is worth learning from.