Where is Shuixizhuang? It is not an ordinary village, but one of the three private gardens in Qing Dynasty. In Yuan Mei's Poems with Gardens, Shuixizhuang in Tianjin, Xiaoling Mountain Pavilion in Yangzhou and Xiaoshan Guild Hall in Hangzhou are called the three major gardens. The environment here used to be very beautiful and luxurious. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty lived in Shuixizhuang four times during his cruise.
Of course, people who can write inscriptions for Shuixizhuang are not idle people. Look carefully at the inscription in calligraphy and write only the words "Shuizhu Village People". Are they villagers nearby?
Actually, it's not. People who are generally called "village people" and "village people" are very powerful. Zhuge Liang, for example, is also known as the "village man in the mountains".
This "Shuizhu Village Man" is also well-known. He is a native of Tianjin and has the highest official position in history.
This man is Xu Shichang.
His ancestral home is in Zhejiang, but he has lived in Tianjin since the late Ming Dynasty. He is from Tianjin.
When he was a child, his family was poor. Fortunately, he studied very hard, learned the "Four Books and Five Classics" by heart, and the most important thing was to practice a good hand. Because of his good handwriting, 17 years old joined the county government as a copywriter. In fact, he writes materials and does copying work. After only one year, I was attracted by the magistrate and transferred to the magistrate's yamen to continue writing materials.
Later, I had the opportunity to meet Yuan Shikai, and they hit it off. Even Xu Shichang paid for the imperial examination.
At the age of 33, he was admitted to imperial academy and sat on the bench for nine years. What he does is to write materials, just for the emperor.
Finally, in 1897, Yuan Shikai applied to the imperial court, hoping to transfer 42-year-old Xu Shichang to Tianjin to help him serve as the general manager of the military affairs department of the newly-built army inspection and staff headquarters. The official position sounds terrible, but in fact he still writes materials and is the head of military documents of Tianjin New Army.
However, under Yuan Shikai, Xu Shichang made full use of his expertise in writing materials and doing research, and compiled 13 important military books, such as A Brief History of Newly-built Army Soldiers and Detailed Explanation of Operational Methods, which impressed the Beiyang New Army and gradually became Yuan Shikai's strategist and the second person in the Beiyang Military Department because of his resourcefulness. From 17 to 42, writing materials for 25 years.
1900, Eight-Nation Alliance went to Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fled to xi 'an, accompanied by Xu Shichang. Since then, she has entered the vision of Empress Dowager Cixi. Under the strong recommendation of Yuan Shikai and others, her official position was promoted all the way, first as minister of military aircraft and acting minister of Ministry of War, and then as an imperial envoy and governor in charge of the general affairs of the three northeastern provinces. You should know that this place is Longxing in Qing Dynasty. When the local governors jointly signed the passbook, the governors of the three northeastern provinces were in front of the governor of Zhili, which means that Xu Shichang counterattacked and ranked ahead of Yuan Shikai. It can also be seen that the Qing Dynasty trusted Xu Shichang.
Later, in the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai couldn't resist the idea of being proclaimed emperor, and finally proclaimed himself emperor, naming Xu Shichang as one of the "Four Friends of Songshan", imitating the "Four Nobles of Songshan" of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, but Xu Shichang flatly refused.
19 18, Xu Shichang became the "great president" with the support of the old headquarters of Beiyang. It is worth mentioning that before Xu Shichang became the "great president", he actually gave the former Qing emperor Puyi a passbook and was sworn in after being "allowed".
This is also the highest-ranking person in Tianjin, and his head is also printed on the silver dollar.
Xu Shichang's calligraphy in Tianjin Museum is vigorous and harmonious, just like a person.