From south to north, there are old and new door curtains, Banbi Street, Zhongjie Street and Songshu Hutong. Outside the city is a moat, and south of the moat is Changdian. So whether inside or outside the city, you do business around Xuanwu Gate instead of Zhengyang Gate, which is extremely inconvenient, especially in the inner city. If you want to go to Liulichang and Dongfang Hotel, there is no big detour. Especially during the Spring Festival temple fair in power plants, it is extremely inconvenient for vendors and ordinary people. I have read Lu Xun's diary, and I know that Lu Xun went to Changdian Temple Fair seven times in the year of Guichou (19 13), all of which were detours. According to my statistics, Lu Xun left Beijing for nearly two months from June to August in 19 13 and went to Liulichang 28 times. Fortunately, Lu Xun's work and home are outside Xuanwu Gate, not too far away. The biggest inconvenience is the merchants. Living in an outer city is easier said than done. If you live in the inner city, it is even more troublesome to deliver goods and set up stalls every day. In fact, you have to take many wrong paths every day. So people and businessmen have been looking forward to opening a city gate.
This was impossible in feudal times. During Yuan Shikai's reign, he mentioned that he would open the city gate between Zhengyangmen and Xuanwumen and report to Yuan Shikai. Yuan agreed first. However, businessmen around Qianmen are afraid that people will no longer bypass the front door and affect their business, so they spread public opinion that Beijing is the capital of emperors, and digging the gates at will lead to the leakage of the "king". Yuan Shikai himself is extremely superstitious. Just as he was about to become emperor, he vetoed the matter.
It was not until 1924 that Feng Yuxiang crusaded against zhang xun restoration and returned to Beijing that the Chamber of Commerce mentioned opening the city gate on behalf of public opinion, and Feng Yuxiang readily agreed. At that time, Duan was in power, and nominally he had to be submitted for approval. Feng Yuxiang then handed the matter over to Lu, commander of the garrison in Gyeonggi and Beijing's chief executive. Probably because Lu led 20 pistol players to force Puyi to "move to the palace", and he was smart and quick (Zhang Qian, the police chief at that time, asked him how many military and police officers he needed to do this? The deer replied, "20 policemen, 20 policemen are enough." Besides, opening the city gate is also the responsibility of municipal supervision, so this matter was handed over to him. After Lu took office, he officially started construction after measurement and demolition (the demolition fee was approved after Feng Yuxiang quarreled with the Ministry of Finance). At that time, there was no machinery, and everything had to be moved by people. At that time, Feng Yuxiang's troops claimed to be "not disturbing the people". I'm afraid it's inconvenient to requisition civilian workers, so we can only use the army. So with the consent of Feng Yuxiang, he mobilized his own troops (Deer's job is the first division commander of the First National Army) and began to tear down the wall brick by brick. According to the newspaper records at that time, Lu often went to the construction site to command, and sometimes waved his picks and shovels. A photojournalist heard that he was very interested and came to look for it. But at that time, the senior generals of Feng Yuxiang's troops, like soldiers, all wore gray uniforms, and their left arms wore armbands of "Do not disturb the people, love the people and swear to save the country". The reporter managed to find him. When he raised the camera, Lin Zhong threw away his pick without saying a word. This news aroused the interest of many Beijingers.
However, according to the way of dealing with people, he is so low-key, but it is inconsistent with his usual behavior. Although Lu was born in the military (he joined the Second Town of Beiyang Army as a subordinate sergeant in the late Qing Dynasty), he was eloquent and always appreciated and reused by Feng Yuxiang. The "moving palace" incident is a proof. On Feng Yuxiang's orders, Lu Linzhong expelled Puyi from the Forbidden City and sent him to Beifu (the Qinchun Palace in Shichahai, Beijing). When he shook hands with Puyi, he asked, "Mr. Puyi, will you be an emperor or a civilian in the future?" When Puyi answered "I am willing to be a civilian from today" (which may not be true), Lu immediately educated him and said: "It is unreasonable to have the title of emperor now, and I will serve the country as a citizen in the future" (see Puyi's My First Half Life, 169, Zhonghua Book Company, 1977) According to "Experiences of Court Life in the Late Qing Dynasty" (Literature and History Information Publishing House, 1982 edition), the then Minister of the Interior condemned Lu and said, "Aren't you Lu's family? Why do you want to force us like this? " He also said: "I have been generous since I entered the customs in the Qing Dynasty, and I have never wronged the people. How can I do this? " "You speak for the green room," said the deer. However, the "10 Days in Yangzhou" and "Three Slaughters in Jiading" after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs; Ordinary people will never forget. In addition, zhang xun restoration subverted the Republic of China, and the preferential conditions were destroyed by the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the national military and civilians unanimously demanded that the culprit of the restoration be severely punished, and it is still an unsolved case. Recently, the Regent Cabinet was established, and all parties demanded that the culprits be severely punished. When people are angry, they will directly take actions that are not conducive to the clean room ... "(see page 1 15 of this book), knowing its meaning, applying both hard and soft, Ying Shao was speechless at that time. This also illustrates the deer's eloquence, but it is really puzzling why Lu did not say a word to reporters when he dug the gate of Heping Gate, but instead took this opportunity to publicize the purpose of "not disturbing the people" and "really loving the people" and then showed his eloquence in his speech.
The city gate was opened (it was said to be the city gate, and there were no towers and gatehouses, but a doorway was dug on the city wall), and the troops built a stone bridge on the moat to facilitate business travelers and people. But soon after Feng entered the customs, Zhang went to Beijing as the ruling marshal. At this time, the newly opened city gate has not yet been named, but it was named "Xinghua Gate" after the approval of the Grand Commander, which means winning, commanding and prospering the country. At that time, Hua Shikui, a famous seal script writer in Tianjin, was specially invited to write. When he was writing in Tianjin, he sent it to Beijing to carve stones, fill in vermicelli and embed it in the city gate. At that time, many people came to see the plaque and praised it. Why ask Hua Shikui to write? Fahrenheit is an aristocratic family in Tianjin, a legacy of the Qing Dynasty, and a cabinet member. The abdication letter of Queen Jade Dragon was written by Hua Shikui. And because of his fame, the plaques of Tianjin stores in the 1920s were all in their hands. What is particularly sensational is that the plaque he wrote for Tianjin Quanyechang in 1928 is not only three feet bigger than each word, but also adds a lot of color to Quanyechang because of its vigorous brushwork. What is even more memorable is that Gao Xingqiao, the manager of the persuasion field, invited Fahrenheit as a gift. The cost of the pen was as high as 500 silver dollars, one word 100 yuan. According to the current price of Tianjin market, you can buy 250 bags of high-grade flour! It is said that the commercial inscriptions in Beijing and Tianjin are second to none. Fahrenheit is famous all over Kinmen, but there are few plaques inscribed for Beijing companies. So when Fahrenheit's plaque was hung, many Beijingers thought it was stable and suitable for the momentum of the gate of Shoushan District.