After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in 911, the Qing court revived Yuan Shikai and supervised the Beiyang New Army to the south to suppress the revolutionaries.
At this time, Yuan Shikai was not willing to be martyred for the Qing court, and he relied on the Beiyang New Army in the six towns in his hand, on the one hand, to negotiate with the southern revolutionaries, on the other hand, to force the Qing Emperor to abdicate, and constantly maneuver between all parties to obtain the greatest benefit.
In the end, under the persecution of the Beiyang generals headed by Yuan Shikai, Empress Dowager Longyu of the Qing Dynasty issued an edict accepting the preferential conditions of the Qing dynasty and announcing her abdication.
Yuan Shikai also fulfilled his wishes and served as the first president of the Republic of China in accordance with the North-South peace talks agreement. Then, why did Yuan Shikai's Beiyang New Army, which had only six towns in his hands, influence the situation in China after the Xinhai Revolution?
During the Sino-Japanese War, in the Battle of Pyongyang, the original yong battalion and training army of the Qing government were defeated by the Japanese army one after another.
At this time, the Qing government, which was deeply trapped in the war situation, finally agreed to the proposal of Sheng Xuanhuai, Han Nagan and others to organize and train the new army. Hu Yandi was appointed to Tianjin Machang to organize and train the new army, and set up a training plan of "training troops must first select generals, and it is planned to order ten battalions to be trained first, a total of 5,000 people, to become a strong brigade, and Xu Yi expanded."
This is the origin of the Dingwu Army.
Under Hannagan's planning, the Dingwu Army was divided into four branches: infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineering, including six battalions of infantry, half a battalion of horse teams, two battalions of artillery, and one battalion of engineering teams, totaling 4750 people.
Later, due to the scarcity of barracks in the horse factory station, "there was no enough to divide the tie", and the whole army moved to The Small Station in Tianjin. The small station training thus began.
On December 16, 1895, Yuan Shikai arrived at the Dingwu Army Xiaozhan Military Camp and took over the Dingwu Army, which was soon renamed the New Army. Yuan Shikai, who had just taken office, witnessed the inferiority of the old-style army of the Qing Army in the Sino-Japanese War, carried out a drastic reform of the Dingwu Army, first conducting an all-army test, eliminating the unqualified and the old, weak, sick and disabled, and then sending people to the northern provinces to select young peasants of the right age and strong to join the army.
At the same time, Yuan Shikai was well versed in the principle that 'a thousand armies are easy to obtain, but one will be difficult to seek', and vigorously recruited military talents who master modern military technology. A large number of foreign instructors were hired, and at the same time, German-style exercises were adopted to train the new army. He also gave the green light to the outstanding graduates of the Wubei Academy and solicited reuse.
'Beiyang Sanjie' Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Lu Jianzhang, Duan Zhigui, Li Chun, Wang Zhanyuan and 130 graduates of the Tianjin Wubei Academy, who stirred up the storm in the Republic of China era and became famous, entered the newly built army to serve in the new army, jointly laying the foundation of the Beiyang Department that will later build the six towns of Beiyang and even affect the vicissitudes of China's modern decades.
At the same time, the new army followed the example of the Western powers, set up a general headquarters, unified the organization of the new army supervision and training plan, and improved the departments of grain, ordnance, transport, and military medicine. For the first time, these new military and staff management institutions have been introduced into the Chinese army, which has enabled the Chinese army to embark on the road of modernization, which is conducive to the scientific management of military management and the exertion of the army's combat effectiveness. These measures have enabled the Chinese military to enter the door of modernization.
Two powerful figures at the end of the Qing Dynasty. One is Yuan Shikai and the other is Cixi. The Qing Dynasty fought the Eight Banners, as well as the Han army of Wu Sangui, Hong Chengzu and others.
1. Eight flags are flags of eight colors.
Get on the horse for the army, get off the horse for the people. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, every spring, when the weather turned warm and the green and yellow did not pick up, Nurhaci, Huang Taiji and others took the Eight Banners of Men, regardless of age, to the territory of the Ming Dynasty to loot around, as if hunting. Everyone in the Eight Banners can ride and shoot, charge bravely, and be like a tiger and a wolf.
The Eight Banners are hereditary, and after entering the customs, they are scattered in the provincial capitals and establish flag cities in the provincial capitals. Born with Feng Lu, Taiping for a long time, gradually from martial arts to literature, not to learn bow horses, but to learn scriptures, calligraphy and painting, acting, flowers, birds, fish and insects and so on. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the specific number of eight banners can no longer be examined, because it is counted by household, about 230,000 households, and they cannot fight.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, only the Beiyang Army was able to change its life against the sky and became the last straw for the Qing government!
Sure enough, the Beiyang Army finally lived up to the expectations of the people, under the leadership of Yuan Shikai, the battlefield turned against the enemy, directly contributed to the abdication of the Qing Emperor, it should be said that in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, the Beiyang New Army made a greater contribution than Sun Yat-sen!
So, how many troops does the Beiyang New Army have, and how much effect does it have?
The emergence of the Beiyang New Army itself marked the modernization of the Chinese Army, and was a powerful military change carried out by the Qing government in order to protect itself in the late Qing Dynasty.
It should be said that Yuan Shikai still has a set of troops in the area of army formation, and since then, the six towns of Beiyang have influenced China's political arena for 20 years, which is definitely not accidental.
Since the six towns of Beiyang were an army that the Qing court could directly control, after updating the equipment, it was naturally the national strength that was responsible, which was hung with the last breath when the Qing Dynasty returned to the light.
In August 1907, the Qing government decided to imitate the establishment of the six towns in Beiyang and train 36 towns of the New Army throughout the country, if all 36 towns of the New Army of the Qing Dynasty were built, the military strength of the Qing government would be quite strong, but because of the death of Cixi in 1909, Zaifeng kicked Yuan Shikai out after taking power, and the late Qing reform focused on political reform, until 1911, the Qing government organized a total of 14 towns and 18 mixed associations (equivalent to strengthening brigades).
[Original article + reprint, please indicate the source, this article was first published on the WeChat public account "War Law Society"】