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In the last issue of "See how the last elite armed guards of the late Qing Dynasty were formed?" We introduce the formation of the Wu Wei Army, and three of the four existing armies of the Wu Wei Army at that time - Yuan Shikai's new army, Nie Shicheng's Wu Yi Army, and Dong Fuxiang's Gan Army, we have introduced it before. In this issue, we introduce another of the Armed Guards, which is also the longest-lasting Yi Army in history.
Of the four armies left and right before and after the Armed Guards, the Yi Army was the earliest to be founded, and this army was active until the end of the Beiyang Period. In terms of the longevity of an army, the Yi Army is definitely a long life. Moreover, it has experienced the pacification of the Anhui Twisting Rebellion, the Restoration of the Northwest And the Restoration of Xinjiang, the Korean War with Japan, the Liaodong Sino-Japanese War, and the subsequent resistance to the Eight-Nation Alliance, and the organization and sequence have been preserved until the late Beiyang period. 【Deep in History】In this issue, let's take a look at the Yi Army, which was once the Left Army of the Armed Guards.
Figure 1: Song Qing
If you want to talk about Yijun, you must talk about his founder Song Qing. Song Qing is a native of Penglai, Shandong, and Qi Jiguang is a fellow villager. At first, Song Qing served as a guard in the palace of The Prince of Bozhou. Just in time for the Twist army to surrender, Song Qing was appointed as the commander-in-chief, the Qisheng Battalion. Just by chance, Song Qing's military career began from then on. In the process of quelling the rebellion later, Song Qing was appreciated by Yuan Shikai's uncle Yuan Jiasan and had meritorious service in battle, Song Qing was continuously promoted to the rank of general soldier, and was given the title of "Yi Yong Batulu", and it happened that the Anhui Governor dismissed the Huai Army, and three battalions were transferred to Song Qing's tent, and from then on, the army led by Song Qing was named after Song Qing's brave name - Yi Army.
After that, the Yi army made frequent military achievements in the process of quelling the twisting and twisting, and crossed the five provinces of Henan, Anhui, Zhi, Hubei, and Lu, specifically suppressing the twist army. After the turmoil was quelled, most of the other troops were abolished, but the Yi army retained and expanded to about ten battalions because of its military achievements, and was one of the two major defensive battalions in Henan.
Figure 2: Ma Yukun
In 1869, Zuo Zongtang's expedition to the northwest also included Song Qing's Yi army. After the reconquest of Xinjiang and the basic pacification of the northwest, the Yi army was in the northwest for a long time. It was not until 1880, because of the tension between China and Russia, that the Yi army was transferred to Lushun. He remained stationed in Lushun until 1894.
Because of the relationship between the garrison in Lushun, the Yi Army became the earliest unit involved in the Sino-Japanese War. Compared with the other Huai army's main forces sheng zi army and ming army that participated in the war, the Yi army showed stronger combat effectiveness. Although it had no impact on the entire war situation in Jiawu, because of the prominent realization of the Sino-Japanese War, the Yi Army was not dismantled after the Sino-Japanese War, but strengthened its armament. The Sino-Japanese War can be said to be the most brilliant time for the Yi Army, which participated in the Battle of Pyongyang, the Battle of Jiuliancheng, the Battle of Lushun Haicheng, the Battle of Yingkou Tiantaizhuang, etc., and won several rare victories of the Qing army in the Sino-Japanese Land Battle.
Figure 3: Jiang Gui
After the Sino-Japanese War, the Yi Army and the Wu Yi Army became the two armies retained by the Qing court. The strength of the Yi army after the Sino-Japanese War was not weakened, but strengthened, and the whole army changed the form of guns. In 1899, the Yi Army was incorporated into the Armed Guards Army, as the Left Army, stationed in and around Shanhaiguan. In the ensuing Gengzi Rebellion, yijun and Wu Yijun defended Tianjin. After the fall of Tianjin, the Yi army collapsed all the way to Nanyuan in Beijing. After that, Cixi traveled westward, escorted by Yi Jun.
After the change of Gengzi, although there were damages in the battle, due to the reorganization of part of the Wuyi army, its strength was enhanced. During the Russo-Japanese War, the Yi army was stationed at Rehe.
Yi Jun has experienced four commanders, the first three of which are all famous, namely Song Qing, Ma Yukun, Jiang Guiti, and the last is Mi Zhenbiao. Among them, Song Qing was established from the Yi Army and has been the commander until 1902. After Ma Yukun succeeded him, he also died of illness in 1908. After 1908, Jiang Guiti succeeded him. In Jiang Gui's tenure, the Yi Army spanned the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. It was not until 1922, when Jiang Guiti died of illness, and two months later, Mi Zhenbiao took over, when he was no longer the commander and became a commander. In the term of Mi Zhenbiao, in the Beiyang warlord melee, the Yi Army was reorganized by the Feng Army in 1927 and completely withered away from history.
[Deep in History] This issue's introduction to the Yi Army ends here. There are many more topics about the Yi Army, such as its first three commanders, such as the Beiyang faction related to it, and people from the Yi Army (including Zhang Zuolin, etc.), welcome to pay attention!
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