Chapter Eighteen: Qi Numbers and Circumstances
The cold air was pressing in, the night was deep and dark, and the pitch-black room was invisible. All that could be seen was a faint light from a small window on the wall, which was the glow of the lantern held by the guard outside.
The Qing Empire's appointed minister for reviewing the autumn maneuvers, Viceroy of Liangjiang Duanfang, was confined in this small room. He enjoyed the same treatment as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Yin Chang, and Zhang Biao, Commander-in-Chief of the 8th Division of the Hubei New Army, among other high-ranking Qing officials. This tiny black room, with an area of less than twenty square meters, was packed with over twenty officials. Due to the cramped space, their usual official dignity and etiquette were cast aside. In order to fight for a place where they could half-recline, they often resorted to fisticuffs, no different from a group of ruffians.
Now, the two small officials have had a dispute over a piece of "territory" again. At first, they just "inquired" about each other's female relatives, but later it escalated into an all-out fight. Both were military officers, and their previous training was not wasted. This fight was far from the kind of brawl that those civil officials would engage in.
"That's enough! The imperial court feeds you, is it to make you fight? All of you, stop for this official!" Yun Chang stood up and rebuked them. At this time, an official sitting next to him hastily took advantage of the situation to quietly move his buttocks over a bit, slightly expanding his own "territory".
Although Yin Chang was also a captive, he was still one level higher in official rank and had some remaining prestige. As long as he was still breathing, his words carried some weight, so the fight stopped. However, when Yin Chang sat back down, he didn't notice that someone had already occupied a small part of his "territory". This wasn't surprising, since the officer who had taken over his territory was a clerk from the Ministry of Revenue, who was skilled at cooking up false accounts and finding scapegoats. During this military inspection of the autumn maneuvers, he had swallowed up dozens of head of cattle without Yin Chang even noticing. Now, taking over a small part of his territory was child's play for him.
Yin Chang sat back and listened carefully with his ear tilted, but he heard Duan Fang's murmurs again.
"Zhang Nanpi, Zhang Nanpi, you've killed me! Even after I'm dead and buried, I'll still haunt you!"
Zhang Nanpi was the former governor of Hubei and Hunan, Zhang Zhidong, a native of Nanpi, Hebei Province. This man came from a clean stream and had always been enthusiastic about foreign affairs. During the Sino-Japanese War, he was the first to advocate for the court to train new-style troops and abolish old camps. He also set an example by training a new army of several thousand people, called the "Self-Strengthening Army", when he was acting as governor of Jiangsu and Jiangxi provinces. After the war, he returned to his post as governor of Hubei and Hunan, although he did not bring back the Self-Strengthening Army, but his proposal for training new troops became even stronger. Later, the court trained a large number of new troops, with Yuan Shikai in the north and Zhang Zhidong in the south, both doing their best to train troops, which led to the reputation of "Southern Zhang and Northern Yuan". The reason why the training of the Hubei New Army progressed so quickly, ranking first among the southern provinces, was due to Zhang Zhidong's strong promotion. However, as early as last year, Zhang Zhidong had been transferred to Beijing, with the ostensible intention of assisting in the new policies and working together with Yuan Shikai to take charge of the central government. In reality, however, this was a strategy by the court to remove the tiger from the mountain, paving the way for the future dominance of the Manchu people in local politics.
Although the current Governor of Hubei and Hunan is not Zhang Zhidong, precisely because the Hubei New Army was created by him, Yuan Shikai began to complain about Zhang Zhidong as soon as he was thrown into this small black room. It seems that in his opinion, if Zhang Zhidong had not trained the Hubei New Army, there would have been no military coup, and he, Lord Yuan, would not be stinking in this dark room.
Not only did Yingchang disagree, but other small officials also sneered at him. If the new army is not trained, in a few more years, the imperial court's troops will not be able to beat even the Hui rebels, let alone wait for Duanfang to review the autumn maneuvers? Is it really like some princes said, asking foreigners to send troops to protect the imperial court? If that's how national affairs are handled, these soldiers might as well take a stinky tofu and kill themselves, rather than suffer the white eyes of the common people.
The new army is much stronger than the old one, at least. Now those old military officers don't even wear their uniforms when they go out, why? Because they're ashamed! The new military officers are different, in and out of the camp, they all wear neat uniforms, shiny boots, and walk with spirit. The civilians all praise them, for two reasons: first, the new military uniform is beautiful, not like the old one which was sloppy and made you look like a monkey when worn; second, because the new military discipline is strict, unlike the old one which harassed the civilians and made them hate them to the bone. Even when buying vegetables, the new military pays the market price, can the civilians not be happy?
The new army also has its own difficulties. To maintain discipline and not harass the local people, they can only increase their military pay and treatment. However, high pay means that the imperial court needs to increase investment, which means taking out a lot of silver from the central government. But this silver is not provided by the central government, it relies on local governments. As a result, local governors are reluctant to acknowledge and practice seriously; soldiers need to recognize characters, which means they will inevitably recruit some suspicious foreign students into the army. These people pretend to serve the country but actually want to rebel. If they are not careful, they will be taken advantage of. The Anqing mutiny and Huangnigang mutiny are clear evidence!
But it won't do not to recruit these literate people, nowadays military battles are different from the past, not to mention other things, just those markings on the big guns and the squares on the gun sights, only literate people can understand and use them, relying on those illiterate bumpkins will only result in throwing away these sharp advanced weapons to the enemy.
The imperial court's painstaking efforts may not be understood by everyone, but the critical situation China is currently facing is right before our eyes. The training of new troops is not only for dealing with the Boxers, but also for defending against foreign humiliation. In the future, when the imperial court negotiates with foreigners, it will have more confidence and can demand a lower indemnity and cede less land. As it stands now, there's not much territory left in this Qing dynasty; if we can cede one piece of land less, then so be it. Otherwise, in the future, when we stretch out our legs, we won't even have enough space to lay down a coffin.
Who called the Banner people themselves not to make an effort? In those years, the Eight Banners' young men who were as fierce as tigers and swallowed up all the lands had now only the ability to fight birds and crickets. Asking them to go into battle was more difficult than driving ducks onto a shelf! The new army's training is tough, these Eight Banner big brothers have never even looked at it, even the First Town of the Imperial Guards in Beijing, which was also the court's effort to gather from all over the Eight Banners, who knows how many fake Banner people were mixed in.
No choice, can only rely on the Han people. In those years, the imperial court was able to control the Green Standard Army of Han soldiers, why couldn't it control the Han soldiers in the new army? But the imperial court never thought of one thing, that is, the world has changed now. From Yantai, take a steamer, and you can arrive in Japan in less than two days. After the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, the imperial court sent students to study abroad in Japan, originally hoping that they would return home after completing their studies and repay the imperial court's kindness. But who would have thought that these people went out, opened their eyes, and became disloyal? When they left, they kowtowed three times and knocked their heads nine times, but when they returned, they didn't even wear queues anymore. Just cutting off their queues was not enough; many of them came back carrying the "revolutionary" big hammer and smashed the Qing dynasty's iron bucket-like empire until it was full of holes. Although this bucket is still standing now, who can guarantee how many more days it will stand?
The Qing dynasty has entered the pass for more than 250 years. Looking through history, there are only a few Central Plains dynasties that have lasted for over 300 years.
To quote some princes in Beijing, "The luck of our banner people inside the pass is probably exhausted."
Everyone has made it clear, not only the princes but also the common people and officials in the imperial court have a clear understanding. So everyone is making a fortune, desperately trying to make as much as possible before it's too late! As a result, various "companies" were established one after another... The "Qingna Company" was founded by two major shareholders, Prince Qing and Grand Secretary Na Tong, specializing in selling official positions, from high-ranking military officials to low-ranking clerks. The "Sanlin Company", on the other hand, was jointly founded by three censors, named after the similar pronunciation of their last names. Its main business is buying and selling impeachment documents, especially those involving corrupt officials, and occasionally also recommending talented individuals for national protection...
In this intense "company movement", only two big shots did not participate, one was Yuan Shikai and the other was Zhang Zhidong. However, in the eyes of insightful people, although Yuan Shikai did not establish a "company", his ambition was not small. The Beiyang he controlled had already become his own Beiyang, with private interests deeply entrenched and party factions woven together. In the future, when the situation changes, it may be even more dangerous than the "Qing company". Only Zhang Zhidong, who was stationed in Hubei and Hunan, worked tirelessly to train new troops, without building his own "company" or inserting his own trusted officials. As soon as he received an imperial edict, he immediately packed up and headed north to participate in national politics. Unlike Yuan Shikai, when the imperial court wanted to transfer him from his position as Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang, he resisted and stalled, only reluctantly heading to Beijing after appointing his own trusted successor.
This is called "love nest"! Colleagues rolled their eyes, the imperial court was taboo, if nothing unexpected happened, Yuan Shikai would not be far from rolling away.
One Zhang Zhidong, one Yuan Shikai, a comparison of the two, who is a loyal minister and who is a treacherous minister, can be seen at a glance. However, now this Lord Duan Fang has bitten his teeth and determined that the main culprit who led to his being changed into a soldier and arrested is actually Zhang Nanpi, who is loyal to the country. Moreover, the new army he trained is the stronghold of the rebel party! If Zhang Zhongtang were here, he would surely die on the spot from anger.
"Zhang Nanpi, Zhang Nanpi, I'm not done with you, not done with you! If I return to Beijing alive, I must severely punish you! Shielding the rebel party, your heart is punishable!" Duan Fang shrank into a corner, muttering to himself.
If Zhang Zhidong is shielding the rebels, then there would be no officials under heaven who are not shielding the rebels. The leader of the rebels who died at Zhang Nanpi's hands, if we count from Tang Caichang and others in the year 1900, would number around fifty or a hundred. And yet, it is said that Tang Caichang was still Zhang Nanpi's junior fellow apprentice, but he did not spare him out of respect for their teacher-student relationship. This already shows Zhang Nanpi's loyalty to the imperial court. Of course, this also reveals his skill in handling matters with tact and flexibility on all sides. Otherwise, how could he have risen from being a member of the Qingliu faction to become a powerful governor-general who holds real power? Even Li Hongzhang and his cohorts, who were at the height of their power back then, could not bring him down, which is a testament to his abilities.
In Yan Chang's view, Duan Fang's words could only represent one thing: his "gunshot syndrome" had relapsed.
It's really hard for him, the rebel army fired more than 200 cannons at the barracks and town, he was able to hold on until now before falling ill, Zhuan Fang is also one of the few good men among the Banner people.
