Chapter 29 Dismount

Yuan Shikai soon felt Duan Qirui's strong resistance.At that time, Feng Guozhang served as the governor of Jiangsu and was stationed in Nanjing for a long time, so he gradually became less obedient to him.Yuan Shikai was very angry about this. He said to Yuan Keding: "What is our Beiyang like? Huafu (Feng Guozhang's word) sleeps until twelve o'clock every day before getting up, and Zhiquan is old!" Duan Qirui's wife, Zhang Peiheng, was Yuan Shikai's adoptive daughter, and she grew up in Yuan's parents. She regarded Yuan's family as her natal family, so Yuan Keding often went to Duan's mansion and called Duan Qirui her brother-in-law or elder brother.Yuan Keding was also unceremonious when commenting on his brother-in-law, saying: "My sister's wife doesn't come to the ministry, but his soul, Xu Shuzheng, is in the ministry every day!"

Duan Qirui's negligence as a member of the board of directors played into Yuan Shikai's hands to a certain extent.However, as Yuan Keding said, having Xu Shuzheng in the ministry is equivalent to Duan Qirui being in the ministry. At the same time, Duan Qirui is not at work, obviously to impress him. Yuan Shikai decided to sound the alarm for Duan Qirui.He summoned Duan Qirui to the presidential palace, and asked about an official matter: "Zhiquan, can this matter be discussed again?" Duan Qirui went in without knowing it, and replied casually: "Let me go back to the Ministry to find out and report this matter."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shikai handed over the document with an unhappy expression on his face: "Why do you need to find out? Hasn't the document you signed has already been delivered?" The document was signed by Xu Shuzheng, and Duan Qirui didn't even read it.He was very embarrassed, so he could only falter and say, "I'll take it back for review." Afterwards, Duan Qirui understood that it was Yuan Shikai's deliberate dismounting, and he continued to do his own way while being angry, and Yuan Shikai's suspicion of him further deepened. After Jiang Baili returned from injury, he stayed in the presidential palace to work.He made a statement to Yuan Shikai, thinking that the Beiyang army was too stale and should be reorganized and trained separately, so he suggested that a model division preparatory office should be set up under the command office.Model divisions are trained in German military methods, starting with two divisions.

Although the Beiyang Army used to be the main force he relied on to fight the country, Jiang Baili's understanding that the Beiyang Army was too stagnant was still recognized by Yuan Shikai.Among other things, only in the recent "encirclement and suppression" of the Bailang Army, the Beiyang Army made a lot of fools - the Bailang Army only had a few thousand people, and many people thought it was just a mob. Two-thirds of the troops were equipped with enough weapons and wages, and the rewards offered were beyond the norm. However, in the past two years, the Bailang Army was still able to move across the four provinces of Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Gansu, as if entering a land without people.

An account by Feng Yuxiang can explain why this happened: Two battalions of Feng's army intercepted the Bailang army. After one battle, they consumed a full 200,000 rounds of ammunition, but two hundred officers and soldiers of the Bailang army were shot and died on the battlefield. None! In the end, under the unified command of Duan Qirui, the Beiyang Army finally wiped out the "White Wolf", but the military strategists who knew the inside story already sighed, "Who said that the strength of the small station is enough to command the world". The best way to get rid of the doom and gloom of the Beiyang Army is to start over and train a new army.In the past, the Huai army followed the Hunan army, and the small station followed the Huai army, all following the same path.However, since the training of soldiers at the small station, in order to establish the Beiyang faction, the policy has been to emphasize the use of military students and suppress the non-commissioned officers, and thus formed the Beiyang tradition of employing personnel.Now to form a new force, we have to do the opposite. This is what Jiang Baili said in Chenzhong: mid-level officers use non-commissioned students, and lower-level officers use military preparations.

Jiang Baili's statement was also appreciated and strongly endorsed by Yuan Keding.The eldest son of the Yuan family went to study in Germany when he was young and admired Germany. Jiang Baili's thought of attaching importance to German military just fits with him. With Yuan Keding whispering in his ears, Yuan Shikai became more interested in establishing a new model army, but he believed that Jiang Baili's original design was too large and difficult to operate. The establishment of two divisions is already equivalent to one army, which will inevitably make the old generals of Beiyang uneasy and cause troubles.When Jiang Baili clashed with Wei Zonghan at the beginning, and failed to expand the school, he committed suicide in anger, which is a lesson for the past.

The wily Yuan Shikai modified Jiang Baili's plan, and the scale of the army was finally reduced to a regiment.The model regiment is called a regiment, but it is actually equivalent to a mixed brigade.The specific formation plan is to transfer lower-level officers from the current Beiyang army to serve as soldiers of the regiment, use middle and upper-level officers and military students as lower-level officers of the regiment, and use non-commissioned officers as middle-level officers of the regiment. Yuan Shikai planned to train the model troupe in five phases, one phase every six months.At the end of the first period, all the officers and soldiers of that period will be sent to the ordinary divisions to serve as senior officers.Based on the calculation of the officers of four brigades in each period, the middle and senior officers of ten divisions can be trained in the fifth period, which is enough to control the former Beiyang Army.

The model group has a bright future, so it doesn't matter if the scale is temporarily smaller. The key is who will be the head of the group. Yuan Keding is keeping a close eye on this position. In the former Qing Dynasty, Yuan Keding served in the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. Later, after the founding of the Republic of China, he never held a formal official position.Similar to his father, Yuan Keding is very ambitious in his official career and has been involved in Yuan Mu's operations. From the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty to Yuan Shikai's refusal to go south to take office and create a mutiny in Beijing, there are his plans behind it.

Yuan Keding's time with his father was not short, and he had friendship with Beiyang generals. All Yuan Shikai's subordinates called him "Master", but "Master" still couldn't command Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and other veteran Beiyang generals.For a long time, he has always wanted to follow in the footsteps of Xiaozhan's military training and master a new German army like the German crown prince. The establishment of the Army Model Regiment provided him with this opportunity. As a person with a lot of traditional concepts, Yuan Shikai's consciousness of inheriting his father's career is deeply rooted in Yuan Shikai's mind. When he has lost trust in Duan Qirui, of course he will only be interested in Yuan Keding.Therefore, when the meeting was held to discuss the establishment of the model group, he proposed in public that Yuan Keding be the head of the first model group.