Chapter 73 between the new army and the old army

Since the implementation of the New Deal in the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese Army has been divided into the new army and the old army.The so-called new army refers to two parts of the army, one is the Beiyang Army based on the new army formed and trained by Yuan Shikai’s small station, and the other is the new army formed and trained by various provinces successively (strictly speaking, it should also be counted as the army reorganized into the Part of the Eight Banners of the New Army).The old army mainly refers to the patrol battalion developed from the Huai army.Since the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Huai Army has been the main force of the Qing Dynasty's national army.Even if the performance in the Sino-Japanese War was not good, the formation of the so-called "army training" could only be carried out on the basis of the Huai army, and only the Xiaozhan Xin army and Zhang Zhidong's self-improvement army started from scratch.However, the two small troops that started from scratch later actually replaced the Huai Army's status as the national army and became the boss.Except for a small part of the Huai Army that was reorganized into the Beiyang Army, most of it retreated and became a patrol battalion.At that time, in addition to the patrol battalion reorganized by the Huai Army, on Chinese soil, there were also the half-dead Green Battalion, the Hunan Army, and a large number of unreorganized Eight Banners soldiers.These armies are all old armies.

The difference between the new army and the old army is that the new army not only adopts Western-style organization, such as army, division, brigade, regiment, battalion, company, and platoon (only the titles are different, which can be understood as different translations), but also has the steps, The configuration of artillery and cavalry, there are logistics troops and staff officers, as well as medical officers and military bands.Its weapons are also equipped as far as possible according to the equipment specifications of the West, especially the Prussian Army.In other words, the so-called new army is a completely Prussian-style army, a completely westernized army.But the old army is different. Although the Huai army was also armed with foreign guns and cannons and trained in foreign exercises, its organization is still a brave battalion system, without the logistics and staff configuration of a Western-style army. Foreign exercises are also training soldiers but not officials.Officers command operations, do not know how to read maps, have no staff officers, and use old-fashioned tactics.The Huai Army, which was reorganized into a patrol battalion, had a slight change in organization, but it remained largely the same. Because of the idea of ​​change at that time, the patrol battalion was similar to the later armed police force, while the remaining green battalion and Hunan Army gradually turned into police.

However, in this way, the Green Camp and the Hunan Army had nothing to say, they were dying.However, the Huai army has been downgraded from the original national regular army to a police force. The equipment and treatment are much worse than the new army. The gap is too big, and the mood cannot be improved.Seeing the sound of drums and music, and the brightly dressed new army, it is inevitable to feel sour.In addition, although the new army is trained according to Western methods and equipped with Western-style configurations, after all, most of them are newly recruited soldiers. Most of the officers are military school students.Although there are staff officers, they are basically useless.Supplies, logistics, military doctors, military law, etc., are mostly just appearances.As for the patrol battalion adapted from the Huai Army, although the battles were not very good, they fought a lot after all.In that era, the progress of weapons was still quite limited, and the army was like this. Those who had fought in wars had more veterans, and they were more capable of fighting.In terms of combat effectiveness, the new army is indeed not as good as some well-trained patrol battalions, such as Zhang Xun's troops, which are quite capable of fighting.The new army is one-on-one, and they can't actually beat them.Therefore, since the restructuring in 1907, the gap between the old and the new armies has been there, and the two look down on each other.In comparison, the old army is more sour.

However, with the increasing scale of the new army, the rebellion of the new army in Anhui and Guangzhou made the problem of loyalty of the new army begin to highlight.The conservative forces in the ruling and opposition parties began to exaggerate the "changes" of the new army, and some local officials also stepped up their defenses against the new army.In the last two or three years of the late Qing Dynasty, new armies everywhere generally encountered discrimination.The local governor would rather rely on the patrol battalion than trust the new army.The new army, which was originally the hope of national revival, was neglected and discriminated against, while the old army, which planned to be rectified and eliminated, became a life-saving straw.China's reforms, in the earliest military field, have entered the paradoxical area: the rulers are worried that the sharp weapon of change that was originally an emergency will turn into a deadly weapon.

However, this kind of worry and prevention has greatly intensified the "changes" of the new army.The rebellions of the new army in various places during the Revolution of 1911 almost all started when the ammunition was controlled.During the Wuchang Uprising, the ammunition used for the first shooting was smuggled in by the Revolutionary Party in advance.The Yunnan Uprising, the Xi'an Uprising, and the ammunition used by the New Army were all hidden in the name of target shooting earlier.The New Army of Ninth Town stationed in Nanjing, after the Wuchang Uprising, all the ammunition supplies were cut off, and the whole army only had the remainder of previous exercises, with less than five rounds per person, and they were transferred out of the city with excuses.However, Zhang Xun's Jiang Defense Battalion (a type of patrol battalion) and other defense battalions had sufficient ammunition, as much as they wanted, and were transferred to serve as the main city defense force by Zhang Renjun, Governor of Liangjiang, and General Tie Liang of Jiang Ning.Fan Zengxiang, the governor of the feudal clan, advised him many times, worrying that such indifference would cause chaos, but Zhang Renjun was not at ease.The favoritism between the two armies caused the contradiction between the old and the new armies to intensify rapidly.

The trusted old army, with high arrogance, repeatedly provoked the new army, and fired guns around the new army camp when there was nothing to do.When soldiers of the new army went out, they were repeatedly provoked by the old army.The soldiers who stayed in Nanjing in the Ninth Town went out and were arrested by the old army.Jiang Fangying also dispatched spies, disguised as hawkers, to investigate the situation of the new army.Before the new army "rebelled", it had already received the treatment of the rebels. To be honest, Xu Shaozhen, the governor of the Ninth Town at that time, was not actually a revolutionary party, and it was hard to say whether he was inclined to revolution.However, such discrimination and prevention pushed him to the side of the revolutionary party.He asked Fan Zengxiang to get rid of the discrimination many times, but to no avail.As he said, his unit is not only regarded as a passer-by, but also as a rebellious party.Before he rebelled, all those who assassinated him were sent out.Therefore, he had to betray.Although, under the circumstances at the time, the Ninth Town had to take action sooner or later, but it may not be an organized uprising. There is still a difference between the rebellion of individual troops and the action of the entire division.

Of course, Xu Shaozhen and his subordinates, who were determined to rebel, obviously underestimated the combat effectiveness of Zhang Xunjiang's defense battalion, and launched an attack on Yuhuatai rashly before the ammunition from Shanghai arrived, and they were defeated.Fortunately, the revolutionary Zhejiang Army, Shanghai Army, and Zhenjiang Army (Zhenjiang) gathered in Nanjing, and the situation was turned into safety.There is always good news on the revolution side, but Zhang Xun, who is defending the city, can't get any rescue. Of course, Nanjing can't hold it.Even so, although Zhang Xun's army was finally captured and abandoned the city, they withdrew to Jiangbei basically intact, saving money for his future comeback.

The product of reform endangers the reformer himself. This seems to be a conclusion of Western political scholars discussing the reform of latecomer countries.In fact, this conclusion does not exist.The "rebellion" of reform products is very complicated, but most of the common rebellion is because the ruler who launched the reform is too late, which has become an obstacle to the reform and threatens the survival of the reform product.The new army of the Qing Dynasty may not necessarily become the driving force for overthrowing the dynasty.Before the Qing government's relatives came to power, the new army rebelled several times, all of which were small-scale, and did not receive widespread response from the new army.Even after the Wuchang Uprising, the Southern New Army was generally unstable, but the Beiyang Army, which was also a product of reform, still did not move.The patrol battalions, which have always been regarded as reliable, also rebelled. Almost all the defense battalions in Hunan and Shaanxi participated in the uprising.The seemingly backward army is easily infiltrated by gangs. As long as the situation is favorable and the temptation is enough, these profit-seeking party members will also betray the court.In fact, before the Wuchang Uprising, during the several uprisings by the revolutionaries, there were also cases where the defense battalion was instigated to participate in the rebellion.It's just that the infidelity of the defense camp is often turned a blind eye by the loud conservative forces in the imperial court. They just like to stare at new things, find fault with these things, and even describe ants as elephants.For the Qing government, reforms certainly had risks, but if they did not reform, it would be a dead end.The key to controlling reform risks lies in their own simultaneous evolution.Specifically, for the Qing government at that time, it was to implement constitutionalism earlier, the real constitutionalism, instead of transferring power to the hands of the Manchus in the name of constitutionalism.If the Qing government could heed the call for a constitutional petition, establish a constitution early, and share power with the local gentry, then the moderate faction in the new army would gain power, and even if the revolutionary party was active, it would have no chance to take advantage of it.If so, the new army will not only not become the shovel that buried the dynasty, but will become a pillar to support the dynasty.