YUAN SHI-KAIS RISE TO POWER 21 20 POWER AND POLITICS IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA On another occasion Yuan was still more embarrassed. sider pitting soldiers under his command against foreign troops.21 When Li Hung-chang returned from abroad,he stayed in In 1897-98,while receiving political support mostly from the so- Tientsin before he reported to the Court.I went to see him called conservative court politicians around the Empress Dowager with other candidates for official positions in Chihli province. like Rong-lu and Wang Wen-shao,Yuan remained on good terms At that time,Yuan had been promoted to be judge of Chihli, with the qingyi reformers around the young Guang-xu emperor like but had not yet assumed office because he had concentrated Weng Tong-he and even Liang Qi-chao and Kang You-wei.As is his energy in training soldiers.Being qualified as a taotai,he well known,Yuan was a central figure in the intrigues at Court was a leader of our group.We were all seated and,after a few which surrounded the 1898 reform movement led by Kang You- sentences of welcome,Yuan began to report on his work in wei and Liang Qi-chao.At first,Yuan professed loyalty to the training soldiers: "Now the arrangements are almost completed.German Guang-xu emperor and the reformers.Then,at the critical junc- officers have been appointed and their contracts are to be ture on September 20,1898,Yuan withdrew this support by re- signed in a day or two."Li Hung-chang changed colour and, fusing to commit the Newly Created Army as a defending force pounding the ground with his stick,interrupted Yuan: against the coup d'tat launched by the Empress Dowager using "Ha!You boy!How much do you know about training troops led by Rong-lu.22 soldiers?What contract are you going to sign?I have directed Needless to say,the impact on Yuan's career of the successful soldiers for several decades,yet I dare not to say that I am coup and his tacit support of it was favorable.For a few weeks he confident of myself.So it is easy to train soldiers!Do you replaced Rong-lu as acting governor-general of Zhili and commis- consider your troops a modern army after hiring a few for- sioner of trade for the northern ports.23 Yuan returned to Xiao- eigners,putting foreign guns on the men's shoulders and zhan to resume training troops.Rong-lu became commander of all shouting a few military commands?" Beiyang forces on October 11 and shortly thereafter promised Yuan's face became red and he said nothing.All bent their heads and dared not to look at each other.Yuan was at that Yuan money to train more troops.On December 7,at Rong-lu's time beginning to lift his head above the crowd.Li's purpose request,the Empress Dowager Ci-xi approved the reorganization seemed to be to dampen his ardour.As Li Hung-chang be- of the Beiyang armies into what was called four months later the came older,like ginger he became hotter.19 Military Guards Army (Wuoei jun)of five divisions,each of which was to be modeled after Yuan's Newly Created Army.On March Li Hong-zhang underestimated the Newly Created Army which 31,1899,Rong-lu formally praised to the throne Yuan's efforts in Yuan organized and trained at Xiaozhan between 1896 and 1899.It troop training over the last three years.24 was an important achievement and is still considered a milestone in Yuan Shi-kai was now a personal favorite of the Empress Dow- modern Chinese military history because of the improved quality ager Ci-xi.On September 26 and 29,1898,she sent cash awards to of officers and men Yuan recruited as well as the modern discipline Yuan and his Newly Created Army.25 Doubtless it was because of and training given to the troops.20 As noted earlier,by 1897,Yuan's her encouragement that at this time Yuan began memorializing on success with the army brought immediate recognition in the form subjects other than troop training:distribution of troops,unified of promotions,a reputation as the empire's foremost military re- former,and direct involvement in Beijing's court politics.It is also 21.Ch'en,Yumn Shriht-k'ni (1961),p.249. said that the loss of the Sino-Japanese War and its devastating 22.YSKZZ,p.1.Yuan's role in the 1898 reform movement and coup d'ffaf is a impact on Li Hong-zhang's career had a profound effect on Yuan. complex and controversial subject.The best single work is Liu Feng-han,Yaar Ski- kai vu Wrru zhengbian (Taibei,1964). Throughout the remainder of his career Yuan would never con- 23.5hi,jimm426:14a. 19.Wu Yong,Gengzirishon congn(1918),pp.163-65,translated by Ida Pruitt in The 24.Yuzhe huicun,Guang-xu 25/2/20:Skil,jnan 439:19;YSKZZ,pp.11-13,15.On Flighl of a Empress (London,1937),pp.256-59. Rong-lu and the origins of the Military Guards Army,see Liu Feng-han,Wroei jim, 20.Liu Feng-han,Xinjian luinn;Ralph Powell,The Rise of Chinese Military Potoer,1895- Pp.57-72. 25.Guangrn chao donghua xulu (DHXL),p.4184.Shiln,jnmn 427:7;YSKZZ,pp.6-7. 1912chap.2
9 POWER AND POLITICS IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA YUAN SHI-KAIS RISE TO POWER 23 military reform,arsenals,salt taxes,currency reform,stamp tax, wealth and power to the empire.Foreign loans and expertise should and preservation of national sovereignty.By spring,1899,she be utilized to the fullest,as long as China's sovereign rights were not made him a junior vice-president of the Board of Works with compromised from the point of view of international law.These privileges to ride on barges on palace lakes and on horseback in the were themes to which Yuan would return repeatedly through- Imperial City.26 out the rest of his career.In retrospect,little was new or distinctive On December 6,1899,the Empress Dowager appointed Yuan about Yuan's reform rhetoric nor was there much that was original governor of Shandong province.Yuan's predecessor,Yu-xian,had about the content of his reform program per se.What impressed the refused to suppress the initially antidynastic and increasingly anti- Empress Dowager and contemporaries alike was Yuan's genius for foreign uprisings of the Boxers and it was hoped that with the getting results.He achieved more in the way of institutional re- Newly Created Army Yuan could control the troublesome insur- form in Shandong in two years than any other governor of that gents.But Yuan suppressed the Boxer movement too vigorously, province in the history of the dynasty.z8 driving the Boxers out of Shandong and into neighboring Zhili In 1900 the Boxer Uprising,the siege of the legations,and the toward Beijing.Moreover,by protecting missionaries and molli- allied expedition against Tianjin and Beijing changed the political fying the German and British diplomats in Shandong,Yuan cul- climate rapidly and dramatically.For a while in late summer,1900, tivated good relations with foreigners at a time when xenophobia after the Court was driven into exile to the northwest (Xi'an)and was gripping the Court.During the early summer of 1900,Yuan before Li Hong-zhang returned as Zhili governor-general and resisted making military commitments in defense of Beijing and commissioner for the northern ports,Yuan Shi-kai's yamen in Tianjin against the impending invasion by an allied expeditionary Jinan,the capital of Shandong,served as a communications center force.Censorial attacks upon him for his conduct in Shandong for the central government in North China.29 By 1901,with the were an indication that Yuan's suppression of the Boxers and his allied powers still occupying Beijing and Tianjin,the Empress Dow- forcing them into Zhili,his attentiveness to foreign interests,and ager and her Court had a forced conversion to institutional reform his reluctance to answer a call to arms were displeasing conserva- along the lines of what Yuan was implementing in Shandong.In tive officials in Beijing.27 the fall of 1901,after a treaty had been signed with the Allied During 1900 and 1901 Yuan also instituted a wide range of Powers in September,Li Hong-zhang became fatally ill.According reforms in Shandong.They included reorganization of local Braves to rumor,Yuan was the favorite to replace Li in Zhili.30 The factors (riangyong)into the Vanguard Division (Xianfeng dui)fashioned after which made Yuan seem the obvious choice are worth examining in the Newly Created Army;introduction of a Western-style school detail system;establishment of a college and military academies;reor- ganization of the salt monopoly;new taxes on salt,medicine,to- The Influence of the Foreign Powers bacco,wine,brokers,and pawnshops;and establishment of a mint Historians in China have emphasized the connection between and an Office of Commerce (Shangwu ju).The rhetoric of Yuan's the imperialist powers'backing of Yuan and his appointment to the reform memorials was brief and derivative of the thinking of more Zhili posts.The late Shao Xun-zheng of Beijing University argued senior statesmen such as Zhang Zhi-dong,Li Hong-zhang,and Liu that the support which Yuan received from the Germans,English, Kun-yi.Institutional reform,Yuan argued,was necessary to bring 28.Y5KZZ,pp.35-37,43-46,66-66,302-04,307-09,311-14:YSYZY,jmam9:20b 26.Skiln,jum 434:12b,444:11,454:3a;Y5KZZ,pp.17-21;Yuan Shi-kai,Yang- 27b;5hilu,jnant 485:19b;David D.Buck,Urban Chtnnge in Chinn,chap.3.See also shomyman zouyi jiyno (YSYZY),jnan 1:2-5,9-11. Arthur J.Brown,New Forces in Old Chinn (New York,1904),pp.338-46 (Mr.Brown 27.Chester Tan,The Borer Cnlnslrophe (New York,1955),pp.45-52;Liu Feng-han, toured Shandong and visited Yuan Shi-kai during the spring of 1901).For Yuan Shi- Wiei j,pp.578-602 and 786-87,and Xinjinn lujun,pp.330-46;Edmund S.Wehrle, kai's concept of sovereign rights,see Schrecker,Imperinlism ad Chinese Nationalisut. Britein.China.and the Anti-missionnry Riois.1891-1900 (Minneapolis,1966),pp.146-49; 29.Tan,chaps.6 and 7. John Schrecker,Imperialism Ckinese Nationaiism,pp.130-39:Yihelan yundong 30.Peking d Timnisin Times (PTT),Oct.12 and Nov.9,1901;and Norih Chinn Herald cong (Beijing,1956),pp.1-9. (NCH),July 3,Aug.21,and Oct.16,1901
POWER AND POLITICS IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA YUAN SHI-KAI5 RISE TO POWER 25 and Americans determined his appointment.In Shandong,Yuan's The Powers,however,were not unified in their endorsement of suppression of the Boxers and his protection of foreigners in 1900, Yuan.They were deeply divided into two camps:the Germans, as well as his later reluctance to cooperate with pro-Boxer officials British,Americans,and Japanese against the Russians,French,and in Beijing,had earned him the backing of these powers.Moreover, Belgians.In October,1900,the Germans and British signed a Yuan was closely tied to the Germans,who were already in Shan- formal alliance.The British and Japanese were cooperating closely dong at Jiaozhou and seeking further concessions.A day before Li in anticipation of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902.And the Hong-zhang died,the German ambassador in Beijing recommend- Americans at this point were still following the British lead in their ed to the Court that Yuan should succeed Li.Shao interpreted this "open-door"China policy.On the other side,the Russians,French, German endorsement of Yuan as having determined the Empress and Belgians worked together as they were doing in Europe.Their Dowager's choice.31 partnership in China was eventually formalized in the Franco- Indeed,after 1900,the Empress Dowager was careful not to Russian declaration of March 16,1902.34 Hostility in China be- choose men for important provincial posts who were objectionable tween these two camps increased after 1900 as the Russians angled to the Powers.This was especially true just after the Boxer affair, for greater control over Manchuria at the expense of the British when foreign ministers in Beijing protested successfully the ap- and the Japanese.Reflecting this tension,fighting between the pointment to high provincial posts of most Manchus and certain British and the Russians nearly broke out during a railway dispute Chinese officials whom they considered to be Boxer sympathizers. in Tianjin in March,1901.35 It was not surprising,therefore,that In March,1901,for example,the governor of Shanxi province,the there was considerable disagreement among the Powers about Mongol bannerman Xi-liang,was removed from office because of Yuan Shi-kai.The Russians and their allies thought well of Li foreign pressure.Likewise,the influence of the British was the Hong-zhang and his close associates.They were hostile to Yuan, critical factor in the selection of a new governor of Hubei prov- preferring instead for the Zhili posts a protege of Li Hong-zhang ince.32 Thus the military presence of the foreign powers in Zhili such as Zhou Fu.36 On the other hand,the British and their allies certainly intimidated the Empress Dowager enough to assure that considered Li too partisan toward the Russians.Yuan,with whom Li Hong-zhang's successor be a Chinese with diplomatic experience they enjoyed much better relations,was their choice to succeed Li who had the confidence of one or more major powers.Rong-lu,for in Zhili.37 In his first interview after being appointed,Yuan was example,who was the Empress Dowager's closest Manchu advisor quick to acknowledge to the British minister,Sir Ernest Satow,his and might have been considered a candidate,was persona non grafa debt to the British and their allies: with the Powers because he had commanded the troops that had His Excellency Yuan Shih-kai thought that his appointment surrounded the foreign legations in 1900.33 to the Viceroyalty of Chili-a post usually entrusted to senior Statesmen of higher standing-should be taken as an earnest 31.Hu Sheng,Digiozhuyi yu Zhonggio zhengzi,p.186;Shao Xun-zheng,"Xinhai of the Court's intentions.The Emperor was aware of his geming qian wushi..."pp.53-54;Zhang Zhi-dong,Zhang Wenrinnggong quanji success in Shantung,the seed-bed of last year's troubles,and (Shucheng,1928),diangao,jnan 47:35,48:6. 32.Roger Des Forges,Hsi-liang and the Chinese National Revolution,pp.17-24;Daniel H.Bays,Chinn Enters the Th Cenhrry,p.106.Des Forges demonstrates quite (London,1910).For extraordinary insights into the making of the latter,see Hugh clearly that foreign opposition to Xi-liang (Hsi-liang)consistently thwarted his Trevor-Roper,Hermtit of Peking (London,1977). career after 1900. 34.Lung Chang,La Chine i I'aube de XXe sedle (Paris,1962),pp.273-303;A.W. 33.Whether or not Rong-lu tried to restrain the Empress Dowager and in other Griswold,The Far Easlern Policy of the United Slates (New Haven,1938),chap.2;Andrew ways protected the legations during the Boxer crisis are questions that will probably Malezemoff,Russinn Far Enstern Policy.1881-1904(Berkeley and Los Angeles,1958),p. never be resolved.The Powers,and later historians,adopted a more generous view 174;and L.K.Young,British Policy in Chinn.1895-1902 (Oxford,1970),pp.193-318. toward Rong-lu after his death,perhaps because of Yuan Shi-kai's persistent de- 35.Lung Chang,p.300;British Parliamentary Papers,vol.91(1901),China nos.2and 4. fense of him,which included the circulation of false diaries and other materials;see, 36.B.A.Romanov (trans.Susan W.Jones),Russia in Mancimrin,1892-1906 (Ann for example,Tan,The Barer Catastrophe,pp.112-15,135-36,and the influential but Arbor,1952),pp.232,246. spurious J.O.P.Bland and Edmund Backhouse,China Under the Empress Downger 37.Times (London),Nov.9,1901,p.7
。 POWER AND POLITICS IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA YUAN 5HI-KAIS RISE TO POWER 27 that foreign nations placed some confidence in his powers and rons.Moreover,this seemed to be a function which Yuan's troops will.That was,no doubt,the special reason why he had been were already performing;before his appointment in 1901,one of selected,and he thought that it ought to have some effect in Yuan's commanders,Jiang Gui-ti,was policing Beijing with 3,000 removing foreign distrust....38 of Yuan's Shandong troops.But the actual military situation in With Beijing and Tianjin under occupation in 1901,the Empress north China during 1901,and especially in Zhili province,was Dowager and her government were at the mercy of the Powers. much more complicated than the above suggests. Still the Powers'preoccupation with outmaneuvering one another, In the spring of 1901,as the Powers began to withdraw troops, and the resulting split over candidates for the Zhili posts,could there were serious problems in Zhili with Boxers,wandering bands have given the Empress Dowager some leeway in her decision.Yet of brigands,and sporadic uprisings in various villages.41 In order to at this point,in trying to play one"barbarian"against another,the establish order and to convince the foreigners that they should Empress Dowager was leaning diplomatically toward the British continue to withdraw troops,Li Hong-zhang raised and armed and Germans,in hopes of frustrating Russian ambitions in Man- troops from remnants of his old Huai Army and other units from churia.39 Thus one must conclude that the will of certain foreign the south.In charge of the army and of restoring order in the powers,in particular the British and the Germans,was a very province were Lu Ben-yuan and Mei Dong-yi,Huai Army com- important factor influencing the Empress Dowager's choice.But manders whose loyalties to Li dated back to the 1860s.42 Plundering there are two other important factors to also consider,namely, more than policing,Lu and Mei's force of 10,000 to 15,000 men Yuan's military influence and his personal popularity at court and failed to restore order in Zhili.43 It became necessary for Li to call in with the Empress Dowager. additional troops from neighboring provinces.Available were three large,well-armed,and relatively well-disciplined armies command- Yuan Shi-kai's Military Power in 1901 ed by Dong Fu-xiang,Ma Yu-kun,and Yuan Shi-kai respectively. It has been argued that the Empress Dowager had little choice In 1900 at the insistence of the foreign powers,Dong Fu-xiang but to appoint Yuan to succeed Li Hong-zhang in Zhili because had been nominally stripped of his command and his army dis- Yuan's military control over Beijing and Zhili was a fait accompli.40 banded.But,in fact,Dong had proceeded to Ningxia on the Gansu- By the end of 1900,three out of five divisions of the new Military Mongolia border with most of his former troops(perhaps 20,000 in Guards Army-those commanded by Nie Shi-cheng,Song Qing, number).The foreign community in north China considered the and Rong-lu-had been defeated and dispersed by the allied expe- continued existence of Dong and his army in Gansu to threaten a ditionary forces.A fourth division,commanded by Dong Fu-xiang, revival of a Boxer-like antiforeign movement.Therefore for Li had accompanied the Empress Dowager and her Court to Xi'an Hong-zhang to call Dong and his men back to Zhili risked foreign where,due to pressure from the Powers,it was ordered to disband. intervention,another war,and the probable reoccupation of the Thus,the argument holds,by 1901 the only division intact was province by the Powers.44 Ma Yu-kun's and Yuan Shi-kai's armies Yuan Shi-kai's Fifth or Right Division,which was in Shandong and were more realistic possibilities. had doubled in size.If true,this meant that in 1901 Yuan com- Since the 1860s Ma Yu-kun had served under Song Qing as manded the only force in north China capable of resisting Boxers, brigands,and foreigners who might threaten Beijing and its envi- 41.YSKZZ,pp.718-19:Li Hong-zhang,ougao,jman 80:30;PTT,Feb.16 and 23, March 2,April 20,and June 29,1901. 38.FO 405/118(confidential prints),item no.54,memorandum of interview 42.Li Hong-zhang,zougno,jan 80:8a;Wang Er-ming,Hmai jnnzlri,pp.159-60,364- between Sir E.Satow and Yuan Shih-k'ai,Acting Viceroy of Chihli (Zhili),Dec.5. 65;Fei Xing-jian,Jindai mingrenr xinechr (Shanghai,1920),p.351;QS,p.355; 1901,Pp.24f. PTT,Sept.4 and Dec.1,1900;NCH,Nov.14,1900,and Nov.13,1901. 39.Bays,China Exters tke Tmt Centry,pp.105-06. 43.Yikelan dmngen shiline(Beijing.1959),vol.2.pp.1136,1141;PTT,July 16 and 40.The clearest presentation of this thesis has been by Hatano Yoshihiro,"Hokuyo 27,1901. gumbatsu no seiritsu katei,"pp.238-39;see also Powell,The Rise of Chimese Military 44.Liu Feng-han,Wawei jun,pp.760-62;PTT,March 23,1901;Hosea B.Morse, Potoer,pp.125-26,138. The Internalional Relations of tke Chinese Empire (London,1918),vol.3,pp.341.348
28 POWER AND POLITICS IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA YUAN 5HI-KAI'S RISE TO POWER 为 deputy commander of the Yijun,which had been a division,num- protect the approaches to the city,most of them to be stationed bering about 15,000 men,of the Military Guards Army between along the railway line from Tianjin to Beijing.Yuan Shi-kai was 1898 and 1900.After the battle of Tianjin in August,1900,Ma instructed to send Jiang Gui-ti,who once had been associated with reassembled a force of more than 10,000 men from remnants of the Li and his Huai Army,with 3,000 men to Beijing.50 Jiang's troops Yijun and Nie Shi-cheng's and Rong-lu's defeated units.Song Qing were to serve in Beijing as a special police force under the general was still nominally commander of this new Yijun,but Song was 80 direction of Hu Yu-fen,an elder statesman with whom Yuan was years old and in bad health;actual command lay with Ma.Ma and on good terms.sI Ma and Jiang led their troops into Zhili in June, his army accompanied the Empress Dowager in flight from Beijing 1901,and thereafter appeared to have carried the main burden of as far as Shanxi province.Ma then remained in Shanxi as com- pacifying the entire province.But it was not until mid-September, mander-in-chief (tidu)of the province,almost colliding in March, when order appeared to have been restored to the countryside,that 1901,with a German expedition at the Zhili-Shanxi border.4s Ma and Jiang's troops actually took up positions in Beijing.52 As governor of Shandong between 1899 and 1901,Yuan Shi-kai We should note that Li Hong-zhang received most of the neces- had doubled the number of troops under his command.As noted sary outside help from Ma Yu-kun and the Yijun,not from Yuan earlier,at Jinan he retrained about 10,000 local braves to become Shi-kai,whom Li never forgave for his betrayal in 1894.Ma Yu- the Vanguard Division of the army.This new division was similar kun's troops in Zhili outnumbered Jiang Gui-ti's by at least four to to Yuan's Newly Created Army in terms of pay scale,organization, one.Moreover,Ma was higher in the chain of command than Jiang armament,and discipline.However,there were important differ- and in October,1901,replaced Lu Ben-yuan as commander-in- ences:officers and men were of lower quality,being recruits from chief of Zhili province.sa existing traditional local units;financing was from local provincial Thus military necessity,like diplomatic necessity,did not abso- revenues,not from Beijing;and the Vanguard's appearance was lutely dictate that Yuan Shi-kai succeed Li Hong-zhang in Zhili. more ragged because of irregularities in equipment,particularly Yuan Shi-kai's troops were not already occupying Zhili province uniforms.46 In addition,in 1901 Yuan managed to have 3,000 men and theirs was only a token presence in Beijing.Nor did Yuan from Liu Kun-yi's Western-style Self-Strengthening Army(Zigiang command the only force in north China of any strength.Besides jun)transferred north to his control.47 Thus by the eve of Yuan's the incompetent Huai Army units in Zhili,there was the reconsti- appointment to the Zhili posts,he commanded a force of approx- tuted Yijun commanded by Ma Yu-kun and,in Gansu,Dong Fu- imately 20,000 well-trained men which was generally regarded as xiang's army in exile.Ma Yu-kun's and Dong Fu-xiang's troops,if the best army in the Empire.4a combined,would have outnumbered Yuan's forces in Shandong by In the spring of 1901,recognizing the need for a substantial about two to one.On the other hand,Yuan commanded the larg- number of troops to reestablish order in Zhili,Li Hong-zhang est-and by far the best-single army in the empire.Its utility was requested that Ma Yu-kun's entire army and a few units of Yuan well understood by the Empress Dowager,who had learned from Shi-kai's force be sent to Zhili.Li's request,first suggested by him her coup d'tat of 1898 the importance of having at hand a major in February but not formally made until May 28,1901,was couched force whose commander she could trust. in terms of the need to insure order in the capital and its environs 50.Liu Feng-han,Wwwei jnn,pp.461-62. as the foreign troops withdrew.49 Ma Yu-kun's troops were to 51.QS,p.4928;Times (London),May 29,1901,p.3.Yuan replaced Hu in 1896 as 45.Liu Feng-han,Wuwei jun,pp.409-36,479,737-41,769-76;Wang Yan-wei and commander of the Newly Created Army,and after 1901 Yuan cooperated with Hu Wang Liang,eds.,Xixunt da shiji (Beijing,1933),jaN 5:36-38;PTT,March 30,1901. in the administration of the Peking-Mukden (Beijing-Shenyang)Railway. 46.Liu Feng-han,Xinjian lujat,pp.317-29. 52.Li Hong-zhang,zougno,jMan 80:84;disngao,juan 39:8a,10a,22;Wang Yan-wei 47.Shilu,jman 484:1b-2a and 485:10a;Liu Feng-han,Wmtori jrr,pp.787-88;PTT, and Wang Liang,jnen 9:13b-14;PTT,July 27,Aug.17 and 24,and Sept.7,14,21,and Aug.24,1901;NCH,Oct.9 and Sept.25,1901. 23,1901;NCH,July 24,Oct.9 and 23,and Nov.13,1901. 48.See,for example,Brown,Neio Forces,pp.84-98. 53.Li Hong-zhang,gao,juan 80:84;PTT,Oct.19,1901. 49.Wang Yan-wei and Wang Liang,juan 5:39-40;Li Hong-zhang,zougno,jn 60:32-33a