New Army
The New Army, more fully called the Newly Created Army, was the combined modernised army corps formed under the Qing dynasty in December 1895, following its defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. At first it consisted of a few experimental units, but after 1901 it was envisioned as a regular and professional fully trained and equipped according to Western standards with a reserve. In 1903 an imperial edict expanded it to 36 divisions of 12,500 men each, or total of 450,000 in peacetime supplemented by a further 523,000 reservists in wartime though it never achieved a strength above 300,000.
1895-1897
There was a forerunner to the effort of modernising the Chinese army, created before the end of the Sino-Japanese War: in February 1895, the Qing court assembled its Dingwu or the Pacification Army, consisting of 10 battalions or ying, totaling 4,750 men. This was initially organized by and aided by German advisor Constantin von Hanneken. However, after one year of training, this force had not yet been trained sufficiently to meet western standards.The command of this Pacification Army was turned over to Yuan Shikai by mid-December 1895, and within a few months was renamed the Newly Created Army and expanded to 7,000 men.
The monthly expenses of the brigade were 70,000 taels.
The Newly Created Army that was 7,000 men strong then became the most formidable of the three army groups stationed near Beijing and proved effective against the Boxers in Shandong province. Yuan refused to obey the Imperial Court's orders to halt his suppression of the Boxers when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China during the rebellion and refused to obey orders to fight the alliance.
The New Army was gradually expanded and upgraded in the following years. Yuan became increasingly disrespectful of the dynasty and only loyal to the party from which he benefited; his defection to Cixi against the Guangxu Emperor was a major blow to the Hundred Days' Reform. After 1900, Yuan's troops were the only militia that the Qing court could rely on amidst revolutionary uprisings throughout China.
Following the disgracing of Li Hongzhang in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Manchu Ronglu was made chief commander of the forces in Zhili and, eventually, Viceroy of Zhili in 1898. He was also minister of war for most of this period.
General reform
During and following the Qing defeats in the First Sino-Japanese War, many officials advocated reform of the military. Hu Yufen, a progressive official, advocated for a completely new army to be trained and raised with 50,000 in the Beiyang region, 30,000 in the Nanyang region, 20,000 each in Guangdong and Hubei, with the other provinces raising 10,000 each for a total of 250,000 troops.Constantin von Hanneken, a German advisor to the Qing military, proposed raising 100,000 men, this recommendation being supported by the Duban Junwu chu, or the "War council assembled during the war". It then memorialised the Grand Council calling for reform; whilst the Manchus of the Council supported the reform, the Han members did not.
In response to von Hanneken's proposal, Sheng Xuanhuai proposed that, due to the expenditure of the Green Standard and the Yong Ying amounting to over 20 million taels each annually, it would be better to disband these forces numbering some 800,000 and replace them with 300,000 western-style troops raised according to local conditions akin to the idea of Hu Yufen. However, the Zongli Yamen retorted that disbanding such a large army would be extremely difficult and came out in favour of a more gradual program of reform with modernisation being extended to the existing forces.
The Throne approved the creation of 2 German-style brigades but, unlike previous reforms, this was not a mere copy of drill and weapons, but a following of German organisation patterns as well as German training and tactics in addition to drill and weaponry of the Self-Strengthening Army of Zhang Zhidong and the Newly Created Army of Yuan Shikai.
Eight Banners
It is important to note that despite the criticism of the old-style and inefficient Green Standard and Yong Ying, which was common, there were no immediate proposals for reform of the Eight Banners, which the Manchus still closely guarded, by the Han officials.In late 1895, Yinchang was ordered to choose and instruct Manchu officers at the Tianjin Military Academy in anticipation of their taking command.
Military education
In 1896, Zhang Zhidong declared in a memorial to the Throne that the reason for German military pre-eminence was the universal education of its officer corps and asked for a military academy and railway school to be established in Nanjing. This was approved, and Zhang organised the training of 150 Chinese cadets under German instruction on a 3-year course involving techniques, strategy, infantry tactics, artillery engineers of both fortress and field artillery, surveying, and cartography. The railway school enrolled 90 students. Zhang already possessed the relevant experience for educating officers via academies, having introduced a similar program for education of officers in Liangguang during the Self-Strengthening Movement. The Nanjing Military academy costed 40,000 taels per year, not including the attached railway school.Newly created army and Yuan Shikai
Yuan was appointed as commander of the brigade in December 1895 and immediately began reform of the unit. The infantry was divided into 2 regiments with 2-3 battalions each, the artillery into 2 regiments with 2-3 battalions each with a QF, heavy and reserve component, the cavalry into 4 troops and the engineers into 6 groups based on their tasks. The 7,000 man upper strength limit was rapidly achieved by the unit. A German language school was established and 3 foreign officers instructed the cavalry, artillery and infantry, the upper organisation and staff components of the unit were also westernised as was the maintenance of telegraph communications and the introduction of night fighting something previously avoided by Chinese armies. To combat corruption, Yuan instituted a new system where officers personally handed their funds to the soldiers under their command from Yuan's own HQ under his personal supervision. Yuan, like Zhang, was one of the few Chinese officials who not only paid his troops well, but actually paid them on time.Pace of reform
The incompetence of the officers and the technical deficiencies of the military were routinely attacked by imperial censors and the Throne ordered the Board of War to deliberate on the matter of modernisation of the officer corps, something not rectified until several years later with the abolition of the military examination.The pace of reform and its extent was diluted and slowed by the corruption, favouritism, and general negligence in the bureaucracy, and the Throne often issued edicts to demand the bureaucrats fire the old, incompetent, and weak and report them to the Board of Punishment, but the bureaucrats rarely did this, instead shielding one another especially at higher levels. This did not create an environment conducive for reform.
Only minor increases in the number of modernised troops were made in the period from 1897 to the Boxer rebellion. Whilst the support for reform was almost universal, even amongst the Tartar-Generals, the actual extent of reform was minimal. The Tartar-General of Heilongjiang even praised the ability of his forces in fighting bandits and their lack of reform whilst simultaneously admitting they would be useless in true combat. Additionally, spears and bows were still commonplace, and the Heilongjiang general complained that it was too expensive to equip his entire force with rifles and instead asked for permission to make breech loaded jingals, a weapon lower in cost.
Other armies
General Nie Shicheng took 30 battalions of the Yong Ying and organised them into a 15,000-strong force based on German organisational patterns and established a military school where 2 Germans taught language and technical subjects. However, Nie's army, whilst better than other Chinese armies, did not approach that of Yuan's or Zhang's.Finances
The estimates for the revenue of the central government range from 87,979,000 taels to 92,285,000, with roughly half the amount going to the military including all forms of expenditure naval and land. The local armies, navies, and fortresses were estimated to cost 27,000,000 taels, with 10,000,000 for the Beiyang and Nanyang fleets and 8,000,000 for the forts and their guns. The Board of War and Board of Revenue jointly reported the cost of the militia, Defense Army, disciplined forces, and new-style troops to cost over 20,000,000 taels. The only accurate figures are that of expenditure on the arsenals at 3,385,000 taels, the Green standard, including the Disciplined forces, were reportedly costing 10,000,000 taels annually, and the Bannermen 4,000,000 taels and 1,000,000 piculs of rice. The reason for the number of the breakdown exceeding the total is due to the significant overlapping between units, the provinces' practice of subsidising other provinces, and the central government also subsidising them whilst some provinces both provided and received subsidies. For example, in 1894, Zhejiang provided not only for its own military, but also that of the Manchu and Chinese in Beijing, the Beiyang Fleet, and the cost of re-organisation in Manchuria.1898-1900
Hundred Days' Reform
The Hundred Days' Reform initiated by the Guangxu Emperor also affected military affairs, as the Emperor desired a comprehensive reform of the state. The Throne complained of the lack of reform enacted in the provinces, especially the continued corruption and military bloat caused by padded muster-rolls and the failure to disband the Green Standard Army. Within the same edict, the Throne called for new local militia and volunteer units to be raised and to replace the Green Standard; this was the same approach used 30 years earlier by Zeng Guofan, and, whilst it might have brought about a temporary boost to military power, it would inevitably devolve back into corruption and stagnation as the Yong Ying had done. However, the Throne did pass an edict on the recommendation of Hu Yufen to abolish the military exam, which was agreed to be phased out by 1900; the 10,000 strong Peking Field Force left to languish since 1865 was to be given a refresher course in western-style training. However, when the experienced and more politically able Prince Gong died, the pace of reform accelerated even further. Weng Tonghe, the Emperor's former tutor and a conservative, was dismissed, leaving the Grand Council entirely in the hands of the reformers. However, the Emperor maintained Ronglu, a conservative, as the Viceroy of Zhili, a mistake which he would regret and his position on the Board of War was given to the conservative K'ang-i. The Emperor even discussed the possibility of ordering the bannermen, who were a drain on the state treasury, to enter a different occupation and not live solely on the state stipend given to them. The Throne also ordered the provinces to disband the useless soldiers, and the provinces raised their opposition. Some counter-proposed the reduction of militia and Green Standard troops or stated that they had reduced their military forces to the extent that any further downsizing would constitute a danger. Ultimately, little military reform was enacted by the Guangxu Emperor during the brief period of reform.A proposal for universal military training was proposed and approved by the Emperor in the largest departure from the traditional organisation of the military, with all men in a given region being given military training and then act as a national reserve force for the military. The proposal was enacted with the most fervour in Southeastern China, particularly Guangxi and Guangdong, where the strength of the reformers was the most apparent. However, the Throne still did not take the lead even in this reform program, instead delegating the program to the Viceroys and Governors who had in the previous decades failed to deliver, thus it was likely for this program to end in failure too. The Emperor also decreed the adoption of modern drill, and they were to possess true discipline and modern weapons, with traditional weapons to be discarded. The Emperor took the Empress Dowager Cixi to inspect new army units, but this did not prevent the Coup against the Emperor.