The Qing Dynasty perished in 1912. This is the inevitable process of history. A new dynasty replaced the old dynasty. However, the Qing Dynasty claimed to have millions of troops at that time, but no one saw it after its demise. Is it a fabrication in the history books or something like this? People disappear because of strange things.
It was not until 1987 that people discovered traces of those million soldiers. It turned out that they had always existed, but they were just not in front of people.
The Destruction of the Qing Dynasty
Speaking of the demise of the Qing Dynasty, we have to mention one person, that is Cixi. Cixi controlled the government for 48 years. During this period, the emperor was like a puppet. There was nothing Practical execution and all power lies in Cixi's hands.
However, Cixi was extremely corrupt in her later years. She spent silver 40,000 taels just for her own enjoyment every day. She even squandered a navy army on one of her birthdays. Naturally, she had little ability to consume the army for many years.
Coupled with the invasion of imperialism in the later period, it was even more difficult for the Qing army to resist, and gradually the army no longer had any combat effectiveness. Especially when the Eight-Nation Allied Forces invaded China, only 50,000 people defeated millions of Qing troops. The big reason for this was that the Qing troops at that time had worn-out weapons and backward equipment.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, part of the army followed the warlords, and some disappeared into the sea of people . Millions of soldiers also disappeared at this time. If there were no clear records of these millions of soldiers, many people might think that This is nonsense in those history books. After all, it is really amazing that such a huge number of people disappeared without any news overnight.
After the Opium War, Hong Kong became a British colony. Before that, there was a Qing army garrisoned in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong, and there were military camps, forts, etc. However, after the demise of the Qing Dynasty, this million-strong army disappeared overnight. Time disappeared, as if it had never existed.
The Qing Dynasty’s Army
Before the Qing Dynasty’s demise, there were millions of troops, and these troops were roughly divided into three categories: Eight Banners Soldiers, Green Camp Soldiers and New Soldiers .
The Eight Banners Army is the most important part of the Qing army. As you can tell by its name, it was established in the early Qing Dynasty. They were all the Eight Banners nobles of the later Qing Dynasty. When the Qing army entered the Central Plains, the maximum number of Eight Banners reached Two hundred thousand people, and these two hundred thousand people are very brave and good at fighting, just like the Mongolian army under Genghis Khan . Without them, the Qing Dynasty's pace of unifying the Central Plains would not have been so smooth.
After the Qing Dynasty unified the world, the Eight Banners soldiers were not as brave and good at fighting as before. They slowly lost their combat effectiveness and became a place for the children of the Eight Banners to hang out. Moreover, their Eight Banners status was noble and the court could not revoke it immediately. , so these "trash" were kept in captivity for many years until the birth of the new army.
The Green Battalion was the main force in the hands of the Qing Dynasty and the largest one. During the reign of Emperor Xianfeng, there were as many as 600,000 people. They were built in units of battalions. They were also the most commonly used army during the Qing Dynasty. In most cases There are green soldiers to complete all tasks. However, the Green Battalion also became very corrupt and backward in equipment in the later period. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, it had no existing value and was replaced by other recruits.
is the new recruit in the end. Due to the unavailability of the Eight Banners Soldiers and the Green Camp Soldiers, the late Qing Dynasty began to form a new army and used advanced weapons and equipment from the West. It was called the " New Army ", or the New Army for short. Before the Revolution of 1911, the number of the new army was as many as 200,000, and their combat effectiveness was not comparable to that of the previous Eight Banners soldiers and Green Camp soldiers. However, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, these new soldiers naturally became the new government Soldiers under his command or private soldiers of warlords from various places.
The disappearing million-strong army
Hong Kong fell into the hands of the British. The Qing Dynasty did not take any measures. In order to prevent the British army from using Hong Kong as a stronghold to continue to invade the mainland, the Qing Dynasty sent a large number of soldiers to station in Kowloon and built various Planting city walls and forts, this is Kowloon Walled City .
Due to the extremely close distance to the British invading army, the soldiers of the Kowloon Walled City had many conflicts with the British army and even lost their lives. However, the overall capabilities of the Qing army at that time were not as good as the British army. If they could not win in one battle, Emperor Daoguang They did not dare to start a war easily. In this way, the friction between Kowloon Walled City and the British Army slowly developed.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the Qing troops stationed here did not leave, but continued to guard this place. On the one hand, they had been used to living here for many years, and on the other hand, they wanted to keep their own land. Don't let Britain invade the land beneath your feet.
Kowloon is the only place between mainland China and Hong Kong. Occupying it will also occupy the throat leading to the mainland. After reorganizing Hong Kong, the British army planned to occupy Kowloon and enter the mainland. However, what they did not expect was that even though the Qing Dynasty had perished, there were still soldiers from the Qing Dynasty in Kowloon, and they stayed at their posts.
Although there are not as many soldiers here as before, there are still tens of thousands of people left. They relied on the city walls here to resist the British attack. As time went by, the British army could not bear it anymore, so they gave up here. , and seal this place. The remaining Qing troops were self-sufficient here, and a long time gradually passed.
As time goes by, the soldiers who guarded this city slowly grew old or died, and the remaining people became increasingly unwilling to garrison here. They thought it was a meaningless thing, and the security here was also poor. It got worse and worse, and eventually there was no security at all. It was like returning to primitive society. Whoever has the biggest fist is the right one. This is not only a no-nonsense zone, but also a favorite place for various underworld and underground organizations to do business.
It was not until the signing of the "Sino-British Joint Declaration" in 1984 that the two sides reached an agreement on the Kowloon issue. In 1987, the two sides reached an agreement to dismantle the Kowloon Walled City. However, traces of the missing Qing troops were found here. It turned out that they had been killed after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. , some people chose to return to their status as civilians, while others still stuck to their original posts to protect the Kowloon Walled City and have multiplied to this day. The last army of the Qing Dynasty persisted in the Kowloon Walled City for decades, even though their country had long been destroyed. , but their belief in defending the homeland deserves our respect.
They seem to be a small country with no connection with the outside world. All their daily necessities are self-sufficient. All systems and etiquette follow the rules of the Qing Dynasty. They have developed in this small Kowloon Walled City. For decades, it has been out of touch with the world.
Back then, the Qing Dynasty did not want to control this place, the British army had no way to control it, and Hong Kong could not control it. It was a complete "three no-nos" zone, and all kinds of fish and dragons were mixed together. Without the protection of the first batch of Qing Dynasty soldiers, people's lives were extremely difficult. Until the official dismantling of the Kowloon Walled City in 1993, the people here also moved to other places, and the last army of the Qing Dynasty disappeared from history.
