Although the Guangwu Army was small in scale, it participated in two major events: the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the German occupation of Qingdao, but their performances were quite different. , especially its abandonment of Qingdao without a fight, has directly and profoundly affected history. It is necessary to explore the reasons behind it.
1. The Guangwu Army went into battle during the Sino-Japanese War of 1891.
Starting in 1891, the Guangwu Army was ordered to mobilize and defend Qingdao and began to build the Jiaozhou Bay Fort. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 broke out, due to the navy's shortage of small-caliber rapid-fire guns, Guangwu Army General Soldier Zhang Gao Yuan understood the righteousness and transferred the 10 53mm 40x small-caliber Grusons to it. Rapid-fire guns and ancillary ammunition were all transferred to the Navy. Two additional guns were installed on each of the five battleships: Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Jingyuan, Laiyuan, and Jiyuan, which limitedly enhanced the firepower of the battleships.
invaded Liaodong in October, causing a crisis in Lushun. According to the records of "Shengdang·Sino-Japanese War of 1895" and "Zhang Gaoyuan to Sheng Xuanhuai Dian", the imperial court urgently ordered General Zhang Gaoyuan to lead the 2nd Battalion of the Songwu Army, the 4th Battalion of the Guangwu Army (front battalion, deputy center, left and right artillery battalions), and the newly recruited 2nd Battalion of the Fuzi Army, a total of 8 battalions to aid Liaodong. The Guangwu Army is led by Admiral Yang Shoushan, the general of the Huai Army, and Li Rendang, the former Guangwu Army camp officer, leads the Fuzi Army and is also in charge of the former enemy camp affairs office.
Among the armies that participated in the Sino-Japanese War, 6 of Zhang Gaoyuan's 8 battalions were veterans, and each of the two artillery battalions had 16 horse-drawn imported German Krupp four-pound breech steel cannons, 8 artillery carts, 40 coachmen, and 120 horses. They were among the best in the Qing army at that time in terms of firepower and mobility. The only shortcoming of this unit is that the 10 53mm small-caliber rapid-fire guns were transferred away, resulting in a lack of mid-range weapons. Once the Japanese army broke through the blocking fire of the four-pounder guns and entered into rifle fire, the various units of the Guangwu Army would not have the advantage.
This characteristic of the unit was fully revealed in the subsequent battles. From November 17th to 21st, the Guangwu army held Qianmaling, thirty miles east of Gaiping, setting up ambushes to meet the enemy, and achieved many victories. Against this elite Qing army with solid positions and powerful firepower, the Japanese army had nothing to do and retreated without a fight after ten days.
2. The Battle of Gaiping
But soon, the Japanese army mobilized heavy troops. On December 15th (January 10th, 1895), the Japanese Nogi Brigade (the "Military God" Nogi Nogi who killed his own people even more ruthlessly) attacked Gaiping.
The Songwu Army and the Guangwu Army were heavily guarded and deployed "about three hundred meters in front of Gaiping City, controlling the Gaiping River in front, and guarding the half-moon bunker" in an effort to prevent the war. "Under the command of Zhang Gaoyuan, the Qing army had high morale and was "a hundred times more energetic". They all had the heart of "working hard to destroy the aggressors regardless of their own lives." Especially the 32 cannons of the Guangwu Army Artillery Battalion rained down shells, which put the Japanese army in trouble. The Songwu Army and the Guangwu Army had high morale and were "a hundred times more energetic". They all had the heart of "working hard to destroy the aggressors regardless of their own lives" ( Transcript of "Relevant Historical Materials of the Sino-Japanese War: Zhang Gaoyuanzhen"), "Concentrated artillery fire, firing cannons, rifles, and rain of shells."
According to "The Sino-Japanese War: The History of the Sino-Japanese War Recorded by the Japanese", "Our army attacked the enemy on open ground, without even a tree or plant to hide its body. When our army stands up and advances, the enemy will shoot from behind the bunker; when our army stops advancing and crawls on the ground, the enemy will stop shooting. Because the terrain is not conducive to our army, the situation is very difficult. "
Seeing that the central breakthrough against the Qing army's position was unsuccessful, the Japanese army switched to flanking tactics and attacked the Qing army's left wing. They defeated the five battalions of the pro-Qing army Zhang Guangqian who were on the side. At 7:50 in the morning, they occupied Fenghuang Mountain. The Guangwu army was trapped in the dilemma of being attacked from both sides. .
The transcript of "Related Historical Materials of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 - Zhang Gaoyuanzhen" records that when General Zhang Gaoyuan saw that his retreat was cut off, he ordered Yang Shoushan and Li Rendang to each lead a detachment of 200 people to meet the enemy. Yang Shoushan led 200 Guangwu troops to pass through the Japanese army and killed dozens of enemies. Unfortunately, they were trapped in a tight siege and died in the bombardment. Li Rendang fought bravely and shouted to kill the thieves, but unfortunately "neutron died".In this battle, the Qing army killed five people above battalion officers, 19 people below sentry officers, and more than 700 casualties among brave soldiers. Gaiping was finally lost.
Gaiping Blockade Battle, once commented: "This battle was the most vicious battle in the Sino-Japanese War, and Japanese soldiers never called it it." The blow to the Japanese army was indeed unprecedented since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894. Although the Japanese army occupied Gaiping, they also paid a heavy price. According to the figures released by the Japanese General Staff Headquarters' "History of the Japanese-Qing War in Meiji 278", the Japanese army had "36 dead generals and below, and 298 wounded." This was the battle with the highest number of casualties since the Japanese invaded China. According to the "Records of the Japanese-Qing War", Nogi Nogi's coat was penetrated by three bullets, which shows the intensity of the Qing army's firepower.
After the Battle of Gaiping, the severely weakened Guangwu Army was transferred to defend Tianjin, Zhili, and made no further achievements. In the 24th year of Guangxu (1896), it was redeployed to Qingdao, Shandong to garrison, and continued to be responsible for the defense of Jiaozhou Bay. And it was here that the Guangwu Army ushered in its final humiliation.
3. The procrastinated fort project
According to historical records, during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, Zhang Gaoyuan was extremely strict in managing the army, and Guangwu's "excellent military discipline and conduct made him the champion of all armies." Especially when it comes to disturbing the people, the Guangwu Army is simply a breath of fresh air among the Qing army - "Subordinates dare not do anything illegal. Although a peach is not worth a penny, they do not take it privately."
Therefore, while the Guangwu Army was stationed in Qingdao, a rare prosperity situation occurred in the local area. At that time, businesses and travelers gathered in the Qingdaokou area (today's western coastal area of , Shinan District, ), and towns gradually took shape.
According to Hu Cunyue's "Records of Haiyuntang", there were 71 shops in Qingdaokou by 1896, including hotels, garment shops, oil shops, shoe and hat shops, gauze and silk shops, grocery stores, taverns, restaurants... Grocery stores along the river streets "wrote boat tickets", that is, sold boat tickets on their behalf. From the prosperity of the market at that time, it can also be seen that the military discipline of the Guangwu Army at that time was indeed good.
However, in addition to strict military discipline, the Guangwu Army's plan to fortify Jiao'ao has been greatly delayed. Zhang Gaoyuan's Guangwu Army originally had only 4 battalions, half of which were artillery. In the Battle of Gaiping, they lost more than 700 people, many of whom were Guangwu veterans. The spirit of this unit was greatly dampened. Afterwards, the greatly weakened Guangwu Army began to drag its feet in Qingdao's defense construction.
According to the original plan of the Qing court, four forts were to be built in the Jiao'ao area, which were designed according to one "highest point" and three "coast points". Among them, the "highest point" is Qingdao Mountain Fort , and the three "coast points" are Xiaoniwa Fort (i.e. Xiling Fort, which was changed to Tuandao Fort during the German occupation), Taipingjiao Fort and Huiquan Cape Fort.
But after the defeat, the Qing court faced a huge allocation of 230 million taels of silver from the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", and its finances were very tight. They couldn't come up with the funds to build the forts, so they adopted the method of "garrisoning and building their own troops" and transferred soldiers to migrant workers. The elders of the Guangwu Army believed that they were meritorious officials who had "fought battles and shed blood" for the emperor, so they were quite resistant to the idea of being transferred to construction workers. So what Zhang Gaoyuan thought of at that time was to recruit strong men to work for free, and let the soldiers serve as supervisors.
According to local memories, there were not many people in Qingdao at that time, and the main residents were concentrated in the big and small Baodao villages, and Qingdao Mountain was in the middle of the big and small Baodao villages, so all the strong men who could be caught went up to the mountains to dig mountains, blast rocks, and build forts. What was even more detestable was that not only did this work not receive wages, but even food and drink had to be sent home. This is a free job and you have to bring your own food. It would be strange to be motivated to work. Therefore, everyone was not active, and the fort project was delayed.
So until October 1897, Zhang Gaoyuan actually built only two forts, Qingdao Mountain Fort and Xiaoniwa Fort, and they were not completely completed. The other two forts (Taipingjiao and Huiquanjiao) were even worse. They were all just planned and there was no time for construction.
4. The German Army Occupied Qingdao
Qingdao, a natural harbor, quickly attracted the attention of Germany. At that time, Britain took over the former Beiyang Navy base Weihaiwei after Japan. And the Tsarist Russia who was good at taking advantage of the situation occupied Lushun, the Beiyang Fleet maintenance base. In contrast, Germany, which relied on its contribution in the " Three-Nation Intervention to Return Liaoning ", did not gain any substantial benefits. The slow construction and empty fortification of Qingdao fort immediately attracted their greedy eyes.
In November 1897, Germany used the "Juye Lesson Plan" as an excuse to send the Far East Fleet to Jiaozhou Bay. On November 14, the German troops landed in large numbers, occupied commanding heights in the name of "exercises", and set up cannons aimed at the General Army Office and various camps. They issued an ultimatum to Zhang Gaoyuan, asking him to lead his troops to evacuate Qingdao.
The unprepared Guangwu Army was completely disrupted. Not only did they not organize any resistance when the German troops landed, they were being transferred to "overseers". Facing the foreign guns and cannons of the blond and blue-eyed foreigners, they did not dare to "fight back privately." Unable to think about it, Zhang Gaoyuan immediately sent a telegram to the Governor of Zhili Wang Wenshao and the Governor of Shandong Li Bingheng : "How to handle it? I hope you will comply with it as soon as possible." And precious time is wasted in asking for instructions step by step.
It was not until November 23, eight days later, that Li Bingheng called back and said: "Although the enemy situation is overwhelming, the Qing government will never send troops." By this time, after a week of transportation, the German troops ashore were already powerful. With only more than 2,000 Guangwu troops, they could not be defeated. Zhang Gaoyuan knew that it was difficult to resist, and was forced by the imperial court's order not to start a war, so he ordered his troops to temporarily withdraw to the nearby Housifang Village, and then retreated to Cangkou . In fact, he abandoned Qingdao without a fight.
After that, Zhang Gaoyuan went to the German barracks for negotiations and was detained by the Germans on November 25. After being detained, he argued unyieldingly and continued to curse angrily. He tried to throw himself into the sea many times, but was stopped by the German army. It was not until December 3 that Zhang Gaoyuan was returned to the military camp. On December 17, he was ordered to completely evacuate Jiao'ao and retreat to Yantai . Qingdao and Jiaozhou Bay were finally occupied by Germany. Although Zhang Gaoyuan "repeatedly asked for a battle, he failed to achieve victory, he was so excited that he had no words to express, and he was deaf in both ears", so he resigned due to illness. He was dismissed from office in February of the following year. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, he was activated again and served as the commander-in-chief of Tianjin Town. He was then transferred to the commander-in-chief of Chongqing Town. He was later excused due to illness and lived in seclusion in Jinling. He died of illness in Shanghai in 1912 at the age of 71.
The Guangwu Army, an elite force, not only failed to follow up its outstanding performance in the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894, expanding as rapidly as Nie Shicheng Wu Yijun and Song Qingyi's Army, but also missed the opportunity to train new troops after the war. Instead, they collectively transferred to construction migrant workers. After that, because of their own laziness and the "non-resistance policy" of the upper-level Qing court, they abandoned Qingdao, a natural port without a fight, leaving a disgraceful page in the history of the late Qing Dynasty, which is sad and lamentable.
And if we assume that the Guangwu Army can get the treatment it deserves after the war and expand to 30 battalions and 15,000 people like Wu Yijun and Yijun, plus the fertile land of Qingdao, then Germany must not easily invade the border. And with the existence of this force, after the Gengzi Kingdom changes to , it will not become Yuan Shikai and the Wuwei Youjun family is the only one, and the entire history will be rewritten accordingly.
