The New Army (Traditional Chinese: 新軍, Simplified Chinese: 新军; Pinyin: Xīnjūn, Manchu: Ice cooha), more fully called the Newly Created Army ( Xinjian LujunAlso translated as "Newly Established 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 army, 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
A forerunner to the effort of modernising the Chinese army was created before the end of the Sino-Japanese War: in February 1895, the Qing court assembled its Dingwu or the Pacification Army ( Dingwu jun), 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,On December 8, 1895, Empress Dowager Cixi passed down the edictYuan was at this time the or intendant of several provinces. and within a few months was renamed the Newly Created Army ( Xinjian Lujun) and expanded to 7,000 men. (Yuan's Newly Created Army was later to become the Guards Army's Right Division (Wuwei Youjun)., quote:"In May 1899, Yuan Shikai, commander of China's strongest army, the Wuwei Youjun or the Right Division (new name for Yuan's Newly Created Army) of the Guards Army [Note: The Guards Army or Wuwei Jun included Left, Right, Front, Rear, and Center Divisions]")
The monthly expenses of the brigade were 70,000 taels (840,000 taels per year).
The Newly Created Army (or simply the New 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 (Manchuria had not yet been organised into provinces).
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 Despite the criticism of the old-style and inefficient Green Standard Army and Eight Banners, which was common, there were no immediate proposals for reform of them, 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.Chang, Adam Y. "Toward Sovereignty: Zhang Zhidong's Military Strengthening of China, 1884-1901" (2016). WWU Graduate School Collection 477. (p.53-57)
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 (45 million taels) 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 (the modernised Green standard), were reportedly costing 10,000,000 taels annually, and the Bannermen 4,000,000 taels and 1,000,000 piculs of rice (60,000,000 kg). 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