Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/418

Rh and was appointed lieutenant-general of a Banner. A year later he was made a chamberlain of the Imperial Bodyguard From 1891 to 1894 he served as Tartar General of the Manchu garrison at Sian, Shensi, where he organized a battalion of five hundred riflemen. In 1894 he was summoned to Peking to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of Empress Hsiao-ch'in. But in view of the out-break of the Sino-Japanese War the celebration was not held. Jung-lu was again made general commandant of the Peking Gendarmerie with instructions to maintain order in the capital. He was also detailed to serve in the Foreign Office known as the Tsungli Yamen. In 1895, after the close of the war with Japan, he was appointed president of the Board of War and a year later was concurrently made an Associate Grand Secretary. During this period he devoted his energies to the training of a new army.

After the Sino-Japanese War there arose a strong demand for military reform. About the year 1895 organized in Nanking and Wuchang several battalions of troops equipped and trained in the Western way. At the same time Jung-lu recommended Yüan Shih-k'ai (see under ) as capable of training a new army in Chihli. This marked the beginning of Yüan's military influence and laid the foundation of the so-called Pei-yang 北洋, or Northern, military party in China. Apart from Yüan's new army, known as Hsin-Chien chün 新建軍, Jung-lu sponsored the expansion of three other armies: the I-chün 毅軍 under ; the Kansu soldiers (甘軍) under Tung Fu-hsiang 董福祥 ; and the Wu-i chün 武毅軍 under Nieh Shih-ch'êng 聶士成. The forces of Sung and Tung consisted merely of old style soldiers without modern firearms, whereas those under Yüan and some of those under Nieh had modern training and equipment. The scramble of the Western powers for spheres of influence forced Jung-lu and other statesmen to become more military-minded, and caused Emperor Tê-tsung to launch the reform movement of June–September 1898 (see under ). Soon after the first reform decree was issued (June 11), the Dowager Empress, Hsiao-ch'in, sensed the danger to herself of the Emperor's rising power and independence. To consolidate her position she needed the control of the military forces near Peking, and so on June 14 she effected the appointment of Jung-lu (then a full Grand Secretary) as governor-general of Chihli. While the reform movement was in progress she conspired with the reactionaries in Peking, and Jung-lu consolidated his control of the armies at Tientsin. Meanwhile the reformers also sought to gain control of the army, and on September 16 appointed Yüan Shih-k'ai, an expectant vice-president of a Board, to take the place of Jung-lu in command of the new forces. When Yüan left Peking he was empowered to execute Jung-lu and to bring a force to Peking powerful enough to support the Emperor and relegate the Empress Dowager to oblivion or to death. But when Yüan reached Tientsin (September 20) he betrayed his trust and revealed the entire plan to Jung-lu. Jung-lu left immediately for Peking and on the same day (September 20) had a conference with the Dowager Empress and the reactionary courtiers. After a plan had been formulated he returned to Tientsin, brought his army to Peking, and on September 22 supported the Empress Dowager in her resumption of control of the government, in the confinement of Tê-tsung, and the rescinding of all edicts issued in the Hundred Days of Reform (see under ).

For his faithful support of the Empress Dowager Jung-lu was for a time given great powers in the government similar to those granted the princes, I-hsin and I-huan. Late in September 1898 he was ordered to stay in Peking as a Grand Councilor and as Grand Secretary, but was allowed to retain full control of all the military and naval forces of North China. Thus, at least in name, he became one of the most powerful ministers of the Ch'ing Dynasty. To increase the efficiency of his command he reorganized the forces into an army corps designated Wu-wei chün 武衛軍. The corps was divided into five groups. The first army, called Wu-wei ch'ien-chün (前軍), commanded by Nieh Shih-ch'êng, was stationed at Lu-t'ai, northeast of Tientsin, for the defense of that city and the coast. The second, Wu-wei hou (後) chün, under Tung Fu-hsiang, was stationed northeast of Peking. The third, Wu-wei tso (左) chün, under Sung Ch'ing, was stationed at Shanhaikuan. The fourth and most famous, Wu-wei yu (右)-chün, under Yüan Shih-k'ai, was stationed at Hsiao-chan, southeast of Tientsin. The fifth army, Wu-wei chung (中) chün, created by Jung-lu, and under his command, was stationed at Nan-yüan, the Imperial Hunting Park south of Peking. Thus Jung-lu was the founder of the new army of North China which, under the leadership 406