一九零五年，北京圍繞著一個問題：這場戰爭為什麼會失敗了。答案降臨在一個人身上： （剩下一點點空白）
「一八九五年，朝廷興建新軍。十六年後，那支軍隊卻關閉了朝廷的帳目 —— 但不是為了自己。」是《神州大地》系列的一集。以下為本集影片的完整圖文轉錄，可逐字閱讀，也可前往影片頁觀看對應畫面。
一八九五年，北京的官員在爭論一個問題:
為什麼會輸掉這場戰爭。
答案落在了某一個地方。當年，朝廷開始訓練新軍。
不是在北京 — 在一個駐軍小鎮
名叫小站，距天津約四十公里南方。這個故事從一塊紀念碑上的日期開始
記載的
1895年12月6日，朝廷派胡玉芬到天津—吳橋鐵路進行監督。
兩天後的 12 月 8 日，軍務局提交了一份奏摺：派袁世凱去天津訓練新軍。這一奏摺在同一天就獲得了通過。一個人的調動就變了，軍隊的歸屬也就變了。這是軍隊得到了自己的名字的那一天。
袁世凱於 1859 年出生於河南省的香城縣，
一個位於中國北方平原的縣。 他在 1876 年和 1879 年的省考兩次落榜，加入了由吳長慶指揮的淮軍。
1882 年，朝鮮發生了一次兵變。
清軍進入首爾，他在那次行動中立下了戰功。
1884年，朝鮮改革派，得到日本支持，
發動了甲申政變，並佔領了皇宮。
他領導部隊鎮壓了這次政變。 1885年，
李鴻章的推薦下，袁世凱（當時二十六歲）
成為清朝駐朝鮮領事。 他在朝鮮共
共待了十二年。
1894年，朝鮮爆發動亂
並由日本軍隊入侵
7月19日，他以假扮的身份離開朝鮮
7月22日，他抵達天津
そこでの十二年結束了
那年他三十五歲
他回家後並不
輕鬆閒著
1894年8月6日，他被命令
前往遼東前線，幫助周福
運作前線物資辦公室：運輸糧食
和設備，收集散兵。
物資工作。這是一個冷門的任務。
前線的士兵從未記得
供應官的名字。
但他在那裡看到的是這個:
軍隊在分崩離析的那個瞬間
是什麼樣子。
1895年5月，他辭職回家。六月，劉坤一、李鴻章、王文韶聯名推薦，他受命赴北京。
8月2日，光緒帝召見他。8月22日，他上奏一份長達十三萬餘字的奏章。
它的內容有所不同
在不同的版本中都有描述。這部電影只說了一件事：他將它提交了，日期是1895年8月22日。三個月後，他被送到蕭荘。
蕭荘並不是空蕩蕩的土地。
那裡的營地曾經屬於淮軍的勝軍營。
營長是周勝川； 他去世後，周生波接手了這個部隊。
1894年，勝軍軍隊在平壤戰役中戰敗。該軍隊的指揮官魏汝貴在戰鬥面前棄逃，並被後來處決；勝軍軍隊被徹底摧毀，其軍事編號也被撤銷。營地空蕩蕩的。
1894年12月，湖南的胡玉芬（當時是廣西的監察使）
被命令訓練一支新的軍隊。他從三個連隊
開始，在欽州的馬場，後來擴展到十個連隊。他聘請了一位德國人
康斯坦丁·馮·漢內肯（Constantin von Hanneken），作為訓練教官。
1895年馬場營房已經不足，軍隊遷移到
小站 — 進入營地的，是盛軍留下的營房。該部隊被稱為
定武軍。該部隊共有4,750名士兵：
六個步兵連隊共3,000人；兩個炮兵連隊共1,000人；半個騎兵連隊共250人；以及一個工程兵連隊共500人。 一個別人棄置的營地，
以及一支新成立的軍隊進駐該地。
現在把兩個日期放在一起。
6 December 1895：庭院派遣胡玉芬到天津–路口橋鐵路進行監督。
8 December 1895：軍務局要求派遣袁世凱到新成立的軍隊進行訓練。
在同一天獲得批准。
兩個日期, 兩天之隔。
皇帝敕令如下:
由於袁世凱,
文渙道的按察使, 已經
被諸王大臣所推薦,
應該命令他負責
建立它; 並且應該按照所提出的規定
發放所有的俸祿。"
第一部分是人事。
第二部分是金錢。
一名鐵路工人被遷出。
一名鑽井工人被派入。
這些是否是一個決定，這部電影
並沒有說明。這兩個日期都是
真實的。袁先生那天報到時通過的門
就是勝軍門。
他抵達小站後記錄的第一件事
不是鑽井。
而是領薪水。 在舊軍中，
錢流下一條鏈：朝廷
到軍長，軍長到連長，連長到排長。它每過一道手，
都會少一些。胡幼芬曾經在一份奏摺上，用八個字形容舊軍：
"前饟如舊，日見缺員；
上面補上，下面扣下；惡行無處不生。
一個名單可能有千人的名單
但只有七百個人站著。
另外三百人的工資
都被塞進口袋裡面。
他改變了什麼？每個月，
發薪處會派出自己的文書，
一同與軍官一起到操場，
依照名單喊出士兵的名字，
並將銀子交給士兵。中間的士兵把銀子接過去。這聽起來像是一個技術上的修正。
它改變了什麼
更基本的是：士兵知道誰在支付他。按照當時的規定，一名士兵的月薪大約是四兩五分—one tael 是銀的約三十七公克—，扣除伙食費約剩三兩五分。
這部電影只是作為佐證，
而非結論。
但有一點是明確的：從那時候開始，
錢不再通過連隊長的手。
第二個問題是人手。
他沒有保留下原先的連隊長，
清軍留下來的老兵。
He went looking for young men who
had been through the new schools.
There was one such school, in Tianjin:
the Tianjin Military Academy, founded by Li
Hongzhang in 1885 — one of the earlier modern
officer schools in China.
The men he picked from that school
and from elsewhere all had names later.
Duan Qirui — artillery class at the academy,
brought to Xiaozhan in early 1896,
commanding the artillery. Feng Guozhang — an academy
graduate who stayed on as an instructor;
recommended to Xiaozhan by Nie Shicheng in 1896,
and placed in charge of the drill
office. Wang Shizhen — first graduating class of
the Beiyang Military Academy in 1888; joined Yuan
in early 1896 as deputy in the
drill office, later commanding the engineers.
Cao Kun — entered the academy in 1885,
graduated in 1890, transferred to Xiaozhan in 1895 as
deputy commander of the first battalion,
right-wing infantry. And one man unlike the
rest: Xu Shichang. He was a jinshi,
a scholar of the Hanlin Academy
not an academy cadet.
In December 1897 Yuan had him brought in
to run the staff office, a civilian''s
chair. How he handled men: a few
things were written down.
One is that he remembered them.
According to Phoenix Net''s account of Yuan
Shikai and the Xiaozhan training, he went
down among the battalions constantly; he could
put a name to almost every officer
and staff member, and even to squad
leaders, and he knew their temperaments,
their strengths and their weaknesses.
Once, at an inspection, the rain came
down and someone offered him an umbrella;
he refused it, saying: the soldiers are
all in the rain, so why should
I not be. The other is how
he used them. According to the Baidu
Baike entry on the Xiaozhan training,
he told Zhang Zhidong his secret for
training troops: in one hand, rank and
money; in the other, a blade.
Obey, and there is rank and money;
disobey, and you get the blade.
And one story that circulates: on an
inspection he came upon an officer smoking
opium in a field, and cut him
down on the spot with his own
sword. That story is carried in the
encyclopaedia entry, where it is marked as
a legend. This film has not been
able to trace it to a primary
source. Later writers gathered these men under
headings like "the three heroes of Beiyang".
This film will not rank them.
It says only one thing: these men
were picked by one man, between 1895 and 1897.
The third thing was regulations.
The Xiaozhan drill regulations followed Western practice
throughout, modelled on the German army''s organisation
and drill book. The force was divided
into five branches: infantry, cavalry, artillery,
engineers and transport. It was split into
two wings. The left wing held two
infantry battalions and one artillery battalion;
the right wing three infantry battalions and
one cavalry battalion; the engineers stood separately.
Below that came four levels: battalion,
company, platoon, squad. A battalion held four
companies, a company three large platoons,
a large platoon two small platoons,
a small platoon three squads.
What did this structure do?
It turned a soldier into something you
could count, inspect, and pay by the
month. And there was a song.
Xiaozhan had a song, the Song to
Encourage Soldiers. The tune came from a
German army song; the words were written
by Yuan himself; it was made the
army''s song, and sung every day.
This film will not quote the lyrics
the versions that survive differ, and no
authoritative text has been found.
But one thing can be said:
at that time, making men who could
not read sing the same song every
day was a very new thing to
do.
In early 1896, Xiaozhan did something new
for its time: it held an examination.
Two hundred and thirty-four men who could
read were picked out of the ranks.
Then they were sorted by branch:
eighty to study infantry, eighty artillery,
twenty-four cavalry — and fifty to study German.
The course ran two years.
The instructors were German officers.
The school was called the Field Military
Academy, and it travelled with the army.
Two hundred and thirty-four men is nothing
today. But this was 1896.
Most men in the ranks could not
read. Here, literacy became something you could
be selected for — and trained in.
And one step further: when they finished,
where did they go?
Back into the ranks — as platoon officers,
company officers, instructors. The new officer corps
grew out of this.
Where that group ended up, this film
will come back to in one line.
In 1898, this army was given a new
designation. That autumn, something large happened at
court. That event itself is not this
film''s subject — it belongs to another episode.
This film follows only what changed on
the army''s side. After the coup,
Cixi ordered the grand councillor Ronglu to
take command and to organise the northern
armies into a single formation, called the
Guards Army. It had five divisions.
The front division was Nie Shicheng''s Wuyi
Army, at Lutai. The rear division was
Dong Fuxiang''s Gansu Army, at Jizhou.
The left division was Song Qing''s Yi
Army, inside and outside Shanhaiguan.
The centre division was commanded by Ronglu
himself, at Nanyuan. The fifth was Yuan
Shikai''s, renamed the Right Division of the
Guards Army. It stayed at Xiaozhan.
Yuan''s civil post at the time was
surveillance commissioner of Zhili.
What part he played in that coup,
this film does not say.
It records one thing: in 1898 his army
changed its designation, and passed under one
man''s command.
In 1899, something else broke out in the
north: the Boxers. That same year,
Yuan rose. In December 1899 he became governor
of Shandong. At forty, a provincial ruler
for the first time.
When he went to Shandong, he took
the Right Division with him.
The division marched from Xiaozhan to Shandong
by way of Dezhou, Qingzhou and Weixian.
Once there, he weeded the weak out
of thirty-four old local battalions and kept
the strong, forming twenty battalions called the
Right Division Vanguard. One consequence appeared on
the map: this army had left the
capital region. Nobody knew then how much
that mattered. A year later, they did.
In 1900 — the Boxer year — the Eight-Nation Alliance
fought its way from Tianjin toward Beijing.
The five divisions formed a year earlier
each met a different end.
The front division: Nie Shicheng stood in
the way at Tianjin.
In July, at Balitai, he was struck
by several bullets and killed.
The front division came apart, and its
designation was withdrawn. The rear division:
Dong Fuxiang''s Gansu Army later escorted Cixi
and Guangxu on their flight west.
Afterwards the foreign powers named Dong for
punishment; Cixi dismissed him and sent him
back to Gansu. The rear division was
broken up where it stood.
The centre division, Ronglu''s own: discipline collapsed,
it scattered during the fighting, and its
designation was cancelled. The left division,
Song Qing''s Yi Army: hard fighting at
Tianjin and Beicang, heavy losses, but the
formation survived. And the fifth — the Right
Division — was in Shandong.
It never fought the Eight-Nation Alliance.
It never went through the fighting of
1900. Its strength was preserved, and later
it was expanded. An army, in a
decisive year, happened not to be present.
It did not choose that, and the
court did not arrange it.
It was simply stationed in Shandong that
year.
One thing should be said plainly.
The Right Division survived not because it
fought best. For fighting, the division that
stood in the way at Tianjin was
Nie Shicheng''s. For seniority, Dong Fuxiang''s Gansu
Army had entered Beijing earlier.
The reason it survived is simple:
in 1900 it was not in Beijing,
and not in Tianjin.
It was in Shandong.
Of all the explanations available for an
army''s fate, this is the least dramatic
one. And yet over the next ten
years and more, it was this division
starting from seven thousand men — that kept
expanding. While the other four names were
rarely mentioned again.
In November 1901, Li Hongzhang died.
Yuan Shikai then became acting governor-general of
Zhili and minister for northern affairs;
the following year the appointment was confirmed.
It was the seat Li Hongzhang had
held for much of his later career.
Once he sat in it, what he
held changed. In 1895 he had held one
army of seven thousand men.
By 1901 he held three things.
First, soldiers. The training of the northern
armies came under him.
Second, money. Zhili was one of the
richest provinces of the empire, and the
northern forces were the court''s largest military
spending. Third, men. Where officers came from
had to pass through his hands.
Governors before him had the first two
as well. The third was the one
that mattered. Because when one man gives
you your rank, you remember him.
In 1902 he also took the post of
commissioner for army training.
He sent Wang Shizhen and Wang Yingkai
to recruit six thousand more men,
bought horses and artillery abroad, and expanded
the cavalry and the artillery.
In September 1902 the Left Division of the
Beiyang Standing Army was formed.
In 1904, the Right Division and the Third
Division. In early 1905, the Fifth and
Sixth Divisions were added.
In 1905 the court unified the divisional numbers.
The Metropolitan Banner Standing Army became the
First Division, commanded by the Manchu official
Tieliang; the former Beiyang First became the
Second, the Second became the Fourth,
the Fourth became the Sixth; the Third
and the Fifth kept their numbers.
One detail inside that list: of the
six divisions, all but the First
the one under a Manchu commander
were his own. How large is a
division? By establishment: two infantry brigades,
each of two regiments, each of three
battalions; one artillery regiment of three battalions;
one cavalry regiment of four battalions;
and one engineer and one transport battalion.
Officers, soldiers and labourers together: about 12,512
men. How many in six divisions?
The sources disagree; this film gives no
total. But the 1895 figure can stand
beside it: that year, Xiaozhan held 4,750.
In November 1908, the Guangxu Emperor and Cixi
died within days of each other.
The next year, in January 1909, Yuan Shikai
was dismissed and sent home.
He went back to Henan.
One thing is worth holding on to:
when he went back to Henan,
he took only himself.
The army stayed in its barracks.
Those battalions were still at Xiaozhan,
in Shandong, in Zhili.
Those battalion officers were still the men
he had picked. In October 1911, trouble broke
out at Wuchang. The court needed troops.
It opened the rolls and found that
troops it could move, that could fight,
and that would obey were few
and in the units that were left,
the officers'' names pointed to the same
man. So the court asked him to
come back. What he did after he
came back belongs to the next episode.
This film stops here, and leaves one
thing: an army, beginning in 1895, took sixteen
years to become one man''s.
More than a hundred years on:
where are these things today?
South of Tianjin, in Xiaozhan town,
Jinnan district. Most of the old camp
sites are gone. The town has a
Xiaozhan Military Training Park, rebuilt in 2008 from the historical sources
walls, a lecture hall, a military museum,
a training headquarters. All of it reconstructed;
none of it original.
The site of the Tianjin Military Academy
is today in Hedong district, and it
is a shopping complex.
In 1900 the academy was destroyed by the
alliance''s artillery; today not one original building
of it remains. In Xiangcheng, Henan
Yuanzhai village, Wangmingkou town.
The Yuan family''s old house, the Yuanzhai
dwelling, still stands. It was listed in
March 2013 in the seventh batch of national
heritage sites, and it is open free.
Yuan was born in Xiangcheng, but spent
little of his adult life there;
this house belonged to his family.
What this army left behind is not,
for the most part, in buildings.
Of the literate men examined in 1896,
some went on to Baoding, some to
the new armies of other provinces,
some into the republic that followed.
Their records carry the same starting point.
Xiaozhan is the name of that starting
point.
This is Shenzhou. We put the facts,
and where they come from, in front
of you together.
▶ 觀看本集影片（含畫面與地圖）：In 1895 the court raised a new army. Sixteen years later, that army closed the court''s accounts — for someone else.