In p>1862, in the revolutionary movement of suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, another fierce landlord armed force appeared, which was Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. Huai Army is the product of Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army's expansion, which developed and grew in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom revolution and became an important force to stifle the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement. After that, it became the main force of strangulation and twisting army uprising. With the growing strength of the Huai Army, the political power of its founder and commander Li Hongzhang is expanding. The Huai Army gradually evolved from a landlord military armed organization to a political group that dominated the current situation, not only shouldering the heavy responsibility of military and national defense at that time, but also affecting politics, diplomacy, culture, economy and many other aspects. Li Hongzhang and his Huai army supported the situation in the late Qing Dynasty for forty years and maintained the fate of the Qing government.

1. the rise of Li hongzhang and Huai army

Li hongzhang, whose name is gradually fu, was born in Hefei, Anhui province in February, 1823. In the 27th year of Daoguang (1847), he entered the Imperial Academy and started his career.

in October, 1851, Hong Xiuquan launched the peasant uprising of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Jintian, Guangxi, and quickly advanced to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River with the momentum of wind and clouds. In March 1853, Jinling was conquered and renamed Tianjing, and its capital was here. The Qing court was shocked, and ordered the ministers of the surrounding provinces to hold Yong ying to cooperate with the green camp Army (the regular army of the Central Committee of the Qing Dynasty) to fight the Taiping Army. Li Hongzhang, editor of the Hanlin Academy, was ordered to accompany Lv Xianji, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry, back to Anhui for group training. At this time, Zeng Guofan (1811-1872, a native of Xiangxiang, Hunan Province), who had held a provincial Yong ying in Changsha, seized the tense situation at that time and trained Xiang Army to fight Taiping Army. The Xiang army gained power step by step in the military, and its number was increasing, gradually becoming the most powerful one among the main armed forces in various places. In Wanxiang, Li Hongzhang was rewarded by the court for his outstanding achievements in fighting the Taiping Army, and was therefore taboo by everyone. "Nothing to do is to abandon it." In 1858, he joined the shogunate of Zeng Guofan and became a member of the Xiang Army. In March of the tenth year of Xianfeng (1861), the Jiangnan camp, which the Qing government relied on to resist the Taiping Army and the barrier of Suzhou and Shanghai, was breached, the minister of soft service and Chun were defeated and died, and the main force of green camp Army collapsed. As a result, the full-fledged Xiang army became the only main force that the Qing government could rely on to suppress the Taiping Army. Zeng Guofan was awarded the governor of Liangjiang River and an imperial envoy, taking charge of military power, and the Xiang army was rapidly expanded.

At that time, the Taiping Army even attacked cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places, went straight to Hangzhou and bullied Shanghai. The Qing army was alone in Zhenjiang, and the situation was critical. The Qing government ordered Zeng Guofan to send troops to Zhenjiang, and the frightened Shanghai officials and gentry also sent representatives to Anqing to ask Zeng Guofan for help. Although the Xiang army is very strong, it still feels inadequate to cope with the war situation in the four provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. However, sending troops to the east to help Su Hu can not only cause the east and west lines of Xiang Army to cooperate with each other and join forces, but also force Taiping Army to be caught in the dilemma of fighting on both sides. It can also directly control the source of pay in Su Hu and ensure that 111,111 taels of silver can be obtained every month to help Xiang Army to make up for the shortage of pay. This is indeed an excellent opportunity for the expansion of the Xiang army. After careful consideration, Zeng Guofan agreed to send troops to rescue. However, after much deliberation on the choice of a division to help Shanghai, Li Hongzhang was finally decided to take this responsibility and go back to his hometown to recruit new courage. The reason why Li Hongzhang won the trust of Zeng Guofan and became a candidate for the expansion of the camp of the Xiang army is that he had an unusual relationship with Zeng Guofan. Wen An, the father of Li Hongzhang, and Zeng Guofan were both scholars on the same list in the 18th year of Daoguang (1838), and both were Beijing officials, making friends. Li Hongzhang entered Zeng Guofan's door after he was promoted in 1844, and has been studying for Zeng Guofan. Second, after Li Hongzhang entered the Tseng shogunate, he won Zeng Guofan's appreciation and became Zeng Guofan's right-hand man because of his background as an academician and his experience and achievements in training in Anhui Township and fighting the Taiping Army. Zeng Guofan thought that he was "talented and useful", and Bao Zuo stayed in the curtain to assist in military affairs.

Li Hongzhang, who was ordered to be in danger when he was defeated by the army, took the formation of his own brave battalion to rescue the Soviet Union and Shanghai as a turning point and an advance to realize his political ambition. He returned to his hometown of Luzhou, and made every effort to quickly form a landlord armed force mainly composed of the old Yong ying-* * * thirteen battalions with 6,511 people. Among them are Ding Zi Camp in Pan Dingxin, Shu Zi Camp of Zhang Shushan Brothers in Zhang Shusheng, Ming Zi Camp in Liu Mingchuan, Qing Zi Camp in Wu Changqing and Chun Zi Camp of Zhang Yuchun. Because this team was mainly recruited from the Huaihe River valley, it was called "Huai Yong" ("Yong" to distinguish it from the regular army of the Qing Dynasty), and it was called Huai Army in history.

from April to June, 1862, the officials and gentry in Shanghai hired British merchant ships to transport the Huai army to Shanghai in batches, and the Huai army began to suppress the Taiping revolution. Since then, Huai Army and its founder Li Hongzhang began to rise on the historical stage in the late Qing Dynasty.

2. Suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution and the Nian Army Uprising

After the Huai army arrived in Shanghai, everything went according to Li Hongzhang's deployment. At this time, Li Hongzhang has been appointed as the governor of Jiangsu Province, and his position has been consolidated day by day.

Huai Army is also actively expanding, because the strength of the 13th Battalion is really difficult to support the war situation at that time. Li Hongzhang actively expanded his battalion by returning to Anhui to recruit, reorganizing the defense forces of Xue Huan, the former governor of Jiangsu Province, leading troops, enlisting the troops of Huai River and Huai River and reducing the Taiping Army to the masses, and added more than 31 battalion heads. At the same time, Li Hongzhang also stepped up "training troops and practicing weapons" to comprehensively improve the combat capability of the Huai Army. When the Huai army first arrived in Shanghai, foreigners saw that the Huai army was poorly dressed and called it a beggar. Li Hongzhang said, "The soldiers are expensive and can fight, not just for decoration."? It's not too late to laugh if I try. " (Biography of Li Hongzhang, Draft of the History of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 411) In mid-June, 1862, the Huai Army won victories in succession in Shanghai Hongqiao and Xujiahui, killing more than 3,111 Taiping rebels. Therefore, foreigners greatly admire Li Hongzhang, and they all "show it with their thumbs".

Li Hongzhang also colluded with the British and French intervention troops and the Chang Shengjun (that is, the foreign gun team) led by American Walter, and joined forces with the Huai Army to deal with the Taiping Army. He witnessed the magic of foreign guns and guns with his own eyes, and did not hesitate to buy foreign guns and guns to arm the Huai army, and hired foreign military officers to coach the Huai army. The equipment of the Huai army quickly became sophisticated and its combat effectiveness was greatly improved.

in suppressing the Taiping revolution, Li Hongzhang adopted the strategy of "using Shanghai to pacify Wu". He first strengthened the defense against Shanghai, making it difficult for the Taiping army to advance into the two battles in Shanghai, and then attacked its surrounding areas to cooperate with the Xiang army in fighting. From March, 1862 to July, 1864, Huai Army successively recovered more than 21 prefectures and counties occupied by Taiping Army, including Nanhui, Jiangyin, Wuxi, Suzhou, Yixing, Liyang, Jiaxing, Changzhou, Pinghu, Haiyan, Changxing, Huzhou and Guangde, killing and luring a large number of Taiping Army soldiers, greatly weakening the effective strength of Taiping Army and playing an extremely important role in the capture of Tianjing by Xiang Army.

The Huai Army entered Shanghai with 13 battalions. By the time Tianjing fell, the whole army had developed into a powerful armed force with nearly 121 battalions and 671,111 men. Later, the Huai army became the main force of the Qing government's "suppression of twisting".

The Nian Army is a peasant armed force active in northern Anhui and southwestern Shandong. At first, the scale was not very large. In 1855, after the meeting of various Nian armies, the power gradually became strong. After the failure of the Taiping Revolution, the Nian Army became the most active and powerful anti-Qing armed force. In May, 1865, Lai Wenguang commanded the Nian Army to annihilate the main army of the Qing Dynasty in Cao Zhou, Shandong Province, and the head coach and minister of soft work, Sengqin, died. The Qing court was greatly shocked and ordered Zeng Guofan to go to Shandong Dushi to "suppress twisting" as a minister of soft service. At this time, most of Zeng Guofan's Xiang army had been abolished after suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, so the main force of "suppression of twisting" was the Huai army. Of Zeng Guofan's 81,111 "anti-twisting" troops, 61,111 are well-equipped Huai troops equipped with foreign guns and guns.

Because the Huai army always obeyed Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan could not move and command with ease. In the late autumn of 1866, the Nian army broke through Zeng Guofan's defense line, and the Xiang Huai army was devastated. Later, the Nian army was divided into two groups: one led by Lai Wenguang and Ren Huabang, who fought in Shandong and the Central Plains, and was the East Nian army; A branch led by Zhang Zongyu, United with the Hui army, became a horn in Shaanxi and Gansu, which is called the West Twisting Country. At the end of the same year, the Qing court changed Li Hongzhang to be the minister of soft work, specializing in "suppression of twisting". Li Hongzhang personally conducted the command, calling for the wind and calling for rain, with ease. He properly solved the problem of Huai army's grain supply, and learned from Zeng Guofan's experience of "suppressing twisting" and implemented the operational policy of "rowing rivers and encircling the land" and "braking by static force" In this way, from February, 1866, when Li Hongzhang was ordered to Lai Wenguang's murder in October, 1868, the Dongnian Army was suppressed by the Huai Army in just one year and one month.

When the Xi Nian Army was exterminated, the Huai Army was stubbornly resisted by Zhang Zongyu, and the strategic differences between Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang prevented the attack for a while. However, God helped the Huai army a lot. After mid-May, the Yellow River surged, forming a natural defense line. The Nian army was fatally threatened, and the Huai army gained the initiative on the battlefield. In August, the army of Xi Nian was completely annihilated, and Zhang Zongyu drowned. Li Hongzhang's Huai army "suppressed twisting" was a great success. At this time, the Huai army reached its peak, with more than 71 thousand troops.

Third, from military armed forces to political groups

According to the system and practice of the Qing Dynasty, no matter what kind of military action, once the war task is completed, the Eight Banners must be repatriated to the defensive areas, green camp must be repatriated to the flood-stricken areas, Tuan Yong must be dissolved and returned to the agriculture, and the generals and soldiers should be returned to their respective organizational systems. However, since the death of Senggelinqin, the Qing court has been unable to send out leading generals, and the national regular army is not enough to rely on. Therefore, although the Huai army was abolished after the "suppression of twisting", it is still an important force to defend the country. After Li Hongzhang became governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang in 1871, Huai Army was the gateway to defend northern Xinjiang for a long time and shouldered the heavy responsibility of national defense. Let's take a rough look at the deployment and combat situation of the Huai Army:

From the ninth year of Tongzhi (1871) to the eighth year of Guangxu (1882), the areas defended by the Huai Army were Zhili, Baoding, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Wusong Haikou, Hubei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, with about 41,111 people; During the Sino-French War in 1884, there were 132 battalions of Huai Army * * *, which were deployed in Beiyang and expanded sub-defense. During the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, the Huai Army expanded to 146 Battalion. After the war, there were still 63 battalions of Huai troops defending the north and south oceans, although they were greatly reduced. In 1898, when the new army was trained, it was cut to 21 battalions, and the Huai army of these 21 battalions still became the first to bear the brunt of the battle with the Eight-Power Allied Forces in 1911. The role of Huai army in consolidating national defense can be seen from this. After that, the important task of defending the country was replaced by Yuan Shikai's new army, and the historical mission of the Huai Army was declared over.

The Qing government relied on the Huai Army, an armed force, to prevent problems and consolidate the foundation. Li Hongzhang, the founder and commander of the Huai Army, became an important figure in the modern history of China by virtue of his mastery of military power. Li Hongzhang once summed up his life like this: "Young imperial examination, military service in the prime of life, middle-aged frontier defense, westernization in his later years, all the way." His military service, frontier defense and westernization are all directly and closely related to the Huai Army he founded. In 1871, he became the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, and it was precisely in his hands that he held the power of heavy troops. As the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, the candidate must have two conditions: first, he has the power and talent to unify the troops and ensure the safety of the capital; Second, it has the experience and ability to deal with diplomacy. After Li Hongzhang took office, his power was extremely inflated. "Sitting in Beiyang, he held state affairs from afar. All internal affairs and diplomacy, and the official residence always rely on it, which is the most powerful among the Han ministers "(Volume II of Liu Tizhi's Different Ci Lu, quoted from Yuan Shuyi's Biography of Li Hongzhang, p. 161, People's Publishing House, June, 1991). With the increasingly prominent power of Li Hongzhang, the Huai Army has evolved from a military force into a powerful political group.

Li Hongzhang, who is "sitting on a heavy army and relying on the Huai army to seize power" (Qin Zhongjian's "Please Punish Li Hongzhang"), actively supports his own political forces and consolidates the political position of the Huai clique. He "cronyism", reused his relatives and promoted his subordinates to villages. "Huai army will distribute schools, and those who have the ability will have no need." His brother, Li Hanzhang, went to the governor of Huguang and actively assisted him in preparing for coastal defense; Zhang Shusheng, a subordinate, was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and acted as the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang during Li Hongzhang's Ding You. Liu Mingchuan was the first governor of Taiwan Province; Liu Bingzhang official to Sichuan governor; Pan Dingxin was the governor of Yunnan and Guangxi. They are all from Huai nationality. Another example is that the Beiyang Navy, which Li Hongzhang particularly valued, also used Ding Ruchang, a fellow villager, as its commander in chief. Originally, the navy prefect had to have many years of experience in leading troops and be well versed in western naval battles, but Ding Ruchang was at a loss about warships and naval battles. This is also one of the reasons for beiyang fleet's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Li Hongzhang was well aware of the importance of unity and stability within political groups, and made use of clan, in-laws, the same year, teachers and students to strengthen the ties between Huai generals, generals and aides. For example, Zhang Shusheng was a brother with Shushan and Shuping, and Zhang Yuchun was a father and son with Zizhibang and nephew Zhiao. Li Hongzhang also imitated his teacher Zeng Guofan to set up a military curtain, making it a way for many people to gain political status, thus climbing to a high position. Among the ministers of the shogunate, Ding Richang, Wang Kaitai, Guo Songtao, Qian Dingming, Ni Wenwei, Liu Ruifen, Liu Yong Gao and Li Yuanhua are all officials to the governor, while Guo Baiyin and Zhou Fu are the governors.

Li Hongzhang also tried his best to win over people who were famous and influential in politics and society at that time and expand the political influence of Huai clique. Li Hongzao was the master of Tongzhi Emperor and later the minister of military aircraft. Empress Dowager Cixi used him to join hands with Luan @ ① to contain the forces of Yi @ ② and Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzao and his fellow villagers, Zhang Peilun and Zhang Zhidong, were leaders of the famous "Qing school" at that time. They discussed current politics and influenced public opinion. When Zhang Peilun came back after being taken away from his post and sent to garrison for three years because of the defeat of Ma Jiang, Li Hongzhang betrothed his daughter Chrysanthemum to him as his wife. When Ju Couple was just over twenty, he was over forty years old and married three times. Li Hongzhang chose him as his son-in-law, ostensibly using his talents, but actually wanted to borrow him to dredge Li Hongzao.

the influence of Huai clique also penetrated into many aspects such as diplomacy, culture and education, industrial economy and so on in the late Qing dynasty. "As far as Li Hongzhang's life and career are concerned, Huai Army is important; As far as the country is concerned, diplomacy is the most important, followed by coastal defense facilities and industrial construction "(Wang Ermin's Huai Jun Zhi, Zhonghua Book Company, August, 1987, p. 384). In terms of culture and education, the Huai Department headed by Li Hongzhang established new schools, sent personnel to study abroad and learned advanced scientific and cultural knowledge from the West based on the idea of "taking middle school as the body and western learning as the application". In terms of industrial economy, the Huai Westernization School not only developed military industry, but also actively set up civilian enterprises. For example, Shanghai machine weaving layout is the first cotton textile factory set up by Li Hongzhang; China's earliest telegraph and railway were also initiated by Huai Department. In terms of foreign affairs, "Li Hongzhang presided over diplomatic coastal defense, which was related to national security, and was responsible for the great harm of the country, that is, the fate of the Qing regime" (ibid.). Li Hongzhang began to get in touch with foreigners as early as the Huai Army arrived in Shanghai. In his later military and political and diplomatic career, he had more opportunities to get in touch with foreigners and get to know them. He was recognized as the most able to deal with foreigners and have the most diplomatic ability at that time, and was even called "Oriental Bismarck". He has been sent to Russia, Britain, Germany, France, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium and other European and American countries, and has presided over negotiations with foreign aggressors on behalf of the Qing government for many times. In July 1911, Li Hongzhang, who was nearly eighty years old, held peace talks with "Eight-Nation Alliance" on behalf of the Qing government as a plenipotentiary. Whether he was good at diplomacy or humiliated his country, Li Hongzhang was undoubtedly the man of the hour in international diplomacy at that time.

Of course, the significance of Huai Group is not.