Show CHINAS SPLENDID NEW IMPERIAL ARMY Awakening of the Empire of the East to Its Military Necessities How the Army Was i Organized By General Yuan Shih a Visiting Chinaman Who Is Unique In I His HonestyHow the Forces Are Armed and Disciplined III II I I By Herbert E House English Secretary to General Yuan I Special Correspondence Tientsin China April 20 Prime Minister Min-ister Jung Lu has recently reviewed the Chinese imperial army at Hsaio Chana fact of the most profound significance sig-nificance in the affars of China It marks the awakening of the empire to the need of a great modern army with which to repel the crowding of the nations na-tions of Europe The review of Jung Lu was the first attention that the government gov-ernment at Pekin has given this new army armCould Could the people of the great foreign nations have seen the splendid showing of these Chinese troops on this grand review it must have transformed their general idea thatthe Chinese are unable un-able to do orderly and thoroughly the things that belong to modern civiliza J T7 Jc j t r I I i ah 1 I Ge + M hsnlhK I 1 y y u A MODERN CHINESE ARTILLERY DETACHMENT WITH PORTRAIT OF GENERAL YUAN tlon Could they have viewed for a single hour 5000 men moving so exactly in unison to the calls of the trumpet or to the rapidly given orders of a single voice and that the voice of a Chinese that their every step OIr the hard smooth clay was like a single mighty I drum beat and every noise of arms like a single mighty crash It alone would have been object lesson I enough to have given the world a new idea of the possibilities pos-sibilities of the Chinese race Where the Army Was Born This army officially named The new imperial army has Its camp at Hsaio Chan about twenty miles east of Tientsin midway between It and the sea and a few miles south of the Pei Ho This point has been for many years a military post and for miles about are the ruins of the mud walls of barracks of long ago looking like so many prehistoric ruins I The plain from the sea to Tientsin is almost a perfect level and the grand parade ground at Hsaio Chan about a mile long and a half mile wide is LJ of the year as smooth and hard as a table Three years ago in December 1S95 about a year after the war with Japan a few thousand raw recruits quartered at Hsaio Chan were put under the command com-mand of Yuan Shih Kal commonly called General Yuan whose rank is however civil and not military Previous Pre-vious to the war with Japan Yuan was for nine years minister to Corea having hav-ing been promoted to that position on account of exceptional bravery and ability shown in 1SS4 when at the head of a company of Chinese soldiers he entered the Corean capital drove out the Japanese and saved the Corean kings life At that time he had been for three years a civil oflicer connected with a Chinese military guard stationed sta-tioned at the Corean capital At present pres-ent he holds the same high rank that must be held by the viceroy of a province prov-ince and he was in fact acting viceroy vice-roy of this province of Chilli for ten days at the time of the late change of government at Pekin To this man Is directly due the high character of this army and the fine showing that it is able to make Among all her officials China has no better man The Best Man In China Timothy Richard one of the best known men In China said to the writer a few months ago Yuan Is the best man in China he is a man who Is bound to rise Lord Charles Beres ford one of Englands military authorities author-ities who has lately made an extended ex-tended tour of observation in China and before whom there was given just such a review and sham battle as has since been seen by Jung Lu said In private conversation I have met one man in China and that man is Yuan Two things mark this man great executive ability and strict integrity The former is probably as common In China as elsewhere but nothing has been more rare In high places than the latter All the world knows that from the viceroy of a province down to the cook In your kitchen every man is expected ex-pected to make his squeeze The custom is so recognized as to be almost lifted out of Its legally dishonorable place and to be a part of the unwritten law of the country Military commanders command-ers who receive from the central government gov-ernment appropriations according to the number of soldiers supposed to be in their commands and the amount supposed to be laid them have had exceptional ex-ceptional opportunities for squeeze and the past general condition of the forces of China would Indicate that this has too often been their chief care But Yuan stands out a noble exception a fit representative of the fast coming new China and of that company who are not a few of like character who are beginning to rise throughout the empire For all of the great opportunities opportuni-ties of his position combined with a larger salary Yuan Is yet a poor man and it is because the money appropriated appro-priated for the uses of this army has all been used and wisely used upon 14 that there is here an army of 9000 men well equipped with modern guns well housed well fed and always promptly and fully paid and more than this except ex-cept 2000 late recruits so well drilled as to have drawn forth the highest praise from Lord Charles Beresford who both in private conversation with r his own countrymen and In a personal letter to Yuan spoke with unstinted admiration ad-miration of the army and of the fine showing it had made on review How the Army Is Armed The army consists of 7000 infantry armed with one of the best modern rifles 500 cavalry armed with light rifles revolvers and swords 1000 artillery artil-lery serving forty field guns twelve mountain guns and eighteen rapidfire guns and 500 men connected with the engineering department Of the infantry in-fantry 2000 were recruited late in 1S9S It Is understood that after being thoroughly drilled they are to be sent to Pekin as a royal guard There are also 3000 camp followers every ten soldiers being allowed a cook and two other servants officers having a still larger number I It is I not the least surprising thing I about this army that so few and unimportant unim-portant positions are held In it by foreigners I for-eigners There are connected with it a Portuguese bandmaster a Belgian tactician a German pontoon bridge 1 I builder ° a German artillery Instructor I for certain German guns Norwegian I cavalry drill master and a Chinese i speaking German whose duties are somewhat general The infantry and I most of the artillery drill is entirely I under Chinese officers trained either I abroad or in Chinese military schools of which there Is at present but one in North China this being at Tientsin II Yuan has however at Hsiao Chan a large class of young men under instruction in-struction showing good foresight for I the school at Tientsin cannot possibly supply the demand that nust soon be made uppn it Red Cross In China Something entirely new in China is that the Red Cross floats over a fully equipped hospital where from fifty to 100 or more patients are treated daily The hospital is in charge of four native na-tive physicians who wound be credit to any army or country The senior wL was trained under the late Dr MacKenzie of the London mission in Tientsin is a rare man wise gentle and genial and of purest character The three juniors are graduates of the Imperial Im-perial medical college at Tientsin and it is interesting to note that they are all young men of decided Christian be i f r L ° 1 i Ti ° 7r e ul f n r t Y v I A MODERN CHINESE SOLDIER lief All four speak English fluently One of the revelations of the possibilities pos-sibilities of the Chlriesenee that this camp affords is the hand o f musicians of whom it is not too much to say that except by bands composed of professional profes-sional musicians their playing could scarcely be excelled Nothing Is more noticeable than the uniform good behavior of these soldiers sol-diers A more quiet orderly respectful respect-ful lot of men could not be found anywhere any-where Although they have many holidays when they ramble about the town and camp at will there is almost never a brawl or trouble of any kind though usually the Chinese soldier is an outandout rowdy and ruffian Possibly In the way of discipline foreign for-eign natives may be able to learn something some-thing from Yuan who in this matter < t has absolute authority First and of course of greatest importance there I is absolute prohibition of liquor drinking I drink-ing gambling and opium smoking For I the first two named offenses the punishment pun-ishment is severe whipping for tho last the death penalty by decapitation These three regulations alone mako most other rules of discipline needless Details of the Review The allday review of the army by Jung Lu was marked by the fine appearance ap-pearance of the soldiers rapidity and precision of movements on drill and lack of all confusion during either the drill or the sham battle The observer forgot entirely that he was reviewing a Chinese army in his constant admiration admira-tion of the fine training shown The day of the review was bright and still the army was in position early and at S30 the review began by the passing of infantry artillery and cavalry 1 cav-alry before the reviewing stand the 5000 infantry reforming in ten battalions battal-ions about 130 yards to the front and the artillery and cavalry taking up positions I po-sitions some distance in the rear Just a few yards to the right of the stand rode out a single native horseman who with uplifted sword and clear ringing voice began giving orders calling for all manner of evolutions to which though often given as rapidly as from five to eight a minute this great body of men responded for twenty minutes as one man Following this came another an-other similar twentyminute drill at the sound of the bugle and last most I beautiful and unique led by the voice of another horseman came a fifteen minute gymnastic exercise rifles being used as wands With their bayonets flashing and their bodies swaying in perfect unison and their feet striking the ground with the sound as of a single mighty footfall there was in this hour presented at least proof or the capacity of the Chinese soldier for the finest of drill Artillery and cavalry both gave evidence evi-dence of the same careful training The heavy artillery especially made a fine appearance Handling thirty guns six horses to a gun and six guns abreast dashing across the parade ground on the dead run wheeling planting batteries bat-teries at one point and then at another an-other they kept almost as perfect form as when at attention and to locate a battery and be ready to open fire was but the work of moments < A Sham Battle The sham battle In the afternoon over a broken field three miles in extent where half the force made an attack on the position held by Yuan with the other half he being in entire ignorance of the enemys plans was full of dash I and heavy firing and at the close of the same wild cheering that has so often been heard on the real battlefield when the victors sweeping over every barrier have poured Into the enemys works Certainly the Chinese soldier is fully capable of all that goes to make uo a soldier of the real battlefield battle-field What skill commanders would show in meeting an enemy has yet to be proven but as to the conduct of Chinese troops under fire when they have a fighting chance the historic bravery of the soldiers under Chinese Gordon long ago the well known desperate des-perate unflinching bravery of the Chinese Chi-nese in the naval battle of Yalu and the later widely heralded bravery of the Chinese under the American flag at Manila are among the things that go to prove that there are no braver soldiers than the Chinese ma be Whatever may be the ability of this army to meet foreign troops In its capacity as a home guard and as a pattern for all the military force of China nothing could be more valuable valu-able |