In the late Qing Dynasty, the Guards were established by a young royal group headed by Regent Zai Feng in order to seize military power and compete with Yuan Shikai, a powerful faction in Beiyang.
1908 Regent issues imperial edict:? Baylor Zai Tao, Yu Lang and Tie Liang, ministers of the war department, are responsible for training guards. They are allowed to freely choose the best soldiers in each flag camp, and they have been carefully trained. ?
After the promulgation of this imperial edict, the Qing court transferred the backbone of the Eight Banners from the new army to form a Royal Guards. At that time, Zai Tao, 2 1 year-old, was in charge of training. However, due to their youth and inexperience, the guards are actually in the hands of Manchu nobles and talented Liang.
Guards organized a town (division) with two associations (brigades) under its jurisdiction, with a staffing of 12000. Except for the officers and men of the third infantry standard (regiment) who are Han nationality, the officers and men of other ministries are all Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners; In terms of equipment, the guards are equipped with 18 150 mm field heavy guns, and a machine gun battalion is equipped with about 30 Maxim heavy machine guns.
No matter from the soldiers' quality, loyalty or weapons and equipment, this is a powerful force loyal to the royal family and should not be underestimated.
However, at the critical moment of Puyi's abdication and the fall of the Qing court, such a guard who should have sworn allegiance to the royal family made a rare regime change without firing a shot. Peace contribution? .
This is because of the incompetence of the young royal family in the late Qing Dynasty, but also because of the incompetence of Yuan Shikai and Feng? Very talented? Besides, there are some elements of luck.
When the Revolution of 1911 broke out and the Qing court was about to fall, Yuan Shikai fought the south from the north and suppressed the north from the south, thus controlling the overall situation of the world. However, if Yuan Shikai wants to force the Qing emperor to abdicate without bloodshed, he must solve the problem of the Beijing Guards.
Yuan Shikai's methods are not brilliant, but he is dead, a royal young man holding the Guards.
Yuan Shikai wrote to Queen Yulong that when the country is in danger, the royal leaders should take the lead and lead the army to the front to suppress the revolutionary party.
Yulong can't refute this statement, but looking around, the whole royal family can control Zai Tao's guards.
But Zai Tao is an impotent patient who is extremely afraid of death. In order to avoid this fatal task, he simply scattered the torch and let the guards go out.
Yuan Shikai seized this opportunity and immediately transferred his confidant Feng and appointed him as the chairman and commander-in-chief of the Chahar Guards.
In this regard, the military power of the guards fell into the hands of Beiyang soldiers.
Some people may ask, how did the Qing court agree to let Yuan Shikai's confidant control the Guards?
Others may not be able to, but Feng has no objection.
Feng was able to command the Guards because he was the general manager of the Army Noble School earlier, which was specially set up by the Qing court to train senior military talents in Manchuria and Mongolia. All the members were Prince Spyker, the royal family with more than four grades and the children of Manchu and Han officials with more than two grades. To put it bluntly, most of the young officers in the guard are Feng's students and have always trusted Feng.
On the other hand, Feng seems to be the most loyal to the Qing court among Beiyang soldiers, and the younger generation of the Qing court also wants to win him over in order to divide Beiyang.
So, Feng took over as the chairman of the Guards, and all parties had no objection.
Having said that, some people may say, is there no Liang Ji?
At that time, although Liang Bi was driven out of the Guards by Yuan Shikai, his prestige appeal in the Guards was still very strong. More importantly, he is the leader of Zongshe and resolutely opposes Yuan Pai. With him, Yuan Shikai and Feng really face a big challenge if they want to completely control the Guards.
However, Liang Bi was injured by Peng on191265438+1October 26th, and died two days after being rescued.
Liang Bi's death was a great blow to the Qing court, and there was even a saying that Liang Bi died in the Qing court.
It looks like this.
Half a month after Liang Bi's death, 19 12, 12, the last emperor Puyi issued a letter of abdication, and the Qing court declared its demise.
For the Royal Guard, the country itself is bad news.
From their point of view, they care about two core issues. First, who can guarantee the safety of the empress dowager and the emperor? Second, the guards will be compiled by the War Department in the future, will the treatment be reduced? Will it be abolished? Who can guarantee this?
Troubled by these two problems, the praetorian guard is like a powder keg, which may explode at any time.
Feng stood up for the first time at the sensitive moment of people's unrest.
In front of all the guards, Feng first read out the preferential treatment conditions after the abdication of the Qing emperor, and then openly asked the guards to introduce the delegates to express their ideas.
Of course, the above two serious concerns were raised by the representatives of the guard.
In this regard, the next performance can be described as brilliant.
He said: Brothers, listen carefully, the two palaces and the emperor are safe and sound, and the salary of the guards remains unchanged. I can guarantee my life! Besides, your guard brothers are still guarding the court. In the future, no matter where Feng is transferred or where he goes, I promise I will never break away from my brothers. If you violate this statement, you will be cursed!
Hearing Feng's lofty sentiments, the commotion of the guards was wiped away by half. At this time, Feng Xiang made a promise to convince everyone that you can recommend two people, each with a pistol, and then follow Feng. Whenever and wherever you see Feng having second thoughts or breaking his word, you can shoot me at once and forbid my family to retaliate!
After that, the guards elected representatives on the spot. Feng appointed two personal consuls on the spot, took two guns and received 50 months' salary.
In this way, Feng used loyalty to resolve a guard crisis that might lead to mutiny.
What makes people feel is that no matter what the subsequent changes are, Feng didn't betray his original oath, not even a little trick.
After being transferred to the War Department, the Guards were later reorganized into 15 Division and 16 Division. Except for 1 Tuanhu Cleanroom, which temporarily stayed in the palace until 1924, Puyi was expelled from the palace, the rest were under Feng's personal jurisdiction.
When Feng was acting president of the Republic of China, the 16 division served as the presidential guard.
It is worth mentioning that after Feng resigned, Feng was still responsible for the salaries of 15 and 16. For Feng at that time, it was undoubtedly a heavy burden to raise these two teachers, but Feng did not dodge or be ungrateful.
In order to raise the salaries of the two divisions, Feng often travels between Beijing and Tianjin. It is said that he caught a cold that made him die early, and it was also caused by hard work to raise his salary.
After Feng's death, Zhang took over the main force of the original guard 16 Division in the Anhui War. The logic of this is easy to understand and will never stand on the side of the direct enemy. In the first direct service war, the 16 division chickened out and returned to a straight line. The logic is not difficult to understand. Whoever strikes a straight line is the enemy of 16 division.
This is probably a loyal reward for the first generation boss Feng.