The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 447 Reorganization and Joint Meeting

The Spring Festival is commonly known as the Chinese New Year by ordinary people.

As the most important traditional festival of the Chinese nation, the Spring Festival has reached its peak of celebration in the Qing Dynasty after thousands of years of development and evolution.

Every year during the Spring Festival, whether it is the emperor living deep in the palace or ordinary people in the world, they will be happy and excited about the arrival of the Spring Festival.

The celebrations of the Spring Festival in the Qing Dynasty were different from those in previous dynasties and later generations.

The Spring Festival in the Qing Dynasty was very long. It began on the first day of the twelfth lunar month and lasted until the second day of the second lunar month, lasting as long as 50 days.

During this period, various festive activities express people's beautiful wishes and blessings for life.

The Spring Festival reaches its climax on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Traditional customs are carried out at the family and national levels, reflecting the different manifestations of the same culture in different social classes. The Spring Festival in the palace is more solemn and patriotic, incorporating the characteristics of the Manchu people. Through the "Celebrating the New Year and Welcoming Good Fortune - Celebrating the New Year in the Forbidden City" exhibition in the Forbidden City, we can see the Chinese New Year customs that have been passed down from generation to generation. Emperors and concubines in the Qing Dynasty would also participate in various Spring Festival activities, such as the sealing and opening ceremonies, which marked the beginning and end of the Spring Festival holiday.

Although the war was approaching and the vanguard army was carrying out intensive training, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, during the Spring Festival, the most important festival for the Chinese people, Teng Yuzhao began to order all units to reduce the intensity of training from the Little New Year to New Year's Eve, and to give the troops two days off on both the Little New Year and New Year's Eve, two very important festivals at this time.

The time of the Little New Year is different in the north and south.

The main reasons include historical traditions and royal influence, regional cultural differences, and differences in folk customs.

Historical traditions and royal influences: In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, especially in the capital area, the royal family held a ceremony to worship heaven on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, and at the same time worshipped the Kitchen God. Therefore, influenced by court customs, the northern region gradually formed the custom of celebrating the Little New Year on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month.

However, most parts of the south follow the traditional folk customs of the Han nationality and worship the kitchen god on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the Little New Year.

Since it is the New Year, alcohol is of course indispensable.

Luzhou Prefecture is located in Shanxi, so naturally there is no shortage of liquor. On the eve of the Little New Year and New Year's Eve, every soldier in the army will have three taels of Xinghua Village Fenjiu, and officers above the rank of platoon leader will have half a catty each.

As for meat, there is no need to mention it. After Yang Shixiang's busy coordination, the vanguard army had not only sufficient chicken, duck, pork, and mutton for three meals a day during these two days, but also sufficient quantities.

Although we cannot provide enough food, we can still guarantee one pound of meat per person per day.

As for Spring Festival couplets, they are naturally inevitable. The temporary barracks of each unit are posted with bright red couplets, adding a lot of joy to the masculine military camp.

As for posting door gods, the vanguard army does not need to do so because they are already brave warriors who can kill anyone who stands in their way, and they do not need door gods wielding cold weapons to protect them.

Fireworks were also inevitable. Teng Yuzhao was so excited that he even asked Liu Changfa to fire 21 cannon shots as a salute on New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year.

At this time, people had no impression of the salute, and Teng Yuzao naturally did not mind firing the highest number of salutes for himself and the vanguard army.

However, although the entire vanguard army and the people stationed there were still immersed in the festive atmosphere of the New Year, Teng Yuzhao had to give up his leisurely life and begin to immerse himself in the atmosphere of preparing for war.

On the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, although the various units of the Vanguard Army were still on holiday, and even the gate of the Vanguard Army's headquarters was posted with bright red spring couplets written by the Hanlin scholar Yang Shixiang, making the headquarters still filled with a festive atmosphere, in the conference room, Teng Yuzao had already begun organizing his first military meeting after the New Year.

In the conference room, there was still a makeshift table serving as a table, but the difference was that it was covered with a dark green velvet tablecloth. In front of all the people attending the meeting, there were not only white porcelain tea cups, but also some glass ashtrays, which made the conference room look much more formal and solemn.

Those who attended the meeting included Chief Councillor Yang Shixiang, Assistant Chief Councillor Xu Shichang, Chief of Staff of the Vanguard Army and General Manager of the Camp Affairs Office Li Yulin, Deputy Chief of Staff Wei Jinghai, Commander of the First Regiment Liu Yuzhi, Commander of the Second Regiment Li Xianze, Commander of the Third Regiment Hu Dianjia, Commander of the Fourth Regiment Liu Shijiu, Commander of the Fifth Regiment Wu Peifu, Commander of the Artillery Regiment Liu Changfa, Commander of the Sixth Regiment Pan Jinshan, Commander of the Eighth Regiment Li Jinyu, Commander of the Independent Column Cao Futian, Commander of the Guards Brigade Liu Bingyi and other senior generals of the Vanguard Army, as well as their chiefs of staff and many others.

There were also the newly appointed Vanguard Army Military Police Commander Hu Dajiu, Director of the Security Department Li Yaoting, Cavalry Brigade Commander Xue Qian, Assistant Director Su Xilin, Vanguard Army Camp School General Manager Zhang Xiyuan, Assistant Director of the Camp Affairs Department Sun Shijun, Field Hospital Director Lin Lianhui, and Communications Department Director Lin Liansheng.

In addition, also attending the meeting were Zhili Governor Zhou Fu and Zhili Censor Shen Jiaben.

Not only did Yang Shixiang gain the trust of Teng Yuzao, his abilities were also recognized by the generals of the Vanguard Army. He had now been completely integrated into the Vanguard Army, and got along very well with the generals of the same kind. He could even drink and joke with a rough guy like Liu Shijiu with his arm around his shoulder.

Although this chief councilor can participate in any matter of the vanguard army and is nominally second only to Teng Yuzao, he does not have much actual power because he is not responsible for a fixed matter. But even so, Yang Shixiang does not care about it. As long as he can be involved, he will take the initiative to ask for responsibility, and he also does various things very well, which saves Teng Yuzao a lot of trouble.

Xu Shichang's arrival was quite dramatic. Originally, Xu Shichang was appointed by Cixi years ago to represent the court to visit the troops, but Teng Yuzhao, who was delighted to see the prey, took the opportunity to keep him in the vanguard army.

Xu Shichang was a genuine Hanlin, so naturally he had to seek approval from the imperial court.

As for Teng Yuzhao's reason for asking Xu Shichang to join the vanguard army to assist in the war, Cixi, who was eager for Teng Yuzhao to defeat the coalition forces of foreign powers as soon as possible, naturally responded to his request and agreed to it immediately.

Xu Shichang was a capable man with patriotic enthusiasm and ambition, which was why he gladly took up the position of general manager of Yuan Shikai's camp office.

Xu Shichang was also delighted that Teng Yuzao took the initiative to ask him to stay in the Vanguard Army, which was at its peak. He knew very well that with Teng Yuzao's current prestige, the position of Beiyang Minister and Governor-General of Zhili would definitely not stop him from making further progress. Becoming a member of the Vanguard Army now would ensure that he would not regret it.

Hu Daqiu, the gendarmerie commander, was appointed during this military expansion.

If an army wants to have a complete and self-contained system, the military police is indispensable. It has the responsibility to investigate all those who violate military discipline in the army and is also the department that enforces military law. Teng Yuzhao could only hand over such an important department to his cousin Hu Daqiu so that he could feel at ease.

Moreover, Teng Yuzao had another idea in mind, which was that he wanted to share the power of the Security Director Li Yaoting. He did not want the emergence of another "East Factory" in the vanguard army that was difficult to get rid of.

According to Teng Yuzhao's newly clarified responsibilities, the Security Department is mainly responsible for intelligence gathering, military security and personnel screening. Unless under special circumstances, it does not have the function of arresting military personnel.

Of course, some secret matters that cannot be seen in public are now also handled through the Security Department.

Arresting military personnel, whether soldiers or officers, is a piece of cake.

In a word, Li Yaoting’s security department does not have the power to arrest people.

Zhou Fu and Shen Jiaben attended this meeting because the coalition forces of the great powers, after significantly increasing their troops, had begun preparing to launch a large-scale siege of Shanxi. The relevant troops had not only reoccupied Baoding, the capital of Zhili, but also marched all the way to the southwest, occupying Wangdu, Dingzhou, Huolu, Yuanshi, Gaoyi, Lincheng, Neiqiu, Shunde, Handan, Wuan, Cizhou, Tangyin and other places.

Shunde was the prefecture at that time, which is the Xingtai area in later generations. Huolu was Shijiazhuang, which was still a small village in Huolu County at that time.

And Handan was not the Handan City of later generations. At that time, Handan was still a county under the jurisdiction of Guangping Prefecture, and its location was in the old city of Yongnian.

Tangyin is the Hebi of later generations.

As for Cizhou and Tangyin, the prefectures and counties farthest from the capital occupied by the coalition forces, they already belong to Henan Province. In other words, the coalition forces have expanded the war area to the northernmost part of Henan.

As the coalition forces marched southward, Zhou Fu had to lead a group of Zhili officials to withdraw to Luzhou Prefecture.

The safety of these Zhili local officials had to be absolutely guaranteed, because Teng Yuzhao would have to rely on these people to quickly stabilize the area later.

In order to ensure the safety of these Zhili local officials, Teng Yuzhao has agreed with Zhou Fu that after attending this joint meeting, Zhou Fu will lead a group of local officials to Qinyuan, which is located deep in the mountains and will be able to move more freely.

As it was just after the New Year, the vanguard army generals attending the meeting were all wearing new and more rigid iron-gray tweed uniforms with shining gold epaulettes and collar badges, and they all looked high spirits.

Even Yang Shixiang and Xu Shichang wore similar military uniforms. Yang Shixiang was a lieutenant general, while Xu Shichang was a major general.

Although Zhou Fu and Shen Jiaben were both wearing official uniforms, they both changed into new official clothes.

Only Teng Yuzhao was still wearing the attire of a cavalry officer without any rank, but he had also changed into a new uniform.

This time, Teng Yuzao sat alone at one end of the conference table, with Zhou Fu and Shen Jiaben on his left, followed by Li Yulin, Sun Shijun, Hu Daqiu, Lin Lianhui, Lin Liansheng, Li Yaoting, Xue Qian, Su Xilin and others.

On Teng Yuzao's right were Yang Shixiang, Wei Jinghai, Xu Shichang, Liu Changfa, and seven infantry garrison commanders, plus Cao Futian and the nearby guard commander Liu Bingyi.

As the conference room was not large enough to accommodate a large table, the chiefs of staff of the generals had to sit in the back.

Although Xu Shichang only held the rank of major general, which was equivalent to the third or second rank, because he was a Hanlin who entered the vanguard army and had served as the general manager of the camp office in Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army, Teng Yuzhao personally arranged him after Wei Jinghai and ranked before a group of lieutenant generals and garrison commanders.

The meeting was chaired by Teng Yuzhao himself, who first asked Zhou Fu to introduce a number of local affairs in Zhili.

Not only had Zhou Fu already reported the local government affairs of Zhili to Teng Yuzhao, but Teng Yuzhao even met separately with the newly appointed Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Shen Jiaben and the local officials of Zhili rank and above who had moved to Luzhou Prefecture with him.

Letting Zhou Fu introduce Zhili's local affairs to everyone again at the meeting was not only Teng Yuzhao's way of emphasizing to everyone that he was not only the president of the Vanguard Army, but also the Minister of Beiyang and Governor-General of Zhili, the supreme military and political commander of Zhili and the entire Beiyang.

In addition, Teng Yuzao had two other intentions. First, these generals would inevitably be stationed in different places in the future, and they would have to know more about local government affairs. Second, Teng Yuzao also wanted to make the military and political generals and officials of Zhili and even Beiyang familiar with each other.

It's not just about getting to know each other, but also about understanding each other's difficulties.

The situation introduced by Zhou Fu can be divided into four main aspects.

First, local officials in northern Zhili reported that over the past four months, the coalition forces had increased their forces by nearly 500,000, and now had more than 600,000 troops in Zhili, but less than 700,000.

Second, due to the sudden increase in the coalition's military strength, it has become unsustainable to rely on grain merchants to purchase military rations from various places. Two months ago, the coalition had openly begun to rob grain, horse feed and other military supplies and civilian property on a large scale in northern Zhili. Today, the coalition forces are robbing all the way south, and the counties and cities along the way have suffered greatly.

However, in comparison, the people in the prefectures and counties in northern Zhili, especially those near Tianjin and the capital, suffered the greatest losses. Fortunately, after Teng Yuzhao evacuated the capital, he transported the stored grain in the official warehouses of the prefectures and counties south of the capital to Luzhou Prefecture, otherwise the losses would have been even greater.

Third, all counties and prefectures have been informed and the people of Xiaoyu have transported or buried the excess grain and assets.

Because of the example of Northern Zhili, the people of Southern Zhili had no complaints about doing the same.

Fourthly, the Aurora Bank and the Dadetong Bank joined forces to collect and deposit money in various counties and cities in South Zhili. Since the Zhili Governor-General's Office acted as a guarantor and for the first time there was interest on deposited silver and money, the wealthy people in South Zhili were very enthusiastic about depositing money in the Aurora Bank, and the amount of money collected and deposited was very substantial.

After meeting with Cixi, Qiao Zhiyong, who was over 80 years old, took the initiative to meet Teng Yuzhao before Teng Yuzhao returned to Luzhou Prefecture, wanting to intervene in the turnover of funds of the vanguard army, but Teng Yuzhao immediately refused.

However, Teng Yuzao also gave Qiao Zhiyong a chance and suggested that Qiao's Dadetong bank and Aurora Bank work together to purchase the reserves.

However, when Qiao Zhiyong heard that he would have to pay interest for the reserves, he was extremely surprised and immediately backed out, which made Teng Yuzhao very emotional.

He knew that the Shanxi merchants' banks represented by Qiao Zhiyong, and even all the domestic banks, were already out of date. Before domestic banks set an example, no bank would dare to pay interest on deposits.

However, considering the name and credibility of Qiao's "Dadetong", many people would still be willing to deposit their money in "Dadetong". Teng Yuzao finally agreed that "Dadetong" would help "Aurora Bank" with its silver and money exchange business.

As for the amount of money collected and stored, since it was a confidential matter of Aurora Bank, the specific amount was known only to the senior management of Aurora Bank headed by Xi Ligong, Teng Yuzao and Zhou Fu. It was kept secret from anyone else, so Zhou Fu only mentioned it in passing.

After Zhou Fu finished introducing the government affairs of Zhili, he stopped talking.

Originally, as the governor of Zhili, he had to raise military pay and food for the vanguard army, but now hundreds of thousands of allied forces have moved all the way south and even entered Henan, completely isolating Zhili from Shanxi.

Not to mention that the large amount of money and grain that should have been collected had already been transported to Luzhou Prefecture, even if there was still some that had not been collected, it could not be delivered in a short time.

After Zhou Fu finished introducing the political affairs of Zhili, Teng Yuzao could not help but praise Zhou Fu highly, the main intention of which was to show enough respect to Zhou Fu.

Then, Teng Yuzhao changed the subject and spoke sternly to Zhili Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Shen Jiaben, who had been concentrating.

"Sir Shen, I heard that in Zhili, there are still some foolish officials like Ting Yong who take the court's salary but do things like comfort and reward the foreign coalition forces, and even help the foreigners raise military rations. How do you plan to deal with these officials, Sir Shen?"

(End of this chapter)