In the Hsiaochan camp the most important chapter of his life
opens; there is every indication that he fully realized it.
Tientsin has always been the gateway to Peking: from there the
road to high preferment is easily reached. Yuan Shih-kai marched
steadily forward, taking the very first turning-point in a manner
which stamped him for many of his compatriots in a way which can
never be obliterated.
It is first necessary to say a word about the troops of his
command, since this has a bearing on present-day politics. The
bulk of the soldiery were so-called Huai Chun--i.e., nominally
troops from the Huai districts, just south of Li Hung Chang's
native province Anhui. These Kiangu men, mixed with Shantung
recruits, had earned a historic place in the favour of the Manchus
owing to the part they had played in the suppression of the
Taiping Rebellion, in which great event General Gordon and Li Hung
Chang had been so closely associated. They and the troops of Hunan
province, led by the celebrated Marquis Tseng Kuo-fan, were "the
loyal troops," resembling the Sikhs during the Indian Mutiny; they
were supposed to be true to their salt to the last man. Certainly
they gave proofs of uncustomary fidelity.
In those military days of twenty years ago Yuan Shih-kai and his
henchmen were, however, concerned with simpler problems. It was
then a question of drill and nothing but drill.
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