Wang Shizhen

Wang Shizhen

Wang Shizhen (August 19, 1861 - July 1, 1930) was born in niujiazhuang, Zhengding, Zhili (now Zhengding, Hebei). Modern political figures, the first of the three outstanding Beiyang.

With his outstanding intelligence and outstanding achievements, he was favored by Yuan Shikai and successively held important military and political posts, even to the Minister of the army, chief of the general staff and Prime Minister of the government. In 1918, he retired from politics and lived in seclusion in Beijing. In May 1926, he served as the temporary president of public security and the president of the capital relief association. In July 1930, he suffered from liver cancer and died in Beijing at the age of 70.

Life of the characters

He joined the army when he was young

Wang Shizhen's great grandfather, Wang Chaozheng, was good at medicine and calligraphy. His grandfather, Wang Lu'an, was a scholar. Besides work and medicine, he was good at martial arts. He was known as a scholar in the army. Wang Shizhen's father and uncle died early. He lived with his widowed mother and lived in his aunt's home in ximenli, Zhengding city. It was very difficult for him to do needlework for others. Wang Shizhen, who also looks out at LiangFang, entered a private school to study poetry when she was 9 years old. In 1876, when Wang Shizhen was 15 years old, she was favored by Ye Zhichao of Zhengding Zhentai and was accepted as an orderly by her subordinates. When he was 17 years old, he was admitted to the Zhengding town general training team, and immediately followed Ye Zhichao to Shanhaiguan. in 1885, he entered Tianjin military academy and studied in artillery department for three years. After graduation, he went back to mountain customs to teach artillery team. He adopted western teaching method and applied what he learned, which won the praise of his superiors.

Fighting in Korea

In 1894, the Dongxue party uprising broke out in Korea. The North Korean government asked the Qing government to send troops to help suppress it. In order to speed up the pace of aggression, the Japanese government was looking for opportunities and excuses to launch a war, and also strongly encouraged the Qing government to send troops. In June, ye Zhichao was ordered to go to North Korea to assist in the war, and Wang Shizhen led the artillery officers and soldiers to garrison in Yashan. Unexpectedly, Japan also dispatched a brigade of Oshima Yichang, far more than the Qing army stationed in Korea. On July 25, the Japanese Navy went to war undeclared, and the Fengdao naval battle broke out, causing heavy losses to the Qing army. after the Fengdao naval battle, Wang Shizhen withdrew to Pyongyang with Ye Zhichao, who was appointed commander in chief of the Qing army in Pyongyang. On September 12, the Japanese army's first army of 20000 soldiers was stationed in the city. Wang Shizhen's Yashan army defended the positions from daximen to qixingmen. After observing the terrain, he strongly suggested that "it's better to set up strange defenses outside the city and on the mountains, and only when the enemy arrives can he fight.". Ye Zhichao rejected Wang Shizhen on the ground that she was young and had no actual combat experience. On September 15, Japanese invaders stormed the Chinese garrison in Pyongyang in four ways. The Chinese officers and soldiers and the Korean army and people fought bravely. Wang Shizhen led the artillery team to fight tenaciously and fiercely in the city, causing great damage to the Japanese army. When Wang Shizhen learned about Zuo Baogui's sacrifice, he used his own gun to bombard the Japanese army. In the battle, Wang Shizhen's ring finger was blown off and his upper left forehead was injured by shrapnel, leaving a wound of more than an inch. The enemy was surrounded on all sides, and the artillery team took Wang Shizhen to break through. After the fall of Pyongyang, the Qing army retreated. Wang Shizhen followed Ye Zhichao all night. Dark night, North and south, do not know where to go. Fortunately, Wang Shizhen took a map with him, so he guided the remnant army to rush through the night and arrived in Yizhou. At this time, the officers and soldiers of the artillery team were very hungry. When they were resting in a village, they found two large VATS filled with clothes and wheat flour under the chaotic firewood. Wang Shizhen only allowed the officers and soldiers to use wheat flour to satisfy their hunger. Before leaving, he put five Liang silver in the vats, still sealed them, and ordered the artillery team to go on the road. After returning to China, Wang Shizhen still led the Yutai artillery team and garrisoned the Shanshan customs. After the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Wang Shizhen moved to Lutai with Nie Shicheng, the new governor of Zhili.

Small station training

The Qing government's tragic defeat in the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895 was a great shame to the whole government, but it also stimulated their self-help. They believed that the reason why the Japanese defeated them was that since Meiji, Japan had vigorously studied western law and trained an excellent army. However, the main forces of the Qing army in Hunan and Huaihe had no combat effectiveness due to their ineffective training and poor tactics. They feel that if they don't train a few new armies who are good at fighting, the rule will be difficult to continue. In November 1894, the Qing government established the "military affairs supervision office" and began to train the new army in Tianjin station. Under the joint recommendation of Ronglu, Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonghe, the ministers of "military affairs supervision department", the Qing government appointed Yuan Shikai to supervise and train the new army in December. Yuan Shikai is well aware that it is far from enough to rely on his own strength to train troops. Since he is training a new type of army, he must have talents who understand the new type of military. Therefore, he asked his old friend Yin Chang to recommend talents for him. Yinchang once served as the general manager of Tianjin military preparation school, so he recommended his favorite disciple, Wang Shizhen, who was in the army of Nie Shicheng, to the station. Then Yuan Shikai found Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang from the graduates of Wubei school. When Wang Shizhen first arrived at Xiaozhan, his stepmother died of illness. She was thin in face, weak in body, dull in mouth and smiling in face. Yuan Shikai didn't think that he was unique, but when it came to military affairs, Wang Shizhen was very comprehensive and planned. Yuan Shikai was overjoyed and thought that he could be reused. He immediately appointed him as the commander of the battalion Affairs Office, the commander of the Third Battalion of the right wing, and the supervisor of the regiment school. Soon after, he was promoted to the post of project manager and supervisor of German school. As Wang Shizhen was meticulous, thoughtful and unremarkable, he won Yuan Shikai's trust. He often discussed with Wang Shizhen, Xu Shichang and others about the performance appraisal and personnel promotion in the army. And Wang Shizhen also appreciated Yuan Shikai's kindness and tried her best to help him train the new army. He trained soldiers in accordance with the modern German army's battalion system and code of conduct, hired German officers as instructors and supervisors, and all used new weapons made by foreign countries. In 1897, Rong Lu, the governor of Zhili, the Minister of Northern Warlords, visited the new army at a small station. Wang Shizhen practiced the mines, dry mines, stepping mines and various weapons set up by the engineering camp one by one. In addition, the new army was more orderly than the old army. Rong Lu praised Yuan Shikai and said, "this man is not only good at military affairs, but also responsible for governing the country." After hearing this, Yuan Shikai paid more attention to Wang Shizhen and agreed to all her demands. In the winter of 1897, he was sent to Japan for exercises. In February of the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1898), Ronglu inspected again and passed by the Haihe River. The river was not wide and still frozen. Wang Shizhen made a bridge with special canvas and put it on the ice. Ronglu's infantry, cavalry and artillery passed through the bridge like a smooth road. This kind of canvas bridge is a boat after a little finishing, which can be used for swimming. If it is disassembled and folded, it is easy to collect and carry. Ronglu is more happy after seeing it. When he went back to cross the Haihe River after the inspection, Wang Shizhen still built a canvas bridge for him. Ronglu worried that the weather was getting warmer and the ice was thawing, which was dangerous. Wang Shizhen reported: "don't worry, it will be frozen in three days." So it was. Rong Lu deeply convinced Wang Shizhen that he was accurate. In February of the 25th year of Guangxu (1899), Yuan Shikai heard that the Qing government would send him as governor of Shandong, so he quickly asked Wang Shizhen to lead two of his cronies to visit Shandong. In less than a month, all the key passes and barracks along the coast of Shandong Province will be surveyed, and even the garrison plan has been carefully arranged. After returning, Yuan Shikai said with surprise and joy: "Hu Su is like this!" That is to say, Wang Shizhen was appointed as the left behind commander of the small station, commanding all the troops to go to Shandong from the small station in turn. Yuan Shikai's appreciation and reuse paved the way for Wang Shizhen's official career.

Top of the three

In the winter of the 25th year of Guangxu (1899), Yuan Shikai acted as governor of Shandong, and Wang Shizhen served as military staff officer. At that time, the Boxer Movement in Jinan, Tai'an, Dongchang, Caozhou and other dozens of prefectures was surging. Wang Shizhen put forward a whole set of tactics for Yuan Shikai to suppress the boxers: persuading them first, and then threatening them with force. If they still do not comply, they will kill the first criminal and disband their subordinates. Yuan adopted Wang's suggestion and asked Wang Shizhen to advise the military affairs of Shandong Province, resulting in heavy casualties among the regiments. The suppression of the boxers by Yuan and Wang aroused the dissatisfaction of Zaiyi and Zaixun, the nobles of the Qing Dynasty, because it hindered their attempts to use the boxers for personal gain. In June of the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1900), the two kings of Duan and Zhuang sent a senior brother of the Boxer Rebellion to find Yuan Shikai with an arrow from the Qing government, saying that Duan ordered Yuan Shikai to pacify the Boxer Rebellion and allow him to set up an altar for further training. Yuan was very surprised and immediately called a meeting of his staff to discuss. Qunliao believed that if they agreed to set up an altar, the boxers would prosper and create a rebellion against the government; if they did not, they would not be spared the severe condemnation of the two kings. I can't think of a solution. Then Wang Shizhen stood up and said, "please give it to me for interrogation." He immediately beheaded the leader of the boxer group for stealing the arrows of Duan and Zhuang. Yuan Shikai asked Wang Shizhen, "how was the interrogation?" Wang replied: "it has been executed. You can seal the arrow and send it back to Duan and Zhuang." Yuan Shikai suddenly woke up and admired Wang Shizhen's decision. During the Boxer Movement, foreign missionaries and businessmen came to Qingdao and Weihaiwei in Shandong Province to take refuge. Wang Shizhen sent a plainclothes team to protect them along the way, arranged boats and horses, provided food and clothing, and did their best to protect them. Foreigners were very grateful. After invading the capital, the Allied forces of the eight countries plundered everywhere, especially in the areas where the boxers were frequently active. However, when I came to the junction of Shandong and Zhili, I saw "this Shandong border" written on the wall on one side of Shandong, and stopped moving forward. It turns out that this was written by Wang Shizhen, who said that Shandong was under the jurisdiction of Yuan Shikai and had protected foreigners. This shows that the actions of Yuan Shikai and Wang Shizhen are recognized by foreigners. During the boxer period, the king

Chinese PinYin : Wang Shi Zhen