Chapter 19 Emphasis on foreign equipment and self-improvement

When he was still in Anqing, Li Hongzhang began to come into contact with foreigners' foreign guns and cannons, as well as those extremely powerful ocean-going warships and fleets.After arriving in Shanghai, Li Hongzhang was not without surprise to find that the defense force of Qing Dynasty Shanghai was actually a 3,000-strong foreign army composed of British, Indians, and French.The army was foreign mercenaries paid for by Shanghai merchants and gentlemen.The army was formally established in 1860, with the American Wall as the command.In 1862, it was named the Ever Victorious Army by the Qing government.This Hua Er later married Yang Fang's daughter and became a Chinese citizen.

The weapons of the Changsheng Army were all Western-style rifles and howitzers. Looking at these hard and cold sharp weapons, Li Hongzhang couldn't help marveling at their magical power, and gradually developed an extremely enthusiastic yearning for these sharp weapons.For this reason, he also disguised himself as a commoner and visited foreign warships in Shanghai in person.Li Hongzhang wrote in the article: I have observed various aspects of our Chinese nation and foreigners, including history, system and writing, etc. The only thing foreigners are better than us is their advanced weapons and equipment.If we Chinese also have our own advanced weapons in the future, then we no longer have to be afraid of foreigners.

The fact that the ever-victorious army led by Wall repeatedly defeated the still majestic Taiping Army made Li Hongzhang deeply feel the great deterrent power of foreign guns and cannons, and at the same time he had to feel an unprecedented sense of crisis.Li Hongzhang made it clear that the current major problem of the Qing Dynasty is the Taiping Army, and the longer-term major problem in the future will undoubtedly be foreigners.Therefore, he asked his army not to rely on foreigners, but to be self-improving, and the initial way of self-improvement was the so-called emphasis on foreign equipment.

When Li Hongzhang started to equip the Huai army with foreign equipment, he was first opposed by Zeng Guofan.Zeng Guofan has always believed that the use of soldiers is not the weapon, and he doubts whether the role of foreign guns and cannons is as powerful as Li Hongzhang said.It was inconvenient for Li Hongzhang to strongly refute his mentor and commander, but he tactfully stated in his reply that I wanted to learn a little secret method from foreigners, hoping to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Huai army. In a letter to Zeng Guofan in May 1862, Li Hongzhang talked about world history and said that before Russia and Japan did not know the power of cannons, their national power was declining day by day. Can compete with Britain and France.In addition, Li Hongzhang increasingly felt that the Huai army was weak.Considering that it was inconvenient to recruit troops from his hometown, in addition to recruiting some local recruits, he put the main source of the Huai army on the improved defense army.He also recruited a large number of troops from the Taiping Army to expand and enrich the strength of the Huai Army, and the strength of the surrendered army far exceeded that of the reorganized defense army.This is Li Hongzhang's intentional strategy of fighting poison with poison.

At this time Li Hongzhang also began to form his own navy.The earliest Huai army navy was built in the Anqing period, when there were five large ships.After arriving in Shanghai, Li Hongzhang reorganized the old naval defense force in Shanghai, part of the fleet in the Sujia area, and other scattered forces.He also commanded the Huaiyang Navy and the Taihu Navy.In this way, Li Hongzhang's Huai army reached a scale of 40,000 in the navy and 70,000 in the army. In the beginning, Li Hongzhang trained the Huai army, basically according to the same method he used to train the Hunan army, especially leading the soldiers to sing love folk songs every day, which was Zeng Guofan's idea.Although the Hunan Army has foreign guns and cannons, they rarely use them.Li Hongzhang invited foreign officers to enter the Huai army camp to help with practical exercises and let the soldiers learn how to use foreign guns and cannons.From then on, the Huai Army, the earliest branch of the Hunan Army, began to have many differences from the Hunan Army.Li Hongzhang led such a team and started a more violent attack and more frenzied killing of the Taiping Army.