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. In his camp near
Tientsin the future President of the Chinese Republic succeeded in
reorganizing his troops so well that in a very short time the
Hsiaochan Division became known as a corps d'elite. The discipline
was so stern that there were said to be only two ways of noticing
subordinates, either by promoting or beheading them. Devoting
himself to his task Yuan Shih-kai gave promise of being able to
handle much bigger problems.

His zeal soon attracted the attention of the Manchu Court. The
circumstances in Peking at that time were peculiar. The famous old
Empress Dowager, Tzu-Hsi, after the Japanese war, had greatly
relaxed her hold on the Emperor Kwanghsu, who though still in
subjection to her, nominally governed the empire. A well-
intentioned but weak man, he had surrounded himself with advanced
scholars, led by the celebrated Kang Yu Wei, who daily studied
with him and filled him with new doctrines, teaching him to
believe that if he would only exert his power he might rescue the