清末新政伊始地方督撫編練新軍研究

Regional Governors and the New Army at the Beginning of the Late Qing New Policy Reforms

清末新政伊始，中央缺乏專門的新式軍政機構，地方督撫變法奏摺中具有相似性的軍事改革主張，成為清政府頒布新軍政策時參考依據。督辦政務處向各省頒發編練新軍諮文後，地方督撫又扮演了練兵方案設計者和實踐者的雙重角色。督撫設計編練方案的過程可細分為兩階段：第一階段，地方督撫各自為政，奉旨設計練兵方案。直隸、湖北練兵方案較為完備，無奈袁世凱、張之洞私下協商糾葛重重。清政府對各省設計的練兵方案無力提出修正意見，未能制定標準化的練兵章程。第二階段，清政府改變策略，令袁世凱、張之洞共同協商，冀能漸進地統一練兵章程，但兩人貌合神離，仍以失敗告終。在中央未頒布標準化的練兵章程情況下，地方督撫將各自的練兵方案付諸實踐，或遵照既定方案執行，或變通辦理，各省相繼練成常備軍、續備軍。這些編練新軍的活動表明：地方督撫畢竟不是專業的新式軍事人才，亦缺乏全局觀念，往往拘泥於一隅之見，絕非理想的決策者；地方督撫落實練兵方案時，受制於任期、財力、改革理念等因素，執行力度不同，多數省分常備軍、續備軍徒有其名，成效不彰。不過，這一時期編練常備軍、續備軍構成新軍編練進程的關鍵環節，發揮承上啟下的作用。

At the beginning of the late Qing New Policy reforms, the joint proposals on military reform that the regional governors advocated provide information on the Qing Dynasty’s military reform policies. After the Supervising Administrative Division issued military reform proposals, the regional governors played a dominant role in the process of making and implementing plans for military training. At first, lacking direction from the center, governors created training plans on their own, as in the cases of Yuan Shikai and Zhang Zhidong. Then, the Qing ordered Yuan and Zhang to set up standard training plans, which ended in failure due to the differences between the two men. In the absence of standard regulations, other regional governors began to execute their own training plans. The lack of uniformity proved that the regional governors could be not satisfactory policy-makers in the absence of modern military knowledge and a national perspective. Governors’ ability to implement training policies was limited by tenure, financial resources, and reform ideas, and so while regular troops and reserve troops gained a good reputation, in reality they were deficient. However, this was a key period that laid the basis for the New Army.