The content of this book is based on the composition and expansion of the Wuwei Army, with an emphasis on the military leaders responsible for the history of the Boxers and imperial armies, especially the role that General Yuan Shikai played and the mission he bore at this time. If it had not been for the collapse of the Wuwei Army, the Beiyang New Army could not have escalated training operations. Yuan Shikai drew upon important changes in the Wuwei Army to make the right battalion of the Wuwei army central to the self-strengthening troops, and to start training the Beiyang New Army.