Dongxiangyuan comes
According to Japanese naming conventions, the surname Togo originated from the "Miao character" that is commensurate with the place of residence of the family. There are many cities and towns in the Japanese archipelago named Togo, and they are located in the Kanto and regions. However, there is no doubt that the Togo town is located in Kagoshima City, Kyushu. According to satsuma clan's "Honjo Chronicles" and "Biography of the Togo Marshal Family", the Togo family originated from the Huanwu Hei clan, one of the two major samurai groups in Japan, and their original surname was Shibuya.
The Shibuya family, which originally settled near present-day Tokyo, was enfeoffed in Kyushu in the middle of the Kamakura shogunate and spent time in the area, forming many branches of the Togo clan and the Takagi clan. However, "strong dragons are difficult to suppress the head snake", and with the arrival of war, the Shibuya clan was encroached upon by the local local tycoon Shimazu clan in Kyushu. In the absence of a fruitless struggle, the descendants of the Shibuya clan died or descended. The Togo clan was also forced to cling to the Shimazu clan due to the situation, and thus began the higashigo clan's years as vassals of the Shimazu clan.
1. Heihachiro, the "two-generation government official"
At the beginning of the Shimazu family, the Togo clan had no place to stand, and even the family's inheritance rights were in danger of being taken away. In 1577, the then head of the family, Togo Shigeyoshi, was forced to accept Shimazu Tadashi as his adopted son. According to the rules of the game that prevailed at the time, the Shimazu clan could take over the Togo family through the inheritance of their adopted son. In the face of the crisis, the Dongxiang clan had no choice but to beg for a sword. In the following decades, the sons of Donggo did not fight in the battle front, and followed the Shimazu cross-striped battle flag to conquer Korea and swallow Ryukyu. In the end, he regained the inheritance right in the hands of Togo Shigeru, who had created the "Show Stream" faction with his superb swordsmanship, and even added sengoku's fenglu.
With the ascension of the Higashigo clan, the Higashigo clan was integrated into the satsuma clan by virtue of the Shimazu family's swordsmanship teacher. Heihachirō's father, Shitomo Higashigo, gained the trust of the lord of the domain, Shimazu Kibin, and in 1874 became the "Gunbukō". A year later, in kagoshima castle, the fourth son of Shitomo Togo was born. With three older brothers and an older sister in front of him, the boy who would be known in Japan as Heihachirō was named Nakagoro.
The Satsuma Domain, which was solidified by the "locked country" at that time, can be said to be the forerunner of the "Westernization Reform". Shimazu not only dabbled in Western classics himself, but also opened up the door to recruitment. Ritsuru Okubo and Takamori Saigo, who will influence the political situation in Japan in the future, entered politics under the guidance of Shimazu Kibin. Although Togo Shitomo is not well-known, he can gain the trust and value of Shimazu Kibin, and naturally he is not a conformist, and it is said that the Togo clan, who specializes in swordsmanship, has transformed into an artillery expert in Satsuma Domain. Under the leadership of Shimazu Kibin, the Satsuma Clan absorbed imported advanced Western technology and gradually reached the peak of the clan's wealth and strength.
In 1858, a "line dispute" broke out within the Tokugawa shogunate, which was forced to open the country by the American Perry Fleet, called "Ansei Daigaku". Shimazu Kibin, who had already sharpened his sword, raised the banner of "raising an army on TheRaku" and prepared to threaten the emperor to seize power in one fell swoop with the thirteen male clans of the shogunate. Objectively speaking, the military and financial strength of the Satsuma Domain at that time against the Tokugawa shogunate, which was troubled by internal and external troubles at that time, was not completely unsuccessful. However, Shimazu Qibin suddenly fell ill on the eve of the expedition and died mysteriously.
After Shimazu's death, the Satsuma domain was ingested by his half-brother Shimazu Hisamitsu. Adhering to the rules of the game of "one son of heaven and one courtier". Shimazu Kibin's confidants, such as Togo Shitomo and Saigo Takamori, were quickly marginalized, but in the heinous disaster caused by Shimazu Hisamitsu's "raw wheat incident", Togo Shitomo still participated in the war with his family. It can be described as "Ban Dang Si Zhongchen".
The so-called "Raw Wheat Incident" refers to a gunfight that took place in September 1862 in the annex to the village of Raw Wheat in Musashi Province. In the face of the increasingly powerful Satsuma Domain, the tokugawa shogunate was weakened, and the usual samurai would choose to retreat, but on that day, 4 horses and horses stood in front of Shimazu Hisamitsu's 700-man honor guard. They were Charles Richardson, a British businessman who traveled between Yokohama and Shanghai, among others.
Charles spent some time in China and is said to have brutally whipped the local Chinese on several occasions. Therefore, in his eyes, Shimazu Hisamitsu, although he was prominent, should also make way for himself. During the confrontation, Charles did not know whether he had deliberately charged or rushed over with the same poor riding skills, and was immediately cut to the ground by the samurai of satsuma domain. In order to "ask for an explanation". In 1863, the British Royal Navy sent 12 warships to Edo, and the Tokugawa shogunate chose to calm down the people, combining the "Raw Wheat Incident" with several previous samurai attacks on British expatriates, and paying the British government 100,000 pounds. The matter had been resolved satisfactorily at this point. But the British Navy was determined to teach the powerful clans around Japan a lesson. The British fleet, anchored in Yokohama, divided seven warships and headed for Kagoshima.
On August 11, 1863, the British fleet appeared on the surface of Taniyama Township, seven kilometers south of Kagoshima Castle, with a gun muzzle pointing directly at the heart of satsuma domain. Shimazu Hisamitsu initially accepted the negotiations, but Fukuzawa Yukichi, who was acting as an interpreter, misunderstood the British demand to severely punish the samurai who caused trouble in the "Raw Wheat Incident" in order to hold Shimazu Hisamitsu criminally responsible. Faced with the harsh conditions that the British could endanger their own lives, Shimazu Hisamitsu immediately and strongly refused.
On August 15, the British fleet, which had advanced to Kagoshima Castle, began military operations, and three steamships of satsuma domain were the first to be seized. But just when the British fleet thought it had a plan, they also entered the sea where satsuma domain had been training for military exercises for many years. At noon, 80 coastal defense cannons of various calibers roared at the British fleet under the control of the samurai of satsuma domain, and the unprepared British could only pour fire on the targets on the shore. At this time, Togo Heihachiro, who had just been dressed and changed his name to Shira, was carrying shells for his fathers at the Yamakawa Battery at the southernmost tip of the Satsuma Peninsula.
After an exchange of fire, the British Navy paid the price of 3 battleships being damaged and more than 60 people killed and wounded. Although only 17 people were killed or injured on the Satsuma domain, a large number of infrastructure, including the ido-gym built by Shimazu Kibin in the past, was destroyed, and Shimazu Hisamitsu, who was deeply overwhelmed, had to lower his posture and reach a settlement with the assistance of the Tokugawa shogunate, but this conflict known as the "Anglo-Saskawi War" completely changed the political position of the Satsuma domain. On the vanguard.
For Togo Shitomo, who led his three sons to the war, Shimazu Hisamitsu also re-emphasized it. He was appointed as the "Tenant Pursuit" in charge of finance. However, at this time, Togo Shiyou was over 60 years old. With pessimistic predictions about the future of satsuma domain and Japan as a whole, in June 1867, the sixth head of the Togo family presided over the separation ceremony. Because the second son and daughter of the five sons and daughters have already died prematurely. The third son was passed on to the Kokura family. Therefore, the so-called "separation of the family" is nothing more than the establishment of the eldest son Dongxiang Shiyi to inherit the family gate, while the fourth son Dongxiang Heihachirō Shiryo and the fifth son Dongxiang Shibu found a way out. Six months later, Togo Fell Ill at his home in Kagoshima.
On the eve of the Meiji Restoration, many Japanese samurai were on the verge of bankruptcy in the turbulent wave of market economy. The first thing to consider after Togo Heihachiro and his brother established themselves was the issue of livelihood. Fortunately, Japan was on the verge of civil war at this time, and with the shadow of their father, the two brothers soon joined the new army of the sea and land formed by the Satsuma Domain. At the end of 1867, As a third-class artillery sergeant, Togo Heihachirō boarded the Wooden Paddle Ship Battleship Kasuga Maru, which satsuma domain had purchased from the British for 160,000 taels of silver. His first mission was to go to Osaka, which was under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate, to pick up Satsuma clan personnel who might be taken hostage.
Second, forge ahead and stumble
When Higashigo Heihachirō left Kagoshima with the Kasugamaru, the "Fallen Shogunate Faction" led by the Satsuma Domain and the Choshu Domain had already officially exchanged fire with the Tokugawa shogunate. The Satsuma clans and their families in Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka were evacuated by the gunboat Shōho Maru and the transport ship Hirayun Maru, and after the two ships met with the Kasuga Maru who had come to meet them, they entered Hyogo Port on January 24, 1868, preparing to withdraw to Satsuma. However, the shogunate navy immediately dispatched the cruiser Kaiyang and the gunboats Panlong Maru and Huitian Maru to intercept it.
Regarding the actions of the shogunate navy, the satsuma domain officials on the "Kasugamaru" protested to takeyoshi Yukimoto, the vice president of the shogunate navy, but Yukimoto ignored it on the grounds that the shogunate and Satsuma were currently at war. In order not to become a prisoner of the shogunate, there was only one way to break through. In the early morning of the 27th, the satsuma three ships rushed out of the harbor, and the "Kasuga Maru" pulled the "Shōho Maru" with a cable. The next day, the small fleet was caught up by the Shogunate Navy's Kaiyang at Awa Oki. The Battle of Awa Chong broke out, which was the beginning of modern naval warfare in Japan.
Kasuga Maru was the first to cut the cable for towing. Under the command of Captain Akatsuka Genroku and Deputy Commander Ito Yuko, they took advantage of their speed and went around in circles with the Kaiyang, which was far stronger than himself, in order to buy time. The Kaiyang had no choice but to sail as fast as its opponents, and could only draw concentric circles with a diameter of about 2 to 3 kilometers at sea with the Kasuga Maru, while shelling each other. However, although the two fired 43 rounds of shells, only one shell of the "Kasuga Maru" hit the opponent, causing him to be slightly injured. Togo Heihachiro's later so-called "one hundred cannons in one hundred rounds is not as good as one cannon in one hundred rounds" may be a portrayal of the mood at that time.
After nightfall, Kasuga Maru fired a false shot and headed straight for Satsuma. The "Kaiyang", which knew that it could not catch up, also took its troops back to the camp. It is worth mentioning that in this battle, there are three future Japanese admirals on the "Kasuga Maru", and the lineup is luxurious. In addition to Togo Heihachirō, who later commanded the gunboat "Yunyang" to force the Korean founding of the Country, Inoue Ryoxin was a second-class non-commissioned officer on the ship, while the commander of the Japanese combined fleet in the Sino-Japanese War, Ito Yuhyun, escaped in the "Shōho Maru" when the Satsuma Domain was attacked in Edo, and then transferred to the "Kasuga Maru" to assist his brother Ito Yuji in battle. The shogunate navy, although it defeated its opponents slightly, was powerless to change the course of the war. With the defeat of the shogunate army at the Battle of Toba and Fushimi, the last shogun, Tokugawa Keiki, was forced to abandon Kyoto, and finally announced the surrender of Kaesong at Edo in the midst of the fallen shogunate.
Although the Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown, the civil war was not over. Matsudaira Ryōho, the lord of aizu Domain, who was classified as a "Korean enemy", prepared himself to prepare for a decisive battle with the "Fallen Shogun faction" renamed the Meiji government army. Higashigo Heihachirō and his younger brother Higashigo Shibu once again went to the battlefield. The Aizu Domain, which resisted the whole country with a corner, showed great tenacity in battle. The story of the "White Tigers" formed by the children of the 16th and 17th-year-old Aizu clans fighting against the government army is very popular. But few people know that outside Aizu Castle, a 17-year-old boy from Satsuma who also lost his life in the war was the younger brother of Heihachiro Togo.
At the same time as the war raged in Aizu, takeo Yukimoto, the head of the old shogunate's navy, yudo, led eight remnants of the shogunate, including Kaiyang, and many of the shogunate's widows and orphans to flee to Hokkaido, then known as "Ezo", in an attempt to break up the land and stand on their own. The Meiji government immediately mobilized the Armored Ship Kotetsu, which was left over from the Civil War sold by the United States, as its flagship, and led three warships, including the Kasuga Maru, north. Faced with the meiji government's superiority in ship performance, Takeyoshi Yukimoto decided to launch a surprise attack.
In the morning light of May 6, 1869, Kasuga Maru, which was moored north of the Kotetsu, spotted a warship flying the Star-Spangled Banner slowly approaching. Because at this time the ships of the Western powers could sail freely in Japanese waters. Therefore, Togo Heihachirō and others on the "Kasuga Maru" did not take action. Unexpectedly, the warship suddenly lowered the Star-Spangled Banner, raised the Sun Chapter Flag, and rushed straight to the "Jia Tie". It turned out that this camouflage warship was the surprise attack battleship "Hui Tian Maru" sent by Takeyoshi Yukimoto. Although the sea conditions on that day were not conducive to the reception, the commandos on the "Huitian Maru", mainly the "Shogun Chengguan New Compilation Group" that ran rampant in Kyoto that year, still jumped on the deck of the "Kotetsu" with their swords.
Kasuga Maru returned to his senses and immediately stepped forward to cover for "Kotetsu". The close-range shelling of the Kasuga Maru caused the enemy to suffer a lot. The machine guns that constantly spewed tongues of fire on the "armored iron" also caused the enemy commandos to be knocked down by the rain of bullets. Seeing that he was unable to return to the Heavenly Horn, the "Heavenly Pill" killed a bloody road and fled back to the Box Museum. Although it was not successful, Togo Heihachiro still felt that the surprise attack of the "Huitian Maru" was the only option for the Ezo side to defeat the strong with the weak. Even on the eve of the future Battle of Tsushima, he encouraged his colleagues with the deeds of captain Koga Gengo of the "Huitian Maru".
With the change of sea power, Meiji government troops were able to land in Ezo in a steady stream. Seeing that the tide was over, takeshi Tsubaki surrendered on May 18, and the short-lived "Ezo Republic" was declared extinct. The one-and-a-half-year-long civil war ended in the utter defeat of the Tokugawa shogunate and its remnants. For his future plans, Togo Heihachiro once hoped to be able to return to the field and study in The United Kingdom to become a railway engineer. With great anticipation, Togo found Ōkubo Ritsuru, who was from satsuma domain, but was ruthlessly rejected. Okubo is said to have commented on Togo: "Heihachirō talks too much! Useless". Perhaps because of this, the future Togo Heihachiro was reticent and piri Yangqiu, and was known as the "silent admiral".
Fortunately, Okubo is not the only leader from satsuma domain, and Togo's application for studying abroad is supported by Saigo Takamori. But it would be wasteful for a naval officer to switch jobs to study railroads. So Togo Heihachiro and 11 young officers selected by the Japanese Navy went to England. But when they arrived, they found that the British government did not allow the Japanese to enter its Royal Naval Academy, and that they were about to attend the Merchant Marine School. Although he felt fooled, Togo Heihachiro adhered to the spirit of "if you come, you are safe", and learned everything about the sea and ships from scratch. Among them, the teaching of international law at the Merchant Marine School became his amulet in the future.
In 1879, Togo Heihachiro returned with the Cruiser Hiei, which had been ordered by Japan to Britain, and the first thing he did after landing was to bow in the direction of Kagoshima. Because two years ago, Saigo Takamori, who contributed to his study abroad, had been killed on the battlefield for leading a samurai class uprising. Heihachirō later said, "If I hadn't studied abroad, I would have followed Saigo's side." In fact, his two older brothers also joined in, and the eldest brother, Togo Shigeru, despite his advanced age, delivered supplies for the Xixiang army, and was wounded and captured. It was up to the military dependents to save the first rank. The third brother of the Kokura family, Shokuro, was killed on the battlefield.
Third, walk through the first noon
In 1884, at the age of 36, Dongxiang was appointed captain of the Tiancheng and went to Shanghai, Fuzhou and Keelung to observe the Sino-French war. In 1889, he was promoted to Navy Commander. During this period, he was also transferred to the chief of staff of the 2nd Naval District to cultivate the comprehensive ability to organize and command a considerable naval force. On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, Togo Heihachirō's most famous incident was the intervention in the "Hawaiian Coup". In 1893, an American farmer living in Hawaii forcibly deposed Hawaii under the pretext that Queen Liliucarani of Hawaii was unconstitutional. The Japanese government, which had thousands of expatriates in Hawaii, immediately mobilized the "Lansu" under the command of Heihachiro Togo to carry weapons to Hawaii. A standoff with the U.S. Navy. However, the Japanese government asked itself that its national strength was still not enough to go to war with the United States, and finally chose to back down.
After abandoning the competition with the United States for Hawaii, Japan threw itself into the struggle with the Manchu Qing for the Korean Peninsula. In 1894, the Donggak Uprising broke out in Korea, and Japan provoked a war under the pretext of sending troops from the Manchurian side. The first military conflict between China and Japan was the Battle of Toshima, in which Heihachiro Togo participated. When the Japanese Navy took advantage of the beiyang naval division in the late Qing dynasty to escort the army transport, it concentrated three cutting-edge warships of "Yoshino", "Langsu", and "Akitsuzu" as the "first guerrilla group" in an attempt to annihilate the Beiyang Marine Division's "Jiyuan" and "Guangyi" in one fell swoop. But the development of the war situation was once a big surprise.
With a displacement of 4,150 tons, the Yoshino was arguably the Japanese Navy's most comprehensive combat effective warship at the time. However, although its 152 mm caliber rapid-fire main gun has an amazing rate of fire, its range and power are far from the 210 mm twin-mounted front main gun of the "Jiyuan" with a tonnage of only 2300 tons. Therefore, at the beginning of the naval battle, the "Yoshino" did not take advantage of anything. There was even a phenomenon that the "Wave Speed" had not yet joined the regiment, and the shell of the "Jiyuan" had exploded near its bow, and the shrapnel cut off its signal flag cable. At the same time, the "Hiromi" also rushed into the Japanese Navy's battle lines, cutting off the connection Between Yoshino and "Wave Speed" and "Akizu-chau".
As a "dome cruiser" built by the Fujian Shipping Bureau itself, the armament of the "Guangyi" is very distinctive. Its shipboard guns are slightly weak in both caliber and number. However, the left and right sides of the bow and under the main deck of the middle rear are equipped with a torpedo tube, which is the same as the arrangement of large torpedo boats, so it is also called "torpedo clipper". It can be described as a killing machine hidden, a fatal blow. The Japanese Navy had regarded the Manchu Qing dynasty as an imaginary enemy for many years, and naturally knew the power of "Guangyi", and in the panic, "Yoshino" could only urgently evade to the left. "Wave Speed" and "Akizu-chau" also followed suit, and for a time there was a funny scene of three main Warships of the Japanese Army being driven around by the "Guangyi" with a displacement of only 1,030 tons. If the Jiyuan had been able to seize the favorable fighters at this time and use the advantages of its heavy guns on the bow to cover the torpedo attack of the "Guangyi", the outcome of the Battle of Toshima might have been rewritten. However, at this time, "Jiyuan" chose to take his neighbor as a barrier and slip away.
The "Jiyuan" broke away from the warband, so that the "Guangyi" immediately became the focus of the siege of the Japanese "First Guerrilla Group". Fortunately, at this time, the battlefield was already shrouded in smoke from the gun battles of both sides and the smoke released by the engine drive. The Japanese Navy's fast guns missed accuracy. The Japanese warships that fought separately were in danger of being approached by the "Guangyi" many times. "Wave Speed" suddenly found that "Guang Yi" was approaching to less than 400 meters away from him, and the captain of the ship, Heihachiro Togo, was scared out of a cold sweat, and hurriedly ordered the "Wave Speed" to evade at full speed, while greeting all the firepower on the ship to "Guang Yi". It should be said that Togo Heihachiro's luck is really good, not only did he escape the disaster in the "Battle of Awa Chong". In 1892, because of his friendship with the naval leaders Saigo Congdao and Yamamoto Kwonbei, he not only escaped the "layoffs and layoffs", but also jumped from the position of chief of staff of the Wuzhen Shoufu with no future to the captain of the "Wave Speed". And this time, Togo Heihachiro once again "broke out of character". Under the frantic strafing of the front main gun of the "Langsu" and the starboard gun and the rapid-fire guns of various calibers, the "Guangyi" was shot on the bridge and had to retreat to the west coast of Korea. In this dangerous close-quarters fight, the "Wave Speed" was only hit on the starboard side, blowing up the spare anchor and windlass.
After repelling the "Guangyi", the "First Guerrilla Group" reorganized its camp, the "Akitsushu" pursued the "Guangyi", and the "Yoshino" and "Langsu" followed the "Jiyuan" in search of fighters. At this moment, two more columns of smoke appeared on the surface of the Sea of Toshima. The Japanese Navy did not understand this, and immediately ordered the "Akizu-chau" that pursued "Guangyi" to return to the army and make all-out preparations to meet the fresh forces of the Beiyang Marine Division. Fortunately, as the distance approached, the Japanese Navy lookout found that it was confronted by the british freighter Gaosheng, which had no combat effectiveness, and the old wooden gunboat "Caojiang" of the Beiyang Marine Division.
Although the "Caojiang" is nominally a combat ship, it has a speed of only 8 knots and only 5 old guns. Therefore, it is also a transportation task. When approaching the waters of Toshima, the "Caojiang" and the "Gaosheng" from Tanggu met unexpectedly and sailed together. Under the threat of the shelling of "Akitsushu", the "Caojiang" chose to surrender. However, the Chinese soldiers aboard the Gaosheng said that "my generation is in the same boat" and laid down their weapons. At this time, Heihachiro Togo, who was the captain of the "Wave Speed", may not have come out of the fear brought about by the "Guangyi", and ordered the torpedoes to be fired at the civilian ship "Gaosheng" and slaughtered the Chinese officers and men gathered on the deck with their guns. The atrocities of the Japanese Navy caused dissatisfaction among Western warships watching in nearby waters, and British, French, and German warships rescued a total of 241 Chinese officers and men afterwards. Public opinion in britain was even more in an uproar, demanding that the Japanese side "immediately dismiss and arrest the captain of the 'Langsu'".
Face the pressure of public opinion. Togo calmly stated that it was in accordance with international law that his warship had sunk a merchant ship that had been ordered to be stopped many times but refused to carry it out. At this time, the British government had already determined the established strategy of "supporting Japan and confronting China and Russia", and a group of imperial "experts" and "professors" immediately openly defended Togo in the newspaper, and the British government finally ruled that Japan did not need to bear any responsibility for the sinking of the "Gaosheng".
After the Battle of Toshima, Togo Heihachirō commanded the "Wave Speed" to follow the main force of the combined fleet to participate in many battles, such as the Battle of Dadonggou, escorting the army to land on the Flank of Lushun, and besieging the Weihai Base of the Beiyang Marine Division. But there was no longer a brilliant performance. His personal military career will not be until the future Russo-Japanese War. But like all soldiers who have been branded as "famous generals", whether it is "a lifetime of bowing to Yang Ming" or "Turkey's Dongxiang Street", these too dramatic legends have become a vague back under the baptism of time. The last appearance of Togo in the historical lens is the strange old man who invented Japanese potato stew in his family yard and mixed with his wife.
This article is written exclusively by Zhao Kai, like, remember to subscribe to this headline number.