During the Guangxu period, the Qingliu leader Zhang Peilun was sent by Cixi to Fujian to take full charge of the Sino-French War, followed by the famous Battle of Majiang.
Zhang Peilun, who had previously vowed to completely annihilate the French army, actually had no time to wear the pants that were beaten, so he fled in a hurry. What about Zhang Peilun's subsequent ending?
Zhang Pei on the theory
Some people may feel strange when it comes to Zhang Peilun, but his father-in-law you designate as familiar, that is, Li Hongzhang, a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty.
Zhang Peilun also has a granddaughter, the famous writer Zhang Ailing.
He, together with Zhang Zhidong and Chen Baochen, was a representative of the "Qingliu" of the late Qing Dynasty.
At that time, the Qingliu, you can understand as a group of self-appointed Qing masters, somewhat similar to the Donglin Party of the Ming Dynasty, the only difference is that the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty proposed opinions against the imperial power, while the Qingliu in the late Qing Dynasty was aimed at the imperial court ministers at that time, who were full-time responsible for impeaching officials, and you can also understand that there is now a cultured mouth cannon.
At that time, Zhang Peilun, as the leader of Qingliu, had already been paid to the imperial history of zuodu and was given the title of three pins.
In December 1883, France sent 25 ironclad warships into the South China Sea to demand that the Qing government agree to the French demand to colonize Vietnam.
Prior to this, in 1878, Nguyen Phuc Anh of Vietnam (later king of Vietnam) allied with France, and with the help of French priest Bai Duolu, successfully defeated the then Thuy Son regime, and Nguyen Phuc Anh established himself as king, which sowed the seeds for the future French colonization of Vietnam.
In fact, the Qing Dynasty's actual control over Vietnam at this time was almost zero, and it was only a nominal vassal state.
After the French colonized Vietnam, the Vietnamese king turned to the Qing Dynasty for help, asking the Qing Dynasty to send troops to drive out the French.
At that time, the general view of the military ministers headed by Prince Gong was to avoid war, because the Qing Dynasty, which had experienced two Opium Wars, was heavily indebted and unable to deal with the military threat of the French powers. Moreover, at that time, Vietnam was not actually under the jurisdiction of the Qing Dynasty, and it was not cost-effective to fight this battle in public and private, so Li Hongzhang believed that the Qing Dynasty was unable to have another war.
Moreover, in the same year, Japan also occupied Korea, the Qing Dynasty had no time to take care of itself, and various debts and military disputes had already left the Qing Dynasty in a mess.
But Zhang Peilun did not think so, insisting that he must send troops to Vietnam and gave many explanations and strategies.
Zhang Peilun believes that France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War, had just paid off Germany's debts, and its national strength was not strong;
The second is that it takes 30 days for the French fleet to reach Fujian, and the Chinese ships can annihilate them with the momentum of waiting for work and waiting for the rabbits;
The third French were unpopular in Vietnam and could call on the Vietnamese people to fight together.
It can only be said that the idea is very full, the reality is very bone, although France lost the Franco-Prussian War, but it was still one of the great powers at that time, especially in the ship weapons are far from being comparable to the Qing Dynasty.
Due to Prince Gong's war avoidance strategy, it was considered by the Qing school to be a sign of fear and inaction, and was dismissed by Cixi as a "commission to follow the rules", and Prince Yizhen of Alcohol succeeded Prince Gong as the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department.
After the succession of prince Alcohol, he also faced the same difficulties, the Qing Dynasty at that time wanted money and no money, ships without ships, and a bunch of debts, even the military expenses at that time were loans to banks in various countries, how to fight against French ironclad ships.
Prince Alcohol thought for a moment, since you Zhang Peilun are the main battle and have so many strategies, it is better to let you take charge of this dispute with France.
In 1884, Zhang Peilun was sent to Fujian to supervise the maritime affairs, and after he came to Fujian, he neither trained troops nor prepared for war, and adhered to the holy purpose of "not firing first", and slept in the ships all day.
Even the French ships sailed over without any defense.
On July 23, 1884, France directly bombed the important base of the Fujian Marine Division with ironclad ships, all 11 warships were sunk, 750 officers and men of the Marine Division died, and the Fujian Marine Division painstakingly operated by the Qing Dynasty was instantly reduced to ashes.
At this time, Zhang Peilun was still taking a nap indoors, and after hearing the bombing, he didn't even have time to wear his pants, and fled under the escort of several servants.
The panicked Zhang Peilun fled to an ancestral hall in Gushan to take shelter, and when he was preparing to lie down and rest his feet, many angry villagers came, and even some people shouted to burn Zhang Peilun, and Zhang Peilun was frightened and quickly absconded overnight.
Word soon reached Cixi about the defeat in Fujian and Zhang Peilun's abandonment of the army and absconding, who was furious and escorted Zhang Peilun back to Beijing and sentenced him to exile Zhangjiakou.