The Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War made the world see the true face of the Qing Dynasty, and the Beiyang Navy, which originally had the first in Asia, was so unbeaten that it was a typical hypocrite. Since then, the West has looked down on Chinese, believing that the Qing Dynasty is a veritable sick man of East Asia, and even if the equipment is good, it is a pile of scrap iron given to the Chinese.
However, although the Battle of Jiawu was defeated miserably, it could only represent the overall consciousness of the upper echelons of the Qing Dynasty, and did not mean that the Beiyang Marine Division was not bloody. The American Ma Jifen was the pipe belt deputy on the Zhenyuan ship, that is, the deputy captain, who experienced the Sino-Japanese Yellow Sea War and witnessed the bloody battle of the Beiyang Navy. Although he eventually lost the naval battle, he believed to his death that the Beiyang Navy was a first-class fleet in Asia, not inferior to any Western fleet at all. He often used his experience in the war to explain to the world that the Beiyang Marine Division was not greedy and afraid of death as reported in the news, and finally after the speech, he did not forget to show his determination to be proud of the Beiyang Marine Division.
The Beiyang Marine Division employed eight foreign officers, and Ma Jifen was one of them. Born into a traditional military family in the United States, Margiffen enrolled in the Naval Academy after graduating from high school. He was bent on becoming a naval officer. But the U.S. Navy at that time was not as strong as it is now, and it did not need so many people. Ma Giffin, who had mediocre grades, could only return home with a thousand dollars in compensation.
The West is not bright and the East is bright. When the Sino-French War broke out, Ma Giffen, who had always dreamed of being an officer, decided to serve the Qing Dynasty as a mercenary. Worried about the resettlement fee of one thousand yuan, he traveled thousands of miles to China. Unfortunately, the war was far from lasting as imagined, and the Qing Dynasty won the war and reaped the rewards, and Ma Jifen's dream was shattered. However, he did not despair, knowing that the Qing Dynasty was expanding the recruitment of Beiyang Water Division, so he found the American consul to ask for help and handed over the cover letter to Li Hongzhang, the head of the Beiyang Water Division.
Li Hongzhang is a visitor who does not refuse, as long as you have the ability to pass the examination of the Ordnance Bureau's Marine Division Academy, he will hire you. Ma Jifen had excellent results in the exam and successfully went to the Water Teacher's Academy as a teacher. Here he dutifully cultivated the talents needed by the Beiyang Marine Division, many of whom participated in the Sino-Japanese War.
Ma Giffen has been teaching in China for 10 years and has gained a good reputation. Moreover, he also participated in the rotation of warship equipment many times, because he never took kickbacks to win the trust of Li Hongzhang and was appreciated many times. Just as he was about to return to China for a vacation, the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War began. Ma Jifen immediately canceled the vacation and joined all the officers and men of Beiyang to face the Japanese combined fleet.
As the first mate of the Zhenyuan ship, Ma Jifen personally commanded the firing of the guns, which made the Japanese Yoshino incapacitated and had to withdraw from the battle early. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, he witnessed the bloodiness of the officers and men of Beiyang and witnessed Deng Shichang commanding the Zhiyuan to crash into Yoshino. In the naval battle, the Japanese navy was fierce, the Beiyang Fleet suffered heavy losses, and Ma Jifen was blown up and almost blinded.
A few months later, the Japanese army captured Weihaiwei, Ding Ruchang refused to surrender, swallowing opium and committing suicide. Marguin secretly boarded an American cargo ship and returned home for medical treatment. The Beiyang Navy was completely destroyed, and Western countries felt incredible and commented one after another. When Ma Jifen heard that public opinion generally believed that the officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division were of low quality and greedy and afraid of death, they gave speeches everywhere to correct the misunderstandings of the Western media. Because he is too persistent, he is considered crazy by Americans.
Ma Jifen was desperate, and he decided to use his death to awaken people's new understanding and return justice to the Beiyang Navy. Therefore, he chose to shoot himself on the death day of the second anniversary of Ding Ruchang's martyrdom. According to his will and testament, he was buried wearing the military uniform of the Beiyang Marine Division, and the coffin was covered with the Yellow Dragon Flag, the military flag of the Beiyang Navy that he had brought back from China and had been hoisted on the ship "Zhenyuan".