Speaking of the late Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi was the first label, Guangxu was the second label, and then Li Hongzhang, who was an absolutely capable person, good at communication and coordination, and was recognized by all parties.
However, the reason for the Sino-Japanese War brought Li Hongzhang to the point where "everyone in the world knows how to kill", of course, was whether he saw through the essence of the Japanese, repeatedly tolerated it, and pinned his hopes on the Western powers, especially Russia, to suppress Japan.
But it is indeed unfair to let Li Hongzhang fully bear all the responsibility for the fiasco of jiawu.
Because in the process of the construction of the Beiyang Marine Division, Li Hongzhang has always been painstakingly working hard, but there are many objective reasons why the Beiyang Marine Division collapsed in the naval battle with the Japanese.
In history, the unanimous condemnation of Empress Dowager Cixi, at the moment when the great war was about to erupt, actually embezzled naval military funds to build the Summer Palace, resulting in the Beiyang Marine Division's equipment not being in place and unable to play a real role.
This is, of course, an important historical reason.
In fact, the fiasco of the Beiyang Marine Division had a lot to do with another person.
Speaking of this person, it must be surprising.
This person was Weng Tonggong, Guangxu's teacher.
Speaking of Weng Tonggong, but the emperors of the two dynasties, however, Weng Tonggong was the teacher of Tongzhi, and did not shine, Tongzhi was an untamed person, stubborn in nature, and did not take Weng Tonggong seriously at all, naturally, Weng Tonggong did not have any light, did not become a high official.
But when Guangxu's teacher, the ending is very different, Guangxu is gentle in nature, very willing to learn, and Weng Tonggong has always had a deep affection, after Guangxu became emperor, Weng Tonggong was naturally valued.
In October of the 20th year of Guangxu, Weng Tonggong, Prince Gong and Li Hongzhang jointly took charge of the Military Aircraft Department, and his power was very hot.
However, in April of the 24th year of Guangxu, Weng Tonggong was expelled and returned to his hometown of Changshu to live, slipping from the peak of power to the bottom of the valley.
The reason why Weng Tonggong fell like this is very simple, he and Li Hongzhang did not deal with each other.
The cause was that Li Hongzhang Weng Tonggong had an older brother named Weng Tongshu, who was then the governor of Anhui, lost Dingyuan due to poor command during the war against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and was impeached by Zeng Guofan.
Since then, Weng Tonggong has always been angry with Li Hongzhang, and after serving as the head of the Hubu Shangshu in charge of the national financial appropriation power, he began to take revenge on Li Hongzhang.
The means of retaliation were: After the Beiyang Navy became an army, it restricted the beiyang navy's expenditure at every turn and stopped allocating funds to the Beiyang Marine Division, making it difficult for the Beiyang Naval Division to form effective combat effectiveness.
Of course, Weng Tongshu has a deeper consideration, that is, he does not want to watch the Beiyang Marine Division become bigger and stronger, and he does not want Li Hongzhang to surpass himself.
Weng Tonggong not only used the deficit in the national treasury as an excuse, but also asked to stop the purchase of ship armaments for two years, that is, in terms of ammunition replenishment, he also imposed many restrictions. At that time, Li Hongzhang was preparing to purchase large flowering bombs produced by the German Krupp factory for the only use of the cannons on the battleship. Li Hongzhang issued an order for the purchase, but in the end failed to carry it out. The reason is very simple, Weng Tonggong said that he had no money and opposed spending huge sums of money to buy artillery shell storage.
On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, the two largest ships of the Beiyang Marine Division, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, had only one and two shells, respectively, and other small-caliber shells were also scarce.
When the war between China and Japan began, the countries strictly observed neutrality, Li Hongzhang hurriedly purchased artillery shells from the British and German countries, and the Western powers at this time began to strictly observe neutrality and refused to sell.
At the beginning of the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the commanders and fighters of the Beiyang Marine Division all knew their own strength, and they were already timid before the battle.
After the fiasco in the Sino-Japanese War, Weng Tonggong met Li Hongzhang and asked about the situation of the Beiyang Marine Division, and at this time Li Hongzhang looked at each other angrily and did not say a word for half a day, but it is conceivable that Li Hongzhang was angry at that time.
The weakness of the state is always associated with the inferiority of many officials, and the final step leads the country to the abyss.