The first battle of A-Noon Chinese forever. Although the Beiyang Marine Division lost the naval battle, the main force was not lost, and it was not impossible to return to heaven. Who knows, the Japanese attacked the base camp weihaiwei from land, and the Beiyang Marine Division was strangled alive in the harbor. Admiral Ding Ruchang did not want to be captured and committed suicide by swallowing opium. Some people said that he protected the ship and avoided the battle, and in vain destroyed the Beiyang Marine Division. In fact, the person who really made the decision was Li Hongzhang, and Ding Ruchang was only an executor, and whether to fight or defend was up to him.
Ding Ruchang's early life is also strange, he participated in the Taiping Army, the sworn enemy of the Qing Dynasty. In the end, he was able to become Li Hongzhang's most important Beiyang Admiral, at least two points can be seen, one is that he really has superiority; second, Li Hongzhang's employment is also quite unique.
Ding Ruchang was born in 1836 in the countryside of Hefei, Anhui Province, and worked as an apprentice in a tofu shop. In 1854, when the Taiping Army passed through his hometown, he served as a soldier under Cheng Xueqi. When Cheng Xueqi surrendered to Zeng Guofan, he also took Ding Ruchang with him, and at that time, Ding Ruchang was only a pawn.
As a demotion, Cheng Xueqi's men and horses have always served as pawns for the Qing army, and Ding Ruchang has made many military achievements as a result, rising to the rank of sentry officer, equivalent to a company commander. Zeng Guofan asked Li Hongzhang to form the Huai Army against the Taiping Army in Shanghai, and gave him the troops of Cheng Xueqi and Ding Ruchang.
Ding Ruchang fought bravely and was good at governing the army, and soon rose to the rank of chief soldier and won the title of the famous Batulu (hero) of the Qing Dynasty. He had 3 horse battalions under his command, which belonged to Liu Chuanming's Ming Army sequence. When the Taiping Army and the Twist Army were all pacified and the Qing Army began to disarm, the first person to be laid off was Ding Ruchang, who was born in the Taiping Army.
Ding Ruchang was naturally unwilling and wrote a letter to protest, but it caused Liu Chuanming's displeasure and almost killed him. Fortunately, Ding Ruchang ran fast and fled back to his hometown, so he was not poisoned. In the following years, Ding Ruchang has been idle at home.
In 1875, Ding Ruchang heard that Li Hongzhang wanted to build the Beiyang Marine Division, so he went to the old boss. Li Hongzhang was also deeply impressed by Ding Ruchang's ability and previous achievements, so he learned the navy and helped him build a marine division.
During this period, Zuo Zongtang was preparing to recover Xinjiang, and he also knew Ding Ruchang's ability, and just when the western expedition needed talents, he came to ask Ding Ruchang to participate in the war. Where Li Hongzhang was willing to let go, he pushed that he had an injury and rejected Zuo Zongtang. However, this also made Ding Ruchang miss a good opportunity to restore Xinjiang for the country.
The Beiyang Marine Division grew stronger step by step, and Ding Ruchang was not a viceroy at first; while learning all aspects of the Navy's knowledge, he conscientiously straightened out the Marine Division. Once, the supplier gave 10 tons less coal, and Ding Ruchang chased it five times and insisted on coming back.
In 1882, the Noon Mutiny broke out in Korea. Ding Ruchang led a fleet carrying the Huai army Wu Changqingbu to Korea, decisively captured Li Yanying, the prince of the compound, quelled the military rebellion, and prevented Japan from taking the opportunity to intervene in The Korean plot.
In 1886, the two ships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" returned to China. The Great Qing dynasty gained confidence and also engaged in sub-gunboat diplomacy with Japan, sending Ding Ruchang to lead the main force of the marine division to Japan to publicize the national prestige of the Great Qing.
Unexpectedly, the Daishimizu soldiers came ashore and clashed with the Japanese, and the Japanese police arrested the Beiyang sailors. At this time, the Qing Dynasty did not pay attention to the little Japan at all, the Beiyang sailors were armed and surrounded the police station, and the foreign general Cha Lang Weili also ordered that the police station be prepared to be fired, but fortunately Ding Ruchang stopped it in time.
The Nagasaki incident ended with the release of japanese people and compensation of 50,000 yuan, and the Qing Dynasty was rarely domineering. However, the Japanese people's hatred of the Qing Dynasty became stronger and stronger, laying the groundwork for the Sino-Japanese War.
On September 9, 1887, the Beiyang Marine Division was formally established and Ding Ruchang was appointed as the admiral. Next, the story of the Beiyang Marine Division is very familiar to everyone, the Battle of Dadonggou, the Beiyang Naval Division was sunk by 5 warships. The formation that Ding Ruchang arranged before the engagement was not improper by experts. It was just that he was seriously injured at the beginning, and was under the command of Liu Butou.
Although the Beiyang Marine Division suffered heavy losses, it was not completely incapacitated. Li Hongzhang was afraid of further losses, so he ordered the turtle to shrink the port and cede the sea control to the Japanese. Ding Ruchang could only carry out orders and had no other way.
In January 1895, when the Japanese Army attacked Weihaiwei, Ding Ruchang commanded the fleet to fire artillery to support the fort, killing the Japanese brigade commander Anjun Otera. However, the Japanese army's land and sea encirclement has become a situation, and the Beiyang Marine Division is trapped in the harbor, and there is no longer any resistance except to sit on the sunken seabed. On February 12, Ding Ruchang refused the persuasion of the Japanese army to surrender, and committed suicide by swallowing opium on Liugong Island.
After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing court took Ding Ruchang as a scapegoat, confiscated the family property, and was not allowed to be buried. Ding Ruchang's descendants were forced into exile. It was not until 1910 that Ding Ruchang was rehabilitated. The officers and men of the Marine Division spontaneously donated money to build the Ding Gong Ancestral Hall on Liugong Island.
Many of Ding Ruchang's descendants joined the army and served the country. Ding Ruchang's grandson, Ding Zhiren, was the commander of Feng Yuxiang's pistol battalion. Ding Zhiren's children participated in almost all the Great Patriotic Wars, and the eldest daughter, Ding Yahua, was the wife of the founding general Zhang Haoxiu. Among the other descendants of the Ding clan were the New Fourth Army, the underground party, pilots, etc., and there were many victims, which can be described as full of loyal martyrs!