On this day, the world is full of tears, and there is a strong naval might. - Qing Guangxu
Looking at the entire history of China, the last thing I want to mention is the late Qing Dynasty.
In just a few decades, the pride of the past thousand years has disappeared, and I can't remember how many things that insulted the prestige of the country and how many times of aggression and humiliation occurred in the late Qing Dynasty, including the famous Battle of Jia-Wu.
This naval battle also shattered the last stubbornness of the Qing Dynasty. After the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, many people believed that the reason for the failure was that the Beiyang Marine Division was negligent in its duties and did not do its best until the Jingyuan ship was salvaged, and the 74 bullets in the wreckage made the entire Beiyang Marine Division sink to the snow.
The First Fleet of Asia was introduced
With the development of the times, the navy has become more and more important in the military power of a country. In order to strengthen the prestige of the country, the Qing government in 1888 set up a modern naval fleet, that is, the Beiyang Fleet, which was later known as the Beiyang Fleet, and there were four major fleets in the late Qing Dynasty, no matter in any way, the Beiyang Fleet was the strongest one.
In fact, before this, that is, in 1875, the Guangxu Emperor had the idea of forming the Beiyang Fleet, when he ordered Li Hongzhang to do this, at first he only formulated four mosquito ships from Britain, but at that time, the imperial court did not give much money, and Li Hongzhang was also powerless. Later, under the soft and hard bubble of Li Hongzhang, he finally came to the annual funding of 4 million yuan, and from here on, he was able to let go of his hands and feet.
The most important step in the formation of the Beiyang Fleet was to purchase four cruisers, "Zhiyuan" and "Jingyuan" from Britain, and "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" from Germany, the latter two of which had a displacement of 2900 tons, which was the largest warship in China at that time, and it was also one of the best warships in the world.
Subsequently, a variety of warships were added, and finally a total of 25 large and small warships, 50 auxiliary warships, 30 transport ships, and more than 4,000 officers and men were matched. After the completion of the beiyang fleet, it shocked the whole world, especially Japan, which is very close to China and has not very harmonious relations, and even the Japanese imperial family began to cut back on food and clothing, saving money to strengthen the navy.
The Battle of Jiawu shattered all dreams
In 1894, that is, the sixth year after the successful formation of the Beiyang Fleet, the Japanese Navy probably accumulated enough strength, on an ordinary afternoon, Japan did not declare war, the Japanese combined fleet launched a sneak attack on China's Beiyang Naval Division in the Yellow Sea field, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, and at the beginning of the war, China lost five warships, including one of the aces of the Beiyang Naval Division at that time, the "Jingyuan Ship".
Speaking of the Jingyuan ship, it was really a huge thing in that era. According to historical records, the length of the ship reached 82.4 meters, the width was 11.99 meters, and the displacement was 2900 tons, which was an armored cruiser. It was completed in 1887 in the German shipyard, and was brought back to China a year later, becoming one of the aces, and at the time of the Sino-Japanese War, it can be said that it was a prime age.
After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, after a fierce five-hour battle, in addition to the sinking of the ace "Jingyuan Ship", Deng Shichang's command of the famous "Zhiyuan Ship" was also destroyed, and a naval battle destroyed two of the four aces of the Beiyang Marine Division. In addition, four warships, including the two aces of "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan", were severely damaged, and it can be said that a naval battle almost destroyed the Beiyang Marine Division.
After the Battle of Jiawu, the Qing government and all the officials and officers and soldiers at that time were insulted by the common people. Previously, the Beiyang Marine Division was considered to be the First Fleet of Asia, and on the battlefield, the name of the First Fleet of Asia was only retained for five hours, and everyone thought that the Qing government was corrupt and the officers and men were negligent in their duties.
Misunderstood for 124 years, the "Jingyuan" soldiers
On September 24, 2018, the ace "Jingyuan", which had been sunk in the Battle of Jia-Wu, was finally discovered, at this time, 124 years had passed since the Battle of Jia-Wu. Because the "Jingyuan Ship" is a unique armor protection layer, and it is still upside down on the seabed, the part buried by the sediment is still relatively complete. When the "Jingyuan Ship" was revealed from the mud and sand little by little, the misunderstanding that had been sealed for 124 years was finally revealed to the world.
After determining that it was a "long-distance ship", the archaeologists began to enter the battleship to investigate, and there was an unexpected discovery in the bow part of the ship, they actually found a lot of Bullets from Mauser rifles here, and the Cocoo personnel counted, a total of 74 rounds. Why are there so many rifle bullets on battleships with artillery and torpedoes as the main means of attack? This just shows that they used their rifles to fight the enemy to the death with their guns and torpedoes, and fought to the last moment.
According to historical records, in this war, the "Jingyuan Ship", as the biggest trump card of the Beiyang Marine Division, was violently attacked by the enemy, and only 16 of the more than 200 officers and men of the whole ship survived in the end, and all the officials, including the pipe belt Lin Yongsheng, were killed. Maybe everyone only knows Deng Shichang, doesn't know Lin Yongsheng, how powerful is Lin Yongsheng?
To this day, records of Lin Yongsheng can still be found in Japanese literature, and it is repeatedly emphasized that Lin Yongsheng is very terrible and must be careful when facing him. The most terrible people and the most terrible battleships all sank to the bottom of the sea in five hours.
summary:
Time can take everything away, it can destroy everything, but there is always a time left. Fortunately, the ruthless years were sloppy, leaving behind the "Zhiyuan Ship" in the deep sea, and from the clues on the Zhiyuan Ship, we finally know that even in the most corrupt late Qing Dynasty, our soldiers did not have a greedy and fearful of death, nor did they neglect their duties, they were misunderstood for 124 years, and they finally fell into the snow.
Although I can only see these bullets from documentaries or some pictures, I can feel from these bullets what the soldiers on the "Jingyuan Ship" experienced in those years, when the artillery ran out and the enemy approached, Lin Yongsheng, who came to a desperate situation, led his soldiers to pick up the Mauser rifle that should not have appeared in the naval battle, and used the final weapon to give the enemy the last blow.
I don't know how much damage this final struggle caused to the enemy, nor how many more enemies I could kill, but I only know that at the moment when I knew that I was going to lose, the "Jingyuan Ship", the Beiyang Marine Division, and the thousands of soldiers at that time did not give up the battle.
Beiyang Marine Division, a name that should have been extremely proud in the late Qing Dynasty, fell in this sea for various reasons, and the most disappointed people were not us who looked at various historical materials now, nor the angry people at that time, but those soldiers who had the heart to serve the country and could not return to heaven. When archaeologists looked inside through the porthole, they didn't know if they could see the pair of resolute and fearless eyes that were 124 years ago.