During the "Western Affairs Movement" in the late Qing Dynasty, there were two views on whether to "buy" weapons or "build themselves". The first is the "self-made" weapon faction represented by Zuo Zongtang, and the order of Zuo Zongtang's "self-made" weapons is "purchase-imitation-synchronous self-creation". The second is the "buying" weapons faction represented by Li Hongzhang. The order is "buy-copy-recreate when the time is right in the future".
The fundamental reason for the difference between the two views on weapons is that Li Hongzhang has always adhered to resisting foreign enemies: resist when our side has the ability. Zuo Zongtang, on the other hand, held that as long as the strength of the enemy and us is similar, when the timing is favorable to our side, we can resist, and we cannot compromise or compromise too much with foreign enemies, because "foreign enemies are like dogs, and they eat bones when they are exhausted."
Of course, whether there is a factor in which Li Hongzhang can facilitate self-corruption and the Huai Army, we will discuss it later.
(1) Li Hongzhang was deceived to buy the fleet, and the Qing court was deceived by the United States and Britain to lose more than 1.7 million taels
In 1862, Henry, the younger brother of Henry, the commander of Li Hongzhang's foreign mercenary "Changsheng Army", took more than 1 million taels of silver and purchased 3 wooden-shell gunboats from the American shipyard. He and the US boss falsely opened the contract price and made more than 300,000 taels of silver from it. At that time, these three warships were only worth more than six hundred thousand taels. After the ships were built, Wahl sold the three battleships to the U.S. Northern Navy for about $120,000 during the American Civil War.
If Li Hongzhang's gang is unreliable, it is still understandable, after all, Li Hongzhang invited an individual. Well, the official should always be reliable. It's actually more dangerous! The personal purpose is to cheat money, and the official is to control your army. On the issue of the "Aspen Fleet," we lost more than 800,000 taels of silver and almost bought a "Taishang Emperor"-style British fleet. (2) Zuo Zongtang, the "father of domestic warships", is shrewd: Sino-French is a labor contract, and its high bonus for five years of contract is issued according to the assessment of work results!
After our side was deceived one after another, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, and others were considering building their own military industries, in case they were always deceived. At that time, Zeng Guofan intended to build a military factory in Shanghai, because Li Hongzhang was actually responsible for the governor of Jiangsu at that time.
In September 1865, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangjiang, established the Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau and recommended Ding Richang as the general office, thus becoming the earliest and largest foreign military enterprise in China. The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, which was established in May 1867, mainly produced guns, ammunition, ships and warships.
In 1868, the plant built China's first troop carrier, the Tianji (Huiji). The ship is a wooden-hulled paddle wheel that has been eliminated from the West, with 392 horsepower, a displacement of 600 tons, a speed of 9 knots, and 9 naval guns. The hull and steam stove are our own.
However, in the manufacture of steamships, the most profound technical strength and the greatest construction credit is the Fujian Mawei Shipyard founded by Zuo Zongtang. At the end of 1866, Zuo Zongtang submitted the folding of the "Proposed Purchase of Machinery to Hire Foreign Craftsmen to Build Ships First Chen Rough Situation Fold", before which Zuo Gong began to plan the construction of the Fujian Mawei Shipyard, which became the factory with the most shipbuilding during the "Foreign Affairs Movement".
Unfortunately, at this time, Zuo Gong was transferred to the northwest. In order to quickly complete his plan, Zuo Zongtang signed a labor contract with the French side, selected the factory site and took Shen Baozhen as his heir, deployed technical personnel, and creatively used the "former factory and post-learning" - the front is the shipyard is the form of a school that learns various technologies (English teaching) to carry out the "localization" process and recruit students, formulate various rules and regulations, and so on.
After everything was completed, before the construction began, he led his army to Shaanxi and Gansu to quell the rebellion. In the years to come, although Zuo Zongtang was no longer in charge of the daily work of the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, the bureau's major matters should also be notified and informed for guidance. But after all, far away in the great northwest, Li Hongzhang's influence on the bureau is expanding day by day, making the development of the bureau more and more off track.
Zuo Zongtang attaches great importance to the ability of "self-building", mainly because he believes that "self-built" warships can solve the problem of labor, cultivate talents, grasp the initiative without being controlled by foreign parties, and build civilian ships to develop the transportation industry and promote economic development.
More shrewdly, he demanded that French technicians must teach Chinese technicians, and French personnel should teach Chinese shipbuilding technology, ship driving skills, and related industries such as mining and smelting within five years. If the French side cannot complete the task, then its huge bonus will be withheld; the French personnel will have to re-sign the employment relationship after five years of service, and the good teachers can be renewed, thus preventing the French personnel from controlling the factory.
From 1869 to 1884, the Fujian Shipping Bureau built a total of 25 warships. The largest tonnage is the "Kaiji", with a displacement of 2200 tons and a manufacturing cost of 386,000 taels, which belongs to the iron-ribbed battleship. Six of the eight warships in the Aspen Fleet from right to left: "Jiangsu", "Guangdong", "Xiamen", "Beijing", "Tianjin", "China"
Conclusion
Although the Fujian Mawei Ship Political Situation and the Mawei Marine Division fought very well in the future "Sino-French War", this was not because their warships were not "big toys", nor because they were afraid of the enemy, but because of the Qing court's avoidance of war. In 1874, before the Battle of Mawei in 1884, the Japanese army launched an invasion of Taiwan. At that time, Shen Baozhen led the warships of the Mawei Shipyard to the southeast coastal area as the minister of Chincha, and finally forced the Japanese army to withdraw from Taiwan.
Based on the comparison between the Chinese and Japanese navies at that time, the Japanese army could not compete with our side at all. However, in just 20 years, it is a pity that the Chinese side actually lost the "Sino-Japanese Naval Battle".
At that time, Shen Baozhen ordered the Fujian Shipping Bureau to dispatch 9 warships to prepare for war against Japan, all of which were built by the Mawei Shipyard under the jurisdiction of the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, and the driving personnel were also our personnel, and the main engine was also mostly self-made by our side. They are:
"Wannian Qing" No. 1 gunboat. Wahl secretly sold three Chinese warships to the Northern American government's Jiangsu
"Fuxing" No. 3 gunboat.
"Fubo" Gunboat No. 4. In 1909, he carried out China's first modern inspection of the South China Sea, and named one of the islands in the Paracel Islands "Fubo Island".
"Anlan" No. 5 gunboat. It sank in the event of a typhoon. Subsequently, the 15th gunboat Daya also sank.
"Yangwu" No. 7 warship, China's first home-made modern cruiser.
"Flying Cloud" No. 8 ship, gunboat.
"Zhenwei" No. 10 ship, gunboat. It was sunk by a British merchant ship on 19 January 1887.
"Ji'an" No. 11, gunboat.
Nowadays, China can even build modern aircraft carriers, and looking at the domestic weapons in the late Qing Dynasty, it seems to be very backward. Some people even joke. However, without the tragic lesson of "all buying", how can there be our insistence on "localization"!