What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
On this day, the world is full of tears, and there is a strong naval might. —Guangxu Emperor
The Battle of the Yellow Sea was the second most important battle in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, which resulted in the disastrous defeat of the Beiyang Marine Division and the martyrdom of Admiral Deng Shichang. Looking back on this history now, deng Shichang will still be shocked by Deng Shichang's courage to drive The Zhiyuan to the Yoshino as if he were dead, but there is also a question, so why deng Shichang drove the Zhiyuan to crash the Yoshino, until the fragments of the Zhiyuan salvaged from the sea a hundred years after the Battle of the Yellow Sea seemed to have found the answer.
The young learner was eager to join the Navy
In 1849, a boy was born in a small wealthy family in Guangdong, and he was Deng Shichang. Deng Shichang's father, Deng Huanzhuang, was a well-known local tea merchant and had tea houses in many areas. But no matter how hard Deng Huanzhuang tried, the Deng family business was always tepid, and in order to hope for the prosperity of the family business, Deng Huanzhuang named his newborn child Deng Yongchang. However, at that time, the Qing government was corrupt, and it was possible to revitalize the Deng family by individuals, so Deng Huanzhuang's father hoped that the family country would prosper and prosper, so he changed his son's name to Deng Shichang.
Deng Shichang was smart and studious from an early age, and later when he reached the age, he was sent to the school by his father, and Deng Shichang has always been the top student in the class. At that time, the Qing government closed the country and publicized the West as a barbarian land, so many Chinese people looked down on the West, but Deng Huanzhuang was very prescient, he knew that the world was changing rapidly, so after Deng Shichang finished his schoolwork, he let him learn English. Later, after the Deng family moved to Shanghai, Deng Huanzhuang did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to send Deng Shichang to a church school to study and learn advanced scientific knowledge in the West.
Although Deng Huanzhuang felt that Western culture and technology were very advanced, he always reminded Deng Shichang not to forget that he was a Chinese, not to look down on China's local knowledge, and to educate Deng Shichang to be loyal and patriotic, not to be sublime. In 1867, Shen Baozhen, the minister of shipping in Fuzhou, opened a school to recruit students to learn the techniques of driving ships, requiring under the age of 16 and smart and clever to know words, although Deng Shichang wanted to go but he was not a native of Fuzhou and had passed the age.
As a result, the enrollment was insufficient and the number of students aged about 20 in Guangzhou and Hong Kong was expanded, so Deng Shichang told his father Deng Huanzhuang the news. Deng Huanzhuang felt that this was an opportunity for children to learn a skill, so he happily agreed with Deng Shichang's idea of wanting to learn.
Join the Ship academy to learn driving techniques
Deng Shichang returned to his hometown of Guangzhou and took the exam and successfully entered the driving class. In his class, Deng Shichang not only studied English mathematics, but also navigation and geography. Fortunately, Deng Shichang was smart and studious, plus he had a certain foundation in learning English and mathematics before, and after five years of study, Deng Shichang successfully graduated from the driving class and became a reserve member of the Qing Navy.
In 1873, Deng Shichang and his classmates boarded the Qing warship "Jianwei" for the first time, which was also their dream training in sea navigation. The instructors also let the students personally pilot the Jianwei and practice sailing techniques, and the trainees also had to record what they saw and heard and write down as a sailing diary. The Jianwei passed through Xiamen, Hong Kong and other port cities, and when it returned, the trainees took turns to drive and learn from theory to practice.
Among the many students, Deng Shichang performed the best, and all theoretical learning knowledge was excellent, and in the practice of Jianwei navigation, Deng Shichang made the senior crew sigh with his calm personality and ultra-high driving skills.
Moreover, Deng Shichang's age is older than other students, and the stable personality of adults is vividly expressed in Deng Shichang, so even Shen Baozhen, the minister of shipping, attaches great importance to him, and feels that Deng Shichang can be entrusted with heavy responsibilities with a little training. Sure enough, Deng Shichang made a military achievement during a confrontation with pirates, and was awarded the Five Pins Military Merit by Shen Baozhen, and was even appointed as the first mate of the "Chenhang" transport ship.
The Battle of the Yellow Sea sank into the waves
In September 1894, the Japanese fleet suddenly launched an attack on the Chinese patrol ships in the Yellow Sea, and the Fleet of the Great Qing Dynasty received the news and immediately rushed to the Yellow Sea to block the Japanese fleet, which was the Battle of the Yellow Sea.
The Japanese fleet was so fierce that the ships under command were severely damaged, and even the flags were shot down. Deng Shichang saw that the fleet was leaderless and began to chaos, so he decisively raised the battle flag on his ship, and the Japanese fleet saw that the Zhiyuan had become the new leader and immediately launched an attack on Deng Shichang.
Deng Shichang's Zhiyuan fought the most fiercely in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and all the guns on the ship kept firing at the Japanese, but the other Qing fleets were defeated by the Japanese ships, and the Zhiyuan was outnumbered and the hulls of the ships were seriously injured and ignited.
At that time, although the Qing Dynasty spent a lot of materials on naval construction, most of the money was embezzled by some corrupt officials, and the soldiers of the army did not undergo rigorous training, let alone fought in naval battles. Therefore, there are too few excellent naval officials like Deng Shichang in the army, and the Qing army has sunk several warships by Japanese ships, but there are also a few seriously injured japanese ships on the Japanese side, but they have not yet reached the point of sinking, so it is too difficult for Deng Shichang to win this naval battle by himself.
Unable to fight, Deng Shichang simply thought of a way to break the fish dead net. He stood at the bow of the ship and said to all the officers and men: "We have long forgotten our lives and deaths after serving in the army to defend the country, and now this situation is no longer able to return to heaven, and I can only wait for death to make my mind clear." After saying this, Deng Shichang pointed at the Japanese army's Yoshino and scolded: "Now that Wokou is using Yoshino to show off his might, we will sink it to frustrate the Japanese army's vigor." The officers and men of the whole ship shouted in unison: "Willing to live and die with the commander!" ”
So Deng Shichang drove the Zhiyuan with all his might and rushed towards the Yoshino. The Japanese also reacted quickly and hurriedly opened fire on the Zhiyuan, but unfortunately a Japanese torpedo hit the torpedo tube of the Zhiyuan, causing the Zhiyuan to explode and sink in the vast Yellow Sea.
Deng Shichang commanded the truth about the crash into the Japanese ship
Deng Shichang fell into the sea with other officers and soldiers, and the entourage saw Deng Shichang struggling in the water and wanted to take a lifebuoy to save him, but Deng Shichang refused, saying that he was determined to serve the country, and now he could not stop the Japanese invasion, and now he died in the sea. At this time, one of Deng Shichang's dogs swam over to try to pull the owner ashore, and Deng Shichang was also indifferent and drowned under the waves with his dog.
Although Deng Shichang was martyred, the Battle of the Yellow Sea also left posterity with a question, why Deng Shichang would use Zhiyuan to hit the enemy without hesitation, at that time, the Zhiyuan should not have run out of ammunition. It was not until a hundred years after the Battle of the Yellow Sea that the Sinking Zhiyuan was salvaged, and experts conducted research on this historical artifact to discover the reason why Deng Shichang desperately hit the Yoshino, and it turned out that the Zhiyuan torpedo launcher had an installed torpedo on it.
This torpedo to be launched also shows that Deng Shichang wanted to attack Yoshino with a torpedo at that time, but at that time the torpedo was relatively backward and the range was relatively short, so Deng Shichang would drive the Zhiyuan to rush to the Yoshino, wait for himself to hit the same time and then launch, if Deng Shichang succeeded, the Yoshino would definitely be sunk.
Although this torpedo failed to attack the Yoshino and Zhiyuan sank in the Yellow Sea, Deng Shichang's courage and courage to see death at that time were now very impressive. Heroes will not be forgotten by history, and wars will eventually be erased by justice.