Controversial senior admiral Fang Boqian
Bo Qian (1853-1894), a native of Houguan County, Fujian Province, Qing Dynasty, was a general of the Beiyang Marine Division. The first batch of driving graduates of Fujian Ship Administration School. There are four brothers in the Fang family, Fang Boqian is the eldest, and his father is a private school teacher.
Fang Boqian (1854.1.14 – 1894.9.24), zi Yitang, was born in Minxian County (now Fuzhou). At the age of six, he entered a private school, tongzhi six years (1867), was admitted to the first phase of the Fujian Ship Politics School, entered the school to learn to drive, ten years (1871) after graduation, with Liu Butou and others on the "Jianwei" training practice, toured The South Sea Singapore, Penang, and Bohai Bay, Liaodong Peninsula ports. Thirteen years (1874), he was awarded the Wupin Gong Medal and served as a full teacher of the "Fubo" ship. After the Japanese invasion of Taiwan occurred, he was transferred to Taiwan and trained the elite soldiers of the battalion. He was transferred to the first mate of the "Changsheng" ship. In the first year of Guangxu (1875), he was transferred to the "Yangwu" ship and replenished it with Qianzong left in Min. In the Taiwan suppression case, Shen Baozhen played a guarantee, promoted to garrison, and left Min to make up for it first. Guangxu returned to China after completing his study period in 1880. After serving as the full teaching of the Ship Administration School, he practiced ship teaching, promoted to the capital division, and still left Fujian Province to make up for it first, and added the rank of general.
In the winter of the second year of Guangxu (1876), the first batch of international students were selected by the Shipping Administration to investigate in Europe, and Fang Boqian was selected. Three years later (1877), he left for England to study at the Greenwich Naval School in the United Kingdom, where he learned driving theory. After graduating four years (1878), he was sent to a warship for an internship, first boarding the flagship of the British East India Fleet, H.M.S. Emryafus, and then at Fang Boqian's own request, he changed to H.M.S. Spartan, and the foreign student supervisor Sgongseg called him "a clever and skilled member of the sailors".
In the seventh year (1881), he was transferred to Beiyang and commissioned the gunboat "Zhenbei". In the following year, he was successively transferred to the "Zhenxi" gunboat and the "Weiyuan" training ship pipe belt. Ten years later (1884), the Sino-French War broke out, Fang Boqian was ordered to lead the "Weiyuan" to stay in Lushun, Fang Boqian asked to build a fort at a dangerous point, and personally supervised the construction. The fort was built, which was named "Weiyuan" Fort. Although the "Weiyuan" fort was small, it was inexpensive, and the expenditure was only a few thousand taels, which was well received at that time. At that time, when the "Jiashen Coup" occurred in Korea, Ding Ruchang led a fleet to the DPRK, and Fang Boqian commanded "Wei Yuan" to accompany him and was stationed in Masanpo, North Korea. On September 19, 1885, he was transferred to the newly purchased cruiser "Jiyuan" pipe belt, and because of his meritorious service in aiding Korea, he was directly subordinate to Li Hongzhang, the governor of Beiyang and the minister of Beiyang
Play bao, promote guerrilla, and reward wearing flower plumes.
In the fourteenth year (1888) of the "Jiyuan" ship, he was exempted from guerrilla warfare due to merit, and was first replenished by the generals. At the same time, he went to Tianjin with Lin Taizeng and negotiated the "Beiyang Naval Charter" with Zhou Fu and Luo Fenglu. At the beginning of the following year, Li Hongzhang promoted Bao Fang Boqian to the post of deputy general of the left battalion of the Beiyang Navy, still serving as a "Jiyuan" pipe belt. In May of the seventeenth year (1891), Li Hongzhang went to Weihai for the first time to inspect the naval military, and was allowed to contribute to the navy with Fang Boqian, and rewarded the brave name of "Jie yong Batulu". At the beginning of the eighteenth year (1892), the three-year period of the department expired, and he was actually awarded the title of deputy general of the left battalion of the Beiyang Navy.
In April of the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), the Dongxue Party uprising broke out in Korea, and the Korean government requested the Qing government to send troops to help suppress it, and in the second half of the month, Ding Ruchang sent the two ships "Jiyuan" and "Chaoyong" to escort Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng to Asan, with "Jiyuan" Fang Boqian as the captain. At that time, in Asan and Incheon, Korea, Japanese warships and personnel carriers were constantly coming and going, and the number of soldiers and horses, guns, ammunition, mines, dry mines, power lines, and pontoon bridges carried by them was innumerable. The Japanese authorities' desire to provoke a provocation was clearly revealed, and Fang Boqian, seeing the situation, wrote to Li Hongzhang and put forward five suggestions, among which there were two things related to naval warfare: First, "It is a naval warship, the combination is thick, the division is single, before the break is broken, it is advisable to gather in one place as soon as possible, and in the event of a change in the situation, so that it is necessary to dispatch, if several ships are stationed in Incheon and Asan, the port and road are divergent, and the soldiers on three sides can reach, and if the warships go down the river with floating thunder, they will be secretly calculated." And I gathered all the ships in Weihai and Lushun, and if there was something, the whole team went out to cruise the Beiyang Sea, and if it encountered a ship, it was convenient to invite a attack. To the place of berthing, depending on the fort, to consolidate the Beiyang gateway, the frontier is not disturbed by itself", advocating that the Beiyang water potential be reduced to a whole, relying on the base. Second, "It is said that when the warships are quickly added, those who dare to lighten up on China will not have many warships in our navy, and they are all old-fashioned, and they are not as beneficial as their new fast ships and fast guns." If I add more ships of speed, and more fast cannons to each ship, he will be shocked by his own knowledge." On the book side, Japan provoked war.
First, according to Li Hongzhang's orders, Ding Ruchang sent ships such as Jiyuan and Guangyi to escort troop carriers to Asan to reinforce Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng's army, with Fang Boqian as the captain. On the evening of June 22, Fang Boqian learned that the Japanese fleet would arrive on the second day, so he ordered the "Weiyuan", who could not withstand the battle, to return first. At dawn on June 23, "Jiyuan" and "Guangyi" completed their escort tasks and returned from Asan. At 7:00 a.m., we reached the sea near Toshima and found the Japanese warships Yoshino, Akitsu-chau, and Wave Speed. At 7:15, Fang Boqian ordered all the officers and men of the ship to enter the combat post and prepare to meet the enemy. At 7:45, the Japanese ship Yoshino suddenly opened fire on the Chinese warship, provoking the Battle of Toshima. In the case of an extreme disparity in strength, the two ships "Jiyuan" and "Guangyi" fought in a calm manner and hit the Japanese ships many times. In the fierce battle, the rudder of the "Guangyi" ship was destroyed, suffering heavy casualties and unable to support it, so it was the first to retreat. Fang Boqian then saw the disparity in strength between the enemy and us, and ordered the rudder to turn to the northwest to avoid. The Japanese ship "Yoshino" chased after him from behind, and Fang Boqian ordered the white flag to be hung, and later ordered the Japanese naval flag to be hung. Soon, the troop carrier "Gao Sheng" and the transport ship "CaoJiang" mistakenly entered the battlefield and sailed head-on with the "Jiyuan". The Japanese ship "Wave Speed" turned its rudder to intercept "Gao Sheng", "Akitsuzu" returned to chase "CaoJiang", and "Yoshino" continued to chase "Jiyuan", approaching to 2500 meters to fire artillery. "Jiyuan" sailors Wang Guocheng and Li Shimao used 150mm tail cannons to fire 4 cannons at "Yoshino" in a row, hitting 3 cannons, and "Yoshino" suddenly caught fire, the bow of the ship was low, and did not dare to advance, and at 12:43 noon turned the rudder and retreated, and "Jiyuan" was able to withdraw from the battlefield. In this naval battle, the Chinese warship "Guangyi" ran aground and set itself on fire; the troop carrier "GaoSheng" was sunk, and more than a thousand Chinese officers and men on board were martyred; and the transport ship "Caojiang" was abducted by the Japanese ships.
After returning to Weihai, Ding Ruchang inquired in detail about the combat situation with Fang Boqian, the "Jiyuan" pipe belt, and the officers and men on the ship. And on June 28, he reported to Li Hongzhang:
Fang Boqian "checked the enemy's ship, and all of them were afraid of this cannon, the sailor Li Shimao and Wang Guo became the heroes, and the people who sent medicine and bullets to the Yu Gang were also called brave." Chang had already issued an order to the head of Li and Wang to reward one thousand taels, and the rest of the people totaled one thousand taels, and warned the whole army as encouragement. As for Fang Boqian's performance in the naval battle, the praise was mixed. First, Li Hongzhang called Ding Ruchang on the sixth day of the first month of July, saying: "When the enemy's artillery opened at the Battle of Fang Boqian's Tooth Mountain, he hid in the cabin, and only the second mate stood on the overpass. Subsequently, on July 11, the Qing court issued an edict with the inscription "Fang Boqian, who took the 'Jiyuan' belt, fought for a long time at Asan and wounded the enemy ship, and was still effective, and Li Hongzhang passed on the message to commend him."
On the afternoon of August 18,1894 (September 17), the Beiyang Naval Division and the Japanese Combined Fleet engaged in a fierce battle in the Yellow Sea. In naval battles, the two ships of the Beiyang Navy were weak
The ships "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" were successively shot and sunk and stranded. At 3:30 p.m., "Zhiyuan" sank, and Fang Boqian immediately led "Jiyuan" to escape from the battlefield. The wingman "Guangjia" saw the situation and fled with it. The four ships of the Japanese vanguard turned to besiege "Jingyuan" and sunk "Jingyuan" outside the line.
On August 19, 1894, "Jiyuan" first returned to Lushun, and Fang Boqian reported that "Jiyuan" "the bow of the ship was cracked and leaked, the cannons could not be fired, sailed back to repair, and the remaining ships were still fighting." Nearly 4 hours apart, the fleet returned.
On August 23, 1894, Ding Ruchang telegraphed to Li Hongzhang about the situation: "'Jiyuan' first retreated, led the troops into disarray, and Guangjia fled with him. If we do not strictly participate in the work, we will not be able to emulate and hope to cheer up in the future." Li Hongzhang therefore made a request: "According to Ding Ruchang's ascertainment, after the sinking of 'Zhiyuan', the steward Fang Boqian fled immediately, which was really a retreat from the battle, and he should be asked to order the deputy general to immediately carry out the fa to suppress military discipline." The 'Guangjia' pipe belt Chenghai battalion garrisonEd Wu Jingrong, also fled with the 'Jiyuan' to the halfway reef, the blame is deserved, but the people still understand that it can be built, whether it can be dismissed from the post and stay in the camp, in order to see the after-effect. On the 24th, the Qing government ordered Fang Boqian to be "removed from office and sent to guard the waiting party." On the same day, the Military Aircraft Department sent Li Hongzhang an edict by telegram: "When the war began on the eighteenth day of this month, after the Zhiyuan charge was sunk, Fang Boqian, the deputy general of the Jiyuan Pipe Belt, fled first, causing the ship to be led to chaos. At 5 a.m. the next day, Fang Boqian was beheaded at the execution ground west of the large dock under the Golden Mountain in Lushun, at the age of 41.
Jiyuan's return to Lushun did not receive the approval of the flagship "Dingyuan", but under the circumstances at that time, the battlefield was "full of gun smoke, and it was difficult for the ships to distinguish between them." According to Fang Boqian's claim, Jiyuan sailed back to Lushun for repairs because of "many injuries, cracks in the bow of the ship and water leakage, and the cannons could not be released." Li Hongzhang believes that what he said is "suspicious," and Ding Ruchang finds out that what he reported is untrue, is it credible? It is worth noting that according to the book "The Beginning and End of the Sino-Japanese War" published in Shanghai in 1895, Hafumen, a German foreigner who managed the gun service of the Jiyuan ship, resigned and returned to China, staying in Li Cha Ke Yu, and reporters from various countries in Shanghai asked about the war, and when asked about the damage to Jiyuan, he made a brief answer, which made us clarify three points: (1) Only two cannons in Jiyuan were damaged, 1 cannon of 15 centimeters (centimeters) was "damaged and could not move", and 1 cannon of 21 centimeters was "the machine was also damaged." The gun mount cannot move", not "the gun cannot be cast". (2) There is no mention of "water leakage at the bow of the ship" at all, which can be seen as a figment. (c) To point out that "although our ship is wounded, it is not a serious problem", not that the wound is so serious that it cannot continue to fight. Therefore, the reason for Ji yuan to return to the brigade early cannot be established.
"Disrupting the Ship Formation": First of all, the ships of the Beiyang Marine Division were mixed at different speeds, but they were mixed, and the two ships of "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" were disengaged before the battle began, and as a result, once the engagement was engaged, they fell into isolation and broke through the first guerrilla group of Japan. Second, the two fleets were still 6,000 meters apart, and the Qing flagship "Dingyuan" fired with a 305 mm cannon, which was not only ineffective, but also because the bridge was in disrepair, when the guns were fired, they actually shook the bridge, the command flag landed, the commander fell and was injured, and the Beiyang Marine Division lost its unified command, so it was chaotic. Third, the Japanese army's own unit and guerrilla attack tactics, with Yoshino and four other fast cruisers as guerrilla units, swept across the two giant ships of the Beiyang Marine Division, struck hard at their right flank ships, sank the "super courage" and defeated the "Yang Wei", detoured to the side of the Qing ship, concentrated fire to attack far and wide, because at this time the Beiyang Marine Division's command system failed, each ship fought for its own battle, and under the flexible clamping tactics of the Japanese army, the front and back could not take care of each other, resulting in a great confusion in the formation. Based on the above, the chaotic formation of the Beiyang Fleet was not caused by the departure of "Jiyuan" from the queue, and Fang's crime could not be established. As for the matter of "Jiyuan" sinking "Yangwei": At the beginning of the war, "Yangwei" was at the outermost end of the right wing of the Beiyang Fleet array, and the outermost part of the left wing of the "Jiyuan" column. After the "Yang Wei" bullet caught fire, he was forced to sail to the northeast of the battlefield at about 2:23 a.m. to avoid the fire, stranded near Dalu Island, and after being sunk by the "Jiyuan", he committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea with the pipe belt forest. The "Jiyuan" first left the battlefield at 3:30 p.m. after the sinking of the "Zhiyuan", that is, after the "Yangwei" left the battlefield for more than an hour, before heading west to return to the Lushun base. There is obviously a puzzling question here: According to the layout of the Beiyang Fleet, Yang Wei is located on the right wing, while Jiyuan is on the left wing, and the distance between the two is about 4 kilometers, how did they collide? Besides, Jiyuan was fleeing in the direction of Lushun in the southwest, so how could he meet Yang Wei? The Japanese record has solved this mystery for us. The Chronicle of the Yoshino Ship states: "Jiyuan and Guangjia fled to the northwest. Hirai's naval battle report also states that they "wanted to escape through the shallow sea along the coast." It turned out that in order to avoid the Japanese fleet, Jiyuan did not directly flee to the southwest, but detoured to the shallow northwest sea, thus bumping into Yang Wei, who had been stranded there. Fang Boqian has always been a controversial person, mainly focusing on his performance in the Battle of Toshima and the Battle of the Yellow Sea during the Sino-Japanese War: (1) whether he escaped or surrendered in the Battle of Toshima, and whether he hung a white flag and a Japanese military flag during the period. (2) In the Battle of Toshima, did the Japanese ship "Yoshino" be seriously injured by the tail cannon of "Jiyuan"? (3) In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, did he flee from the battlefield or did he really have all the artillery pieces damaged and could not continue fighting? (4) Why would Fang Lixiang, a descendant of the Fang clan, say that Liu Butou killed Fang Boqian? We analyze and discuss them one by one.
1. Fang Boqian before the Sino-Japanese War
According to historical records, in 1871, Fang Boqian and his classmates finished their theoretical homework at the Ship Administration School and went to practice ships to study, graduating in 1874. After graduation, he was assigned to the "Floating Wave" steamship of the Ship Administration And Marine Division as an instructor, and in the same year he served as the first mate of the "Changsheng" steamship. In 1875, he was transferred to the flagship of the Ship Administration Marine Division, "Yang Wu", as a backup garrison (equivalent to a captain), and married Miss Xu Jia in the same year.
In 1877, Fang Boqian went to England as one of the first international students to study. Guo Songtao, minister in Britain, said: When I first met these international students, in addition to Yan Fu, they talked the most, and the most words were Fang Boqian. In 1880, after Fang Boqian graduated and returned to China, he was favored by Li Hongzhang, who went to Fujian to select talents, and was transferred to the "Zhenxi" mosquito ship as the captain, and then successively served as the captain of the "Zhenbei" ship, the captain of the "Weiyuan" practice ship, and then the captain of the capital ship "Jiyuan", in 1888, together with Deng Shichang and others, he was awarded the title of deputy general, and in 1891, together with Deng Shichang, he was awarded the "Jieyong Batulu (Mongolian Warrior)". It can be described as official pride. From the beginning of his transfer to Beiyang, Fang Boqian moved his family to Tianjin, and then purchased real estate in Yantai, Fuzhou and other places, and built apartments in Weihai and other places during the period. In 1889, he married Chen, and in 1890, he married Shanghai Geshi. It can be described as a scene of pride.
Fang Boqian is very proud in the official field, the love field is very proud, and the love career is double harvested. This is in stark contrast to Deng Shichang, who only returned home 3 times after joining the army. A soldier, excessively keen to enjoy, so to speak, to a certain extent, affected the performance of his military career, changed his outlook on life, and laid the groundwork for future events.
2. Fang Boqian in the Battle of Toshima
In the Battle of Toshima, Fang Boqian, as the captain, led the "Jiyuan" and "Guangyi" escort troop carriers to Korea, and on the way there was a naval battle with the three main Japanese cruisers, let's first look at Fang Boqian's description:
Fang Boqian's logbook of the Jiyuan:
Anchor at four o'clock in the morning, and open the line with Guangyi. Follow the mountain, the direction is uncertain. At 5:30 a.m., smoke was seen in the distance.
At seven o'clock in the morning, I saw three boats coming. At seven o'clock, stand in the gun position and prepare for the enemy
At 7:43 a.m., the Ship of Governors fired an empty cannon. Guang B is self-driving
At 7:45 a.m., the three ships fired real marbles and bombarded our ships, and our ships immediately returned the guns, and at ten o'clock in the battle, they ceased to fight with each other.
At ten o'clock, when he saw Cao Jiang coming, the flag told our ship to go to war with Wu and ordered it to go back, and cao jiang saw the flag and immediately turned around, and the enemy ship saw Cao Jiang and could not catch up with it when it saw Cao Jiang.
At eleven o'clock, I saw that the ship of the Governor had come to catch up again. Twelve o'clock arrived, to the left of my ship. Four cannons were fired from the back of our ship, all of which hit them in key positions, and killed the Uti (Admiral) and dozens of officers. He knew that it was difficult to resist the enemy, so he hung up my dragon flag and ran. The rudder of our ship is broken, so it does not chase after it, and it is directed back to wei.
Judging from Fang Boqian's log, the Guangyi went on its own as soon as the war began, giving people the feeling that the "Guangyi" operation was not active, and the Jiyuan was fighting alone. In addition, killing the Admiral of the Japanese ship, injuring the Japanese ship and forcing it to fly the dragon flag and flee, gave people a deep impression of defeat and victory. The rudder was damaged, which explained why there was no pursuit. Ding Ruchang, the admiral of the Beiyang Admiralty, made a report to the imperial court after a detailed inquiry. Shanghai "Declaration" and others according to the reports and news in this regard, deliberately wrote articles, heroic Fang Boqian.
However, a series of ironclad evidence appeared afterwards, proving that Fang Boqian's report was extremely problematic:
At that time, the British merchant ship Gaosheng was brutally sunk by the Japanese ship, and fortunately, the captain at that time and the Beiyang Marine Division's foreigner Hannagan and others were rescued and escaped from danger, according to Hannagan recalled: "... At nine o'clock we saw a boat at the front with a Japanese flag and a white flag on it. The ship quickly approached us, and as it passed us, it lowered its flag once and then raised it again as a sign of respect. And the captain of the Gaosheng also witnessed it with his own eyes: "... Skimming over a warship, it flies the Flag of the Japanese Navy, and on it there is a white flag, which is the Chinese warship Jiyuan. ”
Caojiang was a light gunboat, used mainly as a transport ship during the Sino-Japanese War, captured by the Japanese during the Battle of Toshima, when the foreigner on board, the Danish Mirrens, was also taken to Japan, and on August 14, he wrote a long letter from the place of detention in Nagasaki, Japan: "... At nine o'clock in the morning of the twenty-third day, the ship Gaosheng was stopped by the Japanese Daitetsu-3, which was about 3 miles away from the Caojiang. The pipe belt of the caojiang river immediately turned the rudder and sailed back, and it was about one o'clock in the west, and saw the Jiyuan soldier ship suddenly sail out of the shore after an island, and exchanged cannons with a Japanese warship... By 11:30 a.m., the boat approached the Cao River and suddenly sailed north-west by the bow of the Cao River twice, trying to get about half a mile away. Jiyuan hangs a white flag, under the white flag is the Japanese military flag, and the sailors on the deck run away in a hurry... The Jiyuan soldier ship could have helped Cao Jiang, but it did not help, nor did it hang the flag to inform..."
At that time, along with the Jiyuan, there was also a Chinese warship Guangyi, and Fang Boqian's report said that as soon as the Guangyi began to fight, it left on its own, giving people the impression that the operation was not active. Fang Boqian also said: "But seeing that Guangyi was engaged in battle, the chinese enemy had two guns, and the ship was crooked, and I did not know whether it could be saved or not." At the end of July 1894, Sheng Xuanhuai, a logistician, received a letter in English and received the first news of "Guangyi" after the Battle of Toshima. The letter said "Guang yi" was wounded in the battle, anchored at a North Korean beach, and more than 10 crew members arrived at Asan and may have returned to Yantai on a British ship. At the beginning of September, his pipe belt Lin Guoxiang finally appeared, and his report said: "At that time, Ji Yuan was in front of him, and he actually passed the side of the ship, and the ship did not pull the flag to ask for battle, and Guang Yi traveled to the opposite side of the Japanese ship, the ship suddenly fired a cannon to hit Guang Yi, Ji Yuan was in front, and did not return to the ship to assist in the battle, that is, to add coal and burn the full gas stove, and fled back to China..." From a series of evidence, it can be seen that the "Jiyuan" fled the battlefield shortly after the war, during which time he flew the Japanese military flag and white flag, and did not help other Chinese ships. There are several doubts here, first, why did Fang Boqian falsify the report? In fact, at that time, the situation at that time, the escape from the front, according to the "Beiyang Marine Division Regulations", according to the law when beheaded (officials, soldiers and soldiers need to go forward bravely. If there is a review, cringing, and those who exchange their heads and ears are all beheaded), Fang Boqian had to falsify the report in order to save his life. Second, why did Fang Boqian behave so poorly? Greedy for life and afraid of death? In fact, at the beginning of the war, Fang Boqian's performance was acceptable, but after the first mate and the second vice were killed in battle, especially the blood of the first mate sprayed to Fang Boqian, it is said that at that time, Fang Boqian's expression changed greatly, and even hid in the cabin and did not dare to continue to command. Third, why did Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang not punish Fang Boqian at that time? This was mainly due to the environment at that time, when the Beiyang Marine Division was in a very delicate situation, and the Qingliu conservatives who were opposed to Li Hongzhang and other Western affairs factions often took advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble, and Li Hongzhang was reluctant to speak out about the forgery of the report, that is, he was afraid that the Qingliu conservatives would take the opportunity to attack, and when Li Hongzhang was considering employing people, he was unfavorable to the general's army, so he spared Fang Boqian.
3. Was the Yoshino seriously injured in the Battle of Toshima
Since the evidence of Fang Boqian's escape is conclusive, did he shell Yoshino and seriously injure him? At the Battle of Toshima, the patriotic sailor kingdom spontaneously organized sailors and bombarded "Yoshino" with tail cannons, which was rumored to be a beautiful talk. Fang Boqian mentioned this matter in the report. However, because the report was forged, whether "Yoshino" was seriously injured and sank at that time, and whether the admiral was killed, these questions were only revealed one by one in the subsequent development: First, after the incident, Wang Fengzao, the minister in Japan, reported in Japan: "Unspoken admiral died, Yoshino sank." Then the Beiyang Marine Division found that the Yoshino in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Weihaiwei Defense Battle showed no signs of being seriously damaged. It was not until I saw the Japanese information at that time that the truth came out: the Japanese ship Yoshino Captain Genichi had a detailed report on the pursuit of the Jiyuan: "At 8:6, he followed Jiyuan at a speed of 12 knots... A shell fired by Jiyuan formed a jumping bomb near the bow of our ship, breaking some of the signal rigging. ...... The Jiyuan 150 mm tail gun fired an iron bullet (armor-piercing shell)... Smashed a generator... Crash into the engine room... At 12:43, our ship stopped pursuing. Hafumen, a foreigner of the Jiyuan, also admitted that "Yoshino" was "slightly damaged.". The reason why "Yoshino" stopped pursuing was that there were many opinions, and some people said that they were worried about driving too far away from the battlefield, too close to the Beiyang Marine Division's garrison, and afraid of being ambushed by reinforcements. Some people also say that the water depth was getting shallower and shallower at that time, and the draft of "Yoshino" was too deep, afraid of the danger of stranding. Some people also analyzed that they were worried that the other two Japanese ships were facing 3 Chinese ships, and they were afraid that the Chinese troop carriers would escape, so they went back to support.
4. Fang Boqian in the Battle of the Yellow Sea
In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Fang Boqian took the Jiyuan with him, and was divided into a small team with the Guangjia, and on the left flank of the formation, during the battle, the Jiyuan was delayed in taking its place, causing the anger of other Beiyang Marine Division sailors. After the Sinking of the Zhiyuan, the Jiyuan fled the battlefield, and a squad of Guangjia also fled. One foreigner said: "Vast as a dog that has lost its family." So why did Fang Boqian still have to run away in full view of everyone? First of all, it is still impossible to escape the idea of nostalgia for the world. allegedly. Fang Boqian would rather not do it than give up his family business", "such as or demanding, do your best to dismiss things, although one or two products or difficult to recover, and the monthly salary of hundreds of taels is still also" also. It can be seen that Fang Boqian is too greedy for the world, which seriously affects his military bloodiness, which may not be able to accuse Fang Boqian of being greedy and afraid of death, but it is also impossible for him to go to the Tang Dynasty. The second was the position of the formation of the Jiyuan at that time, although it was not completely in place, but after the sinking of the Zhiyuan, the next target of the first guerrilla group of the Japanese Combined Fleet was the Jiyuan. Knowing that he was invincible, Ji Yuan took the initiative to flee the battlefield. Then there was Fang Boqian's self-proclaimed excuse: all the guns on the warship were damaged and could not be cast. However, after the war, Ding Ruchang sent the foreigner Dai Le to board the ship for inspection, and according to Dai Le's report, the guns of the Jiyuan were not damaged by the artillery, but were smashed by themselves with a cannon hammer. And this series of events completely angered Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang. Ding Ruchang blamed Fang Boqian for dragging the team together. Fleeing from the front, Fang Boqian was dismissed from his post and taken into custody. Li Hongzhang went to the imperial court and requested that he be disposed of.
Because Fang Boqian is a controversial figure in history, the evaluation of Fang Boqian by different people is naturally the opposite, and there is nothing wrong with it. Let the evidence speak for itself.