In the Sino-Japanese War, why did Ye Zhichao abandon the city and flee? Isn't he known for his bravery and good fighting?
In this article, I will talk to you about this topic.
In the Qing History Manuscript, Ye Zhichao himself was a fierce general of the Huai Army. He was a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, and he followed Liu Mingchuan from an ordinary soldier, because Xiao Yong was good at war, and he performed prominently in the battle of the Pingtuo Army, and he was promoted to the rank of chief soldier. During the battle, he was wounded and fought with his wounds to win the victory, and was awarded the brave title of Etuhun Batulu by the Qing court.
Such a general cannot but be said to be a brave general. However, it was such a brave general whose performance in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War was a shock to people. He lost his division and abandoned the land, lost one after another, and last ran five hundred miles and fled back to the northeast from Korea. So, why would such a brave player have such a performance?
When we watch the Sino-Japanese War today, there are still many confusing places. That war, like a farce, actually happened in history. This can only be said to be the sadness of history. In this war, the losing side, everyone is a tragedy, Ye Zhichao is certainly no exception.
Before analyzing Ye Zhichao, we cannot but mention the Sino-French War that occurred before the Sino-Japanese War. In that war, China won the only victory in modern history. Thanks to the efforts of the foreign affairs movement over the years, China's army has made great progress and has greatly improved its weapons, equipment and training.
Although the navy was inferior to the French army, the army still achieved certain results under the command of surviving veteran generals such as Liu Mingchuan and Feng Zicai. In particular, the Battle of Zhennanguan completely dispelled the arrogance of the French army and directly led to the collapse of the French cabinet at that time.
However, to the disappointment of all Chinese, China signed an unequal treaty in the subsequent negotiations between China and France. As a result, China was undefeated and defeated, while France was victorious. When the news came, the soldiers who fought bloody battles on the battlefield were all chilled. Imagine, will they still fight to the death in the later Sino-Japanese War?
This is how Ye Zhichao was driven to the battlefield by Li Hongzhang. At that time, Ye Zhichao did not want to fight in Korea at all, and he could not stay until he was reprimanded by Li Hongzhang and had to go to North Korea. After the war, Japan published a captured letter, which was a letter from Ye Zhichao's wife to his family, which said:
"Remembering that wufu has been more than twenty years old, every battle must be fought first, and people admire it. At this time, he was nearly sixty years old, and although his spirit was good, he was much worse than before. It is always advisable to dispatch people, not to be a pioneer, but to pray. ”
Even Ye Zhichao's wife advised him to take care of his body and not to be a pioneer, and he could imagine Ye Zhichao's mental outlook. How could such a person die on the battlefield?
Ye Zhichao did not have a strong fighting spirit, and if the battle situation was smooth, he could still fight. However, if the battle situation is not smooth, Ye Zhichao's performance is difficult to say.
At that time, in all respects, everything was not good for the Qing Dynasty. Diplomatically, Japan has long begun to mediate with the Western powers, and it has disguised itself as a member of a capitalist country through the national policy of "breaking away from Asia and entering Europe." In order to divide China, the capitalist countries, especially Britain, wanted Japan as a pawn in invading China. They nurtured Japan, providing it with financial support, arms, diplomatic opinion, and so on. Resulting in the isolation of the Qing Dynasty in the international community.
Militarily, Japan has established a powerful army and navy, which has surpassed the Huai Army and the Beiyang Marine Division commanded by Li Hongzhang.
In terms of timing, Japan chose the occasion for Empress Dowager Cixi's sixtieth birthday, taking advantage of the Qing Dynasty's eagerness to resolve the dispute and not hesitate to give in.
It can be said that Japan calculated everything about this war, but in contrast, the Qing Dynasty government was ignorant and insensitive.
Someone once offered advice to Li Hongzhang, and japan's desire to annex Korea was growing, and China simply took the lead and turned Korea into a province of China. Li Hongzhang replied: I can't guarantee that the Great Qing Dynasty has a lifespan of twenty years, and I still don't care about what happens in Korea.
In terms of their attitude toward the Sino-Japanese War, a faction headed by Guangxu forced Li Hongzhang to fight in order to attack Li Hongzhang's forces and disregard the actual situation at that time. Later generations commented that the Sino-Japanese War was Li Hongzhang's single-handed response to Japan. Under these circumstances, Li Hongzhang's idea of preserving strength prevailed, and the commanders on the front line certainly would not fight to the death.
Ye Zhichao himself had the idea of fearing the enemy and saving his life, Li Hongzhang had the heart to abandon the DPRK to preserve its strength, and the imperial court had the intention of fighting a quick battle and making a quick decision.
Therefore, as soon as Ye Zhichao arrived at the unfavorable situation of the battle, he had the idea of fleeing. Because Li Hongzhang mishandled the Korean war situation, he was afraid of conflict with Japan and did not dare to send troops in large numbers. Together with the war, the Beiyang Admiralty was allowed to protect the ship, so that the sea transport was cut off by the Japanese Navy. This directly caused Japan's military strength in Korea to far exceed that of the Qing army.
Therefore, seeing that the situation was unfavorable, Ye Zhichao abandoned Asan and ran to Pyongyang. When they arrived in Pyongyang, they found that they were under-armed, so they abandoned Pyongyang and fled to the country.
Therefore, Ye Zhichao's one-hundred-and-eighty-degree transformation in North Korea was caused by changes in the environment. Under the decadent Qing government, failure was inevitable. In this environment, a weak-willed person like Ye Zhichao will naturally waver and flee in a critical moment.