In the middle of the nineteenth century, the decadent Qing Dynasty gradually became a tool for the great powers to divide China after being invaded by foreign enemies. However, thanks to the vigorous assistance of some outstanding figures at that time, the Qing government once showed the atmosphere of ZTE. Among these figures, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Hu Linyi, and Peng Yulin were also known as the "Four Famous Ministers of Late Qing Dynasty Zhongxing", of which Peng Yulin had both moral integrity and outstanding merit, and was considered the founder of China's modern navy, but he was the most low-key, and even quite inconspicuous.
In the twenty-first year of Jiaqing (1816), Peng Yulin was born in Huaining County, Anqing Province, Anhui Province, and when he was five years old, because his father Peng Mingjiu was named as an inspector of Liangyuan Town, Hefei County, Luzhou Prefecture, Anhui Province, the young Peng Yulin also followed his father to Hefei. In the twelfth year of Daoguang (1832), Peng Mingjiu took the sixteen-year-old Peng Yulin after the death of his mother and returned to hengyang county, the capital of Hengzhou in Hengyong Province, which is now Hengyang City, Hunan Province.
However, after returning to Hengyang, Peng Mingjiu soon fell ill because of the bullying and insult of his clan. Soon after, Peng Mingjiu died in grief, and Peng Yulin, who had lost his dependence, had to go to the county town after being robbed of all his houses and fields by his clan, and supported his mother with a little income from being a scribe in the Hengzhou Co-bidding Camp. Fortunately, Peng Yulin's article was accidentally appreciated by Gao Renjian, the prefect of Hengzhou, who recruited him to the official office and allowed him to study as an attached student.
In the 30th year of Daoguang (1850), an uprising broke out in Xinning County, Hunan, and Peng Yulin followed the Xiebiao battalion to participate in the encirclement and suppression, and as a result, after the war, his superiors mistakenly regarded him as a military general and awarded him the position of "foreign commissioner" of the Linwu battalion, that is, a military attaché. Peng Yulin did not accept the appointment, but went to a pawnshop in Leiyang to become a director. When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement spread to Leiyang, Peng Yulin gave all his savings to the county order to help him recruit brave soldiers and consolidate the defense of the city, so the Taiping Army did not dare to rush to attack the city.
After successfully preserving Qiyang, Peng Yulin did not ask the imperial court for any rewards and commendations, but only offered to get back his share of the money, which made him famous. In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), Zeng Guofan, the founder of the Xiang Army, handed an olive branch to Peng Yulin, who came out of the mountain happily and together with him created the Xiang Army Water Division. In the process of later pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Xiang Army's marine division played a very important role, and Peng Yulin also made great contributions as the main commander.
According to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", because of the merits of founding the water master, the imperial court gave Peng Yulin "the title of prince shaobao and gave the first-class light car lieutenant the post". In the seventh year of Tongzhi (1868), Peng Yulin and Zeng Guofan jointly formulated the Yangtze River Water Division System, conceiving the establishment of a governor and five general soldiers in the more than 5,000-mile waterway from Jingzhou to Chongming in Hubei Province, while the total number of soldiers was 12,000. Under peng Yulin's rectification, the Yangtze River Water Division has a good strength.
In the seventh year of Guangxu (1881), the imperial court made Peng Yulin the governor of Liangjiang, but Peng Yulin did not have any intention of this prominent official position, and only wanted to develop jiangsu defense and coastal defense, so he vigorously resigned. Two years later, the Sino-French War broke out, and its battlefield was quickly transferred from northern Vietnam to the southeast coastal area of China, and Peng Yulin, who was familiar with water warfare, quickly went to Liangguang to organize a defense, and cooperated with the nearly ancient veteran Feng Zicai to achieve a series of victories led by the Great Victory of Zhennanguan.
However, although Peng Yulin repeatedly wrote to advocate continuing to fight the French army and defend sovereignty and territorial integrity, the weak and incompetent Qing court was still determined to seek peace. With the conclusion of the Sino-French armistice agreement in the eleventh year of Guangxu (1885), Peng Yulin had to withdraw his troops. The Sino-French War made the Qing court realize the importance of modernizing the navy, and it was in this context that the Beiyang Naval Division was established in the fourteenth year of Guangxu (1888).
After the end of the Sino-French War, Peng Yulin continued to devote his energy to the cause of river defense, on the one hand, he wrote to the imperial court to put forward his views on the construction of water divisions, on the other hand, he frequently toured the Yangtze River water division, supervising this unit that he had devoted all his efforts to. In the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886), Peng Yulin took out his 12,000 savings and built the most famous academy in his hometown of Hengyang in the late Qing Dynasty, Chuanshan Academy.
Two years later, Peng Yulin, who was already seriously ill, made one last tour of the Yangtze River Water Division, and then dismissed and returned to his hometown. In the sixteenth year of Guangxu (1890), Peng Yulin died of illness at the age of seventy-five, and the imperial court posthumously awarded him the title of Crown Prince Taibao (太保) and gave him the title of "Gangzhi". Because the Yangtze River Water Division he created provided the foundation for the future Beiyang Marine Division, he is regarded as the founder and founder of China's modern navy. What he probably did not expect was that only four or five years later, the Beiyang Naval Division, which had gathered the strongest naval forces of the Qing Dynasty, would be completely annihilated in a very humiliating way.
In his lifetime, Peng Yulin did not rule private property and did not take concubines, and his moral character is worth learning. It is worth mentioning that he was born a literati who worked in calligraphy and painting, and especially liked to paint plum blossoms. According to statistics, he has painted tens of thousands of plum blossoms in his lifetime, and his works have been praised by Zeng Guofan as "bingjia plum blossoms". As for himself, Zeng Guofan also gave a high evaluation: "Shusheng Congrong, too bold and arrogant, passionate and generous, with a martyr's style." Perhaps it is precisely because of his lifelong silent dedication to the construction of water masters that Peng Yulin, who should have a higher reputation, will now be unknown.