During the Sino-Japanese War, the most undeserved loss was the nearly a thousand troops aboard the Gaosheng. This was the reinforcements that Beiyang had sent to Korea before the war. There were 1100 troops on board, as well as 3000 rifles and 20 artillery pieces. As a result, the Takasam was sunk by the Japanese ship, and 871 army and 56 crew members were buried on the seabed.
The two warships Jiyuan and Guangyi were protected by the Takasho, and the Japanese Navy dispatched three capital ships, including Yoshino, to intercept and kill them. Even if the Jiyuan did not escape, the Gaosheng would not be able to escape the doom. Because the three Japanese ships had completely gained the upper hand, they were much faster than the merchant ships such as the Gaosheng. It can be said that from the very beginning, the GaoSheng was doomed.
So, how did the Japanese know that the Takasho would appear in the waters off Toshima and that the Chinese escort force was insufficient? The dispatch of the three capital ships themselves proved that the Japanese were prepared. Because whether it is cost considerations or the impact on the combat strength of the fleet, it should not be easy to dispatch such a large number of troops. The biggest possibility is that the Japanese army knew the intelligence of the GaoSheng in advance and was specially designed to intercept and kill.
In fact, the Japanese spies did indeed receive the intelligence of gaosheng, and the Manchu Qing was actually translucent to the Japanese spies. From top to bottom, it was infiltrated like a fishing net, and even Li Hongzhang's men were constantly selling out intelligence to Japan.
Soon after Japan began its restoration, it aimed its aggression at China. In order to have sufficient intelligence in future wars, Japan sent a large number of spies to China. The Army set up the Nakano School to train specialized agents disguised as Chinese and lurking throughout the country. The Japanese Navy also has a special intelligence agency that collects extensive intelligence from all aspects of China.
The Military Map of China drawn by Japanese spies shocked later Chinese soldiers. Even some of the usually unknown trails and wells are clearly marked. More accurate and detailed than China's own maps.
The Japanese spy who betrayed the Gaosheng was discovered by chance. After the Sino-Japanese war, one of the victims of the Gaosheng was also an officer in Tianjin. Hearing that there were Japanese on the Chongqing steamship, he rushed to the ship with a group of people and beat the Japanese badly.
In the confusion, a letter carried by a Japanese traveler was found, which was about the arrangements of the Japanese military attaché in China for the spies. The letter was eventually handed over to Li Hongzhang, according to which the Chinese side discovered the Japanese spy Ishikawa Takeichi.
This Ishikawa took refuge in China at the age of 18 and worked as a spy for a decade. He has been to Yunnan and Tibet and drawn a large number of military maps. Before the war, Ishikawa Washikawa was sent to Tianjin and lurked in the foreign firm.
By getting to know a small officer in the Qing Army, Ishikawa Wooichi climbed the list of Liu Di, the secretary of the Tianjin Ordnance Bureau. The Tianjin Ordnance Bureau is a Beiyang asset and is responsible for providing ordnance and transportation to North Korea. The scrivener Liu Di was also the handler of specific accounts, and held a large number of core secrets of the Ordnance Bureau and Beiyang.
Ishikawa Wuichi spent a lot of money on Liu Di and finally gained his trust, so beiyang intelligence became is in Ishikawa's pocket. Later, in Liu Di's home, letters containing the number of soldiers and the names of the officers were found.
Ishikawa Washikawa was arrested at Liu's house. After the war, Ishikawa and other Japanese spies could not stay in the British Concession in Tianjin, so they had to hide in Liu Di's house. The Beiyang side had already targeted him, but only because it could not be moved within the British Concession. After finding him out, the arrest was completed.
This case alarmed the imperial court and Guangxu, and ordered severe punishment. Ishikawa and Liu Di confessed to espionage, and the truth soon came out. However, the US minister demanded that the Chinese side expel the Japanese spies from the country and could not be sentenced to death.
Li Hongzhang did not give in this time, shooting Ishikawa Wuyi and Beheading Liu Di. In addition, Liu Di's superior, Zhang Shiheng, the head of the Tianjin Ordnance Bureau, was dismissed from his post, and this Zhang Shiheng was Li Hongzhang's nephew. Therefore, some people think that the real reason why Li Hongzhang resisted the pressure of the Americans was to clear himself, after all, this case involved his relatives.
It is likely that the Japanese spies who betrayed the Gaosheng were not the only ones of Ishikawa. On the Docks in Tianjin, the Qing army captured Japanese spies posing as coolies and trying to get close to the Gaosheng. Spies such as Munakata Kotaro, who was more powerful, gathered more and more important military intelligence and escaped the pursuit of the Qing court.
According to Munakata Kotaro and others, the manchu corruption of the Manchu Qing dynasty was one of the reasons why Japanese spies were able to penetrate everywhere. The officialdom is extremely corrupt and dark, and there is nothing that cannot be done with money. The population is indifferent to the state, and there is not even a concept of the state.
Under these circumstances, the Manchu Qing's policy toward Japan, its war strategy, its military deployment, and even its troop strength and ordnance reserves everywhere were all controlled by the Japanese. The Manchus knew almost nothing about Japanese intelligence. How can such a war not be won?
[References: "Sunken Jia Wu", "Qing History Manuscript"]