The history of the late Qing Dynasty was like an account book of the invasion of China by the great powers: basically any country with advanced science and technology could bully China. Due to the invasion of foreign powers, the Qing court was forced to open the door of the country. After seeing the development and changes of the world, the Qing Dynasty also gradually began to learn from foreign countries to start a foreign affairs movement, and the establishment of the Beiyang Marine Division seems to be their proud work, after all, this navy has the reputation of "Asia No. 1".
However, a Sino-Japanese naval battle directly destroyed the Beiyang Fleet, which also announced that the foreign affairs movement eventually failed. In July 1894, the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War broke out. At that time, the Japanese side had already made preparations, and they had played conspiracies and tricks to fight without declaring; in addition, their warships and soldiers were far more numerous than those of the Beiyang Navy, so the Qing army was quickly inferior after the start of the big battle, and finally lost the entire army in this large-scale battle.
In April 1895, China and Japan signed the Treaty of Maguan, which paid 200 million taels of silver to Japan. After this battle, the embarrassing situation of the Qing Dynasty can be described as worse, but what is more interesting is that on the eve of the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, most people in the Qing court believed that the Beiyang Naval Army could hang Japan this time, and everyone was full of confidence. Weng Tonggong was the guangxu emperor's teacher, knowledgeable and rigorous, but his view of the war was too optimistic.
At that time, Mr. Weng Lao believed: Japan is a small country with a bullet, and the Beiyang naval army of our Great Qing dynasty is the first in Asia, so the Qing army will win. He also proposed a plan after victory: he suggested that the Beiyang Fleet directly capture Tokyo and teach Japan a lesson. Those who hold this attitude also have Yu Lianyuan's boss. Yu and Weng can be called overconfident.
The 2 bosses of the Hanlin Academy were more specific in defiance of the Japanese army. Junliang wrote to the Guangxu Emperor and said that the Japanese side only had 1 ironclad ship, and there was no threat at all. Zeng Guangjun said more confidently: "Japan only has 2 ironclad ships, and the rest are all sailboats made of wood; once they are engaged, I can easily teach the Japanese side how to behave." At that time, Governor Liu Kun also "showed his INTELLIGENCE." This big man even put forward the "wise thesis" that "only the Huai army that sent Li Hongzhang to the middle hall can beat up Japan."
So is there really only a few old wooden ships in Japan? It is impossible to think about it, after all, it was the Beiyang Naval Army that lost later, if others were wooden ships, the Qing army could crush them with the impact of the battleship. According to the data, at the time of that great war, Japan had a total of 31 large warships and 23 torpedo boats, most of which were small, fast, and spiritual.
And unlike the Qingbei Ocean Naval Army, the Japanese army mostly used new firearms made after 1890, which not only had a fast rate of fire, but also had a fierce firepower. The Beiyang Marine Division has only 29 large warships, of which only 15 can be used for sea warfare, and only 13 are torpedo boats. See no, in terms of numbers the Qing Dynasty did not have more Japanese troops. Why was the Qing court so confident?
In fact, in the final analysis, it is not enough awareness of the development of the outside world, and it can also be said that it is the sequelae of the closed country. Simply put, it is not enough to grasp the enemy's intelligence. But these ministers knew a little about the Japanese army and would not say those blindly confident words, and even some people said that the Beiyang Naval Army could hit Tokyo. At the same time, they are too confident in themselves, for example, they basically think that their own Beiyang Marine Division is the 1st Fleet in Asia, and this confidence is a bit unworthy of the name. It was also these reasons that eventually led to the fiasco of the Battle of Jia-Wu.
According to historical records, during the Battle of Jiawu, the Japanese army was equipped with armor-piercing shells. Their firearms are far stronger than those of the Beiyang side. Akitsu-chau, Nishikyo-maru, Yoshino, Matsushima, Itsukushima, and Hashidate were all japanese capital ships. At the same time that the Chinese side basically did not understand the actual situation of the opponent, the Japanese side had the detailed information of the Beiyang Marine Division. They knew that the Qing army's Dingyuan and Zhenyuan 2 new ironclad ships were very difficult to deal with, so they deliberately looked for the French Song, Yan, and Bridge 3 ships, the purpose of which was to use them against the absolute main force of the Qing army, the Zhen 2 ships.
However, the Japanese army neglected the lack of speed of the specially made ships, so the speed of some ships was not fast, which became their shortcoming. However, later the Qing army lost miserably, for many reasons, but one point made people feel very sad to see, and even some vomiting blood. According to Tang Degang's research, the Japanese ace Yoshino Ship was originally a warship tailored by the British for the Qing army.
It turned out that the Guangxu Emperor was interested in competing with Japan at that time, so the navy was also ready to buy new warships to deal with Japan, and Yoshino was a warship they specially commissioned to the British side. As a result, when others successfully manufactured this new weapon, Cixi Lafayette was celebrating her 60th birthday, and the navy used the money to celebrate her birthday in order to please her old man. Later, when Japan learned of this news, it immediately pooled money from all over the country to "cut off Hu."
At that time, the Sino-Japanese war was on the verge of breaking out, and the Japanese people were very supportive of the soldiers on the front line. They organized fundraising activities in the private sector, and businessmen and people donated generously. And their empress dowager also donated her jewelry and other valuables, just to raise more military expenses for the front. The Emperor went directly to Hiroshima to cheer up the soldiers at the front, and the whole country transported the saved property resources to the front.
Seeing that no, others cheered together in order to win the war, and the royal family led by example; on the contrary, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty embezzled the military expenses of the frontline soldiers for such a small matter as their birthdays, and even gave their warships to others. What's more, at the time of the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, the Nanyang Naval Army actually watched its compatriots fight with the enemy in blood, but even 1 soldier and 1 pawn were not sent to support.
On the contrary, the enemies were in the same enemy, and the Qing Dynasty itself underestimated the enemy, so the outcome of the victory or defeat of this war was obvious. Today, our country is prosperous and strong, and no one dares to underestimate us anymore. But that humiliating history needs to be remembered and used as a way to motivate ourselves.