The Sino-Japanese Naval Battle was a decisive battle between the two modern warships of China and Japan, and was an important part of the Sino-Japanese War, which ended with the total annihilation of the Beiyang Marine Division, and the defeat of this battle became an eternal pain in the hearts of the Chinese people. Presumably, many people, like me, are full of reluctance and regret for the total annihilation of the Beiyang Marine Division, and how much they hope that the Beiyang Marine Division can defeat Japan and promote our national prestige. Turning over history, we are surprised to find that in fact, a few years before the Sino-Japanese War took place, a foreigner made a proposal to Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang, and if Li Hongzhang had adopted his suggestion at that time, there might not have been a fiasco for the Beiyang Marine Division in the later Sino-Japanese War. However, the conceited Li Zhongtang did not heed this advice, but instead stimulated the Japanese and laid the hidden danger for the fiasco of the Beiyang Marine Division in the Sino-Japanese War.
Langwilli
His name was Lang Weili, a British naval officer, and in 1878, the Qing government ordered four gunboats from the British, which were escorted to China by Lang Weili. At that time, the Beiyang Marine Division was extremely short of professional naval instructors, and Li Hongzhang saw that Lang Weili was skilled in practicing the warships of the Marine Division, and intended to hire Lang Weili as the chief instructor of the Beiyang Marine Division. Later, after three years of negotiations, in the autumn of 1882, Lang Weili came to China to take up a post with the title of deputy admiral in charge of the organization, exercise, education and training of the Beiyang Navy.
Lang Weili and the officers and men of the Marine Division
Lang Weili, this foreign instructor is not simple, distinguishing other foreigners in China only want to take a high salary to steal and slip. After serving as the chief instructor of the Marine Division, he governed the army strictly, handled affairs diligently, instilled the rules of the British Navy among the officers and men of the fleet, and had a serious manner. Lang Weili devoted a lot of effort to the training of the Beiyang Navy and showed a strong sense of professional ethics and responsibility. And Ding Ruchang himself also believes that "the foreigners who benefit the most in the water division are Lang Zongcha as the first."
Nagasaki Incident
In July 1886, the four warships of the Beiyang Marine Division, Zhenyuan, Dingyuan, Weiyuan and Jiyuan, went to the port of Nagasaki in Japan for maintenance, and made a friendly visit by the way. As a result, as soon as the officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division came ashore, they clashed with the Japanese police, and there were casualties on both sides, which was the Nagasaki Incident. At this time, the Beiyang Marine Division was indeed very cattle, known as "the first in Asia", which can be described as a ship with strong guns, and four large warships pointed their guns at the port of Nagasaki, and the other side had to sit down to negotiate and promise compensation.
Lang Weili suggested shelling Nagasaki
At this time, Lang Weili suggested to Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang that taking advantage of the fact that the beiyang marine division's combat strength was superior to that of the Japanese side, it was necessary to quickly adopt tough measures to break diplomatic relations with Japan and start a war, which was a rare opportunity to annihilate the enemy's new naval strength. But li hongzhang and Ding Ruchang felt that there was no need to do so, and did not adopt Lang Weili's suggestion. The Beiyang Naval Division thus lost the perfect opportunity to annihilate the Japanese Navy, and Japan also saw the gap between itself and the Beiyang Naval Division, which deeply stimulated the Japanese, and the Japanese tightened their belts together from the emperor to the civilians, and even the Japanese officials asked themselves to halve the amount of Qilu to support the construction of the national navy.
Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang
The establishment of the Beiyang Marine Division was originally to defend the country, and an army did not dare to fight the enemy to the death, so what use was it? After the defeat in the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1894, I don't know if Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang remembered Lang Weili's suggestion? War pays attention to timing, the opportunity has been lost, it is too late to regret it, and we can only be passively beaten. Guys, what do you think?