Forcing the Italian Navy to be soft and go abroad to carry out the task of protecting overseas Chinese, the Beiyang Marine Division still had glory after its demise

After the fall of the Beiyang Marine Division, the vigorous foreign affairs movement that the Qing government had carried out for thirty years declared bankruptcy, lacking the deterrence of the navy, and the great powers were no longer jealous, setting off a frenzy of dividing up China. Italy was only a second-rate country in Europe at that time, but she boasted that she was good, thought that Daqing was weak and could be bullied, and wanted to share a piece of the pie.

In February 1899, Italy made a request to the Qing government to lease Sanmen Bay on the eastern coast of Zhejiang as a naval base, of course, relying on diplomatic notices alone would certainly have little effect, so Italy also sent 3 warships to roam the coastal areas of the mainland by force, in a vain attempt to force the Qing government to submit. Although the Qing government missed the industrial revolution and lagged far behind the first-class powers such as Britain and France, although the 30-year foreign affairs movement did not cause qualitative changes in China, it also built many factories, took a step toward modernization, and its military strength was greatly improved.

Not only the military, but also diplomatic intelligence and understanding of the general trend of the world have also been raised to a higher level. Like after the outbreak of the Opium War, the Daoguang Emperor did not even know where Britain was or how powerful it was, and even the oolong incident of taking the Queen of England as a concubine would not appear again. After the analysis and consideration of a number of ministers, it was believed that Italy could only be regarded as a second-class power, and there was still a big gap between it and Britain and France, and in the absence of foreign aid, Daqing still had the ability to break its wrist.

Although the Beiyang Naval Division was destroyed, the Qing government soon formed a new naval force

1895 was undoubtedly a heavy year in Chinese history, during which the Beiyang Marine Division was completely destroyed in Weihai Weijun Port, and the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Maguan with Japan, which humiliated the country. Not to mention the land cut, counting the redemption fee of 30 million taels of silver, the Qing government had to pay a total of 230 million taels of silver to the Japanese government, and the annual revenue of the Qing government at that time was only 70 million taels.

The mainland has 18,000 kilometers of coastline, a long sea frontier can not be without a navy, throughout history, that time the invasion of great powers, did not first fight from the sea. Therefore, after the destruction of the Beiyang Marine Division, a large number of people of insight, such as Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, and Liu Kun, the governor of Liangjiang, vigorously advocated ordering warships and rebuilding coastal defense.

In 1896, the Qing government made up its mind to rebuild the Beiyang Navy, and Prime Minister Yamen was in charge of naval construction, which required a lot of courage in the context of huge reparations at that time. From 1896 to the end of 1898, the Qing government purchased more than 30 ships of various types from overseas, including 5 large-tonnage Cruisers.

Taking the largest tonnage of the "Haiji" and "Haitian" as an example, the two ships belong to the same class, the standard displacement is 4300 tons, the horsepower is 17000 horses, each equipped with 203mm guns, 10 120MM caliber guns, although the strength of the two ships is not as good as the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships of the Beiyang Marine Division, but it exceeds the Yoshino ship of the Japanese combined fleet. Although financial constraints cannot order 15,000-ton battleships like the Japanese government, it is still possible to consolidate coastal defense.

The Qing government categorically rejected Italy's unreasonable demands and actively prepared for war

After rejecting Italy's unreasonable request, the Qing government sent a telegram ordering the governors of the provinces not to be sympathetic and to work together to help each other. The coastal armies must make arrangements in advance and take strict precautions, and as long as the Italian army tries to land, it will have to face the blow. If the defense of Zhejiang was tense after the war began, if necessary, the governor of the province could ask the governor of Liangjiang and the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang to allocate troops and material support; at the same time, Sa Zhenbing and Ye Zujue, former admirals of the Beiyang Marine Division, were reactivated to serve in the navy.

On May 30, the two sides fell into a tense situation, and the Qing government immediately ordered all the warships in the military port to go to sea, which was rare to be so tough. The Italian navy, which was wandering along the coastal area of Sanmen Bay, saw that the Qing army was huge and heavily defended, and did not dare to act rashly, and had to announce the next day to abandon the request to lease Sanmen Bay.

However, the Qing government still did not dare to slack off for a moment, and had dealt with the foreigners so many times, and knew very well what calculations they had in mind. In October 1899, Ye Zujue, commander of the Beiyang Navy, led the main force of the navy to the south, when the 4,000-ton warships of the "Haitian" and "Haixi" warships had just been completed and returned to China in this year. The arrival of the main naval force of the Qing government completely cut off the Italian Navy's vain attempt to occupy the military port by force, which can be said to be a rare diplomatic victory in China's modern history.

Just after participating in the coronation of King George VI of the United Kingdom, he rushed to South America to carry out the task of protecting overseas Chinese

In modern times, due to the weakening of national strength, the Chinese people were also bullied overseas, and at the end of the 19th century, the "yellow peril theory" was rampant, and the Chinese were excluded on a large scale. In 1911, a large-scale Chinese exclusion incident occurred in South America, and not only Chinese shops were smashed, but even killed.

Upon learning the news, the Qing government immediately sent a telegram ordering the cruiser "Haiji", which had just participated in the coronation of George VI and was cruising in the North Atlantic, to march to several Latin American countries with the most serious Chinese exclusions, and issued an ultimatum to the Mexican government in mid-August. Under the military pressure of the Qing government, the Mexican government formally apologized to the Qing government, expressing its willingness to compensate the local Chinese for all losses and arrest the people involved. This operation of the Haixi can be said to be China's first overseas protection of overseas Chinese, and the last glory of Wanqing.

When the Haixi went to sea, it was still the Qing government, and by the time it returned, the Xinhai Revolution had already broken out in the country, overthrowing the feudal regime that had existed for more than two thousand years and establishing the government of the Republic of China. Later, the naval ships of the Qing government were basically incorporated into the Republic of China naval sequence and continued to exert residual heat.

After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to prevent the Japanese army from moving north along the Yangtze River, 43 ships of various types sank themselves in Jiangyin to block the river, including 4 of the five Haizi warships mentioned above, namely Hai Rong, Hai Ji, Hai Chip, and Hai Chen, and they were counted as the last force of the War of Resistance.