The Beiyang Navy of the Manchu Qing government, under the management of Li Hongzhang, a famous minister at the end of the Qing Dynasty, spent millions of taels of silver and was officially completed in December 1888, when it had 30 advanced warships in the world, 80 other auxiliary ships, and all kinds of artillery fire, which was once called the first in Asia and the ninth in the world by the Americans. But it was such a powerful navy, but six years later, it was completely wiped out by the Japanese Navy in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, and we still feel stinging and shame when we read history. Some people say that the Qinglou on Liugong Island destroyed the Beiyang Navy, which is a bit exaggerated. So what are the reasons for the collapse of the Beiyang Navy?
Liugong Island Fort
First of all, the officialdom was constrained, which affected the development of the Beiyang Navy. After the beiyang navy was built in December 1888, the fleet equipment remained unchanged for the next six or seven years, and it was never replaced. Why is that? At the highest level, Empress Dowager Cixi did not pay attention. In the Sino-Japanese War, the number one hero of the Japanese Navy, the "Yoshino", was built for Britain, which was originally tailor-made for the Qing government, and the Qing government also built this budget. As a result, because Empress Dowager Cixi was going to celebrate her sixtieth birthday, she had to divert this budget to celebrate her birthday and build the Summer Palace. Empress Dowager Cixi spent a total of more than 7 million taels of silver on her sixtieth birthday, and if this money was used to buy warships, she could build a Beiyang Fleet again. When Japan learned that the Qing government suspended the purchase, in order to rush to buy this warship, a nationwide mobilization was carried out, everyone donated money, the Japanese empress donated her own jewelry, Japanese businessmen and people launched the "Yoshino fundraising meeting", and later raised silver two can buy three "Yoshino", which greatly improved the strength of the Japanese navy. Ministers are in mutual restraint and cannot form a synergy. Li Hongzhang was a senior member of the imperial court, directly subordinate to the governor, the minister of Beiyang, and the most powerful person in the Qing government; but Weng Tonggong, who was in charge of the household department, was the one who grasped the money bag of the Qing Dynasty. Because Li Hongzhang punished Weng Tonggong's eldest brother, the two had a deep personal grudge, and at that time they had ordered two British-built warships, but because Weng Tonggong tightened his money bag and did not give funds for various reasons, they could not buy it, but they were preemptively purchased by the Japanese. The Beiyang Fleet built by Li Hongzhang is almost Li Hongzhang's own family foundation and where his power lies. When the Beiyang Navy was attacked by the Japanese Navy and it was difficult to support, Li Hongzhang asked Zhang Zhidong, who was in charge of the Nanyang Fleet, for help, but Zhang Zhidong refused. In order to preserve the strength of the Beiyang Navy, Li Hongzhang strictly ordered the fleet to go to sea to fight after the division was unfavorable, and hid in the Liugong Island base in Weihaiwei, but as a result, he was besieged by the Japanese fleet, and the battery was lost, and the enemy suffered from the enemy in the abdomen, which led to annihilation. It is precisely because the courtiers have selfish intentions and are jealous of each other, and they cannot unite and cooperate with each other, which is also an important reason for the defeat in the Battle of Jiawu.
Zhiyuan ship
Civilian officers were red-eyed by the high salaries of naval officers and men. The operating costs of the newly built modern navy are also very amazing, but the Fenglu of naval officers and men is also very popular with the officials of the DPRK. An ordinary first-class sailor on a warship is paid 120 taels of silver per year; the first-class gunner is 240 taels of silver; the first-class thunderbolt is 108 taels of silver; the torpedoier's annual salary is 288 taels of silver; the electric lampman's annual salary is 360 taels; and the engine room butler is 196 taels of silver. Even the husbands on duty on the shore had 36 taels of silver. Admiral Ding Ruchang was even more remarkable, with an annual salary of about 8400 taels of silver. These are just annual salaries and do not include other income. At the same time, the annual salary of the Qing government's first-class officials was only 180 taels of silver plus 180 hulu rice, while the annual salary of the sanpin officials was 130 taels of silver plus 130 lulu rice. Only one notch higher than the sailors, plus all kinds of other income, even a sailor. This made the Qing government officials, who had always been pretentious, have no superiority to speak of, and naturally treated the Beiyang Navy with a hostile attitude.
Secondly, the people's indifference and lack of concern for the Qing Dynasty was also an important reason for the failure. After the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Naval Battle broke out, the Qing government, from Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor down to the common people, showed an attitude of indifference and indifference, and no one stood up and shouted loudly to awaken the people and enhance the patriotic enthusiasm of the Chinese people to support the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Naval Battle. The Japanese are different about this. In order to defeat the Qing Dynasty in one fell swoop, the Japanese carried out a nationwide mobilization, the Japanese Emperor personally marched, moved the base camp from Tokyo to Hiroshima, in order to save expenses and support the front, the emperor only ate one meal a day; ordinary Japanese people full of patriotic enthusiasm also followed suit, donating money and materials; in this way, the Japanese government pressed the front line with the country's financial, material and manpower.
Third, the lack of replacement of warships, the obsolete weapons, the lack of training in the fleet, and the strategic and tactical, maneuverable, flexible, and speedy, as well as the rapid fire of weapons and the quality of artillery shells, are far inferior to the Japanese Navy. After the establishment of the Beiyang Navy in December 1888, it was indeed unmatched in Asia at that time. However, the Qing government never paid attention to the Beiyang Navy, nor did it increase investment, and did not update the equipment of warships in a timely manner. The Qing Navy, which originally far exceeded the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy ships, was overtaken by the Japanese Navy six years later; the ships were obsolete, far inferior to the Japanese Navy in terms of warship speed and flexibility, the average speed of the Beiyang Fleet was fourteen knots per hour, and the Japanese fleet was almost more than 18 knots; in terms of weapon configuration, the rapid fire rate of the Beiyang Navy's artillery was far less than that of the Japanese fleet's artillery; the distance of effectively hitting the target, the Beiyang Fleet was within 3000 meters, and the Japanese fleet's artillery hit most of them exceeded 3000 meters. Even the distance at which the Yoshino effectively hit the target was 5,000 meters; some of the shells fired by the warship during the sea battle were simply stink bombs that could not be fired and could not be fired; some shells were shot out and would not explode, who knew that the shells were actually sand; some because the weapons had not been maintained and repaired for a long time, the boring was rusty, and the shells exploded before they could be hit. At the same time, the battery soldiers who cooperated with the Beiyang Fleet to defend the Liugong Island Naval Base were frightened by the Japanese army, and as soon as they were attacked, they fled without a fight, allowing the Japanese to successfully occupy the forts on both sides. The Japanese seized the opportunity to turn the gun port and fiercely shelled the Beiyang Fleet hiding in Weihaiwei, causing the Beiyang Fleet to suffer a devastating blow from the belly and back of the enemy. The war was changing rapidly, and the fighters were fleeting, and it was precisely because the ships of the Qing Navy were slow and inflexible, the weapons were worn out, the quality of ammunition was greatly reduced, and the navy and army could not cooperate well with the operation, so they were held back by the Japanese Navy everywhere on the battlefield, and finally they were completely eliminated by the Japanese Navy.
Fourth, prostitutes and prostitutes, corruption and degeneration, the army lost the will to fight. Although the Beiyang Fleet has clear military orders and military discipline, it is precisely because it is full of warmth and lust, and under the condition of relatively favorable treatment, the officers and men have a very popular trend among officers and men in terms of loose military discipline, weak will, and eating, drinking, gambling, and smoking. It is said that the reason why the Japanese fleet dared to engage the Beiyang Fleet was because they found that the Discipline of the Beiyang Navy was lax and its combat effectiveness was weak. Once, during a cruise, they actually found that the Beiyang Navy soldiers were drying clothes and bedding on the gun poles of the ship, indicating that the Beiyang Navy was too casual and undisciplined. In the Sino-Japanese War, the batteries on both sides of the Beiyang Fleet base were originally used to guard the warships in the harbor and strictly prevent foreign enemies from attacking the Beiyang Fleet, but the artillerymen of these forts, fearing the Japanese army like a tiger, as soon as they were attacked by the Japanese army, they left the batteries, did not fire a cannon, and fled in a panic. In the Battle of Weihaiwei, three warships, including the cruiser Laiyuan, the cruiser Weiyuan, and the mine-laying ship Bao raft, suffered heavy losses, with a total of more than 200 officers and men. Among them, the "Laiyuan" ship suffered the most serious losses, and it overturned a few minutes after being hit by a torpedo, revealing the red bottom of the ship. Before the Japanese attack, most of the officers and men on the ship were asleep, and in the end only twenty or thirty people were rescued, and the "Laiyuan" ship pipe belt and the "Weiyuan" ship pipe belt even went ashore to prostitute at the moment when the great enemy was present. Among the officers and men of the rescued "Laiyuan" ship was Xie Baozhang, who later served as vice minister of the Republic of China Navy. He was the father of the late famous writer Bing Xin, who was then serving as a gunnery officer on the "Laiyuan" ship. Xie Baozhang has a scene of Li Xiting, who wrote a "Record of Naval Observations at the End of the Qing Dynasty", saying that Liugong Island, the garrison of the Beiyang Fleet, actually had more than seventy Qinglou, tobacco houses, and gambling houses. Liugong Island is located in a small island in Weihaiwei, the easternmost part of the Shandong Peninsula, with an area of just over three square kilometers, less than 100 fishermen on the island, and most of the stations should be the Beiyang Navy. The Beiyang Navy has to go to the south to train every winter, and there is no one on the island for more than half a year, which is unimaginable for more than 70 Qinglou and other museums for profit, so Li Xiting is exaggerated. However, from the time when the naval battle was in full swing, the enemy was still present, and there were even two pipes to take to prostitute, indicating that there were indeed Qinglou and other buildings on Liugong Island. It is the upper beam that is not correct, and the lower beam is crooked. If the officers are still like this, how can they restrain the soldiers who only want to earn money and have fun? Therefore, the officers and men increased their consumption, spent their minds on entertainment, and went in and out of the Qinglou, went to the gambling hall, entered the tobacco hall, ate, drank, gambled, and smoked, and naturally they would be hollowed out. Officers and men who devote their minds to eating, drinking, gambling, and smoking naturally have no heart to fight, morale is low, military discipline is loose, they do not seriously prepare for war, they do not unite with each other, they cannot concentrate on training and fighting wars, and their combat effectiveness is greatly reduced. It is said that some officers and men in charge of artillery shells and weapons, in order to grab more money and use them for food, drinking, gambling and smoking, exchanged the explosives in the shells for sand and sold arms. On the battlefield, in the face of the sudden attack of the enemy, in a hurry to respond to the battle, Zhang panicked, and many people were greedy for life and afraid of death, disregarded others, fled in a hurry, and as a result, they were completely wiped out by the Japanese army, which is not surprising. Therefore, it is also reasonable to say that the Qinglou on Liugong Island destroyed the Beiyang Navy.
The defeat in the Battle of Jiawu and the destruction of the Beiyang Fleet became an eternal pain and eternal shame in the hearts of Chinese. Its fiasco lies mainly in the decadence and incompetence of the Manchu Qing government, in the intrigue between Qing government officials, in the backwardness of strategy and tactics and warship equipment, and as for the Qinglou destroying the Beiyang Navy, it is inevitable that it is a bit too exaggerated.
Battle of Jia-Wu