Liu Changyou, a famous general of the Xiang Army, started by forming a landlord's armed force to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Heaven and Earth Society, and other peasant rebel armies. By suppressing the peasant rebel army, Liu Changyou "made great achievements in battle" and became a series of high-ranking officials such as the governor of Liangjiang, the governor of Yungui, and the governor of Zhili. In terms of the justice of the times, he is obviously a very "reactionary" historical figure.
(Old photo of Liu Changyou)
However, Liu Changyou once proposed a plan to take the initiative to destroy Japan and avoid Japanese aggression and expansion. This plan was proposed in 1881. At that time, after the Meiji Restoration, although Japan's national strength was greatly developed, it had not yet accumulated the experience and confidence to invade China. If Liu Changyou's plan could be realized, there would be no Later Expansion and Invasion of China by Japan, and even in World War I and World War II, there would be nothing for the Japanese to do. So, why didn't the Qing government adopt Liu Changyou's ideas?
The reason why Liu Changyou put forward this proposition at that time was due to the Japanese occupation of the Ryukyu Islands.
Ryukyu has always been a vassal state of China, and since the Ming Dynasty in 1372, Ryukyu has continued to pay tribute to the Chinese dynasty, and even their imperial palaces have been sitting on the east and facing the west. The Ming and Qing dynasties maintained a good clan relationship with Ryukyu for hundreds of years.
However, in 1872, Japan suddenly declared Ryukyu as Japan's "inner domain" and the Ryukyu Islands as Japan's territory. In 1875, Japan occupied the Ryukyu Islands by force, abolished the Qing Dynasty era name, forcibly changed it to the Japanese Meiji era name, and ordered Ryukyu not to pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty. In 1979, Japan detained the last king of Ryukyu, Shoyasu, in Tokyo, Japan, and announced that Ryukyu would be changed to Okinawa Prefecture.
The Ryukyu land is small and has very limited strength. In order to resist japanese aggression, they could only hope for the Qing Dynasty. They sent envoys to the Qing Dynasty many times, hoping that the Qing Dynasty would come forward to help them seek justice. In 1879, lin Shigong, an envoy of the Ryukyu Kingdom, committed suicide in Beijing, hoping to die and ask the Qing Dynasty to send troops.
However, during this period, in the face of the step-by-step pressing of the Japanese army, the Qing Dynasty only protested to Japan, protested again, and protested solemnly. But what's the use of protest? There was no end to Japan's annexation of Ryukyu.
(Anti-Japanese Ryukyu people)
It was in this situation that Liu Changyou proposed the Qing government's plan to take the initiative and attack Japan in an all-round way.
Liu Changyou's plan was as follows: in terms of troop deployment, three armies would be prepared from the north and south. The Northern Army, consisting of the armies of the three eastern provinces, marched out of the Songhua River to reach Sakhalin Island and attacked Japan from north to south. The Chubu army set out from the vassal state of Korea to attack the western part of Japan. The southern army sailed north from Ningbo and Dinghai to attack Nagasaki, Japan. The three armies set out at the same time to attack Japan and will certainly be able to succeed.
Liu Changyou also analyzed the feasibility of destroying Japan. He believes that on the one hand, Japan has not yet developed, on the other hand, the Qing Dynasty has abundant resources, and the foreign affairs movement has also reached a certain stage, and it is possible to take advantage of these achievements. If the whole country were to fight Japan, it would certainly be successful. Even if it is not successful for a while, it can greatly deter Japan and make it dare not expand its ambitions from now on.
Liu Changyou wrote at the end of the song: "The subjects of the sulfur ball are happy to restore the territory, and they will certainly help shunzhi's division." By virtue of the length of the temple, there are interceptions overseas, tiange distant earthquakes, four Yi soldiers, And the countries of Korea, Siam, and Burma can be avoided from encroachment, not only Vietnam. In other words, this is not only to protect the Qing Dynasty, but also to protect Korea in Northeast Asia and the vassal states of Vietnam, Thailand, and Burma in Southeast Asia.
However, despite Liu Changyou's repeated performances, the Qing government did not attract enough attention. In other words, they simply did not have the courage to mobilize the strength of the whole country and take the initiative to fight japan. They also only negotiated with Japan to deal with the Ryukyu issue.
(Sino-Japanese War)
In 1879, the Qing government proposed to divide Ryukyu into three parts: Anmei Oshima, which is close to Japan, as the territory of Japan; the main island of Ryukyu and its surrounding subsidiary islands as the territory of the Ryukyu Kingdom itself; and the Senjima Islands in the south as the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
The Japanese side proposed a dichotomy: the Ryukyu mainland, the northern Island of Anmei and the surrounding islands as Japanese territory, and the Southern Xiandao Islands as the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
The Qing government's plan was not agreed by the Japanese, and at the same time, the Qing government was unwilling to sign the Japanese plan, so the matter was temporarily shelved. However, this is actually a good thing for the Japanese, because Japan is the actual possessor. In other words, whether it is the north or south of Ryukyu, it belongs to the Japanese.
Later, with the further expansion of Japan, especially in the later Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty's Beiyang Fleet was completely destroyed, and Japan won a comprehensive victory in the Sino-Japanese War. At the same time, the Qing Dynasty was facing aggression from all sides of the world, so the possibility of taking the initiative to attack Japan, as Liu Changyou said, was completely gone.
Regardless of whether Liu Changyou's plan was successful or not, this way of taking the initiative and actively defending should actually become an important option for the Qing government at that time. Unfortunately, the Qing government never considered it this way.
(References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, "Treatise on the Offer of Ryukyu")