Text/Water
01
Tang Jingsong was a native of Guanyang County, Guilin Province, Guangxi, born in 1842.
The three brothers of the Tang Jingsong family, all of whom were admitted to the Hanlin Academy at a young age, entered the Hanlin Academy, a three-Hanlin, and achieved a legend in the history of Guilin.
Especially as the eldest Tang Jingsong, at the age of 23, he was admitted to the Jinshi, entered the Hanlin Academy, and became the elite of the elite of the intellectuals of the Great Qing Dynasty.
Unfortunately, Old Tang's open life was like encountering a seal after this, and it was quite unsmooth.
First of all, at the age of 26, he was kicked out of the Hanlin Academy because of his low rank in the examination of the Hanlin Academy, and was transferred to the official department as a six-pin chief, or a candidate, not a real post.
Then I stayed in this position for more than ten years, and I never moved the nest.
Old Tang was a 23-year-old soldier, and as a result, at the age of 40, he was still working as the chief of the Six Pins, doing nothing all day, sighing long and short, always feeling that his life had come to an end, there was nothing to expect, and he was waiting to retire home.
I didn't think that at the age of 40, the turning point of Old Tang's life actually came!
It is said that it is a turning point, in fact, this opportunity is also created by Old Tang himself.
02
In 1882, france invaded Vietnam on a large scale, and Vietnam could not resist it, so it quickly asked for help from Daqing and asked Daqing to send troops to support.
It is reasonable to say that as a suzerainty, it is only natural to send troops to rescue the vassal states.
But France was a world-class power at that time, and the strength of the Great Qing, if you really want to go head-on with France for the sake of Vietnam, I am afraid that it is also fierce and ji less, and it will also provoke the fire.
After all, it has only been more than twenty years since the burning of the Yuanmingyuan, and everyone still remembers it vividly.
Therefore, there was also a great debate within the imperial court about whether to save Vietnam and how to save Vietnam.
At this juncture, Old Don, who has always paid attention to the Vietnamese problem, has appeared!
At his level, of course, he could not directly write to the supreme leader, so he first wrote to the military ministers Bao Xun and Li Hongzao, and painfully expounded the truth of "lips and teeth", believing that the Qing Dynasty must save Vietnam.
So, how to save Vietnam?
Old Don said:
I heard that in Vietnam there was a Black Flag Army composed of Chinese, led by a man named Liu Yongfu. Although they had previously received the title of long-haired and become anti-thieves, now that they were fighting the French in Vietnam, they could also be regarded as guarding the gate of the country for the Qing Dynasty, and they should try to appease them regardless of their previous suspicions. If the imperial court agrees, I am willing to ask Miao to leave the customs and go to Vietnam to contact Liu Yongfu.
After Old Tang's post was handed over, the two military ministers greatly appreciated it.
Bao Zheng even praised Lao Tang as "today's Ban Dingyuan (Ban Chao)" and immediately handed the fold to the Western Empress Dowager's table on his behalf.
When Empress Xi looked at it, she did not expect that there was such a figure in my Great Qing Dynasty, and Yi Jie Shusheng dared to take the initiative to ask Miao to go to Vietnam to resist the French, and his courage was commendable, so he ordered Tang Jingsong to go to Vietnam as a secret envoy of the Great Qing State to contact the Black Flag Army to resist the Law.
03
In the winter of 1882, the 40-year-old Tang Jingsong, as the chief of the Liupin Official's Department, left Nanguan, Guangxi Province, and entered Vietnam.
In the 260 years before him, the Ming Dynasty also had a chief of Liupin, a person who went out of Shanhaiguan and began a legend of Shusheng leading troops, this person was the famous Yuan Chonghuan.
And now Tang Jingsong has become Yuan Chonghuan of the Great Qing Dynasty, single-handedly out of the town of Nanguan, and began a career of resisting the law.
After Tang Jingsong left the customs, he first went to explore the bottom of the Vietnamese court.
He found that the Vietnamese court up and down can be said to be a mess, neither prepared to resist the law, nor the determination to resist the law, just want to hold the thighs of The Great Qing to continue to go on.
In this way, Lao Tang was even more determined to unite with Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army to resist the Law.
Soon, he found Liu Yongfu through various connections.
Liu Yongfu has been pulling up the black flag against the Qing Dynasty since he was 20 years old, and it has been more than 20 years since he was surrounded and suppressed by the imperial court in China, so he had to run to Vietnam with his brothers.
But running to Vietnam was not a good life, and the Vietnamese court also regarded them as thieves and surrounded and suppressed them.
It just can't do them.
So the Black Flag Army has a place in Vietnam.
But always wandering in a foreign country, it is not a matter of time, so Liu Yongfu is also worried about the way out after every day.
After seeing Old Tang, Old Tang said to him, "To protect Vietnam is to protect China, you must first make a name for yourself in Vietnam, and then I will write to the imperial court and ask the imperial court to reassure you, you yourself can get an official position, and the brethren can also return to China to live in peace, is this not better than floating in Vietnam?
Liu Yongfu listened to the reason, so he decided to concentrate on fighting the French in Vietnam.
In this way, Tang Jingsong stayed in Liu Yongfu's account, serving as a "liaison officer" between the imperial court and the Black Flag Army, and Liu Yongfu's chief of staff.
With the assistance of Tang Jingsong, in May 1883, Liu Yongfu led the Black Flag Army to defeat the French army in Hanoi, Vietnam, and beheaded the French commander Li Weiye.
When the news reached Beijing, Empress Dowager Xi was overjoyed.
So with a will, Tang Jingsong immediately crossed the rank and promoted him to the rank of Sipin official, gave him two thousand men and horses, and established the "Jingzi Camp" in his name.
Since then, Old Tang has really begun to lead the army to fight!
04
In December 1883, the Sino-French War officially broke out.
Old Tang's Jingzi battalion and Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army fought side by side, and fought more than a dozen battles with the French, large and small, and walked back and forth many times in the rain of bullets and bullets.
After more than a year of fighting, Lao Tang's troops suffered heavy losses and had to retreat to the Sino-Vietnamese border to rest.
Just when the old Tang troops were resting, the veteran general Feng Zicai fought a big victory at Zhennanguan, which shocked both at home and abroad.
Hearing the news, Old Don was both excited and sad.
The excitement is that the Qing army has fought with the French army for more than a year, and has been losing the battle, and this time it finally raised its eyebrows.
It is sad that this battle did not catch up with him, and he missed a good opportunity to leave a name in Qingshi.
Soon after the Battle of Zhennanguan, China and France signed a truce, Old Tang was ordered to return to China, the Jingzi battalion was disbanded, and his military career was declared over, and he returned to the civilian order.
In 1885, Lao Tang was transferred to serve as an envoy and followed the first inspector Liu Mingchuan to govern the newly established Taiwan Province.
In 1894, Lao Tang was officially appointed Inspector of Taiwan Province.
This year, he was 52 years old.
From the age of 40 to the current 12 years, he has quickly risen from a six-pin alternate chief to the inspector of erpin and became a feudal official of the Great Qing Dynasty.
And all this stemmed from the brave decision he made that year.
05
Just when Old Tang Zhi was full of pride and thought that he could work for a few years in the position of a feudal governor and then retire honorably, another storm struck!
In the summer of 1894, the Sino-Japanese War broke out.
The battle was fought for more than half a year, and the Beiyang Marine Division of the Great Qing Dynasty was completely destroyed, and the army was also defeated again and again.
Seeing that the Japanese were about to enter Shanhaiguan, the imperial court panicked and had to run to Maguan to negotiate peace with the Japanese.
The conditions for an armistice proposed by the Japanese were harsh, including the cession of Taiwan Province.
When the news reached Taiwan Province, the island immediately exploded, and representatives from all walks of life wrote to inspect Tang Jingsong one after another, asking Tang Jingsong to petition the imperial court on behalf of all circles in Taiwan and refuse to cede Taiwan to Japan.
Old Tang worked in Taiwan Province for eight years, and he had a hard time sitting in the position of inspector of Taiwan, and of course he was unwilling to give Taiwan to the Japanese.
So he continued to write letters to the imperial court as an inspector.
However, in April 1894, China and Japan signed the Treaty of Maguan, and Taiwan Province was ceded to Japan.
Immediately afterward, the imperial court ordered Tang Jingsong and all other officials from Taiwan Province to return to the mainland to facilitate the Japanese takeover.
However, people from all walks of life in Taiwan Province refused to accept this fate as a submissive citizen of Japan.
Representatives from all walks of life gathered in Taipei, and together they all gathered, we simply united to resolutely resist Japan and swear to die not to be a slave to the country.
The deputies from all walks of life had a certain idea, so they ran to the inspector's gate to discuss with Old Tang and asked him to take the lead in working with the Japanese to the end.
Old Tang had already prepared to go back, but with a sworn enthusiasm for resisting the enemy to the death, coupled with the fact that representatives from all walks of life surrounded the yamen every day, they knew that they could not leave if they wanted to, so it was better to obey the will of the people and stay.
06
Although he stayed, all aspects were very chaotic, and Old Tang faced all kinds of "anti-Japanese volunteer teams" who came to ask for silver every day.
The silver treasury that patrolled the yamen had long been in the sky, and even if there was silver to be distributed to them, they had to go around begging grandpa and grandma to raise donations.
As a result, when the Japanese army landed, a real fight broke out, and most of the "volunteer teams" on all sides ran fast with oil on the soles of their feet.
After only four or five days of effort, the keelung defense line collapsed, and the Japanese soldiers approached Taipei.
Seeing that Taipei was not safe, all kinds of "volunteer brave teams" took advantage of the fire to loot and rob things everywhere, and the local "righteous courage" and the Hakka "righteous courage" who already had deep contradictions also took advantage of this opportunity to fight hard, declaring their personal vendettas, and the city of Taipei was completely chaotic into a pot of porridge.
The streets are chaotic, and the "Presidential Palace" is also chaotic.
What to do next, there is a serious disagreement between several big guys.
Old Tang's comrade-in-arms in Vietnam, Liu Yongfu, advocated retreating south and continuing to resist Japan to the end, while Old Tang believed that the situation in the streets could not be changed, so it was better to return to the mainland as soon as possible and not to wade through this muddy water.
No matter how much Liu Yongfu persuaded, it was ineffective.
That night, Old Tang changed into the clothes of a servant, took a few retinues, took the gold and silver from his home, took advantage of the chaos in the street to get out of Taipei City, boarded a British steamship and ran to Xiamen overnight.
07
Old Tang ran away, but Liu Yongfu continued to lead the military and people of Taiwan Province to fight hard against the Japanese, fought a bloody battle for half a year, and finally was forced to return to the mainland due to the lack of ammunition and food and the disparity in strength.
But their bloody battles also cost the Japanese army more than 30,000 casualties, the death of two division commanders and a prince, and became an eternally glorious page in China's modern history of resisting foreign humiliation.
However, in this glorious history, there is no longer a place for Tang Jingsong.
At that time, the "Great Qing Yuan Chonghuan" who asked him to get out of the customs and resisted the law in bloody resistance disappeared, leaving only the back of a coward who escaped from the battlefield.
When he looked at the "Diary of Please" he wrote in his later years, would he also feel that his life was so sloppy and did not leave a satisfactory end in the end?