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Text: According to the snow under the jade pass
Edit| According to the snow under the jade pass
In the foreign exchanges at the end of the Qing Dynasty, I believe that the first words that come to everyone's mind are traitorous treaties, loss of power and humiliation of the country, land cession and reparations, and the imperial court has become a "foreigner's court".
Even pretending not to see the "Russo-Japanese War" being fought on their own soil was really humiliating.
However, to be fair, even the most "unbearable" late Qing Dynasty could be regarded as the "weakest power" in the world at that time. A year before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, there was an anti-Chinese incident in Mexico, and the late Qing government sent warships to engage in "gunboat diplomacy", which caused Mexico to pay 300 million ......
Circumnavigation of the globe of Chinese warships
The fiasco of the Battle of Mawei and the Sino-Japanese War in 1984 finally made the decaying Qing government realize that although it was "important" to repair the garden for Lafayette, if it did not make up its mind to build a navy, then even if the garden was repaired, it would not escape the fate of being burned again by the British and French forces.
Under these circumstances, the Qing court began a second wave of ship purchases.
From the post-war delivery of the destroyers "Flying Eagle" and "Flying Thunder" ordered before the beginning of the First Sino-Japanese War, to the end of the return of "Yingrui" and "Zhaohe" during the Republic of China, the Qing government purchased more than 40 warships in China.
Among them, the largest tonnage and the best equipped warship should be the cruiser "Haiqi".
The "Haiqi" was built by the British Armstrong shipyard, with a displacement of 4,300 tons, a length of 132.3 meters, a shoulder width of 14.3 meters, a maximum speed of 24 knots, and seven torpedo launchers of 34 naval guns of various calibers, at a cost of 328,000 pounds.
In 1899, the "Haiqi" and its sister "Haitian" officially set sail from England to return home.
The two warships returned home just in time for the Italian Forceline Sanmen Bay incident. At that time, Italy sent warships to forcibly enter the waters of the lion's mouth in Sanmen Bay on the mainland, saying that it would "lease" Sanmen Bay.
The Qing court opposed it all, and ordered Ye Zuqi, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, to lead the warships south, and cooperate with Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, and Liu Shutang, the governor of Zhejiang. ”
Eventually, the Italians withdrew.
Because the Qing court fleet was superior to the Italian Far East Navy, it ended in Italy's retreat, which was a rare diplomatic victory in China's modern history.
In the second year of Xuantong (1910), the Qing government received a notice that King George V of England would be crowned in June of the following year.
It is customary for the King of England to hold a grand naval parade at this time. As a result, the Qing court issued an edict to the Prime Minister Yamen in December:
"Next May (lunar calendar) is the coronation period of the British monarch, and the general of Zhenguo with the title of Bei Zi will be sent to congratulate the first special envoy minister to renew diplomatic relations. ”
In order to express "respect for the British Emperor", the Qing government decided at the beginning of the third lunar month in 1911 to send the "Haiqi" to Britain with a special envoy to participate in the coronation ceremony.
However, Jae-jin was reluctant to take a warship and slipped away on a train. Thus, on 24 April, under the command of Cheng Biguang, the "Haiqi" set sail from Shanghai's Yangshupu Military Port, entered the Red Sea via the Indian Ocean, crossed the Suez Canal, and then entered the Mediterranean Sea, and arrived at the British military port of Portsmouth on 19 June.
During this period, George V presented Cheng Biguang with a "coronation silver medal".
"Gunboat diplomacy"
After participating in the ship-watching ceremony, the "Haiqi" set off for Plymouth Harbour to replenish supplies and began a two-week overhaul.
It was also during this period that a new order came from the country: "Go to the Americas." ”
It turned out that there were serious anti-Chinese and anti-Chinese riots in Mexico at that time, and Shen Aisun, charge d'affaires of the Qing government's embassy in Mexico, urgently sent a telegram to China, hoping that China could send warships to protect overseas Chinese.
If it was before modern times, the Qing government would naturally not care about this kind of thing, and even felt that the Chinese who went abroad "should be left to fend for themselves."
But since it was forced to open its borders, the foreign policy of the Qing court has also changed.
Therefore, after receiving Shen Aisun's request, the Qing court sent a telegram to Cheng Biguang, who was in Britain, asking him to lead a warship to visit the United States, Cuba, and Mexico "to comfort overseas Chinese."
After the overhaul of the "Haiqi" was completed, it officially crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in New York on 10 August after a voyage of more than 4,000 nautical miles.
Sailors of the "Haiqi" on the streets of New York
This was the first time in history that a Chinese warship had crossed the Atlantic, and it was also the first time that a Chinese warship had visited the United States.
President Grant and Li Hongzhang have a good personal education, when Li Hongzhang visited the United States, he went to Grant's tomb to pay respects, and now Cheng Biguang and his party have arrived in the United States, and they also took the initiative to go to Grant's tomb and presented him with a garland.
The Americans were naturally very curious about these naval officers and men from the mysterious ancient Oriental countries, and a large number of reporters took pictures.
If you look closely, you will find that all the officers and men of the ship, including Cheng Biguang, do not have the humiliating and embarrassing money rat tail behind their heads.
As a matter of fact, after leaving Shanghai, all the officers and men of the ship cut off all their braids.
After the visit, it was naturally "gunboat diplomacy."
The first stop was Cuba.
At that time, Cuba was not the socialist country it is today, and there was serious discrimination against China. According to the recollections of the Cuban diaspora, when the first Chinese arrived in Cuba in 1847, "the situation was very miserable, like pigs and dogs." Although there has been improvement, there are still varying degrees of discrimination. ”
Therefore, when the "Haiqi" arrived in Havana, the capital of Cuba, the local expatriates were very happy, and the Cuban Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce specially organized hundreds of people to go to the port to greet them, and held a grand welcome banquet for the officers and men above the trainee Xi on board:
"For a while, the guests and hosts are salty, such as meeting old friends, such as returning to their hometown, all of them are happy to drink, talk and laugh, and enjoy life. ”
Three days later, the President of Cuba specially met with Cheng Biguang and Tang Tingguang, and promised:
"The Cuban military and civilians will never discriminate against overseas Chinese, because during the Cuban war against Spain, overseas Chinese fought together with the Cuban military and civilians and made significant contributions to the independence and liberation of Cuba. This historical fact will never be forgotten by the Cuban people. ”
As a matter of fact, the "Haiqi's" visit has indeed made the lives of overseas Chinese in Cuba much better.
The visit of the "Haiqi" not only made the Cuban president promise to his face that "he would not discriminate against overseas Chinese," but also "greatly shocked" Mexico, which is not far away.
At that time, the political situation in Mexico was chaotic, coupled with the wave of Chinese exclusion from the United States, the Chinese in Mexico suffered as a result, a large number of Chinese were killed, shops were looted, and some people were detained.
The Mexican government was happy to see it, thinking that no one would be able to take care of them anyway. Unexpectedly, the Chinese directly sent warships to "reason" with them, and the attitude of the frightened and inexplicable Mexico changed 180 degrees.
While the "Haiqi" was still in Cuba, Mexico "slipped on its knees" and agreed to sign a treaty, apologize to the Qing government, arrest the mob, and pay 30 million pesos (worth 300 million U.S. dollars now).
Overseas change of flags
In view of the fact that Mexico had apologized and that the situation in the country was chaotic, after consulting the country, the "Haiqi" decided to return to the country and not to go to Mexico.
It stands to reason that if you return to China, you will naturally be closer to Shanghai from Havana via the Caribbean Sea through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific Ocean, so as to complete the first circumnavigation voyage in the history of the Chinese Navy.
And the route is only 9510 nautical miles, if you follow the same route to return, there will be a detour.
But in the end, the "Haiqi" chose to return the way it came.
Because the "Haiqi" is fueled by coal, there is no refrigeration equipment. If you go through the Pacific Ocean, you can only resupply once in Hawaii along the way, and if you go back the same way, you can resupply through British seaports. Relatively speaking, the latter is safer.
Of course, even if you can't cross the Pacific Ocean, you can call it a "round-the-world voyage" in terms of mileage alone.
In September 1911, the "Haiqi" successfully arrived at the port of Barrow-inverness, England. It was also during this period that they received the message: "The Xinhai Revolution has broken out!"
The third officer, Huang Zhongxuan, was the nephew of Huang Zhongying, the first Minister of the Navy and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Republic of China. After the victory of the Wuchang Uprising came, he found Cheng Biguang and Tang Tingguang and asked them to "take the ship and call out, and come forward to lead the officers and men of the ship to participate in the great cause of the revolution." ”
Although Huang Zhongxuan said politely, Cheng Biguang and Tang Tingguang understood that if they didn't "ascend to the heights", they could only go to the bottom of the sea to be loyal to the imperial court, and there was nowhere to call if they wanted.
Therefore, after some discussions with the ambassador to the United Kingdom, Liu Yulin, the two resolutely decided to "stand on the side of the revolution".
On January 1, 1912, the "Haiqi" officially changed flags, and the original yellow Qinglong flag slowly fell and was replaced with a new red, yellow, blue, white and black five-color flag.
Two months later, the "Haiqi" officially returned to China through the Channel of Ireland, St. George's Strait, Gibraltar, Said, Aden, Colombo, and Singapore, and successfully arrived in Shanghai in May of the same year.
One year ago, the "Haiqi" left in the late Qing Dynasty, and when it returned to China, it was already the Republic of China.
After returning to China, the "Haiqi" had a bad fate, and successively belonged to Yuan Shikai, Sun Yat-sen, Chen Jiongming, Wu Peifu, Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Xueliang, Chen Jitang, and Chiang Kai-shek.
On September 25, 1937, in order to defend the Jiangyin defense line, the "Haiqi", "Hairong", "Haichen" and "Haichou" sank themselves in the river......