01
On the third day of the seventh lunar month in the tenth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1884), the French Far East Fleet launched a surprise attack on the Fujian Navy without declaring war.
In just half an hour, all the warships of the Fujian Navy Division, which had been painstakingly operated by the Qing court for more than ten years, were sunk, and more than 700 Qing officers and soldiers were killed.
The cradle of the shipbuilding industry in the Qing Dynasty, the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, was also blown up.
The Qing court could not bear it anymore and finally declared war on France on the sixth day of the seventh month.
After the declaration of war, the French fleet could make a major attack on the southeastern coast.
Fujian is the first to bear the brunt, who will be sent to sit in the town and clean up the mess?
The Empress Dowager Cixi thought about it again and again, and finally chose Zuo Zongtang, who was the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.
Zuo Zongtang was 73 years old at this time.
Since he was transferred from the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang to the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu 19 years ago, he fought for 15 years in succession in the northwest, quelling the rebellion, eliminating the Agubo regime, recovering Xinjiang, and supporting Zeng Jize to fight back Ili from Russia.
The harsh environment in the northwest greatly affected his health, especially his eyesight, and when he returned to Beijing four years ago to join the military aircraft department, he often cried and couldn't even see the folds clearly.
So at the beginning of this year, I asked the court for a long leave and went home for treatment of eye diseases.
Now that the military situation is on fire, Cixi has no choice but to call Zuo Zongtang back.
02
Taking advantage of the time before leaving Beijing, Zuo Zongtang took a look at the situation, and the most important thing at the moment was two things:
First, deploy the defense of Fujian, Liangjiang and Guangdong to prevent the French from coming again;
Second, and most importantly, hurry up to rescue Wanwan.
After the Battle of Mawei, the French fleet took full control of the Wanwan Strait, and the Qing army on the island was already isolated.
At that time, it was Liu Mingchuan, a famous general of the Huai Army, who supervised the military affairs of Wanwan.
In fact, Lao Zuo was unwilling to help Liu Mingchuan in his heart.
First, the Huai army and the Hunan army were originally rivals;
Second, Liu Mingchuan and Zuo Zongtang are even more old and have great contradictions.
In the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867), Liu Mingchuan took the Huai army and Zuo Zongtang's general Bao Chao led the Hunan army to encircle the main force of the twisted army in the Yinlong River.
But what he didn't expect was that Lao Liu hit a rake, and instead said that Bao Chao delayed the fighter plane and caused him to fall into danger.
Lao Liu's leader, Li Hongzhang, protected his fellow villagers in Anhui and immediately folded the bullet to impeach Bao Chao.
As the leader of Bao Chao, Zuo Zongtang of course also went to the fold to fight for his subordinates.
But at this time, Lao Zuo had already gone to the northwest, and the imperial court believed Li Hongzhang's words more, so he "severely reprimanded" Bao Chao.
Bao Chao resigned in anger and returned to his hometown, and the 15,000 "Thunder Army" under him was also disbanded by the imperial court.
Bao Chao and his "Thunder Army"
It was once an existence that terrified the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
After this incident, Zuo Zongtang was very resentful of Liu Mingchuan and Li Hongzhang.
Later, Liu Ming was transferred to the Northwest Battlefield, but he was also put on a role by Lao Zuo and impeached Lao Liu for "negligence in employing people", but Lao Liu was kicked back to his hometown after being pushed to the end.
Now that the road is narrow, they have come together again!
But Lao Zuo cares about the country after all.
Liu Mingchuan is defending the platform for the Qing Dynasty, no matter how big the prejudice is, he must give full support!
Zuo Zongtang immediately wrote a letter to Yang Changjun, who was in Huai'an, Jiangsu, asking him not to wait for him, and immediately went to Fujian after receiving the letter, rectifying coastal defense and calming people's hearts, and at the same time hurriedly raising military salaries and ordnance to prepare for transportation to Wanwan Island;
Then he sent letters to Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Liangjiang, and Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Liangguang, respectively, telling them to reorganize the Nanyang Naval Division and the Guangdong Naval Division, and do all the war preparations;
Then he sent a letter to his enemy Li Hongzhang, condescending to beg him, hoping that Lao Li would pull his Beiyang naval division out to help transport reinforcements.
Finally, and most importantly, use the network to "shake people" from all over the country to Fujian to form an army to aid Taiwan.
03
As we all know, Zuo Zongtang is a native of Hunan and comes from the Hunan army.
But it is not the same mountain as Zeng Guofan's Zeng Xiang army.
Zuo Zongtang's team name is "Chu Army", also known as "Left Xiang Army".
Because he started relatively late, and his awareness of the mountains was not as strong as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, his "left-line Hunan army" was far less politically influential than the Zeng Xiang army and the Huai army.
Not only is Lao Zuo's official rank inferior to Lao Zeng and Lao Li, but the number of subordinates serving as feudal officials is far inferior to Lao Zeng and Lao Li.
This means that the resources that Lao Zuo can use are limited, and he can only rely on the prestige established in the past and the unchanging enthusiasm of his life to inspire the old subordinates to go to Fujian and devote themselves to the battle against foreign humiliation!
The first one to be "shaken" is, of course, his iron-clad - Yang Changjun.
More than ten years ago, Lao Yang had become the governor of Zhejiang, but because of the misjudgment of the case of Yang Naiwu and Xiao Cabbage, he was pushed to the end. After two years of leisure in his hometown, he was returned by the old leader Zuo Zongtang and served as the logistics general office of the Western Expeditionary Army.
It can be said that Lao Zuo has the grace of reinvention to Lao Yang.
Lao Yang immediately gathered more than 2,000 people from the old Hunan army, organized them into four battalions, and quickly went south to Fujian.
They arrived in Fuzhou in mid-September and immediately arranged defenses -- first sent people to the Mawei River to go underwater to fish out the 18 cannons on the battleships of the Fujian Navy Division that had been sunk and placed them on the batteries at the mouth of the Minjiang River. Then he ordered dozens of old ships to sink at the mouth of the Min River to block the mouth of the river, and at the same time laid dozens of mines to block the mouth of the Min River.
At the same time as restoring coastal defense, Lao Yang hurried to prepare for military salaries to aid Taiwan. He directly allocated 120,000 taels of silver from the customs duties of Fujian Customs, and entrusted the Wanwan merchants in Fuzhou to smuggle across the Wanwan Strait at night by small boats, and sent Liu Ming the much-needed military salary, so that Liu Ming could pass on the urgent need.
The second to be "shaken" is Zuo Zongtang's old acquaintance - Wang Shizheng, the son of Wang Zhu.
Wang Zhu is the boss of the Hunan army, and in his early years, he recruited villagers to fight Changmao in his hometown in Hunan and set up his own mountain.
Later, Zuo Zongtang took over Wang Zhu's men and horses, and gradually developed, and only then did he have the "Chu Army".
Wang Zhu can be regarded as Lao Zuo's "predecessor".
When Wang Shizheng received Lao Zuo's letter, he did not hesitate at all, and immediately set out from Ganzhou with the old headquarters of the 3,000 Hunan Army, crossed the mountains and mountains, and arrived in Fuzhou on October 30.
Zuo Zongtang had already arrived in Fuzhou on October 27, and immediately asked Wang Shizheng to prepare, and when the Beiyang Naval Division arrived, he would immediately board a ship to cross the east to support Liu Mingchuan.
Unexpectedly, Zuo Zongtang waited for bad news!
04
On the third day of the first day of November, the imperial court's decree arrived in Fuzhou and told Zuo Zongtang:
On 17 October, a rebellion of the "Enlightenment Party" broke out in the DPRK.
In order to prevent Japan from taking the opportunity to provoke a war, the imperial court has ordered Li Hongzhang to send 3,000 Huai troops to enter the court by sea under the escort of the Beiyang Naval Division.
Those who participated in the suppression of the rebellion of the "Enlightened Party".
The cruisers Chaoyong and Yangwei of the Beiyang Naval Division
In a word: the Beiyang Sailor can't come!
Lao Zuo hurriedly sent a telegram to Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Liangjiang, asking the Nanyang Naval Division to send a ship to help transport troops.
But Lao Zeng called back: The firepower of the Nanyang Naval Division is too weak, and the gap between it and the French warships is too big, and it needs to upgrade its equipment before it can go south.
In a word: I can't count on it.
And the Guangdong Navy Division is full of inland gunboats, and they can't sail across the sea at all, what can I do?!
If it were someone else, there would probably be a wait, and it would have nothing to do with me if the court blamed me: I don't have a boat in my hand, how can I cross the sea?
But the "left mule", who is not afraid of heaven and earth, can frighten this difficulty?
If there are no military boats, let's take fishing boats!
As the so-called soldiers instigate one, they will instigate a nest.
On the 10th day of November, Wang Shizheng led the first batch of more than 500 people to aid Taiwan, divided into more than 20 fishing boats, set off from the mouth of the Minjiang River, and headed for the Wanwan Strait; along the way, he skillfully used the cover of night and dense fog to avoid the surveillance of the French fleet, and after wandering for three days, he finally landed in the middle of the Wanwan on 13 November.
A few days later, the second batch of more than 2,000 Hunan troops also successfully landed in Wanwan.
Liu Mingchuan finally got the much-needed reinforcements!
05
The third person who was "shaken" by Lao Zuo was the veteran of the Hunan Army - Yang Yuebin.
Yang Yuebin is a veteran boss in the Hunan army.
When Zeng Guofan first founded the Hunan Army Naval Division, Lao Yang was the commander of the Hunan Army Naval Division.
After beating Long Hair, Lao Yang was transferred to the Northwest Battlefield and worked until he was the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu.
Later, I had a physical problem, I couldn't do it anymore, and I retired and went home.
Only then did the imperial court transfer Zuo Zongtang to take over his governor of Shaanxi and Gansu.
Therefore, Lao Yang is not only Lao Zuo's "predecessor", but also Lao Zuo's "predecessor".
At this time, Yang Yuebin was also 62 years old, and he had lived a retirement life at home for fifteen or six years, and he didn't want to fight on the battlefield anymore.
The imperial court issued an edict asking him to serve as the Fujian Military Affairs Office, but he resigned on the grounds of old age and frailty and his mother's presence in the hall.
However, after receiving Lao Zuo's letter, Lao Yang immediately recruited 6,000 people from the old Hunan army in Changsha and arrived in Fuzhou on the 14th day of the lunar month.
At this time, the French army had discovered that the Qing army was using fishing boats to smuggle across the Wanwan Strait, so the blockade became tighter.
In the absence of escort by warships, it is extremely risky to cross the sea by civilian boats.
But Lao Yang is an old Hunan army after all, and he has the "tyrannical" spirit of not being afraid of death in his bones.
He divided his 6,000 Hunan troops into five groups, respectively took fishing boats, merchant ships, passenger ships and other ships, first went around to the southern waters of Wanwan, then went around to the eastern part of Wanwan, landed at Beinan Hall (now Wanwan Taitung), and then passed through the towering central mountain range and the smoky Alishan Mountain, and finally arrived at Tainan Mansion in the first month of the 11th year of Guangxu (1885).
Yang Yuebin's troops crossed the sea to aid Taiwan
06
The arrival of Yang Yuebin can be described as a send-off in the snow!
Because at this time, the battle of Baotai has reached the most dangerous moment!
Three months ago, Liu Mingchuan took the initiative to abandon Keelung Town and retreated to Shiqiu Ridge south of Keelung, relying on the dangerous terrain to hold on.
The French army fought for several months, but they couldn't beat Shiqiu Ling, so they sent 4,000 reinforcements from Vietnam, went around the sea to the Badou area northeast of Keelung, landed, and then attacked Yuemei Mountain east of Shiqiu Ling, trying to outflank the Qing army guarding Shiqiu Ridge from the flank and rear.
Liu Ming heard the news and immediately transferred Wang Shizheng's 3,000 Hunan troops from Taichung to Yuemei Mountain to resist the French army, and fought a bloody battle with the French army for three days...... The casualties were heavy, and it seemed that it would be unbearable.
At this time, Yang Yuebin's divine army descended from the sky, making the French's plan to outflank Lion Ball Ridge come to naught.
After that, the two sides continued to confront each other near Keelung, until the armistice agreement between China and France was signed on 19 February, and the French had no way to move forward.
07
After the armistice between China and France, Zuo Zongtang deplored the failure of the Qing army to take advantage of the victory at Zhennanguan to recover Beiqi (i.e., northern Vietnam), and on the other hand, he thought more deeply about the future of the Qing Dynasty's coastal defense.
On June 13, Zuo Zongtang made an excerpt, mainly talking about two things:
The first piece –
It is suggested that the imperial court should quickly set up a nationwide coastal defense yamen to grasp the construction of the national navy and coastal defense, and that the coastal provinces should no longer be in charge of their own affairs.
This Wanwan is a good example -- Fujian has almost exhausted its manpower and material resources, and more than 2,000 of the more than 10,000 officers and men of the Hunan army who came to Taiwan's aid died in crossing the sea. If all provinces can come to support, why is it so miserable?!
Miaoli County's Heroic Monument to the Hunan Army Aiding Taiwan
The second piece –
It is recommended that the imperial court establish a province in Wanwan as soon as possible.
In fact, after the Japanese invasion of Wanwan in the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (1874), Shen Baozhen, the Minister of Shipping of Fuzhou, had suggested to the imperial court.
However, at that time, the imperial court believed that the population of Wanwan was only 2 million (excluding the natives), and the human, material and financial resources were not enough to support the scale of a province, so it only ordered the governor of Fujian to be stationed in Fuzhou for half a year and Wanwan for half a year.
In this Sino-French war, the French fleet took advantage of the opportunity of the Fujian governor stationed in Jiefuzhou, and suddenly blockaded the Wanwan Strait, resulting in a leaderless group of dragons on Wanwan Island and a chaotic defense.
Fortunately, Liu Mingchuan took the risk to cross the sea to Wanwan first, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.
Therefore, Lao Zuo proposed that Wanwan must be established as an independent province, and the governor of Fujian should be changed to the governor of Wanwan, who will be stationed in the festival all year round.
The government affairs of Fujian should be handed over to the governors of Fujian and Zhejiang.
08
In fact, when this recital was written, Zuo Zongtang was already bedridden.
Since arriving in Fuzhou in October last year to take charge of military affairs, the work has been extremely heavy, and his already poor health has deteriorated.
After the armistice between China and France, in case the French were treacherous, Lao Zuo insisted on continuing to strengthen the defense......
In May, 74-year-old Zuo Zongtang finally fell ill, with bloating in his abdomen, fever in his body, and loss of appetite...... Weakened day by day.
I have found famous doctors in Fuzhou, but my condition is getting worse and worse.
Zuo Zongtang knew that his time was running out, so he dictated and was written by the staff on his behalf.
The practical lessons of the Sino-French War finally aroused the attention of the Qing court to the issue of establishing a province in Wanwan.
After Lao Zuo's recital was handed over, the imperial court began to seriously study and discuss the issue of establishing a province in Wanwan-
After the establishment of the province,
Who was appointed as the first governor?
Where should the provincial capital be placed?
Where will the funding come from?
How to determine the establishment of the army and the defense area......
And so on and so forth.
It's a pity that before these problems have been studied, bad news came from Fuzhou-
On July 27, Zuo Zongtang, the second-class Marquis of Kejing and a scholar of Dongge University in the Qing Dynasty, died of illness!
It is said that on the day of his death, the rain poured down, and he wept like a complaint......
Tomb of Zuo Zongtang
09
Lao Zuo was pleased that on the fifth day of the ninth lunar month, Cixi issued an edict: appoint Prince Yi Xun as the Minister of Naval Affairs of ZL and establish the Yamen of Naval Affairs of ZL.
On the same day, an order was issued: the governor of Fujian was changed to the governor of Wanwan, and Liu Mingchuan was appointed as the first governor of Wanwan, and the provincial capital was set in Tamsui County, Taipei Prefecture.
Lord Zuo's two last wishes have become a reality on this day!
But Liu Mingchuan made an excerpt and asked to suspend the establishment of the province.
Why?
Because Wanwan's foundation is indeed too bad-
less than three million people;
Although the resources are abundant, the development time is short, and the financial support will definitely not be able to support it in a short period of time.
Therefore, Liu Mingchuan suggested: first give yourself ten years to develop Wanwan, accumulate a certain material foundation, and then build a province.
At the critical moment, Yang Changjun, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, found Liu Mingchuan and revealed to him-
Before Zuo Zongtang died, he had already taken into account the various difficulties after Wanwan was established as a province, so he specially left a message for Yang Changjun, telling him that after Wanwan was established as a province, Fujian would continue to help Wanwan financially as before, until Wanwan achieved financial self-sufficiency.
Yang Changjun fully implemented the will of the old leader, and on the basis of the original annual subsidy of 440,000 taels of silver, he squeezed out 360,000 taels of silver from other aspects to support Wanwan's various undertakings.
Hearing this, Liu Mingchuan couldn't help but burst into tears-
Lao Zuo hated him the most, but in order to protect Taiwan, he "shook" more than 10,000 Huxiang soldiers to help himself;
What is pattern, what is open-mindedness, and this is it!
Lao Zuo is dead, and he still thinks about Wanwan in his heart!
Liu Mingchuan immediately wrote to the court, withdrew the excerpt, and said that he would live up to the trust of the imperial court and build Wanwan well!
On December 12, the 11th year of Guangxu, Liu Mingchuan, the first governor of Wanwan, officially took office in the county government of Tamsui County, Taipei Prefecture, opening a new page in history......