In 1894, the Sino-Japanese War broke out. The Qing Beiyang Fleet suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and the Beiyang Naval Division was almost completely annihilated. In this war, an unknown sailor escaped by jumping ship in the flames of war. However, no one expected that 22 years later, this ordinary sailor who escaped from the fire of war would later become the head of state.
This extraordinary figure is Li Yuanhong. Li's early life was not all smooth sailing. He was born in 1864 into a poor family in Hanyang, Hubei. His family was poor, his father worked hard in the fields every year, and the harvest was not rich, and the family lived a life beyond their means.
As a teenager, Li Yuanhong witnessed his family struggling due to poor harvests. To change his fate, he decided to join the army.
In 1883, at the age of 19, Li Yuanhong was admitted to a naval school in Tianjin and began to learn all kinds of navigation knowledge. After graduating, Li Yuanhong was assigned to serve on a warship in Guangdong, and also began to take on heavy responsibilities.
In 1894, the First Sino-Japanese War broke out, and Li Yuanhong's Guangjia ship participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. This is an old ship welded from wood and iron, and there is really a big gap in the face of Japan's new ironclad warships.
During the battle, in order to avoid Japanese artillery fire, the Guangjia accidentally crashed into a reef near Dalian Bay and ran aground. Japanese artillery fire followed, and the entire ship was set on fire.
In order to survive, more than a dozen sailors, including Li Yuanhong, bravely jumped into the sea, and the sea was stormy, most of them quickly disappeared, and only 4 people drifted to the Liaodong Peninsula. With the help of local farmers, Li Yuanhong survived, but as a deserter, he was still imprisoned for several months.
This life-and-death experience made Li Yuanhong suddenly open. He realized that his personal power in the war was too small, so he decided to end his 12-year naval career and start anew. Unexpectedly, after that, his life seemed to be open, and he rose all the way.
A few months later, he was released and moved to Nanjing, where he joined Zhang Zhidong's self-improvement army and served as the chief instructor of Nanjing. With his outstanding military talent and strategic vision, he quickly rose to become Zhang Zhidong's right-hand man.
In 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, and the revolutionary party overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. At this critical moment, Li Yuanhong, with his military background and prestige, was elected as the governor of the Hubei Military Government and became one of the important political figures in the early Republic of China. In 1912, he began his political career when he was elected vice president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China.
In 1913, in the face of Yuan Shikai's attempt to become emperor, Li Yuanhong resolutely opposed it. After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, Li Yuanhong succeeded him as president of The Republic of China. During his presidency, Mr. Le Yuanhong pushed through reforms, but they were also blocked by the opposition.