July 26, 1894, Tianjin, Beiyang Minister's Office Yamen.
Li Hongzhang received a telegram from Weihai, and what he was most worried about had happened, and Japan couldn't help but do it after all. He was a little relieved that this was a good news. The dictator of the telegram was Fang Boqian.
In modern Chinese history, Fang Boqian is not a big man, but his popularity is very high, and the controversy about him has lasted for more than 100 years.
The controversy originated with two telegrams, the first of which brought him into the spotlight and the second which put him on the execution ground.
This is the first one.
According to Fang Boqian's account, yesterday, Jiyuan was attacked and besieged by three Japanese ships in the waters off Toshima, and he was not afraid of danger and commanded Jiyuan to fight with the Japanese ships for four hours.
On the 21st and 2nd, Yinglun Airen and Flying Whale arrived in Yaya, and they all went ashore one after another, and on the 23rd (7 o'clock to 9 o'clock in the morning of July 25 - author's note), there were suddenly many Japanese warships, intercepting our ships outside the mouth of the teeth, and they opened artillery first, and Jiyuan and others tried their best to resist the enemy, and the fierce battle lasted for four o'clock. Jiyuan was hit by three or four hundred bullets, mostly hitting the lookouts, chimneys, steering gears, iron masts, etc., causing 13 Ben soldiers to be killed and 27 wounded. At noon, our ship sorted out the damage of the fort, and the Japanese ship pursued closely, and I fired the rear cannon, slandering the lookout, the bow, and the waist of the ship, and then he immediately turned the rudder and fled.
"Beiyang Minister's Telegram, June 25, 20th Year of Guangxu, Modern Chinese History Data Series, Volume 3"
The Battle of Toshima was the first battle of the Sino-Japanese War and the first actual battle of the Beiyang Fleet. Of the three naval battles of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Battle of Toshima was the smallest, but it had a great impact and was controversial. For Fang Boqian, the captain of the Jiyuan ship, this terrifying journey had a huge impact on his psyche and led him to a point of no return.
Fang Boqian, captain of the Jiyuan ship
It came too suddenly. After reading the telegram, Li Hongzhang was taken aback, and it was somewhat unexpected that Japan would flout public international law and brazenly sneak attack and go war.
A total of 7 ships were involved in the Battle of Toshima. 3 ships in China, Jiyuan, Guangyi and Caojiang. 3 ships from Japan, Yoshino, Naniwa and Akitsuzu. There was also 1 British merchant ship, the High Ascension. Jiyuan was sent by Li Hongzhang to Fengdao to carry out the landing alert mission this time, and Guangyi accompanied him to form a two-ship formation. The Gao Sheng is a British ship, owned by the British Indochina steamship company's Shanghai Jardine Matheson, Li Hongzhang rented it with a lot of money to transport troops to Asan, the rental conditions were quite harsh, the insurance was borne by the Qing government, if there was an accident on the way, the Qing government should be responsible for compensating the ship, and the Qing government would admit compensation for the loss of weapons and equipment. The Caojiang was a transport ship that departed from Weihai to Asan to transport military salaries and documents.
Jiyuan won with one enemy and three enemies, and played the prestige of the Beiyang Fleet, which was exciting. Li Hongzhang immediately relayed this telegram to the imperial court, and Weng Tongyong, the minister of the main war faction, was greatly pleased, and praised Fang Boqian, saying that he would praise him well.
After being happy, after calming down and thinking about it, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but have two doubts in his heart.
One of the suspicions is that there is a problem with the reporting process. According to the usual practice, it should be Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Navy, not Fang Boqian, who should report on the battle situation, so he ordered Ding Ruchang to write a detailed battle report.
On July 30, Ding Ruchang submitted his report.
The reason why Ding Ruchang did not write the battle report until this time was that he did not personally participate in the battle, and second, he did not have time to understand the situation. After Fang Boqian returned to Weihai, Ding Ruchang immediately led the main force of the Beiyang Fleet to go to sea to settle accounts with the Japanese warships, but the Japanese warships had already disappeared without a trace. Ding Ruchang returned to Weihai after four days at sea, and then he inquired and investigated the course of the Battle of Fengdao and submitted this official battle report to Li Hongzhang.
War reports have always required truthfulness and accuracy, and lying about military intelligence is a matter of death. But fake war reports never stop in the history books, because even if you don't lie, you have to kill your head if you are a deserter, so many people will take risks with a fluke mentality. In a serious and responsible manner, Ding Ruchang carefully questioned Fang Boqian and relevant personnel, and then wrote this report.
Li Hongzhang compared Fang Boqian's dictated telegram with Ding Ruchang's report. Ding Ruchang said in the telegram that the Japanese ship that was beaten away by Fang Boqian was Yoshino, but he did not mention Fang Boqian's bravery, but gave all the credit to two sailors, one of which was the typical character portrayed in "Jiawu Fengyun" - sailor Wang Guocheng.
In this way, a second cloud of doubt rose in Li Hongzhang's heart.
So he asked Ding Ruchang: Since Jiyuan is so capable of fighting, if every warship can be as brave as Jiyuan, even if Japan has fast guns and fast ships, how can it be our opponent?
Obviously, Li Hongzhang expressed doubts that Jiyuan could achieve such a result.
This is the beginning of the Toshima mystery case.
Li Hongzhang's suspicion is justified, and I would think the same way. The Beiyang Fleet was set up by Li Hongzhang, and he knew better than anyone what the combat effectiveness was. The surprise attack on Jiyuan in Toshima was the three warships of the First Guerrilla Force of the Japanese Combined Fleet: Yoshino, Naniwa, and Akitsuzu, all of which were capital ships. Jiyuan met the enemy in a hurry, and he was not an opponent alone, let alone a group fight?
In terms of strength, there are only two endings waiting for Fang Boqian, either surrender and be captured, or the ship will be destroyed and killed. However, Fang Boqian not only retreated with his whole body, but also severely damaged the enemy ship and forced the strong enemy to retreat, which was simply a miracle, but this miracle was unreasonable.
Although Fang Boqian is a highly talented student, he is not a superman after all, and this battle is fought so well, which makes Li Hongzhang feel abnormal, but what is abnormal, he can't say for a while.
The day after receiving Ding Ruchang's telegram, a major piece of news was published in the "Declaration."
The newspaper said that Jiyuan encountered a Japanese warship at Toshima, and Fang Boqian commanded his troops to fight, fighting from morning to afternoon. Due to Fang Boqian's good command, Jiyuan killed the opponent's commander with one shot, and the Japanese ship was seriously injured. The battle was very fierce, the bow cannon of the Jiyuan ship was destroyed, all the artillery next to it were killed, 13 people were killed, 27 people were wounded, the steering wheel was discounted, and it was impossible to sail. At this critical juncture, Fang Boqian stepped forward and turned the steering wheel forcefully, so that the warship could restore its ability to sail, and then he commanded the stern gun to severely damage the Japanese ship, and the Japanese ship knew that it was invincible, and hung up the white flag and the dragon flag to surrender. Fang Boqian commanded the soldiers to prepare to capture the Japanese ships, but suddenly rushed out of three Japanese ships, and the surrendered Japanese ships lowered the dragon flag, hung the Japanese naval flag and fled. At the end of the article, it was also said that the reason why the Gao Sheng sank was because Jiyuan didn't have time to be on guard, otherwise how could these rabble ships escape from Fang Boqian's palm!
Cruiser Jiyuan
By the way, the military flag of Japan. The Japanese naval flag was formulated in 1889, and there are many kinds of Japanese sun flags, and this is one of them. The Japanese Army Flag is also a sun flag, which depicts the sun at noon, with a sun in the middle and a line of light around it. The sun in the middle of the Navy flag is a dot, smaller than the sun on the Army flag. The flag of Japan is a sunset, with the sun and no rays. The sun flag mentioned below in naval battles refers to the flag of the Japanese Navy.
"Declaration" was a newspaper with great influence at that time, and the author used vivid novel writing to portray a heroic image that was so tall that people must look up, and Fang Boqian quickly became the focus of fame. Weng Tongyong, the leader of the Qing school and minister of military aircraft, told Li Hongzhang that because of the brilliant results in the Battle of Toshima, the imperial court decided to reward Fang Boqian.
The Battle of Toshima was a foregone conclusion, and Fang Boqian waited for the scenery to walk on the podium, but he did not receive this award in the end, because someone exposed him.
expose
With the publication of three articles exposing the Battle of Toshima, Li Hongzhang's suspicions were constantly confirmed, the halo that shrouded Fang Boqian's head gradually faded, and his glorious image was completely subverted.
On August 6, 1894, 12 days after the Battle of Toshima, and on the eve of the Qing government's preparation to reward Fang Boqian, the first article was published, and the astonishing subversion began. The article was published in an English-language newspaper and was provided by Hannagan, a foreigner who flew on the Gao Sheng, and the Briton Gao Huiyi, the captain of the Gao Sheng.
The troop carrier Gao Sheng
They broke out a shocking news: in the Battle of Toshima, it was not the Japanese ship that fled, but the Jiyuan ship, which fled, with the white flag and the sun flag!
On August 14, the second article exposing Fang Boqian was made public. Compared to the previous one, this article is more impactful. The inside story was revealed by the Dane Millens, who was sent by the Qing government to North Korea to take over the general office of the telegraph office, when he was on the Caojiang, he revealed that the Jiyuan ship not only flown the white flag and the Japanese naval flag to escape, but also did not help Caojiang, and did not even hang out a signal flag to warn!
The third exposé was published in September, and the whistleblower was Lin Guoxiang, captain of the Guangyi ship, and others. The content of the revelation also pointed the finger at Fang Boqian: Guangyi did not escape, he had been fighting with the Japanese ships, but Jiyuan left Guangyi alone, added coal and ran away!
The meaning of these 3 materials can be summed up as: Jiyuan did not support Guangyi to fight side by side, did not help when he encountered Caojiang and Gaosheng, nor did he hang out signal flags to warn, but hung white flags and sun flags to escape!
Big trouble. Fang Boqian's self-painted sketches are like a heroic and warlike "national hero", but now he has become a "scum" and "deserter" who is greedy for life and afraid of death and abandons his comrades. The contrast is too great, which one is the real Fang Boqian?
Just as criminals will always leave clues at the scene, the truth of history will also remain in the historical materials to a greater or lesser extent. For example, Jiyuan logbook.
The construction model of the Beiyang Fleet, including training and management, was cloned from the British, including the logbook filling system. The logbook is a bit like the living notes of the ancient emperors, there is a special person on duty to record, and the big and small things that happen in a day are recorded truthfully, a bit like a running account, such as what time to change the course, what time to start drilling, etc., so each warship of the Beiyang Fleet has a complete logbook, and it is regularly handed over to the archive. By its nature, the logbook is a first-hand historical document with a high degree of credibility, and if this treasure can be found, the truth about the Battle of Toshima can be easily revealed.
The problem is that the logbook of the Beiyang Fleet has no bones, and the Beiyang Fleet was later wiped out in Weihai, and the logbook disappeared along with it. But the hard work paid off, and in the 30s of the 20th century, someone finally found a legendary Beiyang Fleet logbook. This logbook is only a few thin pages, and it is only two days of content, which is inevitably a fly in the ointment, but it is exciting to look at it closely, because these pages happen to be the logbook of the Jiyuan ship, and what is even more exciting is that it happens to be the day of the Battle of Toshima (the other day is the second day of the Battle of Toshima).
The probability of this coincidence is about the same as winning the 5 million jackpot, and this magical situation can only be said to have eyes in the sky and the Bodhisattva manifests.
The records in the Jiyuan logbook are generally the same as those reported by Fang Boqian, with only slight discrepancies in details. The log said that Jiyuan fired 4 guns in a row, hitting the vital point of the Japanese ship, and the fleet commander was killed, so frightened that the Japanese ship hung up the dragon flag and surrendered and fled. This is much more exaggerated than Fang Boqian's report, but it is relatively close to the report of "Declaration".
First-hand historical accounts are not always entirely credible. In essence, there is no essential difference between the falsification of historical data and the adulteration of milk powder, both are profit-driven products. For example, the living notes and records of the emperors of the past dynasties are generally written in straight writing, but it is not excluded that individual emperors do not follow the rules and have a penchant for correcting the living notes.
Most people are skeptical about Jiyuan's logbook. It's no wonder that people are so careful, it's too much of a coincidence to blame. The entire Beiyang Fleet did not have a logbook, and it was found far away, and that's it, only two days were found, but there was the day we were looking for it, and the rest of the days were just not found. Coincidentally to this point, it seems that it should be a plot of fiction rather than history, but anyone with normal intelligence will put a question mark.
But there are all kinds of wonders in the world, and you can't be beaten to death with a stick because of coincidence, whether it is true or false has to rely on evidence. In the 80s of the 20th century, another Beiyang Fleet logbook was "unearthed", which was published in the private collection of a Japanese surnamed Hawasaki. This logbook belongs to the Dingyuan, the flagship of the Beiyang Fleet, and the relevant research believes that this logbook is credible, which provides a reference for distinguishing the authenticity of the Jiyuan logbook. In contrast, it was found that Jiyuan's logbook format was different from Dingyuan's, which was the first suspicion. The logbooks are bound into a book every month, but Jiyuan's logbooks for the past two days have been drawn out separately, which is the second doubt. Therefore, most experts believe that the authenticity of Jiyuan's logbook is questionable. (According to Mr. Qi Qizhang's research, he believes that this logbook was forged by He Guangcheng, the first mate of the Jiyuan Gang, and he was the one who wrote "The Chronicle of the Wronged Sea" in 1895 under the pseudonym of "The Narrator of the Wronged Sea" for Fang Boqian.) Some people also say that the logbook was tampered with by Fang Boqian afterwards)
Distinguishing the authenticity of historical materials is a basic skill necessary for the study of history, and in addition to analyzing the identity and position of the person who wrote the historical materials, "isolated evidence does not stand" is also an important basic principle. It's like in a courtroom, if you have only one witness, and the only witness is yourself, then the convincing power is greatly reduced.
Fang Boqian's telegram is a typical "lonely evidence". So far, no other strong corroborative historical materials have been found in the historiography, except for a reminiscence presented by the descendants of the Fang family. However, it was revealed that Jiyuan's escape had the above three historical materials, and they were from the mouths of three people, and more importantly, there was no possibility of "collusion" between these three people. From the perspective of historical materials, this is extremely unfavorable to Fang Boqian. It's like in court, you are the defendant, and you are the only witness, but the plaintiff has 3 witnesses who don't know each other, and their testimony is exactly the same, but it is different from what you say, who do you say the judge should believe?
In fact, there are many historical materials that prove that Fang Boqian abandoned his friendly ship and flagged and fled, which makes Fang Boqian even more isolated and desperate.
For example, Heihachiro Togo. This man became famous in the Russo-Japanese naval battle in 1904 and became a well-known hero in Japan, he participated in the Toshima sneak attack that year, when he was the captain of the Naniwa ship, he recorded in his diary Jiyuan's performance that day: in the process of being pursued, the Jiyuan ship first hung the sun flag, and then hung the white flag, the sun flag was down, and the white flag was above. This account not only fits perfectly with the above three materials, but also adds details about the order and location of the flags. Among the various historical sources, the credibility of the diary is relatively high, because the diary is written for one's own reading, and there is generally no need to falsify it unless it is deliberately reserved for later publication.
The captain of the Japanese flagship Yoshino Yoshino, who was claimed to have been sunk by Fang Boqian, also submitted a combat report after the war, once again debunking the lie that Fang Boqian's stern gun retreated from the enemy and severely damaged Yoshino: Yoshino was indeed hit by Jiyuan's cannon, but he was only slightly injured, far less serious than Fang Boqian's description, and he was not chased by Jiyuan and fled, and it was actually Jiyuan's ship and Fang Boqian who fled. This was later confirmed by the Englishman Hafumon, who personally participated in the Battle of Toshima.
Obviously, without using modern means of communication such as QQ groups to "collude confessions", the above-mentioned many historical materials testify to Fang Boqian, which obviously does not make sense by coincidence, and the truth was finally brutally torn apart: Fang Boqian abandoned his friendly ship, hung the flag and fled.
Fang Boqian was an excellent playwright, and he not only adapted the plot of the stern gun's retreat from the enemy, but also transferred the flag-hanging incident to the Yoshino ship; he not only lied to Li Hongzhang, but also may have tampered with the logbook without authorization. As for the news report published in the "Declaration", it has something to do with him.
The truth seems to be clear, but when you think about it, there is still a major suspicion that has not been cleared. No matter how Fang Boqian lied, it was always a fact that Jiyuan retreated with his whole body, with the strength of the First Guerrilla Force of the Japanese Combined Fleet, plus they came prepared, they were determined to win, it was not difficult to sink or capture Jiyuan, how could Fang Boqian break out of the encirclement, escape from the clutches of the devil, and return home safely?
Uncovering the seemingly ununravelable truths is both a challenge and a pleasure for those who enjoy studying history. The truth is often cruel and ugly, so there will always be people who do everything possible to hide, tamper with, or even destroy the truth. However, forensic science tells us that the most valuable clues are often hidden at the scene of the crime, and as long as they can be found, the truth can be restored.
Before returning to the scene of the crime, give a brief explanation of the cause of the incident, so that the subsequent investigation can be carried out. The reinforcements sent by Li Hongzhang were divided into two routes, north and south, the southern route took the sea route to Asan, and the departure sequence of the troop transport ships and the escort fleet was as follows:
On the afternoon of July 21, the first troop carrier, the Airen, set sail from Dagu Pass and headed for Asan Bay.
On the morning of July 22, Fang Boqian led a three-ship formation of Jiyuan, Guangyi, and Weiyuan from Dagukou to Asan Bay to carry out escort missions.
In the evening of the same day, the second troop carrier, the Flying Whale (also written as Feiqiong), departed from Dagukou.
On July 23, three escort formations led by Fang Boqian arrived in the waters off Toshima in Asan Bay. Toshima is the only way to enter Asan Bay, and the location is quite dangerous, and the Jiyuan formation is on guard duty here.
That night, the third troop carrier, the Gao Sheng, left Dagu Pass and headed for Asan. Airen and Flying Whale were both British merchant ships chartered by Li Hongzhang with a lot of money.
At 4 a.m. on July 24, the Airen arrived at Asan and, after unloading its personnel and weapons, returned to Yantai at 8 a.m.
At 2 p.m. on July 24, the Flying Whale arrived at Asan and unloaded the materials and personnel with the help of Jiyuan and Guangyi, and then returned smoothly.
Only the Gao Shenghao remains. At this time, the Gao Sheng was moving on the sea according to the scheduled course and had not yet reached Asan Bay. According to the itinerary, if nothing else, you can arrive on the morning of the 25th. But the Ascend will never reach the end.
History is sometimes magical, and many bizarre coincidences often make people sigh. Fang Boqian was ordered to escort the escort, maybe it was a kind of fate, if it was not him who was sent this time, but Deng Shichang, the Battle of Fengdao would be completely rewritten, and with Deng Shichang's character, he would definitely fight hard. Or maybe this time it was not Jiyuan that escorted the car, but Dingyuan, and the first guerrilla force might not dare to fight. But history has no ifs, Li Hongzhang chose Jiyuan, and history chose Fang Boqian.
Why did Li Hongzhang choose Fang Boqian?
There are two reasons for this. These two reasons are often overlooked, and they are also important reasons for the defeat in the first battle of Toshima.
Li Hongzhang did not want to irritate the Japanese Navy. This is one of them.
If Deng Shichang is sent to lead Zhiyuan to go, Jingyuan will have to go with him, so that it will be a double capital ship formation, Li Hongzhang is worried that Japan will be stimulated, and Jiyuan is just a single ship, not so eye-catching. But if people want to fight, no matter how you put up with it, you will still fight after all, this is Li Hongzhang's mistake.
If it weren't for Li Hongzhang's temporary change of mind, Fang Boqian's experience and even the First Sino-Japanese War would have been rewritten. On the morning of 22 July, the day Fang Boqian set off from Dagukou, Li Hongzhang received an important piece of information saying that 11 warships had left the port of Sasebo in Japan, and he hoped that he would be vigilant. The timing of this information was wrong, not July 22, but the 23rd, but the news of the departure of the Combined Fleet was correct.
Therefore, Li Hongzhang ordered Ding Ruchang to lead the main force of the Beiyang Fleet to patrol the area around Asan Bay in North Korea to ensure the safety of troop transportation. After receiving the telegram, Ding Ruchang immediately ordered nine warships from Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Jingyuan, Laiyuan, Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong, Guangjia, and Guangbing, as well as two torpedo boats, to prepare for departure. If Ding Ruchang had set off on time, there would have been no Battle of Toshima, but two things happened that changed all that.
Just as Ding Ruchang was about to leave, the Russian counselor came to visit Li Hongzhang. The Russian counselor said that Russia had 10 warships nearby, and it was very convenient to transfer them to Incheon, implying that Russia could help China deter Japan. At the same time, the Chinese minister to Britain sent a telegram saying that the British minister in Japan had warned the Japanese government that it was responsible for provoking the war.
These two pieces of news gave Li Hongzhang the illusion that Japan would not go to war immediately, so he canceled the main escort plan. Li Hongzhang, who had too high hopes for Britain and Russia and tried to avoid the war, made a wrong judgment and passed by the last chance to save Fang Boqian. Of course, the main reason for Li Hongzhang's misjudgment was that the intelligence work was not in place. Backward intelligence work kills people.
As soon as the plan changed, there was a chain reaction.
When we talk about history, we often say that it is a historical necessity, but in fact, many things are often historical accidents. What is necessity? Many accidents come together, and it is necessity. This was the case with the Battle of Toshima, and the same was true with the Battle of the Yellow Sea.
After receiving this escort mission, Fang Boqian has been worried, lest something go wrong, but he didn't expect to be afraid of anything.
Fortunately, Airen has already gone back, and the flying whale will be able to go back soon, as long as there is no accident on the Gaosheng, this mission will be successfully completed. However, at this moment, a bad news came, which deepened Fang Boqian's anxiety.
After Fang Boqian led the team to arrive at Asan, because Asan did not have a telegraph, he immediately ordered Weiyuan to go to Incheon to send a telegram to return to China to report safety, and by the way, inquire about the news of the Japanese army. At 5 p.m. on 24 July, Wei Yuan returned to Asan and brought back two important pieces of information: first, the Japanese army had stormed the Joseon royal palace yesterday and held the king hostage; second, according to the captain of the British warship at Incheon, the main Japanese fleet would leave for Inchon tomorrow.
As the commander of the escort fleet, Fang Boqian must respond urgently to avoid possible risks. On the one hand, he ordered the officers and men to assist the flying whale in unloading and landing, and on the other hand, he ordered Guangyi and Weiyuan to set sail back to China as soon as possible, and if they encountered the Gao Sheng on the way, they should inform it to return to the ship as soon as possible. If Fang Boqian had not changed this decision and commanded Jiyuan to return overnight, the Battle of Toshima would not have happened. However, because the steamboat on the Guangyi was still assisting the flying whale to transport troops ashore, it was impossible to return immediately, so Fang Boqian decided to anchor at Asan at night.
Overall, Fang Boqian's decision is correct. Because his escort mission has not yet been fully completed, as the supreme leader of the formation, he must wait for the arrival of the Gao Sheng.
At 4 o'clock in the morning on July 25, before dawn, Fang Boqian led Jiyuan and Guangyi to set sail west. There are two theories about Fang Boqian's motive for doing this, one is to return to China to avoid risks, and the other is to go to pick up the Gao Sheng.
Regardless of the motive, Fang Boqian led the two-ship team out to sea anyway, and after an hour and a half of speeding westward, a strange faint black smoke appeared in the southern seas, and after an hour and a half, they saw clearly that it was the first guerrilla force of the Japanese Combined Fleet, a total of 3 capital ships: Yoshino, Naniwa, and Akitsuzu.
Next, Fang Boqian will experience a terrifying battle at sea, from which his life will be reversed, and the decisive battle between China and Japan will also begin from Toshima.
To be continued