In 1854, the U.S. fleet and the Japanese shogunate signed the "Treaty of Castle" in Yokohama, the Treaty of Goodwill between Japan and the United States; after that, other Western powers followed the United States and demanded trade with Japan, and Japan was forced to end its isolation.
On September 14, 1862, in the village of Iwamai on the outskirts of Yokohama, four British, unaware of Japanese etiquette, saw Shimazu Hisamitsu, the guardian of the Lord of satsuma domain, not retreat to the side; then, as the British merchants' horses were frightened and charged against the honor guard, satsuma samurai attacked the British merchants. In the end, 1 person was killed and 2 seriously injured. Later, in order to prompt the Satsuma Domain to solve the raw wheat incident above, the British sent warships to attack Kagoshima, the capital of the Satsuma Domain. The British destroyed a large number of buildings in the city with 100 naval guns, while the Satsuma Domain's 80 guns on the shore defense seriously injured one British steamship, and moderately damaged two of them.
(Ukiyo-e style "Raw Wheat Incident")
The gunner who fired the shell on the British ship, Oyama-iwa, later became the first marshal in the Japanese army; among the assistants who carried the shells for Oyama-iwa was Yamamoto Kwonbei, the father of the Japanese Navy, and Heihachiro Togo, the protagonist of our article and later the "God of War of the Japanese Navy".
The British, armed with the victory of the Opium War, originally thought that the Satsuma Domain was as weak as the Qing government, but in the end it only ended in a small victory on its own side, and had to recognize the strength of the Satsuma Domain. As a result, the British changed from their original policy of supporting the shogunate to being close to the Satsuma domain. The results of the Samo-British War also made Satsuma clan feel the need for naval modernization, and eventually organized a modern navy.
In 1866, Satsuma Domain established a navy, in which Togo Heihachirō participated and entered the military. In the subsequent campaign of the fall, he served as a naval non-commissioned officer aboard the Samor Domain's battleship Springfield, and traveled to various places to make his first military achievements.
In February 1871, the Japanese Navy selected 12 of the best officers and sent them to England to study abroad, and Togo Heihachirō was selected and stayed in England for eight years. As a result, the British government refused to enter the Naval Academy and transferred to the Merchant Marine School, and the internship began only with the lowest sailors. Later, he was ordered to supervise the construction of warships ordered by the Japanese Navy at the British shipyard. When Heihachiro Togo personally piloted the gunboat Hiei back to Japan, which had been separated for 8 years, he was 31 years old.
After returning to Japan, As a returnee and related household (satsuma domain elder), Togo Heihachirō not only served as the captain of several warships, but also rose all the way to the Navy in peacetime. In 1892, however, on the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, yamamoto, the father of the Japanese Navy, Yamamoto Keibei (de facto Minister of the Navy), with the support of Minister of the Navy Saigo Kendo (Saigo Takamori's younger brother), laid off naval officers who were no longer accustomed to the situation. Yamamoto gathered a list of eight generals starting from the middle general and 89 lieutenant officers, and went to discuss with Saigo. Saigo was a little embarrassed: "These are all heroes since the Sassak-British War, or Satsuma's fellow countrymen, can they do it?" Yamamoto replied very firmly: "It is enough to give them medals for merit, there is no reason to retain their official positions, as for Satsuma's hometown relations (the Japanese Navy was originally founded by satsuma domain, coupled with the later door valve ideology, basically the generals are satsuma compatriots), it has now been attacked by the Diet enough, some of these people do not even understand steam warships, or fossils of the sailing warship era, with these people in the navy, the navy can not progress." So Saigo supported Yamamoto's guards. Yamamoto put a short sword on the table, met the officers on the list one by one, and announced the decision to lay off them.
But Yamamoto hesitated at a name and consulted with Saigo, "Is there something wrong with this name?" "This is Togo Heihachiro." I know this man, taciturn, unobtrusive, not a seaman graduate, because for a long time in England, there are no friends at home, is not to give him another chance? ”
Both Higashigo and Saigo are part of the town of Kenjiya (the town is said to resemble a village or town), and Yamamoto is the brother of Togo who carried cannonballs together. Saigo, as the army's hand-throwing treasurer, could not intercede for Togo, but at this time, since Yamamoto opened his mouth first, he also happened to go down the slope of the donkey: "Yes, the Wave Speed just lacks a captain, let Dongxiang try it." This year, Togo Heihachiro was 44 years old, and serving as the captain of the Nanasu was only the beginning of his career as a military god.
(Togo Heihachiro)
During the Sino-Japanese War, The Nanasu and Togo Heihachirō "had a lot of results", but from the perspective of Chinese, it can only be said that they were in blood debt. Don't want to write more, skipped here, interested can Baidu "Wave Speed". With his military exploits, in 1900, Togo Heihachirō was appointed commander of the Standing Fleet of the Japanese Navy. By October 19, 1903, when Togo was 55 years old and nearly retired as the commander of the Maizuru Town Shogunate, he could only be said to be a good admiral, and it was more by virtue of his seniority and connections that he came to this position.
As a result, before Togo's retirement, Yamamoto Tsunebei, then minister of the Navy, integrated the garrison and standing fleets into a "combined fleet" and appointed Higashigo Heihachirō as commander of the combined fleet. The commander of the standing fleet at that time was a Satsuma fellow Hidaka Zhuangzhi who was a fellow Yamamoto Keibei Navy, and Yamamoto's Kwonbei guards were not suspicious of Hidaka's ability, but because they were afraid of Hidaka's ability. At that time, Japan was about to go to war with Tsarist Russia for the northeast of our country and the Korean region; this was a much bigger gamble than the Sino-Japanese War. Therefore, the whole country of Japan must unite from top to bottom, unify the government and the army, unify the land and sea, and unify the upper and lower levels, and absolutely not allow any mistakes. Hidaka, on the other hand, was a guy who was not afraid of heaven, and no one could guarantee that he would be absolutely in line with the Naval Province and the Military Command at a critical moment. So Yamamoto chose Togo Heihachiro, who surprised everyone. Dongxiang is a small man, usually does not talk much, walking only to see his own toes, how to see how not to look like a soldier, let alone a general, or even a commander. But Yamamoto had taken a fancy to Togo Heihachirō's taciturn and obedient nature, and only in this way could he ensure that the combined fleet was under his control.
(Yamamoto KwonBei)
Even when Emperor Meiji inexplicably asked why Higashigo had been exchanged for Hidaka, Yamamoto's answer was, "Togo is lucky"—since he was gambling, wouldn't it be natural to find a better luck? In fact, if you look closely at the first half of Dongxiang's life, you really can't see that Dongxiang had any good luck before the Russo-Japanese War, and it must be said that he was suddenly fished by his fellow countrymen when he was about to be fired before the Sino-Japanese War.
So, with regard to Togo, the time comes to the story in our last article, "The Battle of the Yellow Sea": the mines laid by the Japanese fleet just happened to kill Makarov, the best russian and Russian admiral, Makalov, and the Lushun fleet that slipped from the palm of his hand stopped and was beaten like a tortoise and rabbit race, and a 12-inch shell destroyed the bridge, signal station, and steering device of the flagship of the Lushun fleet, and the Lushun fleet began to circle; Several wrong decisions of Togo Heihachiro were diluted by these several bad luck.
However, after the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Japanese Navy still did not dare to relax, and trained intensively every day, because Russia's powerful European fleet was now coming. But who knew at that time that this European fleet would achieve the name of "Japanese military god" of "good luck Togo".