"You will never abandon the righteousness of the country, and now the only one who dies is to fulfill his duties!"
On September 17, 1894, during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Beiyang Marine Division's "Zhiyuan" ship pipe led Deng Shichang under the siege of the Japanese ships, and resolutely commanded the "Zhiyuan" ship, which had been injured in many places, to crash into the starboard side of the Japanese capital ship "Yoshino" at full speed, determined to die with the enemy. An explosion of the torpedo caused the sinking of the Zhiyuan ship. More than 250 officers and men of the whole ship were martyred together.
On February 9, 1895, in the Battle of Weihaiwei, Ding Ruchang boarded the Jingyuan warship to meet the battle, and after wounding two Japanese warships, he wanted to sink with the ship, and was sworn to die to save the small boat. On February 11, Ding Ruchang resolutely refused the Japanese army's persuasion to surrender, and was martyred in opium that night, and before his death, he deposed the Beiyang Navy's admiral Yin Jiaojiao, at the age of 59.
On the 12th, the crew drafted a surrender letter in the name of pseudo-Toding Ruchang; on the 17th, the Japanese army landed on Liugong Island, the Weihaiwei Naval Base fell, and the Beiyang Fleet was completely destroyed.
Ding Ruchang
On July 25, 1894, the Battle of Toshima broke out, kicking off the Sino-Japanese War, a war that Japan had been planning for a long time and the Qing court was forced to rush to the battle. In fact, since 1894, after the Meiji Restoration, Japan has begun to embark on the capitalist road and adopted a strategic policy of active aggression and expansion.
In addition to the two heroic martyrs mentioned above, countless patriotic generals fell on the battlefield throughout the Sino-Japanese War. And today we mentioned this Qing court minister who was martyred, he did not send reinforcements in the Sino-Japanese War, but resisted the indemnity after the war and insisted on resisting, his life is highly controversial and difficult to describe. He was Li Bingheng, the Minister of Water Division of the Yangtze River in the Qing Dynasty.
Li Bingheng
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > disappeared in the Qing-French War</h1>
Li Bingheng was originally appointed as zhi county in Xinxian County, Shandong, and was later promoted to Guangxi after several promotions. During the Qing-French War in 1883, he was presiding over the Western Transport Bureau of Longzhou, Guangdong.
In February 1885, after the French army attacked Langshan, it then occupied the town of Nanguan, but due to insufficient troops and difficulties in supply, it finally burned the pass and retreated to Wenyuan and Langshan, waiting for the opportunity to repeat the crime.
The veteran general Feng Zicai was ordered to handle military affairs outside Guangxi Guanwai and rushed to Zhennanguan to direct the deployment. In March, with the support of Li Bingheng and the command of Feng Zicai, the Guangxi defenders finally repelled the French army and achieved the famous "Zhennanguan Victory". Minister of the Navy Peng Yulin said in the last concert: "The two ministers are loyal and upright, win the hearts and minds of the people, and also have the greatest merits." ”
The town of South Pass Victory
This "Great Victory at Zhennanguan" is one of the most famous battles in the history of China's modern anti-aggression war, and it is also the biggest victory won by our side since the beginning of the Qing-French war, which greatly boosted the fighting spirit of the local soldiers and people and also dealt a blow to the arrogance of the French aggressors.
At this time, the Qing court was already in a dominant position, but because it was still worried that the "military disasters" would provoke a "people's coup" and a "mutiny" during the entire Qing-French War, it always hoped to be able to seek peace as soon as possible. Therefore, after the "great victory at Zhennanguan", Li Hongzhang and others advocated "taking advantage of the victory and reaping the rewards", using this hard-won victory as a bargaining chip for compromise and seeking peace with France.
However, the French army hated the generals of this battle to the bone, and later after the "Gengzi Change", Li Bingheng was listed as the culprit and demanded severe punishment. At that time, Li Bingheng was dead, and the Qing court ordered that all official positions be posthumously taken and his canon be revoked. Therefore, only Feng Zicai's name was left in the credit book of the "Zhennanguan Great Victory".
The hero Feng Zicai who has entered the annals of history
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > reinforcements that have been missing in the Sino-Japanese War</h1>
In May 1894, Li Bingheng was appointed Inspector of Anhui, and after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing court again transferred him to the Inspector of Shandong.
In 1895, in the Battle of Weihaiwei, the Beiyang Fleet was isolated and helpless, trapped on Liugong Island for more than a month, waiting for reinforcements to arrive, and finally the entire army was destroyed.
Before the beiyang fleet collapsed, the reinforcements waiting for were actually the troops led by Li Bingheng. On January 12, 1895, the Qing court heard that the Japanese army had attacked Weihai, and immediately telegraphed Li Hongzhang and Li Bingheng to "fly all the defense troops, patrol day and night, and strictly guard against the strength, and must not slacken off a little."
After the Japanese army landed at Rongcheng Bay, Li Bingheng was unable to send troops to help as originally agreed, and could only send Sun Wanling and a small number of other non-commissioned officers to meet the enemy. By the 25th, the Japanese army had captured Rongcheng, and Li Bingheng preferred to submit it to the ministry of deliberation rather than send reinforcements.
Li Bingheng's reason for not sending troops was very simple: "The soldiers are too single" and "it is difficult to catch the battalion by surprise." Even though the Qing court telegraphed him to send troops to Weihai to assist in the defense, Li Bingheng still insisted that "the yanshou will only be Sun Jinbiao, and if he is transferred again, there will be no one to guard the palace, yantai will be in danger" and refused.
At this time, Weihai was already in danger, but Li Bingheng only sent an army to guard the west road of Weihai and did not move until Weihai was lost after February 12, and the Beiyang Marine Division was destroyed.
Therefore, when discussing the reasons for the loss of Liugong Island, later generations generally admitted that "the inspector (Li Bingheng) did not move according to the soldiers" and that he should bear the main responsibility for not "sending reinforcements at the request".
Although Li Bingheng resigned in every way on the issue of reinforcements, on April 19, after hearing that Japan wanted to cut off Taiwan east of the Liao River and the claim of 100 trillion yuan, he changed his previous attitude and was "filled with sorrow and indignation", and repeatedly obstructed him in the form: "Although the minister is old and lazy, he is willing to mention the division of a brigade to extend his anger, that is, he will not hesitate to donate to the heel." ”
Of course, it was not adopted by the Qing court in the end, and the Qing court still signed the humiliating "Maguan Treaty" with the Japanese army. Li Bingheng's resolute attitude in opposing peace negotiations is respectable, but his inaction in the war has always been criticized. His delay in sending reinforcements destroyed the last vitality of the Beiyang Marine Division, the most powerful and largest fleet in the modern navy, and was not only a flame retardant for its demise, but also one of the important factors in the defeat of the entire Sino-Japanese War.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the change of Gengzi and martyrdom</h1>
Shortly after the Sino-Japanese War, Li Bingheng was deposed again because of his dispute with the Germans and replaced him as governor of Sichuan, but was deposed before he arrived.
By 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance had invaded Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi began to hesitate between war and peace. At the age of 70, Li Bingheng told Cixi that "since war has begun, it is impossible to make peace." He was then appointed as the governor of Zhili to fight, but Empress Dowager Cixi and the important officials of the imperial court fled west, leaving only Li Hongzhang as the plenipotentiary representative of the council.
Li Bingheng strongly opposed this, but at this time he had no sergeants in his hands, so he had to gather the righteous people as an army, rushed into battle, and finally suffered a crushing defeat in the battle with the Eight-Nation Alliance. On August 11, 1900, Li Bingheng was defeated in Tianjin and retired to TongXian County, Beijing, where he was martyred.
Later, in the process of negotiating peace, the Eight-Power Alliance proposed that because it had always vigorously led the battle and had a tough attitude, it listed Li Bingheng as the culprit of the incident and demanded severe punishment. The Qing court did so one by one, but pursued all official positions and revoked the canon.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
As for Li Bingheng's actions, some people say that he did not send reinforcements in the Sino-Japanese War because of partisanship, because Li Hongzhang, the founder of the Beiyang Marine Division, was a red man around Cixi, and Li Bingheng was a supporter of the Guangxu Emperor, so he sided with the Guangxu Emperor and planned to use this battle to weaken Li Hongzhang's strength.
But @Hanshi believes that Li Bingheng, as an old minister, is more that he firmly believes in his own views. Judging from the offensive situation of the Japanese army at that time, he refused to send troops mainly because he really felt that Shandong at that time was more dangerous than Weihai, and Weihai belonged to li Hongzhang's jurisdiction, and his first consideration was of course the safety of his own area. Therefore, according to this, it can be said that he is stubborn and stubborn, incompetent and timid, but it cannot be said that he is caught in party strife and disregards his family and country.
Li Bingheng was not born in Keju, but donated funds to the county, and then moved up step by step. He was educated in Confucian thought, and concepts such as "loyalty to the king and patriotism" and "the people are the foundation of the country" were deeply rooted in his thinking. Therefore, as a local official, he has always had outstanding political achievements, and is known as "the first honest official in the north".
The "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" also has a high evaluation of Li Bingheng:
"Bing Heng qing loyal to himself, ordered to be in danger, the great festival is awe-inspiring, this can not be judged by success or failure." ... Although there is no salvation for the overall situation, and until death is unyielding, outsiders are also angry, how magnificent! ”
Therefore, although Li Bingheng's behavior is controversial, he is at least worthy of leaving a name in history, and can be called his "loyal festival". The rest, and see what posterity has to say!
Cold and summer come and go, watch time go forward one-way; the tides and tides fall, watch the historical cycle back and forth. I am @ HanShid to read history together, welcome to pay attention!