"Searching for the Graveyard of Chinese Warships" series of the tomb of Deng Shichang in Daludao
Welcome to the public number [Sasu] (sasutime)
▲ Zhiyuan ship in the Battle of Dadonggou
The Battle of Dadonggou is also known in Japan as the "Battle of Ocean Island", so I once thought that Ocean Island must be near the battlefield, and even speculated that it was Dalu Island marked on the map of Dandong.
When we went to Dandong in 2013 to visit the shipwreck of the Beiyang Marine Division, we found that this speculation was ridiculously wrong. Ocean Island is located in the southern part of the waters of the Dalian Zhuang River, and is still a day's voyage from the battlefield of the Battle of Dadonggou, such as a small boat.
In fact, the Japanese Navy first arrived at Ocean Island, turned the rudder to the right before directly hitting the anchorage of the Chinese Navy on DaluDao, and the Naval warships guarding the mouth of the Dadonggou Ditch of the Chinese Navy, in order to ensure that the brothers of the Army who were landing were not attacked by the enemy, lined up from the anchorage in a horizontal line and went south to meet the Japanese fleet coming from the north.
For this reason, I once felt that the Japanese named naval warfare as such a completely unreliable, Ocean Island is in Zhuanghe, how can the battle fought on Dalu Island hit Zhuanghe? That's too far.
The new archaeological discovery makes the author really a bit dumbfounded, and there are really people who have been fighting in this battle, this person is the Beiyang Marine Division through the far ship pipe lin Yongsheng.
▲ Western prints - the last warship of the battle, the ship's wreckage was determined to have sunk near the old man's stone in the Zhuang River
However, the main combat area is still around ŌkaShima. Judging from the battlefield situation at that time, the Chinese Navy's movements were quite fierce, and as soon as the war began, the whole team pounced on the Japanese army, which was not a passive beating position in the guess, and the battlefield where they fought a decisive battle with the Japanese Navy was in the sea south of Dadonggou.
Therefore, DaluDao has become the landmark of this battle to determine the fate of East Asia's sea power.
▲ The battlefield of the Battle of Dadonggou photographed by the Japanese ship Nishikyo Maru
▲ Dadonggou naval battle battlefield, the distant island is Dalu Island, which was taken by the author close to the camera position with the historical Xijing Maru photo spot, only the battleship of the Beiyang Marine Division is missing
Driving in this direction from Dandong today, you will soon see a small island, which is like two humps protruding from the sea, which is Dalu Island. To find Dalu Island is to find the battlefield of the Battle of Dadonggou, which is an unquestionable landmark.
And when we landed on Dalu Island, we saw a tomb of Deng Shichang here.
▲ The so-called tomb of Deng Shichang on Dalu Island
Only five kilometers from the battlefield of the Battle of Dadonggou, on the flat ground between two mountains, you can see a semicircular traditional Chinese tomb made of cement and red brick, about 60 centimeters above the ground, with a diameter of about two meters. In front of it stands a white stone stele with neither an inscription nor a stele, only four large italic characters "Tomb of Deng Shichang".
Next to it, there is a cement stele with several bright red characters written on it - "Donggang City Primary School Students Moral Education Base", surrounded by continuous pines and cypresses. When we walked to the tomb, we could see that the roof of the tomb was slightly cracked, but the whole cemetery still had a unique solemn atmosphere.
However, how could Deng Shichang's tomb be on Dalu Island? Who scooped up his remains?
With such doubts in mind, we visited the local villagers, and it was this visit that deepened our doubts.
According to local villagers, the tomb of Deng Shichang was built by a diver surnamed Wang.
The diver was hired by the Japanese to salvage the remnants of the wreckage of the Zhiyuan ship, and because it was deep into the hull of the ship, the diver found a standing and lying body in the cabin. The diver himself said that he had been reprimanded by Lord Deng Shichang many times when he was working on this project, so he thought that the corpse was Deng Shichang's remains. So the diver went into the water again to salvage the remains and buried them ashore, and there is today's Tomb of Deng Shichang.
Determined the remains of Deng Shichang because of the dream? This logic is a bit peculiar.
Folklore is often exaggerated and arbitrary. During this visit, some islanders pointed out to us that the Zhiyuan ship sank very close to the island, so that more than a decade ago, we could still see the mast of the warship exposed to the sea, and pointed out the general direction.
▲ The actual salvage depth of the Zhiyuan ship was nearly 20 meters
We can only laugh at this description, because according to the local official records, between 1937 and 1938, the wreckage of the Zhiyuan ship was salvaged and destroyed by the Japanese side, so how can there be a mast that was exposed to the water more than a decade ago? According to the materials we have now, the wreckage of Deng Shichang's Zhiyuan ship could not have existed in the coastal waters overlooking Dalu Island.
After the Sino-Japanese War, both the Chinese side and the naval personnel of other countries participating in the war at that time recorded Deng Shichang's final death. According to the research of some people in the Chinese Naval History Research Association, some Beiyang Naval Division personnel recorded in their diaries that when the Zhiyuan was about to sink, the people on the battleships following behind saw Deng Shichang bowing backwards on the bridge for a few times, as if to bid farewell to everyone, and then committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea with his sleeve covered.
Because this is an isolated testimony in the diary, it cannot be fully identified. Personally, I believe that the Zhiyuan ship was extremely tilted and had a big explosion before it sank, and Deng Shichang, who commanded the battle on the bridge, may not have waited for the warship to sink and was thrown into the sea.
▲ The steel plates of the Battleships of the Beiyang Fleet salvaged 120 years later can still see the traces of the Japanese shells after the wreaking havoc
Deng Shichang, who was thrown into the sea, had a chance to survive, and liu Zhong, an entourage, threw his lifebuoy to Deng Shichang, deng Shichang pushed but did not save, and the nearby torpedo boat rushed to the rescue, and Deng Shichang still refused to rescue. Deng Shichang did not do this without valuing his own life, but the standard nineteenth-century naval officer followed the standard practice of the British Navy in Greenwich—the captain was with the warship.
For every Chinese warship that sank in the Battle of Dadonggou, the captain made the same choice.
Seeing that manpower could not save his life, Deng Shichang's large dog "Sun Dog", which had been kept for many years, had been salvaged into the torpedo boat, but at this time he jumped back into the sea and braided Deng Shichang's hair with his mouth, trying to make him float on the water. Determined to die, Deng Shichang sank into the water several times, and was pulled back to the surface by the sun dog several times, and finally people saw an unforgettable scene, Deng Shichang "strangled the dog and sighed", one person and one dog sank in the sea at the same time.
Chen Xuehai, a sailor of the Beiyang Marine Division, recalled:
"The owner of the Deng ship (Deng Shichang) threw himself into the sea, and one of the dogs he raised was called the Sun Dog, and he wanted to save the owner, jumped into the water and bit the hair braid of the owner of the Deng ship, and the owner of the Deng ship saw that the ship was sinking, so he held down the sun dog and sank into the water together."
This record was also proved by ma Jifen, an American officer who was on the Zhenyuan at the time, all of which showed that Deng Shichang was no longer in the wreckage of the Zhiyuan ship when he was finally martyred, so it was probably a figment to find Deng Shichang's remains from the cabin.
Moreover, there are various inconsistencies in the accounts of local villagers, such as some people saying that this tomb was built in 1938 by the diver Wang Xunian to salvage the remains of a Beiyang Marine Division officer.
Some people also say that this tomb was established in an attempt to salvage the Zhiyuan ship after the reform and opening up, because the remains of a Beiyang Marine Division officer were found and buried here.
Some people say that when the skeleton was found, he was still wearing the uniform of a Qing Dynasty naval officer and sitting on a "dragon chair", so it was determined that it was the remains of Deng Shichang.
This is obviously illogical, not to mention whether Deng Shichang dared to get a dragon chair to sit on, and if people's bodies are already decayed, why can the clothing still be well preserved?
This mausoleum, known as the "Tomb of Deng Shichang", can only be a kind of spiritual sustenance, and the remains of Deng Shichang should still be buried in the blue waves of the Yellow Sea.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the Donggang Cultural Relics Department also agreed with our views, believing that the claim that Deng Shichang's remains were recovered was not scientific. Moreover, some insiders believe that if the descendants of the "Tomb of Deng Shichang" who came to visit know that it was not Deng Shichang's loyal skeleton buried inside, it would be embarrassing and regrettable.
However, I don't think things need to be seen so seriously, this should just be a kind of nostalgia for Deng Shichang by the locals into a tangible memorial, as long as the tomb is indeed the bones of the Beiyang Marine Division warriors, there is no need to investigate deeply.
This shows from a special perspective that this country, this sea, has never forgotten Deng Shichang.
Attached: Whether the tomb of Deng Shichang, which is recognized by Deng Shichang's descendants, exists
There is. In the Tianhe Park of Zhongshan Avenue in Guangzhou, there is also a tomb of Deng Shichang facing north and south. The tomb was built in 1994, but its original tomb existed in 1894 when Deng Shichang was martyred, and the tomb was originally located in Shiguling, Shahe. It was relocated due to the destruction of political movements and the influence of local road construction, but it remained the same.
At the top of this tomb there is a stone carving of the auspicious clouds and the moon in the center, and in the middle there is a white jade stele. There is a square in front of the tomb, in the middle of which stands a statue of Deng Shichang in full-body armor, and the bottom pedestal is engraved with "National Hero Deng Shichang" in the front and Deng Shichang's life deeds on the back.
▲ Deng Shichang's crown tomb
Near this tomb there is also the tomb of Deng Shichang's brother and sister-in-law, according to Deng Quanmin, a descendant of Deng Shichang who now lives in Hebei, this tomb is the burial place of Deng Shichang and his family, but this magnificent tomb does not contain the bones of Deng Shichang, this tomb is a crown tomb.
After Deng Shichang's martyrdom, his body could not be recovered, so his family built a tomb for him in this cemetery in the winter of that year. In front of this tomb is also engraved with an epitaph and sacrifice text compiled by the Guangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
After Deng Shichang's heroic martyrdom, the Guangxu Emperor heard that he was deeply saddened, and named Deng Shichang a "Zhuang Festival" (it is said that Guangxu once inscribed a couplet as a mourning honor - "On this day, the world is weeping, and there is a public foot and a strong naval might", which is a misinformation). This is also the origin of Deng Shichang's being revered as the soul of the Chinese Navy.
Subsequently, the Guangxu Emperor issued a royal tribute text for Deng Shichang, which is the inscription that now stands on the tomb of Deng Shichang's crown, which reads as follows:
Wei Wei Sheji to carry out the work of the Gange, Ma Ge to comfort the ambition of the battlefield; listen to the drums and think of the general, Long Lun declares the grace of the sword. The carving is both Chen and Wen wen. Erti Governor named The Commander-in-Chief Deng Shichang, Su XianTaoluo, Huan Holding Rong Fu, Commanding Battleships and Serving Diligently, and Realizing the Creation of the Navy. Heavy Ying wading into danger, Ye Zhangren's master of earth and water, absolute strategy, and the arrow of the Heavenly Mountain. Receiving the reward and honoring Kong Cui, Xi Yongming teamed up to suppress the tiger. It belongs to the enemy's riding, and it is worth the warning of the Jurchens. Take the liaohai army, look at the stars and know geshu; set fire to the Yangtze River, destroy the dragon and push Gongjin. If you fight hard, you will be able to defeat the multitude, and if you charge, you will not care about yourself. The army can shake the mountain, cut off the clams and sacrifice the steamed bread, the heart is allied with water, and the willingness to sacrifice from the sea. Rescued and saved, he was saved, and finally sank himself and died. Where is the worm sand, beckoning the soul of the martyr? Whale building has not reached out, and it is advisable to be virtuous. The name of the table. Yu Drama! Swear to sweep the head, after a hundred battles and the wind and clouds change color; riding on the tail of the mi, Bing Qianqiu and bamboo and streamers. Special Standoff Dome, Wo Cheng's favor.
- Twenty years of Guangxu
【End】