Chapter 60 Sino-Japanese War

On July 25, 1894, the Japanese navy took the lead in attacking the Qing army's troop carrier, and the Qing army was forced to fight back. In the next few days, the Japanese army launched an attack on Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng who were stationed in Asan, North Korea.Outnumbered, the two retreated towards Pyongyang one after another, but Ye Zhichao lied about his achievements in order to get promoted, such as "Our army heroically wiped out how many people the Japanese army had in their force... Regardless of the gains and losses of a city or place, we made a strategic retreat" and other nonsense. The combat effectiveness made a wrong judgment.

The Japanese, naval and land armies attacked and invaded the Qing army, fighting unannounced. Cixi and Guangxu had no room for maneuver, and they had to fight if they didn't fight.A week later, Guangxu issued an edict to declare war on Japan, officially declaring war on Japan!This year is the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War. The strategy of the Qing army is: 1. Guard the mouth of the Bohai Bay with the Beiyang navy and cover the army's entry into North Korea. 2. Gather the army in Pyongyang, and then go south to attack the Japanese army. In a word, the strategy of the Qing army is that the navy is the main defense and the army is the main attack.

It turned out that as early as July 21, Li Hongzhang ordered the Huai army Wei Rugui, Ma Yukun, Feng Sheng'a, and Zuo Baogui to set off for the DPRK with a total of more than 13,000 people. The Japanese army attacked on July 25. This is the troop carrier of this army.Later, this batch of reinforcements joined Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng's two armies in Pyongyang, a relatively well-defended city. Isn't this Li Hongzhang the Lord?How to secretly increase troops before the battle started?In fact, veteran politicians like Li Hongzhang, who have been in the political arena for decades, are calm and scheming, never take risks, and generally make multiple preparations.Therefore, while Li Hongzhang placed his hopes on international mediation, he also assembled troops to prepare for a possible war.

And what about Japan's strategic plan? Little Japan's plan is simple: first defeat the Beiyang navy, win the naval battle, and gain command of the sea, then let the navy cover the army's landing in Bohai Bay, and finally seek a decisive battle with the main force of the Qing army on the Zhili Plain. Little Japan's strategy is the opposite of that of the Qing army.The core of their strategy is naval victory.Therefore, the Japanese navy has been searching the sea for the main force of the Beiyang navy in order to fight decisively. At the same time, the Japanese Army also invested heavily in North Korea. After all, occupying North Korea is the most realistic goal.

On September 15, the first battle of scale escalation started in Pyongyang, and the Japanese army had the upper hand. The commander-in-chief of the Qing army is Ye Zhichao, who lied about his military achievements and promotion. Feng Sheng'a, Wei Rugui, Ma Yukun, and Zuo Baogui are each responsible for defending one direction of Pyongyang City, and Nie Shicheng is responsible for protecting the Qing army's retreat.As for the west of the city, where the Japanese army was mainly attacking, the most dangerous place, the command of the Qing army was the most capable Zuo Baogui. After the war started, except for Zuo Baogui, who was attacked by several times his own heavy troops, the Chinese and Japanese armies in other directions were about the same in number, and the battle was indistinguishable, and the outcome was still in doubt.

One day later, Zuo Baogui was outnumbered and died heroically, and the west of the city was captured. Ye Zhichao, who heard the news of the Japanese army entering the city, never thought about deploying troops for reinforcements, let alone going to the battlefield to stop the Japanese army. Instead, he kept in mind the spirit of "Let the leaders go first" and ran away without saying a word!No military ethics at all.Also, what hope can you expect from a liar? Don't be afraid of opponents like gods, but teammates like pigs! The Qing army lost precious fighters, lost the command and coordination of the Qing army, was defeated by the Japanese army, and Pyongyang fell.

A week later, the Qing army retreated across the Yalu River, and the Japanese army completely controlled North Korea. On the second day after the fall of Pyongyang, that is, on September 17, the Japanese navy, which was actively looking for fighters, finally found its target in the Dadonggou area of ​​the Yellow Sea: the Beiyang Navy. The two most powerful navies in Asia at that time faced each other: ten ships of the Beiyang Navy faced twelve ships of the Japanese Navy. The luck of the Beiyang Navy was very bad. Not long after the battle began, the commander Ding Ruchang was seriously injured by Japanese artillery fire. The Beiyang Navy lost its command and had to fight on its own.

Here I want to talk about a person who was the most heroic and fearless in the war. His name is Deng Shichang. Ding Ruchang, the commander of the navy, valued the young Deng Shichang very much, and gave him the title of lieutenant general Xie Dutong (major general).This seems to be a matter of emphasizing talent, but others don't take it seriously, thinking that this is a political action taken by Commander Ding to counter the Fujian faction, because Deng Shichang was the only non-Fujian naval officer in the Beiyang Navy at that time. But Deng Shichang fought very bravely in the battle that he sacrificed, far more desperate than most.

The hull of the "Zhiyuan" under his command caught fire, and he tried to kill the opponent's absolute main force and the most lethal "Yoshino" (historical data believed that it was the "Naniwa"), trying to pull a back .Although it didn't succeed in the end, and our own ship was destroyed and killed, it was still very heroic and tragic. Although the majority of Beiyang soldiers like Deng Shichang who are brave enough to fight and are not afraid of sacrifice are the mainstream, there are still many people who are greedy for life and fear death, such as Fang Boqian in charge of the "Jiyuan" and Wu Jingrong in charge of the "Guangjia". Get cold feet in the heat of battle.

God knows what you did. Fang Boqian was beheaded after the battle, the "Guangjia" hit the rocks and self-destructed, and Wu Jingrong fed the fish.However, an ordinary officer named Li Yuanhong on the "Guangjia" escaped with his life. He survived the catastrophe and created a legend in the near future. More than five hours later, the battle in the Yellow Sea ended. In the battle of the Yellow Sea, the Beiyang navy suffered nearly a thousand casualties, sank five ships, and lost half of its combat effectiveness.The Japanese suffered less than five hundred casualties and five ships were severely damaged.

The Japanese army won and gained control of the Yellow Sea. Both land and water armies were defeated, and Li Hongzhang changed his strategy in time: In view of the weaknesses of the Beiyang Navy in the Yellow Sea Battle, the weaknesses of the Beiyang Navy were exposed-weak firepower, slow rate of fire, and slower speed, and the ship support was not as strong as Japan. The Beiyang Navy should use defense. Mainly, the camera will go to sea for a decisive battle. From now on, we will mainly rely on military bases like Lushun with fierce firepower to deal with the Japanese army and prevent the Japanese army from landing and fighting. Let them float on the sea and stare blankly! Li Hongzhang is very confident in his arrangement: the Huai army with rich combat experience, the solid Lushun military base, and sufficient ammunition reserves, there is no reason why they can't hold it! However, he was wrong. His Huai Army is no longer the invincible and powerful army on the Jianghuai battlefield. Thirty years later, the Huai Army has long since lost its glorious tradition of not fearing death. It has been completely corrupted. How can it be corrupted? How did it come—corruption of military expenditures, eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, smoking opium, poor training, that is, only pretending when Li Hongzhang came to inspect, such an army and such logistical support cannot win the battle. The most elite Huai army was like this, let alone the local troops: before the battle started, they made up their minds to escape, and before the Japanese army attacked, they all fled. When the situation was basically one-sided, Nie Shicheng, an outlier in the Huai army, was able to occasionally win against Japan, but such partial victories could not save the overall situation. The land and sea armies of the two countries fought from the Liaodong Peninsula to the Shandong Peninsula, and from Lushun to Weihai. The Qing army was defeated in all battles.Except for Nie Shicheng in the army, the Huai army started by Li Hongzhang was almost wiped out; the Beiyang navy was defeated in Weihaiwei. This humiliating battle will officially end in April next year.