Chapter 9 Chapter 9: Why did the mighty Beiyang Fleet suffer such a crushing defeat?

After the battle started, Jingyuan and Laiyuan worked hard to get closer to Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, hoping to regroup and cooperate in the battle.However, the vanguard stood in front of them, and the main force clung to Dingyuan and Zhenyuan to prevent the four Beiyang ships from joining forces! Since the start of the battle, the main force of the United Fleet and the vanguard have been coordinating with each other to restrain the Beiyang warships from turning around with their own warships, and then seize the gaps and concentrate local superior forces to defeat them one by one.And through the first half of the battle, it turned out that the vanguard's fire strike was the most effective (all the warships sunk by the Beiyang Fleet were completed by the vanguard).Ito Yuheng already understood this, and he decided to seize the opportunity.

At this time, the order issued by Yuto Ito is divided into two steps: the first step, the vanguard and the team continue to circle and intercept, breaking the intention of the Beiyang Fleet to try to join forces again; the second step, after the division is completed, the main force dies. Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were held back to death, while the vanguard relied on the partial advantage of four warships over two warships to sink Jingyuan and Laiyuan. The danger is approaching Jingyuan and Laiyuan. According to the comparison of military strength, if nothing happens, it will be difficult for these two warships to escape the fate of being sunk!

Jingyuan and Laiyuan were not originally sister ships that took care of each other, but now they form a temporary team to cooperate with each other.Facing the aggressive four vanguard killers, Captain Laiyuan Qiu Baoren and Captain Jingyuan Ye Zugui had no choice but to fight with their backs. The four killers surrounded Jingyuan and Laiyuan in the center of a semicircle, and adopted their usual move - ring attack. Regardless of the artillery fire, Qiu Baoren stood with his sword drawn on the deck of Laiyuan, and ordered all the shells to be concentrated on the bow of the ship, and fired continuously!When the gun barrel was beaten red and limp, the soldiers held up the gun barrel with both hands.Due to the constant turning, the temperature in the cabin rose to more than 200 degrees Celsius. The skin of the marines was scorched and their eyebrows were burnt. However, they continued to stick to their posts.

bring it on!Even if you die, you have to pull a back. Shells rained down on the Laiyuan ship. In just over ten minutes, the number of hits quickly reached more than 200 rounds.There was a fire everywhere on the warship, all the tail guns were destroyed, only a few guns at the bow remained, the cabin was burned out, and all the combustibles were burned out. In the end, only the steel skeleton was left on the ship. The bare iron hull of the ship is floating in the sea, which is amazing. However, Qiu Baoren is still in command to continue fighting. The situation in Jingyuan is even more serious. The waterline has been broken down, sea water is constantly pouring into the cabin, and a fire is burning on the deck. If no measures are taken, there is no doubt that it will be buried in the bottom of the sea!

In this case, the only way is to rush out of the vanguard's blocking position and go to the shallows to repair the warship first.And leading the Japanese warships to the shallows will also have a chance to turn the tide of the battle. Laiyuan and Jingyuan, who were not afraid of death, rushed out of the interception line of the vanguard team and drove towards the side of the island. Naturally, the vanguard team would not let go of this excellent opportunity, and they followed closely behind at full speed. After arriving at the shoal near the island, Laiyuan and Jingyuan immediately turned the bow of the ship, leaned against the shoal, and once again faced the enemy with heavy artillery from the bow, and seized the time to extinguish the fire that was still burning.

Facts have proved that the tactic of leading the vanguard to the shallows is extremely correct. Here, the Japanese ships cannot take advantage of their speed, nor can they fight around the ring. They can only stop and use cannons to cannons! The advantage of rapid-fire artillery is that it is good for quick strikes, but it is not conducive to one-on-one strikes in this static state. The Beiyang warship finally exerted the power of heavy artillery. The vanguard could not break through the fierce artillery fire and could not attack for a long time. Laiyuan and Jingyuan fought back steadily. The battle here will soon turn into a protracted war and a war of attrition. This state is what the Japanese army is most afraid of. They have always been good at rushing up at full speed, slashing you quickly, and leaving when they are done.Flexible and mobile tactics are restricted, and the vanguard can only retreat.

It was the active retreat of the vanguard that gave the two Beiyang warships a chance to come back to life. Qiu Baoren and Ye Zugui looked at the retreating Japanese warship, and looked at their burned bare hull full of holes. He said calmly, "Hurry up and make up for the leak." Dingyuan and Zhenyuan fight to the death! When the vanguard pursued Jingyuan and Laiyuan, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan faced the main force of the joint fleet alone. Although the number of warships was large, Ito Yuheng had nothing to do with defeating the sea giants Dingyuan and Zhenyuan Confidence, Dingyuan's strength, he has already experienced it, the terrible front main gun, the indestructible iron armor, seems to indicate that this sea giant will never be defeated.

But Yuheng Ito still clings to the last glimmer of hope.The curse of "unsinkable" in Dingyuan and Zhenyuan must be broken!Otherwise, Muren in the palace will not sleep well, and he will not sleep well in the future. And Liu Buchan and Lin Taizeng, who were already fighting alone, also understood: this is the last battle.They need to sink a Japanese warship too much. This is no longer a matter of defeat, but a matter of the final dignity of the Beiyang Fleet. Liu Buchan and Lin Tai once encouraged the soldiers on their respective ships. Although the casualties were heavy and the situation was critical, they must fight to the end.

Yang Yonglin, the deputy captain of Zhenyuan, ran to Lin Taizeng, stood facing the soldiers, and shouted: "Brothers, now is the time to serve the country. I am ready to serve the country with my death. Those who are willing will obey, and those who are unwilling will not be forced!" All the officers and soldiers burst into tears: "Your Majesty is dead, how can we survive? Go through fire and water, but listen to your orders!" Come on, Ito Yuheng!Come on, Japanese soldiers!Fight to the death until you run out of ammunition and food! Liu Buchan and Lin Taizeng cooperated again and directed the artillery fire of the two ships to attack Ito Yuheng's car Matsushima with full force.At this time, the four killers of the vanguard team had returned to the battlefield and joined the ranks of supporting the main team.However, Liu Buchan and Lin Tai once commanded two warships to cooperate closely, and the position and distance between the two ships remained unchanged. They protected each other and attacked each other in coordination.For a while, the Japanese warships, which had an absolute advantage in number, could not take advantage of it.

Yuheng Ito finally had the opportunity to taste the power of Dingyuan's 305mm front main gun. At 15:30, Liu Buchan commanded the gunner to aim at the No. 4 gun position on the port side of Songdao and fire the cannon.Ito Yuheng saw the giant cannon flying in a precise and ruthless direction. At this time, Matsushima couldn't resist such a huge cannon. A thought flashed in his mind: It's over! After this shell, Matsushima will not escape the fate of being sunk!But the miracle happened again. When Yuheng Ito opened his eyes again, he found that Matsushima, which was shot, had miraculously not sunk.After a violent shake from side to side, the warship floated on the sea again.

The artillery shell fired from Dingyuan was a solid shell. Its powerful penetrating force destroyed all the gun positions on the port side of Songdao. The gun barrel and gun mount became fragments in an instant. , Matsushima was lucky enough to escape the sinking. It's not that Liu Buchan didn't want to launch a more powerful explosive bomb, because he didn't have a single explosive bomb in his hand.Before the naval battle, Dingyuan only carried the 55 blasting bombs allocated to him. In the first half of the battle, all the blasting bombs had been fired, and now the only solid bombs that can be fired are non-exploding solid bombs. Fortunately, once again, after Suiki Kawayama, Yuto Ito survived another catastrophe. Ito Youheng thanked the emperor, and he quickly understood the secret of the Beiyang Fleet's shells, and prepared to fight back. However, Ito Yuheng was too happy too early.A few seconds later, a series of violent explosions suddenly occurred on the port side of the center gun. One after another, muffled bangs sounded, and fire burst out from all directions. Turned into ashes, the fire devoured their bodies, and finally it was like being thrown alive into a high-temperature crematorium, leaving only a pile of ashes! And other soldiers farther away were also covered in fire! In this way, 50 Japanese soldiers on Songdo Island were wiped out and burned to a pile of ashes. The other 30 Japanese soldiers had already been severely burned, and their body parts could no longer be found. Some of them were missing a hand. Some had their feet burned off, others had their ears missing, or their noses had been burned flat and their mouths had been burned away exposing their teeth.What's even worse is that some people's chests and abdomens were burnt through, and even their intestines flowed out. Suddenly, the stench of corpses on the Matsushima, the entire deck was covered with broken arms and legs, and bones and meat were still falling in the air. end. Ito Yuheng was already terrified by this terrifying scene.He really couldn't understand how this happened. The situation can only be described in one sentence, that is - lifting a big rock and smashing one's own little feet. Before confronting Dingyuan, the thoughtful Ito Yuheng made a full consideration. He considered that the Shitose explosive shells were too easy to detonate. In order to avoid the ammunition depot from being attacked and to speed up the firing, he ordered the All the shells in the ammunition depot were moved around the gun emplacements on the side, and Mr. Yuheng Ito thought it would be safer to put them here. As a result, while the port side of Matsushima was hit by Dingyuan solid bullets, the Shitase explosive shells piled aside were shaken and began to explode one after another, just like setting off firecrackers, but the noise and power were a little louder. The Japanese army finally reaped the fruit of their own. After sinking several Beiyang warships with Shitase explosive shells, they also tasted the power of this evil weapon. The scene in front of him absolutely frightened Ito Yuheng, he forgot to order to put out the fire, and just stood there stupidly.After a while, this person came to his senses completely, and the passion for fighting also receded like a tide, it was terrible!Terrible hellfire!Terrible Dingyuan!Ito Yuheng no longer fantasized about sinking it, and if he continued to fight, he would lose all his bones. Let's withdraw. The semaphore of "all ships move at will" was hung on the Matsushima, that is to say, everyone should go back to their homes, find their mothers, and run for their lives. To describe it in one word-the birds and beasts scatter. Although Ito Yuheng was a little dazed at this time, Niaoshousan's order was extremely correct.Japanese warships have sunk four Beiyang warships, and it is impossible for Dingyuan and Zhenyuan to be destroyed. The combined fleet needs to accept it as soon as it is good.In the choice of retreat, Birds and Beasts Scatter is the most advantageous - so Dingyuan and Zhenyuan can only chase separately. The situation in Dingyuan and Zhenyuan was not much better.According to statistics, at this time, the whole ship of Dingyuan had been hit by 159 rounds, and the Zhenyuan ship had been hit by 220 rounds, while the vanguard was still firing rapid-fire guns. The firefighters extinguished the fire again and again, and the fire burned again and again after being shot.It was extinguished again, and burned again. The steel plate had been deformed in the flames. When people stepped on it, a puff of blue smoke would suddenly come out from the soles of their shoes. This is not the most serious situation. What is more serious is that there are not many shells left on the two warships. Both Dingyuan and Zhenyuan only have dozens of shells left. Of course they are all solid shells. Continue to fight. These shells can be fired in a few minutes. However, seeing Ito Yuheng wanting to escape, Liu Buchan and Lin Taizeng did not hesitate at all, they made a decision at the same time: chase! Ito Youheng did not expect that Dingyuan and Zhenyuan would really come to chase after him. Now, seeing that Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, who were alone, dared to chase the seven warships of the entire United Fleet, his fighting courage came again, and he ordered the fleet: Turn around!Fight again! The fierce battle started again.Dingyuan and Zhenyuan had less and less shells.The final result is: there are only 3 pieces left in Dingyuan, and only 2 pieces left in Zhenyuan.Although it is protected by thick armor, but there are no attacking shells, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not sink under the continuous attack of the Japanese ship.And Yuto Ito also seemed to have noticed that Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were running out of ammunition. He ordered the combined fleet to approach continuously, forming a ring attack, and the firepower network became denser and denser! Dingyuan is in danger, Zhenyuan is in danger, and the Beiyang Fleet is in extreme danger! At this time, reinforcements arrived. Qiu Baoren and Ye Zugui in the shoal on the island quickly repaired the warship. Although their warship was still dilapidated, they did not evacuate, but returned to the battlefield! On the way back, Ye Zugui raised the Commander's Flag at Jingyuan, sailed to Dadong Port, and called all the warships and torpedo boats moored in the port to join the battle!Seeing Shuai Qi, the four warships Pingyuan, Guangbing, Zhennan, and Zhenzhong, as well as torpedo boats inside and outside the port, quickly came to join. The warships of the Beiyang Fleet increased to six in an instant, and there were four more torpedo boats, forming a formation again, and the danger of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan was lifted again. It seems that magical weapons are always favored by God. As the sky gradually darkened, this was the best time for the torpedo boat to attack. The weak Ito Yuheng no longer had the confidence to continue fighting. He sent a "truce!" signal to the whole team, and the main team and the vanguard fled separately. Liu Buchan and Lin Taizeng were already red-eyed, and they ordered again: chase! Amidst the turbulent waves, the second pursuit began.And Yuheng Ito was about to collapse: Can you still fight?This time, he didn't have the courage to turn around and fight again, and instructed the fleet: advance at full speed and get rid of the enemy ships! Dingyuan is chasing at the forefront, and its target is the old enemy - Matsushima.The maximum speeds of the two warships are about the same, and they almost start from the same starting line, so Liu Buchan thinks that there is no problem in catching up with Songdo. However, a problem arose. Soldiers found that the power of Dingyuan driving at full speed was getting weaker and weaker. When speeding up, it was as if the car was running out of gas and could not add power. Dingyuan is a steam ship and needs to burn coal. Since there is sufficient coal in the coal storage bin of the warship, what is the reason for this? After the Yashan Bay naval battle two months ago, Ding Ruchang wrote a letter to Zhang Yi, the general manager of Kaiping Coal Mine in Tangshan. Well. But Zhang Yi quickly replied to Ding Ruchang, and he was very calm: We don't have lump coal.If you need lump coal, you can sieve it yourself from the coal we shipped to you. The coal that the Kaiping Coal Mine distributed to the Beiyang Fleet was scattered and shattered, with a lot of smoke and ash.This kind of coal that cannot be sold at a low price is not even used by civilian ships, but they have the audacity to use it to prevaricate the navy.The coal is not only of poor quality, but also weighs less than two catties. Five tons of coal were delivered in Tangshan, but only three tons were weighed in Weihai. The military coal of the Beiyang Fleet was supplied by Kaiping Coal Mine at a fixed point, that is to say, Ding Ruchang could only buy coal from Kaiping.Before Zhang Yi became the General Office of the Coal Mine, he was the steward and confidant of the Minister of the Navy, Prince Chun (directly led by Li Hongzhang), and Zhang Yi was promoted to the General Office of the Kaiping Coal Mine on the recommendation of Li Hongzhang.The largest shareholder of Kaiping Coal Mine is Governor-General's Yamen of Zhili, and the largest annual dividend from the mine is given to the Governor-General's Yamen, so Zhang Yi is not afraid of Ding Ruchang going to Li Hongzhang to sue. What am I afraid of?You can sue, you can sue, I wish you could tell Master Li! Although Kaiping Coal Mine is a state-owned enterprise, it is a self-financed enterprise after all. In addition to paying dividends to the governor’s office, the coal supplied to the Beiyang Fleet is also an administrative allocation. No, not even a cost price.Over time, Zhang Yi had no choice but to use this kind of cinders to deal with it. In this way, Ding Ruchang's letter did not play any role, and the Beiyang warships still got a boatload of crushed cinders. This is why Dingyuan lacks motivation at critical moments.But in addition to coal, there is another hardware reason, that is - the boiler. First of all, let's popularize the knowledge of boilers on Beiyang warships.There are two types of boilers on Beiyang warships. One is a fire-tube boiler. Water is added to the furnace, and a fire pipe is densely covered at the same time. The heat generated by the pipe will boil the furnace water to generate steam; the other is a water-tube boiler. Instead, the hearth contained a fire, and steam was produced by passing water through pipes densely packed around the hearth. The purpose of popularizing this knowledge is to let us understand that whether it is a fire pipe or a water pipe, it will age after a long time of use. The inside of the fire pipe will be filled with soot, and the water pipe will accumulate scale, which will affect the heat and ultimately affect the power.The solution is actually very simple, which is to remove it for cleaning or replacement, just like a car with a certain mileage needs maintenance. However, the warships of the Beiyang Fleet have never replaced their boilers since they were launched.In 1893, Ding Ruchang discovered this problem at any rate and applied to replace the boiler.But this kind of boiler can't be made domestically and needs to be imported.In the end, such "little things" were left alone. These old-fashioned boilers have been used until naval battles. With the low-quality coal, it is not surprising that Dingyuan cannot reach the designed maximum speed.Wind and dust sorting and proofreading. This situation is what Yuheng Ito wished for.Although he didn't know why the Beiyang Fleet slowed down, what he had to do now was to sail at full speed so that he could take advantage of it and run away.So the Japanese warship ran at full power and galloped all the way on the sea. Dingyuan and other warships chased for nearly two hours, but still had no hope of catching up, so they had to stop the pursuit and retreat back to Lushun. The Dadonggou naval battle is over. The loss of the Beiyang Fleet was huge. According to the records of "Oriental Military Records", it sank five warships and killed 1,100 people, including two foreigners who served the warships. They didn't even have time to eat full meal.Although many warships of the United Fleet were seriously injured, none of the warships sank, and the death toll was only 115. It's time for a summary of this battle. From the previous narration, I believe that everyone has understood some problems in the Beiyang Fleet from the combat process, which are more or less the reasons for the defeat of the Beiyang Fleet.However, none of them is the main reason, the main reason is waiting for us to unravel. After stopping the pursuit of the Japanese ship, the officers and soldiers on the Dingyuan ship had time to visit the injured Ding Ruchang and ask about his injury.Ding Ruchang reappeared in people's field of vision. We haven't seen this Commander for a long time. Over the years, people have had different debates about Ding Ruchang's performance in this battle, but basically most of the debates centered on his dizzying "herringbone" formation before the battle. Yes, there are also bad ones. Through the test of actual combat, we found that the views of these two groups of people are reasonable.They just evaluated the formation from different angles.Because any formation has advantages and disadvantages, it is not omnipotent, it is not omnipotent, and it can be said that it is not the most important.The formation before the war is only a part of the strategic intention, and it is only an estimate based on a detailed analysis of the actual situation of the enemy.Some estimated it, and some didn't. This is normal, after all, everyone is not a fairy. What if it is not estimated?Two words - adjustment. Ito Yuheng adjusted all the way. In the formation, Yuheng Ito looked very casual, he just divided the combined fleet into two teams.But this is precisely to make full use of the advantages of Japanese warships and let high-speed warships form a team alone. After the battle started, the initial strategic intention was to encircle and annihilate the Beiyang Fleet, but Ito Yuheng soon discovered that in the face of the powerful Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, the dream of encircling and annihilating was impossible.Therefore, the advantages of fast speed and gun speed of Japanese warships were further utilized, and flexible and maneuverable tactics were adopted to actively intersperse and run, constantly dividing and encircling the Beiyang Fleet, forming local advantages and annihilating them individually, and promoting the team strength of coordinated operations. If the Beiyang Fleet is a huge herd of buffaloes, then the Japanese warships are a pack of wolves hunted by a team, concentrating on biting the weakest few cows, and quickly retreating before the Beiyang Fleet can react.This is the strategic intention of Ito Yuheng throughout the naval battle. Facts have told us: the best choice is to make timely adjustments to strategy and tactics (including formation) according to the ever-changing battlefield situation, keep the order of battle open, and form a unified command of the entire fleet. And this was Ding Ruchang's biggest mistake. After an accidental injury, his old man became an invisible person. He didn't come forward, and he didn't come out as a substitute. It became a mess of loose sand. This is the main reason for the failure of the Beiyang Fleet.It is not a defect in some equipment, it is not that there are not many shells, nor is it that the morale of the soldiers is low or the combat effectiveness is low-according to post-war statistics, the hit rate of shells fired by Beiyang soldiers is even higher than that of the Japanese army.The root of the failure is another problem: the problem of the commanders including Ding Ruchang! The Beiyang Fleet is the fleet that the imperial court invested the most, and it is also the army with the most guaranteed military expenditure.Mid- and senior-level officers such as captains earn an annual salary equivalent to hundreds of thousands today, while ordinary soldiers earn less than 1/30 of that of mid-level officers.From the outside, the navy is a high-paying industry, the pride of heaven, but only the insiders know that the money has been taken away by the leaders, and the income of employees and leaders - there is a big gap. But what the high salaries brought to the officers of the Beiyang Fleet was not effective management and hard training. The one thing they were most passionate about was making money. According to the Regulations of the Beiyang Fleet, on Liugong Island in Weihai, the base where the Beiyang Fleet is moored all year round, except for Ding Ruchang, officers at all levels are not allowed to buy houses on the shore, and must live on the ship all year round.But this rule is basically not followed. For example, Fang Boqian owns many properties in Weihai, Yantai, Dagu, Shanghai and other places, and one person with the surname Fang has multiple houses under his name. Ding Ruchang not only built his own house on Liugong Island, but also built a large number of shops for rent, and then the rent fell into his own pocket.The smart Fang Boqian discovered this opportunity to make a fortune, and also bought a lot of rental houses, so the two landlords started a scolding battle over the issue of competing for tenants. Buying so many houses is naturally for the convenience of finding a mistress.The bookish Fang Boqian and Ding Ruchang first fell in love with a prostitute at the same time and had a conflict, and then he and Liu Buchan wanted to marry a beautiful concubine at the same time and almost drew their swords at each other. Corruption starts from the middle and high levels, so it has to affect ordinary soldiers.It has always been the fastest learner of corruption. Around the Liugong Island base, there are rows of entertainment venues, including gambling halls, opium halls, tea houses, brothels, etc., counting from the top to no less than 50.They are all military-related, with generals tending business sometimes as customers and sometimes as behind-the-scenes bosses.And what everyone looks forward to most every year is the arrival of winter. As soon as winter comes, you can take the warship to the south to spend the winter, and then soak in the colorful world of Shanghai or Hong Kong. In a few years, the emerging Beiyang Navy has been corrupted as quickly as the Eight Banners Green Battalion. Everyone is busy making money and enjoying themselves. Although Japan is listed as an imaginary enemy, most people know that the Ching-Japanese War is inevitable, but no one studies the tactical issues, and the preparations for the war are not serious. The intelligence of the Japanese Navy , and no one collects them. Daily training is just going through the motions.When a leader came to inspect, the flags covered the sun, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were pulled out, and the giant ship went out to sea to make the leader happy.If you want to watch actual combat drills, it’s easy to do. The target has already been prepared at a fixed location, and several predetermined firing points have also been set. The inspection begins. The warship will drive to these predetermined locations, close your eyes and fire a few shots. , and finally found out an inspection mode with Beiyang characteristics that satisfies the leaders. These situations actually attracted the attention of the imperial court. The officials and censors impeached Ding Ruchang many times, but they were all pushed back by Li Hongzhang.The reason why Li Hongzhang needed Ding Ruchang was mentioned earlier.As for who needs Li Hongzhang, the answer will be revealed as the war progresses. The results of the naval battle were announced, and the court was in an uproar. The Qing rumor officials found something to do: spare no effort to participate in Ding Ruchang.I have long been displeased with him, let alone defeated!Therefore, Ding Ruchang was specially participated, was participated alone, and was included in other memorials. Anyway, he became the target of bombardment and the target of public criticism.At the same time, the Yanguan also secretly targeted Li Hongzhang, demanding that Li Hongzhang be held accountable for his leadership. Ding Ruchang hurriedly wrote a report to Li Hongzhang, describing the process of the naval battle.After receiving the report, Li Hongzhang read it carefully, found a point of interest, and immediately called Ding Ruchang back: "Pick up the call, this battle is terrible, why did Fang Boqian return first?" Ding Ruchang understood, so he wrote a new report.This new report focuses on how Fang Boqian led the Jiyuan ship to escape, and by the way, Fang Boqian's escape is defined as the direct cause of the fleet becoming disorganized-"Fang Boqian fled back first, and the ships waited and dispersed, causing the team to become chaotic." Later, Li Hongzhang added: "If Jiyuan and Guangjia hadn't fled one after another and dragged the boat into chaos, we would have won a great victory!" Li Hongzhang's meaning is already obvious: Let Fang Boqian be the scapegoat for the defeat of the Beiyang Fleet. However, for Li Hongzhang, to find this scapegoat, he still needs to stop the mouths of the "Fujian Party" and the officials of the DPRK and China. They quickly thought of one person—Liu Buchan. Liu Buchan belonged to the "Fujian Party", and if he used Liu Buchan's hand to kill Fang Boqian, neither the "Fujian Party" nor the officials had anything to say. To borrow Liu Buchan's hand, another procedure is required: let him temporarily become the supreme commander (acting commander) of the Beiyang Fleet. As a result, Ding Ruchang began to take a vacation to recuperate from his injuries, and Li Hongzhang ordered Liu Buchan to temporarily take over Ding Ruchang's position.The second battle report written by Ding Ruchang was signed by Liu Buchan. According to the "Regulations of the Beiyang Navy", the fleet commander should be represented by the left-wing general (Lin Taizeng) if he is unable to come to work.Therefore, according to the regulations, even if Ding Ruchang is injured and asks for leave, the acting commander should be replaced by Lin Taizeng, and Lin Taizeng has always been honest, he will never issue a report on Fang Boqian as a scapegoat.What Li Hongzhang likes is that Liu Buchan is a tough man who can persuade other fellow Fujianese—the plan of killing people with a knife is very perfect. According to this battle report, Li Hongzhang requested that Fang Boqian be executed immediately. The imperial court immediately agreed, and Li Hongzhang immediately sent the telegram of beheading Fang Boqian to the Beiyang Fleet. One person signed for it—that is to say, Liu Buchan had to participate in the whole process of killing Fang Boqian. Lin Taizeng, Ye Zugui, and Qiu Baoren, who are also from Fujian, all begged Liu Buchan to see him, and asked him to try to save Fang Boqian's life because everyone is a fellow and a classmate and colleague of 27 years. Liu Buchan said: I have no choice. The 42-year-old Fang Boqian was taken to the foot of the Golden Mountain in Lushun and executed. As far as Fang Boqian escaped from the battlefield, his behavior was a serious violation of military discipline, and he was not wronged at all to be punished.But he was wronged again. His wrongedness was that one person took the responsibility for the failure of the Dadonggou decisive battle, and Ding Ruchang was relieved, and Li Hongzhang also gave the court an explanation, and the mouths of the officials were blocked.Everyone is in harmony. Before his death, Fang Boqian asked: "The army has no orders and the team is not organized. Whose fault is it?" This was the last time that the escaped champion grasped the core of the incident, but he never had the chance to analyze and judge again. After Fang Boqian's death, Ding Ruchang's injury miraculously "recovered rapidly", Liu Buchan's mission as acting commander for two days was also declared over, and Ding Ruchang returned to his position. After that, the telegram sent by Li Hongzhang to the Beiyang Fleet never listed "Liu Buchan". town". Since Fang Boqian died in Liu Buchan's tenure, the Fang and Liu families have feuded for generations. Fang Boqian's descendants have always kept an ancestral motto: the ancestors were framed and killed by his classmate Liu Buchan, and they must avenge the Liu family!It is said that for a long time, the Fang and Liu surnames in Fuzhou did not marry each other. Japan.When the news of the Dadonggou naval battle came back, the whole of Japan went crazy. People from all over the world flocked to Tokyo to celebrate their victory. The Japan Railway Company specially lowered the train fares from various places to Tokyo.Everyone was enjoying themselves, and they couldn't believe that they could defeat the powerful Qing Dynasty. The joy came a bit suddenly. Ito Yuheng won, and his victory was a risky victory.He took the risk to break the authoritative theory of the world's navy, but he gambled and got rich results.His tactics also attracted the attention of the veteran maritime powers in the West. After research, European and American navies quickly followed suit and became a temporary trend. Western media paid attention to this war from their perspective, and London's "Daily News" dug up corruption in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty.In this report on December 13, 1894, it is worth noting that the title is very vivid. The modern translation is "Human beings can no longer stop the corruption of the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty", and the standard translation is "Corruption of the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty endangers human morality." Ji Leer, editor-in-chief of the international news section of "The Times", came to the Qing Dynasty. After a period of visits, he came to a conclusion: "We have placed our hopes on the potential power of the Qing Dynasty for about 30 years. We believe that the Qing Dynasty will rise. But you and I both know how this illusion is shattered. In my opinion, in the foreseeable future, it is difficult for the Qing Dynasty to rank among the world's powerful countries, but it can be included in the ranks of weak countries. In Qing's view , history, geography, modern scientific achievements, public forces that influence the policies of Western countries, public opinion, parliaments, and newspapers are all meaningless words. The Chinese Empire is declining, and its limbs have rotted..." Huashan Ziji found Ito Yuheng, and he first reviewed the process of being attacked by a torpedo boat and narrowly escaped his life. The hand that patted Ito Yuheng's shoulder seemed to be still shaking: "Brother, you don't know wow ! Watching the torpedo blowing bubbles and going under the ship, that feeling is really more terrifying than anything else..." Then, Kawayama Suki asked Ito Yuheng to study the role of torpedo boats in naval battles. In the Dadonggou naval battle, Ito Yuheng didn't even bring a torpedo boat, because he didn't pay attention to the role of the torpedo boat.After returning to Japan, Yuto Ito immediately recruited all 16 torpedo boats from all over Japan, formed them individually, and conducted cooperative combat training with the warships. Timely summarizing experience and lessons and learning from actual combat are the biggest secrets for an excellent general to grow rapidly.In fact, before the invention of anti-ship missiles, torpedoes were the most effective weapon for sinking warships. This secret will be discovered by Yuheng Ito in the following Weihai naval battle. It's over, it's over.After the Qing court killed Fang Boqian, everything returned to peace.Although the Beiyang Fleet failed, it was not a complete defeat. It still has a strength that cannot be ignored and poses a threat to the Japanese fleet. As long as we seriously reflect on the real reasons for the defeat and think about the next coping strategy, the next battle situation will improve. And none of this happened.Lord Li Hongzhang, as always, issued an order to Ding Ruchang to continue to "avoid war and protect the ship". From then on, the Beiyang Fleet will only be able to cruise between Weihai and Lushun, and will avoid the Japanese fleet whenever it encounters it. Unimpeded. What Li Hongzhang didn't know was that his passive defense strategy would have a serious impact on the next land battle, and the Qing army would fall into the fate of failure again. A large-scale land battle has already started from Pyongyang!