Chapter 16 Chapter 16 The Strongest Resistance!Taiwan's Isolated Island Anti-Japanese War

When Li Hongzhang was negotiating with Ito Hirobumi, rumors that Japan was going to take Taiwan away gradually spread to Taiwan.The people of Taiwan heard the news like a bolt from the blue.In Taipei, the common people blew gongs to strike the city, poured into the governor’s office of Taiwan, crying loudly, and expressed their feelings to the governor Tang Jingsong, asking the imperial court to try to keep Taiwan—although Taiwan is isolated overseas, it is the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and the mother cannot abandon it child. Tang Jingsong played Beijing.The court's reply was: We also have difficulties, and we have to abandon Taiwan.

Tang Jingsong, who was affected by the emotions of the people, was also fearless this time. He once again presented the memorial and directly questioned Emperor Guangxu: If Taiwan is cut off, how will people evaluate you as an emperor after thousands of years?What face do you have to meet your ancestors underground?The minister guards the land for the ancestors, and can only live and die with the people of Taiwan, I am afraid that I will not dare to obey the emperor's edict! Tang Jingsong at this time was a tough guy.However, to evaluate a person should not only listen to what he says, but also how he does it, and how he continues to do it.Tang Jingsong will tell us the answer soon.

Seeing the tough attitude of the Taiwanese people, Guangxu had to weigh repeatedly, but in the face of Japan's strong ambitions, it was difficult for him to keep Taiwan. At the imperial meeting, the ministers' opinions were: "Although Taiwan is important, it is not as good as Beijing. (Compared with the capital, Taiwan is less important), if we do not agree to the conditions of the Japanese, the Japanese will take advantage of the victory and attack Dagu directly, lest the capital is in danger..." Guangxu had no choice but to appease Tang Jingsong and asked him to come to Beijing as an official immediately.For the people of Taiwan, the imperial court welcomes them to return to the embrace of the motherland. Those who return to the mainland (inland immigrants) within two years will be accepted by the imperial court. After two years, "Taiwanese citizens will become Japanese citizens, and they will change their clothes..."

The "Treaty of Shimonoseki" was officially signed, and Taiwan will be officially ceded to Japan.On the same day, the news reached Taiwan.The streets of Taiwan were filled with angry and crying people. Schools were closed, factories were closed, businessmen were closed, and people rushed to tell each other. All the people, officials, and garrisons issued a telegram: I swear that Taiwan will always belong to the Qing Dynasty and will always be the territory of the Qing Dynasty. Part of the division, even if the imperial court does not want Taiwan, all Taiwanese will never submit.If the Japanese attack by force, even if the imperial court does not send troops, the Taiwanese will fight the Japanese pirates alone to the end!The power-up also called on Taiwanese in other places to return to Taiwan immediately and fight with knives.

Under the deliberations and demands of Taiwan's gentry, the "Taiwan Democratic Republic" was established. This is a leading organization established in Taiwan to integrate all forces and resist Japan and protect Taiwan after the imperial court abandoned Taiwan.Tang Jingsong was elected as the "Democratic President", with the reign title "Yongqing" (meaning eternal submission to the Qing Dynasty), and the "national flag" was a yellow tiger flag with a blue ground. The "Democratic Republic of Taiwan" is not a divided country, on the contrary, it expresses a determination.Changing from the governor's office to a "democratic country" means that Taiwan does not have to obey the government's decree to cede Taiwan. All Taiwanese people live as the people of the Qing Dynasty and die as the soul of the Qing Dynasty. Fight the Japanese pirates to the end. Taiwan will never belong to Japan!

Under the unified leadership of the "Taiwan Democratic Republic", the Anti-Japanese Coalition Army was established, and four preparation measures were formulated: 1. Stop paying taxes to Beijing; 2. Stop selling salt to prepare for war; All are not allowed to flow out, and all of them are reserved for anti-Japanese funds; four, all localities are stepping up to manufacture weapons. Such a tough action by Taiwan made the imperial court deeply disturbed, which would anger the Japanese.Li Hongzhang's son, Li Jingfang, became the ambassador of the cession of Taiwan, and he had to quickly go through all the procedures for the cession of Taiwan to Japan.And Li Hongzhang also specially sent a telegram to Hirobumi Ito, reminding him "in good faith": "You Japan should send all the land and water troops yourself to suppress it and keep it safe."

The court's fear of Japan is so deep, and its abandonment of Taiwan is so heartless! And Japan finally understood that although Taiwan was obtained in the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", it was still a dead letter before the armed forces of the people of Taiwan went to war, and Japan had to pay the price in blood. At this time, Japan has no troops to send (they are all in the northeast and Shandong of the Qing Dynasty). "Then send the Guards Division!" Muren said. The Imperial Guard Division is also Muren's Imperial Forest Army. The division head is called Kitashirakawa Gong Nokyu. He is a prince who was adopted by Muren's father as an adopted son.Before the expedition, Muhito saw Kitashirakawa off for Noku, and told him: "No matter what happens, the Japanese flag must be planted all over the land of Taiwan!"

7,000 Japanese Imperial Army captured Taipei.Tang Jingsong slipped away from the back door of the presidential palace, fled to Xiamen by ship two days later, and arrived safely in the embrace of the motherland. The "Taiwan Democratic Republic" was shattered, and the Taiwan Anti-Japanese Allied Forces were disbanded. Taiwan seemed to have lost its resistance. But Noku Kitashirakawa was overjoyed a bit too early, because the next journey was even more difficult.If the "Taiwan Democratic Republic" is an anti-Japanese organization organized by the Taiwanese gentry, that is, the rich people's anti-Japanese, then the Japanese army will face the "barbarian" anti-Japanese!

When Kitashirakawa Gong Nokyu led an army from Taipei to the south in an attempt to quickly occupy Taichung, Wu Tangxing and his wife from Miaoli led their team to appear in front.The Japanese army saw a team they had never seen before. Most of their weapons were bird guns, bows and arrows, they were barefoot, with feathers on their bodies, and they held swords in both hands! "If civilization wants us to bow our knees, then I will show you the pride of barbarism!" - "Sedek Bale". This is an anti-Japanese army including Taiwanese Hakkas and aborigines, an anti-Japanese armed force that truly belongs to ordinary mountain people in Taiwan.Although they only have simple weapons such as blunderbuss, and have never even seen a new type of rifle, they do not lack the blood and determination to resist the invading army!

When Kitashirakawa Palace Nengjiu heard that these people didn't even have guns, they thought that half a day would be enough to deal with them, and it was just to scare these barbarians with two shots.So the Japanese army set out on the road easily, and Wu Tangxing's army quickly dispersed. It seemed that everything was as Kitashirakawa Palace had expected. When the Japanese army came to the mountains, a tragic fate arrived. The road ahead was full of traps, and the Japanese soldiers who fell into the traps were pierced by sharp bamboo sticks. The aboriginal snipers armed with bird guns lay in ambush on both sides of the road, firing every bullet without missing an enemy.And when the Japanese army launched an attack, they quickly disappeared into the vast mountains.

Poor Japanese, it took 10 days to reach Hsinchu.But they were too late to be happy, because this was the beginning of another nightmare. After the Japanese army entered the city, Wu Tangxing led the army to surround Hsinchu City and launched a campaign of harassment. When the Japanese army left the city, they retreated into the mountains. What awaited the Japanese army were ubiquitous snipers and roads full of traps.The battle continued day by day - the aborigines successively killed nearly 4,000 Emperor's Imperial Forest Army! Kitashirakawa Gong Nokyu finally collapsed, he felt great fear, he thought of a way - set fire to Hsinchu, and fled back to Taipei. However, escaping is not so easy.When Kitashirakawa Gong Nohisa led the defeated generals to flee to Niupu Mountain outside Hsinchu City, Wu Tangxing led his men to ambush here.In the dense forest of the high mountains, a sharp arrow shot at Kitashirakawa Nokyu, Kitashirakawa Nokyu was seriously injured by the arrow, and died of bleeding. The highest-ranking commander of the Japanese army since the beginning of the war in the Qing Dynasty, the head of the Guards Division, was killed by the Taiwanese aborigines who did not have advanced weapons.And this was the first time a member of the Japanese royal family had died outside the homeland, and Mutsuhito felt terrified. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, the news of Nohisa Kitashirakawa's death was blocked, and Muren instructed the headquarters: Withdraw the Japanese troops in the northeast of the Qing Dynasty, and do not leave a single soldier in Japan, and dispatch all the troops that can be mobilized to Taiwan! Reinforcement troops assembled in Taipei, and the strength soon reached an astonishing nearly 80,000 troops (50,000 regular troops and 26,000 reserve troops), which was almost the entire force of Japan.The army was divided into two groups, one was to attack Hsinchu from the front of Taipei, and the other was to arrive at Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan by troop carrier. Japan is against one island with one country! Wu Tangxing and the aboriginal army were besieged on three sides. At a critical moment, another anti-Japanese army came from Tainan to support. It is Liu Yongfu's Black Banner Army. In 1883, the French army attacked Vietnam, a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty.After the French army pacified Vietnam, they continued to invade Guangxi in an attempt to invade the territory of the Qing Dynasty. Liu Yongfu, a native of Guangxi, led 3,000 black flag troops into Vietnam and defeated the French army, almost killing the French commander.Then, the Black Banner Army took advantage of the victory all the way to regain the lost land in Vietnam, and Liu Yongfu was named a first-class baron by the King of Vietnam. The Black Banner Army was originally a local armed force in Guangxi, and their mission was to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. With the seven-star black flag as the battle flag, they were called the Black Banner Army.The reason why the Black Banner Army's combat effectiveness is so strong is not only that Liu Yongfu is strict in running the army, but also has something to do with a famous martial arts coach in the army-he is Huang Feihong.After Liu Yongfu pacified Vietnam, the imperial court had to be wary of such a powerful army, so he sent an ambassador to recruit security. Liu Yongfu was sent by the imperial court to guard Tainan, but after recruiting security, his black flag army also changed from 3000 People were cut to 300 people. When the Japanese army began to attack Taiwan, Liu Yongfu began to prepare for the resistance against Japan.With 300 direct descendants of the Black Banner Army as the team, they quickly recruited and trained new recruits.When the news of Wu Tangxing's emergency came, Liu Yongfu's detachment would lead a force into Taichung to reinforce Wu Tangxing. "Even if there is only a piece of tile and a piece of soil left in Taiwan, we must fight bloody to the end, so as not to let the Japanese get it!" Before the reinforcements set off, Liu Yongfu made an oath with his generals. With reinforcements, Wu Tangxing's strength increased greatly. They still used the familiar terrain to set up ambushes on the way forward of the Japanese army and carried out blocking and guerrilla warfare. The Japanese army encountered stubborn resistance every step they took, and suffered heavy casualties.The Japanese army adopted a policy of killing and burning. Everywhere they went, they killed all the men, women and children in the village, set fire to the houses, and opened the way with cannons. The Japanese finally entered Taichung. At this time, Wu Tangxing had led the troops to resist the Japanese army tenaciously for three months. Although their morale was still high, due to the Japanese army's policy of burning and blocking, Wu Tangxing's troops faced the biggest difficulty-lack of food.Many soldiers are already exhausted, tired and hungry, and can only eat weeds to satisfy their hunger, and their combat effectiveness has been greatly affected.In the Battle of Changhua, the Japanese army finally surrounded Wu Tangxing, but they dared not charge forward, so they could only bombard them back and forth with cannons.Changhua fell, and the Japanese army had opened up the gateway to Tainan. In the Tainan offensive and defensive battle, Liu Yongfu led the Black Banner Army and the remnants of the aborigines to fight alone, and the Japanese army once again suffered heavy casualties.The head of the second brigade, Nobushiro Yamane (major general rank), was killed. This is the second senior officer killed by the Japanese army after Kitashirakawa Noku.But for Liu Yongfu, he faces the same problem as Wu Tangxing - lack of food.The frontline generals ran out of power again and again and asked for more food. Liu Yongfu had no money or food, and Tainan had no choice but to send his generals to the mainland for help. Liu Yongfu's generals came to the mainland full of hope and visited the governors of Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiang coastal provinces, but none of them were willing to give support.Zhang Zhidong, governor of Huguang, was originally a friend of Liu Yongfu, and he also promised to provide Liu Yongfu with military pay, but after learning about the court's attitude on the Taiwan issue, Zhang Zhidong flinched.More than ten days passed, and Liu Yongfu's generals did not raise a tael of silver, and came back empty-handed. The letter of persuasion from the Japanese army was sent to Liu Yongfu without losing the opportunity: The Qing court had already abandoned Taiwan, so what's the point of your lone resistance, General Liu?As long as you and the soldiers lay down their arms and stop resisting, we welcome you to Japan, and Japan will treat you like a general and live a lifetime of glory.If you don't want to go to Japan, you can also be sent back to the mainland of Qing Dynasty. Japan can also guarantee your safety, prosperity and wealth. Two days later, Liu Yongfu replied: Live and die with Taiwan. On October 10, 40,000 Japanese troops gathered outside Tainan City.On the outskirts 20 kilometers away from Tainan City, there is a river that originates from Alishan and flows into the sea—Zeng Wenxi. This will be the last stop to defend Tainan, and the last battlefield for Liu Yongfu to resist the Japanese army. The Japanese army surrounded the position of the Black Banner Army heavily. They fired on land, while the warships of the Combined Fleet fired on the sea. The Black Banner Army was equipped with rifles and bird guns. Except for a few simple forts, there was not a single cannon in the army that could fight back. Under the suppression of artillery fire, the Black Banner Army suffered heavy casualties.Xu Xiang, Lin Kungang, Wang Debiao, Jian Jingjing...Liu Yongfu's men sacrificed heroically one by one, but the soldiers still did not give up. They jumped out of the trenches and bravely fought hand-to-hand with the Japanese army! Hand-to-hand combat is the most exhausting, and the lack of food and pay finally brought a fatal blow to Liu Yongfu's army. On October 18, Zeng Wenxi's soldiers had successfully blocked the main force of the Japanese army for eight days. They had nothing to eat and had to charge. They were too hungry to stand up! The Japanese army narrowed the encirclement step by step, and they decided to capture Liu Yongfu alive. "Liu Gong, please go!" All the soldiers knelt down and begged Liu Yongfu to retreat and lead his youngest son across the sea to Xiamen to preserve his strength. It may take two generations to complete the resistance against Japan! "Please go, Mr. Liu! Let's plan for the future!" Everyone burst into tears and cried bitterly. Liu Yongfu looked at the vast sea and the land beyond the sea.More than half a month ago, my generals didn't even ask for a tael of silver from the mainland!The tough guy Liu Yongfu couldn't hold back his tears, and shouted to the sky: "The mainlanders misunderstood me, and I misunderstood the people of Taiwan!" Late at night on October 19, Liu Yongfu left Tainan with a small number of entourages and returned to the mainland by boat.He left with deep guilt. He once vowed to live and die with Taiwan with his generals, but he failed to do so. Liu Yongfu spent the rest of his life in this guilt. The remaining soldiers of the Black Banner Army are still resisting the Japanese army.After the Japanese invaded Tainan, they continued to retreat southward, and even persisted for another month in guerrilla warfare! One month later, Hengchun.A few haggard Black Banner Army soldiers who were already staggering from hunger appeared by the sea.This is the southernmost tip of Taiwan Island, with the vast sea in front of it, and there is no way out. Facing the Japanese army that is slowly shrinking the encirclement, the soldiers refused to surrender, and all jumped into the sea to die! They defended to the last inch of land! They fought to the last moment! In 1590 (the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty), several Portuguese long-distance ships bypassed the Strait of Malacca and entered the open ocean. They sailed alone on the sea. Suddenly, a large lush island appeared in front of them. Looking from a distance, The sun is shining, the vegetation is abundant, and the Portuguese burst out praise: "Ilha Formosa" (transliteration "Formosa", meaning "beautiful island"). The Formosa Island back then is today's Taiwan. From firing the first shot against the Japanese aggressors, the people of Taiwan persisted in resistance for more than five months. That is to say, after the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the Japanese army spent as much time as the previous wars to finally obtain Taiwan .Taiwan’s anti-Japanese rebel army has experienced hundreds of battles, and the time it took to stop the Japanese army in every place exceeded the time it took for the imperial army to stop the Japanese army. The Qing court invested the least regular army here, while Japan invested the most regular army here. All armies and navies of the country. More than 4,800 Japanese troops who invaded Taiwan were killed.Injuries, deaths, and illnesses totaled 32,000 people, accounting for nearly half of the dispatched troops!And this number is nearly double the total casualties of the Japanese army in North Korea and the Qing Dynasty combined. The Taiwan Anti-Japanese Rebel Army also successfully killed the two top commanders of the Japanese army, and they were also the highest-ranking generals killed in the entire Sino-Japanese War.Many years later, in order to cover up their defeat, the Japanese army described the heavy casualties of the Japanese army in Taiwan and the death of the North Shirakawa Palace as "infected with malaria" and "poisoned by miasma." "Only Taiwan was truly defeated." - Even the Japanese army admitted this in their historical materials. There is no doubt that this is the real battlefield! And the battle is far from over.After pacifying Taiwan, Japan began its 50-year colonial rule over Taiwan.However, what the Japanese were far from expecting was that only one month after they declared "pacify the whole of Taiwan", on December 31, 1895, the whole island of Taiwan resounded loudly, "Expel Japanese slaves, restore China!" Battle tone.From this day on, the eight-year anti-Japanese guerrilla war began, and the anti-Japanese rebel army once attacked Taipei!The raids of the rebel army made the Japanese feel like they were sitting on pins and needles. They had to replace the governors one after another (a total of eight governors). It was he who came up with the idea of ​​selling to England. In the Anti-Japanese Rebel Army, the most brave and skilled fighters are still the aborigines.Spears, broadswords, bows and arrows, and even wooden sticks became tools for them to take off the heads of invaders. In order to defend their homeland, their blood was shed on every inch of land.For this reason, the Japanese army had to take unprecedentedly severe measures. On average, 160 people in Taiwan were equipped with a policeman, and the Baojia system was established, stipulating that anyone who hunted the head of an aborigine would be rewarded with 1,500 yuan. "Beautiful Island", remember this group of people, you were once more beautiful because of having a group of brave people!