Although the Qing army performed poorly in the early stages of the war and retreated step by step, in the later stage, with the heroic performance of patriotic general Feng Zicai, the Qing army severely damaged the French army, and the French commander Nigri was seriously injured

Preface

Sino-French War refers to a large-scale land and sea war between December 1883 and April 1885, between the Qing Dynasty and France in northern Vietnam and southeastern coastal areas.

Although the Qing army performed poorly in the early stages and retreated step by step, in the later stage, with the heroic performance of patriotic general Feng Zicai , the Qing army severely damaged the French army, and the French commander Nigri was seriously injured. This battle directly led to the collective collapse of the French Prime Minister Rufery's cabinet.

This is the first time that modern China has achieved military victory over Western powers, and it is France, known as the second most powerful country in the West.

However, the result of the war was shocking. In 1885, the two countries signed the Sino-French New Testament. The Qing court not only recognized France's sovereignty over Vietnam, but was also forced to open trade ports in the mainland of southwest . Since then, Indochina Peninsula became a French colony and the southwest China gateway opened.

This war was also called the great humiliation of "France won if it cannot win, and our country won if it cannot be defeated."

However, behind the "unbeaten defeat" is the severe domestic and international situation of the Qing Dynasty, which forced the Qing ruling group to alleviate the national crisis in this humiliating way.

The fuse of the Sino-French war: France colonized Vietnam and encountered strong blockade by the Qing court

Since ancient times, China has been connected with Vietnam's mountains and rivers, and its lips and teeth are dependent on each other. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang established fifteen "Handle 4 Unsuccessful Country ", and Vietnam is listed among them.

From then on, Vietnam was included in the tribute system by the Central Plains dynasty and became a vassal state of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Ming and Qing governments also regarded Vietnam as a southwest barrier, exerting an important influence on its internal affairs and diplomacy.

3 Since the 19th century, the Western capitalist powers have relied on strong ships and powerful guns to crazily carry out overseas colonial expansion. During the Second Opium War in Britain and France, France invaded southern Vietnam (Jiaozhina) by force, turning its six southern provinces into colonies.

After that, the French army marched north along the Mekong River and marched to Hanoi . In 1874, the Vietnamese authorities were forced to sign a contract with France, giving France the privileges of trade and other trade in the north.

1875, France issued a note to the Qing government and announced the relevant contents, so as to achieve the strategic purpose of occupying Vietnam, excluding the Qing Dynasty, and spy on southwest China.

The Qing court was very impressed with the ambitions of France and refused to recognize the contract. The situation on the Indochina Peninsula suddenly became tense. In 1882, the then French Prime Minister, ordered the Jiaozhichina Navy to head north.

In less than a year, the French army captured many towns near Hanoi. At this time, after more than ten years of "Tongguang Restoration", the national strength rebounded.

Faced with France's aggressiveness, the Qing court decided to fight back. On the one hand, the army of Yunnan and Guangxi provinces entered North Vietnam, and on the other hand, they publicly protested France's aggression.

In March 1885, the first military conflict broke out between the two armies. Qing generals Liu Yongfu and his black flag army took the lead in fighting. More than 30 officers and more than 200 soldiers including French Navy Commander Li Weiye and other French Navy in Vietnam were shot dead.

In anger, France reorganized its arms and started a full-scale war of aggression against Vietnam. In August 1883, France occupied the Vietnamese capital Hue, obtained "protection" against Vietnam, and realized colonial rule over Vietnam. The Sino-French war was about to break out.

From Zhennanguan victory to the Sino-French New Testament, the cowardly ending of the Qing government's "unbeaten and defeated"

In December 1883, the French army launched a raid on the Shanxi area in northern Hanoi. The seven battalions and the Black Flag Army stationed by the Qing army were forced to counterattack, and the Sino-French war officially broke out.

Because the French army was prepared and well-equipped, the Qing army was repelled in just two days and the French army occupied Shanxi. In February 1884, French commander Mi Lejiguba led 16,000 people to continue north to Beining. Although the Qing army had forty battalions, the commander was foolish and cowardly, and the military discipline in the army was deflated. Faced with the attack of the French army, he had no intention of fighting and retreating blindly.

The French army successively captured important military cities such as Beining, Taiyuan and Xinghua in less than two months, and the Qing army was compressed to the Sino-Vietnam border area.

, which was angry and embarrassed, , Cixi, , could only replace a large number of Xinjiang ministers and generals to cover up their defeat, and put the blame on , Prince Gong, and , and comprehensively reorganized , Military Affairs Office.

From June 1884 to early 1885, the French army took advantage of their military advantages to continue to expand their results, launched an attack in Beili, near Lang Son, shooting and killing Qing army representatives, and shelling Qing army positions.

In August 1884, the Qing court issued an edict condemning France for "requiring no military expenditure and making arbitrary demands" and "starting the troops first", and then ordered the land troops to advance quickly.

In February 1885, Feng Zicai, a veteran general stationed in the border town of Guangxi, built a long wall at the pass that spans the east and west ridges, which is seven feet high, three miles long and one meter wide at the bottom. He dug trenches deep outside the wall to build a solid defensive position, ready to take action.

At the end of March, the French army stationed in Langshan were dispatched and rushed towards Nanguan, . Feng Zicai took the lead and led the Qing army out of the wall and fought fiercely with the French army.

Although Feng Zicai was sixty-seven years old, due to his bravery in combat and proper tactical planning, the French army suffered heavy damage. The Qing army took advantage of the victory to pursue Wen Yuan and Lang Son, and drove the French army south of Lang Jia, seriously injured the French commander Nigri.

The victory in Zhennanguan not only eliminated the hidden dangers of China's southwestern border defense, but also made the Qing army turn defeat into victory, while the French army fell into a dilemma of passive defense.

After that, the news of the French defeat was sent back to Paris, and French Prime Minister Rufeli had to resign under the pressure of parliament and public opinion.

Just when the situation was getting better, the Qing court was worried that the so-called "soldiers and soldiers will cause "civilian change" and "mutineering", and took the initiative to request a contract.

For France, why not do this kind of "subjugating the enemy without fighting"? So she agreed to the peace talks. In May 1885, the Qing government appointed Li Hongzhang as the negotiator and negotiated with Badno, the French government representative and ambassador to China, in Tianjin.

The two sides concluded the Sino-French New Testament in the second month. The Qing government not only recognized France's right to protect Vietnam, but also opened two trade ports for France's borders, and promised that the construction of railways in the future should be "commercially operated by French operators."

At this point, Vietnam became a French colony. The Qing Dynasty's forces were not only expelled from the Indochina Peninsula, but also opened its own southwest gate. Western colonists could drive straight through land, and China further became a semi-colonial .

However, behind the "unbeaten defeat" is the serious ruling crisis faced by the Qing court.

The reason why the Qing Dynasty "defeated without defeat" was one: Fujian Navy was completely wiped out, the southeast coast was out of defense, and Taiwan was in danger

Although the Qing Dynasty won the victory in Zhennan Pass, it was defeated in the naval battle with the French army.

When France attacked Liangshan in June 1884, it also combined its fleet stationed in Vietnam into Far East Fleet , appointing Guba as the commander, and headed into Fuzhou and Keelung respectively.

Jilong, Minister of Supervising Taiwan Affairs Liu Mingchuan led the Qing army to resist stubbornly and repel the French attack. After that, the French army organized all naval fleets to launch fierce attacks on the Qing ships stationed in Fuzhou on the 23rd of that month, and the famous ponytail naval battle broke out.

, the Fujian Navy, which was confronted by the French army, was established in 1879. It is China's first modern naval fleet. It has a total of 26 ships of all sizes and sizes, all built by Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau .

flagship "Yangwu" cruiser is China's first modern cruiser , with a cost of up to 254,000 taels of silver. At that time, both in terms of scale and strength, it far exceeded the Beiyang Fleet of the same period.

However, paradoxically, only half an hour after the Battle of Mawei broke out, 11 ships of the Fujian Navy were destroyed, with nearly 800 casualties of officers and soldiers, while only two torpedo boats in the French army were seriously injured and 32 soldiers were killed or killed.

At that time, the Minister of Maritime Affairs of Fujian Association Zhang Peilun was frightened when the French army fired the first shot and fled. The Fujian Governor and the fleet commander also gave up resistance and fled at the last battle.

Of course, except for the head coach's cowardly fighting, the Fujian Navy's equipment was backward, and the hull structure was mostly made of wood, which could not compete with the French ironclad ship at all.After the Fujian Navy was disintegrated, the French ship bombarded the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau and destroyed it. The Qing court's naval construction for more than ten years was instantly destroyed. After

, the French army imposed a maritime blockade on Taiwan and cut off the maritime transportation lines between Zhejiang and Fujian. The entire southeastern coast of China was exposed to the range of French naval guns. However, the Qing court's biggest headache was that Taiwan lost contact with the mainland.

The Qing government was worried that although Taiwan temporarily withstands the French attack under the leadership of Liu Mingchuan, once the war expands, Taiwan that has lost its external contact will be occupied by France. At that time, the Qing court could only sigh, so the Qing court could only compromise and end when it was better after winning the Zhennan Pass.

The reason why the Qing court was "unbeaten but undefeated" was 2: prevent Liu Yongfu and the "Black Flag Army" from growing bigger and reenacting Taiping Heavenly Kingdom tragedy

The so-called "to calm the country before fighting foreign wars". After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War, the Qing court always regarded the domestic peasant uprising as a major concern.

1864, Liu Yongfu, a native of Qinzhou, Guangdong, formed an anti-Qing armed force in Guangxi, called the Black Flag Army, and then entered northern Vietnam to develop its forces, and the Qing court regarded it as a potential threat.

In 1884, the Sino-French War broke out. Out of the need for preparation, the Qing court had to recruit the Black Flag Army to restrain France. The Black Flag Army did fight several beautiful battles in the early stages of the war, successfully blocking France's further expansion. At the same time, the Black Flag Army's influence in Vietnam has gradually grown.

During the entire war, the Qing government spent 30 million taels of silver, of which 12.6 million taels of silver were borrowed from British bank , and the Qing army killed 12,000 people. The only naval fleet established by the Qing court was also destroyed in the war.

In the view of the Qing court, the loss of its own strength is to "contribute to the domestic civil unrest". After the Qing army won the Zhennan Pass, the ruling group led by Cixi believed that France was no longer the main contradiction it faced.

instead curbs various civil forces in China, such as the Black Flag Army. The Black Flag Army itself is entrenched in the southwestern borders of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guangdong, where ethnic class contradictions are prominent.

In the 1850s, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fought all the way from the Guangxi Uprising to Nanjing, so the Qing court was particularly concerned about the civil unrest in the southwest part of .

This can also explain that when the French army was defeated, the Qing court immediately demanded peace talks, so that it could deduct more energy to deal with civil unrest.

The reason why the Qing court "beaten but not defeated" was three: the international situation was not good for itself, and it took a long time to dream of it. Although the Qing army won at Zhennan Pass, the strength of the French army was not greatly damaged, especially its Far East fleet still posed a serious threat to the Qing Dynasty. After the Battle of Zhennanguan, France immediately paid 50 million francs to the French army of Vietnam to support the war. Domestic public opinion showed an overwhelming trend and demanded that war be declared on the Qing Dynasty.

You should know that at that time, France was the second most powerful Western power after Britain, with strong industrial strength. Once the war machine was activated, the consequences would be unimaginable.

From the comparison of the number of casualties, the French army was close to 1 to 10, while the number of French soldiers participating in the war was only one-fifth of the Qing army. In addition, the Qing court was already heavily in debt and was unable to fight a long-lasting war of attrition, so the Qing court was not sure whether to win if it continued to fight. What's even more terrible is that other powerful people in the world stand on the side of France, and Japan is the first to bear the brunt of it. After the war between China and France started, the Qing Dynasty announced that all countries should abide by the 0,000 public law and required them to remain neutral.

Although Japan agreed verbally, it secretly sent a large amount of supplies to France. It also took advantage of the Qing government's war to plan the Jiashen coup in North Korea in 1884, trying to control North Korea, echoing France from south to north.

Although Japan's conspiracy was defeated by the Qing court, the Qing court was already attacked from both sides. At the same time, the British and American powers were also worried that once the Qing Dynasty achieved a comprehensive victory in the war against France, it would further strengthen its determination to oppose the West, and thus endanger its invasion interests in China.

As British Foreign Secretary once said:

"Any victory in China will generally have serious consequences for Europeans."

So in this case, they put pressure on the Qing government to compromise with France as soon as possible. In this way, under the oppression of domestic and international environment, the Qing court could only accept the ridiculous result of "unbeaten defeat".

postscript

After the Sino-French War, the Qing court learned from the lessons of the navy's defeat, began to pay attention to coastal defense construction, and vigorously developed the Beiyang Fleet, spending a lot of money to purchase weapons artillery from the West. Soon, the Beiyang Fleet, dominated by ironclad ships, grew stronger and became the leading maritime force in Asia, and competed with Japanese Joint Fleet ten years later.