There is no doubt that Japan is the country with the most aggressive wars against our country in modern times. First, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, followed by the Anti-Japanese War that began in 1931. In order to encroach on my country's territory, Japan simply used all the best.
Compared with China-Japan Sino-Japanese Naval Battle , the latter undoubtedly makes the Chinese people more memorable. First, because this war lasted for a full 14 years, and second, because in this war, the Japanese invaders slaughtered 35 million compatriots in our country, which was the most casualties in the history of world wars. The bloody hatred, how dare the Chinese children forget it.
However, looking back at the Sino-Japanese Navy in 1894-1895, it also makes the Chinese people extremely sad. Speaking of the cause of this war, it must be attributed to our vassal state, North Korea, at that time.
Since Japan moved towards the process of capitalist industrialization through Meiji Restoration in 1868, its ambitions for foreign aggression have also expanded together with its growing national strength. Of course, on the one hand, Japan has a small land area and scarce resources, so in order to develop capitalism , it has to choose to expand externally.
and North Korea became their first target. In early 1894, the Dongxue Party Uprising broke out in North Korea, and the Qing government led its troops to suppress it. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Japan also began to mobilize its troops to invade North Korea, attempting to provoke the Sino-Japanese War of 1895.
Of course, as the initiator of the war, Japan was prepared for the Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895. As early as 1890, Emperor Meiji used 60% of the national finance to develop the army, especially the navy. In order to strengthen the strength of the army, the Japanese Emperor did not hesitate to use 20% of his annual palace expenses into military expenditures, and also paid one-tenth of his ministers' salary. It can be said that Japan and the whole country are preparing for this war.
However, the Qing government, which was fighting, was obviously much more passive. At that time, Li Hongzhang 's Westernization Movement was still in a half-baked state. Although Beiyang Navy was established, their equipment and warships were actually not excellent due to the corruption of the Qing government. When the two countries started war, the Beiyang Navy had only 25 warships, and Japan had as many as 32. The huge gap in quantity also determined the defeat of this battle.
Even so, the soldiers of the Beiyang Navy did not retreat, they all fought to the last moment. Especially Deng Shichang, the general in the Yellow Sea Battle, fully implemented the "ship and people" and finally sank into the sea with the "Zhiyuan".
Death in the battlefield may be the ending these Beiyang navy are most willing to see, but not everyone has such good luck. At that time, the Japanese Navy also captured dozens of Qing navy and brought them back to Japan to obtain intelligence. But they did not surrender, not only did they not reveal their military information, but they did not even tell the Japanese army their names.
Finally, the Japanese army was so angry that they were executed. After these naval soldiers died, the Japanese army did not send their bodies back to China, but buried them in Japan on the spot. A hundred years have passed, due to the later demise of the Qing government and the more intense War of Resistance Against Japan, the attention of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 gradually faded, and these unknown martyrs are no longer remembered.
Until 2003, a Japanese student named Yang Haijia discovered the tombstones of these naval soldiers back then. It is covered with moss and has been worshipped for a hundred years. Moreover, their names are not engraved on these tombstones, only two Chinese characters "Pursuit".
Yang Haijia is a graduate student in the history department. By looking up the information and following the map, he finally figured out the story behind these tombstones. A forgotten history slowly unfolds, and the two words on the tombstone contain the humiliation and reluctance of these naval soldiers at that time, and it is also the cry of the unrest of the country in that era, which makes the people of the later generations burst into tears.
Now, these tombstones still stand in a cemetery in the center of Osaka, Japan, and each of them faces the west. Even if they can no longer return to their motherland, they still have to look at their homes from the other side of the ocean.
