In 1888, the Beiyang Navy was established, and young people who went to study in Britain and the United States returned in iron-clad ships. The Qing Dynasty had its own powerful navy, and the court thought it could finally sit back and relax this time. So, corruption should be done, and internal fighting should be done.
Guangxu's biological father, Prime Minister of the Navy, Prince Chun, Yixuan, collected money from various places in the name of raising naval military expenses, and deducted money from the military expenses to build the garden for the Empress Dowager Cixi. The purpose was to allow the Empress Dowager to move into a nursing home quickly and transfer power to Guangxu. This directly caused the Beiyang Navy's armaments to no longer be updated and stopped forever in 1888. On the other side, the Emperor of Japan took the lead in the national struggle and made a desperate move to expand the navy. So six years later, the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War at Dadonggou was the first ironclad war in human history.
The data comparison between the two sides is this. The number of warships participating in the war is twelve on both sides. The leader of the Qing Dynasty was the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships launched in 188182. The leader of Japan was only launched in 1892, ten years ahead of the Yoshino and Matsushima. The Beiyang Fleet has a total of fifty-eight large-caliber artillery pieces, which are aimed with old-fashioned sextants, and the Japanese Navy has one hundred and four artillery pieces, which are aimed with automatic sights. The Japanese Navy has 68 of the most advanced large-caliber rapid-fire guns, while the Beiyang Navy has none.
The average speed of the Beiyang Fleet is ten knots, and the average speed of the Japanese fleet is sixteen knots. Their maneuverability is completely exhausted. The ships at that time needed to burn coal, and the Beiyang Fleet's logistics supply army purchased cheap coal mines and was unwilling to sell high-quality coal to the army. As a result, the public fleet was full of low-quality cinders, which were not fully burned and produced large amounts of ash. Therefore, the sky above the Beiyang Fleet was filled with black smoke. It was discovered by the Japanese army an hour in advance. The exposure of the position was the most critical. Even the artillery shells were hugely different. The Beiyang Fleet used seventeenth generation and homemade bombs. The bombs were stuffed The ones used were black powder, which was low in power and had many duds, while the Japanese army used a new type of explosives filled with high explosives imitating TNT. Under such conditions, the two sides ushered in a decisive battle due to unexpected encounters.
On the battlefield at that time, because Beiyang's artillery was all on the bow, the average speed could not keep up with the Japanese army, so the commander ordered the fleet to use Dingyuan and Zhenyuan as the forwards. When they waited for a mini-charge, they wanted to engage in hand-to-hand combat and form a melee. The Japanese army had a speed advantage, and the Japanese army formed a long snake formation and attacked with dense artillery on the side of the ship. At the same time, the four most elite warships were dispatched. Under the leadership of the eldest brother Yoshino, they went straight to the right wing to attack the two worst old ships in Beiyang, Yang Wei and Chaoyong. Soon Chaoyong and Yangwei withdrew from the battlefield with one sink and one injured. The remaining Japanese fleet also made mistakes. Facing the charging Beiyang warships, four ships fell behind. Among them, the two ships, Sui Jingwan and Fuso, ran fast and escaped. The remaining Akagi and Hiei were hit by several salvos from the Beiyang army, and all of them were seriously injured. However, none of them sank, and they withdrew from the battlefield with injuries. In fact, the two sides were evenly matched. Then Beiyang's torpedo boats suddenly rushed out and fired torpedoes continuously in the face of the Japanese fleeing Sui Jingwan and Akagi. Unfortunately, they were either dodged or missed. The torpedo boat Fulong chose to charge and fired torpedoes at close range. However, because the distance was too close, the torpedo did not have time to float up and passed under the Japanese warship, and once again failed. At this point in the war, the gap in weapons began to gradually appear, and Beiyang became more and more passive. At this moment, the heavy ship Dingyuan, the leading eldest brother in Beiyang, was burned by a raging fire. The captain of the Zhiyuan, Deng Shichang, drove the ship to the front of Dingyuan, blocked the shells for his eldest brother, and successfully saved the Dingyuan. The Zhiyuan, which was tilted with water in many places and seriously injured, did not choose to escape. Instead, it turned around and rushed towards the Yoshino, hoping to die with him. It's a pity that it didn't succeed in the end. Deng Shichang refused rescue and sank into the sea with Zhiyuan. This day is his forty-fifth birthday. On the other side of the battlefield, there was another turning point, and the Zhenyuan hit consecutively. If a rapid explosion had occurred when the Japanese flagship Matsushima's shell was inserted into the ammunition, the war might have been rewritten, but it is a pity that history did not. These two shells are now in the Japanese Navy Cemetery and are used as trophies for Japan to keep vigil.From this moment on, the balance of war finally tilted completely towards the Japanese fleet. The two warships Jiyuan and Guangjia turned around and fled, and the other warships also withdrew from the battle due to injuries. The Jingyuan was beaten and sunk, leaving only the two eldest brothers, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, facing the Japanese artillery fire alone. Thousands of shells were hit on the hull, but they still remained standing. As night fell, the Japanese army chose to retreat out of fear of the torpedo boats. The decisive battle of Sino-Japanese War ended in this way, but this was only a naval battle. Immediately afterwards, the Japanese army began to attack, landing from the Yalu River, and went all the way south to Port Arthur. This army also brought Western reporters with them, claiming to be civilization versus barbarism. As a result, they carried out a massacre in Lushun. The soldiers and civilians of Lushun were slaughtered, and only thirty-six people were left to collect their bodies. This day is the 60th birthday celebration of the Empress Dowager Cixi. The woman who has been in charge of the Qing Dynasty since she was 26 years old turns 40. Japan’s 50th birthday when they captured Taiwan. The Sino-French War turned 60 years old. Another army landed from Rongcheng Bay, captured Weihai Haiwei, and turned its artillery to attack the Beiyang Fleet. In the end, the Zhenyuan was stranded. Lin Tai, the commander, committed suicide and martyred his country. The Soldier was blown up by his commander Liu Buchan, who also committed suicide that night. The Beiyang Fleet waited for reinforcements, but no reinforcements came from the beginning to the end. Admiral Ding Ruchang ordered the evacuation of civilians. After the last person was removed, Ding Ruchang committed suicide and died for his country. Guard Zhang Wenxuan and Zhenyuan's successor commander Yang Yonglin also left with them. The Beiyang Fleet was destroyed in one day.
