Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 86: An Unintentional Result
After the French shipbuilding equipment and technicians arrived, Pei Yinsen stepped up the construction. The workers worked day and night. All the equipment entered the corresponding workshops and began the intense debugging work. A tall giant crane was erected next to the dock. After several months of hard work, everything was ready. On a sunny day, Pei Yinsen personally laid the first keel for the new battleship. Various supporting ribs began to be bent under the guidance of French technicians. At the same time, the engine parts were also cast. The project of building the first battleship by the Chinese quietly began.
Fearing that the news of the homemade battleships would cause uneasiness and suspicion among the great powers, Sun Gang deliberately kept a low profile on all his work and did not even show up at the groundbreaking ceremony! As soon as the project started, he strengthened the defense work and even asked Zhili Governor Ding Ruchang, Shengjing General Zengqi and Shandong Governor Li Bingheng to implement "news censorship" in the country, blocking the news of the Beiyang Shipyard and strictly prohibiting it from spreading outside!
In a memorial to Emperor Guangxu, he explained his intentions, "They do not want our navy to flourish, and we have built our own giant ships, which they are deeply jealous of. It is hard to guarantee that they will not attack us before our giant ships are completed. I should keep a low profile, and when my giant ships are in service, they will know about it and can do nothing about it. All I need is for Your Majesty to be patient for a while and plan for a future prosperity."
Perhaps Emperor Guangxu understood his intention, and the memorial was "kept in the palace" without any explanation or reply.
However, some changes in the court still made him feel a little uneasy.
This was actually caused by an unintentional action on his part.
Since the French helped the Beiyang Fleet build a shipyard, the promised military aid also arrived. The French government sent several naval officers to China to help train the navy, but Nanyang and Fujian were not very welcoming to the French (Liu Buxian had a tense relationship with foreign officers when he was in the Beiyang Fleet, and Lin Guoxiang had participated in the Battle of Mawei and was even more hostile to the French). In the end, only one person was left in the Guangdong Fleet, and the others all came to Beiyang. In order to improve the relationship between foreign officers, Lin Tai once submitted a memorial to the court, requesting that all foreign officers of the Beiyang Fleet be given official positions so that they could serve the Chinese navy wholeheartedly. However, his request was rejected by the court on the grounds that "power is in our hands."
Sun Gang understood the court's intention after knowing this. It was afraid that once foreign officers controlled the Chinese navy, it would be difficult to guarantee the position of these foreigners in the event of a war in the future. The court was not wrong to do so. However, the key to the problem was not only in this aspect. As a country lagging behind the West, China was on the difficult journey of modernization. How to fight against control while striving to absorb advanced Western technology and management methods has always been a more important and long-standing issue that has not been well resolved. The last time Liu Buchan took advantage of the "flag withdrawal incident" in Hong Kong to force Lang Weili away, although it showed the correct position of China that "power is in our hands", it also brought many adverse effects. After all, it was during Lang Weili's tenure that the training level of the Beiyang Navy reached its peak. It is an indisputable fact that after Lang Weili left office, the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Navy declined a lot. It is an indisputable fact that the British Hart, who served as the Commissioner of Customs of China, later said to Jin Denggan with glee, "After Lang Weili left, the Chinese themselves messed up the navy. When Lang Weili was in China, the Chinese did not make good use of him." In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Beiyang Fleet's tactics were rigid. When the warships generally had a lower speed than the Japanese Combined Fleet, they attempted to adopt the Austrians' impact and chaos tactics in the Battle of Rissa, and failed to coordinate well. This can only be said to be a big mistake (although this mistake was compensated by the bigger mistake made by the Japanese). Therefore, Lang Weili's resignation is also a painful lesson in the history of China's modern naval development.
In contrast, the Japanese were much smarter. The Japanese Navy was also trained by the British. Colonel Ings of the British Royal Navy made great contributions to the construction of the Japanese Navy. According to Ings's own recollection, when he served in Japan, the Japanese government bestowed him with nobility, so that he could have enough power and status to contact with senior Japanese generals. The Japanese Navy benefited greatly from the British education. When they thought they had reason to walk independently, European officers resigned gracefully. The Japanese "insisted on the path they had embarked on under the guidance of the British. They not only kept the fleet in the same appearance as when Ings left, but also made it more perfect."
Sun Gang did not want the Beiyang Navy to make the same mistake again. After a careful discussion with Lin Tai, he decided that this time he, the Minister of Shipbuilding who was "assisting Beiyang military affairs", would submit a memorial for the treatment of these foreign officers and play a trick of "saving the country in a roundabout way" with the court. Because, unlike the foreigners who deceived or even bullied the Chinese in traditional Chinese modern history books, the foreign employees in the Beiyang Fleet showed a high degree of professionalism and bravery, and showed great loyalty to the Chinese Navy. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, many foreign employees performed extremely bravely in the battle. The British engineer Yu Xier of the Zhiyuan ship sank with the ship; the main gun turret of the Dingyuan ship was hit and caught fire. The British consultant Nigel was hit by shrapnel while fighting the fire. He knew that his injury was serious and difficult to treat, and insisted on not leaving his comrades to bandage his wounds, and finally died heroically; Sun Gang has always admired these foreign friends who died bravely in order to defend China's sea borders. In his heart, they are as great as Dr. Bethune who came to help China in later generations.
In his memorial, he said, "In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, all the foreign crew members on the ships were foreign officials. They were loyal to their mission, had a deep understanding of the greater good, were willing to sacrifice their lives, and were brave enough to fight for China and die for it. If they can be given official positions and appreciated for their sincerity, why should we worry that they will not be used by China?" In order to prevent the court from worrying about foreign officers gaining control of China's military power, he suggested establishing an institution , "so that they can all be our staff officers. It is their responsibility to train soldiers and generals in peacetime and to make plans for the admirals in wartime; it is our power to deploy troops, promote and demote soldiers, and reward and punish soldiers. With separate powers and responsibilities, each can display his or her strengths, and the power is in our hands, so that we will not be constrained by changes." In this way, there would be no need to worry about the military power being controlled by foreign officers, and we could learn from them at the same time. It should be a win-win solution.
Sure enough, soon after the memorial was submitted, the court agreed, saying that "the method is very good", agreed to give official positions to foreigners serving in the Beiyang Navy, and allowed the Beiyang Fleet to establish the "Beiyang Navy Staff Office", which made Sun Gang very happy.
He probably did not expect that this inadvertent move would bring about such profound changes to China's military system.
Now, because of his memorial, a series of unexpected changes took place in the Qing Army.
It turned out that when the news that the German government refused to sell battleships to China under pressure from Britain spread, it triggered a fierce debate within Germany. Many people believed that doing so would not only damage the interests of the German shipbuilding industry, but also reduce Germany's international status. When the German government learned that France might be secretly helping the Chinese navy to seek more interests in the Far East, the Germans immediately took action. Li Hongzhang was ordering artillery from the German Krupp Company to equip the new army. The Germans immediately expressed their willingness to help China train the army. In view of the stable situation in Korea, Li Hongzhang requested the court's approval and transferred Nie Shicheng and other Huai Army units back to Tianjin for concentrated training. However, Master Weng's remark that Li Hongzhang "held the troops and respected himself" played a significant "role" on Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi immediately made major personnel changes. Therefore, Ronglu was appointed as the commander of the infantry (the full name of the commander of the infantry is the commander of the five patrol battalions of the Nine Gates Infantry, with more than 30,000 Eight Banner infantry battalions under his command, mainly responsible for the garrison, security and public security of the capital. The five patrol battalions composed of the Green Camp had more than 10,000 people, who defended the outer city and the suburbs of Beijing respectively). Secondly, the "National Military Affairs Supervision Office" was established, with Prince Gong Yixin as the supervisor, Prince Qing Yixin as the assistant, Li Hongzhang, Ronglu, Weng Tonghe, Li Hongzao and Chang Lin as co-directors. This Military Affairs Supervision Office had enormous power. "All military commanders were under its control. If anyone disobeyed orders, they would be subject to military law." It can be said that the military command power of the whole country was concentrated together. In Sun Gang's view, it was very likely that the last time Emperor Guangxu mobilized the Beiyang Navy to Japan, which made Cixi very worried. This "Military Affairs Supervision Office" should be the "side effect" of the emperor's failure to "ask for instructions" last time.
However, in this way, the concentration of national naval and military power in the central government has certain advantages. It avoids possible local military separatism internally, and once a war breaks out externally, a "total war" with national mobilization can be carried out. There will be no more situation like the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, in which Li Hongzhang said "using the strength of a corner of the Beiyang Navy to fight against the Japanese army of the entire country."
In addition, the "Military Affairs Counselor's Office" was established at the same time in accordance with Sun Gang's suggestion. It was composed of foreign military officers and a small number of Chinese officials who were familiar with Western military affairs. They provided advice to the "National Military Affairs Office" and were responsible for the daily training of the army, giving Sun Gang the illusion that it was the "Joint Chiefs of Staff" of the United States in later generations.
However, the national military supreme command body was still majority Manchus. Sun Gang, who had come from the future and had no idea of the "distinction between Manchus and Han", did not pay enough attention to it.
By the time he discovered the consequences of his "inattention", the situation was already out of his control.
