Why did the brothel on Liu Gongdao destroy Beiyang Navy?

As Liang Qichao said, the dream of awakening our country for 4,000 years actually started from the first day in Wu Jia. There is nothing wrong with this statement, but the background of this statement has a strong political color, paving the way for reform and reform. It can be said that after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the reformist politicians found an opportunity to break the tradition, so they turned the efforts of the late Qing Dynasty into nothing, and at the same time infinitely exaggerated the internal decadent factors, so that future generations regarded the decay of the Qing court as the main reason for their failure. Brothel destroyed Beiyang Navy, just as Liu, a national hero, was vilified as a coward. Those unthinking attacks are all guided by public opinion with ulterior motives.

(Liu Gongdao)

The life of naval officers is mostly extravagant and flashy, and gambling is commonplace. There are many casinos and smoking houses in Liu Gongdao, and there are more than 70 brothels. ? Perspective of navy in late Qing dynasty

There are historical records of Liu Gongdao's visits to cigarette houses and brothels. This historical record is the memoir of Li Xiting, an official of Beiyang Navy. The official position of Beiyang Navy is certainly convincing for Liu Gongdao's record. Therefore, this record has become the first-hand historical data for the study of Beiyang Navy, and the problem of Beiyang Navy's style has also spread. But the time when Li Xiting wrote his memoirs was not 1894- 1895, but after 1900. Because he got the opportunity to land on the island as Xie's aide after the Sino-Japanese War, Li Xiting must have heard of it before the Sino-Japanese War, but he had never seen it.

(Ahava in the Sino-Japanese War)

What is particularly embarrassing is that apart from Li Xiting's observation and records, there was no other historical record of Liu Gongdao's pre-war scene at that time. After all, Liu Gongdao is the foundation of Beiyang Navy and the heart of ahava. How can the Beiyang Navy, which the Qing court allocated 4 million yuan every year, disclose the situation on the island at will? So is there any moisture in Li Xiting's opinion record?

Can the style of Beiyang Navy be proved?

Do the officers and men of Beiyang Navy have romantic habits? The answer is yes. 1886, Beiyang navy prefect Ding led four warships, Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, to visit Nagasaki, Japan. On August 13, more than a dozen Beiyang Navy soldiers landed illegally and had fun in a brothel in Nagasaki. After getting drunk, they clashed with local Japanese. After the brothel reported to the police, two Beiyang Navy soldiers were arrested by the police, but at that time, Japan's national strength was weak, and the police only gave a verbal warning under the instructions of the top management, and then released the two soldiers.

After returning to China, the two soldiers felt disrespectful in a tiny place, so they incited more than 300 soldiers to go ashore, forcibly broke into the local police station, and attacked police officers, killing one on the spot, and the other died after being seriously injured.

(Beiyang officers and soldiers)

Li Hongzhang immediately said that when he returned, he would severely punish the soldiers who made trouble. To put it bluntly, Japan should not interfere in the family affairs of Beiyang Navy. So Li Hongzhang is very defensive. Two days later, on August 15, Li Hongzhang gave the whole ship a day off and allowed the soldiers to go ashore for free activities. Ding banned soldiers from carrying weapons ashore at that time, fearing that soldiers would make trouble again, but some soldiers secretly brought sticks and knives. Then the Qing soldiers ambushed and killed a policeman. Of course, the Japanese side was prepared after suffering losses. This time, hundreds of Qing soldiers were besieged by Japanese police and local people. As a result, five soldiers died, 44 were seriously injured and five were missing. Two Japanese policemen died and 19 was seriously injured.

(military-police conflict)

The expansion of the situation has also brought this matter to the diplomatic level. Lang Weili, an Englishman who was then the director of Beiyang Navy, threatened that if it was not handled properly, he would write to suggest that Britain should break diplomatic relations with Japan, so that beiyang fleet could prepare for the battle and be ready to shell Nagasaki at any time. Therefore, Japan paid reparations to the Qing Dynasty. After this incident, the Japanese side completely aroused the enthusiasm of the people to support national defense construction.