What was the detailed history of the 1894 Pyongyang Defense War?

The Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1894 was a shameful war in Chinese history. The war lasted for nine months. The Qing Dynasty lost as many as 60,000 troops and captured more than 3,000 people. It lost the important territory of Korea. Strategic allies, ceded Taiwan to Japan, and allowed Japanese pirate forces to penetrate into the Liaodong area. The result of this war greatly stimulated Japan's ambition to invade China. For this reason, Japan formulated a war national policy with the purpose of occupying China and made long-term preparations. Finally, it launched a war that lasted from 1937 to 1945. Eight years of war of aggression against China. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that this war changed the mutual status of China and Japan as well as the relations between China and Japan, and led to the war between the two countries. However, today's main comments on the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894 attribute the main reasons for the failure of the war to the corruption of the Qing Dynasty's feudal system and the equipment gap with Japan. It seems that the failure of the Qing army had become inevitable before the war began. However, the results of the Ming Dynasty's resistance to Japan and aid to Korea that occurred 300 years before this war were completely opposite. The two wars took place in the same place, faced the same opponent Japan, and the nature of the war was also a war against Japanese aggression. . However, compared with the complete defeat of the Sino-Japanese War in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 by the Manchu Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty successfully expelled the Japanese pirates from the Korean Peninsula, allowing Japan to huddle in its own land for the next 200 years, not daring to step beyond the border. From this we should realize that the Qing Dynasty's defeat was not inevitable, and the Qing Dynasty was fully capable of winning that war. It was the mistakes of the Qing rulers and officials that ruined the good war situation and caused the Qing army to lose the war in the end. 1. Comparison from the perspective of the enemy (Japan) Compared with the military strength of the Japanese army in 1592 and that of the Japanese army in 1893, there are many similarities and differences. However, the status of its military strength in the international arena is quite different. In 1592, Japan had just completed domestic unification. Toyotomi Hideyoshi has always attached great importance to militarism education. From the moment he took power, he made the destruction of the Ming Dynasty a national policy and formulated a three-step plan for ten years: the first step is to destroy North Korea within three years; the second step is to destroy North Korea within three years. Within five years, the Ming Dynasty was destroyed and the capital was moved to Beijing. The third step was to march into Annan and other countries, destroy India and India, and dominate the world. Many scholars today deride this plan as insanely feeble. But judging from Japan's military strength at the time, he still had certain reasons for making such a decision. The country has been unified and its political power is flourishing. The Japanese army has a total of 300,000 troops. They have participated in the Japanese Civil War for many years. They have extremely rich combat experience and unprecedentedly powerful combat effectiveness. They can be said to be a tiger and wolf division. From the perspective of the army, the Japanese army is fully equipped. Especially due to the need to win the civil war, Japan attaches great importance to the development of firearms and has purchased firearms from Portuguese and other colonists for many years. The advanced level of its firearms is even higher than that of the Ming Dynasty in some aspects (according to Japanese historical records, the war of aggression against Korea In the past, Japan had as many as 60,000 troops equipped with firearms, accounting for nearly one-tenth of the total army). Under the encouragement of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's militaristic ideas, the morale of Japanese soldiers was unprecedentedly high; at the same time, Japan's cavalry troops were also quite powerful. , the troops are heavily armored and have strong defensive capabilities. Its officers are also veterans of the Japanese Civil War and have considerable combat experience. From a naval point of view, Japan has as many as a thousand warships of various types, and its gunboats are imitations of Portuguese warships. , carries many guns, has strong firepower and rapid impact. From the perspective of the world at that time, Japan's military strength was also jaw-dropping. (At that time, Europe was still full of small countries. Although Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries could show off their power in Southeast Asia, their national military strength was only 40,000 to 50,000 people. The Ottoman Turkish Empire dominated the Middle East, but its national military strength was only about 200,000 people. During the Battle of Constantinople, most of the 500,000 Turkish troops were surrendered by various countries. By the 16th century, Turkey's power declined and its military strength was greatly reduced, far from being comparable to that of Japan at the same time. During the same period, Britain and Spain engaged in a naval battle between the "Invincible Fleet" and the "British Imperial Fleet." The total number of ships used by the two countries was not as large as the number of ships used by Japan when it launched the war of aggression against Korea. The Lefando naval battle between the National Combined Fleet and the Turkish Royal Fleet was far smaller in scale and firepower than the Sino-Japanese Luliang naval battle. Therefore, it is probably not an exaggeration to say that Japan was the second most powerful military power in the world after the Ming Dynasty at that time. ) Moreover, before the Ming Dynasty entered the war, Japan had occupied most of the strategic locations in northern Korea and had obvious geographical advantages. If the Ming Dynasty wanted to attack Japan, it would have to carry out a fierce offensive, and this was precisely the strength of Japan's superior firearms.

Before the Japanese invasion of Korea began, Shi Xing, the supreme commander of the Ming Dynasty's army, advocated peace. What he worried about was the strong combat effectiveness of the Japanese army. But Japan in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894 was completely different. At that time, Japan's military strength had been greatly enhanced after the Meiji Restoration, but compared with its European and American countries at the same time, there was still a big gap. According to Japanese Prime Minister Itou Hirobumi's report to the emperor, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, Japan's available military strength combined by land and sea was only over 80,000 people. Although the Japanese Navy has worked hard for many years and purchased warships from Europe and the United States, its fleet strength is far inferior to that of the United Kingdom and the United States, and it is not even superior to the Beiyang Navy. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1888-1894, Japan concentrated its efforts across the country to form the Japanese Combined Fleet. The total number of ships is only 25, which is barely the same as the number of ships of the Beiyang Navy. Most of the Japanese Combined Fleet warships are small and medium-sized warships. Only Yoshino and four other warships can equal the tonnage of the Beiyang Navy's battleships, but are far lower than the two heavy iron-clad ships of the Beiyang Navy, Dingyuan and Jiyuan. In ocean warfare, without missiles, fleet tonnage is the key factor that determines victory or defeat. What's more, in addition to the Beiyang Fleet, the Qing Dynasty also had Nanyang, Guangdong and other fleets. If the entire navy was devoted to the Sino-Japanese War, it would have an absolute advantage over Japan in terms of fleet number and tonnage. In terms of the army, the Huai Army alone in the Qing Dynasty had more than 70,000 people in Liaodong and Shandong. In addition, North Korea was on the side of the Qing Dynasty at the time, and there were still tens of thousands of troops available. Although Japan had undergone armament reorganization at that time, the basic equipment of its army was similar to that of the Qing Dynasty. What's more, there has been no war in Japan for 20 years, and the Japanese army has relatively little actual combat experience. Most of the Qing generals stationed in North Korea had been tempered by the Sino-French War and the Taiping War, and had rich practical experience. Northern Korea is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the terrain is difficult. Even though the number of troops is about the same, the Qing Dynasty has an absolute advantage. During the Korean War in the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops with overwhelming equipment suffered bloody blows in the dangerous mountains and rivers of North Korea, not to mention Japan, whose equipment was similar to that of the Qing Dynasty. When the war started, the Japanese army and navy fought on two fronts. The navy directly attacked the Beiyang Navy, and the army advanced towards North Korea, which was more conducive to the Qing Dynasty's concentration of superior forces to defeat them one by one. Therefore, when the war began, although Japan was imposing, its weak links were also undoubtedly exposed. All this is undoubtedly beneficial to the Qing Dynasty. 2. From one's own side (Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty) The Ming Dynasty at that time was under the rule of Emperor Wanli. Although the world was still peaceful, its regime had become corrupt and declining. Huang Renyu's "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" has made it clear revealed this. From the military perspective, although the Ming Dynasty had 2 million troops, it was the world's largest military power. However, the army is seriously understaffed. The farmland policy established in the early Ming Dynasty was undermined due to serious land annexation. A large amount of military land was occupied by officials, and soldiers became refugees. The successive defeats against Japanese pirates and Mongols in the mid-Ming Dynasty have reflected the weak combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty army. When Zhang Juzheng was in power, he once described the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty army as "100:1" between the Ming army and the Mongolian army. Although Qi Jiguang later presided over military reforms, the targets of the reforms were only the Ming army in Liaodong and around Beijing. Later, Qi Jiguang was dismissed, and many of his military ideas were abolished. During the Longqing era, due to the surrender of the Tatars, there was no fighting along the Great Wall. A large number of soldiers were disarmed and returned to the fields. The remaining soldiers lacked war experience due to long years of peace, and their training was even more lax. The Ming Dynasty emphasized civility over military affairs, and the status of military attachés was not high. Civilians were used as general commanders and eunuchs were in charge of the army. This severely limited the command ability and combat effectiveness of the troops. Since the death of Zhang Juzheng, the Ming Dynasty has been full of factions and cliques. The battles within the court have spread to the military, which has caused the Ming army generals to act independently, with poor command and serious internal conflicts. In terms of equipment, although the Ming army followed the ratio set by Emperor Yongle of "two points for firearms, three points for swords and spears, and five points for bows and arrows", the equipment of the firearms troops was as high as 1/10. However, the control of firearms in the Ming Dynasty was very strict, and there was a lack of practice during training. A large number of fine firearms were stored in warehouses and have long since rusted. Moreover, because the Ming Dynasty faced the Mongolian army in the north for many years, the Ming Dynasty's firearms had obvious advantages over the Mongolian army. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty did not think about improving firearms and equipment, and a large number of equipment was already outdated. Although firearms were purchased from Portugal during this period, only a small number of troops were equipped. The most elite of the Ming army were undoubtedly the Mosmen Army left by Qi Jiguang and the Liaodong Army of Li Chengliang. The war against Japan was basically dominated by these two armies. In fact, only these two armies can fight Japan. However, the total number of the two armies is only 200,000 to 300,000, which is basically the same as the number of the Japanese army. Moreover, most of the elites of the two armies have to stay to defend the capital, so it is impossible to devote all of them to North Korea.

In terms of the navy, the situation in the Ming Dynasty was even more bleak. The glory of Zheng He's voyages to the West was short-lived, and all the shipbuilding blueprints at that time were burned. The Ming Dynasty never paid much attention to the construction of the navy, and even had nothing to do with the pirate ships of the Japanese pirates. They could only rely on Qi Jiguang's army to annihilate them. Later, Qi Jiguang proposed a defense policy of defending against enemies at sea. But as the Japanese invasion subsided, the construction of the navy also came to an end. In order to defend against the Portuguese invasion, the Guangdong and Fujian areas paid special attention to naval construction and imitated Western warships to form a navy. However, it was relatively far from North Korea. Since the Ming Dynasty started the war in a hurry, it was difficult to fight the fire near by water far away. In fact, it was a long time before the war started. At this stage, Japan had always controlled the sea. It was not until the Ming Dynasty mobilized the whole country to send naval reinforcements that the situation improved. Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty at that time had more navy and army than Japan, it was extremely short of capable soldiers. Compared with Japan, there was a big gap in combat effectiveness and combat experience. Although the firearms equipment was basically the same as Japan, When the Ming Dynasty entered the war, Japan had occupied most of North Korea and had obvious geographical advantages. A large number of Ming Dynasty troops were exposed to Japan's sophisticated firearms. The dangerous combat environment of the Ming Dynasty army can be imagined. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty did not want to escalate the situation before the war. It only sent small-scale troops into the DPRK one after another, which was conducive to the division and encirclement of the highly mobile Japanese army. This was a taboo among military strategists. Although the Qing Dynasty was in its final stage at that time, its military strength was still quite strong, at least not weaker than Japan. Thirty years of Westernization Movement have updated the army's equipment. This has greatly shortened the equipment gap between the Army and European and American countries. Zuo Zongtang put down the Xinjiang Campaign. The powerful combat effectiveness displayed by the Qing army shocked Tsarist Russia and eventually had to revise the Treaty of Iran. Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the Qing army was also highly corrupt and full of factions. Problems such as deduction of military pay and corruption that existed in the Ming army also existed in the Qing army, but the degree of corruption was similar. It's definitely not to the point where we can't fight. This was reflected in the Sino-French war and the recovery of Xinjiang. In fact, throughout the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, the Qing army's spirit of desperate fighting was admirable. What's more, the Qing Dynasty's army that participated in the Sino-Japanese War was mainly Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. The Huai Army was equivalent to Li Hongzhang's private army. Compared with the many factions within the Ming Army, the Huai Army was relatively united. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty did not have the mentally handicapped system of eunuchs to supervise the army, which was conducive to the frontline generals to exert their command capabilities, which was also higher than that of the Ming army in this regard. Although the Qing army has not encountered a major war for twenty years since the Taiping War, the war with France still effectively tempered the combat effectiveness of the troops and accumulated experience in modern warfare. In this regard, Japan is blank. Most of the soldiers in the Qing Dynasty were personal subordinates of generals. They were extremely loyal to their generals and were not afraid of death in battle. From the perspective of commanders, most of the Japanese commanders were overseas students who had returned from studying abroad. They had rich theoretical experience but no practical experience. The generals of the Qing army were either veterans of hundreds of battles or students who had returned from studying abroad. They not only had some understanding of modern wars, but also had rich experience in actual combat, which was unmatched by the Japanese army. Compared with the Qing army, the Japanese army was basically a "peace soldier" who had never fought any battles. In terms of the number of troops, the Qing Dynasty had millions in the country, and the new army formed by the Westernization Ministers alone also numbered hundreds of thousands. They were well-equipped, at least not worse than Japan, and the number was far greater than Japan. If all the troops are invested in North Korea, Japan will have an absolute advantage. In terms of navy, the Beiyang Navy is known as the first in Asia and sixth in the world. This is indeed true from the equipment point of view. The two giant howitzers owned by the Beiyang Navy's Dingyuan ship were only a dozen in Europe at the time, and none in Japan. A single hit on Japan can cause serious damage to an enemy ship. During the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Japanese battleship Yoshino was almost knocked out of combat by this cannon, and the flagship Matsushima was almost sunk. What's more, the Qing Dynasty also had two fleets of the same size as the Beiyang Navy. If they were merged into one to form a combined fleet like Japan, it would be an absolute advantage over the Japanese navy. When the war began, the Qing army still occupied large cities such as Pyongyang and strategic locations in northern North Korea. It had obvious geographical advantages and was being reinforced by large troops. Although Japan later gained control of the sea, the Qing army still had the rear area in Liaodong. From these aspects, the Japanese army basically had no chance of winning. 3. Comparison of battle process and results. On July 25, 1894, Japan launched the Battle of Toshima, attacked Chinese troop transports, and launched an undeclared war against the Qing government. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894 broke out. During the nine-month fierce battle, Japan took Pyongyang first. , then go to Kaicheng. Almost annihilating the Qing troops stationed in the DPRK, they rushed towards the Yalu River at lightning speed. The Qing Dynasty did not even have time to form a second line of defense.

At the same time, the Japanese Combined Fleet launched the Yellow Sea War in September, severely damaging the Beiyang Navy, destroying six Beiyang Navy battleships without losing a single ship, and completely gaining control of the sea. From then on, the Beiyang Navy was huddled on Liugong Island, unable to conduct ocean-going operations. Afterwards, Japan broke through the Yalu River defense line in the winter of 1894 and occupied Dalian and Port Arthur. Under the cover of the navy, Japan's First Army landed in Shandong, occupied Weihai Fort, surrounded the Beiyang Navy, and finally wiped out the entire Beiyang Navy. In March 1895, Japan withstood the Qing Dynasty's last reactionary Haicheng counterattack and took advantage of the momentum to capture Yingkou. The Qing Dynasty's 60,000-strong army was defeated. Since then, the Sino-Japanese War has ended with Japan's complete victory. China lost 60,000 troops, and the loss ratio between the enemy and ourselves was as high as 10:1. The most elite Huai Army and Beiyang Navy were almost completely wiped out. After losing the entire North Korea and Dalian, Lushun, Yingkou, Haicheng and other important strategic cities, the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which was humiliating and humiliating the country, and compensated 150 million taels of silver. and ceded Taiwan. Japan used all the compensation from the Qing Dynasty to develop its military industry, and its military power expanded rapidly, becoming a world military power. The Ming Dynasty's War to Resist Japan and Aid Korea lasted seven years, during which the war chief and war ministers fought repeatedly, which dragged down the front line. The war, which was originally going well, had to go through many twists and turns before it was completely victorious. However, despite the corruption in internal affairs, the Ming Dynasty finally won the war. In April 1592, Japan launched an undeclared war on Korea and quickly occupied the entire territory of Korea with a blitzkrieg. (Undeclared war seems to be an effective tactic of Japan.) After several debates within the Ming Dynasty, three months after the fall of Korea, the Ming army entered the country, but it was only a small force of 5,000 people under Zu Chengxun. As a result, the entire army was wiped out by the Japanese army. In order to save face, Ming Dynasty decided to fight. There was no clear goal or precise battle plan in advance for this battle. They just added troops as the situation changed. It was a big failure. However, the Ming Dynasty became serious and soon established its national prestige. After the 40,000 Liaodong Army entered the DPRK, it attacked the throat of Japan with lightning speed. With the total number of the army at a disadvantage (the Japanese army invaded the DPRK with nearly 200,000 troops at the time), they concentrated some of their superior forces to launch the Battle of Pyongyang and reinforced the troops in Japan. Before arriving, they captured Pyongyang in one fell swoop and wiped out 15,000 Japanese troops. Known in history as the Great Victory of Pyongyang. After that, the Ming army stabilized the front line in Busan after a bloody battle. At the same time, the Battle of Longshan launched by the Ming Dynasty completely destroyed Japan's food base. This put the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops who invaded Korea into crisis and caused Japan to send envoys to sue for peace. However, at this time, Shi Xing, the lord and minister of the capital, advocated peace. This ruined the great war situation. After that, the Ming army withdrew from North Korea, and the two sides began long negotiations. During four years of negotiations, Japan used delaying tactics to gain time to re-prepare for war and re-equip 150,000 troops and an elite navy. The Ming Dynasty was unprepared for this, and even Emperor Wanli had drafted a recruitment edict. However, after sufficient preparations, Japan launched a surprise attack on Korea in September 1596, once again launching an undeclared war against Korea. The unprepared North Korea was killed and defeated. The Ming army also retreated steadily due to hasty battles, and most of North Korea fell again. The Liaodong Army only had more than 10,000 troops left to defend Wangjing and await reinforcements. Later, the Ming Dynasty sent 60,000 central troops into North Korea. The Ming army launched a counterattack and won the battle to defend the Han River. Then it turned from defense to offense. Although it failed in the Ulsan attack, it also severely damaged the main force of the Japanese army. Afterwards, it attacked in three directions and recovered North Korea one after another. The main cities in the south divided and surrounded the Japanese troops in several major coastal fortresses. At this point, Japan's defeat was determined. Toyotomi Hideyoshi died in internal and external difficulties. After hearing the news, the Japanese army gathered its navy and retreated hastily, but was ambushed by the Ming Dynasty navy in the Luliang Sea. The largest naval battle of mankind in the 16th century began. After a day of bloody fighting, the Chinese navy won a glorious victory by sinking 450 Japanese warships at the cost of losing more than 100 warships. At this point, the Japanese invading army had been completely wiped out, and the War to Resist Japan and Aid Korea ended with China's complete victory. The processes of the two wars have some similarities: (1) The Japanese pirates both fought undeclared and took the initiative in the early stages of the battle. During the Ming Dynasty's War to Resist Japan and Aid Korea, the Japanese Navy completely destroyed the Korean Navy in the first battle, gained control of the sea, and occupied most of North Korea's strategic locations in just one month. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, Japan attacked Chinese troop transport ships in Toshima and quickly landed on the Korean mainland. At the beginning of both wars, China was in a disadvantageous situation. Especially during the Ming Dynasty's War to Aid Korea, most of the strategic areas were controlled by Japan when the war began. Compared to the Sino-Japanese War of 1888-1894, when the Qing army and Japan were at odds with each other, the situation was even more dangerous. (2) Before the start of the two wars, China was wavering on the issue of war or peace.

Shi Xing, Minister of War of the Ming Dynasty, had always opposed war with Japan. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the Queen Mother of the West and Li Hongzhang also issued strict orders "Do not start a war on your own." They handed over the initiative of the war to Japan. In both wars, China entered the war hastily and was not fully prepared in all aspects. There is a serious shortage of weapons and equipment. (3) In the war, both the Ming and Qing armies fought bravely and even tragically. During the Pyongyang Defense War during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, Japanese corpses were scattered everywhere. Although Japan occupied Pyongyang, it paid a heavy price. Deng Shichang died heroically in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. Later, he was trapped on Liugong Island. Navy Admiral Ding Ruchang fought until he ran out of ammunition and food, and finally committed suicide by taking poison. He did not surrender until his death. The Nieshicheng Army's Yalu River Blockade and Haicheng Counterattack. The fight was even more tragic, with mountains of corpses and rivers of blood. In the Battle of Lushun, every inch of territory must be fought for, and the Japanese pirates became angry and massacred the city to vent their anger. In comparison, the performance of the Ming Army was not inferior. In the Battle of Pyongyang, the Liaodong Army fought one after another and captured Pyongyang with human sea tactics. In the Battle of Yongshan, 300 death squads deviously interspersed and launched an attack behind the Japanese army. After the victory of the battle, Only four members of the Suicide Squad remain. In the battle to defend Kaicheng, Li Rubai defended Kaicheng with all his strength in the face of Japanese troops three times his own. The city wall changed hands several times, but the Japanese were never able to occupy Kaicheng. In the final battle of Luliang, Deng Zilong, deputy commander of the Navy of the Ming Dynasty, died for his country. Although the success or failure of the two wars was different, the soldiers on the front line should be respected. They displayed the national and military might of the Chinese nation. As heroes who sacrificed their lives for our country, they will always be remembered by us. (4) In the war, Japan used all the strength of the country and used all its elites. He has the courage to fight to the death and bet Japan's national destiny on the war. Combat is basically an outlaw style of play. Such a neighbor is always worthy of our vigilance. 4. Reasons and reflections for the different results. It was also a battle against Japan. It was also a situation where the national power and military power were stronger than the opponent. It also had a vast Chinese rear area and superior supplies. It was also a battle between the three armies. The soldiers fought hard and sacrificed their lives. The same is true when facing the Japanese desperado-style play style. Why could the Ming Dynasty win but the Qing Dynasty fail? You must know that both dynasties have reached the end of their ruling stage, and deep internal crises have been hidden under the superficial prosperity. The world attributes the failure of the Qing Dynasty to political corruption and Japan’s military strength, but this view is superficial. Let’s take a look at some of the contrasting situations between the Ming and Qing Dynasties during the entire war! a) After the start of the Korean War, although war and peace disputes continued within the Ming Dynasty, Shi Xing, Minister of the Ministry of War, even persisted in his stubborn stance on peace talks. But Emperor Wanli, who had always been mediocre, was extremely determined to fight this time. Although Zu Chengxun's entire army was wiped out, Emperor Wanli bravely took responsibility and did not punish the relevant generals, nor did he give in to Japan. Instead, he resolutely dispatched the main force of the Liaodong Army to North Korea to participate in the war. The passive situation was quickly reversed. On the other hand, the Qing army, although Emperor Guangxu was full of ambitions, the Empress Dowager Cixi, who held the real power, always wavered on the issue of war or peace. First, she did not make a decision when Japan invaded Korea and missed the opportunity to fight. Then, during the war, No clear combat purpose was announced after the outbreak, which left the frontline generals almost at a loss. The deployment and dispatch of troops are even more chaotic. This led to the rapid collapse of the Qing army and exposed the weak Yalu River defense line to the eyes of the Japanese army. b) The Ming army's command after the war was quite unified, the water and land cooperation was extremely tacit, and the coordinated operations achieved brilliant results. Faced with the crazy attack by the Japanese pirates, the Ming army adopted a proactive strategy and quickly launched a decisive battle with the enemy's main force. They used offense as defense to eliminate the enemy's effective forces to the greatest extent. They quickly took the initiative in the war and suppressed the Japanese army in several major fortresses along the Korean coast. middle. They were forced to escape by sea, and finally gathered in the Luliang Sea area and annihilated them. Although the Qing army fought bravely against the enemy, they fought independently with little coordination and cooperation between them. Especially in the battle to defend Pyongyang, they were obviously not weaker than the Japanese army in terms of numbers, but they ended up with Zuo Baogui fighting alone. In the Beiyang Naval Battle, they gave up their superior geographical advantages and cooperation with sea and land defenses, and prohibited the Beiyang Navy from rescuing the Weihai Fort. The Beiyang Navy watched the land defenses being occupied, and eventually became surrounded and trapped on Liugong Island. Throughout the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty's military command system almost failed. It was passively defensive throughout the war and was beaten everywhere. c) After the war began, the Ming Dynasty quickly began to seize control of the sea, rushed to build new warships, and mobilized almost all the naval forces to gather in North Korea. An absolute advantage over the Japanese fleet soon formed. And successfully destroyed the Japanese navy in the Battle of Luliang. However, the Qing Dynasty was hesitant and even more conservative in the deployment of its navy. First, there was the Battle of Toshima, where two warships faced the Japanese fleet, causing an international joke of flying the white flag.

Later, after the Yellow Sea War, he was even more afraid of the enemy. He only wanted to protect the Beiyang Navy, but not how to annihilate the Japanese fleet. In fact, with the power of the Qing Dynasty's navy at that time, if the Northern and Southern Fleets were concentrated, they would surely kill Japan in the oceans. Unfortunately, the final result of the war was that the Qing Dynasty lost its last fortune. In both wars, Japan's tactics were the same, which was to first seize control of the sea and strategically important areas in North Korea, and then penetrate directly into the Liaodong Peninsula and Shandong Peninsula to force China to surrender and achieve its strategic goal. In fact, this tactic involves great gambling. If you are blocked by your opponent in one place, you will lose everything. Because Japan has a small territory and limited supplies, it is impossible to compete with China for consumption. Both the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty were defeated in the early stages of the war, but the Ming Dynasty was a blocking war, which resulted in consuming the Japanese army's effective strength and delaying the pace of its attack; the Qing Dynasty was defeated. In fact, the outcome of the war was already determined from the moment the war began. Studying the results of the war, we can roughly summarize the following points: 1. In the Sino-Japanese War, China had innate advantages, namely abundant manpower and resources, as well as a vast rear area and long supply lines. If China and Japan go to war, even if Japan can temporarily gain an advantage with superior troops and equipment. But as the war progresses, if the war progresses slowly, its national strength will inevitably be dragged down. The Ming Dynasty's War to Resist Japanese Aggression and Aid Korea lasted for seven years, and Japan was almost driven to the brink of collapse. Civil strife broke out shortly after the war ended, leading to long-term domestic civil war and a slump in national strength for 200 years. Even Zheng Chenggong's father, Zheng Zhilong, sailed across Japan with just a few pirate ships when he was young. Therefore, except for the Tang Dynasty, the policy of war against Japan has always been to prepare for a protracted war. The victory of the Anti-Japanese War also confirmed this. However, the Manchus did not understand that the Queen Mother of the West had expected a quick victory and won the war before her 60th birthday, but the result was a rapid collapse. Then he did not realize his war potential and hurriedly ended the war, even losing his power and humiliating the country. 2. China and Japan are at war, and North Korea is an important strategic battleground. If North Korea is lost, China will be lost. Without Korea, Japan's superior army would have a vast space. North Korea's abundant resources and huge production capacity can also support the war. Our repeated defeats during the eight years of the war of resistance are not unrelated to this. After the Qing Dynasty lost Korea, it also lost most of Liaodong. The Ming Dynasty defended Korea and eventually won the war. 3. The war against Japan is definitely not a local war, let alone a war that can be ended quickly, because every time Japan fights against China, its war machine starts up like crazy. China must prepare for a full-scale war in order to win the final victory. In fact, given China's national strength and foundation, if its war machine is fully activated, its efficiency will be ten times that of Japan. The Ming Dynasty Navy was originally weaker than Japan, but once it was operational, it became extremely powerful. However, the Qing Dynasty government was cautious and only relied on the Huai Army and Beiyang Navy to resist, while other armies were in a wait-and-see state, which ultimately led to the failure of the war. 4. As a ruler, you must have the determination to fight to the end. Once a war decision is made, it must be implemented strictly and there must be no wavering. Although the Chinese military is seriously divided into factions, it still has strong cohesion and core strength as long as it has unified thinking and proper coordination. The complete defeat of the Qing army had a lot to do with the lack of unified thinking within the Qing Dynasty, and it was even more vacillating as a ruler. This caused serious confusion in the command system and almost made the army blind. 5. The Japanese army attacks quickly and has strong impact force, but it also has its obvious weakness, that is, its poor ability to sustain a war. Once it encounters fierce resistance, the war situation will definitely turn around. To deal with an enemy like Japan, we must not adopt a passive defense strategy. That would be like fighting a shadow. We must formulate an active defense policy against Japan and disrupt its offensive formation at the beginning of the war. We must not be passive and conservative. Otherwise, the entire Beiyang Navy will be annihilated.