Why is Fang Boqian, a Beiyang Navy officer who was strictly trained by the Qing Dynasty, a man who is afraid of death?

At the end of the Qing dynasty, a Sino-Japanese naval battle between the Qing army and Japan caused heavy losses to the Beiyang navy in the Qing dynasty, and Japan kept pressing the Qing dynasty. This war has also become an insurmountable hurdle for China people. There are many reasons why the Qing Dynasty was defeated by Japan, so I won't discuss them here. However, after the Sino-Japanese War, a senior general of Beiyang Navy was killed because he fled the battlefield. This man was Fang Boqian, then commander of Beiyang Navy Jiyuan.

There are different views on Fang Boqian in history. Some people say that he is not afraid of death, but wronged. Some people say that as the commander of Jiyuan, he did not listen to the command and lied about his military situation. In fact, he was a villain who was afraid of death.

1894, 17 In September, the Qing navy and the Japanese navy joined forces in Dadonggou, outside the mouth of the Yalu River, and then launched a fierce naval battle. At about 3: 30 in the afternoon, the Zhiyuan was sunk by a Japanese ship, and Fang Boqian was frightened at this time. At this critical moment, Fang Boqian turned the rudder and ran away. In the face of the pursuit of Japanese ships, he hung the Japanese flag first, and then hung the white flag to show surrender and beg for mercy. Seeing that Jiyuan ship was about to be captured by Japanese ships, Wang Guocheng, a sailor on the ship, and others were extremely angry at Fang Boqian's shameless and timid behavior, so they went forward and hit Yoshino with a four-shot tail gun, forcing Jiyuan ship to leave the battlefield and flee hastily.

During Akio Toyoda's encounter, the strength of two cruisers of Beiyang Navy was not as good as that of three warships of Japan's United Fleet. However, Fang Boqian's fear of fighting and his escape with the Japanese flag and white flag are enough to reflect his cowardice. After fleeing back to Weihai, Fang Boqian even lied about his exploits and claimed a great victory, which was shameless.

Fang Boqian was accused by the Qing Dynasty, saying, "First, he ran away, causing confusion among ships. He really chickened out and acted immediately. " At that time, the Qing dynasty was convicted according to the war report written by the navy prefect Ding. The accusation described Fang Boqian as a man without fighting spirit and afraid of death.

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