When the emperor comes to modern times, history collapses!

Chapter 285: The defeat in the Sino-Japanese War was not unfair; the Japanese fleet was discovered
The Joseon Dynasty and Japan were unreasonable. On the one hand, Keisuke Otori forced the Joseon Dynasty to deny that it was a vassal state of China. On the other hand, he proposed a five-point and 27-article reform plan and forced the Joseon Dynasty to accept it within a time limit.

However, Joseon was pro-Qing at the time, and Sugimura Junsuo, the Japanese ambassador to Joseon, made specious arguments and deliberately slandered the Japanese: "The situation at the time was that the Qing Dynasty, which took advantage of the Korean turmoil to send troops, had secret plans and should have been opposed. However, the Joseon government not only did not have the slightest hatred, but instead sympathized with it."

The Joseon Dynasty was very disgusted with Japan's arrogance and repeatedly urged Japan to withdraw its troops.

Japan's wolfish ambitions are still alive.

Negotiations between the two sides broke down.

On this day, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Ito Yuheng, was preparing to take the Japanese Combined Fleet for a tour around the area and put pressure on the Joseon Dynasty.

"Humph, Japan has changed from a dog to a wolf. How dare the Korean Dynasty deal with Japan? Today, we will go to the coastal area and bark loudly. We will scare them to death."

"What should we do if the Qing Dynasty comes to help the Joseon Dynasty?" The adjutant was a little worried.

The commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Ito Yuheng, said with a contemptuous smile: "If you say that the Qin Emperor, Han Emperor, Tang Emperor and Song Emperor ruled the continent, we are still good dogs. But as for the Qing Dynasty, look at what it has become in recent years. It is good at civil wars but not good at foreign wars. If it really doesn't work, we can ask foreigners to mediate. It can always be done by spending some money. Don't worry."

"That's true. I have to say that the Qing Dynasty was a good regime. If it were any other dynasty, Japan would have no chance."

The weather was nice and the sea was calm.

The Japanese combined fleet sailed on the sea with great confidence.

The navy of the Ten Thousand Dynasties Allied Forces is divided into four extremely powerful fleets: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku, and Black Tortoise.

These four fleets are like four bright stars, each shining with a unique and dazzling light.

Each fleet has an impressive lineup of strength.

They were equipped with 10 majestic dreadnoughts and 6 majestic pre-dreadnoughts; in addition, there were 5 agile battlecruisers as the backbone, plus numerous cruisers, destroyers and other support and auxiliary ships.

Not only that, Zhu Ming also confiscated a large number of warships from other countries during the Dalong Dynasty, and incorporated all of them into the fleet, except for those used for teaching and research.

During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the total tonnage of Japan's so-called combined fleet was only over 40,000 tons.

However, the scale and strength of any of the four fleets today, namely Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise, are more than ten times greater than it!
Zheng He of Jianwen and Zheng He of Yongle led the Azure Dragon Fleet and Suzaku Fleet respectively and marched forward bravely.

You know, the two of them often traveled back and forth between the mainland and Japan between different dynasties, and they knew the shipping routes very well.

At this moment, in the command cabin of the Qinglong Fleet, Zheng He and Lai Huer were concentrating on studying the precious information that Zhu Ming brought from later generations.

Zheng He couldn't help but sigh: "Alas, it's such a pity! When the Beiyang Fleet was first established, its strength was clearly far superior to that of Japan. But who would have thought that due to a lack of sufficient funding, many warships gradually fell behind the times. If not for this, the tragedy of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 might have been avoided."

"That's only one aspect. Oh, and call the great dragon Li Hongzhang over."

Soon, Li Hongzhang from Dalong came running over.

Zheng He took out a document and handed it to the other party: "Take a look at it yourself. After reading it, beat yourself up first."

Zhu Ming also looked through various materials obtained from later generations.

There are many reasons for failure.

1. Japan after the Meiji Restoration and the Late Qing Dynasty

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan successfully embarked on the road of capitalist development. This historic change was like a spring breeze, which liberated Japan's productivity to a great extent.

In the economic field, they actively implemented reform measures, boldly learned from Western advanced science and technology and management experience, and vigorously supported industrial production, making the country's economy flourish.

At the same time, Japan attaches great importance to education. Through means such as universal compulsory education, it has cultivated a large number of talents with modern knowledge and skills, injecting continuous vitality into the country's sustainable development.

Japan has firmly embarked on the road of industrialization and has gradually become an emerging country with strong competitiveness.

At the same time, the Qing Empire was still mired in the quagmire of feudal autocracy. The supreme imperial power dominated everything, the court was full of corruption and depravity, and most officials were not motivated to make progress, but only to enjoy themselves.

What is more serious is that the Qing government strictly restricted the thoughts and behaviors of the people and did its best to suppress the spread of new ideas and technological innovation, causing the entire society to be as lifeless as a stagnant pool of water.

As a result, the power gap between the two countries has widened, presenting a sharp contrast of one superior and one inferior, one advancing and one retreating.

2. The Qing Dynasty’s policy of isolation and backward naval construction concepts
The Qing Dynasty implemented a policy of seclusion for a long time, closing its eyes and ears to developments and changes in the outside world, and especially paying little attention to maritime rights and interests.

Although a large number of warships were purchased from Western countries at great expense, the original intention of these actions was only to protect the mainland, rather than to develop naval power in the true sense. This conservative and unprogressive mindset doomed the country's naval strategy to be passive and vulnerable.

It is regrettable that even though the Qing Dynasty successfully established the most powerful naval fleet in Asia at that time in 1888, the Qing government was unwilling to invest even a penny in naval construction afterwards.

In sharp contrast, Japan was keenly aware early on of the crucial importance of sea power to the rise of a country.

The emperor spared no effort to save money, and the Japanese donated money enthusiastically, and the whole country worked hard to develop the navy. In the end, a strong and aggressive navy was created, ready to expand outward and compete for more interests.

three,

During the Meiji Restoration, the small island nation of Japan ambitiously formulated a series of astonishing expansion plans. They attempted to conquer Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria, Mongolia, and even the entire Qing Dynasty step by step, and even dominate the world. To this end, they spared no effort to vigorously develop the arms industry and actively build an advanced and powerful naval force.

In 1890, Japan's military expenditure accounted for a full % of its national budget!
Just two years later, in 1892, this proportion rose to an astonishing percent.

In contrast, during the same period, the Qing Dynasty's total military expenditure from 1875 to 1894 was only 4600 million taels of silver, and its investment in military industry was only 4200 million taels, totaling only 8800 million taels.

In sharp contrast, Japan's military expenditure in just a few years from 1888 to 1895 reached 4.63 million taels of silver. This figure is simply staggering, because it is 5.2 times the total military expenditure of the Qing Dynasty in years!
You know, naval construction has always been an extremely costly undertaking.

Purchasing brand new warships, acquiring powerful advanced cannons, purchasing countless shells, and paying a large amount of military salaries all require huge amounts of money.

However, the pitifully small funds allocated to the Qing Navy at that time were barely enough to maintain the daily operations of the fleet, let alone push it forward for further development and growth.

The reason why the Wan Chao Allied Forces Navy has such impressive strength today is that the efforts and hard work it has put in are immeasurable.

You know, this powerful maritime force was created with the collective wisdom and resources of nearly twenty emperors!

And during this process, Zhu Ming directly introduced a large number of outstanding talents from later generations, and brought in advanced technical information, various factory facilities and other important resources, thereby greatly saving the massive capital investment that would have been required.

If not, the Wan Dynasty Navy would never have reached its current strength. The Great Dragon Dynasty would not have been able to dominate the world in its time. If you want countries around the world to learn Chinese, you can't just talk about it. You must have real and powerful strength as a solid backing.

By the time of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the Qing navy had exposed a series of problems.

First, its fleet had obvious disadvantages in speed and insufficient tonnage.

Due to the long-term lack of sufficient financial support, the Qing Navy had to use low-quality coal as power fuel. This low-quality coal produced billowing smoke when burned, which not only made the fleet easily expose its position and become a conspicuous target for enemy attack, but also caused serious damage to the boilers. More importantly, it greatly restricted the sailing speed of the ships.

The Beiyang Fleet's speed could only be maintained at around 8 to 9 knots.
Relying on advanced technology and sufficient funds, the Japanese Navy increased the speed of its fleet to an astonishing 14 to 15 knots.

In addition, the gap in the size of the two sides' fleets is also significant.

At that time, the Beiyang Fleet had a total of 25 warships of various sizes, in addition to 50 auxiliary warships and 30 transport ships. The number of its officers and soldiers was more than 4000, and the total displacement tonnage of all ships reached 3.4 tons.

The Japanese Navy has as many as 32 warships and 24 torpedo boats, with a total displacement of up to 72000 tons!
In terms of firepower, protection, etc., the Beiyang Fleet was at a disadvantage.

Furthermore, the naval guns equipped by the Beiyang Fleet were also very outdated, with slow firing rates and poor performance. The number of their shells was scarce, and most of them were of poor performance. Especially those 305mm main guns, which could only fire one shell every 3 minutes on average, and these shells were mainly armor-piercing shells filled with sand and gravel, with limited explosive power.

The Japanese navy was equipped with a large number of rapid-fire guns, which could fire 5 to 10 shells per minute, and all the shells used were highly efficient gunpowder shells, which could cause large-scale explosions once they hit the target, causing huge damage.

As the battle progressed, the Beiyang Fleet gradually fell into a desperate situation of running out of ammunition.

At this critical moment of life and death, the brave and fearless soldiers could only drive their warships towards the Japanese fleet with full of grief and determination, and defend their last dignity with a heroic collision.

Unfortunately, faced with the enemy's powerful firepower advantage, the brave warriors who were ready to die still failed to turn the tide of the battle. One warship after another was sunk and sank into the depths of the cold and dark sea...

4. The Qing government was corrupt and the Beiyang Navy’s funds were misappropriated.

In order to celebrate Empress Dowager Cixi's birthday and build the Summer Palace, she embezzled 1200 million taels of silver from the Qing navy.

This made the already cash-strapped Beiyang Fleet even worse, as they didn't even have money to buy artillery shells or explosives.

5. The factional struggle between Li Weng and He in the Qing Dynasty led to the withholding of funds.

Li Zhongtang belonged to the Empress' Party, and Weng Tonghe belonged to the Emperor's Party. There were many conflicts between the two sides. The Ministry of Revenue, headed by Weng Tonghe, found various excuses to block the allocation of funds for the Qing Dynasty's navy, resulting in the Qing Dynasty's navy being unable to prepare for war normally.

6. Failure in the intelligence war.

The Qing Dynasty had a wrong understanding of Japan's national conditions and a wrong assessment of Japan's military strength. Japan launched the war with all its strength, while the Qing Dynasty rushed into the war without sufficient preparation.

Japan had long ago sent a large number of spies to infiltrate the Qing Dynasty and obtained a large amount of secret intelligence.

Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, due to negligence, the Qing Dynasty's telegram code was cracked by Japan. Japan was well aware of the Qing Dynasty's military deployment and every move.

7. Poor coordination and combat capabilities and weak military command.

On September 1894, 9, the Beiyang Fleet fought bravely and tragically in the Battle of the Yellow Sea.

In the five-hour battle, the Beiyang Fleet lost five warships, namely the Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong, Yangwei and Guangjia, and more than a thousand officers and soldiers were killed or wounded.
Five ships of the Japanese fleet, "Matsushima", "Yoshino", "Hiei", "Akagi" and "Saikyō Maru", were seriously damaged.

This battle also exposed the Beiyang Fleet's lack of coordinated combat capabilities.

The Japanese torpedo boats had not yet arrived at the battlefield, and the four torpedo boats of the Beiyang Fleet had not been able to play a role.

After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Li Zhongtang ordered the Beiyang Fleet to hide in the Weiwei Military Port to avoid the battle, completely losing control of the sea. Later, the Japanese invaded by land and sea, and the Beiyang Fleet was completely annihilated.

Li Hongzhi's blind command and defensive tactics made the Beiyang Fleet completely passive and ultimately destroyed, and he bears an unshirkable responsibility for this.

During the entire Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Nanyang Fleet did not send out any warships to support the Beiyang Fleet. The Beiyang Fleet fought alone and its strength was exhausted. The top leaders lacked the ability to coordinate operations as a whole.

8. Lack of morale and fighting spirit.

The morale of the Beiyang Fleet was good during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, but after the defeat, morale dropped significantly.

Before Japan attacked the Port Arthur Fortress, the highest commander of the Qing army fled without a fight, allowing Japan to successfully occupy the Port Arthur Fortress.

The Qing government was fundamentally concerned with preserving its ruling status and had no determination to engage in a decisive battle with the Japanese navy.

The subsequent defensive tactics were a failure caused by the poor fighting willpower of the Qing Dynasty’s top leaders.

Due to various reasons, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 was doomed to failure.

About 63 Qing troops participated in the war, and about 24 Japanese troops participated in the war.

In the end, 3.15 Qing soldiers were killed, and 13306 Japanese soldiers died (1132 of them were killed in battle, and the rest were non-combat casualties).
Xiao Li finished reading the information.

I can’t help but wonder how my past self decades from now will be completely different from my present self.

He did not doubt the authenticity of the information. There was no need for his majesty to make up false information. Xiao Li even speculated that the situation in history might be even worse.

"Pop"

After slapping himself a few times, Xiao Li shouted, "Commander, I will apply for confinement and accept all punishments!"

Zheng He waved his hands and said, "Alright, alright. I'm not letting you watch to punish you. You are a talented person. Study hard. We are not far from Japan now. If you meet the Japanese in the future, beat them to death."

Zhu Ming looked through the telescope.

A fleet appeared in the distance.

"Look, is that the devil's fleet?"

Zheng He and his companions watched carefully for a moment and became very excited: "Yes, it is them. I didn't expect to meet them so soon. They are sailing at a fast speed. It seems to be their first guerrilla team. The data shows that the average speed is 19.4 knots."

(End of this chapter)