The purpose of Li Hongzhang's navy is to frighten and frighten Japan, a "small country" in the east, to continue to maintain the country's stability, and to escort the overall situation of reform and opening up. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

But the Qing court didn't seem to have thought about it, since they couldn't give full play to the true power of these ironclad ships specially used for ocean-going attacks, take the initiative to attack, and destroy the enemies of the country, why did they spend a huge amount of money to buy such expensive "furnishings"?

If it is only to defend the homeland from being invaded again, they have another choice - because, at this moment, a new round of major changes in military technology has appeared, that is, the "revival of land power" brought about by the railway.

The railway "gospel" is inaudible

From ancient times to the present, the core of the army's combat effectiveness is mobility. This is why cavalry often outmaneuvers infantry, and this is the mystery of the Mongol army's small presence across most of Eurasia. Whether it is sea power or land power, the core is mobility. The invention of the railroad in the nineteenth century provided the army with a new power for land fighters.

In 1803, Englishman Richard Trevisick built the first steam locomotive in human history. In 1825, the Englishman George Stephenson designed the "Travel" passenger and freight train successfully tested, accompanied by the first officially operational railway in human history, the Stockton to Darlington Railway. George Stephenson is widely regarded as the "Father of the Railway".

In 1850, when conflict broke out between Prussia and Austria, the Austrians used the railroad to quickly transport 75,000 troops from the capital Vienna and Hungary (then under Austrian rule) to the front line in Bohemia (present-day west-central Czech Republic), forcing the inferior Prussian army to surrender.

Nine years later, France, another potential adversary of Prussia, also took bold action: in the Italian War of 1859, the French army used the railway to send about 600,000 soldiers and nearly 130,000 horses to the front in three months, of which 120,000 arrived at the battlefield in only 11 days, compared to two months without railways.

However, it was Prussia that was the country that finally strategically and effectively developed the military capabilities of the railways. With the efforts of the officer corps of the General Staff Headquarters represented by the famous military theorist Moltke the Elder (1800~1891), Prussia, located in Central Europe, made every effort to build a strategic railway network, gained great internal mobility, and finally laid the cornerstone of German unification through successive victories in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870~1871).

Just as the Qing Dynasty was busy suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a civil war broke out in the United States on the other side of the Pacific (1861~1865), and the strategic value of the railroad was also fully proven in the latter civil war.

Thus, marked by the emergence and strategic use of railways, a new military era has arrived. Because of the high mobility conferred by the railways, which allowed armies to advance at six times the speed of the Napoleonic era (i.e., in the late 18th and early 19th centuries), while the railways could not be built to the sea, the continental countries with vast space benefited far more from it than the maritime ones.

For the Qing Dynasty, which was suffering from internal and external troubles, this could not but be said to be a blessing. Sadly, this gospel has not received the attention it deserves. In the temples of the Qing Dynasty, there are mostly people who chase fame and fortune, although there are some wise people among the people, but people are soft-spoken, and it is difficult to "reach the heavens". All in all, after a long period of seclusion and isolation, it can only be said that a large country with a population of 400 million can really gain insight into the great changes in the world's military situation.

"Horse-drawn train" plays farce

The first railway in the Qing Dynasty was built by British merchants in 1865 (the fourth year of Tongzhi). Durand, a British businessman who wanted to do business, laid an exhibition railway about 0.5 kilometers long outside the Xuanwu Gate in Beijing and started on-site physical advertising.

From today's point of view, this propaganda was really a success, because the rumbling roar of the train stirred the nerves of the entire city of Beijing. It's just that the effect it achieved was exactly the opposite of what Durand expected. After the sensation, the train became a monster. Under the horror of the Qing Dynasty officials and people, this short-lived railway was demolished by order of the Yamen, the commander of the Qing court's infantry army.

The second railway in China appeared in the south of the Yangtze River, from Wusongkou to Shanghai, and was built in 1876 by the British Jardine Matheson. The total length of the railway is 14.5 kilometers, and the locomotive weighs only 15 tons, pulling small passenger cars at a speed of 24~33 kilometers per hour. The purpose of British business is clear: to make a profit for business.

In this regard, the reaction of the Qing Dynasty was absolutely unacceptable. As a result, the Prime Minister Yamen negotiated with the British businessmen to buy the entire railway for 285,000 taels of silver, and then demolished the tracks and trains. After the demolition, it was not sealed and put into storage, but it was planned to be carried to Taiwan by ship and sunk directly into the sea.

It was not until 1877 (the third year of Guangxu) that the Qing Dynasty began to build its first railway: the Tangshan-Xugezhuang Railway. Its purpose, as Tang Tingshu, an important aide of Li Hongzhang, pointed out, was to "make Kaiping's coal industry prosperous, so as to seize the benefits of foreign merchants."

However, due to the conservatives' resolute opposition on the grounds that the railway was too noisy and damaged the leylines, when the 9.7-kilometer-long railway was finally completed in 1881, it could not use steam locomotives, but could only "use mule-drawn coal cars", staging a farce of "horse-drawn trains". At the same time, foreigners' steamships are bringing a steady stream of foreign coal to China's coastal cities for dumping.

Unable to return to the sky, Liu Mingchuan

In the Qing Dynasty and the opposition, the one who realized the military strategic value of the railway earlier was Liu Mingchuan, a soldier from the Huai family.

Liu Mingchuan once made great achievements in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Twist Army under the command of Li Hongzhang, and was forced to resign and return to his hometown Hefei because he was involved in the factional dispute between the Hunan Army and the Huai Army. In 1880, Liu Mingchuan, who was at home, wrote:

"The benefits of railways cannot be described in the fields of transportation, relief, commerce, mining, donations, and travelers, and especially in the use of troops. …… However, as soon as the railway is opened, the east, west, north and south breathe together, depending on the enemy's trend, the camera responds, although it is thousands of miles away, it can be reached in a few days; Millions of people, all in one call. And the combination of soldiers is strong, and the division is weak. In terms of China's eighteen provinces, there are not many soldiers, and the salary is not insufficient, but here and there, each has one heart, and when there are soldiers, they are too busy to take care of themselves, and they are unable to pay and transfer troops. If the railway is completed, the momentum will be connected, the blood will be connected, the troops will be cut and paid, and they will become a strong force, defend the border and the sea, transfer guns and artillery, and the troops stationed in the army can be a guerrilla journey, and the eighteen provinces will be combined into one, and one soldier can be used for more than a dozen soldiers. In the future, the power of military power and salary will be in the imperial court, and the internal weight will be light on the outside, and it will not be controlled by the Xinjiang ministers. ”

Even today, more than 100 years later, this is insightful and resounding.

By this time, Liu Mingchuan's old superior, Li Hongzhang, also had a slight understanding. He once said: "When the army is united, it is strong, and when the army is divided, it is weak." China's border defense and coastal defense are more than 10,000 miles each. If there is equipment everywhere, there is no such effort, and there is no such way. If there is a railway, it will be possible in ten days, although Yunnan, Guizhou, and Ganlong are far away. The defense of the eighteen provinces can be a guerrilla division. In the future, the army will be cut and paid, and it will become a strong force, and it can be gathered. Momentum contact, one soldier can be worth ten soldiers. ”

He also sighed: "At a time when all countries have railways today, but China is unique, such as abandoning boats and cars in the Middle Ages, it will be followed by others at every turn!" ”

It's a pity that Liu Mingchuan's appeal and Li Hongzhang's analysis were ultimately no match for the ignorant clamor of the Manchu Dynasty ministers to protect feng shui.

When the Sino-French War broke out in 1884, the land mobility of the Qing army remained at the level of the first ** war more than 40 years ago. At that time, the French had calculated that if Saigon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam) and Canton were used as the front-line departure bases for both sides, and at the same time the troops and supplies were transported to the front line of Lang Son (present-day northern province of Vietnam) in the war zone, the French army would only need 40 days, but the Qing army would take 4 months!

The Sino-French War, in which China was defeated and France was victorious, once again stimulated the Qing Dynasty and finally prompted a change in the attitude of the Qing court to railway construction. During the Sino-French War, Liu Mingchuan made a comeback, supervised Taiwan's military affairs as the governor of Fujian, and thwarted the French army's military operations to attack Taiwan several times. After the war, when Taiwan was established as a province, Liu Mingchuan became the first governor of Taiwan, and realized his long-cherished wish by laying the first section of the Taiwan Railway to comprehensively promote the modern development of the island.

However, in the broader hinterland, the slight change in the strategic thinking of the Qing imperial family and bureaucracy could not be reflected in concrete actions: from the end of the Sino-French War to the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, only about 400 kilometers of railways were built on more than 10 million square kilometers of land.