In the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle more than a hundred years ago, although the Beiyang Marine Division suffered heavy losses, some of the ships still exist. However, in the ensuing Battle of Weihaiwei, a certain senior officer colluded with foreigners to force Admiral Ding Ruchang to surrender to Japan, and in the case of the latter's suicide and martyrdom, he signed a surrender to Japan in his name, handing over all the remaining ships and materials to the people. Afterwards, this person slandered Ding Ruchang for betraying the army and surrendering, causing the latter to be wronged for 15 years. This shameless person was none other than Niu Changchang, who was then promoted by the Weihaiwei Camp Office.
Li Hongzhang appreciated Niu Changchang's talent and constantly promoted him
Niu Chang (牛昶昞字深斋), a native of Xingyang, Henan, was the eldest son of Niu Haoran, the chief soldier of Hebei Town, Henan Province, and was awarded the General Judgement by Enyin Sheng. Although he entered the army by relying on his father's shadow, Niu Changchang still had some ability, so not long after he was selected for the Beijing Division, he was appreciated by Li Hongzhang, the minister of Beiyang and the governor directly subordinate to him, and was promoted to the agency office of the Beiyang Machine Manufacturing Bureau.
During his six years in office, Niu Changchang was recommended by Li Hongzhang as an alternate Dao because of his conscientious work and outstanding achievements, and continued to serve as an official in the province directly under his command. By the time the Sino-Japanese War began (1894), Niu Changchang had been promoted to the weihaiwei battalion office and became a senior officer in the Beiyang Fleet. After the end of the Battle of the Yellow Sea (Dadonggou in the Yellow Sea was the initiator of the Battle of Jiawu), the Beiyang Fleet suffered heavy losses, but some of the ships remained, and Ding Ruchang, the admiral of the Admiralty, honored Li Hongzhang's orders, led the remnants to retreat to Weihaiwei, and thus surrendered the control of the Yellow Sea.
The Beiyang Fleet was defeated in naval battles, but some ships remained
After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Japanese fleet captured Lushun, Dalian and other naval key places, and wanted to cross the Bohai Sea and push directly into Beijing and Tianjin. However, at this time, the Bohai Bay was in a frozen period, which was not convenient for naval landing operations, so the Japanese base camp decided to postpone the implementation of the plan to attack Beijing and Tianjin, and shifted the strategic direction of attack to the Shandong Peninsula in an attempt to capture Weihaiwei and annihilate the remnants of the Beiyang Fleet.
In January 1895, the Battle of Weihaiwei officially began, and in the face of the precarious situation, Ding Ruchang requested to lead the ship to break through, but was refused by Li Hongzhang, who strictly ordered the fleet to stay in the base and wait for the situation to turn around. However, the Japanese offensive became more and more fierce, and the Weihaiwei East and West Mouth Forts fell one after another, forcing Ding Ruchang and others to retreat to Liugong Island and hold the isolated island for assistance. However, at this time, there was an incident in which Niu Changchang and the foreigners in the army jointly coerced Ding Ruchang to surrender.
Ding Ruchang refused to surrender and eventually committed suicide and was martyred
In early February, the foreigners Maglu, Taylor, Haowei, Renell and others planned a surrender to Japan and successfully persuaded Niu Changchang to participate. After the meeting, the foreigners persuaded The Viceroy Ding Ruchang to surrender and avoid making "fearless sacrifices", but Ding Ruchang sternly refused. Niu Changchang saw that Ding Ruchang was unwilling to cooperate, so he plotted with Ma Gelu, Haowei, and others to "advise soldiers" and encouraged soldiers to "petition" in front of Ding Ruchang's office. Niu Changchang, with a large number of people, together with Renel, coerced Ding Ruchang to obey the "will of the people", but was still reprimanded by Ding Ruchang's angry eyes.
However, after this incident, Ding Ruchang felt that the situation was dangerous, and in order to seek a glimmer of life, he called a meeting of generals and foreigners on the 11th to put forward the idea of a breakthrough of the fleet, but was rejected by Niu Changchang and others. Instead of obeying orders, Niu Changchang and others once again coerced Ding Ruchang and his remnants to surrender. Ding Ruchang was so indignant that he committed suicide by taking poison the next night, and before his death, he ordered his adjudicator to cut off his horns, but was delayed by Niu Changchang.
Niu Changchang impersonated Ding Ruchang and signed the instrument of surrender
After Ding Ruchang committed suicide and was martyred, Niu Changchang stole his name to draft a letter of surrender and stamped it with the seal of the Viceroy. Two days later, Niu Changchang boarded the enemy ship Matsushima as a representative of the navy and army, and signed the "Weihai Surrender Treaty" with the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Ito Yuheng, handing over all 11 remaining warships of the Beiyang Fleet, the LiugongDao Battery, and the remaining military equipment to the Japanese army. Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Navy, which Li Hongzhang had worked so hard to run for many years, was completely destroyed.
What is even more infuriating is that Niu Changchang not only forced Ding Ruchang to die, but also "threw dirty water" after his martyrdom and slandered him as a traitor to the Qing court for surrendering. Niu Changchang also claimed that Ding Ruchang was worried about being held accountable by the imperial court, and finally decided to "commit suicide in fear of sin". Instead of finding out the truth, the Qingliu Party and conservatives within the Qing court slandered Ding Ruchang, finally forcing the Guangxu Emperor to severely punish him for not having his family property and not allowing him to be buried, while the real "culprit" Niu Changchang only received a slight dismissal punishment. In the same year, Niu Changchang fell ill and died in Tianjin.
Niu Changchang sent all the remnants of the ship and supplies to Japan
Daoist niu changbing and others wept in the countryside and gathered the western members to plan. Maglu wanted to blackmail Ruchang with the crowd, and the German Renel sneaked admonish: "The hearts of the people have changed, it is better to sink the ship and destroy the fort, surrender with bare hands, and calculate." "Ru Chang obeyed, so that the generals sank the ship at the same time, and should not, so they surrendered the ship, and drank the medicine to death, so the Weihai master burned." All the generals were resented, and Ru Chang was reprimanded. In the second year of the declaration of reunification, the Admiralty was established, and the old general asked for a mercy and was reinstated as an official. See Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Vol. 462, Liechuan 249.
Ding Ruchang was stigmatized for a long time, and his descendants were forced to live in a foreign land because of him, until the second year of Xuan reunification (1910), after the struggle and defense of the Minister of the Navy Zai Xun and the naval commander Sa Zhenbing and others, the Qing court pacified Ding Ruchang against Zhaoxue, at this time it had been 15 years since he was martyred.