In the fifth year of Guangxu, that is, in 1879 AD, Li Hongzhang purchased the world's most advanced "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" first-class ironclad ships from Germany at that time, and placed him in Lushun, but at this time, Lushun had a port and no dock, and the two ironclad ships could not enter the dock for maintenance. At the same time, although docks were also established in Fuzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places, they were not large in scale, and they were all rammed with mud and not strong enough, so it was necessary to build a dock in Lushun.
In order to build a powerful and modern navy, Li Hongzhang, while forming the Beiyang Navy, ordered people to build a large-scale, functional, and good-quality military port in Lushun, and yuan Shikai's uncle was responsible for building the Port of Lushun
Yuan Baoling. In 1882, Yuan Baoling succeeded Huang Ruilan as the general office of the Lushun Dockyard Engineering Office, holding the second position of military and political.
After Yuan Baoling received the task, British, French, and German contractors poured into Lushun City, all wanting to get this lucrative order. At that time, China lacked both technology and talents, funds and materials, and advanced management experience. Yuan Baoling believes that it is necessary to hire a large number of foreigners, so that we can not only introduce the advanced technology of Western engineering construction, but also cultivate a large number of talents for ourselves. In the end, Yuan Baoling was selected, and the Germans won the bid and contracted the construction of a large dock.
At that time, there was no large machinery, all relying on manual excavation, in order to speed up the construction,
Yuan Baoling recruited 12,000 migrant workers from Shandong, Dalian, Lushun and other places, relying on the tactics of the sea of people to accelerate the implementation. In those days, the port was crowded during the day and brightly lit at night.
After nearly ten years of construction, the Lushun Naval Base was finally established, and the forts, docks, ordnance factories, telegraph offices, telephone bureaus, waterworks, and railway stations were established. After the establishment of the seaport, many merchants have also poured in, Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Russia and other countries of businessmen have also settled, Lushun has not only become a modern naval base, but also developed into a modern harbor city, in that era, the whole country is still using kerosene lamps, sending letters, but Lushun is a home electric lamp, the way of communication is also telegraph, telephone.
At that time, the degree of development of Lushun was second to none, not only in Dalian, but also in the whole of China. At the beginning of the 21st century, Lushun Port began to be known as the world's first military port, and even the four major military ports such as Yokosuka Military Port in Japan, Portsmouth Military Port in Britain, Pearl Harbor in the United States, and St. Petersburg Port in Russia were ranked behind them in turn.
Although Lushun Port has built the world's largest military port, the Japanese are already plotting how to occupy Lushun and use this as a bridgehead to further invade the northeast and then annex all of China. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1894, due to the corruption and degeneration of Qing government officials and army generals, the war ended in the disastrous defeat of the Qing army, lushun also fell into the hands of the Japanese, and after the fall of Lushun, the Japanese army carried out a massacre of this military port city for several days. In the decades that followed, Russia and Japan repeatedly competed for Lushun, causing the city to suffer from war.
It was not until August 15, 1945, when the Emperor of Japan announced his unconditional surrender, that the city returned to the embrace of its mother. On August 24, 1945, the first tank units of the Soviet 6th Guards Army arrived in the Brigade Area, and the airborne troops of the Soviet Pacific Fleet also landed at Lushunkou, which ended the 40-year colonial rule of Japanese imperialism in the Dalian area and declared the liberation of Dalian.
In October 1945, the Soviet military management authorities made contact with the representatives of the Communist Party of China in Dalian, and the two sides reached an agreement that the Chinese Communists would send the secretary of the municipal party committee, deputy division commanders and other candidates to manage the brigade. After the founding of New China on October 1, 1949, the Soviet government and the new Chinese government established diplomatic relations, but an independent sovereign state could not have the presence of other countries' armies.
To this end, on December 16, 1949, Mao Zedong personally visited the Soviet Union, first to seek economic assistance from the Soviet Union, and second, to reclaim all the rights and interests of the Lushun, Dalian, and medium-long railways, and to demand the withdrawal of Soviet troops. After two months of negotiations, the Soviet Union finally made concessions and decided to withdraw its troops from Lushun and Dalian.
However, just as the Soviets were preparing to withdraw, the Korean War broke out, and then the Chinese Volunteer Army entered the korean war, at that time China lacked a navy and air force, in order to ensure the security of the Liaodong Peninsula, China asked the Soviet side to postpone the withdrawal of troops and help the Chinese army train naval and air forces.
After the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Soviet army withdrew from Dalian, and the relevant matters in Lushun were put on the agenda. On September 29, 1954, Khrushchev led a Soviet delegation to Beijing, and after participating in the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Khrushchev offered to withdraw his troops from Lushun. On October 12, China and the Soviet Union held a grand signing ceremony at the Zhongnanhai Yinian Hall and signed a communiqué stipulating that the Soviet army would be withdrawn by May 31, 1955, and the equipment in the area would be handed over to China.
Although the Soviets withdrew, their equipment in Lushun was not given to China for free, but needed to be bought at a cost. From February to mid-March 1950, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the People's Liberation Army marched to lushun port to take over the most advanced military port in China at that time. The warriors looked at these majestic cannons and were overjoyed.
In mid-March 1950, the competent cadres at all levels of the Sino-Soviet Navy began to negotiate and appraise the prices of various equipment and materials according to the evaluation standards of "third class and six levels". For the sake of national interests, before the appraisal began, Zhou Xihan, chairman of the Naval Branch of the Lushun Base Receiving Committee and chief of naval staff, told everyone: "This thing must be contested, and all issues involving money must be fought over and bargained." But stop at the right time and pay attention to unity. ”
The Soviet Union, on the other hand, was not the master of losses, and in the face of their national interests, the Soviets, who had always been rude, were also calculating and did not give in. When determining the price of materials, representatives of China and the Soviet Union often compete for the price of a piece of material, and they are unwilling to suffer losses.
When Shi Changhe, chief of staff of the Lushun Coastal Defense Force, and Soviet personnel evaluated the coastal defense equipment, they pointed to a coastal defense gun and said: "The highest is also the third class." The Soviet personnel were not happy to hear this, and said: "At the lowest, we must also be second-class." You say third class, what is the basis? Shi Changhe said, "Look at the years, some of these cannons are still from the World War II period." The Soviet side had nothing to say, but then continued to buckle, even the ammunition box must be evaluated, Shi Changhe said: "There are those who sell matches without matchboxes." The Soviet personnel asked: "Who buys beer and does not return the bottle." If you don't return the bottle, you have to give the bottle money. At this time, Shi Changhe was intimidated by the Soviet personnel and could not speak.
The coastal defense unit alone received 4 180 mm coastal defense guns, 42 130 mm coastal defense guns, 8 100 mm coastal defense guns, 96 85 mm anti-aircraft guns, 26 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, and a railway gun mounted on the rail, worth 270 million rubles.
In particular, the four 180 mm coastal defense guns were very popular with the soldiers, and this gun was the secondary gun on the original cruiser. Cannons like tall buildings have three floors, the first is the artillery, the second is the machinery for transporting shells, and the third is the ammunition depot. There are two types of shells: armor-piercing shells and semi-armor-piercing shells. An armor-piercing bullet weighs 100 kilograms in a single bullet, and the skinny man can't hold it at all, requiring the thrust of two pill packs to fire. In order to receive these four guns, the coastal defense unit formed the 167th Independent Company of Coastal Defense Infantry at Lushun Base, although it was a company, it was a battalion establishment, with more than 300 people, and a special political commissar.
The Soviets handed over a total of 1198 guns, 357 tanks and self-propelled guns, 328 aircraft, 58 ships of various types, 1684 vehicles of various types, 35 radars, and a large number of shells and bombs to the Chinese army in Lushun. Airports, barracks, warehouses, hospitals and other real estate are handed over to China free of charge. Before the handover, the Soviets also helped the PLA train more than 15,000 technicians, ordnance workers, tank soldiers, communication troops, air defense troops, chemical defense troops, logistics and other related personnel.