Ding Ruchang

Ding Ruchang

Ding Ruchang (November 18, 1836 - February 12, 1895) was born in Shitou Town, Lujiang County, Anhui Province. In the late Qing Dynasty, he was a general of Beiyang Navy.

In his early years, Ding Ruchang joined the Taiping Army and joined the Xiang army. Soon after, he was subordinate to Li Hongzhang's Huai army and took part in the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Nien uprising. In 1879, Li Hongzhang was transferred to Beiyang Navy. In 1881, 200 officers and men of the Beiyang Navy went to Britain to take the "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei" cruisers home.

In 1894, the Sino Japanese War of 1894 broke out. Ding Ruchang commanded the Beiyang navy to fight against the Japanese army in Dadonggou sea battle. Later, the fleet surrendered to Weihaiwei. Guangxu 21 years (1895), Weihaiwei war, against the Japanese siege. Without the order of going to the top of the mountain, they had no choice but to wait for help in the harbor. Finally, when they ran out of ammunition and food, they refused to persuade Japanese general Yidong Youheng to surrender and killed themselves by taking opium. Xuantong two years (1910), vindicate Zhaoxue.

Life of the characters

Early experience

On November 18, 1836, Ding Ruchang was born in Shitou Town, Lujiang County, Anhui Province. Ding Ruchang was born in Fengyang County, Anhui Province. In the early Ming Dynasty, the ancestors moved from Fengyang to Lujiang and joined the army. Later generations became Wei nationality and settled in shizuitou, BEIXIANG, Lujiang County. Their descendants multiplied and their population increased. Later, it was renamed dingjiakan village.

During the Xianfeng Period, Ding Ruchang's family moved to Langzhong village, Gaolin Township, Chaoxian county (now wanglangzhong village, Gaolin Town, Chaohu City, Anhui Province). Ding Ruchang's father, Ding canxun, made a living by farming and lived in poverty. Ding Ruchang had studied in a private school for three years when he was young. Because of his poor family, he had been out of school since he was ten years old. He went out to help people herd cattle, duck and ferry to subsidize his family. When Ding Ruchang was 14 or 15 years old, his father sent him to his uncle's tofu shop as an apprentice.

In the first year of Xianfeng (1851), a serious famine occurred in Lujiang area, and Ding Ruchang's parents died one after another. In December of the third year of Xianfeng (January 1854), the Taiping army occupied Lujiang, and Ding Ruchang was recruited into the Taiping army. Later, he was stationed in Anqing with the Taiping Army and became a subordinate of Cheng Xueqi.

Surrender to the Qing army

In 1861, Anqing was besieged by the Hunan army. Cheng Xueqi, a subordinate of Chen Yucheng of the Taiping army, led Ding Ruchang and other 300 people over the city wall in the middle of the night and surrendered to Zeng Zhengan, the commander of the Hunan army in Jixian pass. Zeng Guoquan, the general of Hunan army, had doubts about these demobilized troops. Every time they fought, they would be in the forefront.

On July 13, Cheng Xueqi and Ding Ruchang, as forerunners, broke through three Taiping barracks outside the north gate of Anqing, cutting off the traffic to the north of Anqing, making the Taiping Army in a more difficult situation. On August 1, Zeng Guoquan commanded Cheng Xueqi and Ding Ruchang to capture Anqing, and all 16000 people below Ye Yunlai were killed.

After the war, Cheng Xueqi was promoted to guerrilla, Dai Hualing as Kaizi camp officer, and Ding Ruchang as Qianzong as Kaizi camp sentry officer. At that time, at the request of the Shanghai gentry, Zeng Guofan ordered Li Hongzhang to form a Huai army to support Shanghai, and transferred Cheng Xueqi's Kaizi camp, which was mostly composed of Anhui people, to Li Hongzhang's command.

In the first year of tongzhi (1862), Cheng Xueqi, Ding Ruchang and others went to Shanghai by ship with Li Hongzhang. In August, Liu Mingchuan cooperated with Mingzi battalion of Liu Mingchuan to fight with Taiping Army in sijiangkou. Seeing Ding Ruchang's bravery, Liu Mingchuan asked Li Hongzhang to transfer Ding Ruchang to Mingzi battalion and still serve as a sentinel officer, commanding 100 soldiers. He was promoted to a battalion officer and was awarded a general.

In 1864, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was defeated. Zeng Guofan went to the north to supervise the division's suppression, and Li Hongzhang acted as governor of Liangjiang to handle the logistics. Ding Ruchang was promoted to deputy general, unified three battalions of the vanguard horse team, and went north with Liu Mingchuan to fight against the Nian Army. In 1868, the eastern Nien army was annihilated by the Qing government. Ding Ruchang was awarded the title of commander in chief, the title of governor, and the title of xieyong batuluyong.

Return from office

In 1874, the Qing government decided to cut down the salary. Liu Mingchuan planned to cut off the 3rd Battalion of Ding Ruchang's horse brigade. Ding Ruchang wrote a letter to protest. Liu Mingchuan was angry that he didn't carry out the order and wanted to kill it. Ding Ruchang heard of the news and went back to his hometown Chaoxian County, where he was saved from death.

In the same year, Japan invaded Taiwan. The Qing government launched a sea defense campaign, and Li Hongzhang urged the purchase of armored ships to handle naval affairs. In 1875, Li Hongzhang was ordered to supervise the Beiyang coastal defense.

Ding Ruchang retired from his post and returned to the field in a gloomy mood. His wife, the Wei family, was born in Zhongxiang, Hubei Province. She was a knowledgeable woman from a scholarly family. She comforted Ding Ruchang: "our family has a few acres of thin farmland, enough to eat, the husband made great achievements, naturally there will be an opportunity, just wait for a while."

After several years at home, Ding Ruchang often thought that Li Hongzhang, governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang trade, was going to Tianjin to take refuge. Li Hongzhang knew Ding Ruchang was "talented and brave", so he said to him, "Liu Mingchuan has a problem with you. If I use you, I will be unhappy with Liu Mingchuan. You should go your separate ways with him! Now I'm going to build a navy, which lacks talent. If you can go to Britain to study Navy and come back after graduation, you will be given the responsibility. "

At that time, Zuo Zongtang, governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, was commanding the Qing army to recover Xinjiang. Knowing Ding Ruchang's bravery, he was sent to Gansu. Li Hongzhang did not want Ding Ruchang to travel westward, so he left him in Tianjin on the ground of "relapse of injury".

Foreign power

In 1879, the Qing government ordered "Zhendong", "Zhenxi", "Zhennan" and "Zhenbei" warships from Britain to come to China. The number of Beiyang warships increased day by day. Li Hongzhang sent brigadier general Ding Ruchang to Beiyang coast defense and sent gunboats to supervise the operation.

In 1880, Li Hongzhang sent Ding Ruchang, Lin taizeng, Deng Shichang and others to Britain to receive the cruisers "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei". During his stay in Britain, Ding Ruchang met with Queen Victoria, visited the commander of the British navy and senior officers, and met with some famous warship designers at that time, leaving a good impression. Taking the opportunity to go to Britain, Ding Ruchang made a special detour to Germany and visited the Dingyuan warship under construction.

In June 1882, the Renwu mutiny broke out in the capital of the Korean Dynasty. The domestic situation was in chaos. The Japanese government decided to take the opportunity to send troops to Korea. The Qing government sent Ding Ruchang and other warships to Korea to observe the situation and prevent it from getting worse.

Ding Ruchang and candidate Dao Ma Jianzhong left Yantai and led the fleet to Incheon, North Korea. The Japanese naval fleet had arrived in advance. Ding Ruchang decided that "the house arrest disaster should be the first to set up Xuanda courtyard, and Li Shi should be the first", so he took the "Weiyuan" back to Tianjin to invite soldiers.

On July 7, Ding Ruchang led ships such as "Weiyuan", "Rixin", "Tai'an" and "Gongbei" to land in Korea, carrying more than 2000 people from Wu Changqing Department of Huai army. On July 13, Ding Ruchang, Wu Changqing, Ma Jianzhong and others designed to capture Lee Shiying, the king of the Korean compound, and escorted him to Tianjin for house arrest, which failed Japan's plan to intervene in North Korea.

On August 29, Li Hongzhang said that the appointed commander-in-chief of Tianjin town was given to Xilin batulu Ding Ruchang. After a long period of military service, he decided to go to England to take the clipper back to China, set up and train the Navy, lay stress on western law, and be able to bear hardships. This time, he made a great contribution to foreign countries. The Qing government rewarded Ding Ruchang for wearing a yellow mandarin jacket.

In 1885, the warships Dingyuan, Zhenyuan and Jiyuan, which were ordered by China in Germany, returned to China. Ding Ruchang and Dao Zhoufu of Tianjin Customs went to check and accept them and held a flag raising ceremony.

In July 1886, Li Hongzhang ordered Ding Ruchang and general chalangwei to lead the main force of Beiyang navy to practice in Pusan, Yuanshan and yongxingwan of Korea, and patrol the ocean. Soon after, Li Hongzhang sent Wu Dacheng and others to survey the border between China and Korea in Eastern Jilin, and ordered Ding Ruchang to lead his fleet to Vladivostok to meet him, and then went to Nagasaki to dock for maintenance.

On July 10, Dingyuan and other warships arrived in Nagasaki, Japan, causing envy and jealousy among the Japanese people. On July 16, the Chinese navy on vacation went ashore and had a fight with the Japanese police and the public. At one time, chalang Willi, the chief commander of Beiyang Navy, was ready to order a war against Japan, but Ding Ruchang stopped him. Finally, China and Japan settled the dispute through diplomatic and legal channels, and Japan compensated China more than 50000 yuan.

Command the Navy

In 1887, the Qing government ordered local governors to select generals for appointment. On July 20, Li Hongzhang submitted the "book of recommending generals" and Ding Ruchang was one of them.

In August 1888, the Qing government established the Beiyang naval system and built a naval office in Weihai. On September 9, the premier, Minister of naval affairs, Prince Yi Chen, issued the "Charter of the Beiyang navy" and officially established the Beiyang Navy.

On September 13, according to Li Hongzhang's nomination, the Navy yamen decided to appoint Ding Ruchang, the commander-in-chief of Tianjin town, the designated commander-in-chief of Beiyang Navy, as the commander-in-chief of the Navy, and soon awarded him the title of minister. According to Ding Ruchang's suggestion, the Qing government set up Naval Academy in Liugong Island of Weihai to train driving and commanding officers; set up mine academy in Dagu and Lushun to train torpedo officers; set up military academy in Shanhaiguan and gun Academy in Weihai to train professional officers at all levels.

During his tenure, Ding Ruchang devoted himself to the construction of the Beiyang Navy and Beiyang coastal defense, but he was not strict enough in the rectification of military discipline, and he listened to Li Hongzhang. Under his leadership, the Beiyang Navy seemed to be Li Jiajun.

In 1891, Ding Ruchang led his fleet to visit Japan. In view of the development of the Japanese Navy, Chen asked the Qing government to buy new ships to enhance the strength of the Beiyang Navy

Chinese PinYin : Ding Ru Chang