Luo Dachun

Luo Dachun

Luo Dachun, formerly known as Dajing, was born in Shibing County, Guizhou Province. Daoguang was born in 1833 in shijiachong, Shibing county (now Nanmen village, Chengguan town). With extraordinary courage and tact, he made many remarkable achievements in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement. He was awarded the title of "Chongyong batulu" by the Qing government, and was praised as "Zhongxing general" by Yu Yue (Zhang Taiyan's teacher and Yu Pingbo's grandfather). At the age of 17, he served as a soldier. At the age of 27, he served as a general. At the age of 28, he served as the commander in chief of Fujian land, Fujian ship administration and acting as the commander in chief of Fujian Navy. At the age of 46, he served as the commander in chief of Hunan. Guangxu 17 years (1891) died of illness, in Fujian Jianning general, 59 years old.

Life of the characters

General Luo Dachun, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty, made great contributions to the development of modern Chinese Navy and made outstanding contributions to the development of Taipei. However, because he was an important general who suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, for many years, no one studied him in depth and little publicized him. Therefore, his deeds are almost submerged by the dust of history. It's time to get rid of the dust.

It is said that Luo Dachun was conceived by his mother in her dream of meeting a fairy who gave him a peach. As soon as he was born, there was a strange sign: a catalpa tree in front of the door actually circled and grew into a unicorn. However, these signs did not bring him a good childhood. Because of his father's lawsuit, he left school at the age of eight. At the age of eleven, her mother died of illness. In order to bury his mother, his father sold all the property in the family. At the age of 13, he went out to the world alone. Go to Guiyang, Sichuan, Yunnan and Myanmar. When he returned home at the age of 16, he was homeless - his father was wandering outside, and some of his old houses had been sold to others. In order to survive, he resolutely embarked on the road of serving as a soldier.

"Since ancient times, great men have suffered more than great men." It is the youth's tribulation and adventure that makes him courageous and smart. It was with his courage and wisdom that he made his life brilliant step by step in the future.

Luo Dachun also experienced many setbacks when he was a soldier. First, he heard about the triad uprising in Hunan and the recruitment of officers and soldiers, so he went to Hunan. By the time he ran to Hunan, the triad uprising had been put down. He also heard that the triad in Guangxi had started, that Guangxi had recruited soldiers, and that he had run to Guangxi. Along the way, he had no company, no money, and was seriously ill. But with his extraordinary perseverance and tenacity, he finally met a migrant worker team transporting ammunition and grain for the army in Guzhou (Rongjiang) and became a temporary transport member. Because he didn't have an acquaintance to recommend him, he couldn't be a soldier, he could only be a temporary worker. Because of the repeated defeats of the Qing army, the commander had no choice but to order: "no matter the commander Yu Ding, there are those who can bravely kill thieves and perform meritorious deeds, they will be rewarded with the soldiers." This brought a turning point to Luo Dachun's fate.

On November 29th, 1849, Luo Dachun took part in the fight against the triad uprising army for the first time in Jintian village, Guangxi. In the battle, he was resourceful and brave, and made great achievements. After the war, he not only got a reward of 40 Liang silver, but also became a regular soldier immediately. But the chief thought that his name "Dajing" and "Dajing" were homophonic and unlucky, so he changed it to Dachun.

Since then, with courage and tact, Luo Dachun has come to the fore in the battle with the Taiping army. In just ten years, he became a brave general from an ordinary soldier.

"Batulu" awarded to the three brave armies

Luo Dachun experienced many battles in his life. However, what made Luo Dachun famous in the Qing and Taiping armies was the battle of langganshan and lvtingyi.

In 1856, Chen Zhaoying, the famous general of Taiping, led the Taiping army. In the case of running out of ammunition and food, and the reinforcements were defeated, Luo Dachun, who was then designated as the garrison, volunteered to lead the troops to break through the encirclement and fight for the army. In the battle, he took the lead, and his soldiers fought to break through. As a result, the Taiping army was defeated and more than 40 barracks were destroyed. Chen Yucheng and Li Zhaoshou abandoned their horses and hid in the bushes. This battle not only made Luo Dachun famous in the Qing army, but also the Taiping Army regarded him as a strong enemy, and offered a reward to catch him: "you can meet the two armies, capture Luo Mou alive, and attack with gold 100, yellow robes, long and short coats. His soldiers are also appointed to the general system, and his officials are promoted to three levels This reward is unique in the history of the Taiping army.

In the campaign of the Qing army besieging Nanjing, jiufuzhou was an important fortress of the Taiping Army on the North Bank of the Yangtze River. It was a great threat to the Jiangnan camp of the Qing army. The Qing army failed to attack many times and suffered heavy casualties. The commander of Qing army had to send Luo Dachun to attack. He took the method of surprise attack and close combat to attack the fort. Although he was promoted to the rank of general of the Chinese army at this time, he was still the first to enter the artillery hole and break the fortress of the Taiping army. Thus, the threat of the Taiping army to the Jiangnan camp of the Qing army was eliminated. In recognition of Luo Dachun's military achievements, the Qing government issued a decree to award him the title of "Chong Yong batulu" (batulu, Manchu for the meaning of bravery over the general of the three armies). According to relevant statistics, in the 268 years of the Qing Dynasty, only 33 people were awarded this title.

Strict military discipline and care for the people

Luo Dachun is well-known for his strict military discipline and his love for the people. Even Li Hongzhang, who had never met him before, praised him as "brave, good at fighting and popular".

In 1852, when the Taiping army attacked Changsha, Luo Dachun's troops were ordered to go to the rescue. When passing by Xiangtan, the Qing army relaxed its discipline, robbed and raped, and committed all kinds of crimes. Luo Dachun was ordered to maintain order. Holding a "letter arrow", he not only severely punished the criminals in the Qing army, but also placed more than 100 women in the camp and sent soldiers to patrol all night to protect them.

In the battle of Langan mountain and lvyiting, the Qing army was besieged by the Taiping army for more than 20 days and was about to run out of ammunition and food. At the critical moment, commander Qin Dingsan asked Luo Dachun to sneak out of the barracks to raise food and ammunition for the troops. Due to Luo Dachun's strict discipline in Guizhou army, it is said that Luo Dachun came to raise grain, and the local people all offered their only grain one after another. In a short time, 110 grains were raised, and more than 300 people took the initiative to transport grain and ammunition for him. Such a well disciplined army was rare in the Qing Dynasty.

Even when Luo Dachun was dismissed from his job and went home to work, he was still concerned about the sufferings of the people. At the end of each year, he would go to the four townships of Quzhou to have a look. If he found that he had difficulties in life, he would give financial assistance. Therefore, in Quzhou, his second hometown, he is also deeply loved by the local people. There are many stories about him caring for the people and leading them to develop production.

Breaking into the enemy's camp alone, he said he would surrender 400000 Nien troops

In the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854), the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu was surrounded by Nien troops in the area of Liuhu. Luo Dachun's troops were ordered to go to the rescue. After the successful rescue, the commander Qin Dingsan got the news that Chen Yubu, the Nien army, who occupied Huoqiu and Lu'an with 300000 or 400000 troops, seemed to have the intention of surrender. Qin Dingsan decided to recruit Chen Yu, but none of his generals dared to go. Luo Dachun, who was only 22 years old, came forward and resolutely went there alone. At that time, although Luo Dachun's official position was very low, he was brave and good at fighting, and was well-known in the Nian Army. When he arrived at Chenyu camp, he made an impassioned speech, citing the past and the present to fight against the heroes. Finally, he urged Chen Yu to surrender to Qin Dingsan and submit to the Qing government. Because of the surrender of Chen Yubu, the Taiping army who occupied Lu'an was in a helpless situation and had to give up Lu'an on its own initiative. His courage and eloquence were fully demonstrated by his persuading to surrender alone this time.

Great contribution has been made to the development of modern navy

In 1866, Zuo Zongtang invited the establishment of Fujian Mawei shipyard to "purchase machinery, recruit foreign craftsmen, and make self-made fireboat". This is a milestone for the development of modern Chinese navy. A few years later, the Qing government decided to set up the Fujian ship administration team, which was the first real Navy in modern China. In 1873, Luo Dachun, the land commander of Fujian Province and the acting commander of Fujian Navy, was appointed as the second ship commander, and became the "fleet commander" of Fujian Navy, which was the earliest and most effective at that time. Luo Dachun, as commander in chief and fleet commander of Fujian Navy and army, made an important contribution to the development of modern Chinese navy. During his time as commander-in-chief of Navy and ship commander, in addition to training conscientiously to improve the combat effectiveness of the fleet, he also actively selected some middle and lower ranking officers to visit and study in Britain, France, Germany and other countries, and changed his command ship "Yangwu" into a training ship to serve as an internship base for students of ship administration school, so as to cultivate their practical operation ability. Many of the later famous figures in the history of the Chinese Navy were subordinates of Luo Dachun at that time. For example, Liu Buchan, who later served as the right wing chief of the Beiyang Navy, was the leader of the Fujian ship "Jianwei"; Deng Shichang, who died in the Sino Japanese naval battle of 1894-1895, was the first mate of the Fujian ship "Chenhai". By the time Luo Dachun left office in 1875, the number of self-made ships had increased from 8 to 15, with a gross tonnage of 22000 tons, and more than half of the warships over 1000 tons. The famous Beiyang navy was founded in 1880. The Navy with ships is the modern navy in the true sense. From this point of view, as the first ship in Fujian Province, the Navy with ships is the modern navy

Chinese PinYin : Luo Da Chun