Why did the Qing Dynasty choose Lushun and Ahava as military ports?

As for why the Qing government chose Lushun and Ahava as military ports at that time, we need to know the construction history of Beiyang Navy. First of all, the Beiyang area where Beiyang Navy is located includes Zhili, Shandong and Fengtian provinces. The Qing government set up three naval divisions in these three provinces to defend Bohai Bay and Haikou. It was not until the Qianlong period that the Eight Banners Navy in Tianjin was abandoned. There is a navy battalion in Fengtian, which was also abolished by 188 1.

1. Why choose Lushun and Ahava?

18851kloc-0/2 In June, Empress Dowager Cixi issued an imperial edict, approved the strategic decision to refine the Beiyang Navy, and formulated the candidates for handling the national naval affairs. The imperial edict also affirmed the opinion put forward by the Prime Minister's yamen that "the overall planning should start with the intensive training of the Beiyang Navy and be set up in different years", so the Beiyang Navy began to enter the construction in an all-round way.

As for why these two places were used as military ports, firstly, the Beiyang Navy was in the eyes of the Qing government to defend the security of the Gyeonggi area and avoid the situation that the British and French allied forces occupied Bohai Bay and entered Beijing in the Second Opium War, and the situation that the warships of the French Far East Fleet sailed directly into Dagukou in the Sino-French War. Therefore, the address of the military port must be chosen in the Beiyang area where the Beiyang Navy is located.

Secondly, according to the Beiyang area where the Beiyang Navy is located, only these two places are the most suitable military ports for the Beiyang Navy, so the subject is right. There really is no better place than these two places. Although the early naval base of Beiyang Navy was built in Dagukou, after various investigations, this place is really not suitable as the base of Beiyang Navy. Let's be specific.

2. Dagu base

In order to promote the base facilities matching with the modern fleet, Beiyang Navy colleagues introduced advanced foreign ships to solve the problems of material supply, warship repair and health care for the fleet. It also began to build its own naval base, and the Qing government also invested a lot of money, material resources and manpower, and also borrowed advanced western technology and coastal defense concepts. Li Hongzhang personally led relevant technicians, hired foreign consultants with high salaries, directly participated in demonstration, investigation and design, and finally established the earliest naval base of Beiyang Navy-Dagu Base.

An important project of Dagu base is the wharf. 1880 to start construction. During this period, Glende of England was hired as the dock manager, and Ansengi of England was appointed as the manager of the engine department. The pruning of Daguwu A began in May of the same year, and was completed in165438+1October. After 1884, three docks B, C and D were built one after another, and by 1885, four docks were built in the whole Dagu base.

However, Dagu is located in Zhili Bay, close to Gyeonggi area, which is not conducive to defense in depth. Moreover, the docks of the base are all wooden docks, and the scale is relatively small. The Dagukou River is too shallow to dock large warships, not to mention the two armored ships of Beiyang Navy in the later period are large warships with more than 7,000 tons. In addition, Dagukou is too close to Beijing and the terrain is not dangerous enough, which is not suitable for developing into a large naval base at all.

3. Lushun Port Naval Base

With the continuous development of Beiyang Navy, Li Hongzhang decided to choose another site as the base for parking and repairing Beiyang Navy. First of all, he considered choosing Dalian Bay, which is located to the east of Lushunkou. It is of high strategic value for defending Gyeonggi, and it can avoid the recurrence of the enemy's northward attack on Dagukou in the Second Opium War and the Sino-French War. However, after careful investigation, Li Hongzhang found that the mouth of Dalian Bay was too wide and needed strong military defense, which was difficult for the Qing army at that time to guarantee. Finally, Li Hongzhang decided to build a military port in Lushunkou after a personal inspection.

The construction of Lushun Military Port started in 1880 and was completed in 1890, which lasted for 10 years and cost one million taels of silver. The successful construction of Lushun Military Port has also become a huge project of coastal defense construction in modern China. In addition, Lushun Port is located at the southern tip of Liaodong Peninsula, bordering the Yellow Sea in the east and Bohai Bay in the west. It is the most important national defense gateway in Northeast China and North China and the throat of Bohai Sea. Moreover, the annual average temperature here is about 10 degrees, and it is not frozen in severe winter. It is known as an ice-free port and a rare natural military port. Its port faces south, faces Huang Jinshan in the east, and faces Tiger Tail Peninsula in the west, surrounded by the left and right. The west is long and the east is short, and the mountains on both sides are steep, so it is difficult to climb and enter without the port.

It can be seen that the geographical location of Lushun Port is too superior, which also makes it a first-class well-equipped naval base in Asia at that time. However, just four years after the Lushun naval base was built, that is, 1894, the military port was occupied by the Japanese army. 1897, Russia forcibly leased Lushun port. 1905, Lushun port was once again occupied by the Japanese army and then subletted to Russia again.

At the end of World War II, Lushun Port was once again occupied by the Soviet Red Army, and it was not until 1954 that all Soviet troops were evacuated. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the government spent ten years building the Lushun military port, costing more than 3 million taels of silver. In 70 years, Lushun Port changed hands several times, and almost two-thirds of the time was used by the great powers, which became the base for their invasion of China. How sad!

4. Ahava Naval Base

Among the many alternative ports chosen by the Qing government, Ahava stood out, and together with Lushun Military Port and the early Dagu Lake Naval Base, it became the three naval bases in the north, forming one of the triangular layouts in the Gyeonggi area of Gong Wei.

Ahava is located at the southern tip of Shandong Peninsula, where the Ming Dynasty set up a garrison, so it is also called Ahava. Ahava and Lushun Military Port in Liaodong Peninsula face each other across the sea, forming a gateway to defend Bohai Bay and controlling the main navigation channel from the Yellow Sea to Bohai Bay. The port faces the northeast and is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Liu Gongdao stands in front of the harbor, with steep and unattainable mountains, which has become the natural barrier of Ahava naval base. Shore defense guns can be arranged on the north and south banks of the harbor and the Liu Gongdao, and mine blockade can be arranged on the harbor channel, which can curb the enemy's attack on Ahava from the sea. Moreover, Ahava Port has a wide water area and a deep harbor, which allows the two giant armored ships of Beiyang Navy to pass in and out freely.

1887, with the increasing scale of Beiyang Navy's ships, Ahava Base was granted 302,000 silver. Since then, Ahava Naval Base has entered the stage of comprehensive construction, mainly focusing on the construction of coastal defense artillery batteries. Three coastal batteries, namely Beishanzui, Huangnigou and Sacrificial Platform, have been built in the northern part of the Gulf. At the southern end of the coast (Nanbangbao), there are three coastal forts, namely Zaobuzui, Lujiazui and Longmiaozui. In Liu Gongdao, coastal fortresses such as Donghong, Yingmendong, Qidingshan, Nanzui and Huangdao have been built. By 1890, 13 coastal batteries were built in ahava base, equipped with 54 advanced imported coastal guns.

Ahava Naval Base, with such a powerful scale, has also become the last battlefield of Beiyang Navy. Although the Japanese navy failed to directly enter the Ahava base at sea, it cooperated with the Japanese navy to enter Ahava by land, and the Beiyang Navy was caught between Scylla and Charybdis. In the end, the coastal fort that the Qing government spent a lot of money to build became a great weapon to attack the port warships of Beiyang Navy. In the end, Beiyang Navy was completely annihilated at Ahava Naval Base. Apart from these two places, there is no better place to be a military port in Bohai Bay where the whole Beiyang Navy is located.