At the end of the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty was decaying and weak, foreign powers frequently invaded China, and domestic and foreign problems were intertwined. Internally, the dispute between the coastal defense faction and the Sai defense faction intensified. In the sixties and seventies, Aguba's invasion of Xinjiang sparked a fierce dispute between coastal defense and defense of Xinjiang. In the discussion of the Xinjiang issue, the Haiphong faction advocated focusing on coastal defense and abandoning XinjiangThe defense faction, on the other hand, emphasized the key position of Xinjiang in national defense and insisted on recovering it. Empress Dowager Cixi's support eventually contributed to the victory of the Cypriot defense faction.
The controversy between coastal defense and blockade defense is actually a struggle for defense resources. In the face of limited national strength, the Qing Dynasty needs to allocate resources between coastal defense and plug defense. Li Hongzhang, leader of the coastal defense faction, believes that coastal defense is the most important task of national defense, and he particularly stresses the importance of the southeast coast. In contrast, Zuo Zongtang, the leader of the Cypriot Defense faction, believes that both Sepriot defense and coastal defense should be emphasized, emphasizing Xinjiang's non-negligible position in national defense.
In fact, the debate is a contest over the allocation of resources. Empress Dowager Cixi's support eventually led to the victory of the Saifang faction, and Zuo Zongtang succeeded in recovering Xinjiang, allowing the Qing Dynasty to retain large swaths of territory. However, the Qing ** paid a huge price for this, and coastal defense resources were greatly reduced, which led to successive defeats in the Sino-French War and the Sino-Japanese War.
Against the background of the times at that time, Li Hongzhang's strategy of advocating sea power was far-sighted. However, Zuo Zongtang's proposition is more in line with the actual situation in China. China is a traditional land power country, and ** is a potential threat. Zuo Zongtang's view was more in line with traditional Chinese thinking, which at that time did not have the strength to develop sea power. Zuo Zongtang's proposition is more practical and in line with China's national conditions.
After Zuo Zongtang successfully recovered Xinjiang, he died of illness soon after, which made the Saifang faction lose its backbone. The resources of the Qing Dynasty tended to coastal defense, and the Beiyang Fleet built by Li Hongzhang with a lot of money was destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War, which put China in a dilemma of having a sea and no ships. With the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty woke up and began to abandon the coastal defense policy and turn to the formation and training of the new army. Eventually, the rise of modern national defense forces, represented by the Beiyang New Army, and China returned to the direction of land power.