In 1840, after the Opium War, China fell into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the culprit of all this was not only the dying wood of the Qing Dynasty, but also the Empress Dowager Cixi also had an unshirkable responsibility. In the second half of Cixi's reign in the Qing Dynasty, she did not have the overall situation at all, and in order to celebrate her birthday, the idea of military salary was really short-sighted. Having such a Lafayette is also a misfortune for the Qing Dynasty and the Chinese nation.
Therefore, in order to improve itself, the Qing Dynasty also held the "Westernization Movement", introduced advanced Western technology on a large scale, and set up a modern military industry, and the Qing Dynasty also moved closer to strength. However, in 1894, the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese Naval War broke out, and the Beiyang Fleet was almost completely wiped out in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, resulting in the stillbirth of the Westernization Movement, which is really regrettable.
However, many people may not know that in the First Sino-Japanese War, there was an unknown sailor who jumped ship to escape. 22 years later, this ordinary sailor turned out to be a national **. This grassroots sailor is Li Yuanhong.
Li Yuanhong was born in Hubei, and it is recorded that he had two bulges on his head since he was a child, and the neighbors thought that this son would become a great man in the future.
However, when he was a child, Li Yuanhong lived very hard because of his poor family background, and he did not have a meal, in the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872), Li Yuanhong joined the army to serve, and later entered Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Sailor School for further study.
After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, Li Yuanhong's Guangjia ship was transferred to the Beiyang Fleet of Admiral Ding Ruchang to participate in the war.
After that, Zhang Zhidong trained his self-improvement army in Nanjing, and issued a document to seek students from the sailors, so Li Yuanhong went to Nanjing to join Zhang Zhidong's army, and in the army, he won Zhang Zhidong's love with his special insight into building fortifications.
Soon, Li Yuanhong became Zhang Zhidong's cronies, and his career was officially on the rise, and in less than a few years, the official reached the top of the 3rd grade, controlling the two armies of the Hubei waterway. In the Xuantong period, Li Yuanhong became the object of both the Qing ** and the revolutionaries wanted to fight for.
In 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, and Li Yuanhong became one of the most important figures in the early days. Later, Yuan Shikai was called the emperor, Li Yuanhong resolutely opposed, which was supported by warlords everywhere, and after Yuan Shikai's death, Li Yuanhong became the first big Chinese and became the head of state.
After becoming a big **, Li Yuanhong often clashed with Duan Qirui, and his desire to reform was hindered by opposition forces, so he fled to the Japanese legation under the pressure of Zhang Xun's 5,000 pigtailed army. Later, with the support of the overseers of Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhang Xun was eliminated. Later, Li Yuanhong was forced to leave Japan due to Cao Kun's bribery, and finally returned to his homeland and died of illness in Tianjin.
It can be said that Li Yuanhong's life has been full of twists and turns, he can become the head of state from a sailor, which is unimaginable to ordinary people, in addition to having great luck, it is also inseparable from his continuous efforts, his experience can be regarded as a very legendary, and it is the epitome of the turmoil of that era.
Just as Zhang Xueliang commented that Li Yuanhong used four words "merit and dedication", in a sense, Li Yuanhong was also a big help to overthrow the rule of the Qing Dynasty.