The victory of Zhennanguan in the Qing Dynasty was not only the moment when Feng Zicai became famous in the first battle, but also inseparable from the careful assistance of another important general, Su Yuanchun. Su Yuanchun made great contributions in the battle, and his wisdom and courage laid the foundation for the victory.
Su Yuanchun was a famous general who resisted the French, he made great contributions to the fight against the French army, and it was also the most important stroke in his military career. After the defeat of the French army, the border has been disturbed by it, and the imperial court sent Su Yuanchun to guard the Guangxi border pass, and Su Yuanchun has been here for 18 years since then.
In 1885, in order to strengthen war preparedness, the imperial court specially allocated 30,000 taels to strengthen border defense facilities. But half a year later, the superintendent came, and after inspection, it was found that Su Yuanchun did not use the money for the requirements of the imperial court at all, so where did he spend it?
After investigation, it was found that Su Yuanchun used the imperial court funds to build a family home, and in order to let the soldiers in the border area feel at ease, he also mobilized generals at all levels to move their families to the border and built beautiful houses for them.
Despite this, the superintendent still asked Su Yuanchun why he didn't use the money to strengthen the border defense facilities, Su Yuanchun replied, only 30,000 taels, only enough to buy a few guns, how do you let me strengthen the facilities, how to buy **.
This sentence left the superintendent speechless.
In 1886, Su Yuanchun applied for funding again for the reinforcement of the border fortress, but the Qing court only allocated a symbolic amount, and there was no substantial financial support in the follow-up. Nevertheless, two years later, under the leadership of Su Yuanchun, the Guangxi frontier began a large-scale project, taking advantage of the dangerous terrain of the mountains to build fortifications on the border line, and building the "Little Great Wall of Southern Xinjiang" where "crows can't fly, and rats can't get into".
In a perilous defensive line, we set up 130 artillery batteries with strong firepower. We introduced the most advanced 19th century** - the 120 mm caliber cannon made by Krupp in Germany, which could strike the incoming enemy from all directions and ensure the safety of our defensive lines.
Su Yuanchun's huge project and procurement not only cost huge manpower, financial and material resources, but also a lot of money. He promoted the project through personal donations and local materials, and finally completed this huge project at a cost of hundreds of thousands of taels**.
However, when he reported to the imperial court that the work was completed and looked forward to the award, the imperial court reacted indifferently. They pointed to the excessive cost of the works and the fact that the 130 cannons purchased never fired a single shot.
This made Su Yuanchun feel very angry and helpless, but he could not change the corrupt and stormy reality of the Qing court.
He wanted to tell the imperial court that although he had not fired a cannonball in his 15 years of passing through the border pass, it was because the defense project was impregnable, like a "Great Wall" cast on the southwest border, so that the French invaders did not dare to take a step beyond the thunder pool; That is because the officers and men are ideologically stable, have good living conditions, and have high morale.