From the late Ming Dynasty, China implemented the "sea ban" system, which was followed by the Qing Dynasty after the Ming Dynasty. Being out of touch with the world not only led the rulers to be immersed in the fantasy of "the rise of China", but also made China, which was dominated by small-scale peasant economy, fall behind by European countries after the industrial revolution. At first, all countries wanted to communicate with this ancient and mysterious eastern power. Russian envoys brought a large number of books and maps about the customs of various countries in the world, while British envoys brought muskets, cannons and warship models. However, all this was shelved by the rulers, who looked down on it and didn't want to know at all.
After the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty had to open its doors, and a breath of a new era was blown into this closed land. But this did not awaken the dream of the Qing court. Only a few bureaucrats and progressive intellectuals began to learn from the West. Under the attack of a series of internal and external troubles, such as the invasion of Britain and France and the uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing court stumbled on the road of seeking wealth, and for this reason, the so-called "Tongzhi Zhongxing" once appeared.
However, we must understand that although there were modern bureaucrats like Li Hongzhang, modern generals like Liu and modern intellectuals like Wei Yuan in the Qing Dynasty, on the whole, the court was still a feudal court, the army was still a feudal army, and its subjects were still feudal subjects. As a product of the temporary rise of feudal countries, Beiyang Navy is not even a modern navy.
On the other hand, although Japan was a tiny island country in the same period, it made great progress in politics, economy, culture, industry and even military affairs through reflection and study in imperialist aggression. With the help of the east wind of Meiji Restoration, Japan quickly left Asia and entered Europe, and developed into an increasingly powerful capitalist country. It can be said that at this time, Japan already has a complete modern social system, a modern nation with an awakened national consciousness and an efficient and streamlined modern government, which are necessary conditions for the formation and command of a modern army.
For example, when preparing for the navy, Li Hongzhang always faced the constraints of imperial history and political enemy Weng Tonghe (then the minister of the Ministry of Finance), which consumed his great energy, and Japanese Prime Minister Ito Bowen did not need to waste time on these stupid things. And how much of the fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty will be used for the birthday banquet of Empress Dowager Cixi, and how much will be used for army building? The exact figures may be difficult to count, but as we all know, the former is definitely much more expensive than the emperor's birthday party.
In order to ensure his control over the Beiyang Navy, Li Hongzhang can only recommend Ding, who was born in the military, as the Navy's prefect. Many people in later generations criticized Li Hongzhang's behavior, but they never considered whether China could find enough qualified navy generals to serve as navy officers. On the other hand, in Japan, there are too many talents who are competent for the commander of the joint fleet.
It can be said that the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was not only a war between Japan and Li Hongzhang, but also a modern war against feudal countries initiated by capitalist countries. Besides the industrial system, economic base and modern government, we also need a United and cohesive national consciousness. Unfortunately, the Qing government did not meet any of the above conditions. In the stormy late Qing Dynasty, the 40 million people enslaved and exploited by the rulers could not protect themselves. How can they help this country?
In Japan across the sea, it is another scene. The growing national strength has brought strong national self-confidence to the Japanese people, and national consciousness has begun to awaken. With the rapid development of industrial economy, the disadvantages of lack of resources and narrow market are becoming more and more prominent, and Japan urgently needs to export capital and commodities. Coupled with the expansion of ambition after the national strength was strong, "conquering the Great Qing Dynasty" was put on the strategic agenda. It is not difficult for the Meiji government to raise funds for this war-as long as a piece of news is published in a newspaper, all sectors of society can be mobilized to actively donate money and materials, and almost every citizen can spare no effort.
This is precisely the gap between China and Japan during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and also the gap between feudal agricultural countries and capitalist industrial countries. Although the downfall of Beiyang Navy only represented the failure of the naval battle in Qing Dynasty, the Qing army was defeated in the land war that broke out in the late Sino-Japanese War. History has always been fair and cruel. Only the fittest can survive. This is the best yin sword.
To say the least, if Beiyang Navy wins, what can we extract from Japan, a small and remote tiny island country? For Manchu princes, it is meaningless to negotiate with Japan. It is better to forgive their sins to show China's "imperial grace". Moreover, even if all kinds of military factories can be dismantled from Japan and squeezed into hundreds of millions of taels of silver, it will not become a modern country in ten or twenty years, and it is very likely that a lot of "small Shenyang" will be captured. From this perspective, the Qing dynasty at that time did not deserve to win.
Using war reparations, Japan established and improved its industrial system, wiped out the Russian Pacific Fleet in one fell swoop in the "naval battle against Malaysia" ten years later, and had the card to compete with Britain and the United States for the Pacific Ocean. If the Qing Dynasty really became a winner in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the biggest possibility is to cultivate new "Gou Jian" and storms on the other side of the ocean.