Rogue Driftwood - [Shao Biaoping and His Era]

Author: Sanmu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: The Dagu Port Incident In the 1920s, after the National Revolutionary Movement, which marked the high point of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, had an unexpected reaction in the north—Feng Yuxiang emerged from the warlord conflicts, led his army to turn against the front lines and marched back to Beijing, and reorganized his troops into the National Army, causing the Comintern and the revolutionary forces in southern China to take him seriously. Clearly, the political map of China was likely to change, and the foreign powers and the Beiyang forces watched the changes very cautiously. Under the guise of "crushing the reds," they prepared to jointly deal with Feng Yuxiang's National Army and the southern revolutionary forces. In February 1926, the Zhi and Lu warlord factions began to attack the National Army. At the same time, Zhang Zuolin, to support the joint attack of the Zhi and Lu on the National Army, also sent the Feng army to gradually enter Shanhaiguan. The National Army was in a critical situation in Beijing and Tianjin. At that time, the leader of the National Army, Lu Zhonglin, had rushed to Tianjin to supervise the battle and issued a general attack order to the enemy. Both sides fought fiercely in Tianjin and other places. Zhang Zongchang, the warlord of Shandong, ordered Bi Shicheng to lead the Bohai Fleet to probe Dagu Port, attempting to advance both by land and sea to attack the National Army. On March 8, the Beiyang Bohai Fleet landed in Beiting, and was immediately intercepted by the National Army. Bi Shicheng led the fleet to retreat. On the 9th, the National Army began to lay mines and block Dagu Port to prevent the Feng and Lu fleets from entering the Haihe River. On the 10th, the Dutch Ambassador Oudendijk, as the chief ambassador of the Beijing Embassy Group, represented the envoys of the countries involved in the Boxer Protocol in Beijing and submitted an "urgent protest" to Wang Zhengting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Beiyang government, accusing the National Army of blocking Dagu Port. The battle between the two sides also blocked the railway from Tianjin to Qinhuangdao, resulting in "the complete severance of communication between Beijing and the sea, which actually violates the provisions of the Boxer Protocol." They demanded that "the Chinese fighting forces be immediately stopped from blocking the free navigation of the sea channel through Dagu Port," or else "all representatives reserve the right to maintain the privileges of foreign ships and safeguard the freedom of entry and exit of the Tianjin port." Under the pressure of the foreign powers, Lu Zhonglin urgently telegraphed the Beijing government to agree to open Dagu Port, but demanded that the diplomatic group guarantee that "foreign steamers would not be used to transport troops or weapons for the enemy," and that "foreign warships entering the port should not mix with enemy warships." On the evening of the 11th, the Japanese Consulate General in Tianjin sent personnel to the headquarters of the National Army's front-line command, falsely claiming that a Japanese destroyer would enter Dagu Port at 10 a.m. on the 12th and requesting exemption from inspection and passage. The headquarters agreed and set the time, flag, and anchoring point for entry. On the 12th, two Japanese warships entered the port, but they did not stop at the port and refused to allow the Dagu Fortress guards to inspect them. The National Army guards immediately ordered them to stop and wait for inspection by flag signals, but the Japanese warships ignored them and opened fire on the fortress guards with machine guns. The National Army was forced to retaliate with rifles, and the Japanese warships then withdrew. This was the Dagu Port Incident. After the incident, China and Japan could not agree on the issue of responsibility. The Japanese ambassador falsely accused the Chinese army of firing on the Japanese warship, wounding its crew, and immediately submitted a protest to the Beiyang Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanding that the Chinese side "strictly order the front-line military and police to prevent such inauspicious incidents from happening again." Subsequently, the infuriated public gathered to protest. However, Japan ignored China's protest and, together with the British, Americans, French, Italians, and other foreign powers, put pressure on the Beiyang government. On the 16th, the diplomatic mission in Beijing decided to approve the landing of foreign troops in Tianjin...