Looking at the history of modern China, especially the history of the late Qing Dynasty, it can be said that it is a history of blood and tears of the Chinese people, and it is also a history of shame. As a huge country, the five-thousand-year-old Chinese civilization was once the object of worship from all over the world and the center of the world's politics and economy. However, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, all these advantages were gone. Due to the corrupt rule of the Qing Dynasty, China's political power has been deteriorating. Both Western powers and Eastern neighbors want to come to China to get a piece of the pie. Especially the Eastern Japanese country, which has been begging for mercy from us before, took the opportunity to add insult to injury when our country was experiencing domestic and foreign troubles. It has to be said that it is resentful. The failure of the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War marked the complete failure of the Qing Dynasty's Westernization Movement, which lasted for more than thirty years. China's international status dropped sharply, ceding territories and indemnity, and set off a frenzy for the great powers to carve up China. It was precisely in the context of national peril that a large number of people with lofty ideals emerged, full of salvation ideals, and went to the world, hoping to learn from the foreigners and control them. Among them, there was a minister from Sichuan who designed a surprise attack on Japan during the Sino-Japanese War. If it could be implemented, he might go directly to Japan to start a war and save the decline of the Qing Dynasty. But in the end, due to Cixi's obstruction, the opportunity to turn defeat into victory was missed, and the success was in vain! This person is Song Yuren, who is known as the first person to "open his eyes to see the world" in Sichuan history. He is an advocate of the Chongqing Reform Movement. He founded the first patriotic magazine "Chongqing News" in Chongqing history and established the Bashu Reform propaganda. Song Yuren was born in Fushun, Sichuan. He was awarded the title of Jinshi in the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886) and was awarded the title of Shujishi of the Hanlin Academy. In 1894, Song Yuren was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to go to England, France, Italy, and other places. As a minister-counsellor to the four countries, he focused on inspecting Western social, economic, and political systems, and actively planned reforms to achieve democratic independence and peace. It was this visit that allowed him to see the gap between the Qing Dynasty and the world, and to understand it better. Japan's harm to the Qing Dynasty. As we all know, the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War was a very critical battle between China and Japan. Externally, China lost its thousand-year dominance in East Asia, and Japan took advantage of the situation to rise. For the whole world, important changes took place in the power structure at that time. Internally, China's decades-long Westernization Movement was instantly wiped out. The entire Beiyang Fleet was wiped out, and China was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which was humiliating and humiliating. *** The great powers' ambitions to carve up China further deepened the national crisis. The huge reparations not only increased the burden on the Chinese people, but also accelerated Japan's military development, laying hidden dangers for China when the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1896 broke out. Song Yuren was taking office in London, England. When he learned that the Qing army was defeated in Pyongyang, he became extremely anxious. He wrote to the court overnight and pointed out that "the Japanese soldiers are few and poor, and they will be trapped for a long time." Song Yuren believed that Japan had little land and natural resources. It is also scarce and does not have the material basis for a long-term war. China is vast and rich. As long as the Qing Dynasty resists to the death for a period of time, Japan will retreat without a fight. The Qing Dynasty will not fight back until Japan runs out of ammunition and food. . But Song Yuren's letter to the Empress Dowager Cixi turned a deaf ear. She only cared about her sixtieth birthday, and even misappropriated the money to purchase warships in order to hold a grand banquet. Data later disclosed by Japanese historical data showed that Japan was indeed quick to fight the Sino-Japanese War. In other words, Japan's financial resources could not support Japan in fighting a protracted war and a war of attrition. Although Japan had won consecutive victories on the battlefield, its national power was limited after all, and the huge consumption caused by the war further aggravated Japan. The burden on ordinary people has been that peasant riots have broken out in many places in Japan since the end of 1894, and social unrest is different. If China can be tougher and persists, the outcome may be completely different (At that time, Japanese Prime Minister Ito). Bowen also took the initiative to request peace talks from the Qing Dynasty under domestic pressure. The prerequisite was that the plenipotentiary representative for the peace talks must be the powerful minister Li Hongzhang.) However, at this time, the late Qing Dynasty was tired of fighting, and Song Yuren lost the battle of the Yellow Sea. It is extremely sad. If the outcome can be predicted according to this trend, it will definitely be a disastrous defeat for the Qing army.

In desperation, Song Yuren came up with a bold idea. He hoped to use surprise troops to turn defeat into victory and lead troops directly to the Japanese mainland to start a war. So, while Minister Gong Zhaoyuan returned to China to report on his duties, he summoned his colleagues in the embassy, ??Yang Yizhi, translator Wang Fenghao and others to plot the matter, and made a detailed and feasible plan! Song Yuren purchased five warships and ten torpedo boats that Britain sold to Argentina and Chile, and recruited more than 2,000 Australian sailors to form an elite navy, preparing to go north from the Philippines to attack Nagasaki, Japan, under the name of an Australian business group. and Tokyo. This plan may seem fanciful, but according to the circumstances at the time, it was also very feasible. After all, the invasion of Japanese pirates during the Ming Dynasty was a case of hiring prodigies and pirates to infest our country's coasts. Now we can treat them in the same way as they were treated. At that time, Australia was under the rule of the British Crown, and its chambers of commerce could recruit sailors to protect caravans. After the British flag was hoisted, no one dared to block inspections. Moreover, Japan, which admired Western powers at the time, would not prevent Australian merchant ships from docking. In order to ensure that the plan to surprise Japan was foolproof, Song Yuren also used his personal connections to borrow three million pounds from the British Concord Bank to pay for the purchase of warships. After three months of hard work, Song Yuren is basically ready. He personally built a powerful navy, with sailors ready to go and plenty of guns and ammunition. All he wanted to do was hand over this force to the leadership of former Beiyang Navy Admiral Lang Weili. However, just when the plan was about to be implemented, Gong Zhaoyuan, the minister of the Qing Embassy in Britain, found out about it. Gong Zhaoyuan found out about this, so he telegraphed to the Qing court for causing trouble. Because the Qing government had already made up its mind to negotiate peace with Japan, Li Hongzhang firmly opposed the actions of Song Yuren and others after hearing this. At this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi had no intention of fighting, so she used Song Yuren's "unwanted trouble" as an excuse to purchase ships and recruit troops. All the matters were cancelled, and Song Yuren was summoned to return home quickly. What made him even more sad and angry was that just a few days later, the Qing government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan, which was humiliating and humiliating the country. A vigorous overseas plan to recruit naval forces to launch a surprise attack on Japan was aborted. Song Yuren's enthusiasm for serving the country was also dampened by a basin of cold water from the "capitulationists", and he could only helplessly weep privately and hope. He was really sad for a long time. Later, on his way back to China, he wrote "Borrowing Notes", recording the incident in detail to express his feelings that his ambition was not fulfilled. After Song Yuren returned to China, the Qing government It was planned to punish Song Yuren further, but because of this patriotic feat, many people were involved, including important officials of the imperial court (Liangjiang Governor Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, etc.), and people who knew about the incident were even more concerned about Song Yuren's experience. Therefore, the imperial court had some concerns about handling the matter and did not go into further details. It just demoted Song Yuren to his original position of fourth rank and returned to serve in the Hanlin Academy. In his later years, Song Yuren lived in seclusion in the "Dongshan Thatched Cottage" in the eastern suburbs of Chengdu and devoted himself to writing books. He did not care about world affairs until his death in 1931 at the age of 74. Before his death, Song Yuren still remembered this matter and asked his family to give the self-printed "Borrowing Notes" to those who came to express their condolences. Finally, we have to say, if it were not the Empress Dowager Cixi. If not stopped, this Sichuan minister might actually go directly to Japan to start the war. Even if it cannot save the war situation, it can still give Japanese society a huge psychological deterrent and make the Japanese afraid! But after all, history cannot assume that the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War is over! It has become history. Today, Mr. Song Yuren's heroic deeds inspire countless people. In 2006, the Chengdu Sansheng Township *** selected a site to rebuild the "Dongshan Thatched Cottage" in the "Happy Plum Forest" area, and erected a stone statue of Song Yuren for future generations to admire!