On this day, 131 years ago, July 25, 1894 (June 23, 1894 in the lunar calendar), Japanese ships attacked China ships during the Sino-Japanese War to launch a war of aggression. On July 25, 1894, Japanese ships suddenly attacked China ships off the coast of Toshima, fought without declaring it, and launched a war of aggression, marking the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 - 1894. In the early morning of July 25, the two ships Jiyuan and Guangyi of the Beiyang Navy completed their escort mission and returned to Lushun from Chaoya Mountain. When they were on the sea northwest of Fengdao, they were suddenly intercepted and besieged by Japanese ships that had been prepared beforehand. At this time, the British merchant ship Merchant Rising, which was chartered by the Qing government to carry China soldiers, arrived from Tianjin, and was immediately attacked by Japanese ships. The escort Caojiang was captured, and the officers of the Gaosheng refused to surrender and were sunk, and thousands of officers and soldiers were martyred. Guangyi was severely injured and hit a reef and burned down. Fang Boqian, the commander of Jiyuan, hoisted a white flag and wanted to surrender, but the patriotic soldiers disobeyed and fired back with their tail guns, severely injuring the Japanese ship Yoshino. After the Battle of Toshima, Japan gained sea control over the waters of North Korea. On the same day, more than 4000 people from the Japanese Army ambushed the Qing army stationed in Chenghuan Yi in Asan, North Korea. Commander Nie Shicheng led his troops to fight and defeat; Commander Ye Zhichao was afraid of the enemy and fled, and Yashan fell. On July 25, 1894, the first guerrillas of the Japanese Joint Fleet, the Yoshino, the Akitsu, and the Nangsu, launched a sneak attack on the China fleet under the command of Major General Kozo Hirai, kicking off the Sino-Japanese War of the 1894 - 1894 War. After the war, the two countries issued formal challenges to each other. The Qing government sent the "Airen","Feijing","Gaosheng", and "Caojiang" to transport weapons, soldiers, money and other materials to reinforce Yashan, and were escorted by the "Jiyuan" and "Guangyi". Fang Boqian was sure that the Japanese would not dare to run, so he seized the time to prepare to escape. When the two sides met, the Japanese fleet turned away, giving Fang Boqian the illusion of retreat. Unexpectedly, the Japanese wanted to use the advantages of the sideboard guns. As soon as the Japanese fired fire, Fang Boqian immediately gave up command. Shen Shouchang, the chief officer, took command in his place. Soon after, Shen was killed in battle, and then the second officer, Ke Jianzhang, continued to command and died. Trainee Huang Chengxun continued to command, but also died under Japanese artillery. The "Guangyi" sank after being injured and ran aground. The "Gaosheng" was sunk and the "Caojiang" was captured. Extended reading: Seven facts you may not know about the Sino-Japanese War: Seven facts you may not know about the Sino-Japanese War: When the Beiyang Fleet was first formed in 1888, it did have the potential to dominate East Asia. However, Japan pooled the power of the whole country to catch up and catch up, completing the catch-up in just a few years. After the war, when Li Hongzhang summarized the reasons for his defeat to Cixi and Guangxu, his memorial stated: "In the past ten years, the Japanese have purchased ships and equipment, and they have become more and more sophisticated. China is limited in financial resources and limited in ministerial discussions. It does not dare to let go of the organization, so it feels dwarfed." The Beiyang Navy had a considerable reserve of artillery shells during the Sino-Japanese War. Although it did not bring enough ammunition when participating in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, it could still support it. The disparity in military achievements between the Qing and Japanese navies is mainly due to the gap in the lethality of shells between the two sides. This gap in artillery lethality reflects the gap in military science and technology between China and Japan. The Japanese army defeated the Qing army with eight rifles and bullets per person. The reason was certainly closely related to the Qing army's backward military system. As Ogawa once again reported to the Emperor in the "Qing State Policy Case" seven years before the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing army had a million troops, but only 400,000 people were available to the Fangyong and Lianjun. The Fangyong and Lianjun were local troops and were extremely scattered. The Qing Dynasty's railway construction was extremely poor. If something went wrong, it was difficult to dispatch them centrally. Due to medical deficiencies, the Japanese army experienced a very serious epidemic during the Sino-Japanese War. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, the Japanese casualties were mainly due to illness, and most of them occurred after the Shimonoseki Peace Talks. Data source: Fujimura Daoyu's "Japan-Qing War" The Qing Dynasty established four fleets during the Westernization Movement. The Beiyang Fleet, Nanyang Fleet, Fujian Shipbuilding Fleet, and Guangdong Fleet were respectively under the control of the Governor of Zhili, the Governor of Liangjiang, the Minister of Shipbuilding, and the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. This distracts the country's already limited financial resources and is incompatible with the requirements of centralized construction and use of modern navies. After Japan established the Ministry of the Navy in 1872, there was a unified guiding agency for naval development. For other countries, the situation and policies that Britain and Russia wanted to maintain before the war to preserve China and North Korea collapsed, and the Far East became the focus of empires.