On the question of who can shoulder such a heavy responsibility, neighboring countries and the British believe that only Japan has this ability. In order to balance the colonial interests in East Asia, Britain chose to support Japan. It is hard to imagine why Britain's attitude towards Japan has changed so much since the Gao Shenghao incident.
During the 26 years from 1868 Meiji Restoration to 1894, Japan has been trying to revise the unequal treaties of western powers. But the Japanese understand that amending the treaty depends on strength. In the Gao Shenghao incident, the Japanese dream came true.
1On July 25th, 894, Japanese warships suddenly attacked China ships off the coast of Toyota and launched a war of aggression. Two ships of Beiyang Navy "Jiyuan" and "Guangyi" have completed the escort mission and are ready to return to Lushun from Chaoyashan. When they were in the northwest waters of Akio Toyoda, they were suddenly intercepted and besieged by Japanese ships. At that time, the British merchant ship Sheng, hired by the Qing government to carry China soldiers, came from Tianjin and was quickly attacked by Japanese warships. The convoy Cao Jiang was defeated, Gao Shenghao soldiers refused to surrender, and thousands of soldiers were martyred. Guangyi was badly hit and burned on the rock. Fang Boqian, the leader of Jiyuan Pipeline, tried to surrender with a white flag, but patriotic soldiers refused to surrender. Finally, they launched a tail gun to fight back against Japan, which severely damaged the Japanese ship Yoshino. On the same day, more than 4,000 Japanese troops launched an attack on the Qing army stationed at the ring post in Yashan City, North Korea. The company commander Nie Shicheng led the troops to attack and failed; Ye Zhichao, the magistrate, was afraid that the enemy would chicken out and lead to the fall of Yashan.
Behind Gao Shenghao, there was a conspiracy among the great powers, who jointly carved up the Qing Empire.