as its guandai. He was also promoted to the position of a fujiang (副將; two ranks below tidu) in the central administration of the Beiyang Fleet. At the time, Deng was the only guandai in the Beiyang Fleet who was not educated or trained outside of China. In 1891, when Li Hongzhang, the Viceroy of the Capital Province, inspected the Beiyang Fleet, he was so impressed with how Deng trained his sailors that he awarded Deng the honorary title of a baturu. Battle of the Yalu River The Battle of the Yalu River broke out on 17 September 1894, as a naval battle of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, which was fought between the Qing Empire of China and the Empire of Japan. Early in the battle, Deng moved aggressively against the Japanese command vessel Sei-Kyo Maru, inflicting considerable damage on it, and coming under counterattack by the Japanese flying squadron led by Admiral Tsuboi Kōzō (, , , and ). The Japanese cruisers circled the Zhiyuan, firing at a more rapid pace and scoring more hits than the poorly trained Chinese gunners with their obsolete cannons. Deng ordered the Zhiyuan to close on the Naniwa and attempt to ram it, but was hit in the bow by a shell fired from either the Naniwa or Takachiho at 1550 hours, which caused a massive explosion, after which the Zhiyuan rapidly sank. Some 245 officers and crewmen went down with the cruiser. Deng refused to be rescued and eventually drowned at sea with his pet dog. Posthumous honours At a meeting after the battle, the top brass of the Beiyang Fleet expressed strong disapproval of Deng's decision to die in battle, stating that although Deng's action was heroic, it nonetheless resulted in the loss of not only the cruiser but also its captain. They were worried that other captains might try to emulate Deng and be only too willing to give up their lives easily, hence they produced a legal instrument, the Naval Constitution on Punishing Evil and Encouraging Goodness (海軍懲勸章程), to pardon the sailors who lost their ships in battle. Li Hongzhang also shared the same view as the Beiyang Fleet's top brass – that Deng's decision to reject rescue and drown was not praiseworthy – and ordered other military leaders to not follow Deng as an example. In spite of such negative views, Deng's death stirred up strong