Lin Zexu made a serious mistake without knowing it

As a pioneer who sees the world with his eyes open, Lin Zexu still has many absurd prejudices in his body.

No smoking: the countermeasures of the law of justice

On March 10, 1839, Lin Zexu, the non-smoking imperial minister, ate and sleeped all the way, had a busy schedule, and finally arrived in Guangzhou.

Long before Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou, Deng Tingzhen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Yiliang, governor of Guangdong, had already been vigorous and resolute. They had achieved considerable results in the smoking ban. More than 600,000 taels of opium were seized in more than two years. This data was already the highest in the country at the time. However, if compared with the 81,000 boxes of opium smuggled into China during this period, it seems like a drop in the bucket, and it is not worth mentioning.

Undoubtedly, this means that continuing to use traditional anti-smoking methods, such as arresting tobacco dealers, scouting smoking halls, and expelling cigarette barges, has been impossible to complete the mission of "opium must be eliminated" handed over by Emperor Daoguang.

Lin Zexu decided to adopt a new approach. According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, foreign merchants who came to Guangzhou were only allowed to trade with merchants designated by the government. Therefore, on the eighth day after arriving in Guangzhou, Lin Zexu convened a meeting with the merchants and issued a strict order, instructing them to instruct foreign merchants to turn in all the tens of thousands of boxes of opium stored on the ship.

The merchants thought this was another routine of Qing Dynasty officials asking for bribes. They didn't take Lin Zexu's order seriously. For several days, foreign merchants remained silent.

On March 24th, Lin Zexu made the final decision. He announced the termination of all Sino-foreign trade in Guangzhou, and then blocked the commercial hall area where foreign merchants concentrated, cutting off all kinds of supplies inside. In other words, Lin Zexu turned a 66,000-square-meter Dashangguan area into a large detention center, in which about 350 foreign businessmen were all locked up.

It is naturally uncomfortable to eat without water or food. After three days, the British Commercial Director in China Yi Li finally decided to give in. In the name of the British government, he advised British merchants to hand over the opium to him, and then he would hand it over to the Chinese government.

Yilu's statement gave Lin Zexu a sigh of relief, and at the same time made the British businessmen trapped in the commercial hall very excited. Lin Zexu thinks that the smoking ban has finally come to fruition, but if he understands why the British businessmen are so excited, maybe he won't be able to relax.

British businessmen are excited because the actions of Yi Li means that the British government has decided to protect their interests. Their opium was originally sold, so it doesn't matter whether it is sold to the Chinese or the British government. Since the government is willing to come forward to buy the opium in their hands, why not do it? Therefore, they readily agreed to hand over the opium in stock, and even reported the opium that was still in transit and had not yet arrived in Guangzhou. A few American businessmen saw the opportunity and transferred their opium through their relationship. Go to the name of a British businessman in order to reduce losses. The result: Lin Zexu confiscated more opium than he thought.

But this is not a good thing.

On the morning of March 27th, Lin Zexu received a post from Yilu, expressing his willingness to hand over the opium. Lin Zexu and his colleagues were completely unaware of this: From this post, they fell into the trap of war. This post changed the nature of Lin Zexu's mission. The original anti-opium smuggling actions against foreign businessmen have since become official negotiations between China and Britain.

On the same day, Lin Zexu also received a collective signature from foreign businessmen. The post said that many things Lin Zexu communicated to them were quite complicated and they could not make decisions on their own, so Lin Zexu was urged to go to the consuls and directors of various countries to "handle them on their own". Lin Zexu also did not discover the mystery. He happily accepted the suggestions of foreign businessmen. Since then, all his negotiations have been directed at the officials of various countries. This also means that from this day on, those who stand opposite Lin Zexu are no longer independent opium merchants, but the governments behind them. The British government bears the brunt.

According to the evaluation standard of Chinese traditional bureaucratic system, Lin Zexu is a typical bureaucratic bureaucracy. But unfortunately, he knew almost nothing about the basic diplomatic experience of the modern West. Therefore, he unknowingly made a serious mistake: an anti-smoking campaign that could be defined as China’s internal affairs was upgraded to The diplomatic conflict between China and Britain. And it was precisely this mistake that gave Britain the most basic prerequisite for launching the Opium War-without this premise, it would be impossible for the British Parliament to pass a proposal on the use of force against China.

Consequence: Lin Zexu's judgment

Yilu surrendered the opium on behalf of the opium merchant, which means that Lin Zexu seized the property of the British government. Regarding the law of justice, many modern history researchers have deliberately reversed the case, saying that he himself is also a firm opponent of the Chinese opium trade. This article does not intend to discuss what kind of person Yi Lu is, but in his report to the British Prime Minister Palmerston on April 3, 1839, he has already put forward a very specific plan for aggression against China and compensation requirements.

In mid-June, the air in Humen was filled with a strong smell of opium and lime powder. At that moment, Lin Zexu reached the highest point of a national hero. But he was completely unaware that a war that was about to change the destiny of China had already set sail from London and India.

On May 1, Lin Zexu, who was busy confiscating and processing opium in Humen, made such a judgment on the situation (translation): "After arriving in the province, I found that They seem to be very unruly on the outside, but they are actually very timid in their hearts. Many people worry that smoking ban will invite war. Don’t you know that these people have traveled more than 60,000 miles across oceans to do business here. The main and the guest are different, the few are divided, and the ordinary People can see clearly at a glance. Although they have strong boats and guns, they only have an advantage on the sea. It is useless to enter the inner port. Guangzhou has many doors and many natural risks to rely on. Besides, even if there is no opium trade, only They can also earn three times the profit by doing serious business. For their own interests, they will not choose war and abandon this pier.”

Since the successful transformation of the anti-smoking campaign, which is China’s internal affairs, into After the negotiations between the two governments, the attitude of the law of justice became increasingly tough. For this reason, Lin Zexu specially reminded Emperor Daoguang (translated) in the memorial: Yilu has been in China for many years and has always been cunning. He often buys our Dibao (equivalent to the internal reference materials of the central government). "Provocations" are very sensitive, so I hope to intimidate us, buy traitors everywhere, and spread rumors. Lin Zexu made a ticket to Daoguang: They must not dare to spy on China's great power by invading other countries. Therefore, the emperor must not be fooled by the law of justice.

Lin Zexu is very sure of his judgment. On September 5, he wrote to his friend, the governor of Guangdong Yiliang. The letter was extremely puzzled by Yilu’s recent tough attitude (translated): "However, privately, he did not Anyone who has a way out just doesn’t know why he still refuses to look back.”

The Portuguese in Macau reported that the UK had mobilized 12 warships from the mainland and India to China. Lin Zexu sneered at this and told the Governor of Macau (translated): "These lies are all fabricated by them, and they are not worth discussing."

This extreme conceit continued until April 1840. At that time, the news that Britain would use force against China was already known to everyone. The American consul approached Lin Zexu and told him that British warships would block Guangzhou Port in June. Therefore, he asked China to let American ships enter the port and open positions as soon as possible. Unload cargo to avoid war and reduce losses. Lin Zexu still disagrees with the official news from the US official, calling it a "rumor"-Lin Zexu, who has no basic modern diplomatic experience, can't appreciate the official flavor of the American consul's words.

In June, there were four British warships that arrived on the coast of Guangdong, but Lin Zexu said in a memorial to the emperor: "Although these ships are equipped with more weapons, they are actually only ships carrying opium." Regarding warships as merchant ships, and seeing an upcoming war that will change the destiny of ChinaFor a large-scale opium smuggling. Lin Zexu's final summary is: "As the emperor said, they can't do anything."

On July 17, Lin Zexu's report of safety arrived in the Forbidden City. At this time, the British army had occupied Zhoushan for 12 days.

War: Preparations of the Qing Army

Although I don’t believe it, the war is really here.

Actually, since September 1839, there have been frictions between China and Britain, and armed confrontations began to occur frequently. When the Opium War really broke out in June of the following year, during the nine months there were seven wars of various sizes on the seas of Guangdong. However, these fragmentary wars did not arouse Lin Zexu's vigilance. On the contrary, when reporting the results of these wars to Daoguang, Lin Zexu's report contained serious exaggerations and bragging suspicions. For example:

(1) In the Battle of Kowloon on September 4, 1839, Lin Zexu reported to the court that the Qing army killed 2 people, wounded 4 people, and the ship was slightly damaged; 1 British ship was sunk and killed 17 British troops. According to statistics from the British army, only a few people were injured.

(2) In the nose-piercing battle on November 3, 1839, Lin Zexu’s report stated that after the war, “twenty-one razor hats were caught” in the sea. Three of our ships entered the water, and one of the ships caught fire but was quickly extinguished. The report of the British Army's law of justice was: three warships of the Qing army were sunk, another gunpowder warehouse was hit and exploded, and many other ships were obviously flooded. The British army had no casualties.

Of course, whether the moisture in Lin Zexu's report was added by himself, or whether the frontline commander had falsely reported to him the merits, it is unclear. But no matter what it was, whether Lin Zexu knew the real situation of the frontline wars or not, in short, these wars did not attract his attention. He always believed that the opponents who fought with the Qing army were only those warships and smuggled merchant ships that had not been ordered by the British authorities and came to China privately. He didn't realize that he was actually at war with Britain.

However, these fragmentary battles still prompted Lin Zexu to make some war preparations. In the paper given to Emperor Daoguang, Lin Zexu believed that the Qing navy still had the ability to wipe out the British fleet at sea, but the navy was far out to the sea, and the rear was unavoidable. In case of any accident, it is better to "defense as a battle and wait for work." ", naturally foolproof. In this regard, Daoguang deeply agrees.

Subsequently, Lin Zexu also inspected and reinforced the fortresses along the coast of Guangdong, strengthened the fire intensity of many fortresses, and set the second and the first at some key passes. Three lines of defense. It is a traditional and effective tactic to use fortresses to resist the invasion of sea forces. However, all of Lin Zexu's defense measures neglected one of the most deadly problems: all the fortresses were unable to defend against ground attacks launched by the landing British troops from behind. And it was this loophole that later caused fatal damage to the Qing army.

Why does Lin Zexu leave such a big defense loophole?

Lin Zexu handed over to Emperor Daoguang in September 1839 to help us understand this question. Lin Zexu said in the Zhezi (translated): "Except for guns, barbarians are not good at stabbing steps. They also bind their legs and feet, and they are tightly dressed. It is very inconvenient to bend and stretch their legs. If they go ashore, they will be even more helpless. So, they are not invincible.”

In August 1840, when Dinghai fell, Lin Zexu offered advice to the court, suggesting a high reward to encourage soldiers and civilians to fight the enemy bravely. He actually said that because of the structure of the British soldiers’ legs Unlike China, bending and extension are difficult, so as long as they fall down, they can't get up at all. Based on this understanding, Lin Zexu believes that the British army has no land combat capability at all, and naturally there is no need to defend them from landing operations.

Lin Zexu is the first person to see the world with an open eye in modern Chinese history, but even he, at such a pass in 1840, is still absurd to this point, sad, sigh?

A pot of turbid wine, and it does not matter if it falls with the water.