Regarding the Boxer Rebellion, Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, and Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, have always taken the initiative to suppress the Boxers. Li Hongzhang, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, have also fir

Against the Boxer , the Governors of Liangjiang Liu Kunyi and Governors of Huguang Zhang Zhidong have always advocated suppression. The Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Li Hongzhang and the Governor of Shandong Yuan Shikai have also firmly advocated suppression. The economy in the southeast was developed, and officials advocated the extermination of the Boxer Rebellion. Therefore, the Boxer Rebellion failed to develop in the southeast, let alone form a large scale.

Their basic point of view is that the Boxer Rebellion's slogan of " support the Qing Dynasty and destroy the foreign " is a consistent strategy of "the bandits". If they tolerate it, they will make a huge mistake. All the magical powers of the Boxers were lies, and it would be a big mistake if the court was afraid of the Boxers because of this. At the end of May 1900, with the support of the imperial court, the Boxers moved to Zhili and Beijing and Tianjin. Their behavior became even more extreme. They burned some shops in Beijing, demolished railways, and burned stations. Seeing this, they openly opposed the imperial policy. Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi immediately called Ronglu , thinking that this was a rebellion in the name of religion and a provocation for the country. Besides, where were the railways and churches? It can be seen that he is actually a bandit and definitely not a good citizen. They believe that if this situation continues, all countries will send troops to take care of themselves in the name of protecting the priests and the people, and the overall situation will be difficult to deal with. The Boxers "should be punished according to law", and the imperial court should "suppress them with single-minded determination".

They hope that the imperial court can change its policy and reform the Boxer Rebellion from pacification to suppression. On June 15, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong jointly sent an electronic message to the court, urging the court to change its policy. They reminded the court:

If you hesitate to deal with the Boxer Rebellion and do not wipe it out quickly, all countries will definitely send troops to China to overstep their control, and the disaster is imminent. ; Li went to Chen, so he implored the imperial court to issue an edict to suppress the Boxer Rebellion immediately; they emphasized that black magic could never defend the enemy, and the chaos could not protect the country. Foreign soldiers were deeply involved in the invasion, bandits were everywhere in the provincial capitals, and the overall situation was in chaos. They regretted that they could not recover. It's extremely dangerous.

In the following four imperial meetings, although many high-ranking officials urged to avoid war, their pleas were of no avail. Cixi still decided to declare war.

Before the imperial court formally declared war with other countries, the governors of the southeast region with Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong as the core felt that the overall situation was irreversible, so they began to boldly plan the " Southeast Mutual Protection " with the purpose of "protecting the environment and the people."

Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kun contacted foreign consulates in Han and Shanghai and relevant foreigners many times. They repeatedly expressed their unwillingness to go to war with foreigners and resolutely protected the safety of foreigners' lives and property and maintained peace on one side. The British were worried that they would not be able to maintain the stability of the situation and proposed to send warships into the Yangtze River to assist, but Zhang and Liu refused, saying that they had enough power to maintain stability in the Yangtze River Basin. At the same time, Zhang Zhidong also called some ministers stationed in the United States and Japan, asking them to persuade the two countries to follow the British example and refrain from using force in southeast China to "jointly protect the overall situation in southeast China." Under the instructions of Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong, Sheng Xuanhuai, who had long had this intention, actively contacted officials in the Southeast and between China and foreign countries, and became the leader of "Mutual Protection in the Southeast." Li Hongzhang and Yuan Shikai also expressed firm support for Southeast Mutual Insurance.

At the critical moment when the governors of the southeast began to contact and negotiate with the great powers, news came that Cixi had "declared war" on all countries on June 21. At the same time, the imperial court also issued orders on the 20th and 21st to the governors of all provinces to "liaise together to protect the territory." " and the edict of "recruiting righteous people to defend against insult".

Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong were very worried when they knew that it was about rebellion against the imperial decree. Sheng Xuanhuai was also worried that once the edict declaring war was made public, the negotiations would fail. He immediately suggested that Liu and Zhang order the telegraph offices not to publicly publicize the edict. They could only "Secretly presented to the governor".

Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, and Li Hongzhang expressed support for Sheng's proposition. Liu Kun's faction was Shen Aicang, and Zhang Zhidong entrusted Tao Senjia as the plenipotentiary representative to negotiate with the envoys of various countries in Shanghai together with Shanghai Dao Yu Lianyuan. Sheng Xuanhuai was worried that the Qing Dynasty ministers abroad would return home immediately after finding out the edict declaring war. He believed that this was tantamount to a declaration of war, so he advised them not to "lower the flag and return to the country." The ministers abroad also strongly supported mutual protection between the Southeast and the Southeast and did not approve of "declaring war." ". On June 22, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong jointly submitted a petition calling for the disbandment of the Boxer Rebellion and the protection of the embassy on the grounds that there were no Boxer Rebellion volunteers in the Southeast and the decree to declare war could not be carried out. They publicly stated their diametrically opposed position with the imperial court and raised the Mutual protection flag.

However, the opinions within the southeastern local bureaucracy were not completely unified at that time. Li Bingheng, the governor of Shandong who originally supported the Boxer Rebellion and served as the "Inspection Envoy of the Yangtze River Navy" at the end of 1899, arrived at the seat of the Jiangsu provincial capital in late May 1900. Suzhou . Although he was among the governors and governors of the five Jiangnan provinces who jointly opposed the recruitment of the Boxers and was ranked first in the telegram sent to the court, he advocated bombarding foreign warships on the Yangtze River and rushed from Suzhou to Jiangyin Fort to do so. Preparation for bombardment.

Sheng Xuanhuai was shocked by the news. He knew that if the Yangtze River ships were bombarded, Southeast Mutual Protection would fall short, so he immediately telegraphed Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong. At this time, the imperial court asked the governors of various places not to hesitate and wait and see, quickly raise troops and pay, and send reinforcements northward. If there are any oversights, the only thing to do is to ask the governors responsible.

Liu Kunyi took the opportunity to use Li Bingheng's "prestige" as an excuse and ordered him to rush from Jiangyin to Nanjing, where the governor of Liangjiang was located, and ordered him to lead troops north to defend the imperial court. Li Suzhong was loyal and immediately led his troops northward. Liu Kunyi thus legitimately removed an "obstacle" to mutual protection in the southeast.

On June 23, Sheng Xuanhuai, Yu Lianyuan, Tao Senjia and Shen Aicang, with the help of the General Taxation Department, held formal talks with the consuls general of various countries stationed in Shanghai to discuss the overall strategy and specific guidelines for Southeast Mutual Insurance. The content of the negotiations included ensuring the safety of foreigners' lives and property in the southeast region, and also requiring the great powers to restrain their respective armies and ship sailors.

Sheng Xuanhuai was afraid of a long night and many dreams, so he sent a telegram to Li, Liu, and Zhang on June 24, urging them to quickly make contracts with the consuls of various countries before they officially received the imperial declaration of war. The main content was to "save the situation" and "make contracts with the consuls." According to the agreement, the Shanghai Concession shall be protected by all countries, and the Yangtze River Mainland shall be protected by the governor. The two parties shall not interfere with each other, and shall mainly protect the lives and industries of merchants and people ; on the one hand, the civil and military forces shall be ordered to suppress the local areas, and no trouble shall be allowed. Any offender shall be punished, in order to appease the people. ". He further analyzed the situation: "Things in the north will soon go bad. Leaving the three generals from the southeast to save the common people seems to have to obey the power. If we are rigid, not only will the southeast be destroyed, but it will also be difficult to restore the overall situation." This telegram first proposed the southeast. The basic principle of mutual protection is to dispel the concerns of Li, Liu, Zhang and other local officials about resisting the imperial edict with the "great righteousness" of saving the common people of the country and trying to save the overall situation, so that such local officials can openly disobey the central government and openly resist the edict during wartime. There is a certain "legitimacy" to the behavior. Li, Liu and Zhang agreed after reading it.

From the earliest contacts and negotiations, foreign officials had great doubts about whether Chinese local officials could violate the will of the imperial court to protect the lives and property of foreigners. They directly asked, even if a treaty was signed to ensure mutual security, what if the emperor of your country had a purpose to kill foreigners? , do you obey the order again? The Chinese representative falsely claimed that the contract was made through a formal declaration, and repeatedly emphasized that it was acting in accordance with the order.

Assigned by Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi, Shanghai Road Yu Lianyuan as the representative and Sheng Xuanhuai as the assistant officer formally negotiated with the consuls of various countries in Shanghai on the "Southeast Mutual Protection" in Shanghai on June 26. The meeting approved the " Southeast Protection Agreement " drafted by Sheng Xuanhuai and the "Charter for the Protection of the Interior and Outside of Shanghai City".The "Southeast Protection Covenant", also known as the "Chinese-Foreign Mutual Protection Charter", which guarantees peace in the Southeast, has 9 sections in total. The main content is:

The Shanghai Concession is jointly protected by all countries;

The Yangtze River and Suzhou and Hangzhou inland are protected by the governors, and bandits are strictly dealt with. , protect the merchants and missionary industries of various countries;

If there are foreign military ships at various ports, they will still be anchored as usual, but sailors are not allowed to go ashore. Without consultation with the Chinese governor, countries are not allowed to send more military ships to the Yangtze River and other places. Military ships It is not allowed to park near Wusong and the Yangtze River forts;

warships from various countries are not allowed to cruise and park in the area of ​​Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau and Gunpowder Bureau. China guarantees that the arms of the Manufacturing Bureau are specially used to suppress bandits and protect merchants and civilians.

After the Sino-foreign Mutual Protection Charter was signed in Shanghai, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong called the envoys stationed in Europe, the United States, and Japan respectively, asking them to submit the Southeastern Mutual Protection Articles to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the host country. They expressed their interests and facilitated the exchange in Shanghai. negotiation. Local governors directly intervene in and participate in the diplomatic power that should be reserved for the central government, and issue instructions directly to envoys abroad. This is also an important sign of the expansion of the governor's power.

The Southeast Governors discussed the mutual protection of the Southeast in full swing. Communication with each other must be rapid and confidential. Telegrams played an important role. As early as October 1880, after more than ten years of unremitting efforts by Li Hongzhang, the Qing government finally allowed him to establish the General Telegraph Bureau in Tianjin, and Li Hongzhang appointed Sheng Xuanhuai as the general office. Tianjin is the "General Bureau" and Shanghai is the "Deputy". Because the Shanghai Telegraph Branch is the gathering place for all the bureaus on the South Road, Shanghai is also the gathering place for foreign telegraphs in China. This was the beginning of China's modern telecommunications industry. Telegraph lines had spread all over the country in the past twenty years. However, after the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, electricity, wires, and telegraph offices were the most important "foreign" objects in the eyes of the people and must be eradicated. During this period, the telegraph communication system in the north suffered unprecedented damage, especially the Zhili and Beijing-Tianjin lines. The destruction of the Zhili line made communications between Beijing, Wuhan and Xi'an difficult. The consequences of the destruction of the Beijing-Tianjin Line will be even more serious. Because this line connects Beijing to Tianjin and Shanghai through submarine wires, it is the main channel for the Qing government's external communications. However, the only person in the northern provinces who strictly controlled the Boxers was Shandong Yuan Shikai, who protected the wire and telegraph office in Shandong and kept the lines open. In this way, many messages between the imperial court and the southeastern provinces had to be conveyed through Yuan Lai.

When the declaration of war was being transmitted to all provinces in the country in the traditional way of "six hundred miles faster", Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, was the first to receive the order except the governor of Zhili. After receiving the order, he took the lead in telegraphing the news of the break between China and foreign countries to Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, and Sheng Xuanhuai. After receiving the news, these four people started planning for mutual protection in the southeast. The general manager of the telegraph bureau, Sheng Xuanhuai, strictly ordered all telegraph bureaus to block the declaration of war, and stipulated that all close discussions between the governors of the southeast should be transmitted to Sheng himself in code, ensuring the confidentiality and security of the telegram messages transmitted by officials in each province. Without the new technology of telegraph, or if the telegraph was controlled by the imperial court, it would be difficult for Southeast Mutual Insurance to succeed.

After the Southeast Mutual Insurance was formally established, Governor Li Hongzhang of Guangdong and Guangxi, Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang Xu Yingxuan, Governor of Shandong Yuan Shikai, Governor of Sichuan Kui Jun, and Governor of Shaanxi Duan Fang all expressed their approval of the Southeast Mutual Insurance, far beyond the Yangtze River Basin scope of mutual insurance.

"Mutual Protection in the Southeast" is obviously contrary to the imperial court's "Declaration of War" decree. Therefore, Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi will telegraph to Cixi on the same day when they sign the contract, explaining their difficulties and reasoning, so that the imperial court will accept what they do. . This memorial was drafted by Zhang. From the beginning, he made it clear that he did not agree with the imperial court's policy of declaring war on various countries and recruiting Boxer Rebellion members, and urged the imperial court to change its policy:

"This big danger lies in starting a provocation with all the powerful countries." "It is impossible to defeat the artillery fire of the great powers with flesh and blood."

"With the important position of the capital, it is extremely dangerous to make a desperate move."In terms of military strength, how can one country be able to defeat other countries without losing any more; in terms of general trend, how can any country be willing to lose to one country without losing more than once?"

The result must be "The armies of all countries march directly into the capital, and the clans and clans take advantage of the public opinion. How unimaginable! This minister is the one who weeps bitterly, cannot bear to speak but dare not remain silent, and has to kowtow ten thousand times to ask the court to think about changes."

Moreover, along the Yangtze River, there are only "hui bandits" and "boxer bandits" who rob and steal. There is no boxing club to recruit."

After demonstrating that the imperial court was facing a terrible situation, they naturally came to the conclusion that "Southeast Mutual Protection" should be implemented for the sake of the country and the imperial court:

"As far as the current plan is concerned, the North's affairs are over. After the breakup, if the southeastern provinces were to be ravaged again, there would be no clean land, no source of income, and the overall situation would collapse and become irremediable. Only by stabilizing each country can the territory be preserved. "

Due to the serious conflict of interests between the great powers in the Yangtze River Basin, "we can restrain them according to their taboos." If you incite one country, they will inevitably attack in groups. We can learn from the mistakes made by Dagu . This is really a compromise." They admitted that if they only go to war with one country in the Yangtze River Basin, it is possible to last for half a year, but if they can resist If there are many countries, "I sincerely dare not make boastful remarks to deceive the emperor and harm the country." "In short, if we can communicate for a day, outsiders within the Yangtze River will not be able to achieve their ambitions."

They grasped the meaning of the edict. The words "the governors encourage each other and work together to save the crisis" try to describe the mutual protection of the Southeast as an act of "work together to save the crisis" in line with the imperial edict. Of course, they have to say: "If all countries must want to. We engage in fighting and send a large fleet of warships to the river to attack our camp. We are really pressing here. I have been deeply favored and have the responsibility to defend the territory. I should try my best to resist and share life and death. "Finally, they particularly emphasized that the imperial court should not recall envoys stationed abroad. "If an envoy lowers his flag and returns to his country, he will declare a clear break and admit that he has destroyed lives and property in various countries. It will be more difficult to change in the future. It is better to still temporarily stay in each country." . Try to leave a way for the court to negotiate a peace in the future.

On June 28, two days after the signing of the "Charter of Mutual Protection in the Southeast," the court's "Declaration of War" decree was announced in Shanghai. Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kun had assured Sheng Xuanhuai and others that everything would be done. The responsibility lies with both of them. However, in the edict given to them after the "declaration of war", Cixi not only did not blame them for their disobedience, but praised "mutual protection" as "the mature way to run a country" and that the court "cooperated with the government." "The opinions of the governor and other governors have returned to the same point." After some series of contacts, Guangdong, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan and other provinces have successively participated in the "mutual protection".

Indeed, in hindsight, Southeast Mutual Protection is of great benefit to the country as a whole , which can be said to have made a great contribution. It not only prevented the Eight-Power Allied Forces from spreading the war to the south, but also prevented the Boxer Rebellion from spreading to the south. You must know that the Boxer Rebellion caused great damage to the prosperous Qianmen Business District of Beijing. , burned to the ground. If the Boxer Rebellion spread to the south, it would definitely cause greater damage. The Chinese national bourgeois enterprises at that time would definitely suffer from it.

Because the Southeast Mutual Protection guaranteed peace and order in the southern provinces, After the Gengzi Incident, the economy of the south entered a period of rapid development from 1901 to 1911. There were a total of 392 newly established national capital enterprises in the country, most of which were in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and other regions. There were only more than 30 in total, not even one tenth.

It can be said that Southeast Mutual Protection saved the country’s vitality and foundation and avoided the fate of complete national destruction. According to the comparison of domestic and foreign strength at that time, if the country was A desperate move to start a war with foreigners would only result in what Zhang Zhidong said: "We can never defeat all countries" and "lose or lose", and even let China fall into the abyss of complete colonialism.

Regarding mutual protection in the southeast, it is quoted. What makes people think deeply is that there is an ingenious structure in China's political tradition. On the one hand, China’s political tradition is highly centralized and requires the entire country to obey the emperor absolutely and the imperial power is supreme; but on the other hand, China’s political tradition and political culture provide sufficient legal principles to oppose the emperor’s wrong decisions. in accordance with.

These two seemingly contradictory concepts magically coexist in the same political culture. Nothing can better demonstrate the high flexibility and reality of China's traditional political culture than this.

Specifically speaking of Southeast Mutual Insurance, although on the surface it is undeniable that the local government disobeyed the central government, and even directly refuted the central government's instructions, but afterwards, everyone can easily find a self-defeating explanation.

First of all, there has been a saying in China since ancient times that "if you are outside, your orders will not be accepted". The emperor may not have an accurate understanding of the situation in various places. Local officials, generals and others who are solely responsible for the outside world can decide whether to carry out the emperor's orders based on the actual situation. As long as "will"'s decision is later proven to be correct, there will be no problem.

Secondly, for the Qing Dynasty, there was also a saying of "looking up to the emperor", which required officials to understand and implement the emperor's orders realistically rather than just literally. From the practical level of the Qing Dynasty, it is obvious that it is a consistent policy to exterminate the Boxer Rebellion and maintain friendly diplomatic relations with other countries. If the governors adhere to this principle, it cannot be regarded as true disobedience.

As for the edict, it can be explained afterwards that the emperor and the queen mother were deceived by villains and issued orders that were not in line with their original intentions. The fault lies with those villains, not the emperor and the queen mother.

Therefore, the word Li Hongzhang used was "a disorderly order", which was an order that was not the original intention of the emperor and the queen mother - "this disorderly order is also an order that Guangdong does not follow."

Source "Chinese Slicing, 1900" (by Lei Yi) Li Ziyang