On August 13, 1900, eight major countries led by Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy and the Olympics formed the " Eight-Nation Alliance " to invade the city of Beijing, attacking Dongbianmen , Chaoyangmen , and Dongzhimen . Then the British army took the lead in breaking through Guangqumen.
August 15, Beijing fell. Almost at the same time, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fled in a hurry, and when they fled, Li Hongzhang was appointed as the plenipotent representative of peace with the great powers.
In fact, Li Hongzhang did not participate in the entire process of the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, because Li Hongzhang was the governor of , Guangdong and Guangxi , and was banning betting and gangsters in Guangdong and Guangxi, which made him a big killer.
However, as the war broke out, the first thing Cixi thought of was to transfer Li Hongzhang from the Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi to the Governor General of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang.
In the late Qing Dynasty, when the traffic was not very developed, the road from Guangdong to Beijing was not close. Li Hongzhang was 77 years old at that time. When he arrived in Shanghai on a steamer, he delayed the speed of going north on the grounds of being uncomfortable. His subordinates and close people advised him not to go north, so as not to become a scapegoat.
However, as the Eight-Nation Alliance continued to advance to Beijing, the situation in the north was really uncontrollable, so Cixi sent continuous power to Li Hongzhang, urging him to go north to preside over the situation.
Beijing fell on August 15, Cixi fled, Li Hongzhang arrived in Tianjin on September 29, entered Beijing on October 11, and officially accepted the peace talks (district cede compensation).
For Western invaders, they seemed to prefer to talk to Li Hongzhang. By January 15, 1901, Li Hongzhang and Prince Qing Yi Li signed the "Peace Discussion Outline".
news came out, and the whole country criticized Li Hongzhang as a traitor like Qin Hui .
Because Li Hongzhang was under too much pressure, he was anxious and even started to cough up blood when negotiating with the great powers. In order to facilitate this, Li Hongzhang no longer had the strength to compete with representatives of various countries.
At that time, representatives from various countries directly raised a compensation of 1 billion taels of silver. Li Hongzhang lay on his sickbed and directed other officials to argue with reason. In the end, 450 million taels of silver were reached and paid off in 39 years.
During Li Hongzhang's political career, he signed many unequal conditions for cede land compensation, including treaties that are so embezzled like the " Treaty of Shimonoseki ". However, if we say that the most serious unequal treaty in China's modern history is the "Xin Chou Treaty".
The signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty" completely reduced China to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the Qing government also completely became a tool for imperialism to invade China.
After signing the last treason treaty, Li Hongzhang finally ran out of energy and his death was approaching. At the last moment of his life, Li Hongzhang wrote the last memorial to Cixi and Guangxu who fled to Xi'an, which was emotionally written: "The memorial is a ill person who is ill and ill, and he cannot afford to pay attention to the secrets and seek the holy and learn from the matter... It is about to be imminent, and he looks forward to the time, and he leaves the wise and has no attachment to the wise. I would like to thank God for your kindness, beg the Empress Dowager and the Emperor for the Holy Learning of the Emperor."
Empress Dowager Cixi saw Li Hongzhang's memorial on the way back to Beijing, and was immediately moved to tears. She said to the people around her: "The overall situation is not determined. If there is an accident, no one will share the burden."
The next day, Cixi received the news of Li Hongzhang's death and immediately "stricken the loss."
It may be that you don’t believe it. Li Hongzhang once had an affair with Cixi. In October 1898, the US New York Times reported Li Hongzhang: "Chinese President Li Hongzhang is visiting."
Logically speaking, the New York Times is a very influential newspaper. You should not make such a low-level mistake. A person who just lost his position as governor of Zhili and Minister of Commerce was called the president.
What is even more sad is that many American tabloids reported on Li Hongzhang at that time were even more scary, saying that Li Hongzhang and Cixi had already married secretly. They made up such a slight and eye-catching one, with all the time, place, and characters, and even made up their honeymoon.
makes such a joke, some people explain that Li Hongzhang was wearing yellow jacket when he went abroad. The Americans who were not aware of it mistakenly thought it was a dragon robe, so there was a misunderstanding that Cixi and Li Hongzhang got married.
Although this is a misunderstanding, it is undeniable that Cixi and Li Hongzhang and his master and servant still have a political alliance of 20 or 30 years. They jointly created Tongzhi Zhongxing , which almost ruined the life of the late Qing Dynasty. Therefore, when they learned that Li Hongzhang died, Cixi inevitably felt the loss of "death of a rabbit and a grief".
Although Cixi was deeply favored by Emperor Xianfeng during the dynasty of Xianfeng and interfered in the government affairs for a while, that did not belong to her era. Until 1860, Emperor Xianfeng hid in the Rehe to avoid the forefront of the British and French coalition forces. He died of illness the following year. Cixi immediately joined hands with her brother-in-law, Prince Gong, and Yili, to launch the Xinyou coup, and was able to rule the country from behind the curtain and truly step onto the political stage.
Almost at the same time, Li Hongzhang was ordered to form Huai Army . With the support of his mentor Zeng Guofan , he quickly established an army and completed it. He was soon recommended as the governor of Jiangsu to resist the attack of the Taiping Army in Shanghai.
Because Zeng Guofan was conservative in his thoughts and preferred traditional playing style, Li Hongzhang was more exposed to foreign things. After gaining a foothold in Shanghai, he immediately asked the Huai Army to learn from foreigners, equip foreign guns and cannons, and hired foreigners to help train the army. The combat effectiveness of the Huai Army was greatly improved.
In the later suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, Li Hongzhang's Huai army was able to show its strength and successively conquered important cities such as Suzhou and Changzhou , and cleared the Taiping army forces of Sunnan . The limelight was more prosperous than Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army . The Qing court seemed to be more interested in supporting Li Hongzhang and constraining Zeng Guofan.
1864, the Hunan Army had been unable to attack Tianjing for a long time. The Qing court repeatedly urged Li Hongzhang to lead the Huai Army to the attack. Considering the relationship between master and apprentice with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang finally chose to remain calm. Seeing that the Hunan Army could not take over, the court was anxious to urge him, and Li Hongzhang only sent some artillery soldiers to assist, but did not lead the army to attack the city.
After successfully suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guofan took the initiative to abolish the Hunan Army in order to achieve the name of a saint and avoid the great achievements of the master. Compared with Zeng Guofan's kind of looking forward to the front and back, Li Hongzhang directly expressed that he should not abandon his martial arts when he was worried about internal and external troubles.
Sure enough, in the second year (1865), the pillar of the Qing Dynasty, Senggelinqin, was annihilated with Heze, Shandong, when suppressing the Nian Army, and the court immediately transferred Zeng Guofan to the north. However, it took a year and a half but no results were achieved. The Qing Dynasty had to send Li Hongzhang to replace Zeng Guofan to suppress Nian.
After Li Hongzhang came forward, he quickly wiped out the Nian Army and the Qing court awarded Li Hongzhang Huguang Governor General.
It should be said that Li Hongzhang is indeed a capable person. Zeng Guofan cannot settle things, Li Hongzhang can settle things, Zeng Guofan cannot see through things, Li Hongzhang can see through things, although he is famous for suppressing peasant uprisings, he has made achievements in Westernization and other aspects, which has played a lot of role in promoting China's modernization.
However, the Qing court soon discovered that Li Hongzhang, who was more enthusiastic about the Westernization, seemed to be more powerful in diplomacy, which was already revealed when he suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement.
Li Hongzhang has seen the power of foreigners since the Huai Army headed to Shanghai, and thus developed the idea of "being humiliated and enduring humiliation and learning one or two secret methods of foreigners". He reformed the Huai Army. When attacking Suzhou, Li Hongzhang also used the general of the Changsheng Army (foreign mercenary) to persuade the surrender of the Taiping Army in Suzhou to surrender, and then suddenly surrender, which made Gordon very angry and asked for trouble for Li Hongzhang everywhere. At this time, Li Hongzhang used the foreigner Heder to cleverly calm the matter and disbanded the Changsheng Army.
1870, Zeng Guofan handled the Tianjin lesson plan and was unfavorable. The Qing court appointed Li Hongzhang as the governor of Zhili , and replaced Zeng Guofan to solve the Tianjin lesson plan, which was quickly resolved. Li Hongzhang later served as the Minister of Commerce of Beiyang.
I remember Li Hongzhang, who was only 20 years old, went to Beijing for the exam. The young man was full of energy and passion, determined to do a great cause. He once wrote this sentence: "Who has written history for ten thousand years? He has found a title of marquis three thousand miles away."
is probably all realized now. At this time, Li Hongzhang gradually entered the core of power of the post-Qing court and was called the minister of the revival.
In the process of Li Hongzhang climbing up, Cixi was also controlling more power. In 1884, Cixi launched the Jiashen Yishu Dynasty change, and dismissed the entire class of the Military Affairs Office, led by Prince Gong Yili, and was completely called the master of the Qing Dynasty.
Many people who have a little knowledge of history probably believe that Cixi had a certain role in promoting the revival of Tongzhi. In fact, since 1864 From 1894 to 1894, the Western powers were almost simultaneously carrying out political revolutionary movements. The Civil War broke out in the United States, Japan carried out the Meiji Restoration , Tsarist Russian carried out the abolition of serfdom, etc. At the same time, the Qing government also carried out the relatively simple innovation of the Westernization Movement , which made the Qing government achieve certain development.
In the Sino-French War from 1883 to 1885, China and France had mutual military victory and defeat, and encountered foreign entry in the late Qing Dynasty. There are few highlight moments during the invasion.
The Qing government really began to go completely up and down, which started with Cixi taking power. Originally, the Qing government still had an advantage in the Sino-French war, but Cixi, who had just taken power, couldn't wait to advocate the strategy of "taking advantage of victory and winning", allowing Li Hongzhang to sign the Sino-French New Testament with France, which allowed France to gain a lot of aggression.
Signing a stolen treaty is a very unpleasant thing, and Li Hongzhang is naturally a person who wants to save face. He also wanted to be strong and not bullied.
For this reason, after Li Hongzhang took power, he began to promote naval construction. As a minister of Beiyang, Li Hongzhang personally started to prepare for Beiyang Navy , but it did not improve much until the Sino-French War. In Mawei Navy in the Sino-French War in 1884, after only 30 minutes of naval battle, Fujian Navy was wiped out, causing shock to the Qing court, and since then it made up its mind to engage in maritime defense.
After four years of extensive procurement of advanced Western gunboats, by 1888, the Beiyang Navy was in Weihai, Shandong Province. In terms of displacement, the strength of the Beiyang Navy was once selected as the number one in Asia and ninth in the world by Americans at that time.
After the completion of the Beiyang Navy, considering that Japan has always provoked China, Li Hongzhang also intends to let the Beiyang Navy show his face. In 1891, he reviewed it on a large scale and went to Maguan, Japan on June 28, 1891, which greatly stimulated Japan.
1892 Ito Hiromohide After becoming the Prime Minister of Japan, the first policy plan was to plan to build a powerful naval force to catch up with the Qing government. The Japanese Emperor even said that he would tighten his belt, eat only one meal a day, and save money to buy warship .
At that time, in order to buy Yoshino , because of insufficient finance, the Japanese government mobilized people to donate, and in a short time, Japan raised enough money to buy three Yoshino ships.
When Japan was expanding its military strength, Li Hongzhang had long noticed that Japan had ambition to invade China, and once bluntly pointed out that Japan was a "disaster of Middle-earth."
However, in sharp contrast with the expansion of the Japanese army, the Qing court implemented a plan to suspend the purchase of naval arms for two years. Even the funds that promised to give the navy 4 million taels of silver each year were difficult to guarantee.
Therefore, in the six years since the completion of the Beiyang Navy in 1888 to the outbreak of 894, the Beiyang Navy did not buy a warship.
At such a critical moment, why did the Qing court not allocate money to build a navy?
The reason is 18 1994 was the 60th birthday of Cixi. He wanted to hold a grand birthday party for himself. Although Guangxu was in charge of the rule, he had not yet fully grasped the power and tried his best to please Cixi. Therefore, this birthday party was extremely extravagant.
After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Guangxu and others were in charge of war to improve their political reputation. Cixi did not take the Japanese seriously, and they also advocated war. However, when someone proposed to stop the Summer Palace project and used this part of the money as military expenses, Cixi was furious and said, "If I don't like today, I will also make him feel unhappy for the rest of my life."
What the entire Qing court's upper rulers did not expect was that when the Qing army was defeated in the war with Japan, a "small country", Cixi sought a way to end the war immediately in order not to affect her birthday party.
Cixi, who had been clamoring for "no words to show weakness", immediately became a peacemaker and supported Li Hongzhang's policy of avoiding war and seeking peace. No matter what, do not expand the war.
Li Hongzhang's idea was to "avoid war and protect the ship", but the Beiyang Navy stopped at the door of Weihaiwei 's house and was beaten with cannons, and eventually the entire army was wiped out.
In March 1895, after Japan rejected other peace talks sent by the Qing court, Cixi appointed Li Hongzhang as the plenipotentiary minister and went to Japan to beg for peace. Ironically, the negotiation location was chosen in Maguan, which was the place where the Beiyang Navy came to Japan to show off its power after the completion of the Beiyang Navy. The negotiation process is complicated. Li Hongzhang can only move with limited capital. It is said that even the secret telegram with the Qing court was deciphered by the Japanese side. Japan seized the mentality of Cixi's ceasefire at all costs. The lion spoke out loudly. After Li Hongzhang was shot by Japanese radicals, the two sides signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which was unprecedentedly humiliated in Chinese history. China not only needed to give up its status as a sovereign country in North Korea, but also had to compensate Japan for 200 million taels of silver and other clauses.
Li Hongzhang is also a person who wants to be respected. At the last moment of the negotiation, Zeng Lao said in tears: "If the negotiation fails, he can only move the capital to Shaanxi and fight with Japan for a long time. Japan will not be able to conquer China, and China can resist for endless periods. Japan will eventually lose and seek peace."
The humiliation of Li Hongzhang even made Li Hongzhang swear to "never go to Japan for life."
After Li Hongzhang signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the news came back to the country, and his political reputation turned sharply. Public opinion did not dare to accuse Cixi of exhausting the national treasury for holding a birthday party, but pointed the finger at Li Hongzhang. In this way, Li Hongzhang became a scapegoat for losing power and humiliating the country and was removed from his post as governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang.
Since Li Hongzhang entered politics, he has never suffered such a serious political setback. At that time, the wall was really overwhelming.
Kang Youwei and others founded the strong learning society in Beijing, which triggered the climax of reform and reform . Li Hongzhang also tended to reform. For this reason, he took some money to send it, but was rejected. He really put his face on his cold butt.
Once upon a time, Li Zhongtang's mansion was like a car like a flowing water and a horse like a dragon. There was a constant stream of officials at all levels who came to visit. Now, they give money to people, and people think that his money is dirty. This psychological gap may be understood by anyone who understands it.
1896, the Russian Emperor Nicholas II held a coronation ceremony. Li Hongzhang, who was far away from the power center of the Qing court, went to congratulate him as the first envoy, and took this opportunity to visit Europe and the United States. He met with the iron-blooded prime minister Bismarck in Germany, and went to the UK to meet Queen Victoria . Later, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the United States and finally returned to China through Canada.
When the cruise ship passed through Yokohama, Japan, the Japanese political circles also prepared a warm welcome ceremony, but Li Hongzhang insisted on not boarding Japan. Because he needed to transfer to a ship, he needed to ferry on a small boat. When Li Hongzhang saw that the ferry was a Japanese ship, he refused to go up no matter what. In the end, there was no way. The two transfer ships leaned together and set up a wooden board in the middle. Li Hongzhang, who was already in his seventies at the time, staggered and moved over little by little.
At the beginning of 1900, the situation in Guangdong and Guangxi was unstable, and the revolutionaries were very frequent, and there was a tendency to escape from the Qing court. Because in Guangdong and Guangxi, the remnants of Kang and Liang and Sun Yat-sen and Guangxi were gathered in Guangdong and Guangxi. British and French also planned to further expand their sphere of influence, and even had plans to independent Guangdong and Guangxi from the Qing court. Therefore, no minister was willing to go. At this time, Cixi thought of Li Hongzhang, a Qing Dynasty papermaker, and appointed Li Hongzhang as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.
Li Hongzhang, who is already 77 years old, was ordered to be in danger. After arriving in Guangdong and Guangxi, he started a massacre for six months, shocking the world and maintaining the situation in Guangdong.
Of course, Li Hongzhang encountered many dangers during this trip. At that time, someone even wanted to assassinate Li Hongzhang directly.
Li Hongzhang's actions made people realize that this old man is still a little capable. Therefore, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, Western powers planned the independence of Guangdong and Guangxi and invited Li Hongzhang to be the president, but they were not accepted by Li Hongzhang.
When the Eight-Nation Alliance arrived in Beijing, Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fled, the first thing that came to mind was Li Hongzhang. With an appointment, Li Hongzhang was transferred back from Guangdong and Guangxi, and he was responsible for handling the aftermath.
It can be said that after Cixi took over the Qing court, she made many mistakes and asked Li Hongzhang to take the blame. However, the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China had nothing to do with Li Hongzhang. At that time, he was far away from the power center of the Qing court and did not participate in the decision-making. However, Cixi still acted as if she was: "The blame is very big, I hope you can take it!" and let Li Hongzhang take the blame.
Although Li Hongzhang hesitated, he finally dragged his sick body back to Beijing after the fall of Beijing, signed the last treason treaty in his life, and died in the last time.
When I learned about Li Hongzhang's death, how could Cixi not be sad? Who else in the Qing Dynasty could be like Li Hongzhang who was willing to take the blame, willing to take the blame, and dare to take the blame?
