On the eighth day of January in the 19th year of Daoguang's reign (1839), The day Lin Zexu left Beijing, he issued a "passing card" to inform the states, counties, and cities along the way from Liangxiang County to the capital of Guangdong Province. Officials at the post station: For this business trip, he will prepare his own sedan and car, bring his own servants, and pay his own wages. No assistants are allowed for supplies along the way. The accompanying servants are not allowed to ask for local demands. Local officials are not allowed to send fees privately. Any offenders will be severely punished.
This pass created a serious atmosphere and made people feel Lin Zexu's seriousness and responsibility. In particular, British drug traffickers in Guangdong have realized that something is wrong. Cha Dun, an old drug dealer who had been expelled for more than a year and refused to leave Guangzhou, fled in a hurry, and the opium barge on Lingding Ocean also began to move.
On January 11, Lin Zexu secretly contacted Guangdong's chief envoy and inspector envoy to arrest 61 traitors on the way, including "the gangsters who bought the goods at the kiln entrance, negotiated the alliance, profiteers from all walks of life, and escorted the gangsters". They are all loyal lackeys of foreign drug traffickers. Their arrest is a serious warning to foreign drug traffickers.
On January 25, Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou. The next day, Lin Zexu posted a notice on the front door of the hotel: It is strictly forbidden to check the gates and guard the gates carefully. All attendants are not allowed to leave the left and right sides without permission, and they are not allowed to come in or out under the pretext of excuses. This notice once again expressed Lin Zexu's determination and serious attitude in banning smoking, leaving no opportunity for opium dealers to take advantage of him.
Lin Zexu decided to ban smoking in two steps:
The first step was to understand the situation of opium poisoning.
In addition to meeting with and Deng Tingzhen, he gathered relevant merchants and merchants near the hotel and made inquiries day and night; he discussed current affairs with the scholar-bureaucrats, and in the name of holding a "viewing test", he summoned hundreds of college graduates and asked them to list the locations where opium was sold and the names of the sellers, and asked them to report the situation of naval fraud. It didn't take long for Lin Zexu to fully grasp the situation of opium smuggling and opium management in Guangzhou.
So, while he started to rectify the navy, he also carried out the second step: paying the cigarette.
On the fourth day of February, Lin Zexu summoned opium traders and announced an edict giving them three days to make all foreign traders promise never to bring opium. The edict listed past businessmen's deceitful concealment and protection of foreign drug dealers, and warned: "If you cannot do this in advance, you will collude with the barbarians on weekdays, and have selfish motives. It will be obvious without asking.
This minister immediately respectfully requests the king's order to send This businessman chooses to rectify the law and copy the property into the official position to show his warning!" At the same time, he handed over another edict to the merchant and sent it to the foreign company, sternly pointing out that foreign drug traffickers cheated money and killed people, which was "the common outrage of the people and cannot be tolerated by heaven."
After Lin Zexu announced his intention to "get rid of all the opium", he ordered all foreign traders to inventory the opium tools within three days and wait for collection. He also signed a written document in Chinese and foreign languages, stating that "'No opium will ever be carried on ships in the future. , if brought, once found, all the goods will be taken away from the officials, the person will be punished, and he will plead guilty."
Lin Zexu made an oath: The opium will not be exhausted for a day, and this minister will not return for a day. I swear to stick to this matter and will not stop the anti-smoking campaign!
For a hundred years, the Chinese government and officials have always compromised and have never adopted such a harsh policy. Although the foreign drug traffickers were afraid, under the instigation and obstruction of Yilu, the representative of the British invaders, and Diandi, the veteran British drug trafficker, they still held a wait-and-see attitude, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity.
Lin Zexu had already expected that the drug dealers would not give up. On the fifth day of February, the day after the cigarette payment was announced, Guangdong Customs was ordered to prohibit outsiders from leaving Guangzhou as a precaution. On the eighth day of February, the three-day period expired. The drug dealers tried to get away with it and were only willing to hand over more than a thousand boxes of opium, but Lin Zexu immediately refused.
So Lin Zexu ordered the arrest of Biandi. The reason was that Diandi was a "Qinjiao" opium convict and had lived in China for a long time. He was responsible for all the export of silver and the import of opium. In this cigarette collection, Diandi had the most opium with him, so he repeatedly obstructed it in an attempt to avoid paying.
However, the foreign drug traffickers are actually the main culprits in Diandi and cannot be tolerated or condoned. The arrest warrant also stated: Other drug dealers who surrender first will be rewarded.The representative of the British invaders, Yi Luben, was in Macau. When he learned that Ben Di was to be arrested, he rushed to Guangzhou on the 10th day of the lunar month to cover Ben Di's escape.
At the same time, Lin Zexu announced that if foreign businessmen disobeyed the government order, merchant ships from various countries would be docked in Huangpu and their cabins would be sealed first, and no cargo would be allowed to be loaded or unloaded for trade. At the same time, the people were ordered not to lease ships or houses to foreign businessmen, and all Chinese personnel employed by foreign companies were to withdraw.
and sent troops to surround foreign companies. Starting from the afternoon of the 10th day of the lunar month, 275 foreign businessmen were completely quarantined, cutting off communications and food supplies from the outside world.
The foreign drug dealers did not expect that Lin Zexu was superior to them and would act so quickly. They thought that the opium barges were well hidden. On the rough Lingding Ocean, the navy of the Qing government was weak and did not dare to do anything to them. If there was no way out, they could escape back to Macau or escape from the ships. But I never expected that Lin Zexu would be so calm and thoughtful and take strong measures and plans.
The drug dealers' plot failed to succeed. "Isolation" gave them the opportunity to understand Lin Zexu's resolute attitude in enforcing the law. On February 12, Lin Zexu sent people to point out Yilu's crime of instructing the big opium dealers to escape and prevent the British businessmen from surrendering opium. At the same time, Lin Zexu issued "Four Articles to Instruct the Yi to Quickly Handle Opium, Soil, and Soil", which was based on the four points of nature, national law, human relations, and the situation, and moved them with emotion.
On February 13, Yilu finally made a concession and reported to Lin Zexu that he would obey the Qing government's decision. The next day, it was reported that British businessmen had more than 20,000 boxes of opium waiting to be inspected. On the 21st of the same month, Lin Zexu sent a representative from Tong Yilu to Macau to discuss the payment of cigarettes.
On the 28th, Lin Zexu and Deng Tingzhen went to Humen in person to monitor. The collection began the next day, and by April 9th, all collections were completed. During the process of handing over the cigarettes, the British drug dealers repeatedly made trouble and attempted to repent. However, due to Lin Zexu's firm attitude and precautions against the British businessmen's conspiracy, the drug dealers were unable to do anything.
From February to March in the 19th year of Daoguang (1839), Lin Zexu not only fought against foreign drug traffickers, but also stepped up internal inspections. When he first entered Guangdong, he found that the traitors were still taking chances with the ban, thinking that the official ban might not last long. They asked everywhere about the severity of the crimes and whether new regulations had been enacted.
Therefore, Lin Zexu concluded that only the threat of life and death would be enough to frighten these traitors, and he asked the Qing government to enact strict regulations as soon as possible. While fully grasping the information about drug traffickers and traitors selling and poisoning the people, and arresting large and small cigarette dealers, Lin Zexu promulgated strict regulations based on the principle of understanding first with reason and then punishing with strict laws.
In early February, he ordered the entire province's scholars, merchants, soldiers, and civilians to quit opium as soon as possible. He limited Guangzhou to the end of February to the end of March, and all prefectures and counties to the end of February. Tools are the responsibility of the local department;
ordered the instructors of each school to check whether the students were taking opium and selling it; promulgated regulations prohibiting the use of opium by soldiers in the camp and compiled inspection guarantees to prevent the use of opium and trafficking. In various orders and regulations, Lin Zexu never let go of the past favoritism and malpractice of Guangdong gentlemen, officials, generals, soldiers, etc.
Although Guangdong is the origin of opium and tobacco, the people deeply hate opium. Therefore, Lin Zexu's planned and step-by-step anti-smoking measures were supported by the people of Guangdong. The anti-smoking campaign expanded from Guangdong to all provinces.
Humen destroyed opium
After the opium was confiscated, Lin Zexu petitioned the Qing Dynasty government on how to deal with it. Emperor Daoguang ordered them to be destroyed on the spot so that coastal residents and foreigners living in Guangzhou could witness them with their own eyes to show the court's majesty and determination to ban them.
In the past, the method of destroying opium was to stir it with tung oil and burn it with fire. But after burning, part of the opium seeps into the ground. If the soil is dug out and then boiled, a considerable amount of smoke paste can be obtained. Lin Zexu believed that this old method could not completely burn opium. After repeated research, it was decided to use salt brine and lime for dipping.
So two large pools were dug at the height of Humen Beach, each fifteen feet long and wide. The bottom of the pool was paved with stone slabs, surrounded by rafters and nail boards. A culvert was opened in front of the pool and a ditch was opened behind the pool.The soaking process is: first, drive water from the ditch into the pond, add salt to make a thick brine, then chop the tobacco soil and throw it in. After soaking for half a day, put the whole piece of burned lime into it to decompose it.
While the lime salt brine was corroding the opium, another person was sent to poke it repeatedly with iron hoes and wooden rakes to make the smoke particles disappear. When the tide receded, the culvert was opened to let the corroded and decomposed opium slurry in the pool flow into the ocean; the bottom of the pool was scrubbed with clean water to prevent any drop of smoke from remaining. If Pool A has not been cleaned on the first day, Pool B will be used on the second day. The procedures for burning smoke are thorough and scientific.
On April 20, the 19th year of Daoguang's reign (1839), from this day on, Lin Zexu began to destroy the opium handed over by British drug traffickers at Humen Beach using the method mentioned above. During the destruction, the arrangements were very careful and tight.
Imperial Envoy Lin Zexu, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Deng Tingzhen, and Admiral of Guangdong Guan Tianpei were all hands-on. Guangdong customs supervisors often took care of the destruction matters in Humen, while the governor of Guangdong, the chief envoy, the inspection envoy, the salt transport envoy, and the grain road came to the scene in separate shifts to inspect. The Guangdong generals and the left and right garrison officers took turns to inspect and suppress. At the site, a fence was erected around the pool bank, outsiders were prohibited from entering, and all staff members were checked in and out.
The opium dipping process was cumbersome and took too long. At first, only three to four hundred boxes could be burned per day, and later it was increased to eight or nine hundred boxes. By May 15, all the opium was destroyed, totaling more than 2.376 million kilograms, worth 24 million yuan.
Big changes caused by little people
After the opium eradication in Humen, the British opium export trade to China was blocked. British merchant ships with nothing to do gathered in the sea near Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, desperately looking for first-line business opportunities.
On the morning of June 20, 1839, a group of British sailors came to a small grocery store in a small fishing village on Tsim Sha Tsui to buy wine and started drinking immediately. A few bottles of wine were not enough to satisfy them, and all the wine in the small grocery store had been sold to them. The shopkeeper explained with gestures that the wine had been sold out. These British sailors believed that the shopkeeper was deliberately not selling and began to cause trouble.
Nearby villagers came after hearing the news and were very angry at the behavior of the foreigners. The British sailors were unscrupulous and even cursed people in Chinese. Young farmer Lin Weixi stepped forward to accuse the foreigners. The drunken British sailor did not know how to restrain himself and instead resorted to violence, which aroused greater dissatisfaction among the villagers.
Seeing this posture, several British sailors immediately picked up a wooden stick in front of the grocery store and hit the villagers. Many people were injured. Lin Weixi was the closest and was hit in the back of the head. He fainted on the spot and died due to ineffective treatment. Several British sailors escaped when the villagers chased them. After Lin Zexu investigated the matter, he immediately sent someone to negotiate with British Navy Captain Yilu and ordered him to hand over the murderer.
Yilu's corresponding means
Yilu is a meticulous and rhetorical person. After hearing the news, he knew that Lin Zexu would definitely ask him to hand over the murderer, so he launched an investigation immediately after the murder. When he learned that the conflict was related to the sailors of the British ships "Carnatic" and "Mangalore", he immediately took measures to win over people's hearts at the place where the crime occurred and use money to seal the mouths of the relatives of the deceased.
By paying money, Yilu "bought" a document signed by Lin Fuchao, the son of the deceased, indicating that his father's death was accidental and had nothing to do with the British sailor. The written evidence is as follows:
"My father, Wei Xi, was doing business in Kowloon. He went out to collect debts on May 28th. When he was passing by Guanyong, he was hit by a barbarian and fell to the ground. He was hit by a stone and died. This is content with destiny and has nothing to do with the barbarians."
Lin Zexu certainly could not tolerate this and firmly urged Yilu to hand over the murderer as soon as possible. The cunning Yilu began to play tricks with Lin Qinchao. He replied in diplomatic terms: "A villager from Tsim Sha Tsui was beaten to death. I followed the emperor's instructions and was not allowed to hand over the criminal. Instead, according to the laws of the country, I thoroughly investigated the circumstances and tried the case impartially. If the real culprit is found, I am also prepared to punish him with death. I would like to sincerely say that the criminal has not been found."
Lin Zexu retorted righteously: "This country has always had a rule that whichever country a foreigner trades with will abide by the laws of that country... The king is tens of thousands of miles away, how can he order not to hand over the murderer?" "
Finally, on August 12, Yilu pretended to set up a "court" on a British cargo ship, acting as a "judge" himself, claiming that the people on trial were the five criminals who had just been arrested by him and participated in the " Lin Weixi case". After After a so-called "trial", the "court" of Yilu announced that three of the five people were sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined 20 pounds each; the remaining two were sentenced to two months' imprisonment and fined 15 pounds each.
How can such a "judgment" be fair? Lin Zexu was deeply angered.
html On August 15, Lin Zexu issued a ban prohibiting all trade with Britain. Qing troops stationed in Macau and further deported the British. All food sold to the British was stopped, and all Chinese compradors and servants employed by the British were withdrawn. In desperation, the British had to evacuate Macau and live on cargo ships.Shortly after the notice was issued, Lin Zexu issued another edict, demanding that the British hand over the murderer who killed Lin Weixi. Yilu, on the other hand, refused the request of the Chinese imperial envoy. Absolutely no response. The two sides reached a stalemate.
After the ban was issued, the British businessmen and overseas Chinese family members who were expelled from Macau on the ship were cut off from the supplies they relied on for survival, and the original Chinese employees and servants also left one after another. British businessmen and overseas Chinese family members naturally vented their grievances on Yilu for harboring the murderer. Under pressure from his compatriots, Elu wrote to Portuguese officials asking for support. But Portugal did not want to get involved in the dispute and made it clear they could not guarantee its safety.
html On September 5th, Illuminati missionary Guo Shili and Lin Zexu negotiated and asked him to lift the ban and restore normal trade relations, but Lin Zexu refused. At 14:00 in the afternoon, Yilu issued an ultimatum, but Lin Zexu ignored it. At 15:00, under the instruction of Yilu, the British warships opened fire on the Chinese ships responsible for the blockade.Lin Zexu was furious at this act of provoking China's sovereignty and ordered the official closure of Hong Kong at the beginning of the next year. In April of the same year, the British Parliament formally passed a resolution to launch war. In May, a large number of British warships were mobilized to the Pearl River Estuary. 2. Prepare for war.
In response to this arrogant behavior of the British, Lin Zexu showed no sign of weakness. On the evening of May 9, he sent 10 fireships to take the initiative and destroyed 11 British ships. The Opium War has since begun.
Why was Emperor Daoguang afraid of England
As the king of the Qing Empire Emperor Daoguang actively supported Lin Zexu’s ban on smoking and resisted the British invasion. Qing Dynasty The supreme ruler Aisin Gioro Minning was afraid at this time.
The Lord of All Saints was not intimidated by the British invasion with great fanfare. Although the British army was better equipped than the Qing army, under the leadership of anti-British generals such as Lin Zexu and Guan Tianpei, days of bloody battles failed to open the gates of Guangzhou. What really made Daoguang feel unprecedented fear was the battle of Dinghai.
The army landed, and the British flag was unfurled. From this point Minutes later, the horrific robbery scene unfolded before our eyes. Every house was violently broken into, every suitcase was plundered, and the streets were filled with pictures, chairs, tables, utensils, grains... Everything was cleared away, except the dead bodies and the wounded maimed by our merciless cannon.
Some were lying with one foot missing, others without both feet, and many were horribly cut and shot through with shotguns. Only stop robbing when there is nothing left to take.
What is even more inhumane is that the British army captured Dinghai After that, bloody plunder and massacres were carried out in cities and rural areas... (After the British army entered Dinghai) groups of dozens or more than a hundred people were gathered in every village and village. They plundered clothes, money, livestock and food at will. If they resisted for a moment, they were beaten with swords and guns. ... Hundreds of thousands of creatures are sitting on pins and needles, waiting for death.
- July 1840 · Battle of Dinghai, Zhejiang · The transcript of a British officer
Only two generations ago, when Emperor Qianlong was in power, England was just a barbaric and barbaric land in the eyes of the Chinese people.A story can fully illustrate this point:
The French envoy went to the capital to seek Qianlong for trade between the two countries. But Emperor Qianlong had never heard of France. He thought disdainfully: "France, Belgium, are just different names because England is too poor to survive and is too embarrassed to always beg our country."
Of course, this is just a story. In fact, Qianlong had a very close relationship with the Bourbon government during the French Revolution. It was impossible not to know the difference between France and England. But it also reflects the gap between the closed-door Qing Dynasty and the world.
It was this deepening gap that caused Emperor Daoguang to become cowardly and give in from the very beginning, when he actively banned smoking and fought against it. The unprecedented catastrophe caused by the Battle of Dinghai completely destroyed Minning's self-confidence and made him fear the British like a tiger.
After the fall of Dinghai, two different voices emerged within the Qing government. One is the Zhuhe faction represented by Manchu nobles such as Mu Zhang'a and Qishan.
In their eyes, the British warships had strong ships, powerful guns, and advanced weapons. With the court's existing force, they were no match for the Western powers and could not be defeated. Therefore, even if some necessary compromises were made, conflicts with them must be absolutely avoided.
The other is the main militant faction represented by Lin Zexu and others. As the first people to see the world, they had a relatively objective understanding of the comparison of military power between the two countries. From this point of view, meeting the British army on the battlefield was not what they expected.
However, if it rises to the level of the interests of the entire Chinese nation, these patriots cannot tolerate foreign invaders using powerful force to act unscrupulously in China and trample on China's sovereignty. Only by uniting as one and resisting foreign aggression can the Qing Dynasty be preserved.
On this basis, the militant faction has proposed a series of feasible plans. They believe that as long as China's favorable conditions are fully utilized, it is not a foolish dream to drive the invaders out of China's territory. When Humen was decommissioning , Lin Zexu once solemnly stated to the Western powers: "We are not afraid of war."
There were two completely opposite attitudes towards British armed aggression within the government. Which one could become the Qing government's policy towards Britain? The decision-making power should still be exercised by Emperor Daoguang, who held the greatest power of the Qing Empire.
Although Emperor Daoguang was determined to recreate the prosperous age of the Qing Dynasty, he was ultimately unable to save himself in the face of the declining country. On the one hand, he still has fresh memories of the heyday of his grandfather's Qianlong period. The decline of his ancestral business is not what he wants to see, but he wants to make a difference in this position, reverse the unfavorable situation of the Jiaqing period and recreate the glory of the prosperous age; He also has no interest in understanding the rapid technological development storm set off by the industrial revolution and , thinking that it is just the cunning skills of barbaric people.
The great changes in the world are not what he cares about at all. The only thing he didn't know was that the closed-door Qing Dynasty had long lagged far behind the times. Inside
, corruption is rampant and people's livelihood is miserable; outside, opium, guns, and power diplomacy are coming one after another. The Qing Dynasty was in crisis.
Faced with the current situation of poor internal functioning of the government, insufficient finances to make ends meet, and weak Qing troops, faced with successive defeats in the Opium War, and the loss of great mountains and rivers, the only thing Emperor Daoguang could do was to try to maintain an appearance of peace in the world. At the very least, he had to ensure that the country that his ancestors fought with blood would not be lost in his hands. Don’t seek merit, but seek no faults.
In this mentality, Emperor Daoguang was very afraid of events that might threaten his rule. From very early on, he put forward the so-called external principle that "the system of the Chinese dynasty must never be lost, and the provocations of foreign foreigners must not be revived."
And his strong support for Lin Zexu's smoking ban was only due to the import of opium and the outflow of silver, which made the finances that were no longer in the same situation as before become even more stretched.
At the same time, the increasingly weakened army had no combat effectiveness at all. Once the war broke out, Emperor Daoguang had to face the embarrassment of having no soldiers to defend the enemy. It was a small matter that this situation harmed the system of the Celestial Dynasty, but it was a huge matter that it endangered the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
Moreover, Daoguang regarded the ban on opium very simply, thinking that the ban only caused the resistance of opium dealers. Isn’t it a piece of cake for a country to deal with a few opium dealers? It will never lead to a large-scale war.
What he didn't know was that the opium trade was not just the private behavior of a few opium dealers. Behind this arrogance was the official support of the British Isles and the greed for wealth of the East India Company in the hands of Queen Victoria.
For England, the opium trade with China is a stepping stone to open the Chinese market and the only way to reverse the trade deficit with China that has been for many years.
The wealth of the ancient Eastern Empire has long been spread throughout the world, and everyone covets this piece of fat. Once China's door is opened, it will make a qualitative leap for the country's economic development. Later facts also proved this to be the case.
From a proud posture, to a sense of luck, to a complete shattering of confidence, the change in the mentality that Emperor Daoguang experienced was enough to destroy his thick nerves. In his eyes, England was no longer a barbaric place, but a messenger from hell.
Angered Lin Zexu, Emperor Daoguang's foolish choice
With the sound of the Opium War, the British army invaded China and captured Dinghai. Emperor Daoguang was horrified to find that the development of the situation was completely beyond his expectation, and the situation became more and more uncontrollable, so his tough attitude began to waver.
But the initial wavering was just vacillation. Of course, he was unwilling to give up his foreign principles to maintain the majesty of the Celestial Kingdom and his own dominance.
Therefore, his first thought was to find ways to eliminate "side provocations" and prevent the situation from escalating. This is consistent with the compromise advocated by Qi Shan and others. Therefore, he turned to side with Mu Zhang'a and Qishan. As a result, the Qing government tended to compromise on its policy towards Britain.
At this time, Emperor Daoguang turned a deaf ear to Lin Zexu's resistance. Instead, he became angry with Lin Zexu because of the loss of Dinghai and sent Qishan to discuss with the British army. However, Qishan's series of compromises with Yilu in Guangdong were considered by Emperor Daoguang as "a few words and a piece of paper, winning against a hundred thousand troops in a row" and "defeating the enemy" with "merit". Therefore, Emperor Daoguang dismissed Lin Zexu from his post and investigated.
Emperor Daoguang's decision to punish Lin Zexu for appointing his Shanwei imperial envoy showed that he had abandoned his just position in the face of the British threat, and that he had abandoned national justice in order to protect himself and his own imperial power. I just want to ask the British invaders to stop fighting, to be afraid of force and aggression, and to surrender to the invaders.
History has its own justice. Losing power and humiliating the country is something that no one in the world can forgive. A group of confused Qing rulers headed by Emperor Daoguang implemented a treasonous policy of surrender and compromise instead of a policy of resistance and self-defense, which wiped out all the favorable situations for China in the war and directly caused the war to end in a disastrous defeat under conditions where it should not have lost.
