Li Hongzhang , from Hefei, Anhui, one of the four famous ministers in the late Qing Dynasty, Huaijun and Beiyang Navy founder.
He was originally a scholar, because he had made meritorious efforts in suppressing the Taiping Army and the Nian Army , and eventually he was appointed as the Minister of Commerce of Beiyang, Governor of Zhili Province, and first-class Suyi Bo.
It is no exaggeration to say that Li Hongzhang's fate is closely linked to the Qing Dynasty, and he can be called the national pillar of the Qing Dynasty, which has profoundly influenced the modern history of China.
Each historical figure, because of different character and value orientation, has different evaluations behind him, either named Yue Fei Wen Tianxiang ;
So what kind of person is Li Hongzhang? To put it politely, he is a man of mixed reputation. According to what he did, he was a corrupt official like and Shen , although he was not as famous as He Shen.
As the saying goes, fame and fortune cannot be double-collected, and the person with a picture name cannot profit. Of the four famous ministers, no one said that , Zeng Guofan, , and Zuo Zongtang were embezzled, because they were indeed a breeze.
Descendants criticized Zuo Zongtang for acting arbitrarily and Zeng Guofan for scheming, but no one said they were greedy.
and Li Hongzhang is as rich as He Shen, and strictly speaking, He Shen is nothing more than bribing the law and buying and selling officials; and part of Li Hongzhang’s money is linked to national interests, which is suspected of misleading the country. , The nature is much more serious than He Shen.
Let us review the history of Li Hongzhang,See how greedy he is?
Whether an official is a corrupt official or not, there must be bright spots: one is that he is very rich; the other is that his money is not coming from the right way.
Li Hongzhang is rich and can be enemy country
Li Hongzhang and the master of Emperor Guangxu, Weng Tong and , are both important ministers in the late Qing Dynasty, and the folks have a couplet: they used to use "the prime minister to join the fat world" . The first half said that Li Hongzhang, a native of Hefei, was insatiably greedy, Changshu Weng Tonghe made ill-gotten wealth, and ended up hurting the people all over the world, making them miserable and living in dire straits.
As the saying goes, the eyes of the masses are discerning, and the folk couplets vividly illustrate the greed of Li and Weng.
However, if the assets of the two are compared, Weng Tonghe is insignificant when he is in front of Li Hongzhang, with a difference of tens of thousands of miles.
Because Li Hongzhang holds real power and has the opportunity to make money.
The Beiyang Navy was established by Li Hongzhang, Westernization Movement was led by Li Hongzhang, and the modern unequal treaties were signed by Li Hongzhang.
Therefore, the wealth left behind Li Hongzhang is so much that it is beyond people's imagination.
The father of international students who used to work with Li Hongzhang and Rong Hong, once said that Li Hongzhang "has a private property of 40 million for the children and grandchildren", the 40 million here is 40 million taels of silver, equivalent to RMB tens of billions.
There is also a conservative estimate that Li Hongzhang's family property totals about 10 million taels.
Fei Xingjian, an educator in the late Qing Dynasty, disclosed in his book "The Biography of Celebrities in Modern Times": "(Li Hongzhang) died, with a family of more than ten million, and his brothers and his brothers have more than ten million in personal wealth." Even so, Li's assets also have Around 20 billion.
If the above statement is not authoritative enough, leaving a separation contract after Li Hongzhang's death is reliable evidence.
In April 1904, Li Hongzhang's direct descendants left a "House Division Contract",It is now on display in the display column of Li Hongzhang Xiangtang, Daxingji, Hefei.
The land involved in the separation contract is about one million mu; the first paragraph is reserved for his son Li Jingfang ’s 14 real estate (each site is 10,000 mu).
Clause 8 of the family separation contract refers to the real estate "worth 45,000 taels of silver"
Li Hongzhang's land adopts the method of "ten thousand acres of warehouse building", which is located in Hefei, Lu'an, Huoshan
There are dozens of "warehouses" established in places such as span2span.
The land under Li Hongzhang's name is a cornucopia, and he collects 50,000 shi on the land every year.
According to statistics, Li's arable land in Dongxiang, Hefei occupies about 600,000 mu, accounting for two-thirds of the local arable land.
From this separation contract, Li Hongzhang's fortune can be seen. The contract only involves real estate. If you include real estate, securities, gold and silver jewelry, and cultural relics across the country, it is not difficult to imagine the family property.
Is income legal?
Li Hongzhang has his own salary, but also holds heavy powers. He has shares in China Merchants , Telegraph Bureau, Kaiping Coal Mine, and China Commercial Bank .
Li Hongzhang also concealed himself, turning the state-owned enterprise steamship China Merchants into the private property of himself and his associates.
Li Hongzhang is so rich that he cannot do without a rich man, Sheng Xuanhuai . This person used to be Li Hongzhang’s secretary. Relying on Li Hongzhang’s promotion, he used Qingyun’s state-owned assets to operate ships, telegraphs, railways, steel, banking, textiles, education, and other industries. He used his own money in the name of establishing state-owned enterprises.
As a result, Sheng Xuanhuai became a fortune in the Qing Dynasty, leaving behind a legacy of over 12.7 million taels of "cash".
If you buy a courtyard house in Beijing,Can buy more than 20,000 sets.
When Sheng Xuanhuai died, the funeral was no less than the emperor. The funeral procession was 2.5 kilometers long and Shanghai was empty.
Everything that Sheng Xuanhuai had was given by Li Hongzhang. If he didn't let Li Hongzhang benefit, ghosts would not believe him.
If you just use power for personal gain, you can make money by using officials. What is most unacceptable is that Li Hongzhang has forgotten righteousness when he sees profit, and he will betray the national and national interests in order to get rich.
Li Hongzhang is greedy to "sell" the country?
On June 3, 1895, Li Hongzhang, the "first-class minister of imperial envoys", went to Russia and signed the "Sino-Russian Secret Pact" with Russia.
Why did you sign this secret agreement? Because the Qing Dynasty was defeated by Japan in 1894, it was forced to sign the Shimonoseki Treaty.
Tsarist Russia used the Qing government’s fear of Japan to sign the "Sino-Russian Secret Pact."
This treaty is similar to an alliance treaty. The main content is:
If Japan attacks China and Russia, the two countries will fight together.
When the war starts, all ports in China must be opened to the Russian army.
Allow Russia to build railways in Heilongjiang and Jilin, China to transport troops and strategic materials.
This treaty is also known as the " Defense Alliance Treaty " and is valid for fifteen years.
The signing of this treaty is an authentic traitorous treaty, which is to introduce wolves into the house. Tsarist Russia opened the door for future invasion of China.
Li Hongzhang was the first competent minister of the Qing Dynasty. He has a unique strategic vision. Tsarist Russia has swallowed millions of square kilometers of China through a war of aggression. Didn't he see through the sinister intentions of Tsarist Russia?
However, Li Hongzhang actively operated to allow the Qing government to approve the treaty, and was very active in drawing on the "secret agreement"; the reason for this was that Li Hongzhang took a kickback from it.
Someone argued that this secret agreement was approved by Empress Dowager Cixi , and Li Hongzhang was just the manager.
you know,Li Hongzhang is the "Papersmith of the Qing Dynasty", holding the royal salary, has he forgotten his duties and that the Russians are hard to fill?
If this treaty benefits the national and national interests, why did Li Hongzhang accept bribes from it?
Wolf, then deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Tsarist Empire, wrote in his memoirs: "Li Hongzhang returned to Beijing with this signed treaty and 2 million rubles in the bag. In the East, conscience has it. It should be noted that the leaders of the Qing Dynasty resolutely rejected the demands of Tsarist Russia at the beginning, and the treaty was not signed until Li Hongzhang returned from his trip to Russia.
In June 1896, Tsar Nicholas II held a coronation ceremony, "specially" invited Li Hongzhang to participate, and will be treated as head of state courtesy.
Did Li Hongzhang accept bribes from Tsarist Russia? The historical data of the declassified archives proved to be affirmative, not a solitary proof.
However, Li Hongzhang was not alone in obtaining bribes from Tsarist Russia from the "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty".
The party who signed the "Secret Agreement", the Tsarist Minister of Finance, Count Witte, did not mention this in his memoirs, but mentioned that Li Hongzhangzi "intentionally caused trouble and difficulties" in the negotiations. In order to please Li Hongzhang, the Tsar sent a gift He was given two precious diamonds.
In addition to Wolf, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Tsarist Empire, Romanov, the confidential document of the Tsarist Minister of Finance, Count Vitt, also confirmed this matter.
Romanov said in his book "History of the Imperial Russian Invasion of Manchuria" that the day after the signing of the "Secret Agreement", the Russian side drafted the "commission" to Li Hongzhang and others in the form of a contract ("Financial Protocol") Coming out, I am mainly afraid that Li Hongzhang is not at ease and wants to sign the contract as soon as possible.
The board of directors of Huarus Bank is responsible for the payment of the rebate. The total amount of the rebate is 3 million rubles.
Moreover, the Russians are very contractual and trustworthy. The rebate was paid in 1897, the second year after the secret agreement was signed. It took 5 years to pay off, and the payment was made in 5 installments. There is also a Russian Ukhtoms. Duke Ji visited Beijing and handed it to Li Hongzhang himself.
Scholar Chen Zhaoming wrote in the "Examination of Li Hongzhang's Acceptance of Bribes Before and After the Construction of the Dongqing Railway". According to the declassified Tsarist Russian archives, Li Hongzhang did accept bribes in the "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty".
Li Hongzhang himself only accepted a bribe of 1,609,120 rubles, and the Russian side gave it to Li Hongzhang in two installments.
The first time was the second year after the "Secret Agreement" was signed, that is, in May 1897, , a member of the board of directors of , Ukhtomsky, came to China "very carefully" and handed it over to Li Hongzhang. , Is one million rubles;
The second time was 609,120 rubles that Russia remitted to Li Hongzhang in 1898 to speed up the signing of the "Eastern Railway Company Renewal Contract" with China.
In addition to Li Hongzhang, the Prime Minister's Office Minister Zhang Yinheng also accepted a bribe from Russia in the amount of 51771 rubles.
Some people argued that the Sino-Russian secret treaty is your wish, not an unequal treaty.
Even so, as an important minister of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang should not accept bribes.
From the 1.6 million rubles rebate, Li Hongzhang's character can be seen.
Since Li Hongzhang dared to receive money from Russians, what money would he dare not to receive?
Imported arms and established Beiyang Navy to buy warships. Why can't I get rebates and commissions?
Therefore, there is no doubt that Li Hongzhang is a corrupt official.
Li Hongzhang is like this. Needless to say, his elder brother Li Hanzhang, he was appointed as the governor of and Huguang, and he "exhausted all his military duties", meaning that he was engaged in a big deal of power and money and sold all military attaches. .
The "Sino-Russian Secret Pact" concluded by Li Zhongtang himself did not satisfy the greedy Tsarist Russia. In 1898, the Tsarist Russia forced the Manchus to sign the "Lvda Lease Treaty" and forcibly leased the ports of Lushun and Dalian. Japan has no real ambitions.
History is fair, Zeng Guofan, who cherishes feathers,Stick to his own bottom line: "Be consistent with others, and everything can be disclosed to the world...in awe, without evil thoughts in your heart." Therefore, he was praised by two big men. Serve Zeng Wenzheng alone.” One said, “Zeng Gong is a model of the Chinese spirit.”
Regarding Li Hongzhang, these two great figures did not leave a word or words; compared with Zeng and Li, they have an opinion.
Li Hongzhang’s experience tells everyone that if you want to care about your fame, you have to sacrifice your profits instead of being greedy; you can’t have both fish and bear’s paws.
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