Li Hongzhang, the nominal prime minister of the Qing Dynasty, on behalf of the Qing court and the great powers signed more than 30 treaties of bereavement and humiliation, which made him bear the title of "traitor". But we have found that in recent years, some people have admired Li Hongzhang very much, thinking that he is involuntary. When someone criticizes him, these people will always come up with the example of Li Hongzhang's signing of the Shimonoseki Treaty in Japan that one bullet reduced the compensation by 100 million to fight back. What
said was that during Li Hongzhang's stay in Shimonoseki, he was shot by Japanese militants on his way back to his residence after a negotiation, and he was shot in the face. As a result, Li Hongzhang started negotiations with Ito Hirobumi, and finally forced Japan to reduce the compensation. One hundred million taels of silver. I believe everyone knows the contents of the "Shimonoseki Treaty", which greatly accelerated China's process of becoming a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and greatly stimulated the ambitions of the great powers to carve up China.
Li Hongzhang is very clear about the consequences of signing the Shimonoseki Treaty. Before the formal signing, Li Hongzhang told the negotiating team members: "If the negotiation fails, only move the capital to Shaanxi and fight for a long time with Japan. Japan must not conquer China and China can resist. In the endless period, Japan will eventually lose and seek peace." Li Hongzhang is capable, and this is the consensus of everyone, but his corruption is solid, and this has been washed away for a hundred years.
There was a saying in the late Qing Dynasty that “the richest of the heroes of Zhongxing in the Qing Dynasty, but Hefei Li is the most. There are six brothers, one, two, and four houses are about millions... Enemy country." How much was Li Hongzhang's annual salary at that time? The basic salary is 180 taels, the maintenance fee is 16,000 taels, the first-class Su Yibo 500 taels, and the official expenses of the officials in Xinjiang are 3,000 taels, which is less than 20,000 taels per year.
Liang Qichao has done a rough calculation, and Li Hongzhang's wealth is as high as ten million liang. If calculated at the rate of 20,000 to two years, Li Hongzhang will need 500 years to save 500 years. Therefore, later generations believe that Li Hongzhang betrayed his country and made a fortune. So, how does Li Hongzhang evaluate himself?
Li Hongzhang self-evaluated in his later years, "I am just a paster, how can I take responsibility?" Li Hongzhang uses the three words "paperer" to describe himself very well. Li Hongzhang was very ambitious when he was young. When he was 21 years old, he wrote poems to express his ambitions, saying: "The husband only holds Wu Hook in his hand, and his spirit is higher than a hundred feet. Whoever has a history for 10,000 years, three thousand miles away want to be a marquise."
Li Hongzhang's heart became more and more disappointed as he fought against the great powers again and again. When the "Shimonoseki Treaty" was signed, Li Hongzhang said to Ito Hirobumi: "Japan's such great progress can awaken our country. The long night dream of our people has been shattered by the blows of your country, and we can awaken from now on... I believe that our national knowledge Scholars, given today’s miserable defeat, he will surely awaken in the future."
Li Hongzhang is an illusion. When the "Xin Chou Treaty" was signed, he finally realized that the Qing Dynasty could not be saved. "I have done my life's work, training soldiers. Also, the navy, they are all paper tigers, why can you just let it go? However, it is reluctant to paint, it is illusory, and it can be perfunctory if it is not exposed. It is like a broken house, which is patched by a paper paster and turned into a clean room. Although I know it is a piece of paper, I am not sure what kind of material is inside."
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