Chapter 198 Old Li lives hard

198

"Do you know Li Zhongtang?"

"I know him, how can I not know him? I'm afraid I know him better than you Li Zhongtang himself!"

Chen Lanbin's question directly revealed Guo Jinzhang's layers of memories and feelings.

...

In the late Qing Dynasty, you could ignore the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guofan, and even Zuo Zongtang, who defended China's national integrity, and even Empress Dowager Cixi, who held the supreme power of the country for 60 years. However, you must not ignore Li Hongzhang.

It is an existence that cannot be ignored in modern Chinese history.

In the past, in the eyes of countless people, Li Hongzhang was a big traitor and a thief. Since 1840, among the unequal treaties signed repeatedly, except for the first few, almost all the ones behind him were the name of the Governor of Zhili of the Qing Dynasty and the Beiyang Minister. However, the more you know, you will find that Li Hongzhang is not as simple as we usually know. To put it more accurately, Li Hongzhang is definitely a greater existence than Sun Yat-sen and others.

Sun Yat-sen's achievements lie in his constant resistance, instigation of the people's uprising, and rising to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. With the unremitting efforts of him and Huang Xing and others, the Wuchang Uprising finally happened and the last feudal dynasty in China was overthrown. However, we must also be clear that although China seemed to have won a great victory after the Wuchang Uprising, it was followed by a darker era. The disaster brought to the Chinese by the warlord melee was probably much more severe than the late Qing Dynasty. During this period, Mr. Sun Yat-sen, who we respected as the "father of the nation", was really not satisfactory, and it was not until the last few years of his life that he could barely lay some foundation for the rule of the ***.

And what about Li Hongzhang?

***Thieves? This is definitely wrong. If Li Hongzhang is not a patriotic person, then this person must have known too little about history.

Two months after Li Hongzhang's death, Liang Qichao wrote "Biography of Li Hongzhang", saying: Hongzhang must be a figure in Chinese history for thousands of years, and there is no doubt. Li Hongzhang must be a figure in world history in the 19th century, and there is no doubt.

Liang Qichao said that he "respects Li Hongzhang's talent", "gives Li Hongzhang's knowledge", and "sads Li Hongzhang's encounter".

*** people's evaluation of Li Hongzhang is: knowing the general trend of coming from the West, knowing foreign civilizations, wanting to follow the examples and self-improvement, having outstanding vision and agile skills.

The Americans' evaluation is: as a literati, he is outstanding; as a soldier, he made valuable contributions to the country in important battles; as a political person, he provided recognized excellent facilities to the people of the oldest and most populous country on the earth; as a diplomat, his achievements made him one of the best in diplomatic history.

Some people say that Li Hongzhang feeds foreigners well and serves beautifully. Of course, these people will give him a higher evaluation. If you look at the King Kong all day long, hold the big *** and look at those foreigners with a cold face, and even beat them up, will they give you a good evaluation?

What about Napoleon? He swept across the European continent with the French team, but among the most admired Europeans, the French emperor was almost the first. There is also ***. He was so cold to foreigners, right? He also led the Chinese people to fight a war with the Americans in North Korea. To this day, Americans are still unwilling to mention that war too much. But has the Americans evaluated *** low? *** thoughts have been still the subject of Americans' research.

Li Hongzhang did not sweep Europe like Napoleon, and could not fight a fierce battle with the world's largest power like ***... In our impression, he was defeated almost every battle, and every time he was defeated, he had to pay a huge price to please the great powers and let the other side let him go. But the problem is that except for the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, almost all the other things have nothing to do with Li Hongzhang. Moreover, even in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, there are many things worth discussing.

Liang Qichao described it in "Biography of Li Hongzhang": "There is a commentator in the West: *** is not fighting with China, but actually fighting with Li Hongzhang. Although his words are slightly out of the way, they are still close. They do not see the officials of various provinces who only know that they are self-defense. If they regard this matter as a private matter of Zhili Manchu, is there anyone who raises a salary and a brigade to be in trouble? Even if there is one, they are empty talk. Even the most ridiculous thing is that when Liu Gongdao surrenders the ship, the person involved wrote a letter to the Japanese army, asking to release Guangbing's ship. The book says that this ship belongs to Guangdong, and this battle has nothing to do with Guangdong. Those who hear from all countries laugh at it, but do not know that this word actually represents the thoughts of the provincial and provincial officials. If so, *** is really fighting with Li Hongzhang. Hefei and Hefei are defeated, even if they are defeated!"

"There are the most common Chinese scholars who scolded Li Hongzhang as Qin Hui. During the two battles between Yue and Japan, this theory was extremely prosperous. It can be said that it was out of the mouths of savages in the market. If a gentleman said this, I have no choice but to call it "Baring in the wild."

"Li Hongzhang's defeat has been seen many times. The trend of internal and external troubles will be several times greater than that of Li Hongzhang's era. Now, those who want to be the same as Li Hongzhang are also insignificant. Thinking of China's future, I can't help but have a hair thrust up, but I don't know where it is ultimate."

Li Hongzhang's defeat led to internal and external troubles in China. So, without Li Hongzhang, what would China's internal and external troubles be like? Not to mention other things, the "Xin Chou Treaty" was signed by the Boxer Rebellion's "supporting the Qing Dynasty and destroying the foreign countries" and led to the invasion of China by the Boxer Rebellion. In the historical evaluation of "formal" the Boxer Rebellion was a peasant and just, and was eventually wiped out by the capricious Cixi and the Eight-Nation Alliance. However, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, Cixi had not yet issued an order to deal with the Boxer Rebellion. In this case, what did these "just" people do when facing the Eight-Nation Alliance?

Of course, if you look at these carefully, you will find something to do. But one thing we can be sure: the Boxer Regiment recruited the Eight-Nation Alliance, and after the Eight-Nation Alliance arrived, the Boxer Regiment was gone, the Queen Mother of the Cities ran away, and in the end it was Li Hongzhang who came forward to wipe their butt.

"People say that Li is a thief, but if it weren't for Li, Xin Chou might not be a treaty, but Xin Chou's massacre."

This is like a multiple-choice question: Save people or save money?

At that time, if Li Hongzhang had chosen to save money, then the Eight-Nation Alliance might not have been able to chase Xi'an all the time, and might not even have Xi'an. He arrested Empress Dowager Cixi and the so-called princes and ministers halfway through the way. But what is next? Or save money? What would Empress Dowager Cixi and her subordinates choose? In the Xin Chou negotiations, one of the requirements of the Eight-Nation Alliance was to execute those royal princes who supported the Boxer Rebellion as the culprits... It was Li Hongzhang who finally saved these scourges.

This may be another mistake by Li Hongzhang. But until the Revolution of 1911, before the Qing Dynasty created the nonsense "royal cabinet", most Chinese people, including many progressive people, still had hope for this regime. So what would the Chinese people before this? Will they still maintain their "loyalty to the emperor"?

Liang Qichao was born in a reformist faction and could be said to be an enemy to Li Hongzhang, but "The Biography of Li Hongzhang" was written by Liang Qichao before Li Hongzhang died, and he wrote this brilliant work for the other party two months after Li Hongzhang's death.

"The only mediocre people in the world are without blame or reputation. If the people in the world hate them, can this be called an extraordinary treacherous hero. If the people in the world praise them, can this be called an extraordinary hero. Although, the people in the world say that ordinary people live in thousands of people, but extraordinary people cannot get one. If the ordinary people are talking about extraordinary people, they will not be able to see what they can do? Therefore, if the world is praised, it may not be a wish for the country; if the world is slandered, it may not be a great man."

"If China's failure to rule and resigns to Li Hongzhang alone, Li Hongzhang alone is not worthy of his own. But the minister who ruled and misled the country would have to give up some ruling. And those who 400 million of us gave up the responsibility of the people will no longer know their crimes."

When everyone in the whole country is scolding Li Hongzhang, do these people realize what they have done for this country?

Less than a month before the end of 1901, the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty, who was scared by the Eight-Nation Alliance, ran to Xi'an. On the way back to Beijing, the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty received a sad news in Huixian on the bank of the Yellow River: Li Hongzhang was dead.

Just an hour before he died, the Russian minister stood at his bedside and forced him to sign the treaty of Russia occupying Northeast China. Li Hongzhang, who had been arguing with foreigners for the Qing Dynasty for his life, could no longer speak, he could only cry. The tears flowed and his eyes closed.

Since the British opened China's gates with naval guns in 1840, all neatly symmetrical forts built along the coast and the sixth-ranked fleet bought by the Chinese, which spent huge silver, did not stop the invasion of the "barbarians": "Since the middle of the Daoguang period, external troubles have become increasingly deep, and today, it is extremely dangerous. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the British and French forces entered the capital, destroyed the Old Summer Palace, and Emperor Wenzong ran away, and collapsed in the Rehe River... Since then, France has merged with Annan,

The sun was swept away from Korea, and its territory was gradually lost. The various seakous were also occupied by the great powers. Germany occupied Jiaozhou, Russia occupied Dalian, Britain occupied Kowloon, France occupied Guangwan..." When Li Hongzhang died, the Xin Chou Treaty, which allowed foreign troops to garrison in China and almost astronomical compensation, became the "source of countless difficulties and problems in the future" just signed, and the foreign coalition still occupied the capital of the Qing Dynasty while the entire court was fleeing abroad.

For the Qing Dynasty, which was in turmoil, the arrogance of foreigners was always a huge threat. Once Li Hongzhang died, the Qing Dynasty lost the only person who could deal with foreigners. Li Hongzhang's death made "the empress dowager and the emperor cry out loud", and the Qing Dynasty was like "the beam was broken and the road was suddenly lost."

Although a country is weak, it is a big country with a population of hundreds of millions. However, such a country can only serve an old man when it is a national dangerous team... Why is Li Hongzhang so simple as just a papermaker?

...

Take a closer look at it:

Thanks to Li Hongzhang's presidency and participation, the Westernization Party founded the first modern railway, the first steel factory, the first machine manufacturing plant, the first modern military academy, and the first modern naval fleet...

All the undertakings that Li Hongzhang laid the foundation for the modernization of China's national economy and people's livelihood have benefited the Chinese people behind him. He is the backbone of the Westernization Movement, which had a crucial impact on China's modernization.

However, another "Western Affairs" that Li Hongzhang had engaged in throughout his life caused a lot of scolding during his lifetime, because according to the Chinese people's long-standing understanding, the humiliation and injustice in modern Chinese history were all caused by him. All his efforts were to sell the country's territory, wealth and subjects to foreigners. The crimes of this important official of the Qing Dynasty were almost unbelievable.

The Qing Dynasty did not have the concept of "diplomatic", and all foreign affairs were all attributed to the "Western Affairs". Li Hongzhang, the leader of the Western Affairs Movement, inevitably became the "diplomatist" of the Qing Dynasty. Li Hongzhang's diplomatic career not only let Westerners know that the Qing Dynasty had a "famous" and "reserved, confident and arrogant" Li Zhongtang, but also allowed the Chinese people to finally find a "culprit" in the sad days at the turn of the last century - Li Hongzhang let the resentment accumulated by the Chinese people due to humiliation be vented in the process of angering rebuking him.

Li Hongzhang's loss of power and humiliation of the country began with the negotiations of the Sino-British Treaty of Yantai. At that time, British warships entered Yantai, and the *** army began to provoke the Korean armed forces to pose a war threat to the Qing Dynasty. Prince Chun, the royal family, advocated breaking apart with the British, and Li Hongzhang's idea was: The Qing Dynasty could no longer follow the usual old path in diplomacy, that is, once the incident happened, war would start, and when the war would be defeated, peace would be negotiated, and land would be cede compensation would be paid. Therefore, it would be better to negotiate directly. So, in September 1876, the Yantai Treaty was signed. Afterwards, the British said: "This document is neither wise nor practical, meaningless, and is just a bunch of redundant words." Why? Because they did not get more benefits as imagined.

After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing court ordered Li Hongzhang to go to Japan for negotiations. As a result, Li Hongzhang was hit by an assassin in Maguan, and the bullet was stuck in the crack of the bone under his left eye. No doctor dared to put a scalpel in this position. Li Hongzhang's telegram to the court was only six words: "The wound hurts, and it is difficult to get out." But when facing the "asking price" of 300 million taels of silver for compensation for military expenses, the court all ambiguously "handled Hongzhang on the appropriate measures" in the telegram to Li Hongzhang. The pain and heartache torture Li Hongzhang. If a tough attitude and position were adopted, it would only lead to the continued expansion of the Sino-Japanese War. Judging from the actual military strength of the Qing Dynasty, the result of the war could only be that China's Northeast was fully occupied; and if the conditions of the people agreed to the conditions of the Qing Dynasty, the losses of the sovereignty and property of the Qing Dynasty were also huge. The two harms were taken less, which was Li Hongzhang's choice in the endgame.

In April 1895, Li Hongzhang, who returned to China with the draft agreement of the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the bandage on his face, became the "public enemy" of the whole country: the court denounced him for his poor work, officials said he lost power and humiliated the country, the people hinted that he had taken the silver from the *** people, and some even publicly stated that he would kill him at all costs, "a great humiliation in his heart."

Since you can kill Li Hongzhang, why not kill the *** people?

Every time Li Hongzhang came out to clean up the mess when the country was facing a crisis, he was regarded as a ***er. As a result, once, all the military ministers said in a memorial to the emperor: "China's defeat is entirely due to the failure of Westernization, not the fault of Hongzhang." It was this sentence that made Li Hongzhang cry.

Because of signing the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Li Hongzhang was removed from his prominent position by the Qing court and was idle in Xianliang Temple in the capital.

In 1896, the Russian Tsar was crowned and congratulated all countries. The Russians specifically mentioned the issue of the rank of representatives. The Qing court had to send Li Hongzhang. Because foreigners said that for China in the 19th century, they only knew that there was Li Hongzhang but not the Qing court. Li Hongzhang repeatedly refused on the grounds of being assassinated in Maguan, but the court repeatedly refused. When Li Hongzhang thought that it was indeed time to "the world's expectations", he said that he "did not dare to love himself, but was humiliating his fate" and only "one breath still exists, and thousands of journeys should be taken."

Li Hongzhang's trip to Russia also had an important action, namely, forming an alliance with Russia, hoping to "use barbarians to control barbarians" and use Russia to check and balance the ambitions of China. But he was wrong. Four years later, Russia invaded Northeast China!

In his memorial to the Qing court, Li Hongzhang stated: In a sense, the Qing Dynasty no longer has absolutely closed national defense. Western forces not only erode China in culture, but more importantly, they have the ambition to invade China. The means are "one country causes trouble and multiple countries incite". The "friendship" and "ambition" of the great powers have always been mixed together. The Qing Dynasty must be vigilant about this. To this day, a country can no longer close its national gates and survive safely. If the Qing Dynasty opens its gates to participate in the exchanges of the world commodity economy, it can not only enrich itself, but also because trade is bilateral, which is equivalent to restricting others. Such constraints are even stronger than force, and the entire earth can "gather in China"!

Open the country's doors and participate in the world's commodity economy exchanges... If it is put a hundred years later, it will almost be "reform and opening up"!

However, how to evaluate this unusual important official of the Qing Dynasty 100 years ago, the Chinese have always concluded that the Chinese have completely different from the world public opinion over the past century.

In China, it is easy and difficult to evaluate a person.

Li Hongzhang wrote a poem at the time of his death:

The carriage and horses were not leaving the saddle, and only when things happened was happening, I realized that I was killed.

The country's military affairs have been damaged for three hundred years, and the people have been buried in 8,000 miles away.

The autumn wind is full of swords and tears of the lonely minister, and the sun sets the flags of the generals.

The dusty atmosphere overseas is still not extinguished, please do not watch it casually.

Li Hongzhang was born in the darkest and most turbulent era in China. Every time he "appeared" was when the country was in critical condition, the Qing Dynasty asked him to bear everything that was "the most embarrassing to human feelings". But when the people cursed and denounced him, who was "reflecting deeply" and who was truly bearing the "responsibility of the people"?

The Chinese historical community generally believes that Wei Yuan, who proposed to "learn learning from the barbarians' skills to control the barbarians", Lin Zexu was "the first person to see the world with open eyes", while Li Hongzhang, who was devoted to Westernization, was "seeking wealth" and "self-improvement", was the first person to "start and move to the world".

We once cursed Li Hongzhang in history books, but we didn't know at that time that good history was never possible to be written by so-called historians. We need to doubt whether the history we once read still has a trace of truth? If education is just for rule, if history is just for taming, what else can we have in the face of history besides cold sweats?

History has entered the 21st century. If we still study history from the perspective of decades ago, one-sidedly or even out of context for our needs, it is really a tragedy for our nation and our country.

Being bravely acknowledged your shortcomings and shortcomings and bravely corrected them, and avoiding history repeating the same mistakes is the hope of our country and nation.

History requires us to look at it objectively, but we don’t know if there will be Chinese people who will really look at this history objectively. We are not arrogant, we are not frogs in the well. The reason why we are proud is that we are indeed on the top of the world, but not now, nor those days more than a hundred years ago.

...

"Li Hongzhang lives hard!"

A change that has not been seen in three thousand years! Guo Jinzhang had only such a sigh of emotion for the most direct party in this change and what he had experienced. He knew the progress of history and the direction of development. However, even so, if he put him back to the Qing Dynasty and placed it in Li Hongzhang's position, he could guarantee that he could do better than Li Hongzhang? No, no at all!
Chapter completed!