Li Hongzhang (1February, 82315-1901.07), a famous official in the late Qing Dynasty, was one of the main westernization movements, and was from Hefei, Anhui. The world calls Li Wei, also known as Li Hefei.
As the founder and commander-in-chief of the Huai Army and Beiyang Navy, the leader of the Westernization Movement, an important official in the late Qing Dynasty, an official to the governor of Zhili, and Beiyang Trade Minister, he received a bachelor's degree in Wenhua Temple and signed the Vietnam Treaty, the treaty of shimonoseki and the Concise Treaty between China and France on behalf of the Qing government.
Japanese Prime Minister Hirofumi Ito regarded him as "the only person in the Qing Empire who was able to compete with the world powers", while Empress Dowager Cixi regarded him as "the man who recreated Huang Xuan" and wrote The Complete Works of Li Wenzhong.
Together with Zeng Guofan, Zhang Zhidong and Zuo, they are called "four famous ministers of ZTE", and together with Bismarck and Grant, they are called "three great men in the world in the 19th century".
Early experience
1823 (Daoguang three years) was born in Modian Township, Dongxiang, Hefei County, Anhui Province on the fifth day of the first month. Father, mother Li, eight brothers and sisters, Li Hongzhang is the second child and won a bronze medal. Li Hongzhang [2] entered the library at the age of six. He is young and smart. He studied classics under Tang Bo Li Fangxian and Hefei celebrity Xu Ziling, and laid a solid academic foundation. 1840, Zhong Xiucai enrolled.
1843, Li Hongzhang was selected as an excellent tribute to Luzhou official school. At that time, the father of the Beijing official wanted his son to become a dragon, so he sent a letter urging Hong Zhang to go to Beijing to prepare for the rural examination in Shuntianfu next year. Following his father's orders, Hong Zhang resolutely went north and wrote 10 poem "Entering Beijing" as a token of his heart, which was read by the world. There is a saying that "whoever writes history for 10,000 years wants to seal Hou for 3,000 miles". He expressed his ambition with poetry, and he had a great wish to "make friends with celebrities in his family and travel to the capital with Taoist priests".
After entering Beijing, under the guidance of his father, the doctor of the Ministry of Justice, he called on Lu, Wang Maoyin and other Anhui officials in Beijing, and won their respect and appreciation. At the same time, due to the smooth progress of the examination room, he was able to make friends and broaden his horizons. At that time, Chen Jia (Juren) and Ding Wei (Jinshi) had many talents and were on the same list as him. Many people were sent to Xinjiang in the future, and Li Hongzhang maintained a close and special relationship with them that year. 1844 (twenty-four years of Daoguang) passed the Tianfu rural examination and won 84 juren. He lives in Zeng Guofan mansion in Beijing and is taught by a tutor. In the same year, he married Zhou. 184
Like Li Hongzhang [3]
In 5 years (25 years of Daoguang), he went to Beijing to take the exam, and was educated by Zeng Guofan when he was young. [4]
Born in Huizhou merchants and Suzhou aristocratic families, the examiner Pan and Li Hongzhang's teacher Weng Xincun (Sun Zhishi) have some enlightenment on the formation of their world outlook of practical use. The gentry in southern Jiangsu, headed by Pan and Weng, also gave great support to Li Hongzhang's later formation of Huai Army and his rapid rise in Jiangsu. But the most fortunate thing for Li Hongzhang is that after he failed in the first exam, he joined the team of Zeng Guofan, a Hunan university student, as a "teenager" with "B+C" (that is, 1845- 1846), and learned practical knowledge, which laid the foundation for his career and thought all his life.
1847 (twenty-seven years of Daoguang) Jinshi, ranking 13, changed to Jishi Shu, imperial academy. At the same time, Zeng Guofan emphasized the study of the world when he was a student. 1850 (the 30th year of Daoguang), the Imperial Academy was dissolved, and the Imperial Academy was granted the editing and repairing of Wuying Hall.
Xiang army staff
1853 (the third year of Xianfeng), Taiping Army under Shunjiang River in Wuhan occupied Anqing and killed Governor Jiang. Emperor Xianfeng ordered Lu, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry, to go to Anhui to deal with the prevention and suppression. He accompanied assistant minister Lu back to his hometown to do it, and in early May, he fought with Taiping Army in yuxikou and Zhou.
1856 (sixth year of Xianfeng) In September, he successively conquered Chaoxian and Hezhou with Fuji, and was later appointed as a provincial judge. 1858 (8 years of Xianfeng) 65438+February went to Jianchang, Jiangxi, joined the shogunate of Zeng Guofan, and was responsible for drafting documents. He leads a loose life and gets up very late. Zeng Guofan taught him: "Shao Quanlin, since you have entered my tent, I have something to say to you. There is only one sincere word here. " When he left, Li Hongzhang was "devastated".
Later, Anhui Governor Weng Shu Tong (the eldest brother of Weng Tonghe, the teacher of Emperor Tongzhi and Emperor Guangxu) abandoned the city and fled during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War. Zeng Guofan adopted Li Hongzhang's draft when he drafted the film "Visiting Weng Shu Tong": "The official position is there, and the Weng family can't take care of it" (Weng Xincun, the father of Weng, was in a high position at that time), so he appreciated Li Hongzhang's talent even more. However, Li Hongzhang also made deadly enemies with Weng Tonghe. After that, Weng Tonghe made things difficult for Beiyang Navy everywhere, and even lost the Sino-Japanese War. 1860 (the tenth year of Xianfeng), Li Hongzhang was in charge of Huaiyang Navy. After the Xiang army occupied Anqing, Zeng Guofan recommended that "talents can be put to great use" and ordered him to return to Hefei to raise his courage. [4]
Form Huai army
1862 (the first year of Tongzhi) was incorporated into Huaiyong No.5 Battalion, and Li Hongzhang led 13 Battalion Huai Army to Shanghai to form his own army, which was called Huai Army. In March, Zeng Guofan recommended him as the governor of Jiangsu, and in June, 65438+ February, he was actually appointed. [4]
When Li Hongzhang took office, the situation was extremely grim. At that time, Shanghai was one of the largest trading ports in China, where wealth was concentrated in the south of the Yangtze River. When the Huai army arrived, it coincided with the second large-scale attack of the Taiping Army. Whether we can keep Shanghai and develop in Xu Tu is the biggest test before Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang remembers the teacher's teaching that "training and learning to fight are the foundation of life, and managing official affairs and westernization is ignored." The "Chinese and foreign defense bureau" set up by Shanghai officials and gentry hoped that foreign mercenaries would resist the Taiping Army and flatter foreigners in every way. They and foreign troops disapproved of Huai Army, and "they all laughed and called it a beggar". Faced with this situation, Li Hongzhang encouraged the soldiers to say that "the army is expensive and can fight, and the enemy will be defeated." Soon, in the second half of that year, the Huai army fought three fierce battles in Hongqiao, Beixinjing and Sijiangkou independently. Li Hongzhang personally commanded the front line and successfully held Shanghai, which made Chinese and foreign people look at the Huai Army with new eyes.
Li Hongzhang
After mastering the local real power, he vigorously expanded his army in Jiangsu, using western new guns, which seemed to be a new army. In two years, he increased the Huai army from more than 6,000 to 670,000, becoming a well-equipped and effective local armed force in the Qing army. After Li Hongzhang arrived in Shanghai, he used foreign mercenaries (later established as Chang) to attack the Taiping Army.
1June 862 (the first year of Tongzhi),165438+1October 18, garrison commander Luo of Changshu Taiping Army surrendered. Li Hongzhang took the opportunity to lead the Huai army to launch a campaign of recovery and stability. After repeated fierce battles with the Taiping Army who came to counter the rebellion, the Huai Army finally conquered Changshu, Taicang and Kunshan. After initially clearing the periphery of Suzhou, Li Hongzhang made a three-way marching plan, with Cheng Xueqi in the middle and leading from Kunshan to Suzhou. Li Hezhang and Liu Mingchuan from the North Road attacked Jiangyin and Wuxi from Changshu; The South Road attacked Wujiang and Wang Ping, cutting off the road of Zhejiang Taiping Army reinforcements.
/kloc-in the first month of 0/863, he concurrently served as Minister of International Trade and Industry of five ports. The establishment of Shanghai Museum of Foreign Languages and Literature was the beginning of his westernization. 1864 (Tongzhi 3 years) led the Huai army to attack Changzhou, killing the Taiping Army wantonly. The Qing court awarded the title of riding a captain. 1In July, 863, Cheng Xueqi's troops arrived at the gates of Suzhou, and Li Xiucheng, a loyal monarch of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led an army to help from Tianjing, and fought the Huai Army on the north road at Qiaojiao, Wuxi, and the Taiping Army was defeated. At this time, Gao Yongkuan, commander of Suzhou Taiping Army, wavered and secretly contacted Cheng Xueqi to offer the city. 1 1 On the fifth day of the month, Gao Yongkuan and others killed the garrison commander Mu Wang Tan Shaoguang and surrendered in Kaesong. After the Huai army entered the city, Wang Lingbing, a Taiping Army, lived in half the city, unwilling to shave and disarm, but asked for official rank and establishment. So, Li Hongzhang took Cheng Xueqi's advice, trapped and killed eight generals, and the rest were dismissed. Although the murder of Suzhou aroused Gordon's dissatisfaction and once caused a heated discussion, as far as Li Hongzhang was concerned, after all, the hidden danger of "transforming the elbow armpit" was eliminated, just as it was inherent.
Li Hongzhang Meng Zhuanke
Mother's letter said, "Although this matter is too unreasonable, it is related to the overall situation and has to be done." After receiving the newspaper, Zeng Guofan praised Li Hongzhang as "nimble and nimble". [4]
At that time, the Xiang army could not attack Tianjing for a long time, and the Qing court repeatedly urged Li Hongzhang to lead the Huai army to attack. Considering the relationship between Li Hongzhang and the Tseng brothers, getting one's hands on Jinling will be regarded as stealing merit and offending the Tseng family. Therefore, when he was in the Soviet Union, he often stayed put, turned around and invaded Zhejiang. As a result, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang was annoyed, and he played the court from the upper left, accusing Li Hongzhang of "cross-border looting." As a result, the two of them have forged a lifelong hatred. On May 13, Li Hongzhang heard that Xiang's siege tunnel was about to be completed, and because of repeated urging by the court, he sent artillery teams and 27 battalions including Liu Mingchuan, Pan and Zhou Shengbo to attack Tianjing. 15, Ceng Guoquan presented a letter of advice from Li Hongzhang to send troops, urging people to say: "He is the last person, and it is difficult to make friends with others for two years." Everyone said, "I am willing to do my best!" " The next day, Xiang finally conquered Tianjing. Afterwards, Zeng Guofan once expressed his gratitude to Li Hongzhang with his hand: "My foolish brother is humble and Laizi is safe." Jiangsu was purged, and Xiang and Huai generals were all promoted to ranks. Li Hongzhang was awarded first class Su Yibo and a pair of eyes.
1863 to 1864, Li Hongzhang led the Huai army to capture Suzhou, Changzhou and other places, and together with the Xiang army basically eliminated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Later, Li Hongzhang suppressed the Nian Army, and was named as a co-organizer for his work, saving the Qing Dynasty, which was about to collapse, so he was known as the "famous minister of Zhongxing".
After the collapse of the Nian Army, the Qing court restored Li Hongzhang's demotion for many times, rewarded him with the title of Prince Taibao, and awarded him the assistant to the Governor of Huguang. When Hu Guang was governor, Li Hongzhang was ordered to go to Sichuan to investigate the case of Sichuan Governor Wu Tang. He and Wu Tang were "best friends" during the Anhui period. Knowing that Cixi had a good impression on Wu's "holy relatives", he came back to protect them and closed the case with no evidence. After returning to Wuchang, at the beginning of the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870), he was ordered to supervise the military affairs in Guizhou and suppress the Miao uprising. Before the trip, the Hui Rebel Army in Gansu entered Shaanxi, and the Qing court changed its life to help Shaanxi because Zuo Yuan was in Pingliang. However, Li Hongzhang really didn't want to work with Zuo, so he put it off again and again until late June. Seven days later, due to the religious incident of Tianjinwei, the warships of the great powers gathered at Dagukou and were ordered to "take all the troops and set out for the camera station in Feng Jingen". Get to zhili.
With the help of wealthy gentry in Shanghai, Li Hongzhang introduced foreign machines and equipment, and founded the second modern military enterprise in China around 1863: Shanghai Third Bureau of Foreign Guns (the first was Anqing Inner Ordnance Institute founded by Zeng Guofan in 186 1). Li Hongzhang calculated an account: an ordinary British artillery shell costs 30 taels of silver in the market, and 10000 rounds of copper cap shells cost 19 taels of silver.
1On April 24th, 865, the commander-in-chief of the suppression of the Nian Army, Sengqin, was annihilated in Heze, Shandong. The Qing court appointed Zeng Guofan as an imperial envoy, went to the north to supervise the division, and took Li Hongzhang as the acting governor of the two rivers, responsible for logistics matters such as troop redeployment and salary increase. Because most of the Xiang army has been abolished, Zeng Guofan led his troops north.
Li Hongzhang (19), an important official in the late Qing Dynasty, was mostly the Huai Army. At first, there were only 27,000 people in the Ming, Sheng, Ding and Shu armies, and about 8,000 people in Liu Songshan's Xiang army. Later, he ordered Li Hongzhang's six brothers to recruit 2000 cavalry, adding two armies, namely Yang Dingxun, Liu, Liu, Liu, Wu and so on, to the Huai Army. 70,000 people, plus the new battalion newly raised in Liu Mingchuan, have a total strength of more than 60,000 people. However, after a year and a half, Zeng Guofan's inspector failed, and the Qing court had to change Li Hongzhang as an imperial envoy on the first day of November 1866 (the fifth year of Tongzhi) to take over the affairs of twisting suppression, so that Zeng Guofan still returned to the position of governor of Liangjiang.
1867 (Tongzhi 6 years), Li Hongzhang was appointed Governor of Huguang, and he was still supervising the suppression of the Nian Army in the military camp. Militarily, he adhered to Zeng Guofan's strategic policy of "static braking" and successfully suppressed the remaining Nian army.
1869 (Tongzhi 8 years) served as governor of Hubei in February, and 12 was appointed to supervise the military affairs of Miao rebellion in Guizhou in February. 1870 (nine years of Tongzhi) In July, he succeeded Zeng Guofan in handling Tianjin religious plans. Later, due to the successful mediation of Tianjin religious plan, he was transferred to the governor of Zhili in August and later served as the minister of Beiyang trade. 187 1 year (Tongzhi 10 year) In July, Zeng Guofan and Chen Lanbin played a concert to select Liangzi to study in the United States. [4]
Minister of westernization
1865, with the support of Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang bought Shanghai Hongkou Meishangqi Iron Works, merged with Han Dianjia and Ding Richang, and expanded into Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. At the same time, Suzhou Machinery Bureau moved to Nanjing with Li Hongzhang and expanded to Jinling Machinery Bureau. In the ninth year of Tongzhi, he was transferred to the governor of Zhili, took over the Tianjin Machinery Bureau founded by Chonghou and expanded the production regulations.
Li Hongzhang's Calligraphy [5]
Go to hell. As a result, Li Hongzhang founded three of the four major military enterprises in early modern China, and as he himself said, "making weapons is the first thing in training". Later, in the actual operation of introducing western equipment for modern production, he further concluded: "If China wants to strengthen itself, it is better to learn from foreign sharp tools. There is no better way to learn foreign sharp tools than to find tools to make sharp tools and learn their methods without all of them. Those who want to find tools and instruments for making utensils, or set up special departments to select scholars, will be considered rich and famous all their lives, then their careers can be achieved, their skills can be improved, and their talents can be gathered, reflecting their deepening understanding.
Since he became the governor of Zhili in the 1970s, the greater his responsibility, the broader his vision. Looking at the development of countries all over the world, Li Hongzhang felt that China was poor and weak because of its poverty, and reached the understanding that "being rich makes the country strong" and "being rich first makes the country strong", and shifted the focus of the Westernization Movement to "seeking wealth".
After the middle of the Qing Dynasty, due to the blockade of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, the transportation of goods between the north and south of the imperial court was changed to sea transportation. At the end of Tongzhi 11th, Li Hongzhang lost no time in urging the establishment of China Merchants Steamship Merchants. This is the first private shipping company in China and the largest private enterprise in modern China. It contracted half of the traffic volume of the imperial court's "official goods", and its subsequent passenger transport industry actually crushed the Qichang company jointly organized by Britain and the United States. China Merchants Steamship takes Zhu Qi 'ang as the general manager first, then Tang as the general manager, Zhu Qi 'ang and Sheng Xuanhuai as the general managers. This laid the policy tone of "official supervision and commercial office". [4]
Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, Li Hongzhang successively founded a series of civil enterprises, including Cizhou Coal Mine in Hebei, Xingguo Coal Mine in Jiangxi, Guangji Coal Mine in Hubei, Kaiping Mining Bureau, Shanghai Woven Layout, Yixian Coal Mine in Shandong, Tianjin Telegraph Administration, Tang Xu Railway, Shanghai Telegraph Administration, Jingu Railway, Mohe Gold Mine, Rehe Sidaogou Copper Mine, Sanshan Lead-Silver Mine and Shanghai Huasheng Textile General Factory, involving mining and railways. In terms of management policy, it gradually changed from official supervision and commercial office to official-commercial joint operation, which objectively promoted the development of capitalism in China and marked the beginning of China's modernization.
When foreigners wanted to set up telegraph business in China, the Qing government and people panicked, thinking that "telegrams are located deep underground, rampaging in all directions, with unique veins ..." Li Hongzhang also did not allow foreigners to land on submarine cables laid from Hong Kong. So, not long after, the first telegraph cable he laid in China was opened between Dagukou and Tianjin. Li Hongzhang can completely ignore the "geographical pulse" and foreigners, because he knows that the telegraph industry contains extremely high military and civilian value. After that, the telegraph company was established with the silver of the Qing government as investment and profit as the purpose. Li Hongzhang called this move "official supervision and commercial operation", because setting up autonomous enterprises in China "is a heavy task, which is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, so it needs official support and appropriate borrowing of official funds to help the shortage of commercial power". Under the leadership and participation of Li Hongzhang, the Westernization School founded the first railway, the first steel plant, the first machine factory, the first modern military school and the first modern naval fleet in modern China. There is Anqing Inner Ordnance Institute jointly founded by Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. Jiangnan General Manufacturing Bureau and China Merchants Bureau founded by Li Hongzhang. It not only promoted the industrialization of the declining dynasty, but also provided a large amount of stable funds for the financially strapped government. However, Li Hongzhang never got rid of the shackles of the times ideologically. The enterprises established by Li Hongzhang are all government-supervised and commercial-run systems. When the enterprise was first built, the government did not have the strength to set up independently, so it cooperated with private capital. When the enterprise is on the right track, the government will try to exclude private capital and form a government-led enterprise. Due to years of war, enterprises have been withdrawing funds, and the government has forced the placement of redundant staff. Long-term policy protection has depressed the morale of enterprises. With the invasion of foreign forces and the rise of national capital, these seriously ill enterprises are doomed to tragedy. Li Hongzhang himself and his family made a fortune by westernization.
Diplomatic events
Faced with the heavy obstruction of the feudal die-hards in the Qing court, Li Hongzhang once plausibly put forward that "it is sacred to talk about westernization today." In his view, in the process of pursuing self-improvement, we must adhere to the general program of westernization, that is, in the environment of being surrounded by foreign powers and increasing foreign aggression, we should make maximum use of the diplomatic means of "controlling foreign countries" to win as much peaceful time as possible for China's westernization-self-improvement. To this end, he spent his whole life as a diplomatic expert and handled many important diplomatic negotiations. Ironically, when signing an unequal treaty that forced China to cede its interests, Li Hongzhang was the favorite negotiating partner of the great powers. Often the great powers appointed Li Hongzhang to negotiate, and even accepted bribes in the process of signing a treaty with Russia.
187 1 (Ten Years of Tongzhi) On July 29th, Li Hongzhang signed the Sino-Japanese Reconciliation Rules on behalf of China and Japan, which is a treaty of equality and mutual benefit. But from the attitude of the Japanese in the process of signing the contract, Li Hongzhang saw that Japan "will be China's elbow and armpit in the future". Sure enough, in the 13th year (1874), the Japanese army invaded Taiwan Province, and Li Hongzhang actively supported the Qing government to send Shen Baozhen as an imperial envoy to lead a fleet to visit Taiwan Province Province, and transferred 6,500 troops of Tang Dingkui's Huai Army stationed in Xuzhou to Taiwan Province Province in batches. Although the incident was temporarily subsided by signing the Sino-Japanese Treaty on Taiwan Province Affairs, Japan later annexed Ryukyu in 1879 (the fifth year of Guangxu). [6]
Before and after negotiations with Japan, Li Hongzhang also signed the Sino-Peruvian Trade Treaty in 1874 (the 13th year of Tongzhi).
Li Hongzhang's Calligraphy Works (24 pieces) 1876 (the second year of Guangxu) signed the Sino-British Yantai Treaty with Britain. The former aims to protect workers in China; The latter is a serious negotiation between China and Britain caused by the "Ma Jiali case". Under the threat of the British envoy Wade raising the flag to declare war, Li Hongzhang skillfully used international law to save the diplomatic relations. At his suggestion, the Qing government sent Guo Songtao to England to apologize, and Guo became the first foreign minister of China. However, the treaty also allowed British people to enter Tibet by opening four trading ports, namely Yichang, Wuhu, Wenzhou and Beihai, which damaged China's sovereignty.
1883 (the ninth year of Guangxu), the Sino-French war started in Vietnam, and the Qing court ordered Li Hongzhang to co-ordinate the border war. Li Hongzhang believes that "the coastal defense soldiers in all provinces are single-handed, and the navy has not been trained, so it is impossible to underestimate the European powers." He first signed the Pauli Agreement with Bao Hai, the French ambassador to China, and then failed to negotiate with the French ambassador to Japan. The war entered a stalemate, Cixi reorganized the Ministry of War, and peaceful public opinion gradually rose. 1884 (10th year of Guangxu) On April 17, Li Hongzhang signed the Li Fu Agreement with French representative Frono. In May, with the French attack on lang son, the agreement was torn up again. It was not until the Qing army won the battles in Guangxi and Taiwan Province Province respectively that Li Hongzhang finally signed the Sino-French Vietnam Treaty with French representative Badeno, thus ending the war. France gained the privilege of "protecting" Vietnam and opened the Sino-Vietnamese border to France. Therefore, "France is invincible and China is unbeaten". Zuo, who successfully recovered Xinjiang at that time, thought that Li Hongzhang was "worse than ten French generals".
1895, Li Hongzhang signed the treaty of shimonoseki in Shimonoseki, Japan, ceding Taiwan Province Province and its affiliated islands, ceding Liaodong Peninsula, and paying compensation of 200 million taels of silver. However, Liaodong Peninsula touched the interests of great powers and caused the interference of Russia, France and Germany. Japan was forced to agree to return Liaodong Peninsula, but the Qing court had to pay 320 million taels of silver as compensation. Later, Russia leased two ports, Lushun and Dalian, to the Qing government in the name of "returning meritorious service to Liao".
1896, in order to make Li Hongzhang give up the policy of the Qing government to build its own railway, the tsar approved bribing Li Hongzhang with 3 million rubles. However, Li Hongzhang's final real value may only be 500,000, which triggered his revenge on the Russians and refused to sign the contract at the last minute. [6]
Li Hongzhang took a photo with Bismarck during his stay in Germany.
According to the information collected, Li Hongzhang signed more than 30 treaties in his life. As a representative of the Qing government, Li Hongzhang signed an unequal treaty with the great powers: 187 1 August Sino-Japanese Reconciliation Treaty; September Sino-British Yantai Treaty1876; 1884 concise terms of the Sino-French meeting in May; 1885 April Sino-Japanese Tianjin Treaty, the same year Sino-French New Testament; Sino-Japanese treaty of shimonoseki in June 5438+0895, and Sino-Japanese Southern Liaoning Treaty in the same year 10/65438; 1896 The Sino-German Jiaoao Lease Treaty was the same year as the Sino-Japanese Liaonan Treaty; 1March 896, Sino-German Jiaoao Lease Treaty, and Sino-Russian Secret Agreement in June of the same year; 1June, 898, Sino-British Treaty on the Extension of the Hong Kong Border; 190 1 September Eight-Nation Alliance's "Treaty of Xin and Chou", etc.
Build a navy
Objectively speaking, whether Japan annexed Ryukyu or France occupied Vietnam, Li Hongzhang was deeply aware that the threat from the great powers came from the sea. Therefore, from the 1970s, he began to put forward the "coastal defense theory" and actively advocated the establishment of a modern navy. 1874 (the 13th year of Tongzhi), Li Hongzhang played an important role in the coastal defense conference, and systematically put forward the idea of ordering armored ships, forming the North, East and South Sanyo fleets, supplemented by coastal land defense, and formed China's modern coastal defense strategy. After the Sino-French War, the Qing government decided to "reorganize the navy" in view of the fact that Fujian's naval administration was almost completely annihilated. In 1885 (the eleventh year of Guangxu), the naval yamen was established, with Prince Chun as the prime minister and Li Hongzhang as the meeting. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Beiyang Navy was built into an army.
After becoming an army, the Beiyang Navy with 25 ships and more than 4,000 officers and men was the most powerful maritime military force in Asia at that time. This move makes our east neighbor Japan daunting. At the same time, Li Hongzhang stepped up the construction of naval bases such as Lushun, Dagu Lake and Weihai to strengthen coastal defense. However, the Qing court was in high spirits and internal friction continued, and the Ministry of Finance repeatedly demanded to stop buying more ships and guns on the pretext of insufficient funds. Since then, the construction of Beiyang navy has fallen into a dilemma of stagnation and retrogression. [4]
old age
1884 (the 10th year of Guangxu reign), the "Shen Jia Incident" broke out in North Korea, and Japan, always envious of North Korea, took the opportunity to send troops. 1885, Li Hongzhang and Ito Bowen concluded the "Special Terms of the China-Japan Tianjin Conference", which stipulated that if there was a major incident in North Korea, China and Japan needed to know in advance whether to send troops. This was a disaster for the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War.
1894 (20th year of Guangxu), the East School Party uprising broke out in North Korea, and the North Korean government requested China to send troops to help suppress it. Li Hongzhang listened too much to the report of Yuan Shikai, the Commissioner in North Korea, and thought that Japan had "ulterior motives", so he sent Ye Zhichao, the governor of Zhili, and Nie Shicheng, the company commander of Taiyuan Town, to lead 1500 troops to North Korea. Unexpectedly, Japan immediately sent troops to North Korea, and the number of Japanese troops stationed in North Korea increased to more than 8,000, making the situation even more severe. In order to avoid war, Li Hongzhang tried to mediate through Britain and Russia, but Japan refused. In desperation, we had to send more troops into North Korea to compete with Japan. On June 23rd (July 25th in Gregorian calendar), Japanese warships raided Akio Toyoda and sank the Japanese troop carrier Goldman Sachs, and the Sino-Japanese war broke out.
1August 894 16 (Gregorian calendar1September 5), the troops stationed in the DPRK were defeated after several days and nights of fierce fighting with the Japanese army in Pyongyang, and the general commander was left.
Sign treaty of shimonoseki [7]
After his death, Commander-in-Chief Ye Zhichao fled back to China. 1894, 18 August (Gregorian calendar September 17), beiyang fleet and the main Japanese navy met in the waters near Dadonggou in the Yellow Sea. Ding carried out Li Hongzhang's policy of "protecting ships against the enemy", but Beiyang Navy was short of ammunition. In this case, it fought a naval battle with the Japanese fleet for five hours, which greatly affected its combat effectiveness and increased its combat effectiveness. Four China warships sank, and the Japanese fleet suffered heavy losses. Since then, the Qing army fought fiercely with the Japanese in the Yalu River, Jiuliancheng Scenic Resort scenic spots and other battlefields, but failed to stop the Japanese attack. In the end, important naval bases such as Lushun and Weihai fell, and Beiyang Navy was destroyed. Investigate its reason, beiyang fleet's downfall is inseparable from the old court minister. Ministers regarded beiyang fleet as Li Hongzhang's private army, playing off his relationship with Cixi, and reminding Cixi to beware. At the same time, Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzhang, who are in charge of the census bureau, often deduct military expenses from personal grievances, which leads to the aging of most ships in beiyang fleet. The Summer Palace For Cixi, the primary purpose of the Qing treasury was to build the Summer Palace. In the case of fiscal deficit, it is impossible to maintain beiyang fleet's advanced combat readiness. In addition, before the war, Ding proposed to equip the main ships with rapid-fire guns to offset the advantages of Japanese ships' rapid-fire guns, which required 602,000 yuan. Weng Tonghe has never recognized some personal grievances of Li Hongzhang. Beiyang fleet was defeated in the Yellow Sea naval battle, and Li Hongzhang raised huge sums of money for the navy before going to war: "HSBC deposit172.9 million yuan; Dehua Bank deposited 442,000 yuan; Jardine matheson saved 559,620 pieces of silver; Kaiping Mining Bureau received 527520; A total of 2.602 million. "
On February 18th, the 21st year of Guangxu, Li Hongzhang was appointed as the plenipotentiary minister by Empress Dowager Cixi and rushed to Japan for peace talks. Although the Qing court granted Li Hongzhang full power to cede land compensation before his departure, he still expected to "win one point and get one point" and repeatedly argued with Japanese representatives. After the third negotiation, Li Hongzhang was assassinated on his way to the conference site, and the world public opinion was in an uproar, so the Japanese side slightly converged on the terms of the peace talks. On March 16, Li Hongzhang resumed slightly and the two sides negotiated for the fourth time. Japan refused to make concessions to China, demanding compensation of 250 million taels of silver (originally 300 million taels) and ceding Liaodong Peninsula and Penghu, Taiwan. Japanese peace talks representative Ito Bowen said that Li Hongzhang was "only allowed and not allowed". Afterwards, Japan continued to threaten to send more troops and go to war again. Li Hongzhang and others sent telegrams for instructions, and Emperor Guangxu agreed to sign the contract, ordering "to make a contract with it according to the previous purpose".
It is said that at the last moment before signing the contract, he tearfully said to Costa, the American consultant of the mission: "If the negotiations fail, we will move the capital to Shaanxi and fight a protracted war with Japan. The Japanese will never conquer China, and China can resist indefinitely. Japan will eventually lose and seek peace. "
Later generations praised Li Hongzhang at a high price, thinking that he "saved 654.38 billion yuan for the Qing government with one bone and one tear, and made great contributions to the survival of the Qing government". In fact, if Li Hongzhang had not paid too much attention to the strength of the Beiyang Navy and the policy of "protecting ships and avoiding war", the Qing government's funds for the Beiyang Navy would not have been reduced, and the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War could have been changed, instead of the whole army being wiped out in the Bohai Bay harbor.
It was under the strong stimulation of the Shimonoseki Agreement that Li Hongzhang swore that he would never land on the sun. Two years later, he returned from a trip to Europe and America, passing through Yokohama, Japan, and never wanted to go ashore again. At that time, he needed to change to a ship and take a ferry. When he saw that it was a Japanese ship, he refused to board it. Finally, he had no choice but to put a board between the two boats. A 75-year-old man, on the roaring sea, staggered resolutely and slowly moved over.
1On March 24th, 895, when Li Hongzhang was discussing the signing of treaty of shimonoseki in Japan, he was shot on the left side by the assassin Akio Toyoda, bleeding profusely and fainted on the spot. For a time, the scene was in chaos, pedestrians fled everywhere, and the assassin sneaked away while hiding in the crowd and hid in a shop on the side of the road. The accompanying doctor immediately gave first aid to Li Hongzhang. Fortunately, the bullet missed the key, and Li Hongzhang recovered quickly. After the assassination, Japanese police quickly caught Akio Toyoda, who admitted that he was a member of the Japanese right-wing group "Shen Dao Pavilion". He doesn't want a truce between China and Japan, nor does he want to see Sino-Japanese peace talks. He was bent on continuing the war, so he decided to further provoke the contradiction between China and Japan by assassinating Li Hongzhang and carry the war to the end.
After the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, it aroused strong repercussions throughout the country. Kang Youwei and others launched a bus to write a letter, which set off the climax of the reform and reform. Li Hongzhang also regarded the signing of Shimonoseki as a great shame and vowed never to set foot on the land again for life, preferring reform. Treaty of shimonoseki caused public outrage in China, but he couldn't accuse the Qing government of devoting all its resources to celebrating Cixi's birthday, so he pointed the finger at Li Hongzhang, who became a scapegoat for the humiliation of the Qing Dynasty. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Li Hongzhang was removed from his post as governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang, and remained idle for 25 years.
Li Hongzhang [8]
1896 Spring (the 22nd year of Guangxu reign), Russian Emperor Nicholas II held a coronation ceremony, and Li Hongzhang, as a first-class envoy, was ordered to come to congratulate him. Prior to this, Russia, together with France and Germany, successfully initiated the return of the Three Kingdoms to Liao. The Qing court regarded Russia as a savior, including Li Hongzhang, Weng Tonghe, Zhang Zhidong and other senior officials who tended to unite with Russia. The Qing government's foreign policy also changed from "controlling foreign countries" to "strengthening aid". On April 22nd of the same year, Li Hongzhang signed the Sino-Russian Secret Treaty in Moscow. China and Russia formed an alliance to jointly deal with Japan, and agreed that Russia would build the Siberian Railway, which would pass through Heilongjiang and Jilin in China to Vladivostok. The port was opened to Russian warships, which led to the whole northeast becoming the sphere of influence of Russia.
During Li Hongzhang's tenure as governor of Guangdong, the Boxer Rebellion broke out in the north. Britain, France and other countries formed Eight-Nation Alliance to intervene, and Cixi fled to xi 'an with Guangxu. The situation in the north is in chaos. The powerful ministers in the southeast, such as Liu Kunyi, Governor of Liangjiang River, and Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Huguang, under the contact of Sheng Xuanhuai, advocated mutual protection in the southeast, that is, not following the imperial edict of declaring war, so as to avoid chaos in the southeast half. Li Hongzhang contributed to this. He thought imperial edicts were chaotic.
During this period, Chen Shaobai, a revolutionary, and Liu Xue, an aide of Li Hongzhang, inquired about the words of the matchmaker. Li Hongzhang had intended to meet with Sun Yat-sen, who had come all the way from Japan, to plan "the independence of Guangdong and Guangxi", but both sides were wary of each other and gave up. [4]
Li Hongzhang published it in the French daily Le Petit.
1June, 900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded, and the Qing Dynasty declared a state of war. The telegrams of the imperial court were sent to the south one by one, asking the ministers of the provinces to lead troops to the north and destroy the ocean together. Through the imperial edict, Li Hongzhang was transferred from the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi to the highest position among the ministers of the Qing Dynasty: the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang. Cixi's paper appointment is: "Li Hongzhang is the plenipotentiary minister."
1August 90015th, the capital of Qing dynasty fell and the court fled. On September 29th, Li Hongzhang arrived in Tianjin. 65438+1October 1 1, Li Hongzhang arrived in Beijing. Li Hongzhang fell ill because of great psychological pressure. On the way back to Xianliang Temple after meeting with the British and German envoys, he was ill with cold. The Coalition forces pretending to delay the "wild price" are impatient. They were afraid that no one would clean up this mess in court, and a "discussion outline" that exhausted "China's financial resources" was finally released. 190 1 year 1 month 65438+5, Li Hongzhang and Prince Qing signed the Outline of Peace Talks. China people once again denounced: "traitor Qin Gui, unjust Li Hongzhang!"