After Cixi came to power, the relationship between the Qing Dynasty and western powers changed significantly. The rulers of Qing dynasty changed from rejecting and fearing foreign countries to being obsessed with foreign countries; Foreign invaders also realized that the Qing government might become a tame tool for them to enslave and exploit the people of China, so they changed their China policy from rotation to pulling. Qing officials introduced military industry from the west to suppress domestic uprisings, which was the initial Westernization Movement. In A.D. 186 1 year, Zeng Guofan set up the Ordnance Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Anqing to manufacture foreign guns, which started the Westernization Movement. The person who presided over westernization activities for the longest time was Li Hongzhang.
Li Hongzhang, a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, was Zeng Guofan's aide. After Cixi came to power, Zeng Guofan recommended him as the governor of Jiangsu and asked him to organize the Huai army according to the model of Xiang Army. Li Hongzhang bought guns and guns in Shanghai, and invited British Magley to train guns in Songjiang, which played a role in the bloody suppression of Taiping Army and made him taste the sweetness of using advanced western weapons. During this period, the Huai army continued to expand. After the revolution that strangled the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he went to Henan to suppress the Nian Army uprising and gradually developed into a warlord force on an equal footing with the Xiang Army.
Li Hongzhang was promoted to Governor of Liangjiang for actively suppressing the Communist Party. At that time, the Governor of Liangjiang and Minister of Nanyang Trade were in charge of the trade affairs of the Yangtze River basin and the seaports south of Shandong. In A.D. 1865, Li Hongzhang bought an American machine iron factory in Hongkou, Shanghai, and merged with Shanghai Artillery Bureau and Suzhou Artillery Bureau to establish Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration. Zeng Guofan also shipped the machine that Hong Rong (hng) bought in the United States to Shanghai and gave it to Li Hongzhang for use. Two years later, it moved to Gaochangmiao Town in the south of Shanghai and expanded its production scale. Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration has recruited more than 2,000 Chinese and foreign technicians, and attached a translation hall to translate and introduce western scientific and technological books. It was the largest military enterprise in China at that time, mainly manufacturing guns and bullets, and built a 60-meter-long' big ship'. At the same time, Li Hongzhang set up Jinling Machinery Bureau in Yuhuatai, Nanjing to produce foreign guns.
At that time, the imported machines were first-rate, but the guns made were out of date. The cannons produced have no wagons and can only be carried by soldiers. The heavy artillery made by Jinling Machinery Bureau for Dagu Fort also exploded, causing the whole factory to produce rifles instead. Although these backward military products can't resist foreign aggression, they are more than enough to suppress the uprising masses who are unarmed or have only broadswords and spears. Therefore, Li Hongzhang still spends a lot of treasury silver every year, totaling as much as 22 million Liang.
In the process of establishing military industry, the Westernization School felt a serious shortage of funds, so it began to turn from self-improvement to seeking wealth. Li Hongzhang saw that although the western countries are small in territory, they can get amazing taxes and profits from mines, railways, industry and postal services. China is rich in resources and cheap in labor. You can make a lot of money by starting a business and stocking up on the spot. So starting from 1870, he began to turn his attention to the civilian industry. At this time, he has been promoted to the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang trade, and he is in power, so the establishment process is very smooth.
Li Hongzhang's first large-scale private enterprise was China Merchants, engaged in coastal and inland river shipping. In the past three years, the number of ships under its jurisdiction has expanded from three to more than 30, and it has won the price war with foreign shipping companies, making a profit of 13 million for the Qing government. Although his plan to open an ocean route failed to come true because of the obstruction of western powers, Li Hongzhang still thought it was the proudest thing since the establishment of Westernization. He then founded Kaiping Mining Bureau, Shanghai Weaving Layout, Mohe Gold Mine and Tianjin Telegraph Bureau, which laid the foundation for the development of modern industry in China. This is the second stage of the Westernization Movement.
From A.D. 1874, the Westernization Movement gradually moved towards the third stage of establishing a new navy. After ten years of painstaking efforts, three naval divisions have been established in Beiyang, Nanyang and Fujian, among which the Beiyang Navy Division controlled by Li Hongzhang is the strongest, with 22 warships, including two 7000-ton armored ships and seven 3000-ton cruisers, all of which were purchased from abroad, making the naval power rise to the top five in the world. However, in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Beiyang Navy was completely annihilated, which declared the bankruptcy of the Westernization Movement. Li Hongzhang is both an advocate and a undertaker of this movement.
The Westernization Movement is a mixture of bureaucratic capitalism and feudalism. Once the interests of imperialist powers are threatened, they will still retaliate. The tongzhi Zhongxing advocated by Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and other westernization schools has been proved by history to be only an illusion. With the renewed struggle for China's interests, western powers began a new round of aggression to slaughter China.