Before entering Guangzhou, Lin Zexu first found out the opium poisoning situation in Guangzhou, searched various cigarette houses and got a lot of first-hand information. In the 19th year of Daoguang, he arrived in Guangzhou in the first month [1March, 839], and on the fourth day of February (March, 65438+March, 2009), together with Deng Yanzhen, Lin Zexu summoned thirteen foreign businessmen, ordered them to hand over an imperial edict, and ordered foreign opium merchants to pay cigarettes within a time limit. However, foreign businessmen refused to hand it over. After resolute struggle, they defeated the British commercial supervision law and opium dealers in China, and confiscated nearly 20 thousand boxes of opium, about 2.37 million kilograms. On April 22nd (June 3rd), it was destroyed in public at Humen Beach. Daoguang18165438+1October 15, and Lin Zexu was appointed as an imperial envoy. The coming 1839 is the most important year in the history of smoking ban and the most brilliant year in Lin Zexu's life.
During the opium ban, Lin Zexu wrote couplets in his office: "All rivers run into the sea; The couplet "No desire is just" is vivid and meaningful. Shanglian earnestly warned itself that to do things well and be in an invincible position, we must listen to different opinions widely; The second part of the alliance encourages itself that officials must resolutely put an end to selfish desires in order to stand upright in the world like a mountain. This spirit advocated by Lin Zexu is admirable and a lesson for future generations.
March 1839, 10 Lin zexu arrived in Guangzhou after a two-month journey. Ten thousand people in Qian Shan are crowded on both sides of the Pearl River, and everyone is eager to see the elegant demeanour of an imperial envoy. The whole of Guangzhou is waiting, listening to the voice of the imperial envoys. Lin Zexu's answer was that two notices posted outside Yuanmen the next day, "Receipt and Submission", stated that the purpose of the imperial envoy to Guangzhou was to investigate the Haikou incident. Another "Model Draft of Customs Defence" is no different from the first declaration of the imperial envoy's visit, and it is the first time to issue the voice of taking anti-smoking action. This announcement is the first public appearance of Lin Zexu as an imperial envoy to Guangzhou officials, people and foreigners. It not only declares the world clean again, but also aims to drive away slaves in extremely complicated situations. Lin Zexu's diary records that he lived in Yuehua College that day.
1March 839,1March 8, Lin zexu issued two imperial edicts. On March 19, foreigners were forbidden to leave Guangzhou. On March 2 1 day, the business hall was surrounded. On March 22nd, he ordered the arrest of British opium dealers.
With the arrival of British business supervision law in China, the contradiction naturally shifted to him. On the day of arrival, Lin Zexu ordered all foreign ships moored on the Huangpu River to seal their cabins, blocked the business hall that night, and evacuated all waiters and China employees. However, Yi Fa is a real hooligan. In the face of Lin Zexu's orders, he reneged and used despicable means of hooliganism, blackmail, deception and lying alternately. Yi Fa is crafty, but he is no match for Lin Zexu. On March 28th, he gave Lin Zexu "20283 boxes of cigarettes paid according to the law".
Lin Zexu 1839 arrived in Guangzhou on March 10, and Yiliu was forced to agree to hand over all the opium on March 28th, totaling *** 18 days, which fully demonstrated Lin Zexu's victory in the first round of opium collection.
After consulting with Deng Tingzhen and others, Lin Zexu made impeccable instructions and arrangements on the site selection, acceptance, escort, custody, custody and guarding of the collection.
On April 10, Lin Zexu and Deng personally went to Humen to check the preparation before collection.
In April 1 1, the collection began, and Lin Zexu personally supervised the whole collection process.
May 18, used for 34 days, * * * collected 19 187 boxes and 210/9 bags, with a total weight of1188/kloc.
During the collection, Lin Zexu constantly supervised this complicated process. Working day and night, meticulous, no mistakes. Paying cigarettes won a great victory, but how to deal with such a huge amount of opium? Foreigners speculated that China might monopolize opium and legalize the opium trade, but they were wrong. Lin Zexu reported to Daoguang, asked to verify the physical quantity, and then burned it. Daoguang expressed great trust in Lin Zexu. He asked Lin Zexu, Deng Tingzhen, Yiliang and others to destroy the confiscated opium on the spot.
On June 3, under the command of Lin Zexu, Humen destroyed opium for 23 days, which declared to the world the determination of the Chinese nation never to yield to aggression. The destruction of opium in Humen is an unprecedented feat in human history. Humen's destruction of opium shows the unparalleled great image of the Chinese nation and is a victory against foreign aggression. Lin Zexu is of course the organizer, commander and finisher of this event. In this sense, he has become a historical giant without shame.
150 years ago, Britain was the largest imperialist country in the world at that time. He constantly plundered colonies all over the world, trying to open the door to China with opium.
The drug trafficking center of foreign cigarette dealers in Guangzhou. 1838, the local government in Guangzhou executed a China opium dealer, but the British tobacco dealer came out to obstruct it, which aroused the indignation of the people in Guangzhou. 1839 In February, more than 10,000 people demonstrated in front of hotels where foreigners lived, denouncing the crime of foreign tobacco companies interfering in China's internal affairs.
1In March of 839, Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou, and the anti-smoking movement started rapidly. While stepping up the rectification of coastal defense, he strictly closed the cigarette dealers; On the one hand, foreign tobacco dealers are restricted from handing in opium. Lin Zexu said in a notice to foreign tobacco merchants: "The minister will not return until the opium is exhausted." Because of Lin Zexu's firm attitude, strong measures and the support of the people, foreign tobacco dealers were forced to hand over more than 20 thousand boxes of opium.
Lin Zexu ordered the public destruction of opium in Humen and led officials of all sizes to personally supervise it. He asked people to put opium in two dug ponds, put salt water in the ponds, soak the opium for a long time, and add quicklime, which will boil raw water and then destroy the opium. It took 22 days to destroy all the seized opium. This is the world-famous Humen destroying opium.
The just action of selling cigarettes won the support of the broad masses of the people. Humen beach is watched by tens of thousands of people every day, and people applaud. Seeing this situation, foreigners also admire Lin Zexu's determination to ban smoking.
The Opium War in Humen was a glorious page in China's anti-imperialist struggle in modern history. The victory of the anti-smoking movement led by Lin Zexu was the first great victory in the history of China people's anti-aggression struggle. This feat safeguarded the dignity and interests of the country and enhanced the fighting spirit of the people of China.
In the process of investigating opium in Guangzhou, Lin Zexu realized that Britain would launch a war of aggression. To defeat the enemy, we need to know ourselves. Through all kinds of analysis and research, he reached the conclusion of turning an enemy into a friend, which is Wei Yuan's summary of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners". So Lin Zexu personally presided over and organized a translation team to translate foreigners' remarks about China into Petrochemical Yi Yan, which was an official "reference news" in China at that time. In order to understand foreign military, political and economic information, Guangzhou Weekly sponsored by British businessmen was translated into Macau News. In order to understand the geography, history and politics of the west, he also organized the translation of the Encyclopedia of World Geography written by the Englishman Murray, and compiled it into The Chronicles of Four Continents, which was the first book in modern China to systematically introduce western geography. He also translated Vattel's International Law. One of them stipulates: "All countries have the right to ban the import of foreign goods." This shows that the ban on smoking in China is in full compliance with international law. On the military side, we will strengthen and improve the coastal defense forces. Lin Zexu specially bought more than 200 new cannons from foreign countries and deployed them on Haikou Fort. In order to improve military technology, materials such as gun aiming methods and warship books were collected and sorted out. Lin Zexu dared to learn the spirit of foreign advanced science and technology and was highly praised by people. He is called "the first person who opened his eyes to see the world." Although Lin Zexu's understanding of the West is superficial, and his contact with Western learning is out of diplomatic and military needs, after all, he created an atmosphere of learning and studying the West in modern China, which played an enlightening role in China's modern reform thought.
British colonialists refused to give up the evil opium trade and planned to invade China by force. Lin Zexu banned smoking in Guangdong. "While actively preparing for the war, he built forts and pulled wooden chains to stop the river. He believed that' the people's hearts can be used' and recruited more than 5,000 fishermen to form a water brave, which repeatedly defeated the British provocation. 1839 In the second half of the year, it won the counter-offensive campaigns such as the Battle of Kowloon and the Battle of Chuanbi Piping. Blind and proud, Daoguang Emperor ordered to stop British trade. On the first day of December in the 19th year of Daoguang (1840 1.5), the Qing court awarded Lin Zexu the post of governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. After the Opium War broke out, Dinghai fell, and Qishan went to Guangzhou and Lin Zexu did the opposite. Under the threat and inducement of the British invaders, he signed the "Chuanbi Cao Yue" without authorization, ceded Hong Kong and paid 6 million yuan for tobacco. But he blamed all this on Lin Zexu.
Lin Zexu was meritorious in resisting Britain, but was framed by the capitulators and dismissed by Daoguang. "He was sent to Yili to atone for his sins." He endured humiliation and set foot on the road in the 21st year of Daoguang (184 1 July 14). On the way to Xu, I still care about my country and people, and I don't feel sorry for my personal frustrations. When I said goodbye to my wife in the ancient city of Xi 'an, I wrote an inspiring poem full of anger, "Would you like to live and die for your country? Do you want to avoid it because of disaster? " This is an expression of his patriotic feelings and a portrayal of his temperament and personality.
Daoguang arrived in Xinjiang on November 9th, 21st. Despite his advanced age and declining physical strength, Lin Zexu visited eight cities in southern Xinjiang from Yili to "Three Wan Li in the Western Regions", which deepened his understanding of the importance of border defense in northwest China. Lin Zexu's translation materials found that Russia threatened China, which prompted him to resist Britain's and Russia's national defense thought and became the pioneer of modern "anti-blockade theory". Therefore, he clearly proposed to the Ili general Bu Yantai that he should prepare for the "battle of ploughing". He also led the masses to build water conservancy projects and popularize karez and spinning wheels. People call it "Lin Gong Jing" and "Lin Che" to commemorate his achievements. Based on his many years of investigation in Xinjiang, Lin Zexu pointed out the seriousness of the threat posed by Russia when Russia threatened the Qing court to open Ili, and issued a warning at the end of his life, "After all, it is Russia!" Lin Zexu's foresight has been confirmed by later history.
In the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang (1845), Lin Zexu was reused by the imperial court and transferred to the governor of Shaanxi, Gansu and Yunnan. Daoguang was recalled to Beijing in September 25 years ago as an alternate, 1 1 month acting as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. In April of the 26th year (1846), he was awarded the governor of Shaanxi and arrived in Shaanxi on the 9th day of July (August 30th). At this time, various social contradictions in Shaanxi were very acute: during the Opium War, the Qing court not only allocated the salt tax collected by Shaanxi, but also forced Shaanxi to donate more than one million yuan. After the Opium War, the reparations paid to foreign invaders were also distributed to Shaanxi. xianning and Chang 'an counties in Xi 'an County collected more than 22,000 taels of reparations each year, equivalent to one third of the total reparations. Coupled with the continuous disasters in various places, the life of working people is extremely difficult; The "swordsman" in Weinan, Fuping, Sanyuan, Dali, Pucheng and other places joined hands with local Muslims to confront the government in succession.