1900, Empress Dowager Cixi declared war on the eight countries, with the intention of relying on the power of the Boxer Rebellion to restore the glory of the Qing Dynasty. In the same year, the British Empire, the United States of America, the Third Republic of France, the German Empire, the Russian Empire, the Japanese Empire, the Italian Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire formed a joint army, with about 50,000 people in the German Marshal Alfred? Feng? Attack the Qing dynasty under the leadership of wadesi. The Qing army was defeated all the way, and the Boxer Rebellion was defeated after a bloody battle. Allied forces entered Beijing, burning and looting, and Empress Dowager Cixi led the royal family to xi 'an before the city was broken.
Empress Dowager Cixi saw that the Qing army was in a terrible situation and the Boxer Rebellion was divided. Southern provinces refused to send troops to him, so she ordered Li Hongzhang to preside over the peace talks, and at the same time ordered the Qing army to assist Eight-Nation Alliance in encirclement and suppression of the Boxer Rebellion. Countries do all kinds of evil in Beijing and have no intention of making peace. In order to force the Qing dynasty to recognize the legitimacy of Russia's possession of the three northeastern provinces, Russia made every effort to make all countries agree to make peace. Finally, Li Hongzhang arrived in Beijing under the protection of the Russian army and began to talk about peace conditions with the great powers. The Qing dynasty couldn't win people, and it didn't help much. The so-called negotiation and peace, to put it bluntly, is to cede land and pay for peace. Li Hongzhang has no bargaining chip at all.
Due to the conflict of interests in China, the powers finally chose to keep Cixi and agreed to make peace! Because without Empress Dowager Cixi, the Qing Dynasty might soon cross Taiwan Province, and it would be difficult for them to blackmail China. The main achievement of the negotiation is the Xin Chou Treaty, with clause 12 and annex 19, which is the biggest unequal treaty signed by China in modern times. There is no agreement to cede land, but the amount of compensation is huge. The principal is 450 million taels of silver and will be paid off in 39 years. The total principal and interest is 982 million taels of silver! Japan's development from an island country to a militaristic power was totally dependent on two important reparations of the Qing Dynasty.
Yu Yi of Empress Dowager Cixi: Yesterday, according to Yi Kuang's telegram, peace talks between countries put forward 12 points, which have been agreed. Or ask the plenipotentiary to carefully consider the detailed plan, measure China's material resources, and win the favor of the country? . That is to say, Empress Dowager Cixi, after reading the 12 clause of the Xin Chou Treaty, asked Li Hongzhang to negotiate with other countries on the details of compensation, with the aim of paying less and delaying it for a while. To measure China's material resources is to ask Li Hongzhang to consider China's current financial strength, pay as little as possible and delay time as much as possible without hurting harmony.
Li Hongzhang's efforts were not in vain, and at least the time was extended to 39 years before it paid off. If it is paid off in one lump sum, the disaster for the people of China will be unimaginable. Time is long, and it also gives opportunities for change. In the end, under the proposal of the United States, all countries except Japan returned part of the compensation and gave up the final compensation. By the end of 1947, all signatory countries gave up their reparations. The Xin Chou Treaty actually paid 653.2 million taels of silver to various countries, and countries paid back about 300 million taels of tariff silver, most of which was used for education in China. The century-old national humiliation that began in the Qing Dynasty has also made future generations deeply understand a truth: backwardness will be beaten, and weak countries have no diplomacy!