"Bismarck met with li hongzhang. Bismarck was a little arrogant and asked Li Hongzhang: I heard that Li Da was called Oriental Bismarck, but is this the case? Li Hongzhang responded strongly: I only heard that the Prime Minister was called Li Hongzhang in the West. "
When the right to punish, slander the world.
? Li Hongzhang is an official of the governor of Zhili and the head of government ministers (also said to be the governor of three northeastern provinces). Some people say that Li Hongzhang's power is only half, but in fact Li Hongzhang has power but no power. As we all know, the rule of the Qing dynasty was centralized rule based on nobility, that is to say, the Qing dynasty was the Manchu dynasty. The real power is held by the minister of military affairs (the prince of Manchu nobility). It is more difficult for Han people to want a minister than to ascend to heaven. Even Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang's teacher, walked on thin ice every day after pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and making great achievements. Even if there is a war, we should reduce the number of Xiang troops for fear of arousing suspicion. It is true that Li Hongzhang slandered the whole world. No matter from the Westernization Movement, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 to the signing of a series of unequal treaties, it has been criticized countless times. The court accused him of losing power and humiliating the country and was reviled as a traitor by the world.
? Obviously, such an evaluation is unfair. Let's take a look at the real Li Hongzhang.
Appear, quell civil strife
? Li Hongzhang first appeared on the historical stage during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. When the Jintian rebellion broke out, Li Hongzhang was in his hometown of Anhui, serving as the strategist of Fuji, the governor of Anhui. Later, Li Hongzhang volunteered to lead the army to conquer Hanshan and Chaoxian counties in one fell swoop, and Li Hongzhang's military reputation came out. Later, he followed Zeng Guofan to wipe out the rebellion in Jiangxi. Zeng Guofan recommended Li Hongzhang many times, but all of them were rejected by the court (maybe not in the Qing Dynasty). However, following Zeng Guofan for several years is the time for him to learn and accumulate, and it has also become an experience he enjoyed all his life.
? At that time, green camp, also known as the Eight Banners, was a regular soldier of the Qing Dynasty. They are all mediocre and incompetent soldiers with serious corruption style. They were no match for Taiping rebels at all, so Zeng Guofan asked the court for instructions, demanding that new recruits be trained outside the system and that the organization should be permanent. As a result, local troops became the main force against the Taiping Army, including Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army, the left Chu Army and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army.
? Under the command of Li Hongzhang, there was a general who was originally hired by Shanghai businessmen to defend Shanghai. Later, Chang Shengjun was under the command of Li Hongzhang, so Li Hongzhang became close friends with Chang Shengjun's leaders, such as Wall, Bai Jiwen and Gordon, and gradually became interested in western advanced technology.
? From February of the first year of Tongzhi, Li Hongzhang led 8,000 people south to Shanghai, commanded Huai Army and Chang, moved to various places, and started the defence of Songjiang, ending in Changzhou, Jiaxing, and finally settled the south of Jiangsu in April of the third year of Tongzhi.
After the Taiping Rebellion was pacified, the Nian Army was in chaos, and Li Hongzhang was ordered to break the Nian Army, and the civil strife in China was temporarily pacified.
Open your eyes and create westernization.
In the era of transition from a feudal autocratic country to a modern country, China's first navy, the first batch of overseas students, the first coal mine, the first railway and the first telegram were all engraved with Li Hongzhang's name. Li Hongzhang's westernization is basically these. And Li Hongzhang's most painstaking career is Lu Haijun War. After pacifying the Taiping Army, Li Hongzhang realized that China's troops might be more than enough to pacify civil strife, and it would be impossible to resist foreign aggression, so he took strengthening national strength as an important thing. The Beiyang Navy, founded by Li Hongzhang, ranks eighth in the world in naval strength and first in Asia.
Li Hongzhang, the First Diplomat in the Late Qing Dynasty
? A weak country has no diplomacy, which is the dilemma faced after the founding of New China, and the Manchu before it also faced such problems. Facing the western powers, the closed-door late Qing Dynasty was a weak country, and Li Hongzhang's unremitting efforts to put the thought of weak country and martial arts into practice, despite all kinds of defects, were brought about by the feudal nature of the late Qing Dynasty and had nothing to do with Li Hongzhang, but Li Hongzhang undoubtedly played a positive role in promoting the diplomatic modernization of the late Qing government, eliminating the war disaster, maintaining the peace situation between China and foreign countries and ensuring the gradual development of the self-improvement movement. Prander wrote in Li Hongzhang's Biography: As a skilled negotiator, as a loyal defender of the diplomatic channel to Beijing, as the main complainant of China's grievances, as a mediator who tried to minimize the staged punishment and torture imposed by foreign countries because of the failure of the war, he obviously became the only person that could be entrusted and indispensable in the Qing Dynasty.
1894 naval battle
? The fuse of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was the East Korean Learning Party Uprising. At that time, China and Japan were deadlocked on the issue of sending troops to aid, and war was imminent. At this time, Li Hongzhang was striving for domestic peace and time to enrich Qiang Bing on the basis of the idea of "reforming the interior and reconciling the exterior", so he used his personal relationship with foreign ambassadors of other powers to seek the help of western powers, trying to "control foreigners with foreigners" and mediate the war, but he was fiercely attacked by the "Clean Party" headed by Weng Tonghe, including many effective ministers: Zuo and Zhang Zhidong. They fought blindly in order not to damage the national prestige of the Qing Dynasty. After all, they still didn't have the ideological shackles of going out to China. The war broke out, and the result was as tragic as the history textbook. The Beiyang Navy was wiped out and the Westernization Movement went bankrupt. As mentioned above, the naval strength of Beiyang Navy ranks eighth in the world and first in Asia. Why are you so vulnerable to Japan? The answer can be found in Puritans. On the one hand, it is the personal enmity between Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzhang, which restricts the war more. On the other hand, the money used by the Ministry to build a fleet and strengthen defense has long been used to rebuild the Summer Palace, not to mention jokes such as Wei's deduction of food rations, Ye Zhichao's lying about military intelligence and surrender without a fight. Now that we have lost, let's sign the contract.
? At first, Zhang was sent by the Qing court to sign the contract, but the Japanese government only recognized Li Hongzhang, so Li Hongzhang was appointed as an imperial envoy and went to Japan to sign the contract. At this time, he was 72 years old. I believe everyone knows the content of the treaty, which is to pay compensation and cede land. However, Li Hongzhang minimized the loss through his own diplomatic means. Before signing the contract, Li Hongzhang was shot in the cheek by a Japanese youth. Li Hongzhang fell down on the spot. After he woke up, the accompanying officials were concerned about his physical condition, but Li Hongzhang said, "This blood saves the country!" At that time, according to international law, the diplomatic ambassadors of both sides should be protected, but Li Hongzhang suffered this disaster. Li Hongzhang sent people to spread the news and joined forces with the media to put pressure on Japan. Japan was forced to reduce the compensation from 300 million taels to 200 million taels. Luo Zongguang, then foreign minister, denounced: "fanatical patriots really miss their country!" " The old man stubbornly continued to negotiate in his hospital bed, leaving a good impression of being educated and resilient to the civilized world, indicating that he abided by the excellent tradition of Confucian scholars and aroused universal admiration.
Later, Li Hongzhang tried his best to seek international mediation and used all diplomatic means to unite Britain, the United States, France, Germany and Russia to interfere in the peace talks, so he did not hesitate to lead the wolf into the room to preserve the territory of the Great Qing Dynasty, so Japan returned the Liaodong Peninsula with the intervention of the great powers. Li Hongzhang made use of the complicated international environment to maintain the overall integrity of China's state system as much as possible, and protected China from becoming a colony like its vassal state, thus laying a solid foundation for the rise and revival of China.
Li Hongzhang should not be a traitor.
Japanese media commented on Li Hongzhang: Knowing the general trend from the West, understanding foreign civilization, having excellent vision and agile wrist. Even after the assassination of Li Hongzhang, the diverted route was named "Li Hongzhang Road" by Japanese officials. American media called German Chancellor Bismarck, American President Grant and Li Hongzhang1the three great men of the 9th century. Liang Qichao pointed out in the Chronicle of China for Forty Years that Li Hongzhang participated in all the major events in China during these forty years. The Draft of the History of Qing Dynasty also said: For decades, internal affairs and diplomacy were often the first to bear the brunt. Li Hongzhang brought the doddering Manchu from barbarism to civilization until death do us part. Unfortunately, his untimely birth may be the best interpretation of his life. Li Hongzhang said: He has been a paperhanger all his life, and he is really naive.
This is a desperate poem by Li Hongzhang: I worked hard and knew I was dead before I left the saddle. For 300 years, I have injured my country and hanged my people 8 thousand miles away. Autumn wind sword tears lonely minister, the setting sun flag general altar. The dusty atmosphere overseas is not over yet, so it is not appropriate to wait and see.
References:
Biography of Li Hongzhang and Liang Qichao
Li Hongzhang-Prander