Lin Zexu (1783—1850), a politician in the late Qing Dynasty and an official in Fujian, was buried in Jiaqing. He is also a devout Buddhist. From June 65438 to June 0839, as an imperial envoy of the Qing government, opium was destroyed in Humen, Guangdong Province, which became a major anti-drug event in the history of China. This incident later became the fuse of the First Opium War, and treaty of nanking was also signed by the Qing government in that war. On the eve of the Opium War, Lin Zexu wrote "Ten Useless Mottos" in Qian Shan after visiting Macau in September 1839.
Opium is the product of the British bourgeoisie spying on the China market and profiting from it. China's closed-door policy has put China in a higher position in foreign trade. As a result, opium dealers began to use opium, textiles, tea, opium and other commodities to triangle trade in China, Britain and India, regardless of the cost of raw materials, using opium, an addictive drug, from which the British bourgeoisie made huge profits. Such behavior was not condemned by the international community at that time, but it intensified the imitation of more countries. At that time, the opium market expanded rapidly, and a large amount of silver flowed out of China. People smoked opium one after another and had no intention of working, which seriously affected the social stability at that time. During his tenure, Lin Zexu also encountered a lot of resistance. He was stumped by businessmen who tried to bribe him with money and officials who were addicted to opium. However, the upright Lin Zexu firmly shouldered his mission and kicked off the ban on smoking. After issuing a series of orders, asking people to hand over opium at home and asking opium dealers to hand over their opium goods. Lin Zexu even sent a letter to Queen Victoria, asking what their intention was to ban smoking in their own country but sell it in China.
1840 In April, the British army led 30 warships to invade the coastal areas of Guangdong, firing indiscriminately, bombarding fishing boats and killing residents. Lin Zexu commanded the Qing navy to attack the British ship at night and burned the British ship 1 1. British officers and men fled in haste, most of them were killed by fire and drowned in the water. Since then, Lin Zexu sailed in by "steamboat" and attacked more than 10 British ships anchored in Jinmen Star and Laowan Mountain. The "burned" British army fled in panic.
At that time, Guangzhou had been organized into a tight smuggling network by corrupt officials and opium smugglers, and Lin Zexu had already got wind of it. Where to find the gap and open this net? Therefore, Lin Zexu used the traditional "wind observation test". On that day, he summoned hundreds of students from Yuexiu, Yuehua and Yangcheng colleges in the city and invited them to take the "wind observation test". The students who took the test were shocked when the test papers were handed out. It turned out that there was a note in the test paper asking them to write about the recent opium smuggling activities and provide ways to ban smoking. In order to eliminate their worries, they can "express their opinions on books and papers" without asking them to sign the papers. In this way, Lin Zexu seized the clue of opium smuggling and opened the situation of smoking ban in Guangzhou. As we all know, Deng Tingzhen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, turned a blind eye to the ban on smoking at first, but later he became an active supporter of Lin Zexu's ban on smoking and became a famous minister of the anti-smoking faction. There is also a reason for this. It turned out that Deng Tingzhen reused a naval lieutenant, Han Zhaoqing, but Han Zhaoqing colluded with opium dealers to transport opium imports by naval vessels without telling Deng Tingzhen. For every 10,000 cases, Han Zhaoqing left 100 cases and reported them to Deng Tingzhen for seizing opium. The other side of Lin Zexu's ban on smoking also shows us his ambition to crack down on collusion between government and business and corruption. Behind many major violations of national interests and major vicious incidents, almost all have serious corruption. With the investigation of major events and accidents, it is easy to bring out corrupt elements; The investigation of major corruption cases will also lead to some corruption projects or events. It should be said that major events, vicious incidents and corruption are often two poisonous melons on the same vine, and one will lead to the other.