"I would rather be a friendly country than a domestic slave" is what Empress Dowager Cixi said. This shows that Cixi Lafayette believes that slaves will always be slaves, and slaves can never become people who cooperate with him.

Cixi felt that friendly countries only wanted money and materials. Emperor Qianlong once said, "The country is rich in products and has everything."

Liang Qichao's "Record of the 1898 Revolution" records that the conservative minister Gangyi said, "My family's property would rather be given to friends than to slaves."

To Later, with the rise of Manchu nationalism, the revolutionaries changed this sentence into "I would rather give it to a friend than to a domestic slave" out of political needs, and it was rumored that it was Cixi who said it.

Because when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in trouble, the Qing government decided to borrow troops from foreign countries. At this time, someone reminded that this was "leading the wolf into the house", but Cixi and Lafayette said: "I would rather give it to a friend than to a domestic slave."

Extended information:

"I would rather give gifts to friends than domestic slaves." The background of this famous saying was during the Taiping Rebellion period, when the Qing government planned to introduce foreign troops to assist in the suppression. . The friendly countries may not be very friendly, but at least they will not come from thousands of miles away to demand Lafayette's head. Lafayette has calculated this clearly.

The Han people, who have been brutally slaughtered, enslaved, suppressed, and plundered for nearly three hundred years, want revenge and want to repay with their lives. Then why not divide the "family wealth" among the "friends", and through their help and support, continue to help me rule my domestic slaves, so that I can continue to be a "superior"?

In the First Opium War, the Qing government was determined to resist the British. There was only one way of fighting, which was to defend the position. As a result, the British army marched north along the coast, defeated them one by one, and easily resolved them.

The time of the Second Opium War coincided with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Nian Army Movement. After everyone beat the drum, the Qing government, after seeing through the true intentions of the British and French allied forces, resolutely "promoted peace through war." "War first, peace first" means not fighting if you can, and the will to resist is weak.

In the year of Gengzi, the senior brother of the Boxer Rebellion and the senior sister of Hongdengzhao gave the Empress Dowager Cixi a full injection of chicken blood. The Empress Dowager Lafayette issued the "Edict of All Nations Declaring War", declaring war on the whole world.

Fortunately, the feudal ministers in East China and South China did not listen to her nonsense, signed the "Southeast Mutual Protection Agreement", and did not send any soldiers to assist in the battle. The combat effectiveness of the senior brothers and sisters who were originally expected to be disastrous. After getting over the early fever, Empress Dowager Cixi quickly changed her mentality, retreated from the times, and began to beg for mercy.

To sum up, the main dilemma the Qing government faced in dealing with these three foreign invasions was that it had no troops available; the second was that it had a weak will to resist and collapsed at the first touch.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Records of the 1898 Coup