Lin Zexu, born on August 30th 1785, 1850,165438+1October 22nd, Han nationality, Fujian Hou, Zifu, Shaomu, Shilin, Yecheng Village elderly, Chengcun retired elderly, retired at Seventy-two Peak. He was a politician, thinker and poet in the late Qing Dynasty, and a great national hero of the Chinese nation in the process of resisting foreign aggression. His main achievement was the destruction of opium in Humen. He served as governor of Jiangsu, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, governor of Huguang, governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and served as an imperial minister twice; China people all over the world admire him for advocating banning opium, resisting western aggression and safeguarding China's sovereignty and national interests.
Smoking ban: the countermeasures of just law
March 1839, 10 imperial envoy Lin zexu set up camp all the way and finally arrived in Guangzhou.
Long before Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou, Deng Tingzhen, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Yi Liang, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, had been resolute and effective in banning smoking. In more than two years, more than 602,000 opium were seized. This figure was already the highest in the country at that time. However, if and during this period, opium is smuggled to China as high as 8. Compared with the figure of 10,000 cases, this is nine Niu Yi hairs, which is not worth mentioning.
Undoubtedly, this means that it is impossible to complete the mission that Daoguang must stop handing over opium by continuing to use traditional methods of smoking prohibition, such as arresting cigarette dealers, searching cigarette houses and expelling cigarette barges.
Lin Zexu decided to adopt a new method. According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, foreign businessmen coming to Guangzhou were only allowed to trade with the government-designated dealers. So, on the eighth day in Guangzhou, Lin Zexu called a meeting of Hong Kong businessmen and issued a strict order instructing them to preach to foreign businessmen and hand over all the tens of thousands of boxes of opium stored on board.
Businessmen think this is another way for honest officials to ask for bribes. They didn't take Lin Zexu's orders seriously. For several days, foreign businessmen did nothing.
On March 24th, Lin Zexu made the final decision. He announced the termination of all Sino-foreign trade in Guangzhou, and then blocked the business districts where foreign businessmen concentrated and cut off all kinds of supplies inside. In other words, Lin Zexu will reach 6. The 60,000-square-meter Dashangting area has become a large detention center, where about 350 foreign businessmen are all held.
The taste of not drinking water or eating is naturally unpleasant. Three days later, the British Commercial Director in China decided to give in. In the name of the British government, he advised British businessmen to give him opium, and then he gave it to the China government.
Lu Yi's statement greatly relieved Lin Zexu and excited British businessmen trapped in the business district. Lin Zexu thinks that the smoking ban has finally worked, but if he understands why British businessmen are so excited, maybe he can't relax.
Businessmen are very excited because this move means that the British government has decided to protect their interests. Their opium was originally sold. Whether it is sold to China or the British government. Since the government is willing to buy opium from them, why not? As a result, they promised to hand over the opium in stock, and even reported the opium that was still in transit and had not yet arrived in Guangzhou. A few American businessmen, taking advantage of the situation, also transferred their opium to the names of British businessmen through relationships in order to reduce losses. As a result, Lin Zexu collected more opium than he expected.
But this is not a good thing.
On the morning of March 27th, Lin Zexu received a letter from Lu Yi, expressing his willingness to hand over opium. Lin Zexu and his colleagues didn't realize that they had fallen into the trap of war since this post was sent out. This mission changed the nature of Lin Zexu's mission. The initial anti-opium smuggling action against foreign businessmen has since become
On the same day, Lin Zexu also received a collective signature invitation from foreign businessmen. The post said that many things that Lin Zexu conveyed to them were so complicated that they couldn't make a decision themselves, so he asked Lin Zexu to go to the consulates and managers of various countries to deal with them themselves. Lin Zexu didn't discover the mystery. He readily accepted the advice of foreign businessmen. Since then, all his negotiations have been directed at officials of various countries. This means that from this day on, the people standing opposite Lin Zexu are no longer independent opium traffickers, but the governments behind them, and the British government bears the brunt.
According to the evaluation standard of traditional bureaucrats in China, Lin Zexu is a typical model bureaucrat with integrity. Unfortunately, he knew almost nothing about the basic diplomatic experience of the modern West, so he made a serious mistake unconsciously: an anti-smoking movement that could have been completely defined as China's internal affairs escalated into a diplomatic conflict between China and Britain. It was this mistake that gave Britain the most basic premise for launching the Opium War. Without this premise, it is impossible for the British Parliament to pass the proposal to use force against China.
Consequence: Lin Zexu's judgment
Yifa handed over opium on behalf of opium merchants, which meant that Lin Zexu confiscated the property of the British government. As for the righteous law, many researchers in modern history deliberately overturned it, saying that he himself was a staunch opponent of the opium trade with China. This article has no intention to discuss what kind of person Lu Yi really is, but in his report to British Prime Minister bartholomew on April 3rd, 1839, he has already put forward a very specific plan for invading China and demanded compensation.
In mid-June, the air in Humen was filled with a strong smell of opium mixed with lime powder. At that moment, Lin Zexu reached the highest point of national hero. But he didn't realize that a war that changed China's fate had set sail from London and India.
/kloc-In May, 2000, Lin Zexu, who was busy collecting opium in Humen, made such a judgment on the situation: after he visited the province, he found that they looked unruly on the outside, but in fact they were very timid inside. Many people worry that banning smoking will lead to war. Don't you know that these people have crossed the ocean to do business here? Ordinary people can see the difference between subject and object at a glance, and how many people there are. Although their ships are strong and profitable, they only have advantages at sea, and it is useless to enter the inner port. There are many gates and natural disasters in Guangzhou, so you can rely on them. Besides, even without opium trade, they can earn three times as much as they do in serious business. For their own interests, they will not choose war and give up this dock.
Since the ban on smoking, which belongs to China's internal affairs, was successfully transformed into negotiations between the two governments, the attitude of justice and law has become increasingly tough. To this end, Lin Zexu reminded Daoguang in his memorial: Lu Yi, who has been in China for many years, has always been cunning, and often buys our Guan Jie Bao to read it. He knows that our country is very sensitive to border disputes, so he wants to intimidate us. He even bought traitors and spread rumors everywhere. Lin Zexu promised Daoguang that they would never dare to spy on China by invading other countries. Therefore, the emperor should never be deceived by the arbitrary threats of justice and law.
Lin Zexu is very sure of his judgment. On September 5th, he wrote a letter to his good friend, Guangdong Governor Yi Liang. In his letter, he was puzzled by Lu Yi's recent tough attitude. The director is your father. However, privately, for Lu Yi's sake, he has no retreat. I just don't know why he still won't look back.
The Portuguese in Macau reported that Britain had mobilized 12 warships from China and India. Lin Zexu scoffed at this. He told the Governor-General of Macao: These lies are all made up by them and are not worth discussing at all.
This extreme conceit lasted until April 1840. At that time, the news that Britain would use force against China was well known. The American consul found Lin Zexu and told him that British warships would block Guangzhou Port in June. So he asked China to let American ships enter the port as soon as possible, open the warehouse and unload the goods, so as to avoid war and reduce losses. Lin Zexu still dismisses the official news of American officials, calling it a rumor. Lin Zexu, who has no basic modern diplomatic experience, simply can't understand the official flavor of American consular discourse.
In June, four British warships arrived at the coast of Guangdong, but Lin Zexu said in his memorial to the emperor: Although these ships are equipped with more weapons, they are actually only ships carrying opium. In fact, they regard warships as merchant ships and a war that will change China's fate as a large-scale opium smuggling. Lin Zexu's final conclusion is: As the emperor said, they can't do anything.
/kloc-In July of 0/7, Lin Zexu reported the Ping An passbook to the Forbidden City. By this time, British troops had occupied Zhoushan 12 days.
War: Preparation of the Qing Army
I don't believe it, but war is really coming.
In fact, since September 1839, the friction between China and Britain has stopped, and armed confrontation often occurs. By June of the following year, the Opium War really broke out. In nine months, there were seven wars of different sizes in Guangdong. However, these fragmentary wars did not arouse Lin Zexu's vigilance. On the contrary, when reporting the results of these wars to Daoguang, Lin Zexu's report was seriously exaggerated and boasted. For example:
1On September 4th, 839, during the Battle of Kowloon, Lin Zexu reported to the imperial court that two Qing troops were killed, four were injured and the ship was slightly damaged. A British ship was sunk and 17 British soldiers were killed. British statistics show that only a few people were injured.
1839165438+1October 3, the battle of piercing the nose, Lin Zexu's report said that after the war, 2 1 hat fell into the sea, and three of his ships flooded, one of which caught fire but was quickly put out. However, according to the report of Britain, Italy and France, three warships of the Qing army were sunk, and another gunpowder bunker was hit and exploded. Many other ships obviously entered the water, and no British soldiers were killed or injured.
Of course, it is not clear whether Lin Zexu himself mixed water in the report or whether the frontline commander lied about his exploits. However, no matter how likely this is, and whether Lin Zexu knows the real situation of the frontline wars, these wars have not attracted his attention. He always thought that the opponents fighting the Qing army were only warships and smuggled merchant ships that came to China without the orders of the British authorities. He didn't realize that he was at war with England.
But these fragmentary wars prompted Lin Zexu to make some preparations for the war. In the passbook for Daoguang, Lin Zexu believes that the navy of the Qing army still has the ability to annihilate the British fleet at sea, but the water army is far from the sea, and it is inevitable that there will be omissions in the rear. As a preventive measure, it is best to defend and wait for work, which is naturally foolproof. Daoguang deeply agrees with this.
Later, Lin Zexu also inspected and reinforced the fortresses along the coast of Guangdong, strengthened the firepower intensity of many fortresses, and set up the second and third lines of defense at some key points. It is a traditional and effective tactic to use fortresses to resist the invasion of maritime forces, but all Lin Zexu's defensive measures ignore one of the most fatal problems: all fortresses can't resist the ground attacks launched by British landing troops from their sides and rear. It was this loophole that later caused fatal damage to the Qing army.
Why did Lin Zexu leave such a big defensive loophole?
1A passbook presented by Lin Zexu to Daoguang in September, 839 can help us understand this problem. Lin Zexu said in the passbook: Foreign soldiers are not good at stabbing except guns. Their legs and feet were tied and their clothes were tight. It is inconvenient for them to bend over and stretch their legs. If they go ashore, they will be even more helpless. Therefore, they are not invincible.
1August, 840, when Dinghai fell, Lin Zexu wrote to the court, suggesting a reward to encourage the soldiers and civilians to bravely kill the enemy. He actually said that because the legs of British soldiers are different from those of China, it is difficult to bend and stretch, so once they fall, they can't get up at all. Based on this understanding, Lin Zexu believes that the British army has no land combat capability at all, and naturally there is no need to defend their landing operations.
Lin Zexu was the first person to see the world in China's modern history. However, even he, on the threshold of 1840, is still absurd, sad and sighing?