The Qing government sent Li Hongzhang to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki for the following reasons: 1. Li Hongzhang’s status:

Li Hongzhang’s most important official position at that time was Governor-General of Zhili and Beiyang Trade Representative Minister, many people may not understand the importance of these two official positions. Let me talk about these two official positions.

The Governor-General of Zhili was first of all a frontier official. In the Qing Dynasty, there were nine frontier officials per government, and the Governor-General of Zhili was an important place in the capital and protected the city of Beijing. Therefore, this frontier official Definitely above the other eight. Just to name a few names of the governors of Zhili in the past dynasties, you will know how powerful they are: Li Wei, Liu Yong, Qishan, Zeng Guofan, Ronglu. We often see the names of these people in Qing Dynasty TV dramas. They are all prominent ministers.

Minister of Commerce of Beiyang, this official position was one of the two ministers under the Prime Minister's Office of the Qing Dynasty, along with the Minister of Nanyang. The Minister of Beiyang is mainly responsible for Tianjin's trade affairs. What is this concept? Let’s not talk about Nanyang for the moment, but also talk about Beiyang, which is located in Tianjin and is only half an hour away from Beijing by high-speed railway. It can be said that this Beiyang Minister was not only the Minister of Commerce of the Qing Dynasty, but also the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in charge of foreign affairs.

These two official positions are important enough! 2. Japan’s requirements:

Because Li Hongzhang was an important minister of the Qing Dynasty and one of the founders of the Westernization Movement. He was very good at dealing with foreigners and was the person who understood Western countries best. There was such a person , and the communication is also very smooth.

Li Hongzhang also had many exchanges with Japan. He had many Japanese friends and knew Japan very well. Japan also respected Li Hongzhang very much, so Japan strongly requested Li Hongzhang to be its representative in negotiations.

Li Hongzhang was a Han official, and the reason why the Qing government was willing to let Li Hongzhang go was also based on this consideration. If the negotiations failed, the Han officials would take the blame, which would have no impact on the Qing royal family.

After the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Li Hongzhang was scolded as a traitor when he returned home, but the Qing royal family suffered no major losses.

Then Japan continued to occupy the city, forcing the Qing government to negotiate peace talks as soon as possible, and proposed that Prince Gong Yi? or Li Hongzhang, two people with sufficient qualifications and prestige, be plenipotentiary ambassadors to go to Japan for peace talks. The Qing government believed that there was no precedent for a prince to send an envoy, and that Yi? was ill at the time and could not go on an envoy. Li Hongzhang knew Ito Hirobumi and had been dealing with foreign affairs for decades, so Li Hongzhang went to Japan as a mission.