Why did Lin Zexu choose Humen in Dongguan to sell cigarettes?

Because Britain was in a trade deficit with the Qing Dynasty, Britain bought a large amount of tea and porcelain from China, but China was unwilling to introduce British things on a large scale. As a result, a large amount of British silver entered China with no money back. If this continues, one day there will not be so much silver to import tea and porcelain from China.

At this time, the British East India Company began to import opium into China. With the support of Qing officials who were bribed by the British, the amount of opium smuggled and imported into China increased sharply, and traditional commodities had far Unable to pay for opium, it could only be paid in silver, so Chinese silver began to flow back to Britain in large quantities.

As a result, the Qing government felt huge financial pressure. If things go on like this, the Qing companies will declare bankruptcy due to the rupture of cash flow. On the other hand, the main people who smoke opium are soldiers. Soldiers are the most boring, monotonous and hard-working group. In the era without war, one could only rely on smoking opium to pass the time and stimulate the spirit. In the long run, China will have no soldiers left to fight the war.

In the end, Emperor Daoguang decided to ban smoking. The smoking ban was a good thing in theory, but because many officials had shares in the opium trade, there were many opponents. After much searching, there was only one qualified candidate, Lin Zexu.

Lin Zexu was an extraordinary figure. As soon as he arrived in Guangdong, he began to coordinate the military, government and business circles to organize the confiscation of opium, and achieved obvious results immediately. Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou on March 10, 1839. By May 18, it took the police 34 days to confiscate 19,187 boxes and 2,119 bags of tobacco, with a total weight of 1,188,127 kilograms. According to Emperor Daoguang's plan, he must bring them back to Beijing and destroy them in front of those who oppose the smoking ban to declare that his supreme imperial power cannot be challenged.

But it was immediately discovered that there were many problems. The transportation of such a large amount of opium was too risky under the transportation conditions at the time. The value of this batch of goods is too high. If it was robbed, wouldn't it become a joke? If someone changes the package, wouldn't it be a high probability event? Even if none of these problems occurred, the transportation costs would still be too high.

On May 9th, Emperor Daoguang conveyed the highest directive of the central government, ordering Lin Zexu and Deng Tingzhen to "supervise and lead the civil and military personnel to abandon, publicly inspect, and witness the destruction, so that coastal residents and Guangdong and Yi people can *see*" **Hearing this will alarm the police.”

There are only two ways to eliminate cigarettes: one is to set fire to burn cigarettes, but someone immediately reported that in this case, wouldn’t the people at the scene and those around them become the largest group of people taking drugs for free? This was immediately rejected. The second is the seawater immersion method.

So why choose Humen, Dongguan to sell cigarettes?

If cigarettes are sold in Guangzhou, it may pollute the environment because a large amount of seawater is needed. Guangzhou is located at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta, which may cause polluted people to flow back into the inland rivers, which may be difficult to clean and may also block the rivers.

Humen is a more suitable place to dispose of cigarettes. In the distance, there are several sentinel-like islands and rocks on the horizontal rails, which are juxtaposed with Nanshan Mountain (commonly known as Ya Niang Shoes) on the left bank. They are the second gate five miles further from the horizontal rails. , Xiaohu Mountain, Fubo Middle Stream, are the third gate. There are many forts of the Qing army here. Destroying the smoke here is not only beneficial to the stubborn pond, diversion of water, but also conducive to defense, so that the destruction of the smoke can be completed smoothly. .

At that time and even now, some people blame Lin Zexu for triggering the Opium War and entering a century of humiliation. This makes no sense at all in the era when capitalism was just emerging. Here, the will of capital is to make money, and the state also supports mercantilism and protects the interests of its own businessmen. If it encounters something that hinders the interests of its own businessmen abroad, it can only send troops to fight to express its position and will.

In the Qing Dynasty, why did Lin Zexu choose Humen in Dongguan to ban smoking? If you fall behind, you will be beaten. The most basic point of the law of the jungle is that only by being strong can you ensure that you are not bullied by other countries. Show the magnanimity of a big country and not bully other countries. Without these guarantees, everything is a joke.