What is the bitter story of Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonghe?

/kloc-At the end of 0/9th century, Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Navy was defeated in the famous Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Thirty warships sank, sank, and all the payments were made. Li Hongzhang had to sign the treaty of shimonoseki with Japan, ceded Taiwan Province Province and Penghu, and lost 200 million taels of silver. Imperial academy was reviled by Chinese people when he was impeached. Li Hongzhang was difficult to defend himself and suffered, so he had to bear the burden of humiliation.

It's not that the Beiyang navy is afraid of death, but that the Beiyang navy is not equipped as well as people, with slow speed and lack of ammunition. When fighting Japanese ships, the lack of shells is surprising. On many gunboats, there is only one shell. It's hard to sustain it after it's made. Small shells are not enough, and after a few rounds, they become furnishings. Zhiyuan and Jingyuan ships, if they have enough ammunition, why think about mutually assured destruction with the enemy? Besides, two of our ships were sunk by torpedoes before they reached the front.

It is generally believed that the military expenditure of Beiyang Navy was appropriated by Cixi for the construction of the Summer Palace. However, according to Cambridge History of Late Qing Dynasty in China, during the period of 65438+ 1990, the military expenditure of Beiyang Navy budgeted by the Qing government was 5 million taels per year. How much can Cixi spend to build the Summer Palace? If people often misappropriate 6.5438+0.52 million yuan, Li Hongzhang will still have 6.5438+0.82 million yuan in military spending in four years. If you use this money to buy warships, you can add two beiyang fleet of the original size.

So, who is so bold as not to allocate funds according to the budget? According to textual research, it was Emperor Guangxu's teacher Weng Tonghe (hé). At that time, he was a military affairs minister, in charge of the Ministry of Housing, and his financial work was in his charge.

It turns out that Li Hongzhang and Weng Shu Tong have deep grievances. Weng's brother was once the governor of Anhui. When the Taiping Army besieged him, he abandoned the city and fled, and was copied by Li Shen. The emperor sentenced Weng's brother to death. Weng's father was the emperor's teacher at that time. He was very angry when he heard that his son was going to be executed. Later, Weng's brother changed from death penalty to exile in Xinjiang. My father died and my brother moved because Li Hongzhang's pen was like a knife. How can Weng stop there?

Before the Sino-Japanese War, Weng advocated war. One of his students dissuaded him and said, "We are inferior to others in strength, where can we expect to win?" Weng replied, I just want him to have a try on the battlefield and see if he is a mule or a horse, so that there is room for him in the future. This man is Li Hongzhang. Before the war started, someone wanted to see his jokes.

Behind any event, there are unknown details; In any historical period, there are places that people can't figure out. Some are ridiculous, while others are chilling. History often turns due to accidental factors, which often determines the success or failure of some people, life and death.

The war is coming, and it should be * * * to resist foreign aggression, but I don't think that Lord Weng actually ignores national security and wants to take revenge for himself by the hand of an enemy. How can Li Canhongzhang be unbeaten when people who support the national government are so eager for the country? Can the Qing Dynasty be unbeaten? Later, when the enemy came in, Cixi angered Weng and asked Li for advice. As soon as Weng saw Li, he asked: Where is your Beiyang warship? Li was so angry that he could not speak for a long time. Later, Li turned his head and said, you are the prime minister in charge of spending money. You usually ask for funds and never give a rebuttal. Now something is wrong, you ask the battleship. Can warships really rely on it? Weng said, alas, a thing of the past, as courtiers, we did our duty and scrimped!

People who don't know what to do think that he is thinking of the country, but they don't know that there is such a despicable intention behind this high-sounding statement. It seems that jobbery is young people's specialty, and personal grievances are young people's usual tricks.

Personal grudges are inevitable. The problem is that when the country is in crisis, it should be consistent with the outside world. This is the rule of doing things.

When Cao Cao was fighting in Wancheng, his son was killed by Zhang Xiu. After Zhang Xiu was captured alive, he followed the advice of his counselor, surrendered to Zhang Xiu and became his children's in-laws. Wu Zetian once asked Di Renjie that someone spoke ill of you behind your back. Do you want to know who it is? He said, your majesty thought I did, and pointed out that I would correct it; It's my pleasure if you think I'm innocent, but I don't want to know who sued me. Wu Zetian praised it for a long time.

Be honest in your heart, think of the overall situation, and don't put personal grievances on the public table.

I remember that in the Xisha War in the 1970s, the East China Sea Fleet obeyed Mao Zedong's orders and took the Taiwan Province Strait to defend Xisha. General Taiwan Province Province asked Chiang Kai-shek for instructions after he found out. Chiang Kai-shek was silent for a while and said that the war in Xisha was tight. The general got the message and let the East China Sea Fleet pass through the Taiwan Province Strait smoothly.

Blood is thicker than water, and two opponents who have been fighting for decades have not reached a tacit understanding at this time.