Why did Cixi surrender in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895?

Why did Cixi surrender in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895?

As we all know, China has become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in the late Qing Dynasty, so what does this mean? On the surface, the Qing dynasty in this period seemed to be unified and complete, but in fact it had lost part of its sovereignty. As a shaky ruler of the Qing Dynasty, Cixi lived a luxurious life, and her rule over the Qing Dynasty belonged to the way of "putting out fires everywhere" and "robbing Peter to pay Paul", which was hard to return.

The scarred Qing Dynasty was reduced to a semi-colony of the great powers. The great powers adhered to the standard of "you give me money, I won't hit you" and dominated the territory of the Qing Dynasty. This situation makes Japan, an Asian power that has risen since the Meiji Restoration, look at each other with new eyes. With the exhaustion of Japan's resources and the exposure of its geographical limitations, Japan decided to "take a chance and turn bicycles into motorcycles." Japan took a gamble, betting on Japan's national luck and fighting against the Qing government that "China went to the country". If you succeed, you will have a bright future; if you fail, you will never recover.

In the face of Japan's desperate struggle, the Qing government felt the threat of a small country for the first time from a "tiny place". Only then did they know that this "Japanese country" that had surrendered to itself for many years was so cruel now. But the Qing dynasty was also proud, and the powers were not enough to fight. Can't Japan play this? So the Qing government decided to fight the Japanese invaders this time.

There is a saying in China that "a thin camel is bigger than a horse", which is why the powers only dare to turn China into a semi-colony. Although the Japanese marriage has developed well recently, it is still too young compared with the Qing Dynasty.

Why do you say that? Because at that time, Japanese national strength was not superior to that of Qing Dynasty, and it was far behind Yu Daqing. If we simply compare the national output value, the disparity is even greater. At that time, the annual gross national income of the Qing government was as high as more than 3 billion taels of silver, which was far behind Japan. The total annual income of the Japanese government is about 50 million taels, while that of the Qing government is more than 70 million taels. This figure looks really strong in Japan, but the Qing government has other income of more than 300 million taels.

Where did these other incomes go? Why was it not used in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895? This is the reason for the rapid defeat of the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese naval battle.

In the early Qing dynasty, financial power was returned to the central government. With the beginning of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the military supplies in four places became beyond their means. What should we do? Decentralize financial power, let local governments find ways to raise their troops and collect money and food by themselves. This scene is deja vu, yes, it is the scene after the Yellow Scarf Army uprising in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

In the Qing dynasty, after years of war, local officials went their own way and collected taxes again. Local governments began to hide some names and accumulated their own strength and small coffers. These hidden wealth were obtained from the gross national income of the Qing government, that is, the "other" income mentioned above. These incomes fell into the coffers of local officials, and the Qing government did not know about their existence at all, and even if it did, it could not collect them.

Even so, 70 million to 50 million, the Qing government and Japan still have advantages in fighting. At this time, something unexpected happened. When preparing for the war, Beiyang Navy applied for 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver from the Ministry of Housing, but only approved 6.5438+0.500 taels, and this/kloc-0.52 million taels was not sent to the front until the war started, and only 6.5438+0.800 taels of silver was given during the war. This figure is ridiculous. In those days, Nian Gengyao's military expenditure on fighting a nomadic people was far more than this figure.

War concerns national strength, not to mention the military equipment of Beiyang Navy and Japan. The military expenditure of this figure alone makes this war a joke. "The soldiers and horses have not moved, and the food and grass go first."

The Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 did the opposite. The war started immediately, and the meal was not settled the next day. Who wants to fight such a war? Fortunately, there are patriots like Deng Shichang. Under such circumstances, they waged a life-and-death struggle with the Japanese invaders, which also dealt a powerful blow to Japan and made it a little panicked. They didn't expect the Great Qing Dynasty, which was arbitrarily held hostage by the great powers, to be so tenacious. If they had known this, they would never have dared to fight with the strength of the whole country.

At first glance, the Qing government saw that something was not good, and the Sino-Japanese naval battle far exceeded expectations. In this way, once defeated, their dominance will be lost. At this time, the Qing government saw that it involved its own interests, quickly raised funds and tried its best to support it. The whole war was only 30 million taels of silver.

Japan has consumed as much as 80 million taels, and Japan's final budget is staggering160 million taels. Originally, this figure was nothing to the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, the corrupt Qing government came to the end, finally lost and surrendered.

Japan won an unexpected and tragic victory. It was very excited when it learned that the Qing government had surrendered. When treaty of shimonoseki was signed, the Japanese took a long breath, and Cixi also took a long breath. The Japanese sigh is a sigh of relief. This time they finally won the gamble by a narrow margin. After receiving huge compensation, this wave of aggression will not go away. Cixi sighed and breathed a sigh of relief. She saw that Japan had accepted the surrender, and it was okay to take some money, as long as Japan did not invade Beijing and destroy her Qing dynasty ruling regime. There's nothing wrong with taking more money and squeezing people.

Why do you understand the Qing government of Cixi so much? This is not groundless suspicion. Everyone knows that treaty of shimonoseki has 230 million taels of compensation, but what you may not know is that there are still 80 million taels of silver to be paid by the Qing government within six months. In other words, the Qing government had the money to pay reparations, but it only spent 30 million taels to support the front line of the war in such a long time, which made people angry.

The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was a "marathon" of the world war, a battle of endurance and national strength. If you would rather die than surrender, the result will not be very good. Japan still has a large amount of budgeted military expenditure, but the Qing government was corrupt at this time and could not provide a penny to support the national war. If it continues, the Japanese will land, and Cixi will choose to escape or move the capital, just like when Eight-Nation Alliance entered the Forbidden City. In short, she will be defeated and flee, regardless of people.

When the Japanese landed, their purpose was to rob money. A lot of money can be seen from Eight-Nation Alliance's entry into Beijing. Japan is the country that robs the most money, because the root cause of the Japanese war is the lack of resources and money. Basically, the anti-Japanese war can only be dispersed by folk forces. To put it more bluntly, if the Sino-Japanese War continues, it basically means that "all-round War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression" will come ahead of schedule. The world situation at this time is different from that in World War II. I'm afraid Japan's strategy of maintaining war by war will not be as smooth as it was in World War II. After all, the interests in China involve multinational forces, so naturally they will not stand by and let the Japanese lead.

If Japan can't snatch a lot of silver and resources and transport them back to China after the landing, I'm afraid Japan can't hold on at this time. After all, there are many contradictions in Japan at this time. If the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 becomes a protracted war, Japan will eventually withdraw from China under the restraint of the great powers, and it will never recover.

Weak and incompetent? No, the rule of the Qing dynasty for so many years, coupled with the expansion of the territory of the Qing dynasty, said that the Qing dynasty was weak and incompetent, and that Cixi was useless and too "blind". We should be soberly aware that Empress Dowager Cixi is not a stupid woman. She has been in power for more than 40 years, which shows her wisdom. The reason why she chose to surrender was not that she could not see the domestic situation in Japan, nor that she could not see the fact that she would eventually defeat Japan. It's just that Empress Dowager Cixi was too selfish and chose to give up the national justice for her own selfish interests.

The Qing government's desperate defeat of Japan will eliminate an enemy for the Chinese nation and even the world. In this way, Cixi can't be regarded as an exaggeration. Only in this way, Cixi, who was originally above herself, will lose her present position and rule over China in the chaos. Cixi is not ignorant of what will happen after the war continues, but is too clear about what she will lose after the war continues.

To sum up, if the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 continues, Japan will probably fall into the quagmire of the war against China, and eventually domestic contradictions will break out and will never be restored. Cixi, on the other hand, will lose her dominant position in China in the chaotic situation, and the Qing government will probably perish early.