Prime Minister Hefei is thin all over the world. What did Li Hongzhang do in Russia? Was he wronged?

During the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty was defeated. Li Hongzhang, as the mainstay of the Qing Dynasty, was called the "re-creator of Xuanhuang" by the Empress Dowager Cixi. He was also directly named by the Japanese, and he had to negotiate with Shimonoseki, so Li Hongzhang had to go to Japan to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

The signing of the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" was a shame for the Qing Dynasty. The Chinese people did not dare to scold the Queen Mother or the Emperor, so they could only criticize Li Hongzhang.

In "Toward Peace", this plot is performed very wonderfully, and Li Hongzhang's helplessness and helplessness deeply moved us. Especially when he single-handedly took a bullet and saved the Qing Dynasty 100 million taels of silver.

This also made many viewers start to think about the problem from Li Hongzhang's perspective, and even expressed the emotion: "Young people don't know Li Hongzhang, but older people know the truth."

So is Li Hongzhang a traitor?

Yang Jiaofeng talks about the 41st issue of "Toward Peace of Japan": "Prime Minister Hefei Tianxia is thin?" Did he wrongly accuse Li Hongzhang? Look what he did when he went to Russia!

1.

First of all, let’s take a look at what position Li Hongzhang held in the Qing Dynasty and what contributions he made?

There is no doubt that Li Hongzhang was known as the most important minister in the late Qing Dynasty and was evaluated as the mainstay of the late Qing Dynasty that relied on his own efforts to vigorously continue the life of the late Qing Dynasty. He participated in almost a series of historical events in the late Qing Dynasty. Even his former rival Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito commented on him as: The only person in the Qing Empire who has the ability to compete with the world's powers! ?

Li Hongzhang started his career by engaging in regiment training in his hometown. At that time, he had already won the Jinshi. Faced with the ravages of the Taiping Army, he specialized in provocative battles. He participated in the war with many Qing generals. Later, his hometown was captured by the Taiping Army and his family fled. Later, he entered the Zeng Guofan shogunate and was responsible for drafting documents.

As we all know, in the later Qing Dynasty, Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzhang did not get along. The reason was that when Li Hongzhang was in the Zeng Guofan shogunate, he drafted an impeachment memorial against Weng Tongshu, the governor of Anhui, who escaped from the battle.

Li Hongzhang really made his fortune when he was admitted to the Huai Army, which was established with the support of Zeng Guofan, and served as the supreme commander of the Huai Army.

In the third year of Tongzhi, Tianjing was captured by the Qing army. Li Hongzhang became famous for a while. He was awarded the title of First-class Su Yibo and was rewarded with a pair of flower feathers.

From then on, Li Hongzhang rose up all the way and became the most powerful minister in the late Qing Dynasty after Zeng Guofan!

At his most glorious time, Li Hongzhang served as a bachelor of Wenhua Palace, Minister of Commerce of Beiyang, Governor-General of Zhili, and other positions. He is equivalent to the current Premier of the State Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mayor of Beijing, Mayor of Tianjin, Governor of Hebei (Henan, Shandong), Commander of the Shenyang and Beijing Military Regions, etc.

2.

Therefore, the then Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi named Li Hongzhang to go to Shimonoseki for negotiations, out of consideration for his status, and at the same time, to humiliate him.

Li Hongzhang lived up to expectations and tried his best to deal with the Japanese. He relied on his own assassination to single-handedly reduce the Japanese compensation of 100 million taels. Of course, later historical data proved that the Japanese reduced the compensation not because of that bullet, but because of a telegram sent by Li Hongzhang to the Qing court.

But no matter how you say it, it must be regarded as Li Hongzhang's contribution. Afterwards, Li Hongzhang was still reused by the Qing court. After his death, he was awarded the title of first-class marquis. Even the "Manuscript of Qing History" gave him a separate biography. , and spoke highly of him: He has been able to deal with great disasters, and has been in charge of national affairs for decades. He often bears the brunt of domestic and foreign affairs. ?

It can be said that Li Hongzhang was the prime minister of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and was also known as the "Paperer" of the Qing Dynasty. He tinkered with it for another ten years.

Especially during Li Hongzhang’s subsequent visits to European and American countries, he also left behind a lot of anecdotes:

For example, when he went to Paris, France, the Universal Games (Olympic Games) happened to be held. Every country has a national anthem, but the Qing Dynasty did not, which aroused everyone's ridicule.

Li Hongzhang, who was already in his 70s at the time, calmly left the stage and went on stage to sing "Jasmine" (also said to be Peking Opera) under the banner of Daqing Dragon. He said that he had an opera troupe with him at the time and directly provided the music for the opera.

Of course, this may be just a joke, and its authenticity deserves verification.

Of course, during this overseas diplomacy, Li Hongzhang also saw the world and left many golden quotes, such as what he said to Bismarck: "Trouble comes from women." For example, I told Emperor William, if I had ten battalions, how could I lose to the Japanese? For another example, he told the New York Times that the Qing Dynasty was also willing to participate in global economic exchanges, and at the same time secretly criticized the United States for mistreating Chinese workers?

3. After traveling all over the country, Li Hongzhang wanted to use the road Returning to the Qing Dynasty from the Japanese port, this stubborn old man refused to set foot on Japanese soil again. A board was put between the two ships, and the old man walked over tremblingly?

It can be said that, Although Li Hongzhang had made mistakes in the past, such as corruption during the Westernization Movement, public and private accounts, etc., a lot of money went into his own pocket. It was even rumored that he left 40 million taels of silver after his death.

For another example, he once advised Zuo Zongtang to abandon Xinjiang (the dispute over Xinjiang and coastal defense), and was even unwilling to prevent the Huai army from entering Tibet to help. He even killed Hu Xueyan, who was helping Zuo Zongtang raise funds.

Finally, there was the connivance with the Huai clique generals and his responsibility for the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894. After the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, the Qing government dismissed Li Hongzhang from his post in order to eliminate public anger.

But these crimes will not make him bear the title of "traitor", so is he really a "traitor"?

Let’s go back to the question just now. Few people have thought about this issue, and that is Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito. Why did he insist on letting Li Hongzhang come to negotiate? In addition to considering his identity, were there any other factors?

Of course!

If Li Hongzhang is really as smart and sophisticated as we just said, and he is always thinking about the Qing Dynasty, why are the Japanese causing trouble for themselves? It is not a good idea to send a pro-Japanese minister. ?

Yes, you guessed it right. In fact, Li Hongzhang was pro-Japanese, at least before the Sino-Japanese War. Even if he was not, it would be difficult to remove the suspicion!

In the Nagasaki incident that year, it was Li Hongzhang who blocked other generals' suggestions to fire on the Japanese fleet, which also left people with endless reveries. Did Li Hongzhang accept money from the Japanese?

4.

This kind of speculation is not groundless:

As mentioned just now, shortly after the signing of the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", Li Hongzhang was ordered to travel around the world . Since the Japanese were still a serious concern of his, no matter which country he contacted, he tried his best to win over them and promote a joint resistance against Japan.

The Russians caught on to Li Hongzhang's mentality, so they frequently extended an "olive branch". In fact, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, Li Hongzhang was trying his best to promote cooperation with Russia. During this trip around the world, Tsar Nicholas II secretly summoned Li Hongzhang twice. The two hit it off and signed the "Secret Treaty between China and Russia" in order to jointly defend Japan against the Japanese.

Since it is the "Secret Treaty between China and Russia", it is naturally a secret agreement. It has been a mystery for decades after it was signed. It was not until the fall of Tsarist Russia and the Qing government that this agreement was made public: The first is to unite to resist Japan; the second is not to negotiate peace with the enemy without authorization; the third is that when war breaks out, all ports in China are allowed to enter by Russian warships; the fourth is that China allows the construction of railways in Heilongjiang and Jilin; the fifth is that Russia can at any time Use the railway to transport military supplies; sixth, the secret agreement is valid for fifteen years. ?

There is no doubt that Russia has been coveting the Northeast of the Qing Dynasty for a long time. This agreement is tantamount to putting fat into the other side's mouth. As for Japan's mutual defense against Japan, it is really a joke.

What is more important?

Why did Li Hongzhang, who is famous for his wisdom, not even argue? Don’t forget that not long ago, he dared to make a decision with the Japanese: If the negotiations fail, China can resist indefinitely, and Japan will eventually Defeat and seek peace! ?

Why, when it comes to the Russians, it seems that the contract was signed immediately without even discussing the price?

5.

And this reason comes from the work "The History of Imperial Russia's Invasion of Manchuria" by the Russian historian Romanov.

The author was also very curious at first, why was this agreement reached so quickly?

Until he found a fund worth up to 3 million rubles in the secret files of the Russian Ministry of Finance. This fund was called the "Li Hongzhang Fund".

In this project, it is mentioned that the funds are earmarked for special use, and the person who withdraws the funds is indicated: Li Hongzhang, Imperial Envoy of the Qing Dynasty, First Class Plenipotentiary Minister, Crown Prince Tutor, Grand Bachelor of Wenhua Palace, and First Class Count Suyi. ?

As for whether Li Hongzhang was deceived by the Russians, there is no way to investigate, but if it is written like this in the book, it is by no means groundless.

Thinking back to the strength of Li Hongzhang’s descendants and the comments criticized by Weng Tonghe as “Prime Minister Hefei Tianxia Slim”, Li Hongzhang cannot escape the crime of corruption.

At this point, when people say: "You don't know Li Hongzhang when you are young, you will know the truth when you are old", it has become an Internet saying:

It means that when you are young, I don’t know what kind of person Li Hongzhang is. When he became an adult, he listened to rumors and mistakenly thought that Li Hongzhang was a real hero. This sentence is used to sarcastically refer to those people who just listen to the wind and do the rain, who don’t know how to think and verify for themselves, and who like to hear what they hear.

However, I still say that when evaluating a historical figure, you cannot simply evaluate it from one point. It is not black and white. Li Hongzhang claimed to be the "Paperer" of the Qing Dynasty, which makes sense, but the Qing Dynasty was a broken ship that could not be repaired. Although he was called the "humerus" minister by the Qing Dynasty, he could not save the building from falling.