Why did Lin Zexu destroy opium and not burn it? In the end, what method was used, even experts praised Lin Zexu for his wit?

Instead of burning opium, Lin Zexu completely dissolved opium with lime, salt and seawater. This method not only solves the urgent need, but also avoids the illusion caused by toxic gas when burning opium. Lin Zexu's behavior is really wise.

Opium has done great harm to the people and the country. Banning opium in Qing Dynasty is like a dummy, because smoking opium is addictive. Daoguang has already issued a ban on smuggling and selling opium, but officials of the Qing court will also make huge profits from it. In addition, the Opium Convention was implemented late, so the imperial ban was like a dummy. Due to the huge profits of opium trade and the increasingly rampant smuggling activities, more than six million taels of silver flow into other countries every year, which leads to the shortage of domestic silver, the expansion of shipments and the emptiness of the national treasury. At the same time, people's physical and mental health has been damaged, not only in China, but also in the army.

Why did Daoguang send Lin Zexu to Humen to destroy opium? Because the most suitable Daoguang for Lin Zexu was a very thrifty monarch in history, many decisions were made on the basis of silver. Since the promise of "never raising taxes" was issued in the early Qing Dynasty, with the increase of population, fiscal expenditure, peasant uprising and bureaucratic corruption in various places, the national treasury has been tight.

Especially after hearing the news that the opium trade led to the loss of silver, Daoguang felt heartbroken and therefore strengthened his determination to ban smoking. At that time, Daoguang had four best candidates to ban smoking, among which Lin Zexu was the best candidate to undertake this important task, mainly because he was fair and won the trust of Daoguang. So Lin Zexu quickly went south to Guangdong after receiving Daoguang's imperial edict, which started the humiliation of China's modern history.

Lin Zexu's ban on smoking was stopped by British officials, and a large amount of opium was seized, which shocked overseas. At that time, Lin Zexu came to Guangzhou as the governor of Hunan and Hubei, and immediately took a series of measures to ban smoking. First, European businessmen held a meeting and asked them to hand over all opium within three days, otherwise they would be punished. Faced with huge interests, these businessmen certainly disagree with this discussion. Later, British businessmen were arrested by officers and men of the Qing Dynasty for smuggling opium, which also caused obstruction by British officials.

Lin Zexu decisively ordered the termination of all trade with Britain and surrounded the British Embassy. At that time, the British government could not compete with the Qing government, and finally all the opium was turned over. So in a very short time, Lin Zexu seized more than 20,000 boxes of opium, which reached an amazing amount of 1000 tons at that time. This incident caused a great sensation at home and abroad, which made the Qing government make great achievements in smoking ban.

How to deal with opium became a problem, and the destruction method at that time was not suitable for this incident. Undoubtedly, great success was achieved in opium collection, so how to deal with these opium became the biggest problem at that time. Even many European businessmen believe that these opium collection activities are because the Qing government wants to resell opium and profit from it.

After some discussion, Lin Zexu piled all the opium in Humen and invited many people, including foreign businessmen, to the scene to destroy it in front of everyone. At that time, the most commonly used method to destroy opium was burning, but this method could not be completely destroyed, and it was possible to purify it by other methods. At this time, many people wanted to see Lin Zexu's jokes. I didn't expect Lin Zexu to come up with a way to completely eliminate opium, and even foreigners were full of praise.

Lin Zexu admired foreigners in a clever way and changed the trade deficit from then on. Lin Zexu was stumped by this problem, so he invited many experts to discuss this matter together and finally came up with a perfect solution. He did not follow the previous method, but solved the matter perfectly with physical reaction. Lin Zexu dug two smoke ponds with the size of 15 feet at the height of Humentan, then dug a hole in front of the ponds to communicate with the sea, and there was also a ditch behind the ponds for water injection.

Then pour the sea salt into the pool water, then throw the packages of opium into the pool, and then pour the quicklime into the pool when the smoke soil is soaked. At that time, the pool was flooded with water and white fog dispersed from the pool. All onlookers clapped their hands and cheered. When opium was completely burned by lime, the hole leading to the sea was opened, and these destroyed opium residues were washed into the sea.

Lin Zexu sold cigarettes with lime, which initiated the history of drug control in China, stopped the spread of opium in China to a certain extent, and played a positive role in banning smoking. After this incident, Lin Zexu became a national hero respected by the people of China. In particular, Lin Zexu's clean and honest quality deserves praise from generation to generation.