Why did Lin Zexu choose to destroy opium in Humen?

The last great event in history of qing dynasty was the destruction of opium in Humen in 1839.

On the eve of the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty suffered from drug abuse, with more than 2 million opium addicts. Under the harsh national conditions, Lin Zexu, an imperial envoy on the verge of death, set off an iron fist anti-smoking storm in Guangdong with the heroic oath of "endless opium and no return for a day". In less than three months, British and American tobacco dealers were told to throw in the towel and confiscated more than two million Jin of opium in one breath. Then, from June 3, 2008, a shocking feat of "Humen Destroying Opium" was staged at Humen Beach in Dongguan. After 23 days of hard work, this harmful opium was completely destroyed.

This big scene of banning smoking is not only a far-reaching event in the modern history of China, but also unprecedented in the modern history of drug control. Even compared with modern times, some "elites" have all kinds of bitter and distorted doubts about "Humen exterminating opium" and even Lin Zexu himself. 1June, 987, the United Nations proved in some way the value of "destroying opium in Humen" beyond national boundaries-the day after the destruction of opium in Humen, that is, June 26th in Gregorian calendar, was designated as "World Anti-Drug Day".

But when it comes to this big event, there is a detail that is often overlooked, but it is also meaningful: why did Lin Zexu choose Taiping Town, Humen, Dongguan as a place to sell cigarettes?

One: the technical problem of destroying opium

Why in Humen? The first is the technical problem.

As a "new" drug in the history of China, opium is stubborn because it is extremely difficult to destroy. Burning? This in itself is a drug smoked by light. Isn't it big when it's lit? Before the destruction of opium in Humen, the method of destroying opium in Qing Dynasty was "burning tobacco soil with tung oil". Is to pour tung oil on opium and burn it. It seems to burn completely, and the residue left after burning can still "serve" addicts.

Lin Zexu himself has been cheated by this "burning method". When he was governor of Huguang before, he also collected a large amount of opium and then lit it with tung oil in public. The burning scene is spectacular. Who knows that after the spectacular, the surrounding land has been burned into a poisonous land, and the crops can't be heavier. What's even more irritating is that as soon as the front foot burns, a large group of smokers will smell the smell, dig out the burnt dregs and take them home to continue smoking-selling cigarettes beautifully is equivalent to giving them "free service".

Therefore, after being appointed as an imperial envoy, Lin Zexu, the former minister of opium destruction in Humen, learned from a bitter experience and finally found the correct destruction operation: "Opium is the most taboo, one is bittern, and the other is lime. Anyone who decocts the paste with tobacco soil and throws ash salt into it, that is, it becomes slag foam, shall not accept the synthetic paste. "

Since the "nemesis" of opium is brine and lime, the best place is of course the seaside.

But despite knowing this truth, Lin Zexu didn't really want to destroy opium in Humen.

Two: it's all caused by lack of money.

Lin Zexu seized more than 2,376,200 kilograms of opium, with a value of11million silver dollars. In the eyes of British and American businessmen, this is an absolute sum of money. How to treat this huge sum? Lin Zexu originally planned to have a more shocking scene: "Appoint a hundred officials of civil and military affairs to open the original box in Beijing for verification and then burn it to prove it."

In other words, Lin Zexu originally planned to transport all these opium to Beijing, and the ministers transferred by the state identified themselves and then destroyed them at the feet of the emperor.

This plan can also be said to be an "anti-smoking" official represented by Lin Zexu, who has been angry for a long time. Since the heyday of Kanggan, opium was strictly prohibited in the Qing Dynasty. Unexpectedly, more and more opium was investigated. After every anti-smoking trend, opium imports have increased geometrically. So that during the Daoguang period, there were a large number of smokers in almost all classes, from civil and military officials to court eunuchs and even monks and nuns. This unprecedented harvest of the ban on smoking can just be brought to Beijing, where a grand cigarette sale will be held, which is of great educational significance.

However, once this proposal was reported, it was recalled by Daoguang. Instead, Lin Zexu was ordered to "abandon the governor's command of civil and military officials, stop it with the public, witness the destruction, and make coastal residents and people living in Guangdong * * * see it and know its earthquake with salt"-don't pull it to Beijing, just do it in Guangdong.

Why? The key reason is that the Qing Dynasty had no money: according to the estimation of officials at that time, it took more than 40,000 people and more than 5,000 mules and horses to transport such a pile of opium to Beijing, and the cost was astronomical. For Daoguang Emperor, who was thrifty all his life, this made his flesh tremble. Do it in Guangdong.

However, the problem behind it is the financial distress of the Great Qing Dynasty. Thanks to the long-term closed-door policy, since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty has been stretched. Coupled with decades of opium flooding, a large number of silver outflows in the Qing Dynasty. From 182 1 to 1839, nearly 100 million yuan of silver flowed out in the Qing Dynasty, and the dilemma of "silver is expensive and money is cheap" lasted for many years. The treasury of the Qing dynasty was naturally stretched. Moreover, before the Opium War, floods and droughts occurred frequently in the north and south of Qing Dynasty, and money was badly needed everywhere. Poor money was an increasingly serious disease in the Qing Dynasty before and after the Opium War.

In the next Opium War, Daoguang repeatedly judged that the direct cause of vacillation between "war" and "peace" was lack of money. The closed-door Qing dynasty could no longer afford the risk of war.

Since lack of money, opium will naturally be destroyed in Guangdong, but a more important reason is that the Qing Dynasty was worse than lack of money: corruption!

Three: corruption behind the grand occasion

More than a hundred years before the Opium War, why did the Qing Dynasty check opium every time, but the results were more and more? The reason why "buyers and sellers" are well aware is because of the corruption that went deep into the bone marrow in the Qing Dynasty.

For the Guangdong navy, who was in charge of banning opium at that time, banning opium was a familiar business. Before the arrival of Lin Zexu, these naval officers would "patrol" opium ships every month, collect commissions according to the number of opium boxes, and then wave their hands and let them go. Even many naval patrol boats have simply become "transport ships" for opium traffickers to help pour opium together. Many naval officers depend on opium business for more than 90% of their income.

The navy is still like this, and then to officials at all levels, how many people rely on the opium business to knock gold and distribute fertilizer? In the Qing dynasty at that time, this was an extremely horrible astronomical figure. As an imperial envoy, Lin Zexu was able to successfully collect opium in such an environment, which shows his great ability.

However, it is precisely because of this well-known corruption that after Lin Zexu confiscated opium at that time, various rumors spread everywhere, especially in Macao, where foreign businessmen live in concentrated communities. A widely circulated rumor is: Where will Lin Zexu ban opium? He just pretended to turn around and sell these opium at a high price! Because, at that time, senior officials of the Qing Dynasty often used this kind of operation routine.

Even in the Qing dynasty, some people hooked up with each other, and many people even wanted to smuggle opium from within. The British consular law, which forced Lin Zexu to pay opium, spread related rumors crazily, which led many businessmen in Macao to "come here" and strongly demanded to visit the no-smoking site.

Therefore, this seemingly simple selling of cigarettes, at that time, could be turned into a joke carelessly, which was by no means easy. If you want to get things done, the best place to sell cigarettes is Humen.

First of all, Humen was in an excellent geographical position at that time, and it was just right to use the "lime bittern" destruction method to ensure the clean destruction of opium.

But more importantly, Humen is an important coastal defense place in the Qing Dynasty, with strong fortresses and troops stationed, and the defense is very strict, which can put an end to all insider stealing as much as possible and facilitate Lin Zexu to display his overall plan.

So, under the operation of Lin Zexu, from/kloc-0 to June 3, 839, this shocking scene was staged: on the highland of Taiping Town in Humen, two pools 15 feet deep were all paved with stone slabs. Brine is put in first, then lime is poured in, and opium is destroyed before being washed into the sea. Addicts want to keep smoking? Go to the sea to find sharks!

What is even more shocking than this ingenious design is Lin Zexu's on-site management skill: 500 soldiers are sent to each pool, and each soldier only wears shorts to prevent everything from being entrained. Officials at all levels take turns on duty to strictly investigate all entrainment behaviors. The warehouse where opium is stored is also heavily guarded. Before and after the opium was completely destroyed in Humen, a dozen thieves were caught stealing from inside. I didn't bring a box of opium. I threw it all into the pool and destroyed it.

Referring to the corruption in the Qing Dynasty at that time, we can know how difficult it was for Lin Zexu to do this. Even foreign businessmen and even officials who have visited the site can't help but sigh. The Macao Monthly even lamented that the complete handling of the opium destruction in Humen will surely be the most outstanding event in human history.

Although, in the process before and after this, under the witness of Humen, the weakness and corruption of the Qing Dynasty have been exposed completely, and the foreshadowing of the failure of the Opium War has already been quietly buried. But beyond history, what is worth remembering so far is an iron-blooded hero: Lin Zexu.