Li Hongzhang has only been governor of Guangdong and Guangxi for half a year. Why did he kill fifty or sixty thousand "thieves"?

Because there were many thieves at that time, Li Hongzhang's first task after taking office in Guangzhou was to eradicate these bandits. In order to manage them effectively, he asked the court for the right to be executed on the spot, so many bandits were directly beheaded after being arrested. According to records, Li Hongzhang killed 50,000 to 60,000 bandits within six months of taking office. Although the means are cruel, they are effective. Because of this, bandits began to flee everywhere, so that Guangzhou was no longer harassed by bandits.

At that time, thieves in Guangdong and Guangxi were very rampant, which caused very serious trouble to the government. So at that time, officials played in the court, and the court sent Li Hongzhang to Guangzhou. Because many anti-Qing people gathered in Guangzhou at that time, the court felt that their existence was a threat to the court, so Li Hongzhang was quickly asked to deal with this matter to avoid irreparable consequences caused by continued fermentation.

However, under the influence of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the number of bandits was very large, which led to a very poor public security at that time. So Li Hongzhang learned Zeng Guofan's handling method. He must be decisive and quick when dealing with such things. Once the matter is found out, it will be sentenced immediately and dealt with according to the most serious criminal law. However, Li Hongzhang is much better than Zeng Guofan. At that time, Zeng Guofan killed more than 200 people in half a year, and Li Hongzhang killed 50,000 to 60,000 people in half a year.

Although Li Hongzhang used such severe measures to curb these bandits, during his term of office, no bandits dared to run wild near Guangzhou, but he actually did not fundamentally solve this matter but temporarily suppressed it, so after Li Hongzhang left Guangzhou and returned to Beijing, everything returned to its previous state.