People often say that times make heroes, but times also make scapegoats!
personally, I think Li Hongzhang is the most unjust scapegoat in the history of China. There was only one traitor in the Qing Dynasty, that is, the old lady who held the actual power in the Qing Dynasty. This is from the aspect of ownership. Of course, people who have no ownership are not without the idea of betraying the country, but that is limited to those who seek power in the opposition.
In China and the Great Changes in the Modern World, Jiang Tingfu said in a nutshell: The rulers of Beiyang government also have national consciousness and do not want to betray their country, but internal affairs force them to betray their country because they need foreign aid. Generally speaking, the cost paid by the DPRK is relatively low, because it needs relatively little foreign aid; Outsiders pay a higher price, and in order to come to power, they will not hesitate to write a bigger traitor check.
Xue Er, an Australian Chinese scholar, directly named Yuan Shikai in the book Out of Print Jiawu: "Many of the' Twenty-one Articles' that caused Yuan Shikai to be reviled by the whole people have long reached an understanding with the southern revolutionaries, but the revolutionary party never had a chance to seize power and failed to put them into practice."
Fortunately, Li Hongzhang, like his teacher Zeng Guofan, has no heart of Si Mazhao. Otherwise, he can make some deals, get some foreign aid, start from Guangdong and Guangxi, and it is not impossible to indulge in emperors!
whose is the Great Qing Dynasty? Don't tell me that Qing belongs to all Qing citizens. Being a slave cannot be so romantic! When Gong Zizhen's son led the British and French allied forces to the Yuanmingyuan, the boy did not have this complex. At that time, the rulers had always been "making friends instead of being domestic slaves" and "staying at home before going abroad". They have no concept of a country at all, they just want to be at home. Zhu Di wanted to replace Wen Jian, but Fang Xiaoru opposed it. Zhu Di was very annoyed and said, This is my family's business! After the failure of Liang's political reform, the old lady wanted to abolish Guangxu. Foreign envoys in Beijing objected, and the old lady was annoyed: this is my family's ear. In a word, the abnormal transition of the country's top leaders is a family matter and has nothing to do with the people. If the people themselves eagerly gather together, wouldn't it be a hot face and a cold ass? In short, there was only one person who could betray the country in the Qing Dynasty-the old lady!
in modern terms, the whole Qing dynasty was a joint stock limited company. Its shareholders are all Manchu and a few Han bureaucrats. Its legal representative is Guangxu, and its chairman is of course an old lady. As for Li Hongzhang, he is at best the executive manager of the sales department. According to the normal operation of the company, only the old lady can sign and seal at last. Hong Zhang is just an errand boy. He will run only if he wants you to run. If he doesn't want you to run at once, he has to stand at attention and stand aside. Therefore, only the old lady can say the phrase "measure China's material resources and win the favor of the country", and it is a matter of course! Where are the others? To say that you are betraying your country is to bite off more than you can chew; To say patriotism is self-love!
The Great Qing Dynasty is not the people of the Great Qing Dynasty, so even if Li Hongzhang is a traitor, the people can't control it! The Great Qing Dynasty was not owned by Li Hongzhang, so he could not sell that country if he wanted to.
Strangely, it is easy for China people to forgive the rulers themselves, but it is difficult to forgive those who act as their assistants. For example, in Zhao Gou and Qin Gui, people give the latter more spittle. Think about it with their heels, and you will know that without Zhao Gou's encouragement and support, how could Qin Gui have such great energy and courage? For example, old ladies like Cixi and Li Hongzhang buried themselves with the whole Qing Dynasty for their own pleasure. There are no traitors in the history of China, but the abuse we hear is more directed at Li Hongzhang. At best, Comrade Lao Li is only a traitor's agent after the old lady, but the historical ending we see is: the old lady took a shit and Li Hongzhang wiped her ass; After the old lady betrayed the country, Li Hongzhang took the blame! Poor Li Er!
In the second year of Guangxu, Hong Zhang wrote to his friend: "Today, I like to talk about the sacred time of Westernization. Everyone is afraid of talking, tired of talking, unscrupulous at the slightest sign of trouble, and rarely misses the country. You don't like talking about it. If I don't talk, how can the world support it? "
This sentence makes me feel ashamed of how many men who are indifferent to patriotism. Zhang Hong said so, especially so. The problem is that God doesn't bless people. The tree of life in the Qing dynasty has declined, and Comrade Hong Zhang has no branches to lean on. Liang Qichao thought that Li Hongzhang was "talented without knowledge, experienced without blood", and expressed respect for Li Hongzhang's talent, cherished Li Hongzhang's knowledge and mourned Li Hongzhang's experience. The most sympathetic thing is: "Meeting with Li Hongzhang's sadness". In my opinion, history pushed Li Hongzhang to the peak of his career, and at the same time kicked him into the mud pit of fame. Some diplomatic treaties in the history of the late Qing dynasty became evidence of Li Hongzhang's treason: in 1876, he signed the Sino-British Yantai Treaty with Britain and followed the country once; In 1895, he signed the treaty of shimonoseki with Japan and betrayed the country twice; In 1896, he signed the Sino-Russian Secret Treaty with Russia and betrayed the country three times. In 191, it signed the "Xin Chou Treaty" with foreign powers, which was the last time to betray the country. But it's three. After three, it's four. It is so boring. After that, it can't be sold because one betrayed the country; Second, the old man betrayed the country successfully, so excited that he vomited blood several times and died!
as for the content of the treaty, I won't talk about it. There were no cell phones at that time, but texting was very popular. "Teacher Li Er is a traitor" was known to all women and children at that time, and there was a sentence in front of it, "Yang San died and was ugly", deliberately comparing a Beijing-style actor with Li Bi, as if the adult in the main hall was the best actor in modern times. The rulers of the Qing dynasty had a high interest and ability to make people sick by changing their ways, but few people thought of it. What is the fundamental factor that determines a country's international status, the quality of diplomats or the strength of the whole country? A table tennis player can rank in the sports meeting according to his own strength, even if his country is weak; For a diplomat, if his country is particularly weak, weak in system, economy, politics, culture and diplomacy, he wants to cheat. If it doesn't follow the rules of the game, the war is thousands of miles away, and the supreme leader runs faster than the rabbit, how can he be smart? Chunqiu.com, also take the initiative to reduce the content of the treaty! American scholars commented on this: "The Sino-Japanese War was a complete disaster from beginning to end. China's most effective chip is not its remaining Lu Haijun strength, but the guilt of a Japanese fanatic who hurt Li Hongzhang. "
In the government, perhaps only people like the devil Liu Gong can understand Hong Zhang. A few days before Zhang Hong's departure, King Gong led many military planes and said, "China's defeat was all due to its failure to westernize, not Li Hongzhang's fault!" This made Zhang Hong cry!
In the Shimonoseki negotiations, Li Hongzhang's negotiator, Hirofumi Ito, also asked the old man privately out of personal friendship, "Ten years ago, when I was in Tianjin, I talked to nave. Why has nothing changed so far? The Minister is deeply sorry. " Zhang Hong replied, "When I heard your minister talk about this, I admired your minister for changing customs. Things in our country, limited by customs, failed to get what they wanted. At that time, your minister advised Yun that China had a vast territory and a large population, and it was necessary to gradually change dynasties. Ten years have passed, and I am still so sorry. I am ashamed that my heart is willing but my strength is insufficient. "
Yes, I can't. I'm just a paperhanger. What's more, the system and personnel of the Qing Dynasty led the western media at that time to think that the so-called Sino-Japanese War was just Li Hongzhang's war.
When Zhang betrayed his country in Maguan, he swore before he left that he would not live for the rest of his life. Unexpectedly, a year later, he ended his trip to the United States, but he had to change ships via Yokohama, Japan. For the sake of his spirit and body, he resolutely refused to have any kind of relationship with Japan, and the old man refused to go ashore anyway. The attendants had no choice but to set up a springboard between the American ship and the Chinese imperial merchant ship that sailed to Japan to meet him, and risked falling into the sea to help him change ships. But all this did not bring a trace of sympathy and understanding to Zhang Hong. Instead, his traitor hat rolled up.
In a letter to a friend, Zhang said, "In the past ten years, entertainment and martial arts have led to this change. Paying attention to armaments on weekdays means wasting money and even buying machines and ships, which is strictly prohibited. Once something happens, I know that the troops are lost and I am confused by the crowd. Once lost, it will be light and irreparable. The value of making peace after the war can be compared with the urgency of the capital crisis and more unusual exchanges. As soon as the matter is settled, the slanderers will start again, knowing that I have sinned, and the retribution for thousands of years is what your breath can analyze. " If people don't understand, that's all. Who makes us stupid?
The problem is that the government is not good to Hong Zhang either. As soon as he got home from traveling around the world, Hong Zhang met the cold face of the government. His new job is to "walk on the yamen of the Prime Minister" and is called "the Prime Minister with food" by foreign friend Lin Lezhi. Interestingly, on the same day that Zhang Hong was promoted to the position of Prime Minister and Minister of yamen, he was also given a punishment: one year without pay. There is a simple reason. I went to the Summer Palace to report my work to the old lady. I didn't listen to the eunuch's persuasion when I came back. By the way, I visited the abandoned royal garden burned by the British and French Coalition forces. In a word, it is the ruins, belonging to the family of Aisinggioro, and subjects are not allowed to enter.
For this kind of treatment, Hong Zhang's patriotism remains undiminished. He wrote to his friends that the more he saw abroad, the more he "worried about taking care of himself". I know, old man, the distance between China and the West is not generally far. The question is who will listen to him? Two years later, even the prime minister who accompanied him refused to be a pawn, so he simply hung up. Later, in order to abolish Guangxu and capture Kang Liang alive, the Queen Mother sent Hong Zhang to the post of Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. It was not until the old lady provoked Eight-Nation Alliance into China that she remembered Hongzhang's traitorous specialty and transferred him to Zhili Governor and Beiyang Minister.
People are all beautiful women to save heroes, while Zhang Hong is an old man to save widows. The 78-year-old man heard that the foreign consul celebrated his re-coming out of the mountain and dropped these four words: "Who is it?" A close friend asked Lord Hong Zhang what he thought of state affairs. The old man choked and touched the ground with his cane: "How to stop civil strife? How can civil strife stop? " When asked how to reduce the loss of the country, the old man burst into tears and said, "I can't predict!" I don't know if I can do it until I try my best to grind and slow down the years. A monk kept knocking for a day, and when the bell didn't ring, the monk died! "
Zhang Hong went down the mountain to betray the country because of the Boxer Rebellion, which was invited by the government again and again. The ministers of the DPRK, including Rong Lu, almost begged. Even the German Foreign Ministry said that as long as Li Hongzhang went north, the chaos would be smooth. But Hong Zhang will not go north easily. He is not stupid. He knows that although he knows some rules of international games and is good at wiping his ass, he can't wipe his ass even if he has the ability to leave the Great Sage in the sky like the Queen Mother. Chunqiu.com(
Thanks to his cooperation with Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Huguang, and Liu Kunyi, Governor of Two Rivers in Sheng Xuanhuai, the "Southeast Mutual Insurance" Ordinance was formulated, so that the southeastern part of China would not be involved in the Northern Rebellion. When the government declared war, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong seized the decree on the one hand and explained it to foreign consuls on the other. We won't listen to the government. According to the articles of association, you protect the concession, we protect the ground and do not interfere with each other. In contrast, Zhang Hong was heroic and said, "This is an imperial decree, and Guangdong will not accept it!" !
Now the government has asked him to go north, but he has not given it well, so that all the telegrams that the government invited him out of the mountain have this statement: "This minister is deeply indebted, especially compared with other ministers. Can he sit back and ignore the overall situation? " The queen mother's kindness is deeper than the sea. I wonder what kind of kindness Zhang Hong has received. Anyway, if you don't come out and betray others, that's the real traitor.
So Hong Zhang went north. When I went to Shanghai, I learned that Tianjin had fallen, Beijing was in danger, and the old man was not leaving. He said that he had diarrhea with a cold, and he couldn't move or stand steadily, so he asked for leave for 2 days. That's a good excuse. The queen mother can pull her pants, and so can my Zhang Hong. Besides, I'm 78 years old, and it's natural to pull my stomach back and feel risky. At the same time, Zhang Zhidong, governor of Huguang, sent a telegram, exempting the government from the responsibility of saving the Queen Mother and asking Li Hongzhang to sign it. Seeing his nameless fire, Zhang Yi patted Zhang Zhidong's powerful telegram and gave the old lady a big reprimand: "I am responsible for misunderstanding others' words this time, which led to the rampage of boxing bandits. This is well known at home and abroad. "
I don't know whether the contents of this telegram will reach the Queen Mother, but there is no doubt that the old man is very brave. After the old lady's bun, he dared to stroke it. Later, the government urged him to give him a plenipotentiary. Liu Kunyi, governor of the two rivers, sent a congratulatory message, saying, "Congratulations to the plenipotentiary, you have been transferred to Kunming, and you have a bath. You are a public servant!"