Here, it is worth mentioning that the Beijing Treaty of 1860 has just been signed. Russia, France, the United States and other countries may take this opportunity to put forward the idea of using western methods to mine their own coal, thinking that this will not only put an end to outsiders' covetousness, but also promote China's interests. Zuo did not raise this point.
(3) 1870, a large-scale struggle against foreign religions broke out in Tianjin. People shot and killed Uncle Feng, the French consul in Tianjin, and burned French churches, consulates and nurseries. Some Christian churches in Britain and America are also affected. The Qing government sent Zeng Guofan, governor of Zhili, to visit Tianjin from Baoding. Zeng Guofan in view of "now China naval gun completely unprepared, and Lv Bing green camp impregnable, unreliable, Yongding is also a fresh force. If public anger is aroused, let him cooperate with us, take precautions everywhere, and discuss the war every year. It is really uncertain. " Therefore, we are determined to compromise and make concessions to foreign invaders. The measures he took aroused the dissatisfaction of the broad masses. He knew this himself and wrote in a letter to a friend: "In early June, he was ordered to come to Tianjin to investigate the case. How difficult it is to deal with it, and the measures are not appropriate. I feel guilty and ashamed to discuss it. On June 23, it was a good thing that we sheltered Catholicism, but as soon as the copy was issued, the cabinet deleted a layer of five doubts, and the discussion was boiling, which was unbearable. " 〔①⑦〕
Left supports Zeng Guofan's policy of compromise and concession, and expresses great sympathy for Zeng Guofan's situation. In his letter to Xia Xianlun, he said: "The Golden Gate incident has been staged temporarily, and Zeng Hou's performance is still appropriate. Outsiders thought it was soft, but I didn't know it was painstaking. My brother wrote back a letter from the General Administration and recorded a letter from Youdan (Shen Baozhen word Youdan). I want to hear it. Yesterday, I saw a reply from Xiang (Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang) and You (You Dan) to the same effect. I said nothing wrong. " 【 ① ⑧ 】 It can be seen that Zeng Guofan's policy of dealing with Tianjin religious plans has been widely supported by officials from the left, Shen Baozhen and other westernization countries. Zuo added: "The Tianjin Incident ended hastily, and Hou Xiang was out of date. However, when you are in a hurry, there are different opinions and you dare not blame. Hou Xiang usually pays little attention to the feelings of foreigners. How can he not waver? Seeing that he is ashamed of being inside and refreshing outside, he can be described as a person who is not very deceptive. " Pet-name ruby He is very sympathetic to Zeng Guofan.
(4) 1874, the Japanese invaded Taiwan Province province. The Qing government sent Shen Baozhen to cross Taiwan to deal with the defense of Taiwan Province Province. But it lacks the determination to resist aggression and negotiate with Japan. Under the "mediation" of the envoys of Britain, the United States and other countries, the so-called "Beijing Special Article" was signed with Japan, which stipulated that the Japanese army should withdraw from Taiwan Province Province, but the Qing government gave Japan a "pension" of 6.5438+2 million yuan, and also paid the Japanese 402,000 yuan for "building a temple" in Taiwan Province Province, * * 502,000 yuan. This is a great compromise made by the Qing government to Japan.
Zuo fully supported the compromise policy of the Qing government. He said, "What happened in Taiwan Province Province has been settled through discussion. It is not because Xiao Dan is plotting outside, but because Gong Di (Prince Gong) is in power inside, so it is not easy to do this. It is wrong to spend 100 thousand or 400 thousand to recover the land. " 〔②⑩〕
Japanese invaders pushed their luck, and in 1875, they formally annexed Ryukyu and changed it to Okinawa prefecture. Li Hongzhang sent troops to help suppress, or asked him to transport Cao Nan to Tianjin. The Qing court consulted Zeng Guofan and others, and Zeng Guofan said on June 5 186 1 65438: "At this time, it is impossible for our army to reach Jinling. If Russian and foreign warships set sail from Haikou, they will not be able to catch up with the attack. You should ask Wang and others to send a message to the Yi leader, give him a reward and give him a break. " At the same time, he also said: "Although this proposal was put forward, how could China forget to prepare in one day?" Since the river course has been changed, why can't shipping work for a year? If these two things can be painted properly, whatever resources can help suppress the economic movement at present will relieve the temporary worries; In the future, it will be particularly beneficial to learn from Zhiyi to build a cooking boat. (1) (2) This memorial was the so-called "borrowing foreign help to suppress sparseness" at that time and was considered as Zeng Guofan's "masterpiece". In fact, this is a big misunderstanding. Although Zeng Guofan's signature was on the fold, it was not written by Zeng Guofan, but drafted by Zuo (who was in charge of military affairs at Zeng Guofan's place at that time). Zeng Guofan said in his letter to Hu Linyi: "It was Zuo Jiweng (left) who grabbed the knife and won the prize, praising the situation of using foreigners to help suppress one side. I don't do this either. As for defeat, strength cannot be rejected, and at the beginning of reconciliation, feelings cannot be rejected. This man is the same as Kikuji Palace. "People have always referred to Zeng, Zuo and Li as three people, which obviously makes sense.
(2) 1858 Article 27 of the Sino-British Tianjin Treaty stipulates that the new customs tariff and trade terms may be amended upon the expiration of 10. Fearing that the British invaders would make unreasonable demands when amending the contract, the Prime Minister's yamen began to make preparations at 1867, and made countermeasures in advance for the problems that Britain might raise when amending the contract, such as asking for pilgrimage, sending envoys, laying wires, building railways, opening coal mines, setting warehouses in the mainland, sailing ships in inland rivers, etc. And asked the court to give advice to provincial generals and governors. Zuo analyzed the situation at that time in Playback, saying: "The disaster of rebellion just disappeared, and the disaster of retreating and twisting started again. Bandits are everywhere, and vagrants are everywhere. What year is unknown? " Moreover, talents and wealth are exhausted, even more than a few years ago. Here, if there is a break between them (referring to foreign invaders), I will wait. I wonder if it will come out? Therefore, he believes that in this case, "obviously, the contract can be modified this time, but it can still be taken hostage." "In his letter to the Prime Minister's yamen, he divided the possible demands of foreign invaders in the negotiation of amending the treaty into two categories: one is' accommodation', such as asking for pilgrimage and sending envoys; The other is "uncompromising", such as laying wires, repairing railways and opening coal mines. He believes that regarding the invitation to pilgrimage, foreign invaders are quibbling that "both China and foreign countries are enemies and don't want to pretend to be the country", so it is better to agree to their invitation; As for the envoys, it is good for China to "fake the feelings of all countries and slap the arbitrariness of the envoys". For electric wires, railways and coal mines, Zuo believes that we must resolutely oppose them. Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others have basically the same attitude as Left, but
The Agubo regime recovered a large territory of the motherland. The academic circles have basically the same views on his crimes of suppressing the people's resistance struggle and his achievements of recovering Xinjiang. However, there are different opinions on how to evaluate his attitude towards westernization and foreign negotiations. Some critics believe that Zuo's westernization purpose and method are different from Li Hongzhang's, and the effect of social practice is also different. There is a difference between patriots and traitors in the Westernization Movement. "Zuo is a patriot in the Westernization Movement, while Li Hongzhang is a traitor in the Westernization Movement." Commentators also pointed out that the left-handed Fuzhou Shipping Bureau was patriotic, while the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau founded by Li Hongzhang and others could not be compared with the achievements made by Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, because Li Hongzhang was different from the left and lacked a patriotic guiding ideology [1]. Another commentator thinks: Zuo is not as blind as the die-hards, nor as blind as the Westernization School. He was "a landlord class reformer with the idea of safeguarding national interests and caring about national destiny during the Westernization Movement". "Fuzhou Shipping Bureau founded by Zuo is a negative example of modern enterprises founded by Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong" [2]. These views are very meaningful and put forward a series of questions worthy of consideration and analysis, such as whether Zuo is a Westernization School? Is there any essential difference between Fuzhou Shipping Bureau founded by him and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau founded by Li Hongzhang and others? Is there a difference between the patriotism of the Westernization School and the traitors? Wait a minute. Here, I want to put forward some superficial views on these issues.
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Zuo once advocated the recovery of Ili by force and resolutely fought the main battle in the later Sino-French war. This is probably the reason why he is called "patriot" or "patriot", and it is also the difference between him and Li Hongzhang and others. It is completely understandable that members of the Westernization School may have different views when dealing with certain specific issues because of their different personal status. But as far as its essence is concerned, Zuo, as one of the leaders of the Westernization School, is quite different. Please look at the following example:
(1) At that time, China was far behind the western capitalist countries in military strength and economic strength. In the grim situation of the disparity between Chinese and foreign forces, the Westernization School kept a clear head, recognized its own weaknesses, and produced the idea of compromise and concession. On the one hand, they acknowledge a series of unequal treaties that have been signed and advocate maintaining the semi-colonial status quo of China; On the other hand, it tries to prevent the deepening of foreign capitalist aggression against China and prevent China from continuing to fall into the colonial road. This is the basic attitude of the Westernization School in foreign negotiations, such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, and Zuo is no exception. For example, Zeng Guofan said: "After Daoguang Gengzi, there was no certain plan to deal with Westernization, so the foreign invasion became deeper and deeper, and it was out of control. Since the emperor ascended the pole, foreign countries are still strong, but they have never changed, and they can live in peace with China and foreign countries for ten years. This has achieved results. " (3) Li Hongzhang said: "The treaties of various countries have been fixed and it is difficult to change"; "Although there are many clues in Beiyang's Sino-foreign negotiations, ... as long as you keep your promise and handle it properly at any time, there is no objection." (4) Zuo (played by Tongzhi for five years) said: "The past peace treaty was forced by the times and had to be changed. The treaty has been established and there is no reason to go beyond it. However, outside the treaty, there is more accommodation. I am afraid that the more humble I am, the more arrogant I will be. The more I lean down, the better I will be. Only when things happen, abide by the treaty, do it politely and awkwardly, hoping that nothing will happen. " 〔⑤〕
Because the Westernization School recognizes and abides by unequal treaties, they play the so-called "restraint" policy in foreign negotiations, that is, they make concessions in case of trouble and will not easily break with foreign invaders. Li Hongzhang wrote to Zeng Guofan and said: "Those foreigners who want me are profitable and powerful, and they don't really want to take my land. Since the Zhou and Qin dynasties, the method of controlling foreign countries has not been continued after the conquest, and it will take a long time for the detained people. What's the difference between countries today? " [6] Zeng Guofan expressed his appreciation for this and immediately replied to Li Hongzhang: "It is a wise saying to show the law of controlling foreigners." ⑦ Zuo said: "The prosperity of Westernization began with China's ignorance of Westernization. He was too worried and suspicious, so he broke up. After the change of Geng Shen, it was a huge disaster, so we had to detain him temporarily. At the beginning of the contract, Yuanji took advantage of this leisure, constantly striving for self-improvement and waiting for an opportunity. " (8) Furthermore, it is said: "The association of the countries in western Thailand aims at making profits through trade without ulterior motives. Because their country used it to attract business, all countries in the past occupied the dock and competed for the ocean, which harmed the interests of their land people. " (9) They not only have the same understanding of foreign invaders, but also use very similar languages and vocabulary.
Zeng Guofan first advocated "loyalty and respect" for foreign invaders, saying that "although foreign affairs are difficult, it is nothing more than Confucius' loyalty and respect." Attending it is not only regarded as a motto by Li Hongzhang, but also regarded as a standard by Zuo. Zuo Zeng wrote to the general of Xiangbu, saying: "The way of loyalty and filial piety is quite feasible, and the idea of knowing that flesh and blood are not far apart is not the same as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. "