Allusion: In the sixth year of Guangxu, the Russian Crown Prince gave Li Hongzhang a golden pistol, which Li Hongzhang could not put down and often took with him. When I went out hunting, I couldn't help thinking about it.
Suddenly I saw a quiet village around me, stopped there and stopped using a pistol. The staff was curious and asked why. Li Hongzhang replied: This is what I want to remind myself. I have a sharp weapon, so I can't kill my heart carelessly and seriously. Li Hongzhang taught his staff that if a person has weapons, he will have the heart to hurt others. Just as a person has power, he will not stop until he uses it where he can't reach it.
Extended data:
character introduction
Li Hongzhang (1823 February15—1901October 7th), whose real name is getting better and better, [fú], No. Many people in the world call it "Li", so people also call it "Mr. Li Er" because of his second line.
As an important official in the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang was the founder and commander-in-chief of the Huai Army and Beiyang Navy, and one of the leaders of the Westernization Movement. He established China's first Western-style navy, Beiyang Navy, and first-class general Su Yibo.
He participated in a series of major historical events in his life, including the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the suppression of the Nian Army Uprising, the Westernization Movement and the Sino-Japanese War. On behalf of the Qing government, he signed a series of unequal treaties, such as the Vietnam Treaty, the treaty of shimonoseki, the Concise Treaty between China and France, and the Xin Chou Treaty.
Japanese Prime Minister Hirofumi Ito is known as "the only person in the Qing Empire who can compete with the world powers", German Navy Minister Konar is known as "Oriental Bismarck", Empress Dowager Cixi is known as "Rebuilding Huang Zhi People", and is also known as "the four famous ministers of ZTE" with Zeng Guofan, Zhang Zhidong and Zuo. After his death, he was posthumously awarded as a teacher, a first-class Sue, and posthumous title Wenzhong. His works were included in The Complete Works of Li Wenzhong Gong.
On February 18th, the 21st year of Guangxu (1895), Li Hongzhang was appointed as the plenipotentiary minister by Empress Dowager Cixi and rushed to Japan for peace talks. Although the Qing court granted Li Hongzhang full power to cede land compensation before his departure, he still expected to "win one point, get one point" and repeatedly argue with Japanese representatives.
After the third negotiation, Li Hongzhang was assassinated on his way to the conference site, and the world public opinion was in an uproar, so the Japanese side slightly converged on the terms of the peace talks. On March 16, Li Hongzhang recovered slightly. During the fourth negotiation between the two sides, Japan offered China 250 million taels of silver (originally 300 million taels) to cede Liaodong Peninsula and Penghu, indicating that it would not give in.
Japanese peace talks representative Ito Bowen said that Li Hongzhang was "only allowed and not allowed". Afterwards, Japan continued to threaten to send more troops and go to war again. Li Hongzhang and others sent telegrams for instructions, and Emperor Guangxu agreed to sign the contract, ordering "to make a contract with it according to the previous purpose".
It is said that at the last moment before signing the contract, he tearfully said to Costa, the American consultant of the mission: "If the negotiations fail, we will move the capital to Shaanxi and fight a protracted war with Japan. The Japanese will never conquer China, and China can resist indefinitely. Japan will eventually lose and seek peace. "
Later generations praised Li Hongzhang at a high price, thinking that he "saved 654.38 billion yuan for the Qing government with a handful of bones and tears, and made great contributions to the survival of the Qing government."
In fact, if Li Hongzhang had not paid too much attention to the strength of the Beiyang Navy and the policy of "protecting ships and avoiding war", the Qing government's funds for the Beiyang Navy would not have been reduced, and the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War might have changed, instead of the whole army being wiped out in the Bohai Bay harbor.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Li Hongzhang