Chapter 88 Section 88 Zuo Zongtang was pissed off by Li Hongzhang?

In May of the 11th year of Guangxu (AD 1885), the new French cabinet ordered the Minister to China, Badenau, who had been stationed in Shanghai, to carry the draft treaty signed by the Chinese plenipotentiary Jin Dengqian and Bi Le to the Prime Minister’s Office of the capital, and to implement the treaty with China. The procedure of painting, deposit and seal was completed, and the opening ceremony of the legation in China was held again. According to the Queen Mother's order, the Prime Minister's Yamen appointed Li Hongzhang as Minister Plenipotentiary and asked him to negotiate with Badeno in Tianjin.At the back of the imperial decree is attached the French reading of the "Sino-French Armistice Treaty" reached by Jin Dengqian and Bi Le, and some clauses of the "Sino-French Conference on Vietnam Treaty" concluded.

The imperial decree especially emphasized this sentence: "Let Li Hongzhang supervise the Chinese and foreign translators, carefully explain the meaning of the text, and try to avoid misunderstandings." In fact, Badeno was ordered to negotiate the agreement, but he was also "supervising and interpreting the officer, studying in detail and explaining the meaning of the text".The two plenipotentiaries, Li Hongzhang and Badeno, had no right to change a single word of the treaty between Jin Dengqian and Bi Le. On the night when he received the imperial decree, Li Hongzhang said to Sheng Xuanhuai and other aides whether he was laughing or crying, "I have lived to be sixty years old, and I have been serving as Minister of Commerce and Industry for 15 years. I have negotiated agreements with Peru and Japan. I can’t even remember how many times I signed the contract and negotiated the contract with the UK. I can’t count how many words I spent. The old man only knows that every time the agreement was negotiated, it was extremely difficult to reach a consensus. This time, it's good. I don't need to waste words or argue. As long as I supervise and interpret the officer, I will explain in detail and understand the meaning of the text. It seems that after the Qing Dynasty, I only need to send a child out to negotiate. Already! All you need is to be able to write and move the seal.”

After hearing this, a group of staff present here did not know whether he was angry with the Prime Minister's Office or envious of Jin Deng. Budnow came to Tianjin soon with an entourage.Li Hongzhang then selected a few fine translators to sit with Badeno, and began to check the treaty, which was called "proofreading" by later generations. In order to block the mouths of the Qingliu main fighters and enable the two countries to successfully conclude an agreement, the Empress Dowager Cixi specially dispatched Minister of Criminal Affairs Xizhen and Minister of Honglu Temple Deng Chengxiu to Tianjin to cooperate with Li Hongzhang.The Empress Dowager Cixi knew very well that Deng Chengxiu was the main force of the Qing school, and only by letting him stay in the middle of the matter would he have nothing to say.

The prime minister's yamen was afraid that Li Hongzhang's translation skills were not enough, so he specially assigned the French translator in the yamen to strictly control it to avoid mistakes. The "Sino-French Armistice Treaty" was signed in Paris, and the French version is also called the "Paris Protocol".The armistice treaty is divided into three clauses: (1) the two countries abide by the "Sino-French Concise Treaty" negotiated by Li Hongzhang and Freneau; (2) the two sides cease fighting, and the French army lifts the blockade of Taiwan; The details of the treaty concluded in Tianjin or Beijing and the date of withdrawal.Attached are five articles of the Interpretation of the Armistice Conditions.

"Sino-French Treaty Ten Clauses" is also known as "Vietnam Treaty" or "Sino-French New Treaty", "Liba Treaty". The main content of the treaty is divided into five aspects: (1) China recognizes the treaty concluded between France and Vietnam; (2) Designate two places on the Sino-Vietnamese border as commercial premises, one above Baosheng and one north of Lang Son, French businessmen are allowed to live here and set up consulates; (3) The import and export of goods on the border between Yunnan and Guangxi in China and Vietnam should pay less tax according to the current commercial tax; (5) French warships withdrew from Taiwan and Penghu.

Later generations always believed that the ten articles of this treaty were signed by Li Hongzhang and Badeno, but in fact, Hurd and Jin Denggan negotiated on behalf of China and France. This can be seen from the notes written by Li Hongzhang after the event. . Li Hongzhang's booklet reads: "Badenuo came to Tianjin and met with each other. At the beginning, we didn't talk about official affairs. On March 16, we received official letters from Prince Jin, Prince Li, and Prince Qing, and they were drafted by Hurd face-to-face. The ten articles of foreign agreement are all based on the meaning of the last year's Tianjin agreement... On March 29, first, the first, third, fourth, seventh, eighth, and ninth articles are agreed to each other. On the third and sixth days of April , re-checked Articles 5 and 6, and copied them successively. The ministers, etc., and the Chinese-French translators, together with Bard Nord and the Chinese-French translator, studied in detail, and there were inconsistencies in the interpretation of the text. The Chinese translation of the text) and other details, and send it to the ministers and others to make a face-to-face decision with Bu Denuo, and still ask the General Administration Office to enter at any time, please follow the order. On April 19th, the second and eleventh articles were also passed by the law. Telegram compliance, Bu De Nuo translated and sent ministers, etc., and also asked Prince Qing to order Hede and Ding Weiliang to translate and submit. On the 23rd, a telegram was issued, and all items of the agreement to and from e-commerce are decent. Today It is also the most compromised to revise the second and 11th clauses in the review. Li Hongzhang and others will check each clause in detail. If the meanings are consistent and there is no error, it is the reason for regular painting and other reasons. This is the reason. The ministers and others returned to Bard Promise to face the business, reapproved, and then electronically played on the record. The envoy repeatedly urged the deadline to draw a deposit, and scheduled to gather at the office on April 27. The four copies of Chinese and French will be checked together for authenticity. , keep two copies of each other."

After completing the various procedures for signing the contract, Badeno rushed to the capital on the same day to arrange for the re-hanging of the flag at the legation in China.Li Hongzhang hurriedly dealt with various affairs at hand, and rested for another two days before going to the court, claiming to be old and frail, sick with eyesight, and dizzy after sitting for a long time. Membership recuperation, An spends his dying years. Li Hongzhang clearly realized that with Prince Gong being deposed and Prince Jin, Prince Li, and Prince Qing emerging one after another, his career as an official should be over.For several days in a row, the most common sentence he said to his staff was: "When the birds are gone, the good bow will be hidden; the cunning rabbit will die, and the lackey will cook."

Now, Jingfang has learned something abroad, not only speaks English, French, and Japanese, but also has been granted the title of counselor of the embassy in Japan; "Although Jingmai is only nine years old, and Jingyuan is only six years old, they have been rewarded with honors, and they are allowed to take part in the exam. When they grow up, they can finally have something to eat. Another reason why Li Hongzhang decided to return to the south was Zhao Lian.After Zhao Lian followed him to Baoding, she couldn't adapt to the northern climate and often fell ill.He has already lost his original partner, Zhou Sixi, his concubine Dongmei, and he can no longer lose Zhao Lian.

But the imperial decree has not arrived in Tianjin for a long time, and the curses are overwhelming from all directions. Li Hongzhang was surprised at first, but later he realized that it was the ten clauses of the Vietnam treaty that he and Budenuo had just finished handling that caused the trouble, while Zuo Zongtang's legacy dictated to the imperial court before his illness and death in Fuzhou was cursed. start. Zuo Zongtang's posthumous note said: "As a scholar, the Mongolian Emperor Wenzong showed the emperor's special knowledge. He served three dynasties repeatedly, and he was repeatedly sent. He participated in the privy secretaries and was the chief teacher outside. War is one of the keys to China's strength. The ministers and supervisors have gone south, and they have not made a big attack yet. They have shown our country's prestige, and they can't rest in peace!"

Once Zuo Zongtang's legacy was announced, there was an immediate uproar all over the world. Many people inferred from this that Zuo Zongtang was undoubtedly angry and dead by Li Hongzhang!Li Hongzhang signed a ten-term agreement with France with Vietnam, pleasing the legal person, making France win despite defeat, while China wins but loses, and is angry with the pillars of the country. Is this okay? Outside the gate of the governor’s residence in Zhili, Tianjin, someone first pasted a large piece of straw paper with the words “Patriotic pillars die, traitors live” and on the gate of the Governor’s Yamen in Baoding, someone wrote “Traitors die in the place of pillars.” Eight big black characters, and then the governors from all over the country went to the court one after another, begging to renew the treaty with France. If not, China will regroup and the two countries will fight again.Feng Zicai asked Zhang Zhidong to write "Please punish the person who made the contract, and thank you for Zhongliang".

Weng Tonghe, Li Hongzao and other ministers of the Qing school were not far behind, and repeatedly asked Li Hongzhang to be dismissed and arrested in the capital for questioning; but Zhang Peilun's voice was missing from the crusade, because he joined He Jing, Zhang Zhaodong, and He Ru soon after Zuo Zongtang arrived in Fujian. Zhang was dismissed and questioned together.He Jing was ordered to retire for the crime of being stupid in the face of the matter, and he, together with Zhang Zhaodong and He Ruzhang, was exiled to Ningguta, Heilongjiang to serve as an army. What is Xu Tong's attitude?He blew his beard up and scolded Li Hongzhang for three days in a row!Prince Gong sent a letter to Li Hongzhang from Kuai Ma Jian Dao in the mansion.In the letter, Prince Gong revealed to Li Hongzhang: The Empress Dowager felt the pressure from top to bottom, and she might take him as a scapegoat, and told him to be careful in the next few days. Li Hongzhang read Prince Gong's letter twice, and then burned it.Li Hongzhang knew that after Prince Gong was deposed, he was not reconciled to his failure and was looking for opportunities to make a comeback. On the second day after Li Hongzhang received the letter from Prince Gong, he explained some things in Tianjin to Sheng Xuanhuai and Ma Jianzhong, and specially wrote down the names of a few people. After writing the two people, they will pay more attention to it in the future. He has made some achievements in Westernization.The two took orders and memorized them one by one. Li Hongzhang took a group of entourage and set out on the road in the evening of one day to Baoding.Li Hongzhang has always hoped that when he is the best official, he can return to his hometown in a good manner, leaving a good story in the officialdom for future generations to set an example.Now it seems that his idea may not be realized; and the ending like Guo Songtao in his same year, who was dismissed first and then ordered to retire, is what he does not want anyway. Along the way, Li Hongzhang asked himself repeatedly in his heart: "Is it true that a person's fate cannot be determined by himself?" An old saying once said to him by his mentor Zeng Guofan sounded in his ears again: "It is up to the person to plan things, It's up to God." When the car arrived at the governor's office, Li Hongzhang was told as soon as he got out of the car that his wife had been ill for several days due to fright.Upon hearing this, Li Hongzhang hurried to the upper room.Two maids are cuddling on the bedside and serving Zhao Lian to take medicine. When Zhao Lian saw Li Hongzhang coming in, she first asked the maid to take away the medicine bowl, and then sent the other maid out, then grabbed her husband's hand, and cried, "You Li Shaoquan, what are you doing wrong?" , Why do you have to be a traitor? It doesn’t matter if you betray the country yourself, and you don’t even think about it, let the concubine and Jingmai, how can you go out to meet people in the future?” Li Hongzhang sat on the head of the bed, stroked his beloved wife's hair gently with his hand, and said softly, "Lian'er, don't be upset. Whether I, Li Shaoquan, betrayed my country or not, Zhang Zhidong didn't care what he said, but Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzao did." It doesn't count either!" Zhao Lian said while weeping: "You betrayed the country and you are not allowed to be told?" Li Hongzhang shook Zhao Lian's hand and said: "Of course you are not allowed to tell! Battle exploits! Yes, the old man advocates taking advantage of Lang Son’s great victory to negotiate peace with France, and the two countries have ceased war since then, but what the old man said is that I, the Chinese, made peace with France, not the British! Whether the British or the Americans, they can only mediation, but cannot be our master. Some people only know that I, Li Shaoquan, negotiated a treaty with Badenuo in Tianjin, but they don’t know that the agreement made by the two of us was entirely entrusted by the General Administration of Hurd and Jin Denggan, and had already been negotiated with Bi Happy to negotiate a covenant! What the two of us do is to check the terms and draw a seal! Traitors also need to be qualified! The old man is a Han official, and being a traitor is not enough qualifications!" The more Li Hongzhang talked, the more angry he got, he simply stood up, walked out of the bedroom with his hands behind his back, and ignored Zhao Lian. When the two maids guarding the door saw the master coming out, they rushed to the bedside to serve him.Zhao Lian lay on the pillow for a long while, then suddenly said: "You two, hurry up and ask the master to come over and talk. The master has suffered so much wronged outside, but I am still talking nonsense in front of him, isn't it? Messing around?" The scolding lasted for three full months, and Li Hongzhang endured it silently in Baoding for three months. During these three months, although he still went to the signing room to handle official duties every day, he was always waiting in his heart for the oracle of dismissal and questioning.He understood that he must be the scapegoat this time, otherwise the court would not be able to explain clearly to the officials, nor would it be able to quell the storm of condemnation. During the few months that Li Hongzhang was waiting for the imperial decree, his gray beard had completely turned white, and most of his gray hair had also turned white.