Chapter 14 Excuse

Although Xianfeng successfully succeeded to the throne, his throne was really hard-won. When Emperor Daoguang chose his successor, he faced the following situation: Among the nine sons, the first three died early, the fifth was adopted, and the seventh, eighth, and ninth were too young.Therefore, he has only two choices, one is the fourth elder brother Yi Chi, who is Xianfeng; the other is the sixth elder brother, who is Prince Gong Yixin who often appears in Qing palace dramas.Competitors Yipin and Yixin are very close: Yipin's biological mother died young, and Yixin's mother, Concubine Jing, is Yipin's adoptive mother.

When it comes to discussing Tao or martial arts, Yi Xin is better than Yi Chi.However, talent is not the only condition for succession to the throne. First of all, Yi Chi's starting point is higher than Yi Xin's.Yi Chi's biological mother was Daoguang's empress, who died suddenly in the official history. According to gossip, the empress dowager was forced to commit suicide after offending an authority figure in the palace. Daoguang was a filial child and did not dare to do anything to the empress dowager. He could only secretly miss him in his heart. Queen, the best way to remember is to be kind to the son left behind by the queen.

But it is not safe to rely solely on the grace left by his mother, and the conspiracies and tricks to figure out people's hearts are often more effective. Yi Chi, who is inferior to his younger brother in all aspects, follows the teacher Du Shoutian's plan-hidden clumsiness to show benevolence, hide clumsiness to show filial piety, and succeed with moving acting skills Deduced the "essence" of the word "benevolence and filial piety", successfully captured Daoguang's dragon heart, won the throne, and became the ninth emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Xianfeng took the position with great difficulty, but before he had time to enjoy the pleasure of power, God gave him two great tests. These two tests were the ones mentioned above when Yuan Xiaosi was born. The reason for being roasted on the fire.

The first test is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising. The reasons for this are more complicated, and I will talk about it later. The second test is the second Opium War. Originally, according to the "Nanjing Treaty", foreigners had the right to enter Wukou to settle and do business, but because the British fought with the people of Guangzhou during the First Opium War, the people of Guangzhou launched a vigorous "struggle against entering the city" to prevent them from entering the city. The British enter the city. At that time, the highest official in Guangzhou, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, dealt with the British by procrastinating. On the surface, he told the British that we must deal with this matter, but secretly encouraged the people of Guangzhou to continue the struggle.At that time, the British were not prepared to continue the war, so they turned around and left. This matter was delayed for twelve years.

Although the British seem to have been fooled, in fact, the British have deep grievances in their hearts, and they are just waiting for an opportunity to make use of it. The opportunity came. In 1854, the British invoked the "Twelve-Year Amendment" clause in the "Sino-U.S. Treaty of Wangxia" and the "Most Favored Nation Treatment" in the Humen Treaty, demanding that the "Sino-British Nanjing Treaty" be amended to obtain more privileges and benefits. In fact, the British request is barbaric and unreasonable. The "most-favored-nation treatment" in the "Humen Treaty" does not include the item of "treaty amendment" at all.

As long as the Qing Dynasty invoked a few articles of international law, the British could be rendered speechless. However, the Qing Dynasty closed the country and was arrogant. The French saw it, and the British wanted to fix it, so they wanted to revise the Sino-French Treaty of Whampoa. The demands of Britain and France made Xianfeng feel that his self-esteem was hurt, so he gave Ying and France two words: no! Knowledge gives power, and ignorance gives power.The reason why Xianfeng is so dragging is because ignorance gave him and his ministers strength.They lived in the Forbidden City and thought that the Qing Dynasty was number one in the world. They didn't know that technology had changed the whole world. They thought that Britain was just a few steps behind the Qing Dynasty.As for the failure of the first Opium War, it was just a coincidence, and victory or defeat is commonplace in military affairs.

Xianfeng's attitude made the British and the French distraught. You have not settled the peasant uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and you still refuse to give us a happy word, then we have to do it ourselves! After the talks collapsed, Britain and France quickly made psychological preparations for war.But they are still missing two things. One is the soldiers. The British and French allied forces are currently beating the Russians in the Crimean War, and they can't get away. The second is an excuse for war. Soon there were soldiers and excuses. In 1856, the Crimean War ended, and the British and French forces defeated the Russians.

In the same year, two events also occurred in the Qing Empire—the "Yarrow Incident" related to the British, and the "Xilin Mission Case" related to the French (Catholic missionary Father Ma was killed in Guangxi).As for the truth of the incident, it is not the point. The point is that these two incidents gave Britain and France a direct excuse to learn from the famous teacher. Originally, Britain and France wanted to join the United States in sending troops, but the Americans said that their domestic economy was in a downturn, the political situation was unstable, and the civil war between the North and the South was imminent, so the fact that they sent troops was powerless.However, they can give verbal support, threaten the Qing Dynasty diplomatically, and let Britain and France remember to call them to revise the treaty together after winning the war.

The words of the Americans are not all excuses. The first worldwide economic crisis caused by overproduction is about to break out in the United States. What's more, a Civil War with the theme of "liberating slaves" is also brewing.Fortunately, after breaking through, the United States embarked on a road of rapid development after the end of the Civil War.Of course, that's a later story. Although the Americans are not interesting enough, it is impossible for Britain and France, which are on the verge of breaking out, to give up sending troops. At the end of 1856, the British and French allied forces launched the Second Opium War.