Chapter 61 sold again

Everyone knows what happened later. Li Hongzhang sold the country once again on behalf of Cixi and Guangxu, and signed the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki". Why Li Hongzhang again?In fact, Li Hongzhang was not Cixi's initial choice for negotiations. Before him, two groups of people had been driven back by the Japanese. The representative of the Japanese side was Cabinet Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi. He felt that the two groups of people sent by Cixi earlier were not high enough in prestige and status to represent the Qing government with full authority. How could they have the right to talk to him? Isn’t this insincere?

He hoped that Yixin or Li Hongzhang would come to talk to him.Yixin is a respected and prestigious prince, and Li Hongzhang has also accumulated extremely high popularity at home and abroad because of his navy, foreign affairs, and diplomacy.But Yixin has been suppressed by Cixi's suspicion over the years, and she has been relatively quiet. The only candidate is Li Hongzhang, so Hirobumi Itou's name must be Li Hongzhang to talk about. A defeated country has no dignity to speak of. The 73-year-old Li Hongzhang knew that he would have to cede land and pay compensation this time, so he had to go.

Negotiations officially started at Chunfan Building in Shimonoseki (later renamed Shimonoseki), Japan. Itou Hirobumi said harshly: The conditions cannot be changed, Li Hongzhang, you have two choices, agree or not! Li Hongzhang looked at the conditions: pay 300 million taels of silver, cede Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula!Where dare to agree, the two sides have come to a stalemate. Just then, an unexpected incident changed the course of the negotiations. A Japanese angry youth shot Li Hongzhang when he walked out of Chunfan Building after get off work, and hit him an inch below his left eye, and Li Hongzhang fell down.

If Li Hongzhang died like this, then his evaluation in the hearts of future generations would definitely be much higher, and he might be rated as a "national hero".It's a pity that Yan Wangye won't let him die, because Lafayette is still waiting for him to help her betray the country! As a result, Li Hongzhang came back to life in a daze.The fly in the ointment was that the medical level at that time was so poor that the warhead could not be removed, and it remained in Li Hongzhang's body forever.After waking up, Li Hongzhang said happily: This blood can serve the country!Because he knew that the Japanese were in trouble.

The Japanese cynic's original intention was to kill Li Hongzhang and provoke China and Japan to continue fighting, but he didn't expect things to go wrong.This kid is too ignorant of the national conditions of the Qing Empire: Even if Li Er died, Cixi would not fight. Empress Dowager Cixi has been in a high position these years, and a little wealth means peace. She pursues the hedonism that stability prevails over everything else, and one thing more is worse than one thing less. Living a happy old age is the top priority, and she has never considered the happiness of future generations.

Li Hongzhang was assassinated, and the international public opinion was turbulent for a while. Such a serious diplomatic incident caused the Japanese to be devastated. Ito Hirobumi was afraid that nights and dreams would cause interference from other powers, so he took the initiative to bargain with Li Hongzhang and lowered the compensation index by one third. Li Hongzhang still refused to sign: 20 million taels is a huge amount, so please reduce it by another 50 million; please withdraw from Yingkou (which belongs to the Liaodong Peninsula); Taiwan cannot give in. At this time, Cixi was very worried about continuing to fight, and sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang: Don't be cautious, sign quickly!

But Li Hongzhang was still reluctant to sign. He told Hirobumi Ito: A reduction of 50 million taels?Minus thirty million taels?Minus 20 million taels?Think of it as the travel expenses for the old man to return home. But the answer Li Hongzhang got was always "no". Li Hongzhang said to Ito: I didn't expect you Japanese to be so mean. Ito was embarrassed, and said with a smile: This is a major national event, and I have no choice but to do so. In the end, Li Hongzhang signed such a "Treaty of Shimonoseki": a compensation of 200 million taels of silver, and the cession of Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula.

In Maguan, Li Hongzhang experienced the most humiliating time in his life.When he left this land with gunshot wounds and shame more than half a month later, he fell into long-term loneliness and resentment.Li Hongzhang expressed his protest by vowing never to set foot on Japanese soil again. One year later, when Li Hongzhang returned from his European inspection tour and had to change ships in Japan, he resolutely refused to go ashore, and at the age of 75, he jumped across the springboard between the two ships at the risk of falling into the water! He looks great in doing so, but is actually cowardly.Because the real way of revenge is: work hard to make yourself stronger, and find a chance to fight back in the future!If you can't fight back, at least you have to make sure you don't get beaten again in the future!

However, Li Hongzhang could be a coward, a bad guy, or a corrupt official—according to Liang Qichao's research, his family property was worth more than ten million taels of silver, which seemed to have gray income, but he could not be a traitor.The reason is explained later. Shortly after the signing of the treaty, what Hirobumi Ito worried about happened. After Li Hongzhang returned to China, what greeted him was not flowers and applause, but curses from the people and court: Kill Li Hongzhang to thank the world! Li Hongzhang should be depressed, but Li Hongzhang knows: he can't just be depressed, he should use the little time left to do something more meaningful.

So, Li Hongzhang talked to the Russians, what were they talking about?Talk about the Liaodong Peninsula. Li Hongzhang knew that the Russians and the Japanese had conflicts: Japan and Russia competed for the hegemony of the Far East, and the conflicts were already very deep, and they were just about to tear their faces apart and fight.Now, the contradiction is even greater.The Russians are extremely displeased with Japan’s dominance of the Liaodong Peninsula. After all, the Liaodong Peninsula is right at the gate of the Russian country. Who can tolerate a hyena squatting opposite the door of their own house, barking at themselves when they are free, and even rushing to bite themselves? one bite?

The Russians said that my country can establish a strategic partnership with the Qing Dynasty to help defend against Japan, and it can also help the Qing Dynasty to return to the Liaodong Peninsula, but there is one condition, you have to let us build a railway in the northeast. Of course, Li Hongzhang understood what the Russians meant: Russia wanted to stab people with soft knives and wanted to enter the Northeast through this railway, but compared with taking back the Liaodong Peninsula, the price was still acceptable. Later, the Russians and Li Hongzhang wrote this matter into the "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty". This railway is the famous Qingdong Provincial Railway, referred to as the Qingdong Railway.Zhang Zuolin and his son Zhang Xueliang were very depressed because of this railway. After Russia is finished, it doesn't waste any more time, and immediately recruits Germany and France, which want to develop trade businesses near the Liaodong Peninsula (because there are many seaports in this area), and sails their warships to the sea near Japan when they are free. Feng, by the way, tell Japan: Boy, don’t overdo it, return the Liaodong Peninsula to others, or we will gang up on you! Regardless of Japan's victory over the Qing Dynasty, in fact, Japan's national power reserves for many years have been almost consumed by this war. Now it is very weak and cannot afford a second war.Therefore, the Japanese can only agree.But it has a condition - you have to exchange thirty million taels of silver.What choice did the Qing Dynasty have?You can only redeem the Liaodong Peninsula with money. The Liaodong Peninsula is coming back, poor Taiwan did not let the imperial court take it seriously! It depends not only on the sky, but also on the ground, and more importantly on yourself!Only you can decide your destiny!Taiwan's military and civilians spontaneously resisted and fought hard for five months. After all, their arms could not twist their thighs, and they remained a colony for half a century until Japan's defeat and surrender in 1945. The Sino-Japanese War was lost like this, and at this time in the Forbidden City, Cixi still celebrated her 60th birthday regardless of the weather, and the bureaucrats still shouted long live, singing and dancing.Weng Tonghe, the main organizer of the celebration, was very satisfied with such a scale and such a celebration (Ji Jiyan, a grand ceremony——"Weng Tonghe Diary"). The Qing Dynasty will not perish, what is the law of heaven!