Chapter 5 4. Great Powers Compete in North Korea

North Korea has been influenced by Chinese culture for the longest time.For example, the Qing Dynasty ruled China for more than 200 years, and all of them adopted the Qing calendar in China. However, in North Korea, except for official documents using the Qing calendar, the common folk records are based on the years after Chongzhen Jiashen. It can be seen that the influence of Chinese culture on North Korea.Unfortunately, the Qing government was bullied by the foreign powers, and it was already battered, so it was hesitant to deal with the North Korean issue. Therefore, there were many ideas in North Korea that advocated breaking away from the Qing Dynasty and finding a way out.During this period, the great powers were also intriguing in North Korea. It was really difficult for Yuan Shikai to assume the heavy responsibility for North Korea's diplomacy and business.

At this time, he once again wrote a letter to Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang, offering a strategy for dealing with the North Korean issue. The best strategy is: "Taking advantage of North Korea's internal weakness, Japan has not yet dared to swallow North Korea, and the big powers have not yet penetrated into it. Our government should immediately clean up North Korea. As a province." The worst policy is: "Open the door, so as not to confront Japan or imperial Russia, and simply make an appointment with Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Japan and Italy to jointly protect North Korea." His suggestion should be said to be a good strategy for North Korea's difficulties. Unfortunately, except for Li Hongzhang, the Qing government at that time was mostly cowardly and ignorant, so they ignored his suggestions.

From the 14th year of Guangxu (1888), North Korea began to change. In addition to sending plenipotentiary ambassadors to the United States and Europe as mentioned above, it also prepared to borrow from the big powers with tariffs. North Korea’s diplomacy and tariffs were originally managed by China, so North Korea Doing so is tantamount to challenging China's suzerainty.At that time, the influence of Catholicism penetrated into North Korea, and the old-fashioned party strongly opposed Catholicism, inciting the people to say that Catholics cooked children, which led to civil uprisings, attacking churches, and beating and killing believers.Russia, France, the United States and Japan all deployed troops to defend themselves, and Yuan Shikai also transferred naval forces into the capital.The king of Han suddenly announced that he would invite troops from Russia, France, the United States and Japan to enter the palace for protection. This move was a serious blow to the Qing government.On the one hand, Yuan Shikai asked the Beiyang Minister to seriously question the King of Han, and on the other hand he urged the pro-China faction around the King of Han to dissuade the King of Han.In the second year, Park Dingyang, the plenipotentiary ambassador sent by North Korea to the United States, returned to South Korea. The King of Korea proposed to send Park Dingyang Minister of Foreign Affairs. This was tantamount to announcing a pro-American line in diplomacy.Yuan Shikai once asked Han Chen Zheng Bingxia to report to the King of Han: Park Dingyang was never agreed and tolerated by the Qing court to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs.Yuan knew that Concubine Min was the most persistent in this matter, so he couldn't persuade her, so he found Concubine Min's savior, Hong Jae-yi, and asked Hong to dissuade Concubine Min, and finally achieved his goal.As for the North Korean government's plan to withdraw tariffs, it was encouraged by foreign powers, thinking that tariffs could be used to offset foreign debts, so it abolished the General Taxation Department on its own.All these signs show that North Korea is deteriorating, and the big powers are taking advantage of these situations to make progress.

In the sixteenth year of Guangxu (1890), Concubine Zhao of North Korea died.Concubine Zhao was the concubine of the former Wang Zhaozong. She was 80 years old when she died. She experienced the four dynasties of North Korea, represented the old tradition of North Korea, and devoted herself to China.Although Concubine Min is good at power, but because of the old concubine, she still dare not be presumptuous. Once Concubine Zhao died, Concubine Min became even more rampant.She felt that her husband had no opinions, and he often followed the minister's advice and went against her decision when discussing state affairs with the minister.Therefore, she thinks that it is best to make the king not listen to the government, and she alone can do whatever she wants, because what she fears most is that the king and his father will cooperate again. She knows that her husband will listen to whoever gets close to him, so she tries her best All efforts were made to prevent Dayuanjun and his son from approaching.She said to the king: "Concubine Zhao is your mother. You should keep your filial piety. It is not suitable for you to govern in person, and you don't have to approach the ministers." Whatever the king said, it was good.So he accepted Concubine Min's opinion obediently, and really stayed at home to keep his filial piety in the palace.Since then, the state affairs of North Korea, no matter how big or small, have been decided by Concubine Min.On the one hand, Concubine Min presided over the government affairs, and on the other hand, she handed over the important positions to her cronies to take over. She relied on her cronies Min Zhouhao and appointed Park Dingyang who had been deposed.It turned out that Yuan Shikai was the one who insisted on deposing Pu Dingyang the most. Yuan Shikai's original intention was not enough to depose him, and he also asked the North Korean authorities to punish him severely. Because Concubine Min defended it, they made a compromise condition of never appointing Pu Dingyang as a diplomatic post.It was only a few months after this announcement, and Concubine Min appointed Park to be in charge of government affairs again.The king may have panicked from boredom in the deep palace, so he suffered a serious illness. Concubine Min was not worried about her husband's illness, but felt happy that she could act independently.

The Qing government accepted Yuan Shikai's request to pay a grand memorial to Concubine Zhao's funeral, and sent a special envoy to offer condolences. Yuan Shikai seized this opportunity and asked the King of Han to greet her in person to dispel rumors outside.The purpose of Yuan's move was to restore China's suzerainty. At this time, the envoys of the United States, Russia, Japan and other countries persuaded the king through Han Chen to only meet the Qing envoys in the palace. The etiquette of the suburban welcome is very grand, which makes the great powers pay attention to it.

In the seventeenth year of Guangxu (1891), Yuan Shikai's heir, Niu, was critically ill. Yuan De sent an urgent telegram to ask for leave to return home. Li Hongzhang ordered Yuan to recommend an agent, and Yuan recommended Tang Shaoyi.At that time, Tang served as the director of Longshan. Yuan sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang saying: Tang Shaoyi is loyal, straightforward, sensitive, courageous and insightful, and understands Korean affairs.Li Hongzhang approved Yuan's request, so Yuan Shikai returned home on a part-time trip.Not long after he returned to the countryside, Niu died, so he took 100 days off work to mourn in his hometown.

It was April of the eighteenth year of Guangxu (1892) when Yuan Shikai went to Korea on holiday. At this time, the Russians planned to build a railway from Vladivostok, Russia, to Wonsan, South Korea. Electric wires in the capital.Tang Shaoyi opposed it very fiercely. Yuan Shikai also fully supported Tang's proposition after returning to Korea, insisting that North Korea's electronic politics belonged to China's sovereignty and that no division was allowed, which ultimately frustrated Russia and Japan's plan.At this time, the North Korean treasury was empty and urgently needed loans. Yuan Nai ordered the Cantonese merchants in South Korea and Taishun to undertake a loan of more than 200,000 yuan to North Korea.

During this period of Joseon, the king was ignorant, the Concubine Min exercised power, officials were corrupt, bandits were rampant, the people were destitute, and there were no pedestrians on the road. The fate of extinction was inevitable.In this case, the Donghak Party uprising occurred again in North Korea. The Donghak Party uprising gave Japan an opportunity to seize Korea, and also contributed to the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, which is very important to the modern history of the East. Dongxue Party is a semi-religious party organization.What is Dongxue Party?It is a combination of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and it is a non-governmental organization for the old conservative forces in North Korea to fight against Western forces.Since its intention is to fight against Western religion, it calls itself Dongxue.It has been brewing for several years, and its situation is very similar to the Boxer Rebellion that happened in China later.It wasn't called the Donghak Party at first, but it wasn't until a person named Cui Siheng came out to do justice for the heavens that the Donghak Party became popular in North Korea.Cui Shiheng is a native of Dongfu, Jeolla Province, North Korea. He calls himself "Doctor Wei".North Korea is politically corrupt, financially difficult, and the army is not paid. Of course, they have no intention of fighting for the royal family. Cui Shiheng led the Donghak Party to take the opportunity to revolt, occupy Jeolla Province, and then attack Chungcheong Province. The remaining names were all wiped out, and the Han court sent Hong Qixun to lead the army to attack, but the generals were not killed. Most of the Han court advocated Yuan Shikai to be on their behalf.Yuan believed that Japan must be invited to send troops together in accordance with the treaty, so he telegraphed the Beiyang Minister to state his opinions, and at the same time made suggestions for the Han court, suggesting a strategy for using troops.How do you know that the morale of the North Korean people has been lost at this time, and the soldiers will not obey orders, and the generals will be discouraged.When Beiyang learned of the uprising of the Korean Donghak Party, it sent a warship with 200 to 300 elite soldiers to land in Incheon, and another admiral Ye Zhichao led more than 1,000 people as backup. However, the Japanese warships had already carried more than 7,000 Japanese soldiers to Incheon and Busan. Land and arm all strategic locations.When the Donghak Party saw large armies from both China and Japan approaching, they dispersed one after another. The Chinese and Japanese expeditionary forces did not fire a single shot, and the Donghak Party collapsed.After the chaos, the Japanese army was still stationed in various important areas. Yuan Shikai saw that Japan had ulterior motives, so he personally visited the Japanese Minister Ohtori, and said to him: "Your country's soldiers have arrived. Although China's vanguard is small, there are still large army reinforcements. Now The rebellious party has been put down, and if the Chinese and Japanese armies stay in North Korea, there may be rifts due to minor reasons.In the event of an accident, European and American countries will be guided to send troops to Korea. This will not only be a disaster for North Korea, but also be detrimental to both China and Japan. It is better for both of you and us to withdraw our troops at the same time.Da Bird replied to Yuan that he would report Yuan's remarks to the Japanese government. In fact, this was just a delaying tactic.

The warship transported by the Qing government to North Korea was called the Jiyuan Ship. The captain Fang Boqian led the ship to berth at the port of Incheon. Seeing that the number of Japanese troops stationed in Incheon was increasing day by day, they feared that they would be outnumbered in case of disputes. The Japanese army took it, so after notifying Yuan Shikai, he moved the boat and went first.As soon as the Qing army retreated, Japanese soldiers were everywhere in the capital of North Korea and Incheon, and Chinese businessmen and people living in Korea moved away one after another.The Japanese army was aggressive, and Yuan Shikai was trapped in North Korea.He was ordered by Li Hongzhang to continue to urge the Japanese to withdraw their troops, but under such circumstances, how could the Japanese troops withdraw?Therefore, Yuan sent a secret telegram to Beiyang, please urgently dispatch the Beiyang navy to help, and at the same time concentrate the army to garrison the northeast to meet the emergency.They also invited European and American envoys to China to mediate, but it was too late. Japan seized this opportunity and was determined to devour North Korea, even if it had a war with the Qing Dynasty.

In North Korea, Japan ignored the Qing government's request to withdraw its troops at the same time. On the contrary, it continued to increase its troops to provoke. In the international arena, Foreign Minister Mutsu Shigemitsu proposed a proposal for China and Japan to jointly reform North Korea's internal affairs.Japan's attempt is based on the fact that China will not accept Japan's joint management of North Korea on the same level as China. As long as China does not accept Japan's proposal, Japan will find an opportunity to turn its face and act arbitrarily. Sure enough, the answer from the Qing government was still that the Japanese army had to withdraw from North Korea before there was room for negotiation, while Japan had the cheek to insist on discussing the issue of reforming North Korea’s internal affairs first, and that it could withdraw its troops only after this issue had a concrete result.

Li Hongzhang was the only one in the Qing government who had the brains to deal with the Sino-Japanese issue. Li Hongzhang's strategy to deal with the international situation at that time was "use barbarians to control barbarians".This strategy is not necessarily the best strategy, but in the situation at the time, it was the only move.Therefore, Japan had a showdown with the Qing court on the North Korean issue. Li Hongzhang knew that he could not resort to war with Japan, but instead hoped to use Russia to deal with Japan.Because Russia is also interested in North Korea and has already intervened, it is naturally unwilling to see that Japan has special interests. Therefore, Li Hongzhang, through the Russian Minister to China Cassini, hoped that Imperial Russia would intervene, or that Imperial Russia would unite with Britain, the United States, France and Italy to stop Japan's aggression. ambition.But at this time, Japan was also actively active in imperial Russia, Europe and the United States, explaining that Japan's purpose was to change the status quo in Korea and eliminate the reactionary forces in Korea.In view of the excessive stubbornness of Korean xenophobia, all countries can accept Japan's words. At the same time, Japan assured Imperial Russia that it has no territorial ambitions for North Korea and will never invade North Korea's territory.In this way, the trump card that Li Hongzhang relied on could not be played.When China and Japan were facing a split, when Li Hongzhang repeatedly urged Imperial Russia to intervene, Imperial Russia replied: "Russia can only use friendship to persuade Japan to withdraw its troops, and cannot force each other."So Li Hongzhang's plan to prevent Japan's ambitions in Korea through international intervention fell through. The Qing court was very excited about the Sino-Japanese dispute that occurred in Korea. The ignorant Qing court and the public were ignorant of Japan's progress since the Meiji Restoration.Everyone felt that they had had enough of being bullied by Britain, France and other countries for several years, and there was no place to vent their grievances. Now they still have to be angry with the little devils in the East. The call to declare war reached boiling point. Only Li Hongzhang knew that the Qing army could not fight the Japanese army at that time.Since Japan invaded Taiwan in the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (1874), Li Hongzhang has advocated using Japan as an imaginary enemy to expand the navy.Since the 14th year of Guangxu (1888), naval funds have been diverted to build the Summer Palace, which was used as a place for the Empress Dowager to rest and play in her later years. The navy has not added new ships since then.Six months before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 (February 1894), Ding Ruchang, the admiral of the Beiyang Navy, requested to modify the cannons on the iron-clad ships Zhenyuan and Dingyuan.In April of this year, Li Hongzhang presided over the naval review and found that China's navy had no new ships, and it could neither compare with the navies of Britain, the United States, France, Russia, nor Japan, which is a small country.Fighting against Japan requires a navy. Since the navy is so, how can it declare war? When the Qing court’s dispute over Japan’s peace and war was not yet agreed, and the Japanese army had entered Korea in a large scale, Yuan Shikai repeatedly asked Li Hongzhang for instructions on strategies, but all Li Hongzhang could instruct was to order Yuan Jin to stay at his post and urge Japan to withdraw its troops according to the treaty.Apart from such instructions, there is no actual support.But the voices of war filled the whole of China, so Yuan Shikai called the Minister of Beiyang, and he said frankly: "If the imperial court decides to fight against Japan, please withdraw the personnel of the embassy in Korea first. Shikai will serve the country with his own body. I am afraid, but I am afraid that the mission will be humiliated and the national prestige will be damaged." Yuan Shikai was in a very difficult situation at this time, because the Dongxue Party members treated Yuan badly, thinking that Yuan was helping the Han government to put pressure on the Donghak Party and advocated the use of troops. Therefore, when the Dongxue Party was on the rise, some party members wanted to assassinate Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai made Yuan dare not step out of the embassy gate during this period. The embassy was imprisoned, and there was a shortage of firewood, rice, oil and salt.When the Japanese soldiers invaded Korea in large numbers, although the Donghak Party had disappeared, the pro-Japanese faction in North Korea supported Daewon-kun, and the pro-Japanese faction in North Korea was of course anti-Yuan.Lord Dayuan never forgets his old enmity - during the Renwu Rebellion, Yuan helped Wu Changqing capture Lord Dayuan and sent him to Baoding for a period of residence, because of which he hated Yuan to the bone.And Japan is eager to use the Koreans to get rid of Yuan.After the Japanese soldiers occupied the Korean capital, they blatantly sent troops to set up cannons in front of Yuan Shikai's embassy. Yuan was trapped in the North Korean embassy. Fortunately, his third concubine Min Shi who married in North Korea took care of him.Yuan had already married Yu Shi in his hometown, and later begged a second concubine in Chenzhou. During the Joseon Dynasty, he was introduced by Tang Shaoyi to marry this Korean beauty, Min Shi.This Mrs. Min is very happy to serve the imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty.When the Donghak Party revolted, Yuan was in a difficult situation and his mood was very bad. Since Yuan was successful in his youth and had smooth sailing in North Korea, once he encountered adversity, he was really troubled.Mrs. Min served Yuan with considerate care, especially because she was a Korean woman, and she was not noticed when she went in and out of the embassy, ​​so Yuan relied on Mrs. Ru for most of her external contacts. I don't know whether Li Hongzhang didn't know about Yuan's situation, or Li Hongzhang didn't care about it. China and Japan are facing the most serious juncture. In addition, when the pro-Japanese faction in North Korea and the Daewon Lord declared that Yuan's head would be beheaded, Li Hongzhang still did not make a decision on Yuan's advance or retreat. Even though Yuan repeatedly called Beiyang to instruct him to advance and retreat, there was no result.At this time, Yuan Nai turned to Zhang Peilun for help. Zhang was in Tianjin, so he reported Yuan's situation to Li Hongzhang in detail. Then Li decided to telegraph the Prime Minister's State Affairs Office to call Yuan Shikai to return to the country. The Qing court summoned Yuan back to the country based on a fact—it was because after the Japanese army occupied the capital of North Korea, the pro-Japanese faction, with the support of the Japanese army, entered the palace and coerced the King of North Korea to issue a statement: it would not recognize North Korea as a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, and declared that North Korea has become independent, and all treaties between China and North Korea have been abolished. Yuan Shikai returned to China on June 15, the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), leaving North Korea, which had been proud for 12 years.His position is represented by Tang Shaoyi.