"That's right, keeping Nagasaki is equivalent to the Chinese army and the Chinese country, and it is stuck in the throat of Japan."
Li Hongzhang summed up President Meng's words, "Our best strategy is not to leave Nagasaki, and the banner is also to be used, but as for the trade, they say that we have too many troops, so we will use the excuse that the Japanese are used to, saying that we want to protect overseas Chinese." ”President Meng laughed, "That's a good point."
It is to use the way of the great powers, and from now on, we will also be the great powers. ”Li Hongzhang smiled and said nothing, the strength of China, if you want to become a great power, there is still a long way to go, Li Hongzhang, the foreign minister, naturally has no problem, how much strength you have, he will do as many things as possible, in a low position, no matter how powerful a politician is, it may not be of any use, in a high position, a politician who does not know anything, as long as he is not a fool, he can still make money.President Moe talked a lot with Princess Katrina Kafu and Li Hongzhang along the way, mainly how to put down roots in Nagasaki.After the Opium War, the Qing government was completely confused, because there had never been such a battle in the history of the world, and the purpose of waging war was neither to forcibly seize land, nor to plunder wealth and population.All the wars of this era have only one purpose, and that is free trade.Looking back at the wars between China and Western countries in modern times, there were only two battles, namely the Opium War and all the wars after the Opium War.I opened a restaurant by myself, I don't want you to come in to eat, and you can only stand aside even if you are the secretary of the provincial party committee.However, this kind of trade can only be carried out in the context of free trade, which means that if everyone in the whole Qing Dynasty does not want to do business with foreigners, then the Qing government can certainly have the power to say no.But what was the situation at that time, the whole of China was facing huge demographic pressure, and only by entering the global market could it be possible to win space for its own survival, not to mention the fact that China's eastern and southern coastal regions have had a tradition of ocean trade since ancient times.The Qing government's maritime ban policy was extremely unpopular.The Thirteen Merchants, the only ones engaged in foreign trade, used their official status to flaunt their military power and oppress and exploit British merchants, which not only violated the principles of free trade, but also violated even the most basic trade ethics.If this had been changed to the United States, France, or Russia at that time, maybe people wouldn't say anything, but the big deal would be that I wouldn't earn this money anymore and never have anything to do with China again.However, the Qing government forgot that it provoked the empire on which the sun never sets, and Britain could not swallow this evil breath no matter what.The sun never sets on the empire faced such a situation.At that time, the British Parliament voted on whether or not to go to war against China, not that there were only nine more votes in favor than against, but please pay attention to the specific events, the content of the British Parliament's vote at that time was whether to fight against China, not whether to trade with China.Therefore, it was not so much whether the British Parliament voted whether to fight or not, but how to conduct trade with China.The direct cause of the Opium War was the burning of the opium of British merchants by the "national hero" Lin Zexu.In the Sino-British trade at that time, opium was not contraband, and the opium trade was completely legal, and the reason why Lin Zexu opposed opium was not because opium was harmful to health, but because the large amount of opium imported from Britain caused a large outflow of silver.Lin Zexu's idea was to grow opium widely in the country in order to increase the Qing government's treasury revenue.In other words, according to today's definition, Lin Zexu's Humen cigarette sales should not be counted as a crackdown on the flour trade or smuggling crimes, but an anti-dumping action led by the Qing government.Even if it is not in accordance with today's laws and regulations, and according to the most basic trade ethics, it should first send a note to the British, announcing the cessation or reduction of the opium trade, and then settle the past accounts.Today, if Apple exports a batch of 5s to China, all kinds of procedures are complete, the price is 2000 a piece, and the Ministry of Commerce feels that the United States is dumping, so it will confiscate and destroy all mobile phones without saying a word, do you think the US government will give up?
Thus began the Opium War.Of course, this is by no means to say that national heroes have done wrong, opium should certainly be banned, and allowing this kind of thing to be sold in China is itself a disservice to China.This is a question of cause.If you know how to start everything, you need to tie the bell to untie it, and you need to tie the bell to know how to untie it, and relying on war to provoke the head is not a way, which the decadent ruling class of the Qing court cannot do, they are not capable of solving it, and it is inevitable to fight.The funny thing is that every time the Qing court is stuck in the throat, and he can't stand it anymore, so he does it himself.The course of the Opium War is very interesting.In the face of the wanton aggression of the Western powers, the Chinese people should resist bravely, or at least take revenge on the invaders in their hearts.But the reality is very disappointing.In Guangzhou, because British merchants had been trading with China for a long time, the impression left by the British in the hearts of Cantonese was quite good.On the one hand, based on the tradition of free trade, the British would often hire some locals to load and unload goods, and would also make various purchases in the city of Guangzhou.
On the other hand, the British publicly declared that the war was against the Qing emperor at the beginning of the war, and Lin Zexu and others also glorified the war in order to whitewash the peace, saying that the British had been wronged because they were doing business in Guangzhou, so the king sent people to fight the lawsuit.In this way, the people of Guangzhou think, oh, this has nothing to do with us.After the end of the war, Lin Zexu was very angry at the "indifference" of the people of Guangzhou, but he forgot that he himself should also be fully responsible for the emergence of this phenomenon.Well, the war is over, it's time for reparations.The final indemnity was 21 million silver dollars, of which 12 million were military expenses, 3 million opium money, and 3 million were owed.Think about what kind of concept this is, the opium cigarettes and arrears that the Qing government wantonly destroyed actually amounted to half of the military expenses of a war, which was one-tenth of the annual financial revenue of the Qing government.If the Opium War was caused by the poor communication of information between the Qing government and the outside world, then after the Opium War, the relationship between the Qing government and Western countries is even more interesting.First of all, we must admit that the means by which Western countries signed so-called unequal treaties with the Qing government were unequal, but in terms of content, they were completely equal.Some people say that the concession should always be unequal, at least in Shanghai at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the concession was not occupied by foreigners by force, but by officials of the Qing government begging foreigners to rent it.This is because foreigners have high spending power, and various expenditures outside the concession can effectively increase fiscal revenue, and the public security in the concession is relatively good, and the environment is relatively clean, which can save a lot of effort on the part of local officials.In fact, at least until the 90s of the 19th century, the environment provided by the Western powers to China was relatively peaceful, and if the Chinese government could make good use of these 50 years, it could have jumped up.But the reality is that the Qing government has never recognized the value of this, although there is a Westernization movement, but a lot of energy is still focused on internal friction.As pointed out above, many of the wars that followed the Opium Wars were caused by the Qing government's disregard for the contents of the treaties and the failure to abide by the relevant agreements, which led to wars.This kind of behavior can only be explained by a "powerlessness".It is by no means that all the rulers of the Qing court are ignorant, there must be some people who are sober, and the most important thing is to be sober, but it is not as good as ignorance, the more sober they are, the more painful they will be.This kind of thing is not only in China, but also in Japan.In 1858, Japan opened five ports of Nagasaki, Yokohama, Kobe, Niigata, and Hakodate, and later Tokyo and Osaka.However, due to the Meiji Restoration, Japan rapidly westernized, and by 1899, all concessions had been returned to Japan by Western countries.China, on the other hand, did not reclaim its last concession until 1999, a century-old gap that is thought-provoking.If you can figure out this matter, you should understand why Western countries "invaded" the Qing Dynasty, while the Japanese erected a monument to the "Monument to Admiral Perry of the Navy of the United States of North America".Sun Tzu's Art of War begins with the words "Soldiers, the major affairs of the country, the place of death and life, and the way of survival, must not be overlooked."
For a country, unless it is absolutely necessary, it will never start a war lightly, not to mention that China during the Opium War was still a giant in the eyes of Western countries, and no country thought that it would have the strength to absolutely defeat China.The Opium War was the result of decades of trade between China and Britain, and was in fact a contradiction between a pre-modern country and an industrial country.Like Lin Zexu's approach to the problem, this understanding of trade, based on different institutions, was bound to erupt in the years to come, if not war in 1840.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, something interesting happened in the Shanghai Concession.As we all know, one of the most important powers acquired by Western countries in the concessions is extraterritoriality, which has always been regarded by our history textbooks and mainstream views as a symbol of national humiliation.But the interesting fact is that in the concession of old Shanghai, extraterritoriality became a lifesaver in the eyes of the common people.Because the Qing government officials at that time still followed the same set on the TV screen when they tried the case, the complainant knelt down to appeal, and the county lord asked the case in court and gave a verdict.There are so many unjust, false and wrongly decided cases and the depth of judicial corruption that anyone who knows a little about China's current situation will understand.However, at that time, the practice of modern rule of law had already begun in the concession, and the residents in the concession filed complaints, adopting a series of processes such as filing a case, detective probe, lawyer prosecution, cross-examination in court, and jury verdict, although there may be injustice, but compared with Chinese law, its great progress is self-evident, at least ordinary people can show their grievances to the judge in court, without having to kneel.If you are an ordinary person and you are cheated in business, where will you choose to file a complaint, the answer is self-evident.There are also some problems, that is, residents in the concession can naturally go to the court in the concession to file a complaint, and it is difficult for residents outside the concession to enjoy this treatment.First, foreigners can report and prosecute on their behalf and pay a certain fee; Second, try to drag the foreigners in the concession into the water, so that their cases are related to the people in the concession, so that there will be a reason to file a complaint in the concession.Abandon those grandiose reasons in the history books, and the choices of ordinary people may be more indicative of the people's back.When the citizens of a country begin to distrust their own judges, tribunals, and laws, and are willing to live in a foreign legal system and cultural environment, it is self-evident what the real situation in the country is."
In order to get Nagasaki permanently, we need to be more civilized in addition to asking for a 100-year lease."
President Meng said to Princess Katrina Kafu and Li Hongzhang, "Murder has to go through the judicial process, so the murder just mentioned should be changed to, first arrest, and then kill those who violate the interests of China, and kill all of them."
Let the Western powers and the Japanese see that our civilization is no worse than that of any other power, and that whatever civilization is is the degree of civilization of justice. ”Li Hongzhang listened to President Meng's account of the situation in the Shanghai Concession, and these did exist, when the Chinese army went to Shanghai, Ningbo, these treaty ports, the first choice of the common people was to flee to the concession.It's not because the Chinese people are close to foreign devils, but because foreigners can really protect them, and foreigners won't kill people for no reason."
The emperor said it well."
Li Hongzhang is not patting on the back, he is sincere.President Meng said with a smile: "If the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing court could realize this, it is not incorrigible that the Qing court still has a chance to leap over the Qing court, but it is too difficult, their entire rule is rotten, if you want to reform, you must first operate from the princes and ministers, this operation is too big, so the probability that the Qing court wants to lead the whole of China to succeed in reform is less than one percent, and China is a country led by a working class to establish a political party, and the success rate is more than 99 percent." ”Princess Katrina Kafu smiled.President Meng also smiled: "Yes, 100 percent." ”Li Hongzhang echoed: "It must be 100 percent, just to the emperor to realize the essence of war, we have already won, I am not afraid that I don't know how to fight, I'm afraid that I don't know why to fight, today's emperor's words also made Li Hongzhang enlightened, I can figure out this problem in my lifetime, I will not be in vain." ”President Meng smiled: "This comment is too high, I just said the problem in simple language, it's not that you don't understand, but the angle you used to stand from was the perspective of the decadent rule of the Qing Dynasty, you haven't thought about these problems, and you don't dare to think about it."
The modern judicial system will make Bao Qingtian by itself, while in the ancient feudal judicial system, the common people can only rely on praying to God and worshiping Buddha, hoping that the sky will descend on Bao Qingtian. ”Li Hongzhang nodded.After arriving at Shimonoseki Castle, President Meng issued an order, declaring that the American army had nothing to do with the United States, and was purely a stateless pirate army, specializing in sabotaging relations between China and cracking down on the illegal activities of the Chinese army, so people related to this pirate army must be investigated and punished.The Chinese army went around arresting people who had ties to the Americans.Who can have anything to do with the Americans In addition to the high-ranking officials of the Japanese government, that is, big businessmen, it is equivalent to striking at once the Japanese upper class of the entire Kyushu Island, whether it is the power of Saigo Takamori or the power of Emperor Meiji, all of them will be attacked, and they will do things according to the law.Of course, the most important thing is that the family property must be confiscated in this process.President Moe's notice was sent to the consulates of various countries, as well as to the Japanese government.t1706231537: