What the Emperor was thinking about was how to gain the support of international public opinion and how to make a fuss about the assassination just now, because Emperor Hua had actually completely lost illusions with these two superpowers before he visited France and Britain.There is an old saying in China called to seek skin with a tiger, China and Britain, France, in the battle for colonies have a serious conflict of interests, do not hurt the opponent, no one will be willing to rest, things in the world, in the end, must be solved by fists, by knives and bullets, forever, the essence of human beings is ferocious, otherwise, why the fundamental essence of Confucianism and Taoism, is to advocate self-cultivation.It was Crown Prince Edward who spoke: "Dear friends from all countries, good afternoon, it is a great honor to be able to preside over today's celebration.Let us express our warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to all the distinguished guests for their presence with warm applause" Everyone applauded together, and the emperor also applauded lazily, this perfunctory scene, although the emperor is still the first time to experience, but he is not cold, on this occasion today, almost all the countries that can stand on the international stage in this era have been gathered."
In the end, the British royal family, the queen and the crown prince are quite prestigious."
Princess Katrina Kafu chuckled softly and said to President Moe.President Meng smiled indifferently, "Weiyi is supported by national strength, if they are not the number one imperialist country now, how many people can come today" Princess Katrina Kafu smiled and nodded, trying to persuade the Emperor to give up the idea of using force against the British, but after all, she did not speak, although Princess Katrina Kafu also knew that the Emperor would do it, but she only thought that the Emperor would use economic and political infiltration, and did not expect that the Emperor would directly use force.Hua Huang was also forced to be helpless, if political and economic infiltration alone could achieve the goal, why did he risk the threat of the destruction of the entire country and use a gun to get out of power, this sentence will not be wrong in any era.The ceremonies were carried out one by one, and after Crown Prince Edward's speech, all that remained was for the ambassadors to toast the Queen of England individually.Of course, the queen means it, and the ambassadors generally drink it up, which is a tribute, and it also shows that the queen's status is above everyone.When the envoys of various countries toast, everyone is to maintain a quiet chatting environment, this kind of occasion, although grand, but really from the heart, at most, a few small countries regard Britain as very, very noble, most countries have a direct relationship with Britain, in fact, it is okay, at most it is fear, respect, not much.Huahuang watched all this quietly, which was originally a very boring thing, but at this moment, Huahuang found it very interesting, because the attitude of various countries towards the Queen of England and the attitude of the Queen of England towards individuals are very interesting.Especially British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who is next to the Queen.Former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once famously said: therearethreekdsofies: ies, danedies, andstatistics There are three kinds of lies in the world: lies, damn lies, and statistics.This sentence is very appreciated by Huahuang.Seeing British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli also reminded the Emperor of China of Comrade Li Hongzhang.In the later history of Huaguo, Lord Zhongtang said that he was a pasteur who pasted a paper house in his life.Foreigners have a high opinion of Li Hongzhang because they see that it is still a house, and there is a housekeeper in the house, and the housekeeper can still communicate, unlike the owner of the house who went crazy and declared war on the world.As for our own people, all we see is pasted paper, leaking wind on all sides, and the Chinese people who live in it are just hungry and cold.Of course, foreigners also have a low evaluation of Li Hongzhang, but they are omitted by selective amnesia, and the high evaluation is basically the head of government and the head of state who praise and sing out of the needs of official etiquette, and praise and praise others at the diplomatic level.British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli has a high evaluation in Western political circles, and Western countries have never hesitated to praise him with flowery rhetoric.In the original history.The Germans spared no effort to praise Li Hongzhang because the guns of the Huai Army and the main warships of the Beiyang Navy, especially the guns of the gold-swallowing monsters Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, were all ordered from the German Krupp Company, and the silver in the treasury of the Qing Dynasty was an important source of wealth for the Krupp family, and the Krupp family was an important source of wealth for Bismarck and Germany.The United States praised Li Hongzhang because the imperialists, who were belated, could not catch up with the last train to divide China's sphere of influence, and their ability to project in the Far East was limited, so they could only adopt a roundabout strategy, starting with commerce, economics, and education, and actively advocating an open door and equalizing interests in China.Russia praised Li Hongzhang for his strategic confrontation with Britain and Japan in Central Asia and the Far East, respectively.With Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the trend of being a hegemon in the Far East has become more and more obvious, and the momentum of northward expansion is bound to collide with the momentum of Russia's southward expansion, which has seriously hampered Russia's vested interests in the Far East.Therefore, there was the Sino-Russian secret treaty and the Manchurian treaty that shook Li Hongzhang and Witte.Japan praised Li Hongzhang because, as one of the few powerful ministers in the late Qing Dynasty who knew how to do diplomacy, and was the general representative of the Han bureaucracy, his existence could be very convenient to communicate with the Qing court.As we all know, Li Hongzhang is a student of Zeng Guofan, and he has a true heritage in being an official and handling things, but Li Hongzhang's actions are not as good as his teacher Zeng Guofan, and perhaps, not as good as Zuo Zongtang.Emperor Huahuang's unconventional retainer Li Hongzhang, when he was young, his dream was to "want to be a marquis three thousand miles away", Zeng Guofan once unceremoniously commented that Li Hongzhang only wanted to be promoted, get ahead, and be too utilitarian to be an official.Li Hongzhang's fundamental purpose in running foreign affairs, promoting education, training the navy, and building factories is to make the country rich and strong, and the fundamental purpose of making the country rich and strong is to continue the rule of the Qing Dynasty.Li Hongzhang was the biggest beneficiary of the Qing Dynasty system, the glory and power of the Li family and the Qing Dynasty's national fortunes were both prosperous and lost, even when the southeast was mutually assured, he never thought of replacing the Qing court.Public opinion after the First Sino-Japanese War said that Li Hongzhang had betrayed the country was biased and irresponsible.However, public opinion violently criticized Li Hongzhang for misleading the country, which is completely deserved and unforgivable.The first mistake is that the tail is too big to fall.After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed in 1864, the Hunan army was dismissed, but the Huai army was preserved.The Huai Army has always been regarded as Li Hongzhang's private property, from the senior generals to the grass-roots battalion officials, they are basically Hefei people, the soldiers are all from the same township and village, the Huai Army only obeys the orders of the boss Li Hongzhang, and is only responsible for the Li family, which is a very typical private army, and is the ancestor of the Chinese warlords in the future.Emperor Hua was able to easily overthrow the Qing court, and it was precisely by relying on this loophole that he easily cleaned up Li Hongzhang's Huai army.The Huai Army has not been an army to defend the country since the founding of the army, soldiers are soldiers to grab money, food and territory, and officers are in the army to be promoted and make a fortune.After the Taiping Rebellion was suppressed, it marked the comprehensive rise of the Hunan and Huai Han bureaucracy in the domestic political arena.The representative of the Huai system is Li Hongzhang.The eldest brother Li Hanzhang is the governor of Huguang, and the two Han brothers are the same governors with real power, which is extremely rare since the founding of the Qing Dynasty.Their rise marked the loss of control of the Qing government over the south, and the situation of emphasizing the outside and neglecting the interior was completely formed.Most of the southern governors who formed friendships in the civil war were fellow villagers, the same clan, the same period, comrades-in-arms and in-laws, and the old protégés were all over the officialdom, and the younger generations intermarried with each other, and the relationship was intertwined, and the whole body was involved, forming a strong community of interests, and it was Li Hongzhang who inherited this relationship network from his teacher Zeng Guofan, and created a consistent community of interests.The second place where Li Hongzhang misled the country is that most of the people he uses are mediocre talents, and when they reach a critical moment, they become waste materials; in addition to his staff, the primary criterion for employing and promoting officials is not to look at talent and morality, but to look at relationships and money.The people of the time used this to ridicule Li Hongzhang as "Prime Minister Hefei is thin in the world".Li Hongzhang formed the Beiyang Navy at that time, from the very beginning to consolidate his position in the imperial court, and secondly, for the country's coastal defense.The Beiyang Navy has always been regarded as Li Hongzhang's private navy, absolutely forbidden to be controlled by outsiders, did not choose Deng Shichang, who has both talent and virtue and a background of studying abroad, nor did he choose other naval generals from other professional classes, but chose the loyal retainer Ding Ruchang, Ding Ruchang has neither naval experience nor naval experience, he is completely an old-style officer, his task is to faithfully carry out the boss's orders, he made too many fatal mistakes in the entire Sino-Japanese naval battle, but the most fundamental mistake is to obey Li Hongzhang's remote command, he has no opinion, Implementing the strategy of avoiding war and protecting the ship, he and the Beiyang Navy were finally buried.There are also the major organs of the Beiyang Navy, which are also controlled by Li Hongzhang's cronies, and these people are greedy and stupid, and they are more than successful and more than defeated.Zhang Shiyan, the chief of the Ordnance Logistics Bureau of the Beiyang Fleet, was Li Hongzhang's nephew, and the real power behind the scenes was Li Jingfang, and the performance of these two people made an indelible contribution to the victory of the Japanese in the First Sino-Japanese War.Li Hongzhang's third mistake is self-righteousness, thinking that his power in the officialdom can also show his skills in the diplomatic field.But practice has proved that he himself has been ruthlessly put on countless paths by the foreign powers.The first is to argue with Zuo Zongtang about which is more important than coastal defense.Li Hongzhang suggested abandoning Xinjiang, which was strongly opposed by Zuo Zongtang, and after Zuo Xi's expedition, he tried his best to obstruct his action to recover Xinjiang, the most typical of which was to withhold tariffs on the southeast coast and not hand them over to the imperial court.In order to raise food and wages, Zuo Zongtang had to raise funds from foreign banks through Hu Xueyan, and Cixi allocated funds from the imperial treasury to barely ensure the military expenses of the Western Expeditionary Army, but Zuo Zongtang's money bag Hu Xueyan was overwhelmed by Li Hongzhang, and was finally destroyed by Sheng Xuanhuai's United Foreign Bank.In the war to recover Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang was most worried not about the frontal enemy, but about the source of military spending and the cold arrows from the court.In the Sino-French War of 1885, he sued for peace with France at the end of the crossbow when he was victorious, which led to the loss of China's victory and defeat, the loss of Vietnam, a vassal state in the southwest, and the opening of the barriers in South China and the southwest, and the French forces drove straight into the hinterland of China.After the First Sino-Japanese War, in order to balance Japan, he led the "bear" into the house, formed an alliance with Russia, hoping to get the protection of Russia, and was used by Nicholas II to accelerate Russia's expansion in the northeast, and the contradictions between Japan and Russia around the northeast and Korean issues increased day by day, and finally the Russo-Japanese War broke out, which intensified Japan's expansion and ambition against China.In 1896, when Nicholas II ascended the throne and Li Hongzhang attended the coronation ceremony as a representative, Russian Finance Minister Witte was determined to "help China by force" with the intention of "safeguarding China's territorial integrity" and formulating a long-brewing railway plan, which was to build a railway from northern Manchuria, Mongolia to Vladivostok.Li Hongzhang sent back a secret telegram: "China and Russia have the closest relations, and the eastern province is connected to the land, which is really a quick transfer of troops in the future."
If China has something, it will also help, not only for Russia", Li tried his best to promote this matter, and finally persuaded the highest level, this is the Sino-Russian secret railway built and operated by the Russian Daosheng Bank, the establishment of the Eastern Railway Company, but in fact it was unilaterally controlled by Russia, and everywhere the railway went became Russia's sphere of influence, and in this way controlled Dalian, Lushun, the Liaodong Peninsula fell into the Russian bear's paws, and then Russia changed it to "Kwantung Province", and the northeast became a country within a country of Russians.Everyone knows that the railway is a good thing, but it depends on who controls it, and this matter aroused fierce opposition from both the government and the opposition, because he made a decision and personally handled this matter despite public opinion.After the signing of the cunning Russian foreign treaty, it was treacherous, and soon it sang a duet with Germany, which took Jiaozhou Bay from the Qing Dynasty, and Russia took Lushun and Dalian.Li Hongzhang has long been deliberately deified by some people in today's China, and some books have put him on the altar, and a certain encyclopedia even called him "the three great men of the nineteenth century".Li Hongzhang is an officialdom talent, a typical realist, as he himself said, he is just a "pasteur", in the "great changes unseen in 3,000 years" to repair the leaky house of the Qing government.Hua Huang believes that Li Hongzhang has never had the idea of tearing down the house, the education he received since childhood, and what he has done all his life, is to maintain the existence of this house, he has neither the ability to push this house, nor the ability to rebuild the house, knowing that this house will collapse, but he has to accept the reality painfully.Judging from the traditional elite education he received, letting the Qing Dynasty perish in his own hands was tantamount to a humiliation and becoming a "minister of the fallen country".When Li Hongzhang opened his eyes to the world, set up foreign affairs with practical actions, set up industries, and learned advanced Western science and technology, he fulfilled his due responsibilities within the scope of his ability, although he could not help himself.Therefore, the Chinese emperor used Li Hongzhang, on the one hand, because he thought that he wanted to encircle and speed up some intellectuals left over from the Manchu Qing Dynasty who could be reformed and integrate into the new knowledge system of China as soon as possible, and on the other hand, Li Hongzhang did have a unique vision in diplomacy and in judging the situation and sizing up the situation.If you have to use one person, the short man is taller, the Chinese emperor thinks that Li Hongzhang is one of the few important ministers of the Qing Empire at that time who knows some foreign affairs and how to deal with foreigners, and it is normal to get the attention of foreigners, of course, Li Hongzhang also has great limitations, such as the strategy of uniting Russia to control Britain is part of the great failure of Chinese diplomacy at the end of the 19th century, and it is also a fact that he accepted bribes from Russians.Li Hongzhang may not have seen much respect from foreigners at that time, and many face-to-face verbal praises cannot be taken seriously, Ito Hirobumi was very respectful to Li Hongzhang in person, and said something like "You will definitely do better than me in Japan", but Ito Hirobumi will say "Hokkaido is not the essence of our country's territory, it is better to lose it to the Russians" and something like that Li Hongzhang said, he made it clear that he would give up Xinjiang to the Russians, so as not to consume China's resources in vain.
With his advanced age, he led the army to go on an expedition to Xinjiang and take this territory back from Agubai's hands, isn't Li Hongzhang's infamy as a traitor a real thing, Li Hongzhang has good money and a good name, and he has raised a lot of Qingke and helpers, and when he was alive, he helped him brag about the market, and all kinds of words such as creating public opinion, what a great man in the 19th century, the Oriental Bismarck, etc., but in fact, the title of "Oriental Bismarck" was timid, and Bismarck didn't look down on Li Hongzhang, he told Li Hongzhang in person, " Some people say that you are the Bismarck of the East, but I myself can hardly hope to get the title of Li Hongzhang of Europe. ”Although Li Hongzhang has many shortcomings, he can be regarded as a passable figure in the dark officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty, which can only show how decadent and pitiful China was in the late Qing Dynasty, but it cannot be said how great and excellent Li Hongzhang is.In that darkest era in China, Li Hongzhang naturally inevitably got some sour smell that belonged to the times, and he could only do a little better than the vast majority of people, which was his tragedy, and of course the tragedy of the entire Chinese nation.Now the style of overturning the case is popular, and everyone who has been condemned likes to play and overturn the case, after all, it is so interesting, and you can put on a show-off face and say, "You still believe in the textbook", but history is history after all, it is not so legendary, but it is full of pathos and sadness.Emperor Hua felt that the most important thing was the most important thing, because Li Hongzhang seized the opportunity of the prime minister's affairs yamen, which the conservative bureaucrats were unwilling to do at that time, and later managed almost the entire foreign affairs and military, industrial and other modern parts, and became the minister of Beiyang, diplomacy was his primary task, and foreigners were naturally familiar with him.In addition to being clever and capable of handling affairs, Li Hongzhang understood foreigners, looked down on foreigners, regarded foreigners as sinister villains, and used clever, calculating, and cunning means to deal with foreigners and protect the interests of the Qing Dynasty, which often achieved miraculous results.Foreigners admired and feared him.A conservative and pedantic minister cannot do such a thing.Li Hongzhang founded the Huai Army in Shanghai, and was influenced by Western civilization early on, open-minded, and quick to learn, so he was naturally popular with foreigners.Li Hongzhang had the courage to face it, dared to take responsibility, gritted his teeth and insisted on doing it well, no matter how difficult it was, so that he would always stand at the forefront of history in the great changes unseen in the last 3,000 years of the 19th century.During the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, Li Hongzhang negotiated with foreign countries and took the lead in organizing mutual protection in the southeast.If a foreign country abandons the Qing Dynasty and establishes another president, Li Hongzhang is the only candidate.In fact, Li Hongzhang has always been unsuccessful in the Qing Dynasty system, far inferior to Yuan Shikai at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and his official work is actually not at the top level, and he has suffered a lot of blows and constraints, and his work has been hindered left and right, prompting him to focus on diplomacy and foreign affairs and improve his status.There is also a paragraph that makes Emperor Hua most emotional, Li Hongzhang said that only his own name is the most difficult to write in the world.Li Hongzhang wrote, for Aixin Gioro and Weng Tong Yu Xian carried the black cauldron, this kind of courage Zhang Zhidong can't do it, Yuan Shikai can't do it, Kang Youwei people don't have the courage to do it, that troubled world, a good wisdom and great love, loyalty, righteousness, courtesy, filial piety, the things that the Chinese admire in their bones have been done, the ancient years, the old and the remnants weep blood, the reason why the Hua Huang every time he thinks of Li Zhongtang, has infinite emotion and admiration.In the turbulent times of the late Qing Dynasty, the three of them worked together to carry the tripod and renew the life of the braided country, one was Cixi, who brought the people of the world to revitalize the country, the second was Zeng Guofan, who opened a precedent for modern education, and the third was Li Hongzhang, who almost resisted the great powers with the strength of one person, and did not hesitate to take advantage of the reputation that the literati valued the most in exchange for the mountains and rivers are still there, although the country and the people are safe, but they also do their best.With outstanding vision and foresight, Zhongtang has already seen through everything.Therefore, now that Li Hongzhang is in the system of the Chinese Emperor, the Chinese Emperor feels that it is so easy to use, and half of the credit for Xuan Jianzhang's military achievements in Japan should be given to Li Hongzhang, and Li Hongzhang's diplomatic strategy and grasp of the timing are not something that these officials who have just finished elementary school in the hands of the Chinese Emperor can do.The emperor's appreciation of Disraeli is also accurate because of his political vision, which has been confirmed by history, and Disraeli once said that Britain and Russia are both big powers on the periphery of Europe, and if we don't work together, Berlin will control Europe.The Cold War period cannot be said about ideological issues.One of the great hobbies of the British is to be a-stirring stick to prevent European integration, and this strategy is not aimed only at the Russians, but against whoever wants to unify Europe, and belongs to the offshore balancer who does not want to be marginalized.As a maritime country in Europe, Britain has always been trying to avoid a situation of dominance on the European continent.Therefore, Napoleon was anti-French when he dominated the European continent, and he was anti-German after the rise of Germany.Maintain a situation of equal strength, and you can reap the benefits.When it was Emperor Hua's turn, President Meng got up from his seat and said with a smile: "I wasn't killed just now, otherwise I wouldn't have had the opportunity to toast Her Majesty here." ”From Hua Huang standing up to Hua Huang opening his mouth, everyone had already stopped talking softly, and looked at Hua Huang in unison, which of the people present was not a politician Even if they were not politicians, they were at least veteran politicians, and they had been in what circle for a long time, they would naturally have sensitivity, and these politicians expected that Hua Huang's toast would be different, so from the moment Hua Huang stood up, everyone was waiting to watch the play."
Did something happen" Although Queen Victoria of England expected that the Emperor might mention the assassination just now, the possibility that the Emperor would say it in public was only half and half, and the Queen was still a little surprised that the Emperor would make a move in public.Hua Huang smiled: "Except for Britain, tomorrow the newspapers of all countries in Europe, and even all the newspapers of all countries in the Americas, will report the news of my assassination in the capital of Britain just now." ”Hearing what the Emperor said this, Crown Prince Edward and British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli all widened their eyes, and it was not clear what the Emperor would continue to say shocking words, but in fact, the Emperor said this, which was already very unpolite and provocative.Princess Katrina Kafu was suddenly nervous, the palms of both hands were full of sweat, although the possibility of Britain openly disfavoring the Chinese Emperor was almost zero, but this was in Buckingham Palace after all, such an environment, such an atmosphere, it was indeed terrifying enough.t1706231537: