As we all know, the government of the late Qing Dynasty was closed to the outside world and weak and incompetent, and repeatedly and unconditionally compromised with the great powers, resulting in an accelerated collapse of national strength and economy. This not only caused the Qing government to gradually lose the capital that could resist the aggression of the great powers, but also allowed its dignity to be trampled on fiercely.
Money is such a good thing! If you take a passage that has recently become popular on the Internet, "The world is panicked, but it is just a few pieces of broken silver, but this broken silver is a few two, which can solve the tens of thousands of panics in the world, ensure the health of the elderly for a long time, children enter the school, chai rice oil salt and grain."
Put on the Qing government, that is, money can make the country's army have more sophisticated weapons and ammunition, greatly improving their military combat capabilities. And to be able to have money to invest in their own weapons research and development projects, do not have to be subject to other countries. Unfortunately, the Qing government at that time was financially difficult, and the whole country was in turmoil, and perhaps it would collapse in the next second.
Since the Qing government was invisible, why did they still insist on holding out for so long?
First of all, the subjugation of a country is a matter related to the fate of a country, and it is a matter of great importance to the common destiny of all people in this country. Its occurrence cannot happen overnight, it must have precursors and precursors.
Maxim machine gun
In 1896, Li Hongzhang, plenipotentiary envoy of the Qing Dynasty government, visited Britain. He had come to London to attend a new weapon launch called the Maxim Machine Gun.
The owner of the Makqin machine gun knew that Li Hongzhang's status in the Qing government was so high, so after Li Hongzhang came, he specially gave him a shocking performance: he had the Makqin machine gun aimed at a tree thicker than the waist of an adult man, and then pulled the trigger. After hearing only the sound of "suddenly..." ended, the tree had been broken by the barricade. Li Hongzhang couldn't help but sigh: "Too fast! Too fast! ”
The sound of machine guns firing and the sound of trees breaking left a great shock in Li Hongzhang's heart, and at the same time he also thought in his heart: If only our Great Qing Dynasty could also have such a powerful treasure. If this machine gun is equipped with one for each team, the improved combat effectiveness is not one point or two.
Before the development of such machine guns, most countries used guns could only carry one bullet, and had to be reloaded after a shot. You should have seen that scene on TV, a phalanx musketeer. The musketeers in the front row fired their shots and crouched down to reload ammunition, the second row aimed at firing, and so on. This allows for a dense network of firepower against the enemy.
But this formation will be beaten to no avail when facing the Maxim machine gun, and a phalanx musketeer is only its target.
Li Hongzhang's mood at this moment was very excited, and he was eager to immediately go home with this machine gun, but his brain that had been in politics for many years calmly told him that although this machine gun was very powerful, its shortcomings were also obvious.
He opened his mouth to the man who operated the machine gun and asked, "How many rounds of ammunition has this machine gun fired in that half-minute period?" The man replied, "Three hundred rounds." ”
Sure enough, the operator's words confirmed Li Hongzhang's discovery. He hadn't forgotten to observe the frantically falling shell casing before he saw the tree fall, and he tried to count it, but he quickly failed.
After a period of silence, Li Hongzhang said to the boss who sold the machine gun: "The power of this machine gun is really amazing, but its bullet consumption rate is too fast, and the Great Qing Dynasty can't afford to use it." ”
He rejected the proposal to purchase the Maxim machine gun on a large scale, and finally only bought three of them back for the Qing government to study and be able to imitate them himself in the future. After listening to Li Hongzhang's answer, the businessman was also silent, he did not expect that the once rich Qing Dynasty government now even buys bullets...
The failure of the foreign affairs movement
The originally rich and powerful Qing government gradually weakened, which is not the only thing that everyone wants to see. As I said at the beginning, there are people who are trying to save the country.
With Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Zuo Zongtang, and other figures familiar to us as local representatives, many new-style enterprises were founded, such as: Anqingnei Ordnance Institute, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, Hanyang Iron Works, etc. These are all aimed at increasing the total amount of modern production and increasing the country's economic and military strength.
Newspapers and periodicals and new-style schools all over the country have also sprung up one by one. In the 35 years since the existence of the Western affairs movement, the development of cultural publishing has reached an unprecedented level.
But in the end, the movement failed due to the shortcomings of the traditional feudal system, the lack of complete planning, the lack of insight of the principals, the opposition of the conservatives, and the corruption of the bureaucratic style.
However, its positive effects cannot be ignored. The creation of the Beiyang Marine Division is a good embodiment of the modernization of national defense, and the selection of international students and new-style schools allows more people to receive educational concepts from the West and opens up the gap in China's feudal education system. All this laid the groundwork for later revolutionary action.
Pathetic
The Qing Empire earns the most money in Chinese history every year, but under this unprecedented prosperity and prosperity, there is a huge crisis lurking. The cancers of extravagance, arrogance, corruption, corruption, and other evils grow unchecked in the cloak of peace and prosperity. Its toxicity gradually undermines the stable operation of the state and society.
When Manchu officials praised Qianlong's Wenzhi martial arts and indulged in prosperity and felt good about themselves, the Great Qing Dynasty quickly slid from the peak of the prosperous world to the foot of the mountain, and soon fell from the prosperous kangqian to the middle decline of Jiadao.
Behind the increase in tax revenue in the Qianlong Dynasty, most of them were abnormal sources of income: donations, merchants' retribution, salt and jin price increases, public welfare and honesty, and even the sale of officials and lords.
In particular, the sale of officials is the most powerful, the Qianlong era began to openly sell the Beijing official indicators, is the emperor in the sale, five pin lang in the bank 9600 two, four pin prefect silver 13300 two, etc., pay money can be honorable and righteous to become an official. Although these abnormal incomes can solve the urgent need, they are only drinking and quenching thirst for the whole country and society.
When a country's finances depend on large amounts of abnormal income, the country is already on the road to decay.
brief summary:
China is located in East Asia, far away from the West, neither Britain nor Russia can control the whole of China in a short period of time, And China will inevitably have a period of respite, and this time can discuss what kind of reaction to foreign invaders will be.
Then, China is not a religious country and will not be limited by the tedious rules of religion. Moreover, the hard work and eagerness of the Chinese can be seen from the imperial examination.
If China had not closed its doors and looked down on the wisdom of other civilizations, it would have taken fewer detours and caught up with the West sooner or later. The reform and opening up policy implemented by New China perfectly confirms this sentence.
But every country of every age has flaws and experiences different accidental and inevitable events. Just like the Ming Dynasty collapsed under the dual forces of natural disasters and man-made disasters and internal and external troubles, the Qing Dynasty took advantage of the rise. After this, the ideological emancipation of the late Ming Dynasty came to an abrupt end, and feudal and conservative ideas once again enveloped the entire society.
History doesn't have that much if. For us, some of them are historical necessities, but they are the lives of people of that era.