On March 10, 1839, the nineteenth year of Daoguang, it was a clear day, the wind was harmonious, and all the high-ranking officials in Guangdong gathered at the dock, their looks were extremely serious, as if they were waiting for some important person to come; on both sides of the dock, there were crowds of onlookers, and on a closer look, there were many blonde foreigners.
Suddenly, a grand ship slowly approached, an official dressed in official uniform, solemn in temperament, with a stern expression, estimated to be about sixty years old, stood alone at the bow of the ship, and when he was about to go ashore, the soldiers who had been waiting for a long time lit nine salutes, accompanied by a loud noise, and officials from all walks of life hurried forward and nodded at the officials who came down from the ship, this time his task was to destroy all opium in Guangdong and declare a nationwide ban on smoking.
This task is very arduous, and it is comparable to Shangqingtian, on the one hand, the opium smokers who are not willing to lose their financial roads, on the other hand, the officials who have long colluded with the tobacco dealers, and the Manchurian nobles who are addicted to opium, but Lin Zexu still insists on completing this task.
In the following days, countless opium smokers came to bribe Lin Zexu, all of them failed, but Lin Zexu forced lin Zexu to hand over all opium within 3 days and promised not to sell opium again; at the same time, Lin Zexu also wrote to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, directly questioning her "knowing that opium is harmful, and prohibiting the people from smoking, why did she approve the people to carry out the opium trade in China", and then asked the queen to inform the British people to give up the opium trade in China. It can be seen that Lin Zexu's determination to sell cigarettes is great.
Since arriving in Guangdong on March 10, Lin Zexu began his own action, and by May 18, he had successfully seized 19,187 boxes of opium and 2,119 bags of opium, weighing 2376254 kilograms, arrested more than 1,600 drug addicts and tobacco dealers, confiscated 42,741 cigarette guns, 212 cigarette pots, and 461526 cigarette paste, and the infamous Lan Shilu Qiandi and other British traders were expelled.
But new questions soon arise, how should such a huge amount of opium be disposed of? Lin Zexu originally wanted to transport it back to the Beijing Division for destruction, but he was worried that someone would secretly change opium on the road, or it would be safer to destroy it on the spot, after reporting on the Guang Emperor, Daoguang immediately agreed, so the mighty Humen sold cigarettes and officially kicked off.
At first, Lin Zexu used the traditional "smoky soil mixed with tung oil incineration method", but this method would cause the cream to seep into the ground, and those crazy drug addicts would dig up the ground to suck the soil, so this method was abolished.
After much discussion, the "seawater leaching method" came into being: first, dig 2 large pools on the seashore, lay stones at the bottom of the pool, and nail boards around the pool to prevent opium leakage; then, dig another ditch to pour the salt water prepared in advance into the pool; then, cut the tobacco soil, throw it into the salt water, soak it for half a day; finally, pour the lime into it, the lime will boil when it meets the water, and the soot will dissolve, in order to speed up the dissolution speed, Lin Zexu also let people keep stirring in the pool with bamboo poles, and strive to completely dissolve the tobacco soil into the water.
When the tide is low, the ditch is opened, so that these "opium water" flows into the ocean, and then the bottom of the pool is washed with clean water many times, leaving no chance for drug addicts, which is the "seawater immersion method".
Even if it is viewed today, this method is very perfect and advanced, but what Lin Zexu did not expect was that there were still people who exploited loopholes in it, and it was under his eyes that they exploited loopholes and stole opium.
According to the "Three Rules for the Prohibition of Opium" in the "Novel of My Foshan People's Notes", "When the smoke and soil are burned, the public himself comes to monitor it, and the embers are extinguished, so it is also prevented from theft." If the soil is gathered and burned, although the outside is burned and the middle is afraid that it will not be burned, it will make people stir it up with bamboo bars, so dozens of servants and groups of bars will be lifted at the same time. When the servants meet, the bamboo knot in the bar is removed in advance, and the force of the time is provoked, then the soil is exhausted into the bamboo bar, one bar is full, and the other bar is easy. Afterwards, the price of opium soared, and all those who sold it privately took ten times the value, and the group became rich. ”
To explain simply, that is, the tobacco sales workers de-knotted the bamboo poles used for stirring in advance, and then deliberately poked and pounded hard when stirring opium, so that the opium entered the hollow bamboo pole. Wait until the bamboo pole is stuffed with opium, and then find another opportunity to change it. In this cycle, the workers were given several bamboo poles filled with opium, and when the cigarettes were sold in Humen, they were sold at a high price, and the workers became rich and rich.
It is extremely sad that these tobacco sales workers, because of their own selfishness, have actually done such a thing, which has seriously undermined the sale of cigarettes in Humen!