The modern Qing Dynasty is really a miserable, not to mention the great powers such as Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, even countries such as Denmark and Belgium are riding on the head of the Qing Dynasty to ask for benefits, and the Qing Dynasty always wants what to give, and almost no dares to rely on it.
However, in this state, a rather surprising thing has also happened, that is, the Sanmen Bay incident.
In 1899, as one of the great powers, Italy asked to lease the Qing Dynasty Zhejiang Sanmen Bay, originally thought that the Qing Dynasty would agree, did not expect that Italy drove the warships, the Qing Dynasty forced back, and finally Italy did not succeed.
In the late Qing Dynasty, although it was defeated everywhere in the struggle with the great powers, after all, the Qing Dynasty was huge, and because the development of the foreign affairs movement was not bad, the Qing Dynasty was even regarded by the West as a member of the great powers.
However, with the end of the Sino-Japanese War and the fact that the Qing Dynasty was beaten by small Japan to pay compensation, the last bit of jealousy of the rest of the world for the Qing Dynasty gradually disappeared, and more and more small countries wanted to take advantage of the Qing Dynasty.
After all, the Qing Dynasty could not even defeat such a country as Japan, and there was nothing to be afraid of.
At that time, western countries set off a frenzy of partition, delineated spheres of influence in China, forcibly leased land, and the Italian kingdom, not long after the completion of reunification, also wanted to fish in muddy waters and obtain enough benefits from the Qing Dynasty.
Italy forcibly leased land, which was ignored by the Qing Dynasty
In 1899, the Kingdom of Italy sent its minister Martine to submit a note to the Qing Dynasty's Prime Minister Yamen, asking for the lease of Sanmen Bay in Zhejiang.
The so-called Sanmen Bay, located in the coast of Taizhou in the east of Zhejiang Province, is the middle of china's eastern coastline, with a tortuous coastline, excellent port conditions, and a strategic position.
Italy's demand was that, as Germany had leased Jiaodong Bay, all the three small islands along the Sanmen Bay coast and nearby, as well as the related ancillary rights and interests, would be handed over to Italy.
Not only that, Italy demanded the construction of a railway from Sanmen Bay to Poyang Lake, bounded by a railway, and its southern Zhejiang belt belonged to Italy's sphere of influence, and all other ancillary rights and interests belonged entirely to Italy and could not be handed over to other countries.
In the note to the Qing Dynasty, Madinne's attitude was very arrogant, claiming that it was carried out in the name of the Italian king, calling itself one of the six major European powers of Italy, and the rights given by the Qing Dynasty to other countries should have an Italian share.
According to the previous character of the Qing Dynasty, Italy must have been very nervous about this kind of demand, followed by bargaining and then agreeing.
However, this time the Qing Dynasty was unusual, and Madinne's note was directly withdrawn, and the Qing Dynasty ignored it.
Because the return note angered Italy, Britain and Germany mediated from it, and the Qing Dynasty apologized while still not agreeing to Italy's conditions, in order to force the Qing Dynasty to comply, Italy sailed the fleet to the East China Sea.
In the face of Italy, where did the Qing Dynasty's strength come from
There were also great reasons why the Qing Dynasty dared to treat Italy in this way at that time, and it had done many studies beforehand.
In fact, the international situation at that time was very complicated, and Italy's request for lease of Sanmen Bay was tacitly approved or even supported by many great powers such as britain.
At that time, France and Japan were staring at the eastern coast of the Qing Dynasty, and Britain was busy competing with Russia in Central Asia, lacking skills, thinking of supporting Italy in the struggle with France and Japan, so as to leave some back road for itself.
Naturally, whether it was Japan, Russia or France, the strength in the Far East was relatively limited at that time.
The Qing Dynasty inquired in advance and learned that although Britain supported Italy's leasing of land, it was only verbal, and Italy was not allowed to use force, and Italy's behavior would certainly be opposed by Japan, France and other countries that also coveted Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
In 1895, just before Italy forcibly leased Sanmen Bay, it was preparing to colonize Ethiopia in Africa, and as a result, Italy was beaten by the local native soldiers, and became a big joke in the West.
When France learned of Italy's lease of land, it took the lead in informing the Qing Dynasty and supported the Qing Dynasty's refusal.
Just after the Italian warships came, the Prime Minister Yamen was still a batch of Italy, and the Italian hard bar, there was no sign of weakness at all, while the Italian side claimed to reply within the time limit, otherwise there would be war.
However, at that time, Italy itself was constantly worried, such a rash move caused strong dissatisfaction in its country, and funny things happened, and the Italian side withdrew the previous war statement on the grounds of work mistakes and apologized.
At that time, Italy set its sights on Sanmen Bay, in addition to the strategic position of this place is very important, suitable as a military base, but also because Italy has taken a fancy to the raw silk industry in the southern part of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Italy is the largest silk producing country in Europe, the demand for raw silk raw materials is huge, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas of the Qing Dynasty are famous raw silk producing areas, if you can take this place, then it will have great benefits for the Italian economy.
However, Italy's forced lease of Sanmen Bay has become a farce, and the Qing Dynasty on the one hand knows italy's bottom limit, on the other hand, the Qing Dynasty is also actively preparing for war, asking other powers to intervene and exert pressure on Italy.
Italy itself had many problems at that time, looking at the Qing Dynasty was not easy to provoke, coupled with the pressure of the great powers on all parties in Italy's strong lease of Sanmen Bay, it could only be forced to leave in the end, and the matter of leasing Sanmen Bay naturally did not end, becoming a big joke.