As we all know, the Opium War was the beginning of China's modern history, and Britain, known as the "Empire of the Sun Never Sets," opened the door to the ancient decay of the Qing government, and China was reduced to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial social nature, and the people fell into deep suffering. Prosperity, the suffering of the people, death, and suffering of the people, this is the saddest place for the people in feudal society.
When the Western powers reached out to the Qing government for reparations, the Qing government would order an increase in taxes, and the heavy burden overwhelmed the people. But even as the Western powers forcibly blasted open the gates of the Qing government with guns and cannons, the Rulers of the Qing Dynasty still hypnotized themselves with their eyes closed and broken thoughts, convincing themselves that all this was a nightmare.
When the Second Opium War broke out, the Qing Dynasty did not learn a lesson from the First Opium War on how to deal with foreigners, so that beatings became inevitable. At that time, Guangzhou was the forward position of direct contact with the Western powers, and the actions of the defending generals played a crucial role in influencing the direction of the war. However, the actions of Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, were confusing, and his actions in the Second Opium War were unbelievable, and he thus won the title of "Six No Governors", that is, not to die, not to surrender, not to go, not to fight, not to reconcile, and not to defend.
Ye Mingchen was a Hubei jinshi during the Daoguang years, and with profound knowledge and unique insights, he gradually rose to the governor of Liangguang, and coincidentally, Lin Zexu, the leading official of Humen Gun smoke, also happened to be the governor of Liangguang ten years ago. Ye Mingchen seems to have inherited Lin Zexu's attitude toward foreigners, domineering without losing his arrogance, and repeatedly refused to receive British envoys who came to ask for a revision of the treaty. Although the emissaries came over and over again, Ye Mingchen's attitude was still "busy with affairs and couldn't get out of his way", or he bluntly refused the emissaries' requests. The British side was angry, but because the main forces of the British army were concentrated in the Middle East at that time, there was no time to take into account the special interests of the East, so they could only shelve the revision of the treaty first.
Ye Mingchen's tough style not only made the imperial court overjoyed, but also attracted a round of applause from the people of Guangdong, believing that Ye Mingchen was a national hero and a pillar of the country. The sudden honor and recognition made Ye Mingchen, who had always liked to brag about himself, become more arrogant and arrogant, and he regarded the compromise that the British army had no time to take care of as the success of his tough diplomacy. In order to show the majesty of the Heavenly Dynasty, Ye Mingchen would show the charm of the text every time he encountered a problem of negotiation, and if he could use the tone word, he would use the tone word, and "can", "quasi", and "no" became the common words that Ye Mingchen hung on his lips.
The British diplomat really couldn't stand Ye Mingchen's hospitality, took a small sip of tea, and jumped out word by word, as if he didn't even need to bring an interpreter. The most ridiculous thing is that the governor does not pay any attention to the British diplomat, and must lean on his face every time he talks, expressing a sense of superiority. The British emissaries became increasingly dissatisfied with Ye Mingchen's reception, and they began to look for opportunities to fight another war with the Qing Dynasty.
On September 10, 1856, the opportunity finally came, and a merchant ship named "Yaluo" sailed from Xiamen with the British flag, but the Qing Dynasty admiral who was in charge of the inspection found that the owner of the ship was a Chinese with black hair and black eyes. Hanging on the head of a sheep to sell dog meat, taking advantage of the special interests of the Western powers in the Qing Dynasty, he wanted to make a black heart. The ship's owner's actions angered the admiral, who ordered a search on board and arrested thirteen suspicious persons. As the Qing soldiers were leaving, they pulled off the British flag and stomped on them twice with resentment, and the news quickly reached the ears of the British. After hearing this, the consul of the British Embassy in Guangzhou, Pasha Li, immediately wrote a letter of reproach to Ye Mingchen, hoping to force Ye Mingchen to recognize Britain's special interests. However, Ye Mingchen still put it aside and adopted a consistent attitude: ignore it. Seeing that it was not possible to send letters and negotiate, Pasha Li personally led hundreds of soldiers into the city of Guangzhou and easily took Guangzhou.
However, when Pasha Li entered Guangzhou, he found that the number of Chinese in Guangzhou was too large, and hundreds of soldiers wanted to manage the place, and there was a danger that sheep would enter the tiger's mouth. What's more, this dispatch of troops was a private order of Pasha Li, a warning and threat to the corrupt old Ru Ye Mingchen, and did not get the permission of the British Parliament. Under various circumstances, Pasha Li withdrew from Guangzhou City and staged a dramatic scene of walking away. Unexpectedly, the cheeky Ye Mingchen immediately appealed to the imperial court, and the Manchu Qing courtiers who were in the dark were ecstatic, feeling that Ye Mingchen was much stronger than Lin Zexu, and not only did not cause war, but had the effect of promoting national prestige. The court's commendation decree made Ye Mingchen more arrogant and arrogant, and he refused to meet Pasha Li who asked for an interview, with a posture of "Lao Tzu is the biggest in the world". The enraged Pasha Li threatened Ye Mingchen with force, but the triumphant Ye Mingchen instead ordered the burning of various merchant houses and foreign firms in Guangzhou.
Ye Mingchen's willful arrogance eventually intensified the diplomatic contradictions of the Qing government, and in September 1857, the warships of the Anglo-French coalition army arrived on the sea in Guangdong in a vain attempt to force Ye Mingchen to negotiate peace. A jaw-dropping scene occurred, when Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, ordered the city gates to be closed and engaged in a farce of inviting god, hoping to invite the so-called Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals to help him. Two months later, the British and French allies issued an ultimatum, asking Ye Mingchen to surrender within two days, or he would forcibly attack the city. The threat of the Anglo-French coalition made Ye Mingchen impatient, and he immediately rushed to the Immortal Temple in Guangzhou, drawing a signature, and the auspicious guaxiang. Looking at the British and French allied forces outside the city, even if Ye Mingchen was superstitious, it was difficult to believe that there would really be heavenly soldiers to help. The outcome of this war was obvious, Ye Mingchen did not wait for his heavenly soldiers, but waited for the blonde foreign soldiers, and effortlessly captured him alive. Ye Mingchen's defeat and capture were criticized and ridiculed by people from all walks of life, and he was also given the title of "Viceroy of the Six Noes", saying that he was the first fool in the ages. Poor Ye Mingchen was not only ridiculed and insulted by foreigners, but also sarcastically insulted by the people of Guangzhou.
On January 5, 1859, Ye Mingchen was forcibly escorted by the British army to a warship moored in Hong Kong, and the top commander of the Liangguang region was actually taken as a prisoner on the warship, and the future was unknown fear and confusion. Ye Mingchen stayed on a British warship for more than a month, and then arrived in Calcutta, India, at this time Ye Mingchen was complicated and worried. But instead of kneeling down like an ordinary prisoner and begging for forgiveness, he walked up to the deck with a serious face, wearing a Qing Dynasty official uniform. Ye Mingchen thus began his prison career, and during the years of wandering at sea, he named himself "Su Wu on the Sea", and he had some ambition to dedicate himself to the country. As the former governor of Liangguang, Ye Mingchen paid special attention to current affairs news, and he repeatedly asked others to translate newspapers for him to understand the current situation in the Qing Dynasty.
On April 9 of the same year, the much-publicized Ye Mingchen died mysteriously, leaving not a single relic, not even a suicide note, on his deathbed. According to the doctor who examined Ye Mingchen's body, Ye's physical condition was good, and there were no signs of serious illness. The servants around Ye Mingchen gave a reasonable explanation, saying that Governor Ye died of hunger strike, and the food brought from the country had been eaten as early as a month ago, and Viceroy Ye refused to buy it again. Even though British translators repeatedly brought food, Ye Mingchen refused to eat it, so the mainstream view was to die on hunger strike.
Compared with Ye Mingchen's inaction on the battlefield, in terms of integrity and demeanor, Ye Mingchen is worthy of affirmation. When the British returned Ye Mingchen's body to the imperial court with a solemn ceremony, the rumors about Ye Mingchen still did not stop, and people were worried about his failure to defend Guangzhou. In order not to dishonor the face of the imperial court, Ye Mingchen had to maintain the integrity of a reader, so that his behavior was still worthy of understanding. Unfortunately, Ye Mingchen was an aspiring old-fashioned scholar-doctor who did not learn to be flexible until his death, but single-mindedly wanted to emulate Su Wu, believing that it was his right to die for the sake of holding the festival.
For the Qing government, Ye Mingchen's death was only a clear proof that the Qing Empire was closed to the country and stuck in the footsteps of The Qing Empire when facing the British, French and other powers after the completion of the industrial revolution, and it was also after the death of Ye Mingchen, who was in a high position, a number of ministers with ambitions for the country such as Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and Zhang Zhidong successively threw themselves into the western affairs movement - "Shi Yi Long Skill to Control Yi" of the strong reform.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, etc