Who were the famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty? The two most popular versions are the first version: Zeng Guofan, Hu Linyi, Zuo Zongtang, Peng Yulin; version II Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong. Either version shows the important role of the Han landlord bureaucracy in the political situation of the late Qing Dynasty. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Han bureaucrats rose up, exerted important influence at the local level, seized the military and political power of a province, and set off a foreign affairs movement. So, who is behind these Han bureaucrats? The answer is that prince Gong Yixuan, the central leader of the Westerners. Lord He mingjue commented on him in "The Nature of Chinese": "The greatest secret of his success is that he can judge in advance the timing of compromise. The fact that he constantly changes his mask does not mean that he is indecisive. Hidden behind many masks, Prince Gong was carefully pondering his opponents, judging their intentions and policies, and then deciding on their own countermeasures. "It can be seen that Prince Gong is also a cattle man." However, Prince Gong's political career was not smooth, from the "Xin You Coup" to the top of power, and then to the "Jiashen Yishu" fell to the bottom, which can be described as ups and downs, ups and downs, ups and downs.
01. He is both literate and martial, open-minded, but he has no access to the throne, and he is snubbed by his brother
Yi Zhi (奕訢), the sixth son of the Daoguang Emperor, the half-brother of the Xianfeng Emperor Yi Ning, the Prince of Fenghe Shuogong, was one of the twelve iron hat kings of the Qing Dynasty, and was hereditary. Compared with Mu Ne and his conservative brother Xianfeng, Prince Gong was proficient in ceremonies, music, archery, imperial calligraphy, and art, and was also familiar with Chinese, Manchu, and Mongolian, and could read the classics of the past, which could be described as both literature and martial arts. In addition, Prince Gong was open-minded, inclined to learn from the West, accepted the rules of the game in the capitalist era, and did not blindly adhere to the concept of "heavenly dynasty and kingdom", so he was called "Devil Six" by the world. Such a prince should inherit the great unification and undertake the heavy responsibility of saving the Great Qing and leading the modernization of China. Unfortunately, Daoguang was confused at a critical moment and chose the conservative Xianfeng, and the historical track of the Great Qing Dynasty changed.
In XianFeng's view, his younger brother Prince Gong was his rival, and he could inherit the unification, which was somewhat lucky. Therefore, after Xianfeng succeeded to the throne, he first promoted Prince Gong step by step out of political needs, and after he sat firmly on the throne, he left Prince Gong out of the cold and transferred him away from the military plane. After the Anglo-French forces attacked Beijing, Xianfeng asked Prince Gong to stay behind to preside over the peace talks and clean up the mess. When Xianfeng was critically ill, Prince Gong asked to visit Rehe, but was directly rejected, saying that it was useless to meet and would make you sad. The Records of Emperor Wenzong of the Qing Dynasty records that "seeing each other increases sadness." Xianfeng's move was obviously not to let Prince Gong get involved in the central power. Sure enough, Xianfeng died of illness in Rehe, and handed over the administrative affairs to Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Sushun and other eight "Zanxiang Government Ministers", and Prince Gong was expelled from the bureau.
02. The motive for pursuing power, unite with Empress Dowager Cixi, and launch the "Xin You Coup"
The Xianfeng Emperor fled to the Chengde Mountain Resort, and Prince Gong stayed in Beijing to negotiate with the great powers and sign the Treaty of Beijing, thus winning the favor and support of the great powers. As the British envoy to China, Pruss, put it: "In order to obey Prince Gong's wishes, and to prove that we are ready to help him free the emperor from the sinister party, my colleagues and I have taken care to prevent foreigners from offending the emperor and his party when they entered The City." "Diplomatically support Prince Gong. After Xianfeng's death, Sushun and eight others were the assistant ministers, and Prince Gong failed to touch the center, and he could not become the "regent" he expected, and the depression in his heart could be imagined. Like Prince Gong, who had long wanted to "bow the curtain and listen to the government", Cixi, who had the ambitions of Empress Lü and Empress Wu, had not been able to touch the power and had been suppressed by Su Shun, and the two could be described as the same disease. Based on the practical need to encroach on central power and deal with SuShun, Prince Gong and Cixi formed a political alliance and hatched a coup d'état.
Puyi's "The First Half of My Life" said: "Yi? Disguised as a shaman, he met the empress dowager of the two palaces in the palace, made a secret plan, and returned to Beijing to make arrangements. abundant? He was allowed to meet with the empress dowager of the two palaces for about two hours. abundant? He stayed in Rehe for six days, trying to show a peaceful posture in front of SuShun and others, paralyzing the minister of gu orders. The empress dowager of the two palaces and Prince Gong Yi?, breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat, surviving in death, wise and decisive, seizing the opportunity, soft on the outside and strong in the inside, with tacit understanding. Prince Gong Yi? After consulting with the two empresses on decisions and steps, she returned to Beijing to prepare for a coup d'état. At this time, the Xianfeng Emperor had just died thirteen days ago. ”
Su Shun has strong ability and great power, but he can offend too many people, and he often hangs on his lips with a sentence: "We are all a bunch of bastards, we know what, the Han people can't afford to provoke, their pen is very powerful", openly supported the Han scholars and doctors of the imperial court, and since then they have formed a vendetta with the Manchu and Mongolian nobles. At the critical moment, Sushun was too confident and let Cixi and others return to Beijing ahead of schedule, and finally failed miserably in the coup and was beheaded for public display.
03. Co-opt the Han bureaucracy, dominate the foreign affairs movement, and de facto hold the highest power in the empire
After successfully launching the "Xin You Coup", Prince Gong was finally able to gain the highest power, once again enter the military plane, and deal with major affairs at home and abroad. The Records of the Tongzhi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty records: "Appoint the king of the government, walk on the military plane, order the prince to be hereditary, eat the prince's double hand, and exempt him from being summoned to prostrate himself and play the title of the book." Wang Jian resigned from the hereditary lineage, seeking a life and a sect order, leading the god machine camp. In the second year of the coup d'état, that is, in the first year of Tongzhi (1862), Prince Gong's status was raised again, and "Shangyi Fu, the two empresses ordered Wang Hongde to walk and inspect the course", and could take over some of the functions and powers of the emperor. Prince Gong's status has increased and his power is prominent, and his family is naturally no exception. The Records of the Tongzhi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty records that "Prince Gong appointed himself to be the king of the council, and it has been three years since now. The southeast military affairs fang Yin, employing people administration, conscription and salary, deeply praised paintings, bi Liang loyal. He was enfeoffed with the title of Duke of Beile (濬助国公) in order to confer the title of Duke of Fuguo (濬助国公), and he was enfeoffed as the Duke of Fuguo (濬助公), and Zaiying (載滢) was not included in the Eight Auxiliary Dukes. ”
With great power in his hands, Prince Gong began to show his political ambitions, that is, to carry out the foreign affairs movement and learn advanced science and technology from the West, so as to save the Qing Empire in the midst of turmoil. Prince Gong understood that after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Han overseers rose up, and Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Peng Yulin, Yang Zaifu and others held heavy troops and controlled local real power, which was a very powerful political force. If we want to smoothly carry out the foreign affairs movement, we must win the support of these Han bureaucrats, otherwise nothing will be achieved. Moreover, these Han bureaucrats have no spokesmen in the central government, and the imperial court is strong in its old-fashioned forces, and if there is no support from the core key members, they will not be able to play around. To this end, Prince Gong formed an alliance with the Han bureaucracy on the basis of common interests to form the Western affairs faction; Prince Gong was the representative and core of the Western affairs faction, and Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Peng Yulin, Zhang Zhidong, and other local representatives of the Western affairs faction, and the two jointly carried out the western affairs movement.
With the development of the foreign affairs movement, the Qing Dynasty underwent earth-shaking changes. Economically, the vigorous rise of foreign enterprises and national capitalist enterprises opened the beginning of modern industrialization. Militarily, it has purchased foreign guns and artillery, innovated the equipment of the troops, and formed three modernized navies, such as Beiyang, Nanyang, and Fujian, of which the Beiyang Fleet is the most powerful, claiming to be the sixth in the world and the first in Asia. Diplomatically, send envoys abroad to understand the international situation and learn to use international rules for the benefit of the country. In education, we will open new-style schools to learn professional and technical knowledge and cultivate practical talents. The results of the foreign affairs movement were obvious, Prince Gong's prestige soared, and his power was quite prominent, and to some extent it could be said that he was the actual helmsman and navigator of the Qing Empire.
04. In the midst of internal and external troubles, Cixi took the opportunity to launch the "Jiashen Yishu" and was far away from the center of power
Through the "west wind" of the Foreign Affairs Movement and the support of the Han bureaucracy, Prince Gong actually held great power; the so-called "empress dowager hanging curtain, prince regent" of the late Qing Dynasty was actually "prince regent, empress dowager signature", Cixi was suppressed, and failed to touch the supreme power. Although Prince Gong was powerful, he was not an emperor after all, he was still a courtier; Cixi was not powerful at first, but after all, she was the emperor's mother, and she had obvious advantages in blood. In order to restrain Prince Gong, Cixi had already challenged Yi Zhi as early as the early years of Tongzhi, saying that he was "blind to the king" and removing him from his position as chief military minister. However, in the late Qing Dynasty, Cixi was troubled by internal and external troubles, and Cixi could not do without Prince Gong, and soon restored him to his corresponding official position. The "Qing Shilu Tongzhi Dynasty Record" records: "The king's relatives trusted and respected the courtiers, the relevant relatives, the expectations were thick, and the rebuke had to be strict. Still walking on the Military Aircraft Minister". Cixi challenged Prince Gong, indicating that she was no longer willing to be the second in command of the Empire, but that she would be the navigator and helmsman.
Prince Gong had great power, but the political situation in the late Qing Dynasty changed even more, and under the severe situation of internal and external troubles, the dprk split into many political factions, and the interests of each other were entangled and difficult to resolve. After the defeat at the Battle of Sedang, in order to brush up the sense of existence, France sent troops to Vietnam in 1873 to provoke the war. Vietnam was a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, and in order to maintain the "tributary system", the Qing Dynasty had to respond to French aggression. At that time, the country was divided into two factions, and the main peace faction represented by Yi Chen believed that the current national strength was weak and could not turn its face to France, hoping for a negotiated solution; the main war faction represented by Li Hongzao (the Qing faction) believed that the Tianchao soldiers were mighty and should fight back hard and declare war on France. There were great differences of opinion in China, which naturally affected the qing army's operations on the front line. In 1884, except for Cen Yuying and Liu Yongfu, who held the Xuanguang front without wavering, the rest of the Qing army collapsed for thousands of miles, and Xu Yanxu, the commander of the Eastern Route Army, Guangxi, fled directly. It was also in this year that France forced Vietnam to sign the Treaty of Hue as a colony.
After the disastrous defeat in the Sino-French War, Prince Gong's prestige was greatly affected, and Cixi took the opportunity to attack and instructed Sheng Yu to impeach the military aircraft department headed by Prince Gong: "Prince Gong and Bao Zheng have long been in charge of the Shu court, and there are many things, not ignorant people, and unlike Jing Lian and Weng Tongsu' talents who know everything, they also lean forward and wander, and sit and watch the success or failure, and their blame is the same as Li Hongzao' guilt." If there are ministers like this, the empress dowager and the emperor do not show their responsibility, why should they treat the ancestors and why should they rule the world? (Selected from the "Records of the Qing Dynasty") Sheng Yu impeached, and the group of courtiers rose up to attack him. At this time, Cixi issued an edict that all the military ministers headed by Prince Gong would be deposed and the prince would be suspended for the crime of "entrusting obedience to the law". On the same day that Prince Gong was deposed, Cixi again issued an edict, "Ordering five people to join the military plane with Prince Li, Erle Hebu, Zhang Zhiwan, and Sun Yuwen to handle affairs"; Shi Duo presided over the Military Aircraft Department, and Yi Li was in charge of the Prime Minister Yamen. This is the "Kashin Yishu".
After the "Jiashen Yishu", Prince Gong's political career fell to the bottom, and he no longer participated in core secrets and stayed away from the political center of the late Qing Dynasty. Since then, the deeds of Prince Gong have rarely been mentioned in the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", and it seems that only two times are considered major events. "Twelve years of Guangxu, double doubles." Since the kingdom and the number of a number, when the age of worship to give the gods cake, the festival order has a reward, thinking that it is normal." Even if he was restored to the princely treatment he deserved, he could not participate in politics. During the Sino-Japanese War, Cixi again "invited" Yi Zhi out of the mountain, "The military affairs were urgent, and the empress dowager summoned the king to see him, reinstated the king to manage the prime minister's affairs of various countries, and the prime minister of the navy, together with the military affairs, the inner court walked; still the king's illness was not cured, so that ChangChuan would not be allowed to enter the straight." He also ordered the king to supervise military affairs and control all kinds of military ministers. In November, he was appointed Minister of Military Aircraft. Of course, Cixi did not really want him to come out of the mountains, but a political necessity, and Prince Gong still failed to take power. In May 1898, Prince Gong died at the age of 65, with the nickname "Zhong".
epilogue
From the "Xin You Coup" to the "Jiashen Yishu", Prince Gong's political career can be described as a series of twists and turns, ups and downs, and to some extent reflects the characteristics of the era of late Qing society. In the late Qing Dynasty, internal and external troubles and national strength declined, so it was natural that such a talent as Prince Gong was needed to come out and turn the tide, preside over the foreign affairs movement, and continue the life of the empire. However, the Qing Dynasty was already in a very decaying state, the internal political struggle within the imperial court was fierce, and it coincided with the invasion of the great powers, which was "a great change that had not occurred in a thousand years", which in turn restrained Prince Gong's talent and "drove him" off the political stage.
References: "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "Records of the Qing Dynasty", "The True Colors of the Chinese", "The First Half of My Life"