The Eight-Power Coalition
Late at night on this day, the weather was very hot, and ronglu, the imperial prime minister of the empire, was tossing and turning in bed after a busy day, unable to sleep, and the recent complicated situation made him feel bad, and he didn't have a clue to think about it. After midnight, I was just a little sleepy, but I was awakened by an urgent call to the door, and the next person replied that Luo Gongzi had seen him.
Rong Lu was shocked, and immediately rolled over and got out of bed, he knew that if it were not for the big thing, Luo Gongzi would not and did not dare to rush to alarm him. Luo Gongzi is the son of Luo Jiajie of Jiangsu Grain Road and is Rong Lu's eyeliner.
Rong Lu almost fainted after reading the information brought by Luo Gongzi, and he walked around the house, hesitating again and again, because he knew very well what would happen if Empress Dowager Cixi saw it.
Rong Lu in "Walking and Republican"
Although Luo Gongzi brought only a thin piece of paper, the content on it weighed more than a thousand jun. This is the information intercepted by his father's men, a note,
A note from the Western powers to the Great Qing Dynasty is very small, a total of four articles, but all of them directly poke at the life gate of the empire, or more precisely, directly to the life gate of Empress Dowager Cixi:
Designate a place for the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty to live.
The great powers collect money and grain from the provinces on their behalf.
The great powers will take charge of the world's military power.
Empress Dowager Cixi returned to power as the Guangxu Emperor.
Rong Lu squeezed this thin piece of paper, sweating like rain, according to his understanding of Empress Dowager Cixi, this was simply a war book! When Empress Dowager Cixi saw this, she immediately had to jump up and declare war on the great powers! Rong Lu, who has always been shrewd and strong, has been circled, how to deal with this paper? With his old ways, he naturally knew that if the old empress declared war on the great powers, it would be equivalent to seeking death, but such an important information could not be hidden from the imperial court.
Empress Dowager Cixi
Rong Zhongtang walked around their living room all night, never coming up with a good way to get the best of both worlds. Finally, he looked at the already blinded window, gritted his teeth, and decided to report truthfully to the old lady.
However, if this document is really a note prepared by the great powers to submit to the Qing Dynasty, it must belong to the top secret level, how did the little Jiangsu grain road Luo Jiajie know? With such important news, why did the Cabinet, the Military Aircraft Department, the General Administration, Beiyang and all other important organs not even have the slightest news?
Therefore, we can conclude that this is a fake document. Later explanations were that the book was an editorial published in the English edition of the North China Jie Bao (run by the British Business Company in Shanghai) and later reprinted by Zi Lin Xi Bao. Luo Jiajie of Jiangsu Grain Road got the news through the internal staff of the newspaper, and then it spread more and more, and finally it became a diplomatic note and handed it over to Empress Dowager Cixi.
The Eight-Power Coalition marched into Beijing
Now that we know that this is fake news, who are the counterfeiters? According to the logic of who falsified and who benefited, let's analyze who forged this note. The only purpose of this false note, obviously, is to stimulate Empress Dowager Cixi to go to war with the countries of the great powers, and whoever is in the best interest of war is the most suspicious.
The first thing that should be suspected is definitely Duanjun Wang Zaiyi, absolutely. Duan Wang's consistent principle was to let the world be in chaos, and if war broke out between China and foreign countries, he would be able to take advantage of the chaos to get rid of Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor, win in the chaos, and help his son ascend to the throne to become the new emperor of the Qing Empire, and Duan Wang could become his Emperor Taishang. Moreover, the foreigners were very uninterested in Duan Wang and his son, and they must return the old empress to the Guangxu Emperor, and duan wang hated the foreigners so much that starting a war was almost the only choice for Duan Wang: the probability of the note being forged by Duan Wang was 90%.
The Guangxu Emperor
The second suspect should be Empress Dowager Cixi, who is currently the most threatening to her power, one is the Duanwang clique (also including the Boxers), and the other is the foreigners. Although King Duan wanted both her power and her life, he was too stupid, and Empress Dowager Cixi was confident that she could get him; however, the foreigners were not easy to deal with, and they always opposed her pro-government, and endlessly asked her to return to Guangxu. Now that the Boxers were willing to serve as cannon fodder for her, why not try it? Although she also knew that the Boxers were pretending to be ghosts and extremely unreliable. Wouldn't it also be logical for her to forge such a note to both stimulate the courtiers and give herself an excuse to declare war on the outside world? Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi is also suspicious, but the proportion is smaller than that of Duan Wang, which is 50%.
There is another suspect, his probability is only 30%, but it can not be completely ruled out, this person is the Prince of Qing Yili. After the rise of the Boxer Rebellion, Duan Wang's party was suddenly roaring, and his spirit was so angry that even the Rongzhong Hall of the old Chengmou State was squeezed to the side, and Li Hongzhang's old traitor slipped to Guangdong to avoid the wind, and he had to fall by the side. If a war breaks out, the Qing Dynasty must be defeated, and the DuanWang and his gang are doomed, then he can take the opportunity to regain power... The point is that the war criminals must be the king of them, and they can hide behind and pick peaches.
Of course, such an analysis shows that everyone is suspicious, as do the great powers of various countries, as well as Li Hongzhang, who is happy to be schadenfreude, and even Rong Lu, who was forced to hand over great power...
Prince Qing Yili
Although the above suspects are not the same in degree of suspiciousness, they have not washed themselves absolutely white, so they are listed together, and who concocted this false note is still a historical mystery. But the fact is that this document was already in front of Empress Dowager Cixi, and the next day Empress Dowager Cixi called for the second imperial council since the Boxer Rebellion, at which she took out this note.
Unsurprisingly, the cauldron immediately exploded in the main hall, and for a time the crowd was indignant, the loyal monarch was heartbroken, the patriots were indignant, the conspirators followed the blind shouting, and the Guangxu Emperor and several ministers who were still relatively clear-minded, such as Rong Lu Yili, looked at it coldly--seeing this scene, the counterfeiter must have blossomed in his heart, his plot was about to succeed, and his purpose was about to be achieved, whether he was Duan Wang, Cixi or Yi Li Ronglu or even a foreigner.
The hall was full of people, more lively than the vegetable market, and Empress Dowager Cixi stood up and said in a loud voice:
"Today's events, all the ministers have heard about it, I have to declare war for the sake of Jiangshan Sheji, I have no choice but to declare war, I don't know what happened, just like after the war, Jiangshan Sheji is still not protected, all the princes are here today, know that I am bitter, do not blame one person, that is, the empress dowager sent the ancestors to the world for three hundred years."
Forbidden City Taihe Hall
The ministers knelt down together: "Ministers, wait for the country to serve the country with one heart!" Whether it is the main peace faction, the main war faction, or the wall riding faction, they all see clearly, and the old lady has sent a fierce attack to go to war against the great powers! In fact, even without this fake note, Empress Dowager Cixi would still choose to go to war: the damn foreigners will not let me take power, I will fight with you! The old lady is young and widowed, for decades there is no natural pleasure to enjoy, there is no piano, chess, calligraphy and painting to entertain, and unlike Wu Zetian, there are male pets to trust, the only thing is to have fun and power, but also to let the great powers take away, how can you not fight with foreigners!
Subsequently, Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor, in line with the principle of putting the soldiers first, sent three ministers, The Cabinet Scholar Lianyuan, Hubu Shangshu Lishan, and Bingbu Shangshu Xu Yongyi to "send envoys" to the nations, so that the great powers would know the determination of the Qing Empire: I hope to coexist peacefully with your great powers, mutual benefit and reciprocity, it is you who have to advance, and repeatedly interfere in our internal affairs, and we have no choice but to take action. If you must go to war, please ask the envoys of the countries that started the war to lay down their flags and return to China, and China will no longer welcome you!
Ironically, none of these three ministers were the main war faction, because they knew very well that as soon as the war began, the Great Qing would be over.
The crisis of China's partition at the end of the 19th century
Tobe Shoshu Tateyama did not want to go, saying that I was not the minister of the General Administration, and I should not go regardless of diplomacy. The Guangxu Emperor reasoned with him: "Last year, the envoys of the great powers visited the Summer Palace, and you did not accompany the reception?" How can you be a shrunken-headed turtle when the Father is in trouble today? ”
Empress Dowager Cixi didn't have so much nonsense, and he told Lishan directly: "You have to go if you go, and you have to go if you don't go!" ”
Therefore, the three lords and the ministers were helpless and sent hard to send envoys to various countries together. However, because the Boxers had already controlled the inner and outer cities of the capital, the city of Beijing was now a siege at all, and the people in the city could not go out, and the outside of the city could not enter. Therefore, the task of the three ministers of the three main factions this time was very simple, there was no need to travel across the ocean to travel around the world, but only to go to the embassy and throw the letter in the face of the foreigner.
Fight against the Great Powers
In order to ensure the safety of the three ministers with major diplomatic tasks, Empress Dowager Cixi also asked Rong Lu to send troops to accompany her for protection.
So far, Empress Dowager Cixi has done two things, which seem to contradict each other: first to passionately announce that she has been forced to the last step by the foreigners, and to give a preventive shot, in case of defeat, you should not complain about me; then change your attitude, first salute and then soldiers, and send someone to the embassy to explain!
This move made Duan Wang confused, not to mention Duan Wang, that is, King Qing and many ministers did not understand, however, this is exactly where Empress Dowager Cixi's cleverness lies: everywhere is calculated, everywhere is not in vain, and let you Duan Wang scratch his head, obediently follow my baton.
Taku Kou Fort
Just at this time, Empress Dowager Cixi received a report from YuLu, the governor of Zhili, that it was an ultimatum for foreigners, and the Eight-Nation Alliance, which was cruising in the Bohai Sea, gave luo Rongguang, the defender of Dagukou in the Qing Dynasty, an ultimatum, demanding that he surrender within a time limit and hand over the Dagukou Fort, otherwise the coalition forces would attack by force.
People with knives and guns are standing in front of your house ready to kick the door, what to do?
Empress Dowager Cixi's method was to follow suit, and she also issued an ultimatum to the great powers: asking all foreigners in the embassy district to return to China within 24 hours, and the journey from Beijing to Tianjin was protected by Ronglu's Wuwei Chinese Army. After 24 hours, Daqing no longer offers safety commitments.
Embassy district of the Great Powers
The war was just around the corner, King Duan was ecstatic, the purpose of declaring war was about to be achieved, and his plan to replace the Guangxu Emperor with his son The Elder Brother Puyan was about to become a reality.
But it was not easy to go to war, and there were still a large number of ministers in the imperial court who opposed the war. The Guangxu Emperor did not want to speak a word of "war" lightly, and he took Xu Jingcheng's hand and said, "Then discuss and discuss." ”
The old empress dowager was furious and angrily rebuked Guangxu: "The emperor let go, don't make a mistake!" ”
A series of imperial councils that decided the fate of the country came to an end, and the conclusion of the war was finally reached, and Empress Dowager Cixi made up her mind to use the Boxers to fight against the Eight-Nation Alliance. The King of Duan was very proud, and the Lord and the Faction were very frustrated, but no one raised any objections, and this time, the old lady was convinced that she was right.
Duan Wang Zaiyi
The embassies of various countries in China received an ultimatum from the Qing Dynasty, and all the foreigners in the embassy area were blind, because this thing had basically not appeared in the Qing Dynasty since 1840. The sick man of East Asia, who has always been weak and beaten, actually sent us an ultimatum, is there no mistake? Who is the weak country?
It took a long time for the foreigners to react, and this time the Chinese old empire was playing real. Diplomats blew up the camp, some jumped high, some cursed the street, some cried, these always arrogant foreigners thought that no matter how much tossing, the Great Qing Dynasty could only retreat, and would never dare to do anything to them. Now that daqing has sent an ultimatum, these usually arrogant foreigners have also been dismissed one by one. The great powers consulted for half a day and formed a unanimous agreement: admit and leave.
But 24 hours is not enough, they need more time to prepare. Therefore, they sent someone to send a letter to the General Administration of the Qing Dynasty, but the reply of the General Administration was not answered, because it was Duan Wang who was now sitting in the General Administration. His hatred for foreigners was real, and as soon as he arrived at the Prime Minister's office, he stopped the telegram to show his disdain for foreign technology. After receiving a request from the great powers for a grace date for leaving Beijing, Duan Wang threw it in the trash without looking at it, because he knew what could make the situation worse.
The great powers conspired to divide China
The General Administration did not give a reply, the great powers were very anxious, and the most famous acute child in the embassy district was the German Minister to China Klinder, who was disgusted by the people, and he decided to personally go to the General Administration to ask for an understanding.
Others told him, "Don't go, it's too dangerous outside, the Boxers controlled many parts of Beijing, and the Qing government also went to and fro with them." Besides, we can't go to them and commit crimes, and we will be self-indulgent and lose our share. ”
But the brave Klinder was fearless, and after expressing his displeasure with the General Administration and his disdain for the other timid envoys, he took only a few retinues, carried a pistol, and stepped out of the door of the embassy. He did not know that when his front foot stepped out of this door, his back foot was no longer ready to step into this door.
German Minister Klinder was killed
Unsurprisingly, Clinder was killed on the streets of Beijing, but it was not the Boxers who killed him, but the regular army of the Qing Dynasty.