The fiasco in the Sino-Japanese War can be described as the failure of Li Hongzhang's foreign affairs movement, and the reasons for the failure are also endless. However, Li Hongzhang did struggle to the death for the development of the Qing Dynasty, and it was difficult for Nai Qi's strength to return to heaven. Liang Qichao's "Biography of Li Hongzhang" is more pertinent in its evaluation, affirming his merits and saying that he is excessive.
Japan has long been eyeing China, but it has not been so confident in its own strength, after all, it has not really fought after the Meiji Restoration. However, the russo-Japanese war in modern times led to Japan's victory, which gave it a taste of victory and set its sights on China. However, the war must find a reason, Japan is close to Korea, so Korea became the fuse of the Sino-Japanese War. Liang Qichao also once said: "The Sino-Japanese war began in Korea, and the original disaster began, and it has to be said that Li Hongzhang's diplomatic legacy is also hated." ”
Korea was originally a vassal state under the Qing Dynasty, but Japan openly interfered, and the Japanese side said that Korea was a semi-sovereign state, and its diplomatic reasons should be decided by itself, and the Qing Dynasty should not interfere too much. When the timid officials of the DPRK did not dare to refute Japan's remarks, they said: "The dprk is the state of Korea, and I have never heard of it, but I have listened to your country's self-reliance and theory." In the sixth year of Guangxu, the envoy to Japan, He Ruzhang, persuaded to withdraw Korea's diplomatic rights, which was Originally China's internal affair, and Japan had no right to interfere. However, Li Hongzhang believes that even if it holds the diplomatic power of North Korea, North Korea may not be able to obey the command of the Qing court, and countries will also use this as a handle to provoke incidents, then North Korea will become a land of bullets, and it will be difficult for us to get rid of it. In the eleventh year of Guangxu, Li Hongzhang and Ito Hirobumi signed the Treaty of Tianjin, which stated that Korea was a state jointly protected by China and Japan, and if there was a problem with Korea, the two countries should jointly send troops.
Later, in korea, there was a rebellion in the Dongxue Party, Li Hongzhang sent Yuan Shikai to garrison Korea, Yuan Shikai asked Li Hongzhang to send troops to help suppress, Li Hongzhang greeted Japan and sent 1,500 people over, while Japan directly sent 5,000 people. These Koreas were in a hurry, and suddenly there were so many more soldiers in their territory that they blamed the Qing Dynasty. Whoever made you sign the Tianjin Treaty with nothing to do, quickly retired and apologized to Japan. Later, when the chaotic party was dissolved, the Qing Dynasty discussed retiring with Japan, and Japan had great ambitions to help Korea change the law and interfere in The Internal Affairs of Korea.
Later, Li Hongzhang repeatedly maneuvered around Japan, Japan directly sent tens of thousands of people to Korea, and the Qing government directly lost its fighter planes, just as Liang Qichao said: "In peacetime, the troops can no longer be as good as people, but they are temporarily prepared, and they are backward again, so that the enemy is in a tight rush, the main and guests are transposed, and the number of victories and defeats without surrendering has been seen." It was precisely because Li Hongzhang did not properly handle Korea that it later led to a crushing defeat in the Sino-Japanese War.