In the late Qing Dynasty, China began to be coveted by the great powers, and one unequal treaty after another made the people grit their teeth in hatred, but they had no choice. The camels who died were bigger than Ma, and because they were afraid of really causing the Qing government to resist death, in general, the Western powers would still give the Qing government a certain amount of respect, except for one person, that person was Bai Qiwen.
How arrogant is Bai Qiwen? He openly formed mercenaries in China and led mercenaries to injure Qing officials and troops, which had deep contradictions with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and other late Qing dynasty officials. Later, he felt that he could not continue to mix on the side of the Qing government, and simply voted for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Beauchin was born in North Carolina in 1836, though he was not orthodox American, but a French American. Mr. Bai's father was a French officer, so he was exposed to a lot of military knowledge from an early age; coupled with his adventurous nature, he began to travel the world as soon as he became an adult, looking for opportunities to make a career, and China gave him hope.
When Bai Qiwen came to Shanghai, a large number of foreigners had already gathered here, and the foreigners' concession became the most prosperous and safe place at that time. At that time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement began to sweep throughout China, and the contrast between inside and outside the concession made Bai Qiwen see an opportunity.
At this time, the pace of the Taiping Army had already invaded the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, but the strength of the troops in this area was very weak; coupled with the poor strength of the Qing army in the late Qing Dynasty and the backward equipment, the Shanghai officials took the lead in finding Bai Qiwen and HuaEr and funding them to form a mercenary army. In this context, in 1860, the "Foreign Gun Team" was established in Shanghai, with Bai Qiwen as the deputy leader.
Although the Foreign Gun Brigade was commissioned by the Qing government to be established, the Bai Qi people actually looked down on the Qing army and Qing officials at all. When Hua Er was still there, the good villains could adjust from it, and the Qing government at that time did not have to deal directly with Bai Qiwen. However, as Wahl was killed by Li Xiucheng, the King of Zhong, during a battle against the Taiping Army in 1862, and Bai Qiwen was promoted to captain, the contradictions began to slowly become prominent.
Bai Qiwen was triggered by a battle with the Qing government against the Taiping Army in October 1862. The foreign gun brigade, which had been renamed changsheng army, occupied Jiading together with other British and French troops, and also defeated the Taiping army in the area of Baihegang and Sanjiangkou in Qingpu, which caused Bai Qiwen to begin to swell, openly wounding the Qing Dynasty official Daotai Yangfang, and also making a big fuss, claiming that no one in all of China dared to move him. Then he was moved by Li Hongzhang.
Li Hongzhang, who was then the governor of Jiangsu, removed Bai Qiwen from his post, and Bai Qiwen protested to the Qing government by drawing together British, American and other forces, but li Hongzhang rejected it. Bai Qiwen's self-esteem was damaged, and he simply snatched the ships and guns of the Changsheng Army, and purchased a large amount of ammunition and surrendered to the Taiping Army.
Bai Qiwen thought that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could make him show his fists, but he did not expect it to be used seriously; coupled with the fact that the situation in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was getting more and more wrong at that time, the Taiping Army was defeated one after another, and Bai Qiwen in turn voted for the original Changsheng Army and returned to Shanghai. After returning to Shanghai, even the US consulate felt that Bai Qiwen was too arrogant and sent him to Japan, and he was not allowed to return to China.
Unexpectedly, in 1865, Bai Qiwen was not willing to lose the "big stage" of China and decided to return to China again. But he did not expect that this time China failed to fulfill his adventure dream, but let him die. He was captured by the Qing army in Xiamen, and the U.S. consulate came to ask the Qing government for someone, Li Hongzhang said yes, but in fact, when escorting Bai Qiwen back to Suzhou, he ordered him to drown on the way.
In this way, the 29-year-old Bai Qiwen had not yet been able to make a meritorious career, and he was drowned by Li Hongzhang because of his arrogance.
Reference: Biography of Li Hongzhang