Li Hongzhang is a person who has suffered more controversy in modern history, and since the Opium War, almost all of the unequal treaties signed by China with the great powers have been present by Li Hongzhang, and he is inevitably accused by thousands of people. However, Li Hongzhang is a lamb of sin, and the essence behind it is the meaning of Cixi, and he has also become a typical back-pot man.
The Treaty of Maguan was signed after the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, and the Ambitions of the Prodigal Sons of the Japanese had long coveted China, so after China's defeat, the Japanese led by Ito Hirobumi looked at China like hungry wolves and their eyes lit up. Li Hongzhang went to Japan to sign the treaty on Cixi's orders, and as soon as the Japanese opened their mouths, they asked for 300 million taels of silver, and also proposed to take Dagu, Tianjin, and Shanhaiguan as hostages. If Li Hongzhang agreed to such a condition, it would be equivalent to ceding the entire city of Beijing to Japan, and he certainly did not agree to such excessive demands and insisted on refusing to give in.
So the negotiations continued to burn out until the third meeting, when Li Hongzhang suddenly encountered an assassin on his way back, and shot Li Hongzhang in the left cheek, and the bullet went deep under the left eye. This incident caused a sensation throughout Japan, and Ito Hirobumi and others also expressed their deep apologies for it, as described in the Biography of Li Hongzhang: "Japanese officials heard that the police came to ask questions, and there was an endless stream of people, and Ito and Mutsu also bowed down to offer condolences, thanked each other, and were worried." The Japanese emperor sent doctors to heal Li Hongzhang's wounds, but Li Hongzhang directly refused.
Li Hongzhang believed that now that state affairs were difficult and the peace situation had been completed, it was necessary to quickly sign a contract to minimize the losses of the Qing Dynasty, and he would rather die than accept Japanese treatment, and when he signed the treaty the next day, he would rather be dressed in blood, and he could also repay the country with blood. Li Hongzhang once said: "Giving up one's life to benefit the country will not give up." "How can such a style not be admirable? It was precisely because Li Hongzhang was shot that the Qing government lost 100 million taels of silver. However, after Li Hongzhang returned to China, he was scolded by the Chinese people and labeled as a traitor.
It cannot be denied that Li Hongzhang is a capable person, why Cixi has repeatedly sent him to negotiate, because Cixi knows that only Li Hongzhang can minimize losses in the whole country, and Li Hongzhang has only become Cixi's scapegoat. Liang Qichao once commented on Li Hongzhang: Li Hongzhang must be a figure in Thousands of Years of Chinese History, and there is no doubt about it. Li Hongzhang must be a figure in the history of the world in the nineteenth century, and there is no doubt about it. And Liang Qichao is also to Li Hongzhang: respect Li Hongzhang's talent", "cherish Li Hongzhang's knowledge", "sad Li Hongzhang's encounter".