One early morning in the late autumn of 1885, the city of Beijing was warmer than usual under the sun.
In the Qing court of the Qing Dynasty, the two empresses of the two palaces (Empress Xiaozhuangwen, the biological mother of the Shunzhi Emperor, and her aunt Emperor Xiaoduanwen) had just finished breakfast and were walking leisurely in the Yangxin Hall, chatting, talking and laughing. The 3,000-mile emergency military information at the border pass was transmitted to the palace, and after the leading Prince Yi of the Council, after reading the recital, he thought about it again and again, and did not dare to make a decision, and ordered the little eunuch in the palace to quickly present this recital to the empress dowager of the two palaces. The little eunuch trembled and presented the report, and the two palaces read the letters and suddenly the six gods were ownerless and overwhelmed, and it took a while before they eased up and said in surprise: "I have lost 1.7 million Xinjiang territory in the Qing Dynasty..."
At this time, the precarious Qing Dynasty was facing an unprecedented crisis, the Eight-Nation Alliance had just invaded Beijing, and the sons of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty had truly seen the progress of foreign civilization and the progress of foreign guns and cannons, and more than 300,000 Qing soldiers were defeated by a Western armed force composed of 3,000 people with modern equipment. However, at present, the Russians took advantage of the tense war in the coastal defense of the Qing Dynasty and the crisis of armed intimidation by foreigners outside the country to quickly send troops to occupy most of the territory of Xinjiang, including Ili, which is really hateful. However, since the imperial court signed the Treaty of Nanking, which humiliated the country with the British and French allies, a large amount of white-flowered silver was compensated to Britain and France, and now even if it is only the cost of strengthening coastal defense, it is enough for the Qing court to have a headache. Thus a dispute over the completeness of China's territory for the next hundred years has been staged in the Qing Dynasty.
The main personnel advocating the strengthening of coastal defense are the Xiang Army headed by Li Hongzhang, who believe that since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, to today's fiasco, all threats have come from the sea, and the abandonment of coastal defense is the most important reason for the country's decline. At a time of current internal and external troubles, the imperial court did not have more silver to strengthen the defense of xinjiang and coastal defense on both sides, and they advocated that the state should give up the barren territory of Xinjiang and temporarily let the Russians occupy it. The most urgent task at the moment is to allocate all resources to the side of coastal defense, so that coastal defense can be consolidated, and the Great Qing can catch up later, fight against Siyi at sea, resist the enemy outside the southeast, and ensure national stability. If both sides were to defend at the same time, in the end, they did not pay attention to one side, and the disaster to the imperial court and the social welfare, including Empress Dowager Cixi and many other members of the imperial court, all believed that Li Hongzhang's performance was in line with the current situation.
Zuo Zongtang, who was the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu at the time, could not stand up after learning of Li Hongzhang's suggestion, and he was already 65 years old at this time. Due to many years of conquest on the battlefield, the elimination of long hair, and the pacification of Shaanxi and Gansu's military career, his health is not as young as his youth, and he has fallen ill. However, Zuo Zongtang has always been concerned about the situation in Xinjiang and has a good understanding of the situation in Xinjiang. In response to Li Hongzhang's suggestion, he went to the imperial court overnight, pointing out the harm of emphasizing coastal defense and light defense, believing that if Xinjiang is not protected, then most of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Mongolia will no longer have a barrier, and the crisis in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Mongolia will be a crisis in Beijing. At the same time, the national territory, equally important, is not a deal, when the land is not allowed, only by seeking peace through war can we win the initiative. Otherwise, if the Russians invade Xinjiang today, they will certainly invade Mongolia tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow they will invade the northeast, so that they will not be able to satisfy them at any time.
Zuo Zongtang advocated attaching equal importance to the defense of Xinjiang and coastal defense, and encouraged the imperial court to overcome many difficulties and also to ensure the integrity of the Qing Territory. Therefore, Zuo Zongtang, who was already in his twilight years, asked for orders to personally go out on the expedition, and issued a military order to show that he would certainly live up to the expectations of the people, and even if there were all kinds of difficulties ahead, he also tried his best to protect the country's territory without losing an inch. Zuo Zongtang's claim was quickly adopted by the imperial court, which also ordered him to dispose of the affairs of Xinjiang and allocate 4 million taels of silver from all over the country to support the war. However, thousands of miles, this bit of silver and silver for the army to fight thousands of miles away, is still a drop in the bucket, in order to solve the lack of war funds, has always hated the foreigners Zuo Zongtang this time took the initiative to negotiate with Britain and France, borrowed 10 million two silver, to solve a big problem. According to the plan, zuo Zongtang's recovery of Xinjiang, even if the march is smooth, it will take about 5 years to overcome the whole territory. However, because he used the army to dispatch and have a house, it took less than two and a half years to recover most of Xinjiang, and only the Ili area was guarded by Russian pro-soldiers, because it involved many political, diplomatic, and military factors, and it was not quickly conquered.
At this time, the Russians still relied on strong military strength, diplomatically blackmailing the Qing Dynasty into paying reparations for the cession of land, and the Qing Dynasty also sent personnel to Russia to negotiate and try to fight for rights and interests. In order to promote negotiations and strive for more interests, Zuo Zongtang deployed a team of three men and horses on the one hand, marching towards Ili, and never fearing war. While asking the army to build a coffin for him, carried all the way by the accompanying army, the coffin was written with eight big black characters: "No longer xinjiang vows not to return the division!" ”。 Zuo Zongtang, who had been fighting in Xinjiang for 3 years this year, was already a 70-year-old man with white hair. When zuo Zongtang's deeds of determination to recover Xinjiang spread to Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi, who had always been fierce and fierce and had a strong personality, was also shocked and wept, and was touched by Zuo Zongtang's loyalty to the king and patriotism, not afraid of life and death, and the oath to fight for every inch of land to repay the country, saying: "If the Qing Dynasty can have such a patriotic and good general, why worry about not being able to restore the whole territory of Xinjiang." Not long after, the Russians also heard that Zuo Zongtang's expedition was with the intention of death, compared to even if they provoked a war, they would not necessarily have a chance of victory, they were more willing to not be able to use the sword, and it was more practical to gain benefits at the negotiating table. After weighing the left and right, the Sino-Russian negotiations, which had been stalemated and difficult to negotiate, accelerated, and the two sides quickly reached a result, and the Qing Dynasty compensated Russia with 2 million taels of silver, as Russia defended most of the military expenditure of the Qing Dynasty's town of Ili, the Russian army resources withdrew from the whole territory of Ili, and Xinjiang was restored in its entire territory. Zuo Zongtang carried the coffin out of the customs at the age of 70, and the patriotic enthusiasm of not returning xinjiang's vows was also praised by future generations, and his spirit became an important source of national patriotism.
【Author Chen Shanyan 丨 Original works Reprinted without permission, otherwise all reports】