Among the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang can be described as the most controversial figure. On the one hand, he signed an unequal number of unequal treaties for Cixi, which has always been criticized. On the other hand, Li Hongzhang has also made many useful contributions, and many modern enterprises have been led by Li Hongzhang, and Li Hongzhang has also been praised as the first person to open his eyes to the world.
In fact, Li Hongzhang was indeed a forward-looking person, in the late Qing Dynasty, because of the siltation of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the imperial court had to change the original circulation mode of transporting goods in the river to a mode of transportation by sea. Li Hongzhang also seized this opportunity and took the lead in supervising the steamship Merchants Bureau in 1872.
This was the first civilian enterprise, breaking the pattern of pure government-run foreign affairs enterprises in the late Qing Dynasty, and for the first time adopted the shareholding system to operate. Today's market value of nearly one trillion Yuan, the source of china merchants bank is the steamship China Merchants Bureau, from this point of view, Li Hongzhang has indeed made a certain contribution to China's modernization.
But to say that Li Hongzhang's more famous handwriting should be his Beiyang Marine Division. The Beiyang Naval Division was built in 1888 and was the first modern naval fleet established in China. There are 25 major warships, as well as 50 auxiliary warships, 30 transport ships, and more than 4,000 officers and men.
At that time, Li Hongzhang proposed to build such a warship with modern weapons to a large extent because of Japan. In fact, as early as 1874, before the establishment of the Beiyang Marine Division, Li Hongzhang had proposed it to Cixi. Japan was an ambitious country, and after the Meiji Restoration, its power grew. If it is not removed as soon as possible, it will become a great trouble in the future.
However, Cixi only coveted the immediate pleasures and was worried about her own power struggle, where she listened to Li Hongzhang's words and even blamed Li Hongzhang for lifting up such a small island country so much. Li Hongzhang had no choice but to continue to strengthen himself through the foreign affairs movement, and wait until Japan provoked a war. However, despite this, Li Hongzhang still underestimated how strong Japan's national strength had developed after the Meiji Restoration.
On July 25, 1894, the Sino-Japanese War broke out. This war has long been planned by Japan, but the Qing Dynasty is in a hurry to meet the war. The result is naturally conceivable, after the battle, the Qing army will continue to rout. Although the generals were all fighting to the death, this was no longer the era of cold weapons, and it was not a hard resistance to achieve the final victory.
In the end, the Qing court was defeated, and the Beiyang Marine Division was also completely destroyed. Under military pressure, the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Maguan on April 17, 1895. This treaty was signed by Li Hongzhang by hand. The Japanese tasted the sweetness at this time, and they were willing to give up. When the Eight-Power Coalition invaded in 1900, the Japanese army accounted for most of it. When the enemy's army reached the Forbidden City, Cixi fled all the way to Xi'an with the Guangxu Emperor, and did not dare to return until the enemy had finished burning and withdrawing.
On September 18, 1931, Japan launched another war of aggression in northeast China. From 1931 to 1945, after fourteen years of arduous resistance, countless wise and brave sons and daughters of China united to completely drive the Japanese out of the country. And a series of defeats in the late Qing Dynasty also constantly remind us that only when we are strong can we not fear the enemy, otherwise we will only be bullied.