On January 12, 1875 (the thirteenth year of Tongzhi), the Tongzhi Emperor died. With the death of the emperor, many questions arise, the most important of which is who will be the emperor. According to the custom, lao tzu died and was succeeded by his son, which was perfectly normal. However, Empress Dowager Cixi, who had been in charge for more than 10 years, did not want to inherit this tradition. The reason for this is that if the grandson of the "Pu" generation succeeds to the emperor, then she will have to stay away from the center of state power and cannot continue to interfere in politics. So he was ready to choose one of the "Zai" characters, and in the end she chose Zai Xiang.
In the same year, the Guangxu Emperor ascended the throne. When the old emperor dies and the new emperor ascends the throne, there must be some new changes to rush to the top. Zuo Zongtang, who was full of ambition, felt that he had been preparing for many years at this time, and the opportunity had finally come. Therefore, he resolutely wrote to the Guangxu Emperor at the imperial meeting, asking for troops to retake Xinjiang. But what he did not expect was that his request was unanimously opposed by all the ministers.
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So how did Xinjiang lose it? In 1865 (the fourth year of Tongzhi), Agubai invaded Xinjiang and later established the "Zhedeshar Khanate", occupying most of Xinjiang. In 1871 (ten years of Tongzhi), Tsarist Russia invaded and occupied Ili in Xinjiang. That is to say, the mountain high emperor is far away, and the radiation ability of the political center is greatly weakened after it reaches the frontier.
It is reasonable to say that Zuo Zongtang's official, to the feudal governor, regained the original lost land is also the expectation of the people, how can anyone oppose it?
The biggest obstacle came from Li Hongzhang, who was known as one of the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty. His status, official titles, and prestige were all higher than Zuo Zongtang's, which made Zuo Zongtang very embarrassed.
Li Hongzhang, who was famous in the government and the opposition, suggested: Stop the western expedition, temporarily abandon Xinjiang, and strengthen coastal defense is the most urgent task. This led to the famous "coastal defense" and "Cypriot defense" dispute at that time. Li Hongzhang believes that it will play an important role in China's opponents in the future. The most urgent task at the moment should be centered on the construction of the Qing Dynasty's navy and the prevention of Japan. However, in Zuo Zongtang's view, Japan is indeed important, but Xinjiang, which affects one-sixth of the country's territory, is the most important thing. This controversy caused an uproar between the government and the public, and in the end, they did not discuss a good countermeasure.
At the critical moment, one person still made the final decision: the Xinjiang problem still needs to be solved!
Empress Dowager Cixi
This person was Empress Dowager Cixi, who was bowing to the government. After weighing the pros and cons, Cixi believed that Zuo Zongtang's words were very reasonable, and that recovering the lost land was the top priority, and immediately appointed Zuo Zongtang to lead an army to recover Xinjiang. At that time, Zuo Zongtang was already more than 60 years old.
After careful selection and careful preparation, Zuo Zongtang's subordinates have screened out more than 60,000 elite soldiers. But it is not enough to have soldiers, but also to have enough funds to support the war. After Zuo Zongtang's calculations, the military expenditure for this battle was about 10 million yuan, and after reporting to the imperial court, because the national treasury was empty, the imperial court only allocated 5 million yuan to him. Desperate, Zuo Zongtang borrowed 5 million yuan from the British HSBC bank in Shanghai through the "red top businessman" Hu Xueyan.
In April 1876 (the second year of Guangxu), the Qing army swore an oath in Suzhou (now Jiuquan), and the general of the Xiang Army, Liu Jintang, led the army into Xinjiang, and soon received the old pasture land, Urumqi, Manas and other places. In May 1876, Zuo Zongtang's Western Expeditionary Army traveled to Barikun via Hami. The general offensive against the forces of Agubai in Xinjiang began, and the Qing army sent troops quickly, and it took only 10 months to destroy the "Tianshan Defense Line" painstakingly operated by Agubai, restore northern Xinjiang, and guide Xinjiang with swords. In April 1877 (the third year of Guangxu), the Qing army marched into southern Xinjiang in three ways, and within half a month, the three cities of Daban, Toxun and Turpan were connected, and the gateway to southern Xinjiang was opened. In May, Agubai died violently. From October onwards, the Qing army first recaptured the four cities in the eastern part of southern Xinjiang, and then took advantage of the internal turmoil of the enemy to rush into the western four cities, and the son of Agubai, Burke Huri, fled into Russia with the remnants. In early January 1878, the Qing army conquered all the land in southern Xinjiang and recovered all of Xinjiang. The British commented that this was "the most glorious achievement ever made by a Chinese army led by Chinese since the Qianlong era more than a century ago."
However, there is still one more important place that has not been recovered, that is, Ili, which is still in the hands of the Russians. Faced with this problem, Zuo Zongtang wrote to the imperial court in 1880, and the imperial court sent negotiators to Russia to negotiate the return of Ili, and the imperial court agreed, sending Yan Chonghou to negotiate for Russia as a plenipotentiary minister. But this noble diplomatic aspect was really ignorant, and the decision was arbitrary, and the gods signed a "Treaty of Livadia" with the Russians. The treaty stipulated that Russia would be opened to a number of treaty ports, preferential taxation, the construction of railways, the establishment of consulates in the cities of the northwest, and Russia's permanent occupation of the area around Ili City plus 2 million silver. As soon as this treaty was signed, there was an uproar in the government and the public, and the anger of the people was not calm, and the imperial court arrested Chonghou and imprisoned him. The contract has been signed, in black and white, what should I do? Zuo Zongtang slapped the table angrily: Talk again! Re-sign! Empress Dowager Cixi followed Zuo Zongtang's advice and sent Zeng Jize as a representative to re-enter Tsarist Russia for negotiations.
With the cunning of Tsarist Russia, how easy is it to talk about it when the money is written in black and white, and it is easy to repent? After the negotiations failed, the 68-year-old Zuo Zongtang led an army to the west, known as "Wang Shi Forty Thousand", tun soldier Hami, to provide military support for Zeng Jize, who negotiated ahead. In order to show his son's determination and also put pressure on Russia, Zuo Zongtang ordered his coffin to be transported from Suzhou to Hami, which is the famous "coffin out of the expedition".
At that time, Russia had just finished the "Russo-Turkish War", and its vitality was seriously injured, and it calculated its own account, feeling that there was really no way to defeat the Qing army. Eventually, take a step back. On February 24, 1881, Zeng Jize signed the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty with Russian representatives, although this treaty was still an unequal treaty (Tsarist Russia returned most of the land in Ili, but still cut off some territory), but it was not easy to overturn the previous treaty.
In 1884, the Qing Dynasty officially established "Xinjiang Province".
A year later, Zuo Zongtang died.