In the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858 AD), with the support of the United States and Russia, the British and French fleets shelled Dagukou. Subsequently, the Dagu Fort fell, and the Anglo-French army invaded Tianjin. In desperation, the Qing Dynasty sent envoys to sign the Treaty of Tianjin with Britain, France, the United States and Russia, which stipulated that the four countries could send envoys to Beijing, the capital of the Qing Empire. In fact, before the four countries sent envoys, it was extremely difficult for foreigners to deal with the Qing Empire. Because according to the previous practice, receiving Westerners who had crossed the heavy ocean and came from afar was the responsibility of the Governor of Liangguang. As a feudal official, the viceroy of Liangguang held a high position of authority and a high system, and did not care to associate with the "Yiren Merchants" at all. Therefore, the foreigners repeatedly ran into a wall at the Governor of Liangguang, and there was basically no reply to the affairs of Shangchen. The Westerners felt that it was too difficult to exchange information with the Qing Empire, so they decided to send a minister to the city of Beijing.
The exchange of permanent ambassadors between countries is only an international practice if it is put in today's terms, and there is no fuss. However, the monarchs of the Qing Empire considered the matter extremely frightening. Because the Great Qing Kingdom at that time had been closed to the country for a long time, it was already an airtight closed body. In the past, all the Western envoys were gone, but now they have to build several legations in the city of Beijing and let the Yi people stay in the capital of the Qing Dynasty, which is like a sharp arrow inserted into the heart of the empire, and it cannot be taken out at will, it is simply better to live than to die. Therefore, this clause immediately shocked the Qing Empire up and down the government. When the court discussed, the ministers objected almost in unison. Even, The Zongrenfu Government Qian Baoqing also questioned bitterly: "If the foreigners are stationed in Beijing, and the capital of the Great Qing has been ceded to them, then is the Capital Division still our Great Qing?" "Today, when we listen to Qian Baoqing's remarks, we naturally feel ridiculous, so things are not so serious at all." However, most of the Qing Dynasty monarchs at that time were like Qian Baoqing, and their understanding of this matter was surprisingly consistent. Among the people in the Qing Empire who opposed this clause, the most feared was the Xianfeng Emperor. The young Qing Wenzong had never seen those eccentric-looking Yiren, and preferred never to see them. He was not really afraid of the appearance of the Yi people, but he knew in his heart that these uncivilized barbarians would never kneel for themselves. As early as the Qianlong Dynasty, the British envoy Ma Garni had come to the court, but because of the question of kneeling or not kneeling, how to kneel to the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, there was a fierce dispute with Hezhen. During the Jiajing Dynasty, the British sent emissaries to the court again, but they also refused to bend their knees, so before they saw the emperor, the emissaries returned home on their own. With the power of Qianlong Ye, it was not yet possible to make yiren kneel and prostrate. And now Xianfeng is just a defeated king, and it is a pipe dream to make the Yi people willing to bow down and bow down.
But for the Xianfeng Emperor, whether the foreigners would kneel or not was of great importance. Because his Qing Empire was the kingdom of heaven and the center of the world, this world model had been deeply rooted in Chinese's heart for hundreds of years. However, all overseas people who come to the Heavenly Hajj to see themselves must present themselves as courtiers and willingly bow down and bow down, which has become a culture of identity. But at this time, if there were really Yi people who did not give face to the Xianfeng Emperor and resolutely did not bow down on their knees, the previous world pattern would completely collapse in the hands of Xianfeng. At that time, not only will the Xianfeng Emperor lose face, but also the obedient vassal states such as Korea and Ryukyu will also despise the Heavenly Dynasty. Therefore, as long as the Xianfeng Emperor was not dead, he would not allow such a thing to happen. However, a thorny question was before the emperor. How can treaties that have already been signed not enter into force? This was perhaps the most difficult problem he had ever encountered. The Yiren's strong ships and cannons are still close at hand, and it is obviously unrealistic to tear up the "Tianjin Treaty" alive, because then another war will immediately break out. The Xianfeng Emperor dug his mind and meditated bitterly. Not to mention, it really made him come up with a perfect "magic plan". That is to use money to bribe Yiren and make them voluntarily give up setting up legations in Beijing. However, how much money would Xian Feng use to bribe foreigners? It turned out to be the entire tariff of the Qing Empire. The Xianfeng Emperor believed that the barbarians in the West were all profitable, and the wealth of the Great Qing Dynasty was famous in the world, and the most important thing was money. Simply put, we in the Qing Dynasty and you Xiyi do not want to do business tariffs, in exchange for you foreigners will no longer be stationed in Beijing. When the Xianfeng Emperor thought of this, he was deeply impressed by his superb wisdom. Immediately afterwards, he issued an edict: "At this time, the whole tax exemption section must be taken one level, and it must be clearly declared, so that it is known that China will be lenient, and thereafter it will be profitable... All that is promised may be dismissed by the whole bank."
If the Xianfeng Emperor's "brilliant plan" was put into practice, he would create a history and make the Qing Dynasty the first country in human history to not collect tariffs. The Xianfeng Emperor made this unprecedented initiative, which can really be described as a bloody step. In order to suppress the Taiping Rebellion, the treasury of the Great Qing Dynasty had been depleted to an extreme emptiness. At this time, the Qing Customs would have at least a few million taels of silver per year, which was one of the most important financial revenues of the imperial court. As the monarch of the Great Qing Dynasty, XianFeng was naturally aware of this situation, but he still decided to exchange all the tariffs for not seeing yiren. Moreover, the "clever" emperor also keenly foresaw that the future depletion of finances would lead to a shortage of military expenditures, which would then arouse the collective opposition of the military and political leaders in the DPRK. Therefore, he also privately instructed the negotiators not to be afraid of outside public opinion and to carry out Xianfeng's will. As you can imagine, if the diplomats of the Qing Dynasty really proposed the xianfeng Emperor's initiative in foreign negotiations, then the Westerners would immediately agree, because the economic interests involved were too great. Fortunately, when the Qing ministers heard about the emperor's amazing plan, they were all completely frightened. They could never have imagined that the Xianfeng Emperor's brain hole was so inconspicuous. Naturally, the Qing courtiers knew better than the Xianfeng Emperor what kind of crisis their country was in, and if the emperor's plan really became a reality, then the economy of the Qing Dynasty would soon collapse. At this moment, the Western powers are in the process of crazy expansion, and China will now become unproductive of commercial interests. At that time, the Great Qing Kingdom will really be not far from extinction. Therefore, the ministers could no longer care about the emperor's anger, and all of them went up to express their firm opposition. They said one after another that even if the negotiations were successful, in fact, the Qing Dynasty would not be a country. The Xianfeng Emperor was extremely annoyed that the ministers opposed him in unison. He even scolded the ministers with the imperial pen Zhu Pi in the folds played by the ministers. However, he could not stand the repeated bitter advice of the ministers later, and could only cancel his earth-shattering plan.