Although China did not claim the right to punish crimes, the criminal was extremely vicious and vicious, causing him to lie down and curse, which showed that the Heavenly Dao was unhappy. ——Li Hongzhang
In the late Qing Dynasty, due to the Qing government's closure of the country, the Qing Dynasty unconsciously lagged behind in development and lagged behind other countries.
At the same time, Western countries entered a new stage of development through the industrial revolution, and both science and technology and economy were separated from the Qing Dynasty.
When the war broke out, the Qing government finally knew that it was panicked and hurriedly looked for a solution.
Unfortunately, the accumulation of poverty and weakness over the years could be solved overnight, and in the end, the Qing Dynasty was still tormented by war and plunder.
During that humiliating time, not only the government was oppressed by Western countries, but the people were also bullied by foreigners.
Due to the treaty problem, the Qing government had no way to dispose of foreigners at will, so these people often had no fear of rebellion in the Qing Dynasty, such as Bai Qiwen.
Bai Qiwen can be said to be the most arrogant American, because he once shouted that no one in all of China would dare to touch him.
First, the American Bai Qiwen
Bai Qiwen, an American, was born in a military family, his father was an officer, so he had sufficient combat experience under the influence of his childhood.
And that made him a real soldier.
After this, Bai Qiwen did not choose to stay in the United States, but traveled around to increase his knowledge.
Since Bai Qiwen had long heard of the Qing Dynasty and was very curious about it, he deliberately used China as a destination and planned to explore it.
Unfortunately, he did not come at the right time, when China was in the late Qing Dynasty, the national situation was in turmoil, there were Western powers on the outside, and there were rebels on the inside.
At the same time, in order to suppress the rebel army, the imperial court deliberately hired a group of good combatants and named them "Changsheng Army".
The nature of the victorious army is similar to that of mercenaries, and if they are given enough money, these people will be able to charge forward in the same way as they did in war.
For Bai Qiwen, fighting a war was not a difficult task, and he became a powerful deputy not long after joining the Changsheng Army, not only in suppressing the rebel army, but also contributing a lot of strength to the final successful repulsion of the rebel army.
The Qing government's own soldiers were vulnerable, and it was really helpless to spend money to hire them so well, but the imperial court did not feel anything about it.
Not only that, but they also relied more on the victorious army, seeing it as a sharp weapon, and whenever they encountered a difficult war, they would all be solved.
This did ensure security to a certain extent, but with it came a huge hidden danger, that is, the Changsheng Army was not completely subordinate to the imperial court.
Because the control of the imperial court over them was very weak, after Bai Qiwen became the new boss, he was even more blind, and he did not pay attention to the Qing government when he fought a fierce battle.
Second, no one in China dared to move him
Since the relationship between the Qing government and the Changsheng Army was employed and employed, in Bai Qiwen's eyes, the Qing government was only an employer at best, and he did not have to pay attention to these people at all.
Since then, whether in language or behavior, he has great disrespect for those important courtiers such as Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan, and even directly speaks out, deliberately causing fierce conflicts with them.
Such a practice made Li Hongzhang and others very dissatisfied, and he knew that the reason why Bai Qiwen dared to do this was because he knew that he was an American.
Even if China commits any serious crime, China can only act in accordance with the treaty signed with the United States and cannot directly deal with him.
Li Hongzhang originally did not want to affect the whole situation because of Bai Qiwen alone, but he did not expect that Bai Qiwen was becoming more and more fearless and doing more and more excessive things.
Once, when there was a rebellion in a local area, Zeng Guofan contacted Bai Qiwen in time and asked him to lead troops to suppress it, but Bai Qiwen was unwilling, saying that he had to receive money before he could work.
To this end, while dragging himself not to fight, he repeatedly harassed the local government to ask for military pay, and later saw that there was no hope of asking for money, so he directly robbed the warehouse and took away the forty thousand taels of silver inside.
This incident greatly angered Li Hongzhang, who immediately dismissed him from his post and issued a death order to arrest him.
Bai Qiwen saw that he had suddenly become a wanted criminal in the imperial court from a general, and he was also furious, and in a fit of anger, he simply turned to the enemy and became a member of the rebel army.
Unfortunately, Bai Qiwen thought of the rebel army too simply, before he joined, the rebel army had already formed an independent and complete scale, so he had neither the prestige of a general here, nor did he get any real power, and over time, many dissatisfactions were bred in his heart.
Later, Bai Qiwen contacted many of the old departments of the former Changsheng Army and wanted to reorganize a new Changsheng Army, but before he could finish, his whereabouts were discovered by the Qing government.
Li Hongzhang was very excited about this, and he had already thought of a way to deal with it.
Third, Li Hongzhang smiled slightly: drown him
After capturing Bai Qiwen, Li Hongzhang feared that he would escape, and specially sent someone to send him to Suzhou to be imprisoned, and the process of escorting him needed to take the water route.
It is very coincidental that while their ship was sailing at sea, it accidentally encountered a storm, and many people, including Bai Qiwen, "drowned".
In fact, for Bai Qiwen's death, many people can feel the mystery, whether there is Li Hongzhang's handwriting in the end, no one can say clearly.
After all, Bai Qiwen is making waves in China because China has no right to try him, and now his "accidental death" has not only made the United States unable to find anything wrong, but also made the imperial court breathe a bad breath.
Li Hongzhang's attitude toward this matter was also very clear, that is, he was undisguisedly happy, and when he reported the matter to the imperial court, he smiled slightly and said:
"Although we have no right to dispose of him, we can only give him back to the United States, but even God can't see his crime, so he was punished and drowned, which can be said to be deserved."
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