In 1900 AD, empress dowager Cixi, the supreme ruler of the Qing Empire, declared war on the countries of the world that had diplomatic relations with the Qing Empire because of a wrong decision, and this edict boiled over the country, for the brain-hot Empress Dowager Cixi and the Boxers and most of the people, this propaganda was undoubtedly a move to "promote the prestige of our country", after all, the Qing Dynasty was also bullied for too long, but there were also many smart people who knew the situation, knowing that this matter was clearly an old lady who was temporarily hot in her head in order to save face. It was difficult to deal with a major power with the national strength of the Qing Dynasty, but the whole world (the pit dug by the old lady was not small, and she did not specify which country to declare war on), so when the north was in full swing to bomb the consulate and kill foreigners, the southern governors headed by Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangguang, including Yuan Shikai in Shandong, all joined Li Hongzhang's agreement, formed the Southeast Mutual Protection Organization, and openly communicated with foreigners: "Never follow the edict."
The result of the declaration of war can be imagined, the Qing Dynasty was defeated, the Eight-Nation Alliance army invaded the Forbidden City, Cixi escaped from Beijing with the Guangxu Emperor without eating breakfast, and ran all the way to Xi'an on a bumpy westward journey, leaving a magnificent and majestic Forbidden City for the Eight-Nation Alliance to ravage, Cixi regretted that it was too late, and could only continue to issue edicts to Li Hongzhang on the way to escape, so that this nearly eighty-year-old man could come forward to negotiate with the great powers.
Measure the material strength of China and the joy of the country
This sentence is the content of Cixi's self-edict, and her previous hardness can be described as completely different, the reason why Li Hongzhang wanted to call Li Hongzhang to go, only because Li Hongzhang is already the only diplomatic envoy that Cixi can use at present, Li Hongzhang can be said to be the person who signed the most treaties with the great powers in the history of the Qing Dynasty, he signed with Japan, Russia, Britain, and France, especially the "Maguan Treaty" signed with Japan in 1985, Li Hongzhang became a hero of the Qing Dynasty, a sinner in all of China, Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen and other later situation caused the tide to regard him as an enemy, and Li Hongzhang, bearing the name of "traitor," extended his efforts for another five years for the Qing Dynasty, and it was most ideal to send him there.
After receiving cixi's edict, Li Hongzhang left Guangzhou for Shanghai in July of that year, stayed in Shanghai for a month, and formed a diplomatic mission to go to Beijing again, together with the prime minister Yamen Yili, who remained in Beijing at the time, to preside over the peace talks, at which the great powers put forward seven demands:
Punish Cixi and those associated with the incident;
Prohibit the Qing dynasty from manufacturing arms and warships again, and prohibit the import of arms from any country;
One billion taels of silver, repaid within ten years;
All embassies of the great powers in Qing may garrison troops, the number of which shall be determined by each country itself;
Dismantling the Dagukou Fort;
The area from Tianjin to Dagukou stationed the troops of the great powers and removed all The Qing forces;
The issue of land cession continued to be discussed at the meeting;
It can be seen that the conditions for the negotiation of peace between the great powers are extremely harsh, especially the first article, the only requirement cixi gave to Li Hongzhang in Xi'an was to let the great powers let themselves go, and almost everything else could be agreed to, so this condition from the first article is that Li Hongzhang could not agree, plus huge reparations and the entry of foreign troops, Li Hongzhang really could not sign it!
Under Li Hongzhang's "arguments based on reason," the great powers finally made concessions, and Li Hongzhang also exhausted the last bit of effort for the Qing Dynasty
From October 1900 to September 1901, for nearly a year, Li Hongzhang has been punishing Cixi and confronting the great powers in terms of the amount of reparations, eight countries and eight languages, Li Hongzhang has to negotiate with them every day in various languages, you must know that Li Hongzhang was already seventy-seven years old at the time, and he had to deal with the threats of various countries under the fatigue of boats and cars, as well as the pressure of public opinion within the Qing Dynasty, plus Cixi, who was on vacation in Xi'an, also sent a telegram a day to ask about the situation, and the situation facing Li Hongzhang was not something we could imagine. According to historical records, Li Hongzhang even vomited blood many times during negotiations, and the great powers were also worried about Li Hongzhang's accident, and all the Western doctors he asked for were turned away.
In the end, the great powers really couldn't go on, and could only agree to Li Hongzhang's request, which is the content of the "Xinugu Treaty" that is now circulating:
The indemnity of 450 million is two million, and it is repaid in thirty-nine years;
The minxiang in the eastern suburbs of Beijing is divided into an embassy district, and the Chinese people are not allowed to live, and various countries can send troops to garrison;
Demolition of the Dagukou Fort and stationing troops along the Tianjin area;
The Qing Dynasty banned the import of arms for two years, but whether to extend the time was decided by the great powers;
The transformation of the Prime Minister's Office into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which deals exclusively with foreign affairs;
Send envoys to various countries to apologize in person and erect arches for the ambassadors of the victimized countries;
It is hard to imagine that under the circumstances of such a bad situation in the country and the bottom card of the Great Qing Dynasty has been seen by everyone, Li Hongzhang can still save Cixi's life while also reducing the amount and time limit of the reparations, and more importantly: there is no land cut. This was much lighter than the previous harshness, and as soon as Cixi saw that she had been exonerated, she happily agreed.
On September 7, 1901, Li Hongzhang signed a "Su" character on the treaty that the world spurned, and at this time he did not even have the strength and courage to write his own name, and the word "Su" originated from his Viscount of the Qing Dynasty, Su Yibo.
Two months after the signing of the treaty, Li Hongzhang received two kinds of evaluations that were very different; for the Great Qing Dynasty he was a "person who recreated Xuan Huang"; for the people of the Great Qing Dynasty, he was a "misguided person" who ranked after the "traitor" Qin Juniper; of course, the Great Qing Dynasty was already terminally ill, the weak countries had no diplomacy, and Li Hongzhang was only a person who bore the guilt, so the Chinese people were still merciful to him, but they were only "misguided people", not yet to the level of "traitors"
Author/Yiyi Yi Orange: Astronomical geography, do not understand anything; ancient and modern China and foreign, are blind, mainly Baidu, and then randomly edited, like to like!