On June 21, 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi, who was in control of the Qing Dynasty at the time, did something astounding, and without understanding the military strength of the Qing Dynasty, she openly ordered the promulgation of the "Edict of Declaration of War" to declare war on the eleven countries.
However, cixi's order this time was greatly disappointed by the response, and the military and political leaders of the southeastern provinces represented by Li Hongzhang expressed their reluctance to enter the king of Jingqin, not only that, they also claimed that Cixi was seduced by the traitors, and only then would they issue the "Edict of Declaring War". This farce soon ended, after the eight-nation alliance retreated, how did Cixi take care of the southeastern governors?
The Southeast Governor disobeyed
When Cixi's Edict of Declaring War was issued, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangguang and Cixi's most trusted minister, first refused to go north on the grounds that "this chaotic order is also ordered, and Guangdong does not follow the edict", which was a result that Cixi did not expect. With Li Hongzhang taking the lead, the rest of the governors in the southeast region followed suit.
The Postal Minister Sheng Xuanhuai ordered the telegraph offices in various places to seize the edicts issued by Cixi declaring war, which were not allowed to be promulgated on a large scale, but could only be given to the governors of various places, and it was obvious that Sheng Xuanhuai did not want people to know about the edicts promulgated by Cixi, and wanted to narrow the scope of the edicts to a controllable scope.
On June 26, 1900, under the leadership of Sheng Xuanhuai, Shanghai Daoyu Lianyuan and the consuls of various powerful countries in Shanghai signed two agreements, the "Nine Articles of the Regulations on Mutual Protection in the Southeast" and the "Charter for the Protection of the Inside and Outside the Inner and Outer Parts of Shanghai", agreeing that the well water of the great powers and the southeast would not violate the river water, and these treaties were called the southeast mutual protection.
In September 1901, after Li Hongzhang signed the "Xin Ugly Treaty" on behalf of the Qing government, the war between the great powers and the Qing Dynasty came to a temporary end, and Cixi also slowly returned to Beijing from the place of escape, and returned to Beijing in September of that year.
How did Cixi take care of those overseers of the Southeast Mutual Protection?
In fact, after Cixi returned to Beijing at that time, she did not mention anything about the matter of mutual protection in the southeast and the governors in the southeast who were involved in it, as if nothing had happened, what had it been like before, after this incident, everything was still business as usual, which made people wonder very much, with Cixi's mind and personality, how could she not clean up these overseers?
Of course, Cixi wanted to clean up in her heart, but reality has long since not allowed Cixi to clean up these people, first of all, from the perspective of political interests, Cixi has no way to clean up these overseers, because at that time these overseers were united, as long as Cixi had any excessive actions or punishments for any of them, it may lead to a whole body, once these overseers in the southeast region rebelled, then Cixi's good life was completely over, according to the historical environment at that time, Cixi not only could not offend these people, It is also necessary to deliberately curry favor with them, which is the best choice to continue to hold power.
Obviously, Cixi was able to grasp the lifeblood of the Great Qing Dynasty for 47 years, and of course, political skills will not be wasted, so at this critical juncture, what to do and what not to do, Cixi can still clearly distinguish. Some people may wonder why Cixi could not use force to clean them up, since they could not be cleaned up in terms of political interests.
The reality is that Cixi was in the military power at that time, the strength was even more insufficient, the military power at the end of the Qing Dynasty was mainly in the hands of five generals, they were Rong Lu, Song Qing, Yuan Shikai, Nie Shicheng, Dong Fuxiang, among the five, at the time of the change of Gengzi, Rong Lu's army had been completely destroyed, Nie Shicheng was killed in battle, and the rest of the team was also absorbed by Song Qing.
Dong Fuxiang often killed innocents indiscriminately and was also deprived of military power, and later the Ganjun tree was disbanded, and now only the newly built army and the Yi army remained, of which the leader of the army was Yuan Shikai, Yuan Shikai was a direct participant in the mutual protection of the southeast, and the leader of the Yi army was Song Qing, who was not only An old subordinate of Li Hongzhang, but also a good friend of Yuan Shikai, and it was obvious that he would not choose to help Cixi when he encountered problems.
In such a military background, even if Cixi wanted to use force, there was no way, she could only obediently pretend that nothing had happened, at least in this way, she could also ensure that she continued to be the ruler of the Qing Dynasty, and once she took a slightly wrong step and offended any of the governors of the Southeast Mutual Protection, Cixi might not be able to eat and walk.
Of course, in addition to the fact that the actual situation at that time did not allow Cixi to clean up these overseers, in fact, according to Cixi's own interests, there was no need for her to clean up these overseers, because even after Cixi issued the edict declaring war, these overseers disobeyed Cixi's orders, but in the whole process, they did not consider their own personal interests, but considered the overall interests of the Qing Dynasty, and when the great powers later wanted to clean up Cixi, they also insisted that Cixi was seduced by the traitors before issuing the edict declaring war. This move can be said to have lifted the siege for Cixi, otherwise Cixi would have been doomed.
With such a move, for Cixi, it can be described as a life-saving grace, of course, she has no reason to cross the river to tear down bridges, unload and kill donkeys, otherwise her reputation is estimated to be even more smelly, and it is even more impossible to take power.
What happened to the overseers who were mainly involved in southeast mutual insurance?
Since Cixi did not clean up these overseers, did they later die well? Let me talk about them separately:
Li Hongzhang is a person who must be more familiar to everyone, when he was in the southeast to protect each other, he was already old, and after signing the "Xinugu Treaty" on behalf of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang has been carrying a name of infamy, grief, and soon after he died because of the rupture of his stomach vessels and vomiting blood.
Sheng Xuanhuai was rewarded by Cixi for his meritorious service in protecting the southeastern region, and before Cixi's death, he also appointed Sheng Xuanhuai as the right attendant of the Ministry of Posts and Communications, which can also be regarded as a good ending.
Liu Kunyi continued to serve as the Governor of Liangjiang and the Minister of Trade and Commerce of Nanyang afterwards, and because of his merits in the Southeast Mutual Protection, he was rewarded by Cixi with the title of Prince Taibao, and finally died of illness in 1902 during the term of Governor of Liangjiang, which can be regarded as a good death.
Xu Yingqi initially continued to serve as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, but it did not take long for him to be impeached, and finally cixi dismissed from his official post and let him return to his hometown of Panyu in Guangzhou for the elderly, and eventually Xu Yingqi died of illness in his hometown, which is a relatively bleak ending.
Wang Zhichun served as the inspector of Anhui before the southeast mutual insurance, and was later transferred to Guangxi as an inspector, from the perspective of job changes, it is not rising or falling, but he transferred guangxi's right of way out and mining rights to France at a low price during his period in Guangxi, which caused dissatisfaction among many Chinese, and finally was dismissed from his official post by Cixi and returned home for the elderly, and finally died of illness in his hometown of Hengzhou in 1906.
Zhang Zhidong was entrusted with a heavy responsibility afterwards, but his power fell to the opposition, Cixi gradually elevated it, and before Cixi died, Zhang Zhidong served as a scholar of Hugh Pavilion University and a military minister in the capital, which was very good in terms of position, but in terms of real power, it was obviously not as big as the governor of Huguang before him.
Yuan Shikai was also entrusted with a heavy responsibility afterwards, and later he was transferred to the capital by Cixi, who was elevated and given the post of military minister and Shangshu of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
epilogue
All in all, these southeastern overseers who participated in the mutual protection of the southeast, even if they did not obey cixi's rebellion when they issued the edict declaring war, did not enter the king of Jingqin, but afterwards because they had too much real power in their hands, Empress Dowager Cixi did not dare to do anything with them, and could only continue to entrust them with heavy responsibilities.
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