Li Hongzhang was once praised by Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi, calling him "the only person who can lead the Great Qing Dynasty to compete with the world powers", but is this really the case? In fact, if we dissect Li Hongzhang in depth, we will find that he is actually a person who attaches more importance to his own interests, and has repeatedly used the interests of the Great Qing Dynasty to seek benefits for himself, which can be said to be a big corrupt official and a big traitor. unbelief? Let's look at what Li Hongzhang has done.
Photo of Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang's real origins were after becoming the viceroy and minister of Beiyang, when Li Hongzhang led the Qing Dynasty's foreign affairs movement. After the Sino-Japanese War, the foreign affairs movement was declared a failure, but Li Hongzhang was rich and oily from the foreign affairs movement. Many of the foreign companies he presided over became his personal means of profit.
Li Hongzhang once founded the Jinling Machinery Bureau, which mainly produced iron cannons and guns, but Li Hongzhang did not understand management, and he hired an Englishman to preside over the development of the machine. However, this Englishman Margery was a medical student, and he did not know how to make artillery.
Li Hongzhang and the princes, nobles and diplomatic missions
After the iron cannons of the Jinling Machinery Bureau were sent to the Tianjin Fort, the cannons exploded two on the spot, and 7 soldiers died on the spot, and Li Hongzhang, who was angry, asked Magri to come from Nanjing to explain, but Mager could not find a way, and Li Hongzhang finally let the Jinling Machinery Bureau continue to produce inferior iron cannons and send them to Tianjin, with shoddy charging and treating national defense as a child's play.
Li Hongzhang's two most famous foreign affairs projects are the Jiangnan General Manufacturing Bureau and the steamship investment bureau. The Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau originally wanted to develop the warship manufacturing capacity of the Great Qing Dynasty, but the imperial court spent countless money in it, and finally only built a small ironclad ship, and it could not be launched.
Photo of the steamship Merchants Bureau
At that time, Qing officials said that it was enough to buy 20 new ironclad ships in the General Manufacturing Bureau, and then Li Hongzhang changed the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau into a ship repair factory, and the renovation cost a large amount of silver, but it still failed.
The Steamship Merchants Bureau was one of the few achievements that Li Hongzhang could get his hands on, but the Steamship Merchants Bureau did not make much money for the imperial court, and even had to be posted upside down. Most of the assets are firmly controlled in the Li Hongzhang family, making a false account to fool the Qing government is still simple, Li Hongzhang's grandson Li Guojie came to the Republic of China to be the chairman of the steamship China Merchants Bureau.
Li Hongzhang family
The Steamship Merchants Bureau prospered for a while when it was first established, and many merchants also loved to use their own ships to transport goods, but Li Hongzhang signed the same price agreement with the British on behalf of the Steamship Merchants Bureau, and lowered the price together and raised the price together. Li Hongzhang did not dare to offend the British, completely in accordance with the agreement, the result of the British always first reduce the price or raise the price, the British company Jardine Matheson, Swire market share doubled, but the steamship Merchants Bureau almost fell into a desperate situation.
Li Hongzhang signed a pro-ugly treaty
The Kaiping Mining Bureau set up by Li Hongzhang is also like this, the high-grade coal is sold to foreigners to make money, and the inferior coal is sold to the Beiyang Marine Division, and anyway, the procurement power is in the hands of Li Zhongtang, and this money is not earned in vain. As a result, in the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, the coal of the Beiyang Marine Division rubbed black smoke to affect the line of sight, and the combustion was insufficient and the power was insufficient, which was also one of the reasons for the loss of the Jia-Wu Naval Battle.
Li Hongzhang also did a lot of work for foreigners and for his own personal gain, such as the Mobei gold mine sent to the Russians, the telegraph bureau all hired foreigners to operate, and every time the Qing government sent a telegram, the foreigners knew better than the Qing officials.
In addition to using the power in his hands for his own benefit, Li Hongzhang also signed many treaties that humiliated the country, but he himself collected money from foreigners from these treaties. As long as the foreigner's money is enough, he can sign the treaty that is difficult to sign. For example, Li Hongzhang signed a Sino-Russian secret treaty with Russia, received 3 million taels of silver from Russia, and ceded Lushun and Dalian to Russia.
Map of the Battle of Jiawu
Li Hongzhang was once touted by foreigners as "the best diplomat of the Qing Dynasty" and "Bismarck of the East", but we think about it in reverse, whether foreigners like to "cooperate" with Li Hongzhang before advocating him. After all, only Li Hongzhang dared to sign those harsh treaties, and only Li Hongzhang had the ability to get Cixi to agree to these treaties.
After His death, Li Hongzhang left behind more than 40 million taels of silver and more than 2.5 million mu of heaven and earth, such a talent is not a talent to save the country, but a selfish and self-interested courtier. I'm Xiao Cong, follow me to learn more interesting history.