In the Xinjiang Agubai rebellion, Li Hongzhang said: China is so big, it is better not to abandon it. Zuo Zongtang slammed the table angrily: Nonsense, 1.6 million land, say don't want it? In 1876, the 64-year-old Zuo Zongtang took command of the Western Expedition!
Agubai looks very beautiful, can sing and dance, when he was a teenager, he often danced in male and female costumes, which showed that he looked very small and fresh meat, and later joined the army and was brave and good at war, gradually rising, and later occupied all of Xinjiang, and his ambitions gradually grew, and he even established a state, claiming to be the Hongfu Khanate.
At this time the situation was very serious, and the Tsar had recognized Agubai and hooked up with him. Moreover, Britain also supported Agubai, selling arms to him to show support, and Queen Victoria once personally wrote a letter of condolence to Agubai.
Li Hongzhang believed that the attacks of the great powers on China were mainly from the sea, so they attached importance to coastal defense. But Zuo Zongtang thought that losing Xinjiang would lead to the loss of Mongolia, and if mongolia was lost, north China would be dangerous. Therefore, he vigorously advocated the recovery of Xinjiang, but fortunately Cixi was not yet unconscious, agreed to Zuo Zongtang's proposal, and appointed Zuo Zongtang as the commander of the Western Expedition.
At that time, there was no money for the war, Zuo Zongtang raised millions of taels of silver, the state allocated millions of dollars, and borrowed ten million from foreigners through Hu Xueyan, so Zuo Zongtang had enough military expenses.
It's not enough to have money, you have to have weapons. Agubai had the support of Britain and Russia, but he was armed to the teeth. Zuo Zongtang painstakingly obtained equipment such as split mountain cannons, rifle cannons, and breech guns for the Western Expeditionary Army by buying from foreigners and asking the imperial court for them. The British historian Roger Bo commented: "This army is basically similar to the army of a European power. ”
Rich, with guns, the left old man hangs up and goes out on the battlefield.
After several years of bloody fighting and defeating the rebels, Agubai saw that the general situation had gone, and committed suicide by taking poison himself. However, when Agubai was in rebellion, Tsarist Russia took the opportunity to invade and occupy Ili, claiming that it was occupied for China, and if China pacified Agubai, it would return it to China, but this was only an excuse, because Tsarist Russia expected that China would not be able to recover it at all.
In October 1878, the imperial court sent Chonghou to Russia, hoping to return to Ili. But after arriving in Russia, it is estimated that vodka was drunk too much, and Chonghou gave Ili to Russia, and he went home without informing the imperial court.
Zuo Zongtang was furious: "Lao Tzu went from south to north, and from east to west, you sent Ili with one word?" After returning home, Chonghou was sentenced to "beheading and waiting", and finally spent 300,000 taels of silver to buy a life. Zuo Zongtang reported to the imperial court: "This time does not count, please re-send people to negotiate, and if I can't negotiate, I will lead the troops to war!" ”
In order to recover Ili, Zeng Jize, son of Zeng Guofan, sent an envoy to Russia to negotiate, in order to cooperate with the negotiations, Zuo Zongtang once again went west, this year Zuo Zongtang is already a 69-year-old man, this time the old man is to let people carry the coffin out on the expedition, this is how determined!
As soon as the Russians saw that Zuo Zongtang had moved in earnest, they agreed to return Ili - how dangerous.
At that time, the country was weakened to that extent, and it was rare to have a hawk like Zuo Zongtang.
During zuo Zongtang's tenure as governor of Liangjiang, he inspected Shanghai four times in order to inspect the defense of Jianghai. On his first tour (June 1882), he led hundreds of his own soldiers and leased them to the Ministry of Works to stop them on the grounds of passing through the note. Zuo Zongtang was furious and said, "Shanghai is china's land, and outsiders only lease Er. With my Chinese soldiers traveling to the land of China, why should there be a note? He ordered all his soldiers to shoot live ammunition and sheath their knives. The foreigners were soft, cleared the road, raised the Chinese dragon flag, and fired thirteen cannons to greet them. After that, the foreigners became more respectful and courteous. During the fourth inspection (February 1884), foreign foreign envoys and british, American, German, Russian, Austrian and other ministers went to take ships to pay tribute.
In 1885, Zuo Zongtang died of illness in Fuzhou at the age of seventy-three. At that time, China defeated the French invaders in Vietnam, but signed an unequal treaty, and Zuo Zongtang said sadly on his deathbed: "And in Vietnam and war, China's strength and weakness are also a major key." The minister overseers went south, and so far they did not extend the tart, Zhang Continental Wei, hated his life, and could not be blinded! ”
If you don't say how To say that Confucianism misled the country, Chinese has always been too particular about "harmony". This is often the case: if you win a war, you have to sign a concession treaty, but the concession people often don't appreciate it, thinking that you are still not strong enough. And once the battle is lost, it will lose power and humiliate the country, and pay compensation for the cession of land.
If you don't do anything, you don't blame the past. The past can only be counted, but in the future, we can no longer let such a hero die blind!