How did Erjin, the murderer of the Yuanmingyuan, die?
The most famous event at the end of the Qing Dynasty, in addition to those wars, should be the burning of the Yuanmingyuan by the British and French forces. It can be said that the destruction of the Yuanmingyuan is a major loss for the mainland. So, how was the Old Summer Palace destroyed? Who ordered the burning of the Yuanmingyuan? How did the murderer who ordered the burning of the Yuanmingyuan end his life? Why did this murderer end up in the fire? Let's answer them one by one.
The Yuanmingyuan is one of the famous Three Mountains and Five Gardens in the western suburbs of Beijing, which was built in the 48th year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1709) and consists of three groups of grand buildings: the Yuanmingyuan, the Changchun Garden, and the Wanchun Garden. It not only brings together a number of famous garden scenes in Jiangnan, but also creatively transplants Western garden architecture, which is the culmination of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign gardening art. Because the emperors of the Qing Dynasty came here every midsummer to escape the summer, listen to the government, and handle military and political affairs, it was called the summer palace.
In July 1860 (Xianfeng Decade), the Anglo-French army marched to Beijing via Tianjin, and on September 18, the Tongzhou negotiations broke up, and on the 21st, the Bali Bridge was decisively fought. On September 22, when the Xianfeng Emperor heard that the Anglo-French coalition army was approaching the capital, he felt bad and panicked, and hurriedly took Cixi, Ci'an, and the crown prince, escorted by dozens of ministers, eunuchs, and palace women, from the Yuanmingyuan out of the gate of the Changchun Garden to the east, through the big stone bridge on the Wanquan River, through qinghe town, out of Gubeikou, like a lost dog, in the direction of the Rehe (Chengde) Summer Resort. On October 6, the Anglo-French army circled through the northeastern suburbs of Beijing and attacked the Yuanmingyuan. At this time, inside the Xianliang Gate, there were more than twenty Yuanmingyuan technical and courageous eunuchs who bravely faced the enemy, did not fear the victims, and fought hard to move forward, but in the end, because they were outnumbered, Ren Liang, the leader of the Yuanmingyuan Technical Courage Eight Pins, and others were killed in the line of duty. At 7:00 p.m., the invading army captured the Yuanmingyuan.
The next morning, the four leaders who led the LinkedIn-French coalition forces to invade China, Erjin, Grant, Gero, and Meng Tuobang, held a meeting at the Zhengda Guangming Hall of the Yuanmingyuan to collegiate the distribution of treasures in the garden. Subsequently, the invading army began a frenzied plunder. At first, it was only the British and French allies who devoured the gold and silver treasures and precious works of art in the garden like wolves. But soon Erjin felt that plunder would not completely destroy this magnificent palace, so he openly claimed that the Captured Overseas Chinese of Britain and France had been killed by the Qing government; Only the method of burning the Yuanmingyuan is the most feasible. This move was enough to shake China and its emperors tremendously.
Erkin was the commander of the British army and the culprit in the burning of the Yuanmingyuan.
James Elgin was the eighth and twelfth Earl of Golden Cardin, and to Chinese, he was a crime-ridden robber. In 1856, he was sent to China to launch an attack on Guangzhou and force the Qing government to sign the Treaty of Tianjin. In April 1860, Queen Victoria appointed him as a special envoy to once again lead the Anglo-French intervention in China. He is cunning and treacherous, sinister and vicious, and makes good use of tactics to force peace.
According to historical records, the order to burn the Yuanmingyuan was first issued by Erjin to the first part of the British First Army. Prior to this, the Anglo-French coalition was just a frenzied robbery. In the early morning of the 18th, Erjin officially issued an order to burn the Yuanmingyuan, and a large group of British cavalry regiments took the lead in setting fire to the Yuanmingyuan, and after the flames rose, the sky was extremely dark. Subsequently, many coalition troops set fires to various parts of the garden, and near noon, the whole garden was filled with fireworks. Three or four thousand men of the coalition set fire for two consecutive days, and the smoke was shrouded in smoke and candles. Twenty or thirty miles away, the daylight over the city of Beijing is dim, like a solar eclipse. The most tragic thing is that nearly 300 eunuchs, palace women, and craftsmen in the Anyou Palace of the Yuanmingyuan were besieged by the fire, unable to escape, and all buried in the sea of fire. At the same time, Qingyi Garden (Summer Palace), Jingmingyuan (Yuquan Mountain), Jingyi Garden (Xiangshan), Changchun Garden and Haidian Town near the Yuanmingyuan were burned to rubble. When the Yuanmingyuan was plunged into a sea of fire, Elgin triumphantly declared that this move would shock China and Europe, and its effect was far beyond the imagination of people thousands of miles away. The master messenger of the arson regarded such acts as a remarkable achievement.
After the burning of the Yuanmingyuan, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Beijing with the great powers. Soon, Elgin marched south to Hong Kong and cut off Kowloon according to the agreement. In early 1861 he led the British army to a triumphant return and was rewarded by his master, Queen Victoria. He was then appointed Governor-General of India, but after only a short period of time, he died at the age of 52. In 1900, the British published "James Erkin Commentary" said: Erjin died in the indian state of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamsala town, which is a lightning-prone area in northern India, one day the room where he lived was suddenly hit by lightning and caught fire, Erjin was in a hurry to suffer a heart attack, too late to escape, he was buried in the fire.
It really can be said that it is a response to that sentence: it is not that it is not reported, the time has not yet come. Therefore, the reason why sayings and proverbs have been circulating for so long is that there is still a reason. This Erjin finally ended up with such a fate, which can also be said to be deserved.