#头条创作挑战赛 #
The Sino-Japanese War was a war that really brought the Qing Dynasty to its demise, and it was also a war that brought the Chinese people to the abyss.
In the late Qing Dynasty, before the Sino-Japanese War, neither civil war nor foreign wars did hurt the Qing dynasty. Civil wars such as the war to pacify the Taiping Rebellion, foreign wars such as the Opium War, and the signing of some unequal treaties between the Qing and Western powers did not really hurt the vitality of the Qing. The Qing Dynasty had the wealth accumulated in China for more than a thousand years, and although the imperial court seemed to have lost a lot of money, the wealth of the people was still there.
But the Sino-Japanese War really brought the Qing Dynasty to collapse. What caused the collapse of the Qing Dynasty was not only the reparations of the war, but also the plundering of China's private wealth by Western powers through financial means. In today's parlance, this is a standard financial war. Today we will talk about the Sino-Japanese War.
Many historical views say that Japan's Meiji Restoration gave it a better system, quickly allowing Japan to rise and win the war. However, Japan's Meiji Restoration, which began in 1868 and began in 1894, was only 26 years old.
Japan is such a small island country, it has no resources, before the Meiji Restoration, its economy was mainly agriculture, how can it be possible to develop industry in only 26 years, how can it accumulate enough economic strength to start a war with the Qing Dynasty?
The war is about money, the so-called cannon is a thousand taels of gold, there is not enough economic strength, how dare Japan be small and broad, no matter how crazy it gambles on the national fortune, it must have basic economic strength. So where does its economic power come from? There is only one source, that is, Great Britain and other powers! Japan acted as a lackey of Britain and chose to be supported by Britain.
At that time, the hegemony of the world was in the hands of the British, and the main battlefields of the world also revolved around the struggle for hegemony between Britain and Russia. What are the means that Britain has always used? It is not that it directly hits you, but that it instigates civil wars in other countries. For example, in the earliest slave trade, Britain did not actually take it upon itself to capture black slaves, but by provoking wars between black tribes.
Are these two tribes really willing to fight? No one wants to fight! But the tribes that Britain chose first, if they were not willing to attack other tribes, then Britain would support the hostile tribes. In this case, the tribes supported by the British had little choice, which was the divide-and-conquer strategy adopted in Western rule.
Another example is the game between Britain and Russia in northwest China. Akuba was an agent of the British, Todxuan was an agent of Russia, and the battlefield in the northwest was actually a British agent and a Russian agent at war. Later, when Zuo Zongtang went to recover Xinjiang, it was actually the Qing dynasty that was at war with British and Russian agents.
In Chinese mainland, although Britain opened China's door by the Opium War, it was never able to penetrate deep into the hinterland, and it could not seize China's greatest wealth. Although Britain wants to find an agent in China, it can't get in because China is a centralized state.
During the Taiping Rebellion, Britain also supported the Taiping Army and wanted to use the Taiping Army to engage in internal division in China. However, after the Taiping Army entered Nanjing, it did not develop well, and the British finally chose the Qing government. It was also with the support of Britain and other Western countries that the Xiang Army led by Zeng Guofan eliminated the Taiping Army. After that, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and other Han groups had their own army and also mastered a certain right to speak. From then on, Cixi's Manchu clique also needed to balance the interests of the Han clique when making major decisions.
But at this time, Britain cannot be inserted, Britain wants to further seize its interests in China, it itself is too far away, does not want to directly send troops over, it can only choose to support an agent in East Asia, through this agent to rob China, this agent it chooses is Japan.
Japan was both actively learning from the West and a country with few resources, which was the best choice for Britain. Because Japan has no resources in the country, and it wants to expand, the only way is to grab it, so Britain lent money to Japan, let Japan develop industry, and support Japan. When Japan, Britain's agent in East Asia, had just developed a little, it began to start robbing its neighbors, so who to rob, Daqing did not dare to touch but first grabbed Korea closest to it.
In 1873, Saigo Takamori and other radicals put forward the "theory of conquest of Korea", which wanted to take Korea first. At that time, there were some people in Japan who had stayed in the ocean, such as Okubo Litsu, they were conservatives at that time, they said no, we are not strong enough to do it now. Please note that what conservatives say is not not to grab but not to grab now, and you need to save enough strength to grab later. But the radicals couldn't help it, saying that if they didn't go outside to grab it, the contradictions in the country would not be covered.
Japan's Meiji Restoration, which led to a large number of samurai being laid off, the samurai's iron rice bowl was gone, and they were making trouble in the country every day, and even staged a coup d'état. Since we can't rob North Korea, let's first go to grab Taiwan to practice our hands.
In 1874, Japan launched the "Battle of Taiwan", which is what we call the "Peony Society Incident". Japan sent an army of nearly 6,000 people to attack the indigenous people of Taiwan, and the Qing Dynasty could not stand idly by, and Li Hongzhang sent 13 of the most elite battalions of the Huai Army with 6,500 people to support Taiwan. Did Japan go to war with the Qing army? And it didn't! Because when the Qing army came, the Japanese were unsatisfied, and a large number of soldiers had malaria.
According to historical records, 5,990 Japanese soldiers and entourage who participated in the operation reported a total of 16,409 sick records, an average of 2.7 illnesses per person, and 561 Japanese died of illness, dozens of times more than the actual Japanese killed in battle.
As a result of this malaria, the Japanese army completely lost its combat effectiveness, and the Japanese panicked, what to do? Of course, look for Daddy! Japan quickly approached the British Minister Witoma and asked Waitoma to mediate. Witoma intervened forcefully to mediate, and with British mediation, China and Japan signed the Beijing Special Treaty. In fact, at this time, if there were sober people in the Great Qing, they could see that Britain supported Japan.
This time the troop dispatch, Japan can be said to have not taken advantage of it at all, not only killed more than 600 people, but also spent a lot of military expenses. However, through this incident, both the Qing and Japan realized the importance of the navy, and both countries began to expand their navies at the same time. From 1874 to 1894, these 20 years were the time of the arms race between China and Japan.
Since Japan did not take advantage of the Qing Dynasty by grabbing Taiwan, it will change its opponent. In 1875, Japan began to take action against Korea, Japan sent three warships to Ganghwa Island on the west coast of Korea, and the Japanese warships neither declared war nor hung the national flag, and directly fired at the Korean batteries on the shore. After knocking out the North Korean battery, the Japanese landed and looted the local town, which was called Yeongjongjong.
According to historical records, there were more than 60 families in Yongzong Town, and only 21 families were robbed by Japan. The Japanese burned and looted, loaded three warships after looting, and then flew away. At this time, the North Koreans did not even know who they had robbed, because Japan did not fly the national flag at all. Later, North Korea knew that it was robbed by Japan, how did it know, because the Japanese god operation came.
When the Japanese returned home, they released a report announcing that they were forced to return fire when three of their warships were on a survey mission when they fired at them from a North Korean port. Japan used this as an excuse to ask North Korea Xingshi for their guilt and ask North Korea to compensate them. The Japanese minister threatened North Korea that if no compensation was made, the Japanese army would attack Seoul. Under Japanese pressure, North Korea was forced to sign an unequal treaty, the Treaty of Ganghwa, known as the "Ganghwa Island Incident."
Through the "Ganghwa Island Incident", Japan successfully opened the door of North Korea and obtained trade privileges in Korea. Since then, Japanese goods have continued to pour into North Korea, and North Korea has lost the possibility of independent industrial development. Japan also began to cultivate its own forces in Korea, to put it bluntly, to cultivate Korean traitors and buy off many pro-Japanese Korean officials.
After the development of Japan's local industry, they had to sell out, and it also learned from the West to get rich and do international trade. Although North Korea's door has been opened, the North Korean market is too small, and if you want to make a lot of money, you have to sell it to China, and China's market is large. At that time, the largest trade market in East Asia was in Shanghai, but Japanese goods were completely uncompetitive in Shanghai because their prices were higher than Indian goods.
After Japan got the loan from the United Kingdom, it purchased the most advanced equipment in the West, and its production efficiency became very high, and the labor force in Japan was also very cheap at that time, so the factory price of the goods produced in Japan was very low, even 30% to 40% lower than that of Indian goods, so why did it sell at a higher price than India? Because its goods enter the Chinese mainland with tariffs, the price is higher than India. Indian goods were under the British brand, and Britain had all kinds of privileges at the time.
The Japanese see that China is such a big market, but they can't make money and can only dry their eyes, and they know that if they want to enter the Chinese market, the only way is to open China's door by force like Britain. If China cannot be opened, Japan's goods will have no way out, goods cannot be sold, and Japan can directly force it to death with so many usury loans borrowed by Britain and France, so Japan will not hesitate to gamble on its national fortune to start a war against the Qing Dynasty.
In 1894, the opportunity that Japan had waited for a long time finally came, and there was a Dongxue Party Rebellion in Korea, and the Dongxue Party Rebellion was the Korean peasant riot. Japan gained trade privileges in Korea, dumping its own goods and Western goods into North Korea, using the money earned from dumping to hoard grain and ship grain back to Japan to solve domestic problems.
As a result, the price of grain in North Korea rose, the Korean people did not have enough food, and a peasant uprising occurred. In order to suppress this riot, the Korean government invited the suzerainty Daqing to send troops, and as soon as the Daqing sent troops, Japan also sent troops. The Qing sent an army of 2,465 people, and Japan directly sent an army of 8,000 people.
The North Korean government and the leaders of the Dongxue Party felt that the situation was not good, and after discussion, they reconciled internally. After they reconciled, it should be fine, and North Korea asked the Qing to withdraw its troops, but Japan did not withdraw.
Japan has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and it has found an excuse to help North Korea "reform its internal affairs." The Japanese army directly attacked the Korean royal palace, overthrew the original Min Fei regime, and installed the pro-Japanese Daewonjun regime, and then Japan manipulated the new regime in Korea and broke off diplomatic relations with the Great Qing.
At this time, Li Hongzhang reacted that something was wrong and hurriedly increased his troops to North Korea. The ships that transported troops to Korea were chartered by the British merchant ship Gao Sheng, while the Beiyang Navy sent the Guangyi and Jiyuan to escort the ships. At this time, Japan moved to the Qing troop carriers, and Japan attacked without declaring war, as a result, the Guangyi was injured and stranded, the Jiyuan escaped, the Gao Sheng was sunk, and almost all the 1,200 Qing troops on the Gao Sheng were buried at the bottom of the sea. After learning that the Gao Sheng had been sunk by Japan, Li Hongzhang believed that since Japan sank the ship flying the British flag, it would inevitably be retaliated by the British.
However, the development of the situation was completely different from what he thought, and Japan only used a simple apology to obtain British forgiveness. At this time, Li Hongzhang, no matter how much he realized later, he should also see that Britain was biased towards Japan. If Li Hongzhang had understood that Japan at that time was just a British agent, it is estimated that he would not have misjudged so much. Because in the early stage of the war, Li Hongzhang very much hoped that Britain and other powers would mediate. Li Hongzhang insisted on abiding by the so-called international conventions, and he advocated concessions and not firing the first shot, believing that doing so would win the favor of Britain and the United States and other countries, and thus facilitate mediation.
But behind Japan is originally British manipulation, it is strange that they can really mediate. Li Hongzhang's misjudgment led to various defeats in the Sino-Japanese War, and then the two battlefields of the sea battlefield and the land battlefield fought at the same time, and the Qing Dynasty suffered a crushing defeat, and finally Li Hongzhang took a ship to Japan to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
Why is Japan an agent of Western powers and other powers? All the truth can be seen in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Who is the biggest beneficiary of this war? Japan certainly profited, but the biggest beneficiaries were Western powers such as Britain. Many people know the reparations treaty in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and the amount of reparations is 230 million taels of silver, but generally do not know how Daqing repaid the 230 million taels of silver. What really caused the complete collapse of the Qing was not the 230 million war reparations, but the financial war launched by the Western powers. The 230 million taels of silver demanded by the Western powers were not allowed to be paid in silver, but must be paid in pounds!
Through the pound sterling payment, the Qing government needs to exchange silver for pounds, and it needs to exchange such a large amount of pounds sterling, and the exchange rate of the pound sterling must appreciate. It used to be 3 taels of silver for 1 pound, but now it has become 6 taels of silver, or even 7 taels of silver for 1 pound, so Britain directly earns more than the Japanese through financial means.
Moreover, there is another requirement for reparations, that is, the Qing must be settled within 3 years. There was only one way to borrow from the banks of the Western powers. In 1895, the Qing government signed the "Four Percent Loan Contract" with Russia and France, borrowing 400 million francs; In 1896, the Qing government signed the Anglo-German Loan Contract with Britain and Germany, borrowing 16 million pounds; In 1898, the Qing government again signed the "Anglo-German Renewal Loan Contract" with Britain and Germany, borrowing 16 million pounds.
For these three loans, the Qing government had to pay a total of 400 million taels of various handling fees and interest costs, so Japan received 230 million taels of reparations in this war, but the Qing lost nearly 1 billion taels of silver.
Britain and other Western powers directly grabbed a lot of wealth from China through financial means. The reparations received by Japan were also pounds sterling, and Britain asked Japan to deposit this money in British banks, and the Japanese used this money as a reserve for issuing yen, so Britain controlled Japan financially.
After the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government did not yet know what financial plunder was, nor did it know anything about the Western financial system. The appreciation of the pound against silver means that people can buy more things in your country for less money, and what is sold to you can also be exchanged for more silver.
Some experts have calculated that China's exchange of silver for pounds in reparations caused the pound to appreciate twice against silver. And due to the outflow of a large amount of silver, resulting in a shortage of silver in China, the people need to use three times the copper money in exchange for the same silver, and the Chinese people in China use copper money to trade, so the Western powers only need to pay 1/6 of the previous money to buy things in China, that is, after this, all of China's exports are being plundered. The Chinese people have accumulated wealth for more than a thousand years, and in just over a decade, all of them have been plundered by Western powers by financial means.
Therefore, after the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty quickly collapsed and went to extinction, and China also changed from the richest country in the world to the poorest country, and became a lamb to be slaughtered. Later, in the Russo-Japanese War, the same logic was followed, Russia had just built the Trans-Siberian Railway, and Japan started. Britain lent Japan more than a billion taels of silver to supply Japan to fight the war, which seemed to be the Russo-Japanese War, but in fact it was still a Anglo-Russian hegemony.
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