Last time, I said that during the time of the Daoguang Emperor, opium had become a serious burden on the country and could not be ignored. Therefore, the Daoguang Emperor was determined to ban smoking, and sent Lin Zexu to Guangzhou to implement the anti-smoking policy. In the face of the tough Lin Zexu, the British businessmen at first only thought that the new official took office with three fires, but it was just a matter of bribing some more money. It was not until the "Humen Selling Cigarettes" began that these businessmen realized that the situation was not right, and the businessmen could not resist the government, but the huge interests could not make them stop, so the countries on both sides began to end, and the first Opium War began!
Humen sells cigarettes
Tough Lin Zexu
In 1839, Lin Zexu came to Guangzhou, and after a week of consideration and arrangement, he started. A circular was issued to inform all businessmen in China, first: to hand over all the opium that was not sold to the government, and second: to sign a note promising that tobacco would never be sold again, and if discovered, the law would be corrected on the spot!
In the face of Lin Zexu's announcement, the tobacco dealers were unimpressed, thinking that like previous officials, they were just asking for a price, and when the price was negotiated, the transaction could be done as usual. But they ignored Lin Zexu's determination, and after more than ten days, the tobacco merchants still refused to hand over the cigarettes, so Lin Zexu ordered the entire Thirteen Lines to be surrounded and Chinese withdrawn, and then banned all access, treating the Thirteen Lines as a prison and besieging all the merchants.
Thirteen lines of Guangzhou
In the face of such treatment, the tobacco merchants did not give in, only thinking that they were sitting on the ground to raise the price, but Lin Zexu directly stated: "If the opium is not extinguished for a day, this minister will not return for a day, and he swears that this matter will always be the same, and there will be no reason to stop." Even when the British representative "Righteous Law" asked Lin Zexu: "Are you ready to go to war?" Lin Zexu, who was the main war faction, still insisted, so the tobacco dealers gave up, handed over the tobacco, and signed a pledge not to sell cigarettes to China again.
After hearing this news, the Daoguang Emperor was very happy and vigorously praised Lin Wenzhong (Lin Zexu), but outsiders at this time did not fully believe that Lin Zexu really wanted to ban smoking, until a puff of black smoke floated on the beach, and "Humen Selling Smoke" shattered the illusions of tobacco merchants.
The clown on stage - the law of righteousness
In 1815, he joined the Royal Navy and served along the coasts of the East Indies and Africa, attaining the rank of colonel until 1828, when he retired from the navy to work in the British colonies. He came to China in 1834 and took over British trade with China after the death of his governor.
At this time, Sino-British relations were at a freezing point, and officials from both sides were not allowed to engage in official exchanges. The main reason is that the Qing government treats Western countries with an outdated system and a proud attitude (the previous article mentioned the arrogant Qing Dynasty), and the Sun Never Sets Empire, which has a strong navy and a large colony, cannot accept such treatment, and wants the Qing government to change immediately, and the two sides cannot hold on.
At this time, the righteous law appeared, and on the one hand, he expressed obedience to the Qing government's system to curry favor with the Qing government, so as to obtain greater benefits. On the one hand, he invited credit in his report to the British government, saying that unprecedented achievements have been made in trade with China. The maneuvers between the two countries made Yi Lu begin to stand on the stage of history, he almost monopolized the exchange between China and Britain, and his desire for power began to expand.
Thirteen lines of trade
After monopolizing the communication between China and Britain, Yi Lu began to expect greater power. When Lin Zexu besieged the Thirteen Lines, Yilu was originally in Macau, but after hearing the news, he immediately returned to Guangzhou to protest on behalf of all British businessmen, and Yilu issued a notice to the British, declaring that the lives and property of the British in Guangzhou were in extreme danger, and that Britain's "national dignity" was disregarded, but Lin Zexu still gave in under his tough attitude.
At this time, the most important action after Yilu monopolized the exchange of information between China and Britain happened, he did not order the British merchants to hand over cigarettes to Lin Zexu, but asked the British merchants to hand over the cigarettes to him, and he gave receipts to the merchants in the capacity of commercial superintendent, and in a change of hands, the opium of the British merchants became the opium of the British Empire, and the contradiction between the Qing government and the British merchants rose to the contradiction between the Qing government and the British Empire. The implementation of this overstep of power was impossible for British businessmen to refuse due to the lack of news from the British side. In this way, through the self-given mission of "saving" the lives and property of the British, and the self-given power to make British opium dealers surrender on behalf of the British government, Yilu single-handedly directed the major turning point between China and Britain from conflict to war. He himself was soon appointed British Minister Plenipotentiary in charge of negotiations with China and played an important role in the Opium Wars. He finally got his wish and received the long-awaited status.
Wu Yixiong, Department of History, Sun Yat-sen University, Power and System: Righteous Law and Sino-British Relations 1834-1839