Borjigit Qishan, born into a Manchurian aristocratic family and favored by the emperor in his ancestors, officially replaced himself at the age of 18, and since then his career has been smooth and smooth, and he has already served as the governor of Henan at the age of 29. By the time of the Opium War in 1840, QiShan's official status was marquis of the first class, a scholar of Wenyuange University, a viceroy of Zhili (later changed to the viceroy of Liangguang), and a minister of Chincha. In his correspondence with the British side, he triumphantly called himself "the Minister's Cabinet Ministry". According to common sense, Qi Shan, who bathes in the grace of the emperor, should be more loyal and patriotic. However, paradoxically, he became the "criminal subject" of the Daoguang Emperor, a "thief of the wrong country" spurned by everyone, and left a name infamy in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
In the twentieth year of Daoguang (that is, in 1840), the British used Lin Zexu's anti-smoking campaign as an excuse to appoint George Yilu as the commander-in-chief of the British army invading China and sent an expeditionary force to launch a war of aggression. In the face of British aggression, Lin Zexu advocated resolute resistance, but after the fall of Dinghai in July, the British army continued to invade the north, and the Daoguang Emperor began to distrust Lin Zexu, and he sent Qishan to Tianjin to negotiate with the British troops in the north. At that time, due to the communication barrier between the Qing Dynasty and the British army, the translators of the two countries could not accurately express their own demands, and there would always be some errors in the requirements made, in this case, both sides thought that their goals had been achieved, and the British side returned to Guangdong with Qi Shan's reply, and Qi Shan asked the Daoguang Emperor for credit with the news of the British withdrawal. The Daoguang Emperor was overjoyed, and on September 27, he designated Qi Shan as the minister of Qincha and went to Guangdong to replace Lin Zexu and Deng Tingzhen in supervising the affairs of "Fuyi".
Qi Shan embarked on a journey to Guangdong with the Daoguang Emperor's "Fuyi" expectations, arriving in Guangzhou on November 29, and on December 4, Qi Shan began negotiations with the British army. But in fact, qishan and the British army's "bondage" (a kind of ethnic policy adopted by the central dynasties in the multi-ethnic country for social development and backward ethnic minority areas, mainly to contain and suppress the yiyi) did not achieve any practical results, just delaying time, the British army tried to use force to coerce Qishan to submit, but Qishan, as a chincha minister, he actually had no real power to decide to sign the contract, and even criticized the "Rhinoplasty Grass Treaty" for posterity, after many historians have proved that Qishan did not formally sign the contract.
Although Qi Shan did not betray the interests of the state, the Daoguang Emperor still removed him from his post. There are two main reasons:
First, the Daoguang Emperor believed that Qi Shan was afraid of the enemy and timid in battle, and had lost the style of the Heavenly Dynasty.
While Qi Shan was still constantly bargaining with the British army, on January 9, 1841, the Daoguang Emperor received a recital from Yushi Gaorenjian, calling Qishan "cowardly"; on January 12, he received a recital from Tang Jian, the secretary of the Taichang Temple, calling Qishan "Gou An" and "difficult to be the commander-in-chief". These twists and turns had a great influence on the Daoguang Emperor, and he began to shake his trust in Qi Shan. On February 16, the Daoguang Emperor received a recital from Qi Shan, who said: "There is no important geographical advantage in Guangdong and China, no profit to be ashamed of ordnance, no solid military strength, and weak people's feelings, so they have to be temporarily restrained." "Request the cession of Hong Kong to Britain. The Daoguang Emperor replied: "It is not like Ru Zhigan being bullied and teased by rebellion, confused and not returning, daring to recite the edict of renunciation, still handing over the reverse book, pleading on behalf of the rebel, and it is really reasonable. Incompetence is unbearable! At this time, the Daoguang Emperor's attitude toward the British had shifted from "Fu" to "Suppression", and he was angry at the unreasonable demands of the British and Qi Shan's delay in resolving the "Fuyi", and it was seen from the reply that the Daoguang Emperor was very dissatisfied with Qi Shan's idea of "bondage" and his words were fierce, and he thought that Qi Shan was a manifestation of fear of the enemy and a loss of heavenly style, which sowed the seeds for Qi Shan's conviction soon after.
Second, Qi Shan cut hong Kong privately and allowed trade without authorization.
On January 7, 1841, after the fall of Humen, Qishan's behavior in Guangdong caused strong dissatisfaction among the local people and local officials, and soon after, the Daoguang Emperor who was far away in the capital received a recital from The Inspector of Guangdong, Yi Liang, who impeached QiShan for various crimes of misleading the country in Guangdong, which completely made the Daoguang Emperor Long Yan furious, and added a first degree to Qishan's crimes, and the edict rebuked: "Qishan is good at Hong Kong, and is good at allowing trade... I don't know what it is! Such a misguided country was really a loss of conscience, and Qi Shan was dismissed from his post and asked questions, so the family property was copied and checked into the official. At this time, in the eyes of the Daoguang Emperor, Qi Shan was a "criminal courtier" who had betrayed the emperor's favor, and dared to cede land and allow trade without his permission.
Although Qi Shan was later pardoned without being executed, and the Daoguang Emperor also revived him, in the hearts of the courtiers of the dynasty, in the hearts of the Daoguang Emperor, his crime of "misleading the country" in this war did exist, but at this time he was far from being a "traitor".
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