Opium was actually introduced to the mainland very early, and there were records of opium in the Song Dynasty, when it was used as a medicinal herb. It also took a pretty good effect. The use of opium as a psychonarcotic drug should be traced back to the Ming Dynasty. It is said that the Wanli Dynasty of the Divine Sect has not been in the dynasty for more than thirty years, and it has a certain relationship with this thing. But after all, only a few people in that era smoked opium, and more was medicinal, which was recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", and opium was also used as a prescription drug in Britain at the same time. Opium really became popular among the people until the Jiaqing period in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. In the early Qing dynasty, the ban on opium was still quite strict. Even a small amount of smuggling trade was completely uncontrollable, and by the time of our Miyoshi student Jiaqing, these prohibitions had been relaxed, and the large-scale opium smuggling trade had become uncontrollable, resulting in a massive outflow of silver. Before the large-scale smuggling of opium, the period of sufficient silver, the financial capacity of the Qing government was still insufficient, after the large-scale outflow of silver, the Qing government's finances were even more stretched, the Qing was originally a poor silver country, the transaction between the people mainly relied on copper money, and the government collected taxes to collect silver, and so the people had to exchange copper money for silver before paying taxes, with the outflow of silver, the amount of silver decreased a lot, and the copper money in the hands of the people began to depreciate, The common people needed more copper money to exchange for silver to pay taxes. This invisibly increases the burden on the people. Especially when it comes to the Daoguang Dynasty. This phenomenon has become more and more serious, and various uprisings and conflicts have continued to break out in some places. The shortage of silver and the proliferation of drugs caused a large number of social problems that were beyond the reach of rulers. Therefore, the scholars and doctors of the imperial court also recognized the seriousness of the problem. Began to advocate smoking ban, the root of smoking ban is actually to stop the flow of silver, the economic impact of the impact. Of course, the main impact is on government finances. The social problems caused by the drug epidemic can also be solved incidentally.
At that time, the ban on smoking was mainly divided into strict prohibition and probation, of course, their common denominator was the same, that is, they both advocated solving the economic problems caused by the large outflow of silver. The view of the prohibitionists on the social problems caused by the drug epidemic is to solve them together by thunderous means, while the prohibitors advocate that this can be solved slowly, and the prohibition is that it is impossible to solve the problem of drugs immediately, and the second is that cracking down on those British drug traffickers is indeed easy to cause war. These were all things that the state could not afford at that time. So the probationist claims also have their reasons. They first advocated growing their own opium to reduce the outflow of silver. Then gradually control the amount to achieve the purpose of smoking ban. In the specific circumstances at that time, if the purpose of smoking bans could eventually be achieved, a probation may be more feasible than a strict ban. But the problem with probation is that the results are slow. And it's morally ugly. After all, the drug epidemic is not a good thing. There is a loss of heaven and the face of the kingdom. And the Daoguang Emperor is a simple-minded person, and like his father, he is also a hard and simple emperor. Due to the blockage of information, he also lacked a clear understanding of the situation at that time, and was eager to see the results. So he still supports the forbidden faction. In such an environment, the national hero Lin Zexu appeared. Lin Zexu was an able minister, a type of minister who was particularly liked by the emperor in the Qing Dynasty, that is, a minister who could do things, but did not talk about the ultimate ideal of Shi Dafu, Qi Xiu and Zhiping. Because in the Qing Empire, ideals and doctrines were the patent of the Manchurian aristocracy, and Han officials only needed to do their duty and talk less about ideals. Lin Zexu, then the governor of Huguang, proposed a ban on smoking, and after he was deeply appreciated by the emperor. Therefore, the emperor appointed Lin Zexu as the minister of Qincha and went to Guangzhou to ban smoking.
At first, Lin Zexu still harbored a deep prejudice against foreigners. Because I have not dealt specifically with foreigners before. So he is still full of confidence in smoking bans. Nengchen is Nengchen, and Lin Zexu did not blindly arrogant, but made sufficient preparations beforehand, and even began to prepare for the war that might come. In order to have a deeper understanding of foreigners, he also went to Macao to understand what the real world of the West is like. The Governor of Macau also welcomed Lin Zexu's arrival and did his best to provide Lin Zexu with information. Through this trip to Macao, Lin Zexu has gained a relatively in-depth understanding of Western countries, and generally knows their history, geographical location, system, military and other aspects. At the same time, in order to let the Chinese people know more about these Western powers, he began to compile the "Four Continents" through the information he collected.
Through his initial understanding of these Western powers, he also purchased some foreign cannons from Macau, as well as a merchant ship, and converted it into a warship, and at the same time, he also obtained the support of Guan Tianpei, the governor of Guangdong. Preparations began to prepare for the war brought about by the smoking ban.
Although he was the first person to open his eyes to the world, his understanding of Britain was also relatively static. What he learned from the Portuguese was also the case in England a few years ago, and after the Industrial Revolution, Britain had begun a high-speed development model, and in that era steam engine steamships had been born, although not yet applied to large warships. But the development of firearms was no longer comparable to that of the Portuguese. They already used smoothbore guns instead of simply cast guns, and in terms of designed distance, speed and accuracy, they were already comparable to Daqing firearms. Although the British are still unpowered warships, their warships are no longer traditional wooden materials, they have adopted a metal skeleton, and they are wrapped with iron protection outside, and the installation of the running position is also very reasonable, which will reduce the recoil during launch as much as possible. And they have a lot of running positions, each firing is a salvo of several dozen guns. The gap in weapons is also a gap in tactics. There are also logistical gaps. These are all things that Lin Zexu cannot understand. The gap at the institutional level behind the war level is even more difficult for Lin Zexu to see. At the same time, Lin Zexu also underestimated the determination of the British to open the door to China, and the British sent commercial overseers in China in 1832, which was not just the behavior of the company, but the official of the state. Therefore, although as the first person to open his eyes to the world, he only opened a crack.
Although he foresaw many difficulties, as an able general of the Jingshi faction, Lin Zexu still set out without hesitation and began a vigorous anti-smoking campaign. Everyone knows the process of smoking ban, and he took the lead in forcibly seizing opium from the hands of British opium dealers and sent troops to surround Yiguan. Asking you to hand over opium, the British merchants, of course, were unwilling to give up etiquette, and also organized some armed preparations to resist in the pavilion. Amid the saber rattling, Yi Li, the UK's commercial supervisor in China, came out and promised to compensate the businessmen on behalf of the British government. Merchants were asked to hand over opium to avoid bloodshed. Opium merchants saw this and handed over opium. Thus gaining freedom. And Yi Lu's behavior also invisibly involved the British government, and the ban on smoking is not only a movement against British businessmen, the British government has also officially appeared.
After seizing a sufficient amount of opium, Lin Zexu paid homage to the sea god by the sea, and dissolved the opium with lime and discharged it into the sea. This is the famous Humen tobacco sale in history.