Li Hongzhang was the most reviled and miserable minister of the late Qing Dynasty in China's modern history; he ran the Westernization Movement and signed many unequal treaties that lost power and humiliated the country, and this black pot was almost entirely carried by Li Hongzhang; is it true that Li Hongzhang is mediocre and incompetent, corrupt, misleading the country and harming the people? The truth may not be so simple.
In view of Li Hongzhang's life and experience, Liang Qichao personally wrote a book, the title of which is "The Biography of Li Hongzhang", in this book, Liang Qichao objectively evaluated the character, ability, ambition, and infamy in his later years.
He is a minister and has extraordinary ability
From Liang Qichao's book, we can read that Li Hongzhang is an ambitious, capable, and strategic generation of heroes, especially when he was middle-aged, he followed Zeng Guofan, pacified the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, formed the Huai Army, and quelled the rebellion and twisted the army.
The first half of Li Hongzhang's life was cast brilliant in the flames of war, his ability is outstanding, strong leadership, the Huai Army, the Changsheng Army into a following the Zeng State Xiang Army, another elite army that can defend the homeland and defend the country, in many battles, Li Hongzhang's strength is definitely many times stronger than the children of the Eight Banners, this is his ability to govern the army in a good way, and to determine the country's strategy, those who scold Li Hongzhang for being mediocre and incompetent are indeed biased, inaccurate, and not in line with Li Hongzhang's own character.
Doing nothing, just because of the limited identity
Objectively speaking, Li Hongzhang is indeed an ability, but objectively speaking, he exterminated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, quelled the rebellion and twisted the army, and hundreds of battles large and small, which are not only the embodiment of his military command ability, but the most important point is that the imperial court at that time relied on the defense of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, and gave Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang enough power.
After the rebellion, although Li Hongzhang continued to be promoted in his position and became a minister, he did not have real decision-making power, after all, Li Hongzhang was not a Manchu, and when his strength became more and more powerful, the Manchu rulers would feel worried about him and did not fully trust him. At that time, the real official position of the Qing Dynasty was the Minister of Military Aircraft, although Li Hongzhang became a variety of positions, but he never became the Minister of Military Aircraft, because this official can only be the Manchu.
Because he is not a Manchurian, no matter how capable Li Hongzhang is, he can't respond to all calls in the court, let alone turn the tide, and there was such a stingy woman sitting in the court to listen to the government at that time, no matter how capable Li Hongzhang is, he can only be used, and he has no authority to participate in decision-making at all. This caused Li Hongzhang to want to do something, but he was pulled back by other people in the court everywhere, and in the end he couldn't do anything, and the Beiyang Naval Division was finally wiped out, which is the best example.
Empty ambitions, but detached from the national situation
Li Hongzhang has signed so many unequal treaties and has been infamous as a sinner through the ages, but we cannot deny that he is a person who worries about the country and the people and has ideals and ambitions; he quelled chaos at home, ran the Westernization movement, and learned the skills of Yi to control the country, all of which have embodied his determination and wisdom to protect his home and defend the country, and his efforts can be learned from heaven and earth, and this should not be denied.
But Li Hongzhang's biggest deficiency is that he is limited by Confucianism, and he only has the hierarchical thinking of the monarch and the father and son in his mind, and the things he has done in his life are all for the sake of the king and the court, and he ignores the most important point, that is, the national situation, Li Hongzhang is divorced from the national situation, no matter how many things he does, no matter how great his achievements, it is only fleeting and unsustainable.
Li Hongzhang could defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and eliminate the Twist Army, but he didn't think about why there were so many people in the late Qing Dynasty at that time, who didn't want to rebel, in the final analysis, it was not that the imperial court did not consider the life and death of the people, the people's lives were miserable, and the common people did not have a good life, so it was impossible to support the imperial court, and if they were not popular with the people, they would inevitably perish.
Poverty was the biggest national condition of the late Qing Dynasty at that time, Li Hongzhang worked hard to do great things all his life, but none of them was to really find a way to solve the problem of poverty among the common people, the country and the nation were poor and weak, even if there were more sailors, no matter how many treaty ports were built, and no matter how much land was cut, it could not save the Qing Dynasty, which was about to die, because the late Qing Dynasty lost the hearts of the people.
Just like the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, the Beiyang Naval Division was wiped out, and the local people sat on the shore to watch the battle, not only did not support the battle, but applauded, the late Qing government lost the hearts of the people to this point, how could it not die, Li Hongzhang did not see this, no matter how talented he was, no matter how ambitious he was, it was impossible to achieve it, this may be the biggest failure in Li Hongzhang's life, being an official and not being the master of the people, is more hateful than signing an unequal treaty.
Lack of courage and dare not change the dynasty
Since the Taiping Rebellion, which swept through most of China, peasant uprisings across the country have been like a spring breeze blowing the earth, and there have been popular uprisings everywhere. The court was corrupt and incompetent, oppressing the people, such a situation, all people of insight and all scholars at that time had already seen that those who lost the hearts of the people lost the world. Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others know it well.
Zeng Guofan's Hunan army defeated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and at that time the strength may not be enough to shake the Qing Dynasty, after all, the Hunan army has been battered for many years, and it is also a fact that the strength is not good, and it is difficult to resist the Eight Banners of Taoguang Yang. But in the era of Li Hongzhang's Huai Army and Beiyang Naval Division, the strongest military force and senior commanders in the country were completely controlled by Li Hongzhang, and such conditions were enough to change the fate of the country and the nation.
The ruling system of the late Qing government had long since lost the support of the people and could no longer save the nation from peril, which was almost the consensus of the society at that time, and it was precisely for this reason that peasant uprisings broke out frequently throughout the country. If Li Hongzhang has the courage and knowledge of current affairs, he should conform to the will of the people and promote the change of dynasty, and if such an outcome occurs, perhaps China's modern history will be rewritten.
It is a pity that Li Hongzhang lacks courage after all, and does not dare to change the dynasty, he puts his efforts on suppressing the peasant uprising and maintaining the rule of the Qing government.
Historical insights
No matter how history evolves, how dynasties change, the only thing that remains unchanged is the people's heart, the people are the country, those who win the hearts of the people win the world, when the people live in hardship, officials are corrupt and arrogant, changing the dynasty will be the inevitable result, this historical law has never changed, enriching the people and strengthening the country is the right way in the world.
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