One day in 1903, a 30-year-old man walked into the office of the English-language newspaper "Xinxin Xibao" in Tianjin and disclosed a stack of secret materials to the newspaper editor.
The content of the material is: As early as seven years ago, China secretly signed a secret treaty with Tsarist Russia called the "Treaty of Mutual Assistance to the Enemy" (also called the "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty"). According to the terms of the treaty, Northeast China became the backyard of Tsarist Russia, and they could come and go freely under any pretext.
The editor was surprised and delighted when he saw it, and the next day he shook out the news in the newspaper. The news shocked the whole country, and everyone thought it was a traitorous treaty.
It is no secret that Tsarist Russia was the country with the greatest territorial ambitions for China among the great powers. In this case, why did the Qing government sign this treaty of loss of power with the robbers who coveted it, and who led the signing of this treaty?
At that time, the official in charge of China's foreign affairs was named Li Hongzhang, and it was he who led the signing of this traitorous treaty.
After many years of ups and downs, Li Hongzhang, as a person who understands, why did he sign this treaty with Tsarist Russia that humiliated the country?
You may say that in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, there were many treaties that humiliated the country, and this is not the first time that they have been signed. For example, the Sino-Russian "Aihui Treaty", the Sino-British "Treaty of Nanjing", the Sino-Japanese "Treaty of Shimonoseki", and so on, all kinds of betrayal of interests are dizzying. In that case, what's all the fuss.
The reason why the people were shocked was that the above-mentioned treaty was forced to be signed under the circumstances when the great powers had their swords on their necks, and this treaty was willing. The second reason is that the two parties signed it secretly, and outsiders did not know about it before.
So the question is, Li Hongzhang is not only not a rice bucket, but is considered by the great powers to be the last person to understand the Qing Dynasty, why did he sign this treaty with Tsarist Russia that made China suffer a big loss?
The answer is clear, because he himself has benefited greatly from it.
Li Hongzhang is a pillar of the Qing Dynasty, and he is the Yulu of the Aixin Jueluo family, why do you want to eat inside and outside?
It is well known that the Qing Dynasty was already crumbling in the forties of the nineteenth century and experienced many crises.
In 1840, the British opened the gates of China with gunboats, exposing the face of the Great Qing Paper Tiger, and opening the prelude to the invasion of the Great Powers.
In 1951, the Taiping Rebellion broke out in southern China and swept through most of China, and the Qing Dynasty was in danger.
In 1852, another uprising broke out in northern China, which made the situation of the Qing Dynasty, which was beleaguered both internally and externally, even more difficult.
Seeing that the Qing Dynasty was about to end, there was a Zeng Guofan in Hunan, and with the assistance of Zuo Zongtang and others, the Hunan Army was formed. Since then, the Qing Dynasty, which was already on the verge of collapse, turned over and was able to continue its reign for more than 50 years.
Not only Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang also contributed a lot, and made great contributions. The Huai Army formed by Li Hongzhang also became a lifesaver for the Qing Dynasty, and went to the soup to save the Qing Dynasty.
After the civil strife was suppressed, Li Hongzhang also launched the "Westernization Movement" with Zhang Zhidong and others, sparing no effort to revitalize the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, Li Hongzhang was known as the "Great Qing Pasteur", and Cixi and Guangxu trusted him very much and let him deal with military affairs.
In this case, Li Hongzhang should be loyal to the Qing Dynasty, how could he do something that harms the country, it's incredible.
As mentioned earlier, among the great powers, only Tsarist Russia has the greatest territorial ambitions for China, and Tsarist Russia is also the most ugly country among the great powers, and it also poses the greatest threat to China.
Great powers such as Britain and France generally have no territorial claims to China, and they mainly violate China's sovereignty by opening concessions, so as to achieve the criminal purpose of trading with China and plundering our resources.
There is also a great power that has territorial ambitions for China, and after annexing Chinese territory, it does so by colonizing and exterminating the indigenous people. It is Tsarist Russia.
After the occupation of a place by Tsarist Russia, the aborigines evaporated. Either they are physically eliminated or expelled, and none of them will be left, so that these people will not resist or hold a "referendum" to secede in the future.
When the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded China, the main purpose of the great powers was to make the Qing Dynasty pay reparations, but Tsarist Russia sent 180,000 troops to occupy Northeast China, intending to realize its criminal "Yellow Russia Plan" and incorporate the north of the Great Wall into the Russian territory.
If it weren't for the defeat of Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, the three eastern provinces would have really seceded from China.
So, why did Li Hongzhang sign such a treaty with such a great enemy, and why did the Qing government approve it?
It turned out that in the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, the Qing Dynasty was defeated and ceded land for compensation. As a result, Qing rulers such as Cixi and Guangxu were frightened and had trouble sleeping.
The signing of the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" gave the Japanese a taste of sweetness, and they will not give up, and they will still have to make an inch of progress and win Longwangshu. And the Qing army, whether it is the navy or the army, is vulnerable and cannot stop the Japanese offensive at all.
If Japan were to go to war with China again, the Qing Dynasty would surely be defeated. At that time, the Qing Dynasty may be finished.
Tsarist Russia saw through this, so let people say, don't be nervous, I can help you deal with the Japanese. We are good brothers with the Qing Dynasty, and we are united to deal with the ambitious wolf Japan.
Cixi was overjoyed when she heard it, it was great. So, she said to Li Hongzhang, Brother Li, you are responsible for negotiating with Tsarist Russia. Cixi's idea was very stupid, Tsarist Russia was the most territorial among the great powers, and it was also the most greedy and unreasonable.
Everyone knows that there is a famous saying in the world: "The territory of Tsarist Russia has no borders". Moreover, Tsarist Russia believed in the law of the jungle and believed that "the truth is within the range of the cannon." Forming an alliance with Tsarist Russia is to reject wolves at the front door and enter the tiger at the back door, which typically leads wolves into the house, supports greater suffering, and has endless troubles.
As a politician, military strategist, and diplomat, Li Hongzhang has a unique strategic vision, and he must have seen that Russia is a weasel greeting the rooster for the New Year, and he has no good intentions.
It stands to reason that he should have told Lafayette that he could not hold hands with the Russians. However, Li Hongzhang told Cixi that this matter could be done, and the minister would go to negotiate.
The Tsar was ecstatic when he learned of this, and in 1896 invited Li Hongzhang to visit Russia to attend the coronation of Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
The Tsar ordered the finance ministers and officials to pull Li Hongzhang into the water at all costs and sign a treaty to encroach on Northeast China.
At the meeting of the Ministry of Finance, the Minister of Finance Sergei Witt made a decision to allocate a huge sum of 300 rubles to the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank for public relations of Li Zhongtang.
Witt said with confidence: If you have money to make a ghost grinder, you don't believe him Li Hongzhang will not be recruited.
Romanov, the chief of staff of the Ministry of Finance, handled and deposited this huge amount of money into Li Hongzhang's account in three installments (Romanov's memoirs "History of Imperial Russian Aggression against Manchuria").
However, Li Hongzhang did not take this money alone, and he only got 1.2 million rubles (Chen Zhaoming, "Li Hongzhang Accepted Bribes Before and After the Construction of the Dongqing Railway"). According to historical records, Russian Minister Xu Jingcheng also participated in it and received high returns. Zhang Yinhuan, the prime minister's yamen, did not suffer a loss and received a huge sum of money from the Russians.
In July 1900, Zhang Yinhuan was deeply involved in the Russia-Gate turmoil, was exiled to Xinjiang, and was later executed by Lafayette's order. Zhang Yinhuan has always been lucky, thinking that Li Zhongtang would rescue him, but in the end he became a scapegoat.
After the East Window incident, Count Witte issued a statement denying this, saying that Li Hongzhang did not accept bribes.
Witt denied that it was a reasonable thing to do. If you admit it, it is not a slap in the face of Li Hongzhang, and after that, who will dare to accept bribes and do things for Tsarist Russia?
Romanov was a clerk who dared to tell the truth, and when he wrote his memoirs, time had changed, and Li Hongzhang was long gone, so there was no need to hide it anymore.
Li Hongzhang took bribes not only this time, but also several times.
This picture is the original record of Li Hongzhang's bribery.
It should be pointed out that at the beginning of the article, the young man who disclosed state secrets, named Shen Xin, was killed by Cixi that year. This also shows that the Sino-Russian secret treaty is indeed a traitorous treaty, and Li Hongzhang has benefited a lot from it.
According to the diplomatic archives of Tsarist Russia declassified after the October Revolution, Li Hongzhang received bribes of 5.5 million rubles from the Russians at least.
This amount is equivalent to 5.5 million taels of silver, and the value of one tael of silver is about 500 yuan in later generations. Today, it is billions of yuan, and there is no problem in sentencing him to a suspended death.
Some people complained about Li Hongzhang's grievances, saying that Zhongtang did not take bribes. They said that Li Hongzhang had an excellent character, and Li Hongzhang in his youth once wrote a bold saying: Whoever has written history in 10,000 years wants to be a marquis 3,000 miles away.
This reason is too ridiculous, people will change, Li Hongzhang was full of enthusiasm for serving the country when he was young, and it does not mean that he will not fall in his old age.
The big traitor Wang Jingwei was also a hot-blooded young man who entered Beijing alone with a murder weapon and assassinated the regent.
Xiao Wang also wrote a sentence that made people's blood boil at that time: Draw a knife and ask for a piece, and live up to the head of the youth.
This proves that Li Hongzhang has a good character, which is too ridiculous and ridiculous.
Those who say that Li Hongzhang has grievances may wish to take a look at Li Hongzhang's performance after the First Sino-Japanese War.
In the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty suffered a fiasco, this is backward in science and technology, the army's combat effectiveness is not strong, and the responsibility should not be borne by that person.
However, in the war, there were many runaway generals who ran 500 miles a day like Ye Zhichao.
The army has it, and the Beiyang Naval Division also has it. These people, except for a few who are children of the Eight Banners, are all generals of the Huai Army without exception, and they are Li Hongzhang's fellow countrymen and confidants.
If the employment is improper, Li Hongzhang should take the blame and resign. Even if he does not resign, he should find a scapegoat and bring the fleeing general to justice. However, Li Hongzhang spared no effort to let these deserters escape justice.
Some of the generals who escaped from the battle returned to their hometowns to spend their old age in peace, some were reinstated, and some were even promoted. This is unique in the world's military history, and it is a shame for the Qing Dynasty and a stain that Li Hongzhang cannot erase.
No one is to blame for not being able to defeat Japan because of its inferior skills, or because of strategic and tactical mistakes. However, excusing the deserters is intolerable to any country, but Li Zhongtang did that, how can Zhongtang fans explain?
After talking for a long time, Tsarist Russia has paid so much, what did it get in return?
In other words, what do you say that Li Hongzhang has "sold" when he betrays the country?
The first is to allow Tsarist Russia to build railways in the northeast, so that it can plunder China's resources and also transport troops to invade.
Second, Tsarist Russia could send troops to any part of the land and coastal areas of the three eastern provinces under the pretext of China's war with foreign countries.
In March 1898, under the manipulation of Li Hongzhang, Tsarist Russia obtained the concessions of Lushun and Dalian.
In this way, Tsarist Russia has an ice-free port zone in China, and it is of great strategic significance to fight whoever it wants.
……
In general, among the ministers of Zhongxing, Zuo Zongtang cherishes feathers, Zeng Guofan retreats bravely, Zhang Zhidong is sleek, but Li Hongzhang is insatiable and doesn't care about his name before and after his death.
It seems that there is a couplet saying that "the prime minister is thin in the world" is based on evidence, and it is by no means a joke.
References: "Compilation of the Chinese Charter: Sino-Russian Part", "Secret History of China in Modern Times" (Qing), "The Biography of Li Hongzhang" by Liang Qichao in Korean