Knowledge empowers, but you know what? There is another thing that also gives strength to people, and that is ignorance.
Why?
To make this clear, I want to start with the year when Xianfeng succeeded to the throne.
Although Xianfeng succeeded to the throne smoothly, this is not a pie in the sky - pure pick-up.
The competition is fierce. Nine brothers, the first three died early, the fifth brother succeeded, the seventh brother, the eighth brother, and the ninth brother are still dolls, so that only the sixth brother is qualified to compete with him - that is, the role that often appears in Qing court dramas - Prince Gong Yixun.
Although the two brothers are competitors, with you and me, they are actually very close.
This is because Xianfeng's biological mother died early, and he was fostered in the biological mother of Lao Liuyixun, Concubine Jing, for a long time. Growing up together since childhood, can you not kiss.
It's a pity that there is only one throne, and no matter how close you are, you have to settle the account.
Xianfeng fully analyzed his own advantages and disadvantages: Wen Tao and Wu Luo of the sixth child are all leaders; I am the "eldest son" in the usual sense.
He is the fourth in line, and although his biological mother died, he was a queen during his lifetime. The official history said that she died violently, but Yeshi said that she offended the queen mother, an authoritative figure in the palace, and was forced to commit suicide.
Daoguang, who prides himself on filial piety, is not good at what to do to the queen mother, so he can only silently transfer the guilt of his wife to his son to compensate.
In addition, Xianfeng has a good teacher, Du Shoutian, who gives him a plan: Tibetan clumsiness shows benevolence, and Tibetan clumsiness shows filial piety. And Xianfeng is good at figuring out people's hearts and intrigues.
He knows that his mother's kindness will always pass with time, and he needs to find another way with fake acting skills.
As a result, he successfully performed the word "benevolence and filial piety", captured his father's favor, and became the ninth emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
Speaking of which, I have to say something off-topic, Xianfeng can "hide" so much, isn't it inherited from the genes of the ancestor Yongzheng? You see in "Yongzheng Dynasty" or "Li Wei as an Official", the Yongzheng played by Mr. Tang Guoqiang is not labeled as a "hidden" word.
To get back to the truth, there is only one reason why Xianfeng is difficult to succeed to the throne: Xianfeng is not a "stupid person".
New fortifications at Dagu Pass in the Qing Dynasty
Sitting on the throne, you think "everything is fine"?
Through his own efforts, he has reached the pinnacle of life, a very encouraging and inspirational story. As long as he is not too angry, he can get the supreme pleasure of power.
It's a pity that the heavens did not fulfill people's wishes, and there were two great tests.
The first test was the Taiping Rebellion, which will be discussed later.
The second test was the Second Opium War, which was the evidence of the aforementioned "ignorance gives strength".
Some people will wonder why Britain launched the Second Opium War. Didn't the First Opium War give the British government what it wanted? Why bother to come a second time?
The reason is that the trade agreement signed between Britain and the Great Qing Dynasty, British merchants did not actually get the rights they wanted.
Let's take a look at the specific content of the agreement signed in the First Opium War, the Treaty of Nanjing, which can be briefly summarized as:
1. Cutting Hong Kong. In Daoguang's words, it is a "temporary reward" for Hong Kong and the British.
2. Lose 21 million taels of silver. Note that a considerable part of it was paid by the merchants of the Thirteen Lines, and had little impact on the Qing Dynasty's finances, which may have been one of the reasons why the Qing rulers were not awakened.
3. The governments of the two sides must be equal in their dealings.
Fourth, open the five ports of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai for trade, and allow British businessmen to live in the five ports, and trade no longer has to be transferred through institutions such as the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou. The choice of Shanghai as a trading port shows that the British had a good vision.
5. Grant the UK most-favored-nation status.
6. Recognize that Britain enjoys consular jurisdiction, that is, if the British commit crimes in China, the Chinese can only file a lawsuit, but have no right to judge, and everything must be done in accordance with British legal procedures.
7. The customs tax rate is one-size-fits-all, about 5 percent, compared to about 20 percent in the past.
In addition to the cession of Hong Kong, the last two articles are obviously very uncomfortable, because Article 6 undermines China's judicial sovereignty, and Article 7 means that China loses its tariff autonomy.
However, this summary has hindsight, put it in the context at the time, Emperor Daoguang and the ministers all wanted to send the British Navy away as soon as possible, as for the British crimes, customs autonomy, their own small tricks to deal with.
The British Navy was satisfied with the results and walked away. However, the British merchants who wanted to do business with the Qing Dynasty were well educated by the "high emotional intelligence" of the Qing people.
For example, foreigners have the right to settle down and do business with five people, but because during the First Opium War, the British and the people of Guangzhou fought, so how could the people of Guangzhou let the "enemy" enter their homeland?
As a result, the people of Guangzhou launched a vigorous "anti-British entry into the city" action, which the people of Guangzhou could have done without the tacit approval of the top level of the government.
Why did the clever Xianfeng and his ministers acquiesce to such an action? Aren't you afraid that Britain will fight again?
Login of the Anglo-French forces
First, the British merchants in charge of Qing trade had no backing.
After the victory in the First Opium War, the British Navy left decisively. The British merchants, who were blocked from entering the city, had no choice but to turn to the local Canton government, which had repeatedly assured that it would deal with it. However, after the British merchants had left, they turned around and ordered his men to continue to encourage the people of Canton to struggle. When the British merchant came again, the reason was to find a new one, a "drag" word dragged for twelve years. There are also British businessmen who understand, but they still have to endure it.
Second, Xianfeng and his ministers, who lived in the Forbidden City, also believed that the Qing Kingdom was the first in the world. The defeat of the First Opium War was just the bad luck of the Qing Dynasty, which had learned from the experience of military defeat, cast new fortifications, and was no longer afraid of the second British invasion.
Therefore, when the British again made unreasonable demands, the result of the discussion between Xianfeng and the ministers was "no".
In 1854, the British invoked the "12-year amendment" clause in the Sino-American Wangxia Treaty and the "most-favored-nation treatment" in the Humen Treaty to demand that the Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing be amended to obtain more privileges and benefits.
In fact, the British were a little vexatious and very barbaric, because the "most-favored-nation treatment" in the "Humen Treaty" did not include the article "amending the treaty" at all.
Why did the British dare to do this? Because the British brought another robber brother - the French.
So how did the Qing government respond?
The bridge can't be guarded
Ignorance gives them strength
Originally, during the First Opium War, the Qing Dynasty had the opportunity to reflect on itself and strive to understand Britain and everything in the West.
If the Great Halal had done it, they would have been able to invoke a few international laws, and they would have left the British speechless.
The most obvious was India, where the British had reached an agreement with the natives that opium could be cultivated, but that excessive opium trafficking to the natives was forbidden. Therefore, the local people in India did not have a very large number of "addicts" like the Qing Dynasty.
It's a pity that they were ignorant and didn't have a deep understanding of the West, so no one in the whole country of the Qing Dynasty understood these laws.
And ignorance, in turn, gives them the strength to continue to be arrogant.
Xianfeng dragged it up: Cultivating the Fa? 'Nope'.
However, they don't know that there is a superpower of "overtaking in corners", which is called technology. It has changed the situation of the whole world, and Britain is no longer a child following the ass of the Great Qing Dynasty, and its strength has surpassed the Great Qing Dynasty by too much. New steel ships and iron cannons, new military tactics, new foreign guns.
Britain and France hoped that the Qing Dynasty would be "ignorant and ignorant", so that they could be righteous and persuade their own people.
However, they still have two things missing: one is a soldier; The second is a pretext for war. At that time, the Anglo-French forces were beating the Russians in the Crimean War.
Soon, they waited.
In 1856, the Anglo-French forces defeated the Russians and won the Crimean War. In the same year, the Qing Empire had the Sino-British "Yarrow Incident" and the Sino-French "Xilin Teaching Case".
The soldiers and the excuse were there, and as for the truth of the case, Britain and France did not care.
Originally, Britain and France still wanted to pull their American brothers along, but unfortunately the civil war between the North and the South of the United States was about to come. But the United States is also very "clever" and said to Britain and France, I will make diplomatic efforts, but don't forget to call me after winning the war, and go to revise the treaty together.
As a result, the United States put diplomatic pressure on the Qing Dynasty, and at the end of 1856, the British and French forces officially launched the Second Opium War.