The six-dimensional pictures of emperors of all dynasties were exposed, and the ancestors panicked

Chapter 804: Carrying the Coffin to the Battle to Recapture Yili
Tang Dynasty and Gaozong period
Li Zhi looked at the group of Qing emperors who were madly cursing Daoguang and made two "tsk tsk" sounds.

"If the Treaty of Nanjing marked the beginning of China's transformation into a semi-colony, then the Boxer Protocol marked the establishment of this semi-colony."

Changsun Wuji began to compare Cixi with Wu Zetian.

"Measure the material resources of China... How dare she say that!"

Li Zhi looked at his uncle, who had a blank expression but an indignant tone, and said with a half-smile:

"Cixi is well versed in the art of being an emperor."

“If you consider the meaning in context.”

Before the sentence "Measure China's material resources and win the favor of the country", there is an instruction "Still telegraph the plenipotentiary minister to carefully review the detailed program."

"The phrase 'carefully review' here, coupled with the subsequent discussions and arguments, is indeed an instruction to the ministers involved in the negotiations to find ways to reduce the total amount of compensation. They cannot let the other party ask for it at will, and they cannot agree to pay whatever the other party asks for."

"So, the meaning of the entire edict should be to negotiate with the great powers in earnest, not to make exorbitant demands or arbitrary threats on issues such as compensation, and to win the favor of other countries with as little Chinese material resources as possible."

"but……"

A hint of sarcasm just appeared on Li Zhi's lips.

A familiar yet unfamiliar golden light suddenly appeared before the two of them.

A voice that had not been heard for a long time echoed in the ears of the two.

"However, how to say it is one thing and how to do it is another."

Black boots stepped out from the golden light.

The bright yellow skirt fluttered with her steps.

"The wording of the imperial edict concerns the dignity of the imperial power, so it is natural that it must be packaged with rhetoric."

A familiar face came into their eyes.

"So when it came to the specific peace negotiations, what Cixi really wanted was to ensure that she would not be held accountable at all costs, and then achieve a successful peace talks."

Li Shimin looked at the two people who were stunned and said with a smile:

"Chi Nu, you think so, right?"

……

During the Song Dynasty and Renzong Period
Zhao Zhen felt that the Song Dynasty was truly amazing.

"Why do I always feel that Cixi's words mean that you know how much money our treasury has. We have to live our own lives and appease the foreign powers. You should weigh the appropriate number yourself."

"No matter how much the compensation is, you two can discuss it. You will be the ones to bear the blame later."

"See if this is what you mean."

The ministers were speechless for a moment when they saw the emperor who was still able to joke.

Apart from anything else, the old emperor is indeed second to none in terms of mentality.

What a good attitude...

Pang Ji said in a deep voice:
"The word 'quantity' in 'quantify China's material resources' in Cixi's edict can be interpreted as as much as possible, or it can be decorated to mean as little as possible."

"But in practice, it's closer to just giving out as much as you have."

"A word of quantity can be interpreted in any way."

“Although it is impossible to state in public documents that we will do everything in the world to seek peace with the foreigners.”

“But the final result proved his words.”

“Avoid being the first to cause trouble.”

"Lü Wu is not even half as evil as him."

"The Qing Dynasty was truly blessed."

Zhao Zhen felt disgusted when he heard this.

This "blessing"... the Song Dynasty also has it...

It’s better not to have it.

……

【Since the Opium War, when China gradually fell into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, China's social situation has been declining.】

[Historians in the past commented that this decline was a “sinking,” or even a “sinking” into the “abyss.”]

But where is this "abyss"?

[Does this "abyss" have a bottom? ]

[Yes, this "abyss" of "sinking" has a "bottom". ]

[The “bottom” was the signing of the Boxer Protocol.]

【For the next twenty years, Chinese society struggled in this "valley bottom."】

[Sometimes it seems that there is a bright future, and sometimes this bright future is replaced by darkness.]

……

Great Yuan·Shizu Period
“This is colonization…”

Kublai Khan stroked his beard and suddenly said:

"Do you think we can also use this method to remotely control the West?"

Liu Bingzhong spoke first:

"In fact, in the future, our Great Yuan will be like Britain, France and other countries, remotely controlling the people."

“And the final outcome is obvious.”

Kublai Khan knew that this man never spoke without a purpose, so he said humbly:
"What can Zhong Hui teach me?"

Liu Bingzhong nodded slightly and said with a smile:

"Just like the Boxer Protocol."

"Before the Xin Chou Revolution, the great powers had already ceded China's Hong Kong, Taiwan and other parts of its territory and forcibly leased some ports, but they had not yet legally stationed troops on Chinese territory."

"The Boxer Protocol stipulated that foreign troops could be stationed in strategic locations around China's capital and that all coastal defense forts be demolished."

"This is tantamount to a permanent military occupation of China."

“The Four Khanates are actually similar to this.”

“But we are a nation of brothers, not a nation of fathers and sons.”

“This is the first thing.”

Kublai Khan took note of this and then asked:
"As Zhonghui said, can our great Mongolia also colonize the West?"

Liu Bingzhong nodded, pointed to the ground beneath his feet, and said seriously:

"Take the Qing Dynasty as an example. Before the Boxer Protocol, China already had concessions where foreign powers enjoyed various privileges. The Boxer Protocol developed this system into an armed zone that Chinese people were not allowed to enter. This was truly a "country within a country" that was right next to the Forbidden City and monitored the Qing Dynasty's every move at gunpoint."

"In other words, the Four-People System is more like colonialism."

"And judging from the outcome, the final outcome will surely be the raising of the flag of justice, and the spark will spread all over the prairie."

"This is the natural law of the great cycle, which cannot be resisted by human power."

Kublai Khan sat up straighter and squinted his eyes.
"But shouldn't it also be the same for the people of the West?"

Liu Bingzhong smiled and said:
"How can the two be compared?"

Kublai Khan glanced at him and said calmly:
"anything else."

Liu Bingzhong knew that Kublai Khan still had a thorn in his heart, but he also understood Kublai Khan.

This little thorn can be ignored immediately.

"The world is bustling for profit, and the world is bustling for profit."

“All conflicts are caused by insufficient interests.”

"Then, what if a country is supported by a hundred million people?"

Kublai Khan narrowed his eyes slightly.

"One hundred million people serve one country..."

Liu Bingzhong said to himself:
"If we say that the import of Western goods and capital since Emperor Daoguang began, the Qing Dynasty began the process of economic invasion under the banner of trade."

"Then war reparations are naked plunder after you are beaten down."

"This looting became more and more serious each time, until the entire national treasury was emptied out."

"The indemnity stipulated in the Boxer Protocol amounted to 1 billion taels of silver, and there was also the indemnity for the First Sino-Japanese War, which had already left the Qing dynasty heavily in debt."

"And the Qing dynasty's fiscal revenue for the whole year was less than 100 million taels of silver."

"To pay off this huge amount of compensation, we have to impose additional charges layer by layer until it is eventually shared by every citizen."

"No matter how many decades the Qing dynasty strengthened itself through Westernization, the foreign powers wanted to take away this pitiful family fortune dozens of times."

"The Qing Dynasty had become an economic slave controlled by the great powers."

“We can do that, too.”

"The Mongol Empire cannot always be divided militarily. This is like exhausting the resources and will not yield much benefit."

“We need to change our thinking and pursue sustainable development.”

……

Ming dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the various treaties on the sky curtain and thought of the Yuan Dynasty again.

“Colonization… So this is what colonization is.”

"They want to control China ideologically as well!"

The Boxer Protocol stipulated an indemnity of 450 million taels, which was based on the population of 400 million in the Qing Dynasty.

This means that the reparations are a punishment against all Chinese people!

It was stipulated that the imperial examinations would be suspended for five years in any place where the Boxer Rebellion occurred, which was a punishment for all these scholars!

An announcement was posted in the emperor's name throughout the country, stating that if anyone harmed foreigners, they would be dismissed from their posts and never re-employed if they were not punished. This was a warning to officials and citizens across the country!
"A treaty puts tremendous pressure on every level of the country..."

"Apologize, punish the perpetrators, erect a monument, and stop the test."

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be able to see that the righteous people in the world were rising up.

“The Qing dynasty is dead in name only.”

……

Qing Dynasty and Qianlong period
"Hahahahahaha!"

The ministers thought that the emperor might be mad.

They were right.

Qianlong was indeed not far from going mad.

The Celestial Empire's arrogance and blind xenophobia suddenly turned into begging for mercy and servility.

The countries wanted to sign new trade treaties with the Qing Dynasty, which was actually an attempt to further expand their economic aggression against the Qing Dynasty.

Before the Xin Chou Incident, the Qing Dynasty could still fight back when attacked by foreign powers. But this time, not only was the right to resist completely deprived, but even the people who joined anti-foreign organizations would be beheaded!

Officials of the Qing Dynasty became tools used by the great powers to suppress the people, otherwise they would be dismissed and punished!
"My Qing Dynasty has become the court of foreigners!"

"Throughout history, is there any dynasty with a lower status than our Qing Dynasty?"

"The Southern Song Dynasty didn't even go this far!"

pain!It hurts so much!
Qianlong could foresee that the future of the Qing Dynasty would be bad, but he did not expect it to be so bad!

"Measure the material resources of China and win the favor of the country..."

Qianlong read these words with gritted teeth.

"Flattery! Flattery!"

The ideology of the ruling class is the mainstream ideology of society.

Since the leaders were so flattering to foreigners, the consciousness of worshipping and fawning on foreigners would gradually spread in the Qing Dynasty.

You ask him why he thinks so?
Brother! That’s what the Qing Dynasty did!
"It would be better to just... rebel!"

The ministers' hearts skipped a beat.

It's over! The emperor is crazy!
……

[In early 1865, Yakub Beg, an officer of the Kokand Khanate in Central Asia, took advantage of the fact that the Qing Dynasty was mired in the Taiping Rebellion and had no time to look westward, and invaded Kashgar with the support of Tsarist Russia.]

[In just a few years, almost the entire Xinjiang region fell into the hands of the invader Yakub Beg.]

【Tsarist Russia took advantage of Yakub Beg's invasion of northern Xinjiang to send troops to occupy Yili.】

[As the main passage from the Central Plains to Xinjiang, the connection between the Hexi Corridor and Xinjiang was gradually cut off. ]

[Just as the Qing government was preparing to send troops to Xinjiang, the southeastern coastal areas suddenly sounded the alarm.]

[In the spring of 1874, Japan brazenly sent troops to invade Taiwan.]

[Crisis broke out on both the frontier and the sea at the same time. This kind of frontier defense situation was something the Qing government had never encountered before.]

【For this reason, the Qing court convened ministers from the southern and northern seas and governors and generals from the coastal and river areas to hold a famous discussion on the focus of national defense strategy. 】

[Whether it is sending troops to Xinjiang or strengthening coastal defense, huge funds are needed. The financial situation of the Qing court is extremely difficult. How to allocate national defense funds has become the focus of debate among all parties.]

[At this time, some Qing officials, led by Li Hongzhang, proposed that Xinjiang needed a lot of military expenditures every year to maintain, so it would be better to abandon management and shift the focus of national defense to the coastal areas.]

【Zuo Zongtang believed that the beauty of China's mountains and rivers all started from the northwest. Abandoning the west is like abandoning China.】

【If the west is stable, China is halfway stable. 】

……

The period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
Liu Che frowned, looking disgusted.

"What kind of bullshit is this Li Hongzhang saying?"

"How deplorable and hateful!"

"Russia is like a starving jackal. If you throw it a bone today, it will come back after it has gnawed on it. Are you going to let it eat it piece by piece?"

"This Zuo Zongtang is quite knowledgeable."

He doesn't understand the sea borders.

But he understands the frontier!

No one knows the frontier better than him!

From the perspective of military geography, the Hexi Corridor is of great significance to the security of the Central Plains region!

But the Hexi Corridor is not the natural limit of western China.

Only by advancing into the Hexi Corridor and fully developing Xinjiang can we ensure the security of the entire western region, including the Hexi Corridor.

"Besides..."

Liu Che made a comprehensive calculation based on the information from the sky.

"Although Russia has powerful ships and guns, it has been fighting in Europe for years and its national strength is weak. It may not really fight against the enemy. In many cases, it is just empty threats."

"To put it another way, if a real fight breaks out, they may not win."

War is a money-burning machine, and no country is rich enough to support all battlefield consumption.

And if a country can suppress all war situations in all aspects, there is no need for negotiations at all.

……

On February 1875, the first year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (April 4, 12), Zuo Zongtang submitted a memorial entitled "Reply to the Report on the Situation of Coastal Defense, Frontier Defense, and the Suppression and Appeasement of Grain Transportation Outside the Great Wall", in which he elaborated on the national defense situation, proposed the idea of ​​"giving equal importance to coastal defense in the east and frontier defense in the west", and strongly advocated sending troops to the northwest to recover Xinjiang.

[In the end, Zuo Zongtang's proposal was supported by the Grand Councilor Wenxiang and Empress Dowager Cixi.]

[Xinjiang's military situation is critical, and the Hexi Corridor has once again become a frontier fortress.]

[Before this great debate on national defense, Zuo Zongtang had already begun to take action.]

[He mobilized the Hunan Army to enter Lanzhou and actively prepare for war.]

[In order to deal with the foreign guns and cannons of Yakub Beg’s army, the Lanzhou Manufacturing Bureau was established to imitate German guns and cannons and provide weapons and ammunition for the Western Expedition to Xinjiang.]

[During the period when Zuo Zongtang was in charge of Xinjiang military affairs, he commanded the troops to build a road from Lanzhou to Xinjiang via the Hexi Corridor.]

[The climate in Hexi is dry and the scenery is desolate. Zuo Zongtang ordered the road construction troops to plant poplars, willows and saxaul trees on both sides of the Hexi Corridor.]

[“Three thousand miles of newly planted willows attract spring breezes to pass through Yuguan Pass” is exactly how later generations praised this scene.]

[Afterwards, people traveling through the Hexi Corridor called the willow trees planted by Zuo Zongtang and his subordinates "Zuogong Willow"]

[After more than a hundred years of wind and frost, the ancient and vigorous Zuogong Willow still exists, and its dense green shade still benefits the people of Hexi today. ]

……

{When I went to Jiayuguan, I was puzzled to see willow trees planted on both sides of the roads in the city. I thought I had never seen a city that used willow trees as landscape trees.}
{Next to the place where Huo Qubing poured wine in Jiuquan, there is a Zuogong willow with a huge chest diameter!}

｛You must visit the Hexi Corridor and look for the willow trees planted by Zuo Gong.｝
{Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze does not reach Yumen Pass! Yumen Pass is far from the sea, and the moist southeast wind is difficult to reach. Planting trees may have adjusted the dry climate there and made it more humid.}
{Originally it was "Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows, the spring breeze does not reach Yumen Pass", and later it was "attract the spring breeze to pass Yumen Pass"}
{History only states that Zuo Zongtang recovered Xinjiang.}
……

On the canopy.

The training ground at the west gate of Suzhou.

The yellow sand from the northwest blew on the faces of more than a thousand soldiers.

An old man in military uniform stepped onto the platform.

The soldiers below the stage shouted:
"See the Marshal!"

The old man nodded and said:

"My men, we defeated Yakub Beg and recovered all places except Yili in less than two years."

"The Russians said at the beginning that they would return Ili after they recovered Urumqi and Manas, but it has been more than two years since these two places were recovered, and they still occupy Ili."

"So what is Yili?"

"That is the Jiangnan on the Saishang River that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty left to us!"

"The north and south of the Tianshan Mountains have been recovered, men! Do you think we should take Yili?!"

The soldiers raised their weapons high and shouted in unison:
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

The old man laughed.

"Good! As long as you are determined."

"I am old, but even if I die in Xinjiang, I will never say I don't want Yili, and I will never give in to the Russians!"

Then the old man raised his hand.

Four bodyguards carried a black lacquered coffin.

The old man pointed at the coffin and said:
"You all saw this. This is the coffin I prepared for myself. I want you to carry it out of the confinement."

"I will never return alive until I recover Yili!"

The armor gleamed in the sun.

The soldiers were in high spirits:
"I will never return alive until I recover Yili!"

"I will never return alive until I recover Yili!"

The scene changes.

Flags are waving and war horses are neighing.

The old man led the army out of the pass.

And behind his warhorse.

The soldiers carried the black coffin as they went.

"Men!"

"I'm out!"

……

[On April 1880, the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (May 5, 26), the -year-old Zuo Zongtang led more than soldiers from six major patrols of his personal army to leave Suzhou and head toward Hami through Jiayu Pass.]

[To show his determination to resist Russia, he resolutely carried the coffin with him]

【Five years ago, the Qing government appointed Zuo Zongtang as the imperial commissioner, with full authority to oversee the operation to recover Xinjiang.】

[It took Zuo Zongtang's Hunan Army only two years to recover all the lost territory in Xinjiang except the Ili region occupied by Tsarist Russia.]

[He wrote to his family and expressed his feelings: "There is no one to rely on for Western affairs at this time. I have no reason to shirk responsibility and have to shoulder it alone."]

[On May 6 (June 21), the Qing court held an emergency meeting. Li Hongzhang's opinion influenced the meeting. Co-organizers Quan Qing, Minister of Works Weng Tonghe, Minister of Rites Xu Tong, and Minister of Nanyang and Governor-General of Liangjiang Liu Kunyi all agreed to compromise with Russia.]

【“Two days later”, the opinions of the meeting were reported to the emperor. The Qing court then issued an “imperial edict” on the 19th, deciding to place hope on negotiations. 】

[Sent Zeng Jize, the ambassador to Britain and France, to St. Petersburg to resume negotiations.]

[On the sixth day of the seventh month (August 8), the Qing court issued an imperial edict to transfer Zuo Zongtang back to Beijing "to serve as an advisor to the court."]

[On the 24th, Zuo Zongtang received this imperial edict and was deeply shocked. He was very distressed because his ambitions were not fulfilled. He expressed his feelings in a letter home: "Russia intends to invade by sea, but the officials in charge cannot comfort their worries and hard work, and exaggerate the enemy's strength. I am very sad. I have no choice but to go on this trip."]

……

｛The reason why Zuo Zongtang was able to crush Xinjiang with such great force and power was due to the just nature of the war, the support of people of all ethnic groups, the full preparation, the correct command and the heroic fighting of the generals and soldiers.｝
{Zuo Zongtang said: "The purpose of the Western Expedition is to recover the old territory, not to fight for it."}
{Recovering Xinjiang and expelling the invaders was not only the urgent demand of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, but also the common wish of the vast majority of soldiers on the Western Expedition. The vast majority of the Qing troops who left the border were united and in high spirits. "They marched thousands of miles, and each camp was only given four months' worth of salt and vegetables, but no one turned back."}
{The difficulty of marching into Xinjiang is well known: one has to trek through the Gobi Desert and climb over the top of the Tianshan Mountains.}
{You have to endure the scorching heat of the Turpan Basin and climb steep icebergs.}
{Sometimes the enemy broke the river and we had to swim across the vast ocean.}
{Sometimes they run out of food and face the threat of starvation.}
{However, no matter how difficult and arduous the situation was, the Western Expedition Army remained perseverant and marched forward courageously.}
{After the four western cities of southern Xinjiang were recovered, the Qing army went deep into remote areas to pursue the remaining enemies. They "galloped over 800 miles in four days and nights, without sleeping or taking off their saddles. They fought even harder and harder, and the battles became more intense as time went by."}
{The Qing army's struggle to recover Xinjiang was supported not only by all walks of life of the Uyghur people, but also by people of other ethnic groups. For example, Zashidelek, a Mongolian "taiji" who had taken refuge in the Bortu Mountains from Karashar, immediately rushed to Toksun upon learning that the Qing army had reached the city and explained the situation to the generals.}
{When the Qing army continued to advance, he "rode with them, and prepared for the situation based on the terrain, the enemy's true and false situation, and the depth of the waterways."}
{The Xibe people who escaped from Yili cultivated land and stored grain in the area around Kaerbohu. When the Qing army entered Wusu, they sent the grain to the camp to provide food for the army.}
{According to the Vivian historical document "History of Imid", "No town fired a single bullet at the emperor's army. On the contrary, good people in many towns did what they could for the emperor's army."}
{This is the power of the people!}

……

[Tsarist Russia was also uneasy about Zuo Zongtang's active preparations for war. Jomini, a senior adviser to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who participated in the negotiations, admitted: "War is costly, endless and useless for us."]

[Zuo Zongtang's active preparations for war also provided support to Zeng Jize in his negotiations with Tsarist Russia.]

[When Zuo Zongtang was summoned back to Beijing, the Tsarist government was unaware of the situation and thought that China "had the intention to mobilize troops" and was suspicious.]

[At that time, Russia had just ended the war against Turkey, and its finances were exhausted, with a fiscal deficit of 50 million rubles.]

[Although the Tsarist government was willing to use war to occupy Yili forever, it was limited by its financial resources and did not dare to rashly launch a war.]

[Under pressure from the situation, Tsarist Russia had to agree to revise the treaty. While Zeng Jize insisted on taking back Ili and abolishing the principle of the Chongyue, he also made concessions in other aspects. In this way, the two sides finally signed the Sino-Russian "Revised Treaty" (i.e. the Sino-Russian "Ili Treaty") on the 1881th day of the first month of the seventh year of the Guangxu period (February 2, 24). ]

[According to the new treaty, Russia agreed to return the Tekes River Valley (about 20,000 square kilometers) and the Muzar Pass leading to southern Xinjiang, and gave up the demand for Russian goods to be transported to the interior through Jiayuguan, but still occupied the area west of the Khorgos River (about 10,000 square kilometers), and increased the indemnity from 5 million rubles to 9 million rubles (about 5.09 million taels of silver), and also retained the commercial privileges stipulated in the Chong Treaty.]

[It is very obvious that the Revised Treaty is still an unequal treaty imposed on China by Tsarist Russia.]

[However, the signing of the Sino-Russian "Revised Treaty" also announced the end of Tsarist Russia's colonial rule in my country's Yili region. ]

[On December 1882, the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (February 2, 17), Tarbagatai's Minister of State Shengtai arrived in Yili and discussed the means of collection and transfer with the Russian representatives.]

[On the fourth day of the second month of the following year (March 1882, 3), the two sides exchanged letters and completed the transfer procedures. General Jin Shun of Yili immediately led his troops to station there, and Yili finally returned to the embrace of the motherland from the hands of the invaders.]

Without Zuo Zongtang, the Qing Dynasty would have been colonized earlier.

The Revised Treaty is still an unequal treaty.

But from the Qing Dynasty's perspective, this treaty, compared with the one signed with Chonghou, finally allowed the Qing Dynasty to regain some rights and interests.

After all, it is not easy to take some "prey" out of the greedy mouth of Tsarist Russia.

Although they are all paper tigers.



(End of this chapter)