Chapter 30 Combined vertical and horizontal facial protection

Just half a year before the exchange of contracts between China and Peru, the Majiali case triggered Sino-British negotiations that lasted for a year and a half.If it is said that Li Hongzhang was persistently resisting in the negotiation and exchange of contracts between China and Secret, then in the Sino-British negotiations, Li Hongzhang was known for his compromise. Before the mid-1860s, the Qing government believed that the big powers intended to do business rather than overthrow their rule, and realized that they could use the big powers to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so they began to adjust their foreign policies; During the period, they implemented a policy of joint aggression called the policy of cooperation against China.Therefore, for a period of time, a so-called situation of reconciliation between China and foreign countries emerged.However, all the imperialist countries actually want to maximize their own interests in China, but under the superficial cooperation they secretly intensify their aggression activities. Therefore, their cooperative policy of aggression against China cannot last at all.By the mid-1870s, the big powers stepped up their aggressive activities in China, and frontier crises in China's northwest, southeast, and southwest emerged almost simultaneously.For example, Russia and Britain are vying for Xinjiang, Japan has begun to invade Taiwan, and Britain and France have stepped up their aggression against Burma and Vietnam respectively, with the intention of invading the southwestern border of my country.These marked the beginning of a general crisis on the frontier.It was against this background that the seemingly accidental but inevitable Majiali case occurred.

The cause of the matter is as follows: Since the 1870s, the old colonialist Britain began to lag behind the newcomer United States and Germany in industrial development, gradually lost its dominant position, and its trade with China was also in trouble. Therefore, the British colonial forces wanted to expand their market in China, and they attempted to open a channel from India and Burma to the Yangtze River Basin to expand their influence in Southwest China.At that time, there was an anti-Qing regime in Dali, Yunnan, which was established by Du Wenxiu, the leader of the Muslim uprising. In order to achieve the goal of splitting China, Britain sold weapons to Du Wenxiu and made huge profits at the same time.

In 1873, the Du Wenxiu regime was wiped out by the Qing army.The British side stepped up the implementation of the road-finding plan in the Yunnan-Myanmar border area.In the summer of the following year, Wade Wade, the British ambassador to China, went to the Zongli Yamen to apply for a passport, and told the Zongli Yamen that the UK would send an investigation team to Yunnan via Burma for investigation, and Margaret, a translator from Shanghai, would go there.The Prime Minister’s Office proposed that the border area would not be safe, but the British insisted on it. At that time, Japan’s invasion of Taiwan caused tension.

The Zongli Yamen immediately issued tourist passports and instructed local officials along the way to take care of them.After Ma Jiali arrived in Yunnan, the governor Cen Yuying and other local officials escorted him to Manyun via Tengyue, and Li Zhenguo sent someone to escort Ma Jiali to Xinjie to meet the leader of the exploration team, Colonel Bai Lang. The British side decided to send Margaret, an official of the British Consulate in Shanghai, to Yunnan to meet Bai Lang's pathfinding team.Margaret set off from Shanghai, entered Yunnan via Hubei, Hunan, and Guizhou, and then entered Burma. He arrived in Bhamo, Myanmar on January 17, 1875, and joined Bai Lang and others who were already in Bhamo.In early February, they began marching towards the Chinese border.On February 21, Ma Jiali and his entourage, who were advancing first, were near Manyun, Yunnan, China. They were stopped by the frontier official Li Zhenguo and the local gentry. The two sides clashed immediately. Ma Jiali shot and wounded one of the Chinese. Several Chinese accompanying him were killed.Bai Lang did not dare to move on, and led the pathfinding team back to Bhamo, Burma.This is the Margaret incident in modern Chinese history.

Afterwards, Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan, reported to the Qing government that it was a local savage who killed Ma Jiali.But the British believed that Cen Yuying had always hated foreigners, and that Li Zhenguo was Cen's subordinate. If Cen did not order him, Li Zhenguo would not dare to stop him without authorization, let alone kill Ma Jiali.Regardless of whether it was ordered by Cen Yuying or not, this matter did provide an excuse for the British side to seize greater rights to invade China. The British government soon got the news, and ordered Wade to negotiate the matter with the Qing government, and instructed him to use this to expand his momentum and complete the unfinished tasks of the exploration team.Wade delivered a note to the Zongli Yamen immediately, and made many unreasonable demands that had nothing to do with the Margaret incident:

The Chinese and British sides sent personnel to jointly investigate the case; Agreed that the British and Indian governments send another expedition team into Yunnan; Repayment of one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver; Arrangements were made to secure British trade free from all taxes but duties and half-duties; The privileges granted to British ministers in China by Article 4 of the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858 should be interpreted as appropriate reception by the Qing emperor; All claims for compensation arising from the actions of Chinese officials should be met promptly. At this time, China's northwest and southeast borders were under serious threat. Therefore, the Qing government was shocked when they heard that Majiali had been killed, and hurriedly told Wade that they would notify the Yunnan authorities to investigate as soon as possible.Subsequently, the imperial edict strictly ordered Cen Yuying to investigate and handle the case promptly.The Qing government categorically rejected Wade's six demands.Since there was no strong means to force China to submit, and other countries also opposed Britain's independent expansion of rights and interests in China, Wade changed his strategy, focused on the realization of the first three requirements, and threatened to sever diplomatic relations with the Qing government.Under Wade's intimidation, the Qing government began to compromise, agreeing in principle to the first three demands of the British side.Since only Shanghai could communicate with London by telegram at that time, Wade arrived in Shanghai in early April 1875 in order to facilitate contact with the government of his own country and to discuss with Bai Lang in Shanghai.To show its importance, the Qing government appointed Li Hongzhang's elder brother, Li Hanzhang, the governor of Huguang, as the imperial envoy on June 19, and went to Yunnan to investigate and deal with Xue Huan, the former minister of the Prime Minister's Yamen.

The attitude of the Qing government was to make major issues into minor ones. Prince Gong Yixin, who presided over the affairs of the prime minister’s office, knew that Wade was clearly trying to blackmail him. He told Emperor Guangxu to proceed cautiously.Cen Yuying reported the results and claimed that the culprit was a local mountain savage, and Wade, of course, refused to give up.The Qing government had no choice but to order Li Hanzhang, governor of Huguang, and Xue Huan, the prime minister, to go to Yunnan to review the case. The British observers participated in the joint trial. After many public trials, Li Hanzhang concluded that Li Zhenguo was the planning and organizing personnel requested by the British side.

Of course Wade was dissatisfied with this conclusion, he retorted: Li Zhenguo would never dare to stop the killing of foreigners, even if he was appointed by Cen Futai, he would not dare to do it, there must be a deeper mastermind behind the scenes.The current handling of the Dian case is inconsistent with the facts. If only the savages are punished, I will not agree; if Li Zhenguo and Wu Tongzhi are punished, I will not agree; if only Cen Futai is punished, I will not agree.The fault lies with the Chinese imperial court and the Prime Minister's Yamen.Directly aimed at the Qing government, and demanded that Cen Yuying and others be brought to the capital for interrogation, and at the same time punish the two ministers Li Hanzhang and Xue Huan who failed to investigate the case.

After all, Cen Yuying is also a first-level local administrative head, a dignified second-rank official, and Li Hanzhang and Xue Huan are even important ministers in the court. If the Qing government publicly punishes these officials, wouldn't the Qing Dynasty be disgraced? Hurd, who served as the General Taxation Department of the Customs in China, came forward to mediate between the Zongli Yamen and Wade. In fact, Li Hongzhang, who was busy negotiating with Peru, had also been following the development of the Margaret incident. When Wade met with Li Hongzhang, He hinted that he hoped that Li Hongzhang would come forward to mediate the matter, and later he hinted to the Qing government through Hurd that he hoped that Li Hongzhang would take full power to handle it.

The Qing government’s basic attitude towards this case is to adopt the policy of giving in and calming down the situation. From a letter Zeng Guoquan wrote to his nephew Zeng Jize, we can see the situation at that time: the capital city left Beijing with Wade, and everyone feared the situation. , is also quite ugly.Li Hongzhang, who later intervened in this matter, took a compromised attitude, which is not surprising. In the summer of 1876, Emperor Guangxu issued a decree to appoint Li Hongzhang as the imperial envoy to act on his own terms and go to Yantai to hold negotiations with Wade.In fact, Wade proposed this condition on purpose to coerce the Qing government into agreeing to other conditions and to settle the case peacefully as soon as possible. For this reason, the British side also mobilized the naval fleet to berth in Dalian as a gesture of threat of force.

After Li Hongzhang received the order, he carefully analyzed the cause and effect of the incident, as well as the current situation.He understood that the purpose of the British side was to make a big fuss in order to extort money, and hoped to achieve the goal as soon as possible; while the imperial court was afraid of troubles in dealing with foreign devils, and even more afraid of punishing ministers and losing the face of the Qing Dynasty, so they also hoped to end the negotiations as soon as possible after suffering some losses.But since Wade has released those words, it is difficult to change his words for a while. He must find a way to force him to withdraw this condition, so as to save the court's face. As for other harsh conditions, he also needs to try his best to fight for them. In fact, Wade’s recent outrageous demands to the Qing government have also been criticized by other countries in China, because he has asked the Qing government for additional benefits without even greeting other countries. The unspoken rules for the balance of power in China have been established, so they also want to find opportunities to express their wishes.When Li Hongzhang arrived in Yantai, ministers from various countries also came to Yantai in the name of summer vacation. Li Hongzhang keenly discovered the strangeness, and soon had a solution to the problem, and responded.He began to meet frequently with the envoys of the United States, Germany, Russia, France, Japan, Austria and other countries, and even visited the warships of some countries, deliberately isolating Wade. July 12th is the birthday of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, and Li Hongzhang used this day to use it again. He thought that the Empress Dowager held the Longevity Festival as an excuse, and invited seven people from Britain, the United States, Germany, Russia, France, Japan, and Austria to a banquet. Minister of the United States, as well as the commanders of the British Navy Fleet Ryder and Lambert.During the banquet, in order to stimulate the British minister, he deliberately delivered a speech: I, the Chinese sage, always advocated that all peoples are brothers. This minister sees that your country is very prosperous and powerful, and they all came here to make friends with our Qing Dynasty. After all A country's financial resources and intelligence are limited, and all countries must work together to learn from each other's strengths in order to achieve common prosperity.As for the matter of commerce, countries should communicate with each other, and this minister has long known the truth. For this reason, I should do my best to seek equal benefits for everyone present in China.When the envoys from various countries heard Li Hongzhang's words, they all applauded and echoed. Although Wade, who was present, knew that this was Li Hongzhang's trick, he had no choice but to laugh. Li Hongzhang's trick really worked, and in the ensuing negotiations, Wade had to give up his request to bring Cen Yuying to the capital, so the negotiations were able to progress smoothly.Although Li Hongzhang did his best for China's interests on other specific terms, he was eventually forced to sign the "Yantai Treaty" that humiliated the country and humiliated the country. In the eyes of the Qing government, keeping Cen Yuying from the capital and keeping the face of the court was the greatest success. Even the foreign media at the time commented that China was able to resist some of the British demands and reach an agreement in the negotiations with the UK, which was already quite good. up.