Chapter 33 In the afternoon of Jiawu, gunpowder and smoke are in chaos

1894, the Jiawu year in the lunar calendar, was a disastrous year in Li Hongzhang's political career.Japan took advantage of the Korean issue and dragged Li Hongzhang, who was not vigilant, into the preset war trap. The Sino-Japanese War was not an accident, but an inevitable result of the development of Japanese capitalism.At that time, Japan generally established an economic foundation with military industry and light industry as the main body, and completed its military expansion and war preparation plan against China; domestic class conflicts became increasingly sharp, political tides continued, and the situation was unstable.In order to maintain its own dominant position and meet the needs of the landlord and bourgeoisie for external expansion, the Ito Hirobumi cabinet embarked on the road of launching a war of aggression against China.

While Japan was stepping up its preparations for a war of aggression against China, the ruling stratum of the Qing Dynasty was busy with internal power struggles.In 1889, Guangxu was nineteen years old and married. According to Qing Dynasty practice, she was already an adult. Cixi felt that it was inconvenient to continue her political training, so she had to announce that she would withdraw from the curtain and return to power, and Guangxu would be in charge.The difference between the so-called pro-government and political training is that Guangxu read the memorial first, and then asked Cixi for an edict.Due to Cixi's wanton interference in the employment and administrative power, the courtiers close to Guangxu were inevitably aggrieved, and Guangxu was not reconciled to the status of a puppet, so a small group with no formal organizational form gradually formed around Guangxu, and the huge bureaucrats gathered around Cixi The group is implicitly relative.At that time, people called the former the imperial party and the latter the queen party.The core figure of the imperial party is Weng Tonghe.Weng was a master of Tongzhi and Guangxu successively. He successively served as minister of punishment, industry, household affairs and military affairs.The main members of the imperial party are Guangxu's close ministers and Weng Tonghe's old disciples, such as Concubine Zhen, Concubine Jin's elder brother Zhirui, Minister of Rites, Concubine Zhen's master and concubine Wen Tingshi, and the lecturer of Jingyan Li Wentian, Lu Baozhong, a bachelor's attendant; Wang Mingluan, Weng Tonghe's best official servant, Zhang Jian, a student, and Huang Shaoji, Ding Lijun, editors known as Hou Qingliu, Shengxian Jijiu of Guozijian, Shen Zengzhi, head of the Ministry of punishment, etc.Except for Weng Tonghe who has considerable power in the government, the imperial party has no fists or courage.The two parties of the emperor and empress are both feudal ruling groups, and the focus of the conflict between the two parties is to compete for the supreme ruling power.Of course, the two parties of the emperor and empress also had differences in domestic and foreign policies: innovation and conservatism, resistance and compromise.The Queen's Party used benefits to win over Li Hongzhang in an attempt to use the military, political, and economic strength of the Huai clique to consolidate its established power.Although Li Hongzhang praised the imperial party's idea of ​​reforming internal affairs, he was dissatisfied with the imperial party's single-minded attitude of fighting against foreign aggression, and in view of the reality that the latter party controlled the real power of the Qing government and dominated its own official career, so he leaned towards the latter party.Because the imperial party has no army to support, it actively wins over the Hunan clique, and Liu Kunyi and other leaders of the Hunan clique are close to the imperial party politically based on the need to compete with the Huai clique for power.

1894 was the year of Empress Dowager Cixi's 60th birthday.Empress Dowager Cixi devoted herself to holding grand celebrations in order to satisfy her personal vanity and expand her party's power.Since the beginning of the year, Cixi has assigned Chief Minister of Military Aircraft Shiduo and others to organize the Longevity Celebration, collect donations widely, spend wantonly, and prepare to receive congratulations from all officials in the Summer Palace on her birthday, and then return to the palace.From the Summer Palace to Xihuamen, dragon sheds, dragon towers, sutra sheds, stage, archways, pavilions and other scenic spots are set up along the road to show respect and grandeur.She was also very kind and generous, and used the method of increasing officials and promotions to win over relatives and ministers of civil and military affairs. She named Yikuang Prince Qing and gave Li Hongzhang a three-eyed feather. The following rewards will be added.Cixi's move naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the imperial party.After Japan invaded Korea, the struggle between the empress and empress became increasingly complicated and intensified due to diplomatic issues.

In March 1894, the Donghak Party uprising broke out in southern Korea. The Korean rulers panicked and asked China to send troops to help suppress the rebels.The Japanese government believes that this is a good opportunity to launch a war of aggression.In order to induce the Qing government to send troops to intervene and create an excuse for aggression, Zheng Yongbang, the interpreter of the Japanese embassy in North Korea, told Yuan Shikai that if the Qing government sent troops to interfere in the Korean civil strife, Japan would definitely not interfere.This made Yuan Shikai firmly believe that Japan would not send troops to interfere, so he repeatedly called Li Hongzhang to quickly send troops to aid North Korea.

On June 4th, Li Hongzhang received another request from the North Korean government to dispatch as many teams as possible to suppress the situation as soon as possible.Therefore, Li Hongzhang decided to send Ye Zhichao, the admiral of Zhili, and Nie Shicheng, the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan Town, to command 1,600 troops to Asan, south of Seoul, North Korea. According to the treaty, Wang Fengzao, the minister in Japan, notified Japan of the news about China sending troops to North Korea.Seeing that the Qing government had dispatched troops, the Japanese government ordered the Fifth Division to enter North Korea in a large scale in the name of protecting the Japanese embassy and overseas Chinese, and occupied Seoul on June 10.Yuan Shikai telegraphed Li Hongzhang to make up his mind regarding the abnormal situation that Japan sent troops into the DPRK at the same time.At this time, Li Hongzhang could not see the ultimate goal of Japan's aggression. He hoped for a diplomatic solution, wishful thinking to avoid war and seek peace, and insufficient consideration in military defense.After the uprising of the Donghak Party in North Korea was suppressed, Li Hongzhang proposed to Japan that China and Japan should withdraw their troops at the same time, saying that the Korean chaos had subsided.Not only did Japan not allow it, but continued to increase its troops. Within a month, more than 10,000 troops were sent to North Korea. The conspiracy to launch an aggressive war has been clearly revealed.Li Hongzhang knew that Japan had ulterior motives, so he had no choice but to telegraph the Chinese troops stationed in North Korea: "Everything is ready at home and abroad, but I am not ready, so it is not appropriate to show my intentions first."While carrying out diplomatic activities nervously, imagining that Western powers, especially Britain, Russia and other countries, would come forward to mediate and urge Japan to withdraw its troops.Japan, on the condition that it acquiesced to the interests of Britain, Russia and other countries in China, exchanged the great powers for adopting a neutral stance favorable to Japan in the conflict between China and Japan.Li Hongzhang's diplomatic activities failed.

The Chinese and Japanese troops confront each other in North Korea, and the war is imminent.On July 12, Ye Zhichao called Li Hongzhang to ask whether to advance or retreat, and proposed three countermeasures: the best policy is to increase the army and prepare to fight against Japan;At the same time, Li Hongzhang presented to the imperial court, suggesting to adopt Ye Zhichao's middle strategy. After withdrawing, he wrote a letter to the ministers of various countries to merge with the Japanese court, and applied for the previous covenant of withdrawal.However, the young Emperor Guangxu, who was in power for a short time, tried to make a difference. He disagreed with Li Hongzhang's suggestion, and decided to adopt Ye Zhichao's best policy, to aid North Korea to fight against Japan. To prepare, first send an army to station by land to the border, waiting for departure.

After Li Hongzhang received the order, he hesitated very much. He called Liu Mingchuan, who was recuperating at home, to supervise the military affairs of North Korea, but Liu Mingchuan could not survive his illness.At this time, Emperor Guangxu was extremely annoyed by Li Hongzhang's hesitant attitude, and on July 16th he issued another strict order: order Li Hongzhang not to shrink back and not send out, otherwise he will be punished if he delays the battle. Li Hongzhang was severely reprimanded, and had no choice but to start deployment in a hurry. More than 14,000 troops were dispatched from Tianjin, Lushun, Fengtian, etc. They marched across the Yalu River to Pyongyang, North Korea via Liaodong, and more than 2,000 Renjun and Beitang soldiers were dispatched from Tianjin to help Asan by sea, and three ships Jiyuan, Guangyi, and Weiyuan from the Beiyang Fleet were sent to escort.On July 25th, the Japanese Combined Fleet attacked the naval ships escorted by China in the waters of Teshima and sank the troop carrier Gao Sheng, which was an undeclared war.On the night of the 28th, the Japanese army attacked the Qing army in Yashan again, and took over in Chenghuan, where the Qing army was defeated.On August 1, Emperor Guangxu officially promulgated the Declaration of War, and the Sino-Japanese War broke out in full swing.